Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I still don't understand why we couldn't just stay at the lair", Michelangelo complained, fixing his grip on Leo's hand. "It's so cold."

"You know why", Donatello said calmly, his eyes fixated on the screen of his shell cell. "This storm is going to be like nothing before – we have no idea how long it'll last and how much snow it'll bring. If we stayed at the lair we could be stuck for a long time. And when the snow finally melts there will be floods, and then we’d definitely be trapped, and…”

“I get it, I get it.”

For the past few days the winter storm had been steadily covering the city in a white blanket, and the piles of snow were already twice as big as they usually were. The snow rarely got into the sewers, mostly just melting into icy water before trickling down underground, but now the cold was everywhere. The wind was howling above them, and as they passed a storm drain, the wind blew powder-like snow down on the turtles. Both Mikey and Raph groaned at the cold, and Don stopped for a moment to look up at the drain, shielding his eyes from the powder still falling on them. Leo…

Leo didn't seem to even notice. He was walking – at least trying to – between Mikey and Raph, both of his arms around their necks in order to help them support him. His head hung low and he had to concentrate on every step in order to keep his legs moving. He had caught a cold just a few days earlier, and it hadn't been worse than a normal cold up until this morning. It had been difficult for the leader to even get out of bed due to the ache in his muscles – and despite his room being warmer than it usually was due to the extra heating Don had set up he had been so cold. And if he had been cold then, now he was freezing .

They were all wearing their winter-clothing, and even though they were kind of oversized, they still kept the cold away. At least usually they did; this winter was cruel, the icy temperature forcing itself through the layers of clothing, trying to steal all the warmth they had left. Even if there hadn't been so much snow they would’ve still had to leave the lair; this winter would’ve been too cold for them. They had a fully functioning heating system, thanks to Don, but the lair was too big to be kept warm enough in these conditions. They were cold-blooded; they couldn't stay in the chilly lair or they'd end up freezing to death.

"Winter sucks ", Mikey groaned.

"You were so excited just a few weeks ago", Raph scoffed.

"Yeah, well, I like snow, not the cold . It wasn’t supposed to get this cold!” Mikey pouted, adjusting his grip on Leo. “Imagine warm snow. Don, is it possible to have warm snow?"

"Some of the alleyways aren't covered in snow", Don pointed out, sounding surprised as he completely ignored Mikey. "I thought they'd all be covered in it. That certainly makes things easier for us."

"For once", Raph growled. Their attention was drawn to Leo when he coughed, first weakly, then harder until they had to stop in order to let him catch his breath. Mikey rubbed the back of his shell, attempting to comfort him as his coughing slowly subsided.

"We're already close, Leo", Don said, watching his brother with worried eyes. Leo nodded without lifting his head.

"Sorry", he groaned, his voice weak. They all knew Leo was blaming himself for getting sick at a time like this, and they all kind of wanted to slap him for that. It's not like Leo had decided to be sick. Raph would've gladly smacked some sense into him, had he not looked so miserable.

Although, they had to admit that the timing could've been better.

Don sighed, closing his shell cell. Raph looked over Leo at Don, asking him a question with just his eyes. Don shook his head. "Still not answering. I just hope they're safe."

"Hey, you just spoke with them this morning. You think a little snow is going to stop them?" Mikey asked, and Don smiled a little to hide his worry.

"I hope I'm just overreacting", he sighed. He had indeed talked with April this morning, asking her if it would be alright for them to stay in her – or their apartment, April and Casey lived together these days – until the storm had passed. The two of them had decided to take some time for themselves and had headed north to the farmhouse. Nobody had thought that the winter could take a turn like this; had they known, they definitely wouldn’t have left. Don was worried because the farmhouse was north , and the storm would probably be even harsher there. What worried him more was that they hadn't heard of them since this morning.

"Well, I'm glad April's place isn’t that far. It’s always so much warmer there!"

"Keep up that positive attitude, Mikey", Don said, looking up to the storm drain once more. "We don't know how bad the storm's going to get."

"Shouldn't we go up from here?" Raphael asked after a while, stopping under a manhole they often used.

"No", Donatello said, continuing forward. He was looking at his cell again, running a program which tracked the movements of the storm. "There’s probably gonna be a lot of snow here, we have to find a narrower alley with less snow."

"But… that means more walking topside", Mikey whined, but didn't get to complain more as his whine turned into a startled yelp. Leo had collapsed against him, his legs unable to hold his own weight anymore. Raphael groaned, angry at himself for not noticing, pulling Leo closer to himself before carefully helping him sit down.

Leo moaned at the contact with the cold sewer floor, keeping his eyes tightly shut. It was a clear sign that he was in pain, Leo was never very vocal about his pains. Don and Mikey were instantly kneeling in front of him.

"Leo, how are you feeling?" Don asked, removing his other glove to touch Leo's forehead before cupping his cheek. Leo leaned against the touch, letting out a shaky breath. Even though Don’s fingers weren’t as warm as usually, they were still warmer than Leo’s skin.

"Cold", he murmured, blinking up at Don. Keeping his eyes open made his headache worse, so he shut them again and lowered his head.

Don eyed the screen of his phone with a frown. He knew they had to move faster or it'd be impossible to exit the sewers through a manhole, and taking an alternate exit would take a long time. Leo was in no condition to travel more than what was necessary. He felt bad for making Leo hurry, but he knew that the more they waited, the slower Leo would become. They'd have to continue.

As if reading his thoughts, Raph kneeled as well, placing his other hand under Leo's knees and the other under his shell, lifting him up bridal-style. Leo opened his eyes with alert, ready to protest, but Raph silenced him with his harsh gaze.

"Should've done this from the start", Raph mumbled. Leo wasn't very easy to carry, none of them were, thanks to their shells, but this would be faster anyways.

Leo still felt like struggling, hating to be such a burden. Besides, being carried by Raph… it was embarrassing. He knew he'd hear from this when he was better, how poor sick Leo got carried by Raph. Being carried eased some of his pains, though; his vision was still swimming, but he didn't need to struggle with walking. He was also able to feel some of Raphael's warmth radiating from him while being pressed against him. He was still cold and felt sicker than ever, but after a while he let himself close his eyes and press his head against Raph. The headache forced him to swallow his pride.

"...So, what's the site say?" Mikey asked after a moment of silence, peeking over Don's shoulder as they walked. Different numbers were flashing on the screen again, and Mikey didn't bother looking for long since he had no idea what they meant.

"It's going to start snowing harder soon", Don said. He bit his lip absentmindedly. "There's still something I need to get from the lair… I just thought we'd have more time…"

"Wait – you're saying we don't have time to go back? I didn't get my comics! And snacks! And-"

"How much time do we have?" Raph asked, ignoring Mikey, who continued to panic over his DVD's and games.

"I need to see the surface first", Don scratched his head, glancing at the duffel bags he was carrying. Mikey and Raph were only carrying a little, since their job was to help Leo. Don had really counted on that going back would've been possible, that the three of them would be able to carry more on their second trip. His bags contained some medicine, food and things from his lab, but not much else.

He closed the cell again, placing it on his belt. But in order to reach his belt he had to lift the bottom of his jacket and reach inside his pants, making Mikey snicker.

"Oh, Donnie, contain yourself, we’re in public", Mikey teased, receiving a dry look from Don. None of them was used to clothes, feeling like they only got on the way. But going out in this weather without them would be a death-wish.

“You know you have pockets now, you don’t have to put it on your belt”, Raph pointed out, and Don didn’t even bother facepalming himself, only closed his eyes in defeat while Mikey snickered.

They arrived under the manhole they were going to use, and Mikey climbed up first. It took him time to push the cover aside; quite a lot of snow was already covering the alley. As soon as the cover was moved, the wind threw snow on Mikey's face, the surprise of cold almost making him fall back down the ladders.

"Well", Mike coughed, wiping snow off of his face, "at least we could have heck of a snow-fight up here."

It was still daytime, so they had to be careful on the surface. People would most likely be inside their homes or trying to get home away from the storm, but you never knew who'd be wandering outside. The sky was filled with grey clouds, so it was pretty dark already, making things a bit easier for them. The alley was empty, so Mikey climbed up the rest of the way. As he went he accidently kicked snow down the manhole, and it was Don’s turn to get a faceful of snow.

“Thanks, Mikey”, he mumbled, shaking his head to get rid of the cold substance.

“I can shove snow inside his jacket for you”, Raph offered with a grin. Don gave him half a smile, then looked at Leo.

"Leo? Think you can climb up?" Don asked as he touched his arm gently. "Leo?"

Slowly Leo’s head turned towards him, but he wasn't getting an answer. It was a struggle for the sick brother to open his eyes and locate Don's face. Leo had probably been slipping in and out of consciousness, but he wasn't shivering so much anymore. When Don felt his face again he figured out why; his skin was starting to feel warm instead of cold. He cursed inside his head; if the fever could've just waited a bit longer…

"Leo, Raph is going to put you down. Can you stand?"

Raph lowered Leo down so he could place his feet on the ground, and Don took Leo's other arm to help him keep his balance. He stood on his own, leaning a bit against Donatello, but seemed to be able to carry his own weight. Don guided Leo's hands on the ladder, still holding his arm.

"Doesn't look like he can", Raph mumbled, distrusting Leo's ability to climb. The last thing they needed was Leo to fall down the ladders. But Leo placed his legs on the ladder, stubbornly pushing himself up. He grit his teeth together as nausea washed over him, but he'd be damned if he couldn't do something as simple as this, especially after being carried .

He managed to climb, but could feel Raphael climb right after him, afraid of him falling. As soon as he got close to the surface he could feel Mikey's hands grabbing him and helping him up. He expected the cold breeze to make him shiver, but instead it felt kind of good against his suddenly flushed skin. He didn't notice he was leaning against Mikey until his brother had to hold him up with both hands.

Leo balanced himself, feeling embarrassed once again. He felt Raphael grab his other arm.

"I'm fine now, Raph", he said weakly, tired of someone constantly holding him up. But his weak voice didn't sound convincing even to himself; Raph only snorted dryly.

They got to April's place without seeing any humans, and by then the wind had really picked up. Snow had started to fall harder, and they were all glad to get inside.

After making sure the house was alright and there weren't any unwelcome guests in the shop – which wasn't that rare, the gang activity wasn't as high as it had once been, but April still sometimes had some unwelcome guests trying to break into her shop – they moved to the second floor, setting a bed for Leo on the sofa. Mikey and Raph helped Leo out of his winter clothing while Don meddled with the heating system, and after Leo was comfortably on the sofa Raph and Mikey checked the kitchen.

"They didn't leave much of anything here", Raph informed Don, snatching a bag of chips Mikey had found away from him. They didn’t want to take April’s stuff without her permission, but right now they didn’t really have a choice. They’d replace all they used after the storm passed.

"That's to be expected", Don said. "They weren't planning on coming back for at least a few weeks."

"We're not gonna last with… cans of tuna and soup for very long", Raph mumbled. "We gotta go back to the lair."

Don sighed, walking to Leo now that the heating system was working. Leo was sweating and gritting his teeth together, so Don dragged his duffel closer, searching for the first-aid kit he had brought with him.

As he opened a bottle of painkillers Mikey brought him a glass of water, and Don carefully placed a hand under Leo's head. "You're going to feel better after you take these", Don urged Leo to take the medicine.

Leo fell asleep soon after that, and the three of them looked outside with grim faces.

"So, we going or not?" Raph urged, tapping the floor with his foot.

"…We have to. And the sooner the better", Don said after some hesitation, turning to face Mikey. "Keep an eye on Leo, Mikey. We won't take long."

Mikey seemed surprised, and lifted his hands up in protest. "What? I’m not coming with you? But Leo's just sleeping! I know you don't know which comics to pick!"

"Mikey", Raph warned. Raph hated the cold and wanted to get this over and done with. He wasn’t in the mood for this, and Mikey sighed. "Alright… at least take some, please?"

"We will", Don promised, giving Mikey a pat on his shoulder before they headed back to the cold.

Donatello had his eyes glued to the screen once again, even as they half jogged, half ran to the lair.

"Oh no", he suddenly said, coming to a halt.

"What is it?" Raph asked, stopping as well to look at his brother.

"The batteries died", Don said, sounding shocked; like it was something that couldn't possibly happen.

"Not surprised", Raph said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You've been staring at those numbers the whole day."

"Those are important numbers."

"They're just numbers, Don. What happens just happens, we just gotta deal."

"They help us to deal , Raph. With them I can predict how much time we have, and how soon it's going to get worse and- just give me yours."

"Could've just asked", Raph mumbled, digging out his shell-cell. Expect that it wasn't on his belt. Nor in any of the many pockets he now had. "…Oops. I guess I left it with the stuff we already took to April's…"

Don took a deep breath. It usually took a lot to get on his nerves, but the pressure of the situation was getting to him and he felt angry at how careless Raphael was being – it was as if he wasn't taking the situation seriously. He probably didn't realize just how bad the storm was going to get, thinking this wouldn't be a big deal. How did Leo ever get him to listen?

" Oops? Raph, how could you just leave it, especially now that we’re separated from Mikey and Leo? You're supposed to have it with you at all times – what if we got separated in this weather and couldn't track you-"

"We were in a hurry!" Raph tried to defend himself, a bit surprised at how snappy Don was being. But then again, Don never took their safety lightly. None of them did, but Don wasn’t usually this harsh about it. The genius looked like he was about to continue, but Raph placed a hand on his shoulder.

"And we still are. Ya can yell later."

They ran in silence, and Don's frustration only grew. Only this time he felt mad at himself, for he feared that every second they wasted would somehow cost them. And here he was, losing time by getting lost in a stupid fight with Raph… wasn't that Leo's job? At least Leo would've been the one to realize that there was no time to fight, but now it had been Raph, which only made him feel more stupid. Thinking about Leo led him to worry about him; the common cold never put him out like this, he was always stubborn about being up and doing something. Only when he had a fever he stayed in bed, and sometimes he had to be forced to stay. They definitely didn't usually run around in the sewers in the middle of the winter if one of them was sick. That was beyond stupid, but it wasn't like they had had a choice this time.

And what if it wasn't just a fever, what if he was coming down with something worse? The walk through the sewers could've easily made his condition worse. Don should’ve been the one with Leo; if he was getting worse they had no way of knowing now that neither one of them had their shell cells, they had no way of telling Mikey how to treat him if things got worse and- Don stopped his thoughts. They wouldn’t be gone for long, Leo’s condition wouldn’t change that fast. He needed to focus on the task at hand.

The lair was quiet, the howling of the wind left far behind them. Raph went for the kitchen whereas Don emptied his lab of the things he thought he'd need. Half the stuff he touched was dropped on the floor in his hurry, and he paused for a second to calm himself down. If he hurried like this, he'd most likely forget something important, and he couldn't afford to do that now. There was no knowing when they'd come back the next time. Would the rest of the winter be just as cold, or would things calm down? How harsh would the floods be? Would they reach the lair? Would the lair withstand them, would it keep the water from getting inside? They unplugged all the electronics and tried to shield them in case the flood got to them. They'd have to mentally prepare Mikey if they'd lose all their TV's and game consoles if they didn't want to listen to him wail for weeks.

"Don't forget the comics. Mikey will be impossible to live with if he doesn't get them", Don joked, just to break the heavy silence. Raph smirked.

"You’ll be worse if we forget your coffee", Raph grinned back. He had made sure to pick some for Don. It wasn’t like Don would be spending his nights with his inventions anytime soon, but still.

"Nobody is worse than Mikey without his comics", Don argued.

They finished their packing, taking one last look around. Don had explained that the lair should be able to withstand the floods, but anything could happen, so they tried to grab everything they didn't want to get destroyed. Of course they could only carry so much, so some things had to be left behind.

"Oh, one more thing", Don suddenly said, hurrying back to his lab. Just as he disappeared inside the room there was an electric hiss and the lair went dark.

Both of them stood in a shocked silence for a few seconds, until Raphael's cursing could be heard.

"Where are the freaking flashlights?"

"Didn't you and Mikey use them just last week?"

Raph slapped his face. They had, and they had used them to look for something in the garage. That's where they had probably left them.

"…Don't we have more than two of them?" Raph asked carefully, clumsily making his way to Don's lab. He knew the lair, could walk around backwards with his eyes closed, but now things had been left on the floor in their haste, so Raph had to be more careful.

Don had booted up one of his laptops, making the light of the screen light the room.

"We do", he answered as Raph entered the room. He started to type on the laptop, and the familiar numbers appeared on the screen. "They should be somewhere around here. Search."

"Great", Raph mumbled.

Mikey was pacing around. He could sit down and watch TV, but that would just make him feel even more useless. He stopped in front of one of the windows, staring at the white sight. Snow was coming down even harder, and the wind was getting louder, howling in the corners of the building. As he looked up to the grey sky he wasn't even sure if it was snow or ice that was coming down.

He glanced nervously at the clock; Don and Raph had stayed for over an hour now. It shouldn't take this long. Normally he wouldn't worry, but Don had said there wasn't much time left before the storm would get worse. Of course they'd be safe underground, but if they’d get stuck down there...

Mikey took his shell cell from his belt, pressing the button which connected him to Don. No answer, only a short beeping and the call cut off. Mikey swallowed nervously. They never turned their cells off, so the short beeping meant Don's must've run out of batteries. Or that it was broken. Mikey hurried to call Raph next, not wanting to think about the possibility that Don had gotten hurt, and almost jumped right out of his skin when the quiet apartment was filled with Raph's ringtone.

Mikey hurried to end the call, and it was silent again. Expect that the sound had woken up Leo, who was groaning under the blankets they had buried him under. Mikey dug out Raph’s cell from the bags before kneeling next to Leo, placing a hand on his plastron to let him know he was there. Leo's breathing was too fast, and opening his eyes still seemed to be difficult for him.

"Morning, sunshine", Mikey smiled, but couldn't erase the worry from his voice. Since he couldn't contact Don and Raph, he had no idea if they were alright. They should've been back by now, right? The way to the lair didn't take this long. But they were just going to the lair, what could've possibly happened?

' With our luck, pretty much anything… ' he thought grimly before moving his attention back to Leo, who was looking around with hazy eyes while trying to push himself up.

"You'd better just lay still, Leo", Mikey said, gently pressing him back down. Leo grabbed his arm, opening his mouth to speak, but no words came. Instead he started to cough, and Mikey had to grab the edge of his shell and help him lay onto his side in order to make the coughing easier.

"There there", Mikey tried to soothe him as the coughing died down. It was painful to listen as Leo tried to hack his lungs out, and after it was over, it was quiet again. Mikey continued rubbing Leo's arm, really wishing Don was here. Don wasn't a doctor, either, but he'd know what to do if Leo's condition got worse. And by the looks of it, it was getting worse.

"You need anything, bro? Water? More painkillers? Just nod if you do", Mikey asked, carefully touching Leo's face. He was burning!

"Don, Raph", Leo croaked finally, moving his head to look at Mikey. "Where…?"

"They went to get the rest of our stuff from the lair, don't worry", Mikey said. ' I'm already worrying enough for the both of us ', he added in his mind, getting up to look for the thermometer.

When he got back Leo was sitting up, trying to get up from the couch again, but failing. Mikey hurried to still his movements, but didn't push him back down, letting him sit and sat down next to him. At least he was as stubborn as usual when it came to having a fever.

"Dude, just stay still, would you?" Mikey shook the thermometer a few times before offering it to Leo. "Just relax, I need to know how high your fever is."

"Doesn't matter", Leo spoke with a flat voice, turning his head away from the thermometer. "They shouldn't be out – the storm, Don said- that it’d- it’d get worse. We have to… get them…"

He didn't seem to have the energy to continue, so Mikey took advantage of that and gently grabbed Leo's chin, turning his head and pressing the thermometer against his lips. Leo opened his mouth, but by the looks of it, he probably wasn't even realizing what he was doing. His eyes were closed again and sitting up seemed to be too tiring, since he was already starting to lean on Mikey. Mikey sighed, draping the blanket over Leo and wrapping his arms around him as he waited for the thermometer to do its job.

"They're not outside, Leo, they're at the lair. They're fine", Mikey spoke softly, unsure which one of them needed to hear that more. He was still afraid that something had happened, but what could he do? He couldn't just leave Leo. Leo mumbled something against the thermometer, too tired to properly speak. Mikey wasn't sure if Leo had even been listening to what he had said. But that was good, the best thing for a sick person was to sleep it off, right?

The thermometer beeped and Mikey was dragged back from his thoughts. When he checked the tiny screen he almost dropped the damn thing.

"104?" Mikey gasped, pushing Leo away in order to look at his face properly. His cheeks were flushed and he moaned quietly as he was moved. He blinked tiredly up at his younger brother.

' Alright… just gotta stay calm. But what the heck do I do?! '

"Leo, uh- how- how're you feeling?" Mikey asked nervously, but got no answer as Leo's head drooped and he moaned again. The sound wasn't loud, more like a small whimper, meaning that Leo was in pain again. Mikey noticed he was shivering again, too – he had no idea what to do. Should he make a cold bath? Would that bring down the fever? Or would it be too much? Panic began to fill him again, and Mikey helped Leo back down as he hurried to the window. Still no sign of anyone.

"Think, think", Mikey murmured to himself, biting his finger. He helped Leo take some painkillers – he had no idea how many he had already taken today – and dipped a cloth in cold water, placing it over Leo's forehead. As he was petting Leo's cheek a thought struck him – maybe the manhole was too heavy with snow and ice and Don and Raph just weren't able to lift the cover of the manhole, and were stuck inside the sewers, waiting for him to come help them. Mikey slapped himself for not realizing this sooner – and hurried to put on some clothing.

"Leo", Mikey stopped next to the couch before heading out. "I'll be back in a sec with Don, he can help – just hang on and stay still, alright?"

Leonardo looked like he didn't quite understand, his gaze so unfocused, and Mikey gave his shoulder one last pat before turning away. Before he could go any further he felt a tug on his neck, having to turn back to Leo, surprised to see him gripping the end of his scarf. Leo had grabbed a good handful of the cloth, and managed to drag Mikey back to the couch, pulling him all the way down to his knees. Just a moment ago he hadn’t been able to speak, and now he had the strength to drag Mikey around.

When he was down on his knees and face to face with Leo, Leo let go of the scarf and grabbed the front of his jacket to keep Mikey in place.

" No ", Leo ordered firmly, which didn't sound very firm considering his condition.

"What?" Mikey was caught off guard, not having expected Leo to try to stop him. Not having expected Leo to be able to stop him – well, not like he really was; his grip hadn’t been that strong, Mikey could’ve easily struggled free of it, and he could feel how Leo’s grip was slowly weakening on him. Seemed like even the fever couldn't defeat the big brother instinct. It was funny in some way, Mikey just didn't know in what way.

"They need my help, Leo – I'll be back in a sec . You won’t even notice I was ever gone!"

"No, if you go- the snow will- it's cold, too cold, it's…" Leo spoke in broken sentences, pausing to think about what he was talking about, until his confusion was clear on his face. "Is it cold? It's- kind of warm- hot, even- it feels warm, I…"

Leo was lost to his delirium, his eyes unfocused again. Mikey realized he was wasting time listening to him, Leo had no idea what was going around him, didn't know that there wasn't time to be wasted if Don and Raph were out there in the cold.

"Geez!" Mikey huffed, easily removing Leo's clingy hands from the front of his jacket and standing up. He knew that even in his feverish state Leo was still trying to care for him, but right now he'd be helping by just staying down. Mikey just hoped that Leo wouldn't try to get up again after he'd left. Not like he’d get far, but it was still better for the leader to stay still and rest.

He covered Leo with the blanket once again, and it looked like Leo had passed out. He had no idea if that was good or bad, but at least he wouldn’t be getting up soon. The sooner he'd get Don, the sooner he could help Leonardo.

It was colder down in the shop since it wasn't in use now, and all the heating was focused on the second floor. The dark shop was also kind of creepy; the wind was howling outside, trying to come in from every corner and crack. Nobody in their right mind would want to go outside in this weather.

As soon as he opened the door the wind almost smacked it back closed. And as he had expected, it was raining icy snow. It tingled his skin, almost hurting if he faced it right on. He turned his back to the wind, closing the door of the shop.

He didn't even get to turn away from the door; a huge chunk of hard, iced snow hanged from the edge of the roof, and the bang of the closed door made it fall down. Mikey had no idea what hit him; he was out cold before falling into the snow.

Chapter Text

Darkness coated the room as Don closed his laptop. The flashlight flickered in Raph’s hand flickered to life as Don stuffed his laptop into one of his bags, and in the light of the flashlights they left the lair. As soon as the door closed behind them Don facepalmed himself.

“What is it?” Raph asked impatiently, not looking forward to any more bad news.

“I just… realized that I could’ve charged my cell in the lair”, Don mumbled, embarrassed for not realizing it sooner.

“The power’s out now”, Raph pointed out.

“I have some spare batteries in the lab”, Don said, already turning back to the door.

“Doesn’t matter”, Raph said, grabbing his shoulder. “We’re going back now, anyways.”

“We took longer than expected because of the blackout and all”, Don spoke as he looked back in front of him, and they started the walk back towards April’s place. “You know he freaks out if the power goes out, and we don’t know if it was just the lair or the whole city.”

“Such a scaredy cat”, Raph mumbled, but Don was right. He had no idea how much time had passed, and if Mikey was alone with a very sick Leo with no way to contact them… He knew Mikey could handle the situation, but couldn’t help being worried about his brothers. But they couldn’t have been gone much longer than an hour anyways, Mikey could handle that much.

“I hope they’re doing fine”, Don said quietly.

“They’re better than us anyways”, Raph mumbled, fixing the collar of his jacket. “They’re inside a warm apartment and they don’t have to carry all these bags!”

The way back felt longer. They couldn’t run with all the things they were carrying, but they still tried to hurry. When they got to the manhole Raph put his bags down, climbed up the ladder and tried to push the cover up. It didn’t move.

“It probably froze over”, Don said, already deep in thought trying to come up with a solution. Raphael’s solution was to bang the cover with his fist, but he only got a numb hand from that. He still tried, but when he almost fell over, Don ordered him back down.

“So what now?” Raph asked once he was down again, crossing his arms.

“If I just had charged the cell…” Don mumbled and Raph felt a bang of guilt. It had been him who said they wouldn’t need it. Don seemed to notice and shook his head at him.

“We couldn’t have known”, Don said, frowning as he looked up to the sealed cover. “Actually, no, I should’ve known. I knew the weather was like this – I should’ve known it would freeze. I should’ve told Mikey to-“

Raphael grabbed Don’s shoulder, shaking him a bit. “Stop it, Don. Let’s just think of something else.”

It was rare for Raph to be the voice of reason – wait, wasn’t this the second time today already? – and Don sighed. He was, again, letting himself be consumed by the situation. This was probably the reason Leo was the leader – he could keep calm and collected even when the plan backfired. Most of the time, at least.

“The closest way up is to go back to the lair and use our garage to exit”, Don said after a moment, sounding defeated. The idea of having to go all the way back again and then walk to April’s in the snow did not sound appealing to either of them. “We can try some of the manholes on the way, but they’re probably covered with snow.”

“Why didn’t we just take the Battle Shell,” Raph mumbled. “The snow wouldn’t have hindered it.”

“Well, the power’s out”, Don said, and Raph lowered his head. Of course, no power, no elevator up to the garage. “And yes, the snow would’ve hindered it. There’s too much of it to drive.”

“The garage is not an option, then”, Raph crossed his arms. “The power’s probably still out.”

“It is. We have some spare generators – I’m just… not sure if the power would be enough”, Don closed his eyes to think. He didn’t want to make the trip to the lair again for nothing. What would they do if he couldn’t get the elevator running? They could both hear how the wind roared above them. By the time they’d even get to the surface the storm would’ve only picked up in volume. It would be difficult for two cold-blooded creatures – if they even found a way to get there.

“We don’t really have a choice, do we?”

As they walked back, the situation was weighting down both of them. They proceeded in silence, listening to the wind ruling the surface. It constantly reminded them how they’d soon be entering its icy kingdom, and even the mere thought was enough to make them shiver.

If they could get there.

“We have to call him”, Don said when they re-entered the lair, hurrying to change the batteries of the cell. “To let Mike know why we’re taking so long.”

Raph didn’t argue, just waited patiently until the cell came back to life. The cell informed them that Mikey had tried to call a few times, and Don wasted no time calling him back. The cell beeped, patiently waiting for someone to pick up in the other end, but nobody did. Not even after the second or third try. They called Leo’s cell as well, ending up with the same results.

Both of them felt cold, and this time it wasn’t caused by the winter.

As they worked to get the elevator up and running they both drowned themselves in the work. By thinking about something else they didn’t have to think about the unanswered calls.

Donatello was doing most of the work, while Raphael was handing him tools and helping with the things he could.

“This is taking too long”, Don muttered. He hadn’t had time to check on the status of the storm for a while, so he had no idea what was going on the surface. The howling of the wind was now audible through the pipes, and it didn’t sound good at all. He hoped April’s apartment could withstand the wind without anything breaking.

Eventually they got the generator running, and the elevator came back to life. They moved all their bags inside, already tired of having to carry them around, and stepped inside as well.

They held their breath as the elevator moved up, praying for the generator to be enough. They almost felt victorious, but probably shouldn’t have, because the elevator let out a loud groan and went dark, stopping. Raph grabbed the wall, prepared for the drop, but there was a loud noise outside the elevator and the drop never came.

Don leaned against the wall, letting himself fall into a sitting position, hiding his face behind his hands. It hadn’t been enough. They were stuck.

“Why didn’t we drop?” Raph asked, remembering the last time they went out of power and the elevator dropped. Nobody had gotten hurt, but it hadn’t been a pleasant experience. Raph had banged his shoulder, and it had ached for days.

“I installed emergency brakes after the last time”, Donatello explained with a faraway voice. Raphael felt his way around in the darkness, finding Don curled up against the wall. Raph kicked one of the bags out of the way, sitting next to him. It was a bit chilly in the elevator, and they could hear the wind howling inside their garage. They weren’t far. They had gotten close, but not close enough.

“Don…” Raph started, but Don shook his head, even though Raph couldn’t see it in the dark.

“Don’t, Raph. Don’t try to tell me it isn’t my fault. We’re even further from getting topside than we were before this. I knew the risk, yet I took it.”

“You know we can just open the hatch on the roof and get out”, Raph said, trying to remain calm. Don’s mood was slowly starting to get on his nerves; it felt like every time they faced a problem Don was ready to give up. He knew that wasn’t the case, that Don just needed time to collect himself, but still, it was starting to get annoying.

“I know, but we’d have to leave most of our stuff here”, Don said silently. The trip would’ve been for nothing. Leaving Mikey and Leo alone would’ve been for nothing .

“We can bring some”, Raph said, getting back on his feet and trying to reach for the top of the elevator, but he wasn’t tall enough. “Little help?”

Leo woke up gasping, trying to find air to fill his lungs with. He rolled off of the couch onto the floor, his vision becoming blurry at the edges as he fought his own throat choking him. Eventually he managed to take a raspy breath, taking a long gulp of sweet air, only managing to make himself start coughing. Luckily it wasn’t as violent as before, but after it was over he lay on the floor, waiting for his heart to stop beating so wildly. It didn’t.

He realized that a ringtone was playing somewhere, the sound too loud in the otherwise silent apartment. Sluggishly he moved his head, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from, realizing he was on the floor. His muscles ached, but he managed to turn himself on his plastron and then push himself up on his knees.

The headache came with no warning, momentarily blinding him – and at the same time he felt sick, fearing he’d throw up. He leaned against the couch, gritted his teeth as he waited for the nausea to pass. It faded, but left him with an uneasy feeling. Which had nothing to do with his sickness – he realized he was alone.

He looked around again, blinking hard to keep his vision clear. Why was the room dark? The cell had stopped ringing, and the apartment was too silent. Only the raging storm could be heard. Storm – Leo remembered, he had tried to stop Mikey from leaving, but hadn’t succeeded.

With shaking legs Leo pushed himself up and went to the window, but it was already too dark to see much of anything.

The only thing he knew for sure was that this was the only place declared safe, and he was alone in here. Meaning his brothers were out there, not safe.

The way down to the shop was difficult. His joints and muscles protested every movement, and he fell the last two steps of the stairs, landing hard on his knees and hands. He whimpered as the headache flared up again, holding his head with both hands until the nausea died down enough to get back up.

Leonardo leaned against the cold door, shivering. He wasn’t wearing his winter clothing, there hadn’t been time to think about something like clothes when he wasn’t sure where his brothers were or where he was even going to start looking. It didn’t matter that he could hardly stand; his feverish mind had only one goal. To find his brothers.

He tried to push the door open, but it wouldn’t budge. Frustration washed over his already exhausted mind, and he took a step back to kick the door, until he realized that the door opened the other way around. He shook, overwhelmed by his weakness and stupidness, another wave of dizziness washing over him, almost taking him down.

Leo shielded himself from the merciless wind when the door finally opened, staring at the whiteness the city was being buried under. It was dark, but the nearby streetlights illuminated the street. Not like they were much help; the wind was blowing almost sideways, not giving him much vision.

But he didn’t need it; Leo stepped forward, his leg hitting something, causing him to almost fell over. As Leo lowered his gaze his heart sank.

Mikey lay on the ground, and a good amount of snow had already rained on him. Leo was immediately kneeling next to him, wrapping his arms around him, trying to lift him up. Mikey’s skin was ice to his touch, especially since the fever was burning him up. They were horrible contrasts, the other burning while the other was freezing.

Mikey was breathing – he was breathing , Leo’s fear died down a little, but just a little. He managed to lift Mikey’s upper body, holding Mikey on his lap to shield him from the wind, but he knew he was too weak to carry him. He leaned over Mikey, face close to his, hand on his cheek.

“Mikey”, he called his brother weakly, cringing at how quiet his voice was. “Mikey!” he tried again, but his voice wasn’t much louder. The wind swallowed his attempts to wake up his brother.

The wind was merciless, making him shiver despite his fever and huddle close to Mikey. Snow was falling on them, melting against Leo’s hot skin. The cold cleared his thoughts a bit, and he knew they couldn’t stay here. They had to move.

But staring at Michelangelo’s pale face had numbed him. Seeing him limp, face down in the snow- for a moment, he had thought that-

Leo was tired, he didn’t want to move. Relieved, too- Mikey was alive, breathing, so he only wanted to hold him. He could. Could stay here, give his little brother warmth that radiated from his burning body. Could hold him. Should hold him.

You can’t! screamed his reason, almost defeated by the fever. Why couldn’t he? Leo’s eyelids were drooping again; the cold had already numbed his fingers, made him drowsy as worry slowly left him. He pressed his forehead against Mikey’s, startled by how cold even Mikey’s face really was. He had momentarily forgotten, since his fingers had gone numb, unable to feel it. But now he realized Mikey was cold and getting colder and he had to move.

Leonardo gathered his strength and moved himself so he could place his hands under Mikey’s elbows, starting to drag him back inside. Mikey was heavy, and his clothes had gotten heavier from all the ice sticking to them.

As soon as he had gotten Mikey inside and away from the door Leo was kneeling again, desperately trying to open the buttons of Mikey’s jacket. Even in his condition he knew Mikey couldn’t stay in his cold clothes, they’d just suck out all the remaining warmth. His numb fingers were unable to perform the task, so he just tore the jacket open, ripping off some of the buttons and causing them to scatter around. He had no idea how long Mikey had been in the snow and he hadn’t even known, letting the snow bury him, letting him-

“Mikey, wake up”, Leo tried again, shaking him. No response. Dizziness washed over him again, and Leo didn’t know if it was the fever or just the horrible worry he was feeling again. He had to push Mikey onto his side in order to remove the clothing, and even such a small thing was exhausting. Tearing open the jacket had taken too much out of him and he laughed a bitter, shaky, scared laugh, making himself cough- he had no idea how he had managed to drag Mikey inside.

When the clothes had been thrown away Leo hovered over Mikey’s face again, placing his hands on either side of his head. He was shaking, almost falling over on top of Mikey.

“Mikey!” he rasped, slapping his cold cheek. Leo felt like choking again, trying to stop his hands from shaking. What was he supposed to do? He knew the answer was obvious, but his mind was too foggy to think properly. He took a shaky breath, trying to calm himself down – but as he looked at Mikey’s pale, unresponsive face, his thoughts become blurry again. He just wanted to stop thinking, stop hurting, stop being so afraid- he wasn’t used to reacting like this, he could usually keep his calm, but now- he just wanted Mikey to wake up-

“ Please ”, he whispered. He was pretty much lying on top of Mikey now, too tired to hold himself up. Mikey was too cold; he hoped his own body-warmth would bring at least some warmth to Mikey. Warmth… that’s what he was supposed to be doing. Warming Mikey up, he was probably hypothermic- yes, the heaviness in his mind was fading, he had to get Mikey up in the second floor, under the blankets-

“ Geez , Leo, when did you get so fat ?”

Leo’s head shot up, and he looked down at Mikey with wide eyes. Mikey’s voice was weak, but he greeted Leo with a tiny grin.

“I like you too and all, but maybe this isn’t the right time for this, huh?” Mikey continued his joking with a weak voice, referring to the way Leo was on top of him. Leo hurried to get up, never taking his eyes away from Mikey.

Mikey made a move to get up, but decided it wasn’t a good idea. The movement made his head hurt and he was aching all over, feeling very, very cold. Kind of confused, as well; he looked around, moving his head as little as possible, not really registering where he was even though April’s shop was more than familiar to him.

Leo grabbed his arm, and Mikey hadn’t even realized how numb he was until Leo started rubbing it in order to get his blood flowing again. Leo’s touch was almost too warm, and the warmth returning to him made his cold skin tingle uncomfortably. Mikey kind of wanted to drag his hand away from Leo, but was too weak to do so.

“Mikey”, Leo said, and Mikey wouldn’t have known he was speaking had he not been watching his face. Mikey’s eyes got a bit wide – he remembered now, Leo had a wicked fever, and here he was, kneeling on the cold floor with him! He was on the floor, right?

“Leo, you- you should be sleeping- wh, why are we even here?” Mikey got confused towards the end of his sentence, his teeth clattering as he spoke. He tried to look around again, but was stopped by Leo’s hand cupping his cheek, bringing his eyes back to Leo’s face.

“Need you to walk the stairs”, Leo tried to make his sentence as short as he could, and Mikey could just barely understand what he was saying. Mikey blinked up at him a few times before groaning.

“No, I’m good here… don’t wanna move…” Mikey mumbled, closing his eyes. Yeah, it was cold lying here, and the warmth returning to him felt uncomfortable, but he knew that moving would’ve been more uncomfortable. And right now he was uncomfortable enough.

Leonardo tried to haul him up, but he didn’t even budge. Mikey let out a tiny laugh, because hey, it was funny.

“Guess I’m the fat one”, Mikey chuckled at Leo’s attempts, suddenly finding the situation very funny despite the cold that made his voice shake. Leo didn’t agree- he felt horrible, and Mikey wasn’t making any sense, he wasn’t even trying to get up. Leo had to shut his eyes for a moment when black dots danced in his eyes. All he had been doing had been thanks to the sudden adrenaline and the worry, and now the first was starting to fade, leaving him more and more exhausted.

“You okay?” Mikey asked, having seemed to forget the fact that Leo was sick, even though he had remembered it just a moment ago. Leo forced his eyes open, grabbing Mikey’s shoulders again to shake him.

“ Get up ”, he commanded. Mikey lolled his head to the side, completely ignoring Leo. Mike never ignored him when he used his I’m your leader, obey me -voice, but guess the fever didn’t really make him sound that convincing. That, or Mikey wasn’t even listening. His frustration grew and he slapped Mikey again.

That seemed to get his attention, since Mikey turned his face back towards him and looked like he had just been deeply wounded.

“W-what was that for?” Mikey asked, trying to sound dramatic. Leo didn’t care, he knew Mikey always joked, no matter the situation, but he knew Mikey would’ve been helping him had he been in his right mind. He obviously wasn’t, so he focused on trying to get him up.

“You”, he started, “have to”, Leo strengthened his grip, “get up!”

Michelangelo groaned again, finally moving into a sitting position. As soon as he was up he buried his face into his hands, moaning as he leaned against Leo.

“Ow, my head…” he mumbled, and Leo realized that Mikey had gotten hit by something. His instincts flared up again – had someone tried to hurt Mikey? Was that the reason he had collapsed? Was there still some threat outside? He had not seen any wounds, but now he felt the need to check, but couldn’t since Mikey was leaning on him. He tried to push Mikey away in order to get up and go check, but Mikey was putting even more of his weight on him.

“Mik-“, Leo started, but suddenly Mikey’s whole weight was on him and he toppled over, too weak to hold Michelangelo’s weight. He fell down on his shell with Mikey on top of him.

The sudden movement made Leo breathless – or maybe it was Mikey’s weight on him, he didn’t really know – and he felt nauseous again. Mikey seemed to feel quite the opposite; his skin was still cold, and the returning warmth was starting to feel nice instead of bad, so Leo’s warm skin felt very welcoming. Mikey cuddled against Leo, pressing their bodies together and pretty much preventing Leo from moving, locking him in his grip.

Leo’s patience was at its end – he would’ve let Mikey stay close for warmth, but not now! His own condition wasn’t getting any better like this, or was it? His mind had cleared up, since he was able to think about what was good for them instead of just… laying still. Expect that now he was doing exactly that, just being still, since Mikey had him in his death grip. He was about to command him again, but realized that his voice had come to the end of its journey. No matter how much he tried to form a sound nothing came out, only leaving him with the choking feeling again.

He tried to push Mikey up, but Mike didn’t even seem to feel his efforts. He was burying his face against Leo’s neck, sleepily mumbling something. Leonardo felt useless and kind of pathetic. Mikey obviously needed more warmth than just Leo’s warmth, yet Leo could do nothing, could only struggle under his brother. He had no idea what would happen if they continued staying here – he felt a chill and realized that the door had been left open. The wind was easily getting in, but Leo hadn’t had time to notice since he had been so worried. Or was he really that feverish that he hadn’t noticed? It was quite noticeable, and now that he was paying attention, he realized how cold the room really was. They couldn’t stay.

But he had to admit… Mikey’s cool skin and the chilliness of the room felt really nice against his own hot skin. It made him feel kind of lightheaded, in a good way. In a way where it was easy to just observe the things happening around him without feeling the need to interfere. It was also kind of nice of Mikey to be so close, they rarely were these days. Mikey would sometimes come to his or one of their brothers rooms, seeking comfort after a nightmare. But that was pretty much all the closeness he had had with his brothers in a long time, so yeah, it was nice. He thought about Don and Raph, but couldn’t remember where they had gone. The last thing he remembered was Don’s hand under his head, his worried look- but why had he been worried? It was nice here with Mikey, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. He was feeling very drowsy all of a sudden.

Don, Raph- it was important to know where they were, if they were safe. That’s what he was supposed to worry about. Leo touched the edge of Mikey’s shell, trying to tell him to move, but ending up confused as to why his voice wouldn’t come out. The roof of the shop swam in his eyes, and without another thought his hand fell back to the floor.

The emergency hatch was difficult to get open, but a few good punches managed to do the trick. Raph climbed up, taking the bags Don gave to him and placing them on top of the elevator. After that he helped Don up and they strapped the bags on their shells. They had to leave some of them in the elevator, or climbing would be impossible.

They used their shuko spikes to climb up the wall of the elevator shaft, but the process was slow. The cables of the elevator constantly got on their way, and the shaft wasn’t very big, making it narrow for them and their bags. And it was dark, they had no idea how much further they’d have to climb. The howling of the wind told them they were getting closer, though.

Raph was climbing first since he would be the one prying the elevator doors open once they got there. He was carefully making his next move, placing the spikes on the wall when he heard Don curse from below him. Rare, but he wasn’t surprised, considering his current mood.

“You okay?” Raph asked, a bit worried to ask. What more did they need, hadn’t everything already gone wrong?

Don didn’t answer him, so Raph tried to glance down, even though he knew he couldn’t see anything. “Don?”

“I’m… fine”, Don said hesitantly, and Raph could hear him shuffle around, the bags grinding against the cables. He knew Don wasn’t moving since he couldn’t hear the sound of the spikes, so he waited for Don to elaborate.

Don sighed, and his sigh sounded defeated. He was getting tired of constantly making things more difficult for them. When would it be enough?

“I’m… stuck. On the cables. One of the bags…”

Yep, Raph had been right to be worried to ask. He hated how Don was already blaming himself, once again, but he’d have time to scold him later.

“Alright… um… you need help?”

“No, I’m working on it”, Don said. They both knew that Raph couldn’t get to him anyways; there wasn’t enough room for that.

Don weighed his options; he’d need to let go of the wall and turn in order to reach his back, but leaning away from the wall could loosen the hold of the shuko spikes on the wall, and the weight of the bags could pull him down. He could hold on to the cable, though, so he-

But before he could move they heard something break above them, making a loud noise. They held their breath, and were able to feel something dropping past them, clattering on the top of the elevator under them.

“Don, what the hell was that?” Raph asked, pressing himself closer to the wall in fear that more stuff would fall and hit them.

Donatello had a very, very bad feeling.

“There shouldn’t be anything in here expect the cables and the parts holding them”, Don explained slowly, trying to stay as still as he could in order to not move the cable he was stuck in. “I think… I think the cold has made the cables weak.”

It was obvious what that meant, but Raph had to think about it for a while. When he realized he felt his heart sink, and he was already getting ready to move back down. Don sensed his movements and snapped his head up.

“Don’t!” he said, a bit panicked, and Raph stopped.

“What? Like hell I’m just gonna wait for the elevator to drop and drag you down with it”, Raph growled, but stayed still, only because of the panic he had heard in Don’s voice.

“Just don’t move, Raph, try to not touch the cable”, Don hissed. Raph understood, but the anxiety made him want to move, to do something. It frustrated him beyond words that any movement would just make things worse.

One of the cables gave up, whipping the walls as it fell. It was impossible to see it in the dark, so Raph let out a surprised yelp as it hit struck him in the arm, tearing open the fabric of his clothing as well as his skin.

“Raph!” Don yelled when he heard his yelp.

“I’m fine, the damn cable just startled me”, he lied, trying to inspect the wound, but it was impossible in the dark. It stung and he knew he was bleeding. But as long as he could climb, it didn’t matter.

Don knew that if he couldn’t get himself free soon the falling elevator would drag him all the way down with him, and even though his shell had saved him from many falls, he wasn’t sure if it could do that this time. The fall was long and the drag of the elevator would make his fall even harder.

But how could he get free if any movement was risking the rest of the cables coming down? Don held his eyes closed for a moment, taking a deep breath. He’d have to be fast.

As carefully as he could he risked letting go with his other hand, reaching behind himself and feeling the surface of the bag in order to find how he had gotten stuck. At the tug the cable made another sound, more parts falling down. Finally the cable itself snapped, and with it the other cables gave up as well. Don couldn’t feel the wall under his hands anymore as the cable yanked him down.

The falling cables scraped the walls as they fell past Raphael, and the crash of the elevator hitting the bottom drowned his yell.

Chapter Text

Mikey hadn’t even realized that he had fallen asleep until he opened his eyes. He was immediately greeted by a headache, oh , how he hated those- and the cold. The room was cold, he was cold – everything was cold. Expect for the thing he was laying on.

Leo. He was on top of Leo, and they were both on the floor. That was... confusing. Mikey tried to move, managing to lift his weight off of Leo, but ended up stumbling. His upper body was warm, probably thanks to Leo, but his legs felt cold and numb.

Thinking about what had happened only made his head hurt, so he turned to his brother, who was clearly unconscious. Fever, he remembered, but remembering cost him a sharp pain in the back of his head. He ignored it, reaching for Leo to shake him. Leonardo woke up slowly, looking like he regretted that decision immediately. Mikey knew how he felt.

Now that he wasn’t pressed up against Leo the coldness of the room was getting to him, and he rested his hands on Leo’s warm skin. “Leo, i-it’s really cold”, Mikey stuttered the obvious. Leo was so pleasantly warm; Mikey felt almost jealous and wanted to just snuggle back against him and forget everything else. But the floor probably wasn’t the best place, so they could use the change of environment. Mikey was realizing that they were down in April’s shop – how, no idea. Hadn’t Leo just been up on the couch, and he had been there with him?

Leonardo mouthed Mikey’s name, not remembering he couldn’t speak until he had opened his mouth. His world was reduced to the feeling of burning and aching and he grabbed Mikey’s cold arm, trying to reach some kind of comfort. There were no clear thoughts, only a heavy fog clouding his mind, and Mikey’s cold skin beneath his fingers didn’t ease his feverish mind.

Mikey tried standing up, but his legs failed him. He flexed them for a while to get the blood moving again, cringing when the feeling returned to them. He pushed himself up and took a few careful steps to test his legs before turning back to Leo. He kneeled back down to help him up, feeling weak, but he managed to support Leo’s weight. His brother didn’t look pleased about being moved, a small whimper leaving him.

“Sorry, Leo”, Mikey croaked, startled at how raspy his voice had become.

After getting Leo to use his own legs he started dragging him towards the stairs. It took them a long time to climb them, effectively stripping both of them of their remaining strength. Both of them collapsed on their knees as soon as they got up to the second floor. Mikey realized he was shaking and was feeling nauseous, not wanting to ever get up again. The floor wasn’t comfortable, but the second floor was much warmer, and he was content here.

He realized that the apartment was dark, the only light coming from the glow of the street lamps outside. Mikey groaned, he still didn’t want to move, but forced himself to do so anyways. Leo had gone limp again, so he had to drag him closer to the center of the room. With aching muscles Mikey dragged the blankets down from the couch, draping them over Leo. His head hurt too much, he didn’t have the energy to lift Leo up from the floor, so the floor would have to do, once again. The heating system had made the apartment warm, and even the floor felt like a warm bed compared to the shop. This would do.

He lay down next to Leo, huddling as close as possible. With both of them under the blankets and finally surrounded by warmth Mikey felt drowsy again, knowing somewhere in his mind that he shouldn’t fall asleep while he still felt numb and his head hurt, but he couldn’t resist the call of sleep. He felt warm and comfortable, if he ignored the pain in his head, but at the same time he knew that Leo still needed something for his fever, and he probably needed something for the headache. He just didn’t know what and he only wanted to sleep.

Leo’s breath was rattling, and Mikey whimpered as he listened to it. He wanted to help but he knew he was useless; he gripped Leonardo harder, snuggling close and giving himself up to his headache and exhaustion.

“ Don! ” Raph yelled again, feeling his heart hammering against his chest. The crash had been loud in his ears, and now it was too quiet. He knew how long the drop was, knew Don had been caught in the wire, knew that said wire must’ve pulled him down with it. But Don couldn’t, no, no -

“Still here, Raph!”

Don’s voice didn’t come from the bottom of the shaft; it sounded like Don was where he had been before the cables had given up. Raph pressed his forehead against the wall, taking deep, calming breaths. One of these days he would have a heart attack.

“You stop scaring me like that”, Raph groaned, heart still racing like crazy. But now he realized that Don’s voice had sounded more distant than before, meaning that something had happened. “Did you fall? You alright?”

“I’m fine”, Don said, and Raph could hear him climbing again. As Raph listened to the sounds he realized that Don had dropped quite a long way, so he had a lot of climbing to do. “I managed to get free from the cable until I hit the bottom. It was still a bit too close, though…”

“Yeah. Tell me about it”, Raph mumbled, still not sure if he was over the panic he had felt. He was still tense, ready for something else to go wrong since it seemed like there were no breaks for them today.

“Man”, Don groaned. His voice was steadily coming closer. “Those cables aren’t easy to repair. The mess I’m going to have to fix once we come back…”

Raph laughed a bit. It felt good to laugh. It felt good to think about coming back, felt good to think about this whole thing being over. Not like he was going to let anyone close to this elevator for a while, though. “That’s what you get when you do such a shitty job attaching elevator cables.”

As soon as the words left his mouth he winced. Even in the dark he could feel how Don flinched, and Raph wanted to punch himself. “No, Don, I didn’t mean-“

“I know”, Don said quietly. “Let’s just get out of here.”

The elevator doors were pretty well closed. Raph picked his sai from his belt, using it to pry the doors open. The movement made pain flare up in his wounded arm, surprising him so that he couldn’t stop the yelp escaping from his lips. The pain had been more like background noise, forgotten when the elevator fell, but now he was definitely remembering the pain again.

“Raph! What’s wrong?” Don asked worriedly from below him. Thick liquid dripped on his plastron and hands, and he frowned, bringing his hand closer to his face to smell it. Startled, he drew his hand away.

“Raph, are you bleeding?”  

Raph only grunted in response, ignoring the pain in order to get the doors open. He had had enough of the elevator shaft and just wanted out.

The garage was dark and eerie, but Raph was glad to have solid ground under his legs. He put his sai away, turning to help Donnie up from the shaft. Donatello grabbed his hand, not letting go even when they were safely away from the elevator.

“You’re hurt”, Don said; it wasn’t a question anymore. Raphael could be so stubborn, not even telling him he had been hurt.

“It’s nothing”, Raph said, yanking his arm away. Raph wanted to get to Mikey and Leo, the arm could wait that long.

“It’s not nothing if you’re bleeding”, Don said, and the way his tone was changing Raph knew he couldn’t get out of doctor Don’s grabby hands. He gave up and groaned, waiting until Don had dug out his flashlight from one of the bags.

“Left arm”, Raph mumbled.

Don carefully grabbed his arm, touching the edge of the wound. After seeing the wound he let him go, but glared at him in the darkness. Without saying anything he walked to the Battle Shell resting in the garage, finding the first-aid kit they kept there. He came back with some gauze, still glaring at Raph. He made Raphael hold the flashlight with his good arm as he treated his wound.

“You could’ve told me”, Don said.

“We were kind of busy down there”, Raph pointed out.

They were silent as Don worked, the atmosphere heavy. Don said nothing, and Raph didn’t know what to say. They were tired, annoyed and worried, so maybe it was for the best to say nothing.

After fixing up Raph’s arm they walked through the garage, listening to the howling wind and getting mentally prepared for the cold. When they got to the exit Don turned the flashlight off, kneeling to grab the bottom of the door, glancing up at Raph when he didn’t do the same, even though he couldn’t really see him now that the flashlight was turned off.

“Listen, Don…” Raph said, and Don could feel Raph grab his arm, implying for him to get back up. Don did, almost putting the flashlight back on to see Raphael’s face better since his tone sounded so serious.

“About what I said. That you did a shitty job”, Raph began, sounding self-conscious. Don could almost imagine the face he was making as he spoke, how Raph couldn’t look Don in the eyes even in the darkness. He could only see the edges of Raphael’s face. “You know I didn’t mean it like that. Had you not taken us here we’d probably still be in the sewers with no way out.”

Don chuckled a bit. It was true he had been blaming himself, especially since Raph had most likely gotten his wound by being hit by the falling wires… which had been his fault. Now that he thought about it more he knew the cables had given up most likely because of the extreme weather change, like he had briefly suspected, but he felt like he should’ve known. He was always the one who had to know .

“I know you didn’t mean it”, Don said gently, a bit amused that Raphael was worried about what he had said and took the time to make sure Don wasn’t blaming himself. He really did know that his brother didn’t blame him. Raph always said all kinds of stuff without thinking – they knew he didn’t mean them, but sometimes they still stung. “It’s just hard to not feel like I’m the one to blame. But we should probably go, we-“

Raphael cut him off by pulling him into a tight hug. Don was totally caught off guard, and for a moment he didn’t know what to do. Raph? Hugging him? Had the cable hit him in the head too?

“I thought you fell”, Raph said quietly, filling Don with understanding. He placed his hands on Raphael’s shell, hugging him back.

“I’m here, Raph”, he mumbled against Raph’s shoulder.

They stood still for a while, taking comfort in each other’s presence. They came close to losing each other almost every day, but sometimes it just- when Raph was in the dark, thinking he had lost Don- No matter how often it happened, it wasn’t something you could just get used to. They had gotten out, all that was left was to walk back. But that wasn’t enough comfort – he needed to hold Don, even if just for a moment.

The next, harsh blow of the wind outside made them part and they turned their attention back to the door.

“Alright, here we go”, Raph said, wanting the comfort to linger but the sappiness to be forgotten. He grunted as they opened the door of the garage, usually meant for the Battle Shell to exit. The door was heavy with snow and ice, and for a moment they feared it wouldn’t open. Eventually it did, and they were immediately greeted by the wind. The greeting felt like a wet, painful smack across the cheek, and they hurried to start the journey. They were a bit shocked by the force of the weather, even though they had expected it to be bad. Just not this bad.

It was already dark, but some of the streetlights seemed to be working. They trusted that their clothing and the wind hid them well enough. Going to the roof would’ve been beyond stupid, the wind was strong enough to prevent them from jumping from roof to roof. They rarely got to walk the streets, and perhaps this would’ve been nice without all the snow and cold.

“The way to April’s never felt this long”, Raph yelled after they had walked – or more like waded; the snow was up to their knees – for a while. He had to yell in order to be heard over the shrieking of the wind.

The cold was getting to them, and Don wasn’t sure which was slowing them down more, the wading or the cold. He shivered, about to answer Raph, but someone grabbed his arm and turned him around.

“You, give me your wallet or-“, the guy who had grabbed him went silent when he saw Don’s face. His scarf hid almost half of his face, but the human still recognized him.

“Turtle!” he yelled in surprise, and the group of thugs behind him all grabbed their weapons. Some of them had purple tattoos on their faces, revealing them to be Purple Dragons. It would’ve been hard to tell otherwise, since they were all wearing a lot of heavy clothing. Which didn’t make them look very intimidating.

“What, you losers can’t take a break even when the sky’s falling down?” Raph grumbled, tossing his bags aside and grabbing his sais.

“Raph, we don’t have the time!” Don protested as he kicked away the guy grabbing him, but having to draw his own weapon when the rest of the gang attacked.

“What do you want me to do, then?” Raph asked, already thrilled by the fact that there was butt to kick. They had been stuck inside the lair for a long time because of the harsh winter; he had really missed being in a real battle. Not like the Purple Dragons ever meant a real battle, but hey, it was something.

He was tired and cold, but the adrenaline suddenly surging through him made him forget that. The Purple Dragons should’ve just stayed inside in the warm.

Three of the Dragons went down easily when Don swung his bō-staff. However, the movement made him almost fall over; the snow made it difficult to move properly, and he was still carrying his own bags. The cold was also affecting him and Raphael more than the humans, and Don got a taste of that when a chain wrapped itself across his arm, yanking him forward and sending him down in the snow.

Raphael growled, sending one of the thugs down with a punch to the face. He hated clothes – they just slowed him down. Another thug went down, then a third – real cowards, trying to steal from people with such a huge group. Well, the police probably had a lot of other stuff to worry about in such weather, so of course this pathetic group took advantage of that. Barely anybody was out in this weather, so the gang had probably been on their way to break into somewhere.

He sent another punch, but when he glanced at Don he saw him down on the ground, the Dragons circling around him. Raph hurried to get closer, but was stopped by two of the thugs.

“Outta my way”, he growled a warning, but someone grabbed him from behind, easily lifting him up from the ground.

He struggled, trying to move his head to see who had been able to lift him up. The guy was almost as tall as Hun and paid no attention to Raphael’s attempts to kick him. “Let me go, dammit!”

Don had managed to get back onto his feet by tackling the closest thugs, but had taken a few punches in the process. His lip was bleeding and the chain was still around his arm, but he had managed to knock the chain’s wielder unconscious with a heavy blow with his staff. Getting up and moving around was hard since he still carried the extra weight. Luckily he was used to carrying things while he fought.

Almost half of the Purple Dragons were already out of the game. They knew the turtles weren’t that easy to take down, why weren’t they running away already? Was it really worth fighting in this weather?

He got his answer when he heard Raph yell out in frustration and turned around to look. At first he thought the one holding Raph was Hun – but no, he wasn’t as huge as he was. Huge enough to be holding Raph above ground and by the looks of it, crush him against his chest.

The cocky gang members were easy to defeat now that Don was back on his feet – a few swipes of his bō and they stumbled into the snow. It didn’t take long, but by the time he was finished he could hear Raph yelling in pain.

When he dashed to help his brother he saw that the situation had changed; the big guy was holding Raph up by his wounded arm, digging his fingers into the wound Raphael had gotten earlier in the elevator shaft.

“Poor thing was already hurt”, the guy grinned. “Let’s hurt him more.”

“How about not”, Don hissed, and the guy turned to look at him in surprise. Don’s bō came towards his head fast, but the guy managed to grab it with only one hand. It was Don’s turn to be surprised, and it cost him; the guy tightened his grip on the bō, yanking it away from Don’s cold fingers and throwing it away in the snow.

“Another turtle”, the guy said, sounding amused. Guess he was new around here.

Raphael took advantage of the guy’s attention being on Don, kicking the guy against his ribs as hard as he could. He was freed, but the guy only groaned, not as hurt from the kick as Raph would’ve liked.

Raph stumbled away from him, not wanting to get caught in those arms again. His hand had been hurting before, and now the pain seemed to be twice as bad. He gritted his teeth, searching for his sai he had dropped. The snow made finding it difficult, but finally he felt the handle of the weapon. His fingers were numb from the cold, but he held onto his weapon with his good arm.

It had already been dark, but suddenly the streetlights flickered, going out completely. They were in almost complete darkness now, and Raph grinned, ready to attack. He never got the chance when a three-fingered hand grabbed his good arm, dragging him away from the fight.

“Hey!” he yelled, but followed Don anyways. He didn’t know if Don had gotten hurt, and alright, the pain in his arm wasn’t going anywhere. They were blindly running in the snow, but they were used to moving in the dark. The streets were familiar, not as familiar as the rooftops, but they found their way. Besides, the white snow was easier to see than black asphalt would’ve been.

They didn’t know if anyone came after them; the wind’s howling was deafening now. They turned into an alleyway, holding their breath to listen. Nobody was coming.

“Let’s go”, Raph grunted. His teeth were starting to clatter together.

“You’re bleeding again. We can’t risk them following us”, Don said, glad he had taken the gauze with him. He re-bandaged Raphael’s arm, feeling how Raph squirmed slightly under his touch. He felt sympathy, having someone dig into your wound like that…

Raph groaned suddenly. “The bags- I left them back there.“

“Doesn’t matter”, Don said. “We’re close, let’s just go. I’m freezing.”

“No, you go on ahead, I’ll go get them”, Raph argued.

“No, we’re not getting split up now”, Don said firmly. “You know they’re searching for us.”

Raphael turned, swatting Don’s hand away as he tried to grab him. “I didn’t do the whole trip to the lair and back for nothing .”

Raph was running, knowing they hadn’t gotten that far from the place where they had fought and hoping the Purple Dragons had decided it would be better to go home. He didn’t know if Don was following him or not, he just wanted to grab the bags and get out of the cold. He knew he couldn’t fight anymore, he could barely even feel his fingers.

Now that he was getting closer to the spot Raph moved quietly, even though he knew that the wind pretty much hid him. He could hear the thugs talking, getting their unconscious friends up from the snow, but nobody had touched the bags Raph had tossed aside. Hadn’t probably noticed them yet, since even Raph had to search for them for a while, feeling his way around in the snow, finally getting his hands on them. He even found the bō Don had dropped, taking it with him.

Donatello couldn’t believe that Raph had just decided to turn around when they were so close. He shivered, rubbing his cold arms. He wasn’t jacked up on adrenaline as much as Raph was, so when he stood still, the cold bit hard.

“Stupid Raph”, he muttered, starting to jog after him. “I swear, I- mmfhp !”

Someone clamped a hand over his mouth, and Don couldn’t believe this was the second time in such a short time that someone managed to sneak up behind him. He raised his fist to knock the one behind him, but his hand was grabbed and brought behind his back, twisting it painfully. He screamed against the hand over his mouth, trying to kick, but when that wasn’t useful either he realized that it was the big guy from earlier who was holding him.

“I knew you’d be around”, the guy laughed against Don’s ear, making Don turn his head away. “Where’s the other one?”

The hand fell from his mouth, but Don said nothing, only struggled against the grip.

“Fine, we’ll just wait.”

Raph was running back, not because he had the strength to, but because he thought he’d freeze otherwise. Don hadn’t come after him, making him frown. Well, they had no idea how Mike and Leo were doing, so Raph kind of understood why he had decided to go on ahead. Also, had he mentioned it was cold as hell? Well, hell wasn’t the right word, exactly. But he understood Don’s choice. Maybe he was just too used to someone running after him when he decided to storm off.

Raph took a shortcut they had missed earlier when they had been running blindly. It took him to April’s faster.

There weren’t footprints in front of April’s shop. Raph glanced behind him to see how quick his own steps were being buried under the constantly falling snow. Not fast enough for Don’s steps to have disappeared so quickly. Was Don still out there, searching for him, not knowing he had used the shortcut? Raph dragged a hand over his face; Don could still be there, thinking the thugs had seen him. Don could accidently get involved with the gang again if he thought Raph had started a fight again. He looked back at the street, looking at the darkness. The street had never looked so long and dark.

“Damn it. Damn it ”, Raph cursed, wading towards the door of the shop. He’d just check on Mikey and Leo and leave the bags, then go after Don-

The door was open. Still no fresh footsteps, so it couldn’t have been Don. But the door was open, and no way his brothers would’ve just left it open. It meant they had left in hurry, or someone had come in by force. And if they had left, they were still out in the cold, meaning that all three of his brothers were out there somewhere in the cold. And if they hadn’t left, it meant they hadn’t been able to close the door.

Both options made Raph’s breathing seize- thinking about feverish Leo, unable to defend himself or Mikey facing the intruders alone-

He kicked the door open fully, feeling the wall for the light switch, finding it, but no lights came on. He cursed again, picking up his flashlight and looking around. The wind had blown snow in, and some of it had melted into puddles of water. He followed the water inside, and saw Mikey’s clothes in a wet pile. They were a bit torn- they had been removed in a hurry. Shit, if Mikey was out without his winter clothing…

The apartment was silent; no way there was anyone here, anymore. Unless the intruders had known there was four of them, and now they were waiting in the second floor to attack the rest. If someone was there he knew they had heard him kick the door, so he didn’t have the element of surprise anymore.

“ Mikey! ” he bellowed while stomping up the stairs. “ Leo! ”

“What’s taking him so long?” the man asked, shivering. He had taken shelter in a narrower alleyway, managing to escape the wind this way. Don’s hands and legs had been tied, and he was lying in the snow next to the big guy. The man was leaning against the alley’s wall, cursing when the wind wasn’t letting him lit his cigarette. He kept his other leg on top of Don, occasionally giving his shell a kick, just out of boredom. Don was on his side, and every time the man kicked him he fell on his plastron. He struggled to get back onto his side only because otherwise he’d have to lay his face in the snow. No thanks, he was cold enough already.

In fact he was so cold he couldn’t feel his fingers or much of anything, anymore. That’s why he had given up on trying to get away from the ropes, his fingers were simply too numb to be used for anything.

Lying down in the cold was also making him drowsy. He was at that point where he wasn’t even shivering anymore, just repeating don’t sleep, don’t sleep in his mind over and over again. He was tired, but he knew the cold was the reason for his heavy eyelids. If he’d fall asleep he wouldn’t be able to hold his head up from the snow anymore, and that would mean he’d just fall in hypothermia. Well, at this rate he would be hypothermic anyways, if he wasn’t already, but staying awake would give him more time. Time for what? Time for Raph to come and find him?

He was wondering about the same thing as the man was; what was taking Raph so long? Had he picked up a fight again? If he had and had lost, the guy holding him would’ve been informed. If he had and had won, he’d be here soon.

Don was kicked on his plastron again, and he let out a small grunt. He started squirming, already sick of this, trying to get back into his earlier position to get his face away from the snow. But the leg on his shell wasn’t lifted up, so he couldn’t do anything but endure the cold pressing up against his face.

“Um”, Don mumbled. He didn’t even know where the guy was going with this; he was obviously using him to bait Raphael, but then what? He’d kill them? Why hadn’t he killed Don already? Was he going to take them somewhere, to the Foot?

“I hate to complain, but-“, Don started, holding his head up in order to speak, but the guy lifted his leg from his shell and pressed it against the back of his head instead, pushing his face further into the snow. Don put his mouth into a thin line and pressed his eyes shut to prevent the snow from getting there, cringing when the cold of the snow stung his face.

“I’m starting to think he ain’t coming back for you”, the guy said, nudging the turtle’s face deeper into the snow. “Guess the cold chased him back home. Maybe he’ll try again in the spring.”

The guy lifted his leg, walking away from the wall. Don lifted his head, gasping for air and glaring up at the Purple Dragon.

“Not like they’ll find you before spring, anyways”, he added, chuckling a bit as he kicked snow on Don’s face. Don turned his head away, not bothering to say anything. Raph would come.

Before spring, he hoped.

Chapter Text

Someone was coming up the stairs – crawling up the stairs, dragging its long, sharp claws against the metal railing, making his ears ring with the horrible echoing sound. He flinched away, wanting, needing to escape it, but his body resisted. His muscles felt heavy, like something was preventing him from moving, like someone was standing on his chest, making it impossible to breathe. He was burning up , his skin was boiling- he lifted his hand only to see the skin melting, leaving only bare muscle visible. He tried to scream but nothing came out– just pain, pain in his lungs, pain everywhere as the monster breathed down on him, stealing the rest of his air–

“– Leo! ”

No monster, only Raphael, calling his name, holding him down as he struggled. The room was dim, faint light was coming from somewhere, but that didn’t really matter. The feeling of danger faded, dulled by Raph’s presence. The fear disappeared, but he still couldn’t breathe. Raph looked so afraid, looking down at him with wide eyes– Mikey was next to him, clinging to Raph’s arm, face buried against his shoulder. It was enough to make Leo forget everything else, including his own inability to breathe, and he tried focusing on Raph’s eyes, needing to know what was so wrong, why Raph was afraid– but his dizziness overtook him, everything swimming out of focus, his lungs screaming for air.

“– I’m sorry , Raph– I didn’t know what to do , I –“

Apologizes. Mikey was apologizing for something, and Leo wanted to look at him and ask what was wrong, just as badly as he wanted to know why Raph was calling his name again, the panic still present in his voice. Raph never sounded like that, something was badly wrong, his brothers needed him- yet all he could do was to close his eyes, the spinning in his eyes making him too nauseous to keep them open.

The sounds around him turned garbled, blocked by the ringing in his ears, yet he could still make out the long litany of curses that left Raph’s mouth. Leo felt himself being lifted, felt a hand behind his head, just like Don had held him earlier– and Leo realized he hadn’t heard Don’s voice. Don wasn’t here. If something had happened to him-

His body was bent forward and a painful cough left his mouth. It was an improvement despite the pain– he still had no air, but now his throat wasn’t locked up, and as soon as he managed to stop coughing he was able to finally drag air into his lungs. It was supposed to be a relief, but it was everything but that. His lungs and throat burned – everything burned, he gritted his teeth, breathing too fast, but at least he was breathing.

He leaned backwards to put his head down again, and Raph let him, despite still holding him firmly. Leo opened his eyes, taking in the sight of Mikey, hating how afraid he looked. But he was here, seeming unhurt. His eyes moved to look at Raph, and he saw worry, as well as the fear he had heard earlier. But that lasted only for a second – Raph hid the emotions as soon as their eyes met.

Raph looked exhausted, as Leo tiredly kept looking his face over. He didn’t get to look at him for long before Raph pulled his head against his chest, holding him gently. Raph was still wearing his clothing, but Leo didn’t mind the wet fabric. Raph felt cold despite wearing the coat, he had obviously just been outside. Leo still felt hot, so anything cold against his face was more than welcome.

“God, Leo”, Raph whispered, hugging him tightly. Leo stayed limp in his arms, still not in control of his limbs. He only whimpered against Raph’s coat, his breathing coming out in harsh, forced puffs, causing Raph to hug him tighter.

Raph had had enough of the scares he had gotten today – first Don, then coming back to the apartment just to find Mikey and Leo lying on the floor. His heart had fallen on the bottom of his stomach and was probably still there. Mikey had woken up when he had shaken him, he had hugged him and started mumbling something incoherent about the cold and medicine and Leo– Leo had been so startled when he had gotten him to wake up, had started convulsing, trying to scream but no voice had come out. And it had taken such a long time for him to start breathing again. Minutes had never felt so long.

“Just… god.”

He heard the change in Leo’s breathing, suspecting him to have passed out from the exhaustion. But he was breathing easier now, and Raph kept holding him, relieved to feel his chest rising and falling. Yet he knew better than to sigh from relief; no way was this just a normal fever. They needed antibiotics or something- no, they needed Don.

Raph turned to Mikey, keeping his arm around Leo. Normally Mikey would’ve teased him to no end about cradling Leo in his arms, now that the danger had passed, but Mikey seemed really shaken up about all this. Leo had scared both of them, but something was still amiss. Mikey had been apologizing before, but he hadn’t had the time to focus on his words then.

“You ok, Mike?” Raph asked, sliding his hands under Leo to lift him onto the couch. That was a better place for a sick person. Goddamn them, lying motionless on the floor… They sure had a lot to explain.

“Y-yeah”, Mikey answered with a small voice, certainly not sounding okay. Raph offered him his hand to help him up from the floor, and Mikey took it. Once he was on his feet Raph placed his hand on his shoulder, frowning at how chilly his skin felt. As Raph looked at his brother properly, he noticed the bump on his head. What the hell had happened here?

“You don’t look okay”, Raph said. Shit. He needed explanations, needed to make sure that Mikey really was okay – but he needed to get Don. “Just sit down and I’ll be right back-“

“ Back? ”

“Don’s still out there.” Raph tried to push Mikey down into one of the nearby chairs, but Mikey patted his hands away, staring at him with wide eyes. Raph didn’t like the look, didn’t want to leave Mikey alone when he was like this, but didn’t have any other choice. “I don’t know why he isn’t here yet, and I have to–“

“You’re not leaving again ”, Mikey refused immediately. “Do you know how– “

“ Don is out there, Mikey! And it’s my fault we got separated–”

“Take us with you, or something, just don’t leave again–“

Raphael snorted dryly. Take them with him? “Mikey, have you seen Leo–“

“Seen him? I saw him, alright– I saw him dragging me around while having a freaking fever that leaves him unable to breathe, and all I did was collapse on him and pass out, and when I woke up I couldn’t even get him off of the floor, I didn’t even get him any medicine, I– I had no idea if you and Don were alright, you didn’t answer the phone, why didn’t you answer the phone–“

Mikey pressed his hands against his head and whimpered. The outburst had made his head hurt again. Raph was a bit taken aback about the way Mikey had spat out his words, and carefully placed his hand back on Mikey’s shoulder.

“Mikey, I’m sorry”, Raph said carefully, pulling the youngest closer. “I’m sorry we couldn’t answer.” Mikey wrapped his arms around Raph, hugging him. Seeing Leo trashing like that, whimpering in pain– it was something Mikey hadn’t seen before, and he could still feel the fear lingering. He just didn’t want to be left alone again, not when Leo was still in this condition. What if he’d have trouble breathing again? What could he do?

“…No, I’m sorry”, Mikey sighed after a moment of silence, hesitantly letting go of Raph. “You’re right. You gotta get Don.” He hated this, but knew that Raph was right. He had to go.

“Hey, it’s fine, Don will know what to do”, Raph tried comforting Mikey, patting him briefly on his shell before turning away, already thinking about how much time had passed since he had last seen Don. Where could he be? If he was still out there, left alone in the cold with the Purple Dragons wandering around- guilt hit him hard, but it was better to get moving instead of dwelling here in his guilt.

Raph glanced out of the window and cringed; the wind howled, making even the glass of the window clatter. The last thing he wanted to do was to go back out, but even worse was that Don was still out there. Raph bent down to pick up the flashlight he had dropped earlier, and then it hit him.

He hurried to the bags they had taken with them earlier, going through one of them to find his cell, trying to remember where he had left it.

“Raph?” Mikey asked carefully, trying to see what he was doing.

“Trying to find– shit, it’s not here– Mikey, where’s your cell?”

“Oh, it’s here, and so is yours”, Mikey said, glancing accusingly at Raph. There was no time to look guilty about forgetting his cell, Raph just snatched it from Mikey and flipped it on, hoping that Don had charged his cell full enough that it was still on.

Four tiny dots appeared on the screen. Three of them were together, and the fourth was close, just a few streets from here. Now Raph allowed himself to feel relief – until he realized that the dot wasn’t moving.

No, please , if the dot was still because Don had accidently dropped his cell–

Only one way to find out.

“Just rest, Mikey. If Leo’s condition changes, you can call me now”, Raph held his cell up to show Mike he really had it this time. He didn’t mention that Don’s signal wasn’t moving. “I won’t take long.”

Mikey flinched, moving his head away. Raph felt confused; they both knew he had to go. “Look, Mikey, you know that–“

“It’s not that”, Mikey said quietly. “It’s what Don said when you left the last time.”

Raph gripped his cell tighter, staring at the unmoving dot.

“It won’t take long”, he repeated more firmly. That’s what he hoped.

On the way he dialed Don’s number, praying he’d answer. Could be that Don was still waiting for him there, confused why Raph wasn’t coming back, or just taking shelter from the cold– but Raph knew Don wouldn’t have stayed still for this long. But he had to come up with comforting thoughts or he’d go mad from the worry.

Donatello’s cell rang, and the ringtone was a pathetic beeping drowning into the wind. Don heard it anyways, but didn’t react in any way. The Purple Dragon had gotten tired of waiting, saying he couldn’t bother with finishing him off. Said he’d leave the dirty work for the cold, and Don was beginning to believe him now. Nobody would find him.

His eyes were only half-open, and here in the alleyway the snow wasn’t being blown against his face. No, it fell slowly on him in the form of beautiful snowflakes, at least making his slow end worth watching. Not like there was anyone to watch, but Don could tell his brothers the snow had looked pretty. What was he thinking about? He wouldn’t speak with his brothers ever again. If he died here he wouldn’t be doing much of anything.

His foggy mind didn’t realize that, of course. The only thing going through his mind was, don’t sleep , even now. Even now he was still repeating it, playing it inside his mind like a broken record. Raph’s coming , went through his mind occasionally, and the next time it did, he smiled bitterly. Oh, Raph wasn’t coming. Nobody was. It was a bitter thought to know that something like the cold could finish them so easily.

He was too frozen to feel his body, even his face was numb. He’d rest his eyes for a moment.  

But as soon as he did he could hear shouting, a demanding tone- he couldn’t be bothered to open his eyes. Sleep was so close, hadn’t he fought it for long enough already? Someone grabbed him and Don groaned- if the Purple Dragon had come back, just to show his face in the snow again-

“Don, come on, open your eyes. C’mon”, Raph was talking to him, and Don felt a bit amazed. Slowly he opened his eyes, blinking up at his brother. Yeah, it really was Raph.

“You’re here”, he croaked, feeling Raph wiping the melted snow from his cheeks.

“Of course I am”, Raph huffed. Had Don thought otherwise? Raph cursed himself for not coming back sooner. No, he cursed himself for leaving in the first place. Why didn’t he ever listen?

Don tried to struggle against his restraints, but his hands barely even moved. They were too numb. Raphael noticed the slight movement, moving to cut the ropes. It took time since they were so frozen, and as he cut he had time to curse and mutter how he’d kill every single Purple Dragon – and while he worked Don let his eyes close again. Raph was here, and Don felt bad for thinking that he wouldn’t come – Raph always did. Leo wasn’t the only big brother looking after him.

Raphael’s presence made him feel false safety, his body began to relax since he wasn’t alone anymore. His thoughts started to drift as sleep claimed him, he-

“Don! Don’t sleep, don’t- Don! ”

Hands on his cheeks, shaking him, annoying-

“’m busy”, Don muttered, trying to turn his head away. Raph let out a choked laugh, shaking him even harder.

“Busy? Yeah, what are you doing?”

“’s none of your business”, Don continued, his voice slurring from the cold. The shaking wasn’t stopping so he had to open his eyes, and he glared at the one who was stopping him from sleeping. Right, it was still Raph.

“I told you”, Raph said as he pulled Don up from the snow into a sitting position. “You’re worse than Mikey without his comics when something’s keeping you from sleeping.”

Don couldn’t remember what Raph was referring to, but must’ve been something funny since Raph was grinning. It didn’t last for long, though; Don was groaning. It hurt to move.

“You’re freezing”, Raph said quietly, massaging his arms. “Try moving your fingers. Gotta get the blood flowing again…”

Don tried, but it hurt, so he stopped. “I can’t”, he said, closing his eyes again.

“I know it sucks, but you gotta”, Raph continued, helping Don to sit against the wall and moving to rub his legs. He frowned. “Don, what happened? You were tied- if this is supposed to be a trap, it’s kind of a slow one.”

Don shrugged, at least tried to. His cold muscles protested even such a small movement. He couldn’t remember- no, wait, he could. “He told me the cold would finish the job.”

Raph growled. The narrow alley was better compared to the street where the wind was blowing full force. It was probably the only reason Don wasn’t deep in hypothermia. Raph gritted his teeth. Again, he had come close to losing Don again, and this time it was completely his fault. The guilt crept in again and felt worse than the cold.

“I know that look”, Don said weakly. Raph hadn’t realized Don was looking at him, so he quickly hardened his face, only scoffing.

“Yeah, it’s the look I have when you’re being difficult”, Raph muttered, moving from Don’s legs to sit against the wall with Don. It’d take a while before they could get up, Don had to get the feeling back to his legs before that. He could carry Don, but with the wound in his arm… He took Don’s hands into his, helping him open and close his fingers since he wasn’t doing it on his own.

When Donatello could move his arm again he raised his hand, lifting it up behind Raphael’s head and pressed Raphael closer. Raph stiffened, definitely not feeling like talking some heart-to-heart – again – but when his head was pressed against Don’s chest Raph suddenly felt vulnerable. His self-loathing was pushed aside, and he knew it’d come knocking back some other time, but it was gone for now, leaving room for something else. Losing Don to the dark elevator shift and finding Mike and Leo limp from the floor, then almost losing Don to the cold-

Yeah, when Don wrapped his arms around him, Raph let him.

But he had promised Mikey they wouldn’t take long, so he had to haul Don up before his legs were working properly. That meant most of Don’s weight was on him, but they managed. They weren’t far, anyways.

That’s when Raphael’s shell cell beeped, telling him he got a new message. For a moment Raph was almost afraid to look. He had hated to leave Mikey again, and if Leo was having a nightmare – or hallucinating, Raph didn’t really know if Leo had been asleep or not when he had trashed around – or getting worse they’d have to hurry. He knew Mikey could calm Leo down, he had just been shocked the last time, but if his condition was worse in some other way…

He held Don up with just one hand, cringing when he had to use his wounded arm to dig the cell from his pocket to read the message. Raph frowned at the typos, either Mikey had forgotten how to write or it had been written in hurry.

“ you gotta comw baxk ”

Mikey was carefully petting Leo’s cheek, getting a strong sense of déjà-vu. This was exactly how this whole thing had started, he was alone with Leo again, only this time Leo’s condition was even worse.

Mikey was glad that Leo was asleep, it seemed to be easier for him than being awake, but he didn’t dare to leave his side. When Raph had found them and woken him up Mikey had been so relieved- but then Leo… he hated to think about it, hated to think that it could happen again. None of them had ever had a fever this bad, where it affected their breathing this badly, where it led to hallucinations.

Leo’s breath whistled as it came out of his lungs, and even though Mikey didn’t like the sound, it let him know that Leo was still breathing. He leaned against the couch, checking the screen of his cell with his other hand. It showed him that Raph had reached Don, but they weren’t moving yet. Mikey took a deep breath, stopping himself from thinking about  anything- his mind would just start creating all kinds of what-if’s and he was tired of worrying. Raph had promised to come, he had to just wait.

Someone knocked against the door of the shop and Mikey’s breathing got caught in his throat. He looked back down at the screen, but the two dots were still a few streets away, so it couldn’t be neither Raph nor Don.

“Must be my imagination”, Mikey chuckled nervously, grabbing his head. Or the side-effects of him hitting his head – even though he still couldn’t remember just what had hit him. One moment he had stood outside, the second he was back inside with Leo over him-

The door was forced open and it hit the wall with a loud bang. Mikey froze.

A hushed voice came down from the shop and Mikey broke away from his fear, grabbing Leo and hauling him up. The rough wake-up made Leonardo grab Michelangelo’s arms in his barely-awake panic, thinking someone was attacking them again, and he tried to push Mikey away.

“Calm down, Leo, it’s just me”, Mikey whispered hurriedly, and after Leo managed to focus his gaze on Mikey he recognized his brother. Mikey dragged Leo on his feet, but he only collapsed against him. Leo’s eyes were closed again since there was no danger, only Mikey. Expect that there was, Leo just didn’t know about it.

“Come on, you gotta work with me here”, Mikey spoke in harsh whispers, hearing the footsteps from the shop coming closer to the stairs. He couldn’t carry Leo’s dead weight, so he settled for dragging him.

In his hurry Mikey chose to hide in the bathroom, locking the door after them. He placed Leo carefully on the floor, scooting back to the door, pressing his head against it to listen. He dug his cell from his belt, turning it on silent and sending Raph a text with shaking fingers. He wanted to call, to hear Raph tell him they were already coming- but he had to be silent. The stairs croaked as someone walked them up. Mikey swallowed; if they’d try the handle of the bathroom they’d immediately know someone was hiding there. But who were ‘they?’

Leo moaned, and the small sound sounded loud in the silence, making Mikey leap over his brother, clasping a hand over his mouth. Leo seemed startled again, looking up at Mikey with wide eyes, this time not recognizing him. He struggled against Mikey’s weight pinning him down, trying to move his head to the side, but Mikey kept his hand firmly over Leo’s mouth.

“ Shhh ”, Mikey hushed, and he would’ve used his other hand to try calm him down, but he had to hold Leo’s wrist so that he couldn’t hit him. Leo’s other hand was uselessly grabbing the hand over his mouth, but he didn’t have the strength to push the hand away. He could feel how Leo whimpered against his hand, fighting some imaginary enemy he thought Mikey was, and Mike felt bad for making Leo think he was a threat. His hand muffled Leo’s already quiet voice. He couldn’t risk the intruders hearing him.

“Sorry, Leo, sorry ”, Mikey lowered his head to whisper, hoping his voice would calm down his brother. Leo’s struggling ceased, but Mikey knew it was because he had to be exhausted, not because he had calmed down. And, Mikey realized with a sinking feeling, it was because his hand effectively cut off Leo’s ways of getting air, so he quickly pulled his hand away to let Leo breathe again.

“Sorry. Sorry”, Mikey whispered again, voice almost breaking when Leo struggled for a breath. Leo already had trouble breathing – he was just causing more damage than helping. And what was he panicking about? Whether the intruders were Purple Dragons or Foot or just some thieves, he could hold his ground against them. The only reason he had hurried to hide was because Leo was in no condition to fight, and Mikey didn’t know how many he would be up against. He could defend himself, but he wasn’t sure if he could defend the both of them.

His cell buzzed silently on the floor where he had thrown it in his hurry to silence Leo.

“ on our way. you okay? why did you text? ”

“ someone’s in the house ”, Mikey hurriedly texted back. The cell fell from his hands; Leo coughed and Mikey had to press his hand over his mouth again, feeling a tight knot in his stomach when Leo didn’t even try to fight him back this time.

Mikey realized the apartment had gone silent; had they heard the coughing? If they had, they knew there was someone hiding. Mikey moved his hand away from Leo’s mouth, but kept his hand close so that he could silence Leo again if he’d make any noises. His other hand moved to his belt, ready to draw his weapon.

Raph frowned when he read Mike’s text. Just how bad was their luck? Raph knew Mikey was hiding somewhere with Leo, that’s why he had texted instead of calling. He also knew that Mikey didn’t know who or how many there were in the apartment, otherwise he would’ve told him.

Also, the apartment was small. It wouldn’t take long before Mikey and Leo would be found.

Walking with Don heavily leaning on him was difficult, especially since he was carrying the bags Don had carried earlier. But they weren’t far; April’s shop could already be seen.

“You stay here”, Raph whispered to Don, leaving him outside the shop, but sheltered him from the wind by leaving him in the alley. Donatello protested, but as soon as Raphael’s support left him he couldn’t help sliding down into a sitting-position. Raph gave him his bō before moving to the door leading to the shop.

It was closed, just like he had left it, but on the ground there were footsteps that hadn’t been there before. Their own footsteps had already been smudged by the falling snow, and the snow was too deep to leave proper tracks anyways, but Raph knew the new marks were left by a human.

And only one human at that. It was hard to tell anything else, but one human shouldn’t be a problem. Carefully Raph pushed the door open, stepping inside.

Nothing looked out of place; Mikey’s clothes were still lying on the floor of the shop and it was quiet, just like the last time Raph had entered. He hated this feeling of coming into a silent apartment; it never meant anything good.

He listened, but couldn’t hear anything. So, the human knew he was there and was waiting somewhere, ready to strike. Raph picked his sai from his belt as he walked the stairs.

He got into the second-floor without anything happening. It was still dark, now even the street lamps didn’t light the apartment. Raph was standing in the center of the room, hoping that he’d taken the flashlight with him.

It shouldn’t be possible to hide this well from him; an ordinary human couldn’t do that, so it must’ve been a skilled enemy. Raph twirled the sai in his better hand, starting to get impatient. He was tired of someone making things difficult for them, and he certainly didn’t want to keep Don outside any longer.

“Show yerself!” Raph finally gave in, having to break the silence with his yell. He stormed into the kitchen, but there was nobody there. At least nobody he could see. He walked back to the main room, letting out a growl.

He almost jumped out of his skin when the door of the bathroom flew open and Mikey jumped out, weapons in both hands, looking a bit bewildered.

“Where are they? Where are they?” Mikey asked impatiently, glancing around wildly, unable to see anything thanks to the dark. He yelped when Raphael’s hand landed on his shoulder, but calmed down when he recognized his brother.

“I don’t think there’s anyone here”, Raph said, knowing even in the darkness that Mikey was making an offended face.

“You think I just imagined it?”

“No, I saw the footprints in the snow-“

“Guys, I don’t think there’s anyone here. At least not anymore”, they could hear Don’s voice coming down from the shop, and Mikey was immediately storming towards the stairs.

Don was glad Raph had given him his bō; with its aid he had been able to push himself up and walk. It had been clumsy, but he wasn’t planning on just waiting outside.

He had also looked at the tracks in the snow, having seen Raph’s tracks coming in and coming out, he had probably used the same tracks at some point, as well as the human’s tracks. They had gone in, and… they had gone out. Don had shaken his head; typical Raph, not realizing to pay enough attention.

Don was in the middle of closing the door, this time locking it. Would’ve saved his brothers a lot of trouble to just do that in the first place…

And suddenly he was in a crushing embrace, Mikey’s hands tightly wrapped around him.

“I told ya to wait, Don”, Raph mumbled from the stairs.

“Man, I’m so glad to see the both of you”, Mikey said, relief clear in his voice. But, as soon as his good mood had appeared it disappeared. He grabbed Don’s hand, starting to drag him towards the stairs. “You gotta help Leo.” Mikey’s tone had gone serious, meaning that something must really be wrong. Don stumbled after him, his legs still a bit numb from the cold.

“He’s gotten worse?” Donatello asked, worry present in his voice again.

“Oh, yeah he has”, said Raph, moving back to the second-floor. Don threw him the flashlight, and Raph showed the way. Raph hadn’t yet told Don about Leo’s condition, having wanted to make sure that Don was alright first, but Mikey was in a hurry to guide their brother to Leo. But the youngest had seemed to notice how weak Don was, gently holding his arm as he helped Don up the stairs. The genius was guided to the bathroom, where Don carefully kneeled next to Leo, despite still shivering himself.

So Raph did what he could, kneeling next to Don and helping him get out of the wet clothes he still had before throwing them into the bathtub next to them, doing the same to his own clothing.

“Mikey, could you get the bags Raph just brought? Take the other flashlight with you, too. I see that you’ve hit your head, better not hit it again.”

Mikey didn’t even say anything witty before heading out of the bathroom, and that was worrying enough. Raph went after him. He just didn’t want to let his brothers out of his sight anymore.

Leo reacted to Don’s voice, his eyes slowly fluttering open, and Don turned to look down at his face.

“Hi, Leo”, Don greeted him with a soothing voice. He could see the discomfort Leo was in by the way he struggled to breathe, and the way his breathing sounded wasn’t good. Don moved his hand behind Leo’s head to help him look up. It felt like ages since they had left, since he had last seen Leo. His condition had done everything but improved. “How are you feeling? Don’t speak if it hurts.”

Leo stared at him quietly before he slowly moved his hand to grab Don’s arm, blinking harshly to keep his vision from swimming. His eyes moved to Raph when he walked back into the room. He had brought some blankets, and Leo watched as Raph draped two of them over Don. From the corner of his eye he noticed movement, and turned his head to see Mikey, who dropped two bags on the floor.

“All-“, Leo started, forcing his lost voice to come back, but he couldn’t do it without it hurting. He shut his eyes, holding Don’s arm a bit tighter.

“It’s alright, Leo, you don’t need to talk”, Don spoke calmly as he put a hand inside one of the bags Mikey had brought, fishing for something.

“ Safe? ” Leo breathed out the end of his sentence, trying to make it sound like a question. Don paused for a moment before understanding, and when he did, he couldn’t help placing his hand on Leo’s cheek, giving him a reassuring look.

“We’re all here and safe, Leo”, Don said warmly, making all of them feel a slight pinch inside; Leo was barely conscious and speaking obviously hurt, yet this was something he had to make sure of. Even though he could see them around him, he still had to hear it.

“Idiot…” Raph muttered, moving closer to Leo’s head so that he could hold it up while Don took out a stethoscope.

“How did you even know to take one of those with us”, Raphael mumbled, looking at the stethoscope in Don’s hands.

“I just had that feeling, and it didn’t take much room, so.” Don shrugged. “Mike, could you help me move Leo onto his side?”

Michelangelo did as requested, and while he did, Don gave him a quick glance. “You alright, Mikey?”

Mikey looked up, slightly surprised, nodding shortly. Don could see he was shaken up, but he returned his attention to Leo, listening to his lungs with the stethoscope. Even without using it the wheezing in Leo’s breathing could be heard. And as Don had suspected, a slight crackle was audible in his lungs. With a frown he put the stethoscope away.

“Well?” Raph was and sounded impatient. He always was when his brothers were hurt, feeling impatient if he couldn’t be helping in some way.

“Well, I think he shouldn’t be staying on the floor”, Don said simply, then shivered and drew the blankets tighter around himself. “None of us should.”

After they had moved Leo to the bedroom into a real bed Don made a quick visit to the kitchen, going through the cabinets to find something for Leo’s cough, his search successful. He returned with his findings, setting them aside as he continued checking on Leo. Once Raph made sure that Don was keeping the blanket around him to get warmer he went back to the living area with Mikey, the intruder still bothering the both of them.

“So you’re sure you didn’t see anyone?” Mikey asked as he looked around in the room. “Because I’m sure that someone was here.”

“Don said the footprints led away, so whoever was here left before we came”, Raph said. “But it doesn’t look like they even broke anything, or took anything…”

Mikey’s attention caught a paper on the kitchen table. He moved closer, reading it in the light of the flashlight. While he read he let out a laugh, having to cover his mouth with his hand.

“What? You finally lost it?” Raph asked, only half joking. The way Mikey had been glued to his arm, sobbing apologies when Leo hadn’t been breathing, Raph wouldn’t be surprised if Mikey was a bit out of it right now.

“It was just a friend of April’s”, Mikey said blankly. “She left a note. Says she was passing by, trying to get home before the storm got too impossible, and saw all the footprints by the door. She was afraid someone had tried to break into the shop and decided to check it out.”

Mikey pressed his hand against his face. All that panicking and hiding, forcing Leo to be quiet- for pretty much nothing.

He felt Raph put a hand on his shoulder, and Mikey sighed. It didn’t matter; everything would be fine now. Don was looking after Leo-

Don’s yell filled the apartment, and the note was forgotten as they dashed towards the bedroom.

It had been too early to think that everything would be alright.

Chapter Text

Donatello was sprawled on the floor next to the bed with Leonardo above him. The eldest had his fist raised, ready to punch down, but Don was easily holding his wrist and preventing him from doing so. It didn’t look like Leo was really even trying; they could see how he trembled from simply holding himself up and above Don, muscles tense from the pain he was clearly in.

“Leo, it’s just me– you’re safe”, Don was talking in a calm tone despite the situation, trying to get eye-contact with Leo, but the leader was only squeezing his eyes shut, letting out a sound resembling a growl, which quickly turned into a pained whimper.

“Can’t- let-”, Leo spoke brokenly through gritted teeth, wrapping the hand he had been supporting himself with around Don’s throat. Without the support he collapsed on top of Don, but kept his hold on his throat.

“Don!” Raph was the first to break away from the surprise and impossibility of the scene, hurrying next to his brothers on the floor. Don glanced at it him, and didn’t seem to be shaken even though Leo had his hand around his throat.

“I’m fine, Raph”, Don hurried to say. “He doesn’t have the strength to hurt me. His hand is just there. I think he’s hallucinating, it must be the-“

Leo was suddenly withdrawing both his hands, holding them against his chest as he wheezed, trying to curl away from the pain, but there was no escaping something that came from the inside. Raphael’s hands wrapped around Leonardo, carefully dragging him away from Donatello so that he could get up from the floor.

Leo’s eyes shot open; someone was holding him from behind, making him ignore the pain in his chest as he struggled again, trying to break free from his captor. Raph adjusted his grip so that he could press Leo’s arms flat against his sides to prevent him from trying to punch anyone anymore. Even though he hadn’t had the strength to hurt Don, they knew Leo could land sudden, painful punches even in a condition like this if he felt like he – or someone else – was in danger.

“Leo, it’s us! You gotta calm down, bro!” Mikey had kneeled next to Leo, wrapping his arms around him to pull him into a tight embrace. “Nobody’s trying to hurt us!”

Leo’s struggling ceased, and he looked around himself, dazed.

“No?” Leo asked weakly, his voice hoarse. Don had pulled himself up from the floor and crawled closer, and was carefully lifting his hand to touch Leo’s cheek in order to turn his head so that he could focus on Don’s face.

“No, Leo. We’re safe”, Don reassured him. Mikey drew away, relieved that Leo had calmed down.

Leonardo opened his mouth to say something, but shut it quickly, only letting out a sharp hiss. The three of them tensed instantly, thinking that Leo was still seeing something that wasn’t real– but Leo was pushing his head against Raph who still held him, not struggling against him, but squirming anyways.

“H’rts…” Leo whimpered weakly, head drooping. Raph hadn’t been holding him with much strength, but softened his hold anyways.

“Your chest, right?” Don asked with concern, and Leo nodded weakly, letting out a shaky breath.

“It could be pneumonia”, Don said gravely, making Mikey’s eyes widen. He had had it once when just a kid, and the distant memory wasn’t pleasant. He didn’t remember much, luckily, but remembered how hard it had been to simply breathe, remembered how hurt his chest had been. And definitely remembered how worried Master Splinter and his brothers had been.

“But- isn’t that-“, Mikey started, clearly worried, but Don gave him a reassuring look.

“It doesn’t mean it’s life-threatening. We have medicine and other supplies we didn’t have back when we were kids”, Don explained, clearly thinking about their childhood as well. They moved Leo back to the bed, and Don covered him with a blanket. Raph and Mikey could see that a bottle of some kind of medicine had been knocked over, probably when Leo had managed to fall off of the bed with Don. The contents of the bottle had been slightly spilled, but luckily not too badly.

“Um”, Don started, glancing at Raph and Mikey after picking the bottle up. “This whole thing began when I was trying to make him take the medicine– so, could you hold him still in case he...?”

“Sure”, Raph said, but Mikey wasn’t moving, only looked away. Don noticed, and glanced at him questioningly, only causing Mikey to fidget nervously.

“I, uh, I think I know why he doesn’t let you give him that”, Mikey said, still looking away. Don glanced at Raph, but he seemed as clueless as he was.

“Mikey?” Don asked gently. “This wasn’t the first time he’s done this?”

“When- when we were hiding... I had to keep Leo silent- I had to force him to be silent and–“

Don placed the bottle back on the table, motioning with his hand for Mikey to come closer. Mikey glanced at him, hesitantly sitting down on the bed next to Don, who reassuringly touched Mikey’s arm.

“It’s alright, Mikey. You didn’t do anything wrong, you were keeping him safe.”

“There wasn’t even anything threatening us”, Mikey protested, his head down.

“You didn’t know that.” Don wrapped his arm around Mikey, pulling him against him. Mikey wrapped both of his arms around him in return, needing the comfort. It had been a long day.

Had Don known Leo would be getting so bad he definitely wouldn’t have left them alone. But it wasn’t like he had had a choice, but still – the experience seemed to have shaken Mikey quite a lot. Don still didn’t know everything that happened while he had been gone, but he knew he didn’t want to make Leo panic again. Both Mikey and Leo needed to rest.

After a moment Mikey hesitantly pulled away, and Don gave him a smile before turning his attention back to Leo. Gently, he reached for him, shaking his shoulder lightly, calling for his name. Leo’s eyes opened, and he seemed just as dazed as before.

“Leo, I got some medicine that’ll help. Think you could take it?”

Leo looked like he didn’t quite understand, or perhaps he was too tired to react in any way, so Don poured some of the medicine on the spoon, hoping that this time Leo wouldn’t make him drop it. He brought his hand closer to Leo’s face, and at least he wasn’t drawing away. He ended up hesitantly opening his mouth, and Don held his head up as he gave the medicine to him.

They were silent for a moment, only watching as Don placed a new towel on Leo’s forehead. The high fever was concerning, but Leo wasn’t hallucinating anymore. Not at the moment, at least. Don let out a sigh.

“We’re going to need some antibiotics.” Don stroked Leo’s cheek carefully, hoping he could do something about the way Leo struggled to breathe. “And guess what we don’t have.”

Raph groaned, folding his arms across his chest. They’d still have to go outside?

“But“, Don continued, turning to look at Raph and Mikey. “Nobody’s going anywhere, not for a while, at least. We have to get it before morning, but we should rest for a few hours. We’ve all been up since the morning, and I don’t know about you, but I’m beat. Nothing good would come out of going out now.”

Upon getting the time to think about their own levels of tiredness, both Raph and Mikey had to admit that sleep sounded really great right about then.

“Expect for me and Leo”, Mikey couldn’t help but crack a joke out of the situation. “We’ve been down quite a lot.” Don raised a brow; he still didn’t know about Raph finding Mikey and Leo from the floor and everything that had happened. Raph only looked at Mikey dryly, grabbing the tails of his bandana and bringing him a bit closer.

“Hey!” Mikey protested, even though Raph wasn’t really hurting him.

“Ya still have a lot of explaining to do, Mikey”, Raph said, giving the youngest a long look. Mikey looked better than earlier, but he sure had worried Raph.

“I’d like to hear everything that’s happened as well”, Don said, eyeing his brothers. Even though they all wanted to sleep, there were still things to do. “But first, we should move the food supplies to the shop. Since the power’s out the fridge isn’t working, but the shop should be cold enough for them.”

Raph got up and moved towards the door to get to work, but Don stopped him.

“Not you, Raph”, he said, making Raph raise a brow. “I’ll do it with Mikey. You stay here with Leo.”

“Wh- why not you? You know what to do if something happens and–”

Donatello glanced down at Raphael’s arm. The bandaging Don had done earlier had moved a bit, and the wound had bled through. Raph grimaced, having hoped that Don would’ve forgotten about it. Of course he hadn’t.

Well, truth to be told, Raph was kind of glad Don hadn’t. The pain had never left, he had just ignored it since there hadn’t been time to do anything about it. Now that nothing was happening the pain had reminded him of its existence, and Raph really hadn’t been looking forward to lifting anything.

“Prepare yourself for some stitching”, Don warned before he left.

Raph searched for the bottle of painkillers, downing a few of them before he sat back down on the bed, leaning against the end of it, half-lying, half-sitting. He knew if he lied down he’d just fall asleep, but he couldn’t do that yet.

He could hear Mikey and Don shuffling around in the stairs and the wind howling outside, but mainly he heard Leo fighting to keep himself breathing. He was breathing too fast, taking only short, quick breaths to avoid breathing too deeply. Raph could only guess that taking a deep breath was causing his chest to hurt.

“Pneumonia, huh…” Raph said silently after a while, moving onto his side so he could place a hand on Leo’s shoulder. He did it carefully to not startle his brother, kind of expecting Leo to attack him or something, but his brother didn’t react to the touch. Raph hoped it was because Leo wasn’t so out of it anymore, not because he was too exhausted to do anything. He wasn’t even sure if the older turtle was awake or not.

“When ya get sick ya really get sick”, Raph mumbled, gently rubbing Leo’s shoulder. “Ya never do anything half-assed, huh?” To his surprise Leo opened his eyes, moving his head towards him. He didn’t say anything, though; only looked at him with tired eyes.

Before Raphael could say anything more Donatello walked back in, a medical kit in his hand, and a glass of water in the other. He placed the glass on the table, climbing on the bed next to Raph. While Don prepared the needle Raph kept his hand on Leo’s shoulder, keeping it there until the leader’s eyes closed again.

Don took out the needle, adjusting the flashlight so that he could see better, removing the gauze and getting to work. Raph looked to the window, but could see nothing but their reflections on it.

“Wonder for how long the power’s gonna be out”, Raph mumbled, trying to keep his attention on somewhere else than the needle on his skin. “Some hot water would be nice.”

“Agreed”, Don said. Thankfully he was warm enough to not shiver anymore, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to stitch Raphael’s wound without causing unnecessary discomfort.

“Where’d you leave Mikey?”

“He’s trying to make us something to eat, but it’s a bit hard when we can’t warm anything. Some hot soup really wouldn’t hurt.” He wasn’t really feeling hungry, but anything warm would’ve been welcome.

Raph could tell that Don was almost finished. Don was able to work fast, and still do the stitching properly. Stitching was never pleasant – so Raph was glad that Don had learned to do it so quickly. Raph could still remember the few first times; Don had been skilled even then, but he had definitely gotten better.

“I take it you already took some painkillers?” Don asked, wrapping a bandage over the stitched wound before placing the equipment back into the medical kit. Don placed the kit away, moving to the other side of the bed to grab the glass of water he had brought with him earlier.

“Yep”, Raph answered, moving his arm a bit to test the bandaging. The painkillers were starting to work, which he was glad for.

“Leo”, Don spoke to the leader, leaning towards him, carefully touching his chin. “You awake?”

By the rapid breathing Don expected him to be, but he asked anyways, if just to get his attention. Leo’s eyes cracked open, and Don gave him a small smile. “Think you could drink a bit?”

Leo’s eyes moved to the water in Don’s hand, and after a moment of hesitating, he weakly shook his head.

“Your body has lost a lot of fluids-“

But Leo had already closed his eyes and turned his head away. Don sighed; his big brother often found the wrong time to be stubborn.

“Leo…” Don tried to persuade him, hand still under his chin, so he could easily pull Leo’s face back towards himself. “Just a little bit. It’s only water, this time.”

Leo hastily met Don’s eyes, since he couldn’t stop Don from turning his face towards his. Leo seemed to be considering the offer, his gaze moving down to the cup of water, eyeing it as if it was some kind of an enemy. It would’ve been amusing, had the situation not been what it was.

Don was patient, exhausted after everything that had happened, but there was no hurry now. Nobody would be going out for a while, and hopefully the wind would calm down by the time they’d have to go. And Leo certainly wouldn’t be moving anywhere. Maybe Leo’s condition would get better with a long, uninterrupted rest. So he waited for Leo to make up his mind, knowing that Leo would eventually have to accept his fate and drink the water.

Instead of agreeing to drink Leo met Don’s gaze again, looking at him like he was… almost pleading with his eyes. Don tilted his head at the look, moving his hand from Leo’s chin down to his shoulder, holding it soothingly. He was watching Leo’s face carefully, trying to understand what was going through his mind. Speaking had been very difficult for him earlier, Don didn’t expect – or even want – Leo to try that right now.

Leo’s gaze didn’t stay on him for very long; he looked away as if ashamed.

“Leo?” Don tried asking, still not wanting the other to talk, but not quite understanding why Leo was so stubbornly refusing the water. “I understand that your throat hurts, but after drinking this I’ll let you rest. Just one glass, okay?”

Don was already lifting Leo’s head, bringing the glass closer once again. Instead of turning his head away Leo whimpered in protest, causing Don to hesitate. Leo sounded so weak, it was so rare to hear Leo voice his pain – and now he was obviously voicing it, looking at Donatello with the same pleading look he had used earlier.

Don gave Raph a helpless glance, wondering if there was something more about Leo’s condition that he should know. When he had moved their belongings with Mikey he had gotten a short version of today’s happenings, and definitely hadn’t liked what he had heard. Mikey and Leo had been in serious trouble, both of them passed out in the cold- Don was truly glad that Raph had gotten back in time.

…And not just for Leo and Mikey, but for himself, too. He shivered at the memory of the cold, snowy alley.

Raph returned his gaze looking just as clueless, and both of them turned their attention back to Leo, who was now looking almost anxiously at the glass of water.

“C’mon Leo, it’s only water”, Raph said, and Don decided that they’d be still sitting here in the morning if he didn’t make Leo drink the water now. So much for his patience. He brought the glass to Leo’s lips, and when Leo tried to escape by turning his head Raph leaned closer, helping Don to keep him still. Leo could only mumble in protest when his brothers teamed up against him, but Don was already lifting the glass, forcing Leo to drink the liquid. For a moment he feared that Leo would just keep his mouth shut, but he ended up giving up and drinking the water. Don poured it down slowly, letting Leo take short breaks. It was clear that Leo had difficulty swallowing- his whole body was tense as he drank, his hands tightly gripping the bed sheets. Raph gave Don a worried glance, but the glass was almost empty now. Don made Leo drink the whole glass, carefully lowering his head back to the pillows after he was finished.

Leo was gasping for air, like drinking the water had taken more effort than running through the whole sewer system. Leo had lifted his hand up to his chest, pressing down on it, but it wasn’t bringing him much comfort. Now Donatello looked worried as well, returning the gaze Raphael had given him before looking back at Leonardo. Drinking a glass of water shouldn’t take this much effort, and certainly shouldn’t leave Leo breathless and shaking. Don put the empty glass away, lifting the wet cloth from Leo’s forehead. It was all warm now, and when Don placed his hand on Leo he frowned. Was the fever rising again?

Leo was calming down, still breathing too harshly, and he turned his head away from them, keeping his eyes tightly shut.

“Sorry, Leo”, Don said, placing his hand over Leo’s hand still clutching at his chest, carefully bringing it down on the bed. Leo didn’t react, and Don sighed. “The water helps you to cool down inside. Prepare yourself for another glass in a while.”

Leo dragged the blanket over his head, his opinion on the matter pretty clear. Despite his worry Don rolled his eyes, patting the blankets where he assumed Leo’s shoulder was.

“Try to get some sleep.”

They stayed with him until he fell asleep, still hearing the whistle in his breathing, but unable to do anything else for it right now. After making sure that Leonardo was a comfortable as they could make him they left the room, looking for Michelangelo in hopes of food.

“Can’t warm up anything, but food is food, hot or not!” Mikey said as soon as he saw them, his mouth already full of bread and jam.

“Yes, but keep the blanket over you”, Don advised, draping the fabric tighter around Mikey, who was too focused on munching his food to notice that the blanket had started to slip off of him.

“You too, Don”, Raph mumbled, throwing a blanket over Don, since he had kind of dropped the one he had been given earlier when Leo had decided that throwing Don on the floor was a good idea.

“I’m not letting go of this blanket for the next week”, Don shivered, sitting down next to Mikey and reaching for the bread. “The last thing we need is for all of us to get sick.”

“Hey, being sick means that you get to lie down and read comics. No training!”

Raphael was about to smack him, but halted when he remembered that Mikey had hit his head earlier.

The wind howled outside while they ate, never letting them forget what they’d still have to face later. But rest came first, and they decided to take turns watching Leo. Raph took the first watch, taking one of Mikey’s comics with him so he that he would have something to keep him from falling asleep. Most of the comics had been left to the abandoned bags, but at least Mikey would have a few. Hopefully that would be enough to keep him from being too annoying, in case they’d be forced to stay here for a longer time.

Raph was turning the page when he heard Leo shifting, and he raised his head. The room was dim, the only light still coming from the flashlight, but Raph could see how Leo was curling up. Or at least trying to; he had pushed the blanket down, and Raph saw how he held his chest, gasping for breath.

The comic was abandoned when Raph moved to sit next to him, pulling the blanket back up and gently rubbed the upper part of Leo’s shell.

“Take it easy”, Raph said quietly, glancing towards the glass on the table. Don had told him to make Leo drink something to keep him hydrated, but Leo had seemed to be in so much pain the last time they had made him drink that Raph hesitated. Dehydration was a much bigger problem than some pain while drinking, but Raph hated to cause Leo more pain since he was already so obviously suffering.

Raphael snaked his hand behind Leonardo’s head, and the eldest immediately opened his eyes. So here it was, it was Raph’s turn to be the imaginary enemy – but Leo didn’t attack, only pushed back against Raph’s hand, turning his head and pressing his forehead against Raph’s arm.

“Don’t make me”, Leonardo whispered pathetically, and Raph had to blink a few times, trying to understand. He hadn’t even grabbed the glass yet – oh. Perhaps Leo had expected it when Raph had placed his hand behind him, since they always lifted his head when he had to drink.

“You shouldn’t be talking”, was all Raph could say, unsure what to do. He knew Leo needed to drink, but to force him was… Raph looked at the glass. It was just water. “One glass, Leo. C’mon, sit up.”

He dragged Leo up despite his protesting mumbling, holding him steady with one hand and grabbing the water with the other. Jeez, Leo could take down a whole army of Foot ninja on his own, but couldn’t drink one glass of water.

Leo winced, but had no way to escape. His last option was to keep his mouth shut, and that was exactly what he did. Even when Raph brought the glass to his lips he held his mouth shut.

“Come on, you drank this when Don offered it, why not now? Don’t be a brat, that’s Mikey’s job”, Raph grumbled, pushing the glass harder against Leo’s lips. The leader lifted his hand, pushing Raph’s hand away, and Raph let him.

“I heard… you talking”, Leo said, having to force the words out of his abused throat.

“Don’t try to change the subject”, Raph muttered, silencing Leo by lifting his hand back up and pushing the glass back towards him. “Just drink.”

Leo didn’t, and Raph was starting to lose his patience.

“Look, Leo, I don’t want to force you but you leave me no choice-“

Leo only turned his head away. Raph growled – if Leo wanted to be difficult, fine! Raph wouldn’t give up until this glass was empty. He grabbed Leo’s chin, surprising him as he harshly yanked his face towards him.

“Wait, Raph-“, Leo tried, but Raph had already tilted his head back and pressed against the sides of his jaw, forcing Leo’s mouth open. Leonardo grabbed Raph’s wrists, but didn’t have the strength to make him let go. Raph tilted the glass, and Leo had no choice but to drink unless he wanted to spill the water everywhere. He tried to be careful, letting Leo have breaks, but the task still didn’t seem easy for Leo.

Once it was over Raph felt relieved, at least until Leo slumped down and put a hand over his mouth, coughing harshly. Raph rubbed his shell once again, waiting for the coughing to die down.

“Hey, you did it”, Raph tried to sound optimistic when Leo was able to calm down, helping him to lie down again. Leo only gave him a very dry look.

“That was”, cough, “unnecessary”, Leo muttered.

“You wanted to do it the hard way”, Raph said, draping the blanket over him again.

“It hurts, Raph”, Leo said, coughing weakly before continuing. “It burns. You wouldn’t want to drink either, if-“

Leonardo broke into another coughing fit, and Raph held his hand on his shoulder, hating how harsh the coughing was.

“You’d better stop talking”, Raph said when Leo was able to listen. The leader stared at the wall with hazy eyes, exhausted from the rough coughing.

“You’re not going anywhere”, Leo spoke stubbornly after collecting himself, pushing the blanket away, but Raphael only drew it back over him. Leonardo scowled, pushing the blankets again, but Raphael held them in place, a bit amused that he had so much control over Leonardo. Especially when it was something this little, like how high up the blanket was.

“What do you mean?” Raph asked, trying to sound like he had no idea what Leo was talking about. Apparently Leo had heard their earlier conversation, but it didn’t really surprise him. Well, perhaps a bit, they had thought that Leo was asleep. Leo groaned, not wanting to speak, but forcing himself to do so anyways.

“You know what I mean”, he muttered.

“Nope, no idea”, Raph said, pulling the blanket over Leo’s mouth to momentarily silence him. “And you’d better continue sleeping.”

Leo still mumbled something. He never liked to be told what to do, even if it was for his own good. Raph received his harsh glaring, but didn’t take the blanket away until Leo gave up sending daggers with his eyes. Raph allowed the blanket to drop down to Leo’s chin, but still held the edge of the blanket in his hand, not allowing Leo to push the blanket away, trapping him in the bed. Eventually Leo’s breathing calmed down, indicating that he was asleep. If he’d just stay asleep this time, instead of eavesdropping on them.

Raph was about to pick up the comic he had dropped earlier, when the door softly opened. Don stepped in, rubbing his eyes.

“How is he?” Don whispered as he walked closer, and Raph shrugged.

“Just gave him some water. He really resisted, though.”

Donatello looked at Leo, but didn’t dare to interrupt his sleep. Instead he turned towards Raph, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I’ve been thinking about who should come with me to get the antibiotics”, Don started, still whispering. “But I don’t know. Mikey has a concussion, I think – remind me to wake him up soon to check on him – and your arm is hurt. I’d rather let you both rest.”

“You’re not going alone out there”, Raph said sharply, quickly stepping between the door and Don as if he had been planning on dashing out of the room.

“I’m not going alone”, Don reassured Raph, sighing. “I’m just not sure-“

“Nobody… goes”, Leo rasped from the bed, startling Don. Raph only groaned.

“How do you do that? I thought you were asleep!”

“I can sense… stupid decisions”, Leonardo chuckled weakly, but only received another coughing fit for that. Raphael shook his head while Donatello sat next to Leonardo, helping him to lean forward to ease the coughing.

“It’s not a stupid decision, Leo. You need those antibiotics before this gets any worse”, Don said sternly, shifting the pillows so that it was more comfortable for Leo to lie down.

“No.” Leo looked like he wanted to continue, but didn’t have the energy, so a firm “no” was what he settled for. He tried to look commanding, but his brothers weren’t buying it.

“Sorry, Leo, but you’re sick. Sick leaders can’t make decisions.”

“That makes no sense- there’s danger, Don. I saw it, I know it-”

For a moment Leonardo had seemed lucid, trying to take control of the situation by not letting them go outside, but now he was thinking about his hallucinations again. Just a moment ago his eyes had been sharp, demanding them to not go, but now his look was unfocused again, his words starting to get slurred.

Donatello dragged the blanket over Leo’s mouth to keep him silent, and Raph couldn’t help but laugh. He had used the exact same method of shutting Leo up. Don turned his head to raise a brow at Raph, but the red turtle only grinned at Leo, who had regained enough of his focus to look at him wryly.

“Try to get some sleep, Leo”, Don said as he turned his attention back to the sick turtle. Leo was giving them both a hard glare, since that was all he could do. Don was about to stand up, but hesitated, looking back at his brother. If Leo’s fever was still rising, he’d need to do something about that before leaving. Not like there was much he could do with what they had, but Leo wouldn’t be able to cool down like this.

“We can’t let his fever get any higher”, Don said as he turned towards Raph. “Let’s get some towels.”

While they got the towels soaked in cold water Leo hadn’t moved, but wasn’t asleep either. Both of his brothers suspected that he wasn’t sleeping out of his stubbornness, but Don was surprised that the sickness hadn’t made Leo pass out. Even his stubbornness had to had a limit.

The towel touched the side of Leo’s face, and the feverish turtle’s eyes shot open, his face flinching away from the cold feeling. Leo lifted his hand up to shield his cheek, but Don pushed it down easily, pressing the towel back against Leo’s face. The eldest hissed, giving Don a confused look.

“To help you cool down”, Don explained, being gentle with the towel, but he knew it must’ve felt horribly cold against Leo’s flushed skin. Leo looked like he wasn’t sure if the cold feeling was welcome or not, but Don imagined that the cold brought some comfort since he was burning up from the fever. One moment Leo slurred about being too cold, the second he was pressing his cheek against the towel. Clearly didn’t know whether the cold was a relief or not.

Leo’s occasional mumbling, or more like attempts at forming words, were getting harder to understand. Don frowned; the fever was getting dangerously high. It already was, Leo had been hallucinating before, and it looked like he was getting delusional again. The cooling towels were more of a temporary help than a solution, and Don knew they had to get the antibiotics now.

He gave Leo’s flushed cheek one last gentle touch before standing up from the bed and motioning for Raph to follow him out of the room. Leo’s eyes were closed again, so they hoped he was finally asleep. Even if he wasn’t, it was better to talk about the trip somewhere where Leo wasn’t able to hear, even if he was in no condition to do anything about it. The thing messing with his head the most seemed to be the absence of his brothers, so it was better that Leo didn’t hear them talk about leaving.

Michelangelo wasn’t happy about being woken up, but at least he woke up normally, which was good considering his possible concussion. Although, Michelangelo’s way of waking up “normally” consisted of a lot of refusal and just draping the blankets back over his head. Raphael had to drag him out of the bed so that Donatello could properly check on him.

“So. I need one of you to come with me”, Donatello started once Michelangelo was at least half-awake. Mikey groaned, leaning back on the chair he had sat on.

“I think that’ll be me”, the youngest mumbled, dragging his hand over his face. “I mean, Raph has his hand stitched and… I’m not really good with this fever stuff.”

“You took good care of him, Mikey. It wasn’t your fault that you got hit by… whatever it was that hit you. My guess would be the snow falling from the roof”, Donatello said, thoughtfully looking at the bump on Mikey’s head.

“Yeah. Maybe”, Mikey said, looking down. Don placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it, Mikey. What matters is that you and Leo are okay”, Don comforted him.

“Leo didn’t really seem okay to me”, the youngest mumbled, looking up at his brother. Don was still giving him a reassuring look.

“He’ll be better once he gets those antibiotics. Are you sure you can come with me? How does your head feel?”

“It’s better. Just a dull ache. I’m more worried about the cold!” Michelangelo wrapped his hands around himself, clattering his teeth overdramatically.

“Alright, so. Raph, you will stay. Just keep Leo in bed, make him drink if he’s awake and keep those towels on him. That fever is still way too high”, Don instructed while getting his bag. “Try to make him eat something, if you can. But… just try to cool him down. Use ice, if you have to.”

“Well, that’ll be fun”, Raph groaned. If Leo didn’t even want to drink, how the hell would he make him eat? And how was he supposed to cool Leo down when his skin felt like it was boiling, grab a pile of snow and dump it on him? One moment you were trying to warm up your brothers, the second you were thinking about kicking them in the snow...

“I’m already cold”, Mikey complained, staring out of the window. The wind had calmed down and it wasn’t even snowing anymore, but they knew that it’d still be freezing outside.

“Raph, your jacket wasn’t as wet as mine was, right?” Donatello asked, already moving towards the bathroom where their clothes were drying. “Mikey, you take Leo’s clothing, they should be drier than your own.”

“Should be…” Mikey sighed, walking after Don. Raphael watched them with his arms crossed, tapping the floor with his leg.

“You sure you don’t want me to go instead, Mike?” Raph asked. “I’d rather do something than just wait for you to come back.”

“You’ll be doing something”, Donatello said while wrapping Leo’s scarf around Mikey’s neck. “You’ll be looking after Leo.”

“Right”, Raph groaned. “Meaning that I’ll be sitting on my butt while he sleeps.”

Raph stood by the door, watching after Don and Mikey until they disappeared behind the snowy corner. With a sigh he turned away and closed the door, staring at the empty shop. Neither Don nor Mikey were on their best, and now they were waddling through the snowy streets. And the morning wasn’t that far away. At least Raph had told them to send a message once they reached the drugstore. The place wasn’t that far from here, if everything went as it should, they’d be back in an hour.

It felt like so much time had passed since they had made their first trip here. What time was it, anyway? He shuddered – the first floor was cold. He’d better get out of here and check on Leo. Before he went he took some food with him, hoping that he could make Leo eat some without all the resistance he had faced earlier. If he was even awake.

Once Raph was in the second floor he shuddered again. The cold seemed to follow him from the shop, clinging to his skin and refusing to let go. He muttered to himself as he carefully pushed open the door to the bedroom, not wanting to wake Leo up.

With a sinking feeling Raph realized that the cold hadn’t followed him from the shop – it was coming from the bedroom. The window was open, and the bed was empty.

His instinct was to drop the items from his hands and draw his weapons. Leo couldn’t have moved on his own, and why would he? Raph stormed to the window, trying to see, but everything was dark. He growled as he turned around to retrieve the flashlight, putting his other sai away in order to hold the source of light. Raphael was about to climb out through the window, but the cold hit him badly. He cursed, running to get one of the jackets. It was still a bit wet and Raph cursed again, but it was better than nothing. Finally he was able to climb out to the closest roof, wildly glancing around in the light of the flashlight.

He could see footprints, but only Leo’s. So he had gotten up and out of the window on his own. Anger flashed over Raph – what was Leo thinking?

And then he realized that he probably wasn’t thinking at all. Don had said that his fever was still too high, this was probably another bright idea caused by the fever, or another hallucination- but Leo shouldn’t have been in the condition to be able to move. Raphael growled at Leonardo’s ability to push himself to his limits, and started following the footsteps. Leo couldn’t be that far; even if he managed to ignore the pain he was in, he still couldn’t be moving too fast. Raph hadn’t even been gone for that long – they had woken up Mikey and talked, and Raph had watched them go, and then he had been back – alright, that had given Leo some time. But still, he couldn’t be moving too fast. He was too weak for that.

Well, he hadn’t gotten his change to kick Leo out in the snow. Leo had done that completely on his own.

The footsteps ended when the edge of the roof did, and Raph leaped down. The snow softened his fall, and he quickly spotted the footprints again. By the heavily disturbed snow he could tell that Leo had fallen over when he had jumped down. It would’ve been a funny mental image if Leo wasn’t feverish and running in the snow without anything defending him from the cold.

Raph kept running after the marks until they suddenly ended, like Leo had just disappeared. Frustration washed over him; he wasn’t exactly thrilled about running around in the snow, the cold already affecting him. Confusion and worry were quick to follow; the more time he wasted the further away Leo got, and the cold was doing everything but disappearing. He looked around, squinting, trying to see if there was something that Leo had jumped on-

Something landed against his shell, sending the flashlight out of his hand as he fell down into the snow. He groaned when the cold snow bit into him, trying to push himself up, but someone had grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back. Raphael growled; his attacker wasn’t very strong, yet had dared to attack him from behind.

Raph kicked back, easily sending his attacker away. He was up on his feet before the other one even hit the snow, leaping over to them, striking down with his sai.

He stopped himself just in time. Few more inches and he would’ve plunged the blade of his sai right into Leo’s eye.

Chapter Text

The sudden disappearance of adrenaline left Raph’s hand shaking as he slowly lowered his weapon, but he had no time to think about what he had almost done. Leo’s skin felt warm even here in the cold, but he was cooling down fast, grimly reminding him that they were both in danger. The icy weather was just as dangerous as the blade of an enemy. Or… the blade of his own weapon, as he had just shown. Was the cold really affecting him this much? Not only freezing his fingers, making it hard to keep his hold on his weapon, but freezing his brain as well, huh? He should’ve realized that there was nobody but Leo here!

He felt stupid, but Leo was even stupider, and Raph was unable to stop himself from growling.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Raphael demanded harshly. He couldn’t see Leonardo’s face very well in the dark, but he could tell that Leo had gone limp under him. The realization made his anger fade quickly. Shit. Leo wasn’t being himself, he was still sick. No time for this now.

Raph lifted himself up from on top of Leo, grabbing his shoulders to haul him up. He didn’t expect Leo to be able to stand on his own, so he stayed close, ready to take his weight, ready to even carry him if he had to. As soon as Leo had his feet under him Raph could feel him tense against him, probably trying to get his muscles working again- the unexpected kick collided with Raph’s plastron, sending him down into the snow.

“The hell, Leo!” Raphael growled, immediately pushing himself up. As if it hadn’t been cold enough already, and now he was down on the icy ground. For the second time. This time he had fallen on his back, luckily. Getting your face full of snow wasn’t pleasant, but sitting in the snow without proper clothes wasn’t that much more better.

Leo stood in front of him, visibly swaying, knees bent and his fists up. Ready to fight despite his condition. In the dim light coming from the dropped flashlight he could see Leonardo’s breath coming out in harsh puffs, and even now the whistle in his lungs was audible. He needed to get Leo back inside before the fever made him burn himself out completely.

“What were you thinking, coming out here?” Raph asked gruffly, finally getting his legs back under himself. He knew that Leo wasn’t recognizing him, but maybe his voice could snap Leo out of it. Talking to him had helped before, when Leo had attacked Don. Well, Mikey had also embraced Leo, but for some reason Raph doubted that Leo wanted him to get any closer right now.

Taking a step closer turned out to be a mistake, as Raph had suspected; as soon as he moved Leo lunged, but Raph stepped easily out of the way. Leo sent himself toppling into the snow, but he was immediately trying to get up. Emphasis on trying; his legs were refusing to obey him, skidding uselessly against the wet snow, never gaining proper purchase. Leo managed to lift up only the upper part of his body, the movement of his legs slowly dying as he relied on his arms to drag himself forward.

“Come on, let’s get you back inside”, Raph said, still hoping that his voice would push through the haze Leo was in. He moved closer carefully, but when he reached for Leo he only swiped at him with his hand, and Raph caught the glint of a small blade. Jeez, Leo really meant business.

“Leo, it’s just me – whatever you’re seeing isn’t real”, Raph tried, holding his hands up to show Leo that he held no weapons. This hallucination seemed worse by the way Leo was struggling, and was definitely lasting longer- he was lucky Leo wasn’t carrying his swords. Not like Leo could put up a real fight when he was like this, but it’d be even harder to deal with him if he had his weapons. He’d have to remember to take away all these smaller, hidden blades too; it didn’t matter that Leo was weak, getting hit by something sharp could still do nasty damage.

Leonardo managed to get his feet under himself and push himself up on his knees, but a pained whimper was audible when he swayed again. The longer Raph waited, the more Leo would burn himself out, making this easier for Raph, but at the cost of Leo’s health. Raph jumped towards him, giving Leo no time to prepare himself, but the leader acted anyways. Too slow, though; Raph dodged the swipe of the blade easily, knocking it out of Leo’s hand. Leonardo growled in frustration, sending a punch now that the blade was lost, but Raphael grabbed his wrist without a problem, bringing his fist down.

“Listen–“

Leo still had his other hand – why had he only grabbed one wrist? – and thanks to his mistake Raph received a blow to his cheek. He wouldn’t even call it a real punch, but it still hurt enough to make him lose his patience. Raph kicked at Leo’s feet, grabbing his waist before he could fall, but the leader wasn’t ready to give up the fight. Raph felt his fingers press against his neck, and felt his legs give up under him. Pressure points! How the hell was Leo able to realize to use them even in a condition like this? Fighting really was carved into him. It was an instinct to all of them, but Leo was really taking this a step too far, using every trick against Raph. It was good that Leo could defend himself like this against an enemy, even when he wasn’t exactly himself, but Raph wasn’t an enemy. But he would be if Leo didn’t cut this shit out soon – Raph was really starting to get sick of falling down into the snow.

Leonardo went down with him, but wasted no time to stubbornly push himself up. This time his legs obeyed, unlike Raphael’s; he could only lift himself up with his hands, his legs gone completely unresponsive. He pushed himself onto his side, glaring at Leonardo.

“You are so paying for this once you get better”, Raphael threatened, growling. He tried to order his legs to move, but they just didn’t listen. He had always hated pressure points. He kept trying, growling again, and- wait, his toes were moving already. Leonardo hadn’t managed to do a very good job with the pressure point, if the effect was this short. Still, Raph was annoyed – Leo was barely standing, yet had still taken him down. Pressure points were bullshit.

Leo had finally gotten up, but a harsh coughing-fit took him back down on his knees. Leo gave up on trying to stand, settling for dragging himself away from Raph. It wasn’t a very fast way of moving, his weakened state slowing him down even further. Raph dragged himself after him, pulling himself with his hands, and if Leo was slow, he was the slowest. Damn legs. Damn pressure points. Damn Leo.

“You’re not going anywhere”, Raph growled, forcing himself to move faster and finally managing to grab Leo’s ankle. He was so thankful that Mikey and Don weren’t here – this was the stupidest fight ever, weak punches, constant falling, both of them dragging themselves forward in the wet snow... Raph pulled Leo closer, trying to ignore how weak the startled sound Leo made was when his leg was grabbed and pulled.

“I’m not going to hurt ya, not now at least, so stop struggling”, Raph mumbled, dragging Leo towards him until he had a firmer grip on him. Leo protested, tried to grab something, but all he had was the snow. Raph was able to grab Leo’s shell, and putting some of his weight on him helped in keeping him still, and finally Leo was too exhausted to fight him.

“Dammit ”, Raph breathed out, shivering. It wasn’t good for them to lie in the snow. Luckily his legs were starting to respond, but it was still taking longer than Raph would’ve liked. It hurt to draw the cold air in, and by now the jacket he was wearing had been soaked by the snow. And Leo wasn’t even wearing anything, and Raph was pressing him into the snow – with a groan Raph pushed himself closer to Leo, pulling him onto his side, trying to lift him up into his lap to give him some shield from the cold. Leo was limp in his hold, but he mumbled quietly, his voice too weak for Raph to understand. At least he hadn’t passed out. Yet.

Finally his legs were responding like they should. Carefully he lowered Leo back to the ground, getting up to stretch his limbs. He took a few tentative steps, deciding that they worked well enough for him to be able to hold his weight – and Leo’s as well. Raph dragged Leo up from the ground, throwing his dead weight over his shoulder. Raph grunted as he almost lost his balance on the slippery alley, allowing himself to adjust to the extra weight before taking any steps. As he went he picked up the flashlight he had dropper earlier, having to be careful to not overbalance as he bent down, and then he was heading back.

The icy wind drove him to walk faster, but he still had to be careful. It was dark and the ground was slippery, so he had to watch his steps. Now he was noticing how much the cold had taken out of him, his muscles ached, and Leo felt much heavier than he should’ve. He was slumped over Raph’s uninjured shoulder, but his hurt arm was still voicing its protest about all the falls he had taken. At least the cold numbed some of the pain.

Raph couldn’t help a small laugh escaping from him. Don had made him stay so that he wouldn’t hurt his arm any further. Had he gone with Don his arm wouldn’t have gone through anything like this. What a day. Or night. Whatever.

The city was unnaturally quiet; no cars, no humans. Only the wind howled in the corners of the buildings. On top of the shivering caused by the cold and the throbbing in his bandaged arm it was starting to snow again. Raph growled at the situation, and Leo responded by weakly pushing against Raph’s shell. He was trying to struggle out of his brother’s hold, but was far too weak. Raph could’ve easily mistaken his struggle for a tap on the shoulder. Leo said something again, but his voice had given out and all Raph could hear was weak wheezing. This trip really couldn’t have done him anything good. Hadn’t done any good for Raph either – the throb in his arm was getting stronger, and he could only hope that the wound hadn’t reopened. He’d kick Leo’s ass if it had. Well, he would kick his ass anyways for doing this shit.

It was kind of difficult to grab the handle of the door while carrying someone, but Leo had worn himself out and was limp again, and Raph was able to let go with his other hand for long enough to use it to open the door. But it was locked. Raph groaned.

“Great”, he mumbled. He had no choice but to put Leo down, pressing his shell against the wall, hoping he’d be able sit while he’d go in through the window and open the door.

“Raph”, Leo called out weakly just then, his voice almost disappearing into the wind blowing over them. He wasn’t moving, didn’t even open his eyes. Raph halted, kneeling back in front of Leo. At least Leo recognized him now.

“I’m here”, Raph said, trying to sound calm despite being on the verge of freezing and irritated as hell.

Slowly Leo’s eyes fluttered open, and he lifted his hand. Raph took it, but when Leo used his other hand to push himself up Raph held him back.

“Wait here. I’ll get us in-“

“Don, Mikey”, Leo breathed out, and Raph could only shake his head. Was that the reason Leo had gone out? Was the fever making him this thickheaded?

“Don and Mikey are fine, Leo! You don’t have to run outside after them, they’re fine. But at this rate you won’t be.” Either the cold would get him or Raph would just punch his lights out if he didn’t stop moving.

Leo slumped back down, too exhausted to do anything but to trust Raph’s word.

“I saw…” Leo still continued, but a cough smothered his voice. Raph grumbled, taking off his jacket, immediately shivering harder without it.

“Whatever you saw wasn’t real. If you see any more monsters or – or whatever you saw, just try to ignore them. You’re safe.” Raph glanced at the locked door. “At least almost.”

Leonardo’s head drooped, and Raphael put the jacket around him. It wouldn’t do anything to warm Leo, but at least it’d give some shield from the freezing wind. Raph stood up – he had already wasted enough time talking instead of acting. Just a few seconds and he would be on the other side of the door. Raph ran behind the corner, climbing to the roof and jumping in through the window. The room he entered was freezing, and he slammed the window closed after him. Well, at least the open window had given him a way inside. He shivered again, hurrying down into the shop.

He hadn’t even realized how frozen his fingers were until he was having trouble opening the lock of the door. He cursed, pulling it open with force when he finally managed to unlock it.

For once Leo was where he was supposed to be. Well, he wasn’t supposed to be sitting outside in the snow, but at least he hadn’t gotten up and wandered off again. That would’ve been absolutely perfect.

“Don’s going to kill me”, Raph muttered to himself as he dragged Leo inside. It was true that he had been instructed to cool Leo down, but definitely not like this. The door was kicked close, and Raph lifted Leo onto his arms once more. This hurt more than carrying him over his shoulder, but Raph bit his lip to stay quiet and carried Leo up the stairs. It was difficult, the stairs were narrow, but he managed.

If his arm hadn’t been hurting before, now it definitely was.

He couldn’t bring Leo into the bedroom since it was so cold now, so he took Leo into the guest room where Mikey and Don had slept earlier. Once Leo was under the blankets Raph sighed, left feeling cold and exhausted. It had been a long day, and Raph hadn’t had a proper sleep after all this began. Only snoozed off for a couple of minutes while Don and Mikey prepared to leave.

Raphael fished out his cell, noticing that he had received a message almost half an hour ago. Don had simply said that they had reached the drugstore, much like Raph had requested. But he hadn’t even noticed the message. Had they really been outside for that long?

Raph lifted the blankets, draping them over himself as well. He was freezing, and like Don had said, the rest of them getting sick was the last thing they needed.

Leo’s skin felt cold, but he was getting warmer faster than Raph was. The fever was still there. Raph winced. The whistle in Leo’s breath had definitely gotten worse. Don really was going to kill him. Not like there had been much he could’ve done to prevent this, how could he have known that Leo was this out of it?

Raph reached out, pressing himself against Leo. For warmth, he told himself, but knew he needed the comfort as well. He could understand the helplessness Mikey had expressed earlier; Leo’s condition was possibly worse, no, definitely worse, but he had no idea what to do. He knew he should get up and text Don, but the warmth around him was forcing his eyelids down. He didn’t want to let go of Leo now that he had managed to drag him back.

Raph hadn’t even realized that he had fallen asleep until he could hear faint whispers – he pushed his head up from the blankets, but the room was dark. Something warm was pressed against him, and once he focused on his body he realized that Leo had wrapped his arms around him, and had tightly pressed himself against Raph. He tried to push Leo away – he was too warm. And clingy.

“Aw, did we wake him up? Oh, he hasn’t moved yet, I can still take the pic-”

Mikey’s voice made Raph realize that there were two figures by the door. Raph couldn’t growl if he didn’t want to wake Leo up, so he settled for giving Mikey a glare, even though the youngest couldn’t see it in the dark. Well, at least Don and Mikey were back safely. He should probably give up his place on the bed for either Mikey or Don, but Mikey had slept the most earlier. Mikey could have the bed once he stopped being so annoying.

“Raph, why is the other bedroom so cold?” Donatello asked, whispering. Ugh, here it was. He’d have to explain everything that had happened, but he was too tired, so he only pulled the blanket over his head. As he shifted Leo moved as well, using the change in his position to press himself even closer. Raphael sighed, but didn’t feel like struggling against Leonardo’s cuddling, ending up placing his hand over Leo’s shell, keeping him close. The blanket covered them; it’d protect him from Mikey’s teasing.

He could hear Mikey and Don whispering again and then leaving, and his eyelids were still feeling heavy. Leo’s ragged breathing kept him awake for a while, but having him pressed against him eased some of his worry, and he fell back asleep.

“I just want to watch the TV”, Michelangelo complained, hanging upside down on the couch. “Or play video games. Or have something warm to eat. Having no electricity sucks! Can we make a fire, Don?”

“No.”

“But that’s the only way to warm up food without electricity!”

“We can’t make a fire inside, Mikey. And do you really want to go outside?”

“No…”

The only thing that had gone right today had been their trip to the drugstore. It was pretty late, and despite the snowing calming down the weather was still horrible, so the streets had been empty. It hadn’t been a problem for two ninja to sneak into the store and get what they needed. For once it had been a simply get in, get out. Well, Mikey had insisted on grabbing some strawberry-flavored toothpaste that had been on display, and Don had been forced to talk him out of it. They only took what they absolutely needed, and they’d be fine without the fancy toothpaste.

During their way back it had started to snow again, but Mikey was already starting to forget the cold, draping a blanket over himself and feeling comfortable hanging from the couch.

“I don’t know if it’s a good thing for you to be upside down right now. Your head must still be hurting – doesn’t that just make it hurt worse?” Donatello asked, the glow of the laptop’s screen showing Michelangelo the worried glance Don was giving him.

“It helps, actually”, Michelangelo said thoughtfully, even though he didn’t really want to give much attention to the still lingering pain. It was better to just ignore it.

“Interesting.”

“Was that sarcasm?”

“No, it is interesting. Hanging upside down has been studied, some claim that it-“

Michelangelo tuned Donatello out, sliding down from the sofa, groaning at his boredom. Raph and Leo were asleep, and even though Mikey was tired as well he didn’t feel like sleeping. He scooted over to Don to see what he was doing on his laptop.

The screen was full of numbers, and Mikey sighed, not knowing what he had expected.

“You know, there’s so much you can do with a laptop. Watch videos. Play games. Yet every time I see you using it it’s always just numbers!” Michelangelo complained, leaning against Donatello in hopes that Don would change his mind and watch something entertaining with him. He knew Don had some movies on his laptop. Well, at least on some of them. Don really had too many laptops, how did he remember which one had movies in it? Since that was the most important thing a laptop could carry. He made a mental note to mark Don’s laptops with stickers. Or download movies on every single one of them, just in case.

“Well, I won’t be using this for much longer”, Don said instead of inviting him to watch a movie, his hands gliding over the keyboard while he spoke. “The batteries are almost out, and I can’t charge it before the blackout is over.”

The colors on the screen changed, and Mikey could see how Don tensed, his hands pausing. A new window had popped up, and Donatello leaned to the side to grab something. As Don leaned down Mikey saw his elbow coming, but couldn’t stop it from connecting with his face. The youngest yelped; it wasn’t a very harsh hit, but his face was sensitive!

“Hey! Watch it”, Mikey whined, massaging his beak. Don was too busy meddling with the speaker he had picked up, and suddenly a weak crackle was coming from it.

“–on? Crap, and here I thought that it was finally working–“

“April!” Donatello sounded relieved, his hands on the keyboard again. “Can you-“

“Don!” April’s voice held the same excitement and relief, and they could hear her turn away from the mic. “Casey! I finally contacted them!”

“Hey, April!” Mikey greeted as well, inching closer to the laptop. “Nice weather, isn’t it?”

“Ha, ha, Mikey.”

“Are you two alright? Since you’re-“

“We’re fine, Don. Got enough food and enough wood to burn. Casey even managed to get one of the old generator’s running, so we’re all good. What about you guys?”

“We could use one of those generator’s as well”, Don sighed, dreaming of a warm bath. “But we’re fine. We’re actually, um, at your place.”

“What? Did something happen to the lair?” April sounded worried, and Don could tell that she had moved closer to the mic.

“No, but we thought that it wasn’t a good idea to get trapped down there. So… sorry for visiting uninvited.”

“No, no, you’re always welcome. Just take care of yourselves. There are more blankets in the back of the shop, and-”

“One question”, Michelangelo spoke up. “What was in that box you had left on the kitchen table?”

“…The red box?” April asked after thinking about it for a moment. Don glanced at Mikey with his brow lifted.

“Yeah, that one.”

“…Most likely the old leftovers I forgot to throw out before we left”, April said hesitantly, almost afraid to answer.

“Oh.”

“You ate those, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

Donatello slid his hand across his face, clearing his throat before speaking.

“You be careful too, April. The weather-“

The audio flickered, becoming so high pitched that Don had to grab the speaker and lower the volume while Mikey placed his hands over his ears. After the sound disappeared Don put the volume back up, but the line was silent.

“Aw, shell”, Don muttered, trying to get the line back up again. But it was no use – the connection was dead for good. And so were the batteries. Another window popped up, informing the user that the system would be shutting off.

“Well, that’s that, then”, Don said, sighing as he closed the laptop. The room became dark again.

“What the hell was that noise?” Raph had emerged from the guest room, yawning, cursing when he almost fell over something lying on the floor. “And why is it dark? Where are the flashlights?”

“Don managed to contact April and Casey, but the line went kind of crazy”, Mikey explained, leaning to the side so that Raph wouldn’t tumble into him as he walked past him. First Don elbowed him, and now Raph almost walked over him, what was it with them?

“I thought you were a ninja, Raph”, Mikey mumbled.

“Where’s the damn flashlight”, Raph grumbled in answer, groaning when Don lit the object he was looking for right in front of his face. “I think I’m blind now, thanks.”

“Sorry.”

“How were they doing? They alright?” Raph asked, sitting down on the couch now that he could see where it was.

“Better than us. I think they won’t be able to drive back until some of the snow is gone, but they should be fine”, Don said, stretching his arms. “Well, that’s one less thing to worry about. Leo’s sleeping?”

“Yeah”, Raph said, “didn’t even wake up to that noise. He would’ve before…”

“Isn’t it good that he’s finally sleeping?” Mikey asked, yelping when the wind suddenly howled loudly, rattling the windows again. They all glanced outside despite not being able to see much. The wind just wasn’t giving up, picking up in volume again.

“You didn’t wake up when I came to give Leo the antibiotics”, Don pointed out, eyes on Raph, brow raised. “Care to finally explain why the other bedroom is that cold?”  

“I- I didn’t?” Raph asked, and he really couldn’t remember hearing Don and Mikey before Mikey was teasing him. Don was asking questions he was too tired to answer to, but the genius seemed intent on getting an answer.

“You didn’t. The room?”

Raph rubbed the back of his neck – well, it wasn’t even his fault that Leo had escaped through a window, so he could as well tell the story. And leave out the part where he and Leo lamely wrestled in the snow.

“Leo… kinda opened the window. And… kinda went out through it.”

He received long looks from both of his brothers.

“He… what?” Don asked slowly.

“I think he was seeing stuff again. Tried to pick up a fight with me when I caught up with him.” Raph crossed his arms across his chest, unable to sound as irritated as he wanted. It wasn’t like Leo had meant to do it, and even though he was annoyed, he understood. It probably hadn’t been pleasant for Leo, either. Raph didn’t even know what Leo had thought he was seeing.

“…I don’t know what could’ve made him exit through the window”, Donatello sighed, shaking his head. “But it’s good that you got him back. I’d probably better check on him now...”

“He knew that you two left.” Leo had that freakish eldest brother sense, which the fever was messing with. “Tried to go after you, I guess.”

“Aw, clingy Leo”, Mikey chuckled while Don disappeared into the guest room. “Was it comfy to cuddle with him?”

Mikey dodged the sofa pillow Raph threw at him. Yup, it definitely was “elbow, walk over and throw pillows at Mikey” day.

“Funny that he chose the window, though”, Mikey said, sounding a bit more serious as he looked for a flashlight since Don had taken the other one with him. “Fevers are weird.”

“We use the window more often than the door”, Raph mumbled, making himself comfortable on the couch. It was easier to use the window, since they often jumped through rooftops to get to April’s, and pretty much everywhere else.

“True”, Mikey said, getting up. “Wanna play cards?”

“Shouldn’t you sleep?”

“One round?” Michelangelo had found the flashlight and used his puppy eyes in its light, and Raph groaned.

“One round.”

Donatello placed a careful hand on Leonardo’s shoulder to wake him up; more than a slight touch wasn’t usually needed. If Leo hadn’t been sick he would’ve woken up from simply hearing footsteps outside the door, but now Leo was still asleep, even with Don’s hand resting on him. Don knew he shouldn’t be surprised. Leo’s trip outside must’ve taken the rest of his strength out of him, but it still felt unnatural to be able to get close to Leo while he was asleep. It wasn’t possible unless he was really injured, drugged or sick. And it was obvious that he was sick, but...

Don shook his head to take his thoughts away from the uncomfortable feeling. It was good that Leo was finally resting. He should’ve rested as soon as they got here from the lair, but instead Leo had been up doing something stupid more than once. Don sighed, shaking the thermometer in his hand. Leo hadn’t woken up, but he could take his temperature even while he was asleep.

Don moved the blankets out of the way, feeling Leo’s forehead. His skin wasn’t nearly as hot as before. Something good had came out of his visit outside. Don tilted Leo’s head slightly, slipping the thermometer into his mouth. Once again his touch got no reaction, which was slightly concerning, considering that Leo’s skin didn’t feel that hot anymore. Leo only exhaled against Don’s fingers, and Don gently petted the side of his jaw with his thumb.

Raph’s and Mikey’s hushed voices from the other room mixed with the wind still howling outside. The rattle in Leo’s lungs had eased off a little, being barely audible. That, too, was a good sign, but despite the lack of warmth on Leo’s skin Don was still expecting the thermometer to inform him about at least a slight fever. No way Leo wasn’t reacting to someone touching his face unless he still had a high fever.

While he waited he had time to think about their situation. They were one bedroom short now, since the open window had made it too cold, and they couldn’t get it warm again before the electricity came back. The lack of power had started to affect the rest of the apartment as well, and Don couldn’t help shivering slightly. He grabbed the edge of one of the blankets covering Leo, wrapping it around himself. Good thing Raph had put such a mountain of blankets over Leo; he had done his best to warm Leo up after their visit outside.

The thermometer beeped, and Don pulled it out of Leo’s mouth. Before he was able to look at the readings he was grabbed, the suddenness of it causing a small yelp to leave him. Leo had wrapped his arms around him, forcing him down on the bed as the leader placed some of his weight on him. Don was reminded of their earlier situation and prepared himself for struggling against the hold, expecting a punch, but Leo was only pressing his head against him, hugging him tightly. Don blinked a few times, glancing down at Leo’s head resting on his plastron.

The blankets had moved on top of the flashlight lying on the edge of the bed, causing soft shadows to fall across the room. Leo’s forest green skin was a bit paler than usual, but the shadows made the green resemble its usual tone. Leonardo’s brow was furrowed, but his expression was slowly easing as he made himself comfortable, his upper body on top of Donatello. The younger turtle smiled slightly, pulling the blankets over the two of them. Michelangelo hadn’t been wrong to call Leonardo clingy.

The thought was a bit concerning, considering how rarely Leo showed any need to be close; they all knew that they could go to their big brother for comfort, but Leo rarely sought their comfort. Which he was absolutely allowed to do, but he was too stubborn about showing “weakness” and often suffered alone. Don was pretty sure that this wasn’t even a conscious act from Leo; he seemed to be still asleep.

Don could finally glance down at the screen of the thermometer, and he frowned. The fever was coming down fast. The antibiotics were probably working already, but it hadn’t been that long since Don had given them to Leo. The trip outside must’ve brought Leo’s body temperature down a lot. But even then Leo had already been inside for a while now, his body should’ve…

Don touched Leo’s forehead again, and this time Leo mumbled quietly, pushing his head against Don’s hand.

“‘s so c’ld…” Leo mumbled hoarsely, holding Don tighter. Cold? Leo was buried under blankets and the room wasn’t that cold. Just a few hours ago he had been burning from the fever, and now he was feeling cold. Don knew that it was possible to feel cold instead of hot when feverish, although it was more common to feel hot, but the sudden change was a little concerning. Don would need to keep an eye on his temperature. He should ask Raph for how long exactly the two of them had been outside.

And he should probably check on Raph, too. Leo wasn’t the only one who hid it when he wasn’t feeling well.

But, Don wasn’t exactly free to move. He shifted a little, trying to wiggle his way out of Leo’s hold, but the leader only held him closer, seeking for his warmth. Don sighed, not wanting to push Leo away, so he settled for leaning against the head of the bed, accepting his fate. Not like he had anything against a moment of rest. Mikey could tease him about this cuddling all he wanted, unlike Raph, he didn’t care. What mattered was that Leo was comfortable, and well, perhaps Don kind of owed this to Leo after forcing him to drink like that earlier. Which reminded him that Leo should probably drink again soon, but maybe that could wait.

It was already morning, and the apartment was starting to get dim instead of dark, but the day wouldn’t probably get much brighter than that. The sky was filled with heavy clouds, and even though it wasn’t snowing that hard, it looked like they were still far from getting rid of the snow and cold.

The morning dragged by; Don slept for a few hours, and once he finally got out of Leo’s hold he scolded Raph and Mikey for still being up and playing cards instead of resting. Then he scolded Raph for not letting him know that he had torn some of his stitches. After taking care of Raph’s arm he took Leo’s temperature, finding out that it had dropped again. That was still good, but Leo had slept for a long time without waking up even for a moment. It wasn’t anything to get concerned about, his body needed the rest, but he’d have to wake up soon so that he could eat something.

The worst of the fever seemed to be over, giving the rest of the brothers some peace of mind. While Don had slept Raph and Mikey had checked in on them every now and then; they both felt a bit guilty. They knew that they couldn’t help the things that had happened, but if they had done some things a bit differently, acted a bit faster, then perhaps Leo’s cold wouldn’t have gotten this bad. But they kept the guilt to themselves.

The day was mostly spent sleeping, recovering from yesterday. Leo didn’t wake up during the whole day, and what had started as slight concern was quickly turning into worry. Leo never did things halfway; he was rarely sick, but if he was, he was so sick that he could be bedridden for days. He was stupid enough to protest resting, but the fever always ended up taking him down. Just like now. But no matter how high his fever had been, as soon as it went down he would be up and trying to make up for the time he had spent resting.

The fever had faded hours ago, but Leo was still under the blankets.

“Leo’s still not up?” Raph asked as Don passed the couch he was lying on.

“No… If he doesn’t wake up soon, I’m going to have to wake him up.” Don bit his lip absentmindedly, and Raph could tell that something was bothering him.

“He’s usually up by now”, Raph said, turning his head away.

“I know. But… none of us has ever had a fever that high, and he went through a lot yesterday.” Don sighed, massaging the side of his head. Despite catching up on sleep they were all still tired; the extreme cold tended to do that to them, making them drowsy and forcing them to stay inside even when the weather wasn’t this bad. It often sucked to be cold-blooded.

Suddenly the screen of the TV-flickered and a lamp went on in the kitchen. Michelangelo’s head snapped up, and he was the first to react.

“WOOHOO! Finally we can watch some movies!”

In the other room Leo was startled awake by Mikey’s loud voice. Being forced awake like that left Leo feeling disoriented, like he had slept past his alarm and had forgotten something important. His head felt foggy, but he felt much better than the last time he had been awake. When had that even been…? He was too exhausted to think, letting his head fall back down.

Wait, no. How long had he slept? He glanced towards the window. Dark, just like the last time he had been awake. Meaning that he couldn’t have slept for too long, right? He could sleep for a moment longer.

…No. If his brothers were awake, then he should be, too. Leonardo had a feeling that he had failed on keeping his eyes on them, but by the sounds he figured that they were all here now. Didn’t mean that they hadn’t gotten into any trouble while he had been out, and he should at least check that everything was okay.

Just a few moments later he found himself from the floor. Right, if his mind was dizzy, he should’ve expected that to affect his body as well. At least he hadn’t made too much noise when he had fallen – ninja, even when falling out of the bed. Saved him from the humiliation.

He stretched his legs, letting his weakened body remember what it felt like to walk without immediately falling over. He probably hadn’t eaten anything for a while, hence the dizziness.

“Hey! Look who’s up!” Mikey climbed over the back of the couch as soon as Leo exited the guest room, stumbling over to him and excitedly grabbing Leo’s arms, looking him up and down. “Welcome back to the land of living!”

“How-“

Pain, pain in his lungs, seizing his throat- Leo grabbed the wall for support as he coughed, every cough feeling like it tore something inside his chest. Hadn’t expected that. Probably should’ve.

Mikey held his arm even when the painful coughs died down, and Leo gave himself a moment before pushing away from the wall, feeling very self-aware since all of his brothers were worriedly looking at him. He waved his hand like it was nothing.

“I’m”, small cough, “fine. How long… was I out?”

“Uh”, Don glanced towards the clock, “you fell asleep sometime before the morning, and it’s 11 PM now.”

“…The whole day?” Leo asked, even though that wasn’t unusual when he was sick. But it bothered Leo that he hadn’t woken up even once, he wasn’t a very heavy sleeper. Besides, he had woken up in the guest room, and had no memory of getting there, only memories of… of…

Leo groaned as he held his head, and Mikey’s hold on his arm tightened.

“You okay, bro?” Mikey asked, and Leo didn’t like the concern in his voice.

“Yeah”, Leo smiled, lowering his hand, “just… having trouble remembering last night.”

“Sounds like Raph after drinking”, Mikey grinned, and Raph huffed from the couch.

Leo had a faint memory of climbing out through one of the windows, but perhaps that had been some weird fever-dream. Sudden shivers ran through his body, and Leo groaned at the feeling of suddenly feeling so cold.

“I’ll grab a blanket for you”, Mikey said, letting go of Leo in order to dash past him into the guest room, leaving Leo to stand on his own. A wave of exhaustion washed over him, and Leo leaned against the wall again, sighing at his weak state. He had slept for so long, yet felt like he could still sleep more. Perhaps it’d go away once he’d get around doing something.

“…Where are my swords?” Leo asked, glancing around. They hadn’t been in the guest room; of course he had already checked.

Don only turned to look at Raph, giving him a wide smile. Leo raised a brow.

“No way! It’s been more than five minutes!” Raph protested, glancing towards the clock.

“Nope, I counted. Three minutes and twenty seconds.”

Raph growled, and as Mikey came back with a blanket Leo gave the youngest a puzzled look.

“They betted how long it would take for you to ask for your swords”, Mikey grinned as he draped the blanket over Leo’s shoulders. “I won the bet last time you were sick!”

“That’s… great”, Leo said dryly, folding his arms over his chest. He was too tired to care about the teasing. “Where are they?”

“Eh, they’re around. But hey, your timing was amazing – we just got electricity back, let’s watch a movie!” Mikey was already pulling Leo towards the couch, and the leader was in no condition to protest.

“Don’t you think that it was your yelling that woke him, not his timing?” Raph asked wryly.

“I’d like to finally eat something warm”, Don said, patting Raph on the shoulder as he pouted about the lost bet. “I’ll go warm something up. Don’t let Mikey choose anything boring.”

“Hey, I never choose anything boring!” Mikey called after him, making sure that Leo sat down and wasn’t going anywhere before starting to go through the movies.

Leo was placed between Raph and Mikey, and he couldn’t help giving Raph’s bandaged arm a long look. Something had happened while he had been out, and Raph noticed his look, but only lifted his hand to stop Leo from asking.

“Ya can ask later”, Raph said, and Leo hesitantly accepted. Everything seemed fine now, so maybe the questions could wait. His head felt heavy anyways; it was better to hear everything that had happened once he was properly awake.

They ate before starting the movie, huddled together on the couch. The furniture wasn’t that roomy, and the apartment was still a bit chilly, but getting warmer now that the electricity was back. Eating the warm soup made all of them feel better, and the warmth made Leo feel like he could fall asleep right away. Even with the loud volume of the TV he could feel his head drooping, eyes closing… but he didn’t fall asleep. Something was still amiss.

The movie had his brothers’ full attention, but Leo pushed himself up from the couch, wandering to the bedroom where he distantly remembered being before. He shuddered at how cold the room was, and frowned. He had dreamed of opening a window, remembered how chilly the night air had been… but he had also dreamed of a danger. And Raph’s arm had been hurt. Had it been a dream? If it hadn’t...

The sight of his swords distracted him. The twin katana were lying against the wall, and once Leo had them in his hands he felt much better. Finding his swords eased the nagging feeling that had driven him away from sleep and up from the couch, but it still lingered. There was still something he needed to do. But what?

His eyes felt heavy, and now that he was alone in the chilly room all the previous warmth was already escaping from him. He never liked ignoring it when his instincts were trying to warn him of something, but he was just too tired to deal with this right now. The feeling didn’t even feel like a warning, it was just… like he had forgotten something. How important could it be if he couldn’t remember it? It would come back to him later. It wasn’t like him just ignoring the issue, but he was so tired.

Leo didn’t strap the weapons across his back, just carried them with him back to the living room where his brothers were still caught up in the movie. He watched them for a moment, the question about the window crossing his mind once again. They looked content buried under the blankets, safe, yet Leo had to shake his head when a memory from his dream tried to climb up from where he had pushed it down. It couldn’t be real; he would remember it better if it had been. Right? He shivered again, unsure if it was from the cold or something else. Leo held his swords a bit tighter, feeling some comfort when his hands no longer shook as he held them. They were away from the safety of their lair, and his body was still weak and his mind fuzzy. He’d definitely need his swords in case… in case something happened.

Leo buried himself back under the blankets they shared, leaving his swords on the floor by his feet. He was still caught up in his thoughts, but the feeling of his brothers next to him quickly made him comfortable again. Their presence was enough to make him forget about the dreams, as well as the strange feeling that had bothered him. With them close, knowing that they had taken care of him and would continue to do so, he closed his eyes. Yes, he was supposed to be the one taking care of them, but perhaps he was allowed to be taken care of this time. An arm wrapped around him, and Leo sighed contently, allowing himself to lean against the warmth of his sibling. Something was still telling him to not sleep, but the comfort he so rarely felt nowadays had wrapped him into its hold, and it didn’t take him long to fall asleep this time.

Chapter Text

It was still strange to wake up in April’s apartment instead of the lair. They had stayed here before, but not too often; four turtles took a lot of room, even though the apartment was bigger than some of April’s previous ones. The turtles rarely slept anywhere but underground, so waking up and being able to look out of the window to see the sky was… different. It was weird to hear the wind instead of the water running through the pipes, strange to be so close to the outside world.

The sky was clearer, it wasn’t snowing anymore. Donatello placed his hands down on the windowsill as he looked out, but quickly drew them away when the surface was colder than he had expected. He shuddered, moving to the kitchen to make coffee.

Even weirder than waking up in a different apartment was not smelling tea in the kitchen. Leonardo always made tea in the morning. Sometimes his morning practice stretched and he was late for breakfast, explaining the lack of the smell of tea, but that definitely wasn’t the case today. Leo had fallen asleep during the movie, and hadn’t woken up even though they hadn’t been exactly quiet. You’d think that Mikey, a ninja, could be quiet for just one today, but no. He couldn’t. But Leo hadn’t woken up and they had left him to sleep on the couch – which was better than him training and possibly slowing his recovery – but it was still strange. The kitchen felt empty.

“Hey. Make some for me, too.” Raphael appeared into the kitchen and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs, resting his head on the table.

“Was planning to. Slept well?” Donatello took out two cups from the cabinet, sitting down to wait for the coffee to be ready.

“Could still sleep more”, Raph grumbled, his eyes closed. “Haven’t done anything but slept, yet I’m almost asleep again.”

“It’s the cold”, Don said, hiding a yawn behind his hand. “It always makes me drowsy.”

“Yeah”, Raph mumbled his agreement. “Hope you’re making strong coffee.”

“Don’t I always?”

They were almost finished eating when Michelangelo dragged himself to the kitchen, finding a chair even with his eyes still closed. He laid his head on the table, much like Raph had done when he had first entered the kitchen.

“Guys”, Mikey mumbled against the surface of the table. “I think I’m dying. I’m too tired to open the fridge.”

“It’s just the cold affecting all of us, Mikey”, Don said calmly, pushing the bread and jam towards him. “Drink something warm, it’ll help you shake it off.”

Mikey lifted his hand, reaching for the food, but his hand fell limply on the table.

“I’m not going to make it”, Mikey gasped dramatically, his hand shaking as he tried to reach the bread. “This is how it ends. I’m never going to see home again, I’m-“

“Just eat, bonehead”, Raph grumbled, slamming the jam in front of his face so that Mikey could reach it. He even opened the lid, knowing that Mikey would complain about opening it as well.

“Raph, you’re my savior”, Mikey grinned, lifting his head up from the table and grabbing a knife to spread the jam. Hunger won over sleepiness, and Raph rolled his eyes.

“I thought Leo would be up before Mikey”, Raph commented. Don wasn’t the only one bothered by the lack of the lingering smell of tea. “Since he was up yesterday and all. He doesn’t usually know how to rest.”

“Neither do you”, Don said, pouring himself another cup of coffee. “Last time you were hurt we had to lock your door from the outside, and you almost came through the poor door. The sai marks are still there.”

“I didn’t need to rest!” Raph defended himself, leaning back on his chair, folding his arms across his chest.

“Of course not”, Don said evenly, sipping his coffee. His eyes wandered towards the guest room. The door was ajar. Had Leo gotten up already?

Don placed his cup on the table, pushing his chair back as he stood up. He walked quietly to the door, not wanting to wake Leo up in case he was still asleep. But the bed was empty, so he was up. How hadn’t he seen him? The door could be seen clearly from the kitchen.

Don glanced to the bathroom, but it was empty as well. The apartment wasn’t big, Leo couldn’t be far – yet Don couldn’t find him from any of the rooms.

“Guys? I can’t find Leo”, Don said as he returned to the kitchen, unable to not look worried. Both Raph and Mikey glanced at him.

“What do you mean?” Mikey asked, but then his eyes widened. “You don’t think that he went out again?”

“Well, I sure hope he didn’t. All our clothing is here, so I doubt it. The fever already went down…”

“You sure you checked everywhere?” Raph asked, finishing his coffee in one big gulp and getting up.

“Yes! Haven’t seen him after we left him to sleep on the- oh.” Donatello dragged his hand across his face, turning around and walking to the couch, leaning over the backrest to look down. The blue of Leo’s bandanna and the top of his head were the only things visible; he had burrowed himself under the blankets, and Don hadn’t noticed him even when he had walked past the couch.

But now that Don looked at him he realized that Leo was in exactly the same position he had been in when they had left him to sleep here, and the blankets on top of him weren’t moving in the rhythm of his breathing. Fear washed over him as he grabbed the blankets, pulling them down roughly, holding his hand in front of Leo’s face.

He could feel the warm puffs of air, and he lowered his head in relief. Sometimes it was frustrating how quiet and unmoving Leo was when he slept. This wasn’t the first time he had given Don a scare.

But he had to raise a brow at Leo’s stillness. To sleep in the same position for so long? Leo was going to be sore when he wakes up. Somehow the stillness was really weird even for Leo, it was natural to move even a bit while sleeping. Don placed a hand on his forehead, but there was no sign of a fever. His forehead wasn’t warm. Actually, it wasn’t warm at all, feeling almost cold against Don’s hand.

“Leo”, Don called gently. Now that the fever was gone it shouldn’t be difficult to wake him up, but Leo didn’t even stir at his words. Don called his name again, a bit louder now. He touched Leo’s shoulder, shaking him gently. No reaction. The fear he had felt before creeped back in.

Raph walked over since Don had raised his voice, and he leaned over the couch to look at them.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking from Don to Leo.

He didn’t really need an answer; Don was shaking Leo, calling his name again, heavy worry coating his voice. Raph leaned away from the back of the couch and moved next to Don, nudging him out of the way. Raph hesitated for a moment, but ended up giving Leo a slap on the face. Well, that felt therapeutic. Leo had been so frustrating to deal with when he had been delirious from the fever.

But it didn’t feel good for long. The worry alone in Don’s voice should’ve been enough to wake Leo up – all of them always reacted if they felt like one of them were in trouble, but the slap should’ve definitely woken him up. Leo, who could be woken up by a feather falling on the floor, wasn’t waking up from a slap? Raph glanced at Don. Something really was wrong. Raph turned back to Leo, slapping him again and grumbling Leo’s name, still getting nothing.

“His skin feels colder than it should”, Don said quietly, leaning closer to lift Leo’s eyelid, while his other hand pressed against his neck to feel his pulse. Raph swatted Don’s hands away, certain that his method was more useful right now. Mikey had appeared to their side, and pressed close to Don as Raph lifted his hand to slap Leo once more.

The third slap rang through the room, making the younger turtles wince. Raph was clearly hesitating, his hand still in the air; he didn’t want to hit their brother a fourth time. Don was trying to move closer again, carefully leaning on Raph to see better, when Leo groaned, lifting his hand in front of his face to shield himself from any more hits. Raph grinned from the relief, but the bad feeling remained. Still, he kept his grin as he glanced at Don. “And that’s how it’s done.”

Don seemed relieved as well, and now he pushed Raph away instead of just nudging him to the side, reclaiming his place in front of Leo. Raph was nudged even further away when Mikey made room for himself, and Raph only grumbled at the treatment he was receiving.

“Leo, how are you feeling?” Don asked carefully, not expecting much for an answer, but needing to hear him talk. To get over the scare, and to be able to determine what condition he was in. Raph crossed his arms over his chest as they watched Leo slowly coming around.

Leo took a deep breath, opening his eyes, blinking to get some focus into them. He stared at his siblings, raising his hand to touch his cheek.

“…Like someone just slapped me three times”, he answered, shooting an accusing look at Raph while rubbing his cheek. Raph only shrugged, grinning.

“You weren’t waking up”, Mikey said quietly. Leo’s eyes moved to him and he groaned when he moved to sit up straight, his sore muscles voicing their discomfort.

“I wasn’t? I’m awake now, though.” Leo rubbed his eyes. “Although I don’t feel like I slept at all.”

Don hesitated, but said it anyways. “Must be the cold.”

There wasn’t much to do. Don didn’t have his lab and Raph didn’t have his punching bag, but Mikey was having a blast with the few video games he had stored into the box where April kept her movies. You never knew when your brothers wanted to have a boring meeting at April’s or something, so you had to be prepared. He had gotten Raph to play with him since the red turtle was bored as well, and since Don had forbidden him from doing anything that could put a strain on his still healing arm.

Mikey hadn’t complained about his head anymore, and by the way he was yelling and jumping around as he played meant that that his headache must’ve gotten better. Don still kept an eye on him – on all of them.

Every time he checked Leo’s body temperature – which was often – it was a bit lower than the last time. It was a symptom of the common cold, and Don wasn’t sure why he was so worried about it dropping. He just couldn’t stop thinking about how long it had taken Leo to wake up earlier. They had all been exhausted, and Leo had been very sick, so it was understandable. But the apartment was warm, Leo had had lots of something warm to drink- yet Leo’s temperature wasn’t going up. First it had refused to come down from the fever, and now it was dropping too low… why couldn’t it just stay where it should?

“Again, Don?” Leonardo asked as Donatello sat down next to him. Leo had been ordered to continue resting, and not receiving any protests had definitely been alarming, but there wasn’t much reason to worry besides that. Leo really seemed fine otherwise, his voice wasn’t so weak anymore and he wasn’t coughing that much. The slight whistle was still audible when he exhaled deeply, and Don could tell that the leader had been trying to hide the sound by controlling his breathing.

“Yes, again”, Don said, lifting up the thermometer. Leo lifted his hand, signaling that he could do this himself, and Don handed the device to him.

They waited for the results in silence, and when the device beeped Leo didn’t even have time to take it out of his mouth himself. Don grabbed it from his lips so fast that it clicked against his teeth, and Leo groaned as he sunk down into the bed and pulled the blankets higher.

“Don’t worry so much, Donnie”, Leo said, his eyes already half-closed. “’m just tired.”

Don had been the one ordering Leo to rest, but somehow felt nervous about letting Leo sleep. They were all affected by the cold, but they weren’t exhausted like Leo, just a bit drowsy, and it went away if they got up and moving. This wasn’t the first time that they had experienced drowsiness during the winter, but the weather rarely got this extreme. It was expected for their bodies to react to the cold, especially since Leo was sick, so the cold skin and tiredness shouldn’t have been alarming. But it shouldn’t have been so difficult to wake Leo up earlier, either. It wasn’t normal to need to be slapped to wake up.

“Just…” Don touched Leo’s shoulder gently, trying to gain his attention to prevent sleep from taking him. Leo looked at him, and Don hated how much effort it seemed to take for Leo to keep his eyes open. “Stay awake for a bit, okay? I could get you a book, or I could read for you, or…”

“Don”, Leo said, again with that exhausted tone, placing his hand over Don’s. “I’m fine. I feel a lot-“

“Who wants some hot chocolate?!” Mikey slammed the door open, startling both Don and Leo. “April even had marshmallows in her cabinet!”

“Mikey, you can’t just take those without asking…” Don murmured as he turned to look at the youngest brother. Mikey was holding a tray with three steaming cups on it.

“Too late, they’re already in the drinks! Unless you want me to take them out and put them back into the bag. And, well, Raph already ate his marshmallows – even though I told him that they’d be better if you ate them while you drank, but no, he had to pick them up and eat them one by one – soo that’ll make it a bit more difficult…”

Don shook his head, taking the mug Mikey was offering him. “Thanks, Mikey. You little food-thief.”

“Hey, I’m sure she doesn’t mind!”

Don smiled at that; it was most likely true. April loved to spoil Mikey with sweets, not understanding why the rest of the brothers always groaned when she brought candy. She didn’t have to live with Mikey when he was having a sugar rush. Besides, they would be sure to replace everything they had used when the storm was over. Don added the marshmallows to his mental list of things they needed to get.

He took a careful sip, sighing at how good the warm drink was. The marshmallows melted on his tongue, and for once Don was glad that Mikey was a sweet-toothed thief.

Don watched as Mikey helped Leo up, but couldn’t help noticing how Leo’s hands shook as he took the warm mug. Mikey seemed to notice as well, since he kept his hand on the other side of the mug, helping Leo lift the drink.

“Thanks, Mikey, but I can do this on my own”, Leo murmured against the edge of the mug, clearly embarrassed by the way his hands were shaking.

“Just helping a little”, Mikey shrugged, not taking his hand away. Leo gave him a look, but had to accept the fact that Mikey’s hand wasn’t going anywhere and took a sip. By the look on his face they could tell that Leo loved the drink just as much as they did, and despite being worried about Leo’s shaky hold they smiled at the sight. Don was glad that Mikey had decided to show up with the drinks; it was an excuse to keep him awake. Even if it was just for a little bit longer.

“I’m going to check my laptop”, Don said, hoping that Mikey would keep Leo awake for that long. He still wanted to monitor the storm, and now that today was calmer, he might even be able to contact April and Casey again.

“Dunno why he keeps on checking on the storm”, Mikey said, nodding towards the window. “I mean, all you gotta do is look outside and you’ll see how it is.”

“That site of his tells him if it’s going to get worse”, Leo said, even though Mikey knew that.

“Yeah, but what’s that gonna help? What can we do if it does? Besides, today looks much better.”

Leo blew on his drink, not answering. Right from the start of the storm he had been pretty useless, leaving Don to worry about the numbers. He knew he couldn’t blame himself for being sick, but he was better now, he should be there with Don, planning in case the storm really was going to get worse.

“But we’re okay here. We’ve got video games and hot chocolate!” Mikey seemed pretty confident about that, and Leo smiled a little, hoping he was right. A new wave of exhaustion washed over him, and he tightened his hold on his cup so he wouldn’t accidentally drop it.

“Dude, you look like you’re about to fall asleep any second”, Mikey observed, trying to sound amused, but it didn’t really work. Don had been constantly taking Leo’s temperature, making a big fuss about his condition, and Don never made a fuss about something unless there was a reason to be worried. Well, okay, he did, sometimes, but Mikey had seen how much effort he and Raph had put into waking Leo up earlier.

“I feel like that, too”, Leo admitted with a sigh, but smiled a little. “It’s strange. I’m usually back to training at this point, aren’t I?”

“You sure are”, Mikey said, this time not returning the smile. Leo caught the flat tone and sighed again.

“Look, Mikey, I don’t know why Don is overreacting, but he is. I’m sure I’ll be better once I sleep this off. Could you do me a favor and try to take his thoughts somewhere else?”

Mikey looked Leo into his eyes, not liking how glassed over they were.

“He’s the doc, Leo”, Mikey said, “If he’s worried-“

“Remember that time you hurt your finger on that saw when you were helping him? He thought you had cut your finger off, and even after it was clear that you hadn’t, the bandaging he did was ridiculous.”

“Hey, I thought I cut if off, too”, Mikey defended Don, laughing at the memory. Okay, he had done everything but laughed when it had happened – there had been so much blood! – but now the memory was just silly. He had panicked, Don had panicked, and he had even looked at the floor to search for the finger he had thought he had lost. “But yeah. It was ridiculous. I couldn’t move the whole finger because he went so crazy with the bandages!”

Leonardo smiled. His hands weren’t shaking so badly anymore, so Michelangelo allowed him to hold the drink on his own.

“I’ll see what I can do about him”, Mikey said as he turned to grab his own drink. Helping Leo had given the drink some time to cool down, not too much, but enough so that he wouldn’t burn his tongue. He was often too impatient to wait for his drinks to cool down, but perhaps this time his mouth would be spared. “Maybe I’ll get him to play a few rounds of Astrozone with me.”

“Sounds good”, Leo said, his voice a lot quieter than what it had been a moment ago, and Mikey glanced at him. Leo was still sitting up, but his eyes were closed. Part of him wanted to let him sleep, part of him… simply didn’t. Mikey looked down at his drink, feeling a bit nervous. There was something he had wanted to talk about, something he needed to talk about, and talking was one way to keep Leo awake.

“Leo…” Michelangelo started, but wasn’t sure how to continue. If he kept silent maybe Leonardo would fall asleep and they could talk later, yup, that was the better option after all-

“Yes?” Leo asked, and Mikey sighed. Maybe it was better to get this out of the way now.

“I… you said you had trouble remembering last night, right?”

Leo seemed to think for a moment, and then he exhaled softly.

“Yes… and I haven’t really had time to think. I mean, I have all these… images, but I’m not sure if those happened or if I just dreamed them. I mean, they seem kind of...”

“…Anything about windows in there?” Mikey asked, unsure if he was allowed to sound amused.

“…That really wasn’t a dream?” Leo asked, sounding a bit horrified, his eyes open now. Mikey couldn’t help snickering a little – okay, it definitely hadn’t been cool of Leo to do what he did, escaping through the window into the night, but now that it was behind them it was amusing.

“Yeah, dude. Your fever was pretty bad, and there you were, casually climbing out of windows.”

“That means that I… oh, Raph, I need to apologize…” Leo moved to get up from the bed, but his exhausted body resisted, and he had to lean back against the head of the bed as he coughed. Mikey set their mugs away as he rubbed Leo’s arm in a comforting manner, waiting for the coughing to stop.

“I think that it can wait”, Mikey said, but couldn’t help being curious. “Raph hasn’t told us what happened. Oh, wait, he did say that you tried to fight him.”

Leo groaned, closing his eyes. “I guess I did. I tried to fight Don too, didn’t I?” He sighed again. “It feels so stupid now to not have realized that what I saw wasn’t… real…”

Mikey had a feeling that he shouldn’t ask about the hallucinations, so he didn’t. Instead he dragged the blankets back over Leo, letting his hand rest on top of them.

“What else do you… remember?” Michelangelo asked carefully. Leonardo was silent for a long time, and Mikey was starting to think that this time he had fallen asleep, but then he spoke.

“…Lying down on the floor of the shop”, Leo chuckled, but his smile faded quickly. “I’m sorry, Mikey, I should’ve-“

“ You’re sorry?” Mikey laughed, but it wasn’t a happy laugh. He couldn’t believe that Leo was apologizing when he had been about to do it – but then again, he could believe it. Leo always blamed himself for everything. And right now it made him mad.

“I’m the one who fell on you at the shop, and when I was hiding from nothing I was preventing you from breathing, and- you were so sick, Leo, and I couldn’t-“

Leo used his remaining strength to push himself up from the pillows and grab Mikey’s shoulders, bringing him close. Leo’s skin felt cold, only making Mikey’s guilt heavier, but he couldn’t stop himself from wrapping his arms around Leo and hugging him tightly.

“You took care of me, Mikey”, Leo said quietly. “I can’t remember everything but… I assume that you were going to get to Don and Raph – you were taking care of all of us, but sometimes unpreventable things happen, and…” Leo had to take a breath before continuing; despite his chest feeling better he was still having a hard time talking so much.

“I remember feeling your presence, hearing your voice…” Leo’s eyes slid close as he leaned against Mikey, the warmth radiating from his brother making him even sleepier. “It helped me get rid of the hallucinations. Thank you for taking care of me, Mikey.”

Mikey held Leo a bit tighter. He had already heard from both Raph and Don how he had done nothing wrong, but hearing it from Leo, who was the one he felt he had let down was… relieving, even if Mikey still felt bad. He could feel how weak Leo was, and he bit his lip, doing his best to keep his emotions in check. He had already made Leo speak too much, all because he was feeling so guilty and couldn’t keep quiet about it.

“Of course, bro”, Mikey said, sniffling a little. Alright, he had never been good at pushing his emotions away to deal with them later, so here he was. Upon hearing the sound Leo drew back, and Mikey tried to turn his head away, but Leo had already cupped his cheek and looked at him with those worried big brother eyes of his.

“Mikey”, Leo said quietly, sounding almost sad. “If I had known you were blaming yourself about this-“

“No, it’s fine”, Mikey said, wiping the corner of his eye with the back of his hand. “I’ll feel better once you’re okay, Leo.”

“And I’ll feel better once you understand that I appreciate everything you did.”

“Even hitting your head on the stairs as I dragged you up from the shop?” Mikey joked, and Leo smiled.

“That I might need to take some revenge on…” Leo threatened, and Mikey yelped as the older turtle yanked him down on the bed, showing no mercy as he tickled Mikey’s sides. Mikey laughed as he squirmed in Leo’s hold, but it didn’t take him long to realize that Leo was much weaker than he was, and he managed to grab Leo’s wrists and end the torment.

“Unfair”, Leo smiled tiredly, Mikey letting go of him once Leo lied down on the bed. “You’d better be careful once I’m back to…”

A few small coughs interrupted Leo, and Mikey draped the blankets over his brother once again. He decided that a nap wouldn’t hurt him either, so he lied down next to Leo, snuggling close. Yeah, the nap was definitely his reason for staying, not the fact that it was comforting to sleep next to Leo.

“Ugh, your skin is so chilly”, Mikey complained, but pressed closer to Leo anyways. “Hurry up and get better.”

Leo only hummed, already comfortable under the blankets, surrounded by Mikey’s warmth. For once Mikey had enough fingers to count something; it didn’t take more than few seconds for Leo to fall asleep. Must’ve been a record or something. Mikey wasn’t far behind, falling asleep with his arms draped over Leo.

The TV was showing some old movie, not really interesting neither Don nor Raph, but somehow they had gotten caught with the plot and needed to see how the movie would end. Don hadn’t been able to contact April, but had left her a message to call him as soon as she could. He had been about to go back to the guest room after leaving the message, but had heard his brothers talking, and had decided to leave them be.

Don sighed as he leaned against Raph, stretching his legs a little. Normally Raph would’ve probably just pushed him back to his own spot on the couch, but none of them seemed to mind the closeness at the moment. The warmth was nice, but after everything that had happened it was just good to be close for a bit. Raph draped the blankets tighter around them, bringing Don even closer in the progress.

“That’s the fifth time you’ve sighed in under a minute”, Raph said, not taking his eyes off of the screen. Don sighed again, making it the sixth.

“I know. Too many thoughts. I just wish I had my lab.”

“He’s going to be fine.”

Don didn’t answer, and silence fell over them as they focused on the plot of the movie. The story was coming to its end, and both turtles groaned at the obviousness of the plot. It could’ve been good, but it ended up being one big cliché.  

“Even the stuff Mikey picks is better”, Raph groaned, sitting up. Don noticed Raph’s flinch when he stretched his arms, and the doctor of the family was immediately inspecting Raph’s hurt arm.

“I think I should take off the bandages to take a look-“

“Don, relax. I’m fine, Leo’s fine, we’re all fine. Even without your lab you’re overworking yourself.”

Don shook his head, but then realized that maybe that was exactly it. Without his lab, without being able to take a blood sample from Leo – well, he could take blood, he just didn’t have the equipment to test it with, so that would be extremely pointless – and otherwise check on him, he felt useless. Worrying was all he could do.

“Perhaps April has some of my equipment left in the shop, back when we were moving them-“

Donatello stood up, even though he had already gone the shop through (twice), but Raphael’s grip on his arm stopped him.

“Don”, Raph sighed. “Just rest for a bit. I’ll make something to eat, can you stay still for that long?”

Don glanced at his brother, looking a bit amused. “ You? Making dinner?”

“It’s not that difficult”, Raph mumbled, tugging at Don’s hand, and the genius was forced to sit back down on the couch. “Stop making that face or you won’t get any.”

“And that would be a bad thing?” Don continued his teasing, and Raph huffed as he stood up and headed towards the kitchen.

“ Fine, I’ll just make yours extra spicy.”

Don knew that it was an empty threat, but at least the good-hearted bickering had made him feel a bit better. Perhaps Raph was right, maybe Leo was fine and he was just overthinking, since his mind didn’t have anything else to do. Leo had been very sick, of course it’d take him time to recover. Maybe his recovery was just feeling slower since they didn’t have the dojo where Leo usually went after getting better. There really wasn’t much else to do than think… and overthink. Now that Don realized it, he allowed himself to let go of some of the worry. To take his thoughts further away he reached for the book he had been trying to read before getting caught up in the movie, hoping he could focus on it now that his mind was a bit clearer.

A crash and some swearing were audible from the kitchen. He’d also have to hope that Raph didn’t destroy any of April’s stuff.

Leonardo woke up gasping, his hand flying up to his plastron. His heart was racing, and he held his hand over it as if he could’ve somehow controlled the hammering against his chest. He felt too hot, and he pushed the blankets off of him, trying to escape the uncomfortable warmth. He breathed heavily for a moment, allowing himself to calm down. Slowly, slowly his heart slowed down and the warmth disappeared with it, leaving him shivering. The contrast between the feelings was too big, first burning and now freezing. Leo curled up, wrapping his arms around himself, trying to make some sense of the situation. Was he feverish again?

Leo sat up, swaying a little. He was sure he had been asleep, but once again felt like he hadn’t slept in days. He glanced to his side, seeing that Mikey was still asleep. Shivers ran up his spine, and Leo hugged himself tighter. Something was wrong, but his thoughts were escaping from him, and he couldn’t think about anything but the cold he was feeling. He wanted to lie back down and wrap himself into the blankets, but something was preventing him from doing so.

He sat still, staring at the window in front of him, not really seeing anything.

When the door of the guest room opened Don lifted his head from the book, glancing behind him just in time to see Leo close the door after him. The door closed, but Leo stood still in front of it, his back turned to Don.

“Leo?” Don’s voice sounded hopeful; he knew that Leo had been asleep since he hadn’t heard Leo’s and Mikey’s voices in a while, but now he was up, and hadn’t needed anyone to wake him up. That was a good sign. “How’re you feeling?”

Leo didn’t react to his words at all; he turned away from the door slowly, and Don couldn’t help noticing how he stumbled every now and then as he walked. The worry came right back.

“Leo?”

Leonardo turned his head towards him as if he had heard him only just now.

“Y-yes?”

“You sure you’re feeling well enough to be up?” Don asked, setting the book aside as he watched his brother walk over, sitting down on the couch next to him.

Leonardo sighed, his head drooping as he held his eyes closed.

“I’m… fine”, Leo said, his speech slower than usually. Not slurred, the words just following each other slowly. “Just tired.”

That was the same answer Don had already gotten many times, and he could tell that Leo wasn’t lying about the tired part. He looked like he was barely able to sit up.

“So… why aren’t you sleeping?”

“I was”, Leo said, opening his eyes to stare blankly at the TV-screen. “It doesn’t help.”

“You didn’t sleep enough”, Don corrected him, carefully eyeing his brother. “You sure you’re not feeling anything else besides tired? Any pain, or even aching, or-?”

“I’m sure”, Leo said, already pushing himself up even though he had just sat down. “Need to shake this drowsiness…”

Donatello watched as Leonardo started pacing the room, his movements sluggish, like he wasn’t in full control of his body. Don would’ve liked to force him back to bed, but perhaps this was what Leo needed. To move around so that his blood would start flowing again and he’d get warmer.

Don picked up the book again, hesitantly returning his attention to it. He was able to continue reading, but unfortunately he was very good at multitasking. Even as he read his mind kept working; it was good that Leo was awake now – even if just barely – but usually when Leo wanted to snap himself out of something he trained, even if all he could do right now were some basic katas. He would be at least meditating, not… pacing around.

“Leo?” Donatello called again, unable to keep his eyes on the book. “Is there… something on your mind?”

His big brother wasn’t easy to read. He wasn’t only a master of hiding himself in the shadows, but he did a good job on hiding his pain and worries as well. But once Leo broke out of his habits it was a clear sign that something was bothering the leader. Leo wasn’t just tired, there was something else. There had to be something else.

“I don’t know”, Leo said, surprising Don with how distressed he sounded. Another surprise was that Leo hadn’t just said that nothing was wrong – that was usually what happened, since Leo was so stubborn about telling what was wrong with him. “It’s just this… restlessness.”

Leonardo didn’t elaborate, but Donatello waited patiently. He knew by that tone that Leo was trying to wrap his head around things, and Don tried to guide his thoughts by voicing his worry.

“You’re usually back to training by now. Not that I mind that you’re not – I would just order you back to bed, but I thought you’d be at least trying to.”

Leonardo flinched at his words, pausing his pacing, and Donatello realized his mistake. If he had managed to make Leo feel guilty about not training for a few days– what was he thinking? This was Leo. Of course he had.

“I’m… you’re right. I should get back to it”, Leo said, sounding like he had just been lectured. Just as Don had suspected, and he slapped himself mentally. Wanted to slap Leo as well for always thinking like this.

“No, Leo, you need the rest“, Don tried to correct himself. “And for once you seem to realize that too. Pushing yourself is not what you need right now. I think you really shouldn’t even be up yet, you’re barely even keeping yourself awake.”

Leo fell silent. He moved his hands behind his shell, continuing his pacing.

“So… is something bothering you? Anything you’d like to talk about?” Don tried again, but Leo shook his head, and Don could see how he frowned at himself.

“Something’s just...”

Once again Don waited Leo to elaborate, this time giving him more time to continue.

“I don’t know how to describe it”, Leo said after a long silence, not sounding only frustrated, but confused as well. Don tilted his head. He wanted to help, but Leo wasn’t giving him much to work with.

“Well, I think you’re still sick”, Don said gently. “Your temperature is still low.” Which reminded him that he should see just how low it was. It had been more than few hours since the last time he had checked, and with how quickly Leo’s temperature had been dropping earlier…

“You need to rest.”

“I know”, Leo said, the defeat in his voice slightly surprising. After his words about training he had expected Leo to get back to it, but he seemed to have accepted that it wasn’t a good idea yet. Don had even expected Leo to say how he was tired of staying still already and that was why he was feeling restless – Don had actually hoped so.

“But resting feels so…” Leo couldn’t find the word, so he sighed. Now even his sigh sounded frustrated.

“You feel restless because you’ve stayed in bed for so long?” Don suggested, still hoping that that could be the case. He was so used to forcing Leo back to bed that hinting about training felt… strange. Leo didn’t seem to agree with the suggestion, but he shrugged in defeat.

“I guess that could be it”, he said. “Sorry, this didn’t give neither one of us any answers.”

“It’s alright”, Don said quickly, not liking how tired Leo looked, how restless he sounded, but it was good that Leo was at least trying to tell what was bothering him. Instead of keeping it to himself, like usually. “Just wish I could do more to help.”

“You’ve done more than enough”, Leo smiled, finally giving up on his pacing. Don watched as Leo gathered some blankets and sat next to him, and soon the leader was burrowed into the warmth of the blankets. Don smiled at the sight, hoping that Leo would be able to go back to sleep. He allowed his attention to slide back to the book again. The subject wasn’t that interesting, he already knew most of the things the book had to offer, but now that he could feel Leo steadily breathing next to him he had better luck concentrating on it and nothing else.  

After a few pages he could feel Leo shifting, and he looked up when Leo moved the blankets away and stood up. Disappointment washed over the genius turtle; for a moment he had thought that Leo had fallen asleep, but it looked like the restlessness hadn’t gone anywhere. He was about to ask Leo about it, but saw that he had disappeared into the bedroom. Oh, right, the TV was still on – perhaps Leo could sleep better in some quiet. Don grabbed the remote control, muting the device.

But Leo wasn’t gone for long; he came back to the couch, carrying more blankets in his arms. Once he dumped them on the couch Don raised a brow, having to move a bit to the side in order for all the blankets to fit. There was no room for Leo, and Don was a bit amused, about to voice the fact, but Leo seemed to think differently. To Don’s surprise the leader managed to shift the blankets just enough, and neatly fitted inside them, like they had been shaped just for him.

The sight was amusing; he could hardly see Leo at all. He had made a real blanket fortress. Don would’ve teased the leader about it, but something stopped him. Leo had his own sense of humor, but this had nothing to do with it. This was something he would’ve expected Mikey to do, not Leo. Was Leo feeling so cold that he felt the need to literally bury himself in this many blankets?

Donatello leaned over, having to pull some of the blankets down in order to even see Leo. Don touched his forehead, his skin feeling almost chilly. His temperature had been getting lower.

Leo didn’t reacted to his touch, and Don realized that this time he was asleep. That had been… fast. Not like Don was surprised, but it still bothered him. Especially the cold skin. Don’s hand moved down to Leo’s neck, finding his pulse. It felt normal, and Don was about to remove his fingers, but hesitated. No, his pulse was slightly slower than what it should’ve been. Not alarming, but concerning.

Don stared at Leo’s sleeping face, trying his hardest to understand what was wrong. Leo was unaware of his worry, looking almost peaceful as he slept, which was pretty rare now that Don thought about it. There had been a lot of going on before all this, before the winter storm, before Leo had gotten sick – long patrols, lots of criminal activity. They had been pretty busy, and them being busy usually meant that Leo had a lot on his shoulders.  

Donatello sighed softly. He knew that the reason Leonardo had gotten sick in the first place was most likely the cold weather, but then again, nobody else had caught the cold. Not yet, at least. Leo’s stress could’ve easily had a part in this; it could be the whole reason why his fever had gone so high. He would never know for sure, but the hunch was strong. Leo deserved some rest.

As well as something to make him better. But… Leo was just sleeping. There wasn’t medically anything wrong with him, expect for the slightly weaker pulse. How could Don treat him when there wasn’t even anything to treat? How could he help when he didn’t have the equipment to even find out what needed to be treated?

He could already smell the dinner Raph was making, knowing that his brother would call him over soon. He would’ve liked Leo to eat something to get his strength back, but perhaps the rest was more important. Don hesitated, unable to decide whether to make Leo eat before allowing him to continue his sleeping. He ended up wrapping the blankets back around Leo, hoping that rest would help. Warmth was the best medicine at the moment.

“Leo, don’t be like this.”

Donatello had allowed Leonardo to sleep for a few hours before deciding that he needed to eat. He had pried the blankets down once again, had gently tried to rouse Leo from his sleep, but that hadn’t worked. Nothing had worked – Don had tried to wake him up by talking to him, had shaken him, had raised his voice – and now he had already slapped him five times, sure that he was using the same force Raph used yesterday.

“Wake ”, slap, “ up. ”

Leo’s skin felt cold. His lungs no longer rattled as he breathed, but even that would’ve been better than the soundless flow of air as his chest slowly rose and fell. There was too much time between his inhales and exhales.

“Please, Leo.”

Don’s voice was shaking, his heart having sunken into the bottom of his stomach. He couldn’t understand this – why was this happening again, Leo had seemed better, some rest should’ve helped, not… not caused this again! Letting Leo sleep had been a mistake, a mistake that was on Don, he was the doctor, he should’ve known, he should’ve-

Don raised his hand again, but instead of a slap his hand only fell against Leo’s cheek, the desperation making his heart hammer against his chest, a stupid contrast to Leo’s sluggish pulse. Cold, so cold. His fingers moved over Leo’s lips just to feel the weak puffs of air, and Don’s chest ached. He didn’t know what to do. He was supposed to know, but he didn’t, and the frustration threatened to flow over.

No, he did know what he needed to do – he needed to calm down and think. Leo needed him, and he couldn’t allow himself to be defeated by his increasing panic. He had held bleeding wounds, had dealt with his patients panicking, had been in situations where he didn’t know what the best medical action was- but all those times he had had even a hunch of what needed to be done, but now he was at total loss. He had always been more of an engineer than a doctor, but during the years he had been forced to learn a lot about taking care of wounds and illnesses. But it seemed that this was where his knowledge ended. Nothing was wrong, yet at the same time everything was. Leo wasn’t just sleeping; he was slipping, his breathing slowing, body growing colder. Like his body was just giving up, slowly shutting down.

He scooted closer, his eyes scanning Leo’s body as his mind raced. Had the fever really been too harsh, had it taken too much out of Leo? Had it been high enough to damage his internal organs? But he had shown clear signs of recovering, even the whistle in his lungs had disappeared. But if there really was some internal damage, what could he do? Even his equipment at the lair wasn’t advanced enough for treating something like this.

Don’s hand was still over Leo’s mouth, and he halted. He couldn’t feel Leo’s next exhale, fear making his heart skip a beat. He grabbed the blankets, forcing them down roughly to have better access to his brother as yelled his name.

“Leo! ”

Panicked hands felt the cold skin on Leo’s neck, searching for a pulse. Leo was right here, right in front of him, yet Don could do nothing to stop Leo from fading from them.

“Don! What’s going on?”

Don’s yelling had alerted both Raph and Mikey, who stumbled into the living-room. Don had no time to pay attention to them, fingers slipping on Leo’s skin as he desperately searched for the pulse he couldn’t find.

Chapter Text

“Don!”

Both Raph and Mikey had realized what was happening, and Raph had kneeled next to Don, his hand already lifted. Don grabbed it before Raph could do anything, roughly pushing it back down. He had already tried slapping Leo. Too many times. This wasn’t like the first time they hadn’t managed to wake him up, this was much, much worse.

“No, it- he’s not-“, Don tried to find the words, but he couldn’t. How could he tell them- how could he say that he couldn’t find Leo’s pulse? Why couldn’t he find it- nothing made any sense, Leo was right here, he had been alright, and now, so suddenly, all too suddenly–

Something throbbed under his finger, and it took Don a moment to realize that it was the pulse he had been looking for. Which was far too weak to give him any real comfort, but it was something. No, it was everything.

Don’s hand moved back over Leo’s mouth, the other under his chin, lifting his head backwards. His pulse had been so weak that Don had missed it, but it was there, unlike the rise and fall of his chest. Don leaned in close, ready to–

He felt a puff of air, only barely, but it was there. Don exhaled shakily, drawing back, holding his hand in front of Leo’s mouth to make sure that he really was breathing. After feeling the weak puffs against his palm he dropped his hand, pulling Leo against himself, trying to give him the warmth the blankets failed to give.

“Don!” Raph repeated his name impatiently, needing an explanation. His hand fell on Leo’s shoulder and he flinched – his skin shouldn’t have felt that cold. Raphael’s other hand grabbed Donatello’s shoulder, giving him a shake to get the genius spill out what was going on.

“I thought-“, Don’s words were mumbled as he spoke against Leo’s shoulder, and he cut himself off to collect his thoughts. He had thought that Leo wasn’t breathing, but apparently it had just gotten so slow that he had missed the next exhale. But he hadn’t alerted his brothers for nothing. Leo was still unconscious, and his vital signs weren’t getting better like this. They were doing the exact opposite. Don lifted his head enough to meet Raph’s eyes. “He’s not waking up again.”

Raph gritted his teeth, raising his hand again, but Don shook his head.

“I already tried. It’s not working.”

“Did you hit him hard enough-“

“I did, Raph! I did!”

Don’s voice had a desperate edge to it. The moment of calm he had gained from feeling Leo’s pulse again had disappeared. Raph growled, moving his eyes to Leo as he lowered his hand. Mikey held the leader’s arm, clinging to it as he looked helplessly at his older brothers.

Donatello grabbed the blankets, wrapping them tightly around Leonardo before hugging him again.

“Maybe we just… just need to get him to warm up”, Don spoke quietly, sounding unsure, pressing Leo as close as he could. “I don’t understand – the blankets store heat, they should’ve warmed him up, it shouldn’t be like this…”

Don kept mumbling against the side of Leo’s head, suddenly feeling movement beneath the blankets. Don drew away instantly, looking at Leo with wide eyes.

“Leo?” he asked carefully, praying that he hadn’t just imagined the movement. And he hadn’t – Leo groaned quietly, trying to lean forward, but the blankets were holding him as their prisoner. Relief hit Don hard, but so far their relief had only stabbed them in the back, so he kept calm, not letting his hopes get up too soon.

“That’s it, Leo, just… just wake up”, Don encouraged him gently, both Raph and Mikey moving a bit closer. Leo shook his head slowly from side to side as he came around, his eyes fluttering open.

All three let out a breath they hadn’t realized they had been holding, and Don wrapped his arms around Leo once more. Mikey joined the hug, placing his hands over both Don’s and Leo’s shells, bringing them even closer to each other.

Leo exhaled deeply, nuzzling against his brothers for warmth. Don would’ve liked to hold him forever, but he couldn’t let Leo fall back asleep. So he drew away, having to slightly nudge Mikey so that he’d draw away as well, and placed his hands on Leo’s shoulders. He couldn’t let go; if he did, Leo would just fall sideways, too tired to hold himself up.

“Don’t scare us like that, bro!” Mikey scolded, going back to hugging Leo’s arm. “I know that sleeping is nice, but dude...”

Leo’s eyes were closing again, and Don hurried to shake him gently, removing his other hand from his shoulder to hold Leo’s chin up.

“No, Leo, you have to stay awake”, Don said firmly, squeezing Leo’s shoulder in order to keep his attention on him. But Leo was staring past him, clearly trying to hold his eyes open, but failing miserably. As Don’s hand left his chin his head fell forward until his chin was resting against his chest. Don put his hands under Leo’s arms, starting to drag him from the pile of blankets. He glanced at Mikey, and the orange turtle got the signal, grabbing Leo’s other arm and helping Don lift the leader up on his feet.

There was no hope of Leo standing on his own; his knees only buckled if they eased their hold on him, so they had to keep him sandwiched between them. Don nudged the side of Leo’s head, afraid that he could fall asleep even while standing. Well, he wasn’t really even standing, just being held up.

“Leo, please”, Don said as Leo made no effort to lift his head. “I know you’re tired, but you… you can’t… ”

“Get a grip, Leo”, Raph growled, stepping closer to stare demandingly at Leo’s face. “Yer not this weak! ”

The choice of words seemed to work. Leo groaned, forcing his head up. Raph grinned nervously.

“Yeah, need to prove that you’re not weak, don’t you?” Raph challenged him to get a reaction from Leo, but his head was falling down again. Leo’s arms were trembling, though; he was trying to hold onto his brothers, trying to get his body working again.

“Keep your head up”, Raph ordered, unsure if he should do something or let Leo lift his head on his own. “I’ll hit you if you don’t-“

“I’m trying ”, Leo hissed then, his voice harsh and strained. “Just… let me sit down…”

“No”, Don said firmly. “You’re going to get up and moving, no sleeping. Mikey, go make some coffee.”

Michelangelo nodded firmly, trading places with Raphael.

“Yes, sir!” Mikey said sharply, relieved that he could do something to help. The youngest turtle dashed towards the kitchen.

“I’m not going to sleep”, Leo said, finally getting his eyes open. “I just can’t get my legs to work…”

“…Alright”, Don said hesitantly, since it was clear that Leo really couldn’t stand on his own, and there was no point in them holding him up if Leo’s legs really weren’t working yet. “Let’s start easy. But you have to keep your eyes open and your head up, alright?”

Leo nodded, blinking hard. He was eased back down onto the couch, and a few blankets were wrapped around him. Don and Raph sandwiched him between them, and he groaned.

“…You’re crushing me”, Leo muttered.

“You’re freezing”, Raph countered, rubbing Leo’s arm in an attempt to bring him some warmth.

“Still don’t need to crush me…”

Don and Raph gave him some space, still staying close. Leo let out a long sigh, shivering a little, drawing the blankets closer to him.

“You’re right”, Leo said tiredly. “I am freezing.”

“Which shouldn’t be possible”, Don said gravely. “You should’ve gained some warmth back by now.”

Leonardo only hummed, his eyes closing. Raphael punched his arm, not too hard, but enough to make Leonardo’s eyes snap open to give him a glare.

“Don’t close your eyes”, Raph reminded him as Leo rubbed the spot where he had been hit. “Next time I’ll push ya off the couch.”

“It’s harder than you’d think”, Leo mumbled, but the pain allowed him to concentrate on something else than… than the sleepiness. Then he blinked, first glancing at Raph, then at Don.

“…Why shouldn’t I close them? I’m exhausted, guys, and you keep waking me up- is there trouble?”

Leonardo’s eyes regained some focus at the end of his words, and he glanced around as if he could see the trouble he now expected to exist. Donatello patted his arm reassuringly.

“There isn’t”, Don said, but changed his mind as soon as he said it. “Well, actually, there is. You weren’t waking up again.”

Leo groaned, the focus leaving him as he relaxed since there was no danger. To his brothers, at least. Leo closed his eyes, but quickly opened them again as he felt Raph shift. He didn’t want to get hit again – or get thrown off of the couch.

“Well, maybe I wasn’t waking up because I’m tired and you’re not allowing me to sleep. I was out for, what, ten minutes-“

“ Two hours, Leo. And before that you were sleeping with Mikey, and before that you-“

Leo blinked at the information, once again feeling like he hadn’t slept at all. It couldn’t have been two hours, not when he was feeling like this. Feeling like he had to sleep, like he had to… had to…

There it was again. The strange feeling of restlessness, like he had to do something… or go somewhere?

As if reading his thoughts Don spoke, “are you sure that you’re telling me everything, Leo? If there’s any pain, anything at all, I have to know.”

Leo glanced at Don, swaying a little as another wave of exhaustion washed over him. He shook his head.

“No, but… I think something’s wrong.”

Raph scoffed. “You think?”

Don gave Raph a look, returning his attention to Leo. “Wrong? As in?”

“Feels like…” Leo lifted his hand from the blankets to hold his head. “I don’t know. It’s so hard to think. ”

Donatello watched Leonardo’s face with worried eyes, “so… it’s your head? Your head hurts? Makes it hard to think?”

“No”, Leo said, lowering his hand, staring forward. “It doesn’t hurt, it just…”

“Coffee’s ready!” Mikey announced as he returned from the kitchen, kneeling in front of Leo with the steaming cup in his hands. “Careful, it’s hot.”

Leo stared at the cup with wary eyes; they knew he didn’t like coffee. He gave Don a look as if to ask if he had to, and Don’s firm eyes told him enough. With a sigh he grabbed the mug, glad to notice that his hands weren’t shaking this time. Well, this stuff seemed to help keep Don up all night when he was working on something, so if it’d take away even a bit of this exhaustion, Leo wouldn’t complain.

“I made enough for you two as well”, Mikey said as he stood up. “Want some?”

“Yes please”, Don sighed while Raph only nodded, and Mikey slipped back to the kitchen. Leo held the warm cup in between his hands, enjoying the warmth radiating from it.

“So”, Don said, his attention on Leo again. “You were saying…?”

Leo was about to lift his mug up, but the question made him hesitate and frown. He stared forward long enough for Don and Raph to change worried looks, but finally he spoke.

“I just feel like...” Leo closed his eyes as he lifted the coffee up and blew at it, neither drinking nor continuing to speak.

“Like...?” Raph asked after a moment.

Leo opened his eyes slowly. “Like I… should be somewhere.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Raph asked, starting to get impatient and giving Don another look. Leo was silent again, and Raph squeezed his shoulder as his head started drooping again.

Leo straightened himself, trying to move up so suddenly that he almost spilled his coffee.

“Wow, wow”, Raph said, putting a hand around Leo’s to hold the mug up while holding Leo in place with the other. “What’s the sudden rush?”

“I… I have to…?” Leo lifted his other hand to his head again, his thoughts lost to him.

“Just take it easy, Leo”, Don said, a comforting hand resting on Leo’s shoulder. “We’ll figure this out.” Don didn’t even know where to start, but they would figure this out. Even if Leo was saying that his head didn’t hurt, there was something clearly wrong with his line of thought. It was possible for a fever to cause brain damage, but Leo’s fever hadn’t been nearly as high as that, so Don doubted it, but it was clear that Leo was disoriented and confused. There was definitely something more to this than just his cold.

“Let’s just start with you drinking that coffee, alright?”

Don’s words made Leo lower his gaze on the mug, like he had forgotten it was there. Raph helped him to lift it up to his lips, and Leo took a careful sip, making a face at the bitter taste.

Mikey arrived with the rest of the coffee, and Don nodded his thanks as he took his own cup. He didn’t hesitate on taking a long gulp, uncaring about the slight burn of the hot drink. The stress of the situation was getting to him, and he hadn’t realized how badly he needed coffee until he could taste the familiar bitterness.

Mikey kneeled in front of Leo again, looking at his brother with worried eyes.

“You okay, Leo?” he asked with a small voice, not liking how long it took for Leo to focus his eyes on him.

“I’ll be fine, Mikey”, Leo smiled a little.

“I didn’t ask how you’ll be ”, Mikey muttered, but Leo’s eyes had gone unfocused again. Mikey turned his worried gaze to Don, who could only shake his head.

“We can’t let him out of our sight”, Don said, giving Leo’s shoulder a tap when his eyes started to close. When that wasn’t enough he shoved Leo a little, and that brought his head back up. Don sighed. “We can’t let him sleep until we figure out what to do.”

“I’m awake”, Leo murmured sleepily, but his head was already drooping. The cup of coffee was dangerously close to slipping from his hands, so Mikey took it from him.

“I don’t know, Don”, Raph said, his eyes on Leo. “Isn’t the best solution for sleepiness to… you know… sleep?”

“Not when your vital signs get weak while you’re asleep”, Don said, his words coming out a bit harsher than he had intended them to. He exhaled deeply, taking another sip to calm himself down. After lowering the cup down Don moved his hand to Leo’s neck just to check. His pulse was stronger than while he had been asleep, but still weaker than what it should’ve been.

“They did?” Mikey asked, sounding a bit scared. Don hadn’t really given them an explanation on what had been happening, Mikey and Raph only knew that Leo hadn’t been waking up again. Don softened his expression when he looked at Mikey.

“Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on him now to prevent it from happening again”, Don tried to sound reassuring, but wasn’t sure if keeping an eye on Leo would be enough. For how long would shoving and shaking him keep him up?

Once they had finished their drinks – Leo taking a long time finishing his – Don grabbed Leo’s arm again.

“Better keep you moving, Leo”, Don said, giving his shell a tiny push. Leo sighed, leaning on his brother as he forced himself to get up. This time Leo managed to stand, but not completely on his own. He needed Don’s aid at first, but after a few steps he was able to walk without the support.

“So… we keep him walking around?” Raph asked, his arms crossed over his chest. Leo groaned at that, already wanting to sink back down on the couch.

“He should eat something, too”, Don said. “His body is losing a lot of heat, he needs the energy.”

“I’m right here, guys”, Leo said tiredly when his brothers spoke like he couldn’t hear. But nobody asked for his opinion; Mikey was already grabbing Leo’s arm, guiding him towards the kitchen.

“I’ll warm up some leftovers. Raph’s dinner was surprisingly good, didn’t even poison anyone”, Mikey grinned towards Raph while he dragged Leo.

Raph scoffed, and Leo couldn’t help giving a small, exhausted smile. He felt horrible, but his brothers were trying hard to make him comfortable. The least he could do was to accept their efforts and try to get better.

It took almost an hour for Leo to down the contents of one plate. Mikey stayed with him the whole time, making sure he kept his focus on the task at hand, but Leo’s attention just kept on slipping. He would occasionally just pause in the middle of lifting his fork, staring down with glassy eyes. Sitting down wasn’t helping him with his pacing out, but he managed to finish. After the food was finally gone Don came to sit with them, giving Leo a quick check-up. He took his temperature, checked his mouth, eyes, everything – but found nothing that could tell him what was wrong.  

“Eyes open”, Don reminded him for the hundredth time, snapping his fingers in front of Leo’s face. The blue turtle lifted his head, but every time that they did this Leo’s reaction to their voices was starting to get slower.

“Well, time to get up again”, Don said, taking a hold of Leo’s arm. This time the leader groaned, but allowed himself to be dragged up on his feet.

After walking out of the kitchen and around the room Leo stopped next to the couch, leaning against it, glancing at Don with hopeful eyes.

“Is that enough?” he asked, hoping to get the permission to sit down. He was way too tired for all of this, his body begging for a break. A break Leo knew would lead him closer to falling asleep, but he was getting too exhausted to fight it. Nothing made any sense to him – it was a habit for him to push himself past his exhaustion, but even Leo knew his limits. At this rate he was just going to collapse, and he would rather be sitting on the couch when that happened.

“Better to stay up”, Don denied his request, returning to his laptop. He had fished it out while Leo had been eating, and despite already looking Leo’s symptoms up earlier, he was doing it again. “You’ll be less likely to fall asleep if you stay moving.”

Leo groaned. “Or then I’ll just fall on my face when I pass out.”

“You better not”, Don warned, glancing at Leo. This wasn’t Leo’s fault, but he’d have to fight the exhaustion. He needed Leo to realize how serious this was. “Think of it as another battle. Perhaps you need a plan to figure out how to fight this?”

Don hoped that Leo took the bait and put his mind to work, but it was hard to tell. Once more Leo was staring forward with glassy eyes, and Don sighed, turning his attention back to his laptop.

“Another battle…” he could hear Leo murmuring, and the hollowness of his voice made Don’s fingers move over the keyboard faster. There was so much that could be causing this – but without the proper equipment there was no way for him to find out for sure. Raph sat next to him, leaning over to glance at his screen.

“Any theories?” the red turtle asked hopefully.

“There are a lot of possibilities”, Don said, keeping his frustration in check. Lots of possibilities, but not many of them very likely. So what was it? What could be wrong? “I need my lab.”

Donatello lifted his eyes from the screen, looking at the window. The wind was still howling, and it was snowing heavily. Damn storm, it still wasn’t giving up.

As to punish him for his thoughts the wind suddenly howled louder, rattling the windows, and the lamps flickered. They fell silent as they waited for the howling to end, but it was only picking up in volume, and suddenly the apartment went dark, the screen of Don’s laptop being the only source of light.

“Not again!” Mikey groaned from the kitchen, groaning again as he bumped into something.

Don held his eyes closed, really not needing another blackout. He grabbed the laptop to close it to save the batteries, when the lamps suddenly came back to life. He couldn’t help breathing out in relief.

“Well, that would’ve sucked”, Raph commented, leaning back on the couch, clearly relieved as well.

“We’re ninja, guys”, Leo said. “It doesn’t matter whether we have light or not.”

“Yeah, but it matters whether we have videogames or not!” Mikey said, appearing from the kitchen. He plopped himself on the sofa, gaining a grunt from Raph as Mikey made him make room for him.

“So who’s ready to take the challenge? Leo, you wanna play?” Mikey asked, leaning back to take a look at the brother in question. Leo was still leaning against the back of the couch, not having the permission to sit, and before he could shake his head Don spoke up.

“It could be good for you, give your brain something to do.”

“Depends on the game”, Raph said. “Most of Mikey’s games make you wish you were asleep.”

“Hey!” Mikey said, elbowing the teasing brother.

“ Everything makes me wish I was asleep”, Leo mumbled.

“C’mon, bro, I swear this game is going to get you pumped up”, Mikey said, already pushing the other controlled towards Leo. The leader looked at it with blank eyes, but ended up taking it.

Raph got up from the couch to make room for Leo, and with tired eyes the leader watched the characters move on the screen. Leo’s reaction time was way too slow for such a fast-paced game, but the game had his attention. It took almost half an hour to complete just the first level, when it usually took Mikey just five minutes, but he didn’t mind.

After the first level Leo’s fingers were barely moving on the controller, and the health bar of his character went down way too fast. Kind of reminding Mikey of their real life situation, and the youngest really didn’t like the comparison his mind had created.

“You gotta get into it, Leo”, Mikey tried to get Leo’s attention to return, pointing at the screen. “Look, the blue character has this secret special attack, I’ll show you how to-“

Leo fell sideways, his head connecting with Mikey’s arm as his eyes closed. Mikey grabbed him, the game forgotten as he pushed Leo back into a sitting position, shaking his shoulders.

“Leo”, he called, being a bit rougher with his shaking, but Leo’s head only lolled against his chest. He didn’t need to call for his brothers; Don hadn’t gone far, and he was already there, sitting next to them and lifting Leo’s chin up.

“Leo!” Don called their brother as well. Leo’s closed eyelids twitched a little, indicating that he wasn’t asleep yet, but would most likely be soon. Don’s mind raced, should he slap Leo (was it worrying that slapping Leo had become such a constant happening?), or should he-

“Leo, Raph’s in trouble”, Don said hastily, surprised at how quickly Leo’s eyes opened.

“W-what?” Leo asked, looking around, and as he did Don made his decision. He looked up at Raph, who had been in the process of coming closer, but stopped when their eyes locked. Don motioned for him to go, but Raph hesitated, questioning his brother with his eyes. Don’s look was firm, and Raph disappeared before Leo could spot him.

“Raph needs help”, Don repeated, returning his attention back to Leo, already hating himself for this. They never played around with each other’s safety, knowing how horrible it was to be worried. But Don needed Leo’s attention, needed him to focus. Maybe the worry, the adrenaline, would help Leo snap out of the haze he was in. It was worth a shot.

Leo was already pushing himself up, which was good, but Don still felt bad. Staying awake obviously gave Leo a lot of discomfort, but the alternative was worse, so Don swallowed his guilt.

“Do you remember where you left your swords?” Don asked, gently, but still holding some impatience in his voice to remind Leo that there was trouble, that they were in a hurry. That Leo was needed.

“Yes”, Leo said, squeezing his eyes closed. “No.”

“Think”, Don encouraged, holding his arm as Leo swayed.

“What happened?” Leo asked, his eyes still closed. “Is he hurt?”

“We’re not sure”, Don lied, “but we need to hurry.”

“Hurry”, Leo repeated, forcing his eyes open, breaking away from Don’s hold to start looking for his swords. Don was about to move after him, but Mikey grabbed his arm.

“Don”, he whispered, “what are you doing?”

“Keeping him awake”, Don answered, feeling a jab at his chest when he saw how Mikey was looking at him.

“But this is…” Mikey started, but Leo was already back, holding his swords. It was better to see him like this, his eyes fully open as he looked more focused, but they saw how his legs shook, how he was obviously running on borrowed energy.

“Get your weapons”, Leo ordered, managing to keep his voice strong despite barely being able to keep himself up. “Do you know where he-“

Leo was interrupted by a dizzy spell, and would’ve fallen over hadn’t his brothers rushed to his side. The leader growled, shaking his head to clear it, trying to push his siblings away, but their hold on him was firm.

“We’ll get to him, Leo”, Don said, trusting Mikey to keep Leo up as he retrieved the blanket Leo had abandoned when he had gone to get his swords. He draped the blanket over Leo, who barely even noticed it, leaning against Mikey heavily. This hadn’t been such a good idea after all. It had made Leo move around a little, but he was wasting the little remaining strength he had.

“We have to… go”, Leo said, taking a shaky breath and pushing himself away from Mikey. His brother’s hands followed after him, but allowed him to go. Leo managed to reach the stairs leading down to the shop when his legs finally gave up under him, sending him down on his knees with a muted cry. Mikey hurried to his side, with Don not far behind.

“Leo!” Mikey called, helping Leo lean against him. He turned his head to look at Don. “He’s shaking really bad!”

Don could see even without being told. His heart felt heavy as he kneeled next to them, taking a hold of Leo’s hand.

“Raph”, Leo whimpered, his voice weak, crushed under the fact that he was in no condition to help his brother. He was trying so hard, struggling to get up, only managing to worsen the shaking of his limbs. He was clearly suffering, his eyes pressed closed because of the pain, almost sobbing as he pushed himself to move. But Leo was done, defeated by his own body, and they could see how it broke him.

Raph growled loudly as he came out of hiding.

“That’s it”, the red turtle said, walking over, planting his knees harshly on the floor, placing his hands on Leo’s cheeks to get him to look at him. This had been torture; letting Leo think one of them was in trouble, expecting him to do something when he couldn’t, doing nothing as he uselessly struggled. They should never do anything like this to each other, no matter the situation. “I’m here, bro. It’s alright.”

Leo’s eyes fluttered open, and he lifted a shaky a hand, placing it over Raph’s. The younger turtle’s chest ached at the look Leo gave him, how shaken yet relieved the leader looked. He really had thought that Raph had been in trouble, and Raph lowered his hands from Leo’s face, wrapping them around him instead. He pulled Leo closer, allowing the leader to rest against him.

“Still can’t let him sleep”, Don hurried to say, reaching out to separate his brothers, but Raph grabbed his outstretched wrist.

“Don, I know you’re only trying to make this better, but this was...”

“I know ”, Don interrupted Raph, his voice filled with guilt. Their eyes met, and Raph was surprised to see the amount of pain on Don’s face. And immediately he knew he shouldn’t have been surprised – of course Don felt bad, none of them had known that Leo had gotten this weak. This had been Don’s idea, but he would never purposely hurt his brothers, none of them would. Raph definitely wasn’t helping by putting this on Don.

“I’m not doing this again”, Don continued, still sounding pained. “But what do you want me to do? Let him sleep, let him get weak again?“

Raph growled, but Don knew that it wasn’t aimed at him. It was aimed at the hopeless situation.

“Let’s get you up”, Don finally whispered to Leo, who had collapsed against the strongest brother. Leo said nothing, and this time he wasn’t doing anything to hold himself up, being a dead weight between Don and Raph. Nothing was said while they moved him back to the couch to wrap more blankets around him. Mikey had taken the dropped swords, placing them near the couch, and once there were a few blankets around Leo they sat down with him.

Leo was barely awake, and treating him gently was not helping. But after what had just happened, after seeing how weak Leo had gotten, how much they had managed to hurt him with lying about Raph and making him see how useless he was at the moment… Nobody wanted to slap or push him, but letting Leo sleep was still out of question. Yet his brothers were still gentle with him, Mikey petting the side of his arm, Raph wrapping another blanket over him, both of them speaking only in hushed tones. They knew what sleep did to Leo, but they hadn’t seen it like Don had- they hadn’t been the ones to realize that there was nearly no pulse, that Leo had been so close to slipping from them-

Don had already made one rash decision, and it seemed like he was forced to make another.

“Leo!” Don broke the silence by calling his name harshly, pinching the skin on his arm. That got no reaction at all despite Leo still being awake, so Don reached behind Leo’s head, grabbing the tails of his mask, yanking his head roughly towards himself. “ Leonardo! ”

Leo sighed heavily, but slowly opened his eyes. His interest wasn’t there for a long visit, however, and his eyes started to close almost immediately. Don swallowed, but tightened his grip, forcing Leo’s head up with a strong pull of the tails he was still holding, causing Leo to yelp from the pain in his neck. He stared up at Don with surprised eyes, and Don knew that Raph and Mikey were staring at him with the same expression.

“You will not close your eyes, Leo”, Don said, staring down at his brother with forced harshness in his eyes. He hated doing this, but he needed to do this to make Leo understand how serious this was. “You will stay awake and alert, got it?”

“Don”, Leo began, swallowing with some difficulty; Don was holding his head in a very awkward position. “I’ve been trying-”

“And you’ll keep trying!” Don eased his hold on Leo, feeling a fresh wave of guilt when Leo coughed after he was allowed to lower his head again. He had already hurt Leo enough, didn’t want to hurt him any further, definitely didn’t want to cause him any more discomfort, but he had to, no matter how bad his heart ached at doing so.

Leo still seemed a bit bewildered, only nodding at Don. Good, the sudden harsh treatment had surprised Leo, had shaken off some of his sleepiness. Not good, the way Leo warily eyed him, like Don would repeat his action without a warning. He hoped, prayed, that he wouldn’t have to.

“Don.” Raphael’s hand landed on his shoulder, and Donatello realized that now he was the one shaking, and not from the cold. He took a deep breath, telling himself to calm down. Blankets, warmth- that’s what they needed, not anyone panicking. He pulled up a blanket that had fallen off of Leo when he had yanked his head.

“‘m sorry, Leo”, Don mumbled, but Leo only shook his head, shifting to make himself more comfortable, reassuringly touching Don’s arm.

“Don’t”, Leo simply said. Even if the blankets didn’t warm him up, Leo still seemed more responsive when surrounded by them. At least that’s Don hoped it was because of the warmth, not because of the surprise he had given him by grabbing him so suddenly.

“Warmth is the key”, Don thought out loud, keeping the blankets tightly around Leo, rubbing Leo’s arms to help the blood flow. “I mean, of course it is, with his temperature being so low, but… he responds better once we’re helping him to get warmer-“

“I’m right here, you know”, Leo reminded them again, only proving Don’s point. Leo was listening to the conversation, actually able to join it, too. He was weak from the trip he had taken to the stairs, but wasn’t as disoriented as before. “And I know I’m not really helping- mostly doing the exact opposite- and I’m… I’m sorry. I don’t… I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m trying to stay awake, but…”

“We know you are,” Don said gently. This really wasn’t what they had aimed for – to make Leo feel guilty about being sick. No matter how hard it was to keep him awake, he shouldn’t be feeling guilty. “Just… keep under the blankets. Tell us if they’re not enough to keep you warm.”

“So warmth is good, but it’s not working well enough”, Mikey mused while draping a blanket over Leo’s legs. The blue turtle was still shaking, but with the added blankets the shivers were starting to fade.

“It isn’t, and that’s the problem”, Don sighed, closing his eyes. “I wonder how difficult it would be to get to the lair-“

“No, no”, Raph said, shaking his head. “Last time was bad enough. Just no.”

“But-“

“No.” This time it was Leo who spoke, but his eyes had closed again, and Don wasn’t sure if he was following the conversation anymore.

“Do you even know what we’re talking about?” Don asked, continuing to rub Leo’s arm. The blue turtle opened one eye to give Don a look.

“As I said”, Leo huffed, “I’m right here.”

“You’ve kind of been going on and off on us, dude”, Mikey said. “Don’t know when you’re “right here” and when you’re not.”

Leo lowered his gaze in defeat, unable to say anything against that.

“It’s alright, Leo,” Don tried comforting him. Leo still wasn’t saying anything, and when he kept his head bowed down Don had to lift his chin again. They needed to make sure Leo didn’t fall asleep, and it was difficult if Leo kept his face hidden from them. “Remember… Head up, eyes open.”

Leo nodded, but his eyes were still closed. Don gave him time, but seconds passed, and he was forced to give Leo’s shoulder a push. Still nothing, and Don felt a bang in his chest- Not again, he didn’t want to be rough with Leo anymore.

“Leo.” Raph was the one to grab his shoulders, to roughly push his shell against the couch. Don couldn’t help feeling relieved that Raph was the one to take the lead this time, but Leo’s reactions to being handled so roughly were still too slow. The ninja leader should be on high alert when handled like this, not barely interested.

“Alright, we’re getting up”, Raph ordered, finding Leo’s arm through the blankets, roughly yanking him up. Leo was startled, almost lost his balance, but Raph kept his bruising grip on him, preventing him from falling. The red turtle made him stand on his own, made sure that the blankets stayed on him, and then forced Leo to walk, leaving the youngest brothers on the couch.

“Back to this, then”, Don sighed, reaching for his laptop.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out”, Mikey said reassuringly. “If I can help…”

“Thanks, Mikey”, Don smiled tiredly at him. “You could… just stay here?”

Mikey didn’t need to be told twice. He leaned against Don, simply keeping him company.

Leo gasped when another push against his shell almost sent him toppling over. It was hard to keep his balance when the world swam in his eyes, when the blankets around him made moving even harder than it already was.

“So Don says that warmth is the key”, Raph said, pushing him again, and Leo couldn’t help glancing irritatedly over his shoulder at him. “And ya always get pretty heated up when I try to boss ya. So…”

Another push, and this time Leo was so close to the wall that he had to lift his arms to catch himself against it. His legs were already shaking; he had barely gotten to the stairs just a moment ago, and now he was supposed to keep moving again. His tiredness made his frustration and failure feel even heavier.

“Don’t you wanna fight back? Make me stop pushing ya?”

Fight back? When he was like this? Leo closed his eyes, this time because he wanted to, not because he was unable to keep them open. Raph had been in danger, Leo didn’t even know what had happened to him, it was like he didn’t know anything about what was going on around him- and Raph wanted him to fight back?

“Raph…” Leo started, turning around to face his sibling, who was already coming closer. Leo tried to back away, but the wall was still behind him. He glanced over his shoulder at it, and when he looked back at Raph he saw his fist coming at him. He dodged to the side, his right leg giving up under him, but Raph was there to catch him. No, not to catch him- he did help him to get his balance back, but then he was pushing him again, almost making him fall over once more.

“Raph!” Leo repeated, trying to catch his breath. Simply moving, regaining his balance, was exhausting. Simply existing was exhausting, and Leo was starting to get enough of it. “You know I can’t do this now- so stop it-”

“But you have to, Leo”, Raph said, never giving Leo time to stay still. If he kept standing, he’d just be pushed again. Raph never hurt him with his pushes, Leo knew that even the punch was only faked just to get him moving, but he wasn’t gentle, either. Leo hated how the rough contact made him stumble so easily, how badly it pulled at his tired muscles. He didn’t like being handled like this, and even worse was that he couldn’t do anything about it.

“ Why? ” Leo asked through gritted teeth, stumbling again when he wasn’t fast enough to escape Raph. All he wanted to, all he needed to do, was to rest. To find a quiet, safe place for that. Hide, so that nobody would disturb him and he could finally get rid of this exhaustion. But it was impossible when Raph chased him like this, never took his eyes off of him, never allowed him to slip away so that he could disappear and hide.

“You know why”, Raph stated simply. And Leo did know why, remembered how Don had said that he only got weaker when he slept, but it made no sense. He knew he needed to sleep, it was like a voice in his head was telling him to do it, a voice he trusted, a voice he needed to trust. He trusted Don, but his brother just didn’t understand. Leo didn’t even understand it himself, but he just knew that he needed this.

“Wait, Raph-”, Leo hadn’t managed to regain his balance from the latest push, and when Raph came at him again, he fell. The blankets around him softened his fall, so he wasn’t really hurt, but his body still ached. He had no strength to push himself up, but his chaser was already looming over him- and suddenly he was reminded of the hallucinations again, the thought crossing his mind so quickly that he automatically lifted his hand to shield his face, tried to curl up in order to escape the threat.

Raph’s chest ached at the sight. Leonardo by his feet, covering himself like Raphael was something to fear. Reminded him of the way Leo had acted when he had chased him outside, how out of it Leo had been, attacking him, running away from him… But that had been the fever. What was making Leo act like this now? Raph was about to kneel down next to him when Leo seemed to snap out of it, lowering his hand and looking confused, then almost embarrassed. Stubbornly the leader was pushing himself up, and didn’t swat Raph’s hand away when he helped him.

“It’s not like I want to do this”, Raph said quietly, allowing Leo to lean on him for a moment, before he had to force him to stand on his own. Even though he was hesitating about forcing Leo to walk around, he still needed to at least stand on his own. “But it isn’t like you to give up, either.”

“I’m not”, Leo said, focusing on his legs to keep himself standing. “If you’d listen to me-”

“We’re not letting you sleep, end of discussion”, Raph cut him off immediately, and the turtles stared at each other. Familiar, so familiar, a start of a fight, expect that the other one was in no condition to take part in it. Leo felt trapped; he couldn’t make Raph understand, and he couldn’t get away from him. The newly awoken instinct in him was starting to make him feel anxious from being ignored for so long, constantly knocking back his own thoughts, being the only thing on his mind. Leo grabbed his head, groaning at his headache. He just wanted his brain, his instinct, everything to shut up. To leave him alone, even if only for a moment. No more thoughts, nothing.

He’d allow his mind to slip, just for a short moment.

“Hey”, Raph was there to let Leo lean on him when the eldest was holding his head, seeming to be in pain. “C’mon, let’s go back to Don and Mikey.”

To Don, more specifically. Raph only knew how to push, how to try to get a reaction out of Leo- and when he only got a leader in pain, he didn’t know what to do. He headed towards the kitchen, and Leo finally lowered his hand, pulling away from Raph. The bigger turtle allowed it, and Leo seemed to be able to stand on his own. But he seemed lost, his gaze empty, like he wasn’t sure why they were here.

Mikey was sitting in the kitchen, having gone to make Don more coffee and waiting for it to get ready, noticing his bros. He frowned at the way Leo looked, just standing there, looking like a zombie, deciding to get his attention. Mikey grabbed an apple and tossed it towards Leo.

“Hey, Leo, catch!”

But his words had no effect; Leo didn’t even notice how the fruit flew over his head, landing on the floor somewhere behind them. Now Raph raised a brow at the youngest, who only chuckled sheepishly.

“Guess his reflexes are still asleep”, Mikey said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Leo looked up, still puzzled, and took a seat. There was a box of juice on the table, and Leo reached for it, but hesitated, drawing his hand back. His head drooped, but he lifted it stubbornly, blinking hard. He reached for the juice again, hesitated once more, giving up and letting his hand drop on the table.

Don had appeared to the kitchen as well, and they all stared at Leo’s… attempt to get the juice. Don was the one who broke the silence by clearing his throat before speaking.

“Leo… how are you feeling?”

Leo lifted his head, but his eyes stared down at the table. Didn’t seem like Leo had realized that the words were meant for him. He blinked, tried to clear his vision, and apparently his head as well since he shook it a little. Then his head fell down again, and he slid sideways on his chair.

Raphael caught his arm before he could slide off of the chair, and Leonardo only lifted his head sleepily, unaware that he had almost gotten to face-plant the floor.

“He wasn’t like this just now”, Raph said. “Wasn’t this unresponsive.”

“Leo?” Don repeated as he got up, kneeling next to Leo’s chair, looking at his closed eyes. “You with us?”

Leo grabbed the edge of the table, pushing himself up, not even glancing towards Don. He stood still, hands holding the table for support.

“Leo, Don’s talking to ya”, Raph said, speaking a bit louder than Don, giving Leo’s arm a push. It only made Leo sway a little, but he did nothing to acknowledge his brothers.

“Leo-“, Raph tried again, louder, angrier, but Don lifted his hand up to silence him.

“It’s like he doesn’t even hear”, Don said quietly, standing up as well. Leo turned away from the table, walking sluggishly towards the living area. The three brothers stood in the kitchen doorway, watching after him.

“Kind of looks like he’s… looking for something”, Mikey said slowly, tilting his head.

It really did look like Leo was looking for something, wandering around the room, turning items over, occasionally stumbling as he walked, but somehow managing to stay upright.

“He’s gathering blankets again”, Donatello observed, lifting his hand up to his chin. Leonardo disappeared behind the corner, dragging the blankets with him.

“He’s been leaving them around, almost fell over one of them earlier”, Raph grumbled. A trail of blankets seemed to follow Leo everywhere he went.

“I saw”, Mikey laughed. Raph’s glare cut it short, though. “It’s kind of cute. Or, you know, it would be if something wasn’t wrong, I mean… it’s like he’s making tiny nests.”

Nests… being cold, tired, feeling like he should be somewhere…

“That’s it!” Don announced suddenly, but instead of elaborating he mumbled something to himself, sitting back in front of his still open laptop. Raph and Mikey looked at him with confusion, waiting for him to continue.

“That’s what?” Raph asked when Don wasn’t saying anything, only typing.

“I could be wrong, but…”

“You rarely are. Just spit it out.”

“Well, I think Mikey’s right-“

“Okay, never mind, even you can be wrong sometimes”, Raph interrupted him, gaining a pouty look from Mikey.

“–Mikey could be right about the nest. I thought it was the warmth that helped Leo be more alert, but I think it was the blankets, the nest around him. It made him relax and able to focus. But it seems like he isn’t even realizing that he’s doing it.” Donatello frowned. “But it shouldn’t… I don’t know how it could be… “

“Spit it out, Don!”

“Well, it’s winter. Leo’s temperature is low, his movements are sluggish – it just feels like…” Don’s hands stopped on the keyboard and he turned to look at his brothers. “I don’t know how, but I think his body is trying to get him to brumate.”

“Woah”, Mikey gasped, and Raph smacked him.

“You don’t even know what that means”, Raph huffed at the youngest.

“It’s kind of like hibernating”, Don explained shortly, knowing that his brothers weren’t interested in all the details. “It’s natural for turtles to brumate when it’s winter, but since we aren’t… normal turtles, we’ve never done that. Besides, turtles kept – or living – indoors shouldn’t even do it to begin with.”

“Then why would Leo do it? And why now?”

Don shook his head, keeping his eyes closed for a moment. “I don’t know. I’m not even sure if he is, the way he’s acting just fits the description. Kind of. It could be the cold weather, it could be the sickness – but the cold isn’t affecting the rest of us, and we’ve been sick before, but this hasn’t ever happened before.”

Don leaned his head on his hands as he thought about it. “But I don’t think that any of us has ever been as sick as he was, and he has been running around in the cold a lot. His body has been having trouble recovering from it – it could be thinking that it’s time to brumate because of the constant and extreme cold, so that’s what it’s trying to make Leo do.”

Raph and Mikey changed looks.

“But Leo’s been in the warm for a long time, his body shouldn’t react this way…” Don groaned, sliding his hand over his face. “I just don’t know.”

They fell silent for a while, letting the new information sink in. Then Mikey laughed a little, not really sounding happy. “So, Leo’s literally making a nest. That’s cute, right? What’s so bad about letting him sleep it off?”

Don closed the laptop.

“Well, they don’t usually make nests, they just find a hiding place where it’s safe to sleep. But Leo’s situation is a bit different…” Don crossed his arms across his chest, looking serious when he continued. ”Our bodies don’t work like that of a normal turtles’, obviously. Brumating turtles can slow down the beat of their heart and reduce their metabolic rate drastically, but we’re part human, and humans can’t do that.”

“But we do know how to slow down our breathing and heart rate”, Raph pointed out.

“For a limited time”, Don sighed. “If he falls into brumation, it’s not Leo who’s controlling his heart rate, it’s his body. And we don’t how our bodies would handle something like that – if they could handle it.”

That made all of them quiet.

“Looks like we’ll have to find out”, Raph grunted out eventually, crossing his arms over his chest.

“No, we’re going to keep him awake until we figure this out”, Don said as he refocused from the grim thoughts. “We can’t take a risk like this.”

“We also can’t keep Leo up forever.”

“We’re not going to. As I said, only until I figure this out-“

“Where is he, anyways?” Mikey piped up, and they fell silent again, realizing that they had let Leo out of their sight. A quick look around told them that Leo wasn’t in the kitchen or the living-room. Their efforts of keeping an eye on Leo to keep him awake were quickly running down the drain.

“Oh, no.” Don was up in an instant, darting out of the kitchen. “Come on. We have to find him!”

And then wake him up. They were all pretty sure that Leo had had enough time to find a place where to fall asleep, now that they had failed to keep an eye on him. They were quickly looking through the rooms, but the apartment wasn’t big, so it had quickly been searched. The question of how to wake him up was starting to turn into how to find the turtle in the first place. They met each other in the living area, looking lost.

“Hiding, you said they’ll try to hide before brumating”, Mikey said, fidgeting. “And we know that if Leo doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be found. What are we going to do?!”

“Not panic, first of all”, Don was quick to say, even though he felt the same anxiety as Mikey. But he quickly reassured himself; even if Leo was asleep, a few minutes wouldn’t hurt him. It was true that Leo was a master at hide and seek, but even he couldn’t hide from three ninja in an apartment like this. They would find him.

But there was no denying that Leo had been running out of strength. It wouldn't take much more to make him exhausted enough to lose the fight against his own body, if that hadn't already happened. And then he'd be trapped in the slumber his body had forced him into. They’d have to be fast. Time wasn’t on their side.

Right now it felt like nothing was on their side. As if it wasn't enough that the rest of the world was against them – now even their own bodies were. 

Chapter Text

“He was barely standing just a moment ago, where the hell did he disappear to?” Raph grumbled as he paused his search, his worry coming out in the form of a growl.

Don exited the bedroom he had already looked over three times, seeing Raph standing next to the couch, looking frustrated. Mikey was with him, scratching the back of his head, lifting the blankets on the couch like Leo could somehow have fitted himself under them.

“We’ve looked everywhere. He isn’t here. Which means...” Don turned his head towards the door leading to the stairs and down to the shop.

The cold, dark shop wasn’t very inviting. It felt stupid to think that Leo, who had already been cold, would’ve gone down there. But then again, the shop was dark and quiet, not freezing but chilly, resembling a natural brumating place more than any of the other rooms. Leo hadn’t exactly been himself earlier, so there was no knowing what had been going through his head. He hadn’t been thinking clearly. Hadn’t probably even been thinking at all, just being led by his instinct. That wasn’t good, but Don couldn’t deny that it was interesting, for them to have an instinct that could so completely take over them. He was curious, wanted to figure out what exactly had triggered it, if they really could brumate- but the situation was effectively smothering that curiosity. Leo’s well-being was more important than finding the answers.  

Trying to not waste any more time they took the search downstairs.

The shop was as cold as they remembered, and the cold-blooded turtles couldn’t help shivering. Don lifted his hand to flip on the lights, but hesitated. They wouldn’t want to bring attention to the shop now that it was supposed to be closed, so he let his hand fall down, squinting in the dim light coming from the staircase. When their eyes adjusted to the dark the turtles sighed. The upgraded shop wasn’t just a simple room; there were a few extra rooms for storage, full of unwrapped items, wrappings, boxes and other various things. The main room had many cabinets and furniture which would make hiding easy.

“I’m gonna hit him once we find him”, Raph grumbled, but the threat sounded empty. He moved the closest boxes, only to find dust from behind them. He allowed the box he had lifted to drop, and the dust filled the air, causing the turtle to cough and curse. He kicked the box in his frustration, gaining a warning look from Don.

“Stop dropping and kicking stuff, Raph”, Don scolded as he moved further into the shop. “You’re going to break something, and this is April’s stuff.”

Mikey had headed towards one of the storages, noticing a blanket on the floor. He walked over to it, and when he kneeled to grab it he noticed the edge of another blanket from behind a pile of boxes.

“I think I found him”, Mikey called, carefully moving the boxes aside, finding a pile of blankets from behind them. “He’s here!”

Don and Raph were there in an instant, just as Mikey was lifting the blankets down to reveal Leo’s sleeping form. At least the search hadn’t taken long, thanks to the blanket Leo had left behind.

“Out of all the places…” Raph mumbled as he looked at the dusty corner behind the boxes. Mikey made way for Don, and careful hands checked Leo’s pulse once again, finding that his pulse hadn’t yet had time to get much slower. Yet.

“Turtles can brumate underwater, but usually under banks and hollow stumps and rocks. Since he didn’t have any of that, I guess this was the second choice”, Don explained, sounding distant as he carefully eased Leo out from behind the boxes. Raph kneeled next to them, wordlessly offering to carry Leo. Don gave Raph’s arm a look, but decided to let Raph carry him. He did notice that Raph gritted his teeth when Leo’s weight was on him, so he knew that he would still have to keep an eye on Raph’s wound.

Once Leonardo was properly on Raphael’s arms Donatello made sure that the blankets were still tightly around him. They were glad to leave the chilly floor, but Leonardo was now asleep, and the clock was still ticking.

They took Leo to the bedroom, and once Leo was resting on a warm bed instead of a cold floor, draped under blankets, all eyes were on Don.

“So… what can we do?” Raph asked, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, how do we tell his body to stop doing something?” Mikey added, and now they all stared at Leo.

Don could only shrug. “Warmth is still the key. It should make the body realize there’s no need to brumate. But... it is warm, has been for a while. He shouldn’t have been cold enough to fall into brumation.”

“Maybe it’s a mutant thing”, Mikey said, shrugging, placing a hand on Don’s shoulder. It was clear that Don was under a lot of pressure, they kind of counted on him on things like this, but nobody was blaming Don. Except for Don himself.  “Like, maybe we hibernate on a slight delay, you know?”

“Brumate”, Don corrected him. “And that doesn’t… that doesn’t make sense, if it gets warm enough, a brumating turtle should wake up.” And it was warm enough, more than enough! If what Mikey said was true, then how should they know what to do, if it’s something only their… kind would do? It’s not like they could just go to the library and pick up a book about mutant turtles. It was something they had to figure on their own. Something Don had to figure out.

“Perhaps when the body is in its normal state, healthy and rested, it could pull this off”, Don said, placing a hand on the side of Leo’s face, looking at him sadly. “But Leo has was pretty sick, he hasn’t recovered yet. His body can’t take something like this right now. His body hasn’t shown nothing but bad signs – he’s going to wear himself out at this rate.”

“Why would his body do something that’d harm him? Doesn’t our system usually try to, like, protect us and stuff?” Mikey asked, searching his memory for the things Don had told him about fevers and other things. “Like, a fever isn’t a good thing, but our body is trying to heal that way, right? So what’s the point of this?”

Don looked at Leo’s still form, watching his chest rise and fall slowly. “I really don’t know”, he said finally. “It’s not like our bodies can’t make mistakes. The sudden changes in temperature, the harsh cold… they must’ve messed something up.” Don knew that unusual weather could mess up the inner clock of animals, making them wake up from hibernation too early, causing confusion to migrating birds- it was weird to make such a comparison, but it made sense. In some way. Don frowned, once again reminded about how much he needed his lab.

“And as you said, Mikey”, Don sighed, “it is kind of difficult to tell our bodies that something they’re doing is wrong.” How could they fight or suppress an instinct? Here they were again; they had allowed Leo to slip from their watch, and now he was unconscious again. How difficult would it be to wake him up this time? How difficult would it be to keep him awake, when it had already been so hard before? Besides, waking him up had proved to be only a temporary solution. Don hesitated. Was the best option to wake him up as soon as possible, or wake him after they came up with a better solution at keeping him up? Which would help Leo save his strength – which would prevent him from slipping too far into his exhaustion?

Was it even right to try to fight the instinct, or were they just doing more harm than good?

Don drew his hand away, still looking down at Leo. Keeping him up had only drained him of the remaining strength he had, but if this turned out to be a sleep Leo never woke up from- how could Don ever forgive himself? The mere thought made him feel sick, made him grip the blankets harshly. Made him make his mind.  

“Alright, Leo”, Don said, trying his best to not sound so defeated. “Time to wake up.”

“I wish it was summer”, Michelangelo mumbled, gently stroking Leonardo’s arm while holding his head on his lap. “Remember how warm the rooftops are after the sun has warmed them all day long? And then, at night, they’re starting to cool down and they’re just warm enough. It’s the best, isn’t it?”

Their attempts at waking Leonardo up had, to say it simply, failed. Leonardo was still asleep, resting in Michelangelo’s hold while the youngest talked to him, speaking about whatever came to mind, hoping to somehow reach him with his voice and get him to wake up. The youngest brushed his finger over an angry bruise on Leo’s cheek with a sad look on his face, the mark being proof that they truly had tried their hardest to wake him. Seeing the bruise they had caused had finally forced them to stop; it was no use. Their earlier method of waking him up no longer worked; roughing him up was only causing unnecessary pain to the leader now.

Not like Leo seemed to be feeling it now, but it didn’t make it any easier to look at the mark. They gave each other bruises all the time, it was inevitable during training, but the situation was so much different now. Leo wasn’t there to defend himself or to even punch back- he just… he just wasn’t there at all.

And they had no idea how to make him come back.

“After the snow melts, we could go the farmhouse, get some real sunlight, right?” Mikey kept talking, never getting an answer.

Don sat in front of his laptop at the end of the bed, reading about turtle brumation. If something from the outside couldn’t wake Leo up, then it had to come from the inside. Leo’s body needed to realize that it had to wake up. Raph sat down next to him, reading over Don’s shoulder.

“None of this is very helpful”, Raph commented impatiently. After realizing that they truly couldn’t get Leo to wake up Mikey had been quiet, only talking nonsense to Leo, and Raph was on the edge. They were all doing their best to remain calm, but the situation wasn’t looking good, and from the corner of his eye Don could see that Raph’s hand had gripped the hilt of his sai. “This is all about normal turtles.”

“Oh? Should I google “mutant turtle hibernation”, then?” Don asked just as impatiently. The frustration of the situation wasn’t only getting to Raph.

“Sorry”, Raph said, still gritting his teeth, and Don sighed. They couldn’t start losing it now.

“No, I’m sorry. Look at this”, Don said, pointing at the screen as he read, “ Add extra light. You need to put your pet in an area where he will receive a lot of natural light. ”

Raph cringed at the word pet, but didn’t dwell on it. “So… we need lamps?” He sounded doubtful.

“Warmth should be more effective, but since it clearly isn’t, maybe we need light. It’s… it’s worth a try, at least. Anything at this point is.” The apartment had been dark most of the time. Perhaps light added with the warmth would do the trick. Don stared past the screen of the laptop. Leo’s condition was going nowhere, and lamps were his solution? He ran his hand over his face.

“Oh”, Raph breathed, as he continued reading the screen. Don lowered his hand and focused on the screen again, following Raph’s gaze to the text he was reading.

“You should also not hibernate your pet if he is sick or has health problems”, the site told them.

“Well, that’s what I needed to hear”, Don mumbled quietly. The information was obvious, but reading it in this situation was like a blow to the face.

“This just keeps getting better and better”, Raph muttered, hopping off of the bed, not wanting to accidentally read any other bad news.

“Normal lamps aren’t going to bring enough warmth to really do anything”, Don said, standing up as well. “But this’ll be about the light. I’ll go check out the shop, I think I saw some lamps down there. Can you check the other rooms? Take the night-lamps and see if there’s anything else we could use.”

Raph nodded, still clearly not having much faith in this plan, but headed out of the bedroom. Before heading to the shop Don glanced at the screen one more time, feeling the weight of the situation heavily on himself as he read the end of the page.

“If you wake up a hibernating turtle, you shouldn’t let them fall asleep again. If he uses too much energy during hibernation, he may not have enough energy to ever wake up.”

“That’s bright”, Mikey said, shielding his eyes from the light. “ Really bright.”

“That’s good”, Don said, placing his hands on his hips as he observed the lamps now surrounding the bed. There weren’t that many, a few night-lamps, and something he had found from the shop, but one of the lamps was quite bright, being much more effective than the rest of the lamps combined.  

“So these should help?” Mikey asked hopefully, looking down at Leo, who was still resting on his lap. He had been quiet and still ever since they had found him from the shop, the total stillness unnerving, but at least his temperature wasn’t dropping anymore. His body wasn’t producing enough heat, but as long as someone was keeping him warm his condition wasn’t getting worse. His pulse was still steady. His vital signs weren’t dropping; he was caught between somewhere in between, not falling deeper into his slumber, but unable to wake up.

“I hope so. Wish they could produce warmth, not just light, but…” Don rubbed the back of his neck. “We don’t really have any heat lamps or anything like that.”

“But we’ve got body warmth!” Mikey said, shifting a little so that he could better wrap his arms around Leo. “Come on, Leo, feel the warmth! Look, even the sun is up!”

Mikey brought one of the lamps closer, but Leo stayed as still as before, his chest moving in a steady rhythm under the blankets.

“Isn’t there anything else we can do?” Raph asked, still as impatient as before, looking from the lamps to Don.

“I–“

The wind howled so loudly that Don’s words drowned under the noise. The lamps flickered. Once, twice, but stayed on. Another howl of the wind rattled the window, and the room went dark.

It took them a moment to realize that the lights weren’t coming back.

“Great! Absolutely fantastic!” Raph moaned, throwing his hands up. Not like anybody saw it in the dark. “It’s like everything is against us. We just gathered the damn lamps and now this happens.”

“Don’t worry, Leo, it’s just a little cloudy”, Mikey whispered down to Leo, holding him tighter.

“We should… should at least use the flashlights”, Don said, trying to hide his disappointment, nervously stumbling in the darkness. But the truth was that despair was starting to catch up with him- the last time Leo had slept it had taken just a few hours to make his breathing slow down, and how many times could Leo’s body go through these drastic changes? It wasn’t an easy task for his recovering body to keep alternating the state of his vital signs. You couldn’t keep lowering the rate of your heartbeat, and then bring it back up just to lower it again. Don had already started counting on the lights, thinking that light could really be their solution, but now that was gone. They needed the lamps or an alternative solution. Just waiting wasn’t an option.

In the flaslight’s glow Don checked Leo’s pulse. Steady, but as he had expected, getting slower. For a moment he just stared at his pale face, hoping to see his eyes flutter, or at least some kind of movement. Leo had been able to wake up on his own before, but now there was nothing.

“Hold this near him”, Don said, handing the flashlight to Mikey. “It probably won’t do much good, but… it’s better than no light at all...”

“Maybe we need a loud noise”, Mikey suggested. He inhaled deeply, and Don quickly covered his ears. “LEOOO! WAKE UP!”

Nothing. Not like Don had expected that to help, but Mikey pouted.

“Maybe if we bang some pans and pots together-“

Michelangelo shifted to get up to get the pans, but Donatello placed a hand on his shoulder.

“No, you just keep him warm”, the genius quickly instructed, not wanting their ability to hear to get destroyed. If physical contact hadn’t woken Leo up, Don doubted that any sound would.

“You’re lucky the wind is so damn loud”, Raph growled as he came back into the bedroom. “Otherwise the whole neighbourhood would’ve heard you screaming.”

In the faint light they could see that Raph had gone to get a glass of water, and as Raph held it over Leo’s face neither Mikey nor Don said anything. The mark on Leo’s cheek was mostly Raph’s handiwork, his attempts at waking Leo up had nearly turned into punches earlier, and now he was trying to wake him up with water? The other two stayed silent, actually daring to feel hopeful. Maybe the glass of water would be their lucky break. Perhaps the solution could be something simple for once. They kept still as Raph tilted the glass- they were desperate for something to work.

The water splashed on Leo’s face, and Mikey yelped when some of the cold liquid hit him as well. Leo didn’t as much as twitch. Raph growled, his fists clenching. The frustration finally boiled over. The younger brothers saw the warning signs, how hurt masked in anger flashed in Raph’s eyes, but were too slow to stop him. Raph’s fist connected with the side of Leo’s face, much harder than any of the hits he had given Leo before. The crack of Leo’s jaw was painfully loud in the otherwise silent room. Mikey yelped again, tried to lean over Leo to shield him from Raph, but the growling turtle dug his nails into Leo’s shoulders and forcefully pulled him up from Mikey’s lap.

“Wake the fuck up or I’ll–”

“Raph!” Don pushed his arm between his older brothers, trying to get Raph to back off. “That’s enough! Geez, if you dislocated his jaw-”

Leo’s groan was barely audible, but it was there. His face was twisted in pain as he tried to open his eyes, but it didn’t seem to be enough. Raph’s hold on him quickly softened.

“Leo?” Raph called, but his eyes stayed closed. Raph turned to Don. “He’s awake, isn’t he?”

“I… I think so, but he’s just too exhausted. His body can’t even produce the warmth he needs, it’s struggling to wake up.” Don looked down at Leo, touching the side of his jaw, twisting his head to see better. His jaw seemed okay, but he’d be feeling that punch for a while. ”Or maybe it’s still trying to prevent him from waking up – damn this blackout…”

Donatello touched Raphael’s hand, and the turtle in red understood, finally easing Leonardo back down on the bed. Leo was gritting his teeth, but his expression was starting to go back to the emotionless mask they had seen too much lately, telling them that he was slipping back to complete unconsciousness. Raph touched Leo’s cheek carefully, his fingers touching the spot where a new mark was forming from his punch. Both bruises on Leo’s  face were from him, the latest already looking ugly, and Mikey and Don saw the guilt on his face.

“So here’s what we do. We let him rest, let him gather his strength, and hope that the warmth will snap him out of the brumation thing, so that he’ll… sleep… normally. If we keep him warm his body doesn’t have to produce so much heat, it can spend that energy on waking up.” Don swallowed. Up until now waiting had been out of question, and now it was the best option. He really didn’t have any idea what he was doing, and the weight on his shoulders only got heavier. Especially when he realized that it was, once again, a race against time; would Leo be able to regain enough strength to stay awake before his body’s need to brumate took him too far into his unconscious state?

“Let him rest, don’t let him rest; we really can’t decide, huh?” Mikey said out loud what Don had been thinking. It stung, even though Mikey had meant it as a joke. The youngest caught how Don turned his head away, and leaned forward to grab Don’s arm, and pulled.

Don turned to look at him with a confused look, allowing Mikey to drag him closer until he realized that Mikey wanted him to lie down as well.

“Mikey- I still need to-”

“You said that body heat is better than the blankets”, Mikey said, letting go of Don only when the genius brother had been pulled next to Leo. He threw a blanket over Don, then snuggled up against Leo on his other side. Don blinked at the situation, staying still for a moment, but then he pushed the blanket away. He couldn’t. He couldn’t just do nothing-

Raph pushed him back down when he attempted to sit up, and Don gave him a betrayed look. Raphael nudged him closer to Leonardo to get some room for himself, and just like that Donatello got sandwiched between his big brothers.

“Great. Now look what your stubbornness did, Donnie, I gotta cuddle ”, Raph muttered darkly, trying to sound annoyed, but didn’t quite succeed as well as he had hoped. Don tried to sit up again, but Raph only draped his arm over him, stopping him from leaving. Don sighed in defeat, then glanced to his side where Leo rested. He would’ve wanted to at least get some ice for Leo’s face, but doubted that Leo was feeling anything right now. If he’d show signs of being in pain he’d get it. Putting ice on him would kind of go against of what they were trying to do anyway, so…

Donatello turned his head to glare at the dark lamps. He sighed again, now because he felt betrayed by everything. “We would’ve really needed those lights. I’m sure they would’ve helped...” At least he had wanted them to help.

“Maybe the power comes back soon”, Mikey said hopefully, yawning, feeling sleepy now that he was lying down. “And the sun will shine again. Maybe the rooftops will be warm, too…”

Mikey’s yawn was infectious, and his brothers couldn’t help feeling sleepy as well. Lying down wrapped in the blankets just had that effect. Don still felt anxious about not being able to continue his search on his laptop, but at least now he was able to hear Leo’s steady breaths, not needing to constantly glance over his shoulder to see his brother. And Mikey was sleepily mumbling instead of being quiet and miserable, and Raph wasn’t sulking alone about his guilt.

He wanted to fight the sleepiness that was settling over him. The bed wasn’t designed to hold four mutant turtles, but when they were squished against each other like this, they fit. The warmth was nice but it still felt wrong to just… to just wait. Don knew there wasn’t anything else he could do, but he still felt guilty when his eyelids started to feel heavy.

Sleep and the nothingness that came with it was a comfort that clung to him, but Don knew he couldn’t hold onto it for much longer. He forced himself awake, and before he even opened his eyes, he realized that the room was bright. The power had come back on while they had slept. Strange that he hadn’t woken up to that… Don yawned, hoping he hadn’t slept for too long. Checking on Leo was already on his mind, and he had to squirm to turn himself over so that he could face the eldest, moving carefully in order to not wake up the red banded brother sleeping next to him. He stretched his left arm; he had accidentally slept on top of it, and had to wait for the blood to start flowing again. When he finally had access to Leo he felt his forehead, his other hand finding Leo’s arm under the blankets.

Warm. Leo’s skin was warm. Don lowered his head, feeling a smile on his face. Finally the warmth had started sticking to the leader, and his pulse was stronger as well. He wanted to try to wake him up, but his vital signs were better, meaning he wasn’t in danger right now. Don allowed his head to fall back on the bed, and this time he felt comfortable and relieved instead of anxious and guilty.

Don kept snoozing between his brothers until Mikey woke up. The youngest mumbled something about food and headed out of the room. Don considered moving to the other side of Leo to make sure that there was warmth all around him, but was too lazy, so only snaked his arm around him, pulling himself closer. Not like there was much room between them anyways. Raph mumbled something behind him, and Don could feel him pressing closer as well, and now Don was totally sandwiched again. He huffed, but didn’t really mind.

The next time he woke up he was alone with Leo. Hushed sounds were audible from the other room, and Don wondered how he hadn’t woken up to them before. He must’ve been exhausted as well, first not waking up to the lights, now his brothers leaving. At least he had paid off some of his sleep debt.

Donatello sat up, sitting still just to gather himself for a moment. He would’ve liked to fall back into the blankets; the room was chilly compared to the bed, and the drowsiness was still there. If it was this hard for him to get up, he couldn’t imagine how it must’ve been for Leo when they had forced him to stay awake earlier. Hopefully that was now behind them.

After making sure that he hadn’t just imagined Leo’s pulse getting better he dared to leave him alone for a moment, and found his brothers from the kitchen. Food reminded him that it had been hours since Leo had last eaten. It did seem that Leo was only sleeping now, not falling into something that was basically turtle coma, and he needed the rest to gather his strength. But to get better he’d also have to eat. Don felt fidgety about the thought of waking him up – they all wanted to wait and see if Leo would finally wake up on his own, but how long would that take?

“Slept well?” Mikey asked, stuffing more bread into his mouth. Don pushed his worries about Leo aside for a moment, thinking about Mikey’s question; he did feel more rested, but his anxiety had been present even in his dreams. But he did feel slightly better, so he nodded.

“Has your head been bothering you anymore?” Don asked as he took a seat, and Mikey shook his head, his mouth too full to answer. Don looked at Raph. “And how’s your arm, Raph?”

Raph shrugged, moving the arm tentatively, and Don caught the slight flinch. Raph didn’t look too bothered about it, only shrugging again. “It’s getting better.”

Of course Don didn’t believe it before he saw it, ignoring Raph’s protests as he checked the wound. It hadn’t had much time to heal yet, but at least Raph hadn’t reopened it… again. Not like he had had a chance to do nothing besides rest. Had they been back at the lair, where Raph’s punching bag was, the situation could’ve been, no, it would’ve been different.

New bandages were almost covering the wound again, when a loud bang and a crash were audible from the bedroom. Raph bounced up from the chair so fast the chair fell down, but Mikey was slightly faster, getting to the bedroom first. The door was yanked open, and a wind mercilessly cold greeted them. The window of the room was fully open, and the wind was throwing snow inside. The window had knocked down a vase from the windowsill, and it lay in scattered pieces on the floor. Mikey broke through the shock first, running to the window, careful to not step on the sharp pieces on the floor, having to fight the wind to get the window shut.

Raph hadn’t given the window a second glance; his thoughts had immediately gone to what had happened the last time had seen an open window. They had left Leo buried under the blankets, but his head wasn’t visible where it should’ve been. But Leo escaping through the window like before, it just couldn’t be possible, not again-

Raph almost had a heart attack when he lifted the blankets and was met with Leo’s open, but wary eyes. He definitely hadn’t expected to see the leader awake- had kind of expected to not see him at all. Had expected him to be running outside again… Raph felt a flicker of anger at the thought, but was too relieved to see Leo awake to be angry.

“The handle is broken!” Mikey yelled, having to hold both his hands against the window or the wind would just force it open again.

“Let me grab something”, Don said, hurrying out of the room. While holding the window closed, Mikey turned his head towards the bed.

“Is Leo-?”

“He’s fine. And awake”, Raph said, still watching Leo’s face. The leader was no longer looking at him, trying to crane his neck to see Mikey and the window. Raph lowered the blankets slightly so that he could see, and then noticed Mikey’s wide grin, and how he was about to step away from the window. “Mikey, the window!”

“Right, uh, sorry! But Leo, you’re awake! Man, I wanna hug you so badly!” Mikey was clearly barely containing his excitement, wanting to come closer, but stayed by the window. Mikey’s grin was wide, and Raph felt himself grinning too. Leo moved his head back towards him, blinking slowly up at him, and Raph noticed that he still looked wary.

“Did the window startle you?” Raph asked teasingly, even though he felt a bit bad for him. He was just too relieved at the moment, and couldn’t help his grin getting wider when Leo’s frown answered his question.

“You would be startled too if you had just woken up and… then that”, Leo huffed, his voice quiet, but at least he was talking. He was back.

“You woke up on your own?” Don asked hopefully from the door, having heard him despite his almost non-existent voice. In his hands Don had some quickly gathered tools.

“Don! Hurry up! I’ve got a turtle to hug!” Mikey called from the window, but Don ignored him momentarily so that he could stop by the bed and see for himself that Leo really had his eyes open. Yes, hearing his voice wasn’t enough after all that had happened. When their eyes met, Don gave him a smile which Leo returned, even though the eldest seemed a bit confused. The relief that washed over him was almost overwhelming and Don didn’t want to look away, afraid that something would go wrong once he turned his back, but he needed to fix the window so that Mikey wouldn’t have to keep his hands on the cold glass.

Leo squirmed under the blankets, and Raph sat properly on the bed to help him sit up. Mikey was freed from the window, and just when Leo was almost up, he was tackled back down on the bed with Mikey’s arms tightly around him. Leo only groaned, too weak to hug Mikey back, only able to gently pat the arm that was squeezing him.

“Leo! Dude, you don’t know how great it is to see you awake!” Mikey drew away so that he could look down at the turtle under him, grinning widely. Leo wasn’t that grateful for the weight on top of him, but smiled at his little brother anyways.

“Mikey, go easy on him”, Don chuckled from the window, tentatively letting go of the temporary handle he had created. The fix wasn’t perfect, but the window stayed closed. Good enough for now. Don was about to turn away from it, but turned back to the window, squinting. It was dark outside and the lights behind him made it hard to see, but he had seen movement outside. Of course the wind could be throwing snow around, or the lights could be making weird reflections against the glass… Don shook his head, turning away.

Mikey had allowed Leo to sit up again, or, well, he had mostly dragged Leo back up, since Leo was still weak and moving on his own seemed to be difficult for him. The leader was leaning against Mikey, Raph still sitting on his other side, his hands crossed over his plastron, but he was smiling. Leo’s eyes were only half open, but at least they were open. Don sat down on the bed as well, relieved when he noticed that Leo had regained some of his focus. He still looked exhausted, but not like he was going to fall asleep without a warning.

Leonardo shifted, not wanting to lean on Mikey so heavily, but he didn’t seem to have the strength to move himself. He frowned, and then his expression turned a bit panicked, causing Don and Raph to automatically lean closer.

“M-my legs”, Leo gasped, his voice still quiet, barely audible. “I can’t move-”

Don hurried to place his hand over Leo’s knee in a calming manner. “Your body has just tired itself out”, he gently explained. “It has most likely used all your energy for the preparation to brumate. You just need to rest and get that energy back. Your legs are okay. Here, feel this?”

Don gave Leo’s knee a light squeeze to let him know that he had feeling in his legs. Leo closed his eyes, allowing the information he had received to sink in. Then he looked back up, raising a brow. “Brumation?”

Don couldn’t help laughing a little. “Yeah. I’ll explain it to you once you’re actually awake enough to listen. But now, you must be starving. I’ll be back in a sec.” So Don said, but he wasn’t moving anywhere, finding it hard to look away from Leo. He was just so glad to see him awake, so glad that he wouldn’t have to fight the thing trying to take him away-

“Donnie”, Leo called softly, trying to reach for him, and Don realized his eyes had glistened over. Quickly he blinked his eyes and took Leo’s weakly outstretched hand, giving it a small squeeze.

“Glad to see you awake, Leo”, Don managed, letting go and finally getting up from the bed. “Does soup sound okay?”

“I’m too sleepy to hear an explanation, but I can eat?” Leo smiled tiredly at his brother, but didn’t deny that he was hungry. Even though eating didn’t really feel like a pleasant idea at the moment; his jaw ached, and when he spoke the ache only got worse. Now that he thought about it, the whole side of his face was aching, and he couldn’t help wincing when he managed to lift his hand up to touch his jaw.

“Get some ice as well”, Raph called after Don, his voice oddly emotionless. Leo glanced at him, and just one look at his brother’s face told him everything. The slapping he recalled receiving earlier he could understand, but punching him? Leo wanted to complain, but realized that he hadn’t even awoken to being punched. At least he couldn’t remember that he had. His brothers must’ve been pretty desperate to wake him… or maybe Raph had enjoyed punching him. Leo looked at his brother again; Raph certainly didn’t look happy about it. He had placed his brothers in quite a situation, forcing them to punch him, and even then he hadn’t woken up. Raph felt guilty, Mikey’s hand wrapped around him held him still too tightly, and the look Don had had on his face just now…

Leo moved his head, squinting at the lights surrounding them. Mikey noticed, and pushed the closest lamp away so that Leo could properly hold his eyes open without being blinded by the light.

“Why all the lamps?” Leo asked tiredly, sighing while leaning his head against Mikey’s shoulder again. He was too tired to wrestle with his thoughts about how he had allowed himself to get like this, leaving himself to be such a burden on his brothers, so he focused on asking simple questions.

“Don’s idea”, Raph said, watching the eldest with his arms still crossed. “Ya were pretty hard to wake up. Had to get creative.”

There was no blame in Raph’s voice, but Leo couldn’t help sighing again. “It was nice to wake up to them”, he mumbled. “For a moment I thought it was sunlight.”

Mikey and Raph smiled at each other. That had been the idea.

“And then the window opened”, Leo continued. “Scared the hell out of me.”

Raph and Mikey glanced at each other. Leo was still a bit loopy, never swearing otherwise.

“Scared us too”, Mikey said, glancing towards the window. The wind was still howling outside, the new handle shaking a little. “Bad window. Or, wind. And winter. And-”

Don came back with the promised soup, and even though Leo didn’t like being babied, he couldn’t say much when the youngest helped him hold his spoon. Being too weak to even properly hold a spoon really clawed at his pride, but at least Raph and Don left them alone, letting Leo save some of the remains of his dignity. Raph was cleaning the broken vase from the floor while Don was making sure that the window wouldn’t open again. After they were done they left, though Leo could tell they were a bit hesitant about that.

Leo’s movements were sluggish at first, but Mikey was ever so patient with him. Opening his mouth hurt, but his hunger demanded him to ignore the pain. Leo was slowly regaining control over his body, and was eventually able to hold the spoon on his own. Didn’t mean that Mikey left his side, didn’t mean that Leo was ready to get up on his own yet. He knew that even without trying, and couldn’t help frowning at his condition. At least his strength was starting to return to him, even if it was a slow process.

After sleeping for so long he wanted to get up, wanted to know if anything had happened while he had been out, but even if his mind wasn’t as tired as before, his body was. He didn’t resist when Mikey eased him back down, but gave his brother a useless look when blankets were draped over him.

“I didn’t know it was possible for someone to sleep this much”, Leo muttered. It hurt to speak, but he had already lost his body to his exhaustion, he wouldn’t lose his voice to the pain.

“Hibernation, dude”, Mikey answered, then scratched his chin. “Or… bru… bruma… whatever it was. Would be kinda cool to sleep the winter away, wouldn’t have to stand this cold. But then I’d miss all the snow, snow is nice… Hey, I asked Don about warm snow earlier, didn’t I? Can’t remember what he said about it…”

“I think he ignored that one”, Leo chuckled. “Warm snow means a puddle of water, Mikey.”

“Yeah. Laame.” Mikey adjusted the pillows behind Leo’s head, adding one extra to support the ice pack he carefully pressed against Leo’s cheek. Leo braced himself for the cold, but still flinched a little when it touched his tender skin. “Sorry about your face. Raph was really worried, we all were, and you know he gets angry when he feels helpless, and I didn’t think he’d punch that hard, I didn’t think he’d punch you at all, it just happened so fast, I-”

“Mikey”, Leo cut his rambling off, giving his brother a reassuring smile. “It’s alright. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“Well, you’re up now”, Mikey smiled back, chuckling a little as he added, “though it looks like you won’t be for long. Do you need me to get you anything?”

Leo hummed, closing his eyes since they were already starting to do that on their own. “No, I’m already asleep”, he mumbled.

Michelangelo grinned at him, giving his shoulder a brief squeeze. He was about to leave, but his hand stayed on Leo’s shoulder, and his grin faltered.

“Leo?”

Leonardo opened only one eye, glancing up at him. Michelangelo bit his lip.

“Promise you’ll wake up soon?”

Leo blinked up at him, but smiled, reaching for the hand that still rested on his shoulder. “I promise. And you’re going to regret wishing it, because I’m going to make all of us work for all the training we’ve missed.”

Mikey could only chuckle. “I think it’s going to take a while before you’ll be able to even lift your sword, bro. No offense!”

Leo only hummed, his eyes closed again. “Sooner than you’ll think”, he mumbled sleepily, and finally Mikey dared to leave him to sleep. He closed the door behind him carefully, even though Leo was probably already asleep.

When Mikey entered the living room he found his brothers standing by one of the windows.

“I thought it was just my imagination”, Don was telling Raph. “But I haven’t been able to shake this feeling…”

The lights were turned off, but Mikey could tell they were leaning on the window frame, both glancing through the glass. Since it was just as dark in the apartment as it was outside, it was easy to see the falling snow, the outline of nearby rooftops, a few lights in the distance. No cars were audible, only the harsh wind blew across the street.

Until something caught their eye, and both turtles standing by the window were immediately alert.

“The Foot”, Raph was first to whisper, his hand automatically going for his sai. Mikey had been curiously getting closer, and rushed the rest of the way to the window.

“What? How’d they know that we’re here?” Mikey asked as he pressed his face against the window to see, only to be pulled back by Don.

“I don’t think they do”, Don said, watching as one of the ninja climbed on the neighbour roof, out of sight. “It doesn’t look like they’re headed here.”

“Well, I bet my ass they’re not just out for a walk”, Raph growled, turning away from the window. Don looked after him, watching how Raph grabbed his jacket, then hurried away from the window as well.

“Raph! What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” Raph grunted at him, already buttoning up the jacket. “I’m going to see what they’re up to.”

“Raph”, Don began, trying to sound reasonable. “We can’t.”

“ I can. I’m not gonna just sit on my butt when I know that they’re so close”, Raph growled, pushing Don out of the way. “Besides, they know we’re always there when something happens in this part of the city. They’ll go on a rampage if they realize that a little snow is stopping us!”

“A little snow?” Don asked, shaking his head when he walked after his brother. “It’s not just the snow. Leo is not even close to being able to fight-”

“Nobody said Leo was coming.”

“Raph… we don’t know how many-”

“I don’t care. It’s the Foot, I can take them. I gotta take them. This is our part of the city!”

“And your arm is still healing! You can’t take them one-handed!”

Raph growled because Don was partially right. His arm was still hurting, and he wasn’t looking forward to taking any new hits to it, or even using it to punch anything. Or anyone. But there was no way he was letting this slip; if there was Foot, they took care of that. That’s how it was. Even if his arm ached, even if he couldn’t properly use it, he still looked forward to busting some heads. Everything that had happened lately had been building up his frustration, and being stuck inside the small apartment hadn’t helped any.

“I’ll just see what they’re up to”, Raph lied.

“Right”, Mikey called from the window, finally stepping away from it as well. “We all know how that’s going to end.”

Raph smirked at that. It wasn’t like he had expected his brothers to buy his words. “So tell Don to get over it. I’m going.”

Don could only shake his head, then held his hand up as a sign for Raph to wait. “Alright, but I’m coming with you.”

“Me too”, Mikey said firmly, causing Don to stop and look towards the bedroom.

“...You know Leo’s going to have a fit if he wakes up and we’re not here”, he said quietly.

“Then we’ll make this quick. He won’t know we were gone. You saw him, he’s not gonna wake up in a while. Right?” Raph turned to look at Mikey, who hesitantly nodded. Leo had fallen asleep pretty quickly. “C’mon then, let’s go before we lose their tracks!”

Tracking the group of ninja would’ve been impossible without their tracks still printed in the snow. New snow was coming down hard and fast, so it wouldn’t be that long until the tracks would disappear forever, forcing the mutants to be fast. None of the turtles had very fond memories of snow and their latest trips outside, but they had rested, their clothes were dry and warm, and the mission had them focused. Despite their gear the wind was still making things difficult for them, trying to get through the protective layers of clothing, and the ground was slippery under their feet. Definitely not an environment they were used to, but they had been taught to adjust to change.

The Foot ninja weren’t moving as a single group. They moved in pairs, but all of them were headed towards the same, unknown destination. They hadn’t seen any humans near April’s apartment in a while, but here, in the open, they could see that some had decided to face the storm and wandered down on the streets. The rooftops were especially slippery, but they had no choice but to stay up, out of people’s sight.

“Why couldn’t they wait until the storm’s over?” Mikey wailed, not bothering to lower his voice, since the wind drowned it anyways.

“The storm’s perfect for a bunch of ninja”, Don answered. “Does all the work for them. They don’t need to do much to be hidden.” Except not fall over on the ice coating the edges of the rooftops.

They were getting closer to the river, and the ninja in front of them were starting to slow their speed. The pairs had ran on different rooftops, but now they were gathering together, until they stopped on the same roof. They stood near the edge, looking down at something.

If the turtles wanted to see what the ninja were looking at, they had to get close from the side, meaning that they had to switch rooftops. And meaning that they had to be extra stealthy; they were no longer behind the Foot ninja, meaning that it’d be easier for them to spot them if they weren’t careful.

After some stumbling on the icy surface, climbing on the slippery ladders and cursing the wind blowing towards them they were finally at a spot where they were able to see. One of the Elite stood on the street below, the building next to him shielding him from the worst of the wind. He was facing a man wearing a long, dark coat, and between them on the snow was a suitcase. Some kind of a trade?

But the Elite and the man, whose features were difficult to see from the position they were in, didn’t seem to have reached an agreement. The wind was too loud and blowing from the wrong direction for them to be able to make out what they were talking about, but the man sounded agitated even over the howls of the wind.

“Wanna bet how much money there is in that suitcase?” Mikey whispered, but never got an answer when a gunshot rang through the street. The Elite had easily jumped out of the way of gunfire, but the man wasn’t finished, shooting again. Don pushed both his siblings flat on the rooftop they were on; even though the gun wasn’t aimed up and at them, the gun was still pointed towards their direction.

“Urk! Shit, Don, thanks for the mouthful of snow!” Raph groaned, spitting out snow.

“C’mon, before the Elite gets him!” Don urged, already drawing out his bō-staff and grabbing the edge of the roof to haul himself over it.

“Why are we helping some shady guy who’s doing business with the Foot?” Mikey groaned out, following suit.

“We’re not going to watch the Elite butcher him”, Don answered, letting go of the edge. The snow softened their fall, and by the time they were on the ground the man with the gun had retreated into the shop next to them, the suitcase with him. The Elite rushed after him, but before he reached the door Don’s bō struck him hard on the side of his left knee. The Elite made no sound, but Don could see the surprise in his eyes when he turned to look at him. It quickly disappeared when Don swung his weapon again, the Elite dodging only barely, having to retreat more when Raph came at him with his sai.

There was no sound, but Don sensed that the Foot ninja on the roof had dropped down, quickly surrounding them. He needed to help Raph with the Elite, but couldn’t leave Mikey to face the rest alone. He turned around, only to see Mikey by the doorway, a bullet missing him just barely.

“Dude, don’t shoot! We’re here to help you!”

“Mikey! Get away from the doorway!” Don yelled, not wanting Mikey by the door when the human still had his gun, but Mikey had already disappeared inside, three ninja following after him. A sword coming at him from the side took his attention, and while Don defended himself with his bō he turned his head to see Raph. He was holding off the Elite, but two ninja were behind him. Raph was using both his hands to keep the Elite’s spear from sinking into him, he couldn’t defend his back-

Donatello kicked down the ninja on him, spinning his bō and making another fall, and in a flash two shuriken flew from his hand. They sank into the backs of the ninja behind Raph, while Raph managed to knock the spear out of the Elite’s hands. The Elite jumped back to retrieve it, and that gave Raph time to get rid of two more ninja that had gotten closer from his left.

“Thanks, Don”, Raph called, but couldn’t turn around to look at Don, having to keep an eye on the Elite. “Where’s Mikey?”

“He went inside! We have to follow!” Don answered hastily, jumping next to Raph, swirling his bō down low, and when the Elite dodged, Raph attacked. His sai tore through the Elite’s winter gear, blood gushing to the white ground, and his other sai connected with the side of the Elite’s head. He went down, and the turtles didn’t stay to see if he came back up; more ninja had rushed inside the building, and they followed.

The first thing they saw was blood, too much of it, completely covering the carpet on the floor. Dread washed over them until they saw the ninja lying on the side; there was a hole in his chest where blood was still lazily flowing. The sounds of a fight were coming from somewhere above them, and they wasted no more time staring at the body, rushing past it into the stairs and up to the second floor.

Something collided hard with Donatello, sending the turtle backwards right into Raphael, who had been running just behind him. His pair of sai clattered to the floor, but he managed to grab Don’s shell and steady himself so that they didn’t both fall flat on their shells.

“What took you so long? One of them took the suitcase and jumped through the window!” Mikey, who had been the one colliding with Don after a ninja had kicked him, pushed himself away from Don and rushed back to the center of the room. The rest of the Foot ninja were throwing themselves out of the window as well, and Mikey would’ve followed had Don not hurried after him and grabbed his arm.

“Slow down, Mikey! You’re bleeding!”

And he was, his leg was covered in red, but he shook Don off. “Yeah, but the suitcase!”

“Who cares-”

“It’s not money”, Mikey cut off Raph, jumping on the windowsill. “Now come on!”

The youngest disappeared, and with a shake of his head Don followed. The drop from the window wasn’t long, and Mikey was already up and ready to follow the escaping ninja. Just as Don’s feet hit the snow there was a gunshot, coming from the apartment they had just left. Both brothers halted, looking up at the window to see Raph, but there was nobody by the window.

“Raph!” Panic filled them, Mikey had thought that the human with the gun had been knocked out- Don grabbed the ladder on the wall, yanked it down and started climbing to get back to the apartment, his heart beating wildly against his chest. He knew they shouldn’t have ever left, they hadn’t had time to plan, they hadn’t thought this through, had blindly thrown themselves into this situation, and now-

A growling form appeared to the windowsill, spinning a gun in his hands. “That guy doesn’t know how to aim.”

Don breathed out in relief, then dropped down from the ladder, just as Raph landed down next to him. He wanted to stop and make sure his brother was really alright, but they were in the middle of a chase.

“If it’s not money in the suitcase, then what is it?” Don asked as they took off running, once again following the footprints in the snow.

“The gun-guy mentioned something about a weapon”, Mikey said.

“You sure your leg is okay, Mike?” Raph asked. The heavy snowfall was making it hard to see in the dark street, but the red on Mikey’s clothing was clearly visible.

“Yeah, just a scratch. Accidentally smeared the blood, ‘s why it looks so nasty. Did you know that clothes get really messy really easily?” Mikey shrugged at the mild pain in his leg, not like his brothers saw it, but he felt fine. Well, he did not like running in the heavy snow while the cold wind bit so hard, but that only made him run faster. He would definitely stay inside for the rest of the winter. “Imagine how big the Foot’s laundry bill is. But, hey, they’re showing off their fashion sense again. Those winter jackets they have look pretty nice. They even have those nice fluffy collars! Wonder if they make them in orange?”

The Foot ninja had been dressed in their usual black, and their winter gear wasn’t that much different from what they wore usually. But obviously they would freeze to death were they to roam the streets in their normal clothing.

“I dunno, Mike”, Raph said, grinning; he had spotted one of the ninja. “Ya gotta ask the next time we see Karai.”

Raphael’s sai flew past his brothers, sinking into the back of the ninja’s leg. He went down, causing his group to glance behind them and stop, finally facing the turtles. They were almost to the bridge crossing the river, and they were too much in the open here. The street was deserted, but it didn’t mean that somebody couldn’t pass through here.

The bridge had been closed due to the harsh wind, but the Foot ninja were still backing away towards it, seeming to be intent on crossing it. That was more than fine. Since the bridge was closed off it had no lights on it, meaning that they wouldn’t worry about being spotted there.

This wouldn’t take long; there were only a handful of Foot ninja between them and the ninja holding the suitcase. They seemed to realize that as well; they had already taken their stances, seeming ready to fight, but now they were suddenly retreating again, heading towards the bridge. Raph growled, bending down to tear his sai from the fallen ninja’s calf, and then the chase was on again.

The bridge had been closed for a reason. The wind picked up immediately, only growing in strength when they neared the bridge’s middle. And right there, on the middle of the bridge, the ninja turned around again, now drawing their weapons. From under the bridge crawled more ninja, and the turtles realized the trap too late. Not like it mattered to Raph; more butt to kick!

But the place could’ve definitely been different. At least the wind bothered the Foot just as much as the turtles, if not even more. The turtles were much bulkier, able to keep their balance better. But the cold wind would affect and wear down the cold-blooded creatures faster, so better get this over and done with.

Raph rushed forward, easily taking down the two closest ninja. The sounds of the fight drowned into the wind too easily, and Raph had to constantly glance over his shoulder to see how his brothers were doing, if they needed help. He trusted that they could take care of themselves, but usually he was able to hear what was going on around him, and it’d be easier to tell if one of his brothers needed his help. Well, at least he was able to hear the satisfying cracks of skulls as he took down his enemies, enjoying the rush of adrenaline. It pushed the cold away nicely.

“Ack! The suitcase-dude is trying to run away again!” Mikey yelped over the wind. Raph grabbed his opponent’s wrist and twisted, kicking his side while still holding the hand, letting go when he heard his shoulder crack. He whirled around, spotting the fleeing ninja. Don and Mikey were unable to dash after him, struggling with their own battles, so Raph took action.

“I’m on it!” he announced, then realized that the ninja was heading back to where they had originally come from. Why had they led them to the bridge, then? Had the ninja that had waited for them under the bridge come from the other side of the river? Whatever the reason was, it didn’t matter. Raph lifted his sai, taking aim-

A heavy weight pushed against his shell, sending him down in the snow. Quickly he rolled to the side, barely dodging the edge of an axe as it slammed into the bridge, right where he had just been. Raph hopped back onto his feet, having to dodge a swipe from a familiar spear. He jumped away, putting some distance between himself and the two suddenly appeared Elite’s.

The ninja carrying the suitcase had stopped, now standing behind the two higher rank ninja. His face was hidden behind a black mask, but from the glint of his eyes Raph could tell that he was grinning. He was so confident that the Elite’s had saved his ass that he wasn’t even running anymore, daring to mock Raph like this.

“One suitcase and two of you”, Raph huffed, looking at the two Elite. “Gotta be something important in there, then.”

The Elite lunged, strikes from both the axe and spear coming at him at incredible speed. Raph danced away from the deadly strikes, sending strikes of his own, managing to hold his ground. But not much else; he was mainly defending, buying time, unable to do real damage of his own since it was two versus one. He wanted to look towards his brothers to see what was taking them so long, but once again he couldn’t take his eyes off of his opponents, their attacks coming at him too fast. Well, he had left Don and Mikey with a huge group of ninja, leaving them seriously outnumbered… But they had taken down that amount of ninja before. Of course the setting was different now, and succeeding once didn’t mean that it’d be the same every time- suddenly Raph regretted leading his brothers here, where the odds were so clearly against them. The winter had already showed them that everything was against them, and that they shouldn’t push their luck. But that’s what he always did, pushed and kept pushing until something broke.

The Elite had just joined the fight, while Raph had fought longer and had been running all over the place. He’d tire before them, and could already feel the fatigue in his muscles when he fended off one of the strikes. The wound in his arm had screamed at him earlier, and now it felt like his whole limb was burning, ready to give up on him. He couldn’t afford that, he had to get back to his brothers, so he had to do something.

A strike from the spear sent him backwards, his shell hitting the railing of the bridge. That’s right – he should take advantage of the environment. He could’ve already moved aside to get into a better position, but he stayed still, waited for the spear to get close- He dodged, and now that the Elite was close, he kicked at his feet. With his enemy off-balance Raph grabbed the spear with both hands, roughly pulling it towards himself. As he had expected, the Elite didn’t let go of his weapon, and Raph was able to throw the tall human over himself down into the icy river. Some ice had formed on top of the lazily flowing river, but Raph never heard it break, the wind too loud in his ears.

That left him with the other Elite, as well as the ninja with the suitcase. He still wasn’t running, but seemed to be considering it now that there was only one Elite left. No way, Raph refused to run after him anymore. He’d take them both down, here and now.

He charged, and suddenly someone cried out in pain. He almost looked around to see who it was before he realized that the sound had come from his own mouth- something had sunken into his already wounded arm, and one glance showed him two shurikens sticking to his skin. They had been thrown from close, and they were buried deep in his flesh, the pain rendering his arm useless.

He almost didn’t notice the axe in time, but managed to roll away, dropping down into a crouch, almost without a head. The pain and exhaustion were catching up to him, and he could only roll away again, and again, until his shell connected with the railing once more. The same trick wouldn’t work twice, and Raph panicked, feeling the railing behind him, using it to pull himself up, but he wouldn’t be fast enough-

From the corner of his eye he saw movement, this time noticing the shurikens. He ducked, only then realizing that they hadn’t been aimed at him. They sank neatly into the Elite’s hand, much like the ones in Raph’s. Heh, some justice, even though Raph still didn’t know who had thrown the shurikens that were still buried in his arm. He didn’t even know who had thrown these, and turned his head, expecting Don or Mikey to be the one that had prevented the axe from sinking into him- definitely not Leo, yet there he stood, his hand still outstretched from the throw.

Raph broke from his surprise, leaning back on the railing and using it to hold his weight as he lifted both legs up, sending a strong kick straight to the Elite’s stomach. He was sent to the other side of the bridge, almost toppling over the railing, but managed to regain his balance.

“What the- Leo, how- how are you here?” Raph stumbled towards his brother, who was fully geared and wearing his winter clothing, but seemed to be struggling with just standing. Raph didn’t even have the time to offer his better arm for support; Leo was already reaching for him, grabbing his arm with both hands to hold himself up. Raph winced as Leo’s hold weighted him down, but managed to hold his brother up.

“I-I told you”, Leo said, his teeth clacking together, his voice almost drowning into the wind. “I have a sixth sense for stupid decisions.”

“Yeah, and it probably replaced your common sense”, Raph growled. “Ya should be in bed! How the hell did you manage to get here?”

Leonardo squeezed his eyes shut, swaying a little when the wind blew over them. “Knew you’d leave. J-just like before…”

“Leo, you idiot-”

“Don and Mikey- where-?”

“Over there”, Raph grumbled, finally able to look at their direction, but the snow was falling so hard that he couldn’t see them. “Fighting.”

The arm Leo was holding was roughly yanked down, bringing Raph down with it. He yelped in surprise, realizing that the Elite had swung his axe, missing only because Leo had pulled him down. Leo’s hands left his arm, and he drew his katana just in time to block the next attack. At least he tried; the heavy axe connected with the blade, and it was immediately sent away from Leo’s weak hand, the sword flying over the railing of the bridge, disappearing down into the river below. Leo held his ground, grabbing his remaining sword with both hands, but Raph knew it’d be useless. Leo had no strength to use his weapon, he was barely standing on his own, and now the Elite knew that.

Raph pushed his brother away, stepping between him and the Elite. His other hand hung uselessly against his side, but the other held his sai up stubbornly. He might be rendered one-handed, but he was still stronger than Leo. The thought was amusing, but the situation wasn’t. The axe was coming down, and Raph caught it with his sai, his legs immediately sliding on the icy surface of the bridge. He gathered his strength, pushing the axe aside, jumping back. Had he been able to use his other hand he would’ve reached for Leo to pull him aside with himself, but he was still frustratingly one-handed.

At least Leo realized to back away, knowing his own strength, or in this case, the lack of it. Not like it helped much; the ninja that was carrying the suitcase had strapped it to his back and had decided to join the fight. He had jumped right in front of Leo, his sword lifted above his head. Raph doubted that Leo could hold his own even against the lower-rank ninja, but as soon as he moved to get to them, the Elite was there, swinging that damn axe of his. The pain radiating from his arm had made him weaker, slower, but a brother in need made him push through the pain, made him angry, and anger made him rush forward and swing his sai. The Elite dodged, but Raph kept pushing, forcing him to back away.

The clash of two swords stole his attention. While Raph drove the Elite towards the railing, the Foot ninja drove Leo. Even in the dark it was clear how Leo shook, how he strained to defend himself, and way too easily the ninja was able to disarm him. Leo’s remaining sword fell into the snow, and the turtle’s movements were too sluggish; he had been driven against the railing, and everyone watching knew that Leo wouldn’t be able to dodge the next blow.

Raph didn’t need to tell his body to move; his legs sent him forward, and before the sword could sink into Leo a sai connected with the side of the ninja’s head, resulting a sickening crack. He was unconscious, maybe even more, before hitting the snow.

Leo yelled, Raph registering his warning too late. A strong kick to his side pushed him against the railing, no, over it, his sai fell from his grip when he tried to reach something to grab. His finger touched the railing, but the ice had made it impossibly slippery. He had no hope of holding on. He saw Leo lean over the railing, reaching for him, but he was already falling. The bridge, Leo and the Elite looming behind his brother disappeared into the heavy snow, Leo’s second yell following him down until the wind silenced it. For an agonizingly long moment the wind was everything Raph could hear and feel, it was so strong, striking at him from every direction, whistling loudly in his ears. He hadn’t heard the ice break when the first Elite fell, but now he could hear and feel it very clearly. The harsh sensation of his shell breaking the ice was nothing compared to the cold that surrounded him- immediately the icy water pushed through his clothing, bubbles of air escaping him from the shock of it all.

Someone was dragging him down, the Elite he had kicked down before? No, impossible, he would’ve drowned by now had he not managed to get out of the water. It was hard to think clearly, he had never felt cold like this before, cold like thousands of knives digging into his skin, paralyzing him. No- he had to move, to swim, had to get back up. But something was still preventing him from getting back to the surface, and Raph realized that his soaked clothes had turned heavy and were the reason his kicks felt so useless. He had always hated clothes, they only got in the way when fighting, and now they wouldn’t only get in the way, they would also drown him. He kicked harder, tried to swim up- but where was up? It was too dark here, too cold. He was still being pulled down, down, further down, and he wondered if he’d ever reach the bottom. He didn’t want to reach it, knowing that there was nothing but death there, but whereas bubbles escaped his mouth and floated towards the surface, he kept sinking.

Chapter Text

Leonardo leaned over the railing of the bridge, only barely able to see his brother crash through the ice and disappear into the darkness below. The storm was getting awful, even more than it already was, making it impossible to see if Raphael was trying to get out of the water or if the black river had swallowed him.

All Leo wanted was to jump after him, but instead he threw himself backwards, not having seen the oncoming attack, just knowing that the Elite wouldn’t stand idle while he was such an easy target. The axe sank through the snow into the spot where he had just been, and the Elite would have to use both of his hands  if he wanted to dislodge it from the hard ice.

It was his only chance. While the Elite tried to lift his axe Leo ran, straight towards him, unarmed and weak. But he didn’t need strength; his weight and the ice under them were enough to take enemy off balance, and the Elite was the third person to fall from the bridge, partially because he refused to let go of his axe. Leo almost went with him, but his legs hit the railing, keeping him on the safer side of it. He didn’t stop to watch the Elite fall; he turned around, dug his dropped sword from the snow, and hastily sheathed it. With trembling hands he started unbuttoning his jacket, getting rid of his clothing as fast as he could. The wind was absolutely merciless, and Leo knew this was stupid, but this was his fault. He had come here despite being so weak, had been unarmed with such ease, and Raph had had to come to his aid, giving the Elite his chance to take him by surprise and throw him down.

Leo looked over the railing, squinting to see the two spots where Raph and the Elite had sunken through the ice. Nothing moved, meaning that Raph was still underwater. Leo’s heart sunk. It had been a bad idea to send the Elite down there, where Raph still was, but he couldn’t have left him up on the bridge either. Don and Mikey were still here, busy with their own fight, and Leo didn’t know how bad their situation was; preventing the Elite from getting to them was the only thing he could do to protect them.

Without a second thought he threw himself over the edge, preparing himself for the shock. But there was no preparing against something so cold, even after standing in the wind without his winter clothing, even after constantly freezing for these past few days- Being submerged in the icy water took his breath away, momentarily paralyzing him, almost rendering him useless. Almost.

Leo fought against the cold and kicked his legs, aiming to go straight down. It was too dark to see anything here, so his best bet was to just go down; the current wasn’t strong enough to have swept Raph away, even if he had been too hurt to swim, so he couldn’t be far. He felt something against his face, rising from the bottom – bubbles? Leo felt the water in front of him blindly, hoping, praying to feel something solid, something familiar-

His hand did connected with something, something that felt soft, and he grabbed it immediately, recognizing it as clothing. For a second he feared it was the Elite, but then he felt the familiar shape of a shell, and grabbed Raph firmly with both hands. He kicked his legs, but nothing happened; they weren’t moving back up. Dread washed over him. Was he truly this weak? The lazy current had been against him when he had gone down, so it should’ve aided him now, unless… unless Raph was stuck. The drenched clothes had been heavy enough to aid the river in dragging Raph to the bottom, but they weren’t supposed to be so heavy that they kept him down. Raph was still conscious, him still struggling to get free being Leo’s only relief, but also his frustration; Leo had repositioned himself, feeling Raph’s legs to find out if he really was stuck, but his brother’s wild kicking was making his job difficult.

After some trouble he found out that Raph’s other leg wasn’t moving so much; something had wrapped around it, something that felt like a net. Probably some thrash thrown in the river. Raph was tugging at it, trying to get it off of his leg, but he wasn’t really succeeding. Leo patted his hands away and unsheathed his sword, and as always, it was difficult to cut things underwater. The water resisted his every move, and he soon discovered that he was way too fatigued for this. So far his adrenaline had guided him, had allowed him to do the impossible, and now his body was deciding that enough was enough. He had already used strength he didn’t have by getting to the bridge, and the muscles in his arms simply gave up on him; he could barely keep his hold on his sword, having no hope of cutting Raph free. He gritted his teeth, shivering uncontrollably- all the struggle to get to his brothers, and this was where his body finally failed him?

He felt lightheaded already, his lungs burning from the lack of air, the icy water stabbing his skin like thousand tiny needles. Yet none of that felt as bad as the failure he had thrown both himself and Raph in- he didn’t want to give, couldn’t give up, but his body was hardly listening to him anymore. He ordered his arm to move, but he felt sluggish, dizzy-

Raph grabbed his arm, and Leo realized he had let go of Raph, almost drifting away from him. The leader shook his head, the idea of leaving Raph alone in the dark dreadful. He couldn’t do that. But what could he do?

He had relied on his brothers far too much lately, but it seemed he still needed to ask for more. Leo searched for Raph’s hand, finding it, and firmly pressed the hilt of his sword against Raph’s palm. Raph stilled, and Leo could feel his confusion. The leader guided Raph’s hand, made him feel the trap his leg was still in, then let go, trusting that Raph had understood what Leo wanted from him. He had no idea if Raph had the strength either, he had been here longer than Leo had, but he had no other choice. Leo knew he was done.

Yet there was still one more thing he could do; he found the buttons of Raph’s jacket, but his fingers were way too numb to work them. A small, hidden blade was drawn from his belt, the only one Raph hadn’t found when he had taken Leo’s blades from him earlier, and the buttons were cut off. Now the wet clothing wouldn’t hold Raph down, and he’d get up faster. The current swept the blade from Leo’s weak hands, but he didn’t mourn after it; the numbness was taking over, and Leo could feel Raph moving now, telling him that his brother was finally free. He tried to keep his hold on his brother, but his fingers were slipping. He didn’t feel too bad; he didn’t have the strength to swim anyways, and he didn’t know if Raph had the strength to drag both of them back to the surface.

Still, he couldn’t help feeling the flash of panic when he lost his brother, drifting away in the dark water, slowly losing himself to the cold.

Swipe, bone cracking, another swipe, no sound- wait, no sound? Michelangelo halted, glancing around. He had taken down the last ninja, and had hit empty air when there had been nobody to take the strike. There were only unconscious or quietly groaning bodies around him, and Mikey couldn’t help blinking in surprise. The snowfall had prevented him from seeing all his enemies at once, so only now that they were all down he realized how many he had taken down. The amount of Foot ninja, as well as the fact that he was starting to lose feeling in his fingers, told him that he had been here for a while. He had occasionally seen and heard Donnie, knowing that he had been alright at least a moment ago, but Raph hadn’t returned after following the suitcase-dude.

The wind howled miserably in his ears, forcing a shiver out of him. Mikey stepped over the nearest groaning ninja, then took off running. His body ached, especially the leg he had hurt earlier, but he had to run, had to find his brothers. The snow was only coming down harder, making it difficult to see. Mikey lifted his hand up to shield his eyes from the wind, letting out a loud yelp when he suddenly collided with something. He fell on top of it, and they slid on the ice before coming to a stop.

“Donnie!” Mikey yelled happily when he recognized what he had hit, beaming at the figure now pinned under him. Don groaned; it took him a moment to open his eyes, but when he did, he looked relieved. Then he tried to push the youngest off of him.

“Nice to see you too”, Don said, taking the hand Mikey offered him. “But next time try to not run into me.”

“I’ll try”, Mikey promised, still smiling as he helped Don up, and even patted snow off of his jacket as an apology. He was so relieved about seeing Don, even more so when he didn't notice any obvious injuries on him. Don did reach down to grab the bō he had dropped and then leaned on it, so some injuries had happened. At least he wasn’t bleeding anywhere and was standing, but there was still one brother missing, possibly hurt. “Have you seen Raph?”

“I was hoping you had seen him”, Don sighed, wincing when he moved. “He went this way.”

They ran, both knowing it had been too long since they had last seen Raph. He shouldn’t have had trouble with the ninja he had ran after, so something must’ve happened. The snow had already hidden their tracks, so there was nothing to follow; their only hope was to find some clues about where their brother had headed.

A ninja dressed in black was easy to spot against the white background. He was kneeling, trying to get up, but ended up falling down into the snow. The suitcase was draped over his back, and Mikey stepped closer, tilting his head at the limp ninja. He hesitated only briefly before crouching down, easily taking the suitcase from him and strapping it against his own back. No way was he just going to leave it here after all this trouble.

The ninja made no attempts to get the suitcase back, lying completely still in the snow. There was no blood under him; he had probably gotten hit in the head, or sustained damage to his neck- whatever. Had Raph done this? If so, where was he? They could see that the ninja had been able to crawl through the snow before collapsing here, so they followed his trail until they reached a spot where the snow had been heavily disturbed. The new snow was still in the process of hiding the evidence, meaning that a fight had just taken place. Out of the corner of his eye Mikey noticed movement- it looked like a figure was climbing over the railing, and Mikey couldn’t believe his eyes when he recognized him.

“ Don’t! ” he desperately yelled, but it was too late. Leo fell, and both of them rushed to the railing, glancing down, unable to see anything. The snow was coming down too fast.

Mikey was already lifting his leg, ready to jump after him. Only Don’s grip on his arm stopped him.

“No”, Don told him harshly, forcing him off of the railing. He didn’t let go of Mikey’s arm, dragging him after him when he started running again.

“ Don! What are you doing, didn’t you see, it was-”

“I saw! Stop struggling and run!”

“We can’t leave-”

“We aren’t!”

Don jumped over the railing once they weren’t in the middle of the bridge, still dragging the youngest after him. They landed on the slope that led down into the river, sliding in the snow until they reached the riverbank. Finally Don let go of him, and pushed something soft into his hands. Clothes, and Mikey realized that Leo had stood on the railing without any. These were Leo’s; Don had picked them up.

Don stepped on the ice tentatively, feeling it with his bō. He dared to proceed, and Mikey followed, aiming to follow Don’s footsteps. The ice held their careful steps, but Mikey was barely daring to breathe, feeling like it could break under them at any moment.

The wind was less harsher down here, it wasn’t constantly throwing snow in their faces like on the bridge. Better vision allowed them to see two holes in the ice, and the Elite that was kneeling next to them, his axe in his hands, seeming to be waiting for something. Rage washed over Mikey; the Elite was waiting for Leo to come back to the surface so that he could finish him.

They had no idea how the Elite was down here, but it mattered little. They dashed forward, no longer careful with their steps. Mikey’s nunchaku wrapped around his arm, yanking him backwards, Don’s staff connecting with his chin. The wind had allowed them to take him by surprise, but the Elite swung his axe, forcing Mikey to retreat. The Elite followed him, and Mikey had to jump back to avoid getting a nasty blow from the axe. The snow-covered ice was even more slippery that the bridge had been, and Mikey found himself stumbling. His shell connected with the ice, and the crack that came from underneath him made him stay very still. The Elite had heard it as well, and Mikey could see his hesitation.

Don, on the other hand, did not hesitate. He came at the Elite from his side, his bō kicking the back of his legs, sending him stumbling towards one of the holes in the ice. The Elite had a hard time balancing himself, only barely avoiding falling into the water again. He whirled around, hesitating once more. They could see that his clothes were drenched, so he had taken a dip to the freezing river as well. And perhaps he didn’t want to risk falling in again, or the cold was finally enough for him, since he backed away before disappearing into snow storm raging around them.

Mikey was still lying on his shell, trying to move as carefully as he could, praying for the cracked ice to hold his weight. Don was rushing towards the hole, and Mikey felt dread filling his chest- right, Leo was still in the water. If it was cold here, how cold was it down there?

Two loud gasps startled Don, causing him to almost fall over on the slippery ice. Leo and Raph had broken the surface of the water- wait, Raph had fallen there as well?! Didn’t matter, didn’t matter- the details were for later- Mikey hurried to get up and towards his brothers, the weak ice under him forgotten. The ice was merciful, for once, holding his weight, and he was able to make it to the hole, hurrying to grab Raph, trying to drag him up so that the sharp edges of the broken ice wouldn’t cut into him. Next to him Don was helping Leo, and once their brothers were out of the water all of them collapsed down into the snow, trying to catch their breaths.

“Y-yer the”, Raph was breathing heavily, dragging in cold air in a way that obviously hurt, but still forcing himself to speak. “The biggest i-idiot I know, Leo. And that’s- that’s coming from a guy who l-lives with Mikey.”

There was no answer, and alarmed looks were shot at Leo’s way. But he was breathing, he was conscious, only struggling to lift his head and glare at Raph.

“I-I live with him t-too, stupid”, Leo rasped back, his voice shaky and quiet. But obviously it was very important for them to banter right now, especially about something so very, very meaningful. Mikey could only stare, feeling relieved at seeing his brothers, but also a bit bewildered that they were seriously bickering. Leo lifted his gaze, able to see Mikey and Don. He narrowed his eyes at them. “Stupid. All of y-you.”

And then he was out.

Mikey was still dazed, not even realizing to feel offended about Raph’s words. For once Don was speechless as well, staring down at their worn out brothers. It wasn’t every day that two of your brothers popped out of a hole in the ice, and immediately started bickering, while the other one proceeded to pass out. Raph didn’t seem to be far from that, his head down, still breathing hard.

Knowing their big brothers, they probably shouldn’t have been so surprised.

“I have so many questions”, Mikey managed to rasp out after a moment, finally forcing himself up. “But I have a feeling that at this rate we’ll be frozen turtles.”

Don was struggling to get up, pointing at the clothes Mikey had dropped before attacking the Elite. Mikey nodded, retrieving them. They wouldn’t bring any warmth, but they would give some shield from the wind. They were wrapped around Raph and Leo, who felt like icicles under their touch. Not like Mikey and Don were much better, but the cold was almost radiating from the two older brothers.

“C’mon, Raph, let’s get you up”, Mikey urged Raph to move. His arm was a bloody mess, and Mikey could tell he was barely conscious. Leo wasn’t injured, but he didn’t look any better otherwise – how could he, when he had barely been awake when they had left him? How was he here, how- later, later. The questions would have to come later. Mikey focused on pulling Raph up and taking his weight, wincing a little, but he could manage. April’s apartment wasn’t too far, but in this condition the journey would take forever. Mikey glanced at Don, who was struggling with holding Leo up- could they even make it?

The only option was to try. Michelangelo pushed his own exhaustion aside and led them away from the river.

”I know what we’re d-definitely doing”, Mikey grunted, forcing his numb legs to obey him. “A-after. After we get back.”

“Tape your mouth s-shut?” Raph suggested weakly. During the way back Raph had regained some of his senses, but not much of his strength. He was with them again, being even grumpier because of the cold, but still leaning heavily against Mikey.

“Hey, behave or I’ll dump you in the snow!”

The threat was empty, but at least Raph kept quiet for a moment, using his strength on walking instead. But he didn’t stay quiet for too long.

“I can’t believe”, he started, interrupted by a shiver, “that I was pushed into the freaking river. In this weather. By the freaking Foot!”

“I can believe it”, Don said, getting an angry glare from Raph. “It was obvious that the edges were slippery, I don’t know why you even got close to them- and you. ” Don’s sharp glare was aimed at Leo, even though it was hard to glare when he was so close to him, Don carrying most of his weight. “What were you thinking?”

Leo said nothing, and that pretty much answered the question.

“As I was saying”, Mikey continued, “About what we’ll be doing. The tub! Warm, no, hot water! Oh, man, are we there yet?”

“Dibs on the tub”, Raph groaned now that it had been mentioned, and Mikey gasped dramatically.

“No way! It was my idea! I’m going to freeze to death, you want me dead, Raph?!”

“And who do you think is freezing more?” Raph hissed, his teeth still clattering together when he spoke.

“And who’s the one that has carried you all the way here-”

“Stop it, guys”, Don sighed tiredly. “I think Leo’s got dibs on the tub.”

They all glanced at Leo, who had been quiet the whole way back. He had been slipping in and out of consciousness during the whole way, and Don was basically carrying him.

“I’m just saying, the tub is big enough for all of us”, Mikey mentioned, and Raph snorted at that.

“I’m not getting into the tub with you , Mikey.”

“You’re getting in there with Leo, Raph”, Don said calmly. Raph grumbled as an answer, too tired to keep arguing about it.

They managed to do it; they reached the apartment. Mikey didn’t know how, he was aching, cold and tired, and he wasn’t even holding Raph’s full weight. Don, on the other hand, had struggled with his balance even before helping Leo. The stairs up to the second-floor were the final push, and once the warmth of the apartment greeted them Mikey collapsed down on the floor. Much to Raph’s displeasure, since he went down with him. Raph growled loudly, but was too tired to even attempt smacking his brother.

“Mikey, the tub was a good idea”, Don said tiredly, setting Leo down in a much gentler way. “Could you get the water running?”

Mikey wanted to stay here forever, but Don sounded totally worn, and he knew that Leo and Raph were useless. He didn’t want to leave Don to deal with everything, so he nodded, staying still for a moment longer to gather his strength. Finally he pushed himself up, helping Raph up into a sitting position before disappearing into the bathroom. Raph struggled to get out of the little clothing he had on, but the process was miserably slow with his numb, disobeying fingers.

“Well, this explains how Leo found us”, Don sighed, holding up the shell cell he had digged out from the pocket of Leo’s jacket. The screen was still set to track the other cells, but now the four dots were all in the same place. Guess Leo hadn’t been that out of it when they had left, but now he definitely was, being all too quiet on the spot where Don had left him.

Don set the cell aside, having noticed Raph’s struggle with his clothes, and moved in front of him in order to help. Raph groaned, but was too tired to get frustrated over being unable to undress himself. Once he was out of the clothes he watched Mikey and Don drag Leo into the bathroom, and then they were back with bandages. Raph knew what was coming next, and wasn’t really looking forward it. The cold had hidden most of his pains and aches, but now his arm was hurting more than ever.

Once his arm had been cleaned and bandaged his brothers helped him into the bathroom. The second he entered the room he understood why Don had taken Leo here before tending to his arm. The warm steam rising from the water had warmed up the whole room, and even though the rest of the apartment was warm, it was so much better in here. Despite the comfort the room made him feel he couldn’t help giving Leo a worried look; he had been propped up against the side of the bathtub, but his head was down, his chin resting against his chest. Just as quiet and unmoving as before.

“Is Leo-?”

“He’s fine”, Don told him. “You’re not. Can you even feel your fingers?”

The warmth of the apartment had already started bringing his limbs back to life, but his movements were still stiff and painful. He looked down at his hand when he moved his fingers, wincing at the unpleasant feeling.

Raph was helped into the tub, and he couldn’t stop his eyes from momentarily closing. The warmth was so pleasant, and immediately he sank further into the water, sighing contently. But Leo was still on his mind, and he forced his eyes open only to see that Don was already pulling Leo off of the floor, but the eldest wasn’t reacting to his touch in any way. There was no way he was conscious, or he would’ve tried to move on his own.

Don lifted Leo while Mikey held his legs up, and once he was in the tub Raph grabbed the edge of his shell, pulling him against his plastron to let Leo lean on him. He had to hold his other arm out of the tub because of the bandages covering it, put he could hold Leo upright with just one hand.

“See, Don? There’s enough room for us, too!” Mikey said, tugging at Don’s hand, looking at him like he was waiting for his permission to enter the bath. It was true that the tub was big, but it wasn’t that big. But perhaps one more would fit.

“Well, you can try fitting”, Don shrugged. “Don’t blame me if Raph kicks you out.”

“Nah, he won’t.” And Mikey was right; Raph looked like he wasn’t even listening to them anymore, relaxing in the warmth with his eyes closed. The youngest removed the remaining gear he had, then turned to Don again. “You too, Donnie. I know you’re just as cold as I am, and man, I am super cold.”

Don gave another glance at the already occupied tub. It would be really cramped… But did he care? He was exhausted and cold despite the steam filling the room. Looking at Raph and Leo forced a smile on his face; Leo was still out but breathing steadily, and Raph’s arm was wrapped around his plastron to keep him from slipping into the water. Raph’s head rested against the back of Leo’s shoulder, and Don was pretty sure he was already dozing off. Don knew that Raph would later deny sharing a bath with Leo, would even deny all the cuddling that had happened lately, but now he looked relaxed, content. He could imagine how good the warm water felt after taking a dip in the icy water, and shivered simply at the thought. Mikey tugged him closer to the tub.

“Alright, alright”, Don finally agreed, shielding his face with his hands when Mikey jumped into the tub, spreading water all over. Raph only let out a weak growl when droplets of water hit him, too tired and comfortable to even open his eyes.

Don slid in as well, unsure how to position himself in the crowded tub. To his surprise Mikey’s hands wrapped around him, dragging him into a position much like the one Leo was in. His shell was against Mikey’s plastron, and when he glanced over his shoulder at Mikey the youngest smiled at him.

“Relax”, Mikey said when Don still didn’t seem very comfortable. “You can lean on me, I don’t mind.”

“Keep yer legs to yerself”, Raph mumbled, kicking Mikey’s legs underwater. Mikey only chuckled, not even attempting to move his legs, and closed his eyes as he leaned his head back against the edge of the tub.

“Can you remember the time we didn’t have warm water at the lair?” Mikey mumbled sleepily, his smile widening when Don finally leaned against him. Don had pushed himself really hard lately, and if he hadn’t agreed on entering the tub himself, Mikey would have dragged him in.

Don allowed the tension in his muscles fade, even though he had to occasionally crack open an eye to see that Leo’s head was still above the water. Maybe it was a bad idea for all of them to be in the warm water when they were so sleepy, but the genius was simply too tired to do anything about it. He felt safe and comfortable, something he hadn’t felt in a while.

“I can, Mikey”, Don answered him, sounding just as sleepy as the turtle he was leaning on had. “All three of us had to hold you down to give you a bath.”

Mikey chuckled, but it sounded faraway. Don knew he should stay awake to make sure that nobody accidentally slipped underwater, but sleep was already overtaking him, and he could only resist for so long. The warmth around him and the soft breathing coming from his brothers lulled him into sleep.

Silence was usually considered essential for one to be able to sleep, but that wasn’t the case with Leo, not now. It couldn’t have been that long since he had woken up, alone in the bed, just knowing that his brothers were gone. They hadn’t been asleep next to him, and he hadn’t been able to hear their voices coming from the other room. The same quiet woke him up now, but the restlessness died out immediately. Don and Mikey were right in front of him, and he could feel Raph’s arm draped around his plastron. He was relieved to see them, but hadn’t quite expected to find himself waking up in the tub… with all four of them in it. He blinked down at the water, but wasn’t even considering moving. It felt like he had woken up from a short coma; his body felt heavy, and he was having a hard time figuring out how they had made it back to the apartment. Despite the general confusion he felt warm and content, yet couldn’t help frowning; Don was leaning forward, dangerously close to slipping underwater. Don’s legs rested against Leo’s in the confined space, and Leo gave his brother a small nudge with feet. Not enough to wake him up, but enough to bother him a little so that he’d fix his position. It worked.

Mikey seemed to be okay behind Don, completely relaxed and obviously in deep slumber. Leo craned his neck, but wasn’t able to see Raph from the position he was in. But he could feel Raph’s cheek resting against his shoulder, and felt the small puffs of air against his skin. Raph was okay. Leo moved his head again, noticing the arm that was hanging outside the tub. Leo winced; Raph’s arm had been bandaged before, and now even more bandages covered it. He could remember seeing all the blood when he had found Raph on that bridge. Carefully Leo reached for Raph’s wrist, touching the area that wasn’t covered in bandages. The skin wasn’t cold, but a bit chilly, since the hand hadn’t been in the warm water. Carefully Leo poured some of the warm water over Raph’s fingers, since they seemed to be the only part of the arm not hurt.

As he did so his thoughts drifted back to the river. Obviously Raph had managed to catch him since he was here and alive, but he couldn’t remember anything after handing his sword to Raph. He had lost both of his swords, unless Raph had managed to bring back the other one. Leo doubted that, figuring that the katana now rested at the bottom of the icy river.

Better the swords than them.

The next thing to wake Leo up was a kick to his leg. Groggily he opened just one eye, betting that it was Mikey who had kicked him, since the youngest was fixing his position and mumbling something in his sleep. His brothers were still asleep, but Leo was starting to feel the effects of being in the same position for too long. The water was still somewhat warm, but Leo wanted to get out to stretch his muscles. As nice as the water was, a bed where he could properly sleep was starting to sound more appealing.

Careful to not wake up Raph he moved his arm, trying to not spill the water as he got out of the tub. He was immediately reminded of how weak he still was, a dizzy spell taking him by surprise. He held his head down until it passed, forcing himself to shake off the heaviness in his limbs. He’d be in the bed soon. After grabbing a towel he turned towards the door, but hesitated, looking back at his brothers. It wasn’t like he had watched over them before, since he had been asleep as well, but he felt like he couldn’t leave them here. The water wouldn’t be getting any warmer, anyways, so he should wake them up.

Leo placed his hand on the edge of the tub, but struggled with himself. He didn’t want to wake them up, not when they were so relaxed. They deserved their rest, and even though he knew a bed would be better, he just stood there, watching over them. They had been through so much while he had been out and sick. How had he even managed to get that sick, running around, hallucinating things? He had been totally out of commission. His fevers had always been pretty rough when they fully hit, but he had never had anything like this before.

Raph moved slightly, and Leo could see how he tried to grab something with his uninjured hand. When his hand touched nothing, Raph was jolted awake. Leo’s hand immediately landed on his shoulder, and once Raph looked up at him, he visibly relaxed. He opened his mouth to speak, but Leo hushed him, glancing towards their younger brothers. Raph kept quiet, pushing himself up, and Leo helped him out of the tub.

Raph leaned on him when Leo guided him to the bedroom. It was a welcome change to not be the one leaning on someone, to not be the one who was barely keeping their eyes open. It didn’t mean that Leo was any stronger, though, so they had to take it slow. Leo managed to get Raph to the bed without anyone stumbling or falling over, so he considered it a small victory. He turned away from the bed, heading back to get Don and Mikey, but a hand grabbing his wrist stopped him.

“Yer so stupid, Leo”, Raph mumbled from the spot where Leo had set him down. Leo stared down at him, remembering their short banter from before again, but Raph’s tone was different this time. Quieter.

“Yeah”, Leo agreed this time, amused when Raph blinked in confusion. Clearly hadn’t expected that kind of an answer. “I know I only got on your way back there. I’m sor-”

“Don’t. Had you not been there I would have an axe sticking out of my chest, remember?”

Leo bowed his head. If he couldn’t feel guilty about being on the way, he could feel guilty about not being there in the first place. About not being on his best, not being able to fight alongside his brothers. Maybe then Raph wouldn’t have even been in the danger of getting hit by that axe – but that only made him frown. They shouldn’t have been fighting in the first place, not without him, not in this weather!

“It was your idea to leave, wasn’t it?” Leo looked back up, his eyes harsh now. Raph actually avoided his gaze, telling Leo enough. “What were you thinking? This weather, you were already hurt, I had no idea what happened-”

Leo stopped, looking away. The way he had felt when he had woken up alone… He clenched his fists, surprised when Raph reached out for him again. Once more he turned to look at Raph, who was wearing an unusual expression. Regret, maybe?

“I…” Raph started, but didn’t seem to know how to continue. Leo sighed, and sat down on the edge of the bed. They held each other’s gaze for a moment, both knowing that they had made stupid choices today, but also knowing that they had saved each other. Leo had thrown the shurikens and stopped the axe, but Raph had been pushed into the river when he had been defending Leo. Leo had jumped after him, and without him and his sword Raph wouldn’t have been able to get free- But if Raph hadn’t grabbed Leo and swam to the surface with him, Leo would’ve drowned in the dark water.

It was business as usual, but it always stopped them when they came so close to losing each other. They rarely talked about it, but now they looked at each other a bit longer, a bit softer.

“I was so scared I couldn’t reach you”, Leo admitted quietly. “So scared I couldn’t get you out of the river.”

“Stupid”, Raph said once more, making Leo frown. “Why the hell did you let go of me? After giving me your sword? You think I wasn’t scared then?”

“I didn’t mean to”, Leo murmured quietly. “It was just… so cold.”

Raph seemed to understand, and left it at that, even though he didn’t look pleased. Leo closed his eyes, remembering clearly how he had tried to hold onto Raph, but he simply hadn’t been able to. He searched for Raph’s hand, taking it into his own, and Raph lifted his brow.

“So now you know how to grab my hand”, Raph teased, smirking. Leo ignored it, only giving Raph’s hand a tight squeeze, making Raph’s grin falter. He looked away.

“‘m sorry. For leaving without saying anything.” Raph looked carefully back at his brother. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“When are you ever?” Leo sighed, but now there was a teasing tone in his voice as well. He let go of Raph, drawing the nearby blankets over his head, smiling at his mumbled protests. He had wanted to do that ever since Raph had silenced him with a blanket. Don had done that as well, now that he thought about it. Well, only one way to get revenge – by going to get said brother.

The next time Don opened his eyes the water was lukewarm at best, telling Don that he had slept for a while. Once his eyes were fully open he realized that he wasn’t able to see neither Leo nor Raph, and he sat up so fast he spilled water over the edges of the tub. He made a panicked grab at the water in front of him, realizing that his brothers hadn’t slipped underwater, they just weren’t here anymore.

“Ugh… could’ve at least woken me up…” Don muttered, shaking his head at himself. Looked like he was still a bit on the edge, constantly fearing for the worst. He looked over his shoulder at Mikey, moving away from him since there was more space now. His movements made Mikey mumble and shift, and him repositioning himself caused his shell to slide against the bath, pulling him down, down… Don grabbed his shoulders before his face went underwater and sighed. It was best for them to leave as well.

Don stepped out of the tub, groaning at his aching muscles. The warmth had helped him relax, but he was still exhausted from the fight. He had bruises all over, and they ached when he moved. Even reaching up to grab a towel pulled at his muscles, but he didn’t want to head to bed while being soaking wet, so he endured. After drying himself off he tapped Mikey lightly on the shoulder.

“Wake up, sleepyhead. You’d better sleep in the bed rather than in here.”

Don wasn’t sure if Mikey was completely awake even when he finally got him out of the bathroom, but at least he didn’t need to carry him like he had done with Leo. Which made him think about said brother. Had Raph been able to take him to bed? His arm had been in a pretty bad shape, he couldn’t have carried him if the leader had still been unconscious.

The guest room was warm enough by now, so he would have more space to sleep if he slept there with Mikey. Which would mean that Raph and Leo would be in the other room, somewhere where he couldn’t see them, and the anxiety that came with the thought surprised him. They were all safe now, he didn’t need to keep an eye on them anymore. Guess he had gotten too used to all of them sleeping together, even if it was uncomfortable at times.

Don hesitated only for a moment, and with his decision made he guided Mikey towards the bedroom he expected Raph and Leo to be in. Before he could grab the doorknob the door opened, and Leo almost walked right into him.

“Oh, I was just going to wake you up”, Leo said, stepping aside so that Don could enter the room, then helped him hold Mikey’s weight. Together they set him on the bed, and Mikey snuggled up to Raph immediately, pulled in by his warmth. Raph only groaned, but allowed Mikey to stay. It didn’t take long for his better arm to wrap around the youngest.

“I wasn’t expecting to find you awake”, Don told Leo while they sat on the edge of the bed, and the leader smiled at him.

“I actually feel a whole lot better.” He shrugged. It was exhausting to move around, but sitting was alright. “Guess taking a dip into the river helped me to clear my head.”

Leo looked amused, but Don didn’t. “Yeah, no”, Don said, his voice turning serious. “What you did was really stupid, Leo. Coming there in the first place, then jumping into the river… You knew how sick you had just been!”

Leo sighed. It seemed like everyone was allowed to call him stupid now.

“I know. I know it was stupid”, he admitted again, but wasn’t about to leave it at that. He had already scolded Raph, but hadn’t gotten to say much. They all needed some lecturing. “But what did you expect me to do when I woke up and I was alone in here? Just wait? Why would you go out when the weather is like this? You know very well that it’s too cold for us now, how dangerous it is! And I was already better before you left, you could’ve, no, you should’ve told me.”

“Sorry, Leo, but you were in no condition to come with us”, Raph pointed out, lifting his head up from the pillows. “Besides, there was no time, and we couldn’t just do nothing when they were on our turf!”

Just a moment ago Raph had apologized for going out, had said he hadn’t been thinking, but now his actions were suddenly justified again.

“Yeah, we didn’t think there’d be so many of them!” Mikey continued, not as roughly as Raph, but followed him in an attempt to defend their actions.

“We had our winter gear, the cold wasn’t the problem”, Don finished, but Leo didn’t look convinced.

“And the best course of action was to go after them without having any idea what they were up to, hoping that I didn’t wake up before you got back?” Leo held his arms crossed and shook his head. “I know I wouldn’t have been much help to you in the state I was in, but you know I could’ve helped you make a plan. Well, most likely I would’ve stopped you from going at all – which would’ve been the wisest option! We would’ve gone after them once I was better and your arm had properly healed, Raph. Taking a risk like this just to protect our “turf” isn’t worth it. And”, Leo took a look at all of his siblings, and his lecture-voice turned quieter, “I had no idea what had happened to you, why you were gone all of a sudden.”

Raph was looking away again, and even though Leo didn’t like talking about this again with Raph, he really needed to make the hothead understand how dangerous his need to defend their “turf” had been. Even if Don and Mikey had agreed to go with him, he was still the one who had made the decision. Leo kept quiet for a moment, once again thinking about the moment he had realized he was alone in the apartment. It had been quite a inner chaos for him before he had realized he could track his brothers with his cell, before he had gotten his mind under his control again. He wanted to be angry at Raph for doing that to him, but he was angrier at the fact that Raph had placed himself and his brothers in danger. They already had such bad luck with everything – if the odds were against them, they didn’t need to push it. They didn’t need to beg for any extra trouble.

“You put each other in great danger by going out like that. Guys, you know better than this.”

The turtles hadn’t expected to be receiving a lecture so soon and remained quiet, knowing that the leader was right. It wasn’t anything usual for them to pull stupid stunts, to get close-calls, but tonight they had gotten a few too many. And they all knew they would have hated to be in the position they had put Leo in; waking up alone, having no idea where the others were. Even if their leader tended to overreact when he didn’t know where the rest of his team was, they knew the crushing feeling of fearing the worst all too well.

Leo seemed to sense the guilt in the air, and sighed, letting his arms fall from their crossed position. “What matters is that you’re all safe”, he said, his tone softer now. He had meant to say more, had really wanted his brothers to understand how foolish they had been… but he was just glad they were here and safe. Still, he gave them one firm look. “And that you’ve learned something from this.”

“Yeah yeah, always report ta Leo, always listen ta Leo”, Raph mocked, but there was no heat behind the words.

“Never do anything before he allows it”, Don joined in, just to aid in lightening up the mood.

“Yeah, don’t forget to ask for permission to use the bathroom”, Mikey added, snickering from under the blankets.

Leo rolled his eyes, heavily doubting that they had learned anything. He didn’t want to ruin the mood now that it had lightened up, but there was still something he had to get out of his chest.

“I guess I can’t really afford to be mad at you”, he started quietly. “I know I wasn’t easy to deal with when I was sick – and you even had to drag me back here. I don’t regret coming after you, but… I know I’ve been a burden. Thank yo-”

“No, no, no”, Mikey interrupted him, and Leo looked up in surprise. “You do not thank us for taking care of you when you’re sick. You gotta chill. Actually, no, wait, don’t chill- things have been chilly enough lately. Heh.”

Raph and Don sighed at the pun. Leo smiled at it, feeling a bit better, but still couldn’t help feeling like he should’ve recovered sooner. He felt Don moving closer, and a hand was placed on his shoulder.

“You sure you’re really feeling better?” Don frowned as he looked at him. “You were barely able to stay awake when we left…”

“My head feels much clearer- my body, not so much, but… definitely better than before.” Leo shrugged. “I wouldn’t be here talking if I wasn’t, right?”

“Maybe you’re right, then”, Don said thoughtfully as he looked at his sibling. “Perhaps the shock from the freezing river really did snap you out of it. I mean… snapped your body out of it. Out of thinking it should brumate-” Don paused upon seeing the confusion on Leo’s face. “Oh, right, I was supposed to explain it to you.”

Leo finally received the explanation about Don’s theory, but the genius left most of the worst parts out. He didn’t want to think about them yet, and didn’t want any of his brothers thinking about them. It was safe to say that the worst was behind them, but Don still didn’t want to say it out loud. Just so that he wouldn’t jinx it.

“Like it isn’t enough that the outside world is out to get us, but our own bodies as well”, Leo said somewhat grimly.

“Yeah, but at least we know the cure now”, Mikey said, gaining confused looks from his brothers. He sighed, rolling his eyes like the answer was obvious. “Just gotta jump into the river!”

The rest of them groaned at him, and Raph pushed his face down into the pillows. The youngest protested loudly, and while Leo was amused at the sight, he turned to Don. Instead of saying anything, he just eyed his brother, who quickly noticed that Leo’s attention was on him. He turned his head to face Leo, tilting it in a silent question. Leo looked away, knowing that his brothers didn’t want to hear any more apologies. But...

“I know you, Don”, Leo said, looking back at him. “I know you overworked yourself trying to find a solution to my condition. I know I couldn’t help it, but…”

“It doesn’t matter now”, Don said, sitting close enough so that he was able to lean against the eldest. “But you gotta tell me if anything feels off, alright?”

“I will”, Leo promised. And added, “Thank you for setting up the lamps. It was nice to wake up to them.”

Don hummed, making himself comfortable against Leo. He wouldn’t accept any thanks about looking after him, because that was something you didn’t apologize or thank for. Looking after each other was a given, had always been. But the thanks for the lamps he could accept.

Leo couldn’t have felt more content, having his brothers here, feeling like he was finally free of his sickness. He was still weak, but confident that some sleep would take care of that. It felt like he had had a year’s worth of sleep, but maybe he’d recover faster once he didn’t have to worry about his brothers doing something like this again.

“Wait a sec, you guys!” Mikey suddenly gasped, throwing the blankets off of him. Raph groaned when they landed on his face. The youngest hopped off of the bed, dashing out of the room. Before anyone had the time to ask he was back, the suitcase in his hands.

“Oh, right!” Don leaned away from Leo, sitting up straight. “We still don’t know what’s inside.”

Leo looked hesitant. “You got that from the Foot, right? Are you sure we should open it here?”

But Michelangelo was already fighting with the lock, and now Leonardo was sure that his brothers had learned nothing about his earlier lecture. When did they ever?

The lock snapped open, and even Raph had crawled closer in order to see. They held their breath when the suitcase slowly opened, kind of expecting it to explode or something, but the suitcase did nothing to hurt them. Inside it was a single item, something three of the four turtles did not recognize, but Don was beaming.

“I can’t believe it! This is exactly what I need!” The genius grabbed the item with both hands, lifting it up to admire it. “I suppose this was going to be a powersource for some kind of a weapon, but I’ve got much, much better use for it.”

“Boring”, Mikey sighed, flopping back on the bed. “Wish it’d been money at least. I’d really like to order some pizza right now.”

“I doubt that they deliver in this weather”, Leo said, patting Mikey’s shoulder, but he was frowning. “Any idea what kind of a weapon this would be used on, Don?”

“Nothing we wouldn’t be able to stop”, Don said reassuringly. “This is not that big of a powersource, but impressive anyways.”

“ Money would’ve been impressive”, Mikey was still muttering.

“Nah, Leo would’ve just made us return it to the “rightful” owner”, Raph said. “So better forget it, Mike.”

“As soon as I have my lab back…” Don was talking to himself now, muttering about his plans as he set the item carefully back into the suitcase. Mikey was still going on about pizza, and Raph occasionally made a comment. Leo smiled once more as he looked at them, but the ever-lingering drowsiness was seizing him again. He had a feeling that his recovery from all of this had just began, but he’d be damned if he left his brothers out of his sight for a while.

“Woah, Leo.” Donatello’s hand grabbed the leader’s shoulder, and Leonardo realized his posture had slumped and he had leaned too much to the side. He wasn’t only tired, he was exhausted now that he had allowed himself to feel relief. His worry had been the only thing keeping him going. “I was wondering how much longer you could stay up. You haven’t really given your body time to recover.”

Don poked Mikey until he gave them room, and then the four turtles were together under the blankets again. After some pushing and elbowing they settled, unaware that the wind outside had quieted down as well.

Only a few days later the storm had faded, and it took a week more until Donatello deemed it safe enough for them to return to their lair. April and Casey had been able to return to the city, and the apartment had really started to get too small for all six of them, so everyone had been glad that the turtles could return back to their own home. Especially the turtles. Well, perhaps April had been the most relieved one – living with five guys wasn’t easy. She had her hands full with just one.

After some repairs life had quickly gone back to normal with only one chance. Mikey would often complain of a broken heater and ended up sleeping somewhere else than his own room, Raph would say that his hammock just couldn’t store warmth like a bed could, and Don didn’t see any point heating up the whole lab, since he usually slept there. His own room was just too filled with his gadgets and computers. So, most of the nights Leo found his brothers from his room, and nobody really said anything about their new habit of snuggling together to escape the chill of the winter. Leo was sure that this habit would die out once it got warm again, and once they returned to their usual schedules; when Mikey stayed up late to watch movies, when Raph spent half of the night out with Casey, when it was almost morning when Don emerged from the lab. They couldn’t sleep in the same room when each one of them went to bed at such different times, so Leo decided to enjoy this while it lasted.

Not like every night was that enjoyable- sometimes he woke up to Raph elbowing him in the face (he was a restless sleeper), sometimes Mikey talked in his sleep (about nonsense which nobody understood), sometimes Don had an experiment going on and constantly got up to check on it (he shouldn’t sacrifice sleep for that). Despite waking up several times during the nights Leo didn’t really mind. Waking up to their presence saved him from a lot of worrying.

And the horrible sleepiness and exhaustion were now behind him. Back was the usual drowsiness harsh winters brought them, but otherwise he was back to normal. At least most of the time; even though time had passed, there were still moments where he felt sluggish, especially in the mornings. Sometimes his attention seemed to be elsewhere, or he stumbled during practice, or lost a hold on a item he was holding. Nothing too troubling when they were at the lair, but if it were to happen in a fight?

“Alright, guys”, Don announced one particularly chilly day. “Remember the part we got from the Foot, the powersource?”

They were in Don’s lab, standing in front of… something, which was currently hidden behind a white sheet. Don stood in front of, hands behind his back, seeming excited about showing his latest creation.

“Yeah! Did you make a weapon out of it? Can it shoot lasers? Can I try it?” Mikey was just as excited, and Don chuckled at him.

“No, it’s something even better.” Don turned around, pulling the sheet off, revealing a big… lamp.

“It’s a… lamp… thingy?” Mikey’s shoulders drooped.

“C’mon, Don, is the cold getting to your head?” Raph raised a brow as he watched the huge lamp.

“Raph, you were right there when we read about turtle brumation and basking”, Don reminded him.

“Yeah, but that was for pet turtles.”

“Why don’t you try it before you judge it?” Don suggested, motioning towards the chair set under it. Both Leo and Raph glanced at Mikey, wordlessly offering him as a candidate. Mikey only shrugged, taking a seat as proposed. Don turned on a switch, and the huge motor under the lamp came to life with a low hum. It was easy to see how Mikey’s limbs went limp and he slid down on the chair, but remained sitting. Raph and Leo moved, suddenly worried at how limp Mikey had went, but Don held his hand up.

“It’s a modified basking light”, he explained happily. “I thought about what happened to Leo when he was sick, and well, normal turtles usually receive a lot of sunlight. We live underground, and when we go out, the Sun is almost never out. With this we could possibly prevent the whole brumation thing from happening again.”

Don had considered the idea of a basking light back when they had still stayed at April’s, and getting his hands on the powersource had made him decide to make the lamp. But once they had returned home all his previous machines and experiments had called to him, and the basking light had been momentarily forgotten. When he had started noticing the effects of Leo’s condition still lingering on him he had remembered the lamp again, now hoping that it could put the brumation thing fully behind them.

“Even without a reason, it’s just really pleasant to be under it”, Don added.

“Looks like it”, Leo said as he watched Mikey’s completely relaxed pose.

“Donnie… you’re awesome”, Mikey sighed happily, and Don laughed.

“Come on, give it a try. I swear you’ll like it.” Don grabbed both Raph and Leo by the hand, guiding them towards the warm light. They wouldn’t have to be cold for the rest of the winter. Never, if they stayed together and kept each other safe when the days got too cold for one turtle to handle.