The Leader-Less Mission!

by DoodleDumble

Summary:

While travelling through space with Professor Honeycutt, a sudden attack on the ship causes Raph, Donnie and Mikey to become stranded on a rough, foreign planet where they must use stealth to survive and regain contact with the others! Meanwhile, Fugitoid, Casey and April are stuck on the Ulixes with the Fearless Mother Hen In Blue while they try to rescue the, well...C-team?

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Donnie woke up with a yawn.

Looking to his side, the vast expanses of space welcomed him to the new-day-or-felt-like-a-new-day-anyway; it was always hard for his brothers and two friends to tell since they’d boarded the spacecraft Ulixes with Professor Honeycutt. While the circumstances of their exile to space had been the main monster in the heads of the six survivors, Donnie couldn’t think of a better place than the constellations to regroup.

Throwing his legs over one of the temporary beds the Professor had provided to each of them, Donnie got up and made his way to the main area for some technology-generated coffee, stretching. Inside were two of his brothers and the Professor, going about their business.

“Well, good morning, sleepy head.” Leo teased, flashing him a grin before returning his attention to an electronic display of their rout the Professor was working with at the front window.
“Morning.” Donnie grinned, before looking at his other older brother, stretched out in a seat nearby, still trying to pretend he was awake. “Good morning, Raph."

“M’n...” Was all he could get out of him, and he chuckled.

“Where’s Mikey? He’s usually the first up.” Donnie asked, going to the machine to make his cup of coffee and quickly scanning over the electronic screen the Professor stood in front of. They still had to capture two of the black hole generator pieces and were working their way toward the next.

“He did get up, saw we weren’t doing much and went back to bed.” Leo said, a laugh at the edges of his voice. “Classic Mikey. Casey and April are asleep, too. Can’t blame them too much though, sometimes the in-between trips get a little dull. Ah,” He turned to Professor Honeycutt, “No offense, Professor.”

“None taken, Leonardo!” The cyborg chirped, hardly distracted from his work.

Grinning, Donnie took a big gulp of the already-made hot coffee before taking it with him on his way to the deeper parts of the Ulixes. Sometimes, when there wasn’t much activity, the second-youngest liked to explore some of the inner workings of the Ulixes where the Professor had generously granted permission. Some of the energy generators and recyclers that powered the ship had recently held most of his interest.

On the way, he met his little brother, a bit surprised to see the youngest coming back out of his sleeping quarters.

“Morning, lazy bones.” Donnie chuckled. Mikey didn’t indicate he really heard or cared about the playful tease, exaggeratedly yawning and stretching instead.

“Dude, what time is it? I swear it could be noon.” He said, coming to throw himself over the oldest in refusal to hold himself up, getting protests in response. “I’m hungry. Did anyone make breakfast?”

“What kind of question is that?” Donnie jibed back, pulling Mikey off of him and pulling his arm over his shoulder instead, leading his poor incapable brother to the main room. “Come on, let’s get food. But no more pasta, PLEASE.”

“Oh, come on! I need to learn the whole extended family of pizza...” Mikey laughed.

Mid-sentence, however, a loud sound boomed down the hallway and the ground underneath them rocked a little, almost sending the brothers to the floor.

“What was that?!” Mikey asked, the two of them merely looking at each other before bolting to the front room where the others were.

When they arrived, Leo and Raph were both on their feet looking intently at the electronic display on the large window at the front of the room, Casey and April rushing in not long after. “What’s going on, you guys?!” Donnie asked, he and Mikey hurrying to look.

The monitor displayed images near the back of the ship, where a blast mark could clearly be seen and enemy ships hovering in the distance. “It’s an attack,” Leo said, gripping the seat in front of him and grimacing at the live feed. “I don’t recognize the ships.”

“Oh dear,” Fugitoid said, clearly distressed. “It looks like we have a few more angry stragglers looking for revenge after our little pit-stop before.” Turning suddenly, he looked at everyone present with a stern, scolding face. “See, do you know now why I warned you all to be careful? This is what happens when you go about ruining random fugitives’ days and causing chaos!”

Having no time to respond, everyone stumbled as the ship rocked with another laser attack from one of the enemy ships, and Leo turned back to Fugitoid, slightly desperate. “They’re trying to bring us down! Isn’t there anywhere we can hide until they go away? They’ve got us outnumbered!”

“No, no! Not here, anyway. All the surrounding planets are highly volatile, and there are many I know nothing about.” Fugitoid responded, quickly turning back to the screen as he talked and typing things with fast, electronic bleep-bloop sounds. “I will have to prepare the ship for hyper-flight. Until then we must keep them at bay! Leonardo, drive the ship and escape our pursuers while I make preparations!”

“On it,” Leo said, already diving into the driver’s seat and lurching the driving handle, throwing everyone off balance but dodging a few more attacks fired at the ship.

“Oh, no!” Honeycutt suddenly cried out, momentarily pausing his actions to look at the camera feed on the damaged part of his ship. “It looks like that first blast grazed the hyperdrive equalizer’s electrical circuitry. It needs to be fixed before I’m able to hyper-fly anywhere!”

“April, Casey, I need you to man the weapon stations! You guys,” Leo glanced back at his three brothers, each trying to decide whether to man their own stations or suit up for space offense, “I need you to make your way back into the engine so Donnie can repair the damage they’ve already done, and give him backup. We can’t go into hyper flight until the engine is back in order! He’ll need help getting into the –”

“Go back inside to get to the engine? That’ll take twice as long! We need to get out there so Donnie can go directly to the damage and the electrical panel!” Raph protested.

Leo irritably opened his mouth to retaliate, but in a small spurt of panic he re-focused on the screen and lurched the ship to nearly dodge a laser fired at them. Turning more fully to the three of them, he commanded, “I will NOT have the three of you up there strapped to the ship by single cords and exposed as we’re being fired at and I’m flying to dodge them! You’re GOING through the inside!”

“Uh, no offense Leo,” Casey finally piped up over the noise, “But we’ve already kind of handled situations like that before. We don’t really have time to wait for them to go back through there!”

“This time Casey’s right, Leo!” Donnie agreed, the other making a face and almost protesting at the “this time” remark. “I need to get out there as quickly as possible!”

Leo sighed, face looking a bit comically defeated. He’d rather not have to put his brothers out there, especially without him, but he knew they were going to get blown out of the sky soon if Donnie didn’t make a quick repair to the electronics. “Fine! Just hurry up, their attacks are coming faster!”

It didn’t take long for the three brothers to sprint to the launch room and grab their air helmets and latching equipment before notifying the professor they were ready, and the portal to space opened up with a hiss of released air. Quickly attaching their corded hooks to metal rings near the opening, they jumped out to the area where the damage was, taking cover from the lasers and holding on when the ship took sharp turns.

“We’ve found the damage point, Professor,” Donnie reported into his headset communicator built into his air helmet. “I’m gonna start at the control panel to suspend the main current, the equalizer should be a quick fix!”

“We’re rooting you on, Donatello!” Fugitoid’s voice came through the intercoms in the three air helmets. “Rooting anxiously!”

Raph and Mikey kept a sharp eye on their surroundings and the enemy attacks as Donnie went to work, holding tightly to the ship and positioned near their brother in case they needed to grab him out of the way. “Hey Raph! If they try to board, I’m taking down more aliens than you!” Mikey called, a wild, daring grin on his face.

Raph smirked back. “RIGHT! We’ll see about that, shorty!” He laughed.

“You’ll still have to beat my record of thirty from last time!” Mikey challenged, adding a raspberry.

“Thirty? I think I saw you get six. And only because they were all the size of your toes! And weren’t you running away screaming before you stepped on them?”

Mikey’s pouty frown just made Raph laugh harder. “There was something behind us chasing me!”

“Guys, focus!” Leo’s voice came over their intercom before the ship lurched again, dodging more lasers. Raph grabbed Donnie’s cord when his brother slid a little, but he was quickly back in place.

“Ah, you worry too much.” Raph responded, sending Mikey a wink and making him giggle. “Donnie’s almost finished anyway.”

“Right,” Donnie said, shutting two clamps over an electrical panel with a clank before working on a few surrounding wires. “I just have to re-connect the circuit communicator and we’ll be –!”

“Incoming!!” Mikey called out, an enemy ship suddenly and strategically swinging out from behind another one, coming in much too close for comfort. Mikey jumped and grabbed Donnie, both rushing over to Raph who was waving them over to take cover beside one of the ship wings, but apparently spotting the three attached to the roof of the ship, it started firing.

“Hold on!!” Raph grunted, taking the other two in his arms and trying to shield them as all three huddled beside the ship wing just before the lasers struck the ship.

Clank!

With a gasp, the three opened their eyes mid-fire just long enough to see three wire cords flying lose from the roof of the ship, and their feet slightly lifted off the surface as Raph reached to grab hold of the ship –

One combined laser fire from each of the enemy ships together jolted the Ulixes and sent it spiraling away, and the three brothers hurdling toward the nearest planet.

“Guys!!!” Leo’s staticky voice crackled over the intercom, the last thing the three screaming brothers registered before the connection was lost and they entered the planet’s atmosphere, flying downward in a barely-withstandable inferno and –

Blackness.

~

“Uhg....”

Mikey shifted with his eyes clenched shut, causing a rough crackle in the dry foliage around him before he finally rubbed his eyes and slowly looked around, seeing a dark, desolate-looking landscape around him. He was lying on the ground, a clear mark through the overgrown, messy earth where he’d made a rough impact. He noticed his breathing helmet was gone, but thankfully he seemed to be able to breathe fine here; fortunately, since who knew what oblivion his helmet had flown off to. Broken branches in some nearby trees gave him the impression that his fall had been broken; his aching body gave him that impression, too. As far as the dim light and thorny, tough looking landscape went, this smoggy place gave him a very uneasy feeling.

“Raph? Donnie?” He tentatively called, trying not to be too loud, looking around worriedly for his two brothers and pushing himself up to sit on his knees. Ah! He flinched for a moment as he found out his side hurt. Wrapping his arms around his right side, he looked around meekly, wondering if he should try to get up and look for them or assess his surroundings a little better.

Hearing a rough groan in the distance that was unmistakably his older brother Raph, he instead quickly scrambled up and ran over to his brother, relief and worry washing through him.

“Raph! Raph,” He called as he approached, stumbling to a stop and falling over his older brother in a hug, Raph just barely awake enough to half-register what was happening and lower his arms over his little brother in surprise. “Are you ok?”

“Huh...Mikey?” Raph grumbled, pushing himself up onto his elbows and taking a dazed moment to rub his head, which was missing its breathing helmet, as well. He looked awful! Mikey instinctively started looking for horrible injuries on his older brother, but the scuffed-up burns and scratches almost made it impossible to tell what the worst was. Raph finally cleared his vision and peeked at Mikey before starting and quickly snapping to attention, his expression almost indicating somebody had dropped a bomb behind them.

“Mike! You–! Where does it hurt? Hold still for a minute, little bro!” And instead of Mikey checking him, Raph started checking Mikey, going over him with the thoroughness of an alarmed Donatello and the attentiveness of an upset Leonardo.

“What? You should be worried about yourself!” Mikey said, trying to shoo his mother bear of a brother off. “You look like Shredder dragged you through a serrated coal mine.”

“I do?” Raph scoffed, clearly intending to say it was the other way around, but both brothers took a second to actually look themselves over. Mikey found out Raph was right; he didn’t look any better, and after taking time to pay attention, noticed a wicked pounding in his head, too. Raph hissed and put his hand over what both brothers unspokenly found to be Raph’s own worst injury, his left shoulder. It didn’t hurt Raph enough to think he broke anything, but there was still going to be some serious down time before it healed fully, of that he was sure.

He looked up at Mikey again, concern coming to his face. “Where’s Donnie?”

Mikey’s face fell, too, worried. “I don’t know. I’d just found you over here. I was gonna keep looking.”

Staggering up with a worried grumble, Raph stumbled slightly before helping Mikey haul himself to his own feet. “Donnie?” He called, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Donnie!”

“Donnie?” Mikey called out, too, and a rustling sound made both brothers whip their heads toward a nearby tree.

There was their third brother, hanging up-side-down by vines tangled around a broken branch!

“Donnie!” Raph called, running beneath the second-youngest. He, too, was missing his helmet and looked to be in the same shape as his brothers. “Don, can’ya hear me?”

Donnie moaned, shifting in the vines tangled around him. “Where am I?” He mumbled.

“It’s ok, little bro, just hang on,” Raph called, jumping to climb the tree while Mikey stood underneath, waiting in case he fell.

“Raph? Mikey?” Donnie asked as Raph made his way closer, straining to pull apart and snap vines to free him. “What happened?”

“I think we’ve been thrown into one of the planets Fugitoid was talking about,” Mikey called up to him, looking up in worry.

“What?” Donnie struggled in the vines now, trying to look around.

“Hold still, Don, you’re gonna –!”

With crackles and snaps, wines whipped around and Donnie fell loose from the tree, crying out. Mikey braced himself and held his arms out to catch his brother, both crashing hard to the ground.

“Guys!” Raph jumped down from the tree, running to them as they sat up, groaning. “Guys, are you ok?” He grabbed them both around the shoulders, trying to brace them.

“Uhg.....I think I.....sprained my ankle....” Donnie whined, grimacing in pain as he held onto his left leg. Both brothers saw it was extra swollen, with nasty purple and black bruises already developing.

“Safe to say you got it when we landed here,” Raph said. “Can you walk on it?”

Raph supported both brothers as they got back to their feet, Donnie favoring his left ankle before testing it, using Raph’s right shoulder for leverage. Setting it down as gingerly as he could, he immediately hissed and lifted it again, Mikey and Raph exchanging worried looks.

“I wasn hopin’ it wouldn’t be that bad. Looks like you’ll have to stay off of it for a while though, bro.” Raph said, bending down to re-arrange some of Donnie’s wrappings while Donnie balanced with his hand on Mikey’s shell.

Donnie sighed. “This sucks.....well, at least it’s the worst I came out with. We’re lucky to be alive. Are you guys ok?” He asked, suddenly going into Doctor Mode and taking inventory on his siblings’ damage.

“My shoulder’s messed up and Mikey’s been holdin’ his side.” Raph said, looking at Mikey as if to confirm it was hurt, and Mikey merely nodded in response. Raph finished wrapping Donnie’s ankle and pulled them secure, Donnie wincing a little. “That’s about the worst of it though, besides all of us looking like hell. There....that should hold until we get back to the ship and get some real medical attention.” He stood up, and Donnie rested the toes of his bad foot on the ground.

“Thanks, Raph.” He said, shifting to turn to him, still with his hand on Mikey’s shoulder. After pausing for a moment, he glanced between the two of them, and they all shared a look, thinking the same thing.

“You think the others are ok?” Mikey quietly asked, twiddling two of his fingers.

Raph sighed, looking down and running a hand over his head. “I sure hope so.” He grumbled, pausing before adding, “I’m not even sure if the Ulixes was able to stay in flight, or if they crash-landed somewhere, too.”

“I was able to fix the major problem with the engine before we were blown off,” Donnie said, “But it still wasn’t enough to let the Professor go into hyper-flight. And they were still being attacked, too. I hope they got away before more damage was done....”

“Well, hopefully they wouldn’t go into hyper-flight anywhere after they lost us, anyway.” Mikey chuckled, bringing a grin to his brothers’ faces. “I can see Leo now.” He started imitating their oldest brother, twitching from side to side and flailing his arms as the other two started laughing. “Oh! No! Professor, release your power core, we’re gonna nuke these guys! Hang on everybody, I’m about to charge the planet!”

All three brothers laughed, but after a moment, it came to an awkward stop and the brothers stood there, feeling increasingly guilty with each passing second. Now that they thought of it, that wasn’t really a joke. Their oldest brother had never lost his whole team before, certainly not like THIS. He hadn’t wanted them exposed in the first place. He must be worried sick. Really, though. Casey, April and Fugitoid had to be terribly worried, too.

Mikey sighed, scratching his face. “Ok, so maybe too soon....”

Raph snorted, hoisting Donnie up onto his back so they could move. “I hope they’re ok, but we ain’t gonna do’em no good standing here worrying about it. Come on, let’s go see what kinda planet we’re dealing with here so we can figure out how to reach’em.”

“Aye’aye cap’n!” Mikey chirped, jumping to follow his brothers out of the wild, ash-grey wilderness.

Notes:

Hey y'all! You might recognize me or this story from fanfiction.net. Rest assured it is really me! You can check my other account on ff.net for proof, I've announced my new AO3 account there.
I wanted to add an account here since it seems like a lot of people use AO3. If you haven't seen me before, nice to meet ya, and thanks for reading!
(Thanks to readers for helping me figure this wonky website out!)

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

“Raph! Donnie! Mikey!” Leo called, desperately shouting into the dashboard com inside the ship that had been connected to his brothers’ air helmets. “Come in! That’s an ORDER!” He commanded, his frantic voice quickly deteriorating to desperate panic. “Please, someone respond!” He cried, gripping the sides of the control panel. “Please!!”

“Leo,” April stepped forward, worriedly and firmly putting her hands on the oldest brother’s shoulders to gently pull him away from the com.

“No, no, no, no, no.” Leo mumbled, shakily walking away only to pace back and forth and put his hands to his head as he thought. They had managed to fight back and scare off their attackers shortly after the incident with the three youngest brothers, but the Ulixes had already sustained considerable damage, leaving them floating uselessly in space until it was fixed. That, however, was the least of everyone’s concern, at the moment. Leo babbled to no one in particular, even as he continued pacing. “W-we could take the rest of the space suits and go looking for them. We have to. They’ll run out of air. God, what if their helmets shattered! They could have fallen through that planet’s atmosphere! Professor, please tell me you have spare helmets!”

When he stopped and turned sharply to Professor Honeycutt for a response, he only got silence and three stares in return. Before he could fly into furious panic, however, April stepped forward, giving him a strange, pointed look.

“Leo, calm down. You’re trembling.”

Trying to give her a confused reply at first, he instead looked down. He lifted his hands, and found he didn’t even have enough control to bend his fingers. When he looked up again, April was gazing at him, understanding on her face. She opened her arms, and Leo accepted the gesture, hesitating before quickly and bashfully wrapping his arms around her shoulders and burying his head, clenching his teary eyes shut.

“There, now. It’s gonna be ok. Your brothers are alright. You know they’re a tough bunch. They won’t go down so easily.” April said, her own emotions racing. While she was torn up along with Leo and glad the guarded oldest brother had opened up to the comfort he so badly needed, she also wasn’t quite sure what to do. Leo had never looked so helpless or just absolutely horrified about anything before, and she was worried for the youngest three. What were they supposed to do now?

Fugitoid approached and put his hand on Leo’s head, and Leo released April, rubbing his eyes and looking over at the robot. Casey approached the group as well, giving Leo an encouraging look. “Fear not, my friend. I will work on the Ulixes tirelessly until it is functional enough to go after your brothers. I am sure they will be alright until then. There is enough oxygen in the suits to last several days, and even if they were to enter a planet’s atmosphere, the composition is different enough from Earth that the damage would not be anywhere near as severe. I believe I remember the planet I saw your brothers drifting towards before we were driven away,” He said, going back to the large frontal window to pull up a digital map of the surrounding space and planets, the other three walking closer to look. “Ah! Here it is,” Fugitoid exclaimed, pointing a finger at a large, dark planet the map zoomed in on.

“You think they’re there?” Casey asked, leaning closer to see.

“I would say it is most likely. Unfortunately, I have very little information about this planet.” He said, his eyes momentarily looking sad. “If the Ulixes were still as close to it as we were, it would not be a problem to use the rest of the air helmets to enter the planet and look for your brothers, but we are much too far away – I can’t have anyone else flying off into space. But, rest assured, it should not take long to make the repairs so we can go after the three of them. And, as your friend April said,” Fugitoid turned back to Leo with happy eyes, “They are a tough bunch.”

Casey wrapped an arm around Leo’s shoulders, jostling him with a wide grin. “That’s right. Besides, they’ve got that hot-head looking out for’em, after all,”

Still a little jarred, Leo merely nodded, looking up at the map for a moment in silence and several complex emotions swimming in his eyes all at once. His knuckles were white-gripping the seat in front of him, and only April detected the slight tremor still there that told tales more of the hysteric distress hiding just beneath the oldest’s expression.

He looked around at the others again, then, a mix of sincerity and urgency on his face. “Thanks you guys. Professor, please show me what I can do to help. I’ll do anything it takes, I can help you work on the engine too. I’ll work on the com link or even just watch them if that’s all that will help.”

“Yeah! Us, too!” Casey volunteered. “What can we do to help, Professor?”

With all three looking eagerly at him, the Professor’s expression turned happy again for just a second before getting down to business.

“Alright, the most important thing to get done first is...”

~

“Raaaph, my feet hurt.”

Raph groaned, only half-paying attention to his youngest brother’s whine as he bitterly and resolutely struggled under the weight of his other brother, Donetello, carrying him on the trek through these dark, aggressive-looking woods, or would-be-woods as Mikey had already decided to call them. He made sure and kept Mikey close beside him, even if the youngest didn’t notice, feeling more and more uncomfortable about being here, especially with his little brothers. He glanced back at Donnie, who was too busy staring about the place in awe.

“You really need to keep it down,” Raph grumbled at Mikey, walking into the youngest’s side to move him around an especially large, thorny plant and elbowing him closer behind himself. “I keep getting the feelin’ we really shouldn’t be here.”

“Oh, and who’s being a Leo Jr. now, Mr. Rebel-Pants?” Mikey jeered, seeming totally unfazed and laughing when Raph grimaced at him.

“Mikey, shut up, seriously. We don’t know if this place is occupied or who’s here.”

“I know, I know. But we look like we’re in the middle of nowhere, dude. We haven’t seen anyone for hours.”

“It hasn’t been hours,” Donnie said, rolling his eyes. “Maybe just one or two...”

“Yeah, and my feet are killing me!” Mikey repeated, laughing instead of whining. “This ground needs some serious raking. And de-rocking. Definitely a lot of bush hogging.”

“I swear to God, Mikey, who’s the one that’s been carryin’ somebody on their back the whole way?”

“Sorry.” Donnie apologized, making Raph sigh.

“It ain’t your fault. Mikey’s just whinin’ for whinin’s sake, ain’t got nothin’ better to do than humor him.”

“That’s the truth.”

“Hey!”

Raph and Donnie shared a chuckle while the youngest sent them a pout and crossed his arms. Looking forward again, he mumbled, “Fine then, we’ll see what happens next time you guys –”

When their youngest stopped his sentence short, the other two looked back at him in confusion, before immediately snapping their eyes ahead again in a slight panic, looking for another presence and immediately feeling for their weapons out of instinct. It was then they realized – Raph was the only one who still had his weapons with him, though how, it was probably best not to think too hard about. All three had taken their weapons with them while on the trip to repair the Ulixes, so Don’s staff and Mikey’s nunchucks had surely been blown off into space. The spooked, alarmed look Mikey stared ahead with almost screamed of an unwelcome presence, but when they looked, there was nobody.

Still cautious and on high alert, Raph shoved Mikey further behind him, scanning their surroundings as Donnie did the same. “What is it, Mikey?” He asked quietly.

“I saw eyes.” He whispered back. “Maybe it was just an animal but – oh man, it was watching us and ran off when I looked at it. I think it went that way.” He nodded in a general direction ahead of them, tightly gripping Raph’s arm and staring stonily ahead at the spot he indicated.

Raph scowled, staring ahead and nudging Mikey’s arm as he whispered. “Mikey, grab one of my sais and stay behind me. I want you to hold onto my arm so I know you’re with me, alright? Do NOT let go.”
Mikey nodded, quickly doing as told and gulping when Raph did, indeed, cautiously start progressing forward, all senses alert and eyes sharp, resembling their oldest’s in the alert, dangerous way they did sometimes.

Donnie remained deathly silent as well as they continued forward into the messy terrain, ducking closer to Raph to avoid branches they crept through. They continued this way for a little while, quietly walking for about fifteen or twenty minutes before the forest started to thin out a little, becoming more sparse in the dark, uneven landscape.

It wasn’t until then that the brothers finally started to think the thing was definitely gone, but it only came as an unspoken, uneasy feeling in their guts that crawled under their skin and made them really wish they could sink into the ground and disappear. Finally Mikey spoke up to his older brother again, his voice just a timid whisper as he held tightly to his protective older brother’s arm. “Raph, I don’t like this place.”

“I know Mike. I don’t either.” Raph mumbled, his voice low and grumbly, but comforting at the same time in the way only his could be, and it reassured the younger two to hear it, both of them looking at each other. They were so glad that, if they had to be stuck here, at least Raph was there so they could feel safe, no matter what happened. Without him, Donnie wondered how much progress he and Mikey would actually even dare to make through this place at all.

But it didn’t seem like they were finding much, regardless. After a bit more walking, and Raph’s progression was a lot less hunt-like and a lot more just extra cautious and light-footed, Donnie spoke up, too. “Whatever that thing was, I don’t think we’re gonna find it again anytime soon. I wonder how it got away that fast.” He said, keeping his own voice low and inside the three’s small, secret bubble of quiet communication.

A shiver went down the spine of the other two; not managing to find the maybe-animal-maybe-person was far worse than finding it. Donnie immediately got a heavy sensation of being watched, shrinking slightly against Raph’s shell, and Mikey hugged Raph’s arm tightly against himself, looking around and, if you looked at his face, pretty visibly spooked. He whimpered something that just ever so faintly sounded to Donnie like, “I wanna go home,” but it was hard to tell, being too quiet for even Raph to hear.

Sensing the anxiety from his siblings, Raph turned his head to glance at them from the side. “Well, we’ll just keep goin’ until we find something like civilization, or at least get out of these dang woods, anyway. It’s like anywhere on Earth – like if we just landed in the middle of a reserve, or somethin’ like that, right? ‘Course it would take a little while to walk all the way out. Even if these people live in a tree, it’ll be something. If we keep goin’, we gotta find something.”

“Right,” Donnie said, hugging his arms a little more snuggly around Raph’s neck. But they weren’t really used to woods on earth, either.

 

It was almost another hour of walking later when the woods finally seemed to end and a lumpy landscape of small hills stretched out before them instead, full of dry grass, blackened and covered over in a mess of muddy leaves and shriveled-up foliage, long-dead trees hanging over as if to warn away trespassers. It was here that Raph finally stopped to rest, letting Donnie down with a grunt and sitting on the ground with a thud.

Donnie immediately turned to him in concern, stooping down to his older brother, Mikey worriedly standing close by. “Are you ok Raph?”

“’S nothin’.” Raph grumbled, waving off his concern with a grumpy gesture but putting a hand to his shoulder with a very tense grimace of pain on his face being restrained with a lot of effort, regardless.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you carry me that far, your shoulder’s gotta be worse now. Let me–”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Raph pushed Donnie’s outstretched hand away. “I said it’s nothin’. My shoulder ain’t as bad as your ankle. An’ I had your weight on my other side anyway–”

“Don’t even give me any of that!” Donnie snapped, quickly falling into Annoyed Doctor Mode, and Raph relented to Donnie’s careful inspection with a groan and an eye roll. “You didn’t let me get a good look at it the first time, so there’s no telling what shape it’s in. You shouldn’t carry anyone anymore, and as soon as I find something, we’re slinging your arm.”

“Tch. Can you even walk, then?” Raph challenged, irritation but mostly an underlying concern in his eyes to back the question.

“Of....of course I can.” Donnie hesitated, pausing before gingerly getting back to his feet. “See? Now stop whining and–”

“You’re still leanin’.”

“So?! It still hurts, obviously!” Donnie defended, giving Raph a pout, but when he got a deadpan, unamused expression right back, he sighed, deflating a little. “Fine.”

Being extra careful at first, Donnie sucked in a breath and hobbled around in a circle, clearly trying to prove he could walk just fine if he had to, but he couldn’t hide anything under Raph’s scrutinizing gaze. Seeming more frustrated after walking the circle, Donnie stopped and turned back to groan and throw his arms. “My ankle is not the important thing here, it will heal. If you keep pushing your shoulder, you’re gonna have way worse problems than me, so stop acting like you don’t know that!”

Raph’s expression didn’t shift much from Unamused. “Whatever, just chill. I’ll let you look at my shoulder if you’ll at least let me support you, ok?”

Sighing, Donnie finally kneeled back down to his brother and gingerly put his hands to his shoulder. “Fine, now sit still.”

Watching his brothers for a moment with worry, as Donnie lightly felt about Raph’s shoulder and Raph winced at the touch, but obeyed mumbled commands to move his arm in different ways without complaint, Mikey put a finger to his mouth. “I’m sorry....I can’t help. I’d take a turn carrying you Donnie, but....my side...”

Both brothers immediately paused what they were doing for a moment to send him admonishing looks. “Don’t.” They simultaneously started, and paused to look at each other with a bit of confusion.
Mikey’s mouth twisted with an unsatisfied pout. “I really do wanna help, you guys shouldn’t have to do everything. I know I’m injured but you guys are too, and–”

“Mikey, for cryin’ out loud, you’d offer to carry Donnie if you had a pike drilled through your own foot.” Raph scolded. “There ain’t nothin’ you gotta apologize for kid, you’re doing everything you need to and there ain’t nothin’ more I’d have you do. I’d rather carry Donnie with a SLIGHTLY BRUISED SHOULDER–” He said this part with a swing of the head back in Donnie’s direction and a clear, long-suffering glare, to which he got an equally long-suffering, glare-ish eye-roll back– “than make him walk on a bad foot.” He sent Mikey an amused grin. “You’re helping enough already just as it is.”

“He’s right,” Donnie added, still checking out Raph’s shoulder. “I’m not gonna allow you to push yourself, either. Raph and I most likely just have sprains, but I’m not gonna be sure how bad we really are until we get back to the Ulixes, and considering the area of damage I’m mostly concerned about your side more than Raph’s or my injuries.”

Mikey scoffed lightly at this, but looking up to see his brother’s faces again, he was a little startled to see them looking at him so seriously all of a sudden. He hadn’t known how worried his older brothers had actually been about his side, or that they just hadn’t been talking about it. Why were they being so silly? It wasn’t even that bad. Surely he’d had worse injuries than this before, after all.

“And I still need to check on it too, by the way. Anyway, I can lean on you whenever Raph gets tired until it feels better.” He ignored Raph’s obvious dramatic scoff about not giving himself long enough to heal. “Besides...” And now Donnie gave Mikey a mischievous grin that he couldn’t help be immediately suspicious about, “Even if neither of us were injured, you couldn’t carry me anyway.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Mikey asked indignantly, taken aback by his brother’s chuckles. “I could too!” He pouted, but by the way they just laughed to each other, a warmth on their faces that they couldn’t contain, he didn’t think they believed him.

“Hmph...fine then, let’em think what they want.” Mikey mumbled to himself, crossing his arms and doing his best Frustrated Pout face, turning and sitting next to a shriveled-up tree a few feet away with his back turned to them, using every ounce of attitude he could muster.

“Alright, alright, enough of this.” Raph said, waving Donnie’s fussing off and getting back to his feet. “Let’s find some civilization, shall we? I’m kinda thirsty.” Ignoring Donnie’s protests and slinging him up over his good shoulder like a sack of potatoes, getting loud protests, Raph walked forward toward the plains ahead of them, getting a disgruntled squawk when he tugged Mikey back by the bandana tails as he passed.

Mikey smiled at the sidelong, playful and mischievous grin so full of warmth that his older brother sent back, the one he always gave so easily, and bounded after him towards the canyon-like landscape not far off past the small hills.

Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Notes:

Ok, so...I've run into a small problem with AO3. I usually use italics in my stories to indicate when somebody is thinking something, rather than saying it, because it's just visually a lot more clear. AO3 doesn't allow italics, so I'm adjusting some of my writing. When I use this ' mark, that means I'm indicating someone is thinking rather than " which is used for speaking.
Also, I should warn that this chapter is where the "graphic depictions of violence" come in. There is some animal slaughtering, but I try not to get more grotesque than necessary.
Ok? Ok, let's go!

By the time the group of three made their way past the plains, all were seriously starting to feel the effects of walking so far in their condition. Raph had put Donnie back down soon after they’d started out to instead have him lean on his good shoulder as they walked, and by the time they entered the dark canyon-like area, everybody had to stop for another break, sweating and hurting.

Raph looked up into the smog-covered sky of this dark, spooky planet with a scowl, sitting against a bowed and shriveled tree. If there was no life here, he wouldn’t be surprised – most of the foliage was either dead or looked like it wanted to be, after all. The thing Mikey saw in the woods, though, had him on this constant edge that was making him jerk at any new noise and think he was seeing things at the edges of his vision. With his little brothers around, he was increasingly paranoid of the potential dangers about and became antsier the farther they wandered from him. This didn’t happen often though, as both little brothers were also clearly spooked and as curious as they were about the place, never went far. Raph and Mikey had been holding hands for a large part of the walk over to this location just so Raph could be sure he was with him, and with the horrifying nature of this planet and the sense of danger all three were picking up, the youngest didn’t mind too much, and neither even took the time to joke about it. Mikey seemed to feel better for it anyway, comically looking forward again and coming closer to walk properly by his side every time he heard a weird noise. Raph sent a silent prayer up into the sky, willing it to break through the smoky darkness moving like clouds, to his family still in space – 'I hope you guys are ok. We’re down here. Please, find us soon. Leo...'

“Hey.” Donnie walked up beside him, casually interrupting his train of thought with a wondering look on his face, noticing the sentimental one on Raph’s. He dropped down beside him and leaned back, his bad leg stretched out. “What are you thinking about?”

They were stopped somewhere near the base of the canyon by some rotted trees. Mikey had walked around a little after resting with the other two, curiosity even winning over the bad vibes of his surroundings and his sore side. Raph and Donnie had jointly decided earlier that they should look for any creeks or rivers in the canyon, and after they rested a bit the three were off to start that search. Raph looked at Donnie peering at him, Mikey standing on his tiptoes in the background to try to see into the distance, looking for water.

Raph let out a casual huff. “I’m thinkin’ I wish I knew what Mikey saw in the woods.” He said, Donnie’s face grimacing slightly in unnerved agreement. “You haven’t seen anything out-a’-the-ordinary, or you know, person-like, have’ya?”

Donnie just shook his head, turning his head forward again and looking down at his feet. “I’ve been on the lookout ever since that sighting, but it doesn’t seem like there’s anything around. I haven’t even sensed anything.”

“Me ‘neither.” Raph agreed, and both fell quiet for a minute, lost in thought.

Donnie glanced over at Raph, looking over his profiled expression. He had a casual half-scowl that was part frustration, part worry, staring down at his hands and his mind a hundred miles away. Donnie grinned – that expression looked familiar, somehow.

“So,” Donnie started, looking away again as Raph looked at him, “Say we don’t find any civilization, which it doesn’t feel like we will. Or if we do, they have no technology that I can try to contact the Ulixes with.”

Raph looked at Donnie expectantly, guessing the topic this was about.

“We should also be on the lookout for any material we can collect to make a flare.” Donnie suggested, looking at Raph for his opinion. “I’m not sure if Professor Honeycutt knew the location where they lost us at, but if they come close, it would help. And even better, say we do happen to find any lifeforms here, or a living area of any kind. If they’ve collected some of the right materials, I could try to construct a basic homing beacon and make it so it’ll send a signal to any spacecraft that can pick it up. It would be short-range, but even that would be better than a flare.”

“I think you’ve got the right idea,” Raph agreed, grinning at his little brother. “Gettin’ lost ain’t even possible with you around, Donnie.” Raph gave his shoulder a light push, both sharing a laugh.

“Ah–!”

Both brothers were suddenly and immediately on high-alert from the startled yelp of their baby brother several feet away – too far away. He was galloping over the terrain back to the pair before Raph had the chance to call him, however, and came in close to their protective arms where they grabbed and checked him over for any new injuries before he could babble out what had surprised him.

“What happened?” Raph looked at Mikey squarely, eyes full of seriousness and intensity on his little brother as the smaller looked back in alarm.

“Th-there’s something coming,” He said, already trying to push the two towards a large rock formation to hide. “I can’t tell what it is.”

“Tch–!” Looking out into the distance with a scowl, Raph quickly corralled both little brothers behind the rocks, peering around it in search of unwelcome company. Sure enough, a small group of pitch-black humanoid-shaped creatures were approaching their area. What were they? As Raph watched them come closer, he became more and more horrified.

There were four of them. The creatures were totally coated in some kind of black substance that dripped from their bodies, and they were enormous, maybe triple the height of Donatello. They were almost human-like in shape, but skinny and mangled and misshapen and animal-like in the way they traveled on all-fours with their long arms, and their joints – oh, he was gonna have nightmares. Raph felt the blood drain from his face as he shrank back further behind the protective barrier hiding them, hoping his little brothers couldn’t see the terror on his face. Their joints did all sorts of things Raph didn’t think they were supposed to, snapping this way and that as they ran, heads twitching about, the creatures howling horribly through the canyon in pain or crazed delusion like animals possessed. Their heads were long and feature-less and their mouths opened impossibly long like fanged demons when they whaled.

Hearing quiet gasps of terror underneath him, he realized with horror that his two little brothers were peeking around the rock formation as well, watching the monsters. Raph grabbed both of them in his arms in one swoop and quickly backed further behind their hiding place, almost stumbling. Panting, he forced his back against the rock in a panic, drawing both sais. Protectively crushing his little brothers against him with the terrified strength of steel, weapons at the ready, he prayed for the second time that day. Both little brothers only looked up at Raph with wide, fearful eyes and Raph silently mouthed the words, “Don’t, make, a sound”.

The group remained stone-still and silent as they listened to the monsters come right up into the area where they had just been, galloping and twisting their heads and howling, when suddenly they paused. The three behind the rock tensed further, both little brothers pressing even further into the older as he squeezed them and raised his shoulders, looking tensely to the side and none daring to breathe.

The hunched monsters moved slowly about the area, behaving different from before. Still twitching and growling and spastically howling in what could’ve been frustration, they now sniffed the ground on all-fours, when Donnie suddenly realized they had caught a whiff of the group’s scent. They were hunting.

Donnie poked Raph to get his attention, and with eyes even wider and more fearful than before, he pointed at his own mouth, getting a similar response from the other two.

They’re looking for food.

The monsters walked far enough into the area that the group could see them to the side, and they pressed as hard into the rock as they could, watching them.

Finally, one gave a loud roar, making the three twitch violently and dig in as close to each other as possible, cowering away from the things. Its voice was so awful, as if it were filled with all the whaling of a hundred screeching humans and monsters together. And then – an animal streaked across the clearing where the monster stood!

The three hiding behind the rock made the smallest of gasps. They hadn’t seen a single animal since they’d been here; it was just a simple thing that could’ve been some version of a rabbit, but it was killed just as quickly as they saw it. The whole situation escalated so quickly there was barely time for them to register it.

The monster that had roared killed the animal, instantly and hungrily ripping into it to devour. The three other monsters present jumped in to take a bite but the first one jerked it away for itself – its little body was in hundreds of pieces in an instant. The three of them almost yelped when a loud crash soon followed, and they realized one of the creatures had taken a large boulder in its mouth and thrown it at one of the others in the fight, but the other simply smashed through it with its forehead, seemingly unfazed and snapping at the attacker.

The fight over the meat escalated until it wasn’t clear if it had been eaten already or simply destroyed, because the three monsters that had missed out on the meal were now savagely attacking the fourth. Violent became deadly very quickly as the three overpowered the one, and it was at this point Raph looked away, holding his brothers so close and covering their eyes with his hands. The shadows Raph bitterly watched against the canyon wall across from them, the noise and the gore that splashed around were the only indications they had of what happened to the fourth creature, and the sounds of more devouring quickly followed. Mikey lurched a little and covered his mouth, and both brothers comfortingly held him tight and rubbed his back as he became still and silent again. There was no way any of the three would allow their location to be made known.

Thankfully, it wasn’t too long after this that the three creatures left seemed to be satisfied, and giving one whale of victory or territorial domination, they left the scene just as they came.

The three huddled behind the rocks waited for quite a while still before they dared to come back out. The already-dark world was darkened a bit further in what was probably dusk by now, and as soon as everyone was absolutely sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that nothing else was going to come, Mikey started crying.

Everyone was still shaking at this point. Mikey dropped his head against Raph’s good shoulder and put his hands to his face, making small whimpers, and Donnie hid his face under his own hand, his own racing emotions threatening to get the better of him at any second, too. Raph squeezed them both tight and dug his muzzle down between their faces, squeezing his eyes shut as tight as he could and swearing at himself not to break down.

Eventually, they found enough control of themselves again to move out from behind the rocks, Raph finally putting away his weapons, and the sight of the carnage there made them even more upset. Mikey whaled and hid in Raph’s chest, Raph and Donnie looking on in horror. The creature’s body was absolutely demolished. Stuff – stuff was everywhere. Raph similarly pulled Donnie in to break his gaze away from the sight, and the younger brother shuddered, wrapping his arms around the others in search of support. Raph held them closer than anything in the whole world and looked on at the scene, worried – for one of the few, genuinely helpless moments in his life – about how they were gonna get through this one.

After what just happened, the demanding need to find a safe place for the night was the only thing that convinced Raph that despite the overwhelming urge to just dig a hole and wait until the others were able to find them and come to their rescue, they had to keep moving forward.

He took a deep breath and sighed, part to try and calm himself, and part to hopefully soothe the other two. He looked down at his younger siblings cooped up in his arms and rubbed the backs of their shells.

“...We’ve gotta find shelter for the night.” He said simply, voice low and as calming as he could possibly make it. All at once, he wished Leo were here just to say what he was trying to. Their oldest brother had always somehow had these magical soothing powers, always able to dash his little brothers’ worst fears to oblivion with his warm, gentle voice. “I know it’s scary, but the way things are, sleepin’ in the open at night ain’t an option. We’ll be safer once we find a place for tonight.”

Donnie sighed and looked over at Mikey, whose crying had de-escalated back to whimpers and was rubbing his tightly-clenched eyes, horribly afraid of opening them and seeing the dripping slaughter behind him – a phobia the three all admittedly shared. With one last deep breath to encourage himself, Raph anchored Donnie’s arms around his good shoulder and drew Mikey into his side, who kept his head low and wrapped his arms tight around the older’s middle, and together they went in search of a safer place.

~

Despite the land growing ever-darker as night approached, the three managed to find a small, very shallow creek just an hour away from where they were, and oh, what a blessed thing it was. They all laid flat on the ground to submerge themselves in it before quickly finding a rock bowl-shaped enough to collect some in and boil it once Donnie was able to start a fire, and while they boiled the water Mikey found the smallest of groves in the ground under the rock face of a canyon wall just feet away, apparently the previous home of some animal and just big enough for the three to squeeze into with elbow room – which none had complaints about, as chilly as it was getting. While they were already used to the cool New York City air, the natural temperature of this planet was on the chillier side and the constant exposure was starting to get to them. And of course, the darker it got, the further the thermometer dropped.

As soon as they’d all gotten enough to drink, the three of them crawled into the little space in the ground dug into the canyon wall, Donnie taking the concave rock with him to keep until he could find a way to carry it more conveniently. Hidden nicely by a bit of foliage and snuggled up to each other, they laid still for a little while as they tried to settle their nerves and chase away the cold.

Night quickly fell as they rested, quite awake, but a little calmer now that they felt a bit safer from this terrible world they’d found themselves in. All their wounds were aching badly after so much strain and jostling today, and the most each could manage was to find some position that they could bear as they rested against each other, so Raph had to lay his weight on his good shoulder with the other two snuggled in close. All were hungry and sore for the ones they missed in space, but alive; and as long as they could keep that last one the same, each had hope it was going to be alright.

Mikey and Donnie seemed to be preoccupied listening to all the new night sounds around them which, all things considered, were a bit more comforting than their other experiences of this planet so far; and assured they were lulling off, heads tucked snuggly and resting underneath his, Raph watched the smoggy sky through the opening of their little space, where he could actually see occasional stars peek through the black sheet above.

'I wonder if the others are ok.' Raph thought, and gave a small sigh. 'I wish we could’a had our cell phones with us, or that they even worked in space. It would make everything so much easier...'

Mikey shifted his head a little. “Raphie?” He mumbled in a quiet, tired voice. The way Donnie shifted, too, it was clear he was also still awake.

“Mm.” Raph quietly mumbled back.

“Is your shoulder ok after everything?”

Raph grinned, giving his baby brother’s muzzle a teasing poke. “It’s fine. Don’t you worry.”

Mikey hummed in response, Raph not knowing if he accepted that or not, but knowing he wouldn’t say. “Donnie, how’s your foot?”

Donnie chuckled. “I’ll live. How’s your side?”

Again, Mikey hummed in response, but a little more perturbed than before, and just when it seemed he wouldn’t give a response to Donnie's question, he answered, “I’m ok. Just hurts I guess.”

The three were silent for a little longer after this, contemplating different things, and after a little while Mikey spoke up again.

“How are we gonna make it back?”

There was a short pause after this question. Donnie shifted to more clearly see the other two, and shared a glance with Raph. Gently rubbing Mikey’s shoulder, Donnie answered sleepily. “If we actually manage to find any living sites here, I wanted to see if they had the right materials to make a beacon-like device to hopefully contact the others. But,” He continued on quietly, “I’m not sure that we will. I might be able to make one anyway, if we can find the materials, but...you know.”

Mikey nodded silently in understanding – this place may or may not have what Donnie needed. He knew his smart brother would figure out the next best thing regardless, but he worried how many options they really had.

“Our best bet,” Raph said, holding them both firmly, “Is to wait for the others to come an’ find us here. And don’t you guys even act like you don’t know – mountains will be moved before the mountains even dream of tryin’ to pose a threat.”

The younger two giggled in agreement.

“So while we wait, we’ve gotta make sure to be careful an’ stay low. This ain’t the sort of place I really wanna test my steel against, and you guys know I’m serious if that’s comin’ from me.” Another couple of grins in agreement. “We’ll keep movin’ and try to find some food and camps or anything like that, and if Donnie sees something he can use, we’ll try to get that too.” His face dropped and his voice became more serious for a moment as he talked to them, and they listened intently. “I don’t want neither of you wanderin’ away or leaving my sight, you hear me? Stay close to me and if I say jump, jump. We’re gonna have to keep hidden as much as possible, and for now we’ve only got my sais.”

The three fell back to silence for another few moments in resignation of this, and for a little while, the night creatures outside were all that could be heard. Donnie gave a little sigh and snuggled the two of them in closer to Raph, clearly lulling off again in the warmth and safety of his surroundings. Mikey nestled down deeper between the two of them, and in the way he wrapped a hand over Donnie’s arm strewn over him and buried his clenched eyes into Raph’s neck, they felt something was wrong, and so Donnie’s face was nestled in closer in concern and Raph’s chin protectively resting over his head when he quietly spoke up again.

“What if we see the monsters again?”

Raph paused at the question, and after a moment looked over at Donnie, who glanced back with a fear that he couldn’t keep out of his face, as much as he tried to hide it. Sighing, Raph squeezed them tight, nuzzling both their heads with his and drawing a sleepy yawn out of both of them.

“Then stay close to me,” He mumbled warmly, tiredly. “We’ll be alright.”

The group finally started to lose the battle to sleep once more, and were tightly nestled in with one another when Donnie’s voice came up one more time, quietly asking a half-asleep question from the ever-curious parts of his mind. “Oh, Mikey, I was wondering. I noticed back there...those things didn’t really have eyes.”

Mikey made a small nodding movement, eyes closed and clearly preferring to go to sleep rather than talk about the monsters. “Mm-hmm.” He sleepily mumbled in agreement, wrapping both arms around Donnie’s and snuggling it to him.

“But when we were in the woods, didn’t you say you saw something staring at us?”

Taking an extra second for his tired brain to process this connection, Mikey then hummed in realization, mumbling his reply before falling asleep. “Oh, you’re right. It had beady, red eyes...”

Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Casey expertly flipped the pancake that didn’t really need flipping, hot out of Professor Honeycutt’s virtual food-hologram-creator machine, poured on the syrup and took it with him to the middle of the main room to sit in his designated pod. He set his breakfast to the side as he went over some papers and maps detailing the world where they’d lost part of their team.

He was in charge of learning the nature of the planet based on the information the Professor had provided him, and strategizing their rout of travel and method of infiltration as soon as the rescue mission was possible. And based on the rate things were going, that shouldn’t be more than a day or two longer.

The Professor, Leo and April were all working furiously to make every repair necessary to launch the ship back toward the planet, and as far as he could tell, they were already halfway done. On top of the engine damage Donnie had been working on when it happened – which, like he had said when it happened, was a quick fix – their enemies had all but destroyed one of the Ulixes’ drive motors, which was the Professor’s main problem now that April had already fixed the original engine wire damage.

Leo....

He hadn’t been talking much, this whole time – but he didn’t really need to anyway. It made perfect sense to Casey, actually. It was already so clear what he was feeling, in the way his hands still tremored ever so slightly now and then as he worked on the destroyed drive motor with the Professor, in the way he always seemed so lost all the time now that he hardly knew how to eat anymore – in the way that no matter what his expression did, it just seemed to slide over the surface of this deep pain never left his features, and these deep wrinkles of worry that creased on his forehead and couldn’t seem to leave. The way the circles under his eyes looked a little darker this morning than they had yesterday. And the others had been giving him all the support in the world, because they just knew, and Casey and April were anxious for the little missing pieces of their family, too – and April was the one who pulled Leo out of the broken drive motor last night, covered in a dark oil-based chemical and exhausted to the bone, and made him eat dinner, even if he couldn’t seem to focus well enough to know what he was eating. And Leo knew the kind of state he was in. How could he not, he was so worried, and how had this happened to his three precious baby brothers? But he didn’t know how to talk about it and Casey wasn’t totally sure he’d want to try, and so he didn’t, instead accepting the others’ support and trusting in everyone when they so affectionately showed him that it was ok, they understood. And that was the most he could seem to manage to do.

And Casey was doing a little bit of everything, going in to meet the others at the motor of the Ulixes when his strength was needed and now, making plans for their rescue mission so they could launch out as soon as physically possible.

He only hoped the other three could hold on until then.

They had all of the Ulixes’ communication devices on their highest sensitivity settings, scouring for any and every sign or semblance of the others possible, waiting, just in case. All of them were dying with frustration and worry that none of the others had anything they could contact the Ulixes back with, since the helmets were previously supposed to handle that just fine for everybody, but the three were much too far out of range now, and this – this just wasn’t supposed to happen. If they still had the things with them, at all. If they just knew they were ok, things would be so much easier, so much less stressful. The whole battle here would already be won, things would already be ok, the most important things.

“Damn it all.” Casey thought. “If I find out any of the three of you aren’t ok....”

He rested his head in his hand and made a despondent sigh, glancing at his un-touched pancakes. They’d gone cold while he was working.

~

 

“Mmmhg.”

Raph groaned sleepily, the weight of two forms still tucked snuggly into his good side easing the snap of anxiety that instinctively came to him on awakening. The next thing he felt was the sharp pain in his bad shoulder, stiff and clearly out of order for a good few days.

'Ow.'

Looking down at his two little brothers, still sleeping soundly, he couldn’t help but make a pitiful expression. Even with easy, relaxed faces in sleep, the two were dug as deeply into Raph and one another as they could possibly get, huddled down in an instinctual reaction from this hostile planet that made them feel hunted and unsafe at all times; where sleep was just a fitful shut-eye that anything could wake you up from. Raph sighed, squeezing the two a little closer to himself, and they gently nestled their heads into him in response. The sooner they all got out of this nightmare place, the better.

With a grumble coming from his stomach, he decided to try and get a head start on the hunt for food, and moved his little brothers off of him as gently as a couple of babies. Climbing out of the little den, he started looking around for a good hunting place right away; he refused to go so far as to let their tiny shelter leave his sight. The only animal they’d seen on this planet so far had been destroyed right in front of them in seconds, but maybe if he could find some foliage that hadn’t died yet, they could test to see which ones were edible–

“AAaah!”

Heart leaping into his throat, Raph was hands-and-knees halfway back through the burrow in half a second, every nerve in his body on fire with panic. About sixteen emotions flew through the next moment at once – Donnie was the one who had woken up with a scream, and now had his hands over his mouth from the noise he’d made while trying to figure out what was going on and calm his furiously pounding heart. Mikey had woken up immediately, and was sitting up stalk-straight and wide-eyed, moved backwards and shivering after being startled awake with such a loud noise, and Raph was trying to process that everybody was ok and make himself breathe again, but all quickly came to a silent stand-still as they listened intensely to their surroundings for a moment of horror.

After listening to the normal nature sounds around them and everybody was absolutely sure that nothing was coming, Raph let out the smallest, almost inaudible sigh and turned to Donnie, placing a firm hand on his head.

“Don, I don’t know whether to ask’ya what’s wrong or smack’ya.” He whispered, admonishing.

“I’m sorry,” Donnie whispered back, ducking his head down and clenching his eyes in bashful anxiety, still a little shaken. “I don’t know what – I’m sorry.”

Suddenly, pulling him in with his hand on the back of his head, Raph trapped Donnie in a strong hug, surprising both little brothers.

“Just as long as you’re ok.” He whispered, voice full of relief, and he didn’t care if either of them thought he was acting weird as he squeezed Donnie a little tighter, but the way his little brother seemed to finally calm down and Mikey only grinned as he watched them, somehow feeling safer himself without having anything to do with it, he didn’t think they cared much, either.

“Nightmare?” Raph finally asked, letting Donnie go, and he got a nervous nod back.

“I can’t help it.....those things yesterday just....” Donnie shook his head, apparently suddenly thinking he sounded stupid. “Well, you know. I couldn’t get them out of my head.”

“Me ‘neither.” Mikey said, looking at them both. “I can’t believe they actually....”

The three sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds, looking around at each other as they remembered the scene from yesterday.

“...What do you think they are? We’ve never seen anything much like those things before, for all the places we’ve been.” Mikey continued, eyes wide with curiosity and his voice small and haunted, and he shivered uncomfortably. “But those are....”

“No idea, and don’t really care to find out.” Raph said, hiking himself up onto his knees again to crawl back out of the small den, helping the other two climb out, as well. “The most important thing is that we keep away from’em, ‘cause whatever they are, they ain’t something we need to be studyin’ up close. Let’s find some food and then figure out where to get some electro-doo-dads for Donnie.”

Sighing hopelessly at the terminology, Donnie slumped while Mikey eagerly saluted. “Yes sir!”

 

Into the morning hours that they hunted, the food mission very quickly degenerated and became increasingly unsuccessful, and the more this became apparent, the more foreboding the three felt about the state of their situation and their hunt about the ever-gloomy, canyon-type landscape – where the closest things resembling life were the tiny bugs making all the strange nature sounds and the occasional elusive bird, both of which the three agreed they could try to eat if nothing else, but they had to actually find enough bugs that it was worth it and wait until they could build a slingshot for the birds – one of which Mikey was in the process of making as they walked along. Raph still had his sais, but –

“Don’t throw those around,” Donnie had said before. “We can’t afford to lose them.”

Donnie had ultimately decided to leave their rock water bowl behind, with no real way to carry it for long distances. He found a walking stick soon after they began trekking about, but was still limping badly. It was all Raph could do to keep focused on the task at hand instead of offering Donnie support again, but as the situation became more desperate, they began to feel the need to stop entirely to re-strategize, when–

“Finished!”

Both turning back to the youngest brother, Mikey held up the hand-made slingshot proudly, a huge smile on his face. “Now we can try to get a bird! Gimme one second.” Picking up a rock, he fastened it to the knotted pocket in the vine he’d tied on, and started swirling it around as he looked about anxiously. “Now, where’s....”

All three looked around, only to find the typically vacant landscape empty as ever.

Donnie sent Mikey a sympathetic grin as the youngest brother slumped in defeat. “Don’t worry, Mikey. Next time I spot one, I’ll let you know.”

“...Ok.” Arming his belt with the stick in one definitive movement, Mikey strode forward. “Hey you guys, we’ve been walking for a while. I was thinking, should we try to get to the top of the canyon and look to see what kind of areas we can spot?”

The other two stopped and looked at each other to consider this, before turning back to Mikey. “That’s a good idea, little bro. Whatever looks most promising, we’ll head that way.” Raph said, giving him a grin.

Sending a big smile back, Mikey turned on his heel and all but skipped down the path they were on, toward an incline nearby. Raph and Donnie shared a curious look.

“He’s got WAY too much energy for someone with a bad side.” Raph grunted as they went to follow the youngest, and Donnie laughed.

“Oh, don’t even try pretending to be all grumpy.” Face softening, Donnie continued in a quieter voice, and Raph couldn’t help the way his own expression probably softened, too – “Mikey would eat a bucket of roaches before he’d let anything get us down.”

Raph grinned slightly, looking ahead at their eager little brother, running to reach the top of the canyon wall and looking over the edges at the new things he could see – even if it pulled at his anxiety a little that he was running just a bit too far, but at some point he had to give his younger brothers space to move a little, or he’d never hear the end of it.

Chuckling, Raph looked back over at the second youngest after a moment and continued, “...So what exactly do you need to make a convertible-tracking-doo-hickey?”

Donnie sighed. “...It’s probably gonna be more of a question of what I can make do with instead.” Donnie replied, expression a little more serious now. “And I don’t know what’s here. But I really need a metal or element that can transmit electro-magnetic waves well, and magnetic-compatible materials to build a small computer with.”

“DANG,” Raph took an over-dramatic step away from his little brother as they were walking and gave him a once-over, to which he received back a major Eye-Roll. “Build up a computer from scratch? Like, from dirt and rocks and lightning and crap?”

“Oh, Raph, it wouldn’t be a computer like my old laptop.” Donnie exaggerated. “Think wayyy smaller, like memory-chip size, and then think cave-man simple. That’s all I need to send a signal through – it’s radio-wave science, basic as rocks. It would be simple, we would need a power source, it would have no information except where it was coming from and I won’t know the range it would have until the material was in front of me. But being something that somebody was already looking for, it could make all the difference.”

Raph paused. "So...it IS rocks."

Donnie shoved him, and he laughed. “Honestly though, that's pretty impressive, D.” He grinned mischievously. “Well, while you’re busy with that, I guess I’ll make you a crutch.”

Donnie’s little grin quickly turned into a scowl. “Raph, it’s NOT that bad.”

“I can see that, by the way Mikey’s probably growing a beard waiting on us.”

“Oh, you’re so confident for someone with a wrecked shoulder.”

“Listen, you...”

The two’s bickering slowly came to a stop when they realized they’d reached their youngest brother at the top of the canyon wall, who was looking out into the distance without saying a word, without so much as sparing them a glance. When the other two looked as well, they saw why.

After a moment, Mikey mumbled, “What an awful place.” He didn't really seem aware he'd said it, but coming from their previously overly-energized little brother, it sank into Raph's and Donnie's hearts a little deeper.

The world was just as dark as they’d first seen when they woke up in the woods, and from this point of view, somehow, it seemed even worse. The whole landscape was so rough and volatile, and almost everything was dead. The canyon went on a little bit longer before it turned back to forestland riddled with blackened and bowed-over trees, and in the farthest distance they could see, edging the horizon, there seemed to be areas where the forest ended again and the landscape perhaps turned into something dry and desert-like, with a mountain just barely visible beyond that, but the smog choked out the rest. The dark sky seemed to change a little bit in that area and was reflecting a deep red, but they dared not try to guess what for. There were no signs of any animals of any kind throughout the whole landscape, and way up here where the eery noises from the woods reached them all at once, they realized how strange and discordant an even agitated the creatures of the woods sounded. Besides this, out of the two very distant places within the forest they could see that held any semblance of life, well–

“I can hear them.” Donnie whispered, and the other two nodded. A clear, animal-like growl emitted from one of the patches of drying life from the wilderness ahead, and it sent a shiver straight down their spines. Even on top of the tall canyon wall, they suddenly felt unsafe and sat down just to be closer to the ground.

Looking out at this place, this horrible, nightmarish place that made all three of them wish they could run home and hide in their father’s arms, or just as well, back to the spaceship and in someone else’s, a sigh of despair wrenched itself from Raph’s desperate efforts to keep it in, and he put his hands on both little brothers’ heads when they scooted closer.

None could find a response to give when Donnie spoke up in a small voice, “I wanna go back to the Ulixes.”

As they observed the place a little longer, Raph thought to himself, trying to decide what to do. Clearly, there were two areas in particular they had any chance whatsoever of finding even half of what they needed, but the risks associated with that were obvious. From all he gathered yesterday, those tall black monsters had an inhuman strength that surpassed even their own size and apparent capabilities, they were violent past the point of even their own survival, and for all he could tell, they were out of their minds. If Leo were here, he was a hundred percent certain even their leader would have kept his team away from those things at all costs. If he had any control over the matter whatsoever, Raph wouldn't let one of his little brothers within even the same galaxy space as those monsters ever again, but as the situation was, if they didn’t want to starve to death, going into one of those little death traps may be their only chance of survival.

But, he wouldn’t go within miles of the place if either of his little brothers didn’t want to. So, wrapping his arms around their shoulders, he turned to them, seriousness and purpose on his face.
“I’m gonna suggest somethin’ that both of you probably don’t wanna hear,” Raph started, his voice quieter and even gentle, and the two of them watched him wide-eyed, listening intently and fearful for facts they didn’t want to face. “The way I see it, we have about three options. But if there’s even a glimmer of life or resources down there where those – those demons are, it might be the best chance we got.” Pausing, Raph gave them a moment to process this, because the two didn’t seem to react much to this, in what he couldn’t tell to be acceptance or just denial. “Now, I ain’t saying we have to do anything; this has got to be a group decision, and if you guys don’t want anything to do with those areas, you can bet we'll be circling around them like the devil lives there himself. We’re all still injured and in bad shape, and the only thing we need to be doing is using every inch of stealth sensei taught us to grab what we need and get out. But if you both think it's something we can’t handle, I’ll be damned if I’m gonna drag you guys in there. We can still move further and see what else we can find, but based on the state of things, we gotta decide where to go, and really make an effort not to burn out before we get there, ‘cause we’re gonna need to preserve all the energy we can. We can also wait. I don’t know if there are really any safe places to hide, and we’d have to find one. But since we got water, we can wait several days for the others’ta come and find us before we’re in trouble.”

Inhaling to cut off his internal screams against the outrageous danger involved and begrudgingly finalize the suggestion to his two little brothers, he continued, “But if you two are willing to get close to those sites over there...” The three glanced in that general direction again, over the dark, dead landscape – “If you guys are willing to get close, we can sneak up to their living place and see if they have food, and things that Donnie needs.”

While Raph admittedly expected some kind of protest, or suggestion that maybe holding onto their luck and staying away would be better - while a sad kind of resignation had come to their faces, his younger siblings only looked at him with resolve, returning his gaze earnestly. And while Raph realized his little brothers probably saw the need to take their chances for the resources while they still had any chance, he couldn’t help how so, incredibly proud he was of the little stinkers in that moment. Because they all knew how afraid each of them was, even if they didn’t talk about how, despite everything they’d seen, they were shaken straight down to their bones.

Donnie nodded. “I...I think,” He said in a small voice, “We need to scope the areas out and at the very least, see what’s possible. If we don’t try, we might be missing all the resources this place has to give us. And even though those things are down there....” He paused for a second to give a nervous glance back, “If something were to happen.....we need all the strength we still have in order to get away. But even if it doesn’t go well, and we find nothing, and we have to change tactics afterwards....”

He looked at Mikey, and Mikey nodded, looking up into Raph’s eyes with big baby blues, full and hopeful. “We can know we at least tried.” He said.

Looking down at his little brothers gazing back up at him with such courage, as full of pride as he was, Raph’s gut twisted with worry now; because now that his little brothers expressed the same acknowledgement of the tough decision they had to make, they had to go and DO it, and God help him, he didn’t know if he could take his baby brothers down there. He swore he’d put all of his senses on highest alert and watch them like a hawk; but if they were discovered, he didn’t know if anything could save them.

Internally he groaned. Sometimes, he imagined that Leo felt something exactly like this any time they left the lair. But, Raph had hoped that they’d never be in a situation where he really knew how it felt just this badly.

With all these feelings and resolve and doubt between the three of them, Raph pulled his little brothers into the tightest hug, and hugged back, afraid of what they had to do.

Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Some time after they’d made their plans on the canyon wall, the group of three had climbed back down and with nothing to hold them back, started out on their trip towards the left of the two green areas in the woods just beyond the canyon. Both places looked to be several hours away from their previous position on top of the canyon cliff, and as they continued walking at the eased, energy-conserving pace they were, darkness started to fall once more and they decided to stop and finish the trip the next day. By now they were in the woods again, and it was fortunately easier to find small nooks and crannies to potentially stop at, but at the same time, the hunted feeling and paranoia of being watched returned to them as they remembered their last trip through the woods, and none could really decide which area they preferred.

Like last time, once they’d come to a stop after the long walk, each of them was aching in a bad way, and all injuries felt inflamed and swollen beyond any hope of comfortable rest. And now that they’d left the little creek of water in the canyon far behind, they were thirsty.

Mikey made a point of groaning and dropping on his backside against a blackened tree, once they stopped for a break in a section where the underbrush wasn’t too thick and thorny. All of their feet hurt badly after walking across several rough miles of rocks, branches and who knew what else.

With his walking stick, Donnie wasn’t too much worse off than the rest of them, but far more sore, to be sure. Still, he worriedly hobbled over to the youngest, despite his clearly throbbing ankle. “How is your side, Mikey?”

“S’ok.” Mikey replied, easily bantering his older brother’s worry and waving to indicate that he sit and rest, too. Raph walked in front of them, looking at their surroundings.

“I think I saw a cave a little bit further that way,” He indicated a direction to the side with his head, “So we should check that out once we’ve rested for a minute. How you guys holding up?”

Mikey and Donnie shared a glance, clearly in the same condition, so Mikey delivered the report with a small grin. “We’ll survive,” He said, and giggled at the dissatisfied grunt that got from their older brother. “But Raphieeee, my feet hurt.”

“Oh my Lord, Mikey, if you start goin’ on about your feet again.”

Raph didn’t even need to finish as his brothers started laughing, and couldn’t help the grin on his face as he watched them, a picture of warmth in sharp contrast to their surroundings. 'What am I gonna do with these two?' Raph wondered, crossing his arms and grinning affectionately down at them, and not just because they weren’t looking right then.

“ALRIGHT alright, I’ve had enough of you two.” Feigning a frown and grunting, Raph suddenly stooped down and hiked them both up into the air, eliciting small cries and squeals of laughter and protest and shushing, while Raph turned around and stalked back toward the cave like a giant with hostages.

And he almost made it a few steps, too, before his smirk suddenly vanished and he almost dropped Donnie on his head as his arm gave out and he fell to one knee with a hiss of pain, and the fun and games were immediately over as the two younger brothers surrounded the older anxiously, carefully supporting him.

“Raph, how many times do I have to tell you? Don’t push yourself!” Donnie admonished, he and Mikey quickly hoisting their big brother up as Donnie made a quick check of the aggravated shoulder injury, despite Raph weakly attempting to shove his hands away.

“It wouldn’ta hurt if you hadn’t made me do it...” Was all Raph stubbornly grumbled in response, and Donnie gave him a pretty definitive huff of disapproval to that. The three carefully made their way to their chosen shelter for the night, nervously looking about at the newly disturbed night noises surrounding them.

 

Mikey opened his eyes when something sharply brought him back to consciousness.

It was still dark out and Raph and Donnie were sound asleep, the three of them huddled closely together in the cave that was even colder than their last stake-out – ignoring the dryness of his mouth he initially noticed, his drowsiness quickly fading as his senses quickly grew sharper with anxiety. He had a strong sensation that an unfamiliar sound had woken him up. Nervous, he peered around in the darkness and watched the small opening of the little cave closely. Maybe he should wake up Raph? He shifted in preparation to do that–

Terror immediately took him over and he froze when he saw the unmistakable, tall and inky black of a limb appear outside their cave entrance.

Maybe he were just hallucinating, he thought for a moment – hoped, begged – but it was just a moment later he also heard a sound that made him want to cry, the growls and screeches of those prowling monsters staking out the area in a group of what could’ve been five.

The groans and sharp cries just outside the sanctuary of their little cave made Mikey’s numb body move on its own, unable to control how he started jerkily giving Raph sharp nudges, inhaling sharply at every sudden squawk and crow from outside. Raph mumbled a little irritably as he woke up, but very quickly picked up on the panic from his youngest.

“Mm...Mikey? What’s–” He mumbled, but cut off when Mikey quickly started shaking his head, desperately staring up at him with eyes wide as saucers.

One monster screeched at another outside, and Raph immediately understood.

He stared back at Mikey, his own eyes wide, and quickly, quietly scooted back as far as they could go against the cave wall, holding the two tight as iron as Donnie woke up, confused. Mikey had his hand over the immediate older’s mouth before he could say anything, quickly alerting him to the situation with a gesture of his head, and now the whole group was stonily silent.

Petrified, the three waited for a few moments as they listened, watching them walking around with their joints snapping all about and looking like nothing less than a nightmare in the dark gloom of night. It was all the two youngest could do to clench their eyes shut and hide their faces in Raph’s chest when one of the things walked by the cave entrance with its head down just a little too far. Already, their violence was obvious when one pushed another into a tree and caused the whole thing to come crashing down, the other giving an angry cry back.

Hands slightly trembling, Raph quickly remembered the sais at his sides and unsheathed them, securely wrapping his arms around the others again as he prepared to move. Voice so low and quiet it was almost inaudible, he whispered unsteadily, “Keep quiet. We’ll wait an’ see if they move on, but if they don’t, we gotta leave. They might sniff us out again.”

Mikey looked at the back of the cave and immediately pressed his face into Raph’s chest again, using every ounce of his determination to not cry. “There’s only one way out. We can’t go that way, Raphie. They’ll get us. We can’t go that way.” He desperately whispered back.

Looking down at him sadly, Raph squeezed them both closer, tucking Mikey’s head under his chin and staring anxiously out the cave. “It’s ok, little brother. We’re gonna be fine. I’m right here, and I ain’t letting nothin’ happen to either of you. We’re gonna be ok.”

A little shaky himself, Donnie felt around for the walking stick he’d picked up earlier that day in order to arm himself with it, but to his surprise, found it wasn’t there. Which was odd, he was sure he’d taken it with him, but maybe he dropped it outside, where – he dropped his head on Raph’s shoulder hopelessly, the three waiting to see their fate as a small fight was breaking out between the two quarreling monsters from before.

With a loud screech, one of them bit another in the skirmish, and at that point things started to turn ugly pretty quickly as two more entered the fight, with one wildly crowing on the sidelines and circling the others, as if stalking prey.

And suddenly, Donnie nudged Raph’s head with his, looking at him with wide eyes. “Raph.” He whispered, rushed and somehow even more quietly than before, “They’re distracted. Let’s go while we can. Hurry, hurry.”

Sparing half a second to glance questioningly at Mikey and starting to get up when the youngest shut his eyes and tried to move, wanting to rush ahead and just do it if they were leaving, Raph quickly grabbed both their hands as they latched onto his arms, approaching the front of the cave in three lightning-quick strides and waiting for the best chance to make a break for it, employing every ounce of ninja stealth they had.

The three all but slammed themselves against the cave wall again when they saw the circling monster was in a position to easily see them, but was slowly circling its back to them, unaware.

Waiting, waiting, waiting – just as it felt like the tense silence would break them, they finally had a small window of opportunity with each of the monsters distracted, and without hesitating, the three bolted from the mouth of the cave and ran for their life. An unusual cry sounded from the skirmish behind them, but they didn’t know whether it was because they’d been seen, or one of the things had gotten hurt in the fight, or whatever other reason; they didn’t dare look back to check, as Raph cut forward through the woods like a bullet, guiding his two little siblings holding on tight and trailing behind him. Eventually, Mikey did look back, but the woods behind them were dark and empty, and the noise of the monsters was quickly fading into the distance.

Could that mean – they’d gotten away? Were they coming for them, though? None of them seemed to be able to tell, but Mikey didn’t really dare to believe they were safe.

They didn’t slow down. And after another second, Donnie raised his voice just over the crackling and crunching sound of Raph barreling through the landscape. “Raph! I just thought of something I think we need to do, now,”

Raph slowed just a fraction to turn and look at his younger brother, scowling in concentration as he cut through the forest. “What is it?”

“If they’re wandering the woods, there might not be any left at their living site!”

At this, Raph finally started slowing down from their desperate sprint, and in a few seconds, they’d come to a complete stop, leaning over and panting. Poor Donnie was immediately limping, bad foot completely off the ground and one hand under that leg. “If they’ve abandoned those places we heard them at earlier, it’s the best chance we’re gonna get. We have to go investigate, now.”

Raph paused for only a short second in consideration, still panting and his voice rough with exhaustion. “We don’t know how many there are.”

Donnie paused after this too, a little longer than Raph. In the end, “I know.” Was the only reply Donnie gave, and then he waited, because they could either pursue the risky mission now while the whole world might be converging on their location right at that second, or take advantage of the best opportunity they thought they were probably gonna get.

The group made the decision without another word or even a moment of thought, and with Mikey supporting Donnie’s bad side, the three were hurrying off in the direction of their original destination for the second time.

 

The good thing was the little group reached the small clearing without further incident, and it was, in fact, abandoned.

The bad thing was, there was NOTHING there.

Nothing. Not any kind of recognizable habitation, or water, or any materials Donnie was looking for, not even a den, or whatever they expected those things to live in. It was a small clearing with a few oddly – well, alive – trees grown at the edges, the only actual green grass they’d seen yet, and nothing else.

The three had approached this area with a little more caution than if they’d been expecting an army of the dead, but at the jarring lack of anything, they wandered into the area in utter disbelief.

Donnie put his hands to his head, looking around in shock. “This is the right place. Isn’t this the right place? We couldn’t have....there was nothing else that....I know I heard them, why were they here, if there’s nothing, NOTHING–” He mumbled, half in question to the other two and half rhetorically to himself.

“It is. It’s gotta be....it’s gotta be.” Raph answered back, staring blankly. He shook his head, and being the only thing that could break through his own shock, a snap of anger made him growl in frustration and swipe at nothing with his sais. “Why is there nothing here!”

Mikey put his hands over his face, feeling defeated. He knew what this meant came next, but – of all the things he and his brothers had been through before, waiting and fighting for survival for an undetermined amount of time because they had nothing to live on wasn’t one of them. And Raph and Donnie weren’t talking about something else important – this planet was cold, much more so to them since they’d been in it for a while. And the four brothers didn’t do cold. They’d be ok if they found another burrow in the ground like Mikey had found before, and the entrance was more closed off than the last one and they stayed huddled together. But even with water, no food meant that they were going to get even colder.

And speaking of that, whatever his brothers decided to do next, he wished they would hurry up and leave here, because it was so much more COLD in this clearing! He grabbed his arms and shivered, and Raph sighed beside him.

“I would’a wished they at least had some minerals nearby that you could use, Don,” He said, running an exasperated hand over his head, and the second-youngest approached him.

“We can still try the second clearing. We still have that. But if we check it, and there’s nothing there either....”

They paused for a second, debating seriously between the two other options they’d discussed before, and Raph just barely quieted an angry cry of frustration, dragging tense hands over his face. “I hate this place. I hate this whole STUPID planet! I hate it!!”

Donnie grabbed Raph’s arms to calm him down, sadness on his face. “I know. I know. I do too.”

After that, nothing else was said for a few moments. And when despair that they’d been fighting off for the past two days started trying to sink down over them in that stretch of silence, with anger and hurt and fear and an absolute stubborn refusal to let this do them in, Raph grabbed both little brothers into his arms and squeezed them as tight as he could.

Donnie and Mikey didn’t need any persuasion to give him a strong hug back, giving each other a secret look before hiding their faces in his shoulders. Again, both little brothers prayed thanks that as long as they were trapped here, Raph was with them. He might be mischievous and generally got into a lot more trouble than he kept anyone out of, and they might all be in the same rut; but even if he wasn’t sure of himself all the time, Raph was nothing if he wasn’t wrapped around his little brothers’ fingers, and the feeling of safety he gave them just by being there, being somewhere they could hide – it made all the difference in the world, even if he wasn’t aware of it at all.

Once they separated, though, Donnie was giving Mikey a quizzical look and Raph rubbed both of his youngest brother’s arms briskly, trying to warm him up. “What’s with you, bro, trying to turn into an ice cube?” Raph asked.

Mikey rubbed his own arms, giving them a whiney look. “You guys seriously don’t feel it? It’s freezing here! Can we go? I hate it here, it makes me feel all weird.”

Scoffing lightly, Raph looked up around at their surroundings anyway, trying to gain some sense of direction, and finally pointed into the woods in what his best guess was east. “We might as well head over to the second clearing then. It ain’t safe here anyway, so let’s get a move on. We’ll rest somewhere along the way if we need to.”

Agreeing, the two little brothers nodded, and Mikey hooked the arm of Donnie’s bad side over his shoulders so they could start out, wincing as he did and being thankful neither noticed – his side was in a pain that was slowly coming up on Outrageous, but that was nothing he couldn’t – wouldn’t – make himself handle. He did pause, however, and Raph stalled in confusion, when Donnie looked back once and stopped, face going white as a sheet.

“What is it, Don–” Mikey started to ask, but stopped mid-sentence when he turned to look too, knees almost buckling.

There, in the center of the undisturbed clearing, laying alone and otherwise unassuming in the grass, was Donnie’s walking stick.

Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Clank!

April rounded a corner in the now well-known engine room of the Ulixes, searching for a certain turtle whom she found in the same place she’d been finding him for the past two days – the heart of the damage. While normally side-by-side with the Professor, both humorously covered in engine oil and April was afraid to guess what else, Professor Honeycutt re-wiring and re-welding his ship while Leo took care of other physical labor, the oldest turtle now stood inside alone, awake earlier than everyone else so he could keep hammering away at the broken pieces. And there he was now, hammering away, hunched over a pipe, every sharp movement and tense muscle in his body screaming agitation and giving off this on-edge atmosphere that made April feel a little nervous.

“Leo,” She said evenly, not sure whether or not announcing her presence was necessary, and knowing better than to try to touch the agitated turtle. “You’ve been working really hard. You should rest so you can be in the best condition to continue.”

“Thanks April.” He responded simply, but didn’t turn around to look at her or stop, and his voice sounded a little......unstable. Somehow. More so than it had yesterday.

“Leo, are you ok?” April dared to ask, raising her hand slightly in concern, even though she was several feet away. She could easily guess, on her own. Leo had become oddly withdrawn and uncharacteristically brash about things, but they had all easily understood that. To her and Casey at least, his reaction was like common sense; anything less from the over-protective, overly-responsible oldest brother who’d just lost everything he loved most in the whole world – anything less would’ve been far more surprising. But she was worried, because she didn’t want this to deteriorate any further and negatively affect his health, even though she suspected it had already begun to. She wanted him to talk to her.

In the end, she settled for, “Leo...you know you can always talk to me and Casey, right?”

Leo didn’t hesitate in his actions and still didn’t turn to see her, but didn’t respond for a beat before saying, “Everything’s fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Frustration flared in her for a quick second, but after consideration, she bit it back down. Keeping her voice gentle, she said, “Ok. But I do think you need some rest. Professor Honeycutt will be done recharging pretty soon so he’ll be down here working, too. He’s just barely been giving himself enough time to recharge at all, I’m sure he’ll be down here immediately after you, anyway. I think you should–”

With a sudden, loud clang, a hammer struck something and dropped to the floor as Leo simultaneously cried out, shaking his hand and letting out a few strained, garbled words that were very pointedly not curse words but only because he’d reigned them in quick enough, the closest to cursing April thought Leo ever did get. Gasping, she reached forward quickly, but he was waving her off before she could come to check on him.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” The words came out as slightly more of a growl than he’d intended, but both ignored it. He was leaning down to pick up the hammer now, and only then did April see the side of his face – oh God, did he sleep at all last night?

“Leo,” April finally said, with slight exasperation this time, “You really should–”

“I said EVERYTHING'S FINE!” Leo suddenly snapped, wheeling around to face her, and April froze in shock.

Both only stared at each other for a tense moment as surprise lingered thick in the air. April wasn’t used to Leo being snappy, at all, but she firmly stood her ground. And as Leo realized the way he was acting, he rubbed both hands into his face, grimacing as he remembered the hammer and tossing it back to the floor.

“I’m sorry, April.” He said, staring intensely at the ground, unable to look her in the eye. When his hands began noticeably trembling, he crossed his arms instead, beginning to prattle out some nonsense excuse for what he was doing, but April wasn’t really paying attention. He didn’t have the courage to look at anything but the ground and was blocking her out with his arms crossed, digging his fingers into his arms and the pain and the worry painted on his face making him look twenty years older than he was, and all April wanted in the whole world was to know how to make him understand it was gonna be ok – 'Oh, Leo.' She thought.

“I-it’s fine, Leo, don’t worry about it.” She said, cutting into his mumbled apologies. “Is your hand ok?”

“Oh...” Leo looked down at his evidently hammered thumb, which was red and a little swollen. “Yeah, it’s fine. Just needs some ice, maybe.”

“Ok.” She gave him a placating look, expression softening. “Will you come with me to the main terminal, at least? The sooner we get it iced, the better.”

Sighing, rubbing his other hand over his head, looking down, he said, “Ok. I guess so.” And followed her out without any more of a fight. April couldn’t help continuously looking back on the way, wanting to take his arm or do something to reassure him and make sure he was still following, but felt as though he needed as much space as possible right now. He was a master at hiding it, even as far as his own brothers went, but right now he was almost like a ticking time bomb about to go off at any moment. If it weren’t for the progress they’d made on the ship – with a last few adjustments Professor Honeycutt had to make to the motor, they should be finished that same day – April worried Leo might actually just come apart at the seams.

April made the smallest of bittersweet grins, quickly swallowed again by worry a second later. This poor kid was a wildfire out of control for his baby brothers.

When they got to the main room, April was surprised to see Casey already up and working away at his and Raph’s usual flight dock. He was hunched over stacks of papers, before looking up and waving when he noticed them come in, and going straight back to work without another word. Going to the “kitchen” of the room, April beamed up some ice and put it in a sack, turning and placing it over Leo’s sore thumb.

“Just hold it there for a little while, until the swelling goes down.” She said, knowing fully well he already knew that, but that didn’t matter to her. “After that, do you think it’d be possible for me to haggle you into a couple hours of sleep?” She asked, giving him a light, humorous grin.

And he returned one back, something she hadn’t seen on him in days, and she lit up with relief and happiness. “Just a couple hours, maybe.” He responded. “But no more than that.”

“Deal.” She smiled fuller at him, placing hands on her hips. Now if she could only get Casey to start eating the food he made, they’d start getting somewhere...

Her thoughts were cut short and the three turned sharply when Honeycutt suddenly rushed into the room, stopping at the front window where he pulled up some electronic screens and only acknowledging the other room’s occupants when he’d gone over some information at an unnervingly rapid pace. Turning his head to them, he said, “I picked up another nearby presence on my monitors; it appears they’re heading this way.”

Shock went through the room. “What?!” Casey blurted, jumping out of his pod to run closer to the large screen for a better look.

“Is it the same guys from before?” April asked, her and Leo quickly coming closer, too. “I thought we’d gotten away from them!”

“It does appear to be from the same group we fought before,” The Professor responded, working quickly at the computer again and pulling up surveillance feed of a few small ships. “But it seems to be a smaller group, this time. I’d assume it’s a small band that got lost either looking for us or trying to return home, and happened to find us again by chance.”

“Well, they’re making the most of it,” Leo scowled, glaring up at the image of the oncoming ships, where orange lights were glowing brighter on their fronts. “They’re preparing to fire. Everybody get ready!”

Everyone ran to their positions, Leo jumping into his pod and firing up the nearly-repaired drive motor, clasping his hands in anxiety as the motor churned and sputtered while their enemy’s lasers charged.

“Come on, come on, come on.....!” Gritting his teeth, he grasped both driving handles tight enough that a couple knuckles popped, waiting for the right moment, waiting –

The enemy ships in the surveillance feed lurched a little with recoil from firing, and Leo gritted his teeth. Pulling back on the driving handles with all his strength, the motor roared and the Ulixes lurched, jumping up out of the line of fire in just the nick of time, and Leo turned the ship to face their new enemies as the surveillance feed cut out, allowing them to see three of them.

“Casey,” He growled, “Fire at will!”

“Way ahead of ‘ya!” Casey smiled wildly, slamming his own two handles forward and pressing the buttons on the top, and the Ulixes’ largest lasers went firing away.

“April, I need you to help Casey man the weapons,” Leo said, April dashing across the room to the pod as he spoke, and Honeycutt taking position at his pod for extra surveillance. Leo returned his attention to flying just quickly enough to realize the other ships were whipping around their attacks, and he dodged the ones they sent back. “Tsk! These guys don’t know how to pick their battles, do they?” He mumbled to himself, glaring sharply.

“They’re flying crazy to make themselves hard targets,” Casey said, lazer-focus on his enemies. “I need a clear shot, Leo!”

“Can do,” The leader replied, flying quickly and horizontally by an enemy ship, and Casey and April let lose rapid fire as they passed, successfully taking one down.

“Bulls-eye,” April mumbled, both her and Casey watching the remaining two intently as Leo performed acrobats with the Ulixes as all attempted to get a clear shot of one another–

“They shouldn’t have those,” Honeycutt suddenly exclaimed, watching the ships on a smaller monitor he was working at in a frenzy. “They’re too small, they shouldn’t have those! Seeker missiles, watch out Leonardo!”

But before anyone could respond, the missiles had already been launched from the two remaining ships, and were hurtling toward the Ulixes. All Leo had time to do was act, and act he did. Making a 360 that would have normally sent everyone tumbling to the back of the room, Leo raced away from the missiles and toward a large meteor, causing the Ulixes to flip a couple times to get behind it in time–

A huge explosion was followed by a massive shockwave that rocked the ship just a half-second after, and all on board clenched their eyes shut, held on tight and hoped for the best. After a tumbling sensation that lasted a couple minutes, they dared to look again.

The large meteor had completely exploded, the shrapnel from which attacked their enemies in such a barrage that both remaining ships had exploded, their damaged internal parts sending them flying off into some other part of space afterward, leaving the Ulixes, once again, completely alone.

No one reacted for several minutes; frozen stock-still to settle their nerves, listen out for any remaining enemies and give room for a foreboding anger that was growing in the room.

After this pause, Leo suddenly jerked away from his post with a “Tsk!” and began stalking to the door to leave the room. The remaining three gave each other concerned, wary looks, and could only guess he was heading to assess the ship’s new damage, not wanting to hear it from the Professor.

April was about to call out and attempt to stop him, but Honeycutt suddenly made another discovery. Something on his small monitor blinked loudly, and he looked back at it to investigate, the older turtle pausing on his way out.

“Looks like we have an extra passenger.” Honeycutt said just a tad too anxiously, no doubt more worried about what this meant for the passenger than for them. “It appears he managed to latch himself to the Ulixes during the fight in an attempt to infiltrate. Now, without being hasty, I think we should all take a second to formulate a–”

But with a grunt, Leo was already storming out the door, in a different direction this time, and the other three could almost feel the heat coming off of his back.

“L-Leo, wait! Just – hold on a second!” April called uselessly, the three rushing after him.

They caught up just in time to find Leo dismantling tightly-sealed latches around a large window in a hallway, a window that lead right out into space, without a suit or any kind of protection on.

“LEO!” April squawked as the turtle furiously opened the window, she and Casey flinching back as air roared out into the opening, and Honeycutt had to stop to grab on and anchor them down. Leveraging himself on the edge of the window with an iron grip, grimacing angrily, Leo reached outside and suddenly yanked in their stowaway, throwing him against the opposite wall of the hallway as he simultaneously swung back inside and pulled the window shut again.

Honeycutt was running to re-seal the window shut at the same time as Leo was lunging at the trespasser, pinning him against the wall. April and Casey vaguely recognized it as one of the alien species they’d bothered on their first planet, after all, but he was different from the bug guy or some others that had particularly been giving them trouble. He was stocky and had tentacles on his face and was a bit on the shorter side, but other than that, the humans couldn’t make any distinctions about him that really stuck out.

“You chose the wrong ship to get cocky with.” Leo snarled, grabbed the alien by the face and started leading him down the hallway towards the launching room, and April vaguely wondered if Leo was planning on strapping a rocket to the alien and shooting him off into space. Again, the three quickly followed, trying to wrestle control of the situation back from Leo without everyone losing it completely.

“Rrrrgrrr, you arrrre the ones who have overstepped theirrr boundaries, our masterrr was simply upholding his honorrrr!” The alien shot back as he struggled to get out of Leo’s hold. “Just like your weak comrrrrades, we will wipe you all from ourrrr territory.”

Leo froze mid-step like ice. The three following behind almost stumbled over each other to stop in time, and pulled in a breath. If they’d had a chance to keep things from escalating before, it was gone now.

Casey thought he heard it before he saw it – Leo had suddenly smashed the alien back up against the wall, arm at his throat, the ignorant alien squirming violently and choking for air. Leo seethed with his forehead pressed hard against the alien’s, “Say that again, and I will kill you...right...here.”

"Leo, stop!" Casey shouted, rushing forward toward the pair, but the alien kicked and struggled as he began speaking again, keeping Casey at a distance.

“Let go of me!” It choked and sputtered. “It is not ourrrr fault they fell to Algalga! Everrrryone knows to stay away from there!”

Leo suddenly ceased his assault at this, and let up slightly on the alien’s throat, allowing him to take in gulps of air. “What did you say? Algalga?”

The alien looked disgruntled and hesitated, but Leo gave him a rough jostle against the wall. “Tell me what you know!”

“Yes,” The alien finally hissed out, angry and reluctant. “Algalga, the planet of darkness. Even the inhabitants of that sectorrrr of space do not understand the evil that lurks there; no one will go nearrrr it. It is said that shadows rrrroam the place and the planet is a functioning gateway between our rrrreality and the Dark Realm.”

The air around the group felt thick and icy. Leo raised his shoulders in agitation. “Shadows? What dark realm? What are you talking about?!”

“That is all I know!” The alien cried out in defense. “Nobody trrruly knows! There arrrre no public accounts of anyone escaping alive.”

Silence stretched out for a moment after the alien’s explanation; no one had it in them to respond. The two humans didn’t miss the way the trembling had returned to Leo’s hands, fiercely restrained, but strong enough that he was straining badly.

The alien looked frustrated. “You do not understand it. Yourrrr three are long gone, therrrre is no use in holding so tight to your pride, disgusting crrrreatures. We knew it when we saw them fall to the planet–”

Wild, violent things had been going through Leo’s sharp, frenzy-neon-blue eyes as his expression gradually tensed to match them. The three were watching with all the anxiety of a gun standoff, and Casey was about to intervene when Leo suddenly did such a violent 180 that it should’ve hurt.

“You saw them?” He asked, his previously clear murderous instincts suddenly turning to maniacal panic. “You saw where they fell to the planet? Did they make it alive? Tell me NOW! What did you see?!” He emphasized this last part with a slam against the wall, gripping the alien’s arms so tight now that one swift move could snap them.

There was a short pause as the alien considered the situation, based on Leo’s frantic questions. But in the end, he smirked, amusement running uncontrollable across his face, and he even had the nerve to let out a chuckle. “What I said beforrrre does not change, creature. It is not our fault that they were a lost cause. Even if they had not fallen to the planet of death in flames, without strrrruggling in pain, with their glass shatterrrred, they would have never survived.” The alien shrugged. “What morrrrre did you expect from such stupid worrrms–”

CRACK!

Honestly, it didn’t come as a surprise at all. But with Leo leaning to the side with the momentum, white-knuckled fist stretched out ahead of him, and the alien falling to the ground with an arch of blood, it still took a second for the group to comprehend that shit had broken loose and even longer trying to decide whether to stop the alien’s impending murder, or get the hell out of the way.

Everyone quickly started acting on the latter, however, when it became clear that Leo had lost it; he was in full-on demolition mode. He grabbed the alien by the shoulders before he even had a chance to hit the floor and threw him clear down the hallway, and Casey swore he didn’t hear the guy land until he’d severely impacted the wall at the end. Leo was halfway there by the time he did, and took no time in grabbing him up again.

The alien tried to fight back but flinched back when Leo pulled him close, hesitating to growl one thing in his face–

“I know you got a lot of problems, even for the usual piece of shit.” He snarled, eyes white hot with anger. “But what’s most unfortunate is you don’t seem to understand....this was all PRECISELY your fault.”

And with that, Leo swung the thing by the tentacles on its face into the floor. The alien tried to get in some punches, but it didn’t last long against the strength of Leo’s rage. The remaining three ran after the pair, crying out for Leo to stop, but in all honesty, they didn’t have enough sympathy for the alien to put themselves in the amount of danger they’d be in trying to physically wrench Leo off of him. The alien quickly became nothing more than a punching bag catapulting off the walls. So April held onto Honeycutt, crying out for Leo to come to his senses, while Casey clenched his fists and tried to convince himself when and how to jump in, his heart racing, and April guessed the only reason the alien hadn’t lost consciousness yet was because it didn’t have a big enough brain up there to damage.

Finally, Leo had the alien down on the ground, kneeling over him and punching his face repeatedly, blood spattering on the floor and walls. Scowling, gritting his teeth, murder written all over his face, he growled unhearing, inane things, control totally gone from his eyes. “You’re one to be calling names....after the kinds of things....YOUR people did! Stupid?! STUPID! I'LL SHOW YOU EXACTLY WHO'S FUCKING STUPID!!"

“LEO!!”

Three pairs of arms were suddenly wrapped around the oldest turtle, struggling against his fury with all their might, and it was only by the extra strength of Honeycutt’s mechanical body that they were finally able to inch him off of the beaten alien, struggling all the way. But with one last spurt of rage, Leo ripped away from the three and grabbed the ever-ignorantly defiant alien by the ankle and dragged it back down the hallway at a run before lurching for another window. Snapping all locks open and throwing it wide, the three made it just in time to grab on and keep Leo from flying out himself, but not soon enough to stop him from slinging the alien out, screaming senselessly into the void after him as he flew away kicking and punching until he was gone from sight.

Honeycutt heaved and dragged the window closed again, quickly re-latching locks for the second time as he wildly expressed his dismay. “Heaven above, I do say, if you keep throwing my windows open, Leonardo, I’m going to have to weld them shut or replace them completely just to keep the three of you from–”

But he stopped at the sound of sniffling behind him. Hesitating, Honeycutt turned around, immediately shifting from admonishing to sad. Leo remained unmoving on hands and knees on the floor, head hanging down, April and Casey standing gingerly behind him just for fear that he didn’t want to be touched. Finally, shoulders trembling, he pressed his forehead to the ground and placed his hands over his head, crying very quietly, sniffing and hiccupping.

“Leonardo.” April is the first to move, and she swiftly dove to the ground after her dearest friend and brother, wrapping tight arms around his middle and immediately becoming an anchor that he latched onto like he was drowning. Casey was there immediately after. Carefully, Honeycutt got down on his knees in front of them, raising Leo enough to wrap his robo-arms around him.

They stayed that way for quite a while, until Leo’s crying had time to manifest and then die again; and April dared everything she’d ever known to ever hurt Leo like this again, because the oldest’s broken voice was enough to make her wish she could’ve beaten the alien herself. She just held him tightly, with his head buried in her shoulder in defeat, and after he began to quiet again, all took an extra few minutes to sit in silence and contemplate the foreboding new developments.

There was going to be more, new damage to the Ulixes now – after being that close to the asteroid explosion, Honeycutt had no doubt about that. But they had plenty of time to think about that later. There was one, far more pressing concern on everyone’s minds now, a pressing doubt where they’d been desperately trying to have hope.

He knew Leo wasn’t about to give up his brothers for lost like that just because some alien had said they should, that much was obvious – none of them would. But...

The alien had sounded a little too sure of himself when he described the uncertain state of the lost three.

With a sigh, giving Leo one last rub on the head, Honeycutt gently removed himself from the group to sit in front of them, instead. “The repairs we’d been making were just about done.” He said. “When we were attacked the first time, it was by a large fleet with far more powerful guns than this smaller group today. I have much reason to believe that the damage caused by these ships’ attacks were not permanently immobilizing. I will inspect the impact of the asteroid on my ship and as soon as I have a full assessment, I will get to work. It may cost us a few extra days, but I will not allow it to delay us any further than it must. And then, we are headed straight for Algalga. Besides,” He finally got to his feet, putting a firm hand on Leo’s shoulder, “This is my pride and joy, Ulixes, here, she has a LITTLE credibility.” He gave them a wink of confidence at this last part, extending a hand.

Staring up at him hopefully, desperately, Leo took the Professor’s hand, and all of them stood again. Casey supported Leo, who was practically wobbling on his own feet in exhaustion.

Gratefully wrapping another arm around April’s shoulders when she supported him on the other side with an encouraging smile, Leo sniffed and rubbed his eyes. “Thank you, Professor.” He said, his voice rough. “I’ll join you right away. I just need to sit down for a minute....”

“If you don’t mind me saying,” Honeycutt interjected, catching their attention, but giving them a gracious smile– “I think you would benefit much more from a few moments’ rest, Leonardo. It will take me just a little time to make a full assessment, and you would be feeling much more fit after giving your body some time to heal.”

Seeming a little surprised at first, Leo finally gave a flat, submissive grin.

“Ok.” He said. “Just a couple minutes.”

Honeycutt made a happy smile in return. “I promise the three of us will be quite busy with damage control in the meantime. So why don’t you go on and–” Pausing suddenly, he turned his head slightly in curiosity and walked a bit further down the hallway. Confused, the three followed him to where he stopped, stooping to pick up something nobody had noticed.

“What’s that?” April asked, looking in closer to see what he’d found.

The Professor held it up for all of them to see; it appeared to be a small chip-like device. “I saw it out of the corner of my eye.” Honeycutt said, looking at it closer. “It appears to be a kind of memory chip. I believe the alien must have dropped it from somewhere during the fight.” He started fiddling with it, inspecting it closely and turning it all around. “If I can just....oh!”

Honeycutt almost dropped the chip when it suddenly expanded out on all sides, becoming roughly the same size as a small phone, but was more of a flat pad instead, displaying some sort of alien database on its screen surface. Amidst text in a language they didn’t recognize, there was a picture that almost looked like...

Making a strangled noise, Leo suddenly dove forward and grabbed the small screen, looking intently at the picture. He touched it gingerly, almost as if he was afraid he’d break it, eyes shining as he looked down at the gritty, satellite-esque image of a planet. It was just close enough for them to make out markings in the landscape, three somewhat close together – a couple points of impact with burrows in the ground, and some felled trees nearby. The image wasn’t close enough for them to tell if there was anyone at those impact points, but it was three – and a place significant to the aliens that had shot them down.

It was impossible to tell from the picture if it was really Raph, Mikey and Donnie, or if they’d made it alive, but the fact that they appeared to make it there at all was more reassurance than they’d had before.

“He....he had this picture,” Casey said disbelievingly, staring in awe and growing anger. “He had this picture, so he knew! He was lying to us!”

“I do not believe so,” Honeycutt said, all three heads turning to him as he more thoroughly inspected the data around the image. “I believe this is an open data forum his fleet was using. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was recent information he wasn’t aware of. He did not appear to know of this, at the very least.” Borrowing the little screen pad from Leo for a moment, the Professor materialized a small scanning machine from the top of his wrist, and sent a wide laser across the screen. “I will copy the data on this device and look into it for further inspection, just in case. It would be best if I held onto this device, as well.” He looked to Leo one more time, as if asking for permission to do this. Leo nodded with a grim expression, eyes worriedly going back to the little pad one last time to stare longingly at the image – and then ripped his gaze away with a little shake of his head, looking at the floor instead. Giving his shoulder a firm squeeze, Honeycutt rushed away to the main room again to begin the analyzation. “Remember, Leonardo, rest!” He called back on his way. “Pretty please!”

“Come on, Leo.” April gently said, she and Casey supporting him again on both sides, and they helped walk him to his room. “The sooner you get some rest, the sooner you can come back and help us.” She rubbed the back of his shell comfortingly, but he only continued looking at the floor as they hobbled to his room, his face just a shadow of exhaustion, and she wasn’t even sure if he heard her. She and Casey exchanged worried glances, and led him off to bed without another word between the three.

When they managed to get Leo into bed, however, the Professor came walking briskly inside, surprising the three of them. They watched him walk right up to the side of Leo’s bed and hand him some kind of paper slip. Surprised, Leo numbly stared at it for a moment; then he grabbed Honeycutt in a sudden hug, without a word. Chuckling, Honeycutt gave him an affectionate jostle before briskly walking out again, whistling casually like he didn’t notice Casey and April staring at him expectantly.

After giving each other brief looks of exasperation, Casey and April came to see what it was, and Leo showed it to them – Honeycutt had printed out a copy of the photo from the small pad, just for Leo. Like with Honeycutt, Leo didn’t even try to say anything, he just smiled at the two of them – and they smiled back warmly.

Finally, they left to let Leo rest.

 

“You’re such a sweetheart, Professor.” April said, lopsided grin on her face as the two humans entered the main room again to join the android.

Said android emoted closed eyes. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said without turning his attention from the large computer screen at the front, where sequences of alien data scrolled down. Rolling her eyes, April and Casey shared a chuckle as they approached.

“Well, what’s first?” Casey asked, pushing his sleeves up further. “We better get to work on the new damage to the Ulixes.”

“Very soon, Mr. Jones,” Honeycutt said, turning to face them. “I am waiting on a full report from the system and examining camera feed from the damaged areas so I know just what needs to be done. It won’t take long, but in the meantime, I’m going to be looking some more into this memory card that we’ve found.”

Looking at each other, April and Casey shrugged, going to their own pods to sit down while they waited for instructions. April turned to Casey to make a light-hearted remark, but hesitated when she saw his somber face. “Casey,” She asked, turning to him more fully. “What’s wrong?”

“Huh? What?” Coming to attention, he hesitated before saying, “Oh. Ah......it’s nothing. I was just thinkin’....” He sighed, April becoming concerned as the mood dampened a little, and she and the Professor waited patiently. “Leo sure beat that guy up, didn’t he?”

Oh. April and Honeycutt looked down, still concerned for the oldest turtle after earlier – they were concerned about him for a lot of reasons, these days.

Huffing a small chuckle, Casey continued, "I'm glad we stopped him when we did. I'm sure if he'd had his swords with him, he'da....well...." Trailing off, Casey shifted and leaned back in his pod, crossing his arms and going back to his thoughts for a moment before speaking up again. "Hey, Professor," He eventually said, "I was wonderin'...do you think those aliens can breathe in space?"

Honeycutt thought about it. “I believe so, seeing that he did not seem to be wearing any sort of special equipment when he was – ah – invited inside.” He answered Casey, but turned back to the large computer screen with a more somber movement. “Not that I would’ve helped him with that, however.”

Notes:

So, I realized a while back that when I was writing this story, I had forgotten to actually mention that Raph's, Mikey's and Donnie's extra space gear got burned up and destroyed during their fall through the atmosphere to the planet, the same as their air helmets. XD Just fyi...

Chapter 7: Chapter 7

The three were slowly making their way through the thick woods of the alien planet toward the second of the two clearings they’d spotted, tightly grouped together.

Mikey’s stomach grumbled. How many days had it been since they came here now? Two or three? He couldn’t remember. None of them had eaten in so long, but at the moment, he wasn’t worried. His hand was securely in Raph’s, and they swung arms absently while Raph and Donnie went back and forth about the rabbit-type animal they’d initially seen when they got here and what other, weird animals there might be, and the conversation had quickly degraded to silly imagination; and right now, with a warm smile, while Donnie exclaimed incredulously at Raph’s increasingly strange make-believe animals and Raph laughed heartily, Mikey felt invincible in a weird way. Even though the whole world might be against them, and they were hurt and running for their lives, none of that seemed to matter, as long as they were here, together, fighting to re-unite with the rest of their family.

Even so, a shroud of fear hung over him that this security could be ripped away at any moment; and after everything they’d seen, the idea spooked Mikey deeply.

As he looked at them, he saw how Raph still visibly favored his bad shoulder, seemingly more so as its bruises deepened and swelled, and he moved it less and less as it looked worse and worse; and the way Donnie tried to look like he wasn’t limping over his new walking stick in refusal of anyone’s assistance. Mikey hadn’t been getting any better, either. His whole torso was a raging fire, and since they’d been running, it hurt to breathe in a way that wasn’t going away – and until it did, he was cringing to cope with it any time he knew his brothers weren’t looking. But he refused to let this slow him down. Everything about this place set off alarms that shouldn’t be going off; and his brothers weren’t admitting the shape they were in. He had to stay vigilant, and protect them. His own handicaps would have to be set aside – this was something that he was handling, and could deal with.

That thing with Donnie’s old walking stick had been pretty spooky, though. Raph almost swept the two of them up and left the clearing right then and there, when they looked back and saw his old walking stick where nothing had been there before, and no one had come to place it – but they hesitated, because Donnie needed it, and he refused to let Raph carry him anymore. Donnie had almost just left it on principle, but when he had gone to inspect it, Mikey watched him shoot back up, turn on his heel and almost prance out of there, dragging Mikey along behind him and clearly freaked out. The two of them had yelled at him for a few minutes to tell them what was going on as Donnie hurried along, all three freaking out. Raph had eventually told everyone to chill out, because panicking over what they didn’t understand would get them nowhere – so here they were.

Don had described his walking stick as feeling “like ice on fire”; and Mikey had also noticed, where that had been the first area they’d seen with foliage that was alive, the grass around the stick had suddenly died. He wondered what the others thought about that, because Mikey got scared asking himself how and why questions. Sighing, he looked around the woods and walked just a little closer to the other two. The clearing had been extra cold, but not in a way that felt familiar to Mikey; that kind of cold felt like it snuck into his chest and crept outward from his bones, and set his whole body off with an urgency to get OUT. He shivered again just thinking about it.

The constant feeling that they were still being hunted made it worse. He looked over his shoulder behind their group for the millionth time, rubbing one arm with a chill. Raph spared him a quick glance, and Mikey was fascinated by the sudden fire of concern, analyzation and warm confidence Raph shot him in the one second they made eye contact, before he turned back to Donnie to continue the discussion of WHY a rabbit can’t (or could, according to Raph) have ears on its feet, the moment totally dismissed except for giving Mikey’s hand a squeeze. He grinned. Older brothers.

“Wha-!” Donnie suddenly exclaimed in surprise, mid-sentence, he and Raph suddenly stopped. Mikey looked ahead to try and see what they were staring at.

“What was that?” Raph asked him, but was quickly moving forward to look for it already, letting Mikey go.

“Think we can eat it?” Donnie asked. Confused and dismayed, Mikey turned to him in frustration.

“Eat WHAT?”

“We saw another one of those rabbit-things.”

“…Does it have ears on its feet?”

Donnie dropped his grin to give him a deadpan look, and Mikey giggled. Raph called quietly to them, trying not to scare the creature away. “Mikey, toss me your slingshot, let me see if I can catch this thing. Don’t you two MOVE, I’ll be right back. ”

“Don’t hurt yourself with it, now,” Mikey teased, throwing it to his brother just as expertly as Raph caught it and melted into the shadows of the woods a second later. With nothing left to do but wait, Mikey and Donnie sat down against a tree and tried to get comfortable.

Stretching his legs out gratefully, Donnie leaned back with an exasperated grunt, clearly happier to be sitting on the ground than he should have been, and Mikey leaned in closer.

“How’s the ‘ol hobbler?” He asked, scooting closer to Donnie’s left ankle so he could properly examine it.

Donnie just scoffed. “Right. I should be asking about your side.”

“You’re too worried.” Mikey complained, rolling his eyes. “Have you seen ME limping around?” He asked with a big, goofy smile, and held it stonily, waiting nervously for the answer. He had no idea whether Donnie had or not, actually. Donnie only rolled his eyes.

“I’ve seen enough to be worried,” He grumbled in response, but it wasn’t as accusatory as Mikey was afraid of, so he relaxed. Donnie sighed and slumped a little, putting his head in one hand. His voice lowered then, so much so that it almost seemed like he was just talking to himself, but it struck Mikey with worry. “I’m worried about Raph.”

Mikey looked up from Donnie’s ankle. “Really?”

“Shut up.” Donnie bantered, actually sending him a dry grin for a moment before it was quickly gone again. He looked down in deep thought, scratching the back of his head. “He keeps having to aggravate it, and he won’t tell me anything about it without fighting me first.”

Mikey had to chuckle. “Yeah, that seems to be some sort of habit of his. Can you imagine the HORROR if we began to think he was in bad shape?”

Donnie rolled his eyes good-naturedly, and Mikey grinned before his sank, too. “I know. But if he pushes himself, it’ll only make things worse.” Donnie continued. “I said I was mostly concerned about your side, and I am for the most part, but I’m also worried about him. The shoulder is not a good place to mess up really bad.”

They sat on that thought in silence for a few moments. Donnie patted the ground next to him, so Mikey crawled over and sat down against the tree to watch the woods with him, Donnie putting an arm around his shoulders. He stared at the sky, deep in thought, and Mikey carefully scooted closer to the warmth, gingerly trying not to jostle his side or count the minutes Raph was gone.

“What happens if we don’t find any food?” Mikey asked, turning his baby blues on Donnie and getting a quizzical look in return, considering Raph had just run off in chase of some. But, Donnie quickly realized Mikey’s point as he kept his serious gaze on his older brother, and he looked off into the woods again with a small grunt.

“Then we’ll do what we can.” He said, his gaze becoming firmer. He subconsciously tightened his grip around Mikey’s shoulders, too, and Mikey glanced at his brother’s tense hand. “Sensei taught us several survival techniques, and if it comes down to it, I’m sure we can make them work until the others find us. If we can just get to the second clearing, I’m sure we’ll find something that I can use to contact them. I...I know we will. There’s got to be something here, there can’t just be.....random spots of life, for no reason.”

Staring at the ground, Mikey dropped his head on his big brother’s shoulder. “...Do you think they’re ok?”

Donnie’s face fell, and his voice did, too. “I sure hope so, Mikey. With all my heart.”

Mikey looked back up at Donnie again, eyes sad and deep. “I...m-miss Leo.”

Something really painful crossed Donnie’s features, and he squeezed Mikey closer, resting his head on his little brother’s and looking back at the woods. “I’m sure he’s worried sick.” He chuckled quietly, but it was unsteady. “About ready to charge the planet, right?”

Mikey let out a choked-up laugh. “Yeah. And shouting about how everything is taking too long, and jumping out of the ship without his air helmet to swim through space when the professor isn’t looking....a-and brooding a lot, ‘cause he misses us and...”

“Going crazy with worry, ‘cause he doesn’t have Raph tell him what a mother hen he is.” Donnie added quietly, “...Or me to tell him he shouldn’t worry, or you to hug him until he smiles again. He doesn’t have any of us, to hug until he knows we’re safe again. The way he likes to do.” Donnie closed his eyes. When he continued, his voice was much lower and quieter. “He’s probably out of his mind right now.”

Mikey closed his eyes too, turning his head away from the woods, not wanting to look at this place anymore. Both wished Raph would hurry back already.

When they heard a sudden commotion in the distance, they were back on their feet almost before they even realized it. And then, Donnie was already abandoning trying to scan their surroundings in order to herd Mikey towards a thicket of tightly-clustered foliage.

“Come on,” He hissed, trying to push Mikey along with him, but Mikey wrestled.

“It might be Raph! We need to go see if he’s ok!”

“Raph told us to stay here,” Donnie growled, having just the slightest advantage over their struggle. “And if Raph needs help, it’s me that needs to go check on him. YOU are staying here!”

Mikey shot an electric-blue gaze up at his brother, but before he could argue further, they were cut off by a shout.

“RUN!”

Both smaller brothers whipped their heads in the direction of Raph’s voice, horror on their faces.

“THEY’RE COMING! RUN!!”

“RAPH!” Both little brothers shouted, moving forward in refusal to leave the older behind, but an enormous CRASH interrupted them as a horde trees toppled down just feet behind the older brother, who waved his arms at them as he jumped as fast as he could through rotten tree branches.

Ten. There were ten of them!

Turning sharply in mid-air, Raph’s expression suddenly turned acid and his sais were flashing in his hands, and he took such a ferocious swipe at the nearest monster that it reeled back in surprise as ink went flying–

A hellish screech suddenly ripped through the air that was so high-pitched and agonizing, all three brothers paled in unison. One screech quickly turned into three, and three erupted into a hundred as the stricken monster flailed to the side and all the ones around it erupted into crazed pandemonium. Some went after the injured creature, but many others started thrashing out at anything and everything, toppling trees and spilling over one another in waves of violence.

Raph dove out of their way as fast as his legs would take him, a haunted chill racing down his spine at their voices. The uproar gave him just enough time to land near his brothers and give them a rough shove. “Move, now!!” He growled anxiously.

The three bolted, eyes clenched shut and adrenaline pouring through their bodies, knowing the monsters had to be right at their heels. Gashes went ignored as they bowled through any foliage in their way–

“Aaaaaah!”

Mikey and Donnie came to such an abrupt halt that they almost went tumbling forward, arching their heads back. “Raph!!” They cried, watching the oldest get slung into the air by a black appendage.
Both little brothers started to charge forward at the same time as Raph went hacking away at his captor, but Donnie hesitated, and was suddenly heels-in-the-ground hauling Mikey backward, restraining his struggling brother and both wide-eyed as the monsters quickly poured in around Raph and toward the remaining two.

“DONNIE, LET GO!!” Mikey cried, struggling violently, and Donnie stared between him, Raph and the monsters with huge eyes that could’ve only looked more lost than horrified.

“GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, RUN, RUN!!” Raph shouted, voice transitioning from violent to a terrified cry by the end of the sentence, and before they could do anything, the monsters were lurching at them, impacting several rotted trees and causing just enough chaos for Donnie to clench his eyes shut and run for their lives, little brother locked in his arms.

~

Run. Run. Run.

This was all Donnie could do, could think, could hear in his booming ears, for an amount of time he couldn’t keep track of. The monsters gave unrelenting chase for longer than Donnie thought possible of any normal creature requiring any amount of bodily recuperation, and every time he thought he’d lost them, he would slow down to find a place to stop just to realize they were catching up again.

“-nnie!”

At some point, they had left the woods and entered a reddish, dried-out craggy area with towering mountains far in the distance, where their cover of dead woods gave way to wide-open desert, giving Donnie the advantage of a wider range of sight, but also making him feel paranoid that they might be targets. Mikey had struggled endlessly for the first while, but had calmed down for a time, making it easier for Donnie to focus on their escape and where he should try to go next–

“DONNIE!”

Snapping to the present, Donnie gasped and almost stumbled over a rock – and then actually stumbled, and both of them went toppling into the ground. When he regained control, he looked up and panicked, scrambling to his little brother, who was already pushing himself up.

“Mikey! Are you ok?!” He grabbed onto him firmly and started to check for new injuries, ignoring the younger’s protests. “God, Mikey, I’m so – is your side ok? Tell me everything that’s hurting, don’t you dare try to hide anything from me – we can still use some of your wrappings to–”

“Donnie.” Mikey exclaimed, grabbing his brother by both arms and staring him down with an intense look in his eyes that Donnie didn’t recognize right away. “Donnie, you’re hyperventilating. Just breathe, bro.”

Donnie looked down at himself, and found – like he was looking at someone else – that his breaths were as rapid and shallow as the heartbeat drumming in his ears, and his whole body trembled. If they weren’t already sitting on the ground, Donnie was sure he would’ve passed out. A horrible panicked, loss-of-control sort of feeling swept over him then, but before he could collapse in on himself, Mikey was wrapped tightly around his middle.

Donnie swayed for a second before trapping the younger in shivering arms, crumpling around the smaller turtle until he felt the despair ebb away from his mind.

When they finally eased the embrace, Mikey had a complicated mix of combatting emotions in his eyes that confused Donnie, and his little brother spoke first, hands firmly on Donnie’s arms. “What happened? Why didn’t you answer to me?”

Donnie gave him a pained look, still trying to regain his buzzing senses. “What?”

“I told you to stop, but you wouldn’t say anything. The monsters chased us away from Raph, I think you lost them thirty minutes ago. I’ve been trying to get your attention for like ten minutes!”

“Oh, I....I.....” Donnie rubbed his head, everything that just happened flooding back to him. Raph. Raph! RAPH!

“You’ve been running for almost two hours,” Mikey said, exasperated and that sharpness still in his eyes, and all Donnie could do was collapse inside.

“Mikey, I....I don’t......no, no.....no, no. God, no....” Covering his face, the tears came quickly and suddenly, and he scooched backwards away from his brother, shaking his head. RAPH! How could he-? What had he done! WHAT HAD HE DONE!

“Donnie!”

His little brother’s voice was firm, and again, he found himself inside a determined embrace.

What? Donnie scrubbed his teary eyes, confused as he weakly hooked his arms back around the younger’s shell. He looked down at Mikey, who was staring at his ankle with a troubled expression–

His ankle.

“You’ve been running for almost two hours.” Mikey repeated, his voice a little more wobbly. He leaned back, looking at the ground. “You might’ve wrecked your ankle up for good. If you try to carry me like that again, I’ll kick your butt.”

More tears slipped from Donnie’s eyes, and he put his face in both hands. “Raph.”

Clenching his eyes shut, Mikey dropped his head against Donnie’s plastron, trying to block the tears in his own eyes. “I know you’d never leave him behind. I know you would die trying to save him...I know we might’ve both died, trying to save him.” Mikey continued, and paused. “...I wanted to go back.”

“We would’ve been killed.” Donnie said with a small voice. “Right then…right there…in that moment, we weren’t able to do anything…”

“H-he could’ve gotten out of the mob. We did,” Mikey combatted desperately. “W-what if he needed help–”

“They were chasing us!” Donnie cried, putting his face in his hands again. “They were chasing all of us! We were all too far apart. If we had tried to go back, they would’ve just gotten us. There wasn’t another option, I didn’t know what to do. I was...there was no time left, nothing we could do. I didn’t know what to – Raph, Raph!” He exclaimed, and broke down, crying.

They sat there for another few minutes on the dusty ground, under the dark, smoggy red sky, with Donnie sobbing and Mikey holding onto him as tight as he could, crying silently. After a little while, the youngest spoke up. “It’s ok, Donnie. W-we don’t know what happened. He might’ve gotten away.” He looked up, trying his hardest to offer an encouraging smile, but it was being overpowered by his crying. “He might’ve gotten away, Donnie. You did the best you could. It’s ok…!”

His attempted smile couldn’t last any longer, and he dropped his head against Donnie’s chest again, crying aloud. They held onto each other tightly, unable to do anything else.

Too exhausted to move forward and no one having slept last night, Mikey eventually decided to find a place for them to rest, and located a small cave created from some large rocks leaning over each other. He carried Donnie to it on his back, which Donnie didn’t cease to protest and struggle against – only too gentle to escape, because he didn’t want to hurt his little brother – until he’d put him back down. Snuggled together to share warmth, their mind solely and unwaveringly on their immediate older brother, sleep eventually dragged them into the comatose dark.

Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Mikey peeked a sleepy eye open and looked out the entrance of their little cavern to see the dark, smoky red sky.

There was one warm arm wrapped tight around him, but the other was missing, and it hit him immediately like a punch to the chest – where’s Raph?

Darting furiously afraid looks around their cave, suddenly much more awake and not seeing their older brother, Mikey’s heart started racing and he quickly started trying to pry himself away from Donnie without waking him. “He might’ve gone off looking for food again...or...damn it Raph, when will you learn that – ...oh.”

And then Mikey’s heart was sinking again, and he slowly, weakly dropped back into a seated position beside his sleeping brother, devastation sinking its teeth into him until he was stonily staring out the entrance.

After a moment, he curled up and began to cry.

If only they had their phones, so that Mikey could at least send him a text, and hope against all hopes that his older brother would reply, and say he was fine, and be capable of doing such a thing so that Mikey knew he hadn’t been torn up too terribly and could still, hopefully, last a little longer wherever he had ended up, so he and Donnie could come and save him.....if only there were just a way of knowing, anything at all just to help him guess where Raph was, what had happened, if he was ok......any sort of hint at all, but they had nothing.

His voice hitched and he muffled a sob, face buried in his arms. Somewhere, far away in the back of his mind, he had the inclination to wonder if this was how Leo felt...but no – the idea of losing just one, and stressing until you turned white, and driving yourself over the wall worrying and looking until your own body fell to pieces – that was bad enough. He knew that, had watched all of his older brothers do it and even done it himself, for short, horrible instances where they’d lost track of one and didn’t know if they were ok. To lose all three, all of your younger brothers, your whole family, your whole heart, indefinitely – he couldn’t imagine.

Those ink monsters were far stronger than the three of them. They were violent, and had them in a corner, and Mikey and Donnie wouldn’t have survived if they’d turned around. Thinking about it very nearly made Mikey get physically sick. It wasn’t like Raph had any advantage either, weapons or not. The best he could say was that Raph’s rage was a force to be reckoned with when his little brothers were in danger, so maybe his own strength had protected him. But he was already hurt, and…

He hadn’t brought it up before, and wasn’t sure if he would, but Mikey wasn’t really sure Raph had hurt that one back there. Ink was thrown into the trees, and it had cried out and hesitated, but none of that had been in pain. Those monsters’ cries were a lot of things – hungry, strange – but pain wasn’t something he had detected there. Not then, not when he watched them pour in around the stricken one and begin demolishing it the same way as before, howling through those long, black jaws.

Mikey rubbed a hand over his head, then both, battling a ravaging anxiety. Raph…

He was alive. He had to be. Mikey was sure of it. He gritted his teeth, angrily pounding the thought into himself, searing it into his soul. His brother was fierce, and had both his weapons, and was smart enough to pull his punches where he had to in order to escape alive, and still had two little brothers unaccounted for. He knew what he had to do, and was handicapped – no, no, he’s alive. Mikey would not consider any alternative. Raph was alive, and he might be waiting for them to come and help him. They had to go look for him.

He sighed and looked down at his big brother’s ankle with an uneasy frown, thinking of their next course of action. Donnie’s ankle had swollen incredibly since their escape from the monsters....it looked awful. He was sure it would be hurting awfully, too, as soon as he woke up. He was in no shape to travel immediately.

So, then, they should try to recuperate as soon as possible in order to begin their search. It wouldn’t take much to convince Donnie they had to keep moving, and in fact he might even have to make Donnie wait until his ankle had recovered a bit; even then, they most likely wouldn’t wait long enough for it to recover very much at all. Time was precious, and Mikey anticipated they’d be back out after a day or two, tops.

It was evening of their third day, and the darkness would hide him better. Mikey nodded; he might as well look for water and something they could eat. He began crawling out of the cave, immediately flinching and having to stop for a moment, doubling over with his teeth clenched and arms wrapped around his middle, but he kept going as soon as he was able. His mouth was dry as sand, and Donnie would be worse.

~

Donnie awoke from a ravenous nightmare to a dark, empty cave.

The terrors from the nightmare still fresh in his mind, everything struck him immediately. Raph – oh Raph. He put his hands over his face, lying on his back. It would’ve been so easy for him to look over and see Raph there with them when he woke up, but he just wasn’t, he was missing. He and Mikey –

He looked around, realizing the cave was empty.

MIKEY!

~

Mikey staggered back in the direction of their little cave as quickly as he could, arms crossed in front of him to carry the most alive foliage he had been able to find. It had taken a lot of looking around this barren landscape to find anything – and unfortunately, water was not one of those things. Stooping to pull up and dig out the little plants he’d found had put his side out of commission, possibly for the rest of the day. He had to get back before he collapsed, and besides, he’d heard noises from some of them again....and it wasn’t coming from the direction of the woods.

He was so thirsty, but he worried more about Donnie and how long it might take them to find water again. They needed that more than the plants.

Struggling to walk, one of his knees suddenly gave out and he fell hard onto his other one, jarring his whole middle and dropping what he had with a small yelp of pain. There was a big rock nearby, so he crawled to that and leaned back against it on the ground, exhausted and in pain. He was only halfway back, but needed to rest for a moment.

His whole body went stiff when his ninja senses suddenly picked up another presence, not bothering to hide itself and approaching him, fast. It was wild and violent, and immediately Mikey went white with fear and wanted to sink into the ground; but the only reason he didn’t move was because he didn’t hear the growls and cries, he didn’t hear anything. He listened, still and silent, with only the rock to hide him.

And suddenly, Donatello popped around the rock to Mikey’s right, violent aura and all, rushing around looking ready to kill somebody and scaring Mikey half to death. But what was even more jarring than this was Donnie’s reaction when he caught sight of him, and Mikey swore he saw all the color drain out of his brother’s face in an instant.

“Mikey!” Donnie cried in a way that suddenly made him want to sink into the ground again, but he reached out to his brother anyway.

“Donnie, I’m here, it’s ok.” Mikey said, arms outstretched and barely finishing his sentence before Donnie was sliding next to him, scooping him into his arms in a terrified embrace.

“Donnie, Donnie. I’m sorry, I’m ok, I’m right here.” Mikey attempted to console in a quiet voice, arms around his big bother as he let Donnie squeeze him and snuggle his face, clearly trying to either talk or cry but just choking up on terrified emotions that wouldn’t quite come out coherently. Mikey suddenly realized what Donnie must’ve gone through, waking up in that cave alone. Terribly guilty, Mikey snuggled his face into the crook of Donnie’s neck, hugging back tightly as he felt his brother’s heart hammering in his chest. He felt terrible. He hadn’t meant to collapse in the first place, he thought reproachfully. He had to be more careful!

“I’m sorry, Donnie…” Mikey mumbled into Donnie’s shoulder shamefully. “I’m really ok. I just got tired and couldn’t keep going.....I must’ve pushed myself too far. I was just trying to....”

Not letting him try finish his sentence, Donnie put his forehead against Mikey’s, looking intensely into his little brother’s eyes with sharp auburn orbs, and it was then that Mikey realized Donnie was angry....not just angry, livid.

“I don’t know what the hell you were trying to do,” He started – and Donnie rarely ever cursed, second to their oldest brother only, so the shock made Mikey want to retreat into his shell. “But what in God’s name gave you the impression that leaving on your own was a good idea!”

“I, I didn’t,” Mikey tried to defend himself, retracting his arms against himself momentarily. He wasn’t entirely sure how to handle Livid Donnie like this. “We haven’t eaten in almost three days, and you ran for hours, Donnie, and on a bad ankle – you really need something to recover! I was looking for water, too, but I just found plants. It’s not like I wasn’t trying to be careful–”

“Do not use any of that as an excuse to just disappear with no notice!” Donnie nearly roared back, gravelly voice tumbling across the space between them like the beginnings of a storm – Mikey knowing full well the statement was meant offensively. “If you thought you could just sneak out while I was asleep because you thought it would be ok, or you thought that I wouldn’t notice, then you are sorely wrong, mister,” He continued in distress, dark-red eyed bleeding with anger. “I don’t care if I had to run for days! You do not leave my side and sneak off all alone, PERIOD!” Donnie leaned back further then in exasperation, looking Mikey over before continuing, “And what happened, why were you lying on the ground?! Did you get hurt?! What would you have done if anything had found you lying here before I did?! What if something horrible had happened and I couldn’t find you because you’d gone off on your own?!” Ignoring Mikey trying to respond, he quickly lowered him to the ground to begin inspecting his side. “Hold still, before you hurt yourself worse. I’ve been concerned about your vertebral column and a possible rupture of your external oblique, and I wasn’t sure if you’d actually had a complete fracture of any ribs or not, but I should’ve just gone with my instinct. I should’ve made you sit down and let me examine you first off so it wouldn’t get this far!”

“Donnie, I’m fine!” Mikey pushed his hands away. “Look, I just got tired, ok?! You don’t have to – I was just getting these plants, and it took more out of me than I thought it would, and....everything was fine, my leg just gave out for a second, and I was just resting for a minute, so–”

“You collapsed from pain!” Donnie exclaimed, so panicked that he scooped Mikey back up and immediately scrambled to get up, struggling with his obviously hampered ankle. “We are going back to the cave where it’s safer and I am looking at your side, ASAP. You are in BIG. TROUBLE.”

“Donnie, don’t carry me–!” Mikey panicked, struggling. The last thing Donnie needed right now was to carry extra weight on his leg again.

Donnie was forced to put Mikey back down, but didn’t let him go. “MIKEY, for the love of–”

“Just let me support you!” Mikey pleaded. “Or you support me. Whichever you want. Just, please don’t try to carry me on your ankle. I can walk.”

Sighing, Donnie ran an exhausted hand over his face. “Fine. Come on.”

“W-wait!” He reached back as Donnie tried to lead him away. “The plants! I picked them for us to eat,”

Looking in the direction Mikey was struggling toward, Donnie paused, and Mikey thought it might’ve been the only thing in the world that could’ve made him. For the briefest of moments, his eyes went soft, looking sadly at the wilted plants on the ground. Hobbling back a few paces, he scooped them up before standing and wrapping Mikey’s arm around his back, making his little brother use him for support before they continued.

~

When they approached their cave, they looked around before ducking inside, walking to the back where there was more room. After Mikey set the plants on the ground, Donnie took him by the shoulders.

“Sit down so I can look at your side.” He said. He was clearly still mad.

Mikey blinked. He felt bad, but he didn’t want Donnie checking out his injury – he was just going to get more worried, and it wouldn’t do them any good. He’d been managing ok so far, so it wasn’t like Donnie needed to know–

“I’d rather not…” He said, quickly thinking of a cover-up. “It really hurts…”

“If it really hurts, then you especially shouldn’t go off on your own!” Donnie said, waving his hands in exasperation.

“I’m sorry!” He said, backing away from Donnie a little before he tried to grab him. “I just don’t want anyone messing with it.”

“I’m not asking, Mikey,” Donnie warned. “I need to know what the situation is so we don’t–”

“Well, I’m not taking orders!” Mikey shot back, scowling with frustration. “You always make a big deal out of it. We can’t even do anything about it here!”

“I do not!” Donnie argued back, his own scowl deepening. “And for the time being, YES, you ARE.”

“Who made you the boss of me?!”

“The boss of you?!” Donnie repeated incredulously. “I’M not the one who’s in danger of puncturing their lung! I’m not playing these games with you, Michelangelo! If you don’t come here right now, I swear–” Donnie argued, grabbing him. Fighting out of his grasp, Mikey accidentally stumbled backwards and fell on his back–

“Aaah!” He whimpered, wrapping around his stomach when his side flared intensely, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes from it as he curled on the ground. Terrified, Donnie quickly got down next to him, holding shivering hands over him like he was afraid to hurt him.

“Mikey?!” He said desperately. Mikey looked up at him and his heart sank; of the two of them, Donnie looked even more like he was about to cry.

Clenching his eyes shut, Mikey reached out for Donnie, and his big brother wrapped him up in a hug, carefully supporting him. “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…” Donnie said quietly, but Mikey shook his head.

“You didn’t do anything, Donnie. It’s ok.” He paused. “I’m sorry I left without telling you…I was just trying to help…”

Donnie put his forehead to Mikey’s, closing his own eyes. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.” He said quietly. “Are you ok?”

Mikey nodded. “Yeah…”

With a sigh, Donnie scooted over to the cave wall and leaned back, sitting with him. In the silence, however, they heard the sounds of monsters in the distance, and Donnie tensed, pulling him closer. Mikey had been hearing them before, but not near their cave like this, and they both waited, anxious. They might’ve been hidden, but if something big with sharp claws and teeth went digging into their cave…

After a few minutes, though, it appeared that the monsters weren’t moving any closer, so Donnie relaxed a little. Sighing, he rested his chin on Mikey’s head. “It’s probably not safe to check your side with them around anyway, in case they hear us…but you wouldn’t let me try regardless, would you?”

Mikey looked up at Donnie nervously, and Donnie gave him a wry grin back. “Didn’t think so…”

Looking at the ground, Mikey dropped his head on Donnie’s chest. “I’m sorry…” He mumbled. “I didn’t mean to scare you…”

Sighing, Donnie rested his head on his little brother’s again. “Don’t apologize, Mike. I’ve been scared since we got here.”

Staring down for a minute, Mikey thought of Raph, and his heart sank, knowing what was on Donnie’s mind, too.

“…We need to go look for him…” Mikey said quietly, keeping his eyes on the ground when Donnie looked at him. “…But I don’t wanna push your ankle. We should rest for a little while first…”

Donnie thought for a minute before responding. “I think you’re right. That’s probably the best thing to do.”

They both looked out the cave entrance where the distance sound of monsters could still be heard. Their plan rested more heavily on how safe it was to move, though. Mikey moved a little closer to Donnie.

“Until then,” Donnie said, looking back down at his little brother, “You are not allowed to push yourself – and I’m gonna be watching you, for your information. No more sneaking off alone, ok?”

Mikey grinned sheepishly. Donnie cracked a grin, lightly pushing Mikey’s head to the side.

“Doofus.”

“But I’m you’re doofus.”

And then Donnie laughed a little, and it was the warmest sound Mikey had heard in days. “Yes, you are.”

Donnie looked past him then, eyeing something with confusion, and Mikey glanced back to see the plants he’d brought with him.

“Do you actually know if those are edible, by the way?”

Mikey turned back to his brother with a big smile. “Well, the sample I tried earlier hasn’t made me sick yet.”

Donnie groaned and rolled his eyes.

~

The two decided they should move from their location while they still had the cover of nightfall. They at least needed to try and find safer territory, Donnie insisted. He was initially worried about Mikey eating the God-knows-what-kind of plants, but after doing his own inspection, decided the need was more urgent than the risk. More than anything, the stalks were still alive, and they needed the water inside them before they dried up totally.

After that, they were immediately on the move.

Donnie held his hand up to signal for Mikey to stay where he was as he crept to the cave entrance and peeked outside. After listening in silence for a moment, he motioned with his head but didn’t move, so Mikey quietly crept up beside him.

“I want you close to me at all times,” Donnie whispered seriously. “I need to know you’re with me. Don’t you let go for anything, you hear me?”

Mikey nodded, eyes large and anxious as he looked up at his brother.

Donnie nodded back, reaching out and grabbing his hand. Then both brothers quickly slipped out, sinking into the darkness outside.

They ran at first, silent as they were physically capable of. Mikey couldn’t help but watch his brother’s ankle from behind, noticing his brother’s hobbled gait and every flinch of pain. Eventually he couldn’t make himself watch anymore, hurting for his brother too much to look. How Donnie was still running, or how much pain he was sucking up right then, or if he had too much adrenaline to even feel it, he’d never know.

It didn’t take too long before they were close to the woods again. Donnie went toward the direction they’d come from and stopped behind a sandy hill where the ground turned grainier as they approached. However, the sounds of monsters stretched across the line of trees ahead, and Donnie scoffed, unable to find a safe way to approach.

“We need to go back in there.” He mumbled, talking mostly to himself by the sounds of it, and sounding deeply troubled.

Mikey tugged at Donnie’s arm, looking up at him with wide eyes when Donnie turned. “We should try to go around. I think if we go back in there the same way now, they’ll smell us.”

Donnie nodded. “Looks that way. We should see if there aren’t any caves out here a little further out of danger, too.”

Mikey gave his brother an encouraging smile. “Yeah. And who knows, Raph might’ve been driven out this way too.”

Donnie gave his hand an affirmative squeeze, quickly checking the area behind them before they darted off again, just shadows in the darkness. Mikey looked worriedly back at the forest, all dead and black, moaning with haunting sounds, and thought of their older brother. There was no telling where he’d ended up, but maybe he’d had the same idea as Donnie. He sure hoped so.

A jerk of his hand made him turn forward again, and all of a sudden he was being pulled to the ground, but Donnie let go, careening down while Mikey stumbled over himself and almost did the same.

“Donnie?!” Mikey whispered, scrambling to the ground next to him.

“I-I’m ok, I.....I just tripped.” Donnie groaned and pushed himself up again, trying to dust some of the dirt off, but Mikey looked over his ankle. “Mike, it’s–”

“Donnie, for God’s sake,” Mikey interrupted, looking at him with frustration and worry. “Your ankle is swollen almost twice its normal size. It’s all kinds of different colors, and half of what we wrapped it up with before has already come off. I can’t even see it that well in the darkness but I can tell how bad it’s gotten! Watching you limp on it physically hurts me.”

“Don’t give me grief,” Donnie whispered back, unimpressed. “You’re not allowed to as long as you won’t let me see your side.”

Mikey’s face fell with frustration. “Please, just let me support–”

Suddenly cutting himself off, Mikey stared into the woods, a few miles off from them, his stomach dropping like a stone.

“Mikey?” Donnie asked seriously, getting on his knees and crouching protectively next to him. “What is it?”

Mikey’s hands started shivering, too afraid to look away. Donnie followed his gaze and saw the single pair of beady red eyes staring out from the woods at them.

Slowly, Donnie moved partially in front of Mikey and took hold of his hand again, both of them staring at the eyes.

“Is that the thing you saw a few days ago?” He whispered quietly.

Mikey pulled himself a little closer to his brother. “Yeah.”

The small red eyes were different from the black, featureless faces of the inky monsters hunting them, but somehow, they were so much worse. They stared unwaveringly at the pair, clearly focused on them, and it sent cold chills down both of their spines. It only took a glance to tell they belonged to something malicious, and it made Donnie actually wonder if they should run or just dig a hole in the ground, since the thing wasn’t moving.

“Mikey,” He whispered again, “We’re gonna try to leave slowly. I don’t know if it’s like those other things, but if we don’t appear to threaten it, maybe it’ll leave us alone.”

Mikey nodded tightly, not caring his brother couldn’t see him, as they both got on their feet and started backing away, keeping low. It was weird that the creature had noticed them at all from so far away, but hopefully, if they left slowly–

All at once, the eyes disappeared, like they’d never been there.

Both brothers froze, all senses on high-alert. Donnie ducked his head slightly, a motion Mikey knew meant he was going into a slight meditative mode in order to highten his ninja-senses, and he stood silently beside his brother, scanning the woods wide-eyed. A serious chill went racing through him. The thing probably just walked away, or looked somewhere else, or anything really, and they shouldn’t be so spooked. After all, if it had left, that was a good thing, but –

Mikey’s body went totally stiff when he realized the chill in his body was too pervasive to be normal. A terrible foreboding feeling and a haunted, icy sort of coldness pervaded his senses, and an image of the first clearing they’d found as a group of three went through his mind. It felt just the same, except so much stronger and they needed to get away–

He stared up at Donnie, who shivered once and looked around. “I’ve got a bad feeling –”

Mikey tugged his arm, making his brother look back at him, and Donnie’s curious expression became much more alarmed when he saw whatever sort of expression Mikey had. “Donnie –”

But he went silent when whispering suddenly surrounded them, and Donnie and Mikey practically dove for each other, looking wildly around to identify the source. It came from all around them, hundreds of agonized voices whispering all at once unintelligibly. They picked out a few clear words, like “It’s here”, “Never got to”, and “Death”.

Donnie tensed and opened his mouth, about to tell Mikey they needed to run, he thought – but he didn’t get a chance, because something huge and dark appeared right behind them in a snap Mikey would’ve missed if he’d blinked, and he jumped so suddenly that Donnie was spinning around.

If the monsters were three times as tall as Donnie, this thing was six, and so much larger in body. Surrounded by whispers and painful moans and shrieks that filled the vibrating air, it was colored black instead of being covered in the ink-like substance of the other monsters, it had hooks and horns all about its body and a spiny back that traveled down the length of a powerful tail – and those red eyes, which seemed to stare right through them with this hunger that had Mikey suddenly weak in the knees.

The brothers held tight onto each other, frozen with fear and staring at the horrible beast looming over them threateningly. It started speaking, a deep, twisted voice they heard booming in their heads more than with their ears, whispering and screaming at them at the same time with more voices than one in a language they didn’t understand, baring its teeth.

Mikey buried his face in Donnie’s chest, petrified and tears streaming down his face, looking at the creature sidelong because he was too afraid to look away. Donnie was no less terrified, trembling and crying too, holding onto Mikey like his life depended on it. And then the monster did something horrible – it shivered and convulsed, its horrible facial features convoluting into one of intense rage in a snap-like motion, and the whispering-screaming voice in their ears boomed, “This is your fate: the fire called Hate will rip you apart, and then you shall walk in the dark place where none escape!"

Fire exploded all around them, and the brothers screamed. The monster roared, his whole body erupting in flames. Donnie held Mikey tight against him, glaring up at the monster with a burning light in his teary auburn eyes.

Finally, the monster threw fireballs at the brothers with violent swings of his arms. Donnie jumped away, covering Mikey as much as possible as the flames washed over them.

Mikey felt them hit the ground, and was moving again a lot faster than his brother was; and with sudden horror, he realized Donnie wasn’t moving at all. Breathlessly throwing Donnie over his back, he ran.

The creature chased them for a short distance, and Mikey felt flames at his feet as he shot off deeper into the desert-like landscape; but soon the flames were gone, and so was he.

Notes:

DONNIE AIN'T PLAYING THESE GAMES!!!!!!!!

Crowdog and Etheratisha - YOU GUYS ARE FRICKIN LIFESAVERS! HOLY SGHJIUHGFHJK! I saw the rich text option, but it buzzes out for a second when I click on that and the story goes blank, so I kinda just assumed it was broken and didn't wait long enough last time for it to load my chapter. But that makes editing SO much easier! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! THE ITALICS HAVE RETURNED!!!!

RomanWrites - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the comment!!!!

BrightLotusMoon - I see you! Thanks for coming by to support my new account <3

Thanks everyone else for the kudos as well, there is more coming quick!!

Chapter 9

Notes:

A/N: Just for reference, this chapter begins on the morning of their 4th day.

Donnie groaned, his fuzzy senses returning.

He shifted his head and felt leather under it, but he was laying in dirt. He took a second to get his senses to stop spinning a little before he cracked an eye open, and a blur of green and orange in the dark sent his memory washing back like an ice bath.

He rubbed his eyes and tried to sit up, attempting to focus on his little brother, who was sitting beside him and staring in the opposite direction before quickly snapping his head around. “Mikey? What – are you–”

“Donnie,” Mikey exclaimed, gently making him lay back down before diving with a trembling hug. Donnie let out a deep sigh of relief, squeezing Mikey tight and burying his face in his shoulder; just having his little brother in his arms made the burns he felt on the backs of his arms feel better. Mikey was here, and he seemed to be in one piece, at the very least, and Donnie tried to soak up this information and relax a little. Where were they?

Eventually, Mikey pulled himself away from the hug – immediately something seemed off to the older brother, but he was still too dazed to focus on what – to double-check Donnie for injuries. Donnie tried to reach out to halt the youngest, but was too weak – he didn’t want Mikey fussing over him, exasperating whatever pain he was most likely in too; he just wanted to sit quietly with him for a moment, shield him and hide away from all the madness – inside of this cave, where they appeared to be; which cave, and in what location, though, he had no idea.

“Mikey,” Donnie finally asked, “What happened?”

He stared into Mikey’s face with deep concern, because his little brother looked haunted, and started looking over his shoulder again – and now that Donnie was really looking at him, he seemed even worse than before; pale, exhausted and paranoid, patched with soot from their fire bath earlier.

Mikey looked back with deep blue eyes and started to reply, but paused when they heard the cry of a monster somewhere in the distance – more monsters. Donnie couldn’t believe after all this, they were still in hot water.

Mikey looked slightly more apologetic this time. “You passed out during the attack, so I took you and ran here. This was the only shelter I could find, even though.....” Mikey sighed, pausing with another small look over his shoulder. Donnie had so many questions suddenly buzzing into his mind, but couldn’t seem to pick one to ask, his anxiety rising. “...Make sure and keep your voice down. And don’t move too much, you’re still healing.”

“What are you –” Donnie tried to sit up again, but cringed when the burns on his arms stung, Mikey already trying to coax him back down. His ankle hurt pretty bad after all the running yesterday, too. He started scooting over to a large boulder to lean against instead, grabbing what he realized had been Mikey’s waist strap pillowing his head while he went, and Mikey stiffly helped him over.

He let out a sigh and slumped against the boulder, Mikey sitting beside him on his knees, worried. Mikey didn’t seem to have any burns, and for that at least, he was relieved. Mikey had doctored and re-wrapped his ankle with what bandages they had left while his big brother couldn’t stop him; but his ankle was probably in much better shape for it than it would’ve been without. And he had a sore need for water, one that he’d been trying to ignore, but it was getting too bad to do that.

Other than that, Donnie considered himself to have come out enormously lucky. Something seemed wrong though, and finally, his disoriented mind landed on it, looking down at himself. He should’ve had way more burns than he did! He and Mikey were hit directly, but Mikey didn’t seem to have any, and only the backs of Donnie’s arms hurt.

“Mikey,” He started, confused. “What–”

Wait.

“You carried me and ran all the way here?!”

Mikey blinked at him with a blank expression for a moment, and then he was flinching back. “Donnie, I had to–”

“ARE YOU HURT?! Christ, of course you are! Come here, where does it hurt?! How bad is it?! How far did you have to run?!”

Mikey was trying to lean away as he blurted out his defenses, but Donnie had him fairly quickly. “Donnie, I – please, don’t, it really – ow!”

Donnie froze his investigation when Mikey let out a weak cry. He’d accidentally hurt him again! Mikey put his hands on the ground, in too much pain to hold himself upright anymore.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Donnie started, reaching out for his little brother, but Mikey quickly shook his head.

“It’s ok,” He said with a strained voice, but Donnie pulled him closer anyway, letting Mikey lean on him for support. “It’s not your fault. It was…already kinda…”

“I’m sorry. I should’ve been more careful.” Donnie continued anyway, beating himself up inside. “You must be in so much pain. Just don’t move, ok? I’m so sorry, Mikey…” Donnie held him as tight as he dared, supporting his hurting little brother.

“It’s really ok, Donnie.” Mikey insisted, resting his head on his shoulder. “I just overworked it...I didn’t really warn you. I just need to rest for a minute before we start moving again...”

Donnie scoffed. “We won’t be moving again for a good while, count on it.” After a moment, he glanced down again to look at Mikey curiously, awful guilt consuming him. “When did I pass out? I don’t remember what....I can’t believe I did something so stupid that you would’ve had to....!”

“Donnie, don’t.” Mikey pressed closer to Donnie, as if defiantly combatting his guilt. “It’s not like any of that was your fault, don’t start thinking crazy stuff. You saved our lives.” He looked up into Donnie’s face, and some of the anxiety his wide blue eyes finally made sense. “You used your body to protect me. You wrapped around me so the brunt of the fire hit you, and of course you passed out, you could’ve died. And I’m so glad that....that you....”

Mikey closed his eyes again, fiercely fighting back tears, but Donnie already knew, and he hugged Mikey tight, shaking his head.

“I’m just glad you made it away.” Donnie said quietly, rocking slowly for a moment to try to soothe him. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get us to a safe place, but I’m so glad you escaped that – thing, whatever it was. I’m so glad it didn’t hurt you any worse. And I promise,” He looked at Mikey squarely – trying to reassure himself just as much as his younger brother. “We will find Raph, and it will be ok.”

Mikey wrapped the arm of his good side around Donnie, and he couldn’t help but feel like Mikey was doing it to comfort him. Laying his head on the younger’s, he tried to rest in the stillness for a few moments. Immediately, his mind went to work over their situation. Clearly, Mikey was in deep suffering, and he was afraid he already knew the most he was going to learn about his injury without better medical tools. The side of his shell was starting to show bad bruising, and Donnie was terribly afraid of what this might indicate – but it could’ve just as easily been bruising from the trauma his wound had been through since he got it. After all, his baby brother had been sucking it up instead of telling them when it was in critical condition, and STILL hadn’t let him look at it, he thought with a scowl. Maybe he had a point, though – this place was just too dangerous for Donnie to spend the time and effort to really get a good assessment of the damage. Mikey needed rest, more than anything, and Donnie did too…but this rebelliousness was gonna get him in trouble, sooner or later – and he didn’t think he could even blame Raph for it. What was Mikey thinking? Didn’t he know what kind of danger...

Why did his arm feel so much better now?

He froze in curiosity and the smallest amount of panic, and when Mikey sensed this, he looked up at Donnie and then all but jumped back.

“Jesus, Mikey –” Donnie was immediately reaching out to the younger in worry, but he was cut off.

“Y-your arm. Does it feel any different? Any better?” And without waiting for an answer, Mikey was back again to inspect it, going over the burns with unsteady hands.

“Uh – yeah, I guess, for some reason.” Donnie took hold of Mikey’s hands and brought the younger back down in front of him, looking earnestly in his eyes. “Mikey, what’s going on? Is everything ok?”

The anxiety in Mikey’s face, however, was quickly turning to excitement, confusing Donnie further. “When we escaped, we both had burns, but yours were so bad, Donnie, you were bleeding and – and – I didn’t know what to do, it was so bad I was afraid to do anything and make it worse. When we got here, though, somehow the burns looked like they’d started receding, and it didn’t look so bad. I started wrapping up your ankle, and all of a sudden the burns on your ankle started healing way faster than the rest.”

Surprised, Donnie looked down at his ankle again, a little hopeful. He fidgeted his foot slightly, and while a horrible twinge of pain brought the disappointment that his previous injury was still there, it did indeed feel burn-free. Donnie turned back to Mikey in shock, and Mikey returned a look of apprehension.

“I didn’t know why it did that or how to make it keep going, so I just tried to treat your worst ones as much as I could. It was like a miracle, Donnie – all I did was try to clean them and stop the bleeding, but after a while, I didn’t have to worry about what would happen to you. I didn’t understand it, but everything I gave attention to healed faster.....but I was just too exhausted, I fell asleep – and then when I woke up, mine had disappeared, and most of yours were gone. Now your arms are the only–”

Immediately, Donnie squeezed Mikey around the middle in a tight hug, the move so abrupt that Mikey yelped in surprise. He held him that way for a moment before letting go, looking on in worry.

“Does it feel any different? Is the pain changing at all?”

Mikey stared in surprise before suddenly grinning. “No, not really. Sorry.”

Donnie’s face fell, but after a second, he grinned back. “Well, at least it helps the burns. Somehow, for whatever reason.” His face twisted into such utterly hopeless confusion in the next instant that Mikey started laughing. He couldn’t imagine what was going through Donnie’s head.

“Thanks for trying anyway, big bro.” He said. Curious, he laid a careful finger on a burn on Donnie’s arm, and Donnie flinched away, but the burn sizzled and a small part receded slightly. “That means you gotta sit here and rest until your arms have healed, though.”

Donnie let out a long-suffering sigh that made Mikey giggle. “Ok…but only because you need to rest your side, too.”

Rolling his eyes, Mikey tiredly leaned on his older brother again, his arms around Donnie’s. He tried to subdue the shivering pain that had been skyrocketing ever since he’d started moving again, and cemented himself to prevent Donnie from detecting any trembles until they died back down to a place where they were manageable again. Closing his eyes, he tried to distract himself with his thoughts. Like, what was that thing?

He hadn’t had time to wonder before, with his brother’s life so much heavier on his mind. But that creature’s eyes were seared into his memory. He saw them in the corners of his vision when he was running and heard the echoes of its horrible multi-language, whisper-scream voice in the black depths of this cave. For all the millions of questions he had, the most prominent ones were, what, and why?

He looked at Donnie, and it couldn’t be clearer they were thinking about the same thing.

“This is your fate: the fire called Hate will rip you apart, and then you shall walk in the dark place where none escape.” Donnie repeated, his voice quizzical and his expression serious. “What did it mean by that?”

“I wish I knew,” Mikey said, sighing. “And what languages was it speaking before it switched to English?”

Donnie grimaced. “I....I don’t know. It didn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard. I picked up something that I thought sounded ancient but......ancient enough that we only know how they pronounced a few words.”

The two sat quietly, troubled. Mikey couldn’t shake the memory of the terrible cold that infiltrated his system in the clearing and in the monster’s presence. It had felt the same both times, only much worse the second. He didn’t like anything about this place. If it wasn’t eerily silent, it was filled with strange, unnatural sounds that could’ve been coming from anything. Everything about this planet felt – black, a thick, unnatural, out-of-place kind of pitch black that shouldn’t be there.

He looked up at Donnie, who was looking at him with a familiar expression – it was the same thoughtful, quiet gaze that all his brothers gave him when they wanted to hear his opinion. The four had been thrown into wild situations far over their heads before, and when they were left feeling around in the dark, Mikey was sometimes the one left with the best instincts, and it had saved their shells a few different times that he could recall.

He couldn’t help the owlish, spooked look in his eyes. His voice dropped to a whisper, suddenly feeling like the walls were listening. “We shouldn’t be here.”

Letting out a sharp, emotional sigh, Donnie squeezed Mikey tighter against him. Mikey looked out the entrance of the cave, a growing pang in his chest and tears slipping from his eyes. “Raph.”

Donnie lowered his head over Mikey’s. “I swear,” He whispered. “We will find Raph. And it will be ok.”

Mikey buried his face in Donnie’s chest, and Donnie cocooned around him. He swore on everything he knew, he would find their older brother, if it was the last thing he did. They had to, or they’d never make it – and it had nothing to do with any of the monsters on this planet.

~

It was evening of the same day before Donnie even dared consider that they should try to move again. Mikey had fallen asleep crying in Donnie’s arms, but Donnie was relieved to think he’d at least felt secure enough to sleep at all – there was no way he would’ve felt safe enough to let his guard down alone. Again, felt a horrible twist of pain for Raph, and he snuggled his baby brother closer to his chest and leaned his head back against the cave wall, closing his eyes.

Trying to relax, he began a breathing mantra while he tried to figure out how to proceed from here. The distant sounds of the monster-demon-animals had never ceased since he’d woken up, and he could only assume that they were near a much more highly concentrated dwelling area, if such a thing really existed. The idea terrified him, and every once in a while one would sound like it was coming uncomfortably close, and he and Mikey had sat in silence and hardly dared to breathe until it went away. His arms hadn’t really healed completely yet – the burns there had been particularly bad, and despite some healing they still looked bad and hurt, but he had rested his ankle long enough that he thought he could put up with the pain to walk. Mikey seemed to be able to so long as he didn’t do anything strenuous, but he wondered for how far. Either way, Donnie was going to use the excuse to keep Mikey close while they were in such a dangerous area, because they needed to go look for Raph now.

Mikey groaned in sleep, and after a moment was rubbing his eyes.

“Hey, little brother,” Donnie said, grinning down at the younger turtle and wiping some soot from his muzzle. “How ‘ya feeling?”

Mikey mumbled something unintelligible with a sleepy voice, and Donnie watched him with worry. “Do you think you could move soon?”

Mikey looked back up at him at this, eyes a little wider. Somehow, he seemed to know already what they were doing.

“Let’s go.” He simply said.

Donnie blinked at him, then grinned.

 

It was only a few minutes later that they were getting ready to go. Donnie got up and paced to test his ankle, and was keeping a keen eye on Mikey’s movements as he got up, too – more attention than he wanted, for once.

“I’ve been thinking about how we need to move.” Donnie said, coming to a stop to face Mikey with hands on his hips. “Firstly, we need to scope out the area to make sure it’s safe to move, and see if we can find any water. Then we head back to the woods, and use every tracking tactic we know.”

Mikey and Donnie looked at each other anxiously, regretting – on top of many other things – that their best tracker was not here with them. Mikey, however, was grateful that at least the consistently second-best was with him.

“While we’re in the woods, we’ll look for something we can both use for crutches.” He continued. “If he’s not still in the woods, we’ll make our best guess where he went, and go there. And if – for any God-forbidden reason – we get split up, we meet at the first cave we found in the woods. Got it?”

Mikey nodded, so Donnie put a hand on his shoulder, looking somber. “Again though, while we’re out there, please –”

“Keep low, move fast, be quiet, I know.” Mikey grinned, and Donnie returned it.

“And stay close to me.” He emphasized, grabbing Mikey’s hand as they crept to the entrance of the cave. “The same thing applies as before, ok? I need to know you’re safe. Don’t you dare leave my sight for one second – hold on to me at all times. Let’s go.”

 

Mikey gritted his teeth, simmering as they slid into the black night, running as quickly as they could to a rock formation.

He breathed deeply, flinched when his side flared, looked to make sure Donnie didn’t notice, and scowled at himself. The pain in his middle was traveling through his whole body in such a way that he’d be trembling now if he wasn’t forcing it down.

He wasn’t completely sure why, all of a sudden, he felt so angry. He should’ve protected Donnie from that fire-breathing monster, not the other way around.

Maybe it was because he didn’t know how he’d protect his brothers in this state. Maybe it was because he was wondering if they’d lost Raph because of this, too…

Raph – what kind of state would he be in? If he was even alive…not that he couldn’t be alive, but – but.....it shouldn’t have happened.

They shouldn’t have –....

He groaned, pushing that thought away, again, to the back of his mind. There was nothing else they could’ve done. They just needed to focus on finding him.

As they reached shelter, he heard Donnie give a sudden gasp, both in awe and terror, at the place they were in.

They were very close to what he could only describe as an earthen city, where there were mounds, ditches, high-rising walls and huge huts in the desert-like environment, creating a systematic colony that could’ve only been there for the purpose of holding the monsters it was crawling with. The huts were misshapen and full of tunnels, and the brothers couldn’t tell if the creatures had dug them out over some period of time, or if they’d always been there, leading places far from safety. Beside the earth city was a large rock cliff face, where they could see more tunnels in the side.

Mikey had seen it when he found the cave, but hadn’t necessarily had time to stop and stare. And he’d seen the black, inky monsters that stalked around this earth city, either creeping toward a hut just to disappear and never come out, or slinking around in the shadows, doing what he could only guess was hunting – but hunting what, in this haunted city situated in a barren wasteland, he wasn’t sure. The thought sent a chill up his back.

He hadn’t wanted to come here, and it was at least an hour from the forest – but he had no choice when the monster last night chased him this way.

Taking in a sharp inhale, Donnie tugged his hand and quickly moved forward. As much as they hated this place, they were going to have to find a good vantage point to see if there was any water. Mikey looked up at the sky as they hurried; it seemed unusually black tonight, and a little colder. The brothers huddled together at every stop due to the dropping temperatures.

Donnie pressed himself against a large rock and looked up at a hill about half a mile away, then around the corner at some distant monsters. He gripped Mikey’s hand tightly and scurried across to a tall hut, shoving his little brother behind him before peering around it on the other side. One of the monsters jerked its head in their direction, and the two brothers froze, Donnie pulling Mikey tighter against his back in what Mikey could only assume was a preparation to start scaling the wall if the monster moved. However, their behavior continued as normal, and after Donnie took Mikey’s hand again, the brothers kept going.

Walk. Walk. Walk. Mikey gritted his teeth and forced himself to keep up with Donnie’s pace without dragging behind. Watching Donnie’s gate, however, gave him extra motivation. He knew they were both in excruciating pain – they just had to push on. As hard as it was, the fire in his side was easiest to bear when he was moving, when his adrenaline was running. And this time, he wasn’t stopping again; not anymore, not while his brothers needed him.

With the large pits, boulders and uneven landscape of the hill, it was relatively easy to remain hidden as they started their way up, which was a relief. Mikey looked back out across the landscape to try to spot water in the meantime, both making slower progress uphill. Squinting, he tried to convince himself the entire place didn’t look just as bare as he’d thought it was.

Once they’d finally reached the top, the two remained low to the ground, despite the area being large and offering several rock formations as potential cover. They snuck to the best vantage point and looked out.

The earth city was large, and only in its intricacy and the unreal darkness that permeated it, impressive. Otherwise, Mikey wished badly that they were back in the dead woods full of strange sounds. Here, there seemed to be even fewer resources, and the weight of the darkness in this red-skied city was much heavier; he trembled. Donnie looked at him analytically with concern, and Mikey dipped his head in response.

Donnie seemed to understand, though. He squeezed Mikey’s hand, giving him a soft, complex look before gazing out at the dark city again. “Seen any water?”

“No.” Mikey shook his head, looking out too. “I’ve been keeping an eye out on the way up, but I haven’t seen any anywhere...”

Donnie sighed, running things over in his mind. “Then, I guess we head back toward the woods – I think there’s a better chance we’ll find some there, anyway. I was hoping that this place would have any kind of electricity-conductible minerals, too, but I haven’t seen anything I recognize.” He said, voice dropping with disappointment.

Mikey looked out at the city again, troubled. The red peeking through the dark sky above was slowly but surely being swallowed by black. The darkness would cover them better on their way, but it gave him a dreadfully uneasy feeling.

“I think we should go.” Mikey said, looking at his brother. A sudden anxiousness hit him and he wanted nothing more than to leave this place.

Donnie made a distant, thoughtful nod, before turning back to Mikey and gently tugging his hand. “Come on–”

His eyes going wide, suddenly Donnie was shoving him into the ground with a hand over his mouth, and all Mikey’s senses went ablaze with panic, his older brother looking similar as he pressed both of them into the ground. His big brother was all-senses-alert and muscles tense in such an abrupt transition to combat-mode that it freaked Mikey out all by itself – something was very wrong. But he hadn’t sensed anything, there shouldn’t be anything nearby, why was Donnie–

A growl emitted close to them.

Mikey froze. He didn’t dare look over for a moment, because just as clearly as there hadn’t been anything there before, there suddenly was–

He looked up at Donnie wide-eyed, who spared him the briefest wildfire-like expression before looking back at the monster, only a few paces away. Apparently, they’d both been caught unawares. Mikey hadn’t thought they’d been that out of it. No – that was impossible. How had this one snuck through both of their senses?

Its back was to them, and after a moment of petrified observation, they realized it hadn’t noticed them yet. Still, they were laying on the ground with no cover. With sudden urgency, Mikey silently rolled his older brother off of him and, running low, dragged them both behind a large bolder formation beside them, watching the monster with panicky focus. Shoving Donnie against the rock, he held the two of them as tightly against it as he could, shielding his big brother.

Donnie was totally taken off guard by Mikey’s sudden movement, and Mikey could practically feel the storm of anger and panic rolling off of him as soon as they hit the bolder. Donnie shot Mikey a dark, sharp look and forcefully wrapped his arms around his little brother, clearly intending to move them down and cover him, but they flinched and froze as the monster leapt over their rock, continuing until it disappeared down the hill on the other side.

Donnie crushed Mikey against him in panic, and Mikey clenched his eyes shut and leaned his head on his brother’s chest as they waited, listening in case of its re-emergence as light rain starter pattering down. Rain – water. Yet, as much as the idea of water struck Mikey with desperate, screaming hope, this rain stung a little. He dismissed the rain in a horrible, longing way that hurt; however, after a moment and not hearing the monster come back, their tense muscles relaxed just marginally enough for them to lessen their tight grip.

Mikey glanced up at Donnie for a moment before quickly and suddenly dashing ahead with as much silence and stealth as he could, trying to find out where the creature went.

“MI-!” Donnie whispered harshly, panicking as he ran after his little brother.

Approaching the hillside, Mikey looked out – just to see the thing had disappeared entirely. Huh? He looked down the hill and to both sides, confused. Just as it seemed to have come out of nowhere, it was gone again, and his senses, at least, were no longer detecting it. How–

Donnie was suddenly grabbing him around his middle and forcing him back, surprising him. Swinging him around in the other direction, Donnie carefully – but angrily – shoved Mikey to the ground, pinning him there so he was unable to move. Mikey’s shock turned into panic, escalating by few hundred miles a minute – Donnie was PISSED.

“You wanna tell me what you’re trying to prove?!” His big brother’s eyes were white with anger and his whisper and scowling expression so fierce, Mikey wished he could pull into his shell. He turned his head to the side and squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden acidic words. “What the fuck are you doing, darting around and shoving in front of me?!”

Mikey looked at Donnie with growing frustration. He wanted to shove Donnie off of him, but his brother’s bigger size made it difficult, and his upper body strength was too weakened at the moment. “Get off me, Donnie! I’m just trying to watch your back, like you’re watching mine! Aren’t I allowed to?!”

Donnie’s angry expression darkened. He wasn’t used to angry Donnie, and it scared him a little, but he held his ground. “No, I’m trying to protect you. You’re trying to wedge yourself between me and danger, which in case you weren’t aware, is a bad move. What has gotten into you?! Do you think I’m just gonna stand around and watch you throw yourself into danger if we get attacked?!”

“I’m trying to keep you from getting HURT!” Mikey combatted. “I mean, worse than you already are?! And for the record, you’re the one that keeps trying to shove in front of ME, and I don’t –” Mikey made a weak attempt to shove his brother off of him, “–wanna watch you get eaten!”

With a burst of effort, he finally managed to wrestle the older off of him with a knee. Trying to struggle to his feet, Mikey quickly realized it didn’t matter – Donnie’s ninja skills were not inhibited in the same way his were – as Donnie made a lightning-fast counter move in order to take him captive in his arms this time.

“That’s it,” Donnie growled, trying to unhook his torso straps as he struggled. “I’m restraining you until we’re out of enemy territory. If you’re not gonna cooperate and put yourself in danger, I have no choice!”

“No!” Realizing the danger, Mikey held a breath of air and painfully launched himself away from his captor with his legs, rolling before getting up on his knees. “I’m not letting you haul me around and I’m not letting you break your foot off! You can fight me all you want to, Donnie, but I’m getting Raph back!”

Mikey immediately flinched back inside at the words that came out of his mouth, and Donnie’s face filled with hurt an instant later that killed him. He hadn’t meant that. Not like that. Where did that come from? What was he saying? The rain was quickly worsening, and he struggled for the words to say, but the look in Donnie’s eyes was shredding apart every desperate apology that came to mind. Donnie flinched, rubbing at the backs of his arms in pain, and the move gave them both pause for a moment.

“Donnie, I –”

In a flash, a monster appeared directly behind Donnie out of thin air, and Mikey’s heart stopped beating.

“DONNIE, LOOK OUT!”

All three moved at once – the monster struck out at Donnie, Donnie whirled around to find the attacker he hadn’t sensed, and Mikey lunged for Donnie.

He reached his brother just before the monster did, tackling him out of the way, and the monster struck him with a force that felt like ramming into a brick wall.

Mikey was quickly and easily launched over the side of the hilltop, suddenly tumbling down the steep, sandy incline.

He vaguely registered Donnie cry out his name with a voice that set his nerves ablaze, but the pain that erupted from his side caused his senses to black out, and each jarring impact as he toppled down the hill was the only thing to assure him he was still conscious. The sound of rain roared around him on the trip down – when did it start raining so hard?

Finally, graciously, he slid across one of the many boulder-filled pits in the hill, and was saved from going over the edge when his shell smacked into one of them.

He blacked out for a moment on that impact, and he was just regaining a fuzzy picture in his eyes and distinguishing muffled sounds through his roaring ears as he made out Donnie again, still at the top of the hill, backing away in a crouched position from the monster bearing down on him.

Mikey’s senses screamed at him to move. The pit in the hill had become a large, fast-moving puddle of water from the pouring rain. He pushed himself onto his elbows, threw up a bit of blood and blearily looked back up at Donnie as he started trying to drag himself in that direction. It was raining so hard – hard enough that the water pouring down the hill started crashing against him, almost washing him backwards. What was happening? He had to get to Donnie. Faster! Go! He clenched his teeth harder, desperately fighting the current as he watched the two, both of which were struggling to keep their ground themselves. Thunder suddenly crashed through the air with a boom that rattled his bones, and Mikey closed his eyes in panic, calling out for Donnie. With a sudden torrent, Mikey was forced back the little distance he’d made, colliding with the boulder again in an impact that sent him reeling into darkness again, and the last thing he saw was both monster and his brother being washed over the hill in the flood-like downpour.

~

When he woke up again, it was like in a dream.

He seemed to be floating in a small, dark cave of some kind, a blue glow dancing on the walls. He was so cold, everything hurt, his whole body stung and burned and ached...oh God. He spent the next several moments throwing up water, and when that was all gone, his stomach kept trying to throw up, but there was nothing left to eject. He’d dry-heaved before, but none of those experiences ever had, nor he was sure, ever would, stand up to this one. Fire ripped through his mid-section and travelled his whole body as his stomach tried to expel what it didn’t have, and while the two sensations were graciously strong enough to fight each other and take the worst edge off of each in the process, it also elongated the experience, and he floated there for another while longer, writhing in agony and simply praying for it to end.

After what seemed like an eternity, the nausea died again to curl back up in a ball in the pit of his stomach, where it would stay until next time. The icy-cold of the water he floated in seemed to help with that – which he had, finally, gathered enough awareness to realize it was. How he got here or how far underground he was, he had no idea – but he was grateful he had gotten here alive.

Donnie.

How long had he been unconscious?

“I’ve got to get out of here.”

Immediately, Mikey dove down underwater and started swimming. His best bet was to explore the small room and try to find a way out, but it was incredibly dark and hard to see, except for what looked like sparse patches of glowing algae at the bottom.

Fumbling blindly in the dark was an equally frustrating, unnerving and disgusting task, but he was massively relieved when he found the small, black tunnel that led to this room. When or how he got all the way through there to here, he wasn’t confident he’d ever know.

Testing its size, he found he’d fit fine to swim through. Now the only problem was doing it. Besides being super creepy and completely black, he had no idea how long it was or where it led.

Surfacing again for a few moments, he got some air and performed some gentle breathing exercises to maximize the amount of time his turtle-lungs could hold his breath. Even with the added bonus of his and his brothers’ natural affinity to water, his limit with activity was fifteen minutes.

He dove down and started through the tunnel as quickly as he could go.

 

To his horrible realization, he quickly found out he wouldn’t even make it that long.

His side injury was just too severe. Even in the weightlessness of water, swimming took too much effort, and the burning pain radiating from his torso was making it more difficult to keep the air that he needed. This tunnel was fairly long, after all, but he’d begun swimming up toward what he hoped would be the surface, both a relief and an added source of stress to his injury.

His stupid freaking side. Why couldn’t he have had a better landing and just gotten something nice, like some broken toes?

Finally, just as he began to panic that he wasn’t progressing quickly enough, light began filtering into the blackness of the little tunnel. It was impossible to tell exactly what was beyond the surface, but he thought he could make it out. But it was definitely still far. He had to keep going – his side was burning so badly. He groaned underwater in pain and lack of air, noticing a large rock jutting into the tunnel and slipping around it, pushing off to give himself a boost.

The rock collapsed from its hold in the tunnel and dislodged another one, which smacked against Mikey’s side.

He couldn’t help crying out. His vision blacked out for a moment and he fought, with every fiber of his being, to force down his body’s spasmic attempts to start dry-heaving again. For a few minutes, the struggle against his own pain in a desperate attempt to keep from choking down water was all he knew. When his vision finally began to clear, it was only in spots. He had no air left and he panicked, struggling desperately to reach the surface.

When he did, he wasn’t entirely sure how he’d done it. He didn’t remember being close enough to the surface yet or even breaking it, but when he opened his eyes, he was floating there. He flailed, panicking and coughing up water and trying to breathe and stay afloat, all at once.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed land, and struggled to it much like he’d struggled to the surface of the water. Once there, he collapsed at the bank of whatever kind of pond he’d ended up at, too sick, in too much pain and too everything else to move, his last thought before passing out again was how ironic it was that at it had felt nice when the water initially got into his parched system.

 

Waking up again was a startled sensation, like he’d been falling.

He darted his eyes about his surroundings, terror taking hold and steadily building up from his chest.

His nervous wreck of a brain recalled everything in jarring snapshots, like it was forcefully, too forcefully, pulling his memories back from quicksand. Raph. Donnie. The monster. It’d started raining. He washed away into that underground place. Almost drowning. Raph. DONNIE.

He was really all alone.

He wasn’t sure where he’d ended up, but it was somewhere in that earthen city of monsters, and he was vulnerable. He’d been passed out in the open, Jesus – suddenly shaking all over, Mikey slunk back into the pond he’d nearly died in, not quite having the stomach to fully submerge himself again, but only peeking out with his face.

Horrible pain jarred his whole body at the slightest movement, and he did his best to maneuver without setting himself off on a pain seizure.

The pond – which had definitely, he knew without a doubt, not been here before – seemed to be tucked away behind some domes and was wedged against the cliff face, so at least he’d been relatively hidden.

It had started raining so hard, so quickly. Like a flood coming straight from the sky. It had washed all of them straight off the hill. It would’ve certainly drowned him, or gotten him crushed, if he hadn’t miraculously been swept away somewhere that hadn’t happened.

The panic in his chest finally migrated to his stomach. Donnie...Onii-san...please be alright.

Notes:

Etheratisha - I'm glad you're enjoying my fic!! Things are gonna keep getting more intense from here...

Sidenote, this story is based on the 2012 series (obviously), and so these are technically the 2012 brothers, but for some reason I don't picture them in my head that way. I have some kind of version of the guys in my head that's my own, and that includes some headcanons that differ from the 2012 series. For this story, at least, one of those is that the guys can't actually retract into their shells.

Thanks everybody for the kudos!

Chapter 10

Mikey skittered about in the shadows and between the closest little burrows of the landscape he could reach, searching desperately for his brother and a place he could hide as the early morning darkness contributed to the gloom of their fifth day on the planet.

It was difficult to move, but he had to. He refused to stop anywhere while both of his brothers were missing. He couldn’t imagine anything else. He could hardly think at all – terror for his brothers and his surroundings overrode most everything. But it was getting so difficult. The third day had been particularly bad, after which his body had begun adapting to his hunger, but it was palpably beginning to affect his strength at this point. His body was just too battered. He would almost be thankful for the flood of rain that poured down last night just for the sake of having water, despite it separating him from his brother and nearly killing him, but it stung to the touch and he didn’t even trust it to drink.

Standing and moving had become a matter of balance. Using his middle for any kind of strength or leverage was impossible now, and moving at all was still a struggle that brought occasional waves of agony he fought desperately with. But as long as he was very careful, he could still move. He gritted his teeth and bore through it, searching frantically and endlessly for the brothers he’d lost.

At the same time, he had no choice but to keep moving; the monsters still prowled the city, even after the downpour that seemed capable of killing even their kind. Mikey got a dark, crawling sensation it hadn’t been. They moved about with just as much violent hunger as before, searching about aimlessly and vaguely for....Mikey still didn’t know what. They seemed quite capable of hunting the three brothers down sometimes, once they’d caught wind they were there. Several of them hadn’t even needed to move – they just appeared and struck out once they were aware of their presence. Other times they seemed too crazed to even hunt properly. He didn’t understand....he shuddered. Their towering bodies…their joints cracking in and out at impossible angles as they moved…their elongated, sharp-jawed heads without eyes – he was seeing them in his nightmares now, every time he slipped into sleep or unconsciousness, and hearing their awful wailing voices that sometimes sounded eerily like screaming humans to him instead. And on top of everything, through some dark mechanism of forces beyond him, they could teleport. The longer he slipped about this place, the more often he witnessed them do that, sometimes without appearing anywhere else he could tell or coming back, and it terrified him every time, wondering where they’d gone; if they were even still here, anywhere, at all. He would drop to the ground when one near him disappeared, shivering and digging his fingers into the dry earth and crying, waiting to make sure it didn’t appear again behind him and that no others came for him. Any moment he could be found, and he’d be defenseless.

“Donnie...Raph…Leo...I want you guys...help me, I’m scared...I need you...” He choked back a sob as he scurried forward, moving in the shadows from behind one hut or rock formation to another. He missed them, wanted them so badly it hurt more than his body did.

That other creature, with scales and red eyes – that one teleported the same way. There was no telling where that one was, now.

He was so scared. He wanted his brothers so badly.

He missed having Donnie with him in this place terribly, being able to hold his hand like a safety anchor and a place he could hide.

“You can fight me all you want to, Donnie, but I’m getting Raph back!”

He scrunched his face against the wave of sorrow, remembering the way Donnie looked at him, the way they both paused.“I’m sorry, Donnie. Please be ok. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean to...I didn't mean...” He whimpered, fighting back from crying. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please be ok...please, please....”

An explosion of sound erupted behind him and he couldn’t help but jump. Trembling, he scrambled from the hut he hid behind to a large, dense thicket of dead shrubbery, hiding his head under his hands for a moment of paralysis before looking up as the violent noise continued. Three monsters were attacking each other – he’d seen them a moment before, they hadn’t been interacting, nothing should have happened, what happened? – but the three were lunging at each other in raging violence now, wailing at the top of their lungs. He backed an inch deeper into the shrubbery that hid him, trying to be small, and despite the dead thicket covering him completely, he felt like he might as well have been standing in the open. The three attacking monsters attracted more, and the sickening sounds of violence became louder. Jaws started gnashing over meat and Mikey hid his face in his hands, shaking and crying uncontrollably, curling as tight into a ball as he could.

 

He hid in the shrubbery for what felt like hours. Miraculously, thankfully, the creatures never appeared to notice him. However, their fighting drew more of the monsters around – more than he thought possible. Tons of them had crawled out of the tunnels in the landscape. The only reason he thought he could bear this nightmare was because he kept fading in and out of consciousness from exhaustion. It felt like his nerves were frying, keeping a paranoid eye on his surroundings when he was awake, just to fall off into an anxiety-ridden half-consciousness and jolt awake again in panic when he realized he’d dozed off. Glancing up at a small group of monsters as they stalked by, he dropped his face onto curled-up fists on the ground, wishing he could run to his brothers and hide in their arms. He’d never come out again.

After some time, Mikey realized the monsters had become less concentrated around him, still active in large numbers nearby but far away enough he could try to move again. Quickly, before he lost his chance, he tried to strategize where to go. He’d already tried to cover the locations he thought Donnie could’ve been – around the tall hill they’d been before and surrounding areas his brother could’ve moved; but he hadn’t found the first sign of Donnie, and now had no idea where his brother might’ve gone. For all he knew, he’d been swept off to some obscure place like Mikey had, and then he really might not be able to find him. Mikey wanted to cry. Where did he even start–

Someone’s voice cried out far away, ringing through the air before being swallowed again by the normal guttural moans of monsters, and every nerve in Mikey’s body tensed. That was Donnie’s voice. Donnie was alive.

He hadn’t sounded like he was in pain – just yelling, maybe frustrated. It sounded like he could’ve been a mile or two away, but he could tell which direction it came from. Several monsters in Mikey’s vicinity turned towards the noise before creeping that way.

He could find out what Donnie was yelling for later. Right now, he just needed to get to his brother, he thought as he slipped in that direction through the shadows.

 

Because of his condition and surroundings, it took Mikey about twenty minutes before he came near where he thought the sound had originated. There was a huge mound-like structure here, probably bigger than the rest in the city and almost intricate in its design, like several mounds stacked on each other creating wide platforms before a final mound which sat at the top, tunnels dug throughout the entire structure. It almost looked like a temple of some kind. The place made Mikey’s nauseous, crawling feeling worse than ever, and all his senses blared with warning. He looked wildly and frantically around for Donnie, wishing badly that he could call out for him. “Please,” Mikey pleaded in his thoughts, sneaking and hiding anywhere he could, moving faster and faster as horrible, sick panic set in. “Please,” He begged, tears beginning to stream down his face. “Don’t tell me you’ve left already. Please don’t be hurt. Please, Donnie, don’t leave me! Please! Onii-san!”

However, despite his pleading, crying and desperate searching, the only hint of Donnie he found was a short track of turtle-footprints, just ever so slightly bigger than Mikey’s own, and already quickly disappearing as wind blew loose earth over the hard sand. Mikey couldn’t follow the direction the tracks were going, because they pointed toward where he’d already been.

Mikey fell to his knees over the tracks, which disappeared even as he leaned over them, sobbing. Donnie was the second-best tracker in their family. The fact that he’d been so far away, and hadn’t found Mikey yet, must’ve meant that something was preventing him – or that there were just too many places to get lost in this chaotic city.

Donnie was gone already. He left him....he didn’t even know if he was still alive.

“Onii-san....” Mikey cried, fists against his chest and bent over in anguish. His middle quickly gave out and he crumpled on his better side. “Don’t leave me...I’m scared. I need you...Onii-san...”

 

Unable to travel anymore, Mikey had to find cover shortly afterwards and rest for a few more hours, even though “rest” for him only meant leaning over a rock formation in a small enclosure to rest his exhausted injuries, staring out into his surroundings like he was expecting to be assaulted. Despite the danger and the horrible feeling he got from this place, he continued to search for his missing big brother well into nightfall, occasionally being forced back into hiding when monsters appeared or trekked by, where he’d shake against his will and pray he wasn’t found. When he was too exhausted to move again, he went back to the small enclosure and huddled inside, trembling and hugging himself, leaning his head on the ground as he watched the red-black sky outside with tears quietly running down his face, listening to nearby monsters all night.

After a while, unable to sleep, he worked a finger aimlessly through the dirt, pretending the other three could hear him.

 “Onii...I miss you Donnie…please don’t be scared, or lost…I’m so sorry, I…don’t let them get you while you’re alone, or…”

He sighed, clenching his eyes shut.

“Raphie...please, please be ok...We’re so scared. I-I miss you...we can’t make it without you, Raph. We can’t go on without you. Please be ok...”

He dug deeper into the earth, getting a handful of dirt.

“Leo-nii...” His chest hurt, and his tears ran harder. “I love you...I miss you...I miss you, Onii. I’m scared...please, hurry and come get us...I miss you, I love you...”

He would give anything to be together with them right now, being rocked while Leo sang them a lullaby. Leo loved singing to them, as rarely as he did it, being the bashful person their brother was. They loved when Leo sang to them....Mikey loved his big brother’s voice. It was soothing and warm, and hummed deep with affection. Sometimes it was the only thing that could get him asleep....

Hissing lightly through his teeth, Mikey released his grip on the dirt and rolled limply onto his back. He put his hand to his forehead, feeling dizzy and weak. For once, he felt warm.

A fever....

Even if the realization made something cold drop in his stomach, he wasn’t entirely surprised. At the same time, he determined not to let it hold him back. He was only in the beginning phase and could last a while longer. He could still look for Donnie and Raph.

He laid awake the rest of the night, listening indifferently to the noises outside and crying for his big brothers.

~

Mikey was on the move again early in the morning of day six, long before sunlight – or whatever dim source illuminated this dark planet – had a chance to show.

He almost had to – he wanted to be out of that lonely crevice, lying miserably in wait, as soon as possible.

His midsection felt no better from yesterday, a clear sign that things were not doing good; but it didn’t hurt any worse, and resting had helped his body adapt to the energy he was expending. He didn’t feel the hunger pangs anymore – at least not while he was active – and Mikey counted it as an advantage.

He still felt the dizziness and weakness of the developing fever, which would make his need for water worse again soon; and as many water puddles around as there were now, it would need to be boiled, which he couldn’t do.

He didn’t let any of it distract him, however.

As he continued searching into the morning, he realized the monsters were still stalking this place in dense numbers, and if anything, there were more than yesterday. It was much harder to move around, and eventually, Mikey decided he was going to have to move away from here or else get caught; Donnie couldn’t be around here where all these monsters were, either, after all. His brother was smart – he wouldn’t put himself in danger. He’d be looking for Mikey...

Unless he’d been taken into the huge earth temple-looking place, which still set all of Mikey’s senses off...

Maybe that’s why he’d yelled.

Mikey shook his head, rubbing his hands into his face. No, no, no...Donnie couldn’t be in there. He wouldn’t let…that couldn’t be possible...

But if he was, he might be in a lot of trouble...waiting for Mikey...

Mikey turned toward the structure, several yards away, with wide, fearful eyes.

If he didn’t check, Donnie might....

He closed his eyes, took several deep, shaky breaths, and ran that way.

 

On entering the lowest cave leading inside the earth temple, Mikey was immediately swallowed in darkness.

The place was even colder inside, and as soon as he’d started down the tunnel, Mikey thought he could hear new, strange sounds somewhere in the distance; they didn’t sound like monsters – he didn’t think – but the cave rumbled deeply and whispered in ways that sent chills down his spine. As he walked further away from the light outside, the cave became more and more black, and he had to feel his way further inside. The very premise of being trapped in this place, with who knew what else, in total blackness, terrified him so much that he almost started trembling too hard to continue. But with Donnie alone on his mind, he kept going, both hands against the wall.

Finally, the tunnel opened up into what seemed to be a room, though it was too dark to tell. Only the dim light at the tunnel’s exit was visible, and with knees shaking, Mikey slowly inched forward away from the wall, trying to feel his way. He tried to call quietly for his brother, but his voice froze in his throat against his will.

After several moments, his eyes managed to adjust enough to pick up what sparse little light was in the room, coming from the exit far away. However, he felt like he could make out the barest hint of light ahead, possibly in adjacent chambers, so he moved toward the nearest one.

The ground was cold and damp on his feet. As soon as Mikey met another wall, he grasped onto it with both shaking hands and continued down another tunnel leading him to the dim light. “Donnie?” He finally managed to whisper, hardly loud enough to hear, and he tried again, a little louder. “Donnie?”

After listening for a moment, the only sound that met him was the continuous, reverberating moans of the caves, with no hint of any brothers. The sounds were really starting to make him shake too hard to walk now, and he crouched slightly as he came to the end of the tunnel, finding only another chamber, hardly lit by a similar glowing algae he’d found when he woke up in the small cave. “Maybe coming in here was the wrong idea.” He finally thought, quickly turning around to go back. “Donnie can’t be in here–”

Nausea hit him like a punch to the gut, and he whipped around again, wide-eyed and falling to his knees.

In an explosion of fire, a monster appeared.

No.

The monster!

Sound was suddenly a deafening thunder of flames echoing off the cave walls, and a minute after the monster appeared in the room, it roared.

“GOTTA GET OUT! RUN! RUN, DAMNIT!” Mikey’s thoughts screamed, desperately looking down the tunnel where he wanted to go, but his muscles were suddenly puddles. He couldn’t budge an inch.

In slow, agonizing movement, the monster turned its head to face Mikey directly, its beady red eyes boring into him.

It inched toward Mikey slowly, feet not touching the ground, but hovering over it; its head convulsing, twisting and snapping as it shifted through languages, and Mikey could only fall backwards and inch away, sobbing.

“בוא ותמותԵկեք եւ կործանվիրتعال والهلكC̥̼̜͇̣̹̠O̼̬̺̙M̵̬̻̝̯̘Ḛ͍̻ ͏̘̯̺͓͈A̷͔͓͍͈̙͚̩N̞̼̥̳̺̤͘D ̞P̹ͅE̛̟͖̰Ṛ̠̣͔̺̭̝̕I̟͔S͍̹̘̳Ḫ̼”

Screaming in terror, Mikey finally got his feet underneath him again and bolted for the tunnel that led to the exit. Except, when he got there–

It had changed. The caves had changed!

“NO NO NO NO!” Mikey cried, feeling desperately and wildly for the tunnel. He was sure he remembered where it was. He hadn’t gone far. Yet, where it had been before, there was only a wall now.

Exploding sounds ripped through the caves as the large monster clawed its way through, breaking the tunnel walls violently and angrily blasting fire from its mouth. Mikey ran for the next nearest tunnel, screaming and crying.

“C̖̗̜̥̮̟O̤M̶̖̱E̛ ̞̲͈̹̩A̶̻̱̮̞̟N̩̺̞̘̟̤D̞̝̲͖͚̹̕ ̟͎̦͙̼̮̹P̘̼̙̣E̖̜̹̦͘R̯͇̫̕I҉̟S̝H̩̰̫̱͓̬̕ ̴̭C͔̯̞̖̞͙͎͡O̟̘̜̮̠͠M̧̭͎̫͕̟E͘ A͕̜N͍̝̬̙̠͝Ḍ͚̻̭̲ ̧̫͎̜̺̲̳P̸̦͖̪͚ER̜I҉̻̩͈͇S̛͎H̼̳̦̱ ̝̗͉͚̫̻̘C̥̺̪̝ͅǪ̪M̟E̠͍͕̟̼ͅ ̰̙̫A͓̘̲N͙͈̙̥D̶̮̻̳ ̲͓̱̻̻̜̺P̰̬͙̲͚E͇̠̙̲RI̴̖̮͖͈̹S̺̪̬̺͜H̘̫”

“ONII!! LEO! RAPH! DONNIE! HELP!! HELP ME!!” Mikey cried, disregarding the tunnel walls as he bolted through, cutting and scratching his arms and legs. He entered the next room which held two additional tunnels, the closest only big enough for him to fit through, but neither with the dim light on the other end. The monster was coming in fast, lashing about and struggling through the small tunnel, and he ran as close to the next tunnel as he could before the monster breathed fire into the room, blocking his paths off. Mikey fell on his backside and cowered away, hands over his face.

“C̤̹ͅOM͈E̫̣̟̲͙̯ ̟A̳̼̠̺̰̺͉͟Ṉ̟̬ͅD͡ T̞̦̤͇̫̭̬H̭͉͖͍ͅE̻̘̙͇̯Ṉ̯ T̫̖̤̙̝̰̻H̱̣̖͜E̘̥̟Y҉͙͔̹̘̞̳ ̝͉͉̙̦͠W̢̝̞̝̜̻̖͍I̴͈̙͉̠̪͖L͔̗̬̪L ͠F̡͔O̮̫̫̯͔L̶L͓O̷̪̗̦͍̜͓W҉̱̖̳̝̪̪ ” Its mangled voice roared, struggling closer and taking a deep breath, veins like lava lighting up in its black chest. Mikey trembled and hid his head in his arms, crying.

“I’m sorry...Leo...Raphie...Donnie...I love all of you...onii...” He thought, too afraid to look. “Leo...Raphie...Donnie...Raphie...Donnie...”

They will follow...

Wait...

Mikey’s eyes snapped open.

“Donnie...Raphie...they will follow...they. They’re still alive!”

Both of them – Raph was still alive! He couldn’t give up now. He had to find them!

Unfortunately, he was out of time. He jumped up and darted through the flames down the small tunnel as fast as he could go just as the monster opened his mouth, pouring a river of fire down after him.

“AAAaaah!” Mikey screamed in pain as it reached him, but the ground simultaneously opened up underneath him and he was falling the next minute – stumbling down a steep incline until finally he crashed into the floor of the room below.

 

His vision returned in a distorted blur as he woke up from what seemed to have been a temporary black-out. He immediately jumped, stiffening on the ground and staring up at the tunnel he’d just fallen through, dimly illuminated by more of the glowing algae; yet, as long as he stared, nothing came through and nothing happened. He was alone again.

Letting out a shaky, sob-choked sigh, he squeezed his eyes shut. His whole body was screaming, and he was sure he was covered in burns again. What was he gonna do? How was he gonna get out now? He didn’t even bother to see if this room had more tunnels. He could barely move in the first place, and now...he shouldn’t have come here. He shouldn’t–

He heard a scratching noise, and his eyes shot open.

There was something on the ground, a small creature several feet away, facing him.

Mikey stared at it, trying to understand what he saw and determine the threat. It looked like a little gremlin, about as tall as his leg to his knee. But....it had eyes circling all the way around its head, the ones directly facing Mikey being closed and all others open, and a wide mouth tightly closed.

He couldn’t make out what it was, what it meant – but he continued staring at it, scared. What now? It wasn’t very big. Maybe if he didn’t make any sudden moves, it would leave him alone...he blinked in confusion–

In an instant, it was closer, closer than it could have gotten in the time Mikey blinked, and Mikey flinched back in terror. It was frozen in a position like it had been sprinting on all fours, head tilted, and its mouth was wide open now, full of sharp teeth and jaw almost as long as its body. The eyes that had been closed before were open and looked bloodshot, but after just a second they closed again.

Mikey froze like a statue, whole body trembling as he stared at it with wide eyes. No no no. What? What was this? He tried to understand. What was happening? He’d never seen this before. What did it just do? Why wasn’t it moving now? Mikey continued staring at it, tears running down his cheeks. “No. No, this can’t be real. I can’t do this. No, God please no!” He cried out in agony in his head, disbelieving. He couldn’t deal with this. He wanted his brothers–

All of a sudden, like an explosion, something came bursting into the tunnel and shot in between Mikey and the creature, wielding a large, twisted stick.

“D...” Mikey’s thoughts stuttered.

Rearing their weapon backwards, they aimed at the little monster, crying out with rage–

“HRRRAAAAAAA!!”

The staff impacted the creature with a crack, sending it flying through the room until, with a sick smack, it hit a rock on the opposite side of the room. Not done with it yet, the person leapt across the room with all the speed of a train, smashing the stick so hard against the creature that the wooden weapon shattered in half in a million splinters. The little monster was thrown away into another tunnel with the force, not moving anymore.

“Do...”

Before he could even move, the person raced back to Mikey and was protectively pulling him into strong arms, holding him tight against himself as he ran for an exit; and suddenly, somehow – somehow Mikey didn’t think he could possibly understand – the tunnel the person raced through opened up into outside light and fresh air, and just like that, they were out.

Mikey looked up at his rescuer, running like mad away from the place. As much danger as they were still in, Mikey leaned against the plastron and snuggled his muzzle against it, exhausted and coming apart. “Donnie.” He whimpered.

Donnie spared him the quickest glance down, his agonized expression fracturing with such pain that he almost stumbled. But Donnie squeezed him closer and kept running with a determined expression, and Mikey didn’t miss the little trail of tears he left behind.

 

Donnie brought them to a cave on the far side of the earthen city close to where they’d entered, quickly squirreling around dead thickets into a small tunnel under a rock that made a short decline before opening up into a small, cozy space.

By now, tears were streaming from Donnie’s eyes more quickly as he gently laid Mikey down, lying at an incline. One hand went to his cheek while the other shakily ran across the new damage on his body in a panic, hardly letting him go, but Mikey reached up to his big brother as far as his arms would still go.

“Donnie, onii-san...” He whined, his voice in pieces with sobs. He didn’t want Donnie to let go. He didn’t care about his injuries, he just needed his big brother. Donnie was back around him before he’d hardly gotten the words out, squeezing Mikey close as he collapsed over his baby brother, sobbing.

“Mikey...Mikey, ototo, I’m here, I’m right here, I’ve got you...” Donnie cried, cradling Mikey’s head into the crook of his neck as he buried his muzzle in Mikey’s shoulder, wracked with emotion.

“Donnie, onii...” Mikey hiccupped with tears, burying into his arms. He’d never been so happy to be here again. “Nii, I was s-scared...”

“I know, I know...” Donnie kissed Mikey’s stinging face and pressed his forehead against his little brother’s, wiping Mikey’s tears away with his thumbs. “It’s all ok. Everything’s ok. I won’t let them get you...oh, Mikey...” Donnie held the younger’s cheek against his, unable to stop breaking down. “M-Mikey...I...I looked so hard for you. After the rain, I looked everywhere, but you...I couldn’t...I couldn’t find you, anywhere. I thought...I thought...” Donnie cut off there, snuggling Mikey’s cheek and sobbing.

“Donnie, I’m right here, it’s ok.” Mikey cried. “I was looking for you, too, I looked for so long, I.....how did you find me? W–” He stuttered, choked on his tears. “What happened?”

Donnie took a moment to compose himself, holding his baby brother tight and clearly still biting down terror. “I was n-nearby.” Donnie eventually said, sniffing. “I suddenly heard you scream, and ran. You kept screaming, and I panicked – I knew you were in danger. I ran into the first tunnel I saw. But I couldn’t hear you anymore, I…I thought I was too late...”

“No,” Mikey shook his head, burying into Donnie’s shoulder. “No, not at all.” Sniffling, he closed his eyes, feeling exhaustion creeping up to pull him into darkness in the new warmth. Something about this situation seemed uncomfortably familiar…on that thought, he suddenly remembered Donnie’s burns on his arms. Looking, he realized they still weren’t fully healed yet, and actually looked worse than before.

“...But I’m getting Raph back....”

Donnie flinched, rubbing his arms....

“Onii,” Mikey whimpered, getting Donnie’s attention so he could look his big brother in the eyes, even though his own welled up with more tears. “Donnie, I’m so sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean it...I was just – being stupid, and–”

“No no,” Donnie shook his head before he could continue, pressing his forehead against the younger’s again as Mikey hiccupped with tears. “Don’t apologize, ototo...I’m sorry for fighting you, and getting angry at you...Mikey, I-I was just so worried, and scared, I...”

Mikey snuggled back into Donnie’s shoulder, cutting him off this time. He didn’t care about what Donnie did – he just wanted to stay here with him and never leave again. Donnie snuggled him close, crying tears of relief, feeling the same. Before he knew it, Mikey finally drifted off...

~

When he woke up again, he immediately noticed the warmth and the solid presence against him. He buried his muzzle in it, soaking up all the warmth he could, and it was a struggle not to pretend everything was ok and drift off again.

But everything wasn’t ok. Not until they found Raph, not until they were reunited with their family on the Ulixes. Mikey blearily opened his eyes, rubbing a fist over them. His forehead felt so hot, and he felt so much weaker than before.

“This is progressing too fast...we need to find Raph...before...” Mikey groaned internally.

Donnie reacted to his movement, sighing and rubbing his hands over his own face. It appeared he hadn’t moved much after Mikey dozed off, and went to sleep, too. Donnie glanced at him before snuggling his head against Mikey’s.

Before Mikey could say anything, he suddenly noticed how much better he felt than before, and realized all his burns were gone. Not only that, but Donnie’s were, too, finally – despite leaving what looked like scrape-like wounds where the last ones had been. Maybe because they’d been there for longer…

He caught a glimpse of Donnie’s ankle.

“Donnie,” He gasped, startling his brother. “Your ankle!”

Blinking at him for a second, Donnie then looked back at it pitifully. “I know. It’s ok, though–”

“Donnie.” Mikey repeated, looking up at his big brother desperately, sadly. Donnie’s whole foot was turning terrible different shades from his ankle’s heavy abuse. Mikey was convinced that something in there was broken, now. And when Donnie crashed in to save him, just hours ago, carrying him and racing to the hideout–

“Donnie, I’m so sorry,” Mikey suddenly started pouring out, tears escaping his eyes before he realized it. “You shouldn’t have had to be running around like this. Your ankle was already so bad, it must be hurting so much, I’m so sorry–”

“What are you apologizing for?” Donnie cut him off with bewilderment as he wiped Mikey’s tears away, flustered. “It’s not your fault. My ankle was already headed in this direction; it was sort of inevitable it would end up like this.” He consoled, sparing it a glance. “It’s nothing that can’t be fixed. I promise.”

“But you shouldn’t have had to wear it out looking for me...and–”

Again, Donnie cut him off, but only with a look this time. “Don’t you start fussing over me, or you’ll be getting my nagging until kingdom come.”

When Mikey only stared sadly up at him in response, Donnie sighed and chuckled, putting his cheek to Mikey’s. “I’m serious, it’s ok. If it’s broken, broken bones heal.” He said gently. “So don’t worry about it. Ok?”

Mikey knew that was a huge oversimplification of what could actually happen and he didn’t like it, but he decided to let it go for now. At the very least, it hadn’t changed that they couldn’t do anything about it for the moment. The worry about his fever was still in the back of his mind, too, and he hoped Donnie couldn’t tell.

There was still something his big brother needed to know, though.

“Donnie, we have to hurry and find Raph. He’s still alive.”

“W–....what? Wait, what do you mean?” Donnie asked, sounding confused but his face going blank with shock. He sat up just ever so slightly.

“The...” Mikey closed his eyes, taking in a shuddering breath. “That thing appeared in there. The one with the fire.”

Donnie’s expression darkened slightly. He continued, “But – it mentioned you both. It said you were both gonna follow me to...I don’t know...to death, I think. But it seemed to know you were both still alive.” Mikey looked at Donnie with worry and urgency. “Raph is still alive.” He reiterated. “We have to get to him. He might be waiting for us. He could need our help,”

Quiet, Donnie looked down at Mikey with a troubled expression for a moment. Leaning back down, he scooped Mikey back into his arms, holding him tight; and Mikey felt like he could understand Donnie’s clinginess, so he curled his arms into Donnie’s sides and rested his head against his shoulder.

“My ototo.” Donnie said, and sighed. “My promise still stands…we’ll find Raph, and all of us will get out of here, no matter what.”

After a moment, Donnie laid Mikey back down, looking at him with cold seriousness, and Mikey tensed. “But I’m begging you to be careful. Don’t ever…” Something deeply painful crossed his eyes. “And I mean ever jump out to save me like that, ever again.”

Mikey’s face fell. “But Donnie, you were gonna be killed!–”

“Maybe,” Donnie cut him off, his voice a little quieter. “But maybe not.”

“Donnie–” Mikey started, getting frustrated now, but Donnie interrupted him again.

“You, on the other hand…” He said, but didn’t continue for a moment, and Mikey bit his tongue when tears started gathering in Donnie’s eyes. Scrubbing them away, Donnie carried on with a more unsteady voice, “You…could’ve been killed…even more easily than me. You’re already in bad shape. And you’re lucky that…”

Donnie stopped again and sat back, scrubbing his eyes. Mikey watched him with worry, wanting to reach out – but Donnie looked at him again, still managing to look stern with red, teary eyes. “And you’d better go easy on yourself, anyway, with that fever. You’re gonna tell me if you feel the slightest change in your condition.”

Mikey blanched, only managing to blink at Donnie in response. “Damnit! Too much experience as the family doctor…” He thought.  

Donnie gave him a dry look. “What, did you think I wasn’t going to notice?”

Mikey smiled sheepishly. “Was hoping, more like…”

Donnie sighed at him hopelessly, but then grinned at him, and Mikey returned it, but he felt terrible. He wanted to give his big brother a hug. He’d been putting Donnie through hell, whether he meant to or not. Starting to reach out, he tried to push himself up. “Donnie–”

Mikey suddenly baulked, immediately collapsing, so he tried to roll onto his better side. He wheezed as pain ripped through his middle and traveled across his whole body, vaguely hearing Donnie calling his name through the roar in his ears. Through the pounding in his head and the searing ache in his body, one thought prevailed – “Shit. I can’t even sit up?”

Finally, the onslaught of pain began to subside after a few minutes and his senses slowly came back to him. He was curled up with his arms tightly wrapped around his stomach, in the fetal position. Donnie was hovering over him with his hands on his arm and shell, yelling for Mikey to speak to him.

“Uhg....Donnie....” Mikey finally muttered weakly, turning his head slightly to apologetically glance at his brother. “I-it’s ok....”

“Damnit, Mikey,” Donnie exhaled, his worried voice rough and exhausted. He gently, slowly moved Mikey onto his back again, very carefully feeling around his side and his middle. “Don’t move, ok?”

For once, Mikey complied, sighing as Donnie inspected the damage. There was no point in resisting if he could barely move…he grit his teeth, frustrated. They needed to look for Raph! He was sure if he could just get standing…

Donnie’s expression as he inspected him wasn’t helping, either. He looked incredibly morbid, so much so that Mikey started to sweat. “Uh, Donnie,” He finally spoke up, and Donnie glanced at him in a bit of surprise, as if startled out of his concentration. “Am I gonna live, bro?”

“Huh?” Donnie looked genuinely confused for a second before realization hit him. “Oh, sorry. I just…” He paused, running his hands over his face, but didn’t continue that thought before abruptly changing the subject back to his injury. “I have no way of knowing for sure what exactly the damage is until we can get you x-rayed, obviously. But from all I can tell, you might have several broken ribs, Mikey. After all the abuse you’ve taken, there’s no saying what state your side’s in now. Honestly, the fact you haven’t punctured a lung is a miracle…but it could’ve caused further damage to your abdomen. There are signs that you’ve ripped part of your rectus abdominis.”

“My.....what?” Mikey asked, confused. Not saying anything, Donnie only patted his own tummy in explanation. His abdomen.

Mikey blinked at him. “I ripped my ab muscles?”

“I think so.” Donnie confirmed. “Or else you wouldn’t have had such a violent reaction just from trying to sit up.”

Neither said anything for a moment, and Mikey got worried about Donnie’s silence. His big brother had an awful, deep-ingrained, aging worry on his face that mostly ever came with the color blue when Mikey saw it, and it made him hurt inside.

He lowered his head and clenched his eyes shut. “I’m sorry…” He mumbled, and Donnie looked at him in surprise. “I wanted to make you feel better, not freak you out again…”

Huffing in a way that argued with Mikey for worrying without even saying anything, Donnie laid back next to him and stared at the roof of their little enclosure, arms behind his head.

“It’s just like you said, though,” Mikey continued quietly. “Broken bones heal. And torn muscles do, too. I’m sure you’ve also got a few of those.” He peeked at Donnie, who glanced over at him. “I’ll make a deal with ‘ya. Let’s both save most of the fussing until we get back to the ship. ‘Kay? Instead...” He paused, looking down. “Let’s just not get separated again....”

Watching the younger, Donnie grinned and rolled his head toward him. “I think I can agree to that.”

Immediately after, the two heard the sounds of monsters outside nearby. Sitting up cautiously, Donnie moved closer to Mikey and watched the entrance, both waiting and listening. The monsters didn’t seem to be aware of the brothers, but there were a lot of them.

The two looked at each other, clearly with the same thought on their minds: Raph.

 

They decided they needed to get moving right away.

They kept finding themselves in danger in this desert area, but more than that, they couldn’t waste any more time looking for Raph.

“Just keep your arm around my side.” Donnie instructed. “I’d tell you to lean on my shoulder, but then my trying to walk would jostle your injury way too much. Just hang on to me and try to keep your balance. If you need to stop, tell me. I just need to find another stick to support my left side so we can move farther, and then we’ll keep going. Maybe we should find you one too....”

Mikey shook his head. “I don’t want to waste time looking for my own.”

Donnie looked at him sidelong. “If you’re sure.”

A loud monster screech and a BOOM sound echoed somewhere outside their hideout, startling them. Mikey and Donnie looked at each other, wide-eyed. They sounded very close.

“W-what happened?” Mikey wondered out loud, staring out the exit anxiously.

“I don’t know,” Donnie replied, scooping Mikey onto his back. “But I think we gotta go. I’ll get you up this slope – come on.”

“Hey! Your foot–”

Suddenly shooting him a grin, Donnie only said, “My right foot still works.”

In one leap, Donnie jumped up the slope, and Mikey threw an arm around his neck for stability. Donnie stopped there, though, crouched in the thicket, examining the situation before they continued – his eyes went wide.

They were practically surrounded.

Suddenly, going back down inside their hideout seemed safer than going in any direction from here. The inky, convulsing creatures stalked around their location in terrifying numbers, clearly hunting them. Donnie shrank back in disbelief, and Mikey put a hand over his mouth.

“They must have heard us escape the caverns. They followed us here.” His heart sank into his stomach.

Turning to Donnie, he started to tell his big brother to go back – they couldn’t move now and survive – but a piqued sound and thudding footsteps made him go pale.

A black creature was stalking toward them, tilting and snapping its head at impossible angles in curiosity, gnashing its horrible, long jaw. Steadily, with a shriek of thrill, it started charging for them at breakneck speed.

They could only stumble back. Donnie held both arms tight around Mikey, panic on his face, and Mikey hid his face in Donnie’s neck–

–When suddenly, the creature’s middle exploded.

A turtle with a red mask and furious, acid-green eyes burst through, wielding a flashing sai and a murderous rage.

“GET BACK, ‘YA SLIMY MOTHERFUCKERS!”

 

Notes:

Speaking of headcanons (in the last chapter), another one I've had for a while is that Leo is a good singer (he's just too embarrassed to ever do it), and one of his rarer hobbies is playing guitar (which he spontaneously practices ever since he found an old one of Splinter's, which he owned as a human and can still play, and sometimes does on request.) I like to think Leo's taught himself a few songs and that he's broken the guitar out when he needed it before (to sing to the door of the occasional upset, locked-in bro, for example...) He'll also sometimes sing a lullaby if they're snuggled up, and occasionally the younger three can even talk him into it, because they all love when he sings to them more than they'd admit.

Thanks for the comments and kudos!! They are my lifeforce

Chapter 11

Notes:

(A/N: The first scene on the Ulixes is set on the night of day 5 from the last chapter, after Mikey and Donnie get split up.)

Laborious metal-on-metal sounds clinked in the distance.

April stumbled down the pathway to the engine room, following the sounds of construction work, exhausted.

It was four in the morning. Professor Honeycutt was still working on the ship, even at this hour, but he wasn’t supposed to be in the engine room. He’d been off in another location where a lot of electrical wiring was, re-configuring them to hook to himself.

After Honeycutt’s announcement of the ship’s diagnostics from their most recent attack, they’d been devastated. The alien people, whether accidentally or intentionally, had completely destroyed an important motor on the Ulixes beyond repair, rendering them completely immobile, being that it was a large piece of machinery Honeycutt had no way of replacing without getting a new part entirely. Because of this, however, Honeycutt had made the decision to wire his own mechanical body to the ship, so that he could momentarily serve as the part that he needed. Being almost fully robot, Honeycutt told them how he’d built the entire ship to be harmoniously compatible with his own power core and functions for emergency situations. It could potentially cause great harm to himself, depending on how much energy was required and the danger involved with their rescue mission to get the three youngest brothers back, but in the Professor’s words – it was worth the risk.

The other three had been working to finish repairs on the damage in the engine room, which had mainly consisted of sealing it off again from the vacuum of space outside and re-wiring other important functions. Sealing it off was accomplished just the previous evening with the power of Honeycutt’s spare temporary paneling and welding tools. April, Casey and Leo, worn down to the bone, had dragged off for rest after that, though Casey and April had given up trying to make Leo actually get any sleep a while ago. The oldest turtle never seemed to sleep anymore; and lately, if they could get him to talk, it was only to discuss a repair. April had barely been able to make him eat, and she seriously doubted he ever did now except when she made him. The discovery that the younger three were, more than likely, still alive, gave hope to the whole team that had gotten them this far so quickly; but, unsurprisingly, Leo spiraled even further with restless anxiousness as more time passed, and now looked strikingly similar to a dead man walking. They couldn’t be sure that, even if the three had made it to the planet alive, they were still ok after all this time; and April worried that the effects on the oldest would get too far out of hand before they could even reach him.

Making it to the engine room, she was unsurprised but upset to find it was Leo, walking about the room with tools in his hands and covered in grease and grime, working on repairs similarly to the other day April had found him here.

Tears were streaming freely down his face, however, making streaks in the black grease on his washed-out face. His eyes looked a million miles away and he mumbled to himself incoherently, looking almost random in his actions, deeply distracted. If she hadn’t known any better, she might think he was in shock.

“Leo?!” Suddenly panicked, April hurried over to him, still keeping a foot or two of distance and trying to figure out what to do. Was he already having a breakdown?! She and Casey should have kept a closer eye on him. Damnit! They should’ve anticipated – known–

Leo turned to her at her outburst, almost looking startled himself, and seemed to just realize she was there. “A-April....”

“Leo, here, it’s gonna be ok hon. Just, put those down – sit down for a second–” She said softly, trying to approach him to take the tools, but Leo turned and walked away back toward some electrical paneling he’d been working on.

“Stop...can’t stop...can’t rest. Gotta keep...I have to...have to...” He mumbled, almost in a daze as he crouched over the paneling. His hands shook terribly.

Really panicking now, April thought of grabbing her phone to call Casey, but remembered with frustration that they didn’t work in space. Deciding to yell for help if it came to that, she walked forward slowly. “I’ll try to calm him down myself.” She thought. “Leo needs me, right now.”

“Leo...please...” She cajoled, kneeling down in front of him, but before she could say anything else, someone else walked in.

“Hello? Leo–” Casey called, evidently looking for Leo, too. He stopped when he saw the pair. “Hey, what’s going on?” He asked, trotting over.

At the same time as being relieved to see him, April quickly hushed him just an instant before Casey caught drift of the situation. Surprised, he hesitated before slowly coming beside them, kneeling down. “Leo? What’s wrong?”

Leo didn’t respond, and the two wondered if he’d even registered Casey was there, sharing a concerned glance. April put her hands over Leo’s shaking ones. “Leo? Can you understand me?” She asked gently, searching his eyes. “Talk to me, Leo, please. Why are you up now? What happened? Why are you crying?”

April put a hand to Leo’s cheek, wiping the tears away and streaking the grime on his face. Leo stared at April with hollow, scared eyes, seemingly unaware he was crying, almost like he was unaware of where he was. She’d never seen such a desperate, broken or lost look in the oldest’s face, not even since this all started, and her heart raced with fear. “I can’t, April,” He repeated, and April vaguely wondered if even he knew what he was saying. “I have to. W-we have to hurry. They...they’re...” Suddenly dropping the tools with a metallic clatter, Leo took in a shaky breath and closed his eyes, the trembling in his hands traveling up his arms until he was shaking all over. “They’re crying. They’re all crying.”

Casey and April stared at him for a quiet moment as the oldest wrapped around himself, trembling. The two shared an owl-eyed look, both lost for words. “What? What do you mean?” April finally asked, almost in disbelief, both terrified they knew exactly what he meant.

“My brothers!” Leo finally exclaimed, hysterically upset, and April and Casey startled back. “My baby brothers! They’re all crying! Something’s horribly wrong, everything’s wrong, and they’re all crying–” Cutting himself off, he dropped his face into his hands, and right there, started sobbing.

In was only a fraction of an instant that they hesitated before lunging at Leo with open arms – though Casey was first to grab hold of Leo in a firm, tight hug, supporting his turtle brother with a somber face. They said nothing as they held onto him – there was nothing they could say – they just cried with him on the floor, trying to hug the oldest tight enough to hold him together. The two humans were still in a panic, trying to figure out what was happening – all Leo said was that his brothers were crying, and seemed too out of it himself to really know anything else. What did that mean? If all of his little siblings were crying, how would he know? April knew the boys all had a kind of special connection, but something like that went beyond anything she’d ever heard of before, even amongst this family of hers.

Part of her was scared that Leo really was just finally snapping, but her intuition said otherwise, nagging that there was real reason to worry. And if the lost three were all crying like Leo said, her morbid worry begged to know why – but she shook her head, trying to clear away the thought; it was too painful to think about when they couldn’t do a thing about it. All that either of them could do was cry with Leo at the horror of it, overcome with emotion.

After a little while, Leo stirred, and the two released their hold on him as he shakily got up, tears still running down his face.

After a tentative step towards the back of the room, April and Casey quickly got up, too. “Leo, what are you doing?” April asked, reaching out to him.

“They...they need me.” Leo said, that dazed look still in his eyes, his voice weak and desperate. “I can’t wait any longer. I-I have to...I can make it...with a space suit–”

“Leo.” Both humans grabbed onto him immediately, and Leo looked at them desperately, too weak to fight.

“No, Leo, you can’t make it with a space suit. That’s impossible, it’s too far, Professor Honeycutt already said so.” Casey said firmly, placing both hands on his shoulders.

“Casey’s right Leo.” April added, wrapping around one of his arms and putting a hand to his face, guiding him to really look at her. “Leo, we’re gonna get them. I swear to God, we’re gonna get them, and they’re gonna be ok. The Professor is hooking himself up to the ship right now so that we can get there as fast as possible. And when we get there, there won’t be anything that can keep us from them, and they’re gonna be ok. Ok?”

Leo only looked at April for a moment, and something broke in her own chest to see the broken heart in his face. Clenching his eyes shut, he put a fist to his chest, his voice going uncharacteristically quiet. “It hurts.”

April’s face sank in grief, and shared a look with Casey, who looked the same. “Come on Leo.” Casey said, wrapping one of the turtle’s arms around his shoulders as April wrapped around his middle, and they guided him out of the room. “Let’s get a hot cup of tea. Just sit down for a little bit, and then we’ll check in with Professor Honeycutt. We’ll do whatever he needs us to do to finish the ship. How does that sound?”

Leo didn’t respond, but leaned heavily against April and Casey as they led him back toward the main room, eyes closed. April and Casey couldn’t help exchanging worried looks on the way, never letting their turtle brother go or straying too far.

How they ended up in such a terrible situation, with a huge chunk of their family missing and stranded in space unable to reach them, hurt too much to think about – but if there was one thing they all knew for sure, it was they had to hurry.

~

Raph exploded through the monster’s middle, black ink flying everywhere and the creature whaling angrily.

Mikey and Donnie stumbled back, unable to believe what they were seeing – almost too afraid to. Raph...here, all of a sudden – somehow – alive and in one piece. It couldn’t be possible...but...

Amidst the chaos, tears slipped down the younger brothers’ cheeks, staring owl-eyed at the older. “Raph!”

Sending them a look full of fire and emotion, Raph tumbled onto the ground and bolted for them, barely outpacing the creatures rushing them. Skidding to a halt, Raph wrapped one arm around them both, preparing to make an escape – and it felt unreal as the trio was reunited at last, the younger two watching Raph blearily. “Let’s get outta here, huh?” He said to them in a rush.

“W-wait,” Donnie blubbered through his tears, slipping out of Raph’s arm at the last minute, securing Mikey and clasping onto his back. “Hold onto Mikey. He can’t hang on himself.”

Their older brother didn’t have the time to spare Mikey a worried look, but they could almost feel it in his tense expression and racing heartbeat as he leapt away, narrowly missing a charging monster as its head came down violently into the earth where they’d just been, jaw gnashing. Both younger brothers cried out as dirt and dust kicked up in their direction, but Raph raced on, scowling in determination to escape as he headed away from the desert city.  

Even as Raph ran as fast as he could, the monsters were too fast and there were too many, practically surrounding them, and soon Raph was doing all he could just to avoid them, narrowly dodging and slipping between the much bigger creatures with all the dexterity he had – but even that was quickly proving not enough.

He scoffed loudly in frustration, and Donnie lowered his head closer to Raph’s, cringing as an inky limb sailed overhead. “We’ve gotta hide! We can’t outrun them now!” Donnie yelled over the chaos and wailing.

Looking wildly about, Raph eyed the large cliff to the left of the desert city. They were still close. “It looks like there’s caves in that cliff. We’ll hide in one of them,” Raph shouted back, already sprinting there in an attempt to escape the crowd of monsters. Mikey gripped his big brother more tightly, watching their surroundings with wide eyes and deciding this was probably the most inappropriate moment to announce his new morbid fear of caves. He flinched when a monster suddenly appeared directly behind them.

“RAPH–!” He warned, but was only able to voice as much before the monster struck out, lurching to chomp them with its long, howling jaw and impossible speed. Raph whipped around and struck out with his free arm, tightly gripping his sai–

The weapon grazed across the creature’s head, clearly off target from where Raph was aiming, but it was still enough to make the monster recoil back, and something unseen seemed to amplify the force of the cut so black ink splashed wildly. “Ghh–!” Raph groaned, clenching his teeth in apparent pain. The monster roared loud enough to make the group cringe and cover their ears, and it struck out angrily with a speed and force Raph couldn’t dodge this time.

“Aahh!” The three were thrown hard onto the ground, tumbling for several feet. Donnie, realizing the situation, managed to twist away from Raph and latch onto Mikey at the last second, shielding him from the brunt of the impact as they landed, but the jarring landing still sent Mikey’s head swimming and he folded in on himself, clenching his teeth against the nausea and fighting not to black out.

“Guys!” Raph called out, pain in his voice as he held his side where the monster struck, immediately scrambling to scoop them back up.

“Raph, watch out!” Donnie cried, diving over Mikey to shield him as the same monster – and several others – lunged after them, roaring angrily. 

Scowling darkly, Raph switched the sai to his good hand, giving it a menacing spin. Metal and green eyes flashing, Raph roared back, slicing in an arch at the creatures close enough to slash open, and even monsters he’d only managed to nick stumbled and jerked backwards. Then, matching the noise around them with a war cry, he sprinted at the monster that had attacked them and leapt, landing hard on its head.

“Hurt my little brothers and see what happens, piece ‘a shit!” He spat venomously, raising his sai into the air, and with a heave, impaled the monster straight through the head.

It wailed in agony, throwing Raph around as it tossed its head, and finally smashed its arm into him and sent him flying off. Raph grunted at the impact and tumbled as Mikey and Donnie cried out for him, Donnie throwing Mikey over his back to escape charging monsters and stumble for Raph. To the older’s credit, he kept a hold on his sai and continued lashing out at oncoming monsters as he scrambled to the younger two, tossing them up again to make a quick escape.

The creature he’d burst through the middle of had been thrashing since the beginning of the fight, causing chaos, and by now was finally being overcome by the others while they swarmed the one that Raph had just slain. A few chased the group, but the chaos had given them just enough time for a head start, and the three looked at each other, relieved.

One of the monsters that was chasing them suddenly appeared in front of them, swiping. Raph dug his heels in the ground and started skidding, trying to stop, but he wasn’t fast enough. He could only turn to his side again, trying to shield the younger two from impact.

“RRAAAAAA!!” Before they knew what was going on, Donnie was leaping over Raph’s back, grabbing his sai in both hands. Launching from his shell, Donnie lunged at the beast, crying out angrily and swiping back at it.

“DONNIE!” Raph cried in panic, reaching out to stop his brother, but not fast enough – Donnie sliced the monster’s arm and black ink splayed from the wound. Roaring furiously, it lashed about, Donnie trying as hard as he could to avoid being struck and climb up the monster’s back. In a panic, Raph rushed forward to help, determined to distract the monster’s attention from trying to murder his little brother, but it was difficult while trying to shield the one he held onto. When Donnie finally managed to climb up the monster, he lunged at the back of its head, but with its violent movement he missed and the sai plunged into its other arm, instead. Gritting his teeth, Donnie cried out angrily and wrenched the sai as hard as he could, tearing the beast’s arm open.

Roaring, the monster went down, but not before lashing out one more time, striking Donnie in the head with a hard kick.

“Ack–!” Donnie tumbled several feet across the ground, sai clanging after him, and laid still, head lolling.

“DONNIE!!” Raph and Mikey both cried out, Raph bolting around the raging monster to his little brother. Grabbing up his sai on the way, he scooped Donnie up and threw him over his shoulder opposite of Mikey and raced away from the other monsters towards the cliffside.

 

“Nng...”

Donnie groaned, shifting. Suddenly realizing Raph was still running, he turned slightly, looking around. He was slung over his brother’s shoulder and they were climbing up some of the taller earth hut structures, close to the cliffside where a cave entrance was. He must have not been out for long.

“Donnie?” Raph said, he and Mikey both peering at him.

Donnie looked back at him, meeting the bright green eyes, filled with anxiety and determination and suffering. The ones he’d been afraid he’d never see again.

His mouth set into a firm line. “Raph...”

After another minute, Raph made it to the top of the tallest earth structure. Gaging the short distance for a moment, Raph leapt from it into the cave entrance and trudged to the nearest wall once inside.

Hitting his knees a little harder than he should have, Raph gingerly, carefully set the other two down against the wall. The two younger brothers looked up at the older, beaten, battered and littered with scorch wounds, much worse for wear than they’d initially been able to tell. For an instant, there were only the quiet, distant sounds of the gloomy landscape outside as all three struggled to speak.

“RUN!” The memory of Raph’s voice came back to Donnie. “GET OUT OF HERE, RUN, RUN!”

Donnie held onto Mikey tightly, staring in disbelief and horror at their older brother, breaking down with the decision he had to make.

Donnie let out a shaky sigh, shutting his eyes tight against the memory.

Before Raph could say anything, Donnie suddenly got up, swaying slightly as he found himself still dizzy and his head pounding from the impact earlier. Raph reached anxiously for him, wanting to pull him back down, but Donnie held up a hand to stop him. Opening his mouth to speak, he suddenly choked on his own words, hesitating as tears unexpectedly welled up in his eyes. When he found his voice again, it was broken and wavering.

“I’m sorry,” He cried. “I’m so sorry. You don’t ever have to forgive me. You don’t ever have to look at me again. But I need you to know I…h-how much I…” Pausing, he ducked his head and clenched his fists, fighting desperately against his emotions. “...I never wanted to leave you – abandon you. And being sorry won’t ever fix it. But I...I...I didn’t know what...” His voice broke, and he shook his head. “I had nightmares every time I closed my eyes after we got separated. That you were gone, and it was all my fault. I need you to know, even though nothing I do can ever...ever...I still love you, and I...”

He paused again, shoulders trembling. Raph finally got up, facing Donnie with a blank expression, and the two looked at each other for a second.

“You don’t ever have to forgive me.” Donnie repeated in his thoughts, closing his eyes and ducking his head away from Raph’s gaze, ashamed. “Ever–”

Raph was suddenly wrapped around him, nearly making him stumble on his bad foot and knock him over.

Donnie stood there, tears finally running down his face, staring at the opposite cave wall in shock. “R...Raph?”

“Shut up, you asshole.” Raph mumbled back, fighting with all his strength to keep the emotion from taking away his own voice, squeezing him tighter as he ducked his head into his little brother’s shoulder. “Shut the hell up, you frickin’…monster-charging…stupid idiot…asshole…”

Donnie’s face crumpled, and after a moment, he dropped his own face into his big brother’s shoulder, crying. Mikey smiled, watching the pair with his own tears running down his face in relief.

Finally pulling Donnie down with him, Raph sat down close to Mikey and wrapped both of them into a hug. Mikey reached out with the arm on his good side to wrap around Raph’s neck, curling against him and crying quietly while tears silently ran down Raph’s face, burying them as close against himself as possible. The three sat quietly for a few long minutes.

How long had it been? Just a few days, maybe not even two – Mikey couldn’t remember now, so much had happened. Just in that short amount of time that they’d been fractured, each of them had come so close to unraveling. Fighting, and not knowing. Not knowing had been the hardest part. They all snuggled a bit closer, too many feelings to process. They weren’t sure how they’d find the physical strength to let go.

After a little while, Raph spoke up, his voice rough and very serious. “Now you listen to me good – both ‘a ya – ‘cause I wanna be clear about something right now, and I don’t wanna have to say this again.” He paused, making sure they were both listening. “Back there, when they were comin’ for us, if you two would have went back for me, none of the three of us would be here right now, and that’s a promise.” He let that statement settle in for a moment. “They’re too strong and violent. We were all injured, and I’m the only one left with weapons to defend myself with. I wouldn’t have been able to protect you both and get away. Don, the only thing you did is what I told you to. You protected both of you.” His face tensing with emotion, he gripped both of them a little tighter. “You didn’t abandon me, Donnie. Neither of you did. You lived. Do you understand? The only thing any us did back there was live. Don’t you dare ever let me hear you talking like that again, or those things outside won’t be what you should be afraid of.”

After a minute, Donnie buried closer. “Oniisan...”

Raph sighed. “And don’t you ever attack those things like that again, ‘ya dumbass, you hear me? I’m so very serious. If you get yourself killed, I’mma kill you.”

He didn’t get a response, but accepted Donnie’s helpless sniffling as good enough. He turned so he could lean back against the cave wall with the two smaller turtles still in his arms.

Mikey uselessly scrubbed at the infinite tears streaming from his eyes, hiding his face in Raph’s chest. “I knew you were alive, Raph.” He said quietly. “I knew it.” He hiccupped with tears, and Donnie cried harder, too, his little brother cupped protectively under one arm.

Sighing, Raph buried his head between the younger two’s, trying not to heave with sobs. Suddenly, he sounded more scared than either of them had ever heard their big brother. “I’m right here, ototos. I’m right here...” He said quietly, rocking them until their crying quieted down, all three drifting off.

 

 

Darkness.

Where was he?

How did he get here? He couldn’t remember. It was dark and cold, and something felt awful and foreboding about this place, as if he was running from something, like he wasn’t supposed to be there. He picked an aimless direction and ran, afraid. He had to find his brothers…

Suddenly, in the distance, he spotted Leo.

Leo! His big brother was here!!

 Running, he called out for him. Hearing him, Leo turned around quickly and ran for him, too. He had this terrified look on his face that made him feel a little more afraid.

Leo suddenly stopped in place, reaching out and trying to call to him. Stressed, he ran faster to meet him.

When he met him, he tried to jump on his big brother, but he realized why Leo had stopped – there was a glass pane between them, and his shoulder hit it. He looked up and around; it went on forever.

He put his hands on the glass like Leo was and cried out for him. Leo shouted something back, but he couldn’t hear him for some reason. He banged on the glass. Leo found a rock on his side and started slamming it against the barrier, but it didn’t chip, it didn’t even vibrate. They fought the glass until the rock was shattered and their hands were bloody.

He was so tired. He lost energy and fell to his knees, crying and hands desperately on the glass, willing it to break. Leo fell to his own knees, meeting his hands on the other side of the glass, peering down at him and saying something desperate with tears in the corners of his eyes.

It became apparent quickly that neither of them was going to bust through, though. He leaned his head on the glass, and Leo snuggled his head against the surface across from him, tightly-pressed hands trembling over the smaller ones of his little brother.

He felt a dark presence. Quickly looking up, he saw something like black quicksand forming under Leo, swarming him. He yelled in warning – suddenly he couldn’t hear himself, either. Sound turned to static. Still, he cried out and desperately pawed at the glass. Leo, realizing what was going on, struggled to escape the darkness, but it was quickly pulling him under. 

Leo cried out, reaching out to him with his last free arm–

He couldn’t breathe–

And then Leo was gone.

 The silence stretched on for a few seconds before he felt another presence behind him. He quickly flipped over with his back against the glass to see a pair of red eyes staring at him from the distance.

A second later, a twisting, snapping black monster came racing directly toward him, going much faster than he could move away. He screamed and tried to escape it, tried to–

To–

Mikey flinched violently, covering his face in terror and a horrified whimper escaping him. Where was he? But, just as quickly, he registered Donnie and Raph, wrapped around him and trying to soothe him, and the scream that that had been trying to bubble up his throat since he startled awake, died. He could only lay there for a moment, trying to piece everything back together and give his speeding heart time to slow down, as it finally clicked – nightmare.

When he managed to peek his eyes open, it appeared to be late afternoon, according to the color and light of the dark sky, though it was hard to tell. Donnie and Raph seemed to have had more notice for his nightmare than he did, though, because one was pulling him snuggly against him and humming comfortingly, shielding him from the world, and the other was digging a muzzle between his hands now to nuzzle his face, and he closed his eyes again.

Leo…

He made a weak sob-like sound, sinking further against his brothers like a security blanket. He wanted to talk to them…tell them about his dream. Ask them if Leo was ok…but he knew they didn’t know.

Besides – Raph was here, and there was so much he wanted to tell them and so many questions he wanted to ask, if his brain could only grab onto any of that slippery information right now – but his body refused and baulked against it, drawing him back toward sleep. His forehead felt so hot. He was too weak to fight it; so he sighed, burying his face into a warm shoulder, letting the soothing humming and warmth carry him back off to sleep.

 

Donnie removed his hand from Mikey’s forehead, frowning deep with concern.

“How long has he had a fever?” Raph quietly asked. The three hadn’t really had a chance to talk yet, but the state of their youngest brother was obvious. Raph’s face drew with concern, knowing as well as Donnie did the dangers of becoming so ill here.

Donnie sighed, releasing Mikey and gently tucking him against his bigger brother to sit up and look down on them both. “I found him that way. We got separated for a day and when I found him again, he already had a slight fever. He’s likely just in the beginning stages.”

“He needs water.” Raph stated, and Donnie nodded. Now, more than ever, they were going to have to solve their water problem, because Mikey would be in trouble if they didn’t.

Getting up – Donnie didn’t see any reason to wait any longer – he started trying to hobble to the cave entrance to make his way back down, still swaying a little from the recent head pummeling and starting to say he’d look for a way to get some while Raph watched Mikey, but Raph had gently laid Mikey down and was on his feet, hand latched onto Donnie’s arm and stopping him as effectively as a ship anchor before Donnie had even registered him moving, and he froze in shock.

“You ain’t goin’ out there, Donnie.” Raph said, a humored lilt still to his voice, but an uncharacteristic, dark seriousness from his older brother that Donnie stared back at with a nervous smile. “Not alone, and not right now.”

Sighing, Donnie gave up, letting Raph unnecessarily hoist him up onto his back and walk him back the six feet to where Mikey was, sitting him down beside him.

“You ain’t walking anywhere you ain’t gotta without support anymore, you hear me?” Raph said, using his good arm to put a hand on his hip as he stared down at him. “I’m here now, and you’re staying off of that ankle – or what’s left of it, anyway.” He frowned disapprovingly, exaggerating the state it had gotten into.

Donnie bristled a little, in the midst of detaching his shoulder strap and removing his waist belt to cushion Mikey’s feverish head. Mikey’s temperature had risen in a sharp spike, and the cool air would probably do him some good for a few moments. “You’re in some condition to be talking! Raph, you’re a mess!” Before Raph could stop him, he got on his knees and pulled his big brother down, taking hold of his arms to look him over and keep him there. “You look like you’ve been through hell. You haven’t been moving your left arm without being in pain, your shoulder is a flaming disaster, which you carried me on earlier regardless, and–” Donnie’s hands ghosted over him then, as if afraid to touch him. “You’re covered in burns!”

“Yeah…some freaky fire-breathing dragon thing came after me a while back.” Raph said darkly, his sarcasm badly covering the seriousness of what he’d clearly seen. Donnie looked him over sadly; he and Mikey had noticed the little burns scattered across his right side before, but hadn’t had the time to point them out. He almost wanted to say Raph’s had started to recede since they’d been resting, but he hadn’t gotten a good enough look before. They looked even worse than Donnie’s arms had. How long had Raph had these?

“It attacked you too?” Donnie asked, worried. “It came after me and Mikey as well – a couple different times.” He added, sending a troubled look at his sleeping brother. “We barely got away. But we found out the burns heal in a weird way.”

Seeming deeply disturbed by the fact that he wasn’t the only one who’d encountered that monster, Raph opened his mouth to ask a question, but without a word, Donnie took his right arm and placed a hand over the worst burn – a patch on his outer arm about as big as his hand. Just as he’d hoped, it started receding quicker, making a slight hiss noise as if expelling heat.

Startled, Raph grunted in pain and flinched his arm away, rubbing the spot in astonishment. “How’d you do that?”

Donnie looked at him seriously, brow furrowing in calculation. “I don’t know. The burns inflicted by that one thing seem to respond to care. Mikey said a while ago he thinks they’re tied in that way, somehow.” Concerned, he pulled Raph’s arm back to inspect it again. “Yours look like they’re leaving open wounds, though. They’re taking longer – and this one doesn’t look so good.” He said, trying to heal more as he looked them over with worry, Raph gritting his teeth against the pain. The one larger burn seemed to be leaving behind a mottled injury, as if it had seared deeper into his brother over time before beginning to heal, and Donnie was worried about the number of open injuries on him. “How long have you had these? That might affect things somehow. Have you noticed them get any worse? Also, please tell me what happened to your shoulder! How much does it hurt to move your arm? Can you move your fingers? Can you feel with that hand? What is your range of motion?” Looking up at Raph again with critical analysis and worry, he was surprised to find Raph grinning at him.

“Stop your fussing.” Raph teased, giving him a humored, sharp smile. “I can move my fingers. You saw me attack that thing with my sai in my left hand back there.” Trying to make some angry comeback, Donnie scowled, frustrated he’d forgotten. “I can still feel with my hand. And I don’t know how the burns work or anything, but – they’re not the worst thing in the world. I’ll live,”

Donnie was about to protest, but suddenly realized the gratefulness in Raph’s smile. They must’ve been hurting, after all, and healing them must’ve been taking an extra burden off. Donnie finally returned a sharp scoff. “Punk. You wouldn’t know the worst thing in the world if it bit you in the ass.”

Raph actually laughed, and Donnie couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face from that, like he’d been gifted. It felt like forever since he’d heard that.

“Oh!” Donnie blinked, suddenly remembering. “And your sai! You’re missing one. What happened to the other one?”

Surprised at the change in subject, Raph suddenly scoffed in open irritation at this, clearly still angry about that. “Tch! It got stuck in the guts of one of those tar freaks, and then it transported and disappeared. I don’t even know if the damn thing exists anymore,”

Donnie sighed in sympathy, but couldn’t help but grin with humor at how it happened, absently running a free hand over Mikey’s forehead, checking his temperature and soothing the youngest all at once. “Well, at least it was your sai, and not you.”

“You’re tellin’ me.” Raph sat back on his heels, muttering something and lost in thought about his sai now. A chord of irritation struck in Donnie at a sudden thought, though, and he scowled until Raph noticed, snapping out of his train of thought with an apprehensive look. “Wha–”

“Have you been attacking them, Raph? The monsters?”

There was a beat of silence as they stared at each other, Donnie accusatory and Raph shocked. “Wh – no! I mean, not exactly....” Sighing, Raph rolled his head nervously to the side, mulling it over. When Donnie gave him a more irritated look, Raph pulled his arm back for a moment to raise his hand in defense, leaning away. “Stop lookin’ at me like that! It ain’t like I’ve been hunting them or something stupid! Look, I.....” Scratching his head in frustration, he finally settled on Donnie with a serious look. “Look, I know I kinda lost it on those two, and I’m kinda beat up, but don’t think I’ve been fighting them for fun. In fact, I’ve been avoiding them like lookin’ at them will kill me. They’ve been coming after me, ‘cause I’ve been looking for you guys.” He emphasized that piece of information with a harder stare. “I’ve been running like mad, looking everywhere, and had to fight my way out of a few situations – mostly because I was scared of what would become of you both if I didn’t. That’s how this–” He pointed at his shoulder, “–Happened.” Grimacing slightly, he then put that hand over the mangled joint. “Not because I wanted it to, believe me.”

His anger had been slowly melting into horrible realization as Raph explained, and now he looked at his big brother in plain horror and grief. “Oh, Raph,” He reached out to him. “I know that – I knew you must’ve been looking for us like crazy. You must’ve been so worried, and those things just come out of nowhere, and–” Reaching out to the wounded shoulder, Donnie intended to finally give it a better inspection, but when both hands landed over Raph’s supporting one, he shuddered with sudden, overpowering grief, and couldn’t do any more. He gently leaned over that shoulder in anguish. “He was so worried, and all alone that whole time.” Donnie thought. “Looking for us, fighting in a panic, not knowing if.....”     

Slipping his hand out from under Donnie’s, Raph suddenly put it around the back of Donnie’s head, pulling him closer into a loose hug. Raph sat back off of his legs, holding the younger as he looked down at Mikey with a somber expression.

“I was.” He admitted, going quiet and unusually serious. “I was terrified. Lookin’ for you both everywhere. Just like I’m sure you were looking for me. But it’s ok now, we found each other, and we’re gonna make sure nothing happens to each other.” He leaned back to look at Donnie, before suddenly grinning at him – that knowing, confident, secretive grin only Raph could give, and always made them feel like everything was going to be ok. “So don’t worry about it too much, ‘k?”

Face scrunching, Donnie wrapped tightly around Raph in frustration, pressing into his good shoulder. A memory flashed through his mind of Raph screaming at them, telling them to run away as the monsters closed in around him, fighting them all like he was going to take every one of them down, looking as if he was being eaten alive in the flood of black. Days of torture, neither little brother knowing if he had been.

“Dumbass...” He mumbled, his voice shaky.

Smiling, Raph squeezed him back. “I love you too, nerd.”

They sat for another minute, giving their nerves time to calm again and just appreciating being together as three again. Raph’s eyes drifted back to Mikey and his face fell, leaning slightly to stroke his hand over the smaller’s face. Mikey moaned lightly in sleep, leaning into the hand and looking to be in mild discomfort. Donnie leaned back and assessed their baby brother before they shared a worried look.

“If we make a fire, we can find something to boil some water.” Raph said. “I’ll have to go get some kindling though, and we need to be able to transport the water and boil it in something.”

Donnie tried to protest Raph doing anything alone, but looked back at Mikey again. One of them would have to stay with him to watch over him, regardless. He could think of a way to make things easier, though, and he turned back to Raph.

“There were a few more cave entrances in this cliff face. One of them was closer to the ground, and there are pockets of water down there now. It wouldn’t be as safe as being up here....but if we got closer, we wouldn’t have to travel far with water.”

Raph nodded. Wasting no time, with Donnie’s help, he hoisted Mikey onto his back as gently as possible; and with Donnie hanging onto the right arm carrying Mikey, the trio carefully started on their way out, but Raph suddenly swayed, nearly toppling over.

“Whoa!” Donnie steadied him, quickly wrapping his arms around his big brother. “Raph?!”

“S-sorry, sorry.” Raph mumbled, looking back at Mikey before clenching his eyes tight momentarily, in an apparent effort to clear out dizziness. “Just...got up too quick I guess...”

“Raph....” Donnie looked him over again, and his eyes landed on a bruise on Raph’s head he’d noticed before. Most of it was covered up by his bandana, though. “Did you hit your head?”

Raph didn’t answer right away, until he looked away and mumbled again, “...Just a little, not anything to worry about. I’m fine, let’s go–”

“Raph, just hold on.” Donnie gently persuaded, hobbling around in front to look at him pleadingly. “I don’t want you suddenly careening down the cliffside.”

Raph hesitated, eventually sighing. “I know...if you must know, one of those black things slugged me from behind a while back. I thought I was hidden, but then suddenly it was there. I think it would’ve taken my head off completely if I hadn’t sensed it at the last second.” He turned his head as Donnie reached to examine it, moving his headband momentarily and letting out a sympathetic sound at the dark colors there. Raph tensed in pain from the sensitive area, so Donnie only briefly examined it before replacing the bandana. “I’ve had it for a few days, so it’s not like it’s somethin’ to worry about. I’m sure it’s bruised to hell ‘cause it hurts like hell, but it’s fine as long as I take it easy. I swear.”

Despite insisting it wasn’t a big deal, Donnie ignored him and met his gaze with a serious face, demanding more information for diagnosis. “Did you black out at any time from being hit?”

“No, I didn’t black out.”

“You remember being struck when this happened and how it occurred, right? The whole event, and afterwards as well?”

“Yeah. Mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“I mean, it happening and all.” Raph insisted, frustrated. “I might have lost a few seconds between impact and ow.”

Donnie scowled. “Were you disoriented afterward, or feel any confusion?”

“Other than wonderin’ if I got hit by a train for a second, no.”

Sighing, Donnie crossed his arms with a troubled expression, looking him over critically for a moment before speaking. “You might have a slight concussion. I don’t think it’s too severe, but that’s not to say it’s because you weren’t hit hard enough. But you need to stay away from the monsters! If you take another blow to the head while you’re recovering from this one, your brain can swell up and kill you. We’re lucky that didn’t already happen!”

“Alright, alright, already.” Raph gave Donnie a sharp, humored grin, resisted the urge to call his brother Mother Hen Junior. “Look, it’s not gonna get me slugged again. I’ve been workin’ around it for a few days now, I’d know if something were seriously wrong.”

Donnie gave him a glare, mentally asking Leo, wherever he may be, how in the world he was gonna keep Raph from getting himself killed. He grabbed onto him for support again, moving one of Raph’s bandana tails off of Mikey’s face with a small grin before attempting to pull Raph forward. “I’m sure you think so, Wonder Woman. Don’t blame me when your laser eyes don’t work. To reiterate what I said before, you wouldn’t know something ‘seriously wrong’ if it bit you in the ass.”

Raph rolled his eyes, and the group continued outside. “Anyway, you’re the one that blacked out after getting socked in the head, if I may remind you….”

“My thinking has been perfectly clear, thank you.” Donnie retorted, their voices fading as they made their way down. “I’ve shown no signs of….”

 

Finding supplies for water that was safe to drink was a long, arduous process. After a short argument, Raph left Donnie in the tunnel closer to ground-level with Mikey, once the two agreed on a whistle for help. Once Raph brought back as much dead foliage as possible, he went in search of something to carry water with while Donnie started the fire, trying to keep Mikey warm, who had started shivering. The new cliffside cave they were in went deeper into the ground in what looked like a cave system, but the tunnels got a little smaller further inside, and Raph loathed the idea of crouching through there or getting lost. Finding a large rock, a little bigger than both of his hands with a slight curve shape to it, he took it back inside the cave, sitting in front of the fire Donnie made and picking away at it with his sai to make a bowl.

Donnie had re-situated Mikey closer to the fire and wrapped around him opposite of it, giving as much warmth to his shivering little brother as possible. Raph sent the pair worried looks as he chipped at the rock. Donnie would feel Mikey’s forehead occasionally, making unsatisfied looks and double-checking the rest of his wounds. He knew they weren’t in ideal condition to be recovering from illness, but even so, the looks on Donnie’s face made Raph worry their youngest was in serious danger.

“Do you think he’s fighting infection?” Raph suddenly asked, though he had the feeling he already knew. That was the worst scenario he could think of, but it was all too likely. Donnie himself was fighting infection from his ankle, and whether or not he’d noticed, the second-youngest had been a little feverish, too – Raph had chosen not to say anything about it, though; with the amount of time his shoulder had been so bad, he’d been feeling it as well.

Donnie sighed. “I don’t know, to be honest.” He said. “Most of Mikey’s wounds are internal. If he had to battle infection, on top of all that.....” He shook his head, quickly giving Raph an apologetic look. “Though, if that were the case, I have reason to believe he would’ve been worse than this already, and there are other symptoms he doesn’t have, too.”

Raph sighed as well, an unsaid “yet” seeming to hang in the air, unconvinced and equally troubled. He gazed down at Mikey’s face, his chest clenching with worry.

Looking at the rock he’d chiseled a divot into, Raph got up to head back out. “I’m gonna get some water boilin’.”

 

After much searching and effort, Raph managed to find a few solid sticks, which he fit together over the fire to make a resting place for the new, cleaned-as-well-as-possible bowl, full of water. Once it had boiled for a little while, he set it down off of the fire to let it cool again.  

Coming to sit back down, Raph sat cross-legged in front of the fire with a small grunt of pain, staring moodily into the flames. Donnie watched the older brother for a minute, thoughts drifting. In quiet moments like this, even with the stress of escaping the danger around them, it still struck Donnie that Raph was finally reunited with them again. They’d worried about him and missed him for days, but it had felt like weeks. Raph had clearly been just as anxious, daresay more, and Donnie noticed how much more on-edge he was now, even since they got here – and that was saying something. Seeing his normally overconfident, cocky big brother turn quiet with razor’s-edge anxiety, pain, and self-doubt made him hurt. Hurt in the same way the oldest’s face made him hurt, sometimes…

Leo’s face crossed his mind in an instance of heartbreak, and he grimaced. The most grief Donnie had ever seen Leo in surely wouldn’t compare to what he must be going through now; and the longer they were separated, the more grief the three of them went through, too. Trying to survive, ironically, was a good way to try not to think about it.

Now that they were together again, though, what worried Donnie was keeping Raph out of danger. If they were forced into a similar situation like last time, and Raph outed himself to protect them, Donnie wasn’t sure they’d get him back again.

“Raph,” He finally spoke up, getting the older’s attention, who seemed startled out of his own thoughts before looking at Donnie. “I…I’ve been thinking, and…I think we should revise our strategy. For getting home.”

Raph looked at him for a second before responding. “Yeah, me too.”

Donnie blinked at him. “You do?”

“Yeah.” Raph nodded slowly, eyes drifting back to the fire. For a moment, it seemed like he wouldn’t continue, but he suddenly looked back at Donnie, and behind the shadows flickering across his face from the fire, there was slight apprehension. “These past few days, I’ve been…feeling worse and worse about this place. I mean – in a different way than the obvious. I got this real awful feeling that we’re getting too close to something. The more of this place I’ve seen, the more I’ve been thinkin’….we’re probably gonna have to rely on Leo and the others for this one.”    

He paused, and they looked at each other in silence for a moment as Donnie took this in. “This place messes with me in a way I don’t know how to describe.” Raph continued more quietly, looking thoughtfully at Mikey. “And I know we’ve said that before, but I’ve been watchin’ it really drive Mikey nuts, and it sits in my chest like somethin’ black and heavy, like something’s wrong. That’s the way I feel.” Raph sat back a little more, as if in resolution of his feelings. “I don’t think we need to be moving, or looking for a way to get back. We need to pick the safest place we can reach, hide there and try to wait.”

Donnie stared at Raph, processing for a minute before responding. Clearly, that was their best option right now, and Raph and Mikey were easily the most intuitive of the four brothers, so if Raph said hide, they probably should. Still, it almost surprised him hearing his brother say it. He’d been just as anxious as Donnie to contact the Ulixes before, if not more so.

“That’s kind of in line with what I was thinking.” Donnie responded. “This place does…give me vibes like that, too….and Mikey’s definitely been spooked about something; you and him both. But this area….this desert-type place is too dangerous. I don’t think we can stay here. Besides, what if Mikey gets worse? There might still be some herbs in those woods that can help him.”

“There ain’t, Donnie.” Raph said with conviction, looking at his little brother squarely. “You know everything back there was dead. And I looked long enough to know.”

There was a heavy silence as they both independently mulled the matter over in heavy, troubled thought. This area was still dangerous – there were more creatures here than any other area they’d been in – but the struggles they’d encounter trying to leave were obvious. But it was so barren. Regardless of Mikey’s condition, they needed safe access to food and water…

Suddenly, though, Mikey’s head rolled, lightly bumping Donnie’s arm and mumbling, seemingly still struggling out of a dream.

“Mikey!” Surprised, Donnie sat up, checking Mikey with a hand to his cheek as Raph crawled closer, looking him over.

Getting down on his stomach, Raph poked Mikey’s forehead with his muzzle, giving him a grin. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

Blearily registering his two brothers and too tired to respond, Mikey grinned back, leaning back against Raph’s snuggles. Donnie got up and grabbed the rock with the water, dipping a finger in it for a taste-test first. None of the acidic qualities seemed to remain, and despite a distinct rock-soup flavor, it seemed safe, so he turned the chiseled-out spout side toward Mikey.

“We boiled some water. It’s still warm and doesn’t taste the best, but I’d wager you probably don’t care.”

“You guys have been hard at work…” Mikey said, eyeing the water with something just short of awe. “Did you...get any...yet–”

“Quit yappin’ and drink.” Raph sat up on his knees, gently propping Mikey up on his legs.

“Just go slow, ok? It’s been forever since you’ve had water you can stomach.” Donnie dipped it carefully to let him drink. At first, Mikey had to cough for a second when it irritated his dry throat, but he managed to drink all of it, and they laid him down again, Donnie adjusting the waist band supporting his head.

“How are ‘ya feeling, Mike?” Raph asked gently, coming around to look at him properly and resting a hand on the younger’s face, not bothering to keep the worry out of his expression.

Mikey’s eyes flickered down for a second, contemplating how to answer. Finally, he said, “M’ head hurts…” Apparently disregarding everything else.

Giving him a sad, sympathetic look, Raph laid down on his stomach again so he was level with his little brother. “Hey, I meant ‘ta tell you…I’m sorry about your slingshot.”

It was a moment before Mikey responded, giving Raph a puzzled look. “My…what?” Then, the lightbulb came on. “The slingshot! I…forgot all about it.”

Raph smiled. “Yeah. Turns out it didn’t hold up very well when we actually needed it.”

“Aww…” Mikey let out a sad sigh, closing his eyes in exhaustion. “’S ok Raphie…we can build…another one…”

Donnie frowned, feeling the youngest’s forehead for the thousandth time as Mikey fought with sleep. “Just get some rest, Mikey. You need it.”

Mikey seemed to take Donnie’s advice rather than respond, because he was slipping off soon after that. Raph and Donnie glanced at each other, both trying hard not to make their worry too obvious.

“I’m gonna get some more water to boil.” Raph said, getting up – but suddenly, Mikey weakly wrapped his arms around his middle with a pained wimper, both older brothers snapping their heads back to him with wide eyes.

“Mikey!” Donnie got down to check on him, and Raph moved to follow, but–

The ground suddenly felt cold. Raph’s eyes shifted there, before slowly turning to look out the entrance in horror. Nothing was there, but – the air filled with voices–

“Donnie.” Raph said desperately, breathlessly, before whipping around to his little brothers with alarm and commands in his eyes. Donnie returned a look of escalating panic, scooping Mikey up with trembling arms.

Darkness filled the cave, and Raph was already panicking before it appeared. “NO, NO, NO, NO!” He cried, unsheathing his one sai and scrambling in front of the other two, but there was nothing they could do to stop it – fire raced up the cave walls with booming sound at the appearance of a large, black figure with beady red eyes.

It roared in ancient languages, angrily belting fire at the roof of the cave, and Raph spun around to pick up both little brothers. There was nowhere to run but into the caves.

“Raph!” Donnie cried in a panic as he bolted, and the monster quickly chased after them. It was only the decreasing space and the brothers’ smaller size that kept Raph just a hair ahead of it, running toward what looked like a small opening into a cavern at the back. Donnie held Mikey tighter and buried his face, unable to look.

With a cry, Raph jumped through the opening just as the monster got close enough to swipe, gravel and dust exploding after him. The monster roared furiously, pouring fire through the hole after them, just as they realized the ground ran out under their feet and Donnie heard surging water below them. But Raph suddenly seemed to be losing consciousness, closing his eyes with a pained groan and the two slipping from his grasp.

“RAPH!” Donnie cried, wrapping his arms tight around both of them. He looked wildly for anything that could save them, but it was no use – it was too dark to see, and they were plunging into a roaring underground channel of water.

“We can’t die here,” Donnie thought, holding as tight to the other two as he could. If it was the last thing he did, he was not letting them get separated again. “I don’t want us to die here! Leo, I don’t wanna die!”

As the sound of the water raced up to meet them, Donnie held his breath.

Notes:

Oof, I am back after finals!! Thanks everyone SO MUCH for the comments! Writing is a lot more fun to me with you guys :)

Chapter 12

Mikey groaned, feeling weightless and wondering, for a moment, if he were dreaming of flying.

But he was too cold, far too cold, and felt a rushing around him that felt too wrong. When he realized he couldn’t breathe, he began to wonder if he were back in that underground pool, somehow; or if he’d never left at all, and the idea made him feel sick. If he’d never found Donnie…if Raph had never been reunited with them…..if he’d been separated from all three of his big brothers all this time, only dreaming about them because he’d been too hurt to move, he wouldn’t know what else to do than cry. But, with a rush of relief, he felt the two around him, and knew it hadn’t been a dream; and with a pang of anxiety, realized they must be in danger.

Suddenly, the water around them wasn’t rushing so fast, and he could make out his brothers better through a dim, red light coming from above. Donnie had his eyes clenched tightly shut, grasping the two of them as tightly as he was able. But Raph was unconscious, and with Donnie’s grasp slowly loosening, his immediate older brother seemed to be heading the same way.

How did they get here? Where were they?!

Mikey looked around, his burning lungs telling him he hadn’t taken in enough air before they submerged. It was very dark and hard to see. Raph was completely out of it, and Mikey panicked for a second that he could be drowning. He looked around wildly and kicked, but both got him nowhere. He tried to swim up with his brothers in tow, but with Donnie releasing his grip on the two, it quickly became an impossible task.

“No, no, no, no!” Mikey cried in his head, nightmares of his brothers drowning starting to flash before his eyes, struggling himself as he tried not to gasp. Straining, he grasped at the two of them, Donnie still struggling with consciousness. His big brother was the only one who could swim them out of here.

“Donnie, Donnie, wake up!” He thought, attempting to shake or jar him back to life, but not being very successful in the gentle weightlessness of the water. Crying in panic and fear, he clutched at Donnie and let out a small choked noise that was equally distressed emotion as it was a struggle to breathe, as his tears bubbled upward in the water with his air.

Suddenly, Donnie’s eyes shot open, and he looked at the two of them in wild panic. Kicking ferociously, he pulled them tight and swam as hard as he could for the surface.

The surface of the water rolled in agitation before the three broke through, two gasping for air and coughing up water. Donnie fumbled for the bank, tunnel-vision focused on his goal – preventing any of them from choking on water before he got there.

When he got to land, he barely pulled the two of them out of the pool in exhaustion, hauling his limp brothers – one smaller and unable to move, one heavy and still unconscious – into the shallow water of the pool’s edge before he was unable to go any further, collapsing on his side. It was still dark out, wherever they were now, with oddly red-tinted light sources coming from somewhere and barely illuminating anything enough to see. Barely registering Mikey push himself up to cough up water, he rolled onto his elbows and did the same before crawling to Raph, who laid on his side.

“R…Raph….” Donnie coughed, first trying to shake his brother before hauling him further out of the water to lay him on his stomach. “Raph.” He started beating the back of Raph’s shell, and suddenly – to his massive relief – Raph started coughing, flinching awake and weakly trying to push himself up as he threw up water.

Mikey crawled to the pair before collapsing beside Donnie, and Donnie quickly gathered up his younger brother as they sat next to Raph, Donnie laying a comforting hand on his big brother’s shell. When Raph’s breathing finally evened out, he rolled over onto his back beside them, exhausted.

Mikey, tears in his eyes, moved from Donnie and laid down quietly on Raph’s chest. Looking at his little brother, Raph wrapped an arm around him, and the three stayed still for a moment, resting in silence.

“You guys…” Raph finally groveled out, his voice sounding like he’d spontaneously developed a cold in his throat. “…Alright?” Another coughing fit took him right after he spoke.

Donnie and Mikey looked at each other before Donnie responded. “I think so.”

Groaning, Raph covered his face with a hand and laid there for another minute. Mikey looked over to Donnie again.

“You’re a good swimmer, D….” He said a little miserably. Donnie’s expression turned a little more grim.

“Raph’s the one that jumped into that cave and got us out of there…” He mumbled, closing his eyes tiredly when Raph didn’t react to the statement. Mikey looked up at him.

“What happened, anyway–” Stopping suddenly, Mikey stared at nothing, his expression slowly turning more horrified. “I…suddenly felt sick.” He said more quietly. “It felt like…”

Donnie looked at the ground, where water rippled around them. “Yeah. It was that thing.” He said, voice low. “You were passed out. Raph grabbed us both and went into the cave. We fell into water, and…”

He stopped there, and Mikey lowered his eyes in silence. Reaching as far as he could, he raised his arms to Donnie, who lifted him off of Raph, and he laid his head on Donnie’s chest, too worn out to say anything.

Raph and Donnie looked at each other, communicating in silence with sinking expressions.

Now what?

After a minute, they struggled to their feet, Donnie carrying Mikey and Raph doing his best to support Donnie, and they went to look for a cave in the dark, shivering.

 

It was thirty minutes later that they were inside a small burrow in the ground, where there had thankfully been a small, dead tree nearby which Raph broke up for a fire before they all got hypothermia. After the fire was going, Donnie and Raph sat next to it in silence for a while with Mikey’s head pillowed in Donnie’s lap, trying to get warm and sorting through their scrambled thoughts.

 The worst part was that they had no idea what to do now. Nowhere was safe, and the scariest monster of all was hunting them. What did it want with them? It only seemed willing to attack directly if it got one of them alone; and of all things, only the fire-breathing made any remote sense. The odd way to heal the injuries, the teleporting, the convulsing, the cryptic messages and multi-language-speech, Mikey getting sick and Raph getting chills whenever it was around – that didn’t make sense. They couldn’t hide, and they were running out of strength to keep running away.

But most of all…

Raph punched the ground, grunting furiously. He gritted his teeth for a moment, scowling and cursing at the ground. Donnie only watched, unable to say anything – he felt the same way. He laid Mikey gently on the ground, cushioning his head again with his belt strap.

“Fuckin’ planet…fuckin’…things…fuck damnit!” Punching the ground one more time, Raph hung his head lower. Donnie looked on, frozen to the spot with a knot in his throat.

After a moment, Raph’s shoulders trembled a little, and he scrubbed his arm over his face. “Where the fuck is everybody?!” He mumbled, his voice breaking a little. “Damnit, Leo! You were supposed to be here by now…!” Droplets fell from his face and he scrubbed his eyes more, voice trembling. “You were supposed to…be ok…and come an’ get us as soon as possible…and show us you were all ok. Asshole…!”

In a sudden rush, Donnie jumped closer to Raph and fiercely wrapped his arms around him. If Raph said any more, he was afraid he’d break down into sobs, and that was the last thing Donnie needed to drag himself back out of right now. He buried his face in Raph’s shoulder, and Raph sat back on his knees, arms exhaustedly slack at his sides, staring at the ceiling.

“Fuck, Donnie.” Raph mumbled, equally torn up and pissed off. “Of all places, I don’t want us to die on this stupid planet. That would be the most annoying fuckin’ thing. After everything the four of us have been through…here of all places, to these random – worthless motherfuckin’ things.” His anger slowly dissipated, the edge leaving his voice as it went quieter. Donnie glanced up and saw there were tears streaming down Raph’s face, ignored by his distant expression locked on the roof of the cave. Suddenly closing his eyes, he leaned more heavily against Donnie, dropping his head over the back of his little brother’s shell; and whether that was meant for Donnie’s comfort or if he was just that tired, he couldn’t tell. “All of us weren’t meant to be separated like this. Like that…” He shook his head and paused a little too long, and Donnie put valiant effort into not picturing was Raph was referring to. “…He’d be out for the blood of everyone who ever looked at us wrong.”

Donnie squeezed his eyes shut; oh, it’d be much worse than that, he prevented himself from saying. Shifting back, Donnie gripped Raph’s arms, meeting his big brother’s troubled and so, so tired expression with a firm, serious look.

“Leo’s ok.” He said quietly, keeping his eyes locked on Raph’s. “They’re all ok. He’ll come. I know it…and you do, too. You know the devil couldn’t kill him, as long as we’re involved.”

Looking at Donnie for a moment, Raph finally closed his eyes with a sigh. “You’re right, lil’ bro…like usual.” Abruptly, he scrubbed his face with his hands. “I just…”

“I know.” He looked away. “Me too.”

Glancing over to check on Mikey, Donnie frowned. Even next to the fire, he was starting to shiver again. After a pause, he pulled his baby brother into his arms and moved to lie propped against the burrow’s inclined wall, trying to give him extra warmth. Mikey subconsciously buried closer, resting his head in the crook of Donnie’s shoulder.

Raph came to sit close on the other side, offering what heat he could, and Donnie looked up at him. They were all exhausted; they needed to rest. “We should sleep,” He suggested. “It’s still night.”

“It’s too dangerous for all of us to sleep at the same time anymore.” Raph said, crossing his legs and hunching over, staring into the fire. “We should take shifts.”

Donnie grimaced. He didn’t like Raph staying up; they were both suffering from their own worsening fevers, after all, but he saw the point. Instead of responding directly, he changed the subject, staring into the fire, too. “How long has it been? I’ve been starting to lose track…”

“Eight days,” Raph replied without missing a beat. Surprised, Donnie looked at him, but Raph was still staring at the fire. “I’m sure we’re already in the morning of the eighth.”

Looking on despondently for a moment, Donnie eventually turned back toward the fire. “We’re really past one full week…that’s longer than we’ve ever been separated before.” He said quietly. Raph didn’t respond, and they sat in silence for a few moments.

“…Why do you think they do that?” Donnie eventually asked, almost absent-mindedly. Raph looked over at him.

“What are you talking about?”

“Those things. All of them, really…” Donnie paused, rubbing his eyes with two fingers; he was so exhausted, it was difficult to concentrate. “The monsters. They like to corner us alone…split us up. They’ll attack us then. They don’t like when we’re together…” His mind went back to the image of Raph rescuing them; monsters circling their group cautiously, the unusual amount of damage he and Raph dealt out when they attacked.

Raph turned back to the fire, thinking quietly for a minute. “That demon does it too.” He eventually said. “…It never approached us at first, when we were together. But when we got split up, suddenly it showed up. I barely got away from it, the couple times I saw it then. But now it doesn’t wanna get close…just breathes fire down our cave, like a coward.” Raph pulled his knees up, resting his head and crossing his arms. “…It’s like they’re afraid of something…”

A chill went down Donnie’s spine; he wasn’t sure if it was more terrifying that they were being hunted, or that there was something that all the creatures were afraid of them for – something that could be removed by splitting them up.

“…You called it a demon.” Donnie noted, and Raph looked over at him, a spooked expression crossing his face that he didn’t seem to be aware of.

“Isn’t it?”

Grimacing, Donnie turned back toward the fire, and Raph did too. As much as he hated to think about it like that… “It does seem that way.”  

After another few minutes, Raph spoke up again. “After we got split up…there was this one day when it came for me. I was still in the woods, an’ I got cornered. It was coming at me fast and I had my sai out to fight, but I knew it wouldn’t…but then, all of a sudden this terrible rain came down. The whole place flooded and trees started toppling. It was so strong that both of us got washed away somewhere else…”

Donnie stared, concerned. “That happened to us, too.” He looked down at Mikey. “Me and Mikey got separated...” Raph looked over at the two of them with a worried expression. “We were being attacked by one of those ink monsters. It started raining, and Mikey…but it attacked me, and I couldn’t get to him…next thing I know, I was lying in three inches of water, somewhere else completely.” Donnie squeezed his eyes shut, sighing. “I was fighting things off constantly, looking for Mikey. That first night was…”

“I know,” Raph said, leaning back to pillow Donnie’s head on his shoulder. He had an oddly knowing look on his face that Donnie couldn’t decipher. “Me too.”

Donnie turned toward the fire again, trying to relax so he could get whatever sleep he was able to.

“…I went to that second clearing, by the way.” Raph said quietly. “I checked in case you two had gone there.”

“You made it there?” Donnie asked incredulously.

“Yeah.” Raph nodded, their campfire reflected in his wistful gaze. “By the time I got there, it had died.”

 

Raph and Donnie took shifts sleeping the rest of the night, keeping an eye out in case that – demon – popped up again. In the morning, the two of them exited their little burrow to look around and see what the place really looked like – and immediately their hearts sank. The sky wasn’t the sky, anymore. It was….earth. They were underground in a massive cavern that could’ve been a second world. At the center was a tall, complicated earth structure that joined with the roof, miles high. Being in the center, Donnie imagined the pillar must go up through the cave he’d rescued Mikey out of, and what was inside he didn’t want to imagine. The whole place was cast in a dim, foreboding red light that they couldn’t guess the source of, and the howling of monsters could be heard in the distance, even down where they were.

“Well, that confirms one thing, at least…” Raph said, both of them staring into the distance. “We are underground, like I thought.”

Not finding much else that they could say around the knots in their throats, Raph went out – despite nagging from Donnie – to find another rock he could get some water with. After a little while, he came back with a big, curved rock holding a lot of water, and he set it over their fire to boil. Waiting for the water, the older two finally tried to figure out what they were going to do.

“That’s impossible, Donnie.”

Raph and Donnie stared intensely at each other as they sat against the wall of their burrow, Donnie pillowing Mikey’s head in his lap, who was still out with his fever. They were trying to strategize just how they were going to get back to the surface, but it almost seemed like too difficult of a prospect.

On top of that, they still needed food…

“We are not going up through that – that – pillar, or whatever it is!” Donnie insisted, becoming increasingly nervous and agitated. “The top of that is where I rescued Mikey out of. That monster showed up in there, too, as well as other hostile creatures. I swear I turned around once and thought the caves had changed. Just being in there felt like it was swallowing you whole. I don’t know what’s up with it, but I’m not sure it’s even possible to go through there! I’m not taking Mikey back in there, and I’m certainly not going in there with all of us!”

“Ok. So, instead, you want us to swim back up all the hundreds of waterfalls and underground caves I’m sure we just fell down?”

“Raph, look. There’s light coming down here from – somewhere, even though we’re underground. There could be–”

“Other tunnels? Holes in the ceiling? Sure, let’s just fly up out of here with these handy wings of ours, you go first.”

Again, the two stared at each other for a moment, both with a desperation on their face that they couldn’t come to acknowledge. There was no real point in arguing, they knew, for a few different reasons – one being that it was clear they only had one option to get back to the surface; and another being that they both knew they wouldn’t make it. Two of them could barely walk, and they had a sick passenger who neither could really effectively carry on a hike that arduous. Raph’s shoulder and Donnie’s ankle were both getting worse with all the strain as it was, not to mention their weakness from no food and the constant cold. Besides, what then? They’d just be running for another hole to hide in as soon as they got back to the surface.

But…they had even smaller chances of finding what they needed to survive down here, much less whatever Donnie needed to craft into a homing beacon of sorts. At the very least, even if he did, it would be counterproductive to set it up underground.

Donnie sighed, frustrated. “The choice is between whether we would survive travel or survive down here, and neither look good. But Raph, that pillar is impossible. We have to find another way, because staying down here is…!”

“I know,” Raph replied, anxious. “Look, don’t worry about it. Maybe there is another way, but we can barely travel across flat land right now, much less–”

“We have to try!” Donnie raised his voice. “We’ve been getting by so far, even though it’s hard. Down here, we’re trapped with those things. Besides, if…I mean…when Leo gets here, I know the guy can track us down like a hound, but if we’re stuck underground–”

 “Hey, hey.” Raph put his hands on Donnie’s shoulders. “Just breathe, bro…it’s gonna be ok. We’re gonna be fine. Just relax. A’right?”

Donnie scrunched his eyes closed, taking a deep breath and letting it go, pressing anxious fists against the ground. Ok, so maybe he was panicking, but he felt he had a good reason to at the moment. He looked up at Raph. “How are you so sure?”

“I just know, bro. And I’m older, so that means you have to listen to me.” He gave a cocky grin, and Donnie scowled back – but he did feel a little better, and he hated how Raph could be so incredibly annoying but reassuring at the same time.

“Ok, so how about this: if you say the pillar is that unsafe, then fine, I won’t take you two in there. But we can’t go anywhere right now. Our fevers are getting worse, and we just don’t have the strength. That’s why we need to stop for a bit and rebuild our strength, and then we can try to get out later.”

Donnie’s frown deepened. “Stop here to rebuild our strength?”

“What choice do we have?” Raph looked at him seriously. “I know we don’t know this area; but there’s water, after all, just as long as we make sure to boil it first. We saw at least a couple rabbit-lookin’ things on the surface, so the planet isn’t completely barren. If there is anything down here, they’ll be going for the water sources. So, we just gotta camp next to one. I’m still in ok shape, so I can hunt around for other stuff in the meantime. And then we can…find a way out.”

“You’re not in ‘ok shape’,” Donnie’s expression turned more worried. “You’re no better off than I am, and you’ve been knocked pretty bad in the head. You could pass out at any time if you push yourself too hard, and then you’d be laying out there somewhere alone. You already passed out when that demon thing chased us down a waterfall – and who knows when that will show up again!”

“We can’t get paralysis based on fear of that thing.” Raph rebutted. “It could show up at any time, and we don’t know when that is, so we have to do what we can in the meantime so we can handle it. If we don’t, we definitely won’t last long. We already know we have some kind of resistance to it, anyway…maybe it’ll even leave us alone for a bit, now.” He crossed his arms and pouted. “And I ain’t just gonna pass out randomly. Walkin’ around ain’t that stressful.”

Donnie raised an unamused eyebrow at him. He wasn’t very convinced by any of this, but he knew Raph was right – what choice did they have?

Raph sighed. “I think we gotta come to a conclusion by now that there ain’t anywhere on this hell planet worth looking for. We need to just camp out for a bit and get our strength back, and then we can look for the safest place to wait for the others.” Pausing, Raph closed his eyes for a moment, and an air of sadness hung between them. “Just trust me. If the others are coming…maybe we can make it long enough for ‘em to get to us. But we gotta play our cards right.”

Donnie sat for a moment looking at Raph before smirking. “Of course I trust you, Fearless Leader.”

Raph scoffed, rolling his eyes and turning toward the fire, but with a small, amused grin on his face. “Don’t even compare me to that dork.” Taking the recently boiling water down from over the fire, his grin dropped to a frown and he mumbled, “Leo prob’ly would have gotten us out of this a week ago…”

Before Donnie could object, the person in his lap made a tired, croaky mumble. “Don’t talk like that, Raphie…”

“Mikey?!” Raph kneeled down next to the pair and both stared intently at their little brother. Mikey weakly rubbed his eyes before turning to look at Raph with a grin.

“You’re a good leader, Raph…” He mumbled. “It just sucks that you only…get to do it in situations…like this one.”

“…How long have you been awake?” Raph asked. “You could’a said something sooner–”

“Not long…” Mikey admitted, struggling to keep his eyes open. Donnie felt his forehead and made a face.

“Here, we’ve got some water for you, Mike.” Donnie said, motioning toward the bowl, which Raph quickly grabbed, but Mikey refused it to interrogate them.

“Are you guys…ok…?”

The older two glanced at each other quickly before smiling calmly at their youngest. “We’re fine, Mike. Are you ok? How are you feeling?” Donnie quizzed back.

Mikey shifted a little and squinted before replying. “Same…”

His smile sinking, Donnie stroked his head comfortingly. “Just get all the rest you need, you’ll feel better in no time.”

Mikey smiled at both of them, and Raph held the water bowl up to him while Donnie propped him up to drink. When he was done, Donnie laid him back down and Raph set it aside so he could lean down closer to his baby brother.

“We’re gonna be fine, Mikey.” He said, rubbing some dirt off of Mikey’s cheek with his thumb. “Me an’ Don are working on it…we just need to find a good place to squat for a bit.”

Mikey thought for a minute, frowning at his feet in silence. “M’ sorry I’m slowing us down…I didn’t mean to…for this to happen.”

“No! No,” The two older brothers leaned forward in worry, and Raph put a hand on his cheek. “Mikey, you’re not–”

“Don’t say it.” Mikey interrupted, but he looked up at them with a tense grin. “Thanks…but I’m gonna make it up to you guys. I promise…”

“Mikey,” Donnie pulled his little brother closer. “We don’t want you to do that…” But Mikey was already dozing off again, and in a few more seconds, he was back asleep. Donnie and Raph looked at each other.

“I need to get some fresh water for the two of us.” Raph said, standing and picking up the water bowl. “And my internal clock says it’s already noon, so I’d best check around and see if there’s anything nearby that we can eat.”

“Mikey ate some grass a few days ago,” Donnie offered matter-of-factly. “It didn’t make him sick…we might be able to get by on some of the plants here, if we can find live ones.”

“Ha! Why would I expect anything less?” Raph made an amused grin at his littlest brother. “Good job, Mike. I’ll keep an eye out for some…” Turning to leave, Raph started to crawl up and out of their little burrow, but Donnie called out to him.

“Hey! You remember our calls?” He asked, referring to the whistles they agreed on to communicate from a distance.

Raph rolled his eyes similarly to the way he normally did when Leo was being a mother hen. “Yes, mom.”

“You better call me if anything happens, Raph.” Donnie scowled back, ignoring the jab and the fact that he was absolutely not helping his case at all. “‘Cause I’m coming either way, and I’m gonna beat up whatever’s there and you if you don’t call me first.”

“Alright, alright.” Raph exited the burrow, but stopped to turn and look at Donnie one more time before he left. “Tomorrow, we need to move to a new hiding place closer to some water, though. We need the access, and to hunt.”

Looking back grimly, Donnie nodded, and Raph left. In the new silence, Donnie sat with his thoughts for a few moments before pulling Mikey closer and slumping with a sigh.

 

Raph had his sai out and ready as he moved about, slipping in and out of whatever hiding places he found, hiding and listening for either animals or monsters before moving again. After bringing back water, he stayed out for a few hours, responding to Donnie’s occasional check-up whistles, never moving out of hearing range. He couldn’t locate any food, though – in either plant or animal form, and he gradually grew more worried. If he couldn’t find anything down here, that was going to make his plan to stop and recover a lot harder for everyone. At least on the surface they occasionally ran across things…shaking his head, he pushed forward and kept looking. They had to rest for a while, or they wouldn’t make it. He just had to keep trying…

He decided to venture out beyond hearing range after a while, just momentarily, out of desperation to find something. “I won’t be gone long, Donnie. Just sit tight, I’ll be back by the next time you check in…” He thought.

Farther away, of course, meant closer to the pillar. The thing was a couple hours’ walk from where Donnie and Mikey were holed up, and Raph was about directly in between them. Oddly, the red, ominous light that illuminated the entire place was brighter here; and he got a bad, sneaking suspicion in the pit of his gut, so – after going back a bit to check in with Donnie one more time – he went closer to the pillar.

Strangely, the closer he got, the more odd he realized the structure actually was. It appeared to have a massive hole a few miles up with some black thing in the center – but it was strongly emanating the red light. There weren’t any skylights in the ceiling, after all, he realized with growing bewilderment. It was all coming from that black thing in the pillar…

“The hell?” He thought, standing at a distance and staring up, trying to make out what it was. Running, he went closer to try to understand what he was seeing.

Before long, he had to find hiding places, because he saw a few of the ink monsters and heard more nearby. He stayed far away enough from them that he figured he was safe, but it made getting closer to the pillar difficult. If he could just get a little closer…he could see what the glowing thing was…

A glare of light hit Raph’s eyes, and he squinted and shielded them with his hand. When the glare was gone, he looked up again and the black object in the center was clearer. It was…

Raph stood and stared, feeling stupid. “That can’t be what it looks like. That would be stupid as hell. I must’ve really hit my head…”

An ink monster treading up the pillar approached the massive empty space where the black object floated in the center, and in a snap, disappeared. Startled, Raph looked around for it in worry, but it didn’t appear anywhere else.

“That thing just teleported. Next to the black thing. Into the black thing…” He stared at it, blank-faced. “It’s a fucking teleportation piece.”

A piece of the teleportation device; the whole reason they’d ventured out into space to begin with. Of all times, Raph really wished Leo were here right now to tell him how stupid that sounded – because it sounded really, really stupid.

Raph kept staring blankly, until suddenly his bewilderment took over, and his face scrunched up with disbelief.

“What the fuck?!”

Notes:

Things are about to start picking up quickly from here! Thanks to everyone for the comments and for following along!!

Chapter 13

The Ulixes was under enemy fire.

His three little brothers argued with him that they needed to get outside of the ship to repair it. It was risky, but they were outnumbered and things wouldn’t be looking good if they didn’t. Still, he argued back that it was too dangerous.

His heart was racing and he couldn’t stop trembling. He might’ve been crying. Don’t go, he pleaded with them. I don’t want to lose you…

It’ll be fine, they quipped back. They smiled at him affectionately, humored. They were used to him worrying about them; they weren’t afraid. But this was different – it was more dangerous than that this time, and they didn’t understand that. They left; he couldn’t move because he had to drive the ship. He couldn’t even see them as they were fired at. “Guys,” He pleaded over their communicators. It was so difficult to clear their enemy’s attacks and keep them safe. He cried harder. “Please, come back–”

Something was wrong. They weren’t responding. “Guys?!” He cried out; nothing. He left his post from the ship’s drivers. Where were the others? April, Casey and Professor Honeycutt weren’t there anymore. The place had gone dark and he ran through the ship in a panic. They were still being fired at, and static was roaring in his ears now. Suddenly, he heard them! They were–

They were screaming. The ship started going up in flames. They were screaming…he couldn’t get to them…

“Guys!” He yelled over their communicator, praying they’d respond. That whatever was happening would stop. “Mikey! Donnie! Raph!”

Their screaming engulfed his hearing, ripping his insides to shreds. It sounded like they were dying. The world around him started coming apart; the ship was breaking into pieces, and the vacuum of space was suffocating him.

“No! No!!” Leo screamed, collapsing to his knees and grabbing his head, hunched over with his heart hammering out of his chest…somehow, knowing this was what happened to them, and he couldn’t bear it. “Guys!!!”

“NO!”

Leo bolted forward so hard that he was on his hands and knees. Disoriented, he stared at his bed and rubbed his eyes. He was trembling and sweating…and crying.

Slowly, snapshots of memories pieced themselves together in his mind. Days of working on the ship non-stop…frantic and obsessive. Not letting any of the other three stop him, even as worried as they were. He worked himself to exhaustion and passed out somewhere in the back. Yeah…Casey and April were there, and he remembered them crying out and running to him. They must have brought him here.

He was still covered in grime from working in the engine room for days, and the bed was filthy now, but it hardly crossed his mind. He looked at the clock on his phone. He’d only slept for an hour.

It was the most sleep he’d had in days…

But, their hard work was paying off. The most important part of the Ulixes that needed repairing for the rescue mission – the engine – was almost done. Professor Honeycutt was busy most of the time, deep in the process of putting all their available resources into the guns and thrusters. He’d integrated his personal computer network with the ship, and had practically turned himself momentarily into a living weapon. He was clearly putting all power into preparing to fight his way onto and off of the planet – whatever was necessary to get his three little brothers out of there.

His brothers.

His brothers.

His little brothers…

Leo put his face in his hands. Their screams ricocheted in his brain, haunting him whenever he closed his eyes. The other day, he’d nearly had a heart attack; he thought he could feel them, but he didn’t know. It was all pain. He was almost too afraid to believe it had been them. And even if it was, he had no way of knowing that they’d made it after that. That was a few days ago. Who knew – it might’ve signaled their death. He was too far away from them to know for sure–

Suddenly choking, he curled over himself until his head rested on the bed. He’d been blocking those thoughts because they made him physically ill. No – more than that – they dragged him to the deepest depths of his soul on his knees, where he was faced with his own mortality. Still, he couldn’t stop it from crossing his mind, and he struggled not to throw up from the idea. No…no. He couldn’t think about it. He wouldn’t believe it. He refused to, until he went there himself to see what happened. Only then could he ever accept it. And if it were true, then…

His head spun and his thoughts went fuzzy. He didn’t know.

Slowly sitting back up, he took a little photo out from his belt. It was a grainy picture of some torn-up land from some distant place in the sky; the satellite picture of where his brothers had collided with the planet.

He held it gingerly, staring at it. Proof his brothers had made it there. That, at least at one time, they’d been there.

He pressed the picture against his chest, closing his eyed and bowing his head. No matter what happened, he’d get there, and he’d find them. Damnit, God knew he would, if it was the last thing he ever did.

“Please...hold on.” He whispered, gentleness in his wavering voice. “I’m coming…”

 

When he finally found the strength to leave the room, he went down the hallway to the main room to find the others. When he came in, April immediately noticed him, looking dismayed at the little sleep Leo had gotten, but Casey was distracted, hunched over a desk where a hologram was and Professor Honeycutt’s face displayed on a large monitor at the front of the room. They appeared to be strategizing.

“Leo,” April said, trotting over to the turtle. She was covered in just as much grime as Leo was – she’d been the other one putting in overtime on the engine room right alongside him. “Are you ok? How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. Sorry about before…” Leo replied absently, examining the room to try to avoid April’s put-off expression. “What’s going on?”

Instead of replying, April looked at Casey and then back at Leo with a serious expression, nodding for him to follow her. They walked to the table Casey was standing over, where he stared intensely down into the blue light of the hologram gleaming across his face. He looked worse for wear himself, and more serious than either of the two had ever remembered him. He’d been working so hard for the past few days, both assisting with repairs and planning their entry strategy into the planet with the information Professor Honeycutt had given him from the device the alien had left behind.

Suddenly, he pointed to a spot on the hologram of the planet. “This is where those aliens said they’d landed.” He said to Professor Honeycutt. “There are rumors about the planet being dangerous…but there isn’t a lot of information, so we need to be on the lookout. There’s another challenge – although the atmosphere doesn’t seem dangerous to us for the most part, I noticed some super unstable-looking pockets of weather. They seem to appear randomly around the planet and are powerful enough that they could possibly cause damage to the landscape – and the ship. We need to make sure we avoid those if we plan on getting in and leaving.”

“Good researching, Jones.” Honeycutt said over the screen. “It’s been a difficult go with some of the circuit boards fried, but I’ve integrated myself with the Ulixes. I won’t be able to separate myself to join the search team, but it will make mobility and firepower much swifter, and I will search the landscape from above. I’ll also keep the communications hub open to allow everyone to keep up over your radios.”

April, Casey and Leo looked up at Professor Honeycutt’s image on the screen with foreboding anticipation. They’d possibly never, in their whole lives, faced down a mission as heavy to them as this one, even against rescuing planet Earth itself. Leo dropped his hands down hard on the desk and looked up at the Professor anxiously.

“When?!” He pleaded. “We can’t wait any longer!”

Honeycutt gave Leo a serious look. “Finish repairing the engine room circuitry.” He said resolutely. “I will have all the connections I need finalized by then. We cannot warp anymore in this condition, but at the speed I’m going to go, the engine will explode if all critical circuits are not connected.”

He didn’t need to say anything else. Leo turned and walked to the exit, April calling to him in surprise from behind. He didn’t stop or look back, though; with a dark face, he pulled a tool from his belt and left. The weakness he should’ve been feeling from the accumulating days weren’t affecting him; contrarily, he only worked harder every day, his anger and determination building as they got closer to invading the planet.

When they did, it’d be too late for anything that tried to get in his way.

As April trotted after him, Casey watched Leo leave the room, looking over his shoulder warily.

~

Raph raced back toward the little burrow where Mikey and Donnie still were. It was late evening at this point. “Don’t be lookin’ for me, Don…” He begged in his head, as much for himself as his little brother.

As he got closer, he thought he made out the sound of Donnie whistling for him. “Shoot.” Raph whistled back, trying to reassure his brother enough to keep him where he was as he ran back. The last thing he wanted right now was Donnie leaving their safe hole in the ground.

Finally, in another ten minutes, he made it back. “Don?” He called as he approached. “Donnie, you guys there?”

“Get your shell in here,” Donnie called. With a relieved sigh, Raph slipped down, clutching the plants he’d found in his arm.

“You guys ok?” Raph asked immediately when he dropped inside. Mikey was lying peacefully on the ground, head pillowed by Donnie’s straps, and Donnie was poking at the fire. Their water bowl, which Raph had left by the entrance to their burrow earlier, was sitting next to it, already boiled. Donnie stood up right as Raph came in and started hobbling closer. He had a hard scowl.

“Shoot…”

“‘I’ll go look for some food! I’ll be right back!’” Donnie mimicked, coming up to Raph and jamming a finger against his chest. “You were gone for, like, eight hours! And you stopped responding for a while after the sixth! You know how close I was to coming out there to kick your ass?!” Before Raph could say anything, Donnie shoved pinched fingers in his face. “This close! You’re lucky I had to watch Mikey, because another minute and I would’ve–”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Raph tried to appease his little brother, bowing for forgiveness. “It was hard to find anything to eat, I had to go out a bit further! But look, I got some grass!”

“You know, I oughtta just kick your ass right now. God knows you deserve it.” Donnie said, but instead of doing that, he walked back and picked up the water bowl, offering it to Raph with a subdued scowl. “I’ll save it for later, though, when it’ll hurt you more than it hurts me to try.”

Sighing gratefully, Raph took the water bowl and drank real water for the first time in ages – it tasted like rocks, obviously, but he’d drink as many rocks as he had to just to have water.

After a minute, he put the bowl down and sat beside it, putting the plants down across the top of it. “Donnie, I…there’s something important you need to know.”

Donnie sat down across from him, sobering. “What is it?”

“When I was out…” Raph scratched his head for a minute. “I was looking for food and not having much luck, so I moved closer to the pillar.”

Donnie’s brow dropped lower. “It’s dangerous over there, Raph.” He said, a shadow in his voice. “We can hear them from over here.”

“I know – I know.” Raph placated. “But – there was something odd there. It was emanating all this red light down here – it’s not coming from the roof.”

Donnie looked confused. “Emanating the red light? Like a separate sun?”

“I had no idea. That’s just what I saw. It was like this black thing – all the light was coming from that. I had to check out what it was. I was careful and went closer to try to see what was going on.” Raph paused, unsure of how to say this, but decided to go with his best method – the blunt truth. “Donnie, there’s a piece of the portal generator in the pillar.”

Donnie made no reaction. Figures – that was Raph’s initial reaction. He waited patiently for the inevitable questions.

“What. A what?” Donnie said, not entirely processing what Raph meant at first. “Like a piece of the portal generator? The one we’ve been trying to put together?”

“Yeah.” Raph stared back neutrally.

Donnie didn’t move, or even blink for a moment. Finally he said, “Are you sure you didn’t hit your head harder than you’re telling me?” He looked genuinely concerned.

Now Raph’s face dropped into a scowl. “I’m serious, Donnie. I couldn’t believe it either, but I know what the damn things look like. It was just floating there, putting out this red light, or energy, or whatever. It felt real uncomfortable over there.”

Donnie’s face scrunched a little. “…How?”

Raph only looked back, thinking of just shrugging – he didn’t know how – but Donnie kept going. “I mean, why here, of all places? And how would it have gotten down here? What is it doing here?”

“What have any of the portal pieces been doing at any of the places we found them?” Raph argued back plainly. “But the monsters seem to be using it to teleport, too.”

Donnie stared back for a second before his face dropped into a blank expression. “They’re using it…to teleport?”  

Raph’s face scrunched in confusion. “Yeah. I guess that’s not something they do naturally, after all.”

“B-but…” Donnie continued, paling and obviously still trying to wrap his head around that piece of information. “They’re using…that? How…th-then…” He stared at Raph silently for a second. “They didn’t before?”

Raph raised an eye ridge. “I guess not?” But then, he finally understood what Donnie was getting at. If the monsters didn’t teleport before…

Were they even native to this planet, or not?

There was another minute where the two brothers just kept looking at each other. Then, Donnie suddenly got up and started hobbling to the entrance of the burrow, a determined look on his face.

“Where the hell’re you going?!” Raph asked, getting up and holding his brother back.

“Let go, I’m just peeking.” Donnie said dismissively. Frustrated, Raph obliged, but crawled up with him.

When Donnie got to the entrance of the burrow, he looked out in the direction of the pillar, the cooler outside air prickling their faces and the foliage around them concealing them. There was nothing they could really see at this distance except the pillar itself, but Donnie stared out at it, a contemplative look on his face.

“How?” He whispered again, but it seemed to be to himself this time, and Raph didn’t answer. They glanced at each other before sliding back down.

Oddly, Donnie didn’t say anything after that. He went back to Mikey and checked his fever before picking up the plants Raph had set down. With a tired look, Raph sat cross-legged on the other side of the fire, watching them absently. He didn’t guess there was anything they could actually say. What difference did it make to them? There was nothing they could do about it being there. All Raph knew was that it did make the pillar impossible to go back up through – there was a giant hole surrounding the floating portal piece. They’d legitimately have to find another way, and maybe that was for the better, anyway.

Donnie separated the plants into three little piles and broke the plants of one of the piles into small pieces – that was for Mikey, Raph assumed. He watched the process critically.

“Don,” Raph said, looking at the piles. “Just two. I ate other stuff while I was lookin’.”

He hadn’t, actually – but his little brothers needed whatever he could find; he was sure that the only value these plants had was to make the hunger pains go away for a little while, but it was barely enough for Donnie and Mikey as it was. Donnie eyed him sharply; but Raph only blinked at him. His little brother wasn’t finding that out and talking him out of it, whether he liked that or not. Donnie sighed, giving Raph a long-suffering look before re-organizing the plants.

After he’d broken some up for Mikey, he scooted over and put his hands to his little brother’s face to wake him up.

“Hey, Mike,” He said gently. “We found some plants to eat. They might not taste great, but you should get something in your stomach...”  

“…Thanks, Donnie…Raph…” Mikey weakly moaned. Donnie fed him a little at a time, and he turned and coughed it out at first – they probably didn’t taste better to him the second time around. Donnie fed him really slowly, talking about their stomachs shrinking over time and how they’d get sick if they ate too fast. Mikey did look a little uncomfortable after he’d been fed, and Donnie gave him some water and laid him in his lap, and Mikey closed his eyes.

Donnie leaned back against the wall and stared down at Mikey’s face, eyes lowered and absent-mindedly stroking his little brother’s head comfortingly. Raph looked at the water bowl, deciding not to try to start a conversation right now. It was weird how quickly the damn water bowl was becoming a tool for him to avoid things…he got up and picked it up, starting to walk to the entrance.

“I’m gonna get more–”

“We need to move closer to the pillar.”

Shocked, Raph froze before turning and looking at Donnie with wide eyes. “What?”

Donnie continued looking down at Mikey’s face before meeting Raph’s eyes, suddenly looking forebodingly serious. “I wanna see the portal piece for myself. If it’s really there – I mean, down here, with us – we might need it. It could be our only way back up out of here. I don’t know how yet, but – maybe we could find a way to take advantage of its portal powers.”

Raph put the bowl down and walked back to his little brother in disbelief, sitting down directly across from him. “Donnie,” He said incredulously. “The only distance we’re capable of moving right now is somewhere a little closer to water. We need to rest for a while, remember? You and Mikey can’t go that far! Also, you were just sayin’ before how dangerous that place was, and it’s surrounded by monsters! Besides, how the hell would we know how to use that thing, let alone even get to it?”

“…Raphie…” Mikey suddenly moaned, and the two looked down at him.

“Mike?” Raph put his hand on his little brother’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Raph…” Mikey repeated with a weak, scratchy voice, and looked up at both his brothers. “…We need to go towards it. The portal piece.”

The two stared down at him in surprise for a second. “What? But Mikey, it’s too far,” Raph countered pleadingly, ignoring the fact that Mikey was apparently listening in. “We don’t know if it can help us, or even how to use it. And I’m worried about you two! It’s a couple hours away, and there’s more monsters there, and…”

“Don’t worry about me.” Mikey cut in, and then gave them both a cocky grin that they hadn’t seen in a while. “You…underestimate me. I’m not down and out yet…”

Both worried, Raph tried to argue back, but Donnie started first, “Did you hear us talking about the portal piece?”

Mikey shook his head, surprising them both. “I dreamed about it. I saw it there…”

The two older brothers exchanged a look before Mikey continued.

“…In my dream, we went there, and then we were safe…”

 

They didn’t move right away, mostly because it was the end of the day and the two older brothers were exhausted. Mikey had fallen asleep shortly after telling them about his dream; but he seemed to be rousing more often lately, and they took that as a good thing, possibly due to having water. Before they could clear their minds well enough for sleep, though, Raph and Donnie needed to sort some things out.

“I don’t see how, Donnie.” Raph was saying, staring at the bowl of fresh water that was boiling over their fire. Both older bothers were feeling a bit worse with their fevers today, so it probably wouldn’t be long before they passed out – there was no hope of even trying to take shifts tonight.

“…I know I was the one saying that pillar was the last place I wanted to go before, but…there’s a portal piece there.” Donnie said. “Even if we couldn’t figure out how to use it directly…they emit a lot of energy. Raph, it could be the best power source we could’ve wished to find on this planet. I could build something to contact the Ulixes with electronically. Or – hell, anything I can find supplies for. We could hold out way longer waiting for the others if we had the energy from that portal piece!” He paused. “Besides…Mikey said…”

Raph grimaced, mulling it over hard. “…But Don, that area’s filled with those ink monsters.” He said doubtfully. “Even if we made it over there…which I know we could eventually, if we really wanted to – it’d be no use. They’d sniff us out in a minute, and then we’d be done.” He dropped his arms and looked at the ground. “I’m sorry, Don. I know Mikey…but it’s just so dangerous, I don’t think it’s possible. Maybe if those things clear out of the area, we could try, but…” He sighed. “There were a lot of them.”

Donnie dropped his head too, defeated. “You’re probably right…it’s not possible if it’s surrounded.” After a minute, he added, “Maybe, when we find a way back up, we could go down through the pillar to get to it that way…”

Raph raised is head to look at him, but the look on Donnie’s face as his little brother turned to go lay down next to Mikey was so unconvincing and nervous with that idea, that the lie in that statement was painfully loud. Staring at the ground again, Raph cursed at himself before going to lay down nearby his brothers.

 

The two older brothers woke up a little later than they’d expected the next morning, their fevers higher than last night. Scolding himself under his breath, Raph got up and gave his two little brothers water before drinking the last of it from the bowl.

“I’d better keep this filled.” Raph thought to himself, taking a moment to achily rub his hands over his face before getting up with it.

Suddenly, though, he heard the cry of a monster in the distance, and every fiber in his body froze. That was much closer than he’d remembered hearing them before.

Donnie seemed to hear it, too, and he whispered harshly at Raph. “Raph! Wait. Did you hear that?”

Raph glanced back at him, half an acknowledgement of what he’d said and half a silent communication to hush his little brother. They both listened for another few minutes, still as statues.

Another monster let out a loud cry close enough that it could’ve been outside the entrance of their burrow, and it was so startling that Raph leapt back to where his brothers were, crouching down in front of them.

The two looked at each other with huge eyes, but before they could react to the situation, Mikey groaned quietly in pain, clutching his stomach and weakly curling a little on the ground. Raph and Donnie looked at each other again, new feelings of despair in their eyes. Donnie shook his head silently at Raph, and it meant everything just as much as it meant nothing.

Nothing happened immediately. The monster that had been directly outside their burrow hadn’t seemed to notice them and moved on. Raph’s skin pricked with an icy shiver that went down his spine, and an unexpected breeze came down into their burrow and blew their fire out.

The older two started to shiver, but not from the cold. Raph moved his arms to cover his little brothers better, and Donnie slowly, gently took his straps out from under Mikey’s head, throwing them around him so they’d stay in place. He started to pick up Mikey, and Mikey rubbed his eyes and looked at his two big brothers fearfully. There were tears in his eyes.

There was another cry from an ink monster a little further away than the last one. Raph considered peeking up out of their burrow once they sounded far enough away to see what–

 A black arm with long, sharp claws suddenly crashed into their burrow entrance, along with the angry shrieks of a monster. Raph and Donnie screamed, barely audible over the loud noise, backing up quickly to the furthest corner of their little burrow with Mikey in Donnie’s arms, staring fearfully. The arm twisted and cracked as the monster slashed about the walls, looking for them and crying furiously.

The hand swept toward them dangerously, and Raph whipped out his sai with a flash and slashed back, yelling angrily. He took a couple clawed appendages off the monster, and its hand recoiled from the burrow, accompanied by a shriek of pain.

“C’mon!” Raph yelled to the younger two, hiking them both up onto his back and dashing out of the burrow just as fast. As they exited, Raph quickly examined the area.

There were a ton of them here now…

But…

Raph turned around, and his stomach constricted. Crouching directly over their little burrow was – it.

“RAPH, GO!” Donnie yelled at the same time as the demon howled at the top of its lungs. Immediately, all of the black monsters around them shrieked at them and charged at break-neck speed, joints snapping in unnatural directions and long jaws gnashing angrily. Crying out, Raph was running away at the same time, and suddenly his heels felt hot. Glancing back, the demon was pouring fire from its mouth after them, burning through several monsters that were in the way, too. Yelling, Raph tried to run faster. Mikey and Donnie were flat on his back, Mikey hiding his face and Donnie looking back in a panic.

An ink monster was ahead of them and started running toward them, directly in Raph’s path. He struggled for his sai, unable to slow down and trying to carry his brothers with his good and bad arm.

“Give it to me,” Donnie suddenly said, taking the sai from him. He looked at the monster ahead, holding Mikey steady in one arm and wielding the sai in a deadly manner with the other.

“I’m gonna jump,” Raph warned, and Donnie gritted his teeth in preparation as the monster quickly got closer – closer –

Raph leapt into the air at the last second, clearing the monster before it could stop them. Suddenly, though, it jumped up too, biting at them. With a cry, Donnie stabbed it directly in the face, just enough to stop it from taking a chunk out of them. Raph landed on the thing’s shoulder and jumped back onto the ground from there, going as fast as he could as a few monsters behind them took the opportunity to shred into the injured one while the rest continued the chase. The demon, though, was nowhere to be seen.

Panting in a panic, Raph looked ahead, trying to figure out where to go – and his eyes landed on the earth pillar ahead.

“In my dream, we went there…”

A wave of red light from the pillar flickered over Raph’s vision, almost as if it was urging them closer.

“…And then we were safe…”

Gritting his teeth, Raph buckled down and ran harder in that direction. “Damnit…fuck…damnit!” He thought, tears getting whisked away by the wind. “I hope you’re right, Mikey!”

 

Raph didn’t stop running until they’d gotten thirty minutes away from the pillar, which was about as close as he could get before the other monsters already there would detect him. He’d managed to hide in places he’d found on his first trip in this direction until the other monsters had lost him. He found a small hill with rock formations behind it and trotted there, getting them out of sight.

Once he was there – when it was finally safe to stop – Raph collapsed onto his knees with an exhausted groan, and then onto his stomach.

The two younger brothers grunted when he collapsed, too. “Raph?!” Donnie was on his knees beside Raph in half a second. “Raph, are you ok?!”

Raph didn’t respond, needing to catch his breath for a second. Donnie searched him over frantically, trying to figure out if he was dying in any one of many little ways that only Donnie would understand. Gingerly, Mikey slipped off his back too, coming to lay down on his other side. Laying on his good side, Mikey looked at Raph with tears in his eyes. It seemed like he hadn’t stopped crying since they were at the burrow. “Raph?”

Still panting, Raph couldn’t help but grin at his little brother. “’R you guys…ok…?”

Tears slipped down Mikey’s cheeks, but he nodded, squeezing his eyes shut. Raph tried to say something, but Donnie touched his bad shoulder painfully, and he suddenly cringed with a pained grunt.

“Don–”

“Sorry, sorry,” Donnie said, and hesitated. “Your shoulder is…just…”

Raph sighed, finally pushing himself up. “Don’t worry about it. Are you ok?” He asked again, going slowly and almost collapsing back down, but Donnie grabbed him and helped him move to a rock where he could lean back.

“I’m fine–” Donnie said with a little frustration, turning to get Mikey–

But Mikey was standing up. He was gritting his teeth hard and his eyes were clenched shut in pain, and he trembled as he went, but he stood and tried to walk to the two of them. It was almost like watching him try to walk for the first time.

“Mikey?!” Donnie and Raph exclaimed, and Donnie rushed to him just as he started to stumble. Raph tried to go to the two of them, but he could only push himself up against the rock. His legs burned and trembled, and he knew he’d fall if he leaned forward. Still, he reached for the two as Donnie carried Mikey over, and Donnie reached back, trying to keep Raph from toppling over, and they all collapsed into a pile against the rock.

“What the hell, Mikey?” Raph asked, but he pulled the two of them into a tight hug with his right arm, since his left slumped uselessly at his side. He tried to keep them from seeing him crying, even though it was obvious in his voice. Maybe it didn’t matter, though – Mikey and Donnie were crying, too.

“Your stomach’s…all fucked up. The hell’re you doing…” Raph cried, sniffing. Mikey curled tighter against his chest.

“You shouldn’t…have to…do everything.” Mikey croaked. “Neither you…or Donnie. See…I told you guys…I could…I could…” He paused for a second, crying harder. “I’m sorry…I’m really sorry…”

Donnie pulled Mikey closer, and Raph curled around the two of them, laying his head on his baby brother’s. “Don’t be, Mikey…don’t…”

The only thing the three of them did for the next while was to hide in their corner in the rocks, crying and hanging onto each other. No one was quite sure what to do now. The demon had caught up with them and it was only a matter of time before it showed up again, and they couldn’t keep running like this.

All Raph knew was they had to get closer to the portal piece. He didn’t know how it could ever save them, but it might be their best hope, and at the moment, it was the only one they had.

 

It was a while later before they moved, and based on Raph’s and Donnie’s exhaustion, probably nearing nighttime. Raph only suggested trying to get closer to the portal piece, and neither brother resisted it or asked any questions, so they seemed to have the same thing in mind, and that was enough for Raph. There were still the other monsters around to consider though, so they went carefully.

Donnie wouldn’t let him carry them both again, so instead they went with their last mode of travel – Mikey on Donnie’s back and Raph helping Donnie walk, using his good shoulder as support. They were slower that way, but that was ok, because slower meant quieter.

“How close exactly did you get last time?” Donnie finally whispered after a while, when they were hiding in a ditch as Raph waited for a monster to move farther away from his next selected hiding spot.

He thought for a second. “Just enough to see the portal piece…not much closer than we are now.” He whispered back, then looked up at the alien technology in question. “…How close do you guys think we should get? It’s pretty high up there…I’m not sure how close we can…”

“We have to try.” Mikey whispered. His fever had been low for the moment, and so he was mostly awake for their venture. He looked at Raph from over Donnie’s shoulder. “As close as we can…”

Sighing uncertainly, Raph looked back up at the pillar. He still had objections, but…Mikey was probably right; he just had to set his grumbling and achy body aside and go for it.

Breathing in deeply, he composed himself before turning back to them with a sharp grin, and winked. “Alright. We’re getting up there before tonight’s over. Let’s move it.”

Slowly, they went closer to the pillar. They had to stop a few times, either because they had to wait until it was clear, or because an ink monster would appear or come dangerously close to them, and they’d have to hide. They’d get down on the ground in their hiding place then and Raph would cover them, holding his sai and gritting his teeth, watching it sharply like he’d try to kill the thing if it acted funny, all of them staying deathly still and silent until it moved on.

Finally, they reached the base of the pillar, which was even bigger up close than it seemed before. Raph left his little brothers momentarily in the cover of a hole where a large tree had fallen and pulled the ground up, earth and roots protecting them from view. Donnie and Mikey protested him leaving, but he promised he’d be right back – he had to move quickly to check around the pillar for an entrance. After he was gone, Donnie protectively pulled Mikey closer, both tense as they waited for him to come back.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes, he did, and hurried inside and pulled them into a hug just to assure himself that they were ok, just as relieved to see them as they were.

“I found a tunnel that looks like it goes up.” He whispered, giving them a grin. “Let’s go.”

Raph broke off a root from the tree to take with him and they left right away, having to move quickly because they had to walk around the base of the pillar and there wasn’t much shelter there. At one point, Raph stopped them suddenly, new monsters around the corner, but there were others coming up from behind, too. The ones ahead were farther away, but they might see them. Taking the risk, Raph hurried them forward around the pillar until they saw another shelter nearby, just barely making it in time.

Finally, they got to the tunnel, and Raph and Donnie quickly started climbing. Mikey held on around Donnie’s neck to let him use his arms on inclines and help save his ankle, and Raph used some stones to start a small fire at one end of the tree root, using it like a torch. Thankfully, the tunnel branched off into others, and they took the steepest ones they saw, trying to move upward as quickly as possible.

Mikey squeezed his eyes shut and held on tight, not daring to look anymore after the red light of outside disappeared. He kept his face buried in Donnie’s shoulder, and the older couldn’t help looking back once in a while with worry – Donnie was clearly thinking back to their first visit to the caves above.

It got harder as they went, not necessarily because the tunnels did, but Raph and Donnie were low on strength and both lacking a limb to help them climb. They stopped a couple times to rebuild strength, but only for as long as necessary. Raph’s tree root, which he climbed with in his mouth, was starting to go out, too.

“We need to see how far we are,” Raph eventually said around the root in his mouth, biting hard on it in his strenuous effort to move upward one-armed.

“I think…” Donnie panted, “I-I don’t think we’re close yet. It was…pretty far.”

Finally, they got to the top of that tunnel, where it opened up into a relatively flat room going off toward other tunnels. They were lucky the inside of this place had actual pathways up through it. As Donnie climbed into the room, Raph hissed, taking the nearly-burned-out root out of his mouth and throwing it on the ground, rubbing the back of his fist on his singed cheek. After a couple seconds, it went out, casting them in darkness.

Donnie carefully treaded toward where he’d just seen Raph. It was pitch-black without the light. “Did you see where we should go next?”

“Yeah, I think it was…” Raph suddenly went silent. Donnie jumped when Raph touched his arm, but he shushed his brother, and the three of them went silent and listened.

An ink monster’s cry echoed to them through one of the tunnels. It sounded a bit far away – but it was inevitably somewhere in the pillar, too. Probably more than one.

Mikey tightened his arms around Donnie’s neck and buried his face against his shell, shivering. They couldn’t see each other’s expressions, but Donnie’s arms tensed around Mikey, the older two stood stone-still for a minute longer than they probably needed to.

Eventually, Raph put one of Donnie’s arms over his shoulder and hurried them forward. “Come on – we’ve got to move.”

They kept climbing. At the next intersection where they had to find the next tunnel, they had to feel around in the dark until they located one that kept going up, to their relief. The voices of monsters kept echoing into their tunnel, and sometimes, it was hard to locate the distance or the direction it had come from. At the same time, Raph and Donnie needed to make some kind of noise pretty often to make sure they were still together now, so they resorted to quiet clicks, but even that seemed too loud.

Finally, after they seemed to have been climbing forever, Mikey perked up. “Guys.” He whispered as quietly as he thought they could hear. “Look. It’s brighter in here now.”

Raph and Donnie both looked up from their arduous climbing, and then around at their surroundings. It was just barely enough to see by, but red light was filtering into the tunnels from somewhere, now. They only wished it meant they were getting closer to the surface, not the hole in the pillar where they’d inevitably have to stop.

The three of them looked at each other, seeing how dirty they were from the climb, and then kept going. They couldn’t stop now – who knew when an ink monster would pop up out of nowhere and then either chase them up or back down. Mikey shivered – he wasn’t sure which idea was worse.

They climbed up into another intersection-type of room and looked around in the new light. “What do you guys think made these tunnels like this?” Mikey whispered, in awe of the twisting holes in different directions that almost seemed man-made. Before either of them could answer, the cry of another ink monster echoed up to them, and they froze.

Mikey wished he hadn’t said anything.

The ink monster cried out again, a little closer. Eyes a little wider, Raph pushed Donnie towards their next tunnel. “Go.”

Suddenly anxious, Donnie bolted up the tunnel, and Raph was close behind. They made a bit of progress, the room disappearing from sight, and they collectively relaxed a little in relief, but kept pace.

A roar vibrated up their tunnel, and there were loud pounding and scratching noises after that, getting closer. “Shit!” Raph looked up at Donnie. “Go, Donnie, go!”

Making a nervous sound, Donnie went faster, using his bad ankle to help him. A monstrous shriek vibrated the tunnel around them, almost deafening in the enclosed space, and Mikey whimpered – for a moment of horror, they had no idea if this was a regular monster or the fire-breathing one. Soon after, a blank, inky-black face appeared below them, clawing its way up the tunnel. Thankfully, due to its larger size, its progress was slower, but it was also better able to reach them.

Raph tried to pick up the pace, but suddenly seemed to have a dizzy spell and faltered. “Aah!” He cried out in pain, the monster slashing his leg, and Donnie looked back in terror. “Fuckin’–!” Raph took his sai and stabbed the thing in the hand, and it thrashed about violently. The two climbed faster, trying to get away from its thrashing claws.

With a burst of red light, the three finally made it out of the tunnel – and there it was, the portal piece. It was thrumming in an unstable way as it emitted the light. Farther away, the three saw another monster climb up out of a tunnel, and then disappear near it.

Behind them, the monster struggled its way to the surface, apparently too blood-thirsty in its hunt for them to decide to teleport. They backed away, and Raph got into a battle-ready stance, scowling at it. It came at them a couple times, and he slashed back at it, trying to keep it away from them. Suddenly, though, it recoiled a few feet, gnashing its long jaws and howling.

Confused, they watched it, panting, and Raph backed up closer to Donnie. With a lurch, Mikey felt his stomach flip, and he looked around wildly.

“G-guys!” He squeaked, and they looked behind them. There was a large circle ripping open in space, inside of which there was red in a shade they’d never seen before, and it froze them in place, trembling. The portal piece hummed louder in an unnatural-sounding way. Out of the circle, finally, came the demon, with a blaze of fire. Around them, ink monsters crawled out of all the tunnels in the open circle of the pillar and appeared out of nowhere, snapping and howling and surrounding them.

Oh, God, they were gonna die! Doom went through each of the three’s minds.

The demon’s head twisted as it approached them with a furious expression fixed on its face, its voice booming through the air without it moving its mouth in an old language. Raph and Donnie stumbled back before Raph suddenly shoved in front of Donnie again, wielding his sai. The demon stopped its approach, seeming to be watching them.

“You wanna fuckin’ fight?!” Raph yelled over the roar of monsters and fire. “I’ll fuckin’ fight ‘ya! Take one step closer and see what I do’ta your fuckin’ brains, BITCH!”

“Raph!” Donnie warned fearfully, but stopped when he glimpsed Raph’s face. Their big brother was more serious than he’d ever been before.

The demon responded something in the old language, laced with shrieks and moans of despair that weren’t its own but leaked in through his speech, and their legs trembled. It breathed fire threateningly at them, but Raph and Donnie jumped aside – and then it dove for Raph, swiping claws that he blocked with swipes back from his sai. Raph jumped at it, and it grabbed him in its hand.

“RAPH!” Donnie and Mikey cried, but before they even had, the demon hissed and threw Raph back down, its hand sizzling like he’d been burned. Raph skidded and then stumbled backward toward the other two, nearly falling off the pillar and panting like he was hyperventilating from the near-capture. An ink monster snapped at them from behind, but Donnie punched at it with a scowl and moved them further away.

The demon glared at them with a blaze of fury in its eyes, and its voice turned into a distorted cacophony. “Burn in your bodies – wrath – feel – eternally!” It roared, pointed its head up, and shot fire from its mouth with such force that it flickered over the whole area, destroying the ink monsters that were above them. The brothers squeezed their eyes shut, feeling the burn of it from their distance.

Something enormous collapsed next to them with an unearthly loud noise, and they suddenly realized it was a piece of the pillar, and the demon was burning a hole straight back to the surface. When it had burned all the way through, it leapt up to the portal piece, landing on it where it floated in the center, and roared again. The portal piece started turning red, and it became clear that the demon was trying to rip it out of place from whatever force was holding it there.

“It holds back because we hurt it, too!” Mikey suddenly yelled over the noise, and the older two looked back at him in surprise. “They all do! It’s something about our bond. It’s the same with our injuries from the fire. It’s what makes our attacks on them so much more powerful, and why that thing’s afraid to touch us! We have to use that to protect ourselves!”

Looking back up at the demon, the older brothers scowled. It made sense to them.

The demon, though, had nearly wrenched the portal piece free. It hummed loudly from overwork, and finally, with a flash of red light and a roar from the demon, they both blinked out of existence, before it appeared before the brothers again with a bang of fire. This time, with the portal piece in its teeth, it grabbed all of them and held on – even as its hands sizzled – and with a single leap, soared out of the hole it had melted in the roof straight back to the surface.

When they got there, with a loud growl, Raph suddenly bit the thing’s hand. It shrieked from the burn of Raph’s bite, and Raph didn’t let go even after the demon did, holding on with his arm and legs. Trying to get him off, the demon let go of Donnie and Mikey, and Donnie cushioned their fall to the ground, both crying out when they landed. Raph, however, got thrown into a rock, and he grunted in pain and collapsed to the ground, motionless.

Donnie didn’t hesitate. He ran to his big brother and, struggling for a second, hiked him up onto his back, too, and darted into the nearest tunnel.

With his little brother wrapped around him on one side and his older brother hanging over his shoulder on the other, Donnie only stopped to tightly strap some pieces of wood to his ankle to let him run better. He didn’t know how far they could go before the demon caught up again, but damnit, he’d go as fast as he could.

~

Two wires sparked wildly for a moment before they were finally soldered together, and the dirt-covered mechanic working on them let go, raising his hands delicately as he surveyed his task. It was all completed.

Leo stood up from the wiring he’d just finished, and looked across the room. Casey and April were just finishing replacing their own last wires. Almost stumbling, Leo suddenly ran out of the engine room, the other two just noticing at the last second and calling after him, but he didn’t stop.

He didn’t know why, but his heart was racing at a million miles a second and his chest felt like it was being crushed. He struggled not to topple over from the deep intensity of it – it felt like before. Pain. Unimaginable pain from…from…

He couldn’t know if it was them. He couldn’t know. Still, he cried as he ran frantically towards the main room, unable to stop the tears.

Bursting in, Leo ran to turn on the projector to communicate with Professor Honeycutt, but his image blipped on before he’d even pressed anything. Looking surprised for a moment to see Leo already there, Honeycutt said, “Leonardo, my configuration is complete. I’m detecting the engine wiring is as well.” There was a slight urgency in his voice, reflecting what Leo was feeling. Casey and April ran into the room shortly after to see Leo drop his hands onto a table and lean over, eyes clenched shut.

“Please, we have to go, now!” He cried, tears dripping onto the table.

“Jones?” Honeycutt inquired, and Casey quickly ran to another table and brought up a computer program in a projector, quickly flicking through it. It seemed like he’d learned the program well in the short time since he’d started using it. Looking startled for a second, he said, “It looks like there’s a huge storm accumulating over one area on the planet. It…it looks different from anything I’ve seen before. We can’t get in through that area, but this spot is clear.” He brought up a hologram of the planet and pointed at a location.

Immediately, the group could hear the Ulixe’s engine fire up. Professor Honeycutt’s face turned more serious. “Everyone get in your seats right away,” He said. “I’m going to break the sound barrier!”

Everybody jumped into their seats and strapped in just in the nick of time, because Honeycutt did, in fact, break the sound barrier a few seconds after he’d announced it, blasting toward the planet as fast as he could go.

Notes:

Ooooh snap, he's a'comin, dawg!!!

A lot of people have told me that, in this fic, it seems like the bros just can't catch a break. And I completely agree!! Things are gonna be changing up next chapter, though, and trust me when I say it's not gonna be pretty...

Originally, I started writing this fic (and posting it to ff.net) in 2016. As I've been posting it here, I've been updating each of the chapters (including on ff.net), cause man, it's been a LONG time getting to this point, and I wanted everything to be as smooth as possible as this reaches its end! The next chapter is the only one I'm still working on atm, so it's neither on here nor ff.net yet. When I finish it, I'll be posting it on both sites at the same time, and God knows I'm going to be celebrating when I do. It's the part everyone's been waiting for and I've been trying to get to for four years, and it took me that long to get to it! Dang...

The next chapter, however, is not the last; there will definitely be at least one but maybe two more after it. And then after that, I've been planning a sequel to this story for a long time, hence why I put this story inside of a series here. Next chapter will be coming quick, and thanks SO much to both my old and new readers alike for reading!

Chapter 14

Notes:

It's here fam!!! The one you've all been waiting for...THE FINAL SHOWDOWN!

All you need to know is this is the monsters right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htIuSWBnmok

Seconds were years as the Ulixes blasted towards the planet, even as fast as they were travelling – in his own anxiousness, Professor Honeycutt had been picking up speed even since they’d taken off.

Finally, in what might’ve really only been forty-five minutes, they approached the planet, and Honeycutt only slowed down once they were skimming over the lowest layer of its atmosphere they could reach before they hit clouds – it was dark underneath them with electrical activity. Honeycutt’s face blipped onto the monitor in the main room. “Jones!” He shouted over the outside storm. “The weather appears to have changed at the entry point already.”

Quickly, Casey re-checked the map, and his face fell. “The storm keeps accumulating. Storm clouds are covering the whole area! We’ll have to go around.”

“I have a bad feeling about this!” April suddenly interjected. “What if the storm has something to do with the three? We’ll lose time if we go around!”

“If they are truly underneath it, it will cost us about twenty extra minutes to bypass the storm, but the ship cannot – Leonardo?” Honeycutt suddenly called, just noticing Leo suddenly wasn’t in the room anymore. “Where – someone please follow him! I’m afraid he will do something reckless–” 

April was getting up to do that, but Casey made her pause when he ran to a large window at the front of the room. “Uhh…I think he’s already ahead of you on that one.”

Panicking, April ran to the window, too. Leo was already in a protective space suit, falling toward the planet through the atmosphere, and disappearing when he hit the clouds.

“BLAST it, my window, Leonardo–” Honeycutt sighed with utmost exasperation, pulling himself together. “He will be fine…the layers of this atmosphere are weak – the others made it through, and he will also. I will re-seal the window. Back to your seats, quickly! We must hurry to make it around.”

“What about the storm?!” April asked as she raced back to her seat, and Honeycutt was already flying at high speed again.

He took a second before responding. “It may not have become very dangerous yet. Besides, Leonardo is not a ship with wires and electrical circuits.”

“Yeah…” Casey added, looking out the window from his seat with an anxious scowl and a tense body, the red light from the atmosphere outside flitting across his face. “He’s a dumbass that’s gonna get himself in trouble…”

 

Leo fell through the dark clouds. He closed his eyes against the flashes of electricity around him, but managed to clear through them unharmed. When he was through the clouds, he looked with wide eyes down at the planet in his free-fall. There was a canyon-looking area below him, and beyond was a desert-looking landscape, where the center of the storm was accumulating. Scowling with determination, he aimed for a landing.

As he approached the ground, he positioned himself feet-first above a particularly tall canyon cliff. When he finally hit earth with a loud crash, he slid down the side of the canyon cliff, his space boots protecting his feet and creating a ravine in the earth behind him. At the bottom of the cliff, he finally came to a stop, dead foliage around him all up in flames from the speed of his landing and the residual heat from his fall through the atmosphere.

He stopped for a moment; his space suit was partially destroyed from the catastrophic entry to the planet, and he tossed his helmet and incinerated equipment aside, leaving only his regular gear behind underneath. He lost communication with the others with his broken gear – but he couldn’t lose a second of time.

Then he kneeled, closing his eyes and concentrating hard.

“Please…please let me feel them…please.” He clenched his eyes tighter, trembling, heart racing. “Please…”

Three faint presences crossed his senses, far away. Each one was unique…warm…familiar…flickering weakly.

The ever-present tightness in his chest also clenched harder, responding to its source.

His eyes shot open, and he stood. Tears streamed from his eyes and he drew his twin katana, eyes blazing with fury like he’d never known before. His mind totally emptied of everything but one thought – them.

Crouching, he launched in their direction so fast that his katana sliced through anything in their way.

~

Donnie’s ankle screamed at him. Something was loose as he ran – he could feel it, and it would be debilitating with each pounding step if his adrenaline weren’t running stronger right now. Still, he ignored it, running through the desert area through tunnels until there were none left, his brothers on his back and one unconscious.

He'd thought they were all going to die a minute ago. How they hadn’t was some kind of miracle, and he wasn’t about to waste it. The demon wasn’t letting them go this time, though – he knew that in his gut, somehow. It had the portal piece now, too, and was probably even more powerful because of it.

If they were going to live, they’d have to defeat it, right now. Raph was out and Mikey was hurt badly, so it was down to him – but he’d do whatever it took to protect his brothers.

Fuck! He couldn’t kill a demon! None of them could, even in its normal state – even in their normal state. Besides, their bond might protect them, but he supposed even it couldn’t erase ten days of fighting, aggravating injuries, and suffering. What was he supposed to do–

He had to try. He had to try!

“We’re gonna die today.” The thought went through his mind against his will, as if his common sense was fighting to keep him from fooling himself in this critical moment. He started crying as he ran.

Ink monsters sounded like they were catching up to him. “Fuck, fuck fuck,” He panted, looking for some place to hide, but there was none in the wide-open desert landscape. Mikey watched them approach from behind, and soon enough, they were too close to outrun.

“I have no choice – I have to fight them!” Donnie closed his eyes in resolution, slowing his run to a wobbly trot before laying Raph and Mikey down. Raph was stretched out on his back, still out cold, and Mikey sat beside him with one arm over his big brother, looking up at Donnie with wide, fearful eyes.

“D-D-Donnie…” He stammered, but Donnie crouched in front of him, putting a hand on his head with a shaky smile.

“It’s alright, Mikey.” He said. “Give Onii a minute…”

Taking Raph’s sai, he turned to face the ink monsters, standing in a battle-ready position and leaning on his good leg in a cringe of pain. The monsters quickly approached them, circling around Donnie in a wary, predatory way, growling and snapping. Thankfully it hadn’t been as many as before – only ten or so managed to trail him, but it was still ten too many.

“I might not have one leg, but I’ve still got more than enough to slaughter you dogs!” He spat, swinging the sai in a threatening flash as the monsters dove at them, howling. Mikey cried out fearfully, squeezing his eyes shut and leaning over Raph.

He wasn’t immediately torn into, so after a few seconds of loud, violent noises, Mikey opened his eyes and looked for Donnie in a panic. What he saw made his eyes go wide in shock.

Donnie had already decapitated one. He roared back at the things as they roared and slashed at him, fighting to the fullest capacity of his skill. He couldn’t defeat them all, but he defended himself and didn’t let a single one touch his brothers while still managing to maim a few – all with just one of his brother’s weapons he wasn’t familiar with. Mikey had never seen Donnie forced to switch on the fullest extent of his combat skills and lethality before, it was a marvel to watch.

Also, watching and fighting with Raph all these years, apparently he’d picked up a thing or two.

Suddenly, one of them teleported behind Mikey and Raph and swiped at them. Mikey screamed and bent over, covering Raph’s head. Donnie looked at them with a flash in his eyes and turned from the monster he was facing to run to them.

Again, though, death didn’t immediately greet Mikey, so he looked carefully.

Donnie was standing over the two of them, lunging at an angle with his arms up, tightly gripping Raph’s sai that he’d stabbed through the hand of the monster. The monster’s claws were shallowly piercing into his arm and side, making him bleed.

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Donnie ripped the sai from the monster’s hand and plunged it into its wrist, twisted, and tore the whole hand away, slinging it at the monsters running at them from behind.

“D-DO–” Mikey started with terrified tears running down his face, but Donnie scooped him and Raph up, throwing the older brother over his shoulder and running again while he had the chance. The rest of the monsters tore into the fallen ones, acting as suitable distractions.

“It’s ok, Mikey, I’m fine.” He panted, trying to reassure his little brother as he went, but he didn’t think he must look very reassuring covered in monster grime. The makeshift splint he’d made for himself before had also broken off in the fight, and his ankle was somehow in even more pain than before – it was making his whole body hurt. He desperately scanned for a hiding place; he couldn’t keep going like this much longer.

Suddenly, though, Raph moaned, stirring. Slowly, he put a hand to his head and looked up, and naturally, his first view was of the ink monsters ripping into each other not too far away.

“The fu–” He was so startled that he fell off, causing Donnie and Mikey to topple over him. “Oof!”

“Raph!” Mikey got off and put his hands on his big brother. Donnie rolled off a little slower, groaning.

“What the hell is happening?!” Raph asked, then looked at Donnie. “Donnie, what the fuck?!”

“Raph…we need to go.” Donnie grunted seriously as he pushed himself up, and Raph’s expression fell to an anxious scowl. “It’s still after us. They’re – all after us.”

Whipping his head back at the chaotic, thrashing pile behind them, scoffing angrily, Raph quickly got up and hoisted his brothers onto his own back, putting Donnie on the side of his bad arm that he couldn’t support him with. When Donnie protested being carried, Raph cut him off. “You’ve done enough, obviously. Just hang on.”

Raph ran away from where the monsters were, trying not to stumble with his pounding head, but he didn’t get very far before they heard more coming – a lot more. Looking back, though, none of them could see any new monsters. It was a few minutes later that they saw them – a sea of black approaching from the direction they’d been running toward.

Raph stared out at all of them, shocked and dismayed.

“They must’ve transported that way to trap us…” Donnie said, he and Mikey looking out at them all in despair. There were probably hundreds upon hundreds.

“Fuck…fuck…FUCK!” Raph cried out, faltering once dizzily before turning tail back in the direction they’d come.

 

They were forced to run back toward the same area they’d been before. Storm clouds above grew continually darker over the area, seemingly circling over the tall, earth temple-type structure in the center that supposedly went down into the pillar underground. At least there were places to hide here, but they couldn’t afford to just yet – with the amount of monsters after them, they’d be caught here for sure. As Raph was approaching the earth huts, though, he felt it coming, and Mikey did too – before the demon appeared before them in a flash of fire, even more menacing than before.

They were trapped.

Raph backed up from it slowly. “What do you want?!” He cried out at it, trying to sound threatening, but his voice breaking and tears running from his eyes. “What do you want! Just leave us alone!”

With its spiny tail wrapped around the portal piece, the demon roared and belted fire at them, and Raph barely avoided it by jumping aside, but the monster chased them up the tall earth structure onto a very large, high platform, trapping them inside a messy ring of fire. Leaping onto the platform and nearly missing the stream of fire, Raph lost his footing and they tumbled onto the ground. The demon appeared to be struggling; it roared and lashed about when the portal piece grew more active, but it also seemed to gain more energy from it. It jumped toward them and Raph swung at it with his sai, but it swung its claws and knocked the sai out of Raph’s hands, sending it way too far away to reach. The sea of black ink monsters approached them, and the portal piece started humming laboriously as monsters teleported around them on all sides, the demon and the monsters sending up a howl around them more haunting than anything they’d heard before.

Raph backed up to his brothers on the ground, holding them behind him with his arms as they all stared up at the demon. “I’m sorry, guys.” Donnie mumbled, staring, too. “I think this is it. I love both of you…so much.” A tremble in his voice grew as he talked.

“I love you guys too.” Raph and Mikey both whimpered, huddling closer as the demon ended its fit. Lunging at them, it opened its jaws like it planned to eat them whole, and Raph quickly got on his feet and halted it, straining to hold its jaws back with one hand and a foot – but it quickly overpowered Raph, headbutting them all backwards. Scowling, Donnie got up with Raph and cried out, both of them attacking it together bare-handed.

“Guys–” Mikey watched helplessly as his older brothers tried, failing, to fight the demon. He had to do something! He tried to get up, but stumbled forward – his midsection was burning so bad that it nearly paralyzed him. He could barely stand – there was nothing he could do to help. His brothers fought as hard as they could, but they were already so beaten down, there was little they could do; and the demon was going crazy from power surges from the portal piece, knocking his brothers away easily.

“Shit…fuck…shit!” Mikey hissed at himself, tears dribbling from his eyes. He dug his fingers helplessly into the red earth.

Donnie went for its neck, and with a roar, the demon twisted around and hit Donnie hard with its tail, sending him flying back. Donnie hit the ground several feet from Mikey and bounced back, finally rolling to a stop nearby and groaning, not getting back up.

“Donnie!” Raph and Mikey shouted, but the demon went for Raph next, hitting him directly with a swipe of its claws and sending him flying back as well.

“RAPH!” Mikey called, trying to crawl to his second older brother when he tumbled back nearby. Limbs trembling, Raph pushed himself up and looked back with one eye closed in a wince of pain – he was bleeding heavily across his plastron.

The demon’s mouth started glowing red-hot, and they knew what was coming. Raph scrambled over and grabbed the younger two, clenching his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut, trying to cover them as the demon blasted fire over them.

“Aaaah!” Mikey whimpered, afraid they’d be incinerated – but thankfully, it only lasted a few seconds as the demon convulsed again, the portal piece surging with energy. Moving off-target, the demon blasted a stream of fire around in the air instead, roaring.

This was it. Raph and Donnie could barely get back up now – as soon as the demon got control of itself, it would have them.

Vaguely, Mikey thought he heard something over all the noise – like someone shouting. It sounded like one of his brothers...he wondered if he was already dying.

But suddenly, the voice cried out louder, and became unmistakably familiar.

“RAPH! DONNIE! MIKEY!”

The three younger brothers looked out at the sea of monsters behind them, where it was coming from – and couldn’t believe what they saw.

A green turtle with a blue mask streaming behind him, running toward them like mad. He was there…he was really there, in person. He was coming for them!

LEO!

Leo was on a warpath. Nothing in front of him slowed him down because he cut straight through it, and he left a trail of mangled monster parts in his wake. Monsters poured in around him, but they didn’t stand a chance against their oldest brother’s swordsmanship and fury – despite the savage creatures surrounding him and his little brothers’ great fears, they couldn’t touch him. Grimacing with all the wrath of hell in his eyes, splattering himself with black monster fluids, for a moment, Leo actually looked scarier than anything else there.

The three of them couldn’t help crying. In disbelief, Donnie weakly reached an arm out on the ground, as if that would put them closer to their oldest brother, and they cried out for him in unison – “LEOOO!”

Leo decapitated four ink monsters in one go, launching off the back of one to get above the crowd of monsters, racing across their heads and backs. Still, he faced resistance from snapping monsters on the ground and others that clawed over each other to get at him, too. “HANG ON!” He yelled to them, his voice sounding desperate and furious. “I’M COMING!!”

But – he wouldn’t make it in time. Mikey could tell – the demon’s thrashing had ended. Portal piece still surging with overwork, it took the device from its tail and sliced a straight line in the air behind it. Suddenly, that space in the air began opening up, and the portal piece hovered powerfully underneath it – the demon had created a portal! But to where? All Mikey saw behind it was that scary red they’d seen before. He trembled.

The demon faced them again, and the brothers looked back at it from the ground. The older two couldn’t do anything – they tried to get up, but stumbled. Was it going to throw them in there?!

A glint of light flashed across Mikey’s eye, and he squinted at the portal behind the demon. Confused, he stared when he saw something moving in there. It…looked like…

Raph’s missing sai.

…

What?!

Mikey stared at it in confusion, but the demon distracted him, reaching for the group. Raph moved his arms back toward them, his feet sliding across the ground as he tried to back up from it. “Sorry, Raph.” Mikey thought, gritting his teeth and strenuously picking himself off the ground. Even if he couldn’t fight back – he could still do something. “I’m not letting you sacrifice yourself!”

“Mikey?!” Donnie’s voice cracked with horror as Mikey stood, clenching his fists in pain and his knees trembling, and Raph looked back at him with huge eyes. Before they could try to stop him, Mikey took off to the side, running.

Howling angrily, the demon chased after him, successfully distracting it from his brothers. “Come on, Mikey!” He told himself under his breath, crying as he forced his feet to keep moving. “Right, left, right, left…!”

He tried to go in a circle around the demon, aiming to get Raph’s sai through the portal, but it was far faster and blocked him off. He stood facing it alone, and it roared at him angrily, claws open threateningly. He heard Raph and Donnie crying out for him in a way they never had before, and there was excruciating pain in their voices unrelated to any of their injuries. He saw them stumbling over each other, trying to get to him and tears running hard. He had to quickly look away from the looks on their faces.

“I’m sorry…!” Mikey prayed to them as the demon lunged for him. Biting his tongue to keep from crying out, he dove to the side, just barely missing it and tumbling across the ground, too weak to stop his momentum. There were ink monsters near them, and an idea popped into his head. If he couldn’t reach the portal himself–

 

Leo hacked his way toward his brothers. He might’ve still been crying, but he couldn’t tell anymore. His head was a buzz of hysteria.

They were there. They were right there! With a…he didn’t know what it was – but their lives were clearly in grave danger. He had to get to them. He had to go faster!!

He was too far away to see many details, but even from this distance, his little brothers looked like they were in critical condition, and he knew instinctively that these monsters he was slicing through probably caused some of it. Scowling harder with a surge of fury, he cut two in front of him clean in half, straight down the middle as he charged onward.

The thing used something to open what looked like a portal behind it. Mikey dashed off to the side, and Donnie and Raph cried out to him, stumbling trying to stop him and sounding horrified. Somehow, Leo’s panic intensified. “MIKEY!” He called, but his little brother didn’t hear him. The larger monster cut him off, looking murderous. Was Mikey trying to distract it from the other two?! “MIKEY, STOP!” He cried out, but he was still too far away – his voice started breaking in terror. NO! “MIKEY!!”

The monster dove at Mikey, and Leo stared with wide eyes, unable to breathe– 

Thankfully, Mikey dodged. But then, he ran to one of the black monsters surrounding them. What was he doing?! He was gonna get killed! “MIKEY!!” He roared over the monsters, his voice hoarse with screaming. “STOP–”

Mikey jumped, grabbing a vicious monster around the neck, and then – in a snap – the two vanished.

Leo’s heart stopped. Mikey’s aura, one of the three he’d tracked down here, warm, bright, scared – one third of his heart – blinked out. Mikey was gone.

He’d completely vanished from Leo’s entire field of senses. He was gone.

Mikey died–

Leo screamed at the top of his lungs. In the next minute, he’d ripped through the middle of all remaining monsters in his way, and he leapt at the bigger one, which was turning back toward Raph and Donnie.

Crashing into it with a force that knocked it back, Leo pierced it with both swords in the chest, pushing his katana down to the hilts, and it howled. Ripping them back out, he jumped off the monster and leapt at it again, but it was ready for him this time, knocking him aside with its tail. Even the injury he’d just inflicted wasn’t enough to bring it down.

But Leo couldn’t concentrate on that. His mind was a blind roar of pain and screaming – he felt like he was coming apart.

He’d fight this thing until it was ribbons on the ground.

It breathed fire at him, and he deftly raced around the stream of it, his remaining two brothers’ auras glowing nearby in his senses, letting him keep the monster’s attacks away from them – and he leapt at the monster again with a feral roar.

 

Mikey clenched his eyes shut after he swung around the monster’s neck, hoping that agitating this one would do what he needed it to, hoping–

His body felt funny, and when he opened his eyes, they were floating in the red place.

He felt incredibly sick, and the sounds here were deep and agonizing and all-encompassing, rattling his bones. Something deep in him trembled with doom like a panic attack, and it was hard to breathe; he saw moving shadows in the corners of his eyes, but whenever he looked, he was alone. Immediately, he wanted to hide from this place, but he had an important job to do.

“O-ok…first thing’s first–” Mikey thought with wide eyes, trying to comprehend his situation and not get killed at the same time. He kicked off from the monster, which thrashed about and slashed at him angrily, and then transported to somewhere else. It didn’t come back for Mikey, though, so he concentrated on getting to Raph’s sai, which was floating nearby. It had moved away somewhat from the portal, but the portal was still there, too.

Gritting his teeth, he tried to swim through the air in that direction, going as fast as he could.

 

Leo’s vicious battle with the demon continued. Raph and Donnie’s attention was split between them and the spot where Mikey had just disappeared – they couldn’t think straight. Their hearts were hammering like they were fibrillating and their chests were clenching with something that felt much worse.

“Mikey…MIKEY!” Donnie cried suddenly, getting up to run desperately to where Mikey had disappeared, but toppled to the ground. He tried to scramble forward, stumbling on all fours, but Raph quickly crawled to him and grabbed onto him.

“Raph,” Donnie cried, hyperventilating. “Raph, Mikey – he – he–”

“I don’t know, I don’t know, Donnie,” Raph cried back, pulling his little brother close. “Please, Mikey…” He thought out loud, trembling and shutting his eyes, dropping his head back to the sky. “Please…I can’t…I can’t…!”

Leo blocked a swing of the demon’s tail and then jumped up, swinging his katana in hacking motions, but the demon roared and breathed fire back, the blast sending Leo backward.

“Guh…!”

He landed on the ground, singed and steaming, but paying himself no attention. He couldn’t feel anything – all he could see were supposed vital spots he aimed and hacked at. He’d gotten some deep slices in, but still, it didn’t die.

This thing couldn’t move if it was in a heap of pieces, though!

It breathed fire at Leo again, and this time – instead of dodging it – he jumped up through the stream of fire, his katana in front of his face, before stabbing it deep in the mouth. Its fire cut off as it roared and swung around, trying to throw him off.

Images of Mikey suddenly flashed through Leo’s mind – smiling at him on the Ulixes, trying to prove that everything would be ok…laughing at Raph’s and Donnie’s antics on missions back on earth, specifically what they were goofing off for…crying out for Leo, scared. Bubbling with giggles, because he was on the couch in the lair lying back against Leo’s chest, watching a movie from a bag of them that Raph had collectively stolen while the oldest two bickered about the plot and Donnie threw popcorn at them, aiming for their mouths. Tears ran heavily from Leo’s eyes and he wailed, digging the katana deeper.

Finally, the demon blasted fire at him again, forcing him and his swords out. In the same motion, it pinned Leo on the ground with its tail and raised a claw to swipe at him–

A warm, orange aura blinked back into his senses, just as suddenly as it had disappeared–

A voice that took the air from his lungs cried out painfully, furiously – and suddenly, one of Raph’s sai was spinning through the air toward the monster. With a thuk, it landed squarely and deeply in the back of its head, interrupting its attack on Leo. It made a thunderous noise, thrashing wildly.

Leo roared, gripped his katana and swiped hard – a bright flash of light glinted from his sword with the motion, slicing deeper than his sword could reach, and he severed the monster’s entire tail, freeing himself.

The demon shrieked, a green substance splashing out from the gaping wound, and Leo rolled quickly out of the way. Raph and Donnie watched, stunned, before quickly turning to their baby brother, who had just reappeared from the same portal the demon had been threatening to drag them all through a minute ago.

Were they dreaming?

“MIKEY!” The two older brothers scrambled for him, and Mikey stumbled for the two of them, panting heavily and weakly calling back.

Mikey was going slow and making little progress, and finally started to collapse before they’d met, but the older two leapt forward and grabbed him. They wrapped around him, all crying hysterically.

“Oh God, Mikey,” Raph sobbed, trying to say something more coherent, but he was shaking and crying too hard, and he gave up to just pull his baby brother’s head against his. “God…God…”

“Mikey, little baby brother…” Donnie whimpered, nuzzling Mikey’s face. “I was gonna be sick, I thought…I thought…”

The youngest cried hard, too exhausted and in too much pain to apologize, leaning against them. However, he shook with something that felt like terror mixed with his pain, and he buried his face against them, whimpering Onii over and over with a voice trembling so hard it kept breaking and leaving him. Raph fell on his side with both of them and squeezed as tight as he could, none having the strength to stay upright anymore.

They looked up again – there was still one they needed unlike anything else. Leo looked back at them, tears streaming heavily down his face. He was panting with exhaustion, but had such pain, pleading and longing in his eyes that it was hard to look at him; but the demon was still there between them, finally removing the sai from its head and still alive, and Leo growled at it with the ferociousness of another monster – they didn’t even know their big brother could growl like that.

But his foe wasn’t normal, and couldn’t seem to be defeated normally – the place where its tale was had already stopped bleeding, as if its blood was just for show. The ink monsters were closing in on all of them now, too, growing impatient–

A deafeningly loud whirring sound covered the area, and next thing they knew, the Ulixes was blasting in, almost as if from out of nowhere. As soon as it was on the scene, it was firing up two powerful lasers – and with an explosion of sound, the lasers ripped across nearby black monsters and into the large one Leo was facing, destroying hundreds of the black ones immediately and throwing the large one away from all of them.

The group of three watched as the ink monsters were destroyed in the devastating laser of the Ulixes. All those days, hiding, fighting, running scared…they didn’t know what to think as they watched little pieces of them fly away, numb.

The Ulixes went in closer, blasting at more of the monsters that were attacking back now, and April and Casey dropped from the ship wearing heavy gear, going at them with their own lasers and weapons. The two humans looked frantically around for the brothers, and upon seeing all of them in one piece and Leo with them, they smiled and fought harder. “TAKE THAT, SONS OF BITCHES!” Casey cried out with a whoop, spinning and taking out four of them at once.

Leo and his little brothers looked at each other across the platform. The demon was still nearby and the Ulixes had its hands full holding it and the ink monsters off, but the four ignored it. There were three turtles who needed their big brother.

Leo kicked off and raced toward them, crying with terror in his face. “Raph! Donnie! Mikey!”

“LEO-NII!” They cried out for him as he ran to them, reaching out–

Dropping his katana with a clatter just a second before, Leo collided with the group just enough to knock them over the other way, pillowing their fall with his arms, and immediately, the four were crying like they never had before.

Leo certainly cried like he never had before, holding them all to his chest and just wailing in agony. He wrapped around them as tight as he could without hurting them, like he could shield them from the whole world in his arms, and at the same time he sounded as helpless and scared as a child. They cried back with immense heartache, sobbing and snuggling against him and never – ever – planning to let go again, and – oh God, they’d been broken apart for so long.

“Ototos,” Leo choked, his voice a broken mess. He thought he might just break. He couldn’t believe it – all together, alive. Back in his arms, after all this time…he snuggled his head between theirs, counting their muzzles against his like he was afraid they weren’t really all here, somehow. “It’s ok, daijobu, I’ve got you now, baby brothers, I’ve got you now…I love you so much, I love you…”

“I love you, Leo, onii,” The three younger brothers sobbed, doing their best to nuzzle back. They tried to wrap their minds around the sheer scope of it. Leo was here, he was right here, he was finally here. All of them were here…now that their big brother was with them, wrapped around them with unbreakable arms that wouldn’t let hell nor high water touch them – everything was ok now. They shut their eyes tight and buried into his arms, wanting nothing more than to hide against him and be as close as possible, and they felt the little strength they had left getting sapped away. Leo cried gentle things to them in Japanese between nuzzles and kisses and breaking down completely, evidently forgetting English for a moment.

Casey cried out in surprise nearby when he had a near-miss with one of the ink monsters, and Leo looked out to check on their human family members. They needed to go.

The younger three followed his gaze to check on the other two themselves, confirming that they were ok. They were suddenly worried again – despite the Ulixes flying around incinerating hundreds of the monsters at a time, there was still the fear that, somehow, the darkness here was heavier than the others could hold back. The sea of ink monsters seemed to be never-ending. If they stayed much longer, they could get swallowed…but the three couldn’t stop it now, they were slowly fading out…

“L-Leo…” Raph mumbled quietly with a scratchy voice, using the last of his strength to get his big brother’s attention – which was rather easy, he noted, and he was sure he’d find it amusing later. Leo snapped his head back down to them, his sharp blue eyes suddenly fracturing again with emotion. “Everyone…n-needs…to get out of here.” Raph rasped, panic clenching his chest. “W-we need…to run…”

Casey trotted toward the group to help Leo carry his little brothers, who was beginning to lift them up, and he took some monsters down near the four on the way, flanking the group. “I’ll he–”

All three little brothers were piled on Leo’s back already, though, with Mikey on top of the other two so as not to crush him. Casey looked at Leo with wide eyes, blinking. “Uuuh…you need help, man?”

“I got them.” Leo said simply, watching the Ulixes spin to knock off several monsters before firing both lasers at the larger monster – which still hadn’t gone down yet – and then swerve toward them. April was yelling a battle cry, beheading six of the monsters at once with double-arm lasers before running to help Casey flank the brothers. The Ulixes was there shortly after, Honeycutt pulling in even closer than he probably needed to to let them board, as if he were shooing them inside – that was the distinct feeling they got. The two humans took dropped weapons on their way – both of Raph’s sai and Leo’s katana – and as they boarded, a powerful mechanical arm shot down and latched onto the strange device the large monster had been using earlier. After what looked like a strong power surge, Honeycutt deactivated it and stashed it inside the ship somewhere, the portal disappearing quickly after.

As they ran to get on board, April hesitated for just a second when she felt water on her face. Looking up, she wondered aloud, “Rain?” Before running in after the others.

When they got on board the Ulixes, the three quickly ran into the main room, where Leo laid the three younger brothers down on a large mattress on the floor they’d already put in place, and Leo stayed with them as Casey and April ran to their seats to stay steady as Honeycutt dipped and turned to fly away from the monsters and the landscape.

“Jones, do you remember those unstable pockets of weather you told us about?” Honeycutt said over a speaker as the rain quickly picked up outside.

“Yeah?”

“Looks like we’re in one. Everybody hold on, we are going to have a rough ex-EE!” The robot suddenly cut himself off with a yelp and the ship lurched, dodging a large stream of fire that was suddenly shot into the air near them.

“What the–” April cried out, tightly hanging onto her seat and gasping when Honeycutt spun in a circle to fire an arching laser behind him at black monsters and, importantly, the large one that had breathed fire at them.

“This one is extra trouble! Hurry, everyone in your seats!”

As April and Casey quickly strapped in, the three younger brothers moaned, clenching their eyes tighter before rolling their heads toward the windows at the front. Catching sight of the planet outside, they stared distantly, unusually calm for the current circumstances.

“Guys?” Leo asked worriedly, leaning over them as he held the mattress steady while Honeycutt flew through increasingly heavy rain and around streams of fire being shot from behind, the oldest ignoring it all. The younger bunch didn’t seem to be able to concentrate on what he was saying, though, fading in and out of consciousness.

“The rain…” Donnie mumbled quietly. Surprised, Leo leaned down closer.

“What did you say, Donnie?” 

“…The rain…gets worse.” Donnie rasped, hard to hear. It seemed like he was using all the effort he had to communicate this critical information to Leo. “It gets…worse. We need to get out…of the rain.”

Looking down at him with worry, Leo sat up. “How is it going, Professor?” He shouted over the roar of the engine and the commotion outside.

“Trying!” Honeycutt yelled back, concentrating very hard on keeping his upward trajectory as the rain poured harder and still dodging fire. With a grunt of frustration, he revved the engine louder and they blasted off at a faster speed, flying across the landscape through the worsening downpour. “Everybody hold on!”

The rain really started to come down – Leo, Casey and April stared; it looked more like an ocean was falling from the sky at violent speeds, they thought. The Ulixes was angled further upward than it was actually going, fighting it, and Honeycutt tried his hardest to pick up speed fast enough to get through it. The largest monster behind them, however, was keeping pace – its red eyes glowing through the dark sheets of water pouring down. The two humans gripped their seats nervously and Leo laid down across the other three as he held down the mattress, watching anxiously.

“Bollocks!” Honeycutt shouted, sounding especially frustrated. Suddenly, with booming noise, Honeycutt kicked the ship into a very high gear and aimed his lasers at the sky, firing and effectively cutting out a thin spot in the clouds. As he did so, the monster caught up and blasted fire at them from the ground. Engine roaring, Honeycutt aimed a second set of blasters downward, fighting the stream of fire and momentarily blasting lasers in both directions at full power.

“Hold on!” Honeycutt yelled, sounding strained. “We’re going through the storm!”

Then, quickly – before it got swallowed up again – Honeycutt cut off his lasers aimed at the sky, those firing downward giving him the momentum he needed to blast up and out through the long hole in the clouds.

And just like that – it was over.

Honeycutt didn’t slow down after they exited through the storm clouds, flying up and away through the atmosphere as fast as he could go, and the last thing they heard from the planet was a convoluted, multi-voiced roar. The screen in the center of the room came on with a view of the planet behind them, presumably an affect of Honeycutt monitoring the planet himself as they left, just in case it decided to also explode or something. Casey and April watched tensely in their seats for a while longer, unable to believe they were really out yet.

The three younger brothers peaked at the screen, staring at the planet in almost a daze, lost in all the different things going though their heads – there was too much to even comprehend; so they just stared, watching all of it grow smaller and fade from sight.

Ten days. Had all that really only been ten days?

They thought they’d never see the Ulixes, their extended family, their big brother ever again. But here they were, here he was…lying across them to hold them to the mattress even after the ship had stopped lurching and throwing them all around, and as far as the younger three were concerned, that was ok. Leo letting go, losing their contact with him, would feel the same to them now as if they had been thrown into space.

They’d come so close, so quickly, to not making it. Closer than any of them ever had before; that shook them down to their souls. That, despite everything else, burned in the fronts of the three’s minds in this moment.

Still, their lives faced the dangers of how bad they’d all gotten over that time and the fighting they still had to do. But they thought they’d never get to hide away against this chest ever again…

When they got far enough away that features of the planet started to fade, they finally looked away, crying and huddling together under Leo, and they couldn’t pin their tears to one reason.

Leo, his breathing very shaky, pulled them all close, shielding their heads in his arms and laying his face in the mattress over theirs, too tired himself to move; and in his mind, Leo promised anything aware that it would be a hundred years before he let them go this time. April and Casey finally got up out of their seats, walking over to see all of them.

Casey kneeled down beside the mattress, and April approached gingerly, falling on her knees in front of Leo with a sigh of exhaustion. She put a hand on his head, and he looked up at her, fresh tears quickly running back down his face – and he smiled, and it was sorrowful and grateful and affectionate, and it was just for his human siblings. Casey’s shoulders dropped and his expression became unsteady with emotion, and tears ran down April’s own cheeks, returning Leo’s smile with a heart-broken grin of her own.

They got their three baby brothers back.

April leaned over Leo and dropped her head onto his, hands over the back of his neck, and cried. Casey leaned over Leo’s shell and did the same, more helpless and spent than either of the two had ever seen him; and Leo turned his head on its side, closing his eyes and wishing he could hold five people at once.

Honeycutt was quiet as he sped through space, further away from the planet.

~

The first thing they did was to stop the bleeding.

Raph, in particular, had large, deep cuts across his plastron that had been bleeding earlier, and they quickly retrieved a small medical kit in the same room and used all the gauze and wrappings in it to apply pressure to that. Honeycutt was still working on putting them at a safe distance from the planet before he could appear again, so it was Leo, April and Casey doing the initial check-up, and of the three of them, Leo knew the most of what he was doing.

He didn’t do a lot of talking as they assessed the damage, but his hands did a lot of trembling. It was clear the younger three wouldn’t have held out for much longer if they hadn’t shown up for the rescue when they did – and not only because of the assault they’d been under. Each seemed to have one major injury, from which stemmed wide areas of swelling, infection, and multiple colors – Raph’s left shoulder, Donnie’s left ankle, and Mikey’s right side; the last of which was only their best guess based on the large, swollen area there, but his whole stomach was heavily discolored, indicating any number of deep and serious things. They were each filthy, emaciated, and littered with such a myriad of other odd wounds as well – cuts, burns, stab wounds, concussions – it almost seemed more like the three had been pulled from a war than a foreign planet, and the three examiners had to wonder just what in the world had happened to them. It was painfully clear that they had been fighting to survive, literally.

After the inspection, Leo took a moment to take in some deep, shaky breaths before he trusted his voice.

“Professor,” He called into the room, sounding terribly on-edge. Immediately Honeycutt’s face blipped onto the screen, and somehow, the Professor’s own anxiousness was just as clear.

“Leonardo?” He replied quickly, eager to hear some report on the three little brothers, even while he focused on flying at high speeds.

“What kind of emergency medical equipment do we have on the ship?”

“IV and respirator machines are in the fourth lowest storage chamber.” He replied without missing a beat. “Medicines and small supplies are in the next one over. I’m afraid the IV and respirator machines are the most specialized equipment I’m carrying, but that is because I normally perform highly specialized procedures using my personal robotic capabilities. However, there is lots of medicine and fluids. I keep them stored in the middle of the ship to preserve them against attacks, like we had recently.”

Leo and Casey were already running off for the supplies. April held back for just an extra second to look back at the robot on the screen. “I’m glad you planned ahead so well, Professor.”

“I figured our escapades would get bit rowdy,” The Professor quipped back. “But I had hoped I’d never see the machines come out.”

 

Thankfully, Leo already knew how to set the machines up – Donatello used to have one of each in his lab, which didn’t necessarily get stored away all the time – so it was quick work hooking the three up under his instructions.

As the Professor had said, only he could perform some things they needed – like x-rays and surgery – so he was flying fast to be able to stop somewhere and come attend to the three. Casey helped Leo carefully place each brother onto their own separate mattress, and as soon as the machines were hooked up, the room basically became a hospital – Leo was making executive decisions about their care right away, juggling between one hundred things at once, and Casey and April felt like assistants running around trying to help him. He went ahead and hooked them all up to antibiotics and fluids without much prompting. After that, he was checking temperatures, pulses, breathing rates, blood pressure, and about ten other things all manually, and keeping track of the status of all of these things for each of the three in his head.

For being the one not treated like “the doctor”, April found it impressive – and telling, in a sad way – that Leo knew so much of this.

April and Casey were both hard at work gingerly cleaning the boys up and inspecting their injuries further while Leo did all this. It took ten changes of a bucket of water and several rags before they even got the three satisfactorily clean, which only meant they looked more green than other colors again, but only by a little.

It was after the brothers were clean and Leo was first able to sit down, an hour later, that the oldest cracked again.

After he re-checked all of them for the hundredth time, April and Casey noticed Leo standing a few feet away, watching them, before he was suddenly on his hands and knees making a strangled noise.

“Leo?!” The two humans called for him, rushing forward – but both stopped abruptly when Leo punched the floor hard.

He hung his head and his shoulders were shaking, and he left his fist against the floor for a moment, sort of crying and sort of sounding like he was in pain. Suddenly, he roared angrily and punched the floor again several times.

April and Casey couldn’t help but bite back tears as they watched him, too afraid to move closer. They knew what this was about without asking. They couldn’t think of a time when any of the brothers had gotten messed up this bad – even when Leo himself had that traumatizing fight with Shredder that had changed his voice. And there was a reason it had happened to Leo, at that time – the oldest had nearly gotten killed just trying to keep Shredder away from his brothers.

Even if that wasn’t the case, though, all of his little brothers were still lying on these mattresses, broken and unconscious. They’d suffered, and Leo wasn’t able to protect them. That alone would’ve been enough to kill the oldest.

The only thing that was probably giving Leo more pain right now was the fact that he couldn’t go back to the planet right this moment and slaughter every single monster there until nothing lived in the place anymore.

Finally, when he seemed to calm down a little, April managed to approach him and put comforting hands on his shoulders and convince him to go to the showers. He was still covered in engine grease and battle grime, and it wouldn’t do much good to doctor his brothers that way – and he could use some time to stop thinking for a while. He hesitated, but eventually agreed (but only because being this filthy would probably just make his brothers sick), and April and Casey took turns getting washed up after him.

Casey, the last one to finish his shower, came back into the room to see Leo, April and Honeycutt bent over Raph, the first person undergoing computerized diagnostics. Grimacing, he walked over to help.

Honeycutt wasn’t kidding about being able to perform specialized functions. He seemed to have some medical knowledge from his extensive studies on his home planet, and even though their biology was new to him, he had some quick diagnostics going. Attached by long wires to a computer interface at the front of the room for extra power, he performed x-rays and – splitting his fingers and hands into a hundred different, tiny tools – surgery. He didn’t speak during these procedures, concentrating intensely on internal camera feed through his vision, except to occasionally ask for assistance. The younger three needed blood – and Leo was offering his arms before he was even asked. He was O negative – he could donate to all of them. April and Casey weren’t able to, unfortunately, their types being incompatible.

Surgery for each took the longest; in Raph’s and Donnie’s case, there were a few bone fragments that needed removal, complete fractures that needed re-setting in Donnie’s case, torn muscles, and severed nerves – but Honeycutt even knew how to re-connect those; everything he put back together would just need a lot of time to heal. Leo informed them that their plastrons could re-seal if they were clamped back together, and so Raph got some big bandage-like clamping tools on his stomach – and then the rest was maintenance.

Mikey was last, and the most complicated case. Seven of his ribs were broken, all on his right side; one in eleven different places, and three were ripping open his abdominal muscles. The rib most broken had pieces making small puncture wounds in various organs, contributing to his large and quickly-accelerating infection, along with the large rips in his abdomen. He appeared to be only in the first stages of sepsis, but with the various small punctures in his organs, Honeycutt said if his infection had begun invading them before they were rescued, he could’ve died within twenty-four hours. Honeycutt adjusted the antibiotic levels in his fluids, and he needed extra blood, as well – so Leo donated it, again.

Though Mikey’s was the worst, since all three had considerable infections, it was clear that their injuries did not start out as bad as they were now, indicating they’d been worsened through aggravation and further injury – more unsettling clues to their struggle on the planet.

Raph, Donnie and Mikey remained unconscious for all this without sedation, worrying the group a little; but overall, Honeycutt successfully managed to stabilize the three of them, and the younger brothers were allowed to rest. After surgery was complete, a final round of showers and sanitization was made, the last of several over the three operations; and then, Honeycutt attached to and collapsed beside a charger in the main room, deep asleep.

The poor guy had been through so much – powering the ship through space, engaging in a full-on battle with lasers he fueled with his power core, escaping, and just now, acting as surgeon. And still, he’d attached wireless sensors to the chests of each of the three so he’d be alerted if their condition changed. Looking on with sympathy and admiration, April walked to the robot man and arranged him in a less awkward position on the floor. She didn’t guess it mattered – it wasn’t like he could get cramps – but she felt like she should, anyway.

Casey collapsed into his pod in the same room, not wanting to leave and sleeping at a goofy angle, head thrown back and mouth wide open with light breathing. April looked at him with a wry grin – he’d overexerted himself, too. She chose to leave him alone.

Leo, the only person whose exhaustion could’ve matched Honeycutt’s, was sleeping halfway over the foot of Raph’s mattress, beside his legs. It was the first time April had seen him get more than a wink in ten days – but donating what looked like half of all the blood in his entire body might’ve had something to do with it. He had his own share of bandages – he hadn’t come away from his apparent battle with that large monster completely unscathed. He’d taken some medical wrappings and just tied them around whatever was bleeding, and that’s how he still was.

April kneeled down next to him to look at him more closely. She remembered when they were escaping that he’d had some scary-looking burns, too, but now they weren’t near as bad as she remembered – maybe her mind had been exaggerating things back there.

Sighing, she grabbed one of the medical kits and a fresh washcloth and sat down to properly dress his wounds while he couldn’t complain about it, putting off sleep for just a little longer.

~

Donnie moaned.

He felt…warm…for the first time in ages.

Uhg…but his whole body felt stiff and sore. He was also rather nauseous, and tried to lay still to keep it under control.

Wait…MIKEY…RAPH!

He yelped, shooting up. His panic spiked immediately, surrounded by all kinds of things he didn’t recognize. He was in some white room. There was also something attached around his head – he yanked it off, whatever it was hissing at him. He backed up against a wall, shaking. There was something else stuck in his arm, and he tried to pull that out too, but suddenly somebody was fighting him, and he cried out. Where were Raph and Mikey?! He looked around wildly–

He found them laying in beds next to him, asleep.

“Donnie?! Donnie!!” A familiar voice was yelling at him in alarm, restraining his arms and trying to make him look at him–

Leo.

He stared at his big brother’s face, his daze slowly clearing. Now that he thought about it…Leo had been there, sitting at the end of Mikey’s mattress, and had yelped in surprise quickly after Donnie had, but he’d been panicking too much to register it. That thing that had hissed and then turned off with a clunk beside him was a respirator…and this…was an IV needle stuck in his arm. Leo was trying to keep him from ripping it out, and now he was looking intensely at Donnie, his headband hanging around his neck, saying Donnie’s name and trying to get him to snap out of it. Nobody else seemed to be in the room, at the moment – the main room on the Ulixes.

Leo…

He slowly looked back at his other brothers, lying near him. They…they looked ok…

He looked back at Leo, and tears started slipping from his eyes. Why was he crying, all of a sudden?

Face twisting with emotion, Leo pulled him into a strong hug. Donnie shriveled up in it, resting his face in his big brother’s shoulder and crying like a child, and he didn’t care for the first minute – Leo was really here, all he wanted was his big brother. The warm, solid presence immediately made him feel safer and more relaxed, clearing his head. He felt’s Leo’s heartbeat thudding in his chest, and he focused on it.

“Just relax…” He advised himself.

Everything slowly came back to him. The rescue…the Ulixes…leaving the planet…

How long had he been out?

He let out a sigh, and Leo released him just enough to sit back and put a hand on his face, looking at him. His big brother had large, dark circles under his eyes that gave away many, many days of stress and exhaustion, but his blue eyes were impossibly gentle, warm and soft. His big brother’s blue eyes, the ones that always looked at them with so much emotion, that he’d missed so much. He wiped the tears from Donnie’s cheeks with his hand.

“It’s ok, Donnie.” And his voice. They’d already talked with Leo, when they were reunited…well, he remembered Leo talking to them…but they were so out of it. His big brother’s voice rang in his ears like he hadn’t heard it in years. He leaned into the hand on his face, closing his eyes with overwhelming grief, despite his big brother’s attempts to soothe him. He’d missed him so much…

Suddenly, extreme nausea hit him like a punch to the gut. Covering a hand over his mouth with a choked noise, he leaned away from Leo, who watched with wide, surprised eyes as he barfed on the floor.

 

“Sorry about that…”

Leo chuckled. “It’s ok, Donnie. I should’ve thought you all wouldn’t be feeling well, all things considered.”

The floor was clean a short while later, and now there was a bucket beside Donnie’s mattress. Leo had brought him some water to rinse out with into the bucket before that was cleaned out. Donnie was laying down again, too weak and sick-feeling to keep sitting up – he felt incredibly loopy overall and his brain was as good as mush, actually, and something crossed his mind about pain medication – but he watched both his oldest brother and his two others closely. His own headband and gear had been removed, as well as the other two’s, and absently, Donnie wondered where their masks had been taken. Leo gently laid on the mattress next to him, careful to take the side that wouldn’t obstruct his view of the others, and fussed over small things – how far his blanket was pulled up, the wrappings around his head, a small fiber on his face. His big brother was clearly unable to separate himself from the three of them, as far as Donnie could tell – and that was perfectly fine by him.

Eventually, Donnie sighed, rolling his sore head to rest against Leo’s chest. His big brother wrapped an arm across his chest like an extra layer of security and rested his own head in his hand, looking down at his little brother with a tired, thoughtful face as he lightly traced the lines of Donnie’s head bandages.

Donnie closed his eyes against the comforting plastron. He had so many questions, but such a headache, and a killer fever…he was so tired. But… “Are…”

“They’re ok.” Leo reassured right away, already knowing his question. “Professor Honeycutt did a lot of surgery. You were all in bad shape…but…” Leo paused, looking at the other two, but his eyes looked distant. Turning his head in his hand, he rubbed his eyes – he looked just as ready to collapse asleep as Donnie did – before turning back to Donnie, looking at him sincerely. “But you’re all gonna be ok now. I’ve been watching all of you every second; I know for sure. So don’t worry.”

Donnie gazed up worriedly at his big brother for a moment before turning again to the other two. Their chests rose and fell with even breathing, sound asleep. If Leo said they were ok, then…

His thoughts drifted to the others. Donnie rolled his head to tiredly rest back against Leo’s chest. “Casey…April…? Professor Honeycutt…?”

“They’re fine.” Leo hummed back quietly. “April and Casey are in their rooms. Professor Honeycutt is at the center of the ship, driving the Ulixes.”

Donnie thought about that for a moment, eye ridges drawing together and lightly moving his head back and forth against the other’s chest in concentration. “He usually drives in here…?”

“One of the drive motors is destroyed, so he has to connect to the Ulixes and use his power core to drive it.”

“Oh…” Donnie laid in silence for another few minutes, eyes still closed as Leo traced his head bandages soothingly. “How long was I out?”

Leo thought for a minute, unfazed by all the quizzing. “About five days.”

“Hmm…” Donnie processed this tiredly. So it had only been five days since…

“How…” He paused worriedly. “How were they…? Mikey’s stomach…and Raph’s shoulder…they were both so…sick and…” He knew Leo said they were ok, but he couldn’t help the deep fear he felt anyway. There was just so much – so much they’d been through, so many conditions Donnie had been worried about – but he couldn’t even get up to see them. And he knew, medically, they were each better off in their own space right now…but…he didn’t like being separated from them…

Leo blinked at him before tilting his head, his brow furrowing with concern now, and it suddenly became clear to Donnie that Leo was only awake right now through his sheer power to worry so hard that neither sleep nor death could interrupt it. Internally, Donnie felt a little more tired, albeit concerned – it took forever to get Leo to relax over normal things that happened to them. “You were all like that.” He said, his voice heavier than before. “Raph’s shoulder was a mess. Your ankle and Mikey’s midsection, too, but Honeycutt was able to repair everything. The location of Raph’s infection made his fever escalate really quickly, and his brain was already vulnerable from some hard hits he took to the head, so he’s on heavy medication. You have a slight concussion yourself, you know. Mikey…” Leo paused again, looking back at the other two, but with practiced critical analysis. “Mikey’s on even more meds than Raph. His fever has also been pretty high, but it just recently started going down. Actually, your vitals are what I’ve been watching more closely now than your injuries. You’ve all been so sick and weak…”

“…And my infection was so low down, it didn’t make my fever as bad as theirs. So I woke up first…” Donnie mumbled, rhetorically adding onto the thought process with his own analysis, old cogs working despite his slippery thoughts swimming in the ocean that was his head. Leo aimed his worried look back down at Donnie, and suddenly his voice got a lot quieter and uncertain.

“Yeah. I…I want to know what happened. But…I’ll leave that conversation for later.”

Looking up at Leo with sudden worry, Donnie examined his big brother’s face, but he was looking back at the other two again. His stress lines seemed a little deeper, and his eyes swam with pain.

Leo…

Donnie snuggled his head against the older’s chest to get his attention again. “Are you ok?”

Leo blinked at him, looking completely baffled. “Huh? Me?”

“Yes…you.” Donnie aimed a stern look at the older. “Come on, Leo.”

Leo genuinely didn’t seem to know what to say for a moment, which was odd for him, and Donnie was caught between humor and wild concern over that for the few seconds it lasted – but Leo quickly seemed to figure it out, because he suddenly grinned back warmly. “I’m fine.” He said ultra-predictably. “Don’t worry about me, little bro. You just focus on getting the sleep you need right now.”

Donnie would love to do that, but there was obviously a bigger issue at the moment – the fact that his big bro was full of crap, for starters, and Donnie was not putting up with it over this. The argument he was firing up to throw back must’ve been on his face, though, because Leo was suddenly laying down fully next to him and pulling Donnie’s blanket up further with a chuckle, resting his head on his arm and pulling Donnie snuggly under his chin. “Go to sleep.” Leo reiterated, his voice warm and soothing. “I told you, everything’s fine. Don’t worry about anything right now, just get some rest – you really need it. Ok?”

…Darn it if Leo wasn’t making it so hard to avoid! Donnie felt himself drifting off against his will, still very achy and his energy low to begin with, surrounded by the warmth of his brother’s cuddles. But…

He looked over at the other two again. Even though they were both right next to him – breathing steadily, Donnie never took his attention off of their breathing – he couldn’t go to sleep like this. Not when they were so…when he couldn’t even…

Following his gaze with a frown, Leo looked back at Donnie with a sudden grin and nudged him with his muzzle. “Hey, it’s ok.” Moving Donnie’s blanket again, he revealed a device on his chest he hadn’t known was there. “This is a monitor Professor Honeycutt put on all of you. It watches your conditions and tells him about any changes. If anything at all happens, we’ll know right away.” Then, he smiled wide and warmly, a deep spark of humor in his expression that was so exclusive to their biggest brother that Donnie didn’t even know how much he’d missed it until just then. “But I’ll know long before even then. Oldest brothers are just psychic that way.”

Donnie knew it was meant to be comforting, but it broke his heart at the same time – mostly because he believed what his big brother said, one hundred percent, and Donnie’s mind couldn’t help going back to the ten days when each group didn’t even know if the other was still alive. Unable to stop sudden tears that raced up to his eyes, Donnie buried against Leo, crying silently with trembling shoulders. His smile dropping to something much more tender and complex, Leo pulled him close and kissed his head, and Donnie let the warmth finally carry him back off to sleep.

Each of his little brothers safe and asleep in each of their beds, Leo looked at all of them for several long moments before tears started running down his own face. Pulling Donnie closer, he pressed his face into the mattress momentarily to bite down sobs with all his might.

“I’ve got you all.” He whispered fiercely, holding his little brother protectively against his chest and staring across at the other two. He knew the first conversation was going to be hard, but he just couldn’t keep himself together anymore. Donnie didn’t need to know the first thing about how stressed he’d been – how many health crises they’d struggled to help the younger three pull through – how weak their auras had been, and how precarious their conditions still were now, despite stabilizing them and twenty-four-seven monitoring.

How close he knew he’d come to losing them all, how much or how hard he’d been crying, how many hours he’d stayed up lately, just sitting by their beds, watching over them. The screaming in his head…the guilt…

“It’s ok…I’ve got you all…”

Notes:

Hot damn you guys, we finally made it all the way here!!

This chapter required SO MUCH editing and re-writing and brainstorming, it was crazy. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I hope it turned out ok. And, more is yet to come! The other two still haven't woken up, and Leo still has a monster to face - but his brothers can help him with this one.

I thought I should probably mention this, but I share a headcanon with a lot of people in the fandom in which the bros can sense each other's auras due to the astral plane. I feel like even though they can all do it with varying amounts of effort, Leo's sense is the strongest because of his love for and skill with meditation - but I also have a private headcanon that oldest brothers are just psychic that way! In my head, physical distance also weakens all of their abilities to sense each other - I think it would be way too convenient if such a special ability had no weaknesses.

ANNOUNCEMENT! Are you spending your quarantine reading tmnt fics? Allow me to direct you all to EchoKazul's page! I found their story Blood In My Veins really randomly last month when I had college finals coming up and spent about 4 days straight only reading that and barely sleeping, as you do. Best bout of insomnia I've ever had! That story (and its sequel, Blood In Our Veins) are my new favorites. Thanks EchoKazul for helping to light my tmnt fire again!

See you soon!

Chapter 15

The group stared down at the bedridden brothers.

“…Yeah. Like…all over ‘em.” Casey said, staring down at Mikey and Raph in confusion. “Too large to heal that quickly…right…?”

Professor Honeycutt, standing next to him and April, blinked his computer eyes, also staring down. “Indeed. I know it has been a week already, but…completely gone?”

Leo made a face at the group from where he sat on the edge of Donnie’s mattress, facing the two in question. “Their burns have been receding at a fast pace all week. You didn’t notice?”

April put her hands on her hips, and everyone turned to look at her. “Well, I noticed.”

“Yours have too, Leo.” A purple-masked turtle said beside the oldest brother, sitting somewhat upright in his bed with his back comfortably resting against several pillows, still rather mummy-looking and a cup of tea in his hands. The standing group turned to give him astonished stares, too, since he was included in the magically-healed-burns phenomenon, and Donnie returned a flat look. The second-youngest had woken up a couple more times since he first did two days ago, though he still spent most of his time sleeping, too weak and worn out with fever to do otherwise; and he was still on a significant amount of pain medications, which finished the job of keeping him out of commission, for the most part. Raph and Mikey had yet to pull out of their own fog, however…and when Donnie was awake, he did a lot of the same mother-henning that Leo was doing, much to the oldest’s distress, and they always knew when Donnie had woken up because the two of them would start arguing.

Blinking at Donnie’s remark, Leo actually gave himself a cursory look, as if he hadn’t noticed his own burns disappearing – he really probably hadn’t, was the ridiculous thing – and Donnie couldn’t help rolling his eyes.

“But…HOW? Burns don’t work like that!” Casey exclaimed to himself, mostly, since none of them expected anybody to know, and they probably would’ve kept thinking so if Donnie didn’t let out an “Uh…” before he caught himself, and now they were all staring at him again.

Staring back awkwardly for a second, Donnie finally sighed and ran a hand over his face tiredly. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to explain this to Leo yet – they hadn’t been able to talk about anything, actually. He had no idea where to start, but it wasn’t here. “It’s a long story…”

“…Well, the long stories can wait as long as you feel they need to, certainly.” Honeycutt responded warmly, coming to crouch by Donnie’s bed and inspecting the sensor still attached to his chest, despite his more stable condition – Honeycutt had his own way of mother-henning, Donnie had found; he was just much more subtle about it, and it sort of made Donnie want to laugh at weird moments. “Just let me know if you need anything, Donatello. I’m sorry we can’t move you back into your own room yet while we monitor you – even though you’ve been waking up recently, your condition is not completely stable and we need to take extra time to watch you, especially while you still require fluids. I’m available if you need anything at all – just say my name any time and I’ll radio in.”

“Oh, it’s ok – I understand.” Donnie responded right away, waving his hands sheepishly before glancing at the IV still in his arm. “I…I know I said it already, but I really just…don’t know how to thank you, Professor.” He looked over at Casey and April next before quickly dropping his eyes to stare at the bed, instead. “All of you did so much, and…”

“Nonsense, Donatello!” Honeycutt immediately dismissed the turtle’s nervous prattling, emoting happy eyes, and the two humans smiled at him in a way that echoed the Professor’s words loudly. “I wish I could’ve done more. But before we thank and apologize each other into holes, let’s call a truce and drop our shovels.”

Donnie smiled humorously at the robot. “And…you know, to be honest…I’m ok in here. I don’t…really want to be alone any time soon, anyway.”

Honeycutt slightly cocked his head to the side, and somehow, they could feel his invisible smile become gentler – they were really starting to get to know the Professor well, evidently. “The hub is yours and your brothers’, Donatello. Think of the Ulixes as our personal treehouse – stay anywhere you please.” Giving him a pat on the head, Honeycutt suddenly turned to give Leo a suspicious look. “You, however, stay inside.”

Leo sighed and rolled his eyes with an infinitely tired look at the same time as Casey guffawed in a loud, caught-off-guard sort of way and the two humans broke into laughter, and Donnie watched them all with utmost confusion. He wondered if Leo did something, but knowing his big brother, he was afraid to ask.

 Suddenly, Honeycutt turned back to look at him. “Now, before I get back to driving, there is something I thought you all should know.”

Surprised, Casey and April quieted down and the group watched him, listening intently.

“…Before, I was driving quickly to get away from the planet – and we are now quite far away, much more than needed to be safe, as it were. Now, I intend on getting to our next destination quickly.” He paused for a moment, looking around at them all. “Though not quite in the same state as before, poor old Ulixes here is still rather damaged after all she’s been through and in desperate need of parts and heavy-duty repairs. I am perfectly capable of flying it still, but it is rather exhausting and I would like to be able to make repairs as soon as possible.”

He didn’t have to mention that this urgency was also in case of another attack, too – or anything, really, based on their luck. The group looked around at each other.

“The nearest planet is still rather far from the one we left, and we are about a third of the way there now – it may take another couple weeks to get there. It has many shops where it will be easy to find the parts I need.” He continued, and now he looked at Leo and Donnie, specifically. “This planet is large and has some big cities with many different species of people, both local and tourists – we will be near one of these cities so I can access the shops. However, I have visited this planet several times before and know it is quite safe. They have a strong law system and stay out of trouble, for the most part.” He turned to Leo. “…However, I cannot say for certain who we will run into, there. I don’t believe there is a good chance anyone will give us trouble; however, the planet is – ah – somewhat known for its many tourists, and I cannot guarantee it.”

Leo’s concerned face drew together slightly with a dark look; he had a good guess of who Honeycutt was referring to. He didn’t quite catch the worried glance Donnie gave him.

Now the robot turned to Donnie. “And, as I said, the planet is indeed safe, even as far as those with large cities go. But it is quite active and bustling, and I understand if you and your brothers have some anxiety about new places at the moment. I hate to thrust you onto a new planet right away. How do you feel?”

Donnie processed this for a moment before turning to look at Leo again. His older brother returned an inquisitive, gentle look, and something in Donnie relaxed; he grinned. “Well…” He looked back at Honeycutt, “I understand that the Ulixes needs to be repaired. And…as long as you say it’s safe, I think we should get there as soon as possible.”

“Roger that!” Honeycutt said affirmatively, standing. “I wish I could discuss this with the other two as well, but I’m afraid we’re in a bit of a rush to get moving.” He walked toward the exit. “Donatello, remember, just say my name if you need anything at all.”

“Thanks, Professor.” Donnie nodded at the robot as he disappeared through the door.

“Well, me and Casey are off, too.” April announced, getting a couple of surprised looks from the mattress.

Casey grinned at them, putting his hands on his hips. “You know, like the Professor said, the Ulixes got a few new dings when we dove into World War Three back there. Me and Red figured making a few fixes will make life a little easier for him. We’ve already gotten started on some of it.”

“Oh,” Leo scratched the back of his head anxiously. “I’m sorry, you guys…is there anything I can–”

“Don’t even ask!” April brushed him off with a smile, the two humans already heading out. “You just about single-handedly put the engine back together once already. And now you have the most important job of all! You’re needed in here.” And with that, they were gone.

Leo sighed and turned back to Donnie. His little brother grinned at him and chuckled at the exchange with their human siblings, and Leo smiled back.

It was hard to know what to feel in these quiet moments. They were all together again, and that was all they wanted; just being near each other, resting in the safety of the Ulixes hub was enough for them to be at peace. But they’d all been through so much that hadn’t been explained yet, and another part of both Donnie and Leo was still sort of afraid to ask.

Besides, Raph and Mikey still hadn’t woken up…

Donnie had, though, so they shouldn’t be far behind. Donnie wasn’t awake a lot, but he was steadily improving, and these days, any activity at all from Leo’s little brother thrilled him. Soon he might even be able to move around–

“Oh! Are you hungry?” Leo suddenly asked, already jumping up anyway.

“Oh, uh–” Donnie stammered, trying to stop Leo from making a fuss. “I mean, I’m ok right now–”

But it was no use, Leo was already running off to the food machine at the back of the room. “Come on, you’ve been sleeping for forever, you haven’t eaten since breakfast yesterday. What kind of soup do you want?”

Donnie leaned back with a sigh, resigning to his fate. Leo was determined to soup his little brother back to health, and besides, he didn’t really mind. “Same as last time is fine, thanks.”

When Leo came back with a bowl of soup on a tray, Donnie grinned as Leo sat down beside him. The first time he’d had real food again, the soup Leo gave him yesterday, he was barely strong enough to hold the bowl and too weak to coordinate the spoon, so Leo fed it to him. This time, he was determined to prevent his big brother from having to do that again, and took the tray – God, a real tray with real food and clean water on it, it still blew his mind in the strangest way; these old, basic things shouldn’t feel so new and special. His arms were shaky, but he found he could handle the spoon as long as he gave himself breaks every few minutes.

Leo sat down on the edge of his mattress, pulling his mask down to rub his eyes before looking at the other two with a distant, tired expression. Donnie hesitated as he watched him, feeling that familiar pinch of worry again.

The worst part was that he had no idea what to do about his big brother. On one hand, he was certain he knew what was wrong – how could he not, after everything that had happened? Everything Leo knew had become his three baby brothers. Even since Donnie had woken up, Leo immediately had a strict meal plan for him – he was only allowed to start out with chicken broth in order to not shock his system; other things like boiled carrots and potatoes were being slowly re-introduced now. He never left their sides, he hardly seemed to eat or sleep himself, he jumped at the smallest things his little brothers did, he practically smothered Donnie with fussing and worry and paranoia, and just generally never looked ok.

On the other hand, though, as his experience normally went with Leo, he also had no idea what was wrong. Or, at least, how wrong things were, or what to do about it. There was a pain and edginess always in Leo’s face and actions, and he walked around like a ticking time bomb that could either explode or implode at any moment, and it left a heavy weight of worry in Donnie’s chest. But, in normal Leo fashion, he wouldn’t let anyone in on it, and nobody could try to help him without unintentionally setting him off. He especially wouldn’t tell any of his little brothers what was in his head, not when he had a score to settle.

After all…that dark look that had crossed Leo’s face when Honeycutt warned him about the “tourists” they might encounter was frozen in Donnie’s mind.

It was a big reason the two of them hadn’t talked about anything yet – Donnie was afraid it would just be too much right now. But he also knew something bad would happen if he didn’t help his big brother; just – where did he start with this?

It needed to happen soon, though, because it was getting harder every time to watch April come and check on him and bring him food and try to make him take care of himself with little success, as the worried lines in Leo’s face got deeper and the shake in his hands got worse; and Donnie got the distinct feeling from their interactions that Leo’s issues weren’t new to April.

How bad did Leo really get before they’d rescued them?

As he got to the bottom of the soup, he realized with all his deep thinking and worrying that he’d totally missed there were small pieces of chicken in the bowl. He wasn’t sure how he’d missed all of it without even thinking, but he was oddly excited to finally see meat again. He lifted the bowl – and hesitated, his fingers pressing hard against the ceramic.

All of a sudden, he thought of the days he and Mikey were wandering, looking for Raph, and Mikey found that grass that he ate. He remembered splitting up portions for all of them so they wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable with their empty stomachs, grinding it up for Mikey when he got sick. He saw the ink monsters in his head, sinking their teeth into each other…

Suddenly, the chicken made his stomach turn. He set the bowl and tray aside with a shiver, leaning back against the pillows with a sigh, satisfied without it. He just…needed some time before he could handle meat again.

Distracting himself from it, he focused again on his big brother. He was exhausted and felt sleep coming to take over again, which he was starting to find annoying – thanks, pain meds – but he couldn’t sleep with all this concern in his chest. The dark circles of exhaustion and stress under Leo’s eyes hadn’t faded in the slightest in the week since the rescue.

“Um, Leo…” he finally spoke up, getting the older’s attention. Leo blinked a few times before looking at him, and Donnie wasn’t sure if he pulled him out of deep thought or out of passing out, and tried to stop from feeling guilty. “Did something…happen while we were gone? Professor Honeycutt made a comment earlier…”

Blinking again in surprise, Leo made an odd cringe-expression and looked away. “Ah…don’t worry about it.”

“Leo…” Donnie stared at him flatly as Leo waved a nervous, dismissive hand at him.

“It’s not a big deal. Don’t listen to the Professor.”

“Leo, please.”

Leo looked like he was trying to think of a way to play it off, but when he turned to look back at Donnie he must have seen the seriousness and worry on his face, because he sighed and looked a the floor. Donnie waited apprehensively.

“…We were attacked a second time.” Leo finally mumbled, and there was a moment of delay before Donnie was leaning forward in shock.

“What? A second time?!”

“Yeah…” Leo looked him calmly. “It was the same guys. We think a small fleet ran into us again, and we had to fight them off. They…caused more damage to the ship, delaying the rescue even further.” Clear anger skimmed under the surface of Leo’s last sentence, and Donnie didn’t dare respond for a moment. Biting down the feeling tiredly, Leo turned his head in the other two’s direction and closed his eyes, as if he were in the middle of meditating. “But…we rescued you, and you’re all here now. That’s the important thing.”

Well, Donnie agreed with that. But…

He sat back a little, troubled. So something had happened while they were gone…Donnie knew that had several implications, but it was so much, and he was too exhausted right at the moment to process everything. Still, the most important part stood out at the front of his mind.

“Is everybody alright?” He asked anxiously, but Leo grinned at him.

“Of course we are, you’ve seen all of us. They really weren’t a threat, compared to the first fleet, but with the ship’s existing damage, we weren’t completely able to prevent them from doing more.” Pausing for a second, his smile dropped and he put his face in his hands. “I’m sorry it took us so long…”

“No!” Donnie cut him off, shooting up to reach for him, but his movement was too fast and his body tensed painfully.

“Donnie–”

Leo grabbed onto him and laid him back down with a worried expression, but Donnie’s pain faded after a minute and he sighed, trying to give Leo a reassuring look.

“No, Leo. Don’t blame yourself. None of you should. It’s not your fault what happened.”

It wasn’t of course, but yeah, they’d all been terrified that something had happened to everyone on the Ulixes, started to be afraid they wouldn’t come. But Donnie didn’t have the energy to think about that now, much less did Leo probably have the strength to hear it.

Leo didn’t argue with him, but he didn’t look convinced, either. Concerned, Donnie spoke up again, fighting to focus on his big brother.

“Leo…did something happen with you? During the second attack?”

Some sort of repressed pain clawed its way back onto his big brother’s face, along with a sudden sadness that immediately made Donnie’s heart hurt and made him regret asking. Before he could take it back, though, Leo gave him a sort of sad smile.

“Don…” He put his hand on Donnie’s feverish head in a comforting gesture. “…No, nothing happened. I just…wasn’t doing good, because I didn’t know if you all were ok. None of us were. That’s all.”

Donnie’s face sank. He knew that wasn’t all true, he could read it on Leo’s face so clearly that he wasn’t certain even Leo thought he was fooling him; in fact, the plainness of it gave Donnie a terrible, cold feeling that it had been much worse than he’d thought. But he couldn’t know exactly what happened, because that was clearly all he was getting out of Leo right now. He didn’t like any bit of this, but he didn’t want to hurt his big brother by pushing it.

Instead, he reached his arms up for a hug, and Leo’s face softened. He laid down beside his little brother and pulled him close, and Donnie held him as tight as he could, not intending it when he fell asleep just a minute later.

~

It was a few hours later, while Donnie was deep asleep, that Raph woke up.

For a little while, Leo had finally drifted to sleep in exhaustion, still huddled comfortably around Donnie. He had a blanket laid over him, evidently from when April and Casey checked in at some point. But when Raph woke up, crying out, he was quickly sitting upright in panic, his heart hammering.

“…Mikey, Donnie!” Raph suddenly cried, thrashing in his bed, but his eyes were closed. Leo’s heart leapt into his throat. Was Raph having a nightmare?!

“Raph!” He was beside the younger in an instant. He grabbed onto his arms, trying to calm him down enough to stop his thrashing – even with the arm of his injury held in place with a sling, he’d hurt his shoulder like this. “Raph, it’s ok! You’re ok! Donnie and Mikey are alright. It’s ok, Raph, I’m right here. Everything’s alright!”

Similarly to Donnie, though, Raph seemed to be in a daze and couldn’t hear him. Raph started panicking harder at Leo’s touch, so Leo reluctantly released him. Raph kicked his sheets off and scrambled backward, trembling hard with his free hand against his burning head. “Mikey! Donnie! Mikey!” He cried out, looking around fearfully but not really registering what he was seeing, tears streaming down his face with an expression of absolute terror. He was pale as a sheet, highlighting every cut and bruise on his face and peeking out from his heavily bandaged head; crying out for his little brothers like a parent in a warzone that had lost their kids. Leo was immediately grimacing against tears running from his eyes, wanting so desperately to just jump forward and squeeze his brother until he stopped trembling and crying, but he knew that would only make it so much worse and fiercely restrained himself, scrubbing his face.

“Raph, Raph look at me,” Leo crawled onto the mattress to be directly in Raph’s line of sight, reaching out to but not touching his terrified little brother. He spoke firmly but gently, trying his hardest to get Raph to focus on him. “Mikey and Donnie are ok. Raph, everything’s ok. Just breathe steady, alright? In and out.”

Raph only glanced at Leo a couple times as he continued looking around, not seeming to even recognize him. He was starting to pick up on his surroundings, though, driving his panic. He noticed the IV needle in his free arm and pawed at it with his slung arm with a scared whimper, but his trembling fingers wouldn’t cooperate, so he looked at the machine near him and started kicking in its direction. Leo jumped between him and the machine, trying to block Raph’s legs.

“Raph, no!”

“Raph?!”

Leo whipped around and saw Donnie sitting upright in bed, but Donnie didn’t look at him – he was staring at Raph with owlish eyes.

Finally, Raph quit kicking, looking at Donnie like he’d just noticed he was there. “Donnie!” He cried out, his voice broken with sobs. He weakly tried to crawl his way, but didn’t have the strength. Donnie immediately pulled his IV out of his arm, tumbling out of his own mattress but quickly collapsing to the floor. He was surprised that his limbs were about as useful as jelly, and despite his pain medication, every one of his injuries protested at his sudden movement, and he clenched his teeth to keep from crying out.

“DONNIE–!” Leo yelped with wide eyes, diving down to the younger. Donnie’s wrist was bleeding, but with an agonized expression, Leo carried the younger across the small gap between the beds and placed him near Raph before they both hurt themselves further, wrapping a nearby rag around Donnie’s wrist.

The two little brothers immediately broke down crying and latched onto each other, and for a moment, Leo was too afraid to do anything but watch them.

“Donnie,” Raph cried, sounding small and lost, and Leo started to realize Raph might not be fully conscious; he was acting like he was still caught in a horrible dream.

Leo’s heart started racing. Or, what if this was just the damage he’d suffered from the various conditions endangering his brain? Was Raph really unable to understand where he was or what was happening?

Did he remember Leo?

Suddenly, against his will, tears sprang to Leo’s eyes again; all he could do was sit there, staring helplessly. What if he didn’t? What if his ototo didn’t know who he was anymore?

Raph grabbed Donnie’s arm, desperate and terrified. “Mikey, Mikey, where’s Mikey–”

“Right over there.” Donnie sniffled, guiding Raph to look to his side. Raph’s eyes widened, seeing their baby brother laying prone on the mattress, cords and tubes attached to him.

“Mikey…” Raph’s voice wavered as he tried to stumble over, but Donnie held him still. Confused, Raph looked back at him, and that’s when he finally seemed to see Leo for the first time.

Leo sat frozen in front of them, tears running down his face as they stared at each other. He didn’t know if he could get closer, if he doesn’t know me, what if he doesn’t–

The tears streaking down Raph’s face came harder, and his face fell, reaching forward desperately for Leo. “Oniisan!”

Leo was leaping forward and wrapped around both of them before anybody could even take another breath.

“Ototo!” He cried, both he and Raph sobbing equally hard. “I’m right here, I’m right here, Ototo…” Oh, God! He remembered him! Leo couldn’t help crying uncontrollably, overwhelmed.

Sandwiched between the two, Donnie snuggled into Raph’s shoulder and couldn’t help but smile, despite the situation.

“Leo-nii, when, where did you…” Raph stammered, leaning back just enough to give his big brother a bewildered, terrified look, still looking fairly out of it. “Am I dreaming?” He asked, sounding small and scared. “Are you real? Don’t go away. I don’t wanna wake up. I don’t wanna wake up and you disappear!”

“Raph…” Leo couldn’t take this. He pulled the two of them snuggly into his shoulders, cocooning around them and hugging them fiercely. “I’m here, I’m right here, baby brother. I’m not going anywhere.” He spoke gently and soothingly, snuggling his head between theirs. “I’ll never, ever leave you.”

Raph latched on tightly, sobbing, and Leo rocked them both. He noticed that at some point, the Ulixes had stopped moving; Honeycutt must’ve sensed the distress from the two younger brothers – he might make an appearance in the main hub any minute, similar to how he’d rushed in some time after Donnie had first woken up. Sighing, he closed his eyes and turned to Raph, pressing his muzzle against his warm head.

Raph really was a lot worse than Donnie had first been – though, his head injuries were the worst out of the lot of them, and as he told Donnie, he’d been on heavy medication.

His poor little brothers…

“I swear, I’ll make it all better.” He promised in his head.

“Leo, Mikey…” Raph whimpered to him. “What’s wrong with–”

“He’s ok, he’s ok.” Leo hushed. “He’s just asleep. All that stuff is there to help him. He’ll be alright.” He consoled, nuzzling Raph’s gaze away from the youngest, trying to make him relax.

It wasn’t totally true. Their youngest wasn’t exactly ok – and he was in more of a coma than asleep, and there wasn’t a minute Leo stopped agonizing over the littlest. But none of them were really ok; and Raph had been in his own coma until just now, just like Donnie had been. He didn’t feel the need to stress them out unnecessarily by elaborating that to either of them, though.

After a short minute, Raph started to calm down – and as he did, started falling back asleep. Before long, his breathing had evened out and his trembles had ceased, still latched onto Leo as he breathed lightly with sleep.

Leo and Donnie looked at each other, and Leo let out another sigh, resting his head on Donnie’s. He took the younger’s wrist to properly tie the rag around it, and with his wrist tied, Donnie turned slowly and buried his face in Leo’s shoulder, clinging to him wordlessly. Wrapping tighter around both of them, Leo nuzzled his head back between theirs and held them, clenching his eyes shut against the unbearable ache in his chest from the space where the third was missing.

He heard running down the hallway a minute before Honeycutt was in the room, pausing as he spotted the three on Raph’s mattress and trotting over.

“What happened?” He asked quietly, stopping in front of the mattress with arms raised anxiously. “Donatello, what–?”

“He wanted to see Raph,” Leo explained, raising his head when Honeycutt came in. “Raph woke up, but he was really disoriented…”

Unperturbed, Honeycutt kneeled down beside them. “Let me do a check up.” He requested. Carefully, Leo gently laid Raph down, making sure he didn’t become stressed again – he was just as afraid to separate himself as Raph had been, even if just for a few minutes – but Raph’s face remained peaceful.

As Honeycutt knelt over him and started running tests, Leo lifted Donnie in his arms and carried him back to his own bed. He set him down gently, pulling the covers over him and grabbing his IV needle to clean it.

“You’ve got some nerve, I’ll tell you what.” He said quietly as he fussed with it. Donnie gave him a sheepish look. “I shouldn’t have to lecture you about how dangerous it is to just rip out your IV. If it had been deeper, your entire insides would be on the floor right now.”

Donnie cracked a grin at him. “That’s a little dramatic…” 

Leo grinned back, but it was strained. Taking Donnie’s un-wrapped wrist, he re-inserted the needle, scoffing lightly. “Dramatic…you’ll understand dramatic if you do it again. Threefold if you sling yourself out of bed like that again, too. You’re still injured, you know. And you don’t have the strength to move around yet! If you pull any more shenanigans, I’m gonna roll you over on your face…”

When Donnie laid his hand over Leo’s, the oldest’s cracked grin finally dropped. Donnie gave him a gentle smile, and he didn’t have to say anything. Letting out a shaky sigh, Leo scrubbed his other hand over his face.

Suddenly, he heard April and Casey running down the hallway, and a second later they were there, too. “Hey!” Casey called out. “Everything alright?”

Leo tensed, startled at his human brother’s volume. “Shh-shhh!” He anxiously hushed Casey, pointing to Raph. Casey cringed and froze like a statue, both teens looking on with wide eyes at the second turtle to evidently come out of his coma. Raph stirred a little but stayed in his peaceful slumber, and April gave Casey a scolding look. She walked a little closer to the group.

“Is Raph ok? We noticed the ship stopped.” She asked quietly.

Finishing his exam of Raph’s vitals, Honeycutt looked over at them all. “His pulse was rather quick there for a moment, but he seems to have calmed down alright.” He informed them.

“Did you – did you notice anything at all that seems unusual?” Leo asked desperately. “I mean…I know he’s been on a lot of medication, but…”

Honeycutt put his fingers thoughtfully to his metal chin. “No, nothing is unusual – he has no damage that should cause permanent cognitive change, if that is what you mean. You are correct – his disorientation would simply be the medication, perhaps coupled with some of the effects of his recovery process. He did not seem heavily concussed in one place, but rather took many hard blows that…”

Honeycutt trailed off as he looked at Donnie, and when Leo looked down, he noticed his little brother was starting to cry. Panicking a little, he leaned over.

“Donnie?” He asked worriedly, but Donnie shook his head.

“S-sorry.” He scrubbed his eyes as if frustrated. “I just…” He paused, his face contorting with clear anger, but they couldn’t tell what it was for, tears running down his face against his will. “I…I told him so.” He looked over at Raph, and Leo was shocked to see Donnie go from hugging his brother one minute to looking like he wanted to punch him, now. “I fucking told you so, you hard-ass!” Donnie croaked quietly. He lightly hit the mattress with a fist before putting his arms over his face to hide his breakdown.

Leo’s face sank, and by the way Honeycutt’s shoulders did the same – and the awful looks on April’s and Casey’s faces – everyone else probably felt the same as he did. Leo and Honeycutt looked at each other over Donnie.

Honeycutt looked down at Raph one last time and put a comforting hand on his chest before standing and walking beside Donnie, only pausing for a second to kneel. “You should rest Donatello. Do you need anything?”

“N-no…I’m fine, thank you, Professor.” Donnie sniffled in response without coming out of hiding.

Nodding, giving Leo’s shoulder a pat, Honeycutt stood again and began leaving the room. “April, Casey, let’s give them some space–” He started quietly.

“Donnie,” Casey suddenly spoke over him, looking over at Donnie with a determined expression, and everyone stared at him, startled. Surprised, Donnie looked over at him, eyes red.

April’s face drew together with frustration. “Casey,” She hissed, “Don’t bother him–”

“N-no,” Donnie placated. “It’s…it’s ok. What is it, Casey?”

Ignoring the others, Casey’s face twisted with emotional strain at his friend’s tired, red eyes, but he did his best to look tough. “Don’t worry too much, alright? Leo might think he’s cool an’ all…but Casey Jones is lookin’ out for all of ‘ya, too. So…let me know if you need anything, ‘k?”

Donnie looked at him quietly for a moment before responding, surprised by this declaration. Not that he doubted his friend before, but…finally, he gave a small nod. “Thanks, Casey.” Relaxing a little, he forced himself to make a small grin in return, because Casey deserved the effort – both of his human siblings did. “Thanks for everything…I’m glad you’re here.”

Leo turned to the teen with a good-humored grin, clearly echoing Donnie’s statement. Smiling back at both of them, Casey turned and left, but not before his gaze lingered on Leo with what Donnie definitely thought was a kind of somberness and concern in his eyes that looked uncharacteristic on him – though of the four of them, Donnie figured he knew Casey the least well.

At least, by the way his big brother’s eyes lowered a little, he got the feeling that there was definitely something he wasn’t picking up.

Blinking, April trotted out after him, and Honeycutt followed them at an even pace; and when Donnie looked up at his big brother, Leo was watching the doorway after they’d left, looking deep in thought.

Despite the situation, it was an expression Donnie was so used to on the oldest that it almost made him grin.

Leo was leaning on one arm, so Donnie reached over to poke his hand. Leo blinked back to the present and looked at Donnie, and the younger smiled at him, hoping to cheer him up a little. He felt bad for breaking down and stressing his big brother out again.

“Why so distant, ‘Nii?”

Pausing for a second, Leo gave him a warm smile before poking his little brother’s snout, making him giggle.

“Don’t you poke me! I don’t remember you having the authorization. I’m going to have to give you a citation!”

Donnie scoffed. “I don’t take citations.”

“Oh yeah? You’re under arrest!”

Leo pulled a sheet over Donnie’s face and held it there, and Donnie laughed, trying to fight it off. When he pushed the sheet away, though, Leo’s smile had dropped and he was looking back over at Raph. Donnie followed his gaze and could guess what his big brother was thinking.

“You should go to Raph,” Donnie suggested, and Leo turned quickly to look at him with wide, surprised eyes. “I don’t want him to wake up thinking he’s alone again.”

Leo suddenly looked torn and worried. “Are you sure? I don’t wanna leave you, but…I mean, he was panicking and really upset, and…but I don’t want you to–”

“Do you think if you stress enough, you can teach yourself to split in two? It’s fine, Onii.” Donnie laughed. Returning a thoughtful grin, Leo took Donnie’s hand, apparently really anxious about such a small thing.

“You gonna be ok?”

“Of course I will.” Donnie said plainly, his smile widening. “You’ll only be, like, two feet away.”

Finally feeling a little more confident about moving, Leo smiled and gave Donnie’s hand a squeeze before going to sit beside Raph, checking on him. Donnie watched with a grin – but now that his big bother wasn’t watching, his face sank a little.

There was so much Leo wasn’t telling him.

He couldn’t help but stare, worrying about his big brother, who was so exhausted that he didn’t even feel Donnie’s eyes on his shell as he sat beside Raph, looking every little bandage and appliance over.

But Donnie was coming to find that his energy was very slow in coming back, and he could only stay awake for so long; he was already starting to drift off again. He was still in the middle of his thoughts before he realized he’d fallen asleep, watching the other two.

~

Raph didn’t come around as quickly as Donnie had – the heavy medication which kept his shoulder infection subdued, dangerously close his concussed and feverish head, kept him asleep much more often than Donnie, as Honeycutt made sure to reassure them several times. A couple days later, though, he finally woke up longer than a few minutes when Leo was able to get a full bowl of warm soup into him, and it was really this achievement at which everyone released their held breath and felt some real relief for Raph. He was still quite a bit disoriented, but calm at least, and seemed mostly aware of what was going on, now. He did talk coherently (though only in short, mumbly replies to basic inquiries, which obviously hurt his head, so nobody was pushing him); and as far as everyone could tell, Raph was going to be just fine – as long as he could fight off this infection and start getting some strength back.

And it was just a few minutes after that bowl of soup, during the two seconds Leo left them to put the dishes away, that Raph turned his head and looked at Donnie. Surprised and worried, Donnie held his gaze, but he immediately realized Raph wasn’t in any kind of daze – he was definitely as clear-headed as possible as he stared at Donnie with tired, but very intentional eyes; and with that look, he communicated so much – comfort, questions, obvious worry about Leo, an are you both ok and an I’m alright, and despite everything else, a heavy weight of relief on his face that was somehow still trying to process that they’d really made it out. And, maybe it was his own exhaustion, or maybe it was the feeling that this unspoken conversation was the first one he’d had with his brothers about what happened since they’d been rescued, but Donnie couldn’t help the tears that suddenly ran down his face. In answer to everything, he closed his eyes for a minute, giving a heavy sigh and looking at the floor. Raph’s eyelids lowered a little and his mouth pulled into a straighter line, but then he rolled his head away and closed his eyes, falling asleep just seconds later.

Donnie found it especially surprising that, even with all the fog in his head, even Raph was worried about their oldest. He already knew they were going to be talking in the near future.

And it definitely didn’t help their oldest brother’s nerves when he came back to see Donnie suddenly crying out of nowhere, but what could he do?

 

And then, the next day, Mikey woke up.

Though, ‘woke up’ wasn’t quite as accurate as ‘momentarily came out of his coma’.

The other two were asleep, and Leo was sitting on the floor between them, his shell against the wall and curled up in a ball to rest his head. He’d just checked on Mikey only thirty minutes before, but his youngest had been the same as ever, so he was forlornly sitting there listening for movement and worrying about all of them, as usual…lost in thought about everything that had happened over the last few months and where they were now. So, when he heard the littlest one start whimpering, he jolted up in shock.

“Mikey?” He automatically said, watching the youngest to see if he was really awake. But his eyes were closed, and the most movement he was making was some weak squirming on the mattress.

He shot over to his baby brother, trying to be ready this time – he hoped he knew what to expect, after Donnie and Raph, so he hovered over him and made sure all the medical equipment was securely attached. But, Mikey didn’t shoot up in a panic like the other two had – he didn’t really wake up at all. He just kept whimpering and squirming, and it was quickly turning to crying sounds as his breathing turned faster and more shallow inside the ventilator.

“Mikey?!” Leo was bent over him now, hands gently on each side of his hot face. Why did it always happen like this?! “Mikey, it’s ok, just relax. Just breath deeply, go slow, ok? Everything’s ok,” He tried to console, not sure Mikey could hear him – was he just having a nightmare? – but it quickly became obvious that it wasn’t helping. Mikey’s crying was mixing with groans of pain now, and his weak hands started clawing at his wrapped-up stomach, and Leo immediately started to panic.

This time he noticed the Ulixes suddenly stopping, sending some small things sliding and rolling across their surface. Honeycutt probably also noticed Mikey’s awakening, but the new urgency and suddenness with which he grinded the ship to a hault gave Leo an even worse feeling.

“Mikey, it’s ok, everything’s alright,” He tried to soothe, not bothering to be quiet anymore as he desperately flung the wrappings off of his mummified midsection to look for what was wrong. But, he couldn’t see anything different – not that it was easy to tell, his plastron was just a canvass of different colors to start with – and Mikey’s distress only worsened. The youngest brother clawed limply at his chest and stomach as if in awful pain and his weak voice cried out with high-pitched, wilting sobs and anguish, and it was grating every fried nerve in Leo’s body.

“Leo?” He heard Donnie suddenly ask, and he looked back at his other little brother just long enough to see the situation click in the sleepy turtle’s fuzzy brain and shock clear it away, quickly sitting up. “Mikey…?” Beside him, Raph moaned and blinked awake, turning his head toward them and clearly also registering something was wrong.

“Stay in bed, Donnie,” Leo ordered, and turned back to the youngest, trying to stop freaking out and miserably failing. “Mikey, Mikey!” He held one of his clawing hands down against his chest, trying to comfort him and hold him back while he uselessly felt around his stomach and tried to figure out what to do to make it better, but he couldn’t even figure out what was wrong, he was just suddenly hyperventilating and crying and writhing in pain, and Leo didn’t have the first clue what was happening and oh God what if he was just dying and there was already nothing he could do–

Leo felt his chest clench painfully, fluttering at the terrible memory that shot back to his mind from that other planet – his orange aura, that piece of Leo’s soul, just blinking out of existence–  

“Michelangelo?!” Honeycutt was suddenly charging in, sliding across the floor to a stop. He bolted to the young turtle’s mattress immediately and started an examination.

“It’s alright, little one, relax,” The robot strained, trying to sound gentle as he and Leo fought around Mikey’s arms so he could get to the sensor on his chest, which gave him better access to investigate more directly into what was going on. Leo gently held Mikey’s arms down to keep his hands away, trying to talk to him soothingly.

Telltale footsteps pounding down the hallway soon turned into April and Casey charging in, looking worried. “Mikey-?” April asked inquisitively, but they both froze at the scene.

“L-let me see him,” Donnie was leaning towards them, almost tumbling off his mattress, looking incredibly panicked. Raph only had the strength to watch them silently, but he stared at the younger with clearly as much anxiety as Donnie. “I need to make sure he’s–”

“Donnie, stay put,” Leo repeated, giving Donnie a warning look.

“I’m…I’m not quite sure what is the matter.” Honeycutt answered, which definitely did not make the three older brothers’ stomachs drop into their guts like bricks, and he didn’t quite notice the way they all blanched. “His heartrate started picking up, so I thought he must be waking up. However, his stress quickly accelerated, and his midsection is all seizing up in his panic, which seems to be upsetting him further. He must be in terrible pain–”

“He’s crying.” Raph suddenly graveled out, and everyone looked at him in surprise. However, Raph’s eyes didn’t leave Mikey’s face for a moment, looking at him intensely.

Mikey had been making lilting whimpers of agony for several minutes, but now actual tears were beginning to roll down, too. Raph rolled his head back to Donnie, looking at him worriedly. “He’s not just in pain.” He mumbled roughly. “He’s scared…”

The type of spooked expression that crossed Donnie’s face, and the way they’d both become so pale so quickly, spooked the hell out of Leo; and that agonizing pain in his heart he’d been feeling since the moment he lost the three of them, right then, became a thousand times worse.

“…I brought a sedative. I need to administer it quickly to relax him, or else he may have a seizure.” Honeycutt explained, already holding up the syringe as if asking for permission.

Hands shaking a little, Leo nodded, holding onto the smallest to try to comfort him while he watched with terrible worry as Honeycutt administered the fluid into Mikey’s arm. Mikey flinched and his hands shot up at his midsection again, crying louder and clearly thinking he was being attacked. Despite the sedative, his trembling quickly became worse. Leo had to help somehow–

“Leo,” Donnie called out fearfully, making like he was going to pull his IV out again and stumble over anyway. “Raph’s right –  Mikey’s – Mikey’s scared. H-he needs–”

Before Donnie got a chance to pull his tubes out, though, Leo leaned down and wrapped around Mikey in a gentle hug. Donnie and Raph clearly understood what was happening better than he did, knowing whatever it was that Mikey was scared of, as much as that hurt him; but if he was scared, then he knew what his baby brother needed, too. He squeezed him as close as he dared and snuggled the crying turtle into his shoulder, as much as he could with the ventilator in the way.

“Shh-shhh…” He hushed, using his weight to trap Mikey’s arms before he hurt himself and apply light pressure to his hurting torso. Mikey struggled for a few seconds, still trying to claw at the agony in his stomach, but somehow he seemed to realize whose arms he was in and his struggling quickly relaxed, leaving him crying and hyperventilating.

“That’s right, it’s ok, baby brother.” Leo whispered, nuzzling his head comfortingly. “Just breathe. You’re gonna be ok…Onii’s got you. Just focus on me…”

Honeycutt sat quietly beside the two with a finger on Mikey’s pulse, emoting closed eyes in concentration as he apparently monitored Mikey’s internal activity. Donnie and Raph watched anxiously, afraid to take their eyes off the youngest; Donnie was so close to jumping over there anyway, but he knew it would upset Leo, so he unhappily sat where he was, watching to see if his baby brother needed him. April and Casey watched silently, waiting to see if their little brother took a turn for the worst, too afraid to make a sound.

Gradually, Mikey’s gasping and crying out in pain died down to light crying, and his tense fidgeting relaxed into Leo’s hug.

Watching them, Raph’s face pinched with emotion, looking at his poor crying baby brother and wishing so hard that he could get up and go hug him, himself. “Ototo,” He mumbled roughly, sounding gentle. “It’s not around anymore, Mikey. It ain’t gonna get you. We’re all right here, we’re all safe and you are too. Onii’s finally back, remember? Nothing’s gonna get ‘ya…ok?”

Onii’s finally back. Leo’s heart broke all over again, squeezing his eyes shut and aching even more right then to pull them all into his arms and hold them for the rest of his life.

As Raph talked to their baby brother, his crying eased and his trembling died when his middle finally relaxed, and the sedative slowly sent him back to sleep.

Sighing shakily, Leo dropped into Mikey’s shoulder. “He’s gonna be alright.” He thought to himself desperately, fighting back tears. “He’s not dying. He’s gonna be fine. Ok? Stop freaking out, he’s not dying, you know that. He’s gonna be ok…”

Honeycutt seemed to finally relax too, letting Mikey’s wrist go and opening his eyes to give them a relieved look. “He seems to be stable again, based on all my readings.” He reported, though his eyes turned sad, looking at Leo. “I’m sorry. My computers and gadgets were not meant for this…I made these sensors compatible specially for this occasion, but they are still not perfect. If I had better tools, maybe I could…”

“Don’t,” Leo interrupted him, looking up at Honeycutt with a small, meaningful smile. “You saved their lives several times already, Professor.”

He looked at Raph next, who was still staring at Mikey, along with Donnie. Raph’s words were still hanging heavily in his mind – it’s not around anymore. Was it ok to ask? He wondered. Did Raph even have the energy to explain? Did either of them even want to? He was so uncertain, but so worried…

Turns out he didn’t need to ask in the end, because Casey took a tentative step toward them all, his hands slightly trembling and looking more afraid than he ever normally did, giving Raph a wide-eyed look. They all had the same concerns, it seemed. “…Raph?” He asked, sounding just as afraid as he looked, and April held her hands to her chest beside him. “W-what happened to Mikey? What’s he afraid of ‘getting him’?”

Everyone watched Raph and Donnie, who still looked sickly pale. The two of them looked at each other.

“He…” Raph started, but choked and had to pause. The face of the monster from the planet flashed in his memory, its red eyes glowing through the sheets of rain as it chased them off the planet. Picking up his little brothers and running from it, Mikey curling up in pain on the ground at random times when he’d gotten sick. Him and Donnie freezing, cowering beside each other, whispering and exchanging looks of dread, all of them wishing they could just sink into the ground.

Both of them seemed to be thinking of the same things now. Raph immediately knew he couldn’t explain it all yet, not without breaking down. He knew Donnie was the same; but at the same time, they wanted everyone to know. They wanted them to understand the seriousness of what they went through; to hopefully understand Mikey’s condition better, to hopefully have better chances helping him recover.

“…Y’guys remember the biggest one? The dragon-looking one, with the red eyes?” Raph asked quietly, looking at everyone.

“Biggest one–?” April started, but cut off and went pale. Not totally trusting his voice to say a lot, Raph looked back at Donnie again, and they looked at each other sadly. He didn’t have the strength to describe everything it did, but it appeared the implication was enough to answer their question. They all looked sick; Honeycutt went from kneeling to sitting. Leo slowly sat up on his elbows, looked abjectly mortified, clutching the mattress as if prepared to jump up at the slightest sudden movement; the same sort of tense as Raph remembered him getting when Shredder was around.

Raph sighed. “It had a…really dark aura. Mikey felt it comin’.” He explained.

“And Raph knew when it was around,” Donnie added, looking at Leo with matching seriousness. “But Mikey would get sick. So…his messed-up stomach must feel to him like it’s around, sometimes.”

The looks of grief aimed at Mikey contrasted with the peace now on the younger’s warm face. Nobody knew what to say about something so terrible, something they couldn’t do anything about.

Leo couldn’t stop the tears that came to his eyes, so he leaned back down and mashed his face into Mikey’s pillow, cradling his terribly sick baby brother close. Mikey weakly snuggled his head closer, seeking warmth, and his shallow breathing sounded rough through the ventilator.

Leo’s face drew together tensely, mouth in a tight line.

“It’s gonna be ok…it’s gonna be ok…it’s gonna be ok.”

Notes:

Yikes! That update took a while, sorry guys! I had a hard time with this chapter because there was just SO much information and I kept running out of steam trying to make it mesh. And there's still more to cover! But I estimate we've only got one more chapter left, so things will wrap up really soon. And in case anyone notices, sorry for the coinciding ff.net update taking a while longer than this one, ff.net is just incredibly much more of a hassle to use and it's 4am rn.

I think I'm gonna cry when I mark this story as complete. It's been such a big lovechild project of mine for SUCH a long time now, I'm gonna have a hard time comprehending when it's over. But I have many more projects on the way after, so it won't be long before you guys hear from me again when it is finished. :)

Until then, though, they've gotta get Mikey in the clear, and Leo, too. How hard is it going to be?! You'll have to find out next chapter...

Notes:

Hey y'all! You might recognize me or this story from fanfiction.net. Rest assured it is really me! You can check my other account on ff.net for proof, I've announced my new AO3 account there.
I wanted to add an account here since it seems like a lot of people use AO3. If you haven't seen me before, nice to meet ya, and thanks for reading!
(Thanks to readers for helping me figure this wonky website out!)

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of The Space Side-Quest