Mourning Glories

by LucaWrites

Summary:

It started with an innocent botany shop.

And ended with a missing piece of their family.

Chapter 1: Donatello

Summary:

“They misspelled the ‘morning’, Nardo,” he said, pointing to the white label.

Leo looked away from his phone and down to the pot Donnie was squatting beside, before crouching down beside him.
“Huh.”

His twin leaned a little closer, and Donnie saw his bright indigo eyes and the red crescent-shaped markings on his face begin to subtly glow. His mystic sense.

Donnie activated his own mystic sense, and had to squint a little at the energy radiating from the innocent-looking blooms. He began trying to parse what the energy was, and why it seemed so…hungry.

‘MOURNING GLORIES’

The letters were handwritten in all caps on the label, stuck into the soil of a pot of dirt with a small trellis and green vines winding around it. Purple and yellow flowers bloomed from the vines, seeming to glow because of the light-coloured centres.

Donnie and his family were on an outing through the Hidden city, having found some time to go out together. The turtles were consistently impressed by how they had no need to hide themselves from the other yokai and the occasional humans. Though Draxum was still a wanted man and Arachne didn’t want to be bothered on her outing, so the two of them wore disguises.

He and Leo had split off together, mostly because Leo didn’t have anywhere in mind to go to and Donnie wanted to research plants. They decided on going to a pseudo-mountainous area, filled with foliage that Donnie had never seen before. Leo watched with a smile as Donnie darted through the area, recording new flora and talking about his discoveries all the while.

They came across what looked to be a store. 

The walls were all made of glass, resembling a modern store that stuck out among the foliage. There was a sign over the entrance that read ‘Shokubutsu-gaku Mise’, and the ‘o’ in ‘Shokubutsu’ was what looked to be an orange marigold.

And when the twins entered out of curiosity, being hit with the smell of soil and plants, they—well, Donnie, at least—was drawn to the lone pot of morning glories. It was the only pot of the purple blooms in the entire store. The other shelves had pots of bright marigolds, bloodred spiderlilies, white chrysanthemums, and crimson poppies. Indigo hyacinths, pale lilies, black roses and multicoloured gladioluses. They were all beautiful, Donnie wished he could make his flowers at home look like them.

But only one pot of morning glories. Well, ‘Mourning’ glories, apparently.

Donnie tilted his head, before nudging Leo in the leg with an elbow. 

“They misspelled the ‘morning’, Nardo,” he said, pointing to the white label.

Leo looked away from his phone and down to the pot Donnie was squatting beside, before crouching down beside him. 

“Huh.”

His twin leaned a little closer, and Donnie saw his bright indigo eyes and the red crescent-shaped markings on his face begin to subtly glow. His mystic sense.

Donnie activated his own mystic sense, and had to squint a little at the energy radiating from the innocent-looking blooms. He began trying to parse what the energy was, and why it seemed so…hungry.

“Found what you’re looking for, kappa?” an unfamiliar voice asked, and Donnie’s focus shattered as he nearly jumped out of his skin. He and Leo whipped around to see a senior-aged human, who had white-streaked black hair and was wearing a green apron with a nametag that read, ‘Hideri’.

He stammered for a moment, still processing the scare.

He heard Leo sigh heavily beside him, before the slider stood.

“Sorry, Ms…Hideri. We’re still looking, arigatogozaimasu.” The slider added a little bow at the end.

Hideri laughed lightly. “Well, aren’t you a polite young gentleman? Let me know if you need anything, dear.”

“We will, thank you.”

She walked away from them, and Donnie realized then that there was no one else in the entire store. There was something off about this place. He exchanged a look with Leo, who signalled that he echoed the heebie-jeebie feeling in his face.

They walked around the store for a little while longer, just to be polite, but the creepy feeling left neither of them even as they pretended to analyze different plants and flowers. Donnie knew that Leo was still creeped out, because his gaze kept subtly darting around their surroundings, jumping between whatever plant he was pretending to be interested in and looking for…something. Maybe Hideri, Donnie could tell she gave both of them the creeps. The two of them were slowly moving closer and closer, an echo chamber of wariness and growing adrenaline against the wrong-ness.

They were getting ready to leave when Hideri stopped them.

She looked directly at Donnie, spearing him on her gaze, and asked, “So, have you found what you’re looking for, little purple kappa?”

Donnie instinctively glanced away. His brain—for some reason—settled on the morning glories. He didn’t notice that she singled him out, but Leo did, throwing a sideways panicked glance to his twin. 

“Well, I was just wondering about those morning glories—”

“Mourning glories.”

Donnie paused. He looked back up at the woman. “What?”

“They’re mourning glories.” The smile never left her face. It was starting to unsettle him. “Not ‘morning’ glories. Mourning glories.”

“...So, the label isn’t misspelled?”

Hideri laughed again. The first time she laughed, he was fine with it. The second time was vaguely patronizing and insinuated that she knew a lot more than he did, and was also…creepy. 

He tuned out Hideri’s next words, mind half-clouded by primal, instinctive fear that was creeping over him for an unknown reason and struggling to focus on reaching out to Leo and tapping the back of his shell with his nail, where she couldn’t see; three short taps, three long taps, three short taps. 

‘SOS’.

“Well, Ms. Hideri, ma’am, we’re going to be heading out,” Leo said with a smile, getting his twin’s message loud and clear as the softshell withdrew his hand. His voice was unwaveringly clear and confident in a way that Donnie’s could never be at the moment. His smile looked unbothered, but Donnie knew it was just a practiced mask. “Thank you for giving us some time to look around your store.” He added a little bow at the end, probably hoping that it would speed up their exit with little additional questioning. “It’s indubitably one of the best botany shops we’ve visited.”

Donnie began following Leo to the door when a hand wrapped around his wrist, stopping him in place. He turned, registering Hideri’s hand holding onto his arm.

“Before you leave, little purple kappa, I have something to show you in the back room.”

Something was pulling at him. Not physically, but spiritually. The same tugging prevented him from glancing back at his twin.

“Hermanito?”

“Okay,” he said, the word out of his mouth before he even thought it. He didn’t like where this was going, how it felt like he was in danger, but—he was being paranoid. Hideri had such a kind, honest look on her face, why wouldn’t he trust her? And the back room was just that; a room. He had no reason to be scared.

“Donnie.”

“Perfect! Follow me, little purple kappa!”

“Donatello!”

Someone was calling him. But he didn’t respond, laser-focused on the back room Hideri was leading him to. 

Someone put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. He looked back, recognizing Leo, his brother, his twin, his other half. 

Something’s wrong. What’s going on?

He saw Hideri walk around him, towards Leo. Leo grabbed the nearest metal thing—a metal rod acting as a trellis for a winding plant—and yanked it out of the dirt, breaking it in two before creating his katana with a flash of bright blue and dropping into an offensive stance.

“Useful,” Hideri said. Her voice sounded different than the one she used when she spoke with them before. “But we don’t need you yet.”

She held up a hand. 

Donnie fought against the haze in his mind, trying to help Leo, trying to break away from the control so he could run, and Leo could follow—

A blast shot from her hand, hitting Leo in the plastron and sending him out of the store through the doors. A distant part of him noticed that his swords were left behind, and the flowers absorbed the blue ninpo greedily, leaving nothing behind.

Whatever he was scared about was gone. 

And as he turned back around, following Hideri, Donnie was left wondering why his heart was beating a mile a minute.

They made it to the back room, and he didn’t notice anything other than the flowers. 

Morning Mourning glories clawed over the walls. The blooms were fully and truly glowing, with a hungry light. 

He was starving. 

But he ate a fairly large meal right before they left for the Hidden City, which was around two and a half hours ago…how was he hungry already?

Hideri stood aside, and motioned for him to go in. 

He did.

She followed him in after he crossed the threshold, closing the door behind them. 

A familiar bright orange flame burned through the haze. The feeling of wrong-ness slammed into him all at once, nearly making his knees buckle beneath his weight. His fight or flight instinct kicked in, before settling on ‘fight’.

He grabbed a nearby trowel that was hanging on the wall, aiming to turn it into his bo to fend off Hideri and the creepy mourning glories, who were getting closer to him. He backed towards the door, raising the trowel. Again, she was superimposed by the image of a hooded figure, their face shrouded in shadow.

But as his ninpo crackled, the energy was sucked out of his hands.

Towards the mourning glories.

He felt his muscles weaken as the glow of the mourning glories increased. The vines spread towards him, reaching for him, clawing for him—

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit—

He gave up on trying to fight back, giving in to the ‘flight’ response, smacking the door behind him a few times, looking for the doorknob while keeping his eyes on Hideri—

It was a wall. 

It was a wall, where was the door, where, where, where?

While searching desperately for the exit, he sent a frantic, panicked distress signal out to his family through his ninpo. He felt it being received, cupped gently by red crackling energy, but then it was cut off by a feeling of gnawing hunger.

He was alone.

Hideri—if that was even her name—lunged. She grabbed the collar of his purple hoodie and threw him towards the waiting mourning glories. 

Ghostly figures leaked from the blooms. They vaguely reminded him of his ancestors, but other than that, there was no resemblance. His ancestors were warm and loving. A little silly, just like him and his brothers. These were cold and hungry. 

They gathered around him, pulling his being apart, digging for his ninpo, hungry, starving, ravenous . 

He felt them find it. 

He felt them encircle their claws around it.

No, no, no—

Notes:

I now have 3 different ways I name chapters >:3

Fun fact! All the flowers in the store are death-related in some way! Look it up, it's fun.

I imagine that Leo calls Donnie "hermanito" and Donnie calls Leo "frérot". Because of my HC that they don't know who's older, and they don't care except for when they want drama.

Me when I push my "the disaster twins secretly don't care who's older" agenda:

I also love pushing my multilingual turtles agenda.

BTW they're probably uhhhhh 16-18? I think...I kinda wanna keep them as teens, but then it makes the timing kinda tight bc the movie happens when they're 15-17...maybe young adults will also work? They're somewhere from late teens-early adult ToT

Chapter 2: Leonardo

Summary:

Tears dripped down his face, his silent tears somehow making Mikey’s worse.

“He’s gone,” he rasped, “and it’s my fault.”

“It’s not, Lee—” April began, pulling away just a little from the hug, but Leo cut her off with an aggressive shake of his head.

“I knew. As soon as we stepped in there I knew something was off but he was having so much fun, I—I thought—”

CJ took that moment to walk in and say, “I checked his health monitors and his heart is still going—” before cutting himself off as he noticed the people surrounding two crying turtles.

He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

“Ah. Um…” He did little jazz hands. “Good news?”

Leo’s ears rang, his vision blurry as he tried to process where and what he was doing. The last thing he remembered was the creepy lady holding up a hand, then getting blasted backwards, his katana falling from his hands, Donnie—

Donnie.

The thought rang loud in his head, making him jolt up into a sitting position. It made his vision swim and the swimming vision compounded nausea he didn’t even notice at first. 

He definitely had a minor concussion at the very least. Maybe a small hairline crack in his shell, considering the fact that he was in the wreckage of a tree and he wasn’t paralyzed with pain, but he had no idea until he would be able to get a look at it. 

He forced his way through his imbalance, through the swimming vision and the nausea, struggling to stand and make his way back to the store to get Donnie away from that weird lady. 

You knew it felt weird, he chastised himself. You knew, but you let him go anyway. And now he’s got got, and now you’ve gotta get him out.

But the self-lecture still didn’t drown out the voice that said, Your fault. Your fault your fault your fault yourfaultyourfaultyoyrfaultyourfault—

There was a feeling that the world was off-kilter that cut off the spiral. 

Then he felt the distress signal sent via their ninpo connection, rife with panic and fear. 

Then the connection to Donnie abruptly snapped off.

The feeling of his connection to Donnie being severed was so strong his knees nearly buckled beneath his weight.

Do not fall over . You just stood up. He could feel the panic setting in, the biting voice in his head got louder, but he shoved it down. He could freak out later, he needed to contact the rest of his family first. With shaking hands, he pulled out his phone, which was vibrating with multiple, multiple incoming messages. They were all directed at Leo and Donnie, begging for one of them to answer. 

 

RAPHIE: where’s donnie’s ninpo??

PRILLIE: i stg if neither of them answer im gonna pull out the bat

YOU: soooioo

CASEY (JR): thank god 

PRILLIE: thank god fr

YOU: bad news

PRILLIE: im still bringing out the bat tho

RAPHIE: raph knows there’s bad news!

RAPHIE: mikey’s freaking out!

RAPHIE: what is the bad news??

 

Leo hissed through his teeth. While Leo and Donnie’s ninpo were tightly connected, Mikey’s ninpo was the next most-connected to Donnie. It probably sucked for him, too, the aching emptiness, the feeling of something missing.

 

YOU: the bad news is i have no idea what hapepned to donnie

PRILLIE: WHAT

CASEY (JR): oh no

RAPHIE: wdym??

YOU: um

YOU: we went into a store and the worker mysticed me out

 

He looked back up at the store and saw that it was gone. 

Wonderful, he thought sarcastically to himself, with a little delirium and barely tamped-down panic for his twin. 

 

YOU: also the store is gone

YOU: now

 

There were a tense few moments that left Leo alone with his thoughts enough that he thought he might actually begin his freakout/breakdown, but before he started spiralling, Splinter texted. 

 

DAD: Meet us at the Grand Nexus Hotel, Blue. Tell us if you can’t portal, and Arachne will create one for us.

 

Then Splinter added,

 

DAD: It’s not your fault.

 

He looked up and blinked a few times to stave off the oncoming tears, before deciding a freakout/breakdown could wait. He pulled a piece of metal out of one of the pouches at his waist, before manifesting one of his katana, and slicing a portal to the Grand Nexus Hotel.

As he stepped out, he was instantly rammed into by something. His instincts made his ninpo blaze before he realized it was Mikey, tightly wrapping his limbs around his older brother. 

The box turtle was sobbing violently, each draw of breath racking his not-as-tiny body. Leo could feel tears dripping onto his shoulder, rolling into his shell.  

He carefully sat down, setting his katana down so he could wrap the other arm around Mikey. He looked up to see the rest of his family looking down at him, concerned. 

“Hi,” he said, trying and failing for a grin as he squeezed Mikey. 

His family stooped down to his level and wrapped him in a somber group hug. 

His eyes burned. He could feel the breakdown coming. Don’t, don’t, don’t—

Tears dripped down his face, his silent tears somehow making Mikey’s worse.

“He’s gone ,” he rasped, “and it’s my fault.”

“It’s not, Lee—” April began, pulling away just a little from the hug, but Leo cut her off with an aggressive shake of his head. 

“I knew. As soon as we stepped in there I knew something was off but he was having so much fun, I—I thought—”

CJ took that moment to walk in and say, “I checked his health monitors and his heart is still going—” before cutting himself off as he noticed the people surrounding two crying turtles. 

He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. 

“Ah. Um…” He did little jazz hands. “Good news?”

There was a shocked silence. 

Leo burst out laughing, a sound not so far removed from the sobbing coming from the loss of his other half. It was a little hysterical. 

“Holy shit, Casey. Timing! Hah!”

He was pretty sure he was getting a lot of concerned looks, but relief was crashing down on him in waves so much that he didn’t care too much.

“Holy shit,” he said again. “So he’s still alive.”

CJ nodded. “Heart rate is pretty slow, but still there.”

Draxum came in after, throwing a glance of concern at Leo and Mikey before smoothing it over with professionalism. 

“Cassandra Junior told me what happened. If you would like I can search—”

“Yes,” Leo said, instantly. He could predict what was happening. 

Still, Draxum finished his sentence, though with a little more annoyance in his voice. 

“I can search for his ninpo. If Michelangelo is up for it, he can help bolster the search. We can check it for damage, maybe try locating him.”

“Hell yes,” Mikey said through his slowly-drying tears. His eyes burned with determination. “Hell yes, I’ll help. It’s Donnie.”

Draxum gave a curt nod. “If I may steal Michelangelo, then…”

Mikey drew away, paused, looked back at Leo, grabbed him for another hug, then stood up and made his way over to Draxum.

“Uh…Sorry, April, but we should probably tell your parents that we’re gonna be doing this for the next—for the next little while. And maybe tell Casey and Sunita what's going on,” CJ said, fidgeting with the grappling hook hidden beneath his sleeve. 

April nodded, leaving their little huddle. The two of them threw a glance back at Leo, before exiting the doorway.

Raph and Splinter looked at Leo, seemingly checking if he was okay. 

“I’m fine, mi familia,” he reassured, waving a dismissing hand and swiping at his eyes with the other at the same time. “Now we know that Donnie’s still a-alive. So now we work on getting him back.”

“Uh-uh.”

Leo blinked. “What, hermano?”

Raph repeated himself. “Uh-uh. Raph still has a mystic sense, y’know. He can tell your ninpo isn’t very strong right now. You gotta rest.”

Leo checked. Sure enough, it was barely smoldering, flaring up a teeny tiny bit when he poked at it. 

Concerning. 

“I barely used it today.”

Raph’s brow knitted. If the tone wasn’t so somber, Leo would’ve teased him for the Chasm. Though Leo was beginning to notice that he was developing a Chasm too, much to his chagrin.

“That’s not good. Are you okay with Barry checkin’ you?” 

He mulled over it. His ‘grudge’ over Draxum throwing him off a roof was, like, ninety-nine percent a joke, so he didn’t feel super threatened by the warrior alchemist. And the way his ninpo was so weak was definitely a cause for concern. 

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Good. But I’m serious, rest for as long as you can, okay? We’re camping here, Big Mama got us a spare room that we can all sleep in.”

Leo nodded, knowing that his mind would not let him, and he’d inevitably do the opposite. 

The look on Raph’s face indicated that he knew, but he did not push. He simply got up and exited the room.

And all he was left with was Splinter. 

His father gave him a look. A look that said, ‘Everyone’s gone. You can cry now. For real, this time.’

“It’s just you and me, baby Blue,” he vocalized quietly. 

At the nickname, Leo finally, slowly, released the tight hold he had on his panic, on his momentary grief and his fear and the feeling of emptiness, of the feeling of something missing . 

He took in a shaky breath. 

Then the dam broke. 

Tears streamed from his eyes as his shoulders heaved with sobs, audible ones this time, leaning towards his father, his dad , who had his arms outstretched, ready to receive him. 

“My baby Blue,” he sighed, barely able to encircle his arms around his much bigger son’s torso. It was a comfort to Leo all the same. 

“I—I—” He let out a pathetic sound somewhere in between a sob and some statement he was trying to make.

Splinter gently shushed him, rubbing circles over his shell and letting him cry. “You don’t have to speak right now, Blue. Just cry. Let it all out.”

He did.

Notes:

Yep, no major character death here!

Leo’s still not having very much fun oopsies :P

I refer to Cassandra as Casey and Casey Junior as CJ. Leo just refers to CJ as Casey (JR) so they still rhyme. (All of the names he put for them in the text segments rhyme because I think it would be cute) And I also will always believe that Cassandra is ROTTMNT universe’s Casey and CJ is just Another One.

How I imagine their ninpo weapons work: Basically, in order to summon their weapons, they all need some kind of piece of metal. (Other than April) The bigger it is, or the closer it resembles their weapon (eg: a kitchen knife that Leo turns into one of his katana vs. Just a Shard of Metal) the less energy it requires to create it.

April's ninpo because I realized I have not explained it yet:

It's less of an ability, more of a capacity to communicate with the ancestors. (outside of the Hamato scroll) It has to be a two-way street, so basically she can only knock on the door, she can't break into the house. Her bat is mostly mystic, but I imagine it's bolstered by her ninpo. (I also imagine that's how the boys' weapons work in s1 and s2)

Chapter 3: Michelangelo

Summary:

Mikey gazed around the room Arachne had given them to use. “Woah,” he whispered.

“‘Woah’ indeed. Big Mama has an unfathomable amount of resources at her fingertips,” Draxum responded, hearing him.

There were candles in small alcoves, lit with a magical fire. When he touched the flame, it did not burn. Hono, the little fire spirit in him, was disappointed at the lack of burning, but at least it didn’t set his hand wrappings on fire. And there were small veins of empyrean-infused metal lining the walls. Mystic energy radiated from them, and when he touched one of them, his little fire spirit basked in the power.

Mikey gazed around the room Arachne had given them to use. “Woah,” he whispered. 

“‘Woah’ indeed. Big Mama has an unfathomable amount of resources at her fingertips,” Draxum responded, hearing him.

There were candles in small alcoves, lit with a magical fire. When he touched the flame, it did not burn him. Hono, the little fire spirit in him, was disappointed at the lack of burning, but Mikey was pretty happy it didn’t set his hand wrappings on fire. High up, there was a small circular window letting in the light of the setting sun. There were small veins of empyrean-infused metal lining the walls. Mystic energy radiated from them, and when he touched one of them, his little fire spirit basked in the power.

Mikey followed Draxum to the centre of the room. The warrior alchemist showed him a hand-drawn picture in the book he had brought with him; a few concentric circles with runes and symbols. 

“Draw this. Practice your sacred circle-drawing.”

Mikey nodded, taking the piece of chalk and the book when they were offered to him. 

He kneeled and started with the largest circle, making sure to draw the ports where he and Draxum would sit. Then a circle of runes; most of them had to do with seeking. Understandable. He kept on glancing back to the book to make sure he was drawing it right. 

Another circle. Lines connecting the two. More runes, though these had to do more with connection. 

“Pops?”

“Yes?”

He drew one more line, listening to the chalk leaving behind dust on the cold stone floor. Then he asked his question, sitting back on his heels.

“What are these connection runes for?”

“Ah. Essentially, we’re trying to use your ninpo similarly to a magnet. I’m hoping it will attract Donatello’s ninpo, and find his location much easier.”

“Is that what the circle in the middle is for?”

Draxum nodded. “Yes. Good. O’Neil gave me a piece of his tech, which contains a fraction of his ninpo that he used to construct it. That will also help with locating him.”

Mikey gave his own nod of understanding. “Okie dokie.”

He finished the circle, glad that his hands barely shook at all. It had been a year and a half, but his hands still weren’t completely like before. He wasn’t sure if they’d ever be like before .

He handed the chalk and the book back to Draxum, who looked over Mikey’s work. He gave the box turtle a pat on the head after a few moments, satisfied. Mikey allowed himself a smile at that. 

Then Draxum placed one of Donnie’s newer battleshell prototypes in the centre, and sat down with his feet tucked beneath him before motioning for Mikey to do the same. He did, before closing his eyes, and Draxum began reciting the spell. 

Runes were hard to translate into English, or really any language other than runes, but Mikey got the gist of it. He felt a gentle pull at his ninpo, and he allowed it, pushing his ninpo towards the pull a little to speed it up. 

Everything was black. In the way the absence of light was. But in place of light was energy; his own burning flames, accompanied by a little fire spirit, magenta vines encircling in the same way as a hug, a dim azure fire. A crackling crimson protectiveness, a glowing emerald passion, an uplifting white current. 

He picked up the tiny crackle of purple in the battleshell, clamping his hand overtop like it was a caught bug before it could be drawn away to its source. Then he poked at the vines, asking for permission and gaining it. A vine wrapped around his waist, before he ventured off. 

He followed the pull of purple in his hands. The mystic energy everywhere was overwhelming; it had been a while since he’d done this in the Hidden City. He tried his best to tune out the vast amounts of mystic energy everywhere , directing his focus to simply following the purple bouncing against his palms and fingers. 

There were quite a few times where he walked straight through mystic energies, which wasn’t exactly pleasant, but he powered through. 

For Donnie. 

He seemed to ascend. Thank goodness for no feeling of fatigue, at least at the moment, because it was steep. He might have a headache once he reentered his body. 

At last, he came up to a particularly dark mass. It was somehow darker than the black around him; it seemed to suck in the light, akin to a black hole. He tilted his head, unsure if he should release the purple yet. He tapped his hands to the vine around his waist, hands still clasped around the purple, and it said yes. 

He carefully opened his hands, and the purple drifted towards the black. 

A mouth-like shape lunged out of the black and snapped up the purple, making him flinch. 

Donnie’s in there, he thought to himself. He summoned his nunchaku. The vines at his waist tugged, but he soothed them, telling them to trust him. He couldn’t just walk away from the prison of his brother.

The chains extended, floating into the air. He called to the fire spirit in him, and the chains lit ablaze. Then he raised his hand, one end of his nunchaku still in it, and sliced it towards the black.

Instead of cutting the black open, it sank into it. Stuck. He tried to pull it back out, but the black didn’t give. 

It took him a few moments to realize the black was dragging him towards itself, using his nunchaku as a handle. He could feel the loss of his fire spirit, sucked into the black. He was following. The sudden void where his fire spirit once was shocked him, and he stood stunned for a moment as he was dragged closer. 

The sensation of yanking on something in his soul when the black touched him jolted him out of his shock.

“Shit—DAD! HELP!” It crawled up further, and he was weakening as the black greedily absorbed his ninpo. “ DAD! ”

The black was quickly advancing up his arm, and he couldn’t pull it away. The vines at his waist pulled, but they weren’t strong enough. He saw more coming through the gloom, but he wasn’t sure if they’d be faster than the black, clawing up his face and uncomfortably close to his eye. 

There was a flash of orange-veined purple. 

A familiar computer-esque crackle.

Donnie?

The black was blown off of him by the power of what he was pretty sure was his little fire spirit and Donnie’s ninpo. Then he was abruptly yanked back by the vine, away, away, away, until he slammed ba ck into his body.

The momentum pushed him backward, making him fall onto the floor of the room Arachne lent them. He started trying to get used to sensation again; The room smelled vaguely like flowers mixed with chalk. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, but it seemed to be shaking. The floor was hard and warm. His head throbbed, and the tips of his fingers stung, though not as bad as they could.

“-lo! Michelangelo!” he heard a voice call, and he moved his eyes towards the source to see Draxum. The warrior alchemist threw a blanket over him, carefully wrapping it around his body and helping him sit up. 

Mikey squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, still getting used to sensation. The blanket Draxum gave him was soft, and nice, and a relaxing shade of magenta. But why—

He was shivering. 

Oh.

He looked at Draxum. 

“I—it—” He could feel the pressure in his eyes and the lump in his throat that signified an oncoming cry. Not good, considering how much he’d cried when he thought he’d lost Donnie. If Leo were there, he’d tell him to hydrate himself. A tiny part of him that took after his brothers scolded him for crying, but the rest of him was distracted. “Hono—”

Draxum nodded grimly. “It took Hono.”

At that, he sobbed for the second time in the span of one hour. 

He was cold, he did not have the presence of Hono to keep him warm, or company. His nunchaku would no longer blaze with flames when he wanted. For the second time today, he had a piece of himself missing—

“We’ll get them back,” Draxum said, as soothingly as he could—which wasn’t very—trying to stop Mikey’s spiral. “When we retrieve Donatello, we’ll retrieve Hono at the same time.”

Mikey nodded, sniffing. He rubbed the tears from his eyes with the heel of his palm, letting them soak into his black tekko arm wraps.

“Do you have warmer clothes? I feel it would be less of a hindrance than traipsing around with a blanket around your shoulders.”

Mikey thought about it; after the addition of two more humans to their family—the two Casey’s—he and his turtle brothers had started wearing clothes more often. Usually, Mikey took to vests or cropped tops, to either show off his spots or stickers he would plaster on his plastron, combined with shorts on the shorter side. And he rarely got cold, because Hono was always there to keep him warm.

“Um…”

Draxum could see the look on his face that said ‘no’, and sighed. “I’ll ask one of your siblings for warmer clothes. Cassandra’s winter clothes might be your best bet. Are you alright with me explaining the situation?”

Mikey nodded, though he did burrow a little deeper into his blanket.

“Alright. Stay here, stay warm. We don’t want you going into brumation.”

Mikey nodded again, and Draxum left. 

He was cold. He realized then that the chandelier wasn’t shaking, it was just his vision, shaken by his shivering. The floor was cold before he searched for Donnie, and now it was warm simply because it was warmer than him. 

He pulled the blanket a little higher around himself.

He already missed his little fire spirit.

Notes:

I wrote this chapter (and the last one) around the same time that I was binging Spider’s Web with Strings Attached and it was kinda hard to paint Big Mama in a fairly positive light while reading 150 000 words of Big Mama emotionally and physically torturing two of my favourite characters.

I imagine in the canon/main timeline Big Mama joins their circle because of Splinter and Leo. Idk maybe she spends more time with him and likes his other qualities as well as his Big Manipulator Brain.

About Hono: In case I made it too unclear, Hono is the fire spirit-guy-thing from Mikey's kusari fundo. They go by any pronouns and is a pyromaniacal menace. They are sort of part of Mikey, and also an extension of him; the two of them share traits, and Mikey's enjoyment of fire is magnified in Hono. There will be a fic about how Mikey and family bring them back after the whole Shredder thing! Hopefully before my school starts because I know I will be killed dead by assignments and stuff.

Chapter 4: D̸̝̖̽̾o̷͇̍̆n̵͎̍̊ḁ̷̎̈́t̸̮̄̚e̴̞̘͠l̶͔͒ĺ̸͓o̸͎̽

Summary:

“Hiderigami,” a familiar voice said, with disdain. She sounded familiar.

Who…?

The light dimmed a little. “It is Hamato Karai, young Donatello. Do you remember me?”

Karai…

Light green, a white circular crest, the Hamato crest—how could he forget?—a rain of blades upon an immortal monster. A collapse of a roof, a feeling of loss, of grief, one that he shoved down when a blur of red picked him as well as a smudge of orange up and pulled him away. One that heightened again when he glanced back at a smear of blue, trying to go back.

…Gram-Gram?

Donnie tried his best to control his ninpo. Instinct screamed for him to blast away the hands clawing at him, but he had tried that already. Multiple, multiple times. They just absorbed it and returned to tearing him apart. 

So he forced himself to calm down. He compressed his ninpo towards his core, trying to keep it out of the hands’ reach. Sure, it hurt as they ripped at his being, but it healed much faster because they couldn’t absorb it.

It was suddenly warm. There was an excited screech from the entities around him, and he saw the glow of a small golden flame. He sensed a larger orange one closely following. 

Hono! Hono and Mikey!

He forced his way through the entities to grab the smaller flame, trying to shield it from the hands clawing at it. Mikey was getting pulled in deeper. 

He needed to save Mikey. He could not let Mikey be trapped there with him. But he didn’t have enough ninpo, having had a lot of it absorbed by the entities around him during his futile struggles to escape. He asked Hono for help, and they gladly accepted. 

Their collective ninpo burst outwards, blasting the hands away from Mikey and freeing him. The orange flame was yanked away, by what Donnie was pretty sure were magenta vines. 

His little brother was safe. 

But then the hands closed in again, absorbing his and Hono’s released energy. He quickly curled around the little flame, because they could damage him, but it healed much, much faster than his ninpo or the flame.

The flame in his hands was dim. They were barely warm. 

He was alone. 

Alone, in the sea of hungry black.

He couldn’t ask the flame for help. He wouldn’t do that to them, not while they were clearly exhausted.

So he’d get out himself.

He had to. 

He just wished he didn’t have the constant feeling of tearing distracting him from thinking.

His vision filled with a relaxing light green. The hands screeched as the light burned them

“Anatawa hitorijanai,” a chorus of voices said, a white circular crest glowing on the barrier. 

He wasn’t alone. 

Someone—no, it was a few someones—that he valued had given him a moment to breathe, to think, without having to clutch onto the scraps of ninpo that remained in his control, and he would not waste that.

He couldn’t speak per se, but he conveyed a message of gratitude. 

Then he started thinking. 

He needed to get out of here, wherever ‘here’ was. But he had no idea how he got in, let alone how to get out. The last thing he remembered doing when he had a body was getting ‘consumed’ by the ghostly figures in the mourning glories.

“Hiderigami,” a familiar voice said, with disdain. She sounded familiar.

Who…?

The light dimmed a little. “It is Hamato Karai, young Donatello. Do you remember me?”

Karai…

Light green, a white circular crest, the Hamato crest—how could he forget?—a rain of blades upon an immortal monster. A collapse of a roof, a feeling of loss, of grief, one that he shoved down when a blur of red picked him as well as a smudge of orange up and pulled him away. One that heightened again when he glanced back at a smear of blue, trying to go back.

…Gram-Gram?

“Yes! There you go. You remember me, right? What about your siblings?”

…Siblings? He had siblings?

The tiny flame he was curled around glowed a little brighter. 

Right, yes, he did…orange and blue and red. Green, pink and grey.

“Yes, you’re doing wonderfully.”

Why was he forgetting them? He loved them so much it hurt.

What if when—maybe if—he got out, he would not remember them?

“The hiderigami are consuming your ninpo. Your memories of your family are tightly intertwined with it, the more ninpo they take the more memories leave with it. But worry not, young Hamato, we are sure when you escape and your ninpo heals, you will regain your memories.”

What are hiderigami?

“Groups of yokai that come from starved travellers. They’re most often lurking on mountain passes, and constantly seek to increase their ranks. Though you’re a special case. Father thinks they were seeking your ninpo to give themselves stronger physical forms, so they can more easily bypass protective measures taken by travellers.”

Ah. 

Donnie predicts that the Hamato protection won’t last forever, and then his ninpo will be fully drained once it’s gone. So he needs to figure out a way to escape. 

“Yes.”

Okay. 

He can do this. 

Sure. 

Easy. 

Without the immediate threat of the hands, his thoughts got away from him. It occurred to him that didn’t even know how to get out of wherever he was, he didn’t even know where he was, didn’t know how to get out. 

A small part of himself realized his thoughts were spiralling in the wrong direction. Just like it would when they would try meditating in recent years; his twin—His name rhymed with neon...Leon?—always teased him for that.

But he didn’t know how to get it to stop. Usually one of his siblings or his dad would ground him and help him out of his spiral. But none of them were here, and he was alone, and—

“Anatawa hitorijanai,” Karai said again. The fire in his hands brightened and warmed a little. Donnie thought Karai—and his other ancestors—might be frustrated that he kept on forgetting that. 

“I’m not frustrated, Donatello, not in the slightest. None of us are. We will remind you as many times as you need; Anatawa kesshite hitoride wa arimasen. Hopefully Hono will help you remember that, with their presence."

He thanked her. 

“Of course. We will keep the protection up as long as we can.”

Donnie didn’t doubt her. 

So he started thinking again.

Notes:

First time writing Karai! Hopefully I did her Rise!character justice.

Ehehehehehe... *fly hand rubbing* There are consequences to getting one's ninpo eaten by some yokai thingies!

Chapter 5: Raphael

Summary:

Raph was worried. 

Raph was so, so worried. 

Notes:

I'M STILL ALIVE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA TAKE THAT LIFE I'M STILL WRITING FUCK YOU

Raph was worried. 

Raph was so, so worried. 

He felt the void that used to be filled by Donnie. While probably not as strongly as Leo and Mikey, it was still so…unsettling. It was cold, and yawning, and echoed of wrong-ness. It reminded him of when the portal closed behind the other twin of the set, behind his little blue brother. A small part of him, one that he would try his damn hardest to hide, worried that the void would not be filled again.

He sat a few feet to the left of the doorway, listening to every heart-wrenching sob coming from Leo, from his little brother, a sound that he hadn’t heard in so long. He heard the whispered assurances from their dad. A small part of him, one that he would try his best to ignore, worried that if they didn’t save Donnie, those sobs would be a lot more common, behind a locked subway door.

He stared down the hallway, the hallway that Mikey followed Draxum down. The determined look in his littlest brother’s eyes scared him a little. It drowned out the sunniness, the brightness that all of the box turtle’s older siblings loved. A small part of him, one that he tried to push away, worried that the brightness might not return.

He thought about April, who was just as high-strung as him, though trying hard to contain it. She was in university, working towards degrees in communications and journalism, and she was skipping classes to help search for Donnie. A small part of him, one that he tried to lock in a small box in the recesses of his mind, worried that she would have to soldier through her classes while mourning her first friend. Her brother. 

He took a deep breath, staving away the oncoming tears. 

He couldn’t control everything. He couldn’t rewind time and keep the twins from entering that shop. But he could comfort. He could do damage control. His brothers found his presence comforting, stabilizing. Even when he didn’t deserve the trust; he’d hurt his brothers so badly, after all.

His dad had Leo; his younger brother’s sobs had begun quieting, petering down to sniffles. Splinter had begun singing a Japanese lullaby. 

He gently poked at the void left by Donnie's ninpo, and there was no reaction. Raph wilted a little.

His thoughts had just switched to Mikey when something about his ninpo felt…off. Colder. 

Oh, no.

He stood up, at the same time that Leo and Splinter exited the room. When he looked over at his little brother, the tears were completely gone. There was only the slightest tint of red in his eyes.

It was like he’d never even cried. 

It sort of scared Raph when Leo did that.

Draxum hurried around the corner, looking a little frazzled. 

“What happened, Barry?” Leo asked. His voice was edged with panic.

“Hono was taken. Michelangelo’s temperature has severely dropped and I’m currently trying to find sufficiently insulative clothing, and a heat source because the little body heat that remains isn’t enough. He’s on the way to entering brumation.”

Without hesitating, and not voicing the questions he had, Raph pulled his large, thick, crimson and often stolen by his younger brothers for comfort hoodie, over his head. 

“Where is he?”

Draxum pointed down the hallway. “The second left. Leonardo, do you know if Big Mama owns any heat lamps?”

”I’ll ask,” he responded. Nothing in his voice betrayed the sobs that racked his body just moments ago.

Raph hurried down the red-carpeted hallway. He waved Splinter away when he tried to follow; Leo still needed comfort, he tried to convey in the look he gave his dad. His dad seemed to get it, because he gave a nod and followed the others. Leo and Draxum had headed down another way to search for an artificial heat source. The sound of his footsteps as he followed Draxum’s directions were soft and muffled, and drowned out by his worry.

They entered a room that felt thick with mystic. It wasn’t quite heavy, but it was definitely noticeable. 

Mikey was bundled in a magenta blanket—so much so that you could barely see his head peeking out the top.

“H-h-hey, niiya,” Mikey said, managing a shaky smile.

”Hey, big man.” He peeled the blanket away, much to Mikey’s protests, then fitted his hoodie onto the box turtle’s tiny-in-comparison body before wrapping the blanket back around him. He didn’t voice that it was strange to have Mikey feeling colder than him when he brushed against his little brother. He was always the warmest out of all of them after all. Even April, their warm-blooded sister, said that he felt warm to her. “That better?” he said aloud.

Mikey nodded. He seemed to be shivering less.

Raph scooped up the Mikey-burrito he had and curled around him like a protective shield. 

That’s what he was, after all. Their shield.

* * * * *

Leo, Draxum, and Splinter came back, followed by Arachne, who was holding a huge contraption that was hopefully some kind of heat source and not a torture device. Even though she always said she wasn’t in that business anymore, Leo told them to stay vigilant.

It reminded Raph of a flower; orange ‘petals’ were curled down like a sort of lampshade. He activated his mystic sense, and it radiated a warm comfort.

Leo hurried over. He unzipped his sweater the rest of the way and shrugged it off of his arms. Raph shifted a little so he could drape it over Mikey. Then he got Raph to raise an arm so he could slot himself beside the box turtle. 

If Donnie were there, he would’ve slotted himself on the other side, mirroring Leo.

“Thanks, Lee,” Mikey said, slurring a little. His eyelids were drooping.

Brumation. 

“He’s shutting down,” Draxum said, urgency in his voice. “Arachne! The lamp!”

Arachne quickly set the lamp down so the flower-lampshade was directly above Mikey. She put all four of her hands on the flower, murmuring runic words quietly. The flower glowed from within, and the room’s temperature rose a few degrees. 

The whole room, sans Mikey, breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Alright. Mikey crisis averted. What happened, Barry?” Leo asked, his voice steady in a way that didn’t betray the death grip he had on Raph’s arm, like it was the only thing holding him together. 

It might’ve been.

Draxum slid to the floor, tucking his legs under him. Splinter followed, and Big Mama did too. 

“Michelangelo attempted to interact with the things holding Donatello. They managed to catch Hono, which drastically decreased his average body heat and has removed his ability to generate and control fire.”

”Could you see what was holding him?” Leo asked, his grip on Raph’s arm tightening. “Could you tell what they were?”

Draxum avoided the eye contact of the ones in the room. ”…Yes. They are called hiderigami. Hiderigami are hordes of ghostly yokai whose only wish is to increase their ranks, and each horde chooses a plant to tether themselves to. It seems this one has chosen morning glories.

”Though I’ve never sensed a horde as powerful as these—I suspect Donatello’s ninpo has been increasing their power.” 

Arachne tsked. “There aren’t very many ways to deal with hiderigami, and that’s before they consume and learn how to use a kind of mystic that goes back for a hundred generations.”

”No, there aren’t,” Draxum agreed. 

Mikey spoke up, quiet in a way he rarely was. “We’ll figure one out, though…Right?”

Arachne’s eyes got sad as she looked at Mikey, before nodding. “We will. I’ll check with my contacts, call in some itty-bitty favours. With some piddly incentives, of course. Like not getting ripped from limbity-limb!”

She said the last part with a large, vaguely eerie smile. 

“Thanks, Mama," the three turtles chorused.

”Of course. Anything for my turtley-boos.”

Notes:

The first long thing I've written from Raph's perspective! I'm not gonna lie, it was hard...Raph is, like, the furthest possible personality from me, which I feel bad about because I literally never talk about him...Sorry Raph likers ToT. I hope I did him justice!

By the way, the plant thing with the hiderigami is completely me making up stuff.

Notes:

I was hoping to finish the entire thing before posting it. Alas, I have not figured out any of the major plot points past what I have so far, and it is pissing me off. I'm hoping the tiny amount of interaction I might get will push me to figure it out.

I'm hoping I'll be able to not go on hiatus? IDK school is starting soon and it always kills me dead.

And please leave comments! I love reading them so much.

If you enjoyed this, please check out my other stuff! I also have Sonic stuff, if anyone is also simultaneously in that fandom.

ROTTMNT Oneshots - Oneshots of these silly turtles I love them so much.

The Hottest Fire Burns Brightest - Fairly Mikey-centric, derived from the thought of, "What if he almost snapped?"

You can also find me on Tumblr! I'll probably post about whether or not I need a break, since school has started up. If I go dark, shoot me an ask or something if you want to check whether I'm still alive or not!