Archive of Our Own ^beta

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“Donnie! Hold still or I’m gonna have Raph hold you down!” Leo narrowly avoided his twin’s teeth snapping at his arm. Donnie had always been a biter. Especially during medical procedures. Leo was in the middle of wrestling with his injured sibling, trying to get some salve on the large clawed wound on his shell. Donnie was having none of that. Not only had they pulled him out of his lab, but then he had to sit still and just be okay with someone touching his shell!? No thank you! They’ve had enough of that in the past few days to last a lifetime! Stupid Shredder, ruining his perfectly made battle shell. Making their brothers treat them like they were made of glass. Maybe he did get the worst injuries out of all of them. So what? That doesn’t mean he can’t do this himself!..... Okay well… maybe he couldn’t reach a good majority of the injury. They’re certainly more flexible than their brothers, sure. But not that much. Either way, that doesn’t mean he has to like it! They snapped their head around, nipping the hand that Leo placed on their shoulder. “YOU PANCAKE-LOOKING MOTHERF-” “Language.” Leo sighed. In both relief and annoyance. He didn’t want to wake Raph up, but wasn’t surprised considering Donnie had decided to be difficult. After the whole Shredder incident, Donnie had gotten way more averse to their bare shell being touched, much more than usual. While he couldn’t blame him, Donnie was the slowest to heal, and the most prone to infection out of all of them, so the treatments were a necessary evil. He looked up at Raph. “Heyyyy theeere Raph-a-doodle!” “Ya need help?” “Oh sweet pizza supreme, yes. This is the third time he’s bitten me.” Leo scooched over, having previously sat down on Donnie’s legs to hold them down. Raph gently grabbed Donnie’s shoulders, and lifted him up to be eye-to-eye. The larger turtle let out a chastising growl, then turned to Leo. “Are ya sure this is normal? He’s never been this…..” “Spicy?” “Yeah…sure.. He’s never been this ‘spicy’ before. Not even when we were kids.” “Well, if what Mikester says is true, then it’s just a trauma response. They’ll be back to their old sarcastic self in no time! Plus, it probably doesn’t help his mood that we’ve been limiting his lab-hermit time ....” “Well it’s not my fault Shred-head destroyed all my beautiful tech! I have a lot of work to make up for! Now are you going to let me go, or not?” Donnie was glaring at Leo over his shoulder, but there wasn’t any heat behind. Maybe some mild annoyance, but nothing more than that. Leo rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you’re done. Now get outta my med-bay before I change my mind.” Raph set Donnie down, and he quickly scrambled out of the office that Leo had claimed as the med-bay. Leo sighed and decided to leave as well, he needed to go for a walk to clear his head.

Donnie was relieved to be free of the stripped down office Leo had turned into a makeshift med-bay. Of course, at this point in time, everything was makeshift. There were a few outlets, probably meant for shops, that had been turned into a dojo, an art studio for Mikey, Donnie’s lab,. A few empty cars had become bedrooms, and the main hall was the living room, skateroom, and kitchen (Each was in its own respective corner of course. They had learned the hard way that kitchens and skateboards don’t mix). But even with all that, it didn’t feel like home yet. There wasn’t enough of Mikey’s graffiti. The kitchen was just a glorified storage room because Donnie hadn’t fixed up or bought many appliances yet. The old armchair that Splinter had always used was one of the very few things they had managed to salvage, so that helped a little, but it still felt…. Wrong. Donnie hopped over Mikey, who was laying on the ground, scrolling through his phone. A quick “Good evening Angelo.” “Hey Dee!” was all that was exchanged before Donnie had made their way over to the kitchen to grab some leftover takeout from a place called Murikami’s. April had started a new job there, and had been more than happy to grab some food for the boys to help them out. He grabbed some flavorless juice (or as Leo liked to call it “Glorified sugar water”), a couple spring rolls, and some teriyaki chicken. They headed back to their lab, giving Mikey another quick greeting as they stepped over him again. “If any of you need me, I’ll be in my lab.” “Don’t work too hard. You need sleep to fully recover.” “I am aware, Angelo. I have been getting a ful-” “Donnie, Leo says he could hear you thinking at 3am last night.” Dammit. Curse Leo and his new mind reading ability. All of them had unlocked something new mentally along with the physical aspect of their ninpo. Leo’s was minor telepathy, Raph could sense if he was about to take a hit (which gave him an unfair advantage in sparring matches in Donnie’s opinion), Mikey could control fire, and Donnie had developed technopathy. It was all very convenient, but Leo had started to complain that Donnie ‘Thought too loudly’. Well maybe he shouldn’t be snooping. His train of thought was interrupted by someone poking his arm “Dee? Helloooooo? Earth to Donatello?” Oh…. How long had they been standing here? Mikey was now standing up, and looked concerned. “You okay? You just kinda… spaced out” “I am alright Angelo, just my genius brain overworking again. Alas, such is my curse being the smartest out of you heathens” Donnie said, striking a dramatic pose. Someone snorted behind them, and the two turned around to see Leo leaning against a wall. “Yeah, sure Tello.” “Are you doubting my genius?” “Nah, nah…. You’re smart, but you're also a massive dork!” “GASP! How DARE you! You and I both know you are as dramatic as I am!” Leo squawked indignantly, placing a hand over his chest. “Oh how you wound me my dear twin! How dare you disrespect your leader!” Donnie grinned. Leo was inviting an insult war, and he wasn’t gonna back down. “You may be the leader on the field, dear Nardo, but here, our lovely Raphala is in charge!” “I’m still the second oldest! I have authority over you, since you are the younger twin!” “Ah-buh-bup! I’m taller than you, therefore, I’m older!” “Yeah, and dad’s shorter than us, so your logic makes no sense! I’m the second oldest!” “Yeah, well you’re also the gayest!” Leo gasped loudly and pointed at Donnie “For shame Donatello! In this day and age?! How could you betray me like this! This! Means! WARRRR!” Donnie grinned, and they set down the food before lunging at Leo. Injuries be damned, he was not going to lose this fight.

Raph stared at the two who were now engaged in a wrestling match on the floor. Leo was hurling various insults in Spanish, while Donnie was throwing around Japanese mixed with english. Just hearing it made his head hurt. “Boys! What is all this racket?” Mikey stopped taking pictures long enough to respond to Splinter. “Oh, hey pops! Leo and Donnie are just doing their thing.” Splinter sighed, and covered his face when Leo let out a loud squeak because Donnie had poked his neck. Splinter muttered something under his breath along the lines “Ancestors help me, I will never marry any of them off.” Raph leaned over “You okay pops?” “Yes, yes, just fine Red. As glad as I am that you are all feeling better, it is getting late, and you all interrupted my favorite dream. I will be heading back to bed now, and you should as well.” Mikey groaned “Come on pops! It’s not even that late! It’s only…” He pauses to check the time “11pm!” “Exactly! Now all of you get in bed or else I will call April!” That seemed to work. Leo and Donnie instantly stopped and ran to their respective cars, tripping each other on the way. Mikey got up, groaned and shuffled to his car as well. “Red?” “Yeah, I’m going, I’m going. Love ya dad.” Raph stretched, then walked to his car. He was glad Leo and Donnie were doing better. Both had really been out of it for the past few weeks. The destruction of S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N., Leo suddenly becoming leader, having to move into a new home, the death of Karai…. It was all weighing down on all of them, but the twins seemed to be struggling the most. Donnie was locking himself up more than usual, and Leo seemed to be enjoying his position, but at the same time, doing everything in his power to make their father take back the assignment. Raph flopped down on his bed. Things were bad now, but they’d never have to deal with this again. That was the hardest battle they would ever have to face, and it was over. Everything was fine. Nothing would ever be that bad again. Never again……. They wouldn’t have to fight anyone that strong ever again…… But something kept telling him that line of thought was wrong. That they would have to face someone just as strong, if not stronger than their ancestor. But that doesn’t make sense. Who would it be? Why? The foot clan was in shambles. Casey had moved on, starting her brownie empire. All of these conflicting feelings were hurting his head, and it made him think ‘What next? What will we have to worry about next?’ The future seemed like a bad thing to think about, so he forced himself to focus on the present. Things were looking up. All they needed was to finish making themselves at home, and then they’d be out fighting crime again. ‘What next?’ slowly started changing to ‘Now what?’ Raph had so many ideas. Maybe Donnie could build a swimming pool! Mikey could enter his art in a couple competitions down in The Hidden City! His thoughts kept swirling around as he fell asleep, but the dread kept looming over his mind. Raph hoped that whatever was coming it’d be far, far in the future. Or maybe, it was all just paranoia. Yeah, Just paranoia.

If only he knew then how wrong he was.

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The sky was a deep red. The color of his mask. The color of the stripes on his brother's face. The color of his sibling’s right eye. The color of the blood and bruises that they were now covered in. “Ewwww! Is this Staten Island!?” Leo shouted, as usual, trying to cope using comedy. It helped a little, but not much. Donnie instantly went into data gathering mode, questioning everyone about their injuries…. Until Leo started to pass out. “Raph, keep him awake! He almost definitely has a concussion! I'm gonna try to call April and dad” They stood up, and pulled their phone out of their pocket, and almost instantly dropped it with a pained hiss. “Dee-dee?” Mikey’s shaking voice called out, using a nickname Raph hadn’t heard since they were tots. “I’m… I’m fine, Angelo. When we got knocked off I hit my arm on some debris, it’ll be fine, he said with complete and utter confidence.” As usual, Donnie’s lying skills were on par with Pinocchio. “Iss prolly a sprain…” Raph looked back to Leo, who he had propped up against a nearby AC unit, barely conscious. God… He looked awful. All of them did. Mikey’s arms were blistering and covered in geometrical cracks, and had a pretty nasty cut on his head. Donnie's wrist was messed up, and every now and then, blood would drip out from below his battle shell. They had some pretty nasty looking wounds on his neck and shoulders as well. Both him and Donnie had some minor burns on the arms they used to help support Mikey. He couldn’t see the full extent of his own injuries. He could barely see as is! It was dark and fuzzy out of his right eye, and it hurt like hell! All the bones in his right arm felt weird, and his left shoulder and plastron felt like they were on fire! But Leo was probably the worst off out of all of them. Several massive cuts and dark ugly bruises covered his body, his shell was cracked to hell and back, and his left leg… Raph’s not a doctor, but he’s pretty sure that legs aren’t supposed to bend like that, let alone have bone poking out. Donnie called over their shoulder. “The others are coming. Hypno is giving them a lift.” Mikey stared down Donnie, giving him the best stink-eye he could while actively crying. “His name is Ron you dum-dum.”

A loud screeching of tires thankfully interrupted Raph’s spiraling thoughts about what had messed up Donnie’s shell. A news van skidded to a halt next to Donnie, April launching herself out of the still moving vehicle into Donnie, hugging them tightly. “MOTHERFUCKER! Y’ALL ALMOST GAVE ME AND SPLINTS A HEART ATTACK!” “Comman-... April… I’m pretty sure you’re crushing him…” April glanced over her shoulder at Casey and Splinter, then quickly released Donnie. They shuddered a little, stepping back, but giving April a shaky thumbs up. “We’re no-not okay, but we’re alive for now! We should… probably get Nardo to a hospital soon though… or… all of us….” “No can do. The Hidden City is on lockdown. Warren and the others are gonna be stuck there for a bit” Hypno stepped out of the driver's seat and- wait a second. Lockdown!? They hadn’t even needed the Hidden City or the specialized yokai doctors most of their life, but the second they do, the entire city is on lockdown!? Raph suddenly found it hard to breathe. “-aphie?” If they couldn’t get to a doctor, how would they take care of Leo? “Red!?” He was the team medic, and the only other person who had enough medical knowledge was way too squeamish! “Raph!” They had won! They had won, hadn’t they? Now they should be able to relax and- “RAPHAEL!!” He snapped his head up to see Splinter kneeling next to him, everyone but Casey, Hypno, and Leo (The latter being gently loaded into the back of the van by the former two), sending concerned glances his way. “Are you alright, my son?” Splinter reached up and patted Raph’s shoulder. “S-sorry! Raph got a little… distracted… Uhm… what’d you say?” Donnie spoke up this time. “I said that since Leo has been stocking up the medbay, then we should be able to hold on until Big Mama can smuggle us past the barriers and the HCPD. Besides, this will give some practical data on the vital scanner Leo had me build!” April shot Donnie a ‘not helping’ look, and he recoiled slightly. “What? Data collection calms me down, you all know this already!”

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Well. This was officially the worst day ever, and by the looks of it, it was probably going to get worse before it gets better. Casey and Donnie were helping Leo into a bed, Donnie was visibly shaking and stumbling. Mikey couldn’t help but notice how pale Donnie looked, and tried to bring attention to it. “D-dee…. Your back…” “My shell is perfectly fine and I need no medical attention.” Okay, he’s still a horrendous liar as always. Casey quickly assisted in calling Donnie out on his bullshit though. “Unc-... Donatello. You’re literally leaving a trail of blood behind you.” Donnie turned their snout up a little as they started hooking a very incoherent Leo to some medical devices (and just like every time he did this in practice, he looked seconds away from puking). “I have utterly no clue what you are talking about. That was probably Leo’s blood. He has a compound fracture, as well as a multitude of injuries, all of which would result in him bleeding. I, however, am fine except for a sprained wrist. Nothing more, nothing less, and I am certainly not hiding anything.” Every pair of eyes in the room were drawn to the small puddle of dark red blood accumulating at Donnie’s feet. April was the first one to step in. “Donnie. Bathroom. Now. We’re taking that damn thing off or so help me god, I will have my mom come here and help me.” Mikey chuckled a little to himself at this. April’s mom, Carol, was one of Donnie’s favorite people, second only to April herself. Her and April shared a spunky attitude, and a fighter's spirit, however Carol was a nurse, and knew how to deal with difficult patients. They had known each other for years, but had only actually met a year ago after Shredder, and when Carol praised Donnie for fixing a broken remote, her fate was sealed as Donnie’s newest favorite parental figure. “Ooooh, she’s gonna tell moooom~” Leo spoke up from his place on the cot, flinching a little as Casey cleaned up his leg, probably getting ready to set the bone back into place. “Nardo, please shut up. If I’m gonna get in trouble then so will you, you selfless… stupid… self-sacrificing… smug…” Donnie continued muttering insults as he fiddled with the release switch on his shoulder, April guiding him out the door. Ron placed a hand on Mikey’s back. “He’ll be fine buddy. Why don’t we get those arms patched up? Don’t want my favorite assistant getting an infection, do we?” Mikey looked down at his arms, covered from fingers to elbows with cracks and blood. “Mhh… yeah… Can you tell me that story about the tiger again?”

“So, after that incident, I made sure I always keep a spare deck of cards at all times.” Mikey smiled at the ending. No matter how many times he heard this story, it never made sense, and that’s why he loved it. He tried his best to keep a cheery positive attitude.. He had to. He was the happy one. The youngest. The sunshine of the family. Ignore the sharp scream of pain as Leo’s leg was getting worked on. Ignore the sick expression on April's face as she ran out of the bathroom, yelling something about a seizure, grabbing Carol and running back in. Ignore Raph’s quiet hisses as Barry gently checks his right arm's maneuverability. Ignore the weird buzzy feeling in his own arms. He just wanted to lay down and sleep. He was so tired. But unfortunately, he couldn’t until he was given an all clear because he might have head trauma… he probably didn’t though! It was just a scratch from… from when…… You know, come to think of it, he probably did have a concussion or something. He didn’t even remember Carol or Barry  arriving. April slowly entered the med-bay, guiding Donnie. He looked…. Bad to say the least, and when he turned around, it got so, so much worse. Everything stopped dead…. There was nothing there, except the sight of Donnie’s shell… All the blood had clotted by now, but that didn’t help by much. Thick, spiraling patterns coated every inch of their shell, extending outwards onto their scales in some places, slightly covering up the three long scars from Donnie’s left shoulder to right hip. But the worst part were the holes. Several small holes were dotted around his back. Mikey felt his head being turned away from the gut wrenching sight, and he was enveloped in warmth. “Don’t look baby.” Mikey melted into Carol, burying his face in her shirt, and soon felt someone rest a hand on his shell. “Mom, can you help take care of Donnie and Leo? I’m gonna get Mikey outta here. He.. he doesn’t need to see this.” Mikey didn’t see what happened, but after a couple of seconds, Carol let go, and gently pulled away, and given the state of his hands, he had to let go, barely able to hold on in the first place. April started to gently guide him towards the door, strategically blocking Mikey’s view of the side of the med-bay where Leo and Donnie were with her body. “Come on, let’s go sit down and wait for Cassandra to get here.” “Ayyyy! Wait! Someone call Ichi an’ tell ‘im I liiived! Imma… smooch ‘im sooo hard when he gets here!” Leo giggled to himself and Mikey could hear Draxum’s long suffering sigh, and imagined the eye roll that probably accompanied it. As the two left the med-bay, April took out her phone and pulled up Usagi’s contact. Mikey knew full well Usagi was as stuck in the Hidden City as the others were, but Leo would appreciate the effort. After a quick call, April looked down at him. “Hey, wanna go bug Barry into allowing you to watch some YouTube videos?”

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Everything hurt…. Back…. Head…. Did he hit his head? “Donnie?” Oh. Someone is here… they should open their eyes. It was bright… Annoyingly so. His mouth felt uncomfortably dry...“Wha… happened?” This was… the medbay? Their head felt.. Weird… “-omputer when it crashes. They should be lucid enough to remember this time” Someone was talking… about computers? The first voice caught his attention again “Donnie? Are you still with me?” Raph was sitting next to… why were they in one of the cots? “Mmyea?” “You had a seizure..” A fucking what . Donnie was suddenly more awake than he’d been in days. They tried to sit up, only just now noticing the fact that they were laying on their stomach. He immediately regretted it, as the world started to spin due to the flash of pain that ran through his body. “Woah, woah! Relax!” Raph gently pushed them back down, and they begrudgingly obliged. He didn’t want to stay in this stupid bed, but there wasn’t much he could do considering he felt like he just got hit by a bus. God this? This was awful. They could feel their shell being touched, and they hissed quietly as a warning, but then there was something cool. It was nice. It lessened the painful stinging that covered his entire back. They heard the second voice again. “Hey there Pancake.” There was only one person who had the gall to call him such a ridiculous nickname in a way that wasn’t meant as a playful jab, and he churred a happy response as she helped sit him up. “Raph told me you sprained your wrist, can I see it?” Carol said, giving them a soft smile. “That nickname’s stupid.” He muttered as he held out his arm. Carol smiled back at them as she gently looked over their arm, and started preparing a makeshift splint for it. “Oh really? Is that why you make your cute little happy noises when I call you that?”

After Donnie’s wrist was set securely and put into a makeshift sling, he was pretty much left to his own devices. Leo was sleeping next to them, probably high as a kite off the painkillers. Raph was sitting down near a table, leaning over so Casey could stitch up his shoulder under Carol's watch. Mikey was curled up next to April, who had settled down in a corner, and after clearing it with Draxum, was showing him some cat videos. Everyone was banged up, even the ones that weren’t involved in the main fight, but… they were here. They were safe. They were alive. Leo was alive. That was all that mattered right now. Donnie sighed looking up at the ceiling. He had always disputed the fact that the two were twins, because they were different species, and Leo would always retort with a cheesy line like they were “Twins in spirit” or something like that. As much as they hated to admit it, Leo was right in an odd way. The two always knew what the other was thinking, and as kids, they loved matching. But Donnie felt like he was always doing it for Leo’s sake. But when that portal closed, it felt like a part of Donnie’s soul was ripped from his body. For the painful few minutes Leo was trapped in that hellscape, they felt empty. His other half was missing. The hydrogen to their oxygen. Like the north and south poles of a magnet one simply cannot, and should not, exist without the other. He reached over to Leo and gently grabbed one of Leo’s hands and just… held it. They were together. They were alive. They’d recover, and when Leo was back on his feet?

Donnie would kick his ass for scaring them all like that.

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