Waking up to an empty room... Raph; no where in sight, nor Leo

But Mikey was here, laying gently besides him, raph must have wanted to make a switch to get away

Carfully moving Mikey's arm off of him, Donnie sat up and limped to Raph's room and peeped inside

' not here ...' Donnie thought

Then he limped over to Leo's room, he peeped inside, scanning around for him too

'leos not here either...'. Donnie thought to himself again

'is it just me and Mikey here?, Or is splinter here as well... Should I check?.... No I'm sure it's fine.' donnie just stood there, trying to keep balance and stay still but he just swayed each way... He felt too weak...

Tiredly, he walked back to the sofa, stumbling with every limp... He was still in pain but it wasn't as bad... the medicine hasn't worn off just yet

He sat down, right next to his youngest brother, Donnie placed his hand on Mikey's head—showing a soft smile

Donnie leaned over and pecked Mikey on the cheek

"Rest well brother...." He whispered kindly

Patting Mikey on his shell, he stood up and made his way sloppily to the kitchen, man meatsweats really done a number to him... It's only been about 2 months since.... His first occurrence...

Donnie opened the fridge, finding something to eat that didn't require too much effort to make up

He pulled out a cup of vanilla pudding, chocolate wasn't his favorite...

He closed the door and turned around to grab a spoon, but he stopped and hesitated

' what was that...???' he quietly muttered—setting down the pudding he turned around to see a note on the fridge

"Going out... To get April back.. s-signed Leo and R-Raph?!" At first he jumped at his speech... He hoped this stutter didn't mean he had any brain damage and wouldn't be permanent... But wait, Leo and Raph went out on their OWN?!

Donnie felt a rush of panic, he ran well technically speed walked over to Mikey, which he was really slow, considering how painful it was to move around to much

"M-m-... M-mikey!, Wake up!" He wheezed out. He stumbled and fell to the ground, man it was painful but he crawled over to the sofa

He shook Mikey awake by grabbing his hand... His shell hurt, so he couldn't get up right away "m-mikey!" Donnie loudly muttered

"H-huh..... D-donnie?... Donnie?!" Mikey jolted up

"Are you okay?! Why are you on the floor?!" Mikey swung his legs over the edge of the sofa and tried pulling Donnie up... He was also weak but not as much as Donnie... Maybe a sprained ankle and a small crack in his plastron aswell as a headache but fine

Donnie hissed in pain as he was pull up onto the couch "l-l.. Leo and Raph!"

"What about them Donnie?!" Mikey said grabbing Donnie's shoulder

"The-th-their gone!, The refri-frigerator!" He worried more, his speech really was worse than he thought it was

Mikey pursed his lips, Donnie seemed in pain due to the stuttering but he immediately got up to go to the fridge, limped there but ran quite fast

"Omigosh-!" His voice echoed through the lair

"They can't beat meatsweats on their own! They'll get clobbered like us!.... If this is what he could do to us by just being thrown... HOW POWERFUL CAN THAT PIG CHEF BE?!" worry filled Mikey, his eye dropped with a few tears...

Donnie felt terrible once again.... And Mikey was the most emotionally dramatic one of all of them... He must be taking it really hard...

Donnie reached out to Mikey and gestured him to come over "i-its okay a-annn-a.... " Was followed with a pained grunt... He couldn't speak right... He could walk right, he couldn't movie right...

Mikey just collapsed into Donnie's lap, he sobbed there while Donnie patted him in an attempt to comfort him

Donnie isn't the best at comforting, but for Mikey's sake— he tried as best he could

"w-w-....we are in no physically s-stable condition t-to help and fight..... B-but they can't handle it on t-their o-o-own..." Donnie's stuttering seemed bad... He may need to run a few tests...

"But we can try Donnie!, Even if.... Leo and Raph are really strong, I'm sure th-they can handle it!..." Mikey tried to show confidence in his speech... But the soft whimpers he made in the end made it seem that even Mikey couldn't believe they could...

Donnie just used what's left of his upper body strength to pull Mikey into his lap, he brought him into a tight hug... He hated when his youngest brother was feeling gloomy...

"I-im sure their fine a-an.. Angelo..." Donnie muttered out, a single tear dropped down him face... Seeing Mikey emotional made him emotional

"Okay... If you say so then I'll believe it..." Mikey sniffled and rubbed his tears on Donnie plastron

Donnie smiled, he'd finally gotten Mikey to cheer up. Well cheered up enough so he's not sobbing but it's better than before

"Do you wanna w-watch a movie?..." Donnie said patting Mikey's shoulder

"Oooooh!, What kind?"

"You pick"

Mikey's face seemed to light up while Donnie grabbed out his tablet, getting one of his battle shells, he needed one anyways to hold it

"Oh wait!, I wanna draw too!" Mikey got up and sprinted to his room, coming out 5 seconds later with the drawing pad Donnie made him... It was a little broken, but it was sealed with stickers and tape with drawing on them

Donnie obviously felt a rush of emotions, a wonky smile appeared on his face, making him look like he was about to cry

Mikey just gave a smirk. Donnie scooted over to the arm on the couch and leaned on a couple of pillows and Mikey happily plopped himself in Donnie's lap, scrolling through the different movies he had, but instead he ended up picked SpongeBob

Donnie gave a sigh and leaned back, watching his little brother happily laugh and draw...

This went on for maybe about 2 hours... Of course Mikey forgot about the instance but Donnie hasn't forgotten about it, it hasn't left his mind, he didn't show it but he was overwhelmed with worry, he never liked to admit it but he worried for Leo and Raph's safety...

More time passes by, Mikey is well distracted by drawing and watching cartoons on Donnie's tablet

Donnie's really starting to get worried...

"Excuse m-me angel-lo, I have to work on.. a project in my lab, I won't be out for a while okay? B-b-bye!" Donnie spat out, getting a sentence out was hard with this non stop stuttering.

"Okay Dee!" Mikey said without even looking up from his paper

Donnie slipped away to his lab, he put on a battle shell, and he snuck past the living room to the nearest way to the city surface

Climbing up the ladder, he lifted the sewer cover to make sure he didn't end up in a place with too many people, luck would have it it was pretty ghosted in the area to he climbed out and started flying twords Leo's and Raph's location...

'they've haven't moved in a while.... I hope their okay....' Donnie thought to himself as he started nearing the building

"Okay... D-deep breath Dee, y-you can do thi-is..." He muttered, landing on the roof top

Slipping through the shaft, he made sure he brought his less bulky shell protector to not have the same mishap occur again, Raph may not be there to catch him again

Nearing the top of his brothers locations, Donnie heard muffled laughing echoing around him....

The familiar laughter sent chills up his shell, he just shook it away and continued to move forward, he was determined to get them back.

The echoed laughter grew louder, Donnie hated the sounds of echoes, it threw off his train of thought and it just wasn't pleasant to hear

Soon the tracker indicated that he was above them, he peeped around and found a vent space nearing the wall, he crawled over to it and looked through the small bars to be greeted with his brothers tied up, hanging over a boiling pot of water, meatsweats was seasoning the steaming liquid with veggies and spices, it made Donnie freeze in horror.

How was he supposed to get them if they were right next to the enemy... He couldn't just cut them down they were too heavy for him, and they certainly couldn't be saved one by one.

This was an a extremely serious situation, he had no idea how to solve this—let alone he had little time to figure it out.

He needed his older brother and his anoying twin, sure he was far more intelligent than them but in the reality he faces that more brains are better than one

A voice interrupted his thoughts. "Now turtles, don't you worry you'll be deliciously plated soon!~ " meatsweats laughed that same devious laugh.

Now Donnie knew he had to be quick to think... He came to a realization!

'the Donnie pods!'

Then he came up with a brilliant idea... It was brave and there's only a 47.8% chance of succeeding but... It would have to do...

Donnie soon kicked down the vent door; jumping onto the rope above his siblings, he cut it after sending the pods out to catch them

Meatsweats noticed the purple turtle, throwing a butchers knife at him, trying to stop him from taking his meal

In an attempt to Dodge it, Donnie had to duck down which resulted in him slipping off the rope.

But soon his hand caught the edge of it and hanging on with one hand, he desperately tried pulling himself up... Watching the escape pods fly off through the ceiling

Donnie couldn't fail... He decided to swing clear out of the way from the pot instead of trying to climb back up, he successfully did so but landed on his shell, it sent a shock of horrendous pain through his body, making him hiss, but he still got up and ran

Donnie reached for his arm computer, trying to set up an escape-pod for his get away, Soon he was tackled to the ground...

"Going somewhere, turtle?~" he chuckled...

Donnie grew panicked, he desperately tried to reach for his computer or atleast his communicator but his arms were pinned down....

"What's wrong? Trying to get away?... That won't doo would it...." Meatsweats shown psychotic smirk

"no... No no no no No NO NO! NOOO!" Donnie cried out... Please this couldn't happen to him again right?!?

Meatsweats started to come closer in contact with Donnie's face, which was now flooded with tears, he silently begged for him to stop...

"LET HIM GO YOU FREAK!" a female voice shouted in the distance

Donnie's eyes shot open, he seemed to sob more "P-P-PLEASE H-HELP ME!!!" he cried out, struggling to wrestle his way out

"And what are you going to do about it? Your not so tough."

"Just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I'm weak porky."

"APRILLL O'NEIL!" April hollared, swinging a large metal bar directly at meatsweats' head

"A-a... APRIL!" Donnie was overcome with glee, maybe things weren't to go south... And he finally found April...

Meatsweats caught the metal bar, but that gave time for Donnie to slip out while his arms were free, he clawed out and got two escape pods for him and April, they soared over their heads, April's—scooping her up and flying away, Donnie's also scooped him up, while it was closing he stared at meatsweats with anger and fear

"YOU BLOODY TURTLE!, ILL GET YOU... JUST YOU WAIT!" Meatsweats' yells were muffled from Donnie's pod taking off, Donnie just sighed and hugged himself tightly, while staring out the small window displayed Infront of him

He reached the lair, where he was greeted by everyone swarming him. Raph brought him into a teary hug, Leo, Mikey, and the rest followed...

And better yet, there it was... The happy feeling Donnie had been longing to feel again...

Nothing ever truly goes away, wounds leave scars, extreme events leave memories, but that's part of life, Donnie felt closer to his family....

Maybe... Just maybe, he didn't feel sad anymore...

(The end~)