i’m embarrassed to say this took me like 5 months to make (meaning i made like 50% of it back in december and finished it now in april) i played around with their designs a little - love the idea of them being different species like in RotTMNT! (Raph a snapping turtle, Mikey a box turtle, Donnie a spiny soft shell and Leo a red eared slider)
Can’t everyone go in on all the platforms where they have announced the date for the ROTTMNT movie and like the post. So they can se how many of us that love this franchise❤️
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Current Prompt List: 200 Prompts (or any prompt list you want! Just let me know!)
Summary: Tomorrow arrives at your doorstep… but Raph doesn’t. Instead another brother does that leads to a perilous night out.
A/N: Woo! Part three! This one is a bit more angsty but cute and well, who doesn’t love some good angst? I love you guys so much and all of the feedback that you offer. Always keep fighting.
Music played softly as it rained again, and I waited by an unlocked window. Some part of my memory knew that he would be here, though I couldn’t tell what the truth happened to be or what happened to be a dream. It all seemed like a dream to me. A wonderful dream.
A knock interrupted my thoughts as I opened the window, expecting one turtle and getting another.
“Leo?” I asked curiously. “What’s… why are you here?”
“Is Raph here?” He demanded; his eyes swept my apartment not even looking at me as he talked.
“No?” I frowned. “What the hell is going on?”
“Raph went out tonight and he hasn’t been back, and I assumed he was here.”
“No,” I shook my head, fear growing in my chest for my lost rider. “Give me a minute, I’ll help you look,” I arrived at the conclusion.
“You can’t. Not in this weather, it’s not safe,” Leo scolded. “You stay here.”
“Damn it, Leo! I can do what I want when I want, and you know you need me out there! You know I know him better!”
Cold blue eyes met mine, but I dug my heels in. Nothing would sway me from this. Looking for Raph became my number one priority.
“Meet at the alley in twenty minutes. Donnie will get you connected with the rest of us.” Leo didn’t meet my eyes as he ducked out the window. “And whatever happens to you is not on me.”
With that he vanished.
“Gee,thanks,” I mocked at the window and quickly changed for the ride ahead, my anxiety racing out of control as I muttered to myself the questions that I needed answers to.
The one above them all: Where was Raphael?
I didn’t enjoy riding in the rain, it was cold and wet and hurt if you went fast enough, but I’d do it for him. Anything for my reckless rider. Sliding my helmet on, I sped off.
I arrived at the alley way and like Leo said, Donatello stood, equipment in hand.
“Hello,” He greeted, stammering slightly, “This will connected to your com system that you have set up and will pick up our radio frequency,”
I unlatched my helmet and handed it over, running a hand through my hair as the rain started to soak it through.
“Do you have any idea where he would be?” I asked as the turtle in purple worked quickly.
“Your guess is probably better than mine,” He muttered. “I figured that you would be the first place he went to after fighting with Leo,”
That was new information. That Leo conveniently left out.
“Fighting with Leo? About what?” I pressed, urgently. “Please Donnie this is important. If I’m going to find him… I need to know what happened.”
_____________________________
“You’renot going out tonight. There’s no need.” Leo stood in front of his brother.
“Get out of my way Leo,” Raph muttered. “I’ll be fine,”
“It’s too dangerous!” Leo shouted.
“And since when do you care whether I get hurt or not? Since when do you stop me from going out? Who do you think you are?” Raph stalked up to his brother agitated.
“Since you met her.” Leo answered coolly. “She’s dangerous,”
Raph scoffed and almost laughed as he paced away, growing more aggravated as each second passed.
“She’snot dangerous! Are you fucking kidding me!?” Raph pulled out his sais: a reflex.
“Even now, she’s turning you against me,” Leo circled with his brother, keeping a distance.
“No, I’m pretty sure you’re doing that all on your own fearless,” Raph snarled. “So, don’t you dare go blaming her,”
“You think she actually wants to see you Raphael? We don’t belong in her world and she doesn’t belong in ours,” Leo hissed.
“Ohyeah, and it was okay for you to go after Karai!Sure! That makes total sense!” Raph roared.
“Karai was forced into our world! Are you really selfish enough to make her belong in ours!?” Now Leo had his blades drawn.
“Wedon’t belong anywhere Leo! But she’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to belonging, even when it’s with you three,”
“We are your family!” Leo shouted.
“Then fucking act like it!” Raph yelled, fighting back tears.
He had to get away. He had to get to you. You would know what to say, or at least what to do… or maybe you could give him solace from it all.
So, he took off and didn’t look back.
________________________________
I stared at Donnie in shock as he handed me back my helmet after testing it.
“And Leo had the nerve to…” I growled slipping it back on.
“He went to apologize,” Donnie tried to soothe my fury.
“Oh, I’m sure he did,” My voice dripped venom through the comm.
“Yo!Y/n!” Another voice chimed in over the headset in my helmet. It had to be Mikey, the only brother I hadn’t met face to face yet.
“Hey Mikey,” I gritted out, taking a left down Jefferson.
The wind and rain picked up step, making it hard to see. But I had a good idea of where I was going, a few ideas actually.
I sped to the tunnels, slowing as I reached the outskirts, killing my engine and slipping of my helmet.
“Raph!?” I called into the hollow caverns.
No response. I growled and dove back out into the storm.
“Do you guys see anything!?” I demanded over the intercom.
“Nothing,” Leo’s voice held an air of calm and collected.
Oh, I was so going to punch him in the face next time I saw him.
My next destination located itself in the middle of the Brooklyn bridge. Raph and his bike were nowhere to be found. Huffing, I set off again.
“Come on Raph,” I muttered. “Where are you?”
My hope waning, with one more spot left on my mental checklist, I turned carefully and headed towards the outskirts of the city. To a place Raph had never been. A road I had taken what seemed like months ago, leading him out of the city lights.
The city ways quickly became dense forest.
“Come on Raph, please,” Tears of fear and worry started to blur my vision. “Please, come back to me,”
I slowed my bike, having to. Through the rain and my tears, there was no other option. On the side of the road, I got off my bike, and took off my helmet, leaving them on the side of the road as I started to keep walking down the dark road.
“Raph!”
Stupid seemed like a good word to describe what I was doing.
Soaked to the bone, my tears fell freely.
What was I doing?
I was alone on a road, with no hope of finding a way back until the rain cleared, looking for someone who didn’t want to be found in the entirety of New York and I had nothing to go on.
“Please,” I begged to no one.
“Y/n!?”
I almost dropped in relief.
“Raph?” I called.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” He was beside me instantly, his figure shielding the rain that seemed to be coming in sideways with the wind.
_________________________________
“What are you doing out here!?” She shouted back. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere! Why… what the hell were you thinking!?” Her voice sounded raw as tears mixed with the rain.
“You’ve been looking for me? In this? Y/n, were you seriously riding in this!” Raphael’s voice rose.
“Whatelse was I supposed to do! Leo came to me; said you were gone! Then Donnie told me about what happened and God Raph!” Trembles racked her frame as she continued to yell. “Do you know how worried I’ve been!? How scared that something happened to you!?”
In a desperate attempted to stop shaking, her arms wrapped themselves around her frame. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold her close, to give her comfort.
He never thought that she would care enough to come out looking for him. Or why the hell Leo would go to her of all people.
“I’m…sorry Y/n,” He mumbled, barely audible above the howling wind.
“Please, come home,” She shivered. He could see her paling and her lips turning blue.
“No, we’re gonna get you home, and dry, and warm,” Raph, against his better judgement again, picked her up and walked over to where her bike waited.
Sitting her in front of him, helping her with her helmet, he tore off down the road, back to the city. Back somewhere where he could get her warm and safe.
__________________________________
Whimpers let my lips against my will as I shuddered from the bitter cold. I could hear voices over the comm, but the words didn’t make much sense… not that I paid much attention.
Every cell in my body was screaming to get warm, and fast. I barely processed the effort it took to stay on the bike until Raphael pulled up to my apartment complex.
With head he lifted me and climbed the fore escape, forcing my window open.
I collapsed in the warmth, against him and his warmth. His face was fuzzy… everything was fuzzy. I tried to blink the haze from my eyes, but soon my eyelids were too heavy to reopen.
__________________________________
“Donnie get over here and fix her,” Raph hissed into his comm.
“Raph?” The three brothers all responded.
“Yes. Donnie, she passed out from being in the rain and cold too long and I need your help,” He growled, trying to keep his panic and worry to a minimum.
He had already stripped her riding jacket, shoes and socks, and currently, he cradled her in his lap cocooned in her throw blankets. Anything to give her warmth.
Donnie was ducking in through the window in minutes, and his brother looked at the limp girl in his arms and got to work. Taking her pulse and checking her vitals, Donnie seemed to relax.
“She’s in a stable condition, just a bit of hypothermia. What you were doing is what you should have been and need to keep doing until she wakes up and can shower and get dry clothes,” Donnie spoke softly.
Raph nodded, and his brother neared the window, hesitating slightly before ducking out into the driving rain.
Raphael held her closer in his arms as he moved to sitting on the floor, trying to keep himself together. He didn’t want to lose her, not like this. And he didn’t want to admit that maybe Leo was right… she didn’t belong in his world; she could get hurt… or worse.
But her eyebrows furrowed as her eyes fluttered open, and he knew that there couldn’t be any other place that he belong except right there.
Summary: Rain prevents you from riding the next few days and you’re growing restless. You wanted to ride. You wanted… to see him. You missed him against your better judgement. But what was wrong with missing him? Nothing at all. What happens when he misses you too?
A/N: As requested a Part Two to Midnight Rider!! I loved the responses on it and I wanted to thank you all for such positive feedback. Here’s something a bit softer and cozy for the hard times. Let me know if you want another part and what you think of this one!! I love you guys! ((P.S. I just finished my last paper-a twelve page research paper-for the semester so now I have more time for creative writing!!))
Rain pattered against my window as the sun went down leaving New York in total darkness. I sighed and wished for sunshine or a clear night when I could ride again. When I could see him again. It had been a few days of constant rain and I was becoming stir crazy. But I wasn’t stupid enough to go riding in the rain. It wasn’t worth the risk.
I stared out my opened window and watched the raindrops race against each other. Curling up in a large sweater with a cup of tea, I settled down for the night.
A dark form in front of my window made me jump and curse, adrenaline racing. Then I realized who blocked my window. It was my daredevil rider.
I pushed the window open, throwing my hands up in dismay.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I scolded. “It’s raining, it’s not safe to be out there,”
“I had to see you,” Raph admitted sheepish as he ducked in through my window.
I headed to my small bathroom and threw him a towel or two to dry off, turning a light on in my wake. The gentle fairy lights glowed with the candles it accompanied.
“Gotta say, didn’t think your place would look like this…” Raph trailed off, his eyes taking in my studio apartment. “It’s so… cozy,”
“Thank you,” I smiled and stood by his side admiring my handiwork with him.
I had made it cozy. My solace. My safe space.
“How’s your shoulder?” I asked, picking up my mug of tea.
“Fine,” He replied a bit too quickly.
“Well, you’re welcome to come and hang out… if that’s what this is.” I gave him a dopey smile. “I can make tea for you if you want.”
Raph stared at me like I had two heads.
___________________________________
“Not what you were expecting?” A smile played at her lips as she curled up in an armchair.
“Not at all,” Raph muttered.
In his head he had this version of her.
Y/n. Her name forever engraved into his mind.
She was strong, confident, badass. She took no prisoners and always knew what to say. But this?
She was soft, and gentle, and he had seen it the other night in her concern. But what he saw before him, he wouldn’t have imagined. She was kind, and soft behind all of the edge and angst she gave off.
He almost loved it more, knowing that she offered both in who she was.
Y/n,
“So, what brought you around?” She mused, tucking herself under an afghan.
“It’s been raining, I haven’t seen you in a while,” He admitted again, taking a spot on her rug leaning against her couch.
A smile played at her lips and in the soft light, she was just as beautiful as she was in leather on a motorcycle. She didn’t make fun of him either, His brothers did. They thought it was ridiculous that he went to find her. Leo ordered against it. As if.
He had grown bored again with the rain coming down and he wanted to see her.
“You haven’t been riding have you?” She asked, concern coloring her voice.
“No,” It was the truth.
Mainly because he knew that if she found out, she’d have his ass for sure.
“Good,” She seemed pleased.
______________________________
Knowing sleeping had left my short-term plans, I uncurled from my chair and headed over to my record player and started the Bob Seger vinyl that I didn’t put away from earlier.
“You’re a classics fan?” He mused as the music started
“My mom was… I picked it up from her,” I admitted. “Now that I’m up do you want that tea?”
I made my way to the kitchen despite his answer and began to make another cup.
“You like classic rock then?” I asked back, leaning against the counter.
He had shifted so that he could still see me from my vantage point in the small kitchen.
“Zeppelin,” He offered. “Though my vinyl collection isn’t as impressive as yours,” He muttered. I smiled and rolled my eyes.
“Why am I not surprised you like Zeppelin,” I laughed. “Find something more original, Bon Jovi, Meatloaf! Hey, you might actually like Meatloaf,” I paused in thought. “Not that I know what you like… it just seems like… a very you band.”
“Whatthe hell is that supposed to mean?” He acted offended, but there was a smile on his face.
“I dunno,” I could feel my face flushing. “They just seem like… you.” I gestured. “I can let you borrow my record.”
“No, I can’t ask that.” Raph shook his head, standing in protest.
“You’re not asking, I’m giving it to you.” I smiled and offered him his tea as we both settled back in my living room area.
________________________________
Raph still tried to figure her out. There was still the fire in her veins that he had seen when he rode with her. This was that same fire, but in a softer way. In one that made him take care of himself, and that allowed her to be selfless.
She hummed softly to the music and sipped her tea absentmindedly, lost in thought he presumed.
“How is your family?” She asked after a while. “It’s been a while since you guys have done anything.”
Raph laughed.
“Yeah, there isn’t much to do anymore. It’s why I started to ride again. And we’re okay, I guess. Mikey has vowed to watch ever Doctor Who episode with Donnie and it’s taking them a while to get through it all.” Raph rolled his eyes.
“I should do that.” She murmured. “I haven’t watched it in a while.”
“You like that nerdy show?” He raised an eyebrow.
A laugh bubbled from her lips. It was soft and carefree. Somehow, even though he wasn’t racing through the streets of New York, he still felt free. A sort of freedom that crept in slowly and comforted him like a blanket.
“I do,” She smiled. “You might,”
“You keep saying that,” He challenged.
“Oh?” A smirk grew on her face and a fire in her eyes.
“That I’ll like things when you don’t really know me,” Raph contested.
She went quiet, a smile still on her lips.
“Maybe I don’t know you that well, but I think I have a good idea of what you might like.” She quipped.
“Yeah?”
She nodded, her smile growing.
A clap of thunder shook her windows as lightning flashed. She didn’t flinch. Fear didn’t occupy her features. He knew Mikey was afraid of thunder, and Donnie didn’t prefer it, but she seemed almost at home among it.
_________________________________
“Tell me then,” I whispered. “Who are you?” I moved onto the couch and curled up on the side, waiting and listening.
“What do you wanna know?” His voice held a note of uncertainty.
“How old are you?” I mused. “That’s an easy one.”
“Is this twenty questions now?” Raph raised an eyebrow.
I chuckled. “That would mean yes or no answers, this is just… a conversation.” I decided.
“Alright, but if you get to ask questions, so do I,” He countered.
“Deal.”
“Eighteen, you?”
“Eighteen,”
We went on like that for a while, question after question. His favorite singer was actually Billy Joel; I hated the Beatles; he never thought to read anything other than magazines; I couldn’t remember the last time I had read a book; he had never been out of the state; I had been along the east coast on road trips; he hated spinach and cucumbers; I hated smoothies and tomatoes; he had four brothers; I had one.
“Where did you learn to ride?” He asked as it neared one am.
“My mom,” I yawned, blinking slowly. “She’d take me on her bike when I was little… my dad was a mechanic…” I gave a small shrug. “Why do you ride?” I countered.
“It’s…freedom.” He replied.
I nodded, knowing what he meant. It’s why I loved to ride. No one telling you where to go or what to do or who to be, you could just ride and not stop.
“Did you miss me?” His question came softly and hesitantly.
I nodded, my eyes slipping closed from tiredness. Talking to him like this made me feel safe and more at home than I ever had before. Like I was a child, curled up on a winter night waiting for Christmas as snow fell softly into the quiet of the night. A simpler time.
“I did. It’s not the same when I’m not around you… I looked forward to our rides.”
______________________________
Raphael watched her eyes droop closed as the hours passed. He was on a high learning so much from her and letting his walls down over stupid trivia that had him laughing and her blushing.
But being up late tonight didn’t seem to rest well with her despite their late-night rides the week before. He wondered if it was the rain that lulled her to sleep.
It didn’t really matter what it was, she was all but fast asleep on the sofa above him. Peace washed over her like this, though no smile was on her face, a gentle expression rested in her features.
“Y/n?” He asked softly, standing and stretching. He loved the feeling or her name on his lips.
She hummed a response, not opening her eyes. He wanted to laugh.
“You need to get to bed,” He muttered, taking her mug and his and carefully putting them into her sink, very conscientious of the space around him.
“Too far,” Her voice grew jumbled. “I’ll sleep on the couch,” She seemed resolved about this.
“No, you’re not,” He smiled and shook his head at her antics. “It’s not that far, lazy,” he teased gently.
“M’fine,” She tried again, her words slurring.
Raph stared at her curled-up form and her bed that rested against the back wall of her apartment.
Maybe the rain had calmed him too, or maybe being near her had let him be someone who didn’t thrive on anger and deflecting, but he carefully lifted her from the couch and walked her over to her bed and gently laid her down.
She immediately stretched out and found her way under the covers, cuddling a pillow. Her eyes never opened.
“Thanks,” She mumbled, the faintest smile playing at her lips. “Tomorrow?”
Yes I should be working on prompts (which I am) but this has been nagging me and I wanna write it out so enjoy. Here are some First Time™️ headcanons and how it might’ve gone down with a few realistic blunders here and there cause yes.
Request: “Can I have 2012 Donatello solving mysteries with his Sherlock Holmes type darling (very intelligent, quiet, and observant)?”
A/N:Thank you for requesting! I had a lot of fun writing this, it combined two of my favorite things, TMNT and Sherlock Holmes!
Pairing:Donatello x Reader (female).
It seemed like the twists and turns of Donatello’s life would never cease to amaze him.
One would think that being, ya know, a teenage mutant ninja turtle would leave life with little ability to surprise or shock you but one would be wrong. Very, very wrong. Life seemed to enjoy sending Donatello and his brothers through the weirdest twists and turns…which was exactly how he ended up meeting you.
A routine patrol had gone off the rails when he found the Purple Dragons chasing down a young girl.
Trench coat flaring in the wind and camera in hand, you ran through the city streets as the furious cries of gangsters followed you. Having separated from his brothers, he had no back and only one chance to act.
Looks familiar? Yeah, I got a little bit inspired by Inuyasha! This took me a while cause this I can’t draw anthropomorphic well. Luckily, the 2012 had an anime style I was familiar with and I was pretty much winging it 99% of the time. The 1% was looking at tutorials if you’re wondering. Anyway, I’m glad it turned out well!
So I think it’s obvious what you guys think what happened in the comic. In case if you didn’t get it, Leo protected his brothers and he died smiling, knowing they’re safe from harm. I was inspired by Yashahime when Setsuna died smiling. So I did the same with this!
The amazing @23-punnybee and I did a collab together! She did the lines, while I did the coloring, shading, and background! We wanted our AU boys to meet! So, this is Bee’s Mikey meeting my Donnie!
Loved doing this! (Also, you did the exact,perfect amount of spots for Mikey)
After almost two years of artblock and anxiety attacks when picking up a pen or just thinking about drawing, i have finally found the desire to draw again. And it had to be because of the Disaster Twins. I’m so in love with the art style of RotTMNT and I’m really sad that I can only watch the first season in German Amazon and YouTube. Anyways, my spark is finally back and I’m enjoying drawing again!!!!
A lot of you guys seemed to like the Apocalypse AU with 2012 Raph (I know it’s an older post that isn’t looked at much now but still)…so what if we got a Donnie’s perspective in the same AU?
Donnie’s tirelessly trying to find the cure to this mutagenic/viral hybrid ?
Donnie’s girlfriend was killed in crossfire. This is the Aftermath.
For weeks, all Donnie has seen is the blue light of his computer. He’s turned off all of his fairy lights and crawled into the dim of his lab, working on various projects for his racing mind. For too long he’s been unreachable.
Therehad to have been a way to salvage it. There had to have been. He is Donatello, the genius, the innovator.
He hadn’t known such a string of bitter failures until her. Each one after the other, all adding up to converge in one dark, dark timeline—if that idea was true, he thought. That night could have gone one of two ways, and the way that it went will forever be his biggest regret.
His fingers don’t feel so diligent anymore. Not right now, at least. They fumble and drop the delicate tool he’s working with, something that grates on his last nerve.
“No, no, stop—work for me!” he says angrily, looking at his hand. It has never been this bad before.
It’s been hours since he continued his work. He can’t stomach it anymore. He can’t drop another tool, write one more word in his notes illegibly; he has to stop. And that’s only possible with another existing directive for him to focus on. With a sigh, he leaves the counter for the computer instead. There’s always something to be done or looked at there.
“How can there be nothing?” he asks no one, picking through all his feed and reports of the week. No trace of the Foot, the bastard of the city. The coward. Disgusting, vile, it’s vile, his stomach is twisting—
He stands up from his chair. Plants his palms on the edge of the desk. His gaze is lost in the still blue glow of the screen, a deep droning fading into his hearing. Like the sound of a wasp in flight. His ears are ringing; tinnitus he’s developed from being in close range to gunshots, but it’s slowly getting better. They heal where humans can’t.
But it’s driving him crazy.
Not being able to figure out if it’s the silence he can’t stand or the presence of noise, he reaches over and flicks on his stereo, letting the heavy metal play.
That’s better. The rhythmic pounding in his ears and incessant, barely heard ring is thoroughly drowned by the sound.
The sheer exhaustion makes itself known by the heaviness he feels in his eyes, squinting into the darkness as he turns around and leans his back against the desk. He should sleep. But if he lays down, the thoughts will come back.
He looks at the bottle of melatonin April gave him last week. To help him sleep, she said. He needed to sleep.
There is no more to be done here, nothing engrossing enough he can occupy himself with without making himself anxious or mad. So he takes the bottle and dumps out the pills as he needs, popping them into his mouth before washing it down with the stray bottle of Gatorade on the floor. It’s now he realizes just how dehydrated he is and finishes off the entire bottle.
“You know,” he starts in a mutter, wiping liquid from his mouth, but he can’t bring himself to say it audibly.
I never believed in God, he thinks. And I still won’t. I refuse.
In the moment she’d needed a miracle, He was nowhere to be found. Only Donnie had been her failure of a guardian angel that night, escorting her to the long dark himself. Trying to get a word out of her, trying his hardest to do what he could before it was too late. He’d held her small hand. Death isn’t beautiful, he thinks sourly, shaking his head. He hasn’t blinked in minutes. Nothing had been beautiful about that moment. Only surreal.
If gasping and choking for words was gorgeous, then the Foot soldier had been a true artist, he supposes, amused to the lowest degree. Behind him, his hands grip the edge of the desk so hard that his palms are beginning to hurt.
All his life had the background of struggle, the possibility of getting found out and their family torn apart. More recently, the Shredder on their tail, with blood on his mind. The stakes were even higher with the more human connections they gained between April, Casey, and [y/n]. More to bargain with, more to threaten, they’d found Donnie’s weak point: his one and only girlfriend. The one spot he couldn’t always defend, because as much as he wanted her to stay with him in the sewers, safe, she had a life too.
Donnie often felt the weight of it later, but he’d always known the looming threat of it all. Figuratively, The Sword of Damocles could have been seen as a recurring theme in their life, but he’d never wanted to look at it so grimly.
So, that was it. One moment she was there, the next she was gone, and reality was reaching crushing depth, critical mass, on him.
In Donnie’s room, he lay in his bed, staring up at the sprawl of papers, stickers, and random equations on his ceiling. The natural course of action seems to try to move on. But how, when he needs to figure out what he could have done to make things right? He shakes that train of thought away. Leo had told him this was a dangerous way to think for his emotional health, but it just felt too soon to regulate.
For once, his multitude of lights are on, the Christmas string next to him creating an array of colors against his wall. One bulb has gone out; the one he’s neglected to fix because it doesn’t matter, but curiously flickers on in his peripheral vision, eventually coming to stay lit.
The small blue light next to him burns softly, observing Donnie in calm silence as he nods off to sleep. His tense face relaxes. He’d always looked so sweet asleep. She wished she could have seen it more often.
The light escapes the bulb and floats to his bedside where a figure so faint sits at the edge, stroking his hand resting on his chest as he falls into a deep sleep. Her poor Donnie.
Sleep well, love.
A/N: I just kind of hate how death is romanticized sometimes, I took a request once about this but the gif they added depicted a girl dying beautifully so that was the inspiration for that particular point, hope it came off alright
Real quick shoutout to @agatorcat who requested this! Thanks for the opportunity to break down Donnie’s character!
So, a prominent misconception about Bayverse Donatello is that he’s pretty meek, which is okay if you derive comfort from headcanoning him that way.
But canonically, Bay Donnie is quite the opposite: he’s very confident.
Let’s start this with where I think so many people get the ‘Donnie is shy’ idea from, and then we’re going to move into the evidence that proves his confidence.
I also love how you can recognize that situational nervousness is NOT necessarily a permanent fixture of someone’s personality. I mean, he and all his brothers were in a lot of foreign, scary situations, of course he’d be nervous! And everyone shows it in different ways, even Leo was clearly somewhat nervous in the elevator scene.
I never even noticed how he touched her neck??!!?? I wonder what that was supposed to convey on the director’s side, like what they were trying to say if not “Donnie is a bold mf”. It’s actually kind of sweet but weird at the same time
Thank you so much for taking my request, really appreciate the effort especially plugging in clips for points! Great job!
I almost never reblog stuff here but I feel the need to back up my claims of chronic mischaracterization in the Bayverse TMNT fandom using this person’s lovely explanation check out @jazzlemetimbers post for raph too!
:) I know it’s been a lot of time in between each chapter, but I’m glad I saw it through, I think it’s a nice wrap-up to this.
Pacing her apartment, the girl, covered in little bruises still, slapped a palm to her forehead. Stupid, stupid! She’d just let him take off before they could even work anything out, no place, no time—what had she been thinking?
“I am such an idiot,” she moaned into her hands. As Raphael had instructed, she had, in fact, called the police once her strange rescuers fled from the scene, but the procedures that ensued from an assault case had occupied her for a few days. Three, it was; too long for her liking. She racked her brain trying to figure out how to find him again. And if she didn’t, all she could do was hope he was the smarter of the two and would find her.
Raphael. The corners of her mouth dared to smile a bit despite her current issue. That name suited him.
It appeared that he’d lived a rough life in some capacity. There were scars on his face from God knew what, and he carried weapons and tough stride. Though, his colleagues were all a little different in appearance and gestures. Where did they rest their heads, she wondered. Not in a place like hers, clearly. And his clothes…
Yes, Raphael was gruff. But maybe just a little handsome, in a way—she blushed at the thought. You can’t not remember that character. He looked like he could bench a truck.
She’d lately been taking a cab home due to the incident, but there was only one place they could possibly convene: the alley. A dank, kinda dirty, rat-here-and-there kind of place. Or the rooftop, if she could even get up there. Who wouldn’t want to get to know their prince here, she thought sarcastically.
What do people usually do when they’re getting to know their one true love?
On the window sill her phone chimed twice, calling her over. She wandered to her window and gazed out. On the sidewalk below, a couple strode down the concrete, both holding a bag of takeout between them. And suddenly, she had an idea.
Where exactly was that alley again?
He jumped past one, thought it didn’t look familiar and went on to the next. It was about the hour that they’d crossed paths and he felt rushed like he was running out of time, impatient as he was. Until his phone vibrated from his pocket and demanded his attention.
The screen lit, Donnie’s ID. He pursed his scarred lips and picked up.
“Need some help?” asked Don in his cheeky way. Raph could see the smile across the phone.He’d been expecting some kind of nagging or squawking over his departure, but it was just Donnie trying to be helpful as usual. He would have to pay him back for the solid.
“Sure,” answered Raph.
“Sending the location now. It should show up on your GPS. Oh, and don’t worry about you-know-what."
"Say what?”
Studying the address, he opened his mouth to speak, but Donatello was already cutting him off. “Gotta go, bye!”
“Don?” Raph said. The call ended and he stared at the address, puzzled. This was four blocks over and not where he remembered it to be. He wasn’t that unobservant. It was the only real lead he had to go by, though, so he set off toward the new destination.
He flipped over an AC unit and landed on the lip of a roof adjacent to the one that marked the tiny red dot on his phone, skidding to a stop at what he saw.
Little candlelights littered around a blanket with white boxes and a couple of plates, the girl in question scuttling around trying to get things prepared. There was a container of some kind of sweet. Raph watched as she multiple times relit the same candle, only to have the breeze blow it out, followed by her anxious groan. She went back and forth with it until she gave up and fell back onto her rear.
You’re kidding me, Raph thought, scooting to cover. The whole display was a bit pitiful. Now he understood the mysterious address. But how did she know to come up there? Don’t tell me Don contacted her?
A typical dinner date with a mutant, stuck onto the top of a building to accommodate his…conditions. She didn’t really think that was how it could go, right? That they could just sit down and have a meal together like nothing was wrong with that picture? It all seemed so wrong, too casual for what it was, false comfort. All of the candles went out and left her sitting alone in the dark, making her dig through her bag for her phone.
She rubbed her forehead and leaned back onto her hands, looking all around her as if surveying the cityscape for something. Her foot was tapping more and more rapidly. Cracking open one of the boxes of takeout, notably, no steam rose. Raph felt a pang of pity.
It was awkward and he just couldn’t understand the idea of hers, but never had anyone do anything like that for him. Not like I ever had ‘em lined up to take me out to dinner. But after some consideration, for someone like him, he supposed that it was the thought that counted. It didn’t make the approach any easier. He stepped out into sight and whistled curtly, holding up his hands as if to say he wasn’t a threat.
No, this ain’t awkward or weird at all. Couldn’t be, he mused with sarcasm. His long strides had him there a little quicker than he would have liked. He felt lumbering and intrusive.
“You’re not serious, are ya?” he asked from the distance, eyeing the setup skeptically. She closed the gap between them as she fixed up everything and made it neat again. He waited for her to finish, shifting around on his feet.
She responded, “Your…brother told me to meet you up here. I don’t even know how he got my number.”
“He’s got the means. And the fancy little dinner was his idea, too?” he snorted.
Her face fell almost imperceptibly. Back it up, put it in reverse, he sighed to himself. Why was he like this? Why did he always have to say what he was thinking?
“'Cause it just…seems like something…he’d do,” he added reluctantly, wanting to wince. “That’s Donatello for ya.” A few uncomfortable seconds went by. He started to panic when she gave him a questioning look. “But I know he didn’t, I’m just bein’ an ass.”
“You’re not,” she let a breath out, mustering a hesitant smile, “I know it’s kind of stupid. I just thought that…"
He rose a brow.
Sitting herself down on the blanket, she looked up at him, and his heart started to quicken. "You ever had takeout from here?” she asked in a soft tone, forcing a laugh. He knelt down rigidly. The whole thing was uncomfortably small for him. "I don’t know what you guys eat in the sewers, but I figured that this was the least I could do. For us.“
He’d been opening up one of the boxes and inspecting the contents when his eyes went wide. ”'Us’?“ he parroted, dropping the container and spilling some of the noodles.
"No, no, no, not ’us’ us, I meant as in, getting to know us, we—getting us to know each other,” she stammered. “Sorry. No, that’s not what I meant. I just thought it would somehow be less weird.”
“You’re sittin’ across from a mutant turtle freak, don’t you think that’s weird?” he said.
Raph could have let out a sigh of relief, but felt he wasn’t out of the thick of it yet.
He wasn’t expecting the smile, the warm eyes. The “I don’t think you’re weird.” he heard.
Needing something to occupy himself with, he snatched one of the cans of cola and popped it open. Before he started to chug, he replied, “Sure, ya don’t think I’m weird."
"Okay, then I’m weird too,” she said, tilting her head to catch his eye. He glugged the whole can of cola.
“Oh, you’re weird, alright,” he chuffed as he wiped his chin with the back of his hand. “I mean, look at ya. Putting together all this so you can eat cold noodles with a giant turtle ya just met. Is this what you call 'fun’?”
“They’d still be warm if you’d gotten here earlier. And for the record, I am having fun,” she said, dipping into her own food. “Come on, eat, Raphael. Please."
He started to refute it, tried to get his guard back in place again, but his mind couldn’t find the words. How badly he wanted to say "you’re not having fun, you’re just tolerating me,” or “you’re kidding yourself”.
After a moment of squirming and trying to find something to bite back with, he picked up his chopsticks and began to eat. “Nah,” he finally said. Then mumbled, “No way."
"Way,” she chuckled, taking a sip of her drink. Raph shook his head.
A silence befell them. The self-consciousness was somehow worse when he was only being observed, which he knew by the gaze he could feel on himself past the chopsticks feeding noodles into his mouth. She can’t possibly like what she sees. Get real. I’m gross.
“Can you stop your starin’?” he eventually snapped, narrowly avoiding crushing the takeout box on the concrete beneath them. “Didn’t your mom or whatever ever tell you that’s rude?"
It was pretty dark around them, but between talking and eating, she’d managed to keep a few of the candles lit. The warm glow it casted on her face didn’t miss him, neither did her sheepish expression that held the possibility of a blush. She uttered an apology and averted her eyes. She couldn’t have been looking upon him with any kind of joy. That’s what Raph truly believed, at least. So why did it feel bad?
"I think I just can’t stop looking at you, Raphael, truth be told,” she said. His heart did skip that time. Oh, how he hated yielding.
He narrowed his eyes, “Whaddya mean?"
"You’ve got a lot of scars,” she mumbled, leaning in. Without the disgust he’d imagined she would. “And your eyes are pretty."
"Pretty?” he scoffed. He was getting up, now. She scrambled onto her feet as well and reached out, just missing his arm.
He’d yanked his arm away. She corrected herself, “They’re not like anything I’ve seen!"
Well, you don’t have any business looking at me that close.
”(Y/N).“
Her smile left. He stood square before her as if on display. But his brow ridges were furrowed in, creating the intimidating visage she recognized as the first thing she’d ever seen of him. "What?” she asked.
Motioning to all the stuff at their feet, he questioned, “What’s all this for, really?”
“I–I don’t think I understand."
"You, doin’ all this. Over some silly birthmark?” he pressed. “I can’t figure out what’s goin’ on in your head and it makes me—"
She interrupted him. He went still as she slowly took his hand and balled his shaking hand, cupping it in hers. Lightly trembling, not from anger, not from fear. Those trepidatious shakes he’d felt many times before, but never with another person. Never like that.
"Confused? Mad?” she finished for him. All the words he couldn’t quite find found themselves in the flutter of his stomach. They were caught on his tongue.
She was wrong. That wasn’t it. “No,” he could finally say, his voice low. “I don’t know.”
It took two of her hands to wrap fully around one of his, but she wouldn’t let go. Raph wouldn’t dream of trying to tear away from her delicate grip. “Do you think we can figure it out together, then?” she inquired softly.
“I…I don't—"
Lifting his hefty hand, she planted a light kiss on his knuckle, feeling the rough skin on her lips. Raph was absolutely stunned and could not move.
"I hope this tells you all you need to know,” she stated, drawing away. Her back turned to him. The longest ten seconds of his life passed and he only regained the ability to move once she started to walk back to the stairwell, lunging forward to grab her shoulder before she caught the door. Careful to not hurt her.
Turning her around to him, he swallowed, “We ain’t had dessert yet.”
Raph never wanted to stop seeing her eyes shine like they did.
He prompted them to sit down this time, his hand running down her arm as he leaned back. Even then he was too shocked to smile, or make any other face, for that matter. She simply smiled at him.
“Right. Dessert,” she winked.
In the end, Raph still couldn’t totally shake his tough shell off. But he suddenly had the patience to try, just maybe, a lopsided grin forming as she divided the cake.
“…and two for you, because you’re a big guy…"
He let her continue for a moment before getting closer. "Ya know, think I want to get to know ya without these stupid birthmarks, (Y/N),” said Raph with a smile that he didn’t bother to hide. She glanced up at him, wondering. “So let’s do it over again. I’m Raphael, but it’s Raph to you."
Taking her focus off the cake, she slid his plate to him. "Without the marks?"
"Forget about 'em. We’re strangers."
She laughed sweetly, "Then I’m (Y/N). Nice to meet you, Raph."
After that, they shook on it over dessert, and marked the night that the walls Raphael had put up began to crack.
*Story Summary: Sometimes, sorry really is the hardest word.
*Note:This one-shot takes place after the episode ‘Slash and Destroy.’ It’s a companion piece to my works ‘Mikey’s Worst Move Ever’ and ‘Slash’s Revenge.’
*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
In the history of rotten days, this had to be one of the worst. Hamato Donatello breathed out a sullen sigh that no one could actually hear. Unlike him, the rest of his family was probably fast asleep by now, but he just could not seem to settle into a comfortable position. This was not for lack of trying. He had spent the lion’s share of the past hour shifting in his bed, vainly attempting to find peace, but alas, comfort was not meant to be. Maybe that’s because he had been beaten to a pulp not all that long ago.
Everythinghurt.
Whether he laid on his side, his front, or his back, the pain would radiate throughout his body. A harsh, relentless reminder of what had happened that night.
That awful, awful night.
Pushing himself up into a sitting position, Donatello wearily gazed out at the shadows enveloping his room. Something about the darkness sent a chill creeping up and down his spine.
It was so menacing.
So very sinister.
So eerily reminiscent.
A whimper threatened to escape the confines of his parched throat as a flood of memories came rushing back without mercy. Disturbing memories he’d just as soon forget…
Does anyone one else have that One Fic? You know, the one that you can’t get out of your head. Like, the one you read years ago and still think about? The one where you’re fairly certain you’ll be one your death bed and still thinking about how hard it hit you?
Reply and tell me. Or post about it and tag me. Give me links if you can find it. Or just talk about it if it’s long since deleted. I want to know. Let’s talk about our old loves in this fandom.
OMG I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED. I panicked when I realized I forgot to bookmark it all those months ago and I remember being obsessed with it when I first found it
The Race to Find The Cure (Donatello x reader) Chapter 2
The warehouse was quiet for the night. Donne sat up at his work station, adjusting his microscope to peer down at a sample of fluid he’d gathered from a fallen infected. He hummed as he magnified in and saw the molecules of mutagen mixed with other bodily things.
“Need a centrifuge,” he muttered, trying to see past the particulate matter to get a good look. His had gotten left behind in the sewers when it was overrun, and they were not equipped to take that task on currently. Home would be theirs again, one day. Just not then. He pulled away from the microscope and saw the map out of the corner of his eye with the big red circle around the lab he was eyeing. “They’ll have a centrifuge,” he said. We just have to get there. Hold out for me, [y/n], I’m going to get you what you need.
This study was useless if he couldn’t separate the actual mutagen from the other bodily fluids. He sighed and stood up. Listening in on the chatter between the two unknowns on the walkie-talkies had become a kind of past time for him; sometimes, he tuned in just for some background noise. He did that, deciding to dig out his journal from his box of few possessions to write down everything so far. He scribbled his pen to activate the ink. The radio next to him crackled as a man’s voice on the other end asked; “You still alive, jackass?”
“November 6th, 2013—11:42 PM
Subject: Worst day since Splinter
Back at the journal again. I have to document everything, it’s how I am. Who’s going to tell the story otherwise? Or maybe I’m coping. Doesn’t matter anyway.
I haven’t gotten the time to mention until now we’ve been going out a lot trying to get supplies before winter. All hands on deck lately. Everything was going pretty smooth, which is weird because it’s nevereasy with us, but we all needed a break. I sure wasn’t complaining. But something always has to go wrong, right? Because it did. I don’t want to be bitter, but it’s getting really hard.
I’m afraid I’ve made some miscalculations. [Y/N]’s infected. And now I’m sitting here writing it down in a diary. Shouldn’t I be working? I can’t even think. Well, barely. I just need a breather. I’ll be quick.
There’s not much to say about the events leading up to it. Like I said, it was all going somewhat okay. We just wanted to go find supplies to make our lives easier when it gets cold. We can’t be stuck in here freezing all winter! But some of those infected are quiet. (More like half asleep due to lack of a food source.) Nobody knew it was behind those crates. We were even checking for that very thing. But [y/n] was just a little close and a little too slow, and all it takes is a couple of seconds to get the jump on you. We should be glad she’s not a goner…but I feel like a failure. I know everyone’s blaming themselves a little. I don’t know if it’s anyone’s fault, if I’m being honest. Cruel luck like usual? I’ll get back to you on that.
So, that’s been it, until now. She went into shock afterwards; I stabilized her as quickly as possible. It’s been six hours since the attack and I’ve been checking on her constantly, but the disease can be unpredictable. Everyone’s worried, but I can’t give an answer right now. I. don’t. know.
I need to get in gear and solve this thing. She’s already showing signs. I think we’ve got a little time though, so I have to make use of every minute. Can’t waste it on sleeping. I know everyone’s worried, they’ve been on my shell about it for days, but I just can’t stop. Even Casey tried to get me to walk away from my research to go sleep. I snapped at him…I didn’t mean to, but they don’t understand. I think I’m getting closer. Meanwhile, I’ve bought her and me some time in by using a very diluted form of Retro-Mutagen to keep the mutating at bay. It’ll only be so long before that stops working. And knowing that I’d been touching her, no doubt I’ve shed some DNA on her, but I think I’ve got it under control. April helped her out with the bath. She did the best she could. Mutagen is highly reactive towards biomaterial, so I don’t want to introduce anythingthat could possibly react with the Ooze currently in her and trigger any changes. No change for as long as possible is a good thing, or we’re going to have more problems on our hands.
Even writing this now I still feel guilty. Raph tried to comfort me, I guess…emphasis on “tried”, but that didn’t help. I should have been looking out more. And now I’m worried that I won’t make it in time. Can a fully infected person be cured? It’s never possible in movies, but if this disease is a virus literally mutated by Ooze, then my answer is somewhere here. I just have to find it. Retro-Mutagen concentrate hasn’t worked. Curse the viral part of this; it’s thrown a wrench in my plan and now I don’t know what to do. But I won’t give up. [Y/N] needs me.
In the meantime, I’ve been picking through the different frequencies with my radio receiver and found one two unknown people have been using. Knowing how Lower Manhattan’s a mess, they’re actually probably somewhere near us, but I don’t need to find them to listen in on their convos. What’s got me more worried on top of everything else is that these two were just in hiding from a horde in the city. Lucky for them, they escaped, but bad news for us, because it looks like it’s coming our direction. Unless it magically decides to change course, but New York is becoming a wasteland, anyway. Last night running back home we found infected on the rooftops. Who knew they knew how to open stairwell doors? Are they really as brainless as we think?
It turns out that the mutagen part of all of this behaves like it normally does. While travelling through one of the not-overrun sewer passages, we found a person half mutated with a rat.It was…chewing on something. I didn’t get close enough to look. But my heart skipped a beat. I swear my stomach fell. Even just for a split second, I think all of us saw Master Splinter in him. I couldn’t believe it. Leo’s hands were shaking; I saw the blades trembling. Logically, all of us knew it couldn’t have been Father.. We laid him to rest already. He’s not coming back. We ended up just going back from where we came. I had to hold Raph back. I’m glad I did. I don’t think any of us are strong enough for what we would have had to do if we hadn’t silently backed away.
Well, it’s just past 12 o’clock. I hate to wake [y/n] up to take her temperature, but it has to be done. I’ll have to monitor it very carefully.
Donnie signing off”
November 7th, 2013—4:34 AM
Medical notes
• 12:00 AM: temperature reading 99.1°
•3:00 AM: no change.
• [Y/N] says she tired. That’s all for now.
I’m pretty tired, too.“
“So, what’s up with this ‘horde’?” Raph asked while twirling his sais. He propped a leg up on the busted window sill he sat on, looking out at the dark city as a chill came through the air. His leg dangled idly on the outside as if the cold didn’t bother him. Everyone was gathered up in the open makeshift living room keeping warm by the fire drum. Donnie held out his cold hands near the flame. He hated the cold. Raph set his sais down in his lap, briefly seeing his reflection in the metal. “Two days, huh…” he mumbled. He turned his head to hide to hide his face.
“More or less,” Donnie responded. “Technically less,” he added plainly. No one seemed to appreciate the dry humor, so he shrunk a little with an apologetic smile, saying, “But, that’s plenty of time for us to pack up and hit the road. I’ve been fixing up the van just for this, you know. The Shelleraiser and Party Wagon won’t fail us yet…right, Raph?”
Raph looked over at the warm glow of the circle, seeing everyone close together and [y/n] there as well. Mikey passed around the cans food that Leo had rationed out that night. Raph smiled a bit and shook his head. “It better not break down on us halfway there, or I think we’re going to be the roadkill,” he said, hopping down from the window. He joined everyone around the fire and settled down. “Come on, don’t be shy with those peaches.”
Donnie noticed [y/n]’s distracted gaze at the fire. The way the light danced off her glum face and made the dark circles apparent. Donnie wasn’t all brains and no feeling; he could sense her gloom, and for a minute, felt powerless—what could he do besides try his hardest?
He contemplated. The firelight shone in his russet eyes as he thought, with the idea that the warm glow against the backdrop of the blue city out the window reminded him of a sunrise.
Raph sighed and leaned back onto the cushions they’d fixed to a pallet. He chuffed. “Two days. It feels like we’ve already been here so long,” he said. “It’s been two months, right?” He glanced at Leo for confirmation, who prodded the fire with his poker.
“Yeah,” Leo answered. "Wow, that’s weird to say.”
Mikey tossed his empty can behind him into their trash bin, falling back into soft cushion. “Time doesn’t fly when you’re not having fun,” he said.
Fun. He was right; they hadn’t had fun in ages. Donnie suddenly had his lightbulb moment.
[Y/N] needed a spirit-lifter then just as much as she needed medical attention. Donnie couldn’t let her keep sulking alone with herself, and then putting on a brave face when he came to check on her. It was only moments like when she stared at the fire that she left anyone know how bad it was all seeming.
I can’t only try my hardest. I can’t just be her doctor. I have to be her friend, Donnie answered his former question, knowing what he wanted to do.
“[Y/N],” he said. He set down his can. “How much energy do you have?”
She could tell he had an idea, the boy’s face always showed it. Her eyes left the fire as she looked at him with interest. “I’m not totally inert. What do you have in mind?” she inquired, curious.
Everyone gave Donnie a wondering look which he winked to as he checked the time. “When’s the last time you saw the sunrise?” he asked, already on his feet and holding out a hand for her to take. “If we head out now, we can find a good spot,” he tempted. Donnie’s face was sweet as ever, as if everything would be alright for a few minutes.
Any of the boys or April could have questioned that decision, but they kept their mouths shut, understanding that they’d want to be allowed a moment of peace in all the chaos if they were in her shoes. Leo held back his reluctance.
A chance to see the sunrise over New York City again? She could muster energy for that. She wiped her eyes of the lingering tiredness and grabbed his hand, letting him help pull her up. “I don’t think I’ve seen a sunrise in a year. It sounds great, Donnie,” she responded. “I’ll just…give me a minute and I’ll be ready to go,” she said, putting some pep in her step as she left to go to the lab. Donnie considered following her to see what she was up to, but decided against that, instead going to get his staff before they left. Casey strode up to his side while he geared up.
“Goin’ out?” queried Casey, resting his bat on his shoulder. “Shouldn’t she be in bed or something?”
Donnie grabbed his grappling hook and fastened it to himself. “We’re not going far, Jones, and she could use the vitamin D,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
“What about nasties?”
Slipping his staff into his belt, Donnie replied, “Infected don’t attack other infected. They’re like, invisible to them. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about more than you.”
Casey didn’t say anything and watched as Donnie went to his lab to find [y/n] slipping in through the door from outside, wiping her chin of something, he noticed. She coughed a little and composed herself just as he spotted her. “Some fresh air,” she laughed, and staved off a thick cough. She felt like there was something in her throat. “We can go now. Lead the way.”
She walked out into the dim morning, pulling her coat in. Donnie stood still a few seconds watching her, somber. With a deep breath, he set out after.
Moving swiftly through the low rooftops, Donnie was sure to avoid infested buildings. About a mile away was the one he had his eye on, the highest accessible point nearby for them to see the horizon from. He helped her out wherever he needed to—which were a lot of places—but, eventually, they came to and were only level with the second story of the building, and [y/n] was too weak to climb like him. The grappling hook wouldn’t hold two people, either.
“Here, get on my shell,” Donnie instructed, taking a knee. He looked over his shoulder with a smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t drop you. I’m no Raph, but I’m pretty strong.”
“If you’re sure,” she said. He hooked his hands underneath her knees and stood up as she adjusted her grip on his shoulders. He was telling the truth—he handled her weight well, for the thinnest of the turtles. He definitely was as, if not stronger than he looked. She gazed up at the roof. “It’s pretty high up!”
Gauging what the easiest way up there would be, he replied confidently, “And no problem for a ninja.”
He started the climb up, utilizing stairwells, ac units, water towers and higher roofs to ascend as far as they could the easy way. He vaulted a gap between buildings and grabbed into the beam of a billboard, pulling them up. He denied himself the pause he almost took remembering when it felt as though the city was passing themby under their feet as they ran the rooftops at night, not himpassing these still, empty streets. A wave of nostalgia washed by as he made his last jump, gripping the edge of a window. Back then, the city had been alive. People shouting, cars honking all through the night, sirens; the ruckus of New York had always been a background noise in his life, and the silence was unsettling. He channeled his momentary glimpse of sadness into his drive to fix everything. All that he needed was in that lab.
Grunting, he heaved them over the lip of the building and let her down. He checked the time on his T-Phone—6:06 AM. They’d made it just in time.
“Perfect timing,” he said, satisfied. They walked to the edge of the building, the grey-blue sky above them slowly getting lighter. On the horizon, the sun was starting to peak, an orange strip of light spanning the edge of the world.
At least if something were to happen, she’d gotten to see a sunrise again, [y/n] thought as she looked out. The city was foggy, with slivers of pale light starting to filter through buildings. With bleary eyes, she couldn’t quite distinguish everything, but she knew it had to be even better clear.
“It’s pretty,” she said softly. She turned to him. “Donnie, thanks for—”
He looked surprised. His mouth hang slightly open, eyes trained in the distance instead of the sun. “No way,” he breathed out. His hand instinctively reached for his staff. She tilted her head seeing his concern and was about to ask what was wrong, but squinted her eyes instead, and saw it: a moving mass of unknown proportions plodding through the streets in the distance. In silence, Donnie’s brain worked out the math.
A population of approximately 8.3 million as of 2013. A few thousand evacuated and a few thousand fled as the plague broke out—subtract about twenty thousand, he guessed. A lot of people unaccounted for, there. Whatever the numbers were, they were huge.
“Oh, my God…” [y/n] whispered.
Seeing it for himself, time felt like it has come to a halt. Both of them simply stood there for a minute straight looking out at the enormous cluster of infected, neither saying anything. Donnie felt his eyes go wide. He’d been expecting bad, but not like this. Reality hit them; they needed to get home and pull the vehicles around. Immediately.
Donnie was able to break from his trance before she had, so he touched her upper arm, getting her attention. “We gotta tell the others,” he said with a sudden sense of urgency. He pulled her along with him, “Right now. Let’s go!”
Based off of my apocalypse AU that I created for Raph a while back. Here is Donnie’s version. :) (written in third perspective but using [y/n] in place of a name.)
Running out of time.
The solution had to be somewhere amongst all his papers.
Time is running out, thought Donnie again as he stared long and hard over his notes. Data he’d gathered and extrapolations he’d made over and over again—what was missing? He knew how to create retro mutagen. He had the formulas. He had the tools. He had the mind. But there were holes in his research. Things he had no access to. This wasn’t just Ooze he was dealing with; it was a hybrid, pathogen and mutagen spliced together to make a catastrophe that spread. And it spread fast.
He glanced over at the map pinned to a corkboard, routes and places of interest he’d drawn sprawling all over it. But one fat red line stuck out the most: the projected path of the horde that was currently accumulating. Just another addition to his list of problems.
Donnie’s brain worked every which way. His attention was divided between a set of different things, a heavy burden on his drooping shoulders. Between the cure, taking care of other things that needed to be done, and her, he was stretched thin.
Behind him on a mattress on the cold floor was his newest patient, which he was reminded to check the temperature of when he heard rustling in the sheets. His tires eyes lifted from the papers quickly, grabbing a thermometer off the shelf to head over to the girl starting to toss awake. Without fail, he felt a pang of guilt every time.
If anyone was strong when it came to this situation, it was him. And maybe Leo. Though their leader was preoccupied, he still came to check in, and even he had a grimace at it. Donnie knelt down. Don’t look bleak, he instructed himself as he pulled a tender smile and took one of her hands. “Sleepy, are we?” he asked as she roused awake. “Gotta take your temperature again. How do you feel?”
She sat up against the wall, obviously drained but fighting sleep. She, too, managed to force a smile through the waves of nausea and headaches as if to say “all better”, which made her happy too see his face soften. “I feel a little hot, but that’s all,” she said.
Then the virus hasn’t progressed, he thought with a glint of hope. We still have some time. That was all he needed.
He gave her the thermometer, her flinching back as their fingers touched. “Won’t you get it too being around me like this?” she asked with concern, having put some distance between them.
“Well, you aren’t developing pustules or any open sores, so it’s okay for now,” he replied, handing the thermometer back to her. And when she did? He’d copped a hazmat suit and more than enough disposable gloves a month prior. They both waited with bated breath for the little beeps. Both jumped as a gunshot sounded from the platform upstairs—it was Casey picking off incoming infected from the window again, as was his evening shift. A straggler here and there was not welcome in their compound. Casey was quick to dispatch any that wandered too close so long as his pistol had a silencer.
The thermometer beeped, and Donnie took it, inspecting the numbers. 100.1°. Not great.
She saw his face fall ever so slightly. His brow ridges stitched as he slipped the notebook from his belt and scratched in a log of her temperature, among a growing list. It had been on a steady incline since three days prior and the…incident.
Hearing the shot fire above them, she played with her thumbs. She knew Donnie was under a lot of stress. And to add onto that? She felt guilty.
“Seems like Casey’s becoming quite the sharpshooter,” she commented in the silence. “And seems like we’ve been hearing those more often. I wonder why the infected are out more these days.”
Donnie set his notebook on the tray next to the mattress and sat back on his legs. “They’re starving,” he said, “most of the city’s been turned, so…they have to look. But they can survive a lot longer without food than us.“ The air between them was filled with a looming feeling of uncertainty. Donnie was sure he could find the cure. He’d done it before for mutants, he could do it for infected people, too. But time of was the essence and resources were running out. He had to work harder.
“Hey, not so different from us, then,” she joked in a low voice, letting her head fall back and eyes close shut. Being sick was really taking a toll. How much longer would she be able to keep a straight face for him with the body aches, the skin burning, and the chills? Oh, the chills. Along with the fever, it was turning Autumn in New York City. She cracked an eye open to find him deep on thought.
“Donnie,” someone called from the entrance to his lab space. There were some empty crates they’d stacked up and around the corner to give him some privacy to work. He snapped out of his thoughts it to find Leo leaning in. Leo motioned with his head for him to follow.
Another family meeting, she thought in dry humor. Probably a game plan on how to deal with her when push came to shove. Which was looking inevitable, but she’d never let Donnie know how she felt that way.
“I’ll be back, okay?” Donnie said, reassuring her of the fact that he would not leave her side for long. He’d been practically glued to it, even moved the mattress into the back corner of his pseudo lab to be able to pay more attention to her. They could always count on Donnie for that.
“I’ll be here,” she mumbled, laying down to face the wall.
Donnie met at kitchen table with everyone else. They were all a little awkward and downtrodden, but Leo poised himself, clearing his throat. “There have been more infected on the move here lately. Casey, you say you shot three just in the last two hours?” Leo started. His eyes flitted over to Casey, who sat halfway on the table. Casey nodded and continued chewing his gum; the sound was driving Donnie up the wall. Casey acted flippant as ever, but even he was troubled by the turn of events.
“Hit ‘em right in the head, bull’s-eye,” said Casey, pretending to fire a finger pistol.
Leo turned his attention back to Donnie. “And [y/n]? How is she?” he inquired.
Feeling everyone’s expectant eyes on him, Donnie went by all of them with his, one by one, and answered: “Stable. Doing….okay.” He wasn’t known to be obtuse on purpose, but everyone around the table could tell he wasn’t going to speculate to them. That was fine, thought Leo. She still had time; in turn, they did as well. Leo would have to make a note to check in with her more often to gauge their next move. For now, they had other issues.
“Look, guys,” Leo said with a sigh, “I know you like the warehouse—I do too—but it’s just not safe here anymore. We’ve had two fence breaches this month and it’s only going to get worse from here. We’re in a bad spot. We need to move. I’m thinking upstate, less people and April’s got a farmhouse out there.”
Raph was glaring down at the table. “So, what? We get pushed out of our old home in the sewers and now we’re getting pushed out of here, too? Is that what we’re doing now? Being pushovers?” he spat. “What’s a few more infected? Last time I checked, we didn’t have a problem. Just fix up the fence and we’ll be fine.” As usual, he focused on Leo, his mounting anger directed right at his older brother. Leo ignored the bitterness in his tone and continued.
“Donnie, tell them what you heard,” Leo said, rubbing his face.
Way to put me on the spot. His fingers drummed the edge of the table as all but Leo waited to hear the latest update, but they weren’t going to like what he had to say. “I—I picked up some radio chatter about a week ago about a horde supposedly starting to form,“ he said uncomfortably. “I didn’t know if it was true or not, so I watched the channels over the last few days, and…yeah, a horde’s on the move, and it’s headed our way. Pockets of infected are assimilating and I don’t know why.”
Scowling, Raph turned heel and stormed out of the room with Mikey on his tail trying to get him back. April put a gentle hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Let him cool off,” she said, and Mikey reluctantly came back round, downcast.
“So…that’s it. We need to pack up. I know, I like it here, too. Donnie, how much time do we have?” Leo looked his way.
“Not enough,” he always wanted to say, but he bit his tongue and opted for an estimate of about two days given that the infected didn’t exactly move with purpose. As far as they were concerned, they only knew one speed when unstimulated, and that was: meander. “Considering it’s not really moving in a straight line and they’re not the smartest, we have some time to get out. If that’s what we want to do. Maybe the warehouse will hold?”
"But my equipment!” he’d wanted to argue. Not all of it would fit between their two vans. He feared for the worst that he wouldn’t be able to save anyone without it. If they left, his only option would be to start from scratch again, and for [y/n], that was not an option.
But to seize a lab was an option.
For everyone’s sake, we can make one petty crime.
Leo crossed his arms, tapping his chin. “I can’t take that chance. It’s my job to keep you guys safe. I’m sorry, Donnie.”
“Whatever,” murmured Casey as he hopped off the table and went to join Raph.
“I miss Master Splinter…” Mikey said under his breath. April sensed some unspoken words between Donnie and Leo and took her leave as well.
And then there were two. Donnie gripped the edge of the table, fixing his gaze away from the harsh orange light dangling above them. After a moment, he spoke. “There’s a lab East of here. A real one. I don’t know its status right now, but if I could just get in and get the research, I know I can make a cure,” he said hopefully. “I need to get to that lab, Leo. If not for the sake of everyone, but for [y/n].”
“What if there are still people there?” Leo asked.
“Then we’ll break in at night,” Donnie responded. “Like we always do. I need to do this, Leo.” Only the fate of [y/n], my family, and possibly the whole country is resting in my hands, no pressure, right?
“We’ll figure it out,” Leo concurred. “We know you’ve got what it takes, Donnie. We’ll do everything we can to help.” He gave a reassuring smile, the one that always makes them feel like it all might just be okay. If Leo could muster one, Donnie could, too, which he did after they all dispersed from the little kitchen table and he headed back downstairs. “[Y/N], do you need any—” he started, but stopped upon seeing her sound asleep. Though mostly comprised of mutagen, the pathogenic part of the virus was the part the body tried its hardest to fight. But the unstable nature of the mutagen made it a tossup of how strong each case would be. Donnie could only hope that hers was a weak one.
On his tips of his toes he went to her side, pulling the fleece blanket up to her neck. It was getting cold out. Anything to make her more comfortable. Then he prepared a bowl of cool water and a rag for if she got hot, placing it on the tray next to her for her to find in case he wasn’t there. His hand lingered there hovering above her shoulder, wanting to feel the warm comfort of knowing that she was in fact still with them and still had a chance. Should he wake her up to tell her Leo’s verdict? It seemed like the right choice. But she looked far more peaceful than any of them in her own world just then, and he wanted to keep it that way only for a little longer, so he whispered a goodnight and went back to his station.
Seeing that she was taken care of, he quietly resumed his work over yonder, unaware that she had been laying still, but fully awake.
Me posting this anyway even though I’m unsure and don’t know if I’m digging it yet
¾, Donnie’s way to protect Zea He just drag Zea like he’s dragging a bag of trash. He then thrown Zea away into the trash can because Zea is a trash person =u= . . .
Nahh, just kidding . He sent Zea to the Shellraiser. .
