Title: Bed of Flowers
Fandom: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IDW comic
Characters: Splinter, Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo
Word Count: 1.8k
Rating: G
Summary: They laid him down in a bed of flowers.
Author's Notes: I wrote this not to long after issue #44 of the IDW TMNT comic came out and I figured I'd post it before the next one comes up. I just started reading the IDW comics and everything I based this story on is from the little amount of research I was able to do at the time, so forgive any errors I've made in the canon of this comic. It's sad, and heartbreaking, and you may need tissues. Maybe. Unbeta'd.
They laid him down in a bed of flowers.
-o-
They had wanted to lay Donatello on an altar of beauty, to help overshadow the ugliness of what had happened to him. Flowers were the most striking things they could think of that were the easiest to obtain. Most of the blooms were Japanese Cherry Blossoms, to honor his past life's heritage, and White Stargazer Lilies, which was a traditional flower for funerals.
Of course they couldn't have a traditional funeral for their fallen brother and son. They couldn't even give him a proper burial. As soon as everyone said their goodbyes and were ready to depart with his body, they would burn him and spread his ashes across the world that he had given his life to save. But that would have to wait, until revenge had been taken and they free from their current obligations to fulfill this monumental task.
So, for now, they watched his broken body be placed in a small sea of pink and white and let the perfume of those petals fill the air as the weight of his body gently crushes each one that laid below him.
-o-
Each one of his family members added their own arrangement, for their own purpose and for their own meaning. None of them explained and none of them were asked.
-o-
After the initial shock had worn off, which took a lot longer than anyone could have foreseen, Leo still felt a sense of bewilderment. How could be that his sweet and logical brother was lying there, broken in the most unspeakable manner, and it's not a dream? Leo had always thought that out of all of them, Donnie would be the one to survive them all. He had been always so smart, and so cautious. Surely a genius such as he could find a way to stop death from coming to him. Their trip to the future had only solidified that belief and so he grew complacent. He had been relieved, actually, when he had left Donnie behind to attack the Technodrome, despite his initial misgivings. It had meant that there was one less back to cover and that he was far away from the danger.
Or so he thought.
With all the time and effort that they had put into this plan, he should have known that Don was leaving something out. It shamed him to know that he hadn't seen the signs of secrecy from his usually open brother. While Donnie wasn't the worst liar, Leo had thought he knew all of his tells. As a ninja, he was supposed to be observant and vigilant. He had been neither and now his brother was dead.
It should have been him. Of all of them, Leo should have been the one to die. He had been preparing for this moment, to die in the blaze of glory, protecting the ones he loved or saving the world. He was meant to die a hero's death. And this was the price of his arrogance. He had romanticized his own demise while failing to prepare for the passing of his brother.
Donnie hadn't wanted to be a hero. He didn't want the praise or the glory; he just wanted to do the right thing. He was willing to exile himself and stand up against his family to make sure that the entire world wouldn't succumb to the terror Krang had in store for it. He understood the sacrifices that had to be made to get it done and he did it without blinking or regret. Nothing Leo could ever do could hold a candle to the righteousness his brother had demonstrated on his own, without anyone's knowledge or recognition.
-o-
Leo was the first to bring his offering. With his face still blank from disbelief, he placed a single white carnation, a symbol of honor and remembrance, at his left elbow.
-o-
Raphael couldn't believe he had ever thought of his brother as cowardly.
He remembered distinctly that conversation on the rooftop, at how sad and confused Donatello looked in the sunrise. He had fully admitted to thinking about quitting, and Raph had given him hell over that. The genius terrapin had insistence that there was a difference between thinking and actually doing, but he hadn't fully believed him. Until now, that is.
All he to do was look around the warehouse that had held Donatello's last stand to see it was quite evident that his brother hadn't given up. Cracked drywall, shattered monitors, and a broken Bo staff had been a testament to how his brother had fought with his last breath. The bruises that stained his limbs and face spoke of how long he had battled and how hard he had fought.
Don had to have known on some level that this might have been the outcome when he made the deal with Shredder, Raph reasoned. It must have been terrifying to have those two goons standing at his back as he helped save their world. But he did it anyway. He didn't run away in fear and abandoned both his brothers and the world to save his own hide. He showed he had nerve to betray their mortal enemy even when placed in the middle of the viper's nest and never backed down.
Don had showed more fortitude than Raph, despite all his hard talk, could ever imagine he himself having in that situation.
-o-
Raph followed next, angry tears in his eyes, and placed at Don's right elbow small thin branch filled with Chinese Plum Blossoms, in honor of his brother's courage in death.
-o-
Michelangelo had taken it the hardest out of all of the turtles.
Donatello had been a constant playmate of his, his most steadfast companion. Despite their differences, or maybe because of it, they had found comfort with each other when the world became chaos around them. Through all the trials and tribulations of their lives, the fights, the training, Raph's disappearance, Leo's brainwash, and everything else, Don had been there. He was a solid and sturdy rock in the middle of a tempestuous sea that Mikey had held onto in times of need.
This was the first time in two life times that he had turned to his brother and he wasn't there to comfort him. It had made him so angry at first. How dare he die on him, when he still needed him here with him? He still needed that shoulder to cry on, that hand to hold, and that voice of reason in his ears. How could his bright and resilient brother be really gone from him?
Just as quick, though, he had been flooded with guilt. Of course Donnie hadn't meant to leave him when he needed him the most. Mikey was sure, as the sun rose and set every day, that given the choice he would rather be by his family's side rather than anywhere else. That Don's love for them was boundless and had lasted two incarnations and he knew that Don would be waiting for them in the next one. He was being selfish and realized that he had taken advantage of the comfort his brother had always given to him without a real word of thanks. Somehow, he wanted to find a way to show his brother that he was appreciative of all the times he had been there for him and clemency for the one time he could not be.
-o-
With tears still streaming down his face, Mikey went after Raphael. In his hands was a circle of pink and white flowers. Their stems were intertwined to be turned into a crown and were placed above Don's now peaceful brow. Pink roses for admiration, pink carnations for gratitude, and white tulips for forgiveness.
-o-
Donatello had had an intellect beyond measure. His vast mind and prodigious skill with mechanics and science had not only helped his own family out of many dire situations, but had benefited all those who they had come across or brought ruined for those that went against them. He knew well of his gift in logical thought, as Leonardo was sometimes quick to point out, but never had he used it for ill gain or evil deed.
But what was truly remarkable was his wisdom. Even at such a young age, Donatello had shown a maturity that sometimes surpassed his own father's. While sometimes his stubbornness would outweigh his level head, Master Splinter always made note of his son's argument.
As of late, though, it had been his own stubbornness that clouded his own good sense and had ignored Donatello's warnings. It had hurt him, to see his son go against him in such a manner, especially sense he had thought of himself being right. He had thought that his son's was being obstinate and now Master Splinter had to pay the price for his own ignorance and his son's bravery, not just against a hated foe, but for standing up for what was right and just, even in the face of his father's displeasure.
His son had shown more wisdom in one short lifespan than Hamato Yoshi had done in two.
-o-
Master Splinter placed a single flower in his son's cold, clasped hands. It had been pulled directly from a murky faux pond the flower shop had installed for all their water lilies, so it still had a bit of mud stuck to its stem. Considering it was a lotus blossom, which literally means to rise and bloom above the murk to achieve enlightenment, Master Splinter found it fitting and refused to clean it. Despite the purple coloring of the mask he himself had given to him, he instead chose the Blue Lotus, which represented wisdom and intelligence, to lie upon him. He then bent his head down and kissed the space between his son's eyes, just below the crown of flowers that his youngest has placed upon his head. He looked up, taking in the flowers placed at his elbows and the one resting on his chest and thought his son was beautiful in death, as he was in life, and that this tragedy would not be forgotten. He turned and looked at the friends that had been able to come, so few in person but many in spirit, where they stared at their altar of blossoms, with the tallest of them all resting finally at peace, with sorrow and admiration, like little sunflowers turned towards the sun. His broken heart was warmed by the respect and love his son had gained in his travels.
But the time for mourning will soon come to an end.
Then the Shredder will know what it's like to mess with a family of thorns.