Author's Note: Thank you for taking the time to read my newest AU, A Waste of Silver! Please be aware that this story is collection of one-shots all gathered together in this same AU, so this will not read like a typical multi-chapter story. Along the line I will write a proper multi-chapter story for this AU, and it will be published under it's own, separate title, so keep a look out for that! Until then, please enjoy!
-oOo-
Don knows he's not supposed to move. There's a crick forming at the base of his neck, but he ignores it. He's lodged between the skeletons of three vehicles haphazardly piled atop one another, and he knows the second he so much as shifts his position he will be revealed.
He hasn't heard Raph's whistle yet, only the strained growls and heavy grunts as he charges his attack. Somewhere off to his far right he can still pick out the soft sound of Mikey's panting and thudding feet as he sprints for safety. There's no noise from Leo. That doesn't worry him. He's usually safer when Leo doesn't know where he is anyway.
The light is dim and hazy. The usual. The goggles don't help but he keeps them on because it's better than accepting the fact that he doesn't need them in the first place. Perhaps it would just be better if he closes his eyes, wait for the signal in pure darkness instead.
Only he can't.
Not this time.
Slowly he inhales and he instantly feels the gaseous air thickly filling his lungs. It doesn't hurt and he holds his breath as he leans forward. But just a little. He hears another roar from the other end of the building. He freezes.
He used to think the building was once built for offices, but there's a chalkboard on the other end of the wall that looks more like it once belonged to a classroom. He can't say for sure. A second later another roar bursts through the room, followed closely by the furious yell of his second oldest brother, and he remembers that it's never going to matter again anyhow.
But the roar is farther away now. Maybe there's time. Maybe things like offices and chalkboards no longer have any meaning, but there might be some things that still do. Maybe?
He doesn't wait for another sound. There isn't any time and he realizes with an uncertain sort of confused pride that he'd made up his mind a long time ago just what he was going to do all along. There might not be time later. There never is.
His heartbeat hammers inside his temples, and noiselessly he extracts himself from the shadows. He keeps himself crouched as low to the ground as possible, long legs stretching as he crawls across the filthy ground. He reaches his target in less than five seconds, but it only takes four for him to be discovered.
A powerful force slams into the back of his shell and he's flung solidly into a wall. The world goes spinning as his body crumples beneath him. He can't breathe.
"Donnie!"
He tries not to cough and his eyes fill with tears as his throat closes up with saliva and grit. But he finds Mikey through the black fog and he realizes that the lens on his goggles is cracked. Fuck.
"What're you doing out here!?"
Mikey's arms are covered with sweat as they wrap around Don and heave him unsteadily to his feet. He can feel the shudders quivering through Mikey's frame, the toxic air causing him to writhe despite the gas mask built into his helmet. Don gulps it all in again, still lamely attempting to balance himself upright.
Only it's too late.
A screeching roar rattles between them and a thick, scaly tail sweeps out from the darkness. Mikey's fast enough to dodge, pulling Don with him, but Don's foot catches on a jagged spike and he stumbles, colliding headfirst back into the ground. His stomach instantly flips and he vomits.
"Time to move little bro!"
A second pair of arms wraps powerfully around his chest and returns him to his feet in less than second. They're easily twice as thick as Mikey's, and equally covered in a thick layer of sweat and filth. Don doesn't need to look to know who they belong to. Only one other person would hold him like that.
"Raph…"
His knees buckle and he realizes the inside of his mouth tastes tangy. Something's dripping down his chin.
Raph ignores him and calls out instead, "Mikey!"
"I'm on it!"
Don tries to blink and his head pounds with each flutter of his eyelids. He feels Raph pull away, though his fingers numbly reach out for him anyway. But then Mikey's there, propping him up, pulling him away. He wants to argue but he's not really sure why.
His feet don't want to work at first, and he can still hear them. The other monsters that are just like him. They screech and roar as they struggle to protect their makeshift home. The home he and his brothers had invaded and stole their vaccine from. He can tell just by looking at them. They need it just as badly as he does.
There's a flicker of movement from the shadows and finally Don can see him. Leo had been watching all along, crouched low, swords gripped firmly in both hands. Don's blood instantly runs cold. Leo's glaring at him.
Then another mutant lunges forward and Mikey is pushing Don ahead. There's nothing left to do now but run. They crash out of the building, never looking back. Always the first rule of survival. Don's lungs are on fire but they don't stop, sprinting until the desolation blurs around them and the sounds of agony fills the air.
The church isn't far away. Mikey makes sure Don gets inside first and it's a role reversal Don immediately hates. The sound of their gasping breath bounces across the empty walls. Mikey removes his helmet and instantly begins to cough, leaning heavily against a pew for support. Don forces himself to swallow, though his aching legs refuse to move.
"Mikey…"
Suddenly there's a flash of emerald green and Don's shell is slammed up against the wall. The back of his skull knocks into it, the sound ringing in his ears and his eyes cross. He wants to close them but there's no point.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
Leo's voice cuts through everything like a blade. His chest rises and falls rapidly, but his entire body is coiled in tight, his fist like iron as he grips Don mercilessly around the neck.
"Do you realize what you could have done?" Leo doesn't wait for an answer. He never does. "You have one responsibility Don, and that is to hide your ass the second I give you the signal, and you are not to move again until you are told to. Is this too difficult for you to understand?"
Don knows better than to gulp, even as the air grows tight inside his throat. He can see Mikey standing limply behind Leo's shoulder. His eyes are wide and they're immediately wet, but he doesn't say anything anymore. Don doesn't blame him.
"So tell me, what was so important that you felt you needed to compromise the lives of everyone?" Leo's eyes narrow, and Don's entire body flinches as he feels the pressure tighten.
"I…"
"What? Did you think I wouldn't notice?" Leo hisses, and his voice suddenly hushes, "Or did you just not care?"
"That's enough Leo!"
Raphael's voice shoots between them before he even lands from the rafters. Don instinctively twitches away, but Leo's doesn't so much as blink. His eyes remain steely, locked onto Don with as much intensity as his grip. Raph wastes no time, pulling himself between them as much as possible.
"Back off of him," Raph growls, but he still doesn't reach for Leo's hand around Don's throat, "You've made your point."
Leo doesn't move. He doesn't spare Raph a glance.
His grip only tightens.
"I said back OFF!"
Raph's voice shudder the windowpanes, and a small whimper from Mikey sneaks through as the echoes fade back away. The noise rings in Don's head, overtaken only by the rapid thumping inside his chest.
Finally Leo loosens his hold. It takes him another few seconds to fully allow his hand to slowly return to his side. He's not releasing his hold because Raph told him to, and they all know it. His dark stare never wavers, even as he moves to take a step away. But then he stops and when he speaks again his voice is like ice.
"If you ever pull another stunt like that, you are never leaving this church again."
He's gone a second later, climbing up into the balconies, back to the gargoyles and saints. No one says anything after. Don keeps his head down; he can still hear Mikey's stressed breathing, the soft trembling mirrored in his own body. Raph finally sighs, and the sound is defeated.
"Donnie-"
There isn't anything left to say. Don pulls away from the wall and for the first time since they returned to the church he unfurls his right hand from the tight fist he'd held the entire time. He looks onto his soil covered palm and his heart sinks. Through it all he'd only managed to save two of the seeds he'd spotted scattered on the ground seconds after the attack had begun. Only two.
"Here." Don mumbles as he pushes between his remaining brothers, shoving the two seeds in Mikey's hand as he does so, "I got these for you."
That was it. He risked their lives for two seeds.
Neither of them calls for him as he returns to the basement. He doesn't expect them to. They have their place and he has his own. The only difference is his will always be in the darkness.