Because they were a Family

Author: Venka le fay

I don't own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in any shape or form. I wish I did, but isn't life a jerk sometimes. Please support the official releases.

"It was so capital "A"-mazing!" Michelangelo prattled on hyperactively. "Like we were all super heroes, there was a turtle who reminded me of you, and one that reminded me of Donnie. Oh and did I forget to tell you that April was the mayor."

It only been a handful of hours since they had returned home from the places Ultimate Drako-the horrific combination of Drako and the Ultimate Daimyo's son-had sent them through time and space. When they returned it was to find a concerned Casey Jones and April O'Neal had been waiting for them. Everyone was curious about where they each had been sent, particularly April and Casey who only aware that that something had happened to their subterranean friends. But didn't have complete details as to what happened.

Once everyone was settled they began explaining about their experiences; however one member of the group was oddly silent and introspective throughout the conversation. Donatello only vaguely listened to his brothers speak about their ordeals, in truth he was finding it hard fathom that the family who sat with him was alive and whole. In the reality he experienced they were much older, heavily scared and battle weary. His mind not letting him forget the sight of his brothers, lying dead, their blood soaking into the earth as their bodies slowly stiffened.

~It wasn't supposed to be like that!~ Donnie mentally cried to himself. ~I knew we were going into danger. But the Shredder and Karai were to face the end, not my brothers! That's not how it was supposed to be. And…where was I when the Shredder was taking over?…Why was I the only one missing?~

"Don?"

"Donnie?"

"Hey… Donnie-boy?"

"Donatello?"

The purple masked turtle looked up from his thoughts to find his entire family staring at him concern. Over each of his family he could still see the forms of the brothers he had seen in that horrible future. Calm and collected Leo, dressed in a long black coat with tiny set of black spectacles, his blue eye mask gone. Mikey minus one arm his jovial demeanor replaced with battle hardened anger, the same sort of anger that Raph was known for. Mikey being the first of his brothers to fall in the heat of battle, cut down on all sides by Karai Legion bots. Raph with one eye sown permanently shut, made all the more bitter over the horrible years caused by Shredders reign of terror. Even April her beautiful young face marred by old age and the horrors of loss and grief.

"I'm sorry," Donnie answered.

"You feeling okay, Don?" Raph asked in concern.

"Yeah, you look like you just saw a ghost or something." Casey agreed.

"It's nothing." Donatello responded, causing Leo, April, and Splinter to glance at each other in concern. Donnie was the most honest of the four of them, if he was brushing of something as nothing that meant something was really bothering him. "So what about the world you were sent to Raph?"

"I already told ya guys about that dimension." Raph answered. "The only person who hasn't said anything about the world they were sent to, is you bro."

"Where did Drako and the Damiyo's son send you?" Leo asked in concern from where he sat on the couch next to April.

"Someplace…someplace too horrible to talk about." Donnie answered as he got up and walked to his room.

"Don…" April called out to her purple masked friend.

"No, let him go." Leo answered. "We've all been through a lot recently."

"Geeze, I don't know where Donnie was sent." Mikey commented. "But it sure made the brainiac act weird."

"Tell me about it!" Raph commented. "The moment he sees me and Mikey, he runs up and hugs us saying something about us being alive and young again."

"And he said that I had both arms, as if I'd ever lose them." Mikey added. "I mean there attached to my body."

"Perhaps your brother was sent to a world that holds a grim reality, particularly for our family." Splinter commented. "Perhaps something in this world plays off one of his greatest fears."

"I think you may be on to something, Sensei." Leo commented. "Remember when we were at the Volpehart building."

"Remember it? I wish I could forget." Mikey cringed. "I still get nightmares about that horrible place."

"When we were captured by that creature, we were all subjected with our greatest fear." Leo clarified. "I don't know what fear Don encountered, but…"

"With the way he was clinging to ya when ya pulled him out of that cocoon, it looked like we would have needed to use Donnie's bo staff to break you two apart." Raph interrupted.

"Yeah…" Leo responded, then looking up at the bed room he shared with his younger brother. "Don." He whispered, feeling a pang of big brotherly concern.

"You're the one that has some questions to answer!" Mikey spat at his formerly older brother bitterly. "Where the shell have you been all these years?! You've been gone over thirty years, Donatello."

"Thirty years?" Donatello was devastated to hear this. "It can't be!"

"It can, and is!" Mikey answered his voice uncharacteristically hardened, making him sound more like Raph then the fun loving joker that Donatello had known his younger brother to be. "We thought you were dead! And as far as I'm concerned, it would have been better if you were. How the shell could you just abandon us like that!"

"I didn't…" Donatello lamely tried to explain, his mind whirling as his emotions started to take him over. "I'd never abandon you guys."

"You certainly have a funny way of showing it." Mikey bitterly interrupted. "You're lucky it was me who found you and not Leo or Raph, otherwise you'd be explaining your sorry shell to the business ends of their weapons."

"All I remember is being in the lair with the three of you, and then next thing I know I was here." Donnie answered earnestly.

"So the turtle with the big brain doesn't have all the answers, who'd have thunk it." Michelangelo growled. "Come on, it's not safe to talk here."

Donatello looked up when he heard someone wrapping on the door to his bed room. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was; instead he pressed his knees closer to his chest as he continued to sit on his bunk.

"Leo calmly walked into the room, climbed up to the top bunk of the bed. Making it quite clear that to his second brother, that would not be able to come down that particular way until he gave some answers.

"So tell me," Leo answered calmly. There was no pressure or insistence in his voice, but there was manner that said anything spoken would not leave that room. "What world were you sent to?"

"I gave you my answer already." Donatello answered not looking at his brother.

"You gave an answer," Leo stated. "But clearly the world you saw had something that's bothering you." Donatello mentally delved into the memories of the horrific vision, blocking out his older brothers concerns.

"I can't say I'm happy to see you're here." Raph had sternly growled when Donnie saw his old brothers. "Where were you all these years Don?! Without you things just started falling apart."

"I wish I can offer an explanation." Donnie answered. "But I can't, I don't even know how I disappeared."

"Oh how very convenient Rip Van Winkle," Raph snarled sarcastically. "You know I have the right mind to beat you senseless."

"Wait." Leo calmly raised his hand to stop any violence before it was made in error. "Don, can you approach me please?" Donatello hesitantly approached his older brother, unsure of how Leo would react. Leonardo gently placed his hands along his younger brother's face, as if feeling for any differences or flaws on his brother's skin.

"Don…how old are you at this time?" Leo asked.

"I'm sixteen," Donnie answered, earning him an odd look from both Mikey and Raph.

"Sixteen…but were all in our late 40's" Raph pointed out.

"I see." Leo answered with a sad smile as he pulled his younger brother into a hug. Something he had wanted to do ever since Donatello had first disappeared so many years ago, a comforting embrace to let his younger brother know how much he had been missed. "That explains some things. I hate to think how horrific this time may appear when compared to the time you are familiar with." Donatello leaned into his older brother's embrace as a silent tear fell down his cheek. Grateful that of all his brothers Leo could be the most understanding.

"Don…Donnie." Leo called to his brother in concern. He was fully on the bunk now, which creaked slightly under both their weight. "Please tell me."

"Donatello looked up at his eldest brother, tears stinging his eyes. He felt various emotions at that moment, sadness, fear, loathing, anger.

"What do you want to hear, Leo?!" Donatello answered his voice sounding acidic as tears sting his eyes. "Do you want to hear about how the Shredder took over the world?! Maybe Master Splinter sacrificing himself to save you guys from being killed?! Should I tell you about the horrific future where your bodies are broken and maimed for all eternity?! Or maybe you'd like to learn about how I lead the three of you to your very demise?!"

"Instinctively Leo pulled his second brother into his arms. Donatello broke down into his older brothers arms letting tears fall down his face unhindered as he clung to Leo as if afraid the older turtle would vanish if he didn't hold on with all his might.

"Shhhh, it's alright little brother." Leo soothed as he stroked his brothers shell comfortingly. Raph and Mikey were listening in the next room over, both of them instructed that no matter what they heard they were not to interfere.

"No it's not." Donatello said through his guilt laden sobs. "It's my fault that world happened, and it's my fault you all died."

"Can you explain further?" Leo asked.

"The world Drako sent me." Donnie answered; it was easier to explain when he had his eyes shut. That way he didn't have to see the look of disgust and loathing on his older brother's face. "The world I was sent to was placed in a possible future where the Shredder had taken over the world, leaving only a small number of resistance groups. April was leading one of them. Master Splinter had died trying to protect, you, Mikey, and Raph. You and Raph had a big fight about it with Raph accusing you of abandoning Splinter, while you insisted there was no other option, and in the end the three of you went your separate ways. At some point Casey was also killed in an attempt to take out the Shredder, you became blind, Raph lost an eye, and Mikey...he lost a one of his arms."

"And… where were you?" Leo asked tentatively.

"That's just it…I don't know." Donatello stated. "At some point I vanished, I don't know if it's because I was taken prisoner or killed or what. Still to hear Mikey of all people accusing me of abandoning you…abandoning my own family."

"Leo growled softly under his breath, clutching his younger brother tighter as he rested his cheek against Donatello smooth hairless scalp. He silently cursed Drako for putting the gentlest of his brothers through that horror.

"And that's not the worst part." Donatello continued. "When I was able to reunite with the three of you, I told you that I had a plan to take out the Shredder for good. The three of you were hesitant about it, but agreed that the Shredder was a force that needed to be stopped. Mikey was killed when he was surrounded by a bunch of Karai Legion droids, Leo you were killed by Karai. Raph was also killed by Karai when he was trying to avenge your death. I succeeded at taking out the Shredder, but it cost the three of you your lives. The three of you all died… because of…because of me."

"Oh Donnie," Leo said tears also fell down his face, his heart breaking for what his younger brother had been put through. He could hear Mikey sniveling next door. "Don, I'm so sorry." Of all of them, Donatello had been sent to the worst possible world, it's a wonder he had even kept his sanity through it all. If he could have traded places with the purple masked turtle, he would have. "That future won't happen! I won't let it!" He could see all the horrors Donatello had witnessed in his brother's eyes. The hopelessness of the enslaved humans…the anger of the turtles who had been forced to endure the pain if that war...The grief those who lost loved ones to the Shredder.

Donatello curled further against his elder brother's plastron, feeling the safest he had ever felt in the past twenty-four hours. Leo continued to sit holding Donatello, stroking his brother's shell comfortingly. He didn't waste words by trying to say soothing nothings help ease his second brothers mind. What could he honestly say to help? Instead he just sat quietly and listened to his younger brother sob.

"Raphael and Michelangelo appeared briefly in the door way. Raph looking like he wanted to murder whoever would dare to torment his younger brother like this, Mikey looking at his immediate older brother's shell helplessly. Leo quietly brought one finger to his mouth indicating that they should remain quiet. They both nodded in understanding as they quietly filed past deciding to find other things to do.

Donatello had finally fallen into an exhausted sleep, Leo finally allowed himself to move away from his younger brother's side. However he only moved as far as the lower bunk. In the morning the whole incident would be treated as though it was nothing more than a bad dream. But they knew in their hearts that the one way to truly prevent such a horrible future from happening was to take out the Shredder once and for all. And they would do it together, because they were a family.