Deep down below the surface, all the way down in the sewers, an odd family lived their life in peace. Four turtles and a rat, their mutations forcing them into hiding from those who would do them harm. The children were playing around in their hidden home, safe away from the world above. Protected by their father who wouldn't allow them to go outside their safe haven. Running and making up games in their free time, training and learning new things, not a care in the world.

Raphael came running with Michelangelo in tow, their excitement clear in their faces in the form of wide grins.

"Guys, guys! You gotta come see this!" Mikey exclaimed excitedly.

"I'll tell them! Since I found it!" Raph quickly butted in. Donnie lowered is old astronomy book and looked questioningly at his brothers, while Leo paused from his set of second-hand toys currently a bit spread out over what qualified as the living room.

"What did you find..?" Don looked carefully at them, he'd much rather read right now, if he were honest.

"We found a bunch of tunnels! It's a whooole area and it's big!" Raph held out his arms for emphasis.

"You know we're not allowed to leave the lair." Leo stated accusingly.

"Blah, blah! Only if he finds out. Now come on..!" Raph goaded, he had no intention to sit and do nothing all day.

"It is the best place ever for turtle-tag!" Mikey chimed in, which Leo had to admit, sounded pretty great. He glanced back towards the kitchen where their father was last seen. He wanted to go but..

"I dunno guys.. sensei would be mad.."

"Yea, IF he finds out. Which is why we're not gonna let him, duh. We'll sneak out and be back before he knows it~" Raph said confidently. He and Mikey had done it before when they stumbled upon it, and so far their father was none the wiser.

"It's not even far. What do you say Donnie? You comin' right?"

"…" He glanced at his brothers, Mikey looked hopeful and Raph expectantly, Leo seemed slightly unsure... but he could tell he definitely wanted to go.

"I dunno.. I was just reading about Neptune and-"

"Not that stuff again…" Raph groaned, partly because Donnie was the only one who had learned to read on his own as of yet, and it was boring, nothing to do with jealousy or anything, not one bit if you asked Raph.

"You can read later, we have to go now or sensei will notice. Besides.. you can… map it out or whatever." He quickly added, trying to bribe his younger brother.

Don's face lit up, now that did sound fun. "Okay, hold on." He jumped to his feet to get his drawing block and a pen.

"Finally!" Raph grinned now that his siblings were more or less aboard with the idea, now they just had to sneak out…

25 minutes later…

"See? I told you so!" Raph grinned wide as he gestured to their newly found playing ground. This was definitely big enough to run around at with tunnels to hide in, and no risk to knocking things over and making sensei mad. It was perfect.

"I have to admit... this is pretty great." Leo said and smiled as he looked around the big area and wide tunnels that led all over the place, Raph gloated and practically rolled in the praises, since he found it and all. He hadn't been this proud about something since he managed to beat Leo to getting a training drill right.

"Yea.. let's play turtle-tag! Cause it's the perfect place for it!" Mikey announced. "And I wanna start!" He waved his hand excitedly.

"Okay fine, Don?" They looked at Donnie, who was already busy drawing in his little notebook.

"Huh? Oh yea.. I'm ready." He quickly said and smiled, not really paying attention to what had been said. He wondered how big this place really was, and if they could potentially get lost? A map would be good to make, and fun.

"Okay I'm counting! 1.. ..2… 5" Mikey closed his eyes and turned around.

"And no peaking!" Raph said before he darted off in the tunnel straight ahead.

Donnie wasn't sure what they were playing, but it looked like hide and seek, or something similar, looking around he decided to go left, as his brother was least likely to go that way, Mikey preferred to turn right, statistically speaking.

Which left Leo going right.

"..3.. 7.. ..4.. uh.. 5.. 10!" Mikey turned around and grinned. Looking around there were three directions, not hard to guess they probably picked one each... which meant it probably didn't matter where he went. So he decided to go straight ahead.

"Coming!" He yelled as a final warning before sprinting off.

Don heard the slightly distant yell of his brother, wondering if it wasn't a bit too soon for hide and seek.

"Oh well.." Not that it mattered, now he had a bit of time to himself. He got his notebook and started mapping out as he walked. Some places had caved in and were simply dead ends while others didn't quite seem to end.

"Hmm.. We should probably add some kinda rule where our play area ends.." He noted as the tunnels kept on going. He had a gnawing feeling that it would be easy to get lost in here..

"Ew.." Don made a disgusted face and walked far around a dead rat lying there. He hoped he wouldn't get sick, the place looked filthy. Well, everywhere was filthy, it was a sewer. But at least their home was nicer, and cleaner.

After walking what felt like forever as he kept drawing he suddenly heard the pattering of running feet. He looked to the tunnel on his right he just passed.

"…!" Suddenly Raph burst out of the tunnel.

"Found you!" Before Donnie could react Raph dunked him on the shoulder and yelled "Tag! You're it!" Then darted off cackling through the tunnel Donnie had just come from.

"Oh, guess we're playing tag."

He looked towards the tunnel Raph had come from, most likely speaking, Leo and Mikey would be in that direction, so he decided to go down that way, exploring as he went. There was no real hurry or need for running until he found one of them.

As he walked he found an interesting tunnel along the way, it was quite narrow, but it seemed less refined, more like a natural cave. His curiosity peaked, the game with his brothers all but forgotten as he gingerly climbed into the narrow space.

"Woah.." It was bigger on the inside, walls expanding out as some humans had dug into the rock around, they had at some point given up on the place though and not gone through with completing the tunnel.

It was official, Raph was bored. Nothing was happening, it had been forever since he had tagged Don, he had seen Mikey twice, since they both ran in opposing directions upon meeting each time he was pretty sure neither of them were it. Rounding a corner, he spotted Leo sneaking around.

"Hey!"

"!" Leo started running.

"Wait, I'm not it!" Raph called back and Leo stopped, looking suspiciously at him.

"Why would I believe you?" Raph huffed. … Granted, there had been times when he had pulled that stunt, but this wasn't one of them.

"Trust me, it isn't me, I'm bored! Anyone been tagged since I tagged Don..?"

That made Leo paus. "I haven't seen Don, at all."

"Great, so he wandered off somewhere and forgot about us!"

"That's not true..! I think.. I mean.. Mikey might be it?"

"Nope! And haven't been tagged either after I got Leo!" Mikey piped up and poked his head out. Nearly scaring the living daylights out of his older brothers.

"Mikey! Don't.. do that!"

"So where is he?"

"Uh.. dunno? DONNIE?!" They all started walking around yelling, maybe he'd just taken a nap somewhere. Unlikely, but you never knew.

"Donnie! Come out!"

Donnie blearily opened his eyes, he felt disoriented, the last thing he could remember was hearing a loud crack. He gasped for breath and coughed violently as the dust was falling around him, then it hit him like a train-wreck, there had been a cave-in. He couldn't quite see clearly, everything was a blur and he felt numb, was he in shock? Is this what shock felt like? He was pretty sure this was it.

"…" Weakly he tried to move, only he couldn't. He was stuck. That's when the pain suddenly started to set it, it wasn't just pain, it was agony. He screamed out, in both fear and pain, his dry throat causing him to cough again, which brought on more pain. His vision was going black around the edges, and he wasn't quite sure if he imagined hearing his brothers or not... .. He hoped they'd find him. He hoped father would find him.

"Guys I found him!" Mikey yelled out after nearly thirty minutes of searching. "Oh my.." He gaped and stared at the scene in disbelief. Mikey had found the narrow cave entrance, thinking it looked interesting, he thought maybe Donnie would too, and climbed inside. He wasn't prepared for what he would see though.

"Guys! Come! Hurry! Hurry!" He yelled almost desperately, feeling the panic starting to set in. As his brothers came running he started to cry.

"Donnie is.. Donnie is.." He sniffed and pointed.

Raph was the first to get inside, worried about why Mikey was so upset. He felt similar when he laid eyes upon their brother, Donnie was pinned down to the ground, and a lot of big rocks were crushing him by the waist down, it looked really painful. He rushed forward.

"Donnie! Donnie?! Can you hear me?" He grabbed his brothers head and tried to wake him up. He froze when he felt something slick.

".. Blood, there is blood.." He felt himself shaking and backing off slightly. This.. this was all his fault, if he hadn't.. he shouldn't have convinced them to go out, shouldn't have gone to this place... It was his fault Donnie was stuck and hurt.

".. I'll.. I'll get sensei!" Leo yelled and ran. Mikey didn't know what to do and simply stood there with teary eyes.

"Is.. is he.."

"I.. I don't know.." He wasn't exactly a doctor, but Donnie wasn't moving and blood wasn't good, he knew that much.

It felt like forever, but the relief when their father came running was substantial. They were quickly ordered to return home, the place was far too unstable for them to remain in.

In the lair…

"What's taking so long..?" Mikey asked worriedly as they waited in the couch, they were all shaken up after what they had seen. Mikey was pretty sure he was going to have nightmares.

"I'm sure they'll be back any minute now.." Leo said, he didn't sound so sure though, and felt small and unhelpful. Raph felt like a black hole was about to swallow him.

After sending his remaining sons home, Splinter had worked quickly but carefully to free his fourth son from the rocks safely. He was relieved to find he was still alive, but the damage to his shell was a major one. The others were mostly minor cuts and bruising, that he could treat. But shells were a new area altogether, he tried not to panic has he carefully lifted his son up to bring him home for treatment. He'd had the turtles for a good few years now but he'd never had to repair a broken shell before.

Ignoring his sons' questions and attempt to crowd him in order to ask how their brother was, he rushed off to his room, while his sons understandably were very worried and traumatised, their sibling's health had to come first.

Gently putting him down he attended to the wounds and the bleeding. Afterwards he started skimming through the books with turtle anatomy and vet care he'd collected, party because Donatello really liked these kinds of books, but also because they might come in handy. Now if they could tell him about shells they'd be thousand times worth their value.

Leo stared as their father darted of excusing himself and brushing them off, that didn't sit well with him at all, he tried not to shake as he carefully followed. Peaking inside the room he could see his sensei pouring over books, their brother was lying on his plastron on the bed, from his angle it didn't seem like he was in bad shape. His father had added some band aids over the cuts as well.

"Sensei..?"

Splinter paused and looked to Leonardo, he forced an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry my son, but I'm in a hurry to help your brother, he is not well. I must go and find some things for him. Could you make sure he does not move?" He questioned, he knew it was a lot to ask of a 7 year old, but he had little choice.

"Yea..! I can do that!" Leo seemed slightly less worried, their father would fix this, he wouldn't let anything bad happen. Leo felt confident their sensei could do absolutely anything, he was sure everything would be fine and nodded.

"Thank you my son. Make sure no one touches his shell. I'll be back soon." With that he got up, of all things, he needed to get some boat resin.

Raph sat in the couch hugging his knees, occasionally glancing towards Don's room. He didn't dare enter or even go peak, afraid of what he would see. It was clear his brother wasn't dead, but they didn't say he was okay either… He stared down at his feet, feeling scared. He would not cry, he would not cry..

As he regained consciousness there were two things he became acutely aware of. First, his back felt like it was on fire, the pain was indescribable. Second, there was an awful smell, it burned in his nose and made him want to get away from whatever it was that smelled so awfully bad and strong.

As he moved his arm to try push himself up to see what was going on, he felt a familiar hand stop him.

"My son, you should not move, keep still."

"Father..?" He croaked out, feeling dizzy and wanting to puke, the smell wasn't helping.

"Here take this. It will help, for the pain."

He looked down at the hand in front of him, it was holding some pills, painkillers, he thought and nodded. It was painful to swallow, but he was grateful for the cold water. He drank as much as he could while his sensei helped him.

"Good. Now rest."

".. What happened...?" He heard his father mumble something, but he couldn't quite make it out as he felt the tiredness pulling him back down again.

The first week had been a lull to Donnie, he was mostly on painkillers and felt tired and out of it. His memory was fragmented and blurry at best, but he had pieced together that there had been a cave-in. His shell had cracked, and his father had repaired it with resin, hence that awful smell which faintly still lingered in the room. Raph had also informed him the crack across his shell looked 'wicked cool'. He wasn't sure if that had been earlier today or a day ago, maybe two. Everything blurred together when you were high on painkillers. Right now, he just felt thirsty.

It was quite a challenge to drink, given his injury, he could only lie flat on his plastron at all times, with strict orders to not move unless absolutely necessary. Tilting his head up was straining and it was just downright uncomfortable to eat and drink in that position. He was also pretty sure he was on some very strong painkillers, he felt numb, it felt like he couldn't feel anything below where he presumed his injury were at, and they made him so sleepy... He sighed as he drifted off again.

Michelangelo groaned as he stretched out his legs on the floor.

"When's Donnie gonna play with us again? Only 3 all the time is no fun…" He complained. Donnie had been bedridden for nearly 3 weeks now. 3 weeks were way too long for someone to be sick. He couldn't believe how Don could do it. If he had to stay in bed that long he'd blow up.

"Sensei said the injury takes time to heal, so we just have to wait until it's better." Leo lectured. "Now it's your turn to be the princess." He informed Mikey and handed him the makeshift insect toy they had announced as the princess in their current play.

"But I want it to be better now…" That way Donnie could play the princess as well, so he didn't have to as often. Donatello usually ended up playing the princess since you didn't actually have to do a lot, it was mostly watching as the good guys and bad guy battled each other. Donnie would take that time to read while he waited for his short part in the play, sometimes they had to poke him when he was up. Also, just watching Leo as he played captain Ryan wasn't all that fun unless you were the bad guy wrecking stuff or the sidekick to fight the bad guy as he did his monologing speeches.

But also because he missed his brother's company terribly, he wondered if he had anything to do in there... just lying there. Then an idea struck him, Mikey decided that he would keep Donnie company at least once a day and read comics to him. He couldn't really read quite yet, but he would make up the dialog as he went along based on the pretty pictures. He was sure Donnie would like that. Mikey loved it, that way the same comic was never the same story.

Splinter peaked inside the room to make sure his son was okay, and smiled at what he found.

Donatello was sleepily lying in his bed while Michelangelo sat on a chair beside it, 'reading' excitedly from the comic and showing him the pictures, even tilting the comic to try get the right angle for his brother. He decided to check back a little later, his medicine wasn't due just yet.

He had decided it was time to try tap down on the painkillers to see how he was actually doing. With no medical expertise there wasn't much else to indicate if it was better or not. He didn't dare remove the support and reinforcement on his sons shell, or let him move around until he was sure all was well.

Donnie was bored. Utterly bored, as the medicine dosage had gone down, so his awareness and wakefulness had gone up. His senses in his shell had come back some too over the last week, and a dull ache along his spine told him the pain was too. He was sure it would have been a lot worse a few weeks ago, he just hoped he would be able to sit up soon and get rid of the weird numbness.

The day his father took him off his painkillers altogether was a very mixed day of emotions.

His father had declared to try go off them completely, since they made him so fuzzy it was hard to determine how he was actually feeling. If the pain wasn't too bad he could try moving and maybe sitting up. Donnie couldn't help but feel relieved and happy when the pain didn't come back in full force, there was an ache, but it wasn't bad. He was sure it shouldn't warrant any more painkillers, he was sick of being drugged out, he could probably sit and walk with that.

That relief changed though when he was supposed to move, he had been quite still for a long time, the weird thing was though that despite apparently being off the painkillers he still felt weirdly numb, maybe there were some lingering after effects, or more healing to be done, he wasn't sure. He'd never had these sorts of things, he wanted to read about it as soon as he could sit again though.

"Do you feel any pain?"

"A little, but nothing bad." He declared and smiled a little. "But I still don't feel anything in some places.. is that a side effect?"

"Nothing, my son?" Splinter questioned and wondered what he meant by that.

"The painkillers took the feeling away, and it hasn't come back everywhere." He explained.

Splinter was not sure what to make of that, but he carefully instructed his son to carefully move his legs out of bed and sit up, slowly.

"Take one leg at a time if it feels difficult."

"I am. It's hard when I can't feel them." He grunted in frustration as he moved his legs one at a time, then he used his elbows to push up and turn, only to realise he hadn't actually moved his legs at all. They were still lying there under the blankets.

"I was sure I.."

Splinter felt a sense of alarm, could there be something wrong with his legs? But he was sure they weren't injured, his son had never complained of any pain in them.. A slight sense of panic settled over him, he didn't show it as he pulled the blankets back completely.

"Do you feel anything at all..?" He started feeling along his son's legs and pinched the skin.

Donnie shook his head. "No, but that's temporary, right..?" He said with a hopeful tone, he was starting to feel scared, he'd read a bit about health problems and injuries in the health book…

"My son, they are only meant to remove pain, but not to this extent." He explained as calmly as he was able. "Would you try move them for me? Or your toes."

Donnie tried, he really, really tried. He tried kicking and trashing his legs and wriggling his toes, But nothing was happening. He angled his head to try see his legs, they were just lying there, like a ragdoll.

"Father..? Am I.. am I lame..?" He choked out after trying and failing for a full fifteen minutes.

They had come to the conclusion his right leg had no feeling at all, while he only had a patch on the left inner tight where he could feel something, the rest was dead weight he just couldn't feel or move.

Splinter wasn't sure where he had read about being lame, but it certainly looked that way. He grabbed an anatomy vet book and looked through the turtle pictures, lameness would suggest there were injuries to his spine... and then he realised as he watched the skeleton images. His shell was probably his spine. Of course, a turtle's spine is merged to the shell. So the crack must have gone deep enough to…

Even if he had known properly there was a risk for spinal injury, he couldn't have prevented it, but he could have at least prepared his son for the possibility.

"Yes, my son. I'm.. I'm afraid that might be so." He said, barely containing his shock and grief.

Donatello cried then, he was pretty sure it was the hardest he'd ever cried in his entire life, he whimpered as his father hugged him close, trying to say soothing words. He buried his nose in the fur and cried some more.

Splinter chest felt heavy as he sat down with his remaining sons in the living room, they all looked at him with worried eyes. He knew he had to tell them the news, he wasn't sure how they were going to take it though.

"My sons, I have something very important to tell you, there is going to be a new change here, and it is not going to be easy."

They could feel that whatever their father was about to tell them were serious, whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good.

"Is Donnie gonna die?!" Mikey exclaimed. Misinterpreting his father's words somewhat dramatically.

"… No. No my son, he is not. But things aren't going to be the same. You see, his legs no longer work, so he will not be able to walk."

"What? You mean like… never? Like never ever?" Mikey stared at his father and hugged his teddybear, Leo sat there in silence, seeming lost in thought.

"Yes, most likely. This means Donatello is going to need a lot of our help, do you understand?"

They nodded. "We'll do our best sensei!" Leo quickly added and seemed determined, he smiled. His oldest son was always quick to be the responsible one. However, Splinter couldn't help but notice how uncharacteristically silent Raphael was.

"Raphael, is everything alright?"

His son averted his eyes and glared down at the ground. "No." Then he fled to his room while is brothers looked on in confusion.

"What's wrong with Raph..?" Mikey asked.

"I'm sure your brother only needs some time..."

He heard someone knock on his door, he was not in the mood.

"Go away…"

"Raphael, are you well?"

Raph flinched when he heard it was Splinter. "Yes! … No.." He wasn't sure anymore..

"May I come inside?"

".. Okay." Raph quickly wiped his face with the back of his hand and watched as his father opened the door. Slowly coming inside to sit by him on the bed.

"What troubles you my son?" Splinter carefully put his hand on his son's shoulder, feeling concerned, he had a suspicion this had to do with Donatello's accident. Raphael had been acting more distant as of late, and that was starting to become alarming.

The silence dragged on for several minutes, Raph was shaking and he wasn't sure what he wanted to say, the words were hard to get out and it made him frustrated.

"I.. I just…"

"Yes? You can tell me anything."

"… You'll hate me…" He mumbled and hugged his legs closer.

"I would never hate you my son. No matter what, I'll always love all of you." He said and placed his arms in an invitation for a hug. He knew Raph would rather take the first initiative, if he wanted a hug.

".. Okay.." He sniffed and crawled into his father's lap, hugging him tightly.

"It's my fault Donnie got hurt…"

Splinter was surprised by his sons confession, he wondered where in the world he had gotten that idea, from the story they had told him that day, none of them were even there when it happened.

"What makes you say that?"

"Cause.. cause I found that place.. and I.. I showed them.. it's my fault we snuck out.. and went there and.. and if I hadn't.. Donnie.. Donnie wouldn't have gotten hurt.." He sobbed into his father's arms.

"Oh Raphael… It is not your fault, never your fault." He hugged in closer. "You could not have known, while you shouldn't go out on your own, you had nothing to do with that cave-in, or Donnie walking into that tunnel.." He took hold of his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Do you understand me? This was not your fault."

"…. O-okay.." He sniffed, starting to feel slightly better from his father's words.

"I'm sure your brother would be very sad if he knew you thought it was your fault. But you know what could make things better?"

Raphael quickly looked up at that, he definitely wanted things better. "What..?"

"How about we make something for Donnie? Something to cheer him up, I'm sure you'd know what he likes." He suggested, giving something for Raphael to do and keep him occupied as well as cheering his brother up would hopefully help them deal with this.

"So, why don't you go get your brothers, and you can decide on something to make for your brother?"

Raph smiled then and nodded, looking more determined than sad. Splinter smiled back and then let him run off, he knew these first weeks wouldn't be easy. But he'd do his best to try keep his sons' spirits up.

Donnie got to finally sit up, now he could read his books properly again. But he wasn't as happy about it as he thought he would have been. His eyes were puffy and he felt hollow and sad when looking at his legs he would most likely never walk on ever again. he felt empty, like this wasn't really happening to him, when he had started to accept his new reality his emotions had wreaked havoc inside him. He was sad and angry, he had sometimes taken it out on sensei, or his brothers. He would feel really bad afterwards though... and apologise as he cried promising to not do it again.

He regretted going into that tunnel so badly… if he only hadn't done it, if he had only just not explored so much and participated in the tag instead. Maybe he would have had his legs then. If only he hadn't agreed to go out and play in the first place, he should have known it was a bad idea… Only, he couldn't have known, there was no way he could have predicted that outcome, that he would find that specific place, or that it would cave in. It was something he was just going to have to accept. It was really hard to do though.

During his second week of what felt like misery, his father entered his room with a little smile on his face. Don looked quizzically up at him, wondering what he was up to.

"Hello Donatello."

"Hello…"

"You look a little bored, would you like to come out and play with your brothers? You've been staying in here all day."

"I.. I'm not sure I want to today... ..I just can't really..."

"Oh are you sure? I'm not so sure about that…" His smile was back, and it confused Donnie. "Michelangelo, you may." He got out of the way, and there standing in front of.. something was his younger brother, Mikey looked a little nervous, but smiled timidly as he pushed the thing inside.

"… What's that..?" Donnie put his book aside and sat up more properly.

Mikey beamed up at him. "A wheelchair." He said happily as he pulled the blanket off.

Donnie inspected it, it.. looked like a chair, with wheels. It was duct taped in some places and the seat had been replaced, but it was indeed a wheelchair.

"Would you like some help getting into it?" His sensei offered, and Donnie nodded after a moment.

Raph sighed as he put down the controller. Where was Mikey anyway? Speaking of, he suddenly came running looking all excited. Leo and Raph both looked up in puzzlement.

"Guys! We should ALL play some videogames to celebrate!" he cheered.

"Celebrate? What are we celebrating?" They looked at each other and then at Mikey. Their sensei was coming out of Donnie's room then, smiling.

"How about Donatello being able to move around the lair on his own?"

Leo and Raph stared as Donnie rolled himself out of his room, smiling shyly and knitting his hands together when he stopped. ".. What do you think…?" He asked, feeling slightly nervous about the change.

It didn't take long for his brothers to show wide grins.

"It's awesome! You can finally go where you want without sensei!" Raph cheered. As no one else could actually carry Donnie he had needed Splinter if he wanted to relocate, which was usually his bed, the couch or the bathroom. Not a lot of options. He had now gotten some much needed independency and was grateful to have it.

"It was mine and Mikey's secret project for the past week." Splinter informed them and patted Mikey's head. Mikey had gotten the idea and asked him if they could build one, one of the characters in his comic had had something similar. Mikey's bright smile was infectious, and they spent the evening playing some videogames to celebrate Don's small freedom.

Donnie felt good about being back to training the next day, it wasn't the same training his brothers were doing, it never would be again... but he no longer had to sit leaning against a wall reading and feeling useless. He had to learn how to get in and out of his wheelchair in all sorts of positions and situations, as well as start building up his upper body's strength.

He vowed that what he couldn't do that his brothers could, he'd make up for in other areas. He had a feeling he was heading that way even before the accident, given his growing interests.