I do not own rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Leo heard the bowl shatter in the dojo.
No, he thought, racing out of his room. Please be okay.
He reached the dojo door. The broken remains of the bowl lay forgotten on the floor, the water that was in it already sunken into the ground.
Leo looked at Master Splinter, who was kneeling on the ground next. He had Donatello in his arms, tightly hugging his second-youngest son.
No, Donnie, please don't be-
Donatello pulled away from Splinter, who was gently beaming at him.
It had been an entire week since the Shredder's goons had ambushed them while they were training on the rooftops. Donnie had gotten the worst of it of all of them. He had been knocked out and put into severe state. All week, everywhere the other three turtles went, they were followed by the thought that they might not have their dear genius brother around with them much longer, keeping them all on edge.
When Leo heard the bowl shatter, he thought that Splinter might have dropped it when he saw that Donnie was no longer breathing, but now, he realized that his father was probably just shocked to see Don awake.
Oh, thank goodness, he thought before kneeling down beside Splinter to give Donnie a ginger hug, too. The purple-masked turtle gave him a weak, gap-toothed smile in return.
Following a few loud footsteps, Leo shifted to see Mikey and Raph in the doorway.
"D!" the youngest turtle squeaked before practically tackling him.
"Careful, Mikey!" Leo gasped, afraid that the youngest might injure him further.
Even Raphael showed his relief by grasping Donatello's shoulder and giving him a rare smile.
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"I'm glad Donnie's okay," Raph told Mikey a few days later. Mikey nodded in agreement, sitting down on the couch.
Although Splinter tried to get Donnie to stay still and rest, they had often found him trying to sneak off to his lab, insisting that he was fine. Everyone else disapproved of this, saying Donnie should be getting some rest, but Leo also took it as a good sign, seeing that he was trying to settle back into his normal routine.
Splinter had gone topside with a plan to ambush April to see how her skills were coming along. After Donnie had once again insisted that he was all right, Leo had gone along eager to help.
Donnie was in his room resting now, and Raph found himself becoming unsettled by the unusual silence of the lair.
"Hey, Mikey, you er wanna play a game somethin'?"
To his surprise, Michelangelo cringed, then turned to face him, anger clear on his face.
"Play a game?" he repeated, his voice suddenly cold. "Raph, we just almost lost a brother. How could you think about something like that?!" He advanced on Raph, who, shocked, backed up with each step that his little brother took.
"It's a complete waste of time. What if we had lost him? Then what would you care about a game? People all around the world right now are in the position that we were in a few days ago, wondering whether someone they love will die in the next few seconds. Life isn't a game, Raph! People suffer, and people die."
Raph could only stand in stunned silence. He would have never expected something like this- a terrible, uncomfortable truth- from Mikey, his optimistic, little brother. Mikey glared at him, looking angrier than Raph would have thought possible from him. There was the sound of a few fast footsteps as Mikey ran for Raph, then almost tackled him. Mikey gave Raph a tight hug, silent tears streaming down his face.
"Raph, I-I'm sorry. I don't know what's come over me," Mikey said, his voice breaking.
"Mikey, is something bothering you?" he asked.
"I- I just guess- this whole thing about Donnie has got me thinking. We go out for patrol every single night, and one day, three of us could come back."
Raph looked sympathetically down at his little brother.
"Well, Don didn't learn medical training for nothin'," he said.
"But what if Donnie is the one who's been hurt?" Michelangelo asked, not noticing that Donnie, who had been aroused by the commotion, was listening from his bedroom door.
