Disclaimer: I don't own the turtles or any other characters that appear in "Same as It Never Was." In fact, I don't own the episode at all. I'm just using it for good story. I also don't own the song "So Cold" either. The episode "Same as It Never Was" as well as all the characters that appear in it, are owned by MIRAGE and a bunch of other folks at 4Kids TV, while "So Cold" is the property of Breaking Benjamin.

Author's Note: I just recently saw one of the newest episodes of the current TMNT show: "Same as It Never Was." Without giving too much away yet, I'd say it was their darkest episode yet, even more so than the episodes where Leo got hurt. But I'm getting off subject. Anyway, the entire time I was watching that episode, I kept thinking of Breaking Benjamin's song, "So Cold," but I had no idea why. So after the show, I went through and listened to the lyrics and realized that that song gave a very plausible explanation of the way the characters were feeling throughout the episode. That song inspired me to write this quick, one-shot story of what may have been going on in Donatello's head as he wondered through the world of "Same as It Never Was." This story is something of an extended version of the episode (I personally felt that the episode went by WAY too fast, but hey, they only have a half-hour, so what are you going to do?) This was a challenging write because not only is Donnie not my favorite turtle, (Leo is) but I find him to be the most difficult to write for. His rarely expressed emotions and usual techno talk never cease to flabbergast me. However, I decided to try this story out anyways since I'm dealing more with emotions, rather than technical explanations. But if I screw up, I'd like to apologize in advance if I upset any of the Donatello fans out there. I just thought it might be interesting to try a story from the point of view of one of my lesser favorite turtles. It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

WARNING: This story might be a bit difficult to understand to all those who have NOT seen "Same as It Never Was." I will be working in between the action of the episode, after all. But I have included the dialogue from the actual episode to provide some clarity for those who missed the episode, and I will try to give as accurate an explanation of the action and settings as possible. But, if you would prefer to watch the episode, you'll just have to wait until it's repeated on TV. If all goes according to schedule in the U.S., "Same as It Never Was," should be repeated on the Cartoon Network something during the firstweek of April. Good luck! I hope everybody catches it because it's a great episode. All right, I've blabbed on WAY too much. I'm sure you're all anxious to get to my one-shot song fic. (Just had to get some important info across first is all.)

Last note: This episode is a follow up to "Time Travails." If you didn't see that episode, here's the stuff you need to know: The turtles and a time mistress named Renet travel to the year 1406 by using the time scepter of Lord Simultaneous (a lord of time and space.) There, the guys discover what happened to the Ultimate Ninja and Drako after they fell into that time rift back in "The Big Brawl" saga. Their bodies drifted for millennia over time and space and were fused together into one hideous being. The two villains steal the time scepter and disappear. The turtles get back with Lord Simultaneous' help, but are left wondering when the Ultimate Drako will return for his revenge. As you can see, missing any of these episodes will certainly make it difficult to understand my story. But nonetheless, you can read it anyway. I still hope you all enjoy it!

Italics will be the dialogue of the episode. I recorded the show and have watched this episode repeated times, so rest assured-the dialogue is EXACTLY how it is spoken in "Same as It Never Was."

Italics and bold will be the lyrics to "So Cold."

Regular type will be descriptions, as well as the characters' thoughts and feelings throughout the story.

Try not to get too confused, but I figured this would be the easiest way to help those who haven't seen the episode understand what's going on. Now, on with the story! And as always, GOD BLESS:)

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"So Cold"

By Madvy

Part I

Far away, in a world distant from ours, a crowd of people walked dejectedly in the pouring rain. There clothes were dark and dirty, their faces solemn. The appeared as ghosts, with hopeless faces that were weak and hearts that were broken. Though New York City was experiencing another downpour, this did not stop the giant screens that were plastered on the buildings from lighting up. The people stopped and stared, as the symbol of the Foot appeared on the screens.

A female's voice (Karai, if you'd like to know) suddenly spoke out and brought the attention of the walking corpses to the TV's. "Attention servants of the Shredder. Your lord and master will now address you."

The Shredder's masked face soon filled the TV image. "For those of you still living under the illusion that you will have freedom, know this." Images flashed as the Shredder continued speaking. Around the viewers, the screens continued to broadcast the Shredder's message, while a blimp circled the skies; it had a screen on it too. Formations of robots patrolled the air, making sure that everyone was listening to their master's message. "My armies have exterminated the last pockets of resistance and I now control the entire planet." A battlefield was shown with thousands of Karai bots (like the three from "The New Blood") marching in formation. They plowed over anything on the cracking ground, smashing skulls along the way and firing their guns. Above them, shell cases rained as more robots flew in the atmosphere, destroying anything that wasn't metal. "The traitorous Utrom scientists I have captured are completing a colossal transmat device." Another image appeared, showing Utroms in a darkened room, working on control board. "With it, I will send forth my armies and enslave the stars, one world after another." A picture of an enormous transmat illuminated the screen. Hundreds of tanks, weapons, and soldiers were being loaded onto the platform. Shredder's head suddenly hoarded the screen once more. "There is no hope. There is only the Shredder."

As the Shredder finished, Karai's voice came over the speakers once more. "Remember, the Shredder is always watching." With the announcement over, the people mournfully went back to saddling through the rain.

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(Theme song…)

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It was another typical day in the turtles' lair. Leo was practicing the falling rain kata with Splinter observing. Mickey was busy reading his comics on the living room couch. Raph was another room with Casey, working on his new motorcycle.

Don, meanwhile, was speaking with April over his computer. On one side of the screen, a list of calculations rolled past. April's face appeared on the other side.

"Donnie, it's hard to believe you actually traveled through time like that," said April.

"I know April, its wild isn't it?" Don said through his portable headphone set. "But it really was the year 1406, and we were there. All because of the time scepter."

"Well, anything's possible. I think Uncle Augie's artifact taught me that." (from "April's Artifact)

"I know. I was going over some of your uncle's calculations and-" Don was suddenly cut off when the ground began to shake violently. "I think we're having an earthquake!" he screamed.

Don looked back at April's now fuzzy face. "Nothing's happening over here…" The audio was quickly lost as the computers started blowing out. Don yelped and left away from his chair.

Suddenly, the water in the center of the lair began to rise as sparks speckled from the top of wall of water. The water receded to leave a sizzling circle in the air that burned bright above the guys' heads.

From his spot in the middle of the lair, Leo asked, "Master Splinter, what's going on?"

Don quickly came over to the couch. "We've seen that kind of energy before."

The circle opened up and a huge, monstrous creature dropped out of it. It unfolded its cape and wings to reveal the hideous form of Ultimate Draco.

Splinter gasped. "Draco!"

"And the Daimyo's son," stated Leonardo. "This is what we told you about Master Splinter. They merged somehow, combined together."

Raphael appeared at the entrance to the room he had been in. Shielding his eyes, he said, "All into one ugly package."

"We told you we would return," gloated Draco and the Daimyo's son. "We told you were would have our revenge."

"Revenge this, wackbag!" screamed Raph as he drew his sais and leapt towards Ultimate Draco. The villains used the time scepter to freeze the turtle in midair. They then grabbed him and thrust him across the room. Raph hit one of the columns in the lair and dropped to the floor, bringing a Home Sweet Sewer sign with him.

"As if you could simply fight us; we control time and space. With Lord Simultaneous' time scepter, we are unbeatable!"

Hoping for a possible opening, Don yelled, "Someone quick! Grab the-" All four turtles and Master Splinter leaped into the air towards the two villains.

Don was cut off as Ultimate Draco immediately froze the five like they had Raph only a few seconds before. "Now we will have our vengeance."

The Ultimate Ninja leaned his head towards the frozen Leo. "Leonardo-destroy him first."

But the Drako head objected. "No, we agreed-the rat first, then the Daimyo, your father."

"Then Leonardo," spoke the Daimyo's son.

The villains gleamed. "They will all pay, all of them. Yes, all of them will learn the meaning of suffering, beyond time and space…"

Don watched paralyzed as the two weaved the time scepter around. It lit up as they twirled a sparkling blue wave that flowed from it. The wave whirled around them, until it hit the turtles. Don gasped as a white light overtook him. 'This is gonna' hurt!' he thought.

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The purple bandana turtle quickly found himself falling through the air, until he landed his a piled heap on the floor. Righting himself quickly, he twirled his bo staff around, expectantly Ultimate Drako's attack to come at any moment. But as the dust settled, Don got his first look at his new surroundings.

He was still in the lair, but this was a different form of his home. The walls were fractured and broken. Bricks lay in every corner. Debris lined the walls, while weeds grew through the cracks. To Donnie, the lair looked as if it had been massacred. But the worst part was that the entire lair was silent. Gasping, he wondered if anyone else was around. Bewildered, he called out for his family. "Master Splinter? Master Splinter! Leo! Raph! Mikey! Anybody!" With worry beginning to consume him, he pushed down a fragile section of one wall, and walked into the warehouse. "The entire lair is trashed, even the warehouse." Spying a large object, he turned. "Uh, the tunneled still looks like it's in one piece. But this place feels likes it's been abandoned for years." More confused than before, he stepped through another hole, and found himself outside. "None of this makes any sense," he said. Looking around, Don took a quick note of the surface world.

The sky was dark, as smoke blocked out the sun. The warehouse's windows were smashed in, while its walls were porous beyond compare. The surface world wasn't any better than the lair. Debris littered the streets. Fences were torn down and huge factories rose up throughout the city. His new surroundings reminded Donnie of what the world of the Matrix looked like after the war with the machines had begun.

The silence was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a helicopter's engine. The flying machine appeared in the sky and shone a spotlight over Don, temporarily blinding him. A line of tans showed up and men in black trench coats and gas masks piled out with machine guns. Though he could barely see them, Donnie thought that they more or less like soldiers from some old World War II film, except that instead of aiming their guns at some unseen enemy, the men were pointing their weapons at him.

A soldier's voice rose up over the roar of the helicopter. "Attention citizen! Place your hands in the air and drop you weapons! Repeat hands up and drop your weapons!"

Utterly confused, Don did as he was told and raised his hands into the air of the spotlight. 'I don't get it,' he thought. 'Why are they doing this? I haven't done anything wrong? Are they going to arrest me? I don't even know who they are.'

As the soldiers came closer, Don glimpsed the upper portion of one soldier's arm. The familiar red symbol of the Foot was painted across it. Instantly realizing that these men meant trouble, Don pulled out his bo staff and took up a defensive position.

But before the soldiers could get any closer, three shurikin landed in front of them. Looking up, they spotted a shadow far above them. A soldier's voice rang out, "On the roof! Get a light on him! Fire! Open fire!" The helicopter thrust its spotlight up the side of the warehouse, as the soldiers took aim at the shadow. But before any shots could find their mark, the mysterious person jumped and sprinted along the side of the roof. It ran along the edge, hoped off, and hit the ground rolling. It then proceeded to jump into an old, beat up car, all while still avoiding gunfire. Don stared, amazed, at how flexible and swift the shadow was. The gunmen shot at the car, while two jumped onto the roof and blasted the metal cover in. After a couple seconds of spitting bullets, the gunmen stopped and observed their work. Then, out of no where, the hood of the car opened up, spewing the two soldiers off the car. The mysterious shadow leapt out and over the gunmen, then whipped out a weapon of some sort. Using it, he knocked the guns out the men's' hands and kicked them off to the side.

Don stared, memorized, at the shadow. At first, he had no idea who his new savior could be, or why he was even helping him in the first place. But as he watched the shadow fight, something familiar about the way it moved and twirled its weapon struck him as oddly familiar. It was when the shadow knelt down in front of him to knock another guy out, that Don realized who the shadow was. The creature was wielding a nunchachu; Don knew only one person who could use a nunchuck like that. "Mikey!" he gasped.

The creature disposed of the last few gunmen, tossing them into the rotted car, and deposited his weapon in a side pocket. The helicopter's spotlight tried once more to highlight the shadow, and nearly succeeded. Don caught a glimpse of the familiar shape of one of his brothers, as well as a faded orange mask. But the shadow quickly cart wheeled out of the spotlight, grabbed a gun, and shot at the helicopter, until it finally went down, exploding a couple of blocks away. The shadow dropped the gun lifelessly.

Approaching with relief, Don said, "Mikey, am I glad to see you."

But the returning voice didn't sound as thrilled to see its brother. "So, it's really you. You came back." With that said, the shadow finally revealed itself.

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(Commercial)

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Don was astounded. Michelangelo, his lively and always optimistic brother, was indeed standing before him. But this was not the same Mikey that Don had grown up with. No, this Michelangelo was the near opposite of the one Don was so used to. This Mikey looked war torn and beaten. He was older and showed the dark scars of fights long past. His skin was darker and he looked dirty. His mask was no longer a bandana, but covered the entire top half of his head, like their masks had been back when they were kids. His voice was deeper, more mature, and far more serious than the voice of the Mikey of Don's world. But the most outlandish feature on the turtle was the fact that he was missing the bottom half of his left arm.

With bulging eyes, Don gasped once more. He cried, "Mikey…your…your arm. What happened to your arm?"

Mike glanced at his stump of a left arm, but quickly turned his attention back to his brother. "You're the one who's got some questions to answer. Where the shell have you been all these years?"

Flabbergasted, Don replied, "All these years?"

"You've been gone over 30 years Donatello."

"30 years?" Don was stunned. "I can't be."

"Can be and is." The older turtle paused. "We thought you were dead. How the shell could you just abandon us like that!" he cried.

Don took a step back. Such a random outburst from Mike was not something he was expecting. "I didn't. I'd never abandon you guys. One minute we were all in the lair together, the next minute, I woke up here. I don't know how."

"So, the turtle with the big brain finally doesn't have all the answers. Who'd a thunk it?" Mikey's temperament suddenly changed. Acting as if he had just gotten a whiff of something suspicious, he backed into the shadows. "But we can't talk here. Come on!"

Taking off, the two began a trek across the rooftops as Don started to receive the full intake of the world he now occupied.

Crowded streets are cleared away, one by one…

Don looked around him as the two leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Like he had observed before, the city was full of factories. The rising monsters polluted the air with black, choking smoke, while fire burned from the tops of others. Though it was daytime, the world was shady because the sun could not break the solid boundary of filth that infected the metropolis like a virus. Horrid oriental buildings with the Foot symbol on them lined every corner and only added to the wretchedness of the landscape. Most of the other buildings had fallen into decay, with broken windows and walls that appeared like they would collapse at any moment's notice. Tanks paraded down the streets with searchlights as they inspected the land, looking for anyone who happened to stray outside, while robots scrutinized the city from the sky.

A huge blimp with a giant screens on every side overlooked the urban neighborhoods. From it, came a voice that Don recognized as Karai's. "Serve the Shredder. He is your lord and master. Serve the Shredder and live." The voice soon faded into oblivion.

The turtles continued to jump across the rooftops. After hearing the female's message, hurried thoughts began swimming through Donatello's mind. 'Serve the Shredder?' he thought. 'Why would anyone want to do that? Doesn't everyone know how evil he is?' Glancing about, Don saw the Shredder's face plastered onto screens that filled every available space of the buildings. 'Something terrible must have happened to this city for the Shredder to have this must control over everyone. But what?'

By now, the duo had reached a grate that had steam coming from underneath it. As Mike lifted the covering, Don asked, "Where are we going Mikey?"

"I'm takin' you to Master Splinter," answered the orange clad turtle.

Hopefully, Don asked, "Are Leo and Raph with him?"

Mikey's attitude suddenly changed. He stared up at Don with glaring eyes. "You kiddin'?" he snapped. "Leo and Raph aren't with anybody anymore."

Surprised by his brother's statement, Don followed Mike underground.

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Karai's voice rang out once more. "Beware what you do. The Shredder is watching-always watching."

Near a statue of the Shredder, a manhole cover was lifted off of the ground and laid aside. Donatello emerged as gave a quick look around. "Where are all the people?"

"You mean the ones that survived?" asked Mike. The brothers left the street and entered the remains of a park. They ran through the dead, black bark trees as Mike began his explanation. "They're forced to work eighteen hour days in the Shredder's labor camps. No one's allowed out at night."

By now, Mike had stopped at a bush and was peering through the leafless sticks to make sure the coast was still clear. Seizing an opportunity, Don asked another question that had been burning in his head during the entire trek to the park. "What happened between Leo and Raph?" he asked.

"Let's just say they got in a big fight a long time ago," replied Mikey glumly. Confident that no one else was around, he took off running again, with Donatello right behind him.

But just as Don was beginning to catch up with Mike, something strange happened. Don felt a tingling sensation swept through his body and watched as he began to go into flux. His body was fazing in and out; like an image on TV went you can't get good reception. "What the shell?" he wondered aloud. But as soon as the sensation has started, it was gone. Shaking off the mysterious feeling, he put the experience in the back of his mind and ran after Mike.

Slowing down, Mike continued his flashback story. "When you never came back Donnie, well, everything just fell apart. We were a team. Without you, it just didn't work." Mike paused at a tree and peaked his head around the other side. "Guess we really needed that level head of yours."

Hollow heroes separate, as they run…

They walked a few more steps until Mike stopped once more. Curious, Don asked, "Master Splinter?"

"He's over there," said Mike, pointing a finger. Following his indication, Don was horrified by what he saw.

A circle of crumpled fence surrounded a small area of weeded dirt. In its center stood a stake which had a wooden walking stick leaning up against it. SPLINTER was carved vertically down the stake's front.

Don flinced. "No." He walked over to the grave and collapsed on the ground. "Master Splinter is…no!" He punched a light hole in the ground, as he felt his body begin to shake.

You're so cold; keep your hand in mine.

Mike came up behind his brother. Watching Donatello, Mike began to feel the same grief he had felt so many years ago. "Master Yoshi used to bring him here to the park, back in the day. It's not the safest place, but it's where sensei wanted to be buried."

Wise men wonder, while strong men die!

Through tear stained eyes, Don barely uttered, "H...how?"

"A couple of years after you disappeared, Master Splinter gave his life protecting the three of us."

Don felt his legs nearly give out under him as he stood up. "I can't believe this place. It's all…so horrible."

Mike huffed. "You'll get used to it. Besides, what can you do? It's the way it is."

Show me how it ends; it's alright!

Don felt his grief and urge for revenge suddenly burst to life inside him. "It's not the way it was. Maybe I can't change the past, but that doesn't mean there isn't a way to change the present." He turned back to Mikey. "We've got to face the Shredder, and take him down."

Mike sighed. "We tried-too many times."

Show me how defenseless you really are…

"We're going to try again Mikey."

"You got a plan?"

Satisfied and empty inside…

"I'm working on it, but we're going to need Leo and Raph."

"That's a tall order Donnie. But I think I know somebody who can help."

But that's alright; let's give this another try.

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To be continued...

(Bum, bum, bum!I know, I'm evil right? But don't worry, the next part is already posted, so you don't have to play the horrid waiting game. So...what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get to the second half of "Same as It Never Was!")