The cold air hit Donatello's face in soft bursts that slowly dried his tears. He leaned his head into Leatherhead's chest as a new wave of harsh emotions flooded his mind. 'It hurts' he whimpered within his broken mind. 'Make it stop, please'.
The gorgeous scenery of late Autumn reminded him of his family, or at least what was. Around this time last year, they had all been brutally murdered in a battle against The Shredder. The memory of their broken bodies before the warm winter sun rising in the background forever tainted his perception of nature's beauty.
The greef he felt from that day on was tremendous. He and Leatherhead were the sole survivors of Don's family and friends. But to have to just leave them all there like that? There was no time for bodies to be burried or belongings to be gathered. They were still hunted, and there was no way they could fight alone.
Although, since Leatherhead and Don were only two out of the many fighting that day, they were still not safe. Shredder knew that they were the smart ones. They had knowlage for making weapons of mass destruction, exactly what Shredder wants.
Their responce was to flee. The only place they could go was to "The Farmhouse". There, Leatherhead knew he could keep Don safe. They could even live a somewhat normal life, well, as close as they could to one seeming as the trama they had endured is still attacking them mentally. Life for them on the farm house was actually fairly simple and sane when they could forget. It was almost like nothing happened.
Many good things have happened over the year. Donatello confessed his more-than-freandly fealings towards Leatherhead, and his response was wonderful.
'Thank you very much. I feel the same way about you.' the soft words replayed themselves in Don's mind.
Just three days later they had their first date under a wide tree in a secluded part of the woods surrounding the house. The date was mainly to test the waters before heading into a relationship. It was awkward, though. Don was mainly giggling the whole time and Leatherhead blushed more than he has in his entire life.
Now there were siting under the same tree, remembering their lost ones. Don clung onto his lover as he sobbed. Leatherhead gently hugged the small turtle back.
"Donatello, please stop crying, you will make yourself sick again." The large croc then got up and kneeled infront on Don.
"Would you like some ice cream?" Don looked up and immediately stoped crying at the sight of Leatherhead's warm smile. He yawned before nodding and lazily began to get to his feet before Leatherhead turned is back to him and kneeled down.
"Hop on!" Don giggled, bringing back their happier memories as he jumped on his back and Leatherhead began to walk back to the house.
Donatello noticed something while they were still outside. Leaves were suddenly falling off the trees that surround them. Just as leaves, memories must fall and be forgotten in order to be happy. But withought this momentary sacrifice of happiness, one may not experience the great joys of life. Don watched in wonder as the leaves began to fall.