Little Turtle Lost

Disclaimer: nope… don't own them. Only the idea for this story is mine.

Authors note: the turtles are five years old, in the beginning of this story. This story is based on the new cartoon. Also, again many thanks go to my beta, who is a great help for me.

It had rained for days on end and most of the sewer was flooded. Splinter had warned them to stay in the lair because of it. But, after two days, he had to go and scavenge.

"I will not be gone long...Leonardo is in charge while I am away and you are to stay in the lair!" Splinter said to the four small turtles that stood before him. When the four nodded, Splinter smiled and picked up his bag. After a final hug from all four, he left the lair to go and look for some much needed supplies.

While he traveled to his favorite spot to forage, which always had some useful things, he noticed in some parts of the sewers the water was higher than normal, and so splinter decided to hurry. Fearing the heavy rain topside would cause the water to rise higher in the tunnels, he decided to hurry

When his father had left the lair, Mike raced to the couch to watch TV, followed by Raph. Leo sat down to continue the puzzle he had been working on, while Don picked up the book he had been reading, sitting down to finally find out how the story would end

Splinter had been gone for a while, when the four noticed that the normal noise of rushing water had increased. Leo looked towards the door and saw that the water had started streaming into the lair from under the door, and while he watched, it began flowing faster and faster! Leo stepped back. Behind him, he heard his brothers do the same.

Mike looked at the water, now flowing faster and faster into their house. "Leo, what do we do?" he asked, while stepping back a bit more.

Leo swallowed, and looked around, hoping to find a solution, or even better, to see their father return to solve the problem.

After a few minutes, he only had one answer, "I…I don't know, Mike!"

The water started flowing into their lair with increasing speed, completely covering the floor. The four climbed onto the couch and huddled together, clinging to each other, and hoping that their father would return quick or that the water would stop and disappear again.

Suddenly, the door creaked from the pressure of all the water pushing against it on the other side. After a few scary minutes, the door gave way and, now, more water rushed inside, taking everything and everyone with it into the sewers. The only thing the four small turtles could do, while the water swept them away, was hold to onto each other.

In another part of the sewer system, Splinter had searched as quickly as he could for the things he needed. Now, he hurried to return to his sons, moving as fast as possible, but he had to take several detours since the tunnels seemed flooded with water caused by the rain above. Because of this, Splinter started traveling faster, fearing for the safety of his sons, and the closer he got to the lair, the worse the flooding seemed to be. Then he found the reason as to why the water was so deep. A tunnel had collapsed, blocking the normal route for the water, and now the water was going in another direction, straight into the tunnel leading to their home!

Splinter dropped the bag and, with a lot of luck, managed to make his way to the other side of the tunnel. He had almost reached their home, when his sharp ears heard the faint cries of his sons. He ran as fast as he could in the direction of the sound, hoping that he would find them in time, and unharmed.

While Splinter was trying to reach his sons, the four turtles could only cling to each other, hoping that they would survive. Donnie clung to Raph's carapace and he noticed that the others were holding on to each other too. Every now and then, something bumped into them. When Donnie tried to get a better hold on his brother's shell, the four of them bumped into a wall separating two tunnels. He suddenly lost his grip! When he tried to yell, to get his brother's attention, a big piece of trash hit him, almost knocking him out. The impact forced him into the other tunnel, thereby separating him from the other three.

Raph didn't notice that the hands on his carapace were suddenly gone, because he was too busy holding on to Mike and Leo. And they were too busy holding onto him and to each other to notice that Donnie was missing. The cold water was slowing their reactions and when the three of them finally hit a grid, meant to filter out the big debris, they were exhausted.

Splinter had reached the junction just in time to see three of his sons floating into the left tunnel, but he was too late too have seen the fourth one floating into the right tunnel. Consequently, he rushed after the three young turtles and reached the grate shortly after they had hit it. He leaned over and tried to reach them, but the first few times all he grabbed was air.

Then, suddenly, his fingers brushed along the edge of a carapace. While risking falling in himself, Splinter fished Michelangelo out of the water. He put his son on the ledge and then leaned back over the water to grab one of the others. When he pulled the second one out, which was Raphael, he noticed that he could only see one more. After he had Leo out, too, he thoroughly checked the mass of debris stuck in the grid, partly falling into the water himself, to make sure the fourth one was not there, stuck in the mess.

As soon as he was on the ledge Leo had crawled over to Mike and Raph, and the three curled up together, shivering and exhausted. He saw their father search for Donnie and wondered why it took so long to find him. Next to him, Mike started to close his eyes and he saw the confusion mixed with exhaustion on Raph's face.

When Splinter stopped looking, but continued to stare at the water, with a soft voice, Leo asked, "Master Splinter, where is Donnie?"

Next to him, Mike opened his eyes again and heard Raph repeat Leonardo's question.

Splinter looked at his three sons and for the first time, they asked something he really could not answer. No matter how much he wanted to know the answer himself, he could not figure out where Donatello was. He finally realized that his fourth son had become separated from the others somewhere between the lair and the grate. Splinter also saw that no matter how much he wanted to, he could not go and search for his purple wearing son, at least not immediately. The other three were beyond tired and shivering from the cold. They would need to taken somewhere safe and warm, but he was torn. Splinter also wanted to look for his missing son.

As Splinter led his three remaining sons through the tunnels, Mike followed the rest of his family, but he kept looking behind him to the fast moving water. His father had not answered the question Leo and Raph had asked, but had looked very sad. He kept hoping his fourth brother would run up to them and would be completely fine.

At one point, where the tunnel had dropped down from another above it Splinter lifted him and the other two into the higher tunnel, and then climbed up himself. Mike again followed, still wondering about where they would be going, and about where Donnie was.

Splinter brought the three boys to a place he had found a few weeks earlier and, after making sure it was safe and dry, he left them there to get a few blankets. While he hated stealing, this time he did not have the time to try to find any left-behind blankets. The grey furred rat did what he needed to do, even if he did not like it at all. He quickly returned to his sons and, after making sure they were warm and dry, he pulled them close to him, and carefully told them that it could take some time before Donnie would return to them. He knew the chance of finding his missing son was very small, but he did not want the others to know just how small that chance was.

It had been two weeks since they had almost drowned. Every time that Splinter would go out in search of Donnie, or scavenge for much needed supplies for the new lair, Leo couldn't help but stare at the door. And, every time his father would return home, Leo hoped that Master Splinter had found Donnie. But time and again, his father would return to the lair alone. Leo began wondering if Donnie would ever return to them, or if his purple bandanna-wearing brother was gone forever.

A few days later, Splinter told the other three that he would stop searching, that Donatello would not be returning to them. That was the day his other sons went outside the lair, following their father, to try to find their missing brother, and had almost gotten lost themselves.

Splinter stopped searching because it had almost cost his other sons their lives. Yet, every now and then while he went scavenging, the rat would take a small detour, hoping against all odds that he would find some trace of his missing son. And every time he did, he would come up empty.

Still, Master Splinter knew his other sons never forgot their brother. There were small telltale signs that told him as much, such as the small present he found under Mike's bed, shortly after his and his other two brothers' sixth birthday. The package was marked with purple. And, then, there were the other things that his other sons kept doing, even years after Donatello disappeared.

TBC.

reviews would be very appreciated by me. so, whether you liked this story or not, please tell me!