Hey guys! I randomly thought of this while watching a Merlin episode. This fic has nothing to do with magic though! I promise! Enjoy x

Flames

Ever since his fourth birthday Donatello had been fascinated by fire.

Ever since he first laid eyes on the four burning candles on his birthday cake he had loved the gentle light they gave off, he loved how fire could bring warmth on the coldest of days.

He had learnt that fire was dangerous the hard way when he had 'borrowed' matches from his father's room at the age of six.

He had only intended to light the one match and blow it out after a minute or so. Instead he lit the match and was so distracted by the tiny flame crawling up it's wooden path that he forgot to blow it out.

He had dropped the match when he felt the heat burn his fingers and he had cried when the flame hit the mat and grown larger.

Master Splinter was quick to put the fire out and scold his son.

Donatello had stared at the burn mark for hours, he had never known something so pretty and warm could cause such pain and damage.

Yet it did not frighten him, if anything it drove his curiosity further.

As he got older he learnt that in order to have fire you needed oxygen and the strength of the flame depended on the volume of oxygen you had.

It was around this time he read about a blowtorch in one of his engineering books, this taught him that fire was not only a good source of light and warmth but it could also be used as a tool for building.

And so he built a blowtorch much to his family's despair.

His family never approved of his fascination of fire but after the match incident Donnie had learnt to be careful.

It seemed strange that the element that had always brought him such joy was going to be the end of him.

It seemed like some sick joke.

He couldn't believe he was really in this situation.

He had just arrived at the junkyard and called his brothers, who had been out on a pizza run at the time, to ask them to meet him and offer some help.

As soon as he hung up something had hit the back of his head and knocked him out.

He had woken up tied to a small pyre which had been hastily built in the centre of the junkyard, anyone on the outskirts would just think it was the fire of a homeless person's camp.

Unfortunately that's where his brothers were supposed to meet him.

Shredder and his foot soldiers surrounded him, Shredder had a lit plank in his hand as he delivered his speech of 'we will finally kill one of our enemies'.

Donnie was done.

Shredder had actually built a pyre to execute him with, had this been his plan all along? Had Shredder been hanging about the junkyard each night waiting for him to venture in alone?

''We will finally remove the brains! The turtles will fall without him!'' Shredder cheered as his ninjas applauded and laughed.

He really thought that killing him would break his brothers?

That's stupid. By killing him Shredder would only make the other brothers mad, his brothers would kill every foot member and Shredder until there was no one left.

But at the same time Donnie was slightly concerned that he was about to die.

This wasn't good.

Shredder turned to face him and threw the lit plank onto the pyre, Donnie couldn't move away due to the ropes tying him to the slighter taller than a ninja turtle mast.

This was ridiculous.

Yet Donatello felt his fear building as the fire ate away at the pyre, the entire structure would collapse and kill him… if the fire didn't get to him first that is.

Heat surrounded him and caused the environment around him to wiggle and wave, he felt dizzy and the smoke was making it hard to breathe.

He felt sick but refused to show anything.

Until the flames were close enough to make him feel as if his skin was being burnt off.

He shifted and let out yells of pain which soon turned to screams.

''DONNIE!'' A familiar voice screamed, Donnie could hear fighting around him but he couldn't focus. His world was spinning and tipping with the intense pain he could feel.

And yet he stared at the flames around them, watched as they danced beautifully and devoured the edges of the pyre. They were forever getting closer, it would only be a matter of time before they crawled onto him.

He cringed as the wind caused a flame to lick too close to him. He needed to find a way out, he tested his restrains again but they definitely weren't gonna budge anytime soon. He wriggled causing the mast to move with him, he stopped before it could overbalance and fall.

The fighting sounds had stopped, he peered through the flames and heat to see his three brothers rushing towards his pyre.

''GUYS!'' He called,

''HOLD ON!'' Leo yelled back, Donnie saw them staring at him as they stopped. They looked panicked and lost.

''WHAT DO WE DO!?'' Mikey asked Donnie fearfully.

''uh…'' Donnie bowed his head, the heat was really getting to him.

''DON!'' Raph could see his brother wasn't faring well. ''Can't I just barge through and cut him free?''

''Don't be stupid!'' Leo scolded. ''You barge through there and you'll burn!''

Raph refrained from snapping at Leo for calling him stupid.

Donnie could see his brothers were too panicked to do anything, they weren't gonna be able to help him and it didn't seem like there was going to be a miraculous storm either.

Donnie pushed the mast slightly and it wobbled. There was no other way, he would have to hope that if he leant back the mast would slide him out of the pyre. If this failed… he would be a roast turtle on a stick.

''G-guys'' He coughed dryly, his brothers looked at him in fear. ''I-I'm gonna try something''

''What?'' Leo frowned.

Donnie pushed back and his brothers seemed to realise what he was going to do.

''DON'T!'' They yelled, fearing it would go wrong.

Yet Donnie pushed with all his might and before he knew it his feet were off the ground and he was being pulled backwards. His head spun as the mast hit the ground he heard the pyre collapse as everything became too much.

He welcomed the darkness that consumed him.

He opened his eyes to find himself in a dark room lying on something soft, he figured it was his own room.

Not dead then.

He looked around tiredly as his body continued to burn.

He coughed and the light flicked on revealing his three brothers standing around his bed.

''G-Guys?'' He groaned, he couldn't move for the pain and his throat burned making it hard to talk.

''Here'' Leo soothed as he gently helped Donnie into a sitting position, Don felt a cold glass being laced against his bottom lip.

He drank thirstily.

''Thanks'' He breathed as he was placed back down.

''You ok?'' Mikey asked gently. ''We gave you painkillers earlier…''

''I guess they've finished working'' Don cringed.

Raphael stepped forward and helped him take the pills with the remaining water.

''I'm sorry we took so long'' Leo bowed his head slightly, ''We shouldn't have been so stupid''

''What do you mean?'' Don asked quietly.

''We stalled…'' Raph sighed. ''We didn't wanna hang around the junkyard listening to ya ramble on about metals and stuff so we kept stallin' and… when we arrived… you weren't there but we could see a fire… we thought you'd gone to investigate on your own or set fire to somethin' so we went towards it only ta see ya… burnin'…''

''We shouldn't have been so selfish'' Leo sighed. ''I promise we'll never leave you alone topside for too long ever again… we could've lost you…''

Donnie looked at his brothers guilty faces and he sighed.

''I only asked you guys because I knew I wouldn't be able to carry all the stuff home alone'' He tried to shrug but couldn't, ''I understand though… I know you guys get bored''

The brothers only looked guiltier.

''We're so sorry'' Mikey sniffed.

''We killed some of the foot'' Leo breathed without looking up. ''But most of them got away… including Shredder''

''Guys'' Donnie offered them a small smile. ''It's ok… you came in the end''

''But we couldn't save you'' Raph growled. ''We just panicked… we didn't know how to get ya out and you ended up doin' it yerself… we were useless''

''No you weren't'' Donnie sighed. ''I had given up until you guys came… seeing you three made me realise that you needed me, seeing you panic showed me that I couldn't just give up and let myself burn''

The brothers looked at him worriedly.

''I would never have made it out of that without you guys'' He smiled. ''So thanks''

They wanted to hug him but knew it would cause him pain.

''We're still sorry'' Leo blushed as they settled down around the injured one.

''I'm sure you guys will be able to make it up to me'' Don chuckled.

And the brothers did.

They took care of him as he got better, reassured him when he was worried and comforted him when he found out some of the burns would scar. Once he was healed they always travelled with him to get supplies, they never left him alone for too long unless he was in his lab.

They never forgot the image of their brother burning on the pyre and it drove them on to be better brothers.

It's a bit weird I know. Please Review xx