Disclaimer: Not mine but I'm still wishing on stars…

Author Notes: For Darquess who is partially to blame for this and because she deserves it. I also lay partial blame on the last couple of big snow storms that hit New England when I started developing this story.

Snow Blind

Chapter One

It was a burning pain that radiated up his arm and into his shoulder. Part of him was relieved that he hadn't fallen off the building but the chain that was steadily digging deeper into his arm brought little comfort to that fact. The chain was suddenly jerked backwards, causing him to fall on his shell onto the rooftop where he laid for a moment breathing heavily. With the terror of the near fall starting to recede a little from his mind he began to struggle with the chain wrapped several times around his forearm.

Even though escape was the foremost thought in his mind, Donatello couldn't figure out how he could do it. The Dragons that he had gotten in a minor disagreement with had brought a long a new toy. Some form of gun that fired small gas filled pellets that exploded on impact. Distracting as they were, the smoke in the pellets had a much more sinister intent. Donatello had been maced in the face before and, while the pain from the gas pellets were comparably to the mace, he felt it was much worse.

The gas burned and stung as it had penetrated his nostrils, throughout his mouth and down his throat but the stinging in his eyes had nearly caused him to scream. It felt like someone was trying to poke his eyes out with a cherry red piece of metal completely saturated with heat. That had been bad enough but it had only taken him a moment to realize something else about the gas that set it apart from mace.

The gas had blinded him somehow.

He had been trained on how to fight in the dark but the simple knowledge that he could flick a switch and bring back the light had always kept him calm. He had known that there was nothing wrong with his eyesight but now... now he wasn't sure if his blindness was temporary or permanent. He was hoping that it was temporary but the small chance that he was going to end up blind for the rest of his life scared him to the point where he could barely keep track of what was happening around him. That lack of concentration had almost led to his fall off the building. If he hadn't grabbed him...

A sudden noise and the sound of something heavy landing on the roof next to him caused him to focus back on his surrounding area rather than the chain wrapped around his arm. Whatever had landed next to him begin to move slowly. Judging from the occasionally swears that were issuing out of his mouth, the Dragon that had landed nearby wasn't out of commission yet and was rather upset for being thrown across the rooftop.

Don rolled away from him trying to put as much distance between the Dragon and himself as possible. He was at a major disadvantage. Normally it would be one, maybe two hits at most and that would drop most Dragons but if he couldn't see the Dragon that made it hard to deflect an attack. The noises coming from the nearby fight and even the sound of the chain dragging across the ground was enough to make it hard to even guess where the Dragon was. Don quickly surged to his feet and turned to face where he hoped the Dragon was while he continued to back away. He still had a lot of room on the rooftop as long as he didn't head left. Left was where he had almost fallen off before.

A string of expletives caused him to bring up both hands in a defensive stance as he could only assume that meant the man charging him. He tried to not focus out the sounds of the fight and instead focus on the sounds of the man running closer towards him. If he could time it right, Don knew he would be able to drop the man with one quick strike to the throat. As long as the Dragon kept panting, wheezing and cursing he had a pretty good idea of where that was.

What he hadn't been expecting was the chain that was still wrapped around his right arm to suddenly be pulled hard enough that he was pulled off balance. His feet stumbled under him as he tried not to fall down again. He barely heard the soft wisp of the snow next to him as someone past him. He easily heard the blow issued behind him and the resulting scream as the Dragon was knocked off the roof top. Don felt a shiver run down his spine. That had nearly been him earlier.

A hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and the chain was pulled so that his arm was forced behind him. He hissed as tried to bring his foot up to catch his captor but a knee forced itself between his legs. His balance became compromised and he found himself struggling not to fall over. Again.

"Easy!" A muffled voice growled in his ear. "I'm not going to hurt you!" The chain around his arm was jerked several times and then he felt it as the chain was suddenly loosened and slipped off his arm. He was pulled backwards slightly and then he heard the chain as it protested begin whipped forwards and into what sounded like someone chest. "Stay here," the voice said half growled in his ear. There was something about that voice that sounded oddly familiar...

The hand gripping his shoulder suddenly spun him around and his feet were caught against his savior's foot, toppling him over with a cry. He hit the rooftop on his shell. Then the footsteps moved away from him as the fight began again. Don laid there for a moment breathing hard and slowly rolled over and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He brought one hand up and rubbed at his eyes to try and quell the constant burning. He hissed as he realized that all that did was seem to make the burning worst.

"Grab him! Grab him!" The Dragons were converging on the guy who was helping him and Don shakily got back to his feet. He listened closely to the fight raging on the other side of the rooftop, trying to determine if there was anything he could do to help. After another few moments of indecision, he finally settled on relaxing his stance. By the sounds of it, the Dragons were having their clocks cleaned.

The Nightwatcher wasn't going to need his help at all.

He didn't know where the Nightwatcher had come from but shortly after he had first become blinded the vigilante had jumped into the fray. He only knew who it was because one of the Dragons called out a warning to the other gang members. Don had quickly gotten twisted around, trying to focus more on protecting himself than what was going on around him and that almost had him stumbling off the rooftop. If the Nightwatcher hadn't caught him with his chained weapon he would have gone over the edge.

"Bail!" it sounded like the Dragons had had enough and the sounds of multiple feet went running down the metal fire escape, rattling it loudly. Don breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing even more. Now all he had to do was try and get back to the lair on his own or call Mikey and hope that he could come fi-

"Take that freak!"

"No!"

Everything happened to fast for him to have even a chance to react. There was movement to his left as a sharp pain raced along his side. His plastron deflected the stab off to the side, causing it to miss a deadly strike, but the cut still ran deep as it drove into the much softer skin between his plastron and shell. A cry escaped him as he clutched the injury trying to put distance between him and his assailant only to trip backwards over the edge of the roof.

And this time he wasn't caught.

Donatello managed to think 'oh shell' just before he hit a clothes line, snapping it at one of its anchor points. He clutched at the line as best he could, the blood on his hands making the rope even more slippery. He twisted himself around so that his shell could take the force of the impact against the wall that he knew he would be swing towards. Even though he had braced himself for the impact, he still grunted as he slammed into it, losing his grip on the rope as the air was knocked from his lungs.

He thought he was out of luck this time but it was surprising that instead of slamming off the hard pavement, he landed in the relatively soft dumpster. Relatively was a strong word for it but the trash bags and refuse in it cushioned his landing enough that it felt more like he had been thrown in training. However, painful his landing was, he was still alive.

Shakily he sat up, moving slowly to assess the damage, only to have a pair of gloved hands grab his arms and haul him out of the dumpster. He panicked, lashing out with his foot and catching whoever was holding him in the lower stomach. They grunted and let go. Donatello stumbled backwards trying to figure out where his opponent was.

"Easy," said the not quite familiar voice of the Nightwatcher. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Right," he wobbled slightly as he took another couple steps back and bumped into the dumpster he had fallen into. He grabbed at it to stop the world from spinning lazily. "Who are you?"

There was a pause and for a moment, Don wondered if the Nightwatcher was sneaking around to get behind him. When the vigilante spoke again, it was like he had never moved. "I'm the Nightwatcher," was all he said.

"That's not what I mea- never mind…" Donatello huffed as he held his injured side and weighted his options. He had to figure out what was wrong with his eyesight, get his side fixed up and find Raphael. Not necessarily in that order.

That was the whole reason he had come out tonight in the first place. They had gotten into a fight about three days before over something so small and innate that Donatello couldn't even remember what it had been about. Whatever it had been about was important enough to Raph that he had left the lair and hadn't returned in three days. He wasn't even answering his shell cell anymore except to text Master Splinter he was alright.

Donatello found himself leaning more heavily against the dumpster as he clutched at the bleeding wound with his free hand. If Raph leaving the lair and refusing to return hadn't been bad enough, the largest snow storm of the season was bearing down on New York and they were expected to get anywhere from two to three feet. There was no way Raphael was going to be alright on his own in that mess. He hadn't responded when Master Splinter asked him to come home so Donatello had gone out looking for him. He had been left in charge after all. It was up to him to protect his brothers in Leonardo's stead. Especially from themselves.

"Let me see your side," he flinched back. The Nightwatcher was a lot closer now, too close for his comfort levels, especially since he had no idea what to make of the vigilante. Was he friend or foe? "I'm not going to hurt you, I won't even touch you if you don't want me too," the voice was softer and it was slightly strained as if the Nightwatcher was trying to disguise his voice. "I just want to see how bad it is."

Hesitantly, Donatello moved his hand out of the way. There was no harm in looking and -as of yet- he hadn't tried to hurt him in anyway. In fact, the Nightwatcher had helped him more than any human had to date except Casey, April and Angel. He also seemed rather calm for having had met –and saved- a humanoid turtle. Did the vigilante know about them already?

The Nightwatcher was silent for a few moments as he inspected the injury. In the silence, Don could hear sirens approaching. Someone must have called the police. "Alright," the Nightwatcher said suddenly. "You need help and we need to get out of here before the cops show up. Come on, I'll help you."

Don jerked away from the Nightwatcher as a hand lightly touched his elbow. "I'm not going anywhere with you," Donatello growled as he forced himself backwards on shaky legs. He felt dizzy and he know he wobbled slightly as he moved but he wasn't about to let the Nightwatcher take him anywhere.

There was dead silence for a moment before the vigilante said in a very calm and collected voice, "You're blind as a bat and have a gash in your side the size of Jersey. I highly doubt that you'll be able to get anywhere on your own and not get caught or hurt worst. You're coming with me, end of story."

Don took another step back, letting go of the dumpster and retreating further down the alleyway. This was not something that he needed or wanted to do. The Nightwatcher was right, Don knew he needed help and he shuddered to think what would happen if the authorities saw –or worst- caught him.

However, he didn't have to go with the Nightwatcher, a quick phone call would get him all the assistance he would need. Even with their differences, Raph would show up if Don said he was hurt and trying to prevent from being kidnapped. His older brother would always be there if he needed him and since Raph was above ground somewhere he could get there a lot faster than Mikey could. Besides, the youngest turtle had been passed out on the couch when he had left. There was no telling how long it would take Mikey to wake up or if his shell cell was even in the same room as he was.

Trying not to be too obvious about it, Don reached into his belt and tapped the two sound buttons and the menu all at the same time, twice. The shortcut he had programed into the phone would take care of the rest, sending a text to Raph that was basically a tracking program that would lead him right to where ever Don's phone was. Now he just had to stall the Nightwatcher as long as possible until Raphael arrived.

Of course, it sounded like the police were going to get there sooner than that.

"Look, I'm not a bad guy," the Nightwatcher tried again. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to get you outta here before the cops show up and get you to stop bleeding before you faint."

"I don't care," Don said trying to remember if there was a manhole cover in this alley. He fell of the east side of the building right? "Leave me alone."

"No, you're coming with me."

Donatello quickly sidestepped as he threw his arm up in a quick block, smacking aside the hand that had been reaching for him. He took several quick running steps backwards to put some distance between him and the Nightwatcher only to run into a trashcan that fell over with a resounding clang. He felt his cheeks color slightly in embarrassment. He knew he was in trouble. Without sight it was going to be next to impossible to get away from him. "Please," the Nightwatcher said. His voice was still in the same place he had been. "I'd prefer if you came with me willingly."

"I told you, I'm not going anywhere with you!" Don snapped as he backed up more. The sirens were all but on top of them now. He couldn't afford to waste any more time dealing with the vigilante.

There was a deep, almost remorseful sounding sigh. "Then I will take you by force." That was definitely not something that Don wanted to hear. Where the shell was his older brother?!

Don was ready to be charged by the vigilante but instead heard the clinking of chains and realized that the Nightwatcher had an even large advantage against him then he thought. He heard the chains beginning to whip forward and quickly jumped backwards and off to one side trying to avoid them. He knew it was a slim chance that he would be able to avoid the chains forever but until help arrived or he managed to scale a fire escape or jump into a manhole it was the only chance he had.

He felt the one chain swing past his side and congratulated himself on a job well done. Only to freeze a moment later and swear mentally when the other end of the chain wrapped around his legs. This night just kept getting worse and worse.

There was a sharp tug and Donatello found himself on his shell. He struggled to sit up only to have weight land on his legs as he was forced back to the ground. He tried to bring his wrists up only to have them grabbed and a chain wrapped around them several times. "No!" Don yelled as the weight vanished and he was made to sit up. His wrist were pulled tight against his chest and the chain that he then realized was the same wrapped around his legs was wound several times around his chest. He was effectively trapped. "Let me go!"

"Keep yelling like that and I'll gag you," the vigilante threatened as tied the chain off somehow behind his shell. Don hissed as the Nightwatcher pressed something against his bleeding side and wrapped something around his waist several times, tying a knot right over the wound. He hissed again at the pain that began to radiate from the injured area pulsed in time with his heartbeat.

"I know it hurts. I'll get it patched up as soon as we get away from the police." The Nightwatcher's arm slid underneath his legs and he felt another curl around his shell. Don tried to pull away even as the man picked him up. "Would you calm down already? I'm not going to hurt you!"

Angry at himself and at Raph for taking his sweet time, Donatello let some of his anger and frustration slip out. "Fuck you!"

The Nightwatcher snorted in amusement but didn't say anything. A few minutes later, Donatello found himself being settled sideways onto a motorcycle. "Are you serious?" he asked as he was forced to lay down on the gas tank. The Nightwatcher just settled in the seat behind him. "At least free my legs so I can sit on this thing right!"

"You'll be fine and I have no intention of being kicked by you," Don could feel the Nightwatcher tilt the bike to the side and the snap as the kickstand was kicked back. "Just don't move around and you'll be fine." There was a sharp jolt as the Nigthwatcher started the bike and the roar of the engine Don was practically lying on. As the vigilante gunned the motor and then took off down the street, there was only one thing going through Don's mind.

He was going to kick Raphael's shell in.