Title: Constant
Ch. 1 - Constant disappearance
Ch. Rating: T
Summery: Our boys may not always get along, but the constant of each other has kept them strong. Now that constant is gone. How will they contend? Donny POV – NOT a death fic.
Disclaimer: We don't own TMNT – wish we did but we don't.
Authors notes: Takes place between Leo's departure to Peru and return in the TMNT feature film. This is a fiction co authored by yoyo-anarchy and RandonPenName, ENJOY!
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The clock ticked steadily off to my right it seemed the only constant in this place any more, now that Leo was gone. Master Splinter sent him away to learn how to be a leader...some leader, he didn't even say goodbye. So much is different now. Raph is never home; Mikey has started a business and doesn't smile nearly as often. Splinter is tense. Than there is me the 2nd youngest of all of them trying to break up fights and keep some element of control. Why does Little Donny, the quiet one have to step up into Leo's shoes? Let me tell you from the beginning.
He did come to me before he left in a way. We had been slumped on a lounge watching one of Mikey's movie marathons, quietly laughing at how haphazardly he was spread out over a pile of cushions, and he suddenly turned to look at me. "You'll always look out for him, huh Don? And Raph? You're the only other sane one", he'd grinned. Confused and half asleep I just nodded in agreement, making a weary note to ask him about the odd comment in the morning. Of course by then, he was already gone. However lost I felt without Leo, however hurt I was by him taking off like that, I couldn't let him down... let the others down, and show it.
I think it surprised my brothers as much as it surprised me the first time I broke up a fight. It was the day we awoke to find our leader (fearless or otherwise) missing. His room was pristine, everything in it's place. We just assumed he was over doing his training again and had left early. We all knew we were wrong when the breakfast table held four plates and not five.
Sensei explained it all to us, in his own way. Simply put, Leonardo had been let go... sent away, for training, and he was unsure as to when he would return. Deathly silence followed the announcement for several long moments, while we all processed it. Leo, gone. I think we all eventually reacted at the same time. I sat slowly, quiet, stunned. Mikey opened his mouth to respond in a woeful little voice, asking why he'd left so quickly and without a good bye. Raph... well he surprised me.
Raph, he just stood there for the longest, his eyes fixed on the empty chair directly in front of his own. In my own grief I was vaguely aware the master was watching the 2nd oldest, well the oldest now. I think he expected him to split the table, scream, throw his sai into the nearest target. After all, what would any of us expect Raph to do? Instead he sat his spoon down quietly in the untouched bowl of cereal and silently walked out of the room. It wasn't until later when I had gone to my own room to process the news away from Mikeys increasingly upset conversation with our sensi that I heard it. At first, I couldn't place the sound. I knew the sound, but it wasn't right, not from that room. Never from that room. Yet, there it was, standing in front of Raph's door, amid a quiet conversation with no one in particular came the sound of muffled sobs.
That was a big shock to the system. It just cemented the strange new reality of our situation. Leo gone, out of our lives, for who knew how long, Mikey wasn't smiling, and Raph was crying. My whole world had more or less been turned upside down in the space of about six hours. I don't remember much about that day; just that Splinter didn't press us when we didn't gather for training, and that the lair seemed far too quiet... Odd considering Leo was hardly the noisiest housemate at the best of times.
When nighttime rolled around no one jumped to patrol we are just shared the same space in the den. I was writing in my journal halfway watching Mikey who's eyes were on the t.v. but what ever he was seeing it wasn't " Death and Gore: Zombies from Japan part VI". Raph was sitting by our Master but it seemed to only complicate his feelings when the master only had a few words of comfort. Raph commented he was going to bed and surprisingly Mikey stood to follow. At times he really was the youngest and at times it showed. Bed. That was a whole new level of realization, we slept two to a room on bunk beds. Raph and Mikey still had each other...
It wasn't as though we were afraid of the dark anymore, Mikey notwithstanding. And we'd certainly faced far greater challenges than sleeping alone. It was just... another constant gone. The sound of Leo's soft breathing had always lulled me to sleep; the constant, reassuring presence of my big brother. I was almost jealous of Raph and Mikey, but before the thought could even fully pass through my mind, I noticed Mikey standing in front of me. He held out a hand with a weak smile, and Raph called out to me from the stairs. "Come on Brainiac, you waiting for an engraved invitation?" I knew it wasn't going to last forever, but all the same, the gesture was wholly appreciated.
Raph had given up his bunk that night to crash on the floor. I wouldn't have minded sleeping on the floor but Raph didn't give me that option. I don't know if any of us ever nodded off we all just laid there lost in our own thoughts. Around three in the morning the conversation started.
End Ch.1 – what do you think? This started as a round robin between the two afore mentioned authors. We aren't each writing a ch. We are each writing paragraphs. I think it flows nicely and we hope you continue to read it!