Disclaimer: I don't own the turtles, sadly.

A/N: Thank you, Randomchick16, NJ7009, thecartoongirl22, Shadowcat2428, The White Grim, TigerNinja16, and I Love Kittens Toofor your reviews. :)


"All good things must come to an end, but all bad things can continue forever."

-Unknown


A dead, heavy silence weighed upon the room, and Don found himself staring loosely up at the ceiling blankly. He laughed bitterly before rolling over and closing his eyes. When sleep came, it was of the pain and fear that lingered still in his heart. It was a restless sleep, of which he awoke from in a matter of moments, unheard voices taunting him, because he knew they were there. In his dreams, he was loosing all his senses, and that seemed the worst of all. All he knew was touch and even that was failing him. But the pain was still there, it would always be there. Forever.

He swung himself out of the bed and sauntered over towards the lab door, hands reaching out, uncertain and for a split moment, he panicked. Everything was a sense of jumbled emotions as he stumbled, everything a senseless blurr before he realized where he was. He fidgeted before steadying himself, supporting himself along the wall. His once strong grey gaze was nothing more but a puddle of shadows, vacant and bloodshot of endless nights of crying himself to sleep.

All of his brothers had kept their distances; Mikey, not so much. He was curious, watching Don with a thoughtful expression that didn't really suit him and prowled around him like Don was a landmine, possible to blow up at any given moment. There was such a pain in his eyes, but the pain couldn't dare rival Don's own, and it never would. Because he never saw what Don himself saw. Nobody ever could. Don stared numbly at the door handle, as if he could telekinetically open it. Try as he might, it wouldn't budge, and he tilted his head a bit, and sighed. Of course, it would never work, it simply never did. He knew it never would but part of him hoped... he closed his eyes, a breathy sigh dropping from his olive lips. He hoped for many things, but he had his hopes shattered enough times to consider to not even hope at all. There was no point to it. No point at all.

He opened his eyes solemnly, staring at his hand as he moved it towards the door handle. As he touched it, he swore he phased through it, like he did many times in his dreams nights before before zipping towards that horrible nightmare, like what happened the first time he was sent there. Metaphorically speaking, he had been sent there many times before, in his dreams. Every single time, he watched his poor brothers die. His hand clenched the handle fiercely, turning his knuckles a lighter shade. Then he would phase out again and he'd wake up in his room. He feared that sometime, he wouldn't be able to wake up. To be lost in that world; without his true brothers, would truly kill him eventually.

He coughed awkwardly, daring to make his hand twist the handle, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He never could, not on his own. But then he would feel the presence of his other brothers and they would gently touch his hand and then he would turn it. His eyes wavered, and twisted the handle fiercely with a quick tug and swung it open, almost startling himself. He half-stumbled out of his lab and nearly fell down, a gasp of surprise squeezed out before he steadied himself.

"Donnie~? Are you up~?" Mikey's familiar chimey singsong voice trailed up from downstairs and Don fought the urge to bolt and abandon the world, to disappear into his lab and speak solely only through walkietalkies and other devices. He could survive for a good week without food, water.. well, he'd worry about it later. He turned swiftly, nearly bumping into the corner of the his door, but then Mikey's voice halted him. "Donnie? Dude, are you going to help me make breakfast? Don't pretend your sleeping; I heard your door open~." Don registered that comment as a rather stalkerish sentence and grunted in laughter, a harsh and cold laughter boiling up his throat. "Donnie? Don, dude, are you okay?" Mikey's words fluttered up from downstairs as the younger terrapin trudged up.

Don barked back a laugh, "I'm fine." His voice was rough and came out sounding horrible, as if he was a new clone of Raph. He shivered at the thought, quickly dismissing his thoughts about Raph before his train of thought was disrupted and he began to think about what happened a few nights before. "Or do you want me to start spending time thinking about how I should truthfully answer you?" His voice cracked, before he meaningfully coughed and licked his lips before glancing up at Mikey, who stared dumbfounded at him.

"...So.. you're not fine?" Mikey said, confusion all over his face and simply couldn't have been clearer unless someone had written it across his face. "Because I like, don't get what your saying. Oh, is this a game? You know how much I love games~." Mikey clapped his hands together before staring uncertainly at Don's face then tilted his head uncertainly, "...or is this not a game? Are you tired, Donnie? Want me to let you sleep it off? I'll just tell Leo your sick~ ...Like you have been for the past couple of weeks, right? That has been why you've been missing practice, right?" Mikey forced a smile before girlishly squealing, "You probably are! I know! I'll go get you some soup! Soup is always good~ even in the mooorn-iiiings~." He stretched the word before sprinting down the steps, "I'll go get some for you~."

"That sure got right of him," Don muttered hoarsely under his breath, eyes narrowing suspiciously after the bounding orange-masked terrapin. Then he hesitated before pretending to hack up a lung, "Ah, nope. Being sick -even pretending- will be a workout for me." He whistled a tuneless song before turning around, meaning to close his door when a hand slammed into the wall next to his head.

"Good to know ya ain't sick, eh, Don?" Don's false grin fell as he nearly teetered and screamed like a girl in surprise. He caught his scream quickly and swifly turned around to glare at the opposing threat. Don's words died in his throat as he saw Raph's confused and gentle eyes, his normally fierce look gone. Raph's bandana was no-where to be found but as he stared at Raph, he noticed how wet he was from the shower, water trickling off of his immediate older brother. A red towel hung around his shoulders, his face a fierce mask but his eyes always gave it away. "..I want ya to know I took it, ya journal. I read it Don, and I ask ya, are ya okay?"

Anger boiled up inside of Donnie as he stared at Raph, his hands clenching into fists before opening slowly. "Am I.. okay? I watched my... own brothers die, and your wondering if I'm fine?" He stressed out the words, his normally calm anger rising like steam. He jabbed a finger in Raph's face. "You didn't see what I saw, so you have no right to ask if I'm okay." He breathed heavily through his nose before whipping through the open way that Raph left and began to storm away.

"It ain't a right, Don, it's a responability," Raph muttered, nearly stopping Don in his tracks, at least enough for him to stop and consider briefly of Raph's words, which sounded oddly like something Leo would say. Don glared over his shoulder, and Raph all too eagerly returned it. In a huff, Don marched off, his anger quickly simmering down until he was breathing calmly, unshed tears prickling his eyes as he sniffled. It was usually unbearable, not being able to tell them everything. He blinked, shaking his head, forcing back a cough. He was driving himself to sickness, trying to protect his brothers, and his mental state certainly wasn't helping anything. He sighed, leaning against the wall, half-paying attention to Raph's receding footsteps.

"-id you want the shower next?"

The question startled Don badly, as he whipped around, nearly colliding into Leo's pastron. Don stumbled in shock and Leo nimbly caught him before he fell, chiding beneath his breath his lacking balance capabilities. Leo gripped Don's forearms until the younger terrapin had steadied, and an awkward silence drifted between them. Don glanced uneasily aside, feeling too foolish to even ask what Leo to repeat himself. A ninja must pay attention to his surroundings, after all.

"I asked if you wanted the shower next, Don," Leo supplied, staring keenly at Don's crestfallen face. "You probably need it, staying up late working on that project of your's."

A confused grey gaze flitted up to meet Leo's warm brown ones. Don opened his mouth, tried speaking before coughing and trying again. "Wh-what?"

Leo blinked calmly at Don, as if he expected this. "The project. You know, the one to save us from being killed."

Shock registered in Don's brain quickly, before he shuddered and uttered a hoarse laugh. Damn hallucinations, he chided to himself. He just sounded like... the other Leo, that's all. I.. it's nothing. "Pardon?" Don asked, his voice tight and high.

Leo sent him a confused look, "..The project? The one which you are helping reprogram Raph's shellcycle; programming it with a tracking system as well as a moniter which enables him to watch over the city, showing the hotspots for attacks."

Don blinked dumbly and slowly at Leo, before he realized.. Raph was helping him by covering for him. "Oh, that project," he huffed pleasantly, forcing a grin. Another load of work, a sane section of his mind taunted him. "Right. That-... that is why I'm... uh."

"Late for practices," the eldest terrapin supplied.

Don's face relaxed, "Yes, late for practice. Thank you. Raph has been.. showing me what we've been learning, so, don't worry about me." He forced a smile, and the grim look on Leo's face lessened. Of course Leo would be worried solely about training; mention that your still training and he gets off your shell, easy as that. "But yes, a shower sounds nice." Don trudged past Leo towards the bathroom, before dragging out a towel from the closet and closing the door with a click.


Leo's face was smiling until Don disappeared into the shower, before turning around and glancing down the hallway that Raph had dispersed to. He glanced over towards the door where Don had disappeared into, as if daring him to reappear. Leo narrowed his chocolate brown eyes, huffing a bit in annoyance. Don has been avoiding them all, holing themselves up in his lab, and rarely even came out to eat anymore. Anybody could tell that he was quickly getting sick from lack of nutrients and-

"If ya glare at that door any longer ya gonna burn a hole right through it, Fearless," Raph's brooklyn voice broke through Leo's train of thought. He sounded downright amused and that strung a nerve, and Leo rounded on him, mouth agap to shoot back a retort when he noticed Raph's rather vacant gaze, which was positioned to look at the bathroom door, the steady drone of the water being muffled by the plank of wood. "He ain't well, Leo." Leo stared coldly at Raph before turning to glance at the door. "He's killing himself worrying. It ain't right."

Leo's brotherly instincts kicked in and killed the eldest's last bits of rage. "What?"

Raph looked towards Leo before scoffing, rubbing along his shoulders with his towel. "Don't pretend ya didn't notice. Don's been different since he came back from that other world. Ya know, the one that he only mentioned as being a 'super genuis' and 'killer toasters' or some shit like that." Leo's startled look caused Raph to still in his movements before draping the towel across his shoulder and leaning in close. "Ya didn't notice, did ya, Fearless?" He made a low disapproving whistle sound. He grinned, "Looks like that makes me tha only one. Makes me almost worry about ya, ya ain't sick too are ya?"

Leo looked uncomfortable before jumping quickly to his defense, "No. I'm not; and I'd prefer if you didn't use such vulgar language."

Raph's bark of a laugh came suddenly, "Don is killin' himself and ya are only worried about my language?" He continued to rumble with laughter, grinning at the look of disgust quickly traveling up onto Leo's face. "I don't give a damn, Fearless, 'bout my shitty language. Got it? What ya need to worry 'bout is Don. He sure ain't openin' up to me. Ya better do it for me, eh?" He grinned mockingly at him before tossing his towel at him, "'Cause I sure don't wanna get the knucklehead of our family involved too, if we don't hafta." Raph's emerald face suddenly grew serious, "He doesn't need to be worryin' neither, despite being a bonehead. Ya better change things, Fearless, or else things are gonna go downhill from here, 'cause dis... I thinks is only the beginning. Best to end it now." Then without allowing a word of protest to come from Leo, he stormed off.

Leo's chocolate eyes flitted towards the bathroom door before sighing, had Don heard any of that? He doubted it, but he also doubted that Don was even in the shower. "Don, I'd prefer if you'd confide in us, we're your brothers, we deserve to know. This isn't only your problem. We can deal with this together." He glanced disapprovingly towards the door before walking away, knowing full well that Don heard him.

Then a small voice piped up from behind the door, just as Leo moved out of earshot. "No, Leo, I won't. This is my problem." Then the water shut off.