The three were slowly making their way through the thick woods of the alien planet toward the second of the two clearings they'd spotted, tightly grouped together.
Mikey's stomach grumbled. How many days had it been since they came here now? Two or three? He couldn't remember. None of them had eaten in so long, but at the moment, he wasn't worried. His hand was securely in Raph's, and they swung arms absently while Raph and Donnie went back and forth about the rabbit-type animal they'd initially seen when they got here and what other, weird animals there might be, and the conversation had quickly degraded to silly imagination; and right now, with a warm smile, while Donnie exclaimed incredulously at Raph's increasingly strange make-believe animals and Raph laughed heartily, Mikey felt invincible; albeit in a weird, vulnerable way. Even though the whole world might be against them, and they were hurt and running for their lives, none of that seemed to matter, as long as they were here, together, fighting to re-unite with the rest of their family. Even so, that sense of safety and protection almost felt ready to slide away at any moment, shrouded by the fear that anything could happen to one of them at any moment within this apocalyptic planet, and after everything they'd seen, the idea spooked Mikey deeply.
As he looked at them, he saw how Raph still visibly favored his bad shoulder, seemingly more so as its bruises deepened and swelled, and he moved it less and less as it looked worse and worse; and the way Donnie tried to look like he wasn't limping over his new walking stick in refusal of anyone's assistance was the elephant in the room. Mikey hadn't been getting any better, either. His whole torso was a raging fire, and since they'd been running, it hurt to breathe in a way that wasn't going away – and until it did, he was cringing to cope with it any time he knew his brothers weren't looking. But he refused to let this slow him down. Everything about this place set off alarms that rang deeper in him than he thought they rightly should have; and his brothers weren't admitting the shape they were in, or the grimness of their situation. He had to stay vigilant, and protect them. His own handicaps would have to be set aside – this was something that he was handling, and could deal with. They came first, no matter what.
That thing with Donnie's old walking stick had been pretty spooky, though. Raph almost swept the two of them up and left the clearing right then and there, when they looked back and saw his old walking stick where nothing had been there before, and no one had come to place it – but they hesitated, because Donnie needed it, and he refused to let Raph carry him anymore. Donnie had almost just left it on principle, but when he had gone to inspect it, Mikey watched him shoot back up, turn on his heel and almost prance out of there, dragging Mikey along behind him and clearly freaked out. The three of them had exclaimed over that a bit in terror as Donnie hurried along, and Raph and Mikey rushed to keep up with him, increasingly exasperated questions and exclamations coming from all three, but Raph had eventually told everyone to chill out, because panicking over what they didn't understand would get them nowhere – so here they were.
Don had described his walking stick as feeling "like ice on fire"; and Mikey had also noticed, where that had been the first area they'd seen with foliage that was alive, the grass around the stick had suddenly died. He wondered what the others thought about that, because Mikey got scared wondering the how-and-why. Sighing, he looked around the woods and walked just a little closer to the other two. The clearing had been extra cold, but not in a way that felt familiar to Mikey; that kind of cold felt like it snuck in through his chest and crept outward from his bones, and set his whole body off with an urgency to get out. He shivered again just thinking about it.
He couldn't help continuing to feel spooked, and the weird sounds and the constant hunted feeling made it worse. He looked over his shoulder behind their group for the millionth time, and gripped Raph's hand just a little tighter, rubbing one arm with a chill. Raph spared him a quick glance, and Mikey was fascinated by the sudden fire of concern, analyzation and warm confidence Raph shot him in the one second they made eye contact, before he turned back to Donnie to continue the discussion of what they might find in the second clearing, moment totally dismissed except for giving Mikey's hand a squeeze. He grinned. Older brothers.
"Whup-!" Donnie suddenly exclaimed in surprise, mid-sentence, he and Raph suddenly stopped. Mikey looked ahead to try and see what they were staring at.
"What was that?" Raph asked him, but was quickly moving forward to look for it already.
"Think we can eat it?" Was all Donnie responded with, and confused and well as simultaneously dismayed, Mikey turned to him in frustration.
"Eat what?"
"We saw something run through the trees, like a rabbit."
"Ooh! Think we can eat it?"
Only laughing in response, the two of them looked back toward Raph when he called quietly to them, trying not to scare the creature away. "Mikey, toss me your slingshot, let me see if I can catch this bugger. Don't you two move, I'll be right back."
"Don't hurt yourself with it, now," Mikey teased, throwing it to his brother just as expertly as Raph caught it and melted into the shadows of the woods a second later. With nothing left to do but wait, Mikey and Donnie sat down against a tree and tried to get comfortable.
Stretching his legs out gratefully, Donnie leaned back with an exasperated grunt, clearly happier to be sitting on the ground than he should have been, and Mikey leaned in closer.
"How's the 'ol hobbler?" He asked, scooting closer to Donnie's left ankle so he could properly examine it.
Donnie just scoffed. "Right. I should be asking about your side."
"You're too worried." Mikey complained, rolling his eyes. "Have you seen me limping around?" He straightened and put his fists to his sides to prove his point, but just a little too quickly, and fire ripped up through his whole midsection, but he would have died before letting any kind of pain through his stone facade of sarcasm. So, Donnie only rolled his eyes.
"I've seen enough to be worried," He grumbled in response, but then sighed and slumped a little, putting his head in one hand. His voice lowered then, so much so that it almost seemed like he was just talking to himself, but it struck Mikey with worry. "I'm worried about Raph."
Mikey sent a sharp eye up at his older brother amidst gently turning his foot. "Does his shoulder seem that bad?"
"I don't know," Donnie sighed again, and looked down in deep thought, scratching the back of his head. "The idiot won't even begin to let on how bad it is without a fight."
Mikey had to chuckle. "Of course not. Can you imagine the horror if we began to think he was in no shape to protect us?"
Donnie let out a little huff and a small, sentimentally affectionate grin as he continued looking at the ground, and Mikey couldn't help but make one, too. "I know. But if he pushes himself, it'll only make things worse. I said I was mostly concerned about your side, and I am for the most part, but that was only because Raph was standing there and would have given me a bunch of crap for saying how worried I am about him, too. The shoulder is not a good place to test when it's been injured, and I'm afraid of what he'll do to it if he doesn't go easy."
They sat on that thought in silence for a few moments as Mikey finished examining Donnie's ankle and re-secured its wrappings, then sat back against the tree next to his brother to watch the woods with him. Donnie absently put his arm around Mikey's shoulders snuggly and pulled him in closely, deep in thought, and Mikey carefully scooted in closer to try to soak up some of the shared warmth, gingerly trying not to jostle his side. He wanted to say something reassuring, but the reality was they both knew Donnie was right, and there wasn't really much else to do but be worried about it. Because, they knew if it did end up coming down to it, Raph would sacrifice every ounce of his senses and well-being in order to protect his little siblings in the case of an attack.
"What happens if we don't find any food?" Mikey asked, turning big baby blues on Donnie, and getting a quizzical look in return, considering Raph had just run off in chase of some. But, Donnie quickly realized Mikey's point as he kept his serious gaze on his older brother, and Donnie looked off into the woods again with a small grunt.
"Then we'll do what we can." He said, his gaze becoming firmer. He subconsciously tightened his grip around Mikey's shoulders, too, and Mikey glanced at his brother's tense hand. "Sensei taught us several survival techniques, and if it comes down to it, I'm sure we can make them work until the others find us. If we can just get to the second clearing, I'm sure we'll find something that I can use to contact them. I...I know we will. There's got to be something here, there can't just be...random spots of life, for no reason."
Staring at the ground, Mikey put his hand over Donnie's and tucked in closer, feeling his brother's gaze fall back on him. "...Do you think they're ok?"
Donnie's face fell, and his voice did, too. "I sure hope so, Mikey. With all my heart."
Mikey looked back up at Donnie again, eyes sad and deep. "I...m-miss Leo."
At this, Donnie's whole soul seemed to clench, and he shut his eyes for a second before looking back at the woods, voice taking on the slightest tremble. "I'm sure he's worried sick." He gave a small chuckle. "About ready to charge the planet, right?"
Mikey let out a choked-up laugh. "Yeah. And shouting about how everything is taking too long, and jumping out of the ship without his air helmet to swim through space when the professor isn't looking...a-and brooding a lot, 'cause he misses us and..."
"Going crazy with worry, 'cause he doesn't have Raph to smack him and say what a mother hen he is...or me to tell him he shouldn't worry, or you to hug him until he smiles again. He doesn't have any of us, to hug until he knows we're safe again. The way he likes to do." Donnie exhaled sharply, rubbing one hand over his eyes and sounding wetter this time. When he continued, his voice was much lower and quieter, and he squeezed Mikey closer. "He's probably out of his mind, right now."
Mikey put his hands over his eyes, simply not wanting to look at this place anymore, and leaned into Donnie as his older brother squeezed him and gazed ahead, both wishing Raph would hurry back already.
When both heard a sudden commotion in the distance, panic shot up their spines and they were back on their feet almost before they even realized it. And then, Donnie was already abandoning trying to scan their surroundings in order to herd Mikey towards a thicket of tightly-clustered foliage.
"Come on," He hissed, trying to push Mikey along with him, but Mikey wrestled.
"It might be Raph! We need to go see if he's ok!"
"Raph told us to stay here," Donnie growled, having just the slightest advantage over their struggle. "And if Raph needs help, it's me that needs to go check on him. You are staying here!"
Mikey shot an electric-blue gaze up at his brother, but before he could argue further, they were cut off by a shout.
"RUN!"
Both smaller brothers whipped their heads in the direction of Raph's voice, horror on their faces.
"THEY'RE COMING! RUN!"
"RAPH!" Both little brothers shouted, moving forward in refusal to leave the older behind, but an enormous CRASH interrupted them as a horde trees toppled down just feet behind the older brother, who waved his arms at them as he jumped as fast as he could through rotten tree branches.
Ten. There were ten of them!
Turning sharply in mid-air, Raph's expression suddenly turned acid and his sais were flashing in his hands, and he took such a ferocious swipe at the nearest monster that it reeled back in surprise as ink went flying –
A hellish screech suddenly ripped through the air that was so high-pitched and agonizing,all three brothers paled in unison. One screech quickly turned into three, and three erupted into a hundred as the stricken monster flailed to the side and all the ones around it erupted into crazed pandemonium. Some went after the injured creature, but many others started thrashing out at anything and everything, toppling trees and spilling over one another in waves of violence.
Raph dove out of their way as fast as his legs would take him, but a sudden chill went through his whole body when he recognized that the screeching actually sounded sort of – human. A twisted, manipulated, hopelessly lost kind of "human". And it sounded like so many more than there should've been.
The uproar gave Raph just enough time to land near his brothers and give them a rough shove, and a growl more intense than a raging storm. "Move, now!"
The three bolted, eyes clenched shut and adrenaline pouring through their bodies, knowing the monsters had to be right at their heels. Gashes went ignored as they bowled through any foliage in their way –
"Aaaaaah!"
Mikey and Donnie came to such an abrupt halt that they almost went tumbling forward, arching their heads back. "Raph!" They cried, watching the oldest get slung into the air by a black appendage.
Both little brothers started to charge forward at the same time as Raph went hacking away at his captor, but Donnie hesitated, and was suddenly heels-in-the-ground hauling Mikey backward, restraining his struggling brother and both wide-eyed as the monsters quickly poured in around Raph and toward the remaining two.
"DONNIE, LET GO!" Mikey cried, struggling violently, and Donnie stared between him, Raph and the monsters with huge, terrorized eyes that could've only looked more lost than horrified.
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, RUN, RUN!" Raph shouted, voice transitioning from violent to a terrified cry by the end of the sentence, and before they could do anything, the monsters were lurching at them, impacting several rotted trees and causing just enough chaos for Donnie to clench his eyes shut and run for their lives, little brother locked in an iron grip.
.
.
.
Run. Run. Run.
This was all Donnie could do, could think, could hear in his booming ears, for an amount of time he couldn't keep track of. The monsters gave unrelenting chase for longer than Donnie thought possible of any normal creature requiring any amount of bodily recuperation, and every time he thought he'd lost them, he would slow down to find a place to stop, just to realize they were catching up again.
"-nnie!"
At some point, they had left the woods and entered a reddish, dried-out craggy area full of smog and deep canyons and towering mountains, where their cover of dead woods was replaced by smoke and a dark sky, giving Donnie the advantage of a wider range of sight, but also making him feel paranoid that they might be targets. Mikey had struggled endlessly for the first while, but had calmed down for a time, making it easier for Donnie to focus on their escape, and where he should try to go next –
"DONNIE!"
Snapping to the present, Donnie gasped and almost stumbled over a rock – and then actually stumbled, and both of them went toppling into the ground. When he regained control, he looked up and panicked, scrambling to his little brother, who was already pushing himself up.
"Mikey! Are you ok?!" He grabbed onto him firmly and started to check for new injuries, ignoring the younger's protests. "God, Mikey, I'm so – is your side ok? Tell me everything that's hurting, don't you dare try to hide anything from me – we can still use some of your wrappings to –"
"Donnie." Mikey exclaimed, grabbing his brother by both arms and staring him down with an intense look in his eyes that Donnie didn't recognize right away. "Donnie, calm down. You're hyperventilating."
Donnie looked down at himself, and found – like he was looking at someone else – that his breaths were as rapid and shallow as the heartbeat drumming in his ears, and his whole body trembled. If they weren't already sitting on the ground, Donnie was sure he would've passed out. A horrible panicked, loss-of-control sort of feeling swept over him then, but before he could crumple in on himself, he was being enveloped.
Mikey held him in a crushingly-tight hold, and Donnie swayed for a second before trapping the younger in shivering, unbreakable arms until he felt the despair ebb away from his mind.
When they finally eased the embrace, Mikey had a wildfire of different, angrily combatting emotions in his eyes that confused Donnie, and his little brother spoke first, hands firmly on Donnie's arms. "What happened? Why didn't you respond to me?"
Donnie gave him a pained look, still trying to regain his buzzing senses. "What?"
"I told you to stop, but you wouldn't say anything. The monsters chased us away from Raph, I think you lost them thirty minutes ago. I've been trying to get your attention for like ten minutes!"
"Oh, I...I..." Donnie rubbed his head, everything that just happened flooding back to him. Raph. Raph! Raph!
"You've been running for almost two hours," Mikey said, exasperated and that sharpness still in his eyes, and all Donnie could do was collapse inside.
"Mikey, I...I don't...no, no...no, no. God, no..." Covering his face, the tears came quickly and suddenly, and he scooched backwards away from his brother, shaking his head. RAPH! How could he-? What had he done! WHAT HAD HE DONE!
"Donnie!"
His little brother's voice was firm, and again, he found himself inside a determined embrace.
What? Donnie scrubbed his teary eyes, confused as he weakly hooked his arms back around the younger's shell. He looked down at Mikey, who was staring at his ankle with a troubled expression –
His ankle.
"You've been running for almost two hours." Mikey repeated, a little more quietly, and a wobbly frustration in his voice. He leaned back, looking at the ground. "You might've wrecked your ankle up for good. If you try to carry me like that again, I'll kick your butt."
Donnie's face fell and eyes filled with emotion, and he put his hands over his eyes again, full of despair. "Raph."
Mikey sighed, and dropped his head against Donnie's plastron, voice going very low and soft. "I know you'd never leave him behind. I know you would die trying to save him..."
Donnie wrapped his arms back around Mikey, dropping his torn-up face into his shoulder.
"We would've both died, trying to save him." Mikey continued, and paused. "...I wanted to go back."
Donnie sniffed, his voice rough and wet. "I know. I did too. But we would've been killed."
"We could've tried..."
"Yes. I almost did...but there was no time left. They were on us, nothing we did would've helped Raph. Nothing, nothing would've helped, and I...Raph...Raph..."
Mikey comfortingly pressed his muzzle into Donnie's neck, voice very gentle. "I know...they're way stronger than us, and had us in a corner. Maybe...going back might've prevented Raph from being able to escape, himself. You were just trying to protect me."
Donnie's grip tightened, voice crumbling further. "I didn't know what to do. I was...there was no time left, nothing we could do. I didn't know what to...Raph..."
Wrapping his arms around Donnie, Mikey held his older brother tightly while he cried into the younger's shoulder with horrible despair, snuggling his face into the crook of his neck with every ounce of comfort he had as his own tears rolled down.
Too exhausted to move forward, no one having slept last night, Mikey decided to find another cave for them to rest in, which he found easily due to the dry, rocky area they were now in. He carried Donnie to it on his back, which Donnie didn't cease to protest and struggle against – only too gentle to escape, because he didn't want to hurt his little brother – until he'd put him back down. Snuggled together as tightly as possible, their mind solely and unwaveringly on their immediate older brother, minds ripping themselves apart in horrible, frantic worry and distress – sleep eventually dragged them into the comatose dark.
A/N: Yay! :D
Sorry this one is kind of short :P I'm working on the next one right now.
So, each chapter takes me a super long time to write, which can get annoying because I'll be in different mindsets when I come back to whatever random scene I left off at. Blame this for the fact that this chapter went from 0 to 100 in .5 seconds like a tricked-out Chevy Corvette z06 lmao
excuse me while I actually go back and try to figure out how many days it's been for the C-team haha