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The more things change, the more things stay the same.

~~**~~**~~

As his brothers were trying their hardest to get Donatello to respond, their Father and Sensei, Master Splinter had retreated to his room, and gone deep in meditation, hoping to find his lost son's spirit. Even after a month, Splinter had not lost hope of finding his son, even if everyone else had. He knew that his genius son was not yet lost to them, and he was more determined now, than ever, of helping him find his way back to his family.

Ever since Splinter had experienced the first vision while searching for Donatello, all of his meditations had shown him the same vision, time and time again, with no apparent changes. It was very disconcerting that he could not reach his son, no matter how many times he tried to find him on a spiritual level. But, it seemed that this time was to be different.

Splinter was once again walking up the side of the lone hill, only this time, the mighty oak tree was already split in two and lying on the ground. After more than four weeks of daily meditations with the same vision, this change was very disturbing.

As he approached the tattered shell of the great monolith, a whisper of wind stirred the grass around his feet. Looking up at the sky, Splinter could see the retreating storm clouds that had rained their destruction upon the old tree. It seemed that he was now going to witness the aftermath of the storm that had wrought such suffering upon this lonely hill and its once proud sentinel.

At the edge of hearing, there was a thin wail, like a small child would make in times of great distress. Splinter's parental instincts kicked into high gear, giving his feet wings as he swiftly followed the sounds around the hill to the far side of the downed tree. Reaching the far side, he spied a small opening in the ground, like the mouth of a cave, which had been hidden in the roots of the tree. Splinter followed the sounds underground, into the cave, moving carefully so as not to disturb the ground any so that he might avoid a cave in, because the ground already looked very unstable from the earlier rainstorm.

Soon, what little light that had been filtering in from outside was all but gone. Fortunately, Splinter was a ninja master, and was very adept at moving in the dark. Being a mutated rat didn't hurt either. After several minutes of climbing through the darkness, Splinter felt the cave open up around him, the very air movements telling him this was a larger space.

Far ahead of him, Splinter could see what looked like a lone candle burning in the dark. As Splinter made his way across the space to the light, he could hear the crying more clearly. Reaching the candle, he could make out the shape of another being on the other side of the candle, just barely out of the light's reach. When Splinter entered the circle of light, the crying shuddered to a halt.

"Who are you?" the shadowy figure asked, trying to hide the fact that he had been crying. The voice sounded very young to Splinter, and familiar, as well.

"My name is Splinter, what is your name?" Splinter tried to keep his voice as non-threatening as possible.

"I don't know, I'm just here," the voice replied.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm scared."

"What are you frightened of, maybe I can help?" Splinter offered.

"The storm scared me, it broke me, and now I can't move, I can't remember."

"That does sound frightening. Are you injured? How did the storm break you?" Splinter was becoming concerned, this shadow voice sounded like his lost son, but not as he was now. It sounded like Donatello's voice when he was still a small child.

"The rain came, and the lightning hit me, I couldn't get out of the way. Then I woke up here, in the dark, and I know I forgot something really important, but I can't remember what it was. Can you help me remember?"

"I shall certainly try, young one. Can you come into the light? I need to check you for injuries, okay?"

"Okay," the voice answered. The shadow figure slowly wavered, and then glided into the circle of light offered by the candle. As the shadow exposed itself, Splinter could not help a small gasp of surprise. The figure was his son. Donatello looked like a small child, much as he did when he was 5 or 6 years old. Splinter did not know what to think now, and he was concerned that he would not be able to help his son after all.

"My son," Splinter couldn't help but whisper.

"You know me?"

"Yes, my son, I know you. You are Donatello, one of four of my precious sons, and very dear to me."

"Oh, okay, I guess," Donatello did not sound very convinced.

Splinter moved to sit next to his son. "Donatello, do you know what caused the storm?"

"I'm not sure. One minute I was fine, growing, reaching, bending in the wind, but the storm came up so fast, and the lightning…" Donatello trailed off, looking past the candle into the darkness surrounding them both.

"It's okay, take your time, my son," Splinter placed his hand on Donatello's arm to comfort the now shivering turtle. "Perhaps things will become clear if you can tell me what happened. We shall solve this together."

"Okay, Splinter, I'll try. It all happened so fast, but I know for sure that the storm should not have happened. I've never had a storm like that before. And now…now things will never be the same again, will they?" Teary eyes looked up at Splinter in question.

"No, my son, they will not," Donatello put his head on his drawn up knees, putting his arms over his head, like he wanted to hide from the world. "Do not lose hope, my child. Change comes to us all, it is how we grow, and learn. This too shall pass, and you shall become stronger for it."

"Okay, but, what will I do now? The tree was all I had…now what?"

"Now you get back up, and start again. I will be with you when you decide to awaken my son, as will your brothers. I am here for you, my son, Donatello. Come back to us."

Splinter was again jerked out of his meditations, but this time he was not distressed by this turn of events. After all of his efforts, he had finally been able to reach Donatello. Splinter gave a great sigh of relief, it appeared that Donatello might come out of this sleep sooner rather than later.

Now all Splinter had to do was share this wonderful news with the rest of his family.

A/N: Sorry if the imagery got confusing for anyone, please let me know if I need to explain anything. Thanks to all you readers and reviewers!! More coming soon, with another appearance of the Foot, and their crazy evil plans…I hope!

A/N 2: Reposted to fix error…next chapter coming soon…don't despair!!