Ever since the movie he had been having nightmares. They weren't always the same, but they were all similar plot wise. He was used to nightmares, normally, as staying up so late caused them, and others often caused nightmares themselves by having a late-night snack, which can increase the metabolism and signal the brain to be more active. A number of medications also are known to contribute to nightmare frequency. His problem had always been sleep deprivation, but nowadays he couldn't go to sleep, wouldn't even because of these awful dreams. He didn't want to ask his brothers to stay in their room for the night, as they were a little insensitive at times. Splinter seemed like the person to go to, but he could never go up to him during his teenage years. Everyone would laugh at him.

Even April made him feel as though he couldn't reach out to her, but he was probably just paranoid again.

It wasn't long before he started getting night terrors, insomnia making it near impossible to get any shut-eye. Training was close to just be a daily beating not including weekends and everyone around him started acting strange.

They would ask him questions that he didn't want to answer, stick by him as though he were incapable of looking after himself and after not long he started bursting at the seams with quarantined rage of which was totally uncalled for. It was obvious to everyone something was up, and that night, Splinter came in to visit him and try to get him to calm down.

"Donatello, you need to listen to me. You haven't been yourself lately, are you sure you're quite alright?" The soothing voice asked, but it seemed no matter what he couldn't snap at his Sensei. He was too gentle, too loving and accepting. The one person he could trust not to laugh in his face had come to him, which showed in itself that something was wrong.

A shallow sob erupted from the turtle and he felt as though he were a tiny boy again. Vulnerable and in need of a parental figure.

"I-I can't sleep at all. I've t-tried analysing the i-issue but I can't figure it out." In this state his brain wasn't as useful and it seemed without a full nights sleep his brain wasn't functioning quite like it used to. He couldn't do things the way he used to, he could barely walk without shaking like a leaf. During the nights it was worst. He heard things. He saw people, screaming, shouting at him. Trying to pull him under. Occasionally he felt things brush over his skin even when he saw nothing. He felt like he was going insane. "I don't know what to do, father. I can't take much more of this- this- this insanity!"

As the tears gathered underneath his chin, he felt the hands of his father bring him in for a hug, just like he used to do. With a warm embrace, he held on tight, but stood up to leave him all too soon.

"Try asking Michelangelo for assistance. He may be silly often, but he knows when to lend an ear. Your brothers are trustworthy, and you shouldn't lock yourself up for something that is not your fault." With those words, he stood up and left.

Checking the clock, he saw it was nearly 4am, and so got himself up with shaky limbs to go to Michelangelo's room, knocking quietly before making his way in.

His brother was fast asleep as expected, so he gently shook him to try and wake him up. "M-Mikey? Buddy? I need to talk t-to you about something." His brother almost seemed too far gone, but after a few short moments, he shifted, lifting both hands to rub his baby blues to look up at his older brother. He looked small in a way, curled in on himself and his eyes were red from crying. It was no time for joking around.

"You okay? Sit down and we can go over it, okay? What did you come here for?" His voice was thick with sleep, but he held no malice in his words. It was nice to see that although his toxic thoughts poisoned his reality, it didn't make it completely accurate.

Sitting himself down, he shuffled over to wrap his baby brother in a hug, snuggling up to him sweetly. Mikey was definitely confused as they hadn't hugged since they were ten, but he was in no mindset to be turning away the affection. Pulling his brother up next to him, he held him close and kissed his forehead platonically, rubbing over his shoulder to try and stop him from shaking like an earthquake. He didn't speak anymore, just waited for him to speak up.

Being the patient person he was, he waited a full two minutes before his brother was ready, and with a quiet sigh the voice - usually of reason - spoke up. "I haven't been able to sleep properly, and I can never get to sleep either. The monsters keep coming and coming, but there's no explanation for them. No reason to use that they aren't there, and they're going to get me. They're going to get me and I can't stop them no matter what I do and-" Cutting him off with good intention, Mikey just cuddled him closer, nuzzling his snout affectionately. "Don't worry, Dee. I'll protect you for tonight, and you can sleep with me."

The offer was enough to get him off to sleep relatively quickly, and by the time the two were snuggled together and sleeping, Splinter had come in to check on them. Not wake them for training, today it would just be Raph and Leo, but to make sure that they were both sound asleep and settled. Mikey was often the one to get night terrors, so maybe, just maybe, they could protect each other from their demons.

Mikey woke up first, as he had gotten a full nights sleep, but his elder brother was still clutching onto him as tightly as he could, leaving no room to move. Just as he was about to close his eyes and get even more sleep, April peeked through his door, and the usually orange masked hero hushed her in a near silent way to tell her that it was quiet time.

A nod answered him and she made her way inside, just standing by the bed. They both looked over the genius with different expressions, however still both positive.

"He really hasn't been alright lately. Did he tell you anything?" She whispered, and Mikey nodded. "Night terrors. I used to get them as a kid. Probably from the movie, I'm guessing. He's never been great with horrors."

All she could think was that this was all her fault. If she hadn't coaxed him out to watch it, he would've been fine. Mikey seemed to sense how she was feeling and reached up to place a single hand on hers, albeit a little awkwardly. "It wasn't your fault, April. You didn't know."

With an encouraging smile and a squeeze of her hand, she softened. Kissing Michelangelo's forehead, she whispered a quiet "thank you", and did the same to Donatello with the utmost care. He always looked so peaceful in sleep, and finally seeing him get some good rest was a nice surprise today.

"April," Mikey spoke up before she could actually leave, and she turned towards him so he wouldn't have to speak all that loudly, watching Donnie nuzzle his face closer under Mikey's neck. "He's probably going to need a cuddle buddy for the next few weeks, and he's always been there for me, but I know he wouldn't want anyone else to know. If you could try and convince him to take little naps with you or something that'd be great. No one would say anything if it were you he was sleeping on." She got where he was coming from, as if Raph or Leo found out when Donnie didn't want them to, it would make things so much worse. With her, though, she could get him to sleep without the watchful eye of his brothers. They probably didn't sleep together ever, really.

"I promise to try my best, Mikey. Text me when he wakes up, okay?"

A nod as he shut his eyes to go back to sleep was enough of an answer for her, and so she left with a small smile on her face. He was going to be okay.

Just after dinner she found an unread text message on her phone, and when glancing at it she realised that her beloved was awake. Hurrying out, kissing her father goodbye and making her way down to the lair she got there just in time to see a tired looking Donnie making his way to the kitchen, Mikey just wrapping his blanket around him as he went.

As Mikey noticed she was there, he waved and started animatedly pointing at Donnie behind his back, signalling with a seemingly great magnitude of joy that he was awake and looked tired instead of terrified. April gave a thumbs up with a smile just before Donnie, himself, noticed.

Making their way over, everyone sat at the island in the kitchen, most eyes on Donnie. Mikey wasn't making dinner today, but it seemed Splinter had it covered. Just as Donnie shifted the blanket, April reached out to put a hand on his knee, looking up at him brightly, features saying "I'm here for you."

He seemed to take the hint, as soon enough she had her hand in his and the two were squeezing each others feelers under the table, only parting ways when the food was passed along. She had already eaten before Mikey messaged her, so she passed, just keeping some sort of contact with Donatello. Be that brushing her arm with his, letting her knee rest right next to his, leaning her head on his shoulder or any other form of contact. Just something to make him realise that she would always be there, and as would his family.

He started smiling about halfway through, and she rested her head in her arms while waiting for everyone to finish.

When she woke up, however, everyone was gone and Donnie's blanket was around her shoulders. Hurrying towards his room, she found him fast asleep on the bed, so she took the blanket off to drape over him.

When he turned to face her, she noticed a small plush in his grip. A small bird, and upon closer inspection she noticed the nametag was "Professor Chickadee." It was rather sweet, but she had some real damage to do here. Something she hadn't used in a long time, especially not with the Aeon crystal, anyway. She invaded his mind like a space invader. Zap zap motherfuckers.

Upon entry, she found it was complex to locate anything, but a scream dragged her towards the offending memories.

Making her way around with caution not to be seen, she found three doors. All were labelled in true, Donatello style, but the labels were what made her try to think.

"Darkest Fears."

"Phobias."

"Paranoia."

Obviously, she decided that his darkest fears must relate to something similar, but the phobias also linked with it. She decided to go into that door first, only opening it to peek in for a moment.

It was her, giant, angry with razor sharp teeth making him feel worthless and horrible. As much as she wanted to cut ties with this door, she couldn't mess with too much. She just had to sort what she came here to do and leave, no matter how heartbreaking it was to see that his darkest fear was to be reprimanded and hated by those around him. Or her in particular, she wasn't sure yet.

Closing the door quietly, she moved on to Phobias, however that door was full of certain specifics. Not really doing anything, just more like a visual list.

In paranoia, however, she found exactly what she was looking for.

The small child of Donatello being assaulted by large, shadow-like monsters, some with long hair and boils, others with fangs and razor sharp nails. The small turtle was crying, and she closed the door behind her. This was what she was looking for. Obviously she couldn't fight all his demons, but she would take on as many as she could. The ones that went after her were useless to her, as she was not afraid of that damn movie. That singled them down.

Using her powers to create a mental cage for the time being, she started her fight. Drop kicking the ones pushing boundaries, and punching those that got too close to either of the two. It couldn't have been longer than a couple of minutes, but she had fought his fears for him, releasing the others reluctantly before getting out of there.

Donnie was still sleeping peacefully, but the fact that the worst doors were only in three and the others were full of many, many happy memories showed that he had a lot of happy memories to block it out.

Kissing his forehead once more, she settled her head against his on the bed, letting her body stay mostly on the floor as she drifted off into a peaceful sleep beside the one she loved.