A/N: Warning for blood and slight graphics. Nothing overly descriptive (I grossed myself out and had to remove a few bits) but it ain't pretty.
Obligatory disclaimer to not try this at home. If you have a turtle with a broken shell, it should be brought to a vet. Everything I know about fixing turtle shells came from Google.
Raph had a fleeting, panicked thought that Donnie's shell might simply fall away, prompting him to curl an arm under Donnie's plastron to support his shell. Blood poured from the gash, too much and too fast for Raph to staunch one-handed.
"Bandanas!" Raph yelled. "Leo, help me!"
Leo ran around Raph, his and Mikey's bandanas in hand. He immediately froze with a choked gasp when he saw Donnie.
"Leo!" Raph snapped through tears flooding his eyes. "Leo, I can't-"
Mikey rushed in. He snatched the bandanas from Leo's hands and pressed them against the gash. Donnie flinched with a low groan.
"H-hang on, Donnie," Raph stammered. "Talk to me, Donnie!"
For once in his life, Donnie remained silent. Raph blinked back panicked tears, needing to see what Mikey was doing.
The two bandanas were soaked through instantly, turning a deep red that made Raph's stomach churn. They weren't even enough to cover the gash! Mikey pulled off Donnie's bandana and pressed it to the gash at Donnie's shoulder. Mikey jumped up to pull off Raph's bandana and pressed it in as well.
"Leo, rei!" Mikey said sharply.
Leo, his eyes wide and unseeing, bowed silently. Mikey yanked off his sash and tied it quickly around Donnie's body, despite the visible shake in his hands.
"O-okay," Mikey said with a slight stammer. "We have to get him to Dad. D-Dad'll know how to fix this, right?"
"Yes," Raph said immediately.
Though Raph wasn't sure if anyone could fix the blood spilling through the bandages, steadily plip-plopping to the ground.
Raph shook the thought away. Donnie shook in his grasp, an uneasy convulsion that did nothing to ease Raph's fears. But Mikey's calm was falling away, tears flooding his wide eyes now that his job was done.
"He'll be fine, we just have to get Donnie to Pops," Raph said as he hurried from the alley.
Mikey ran up to him, clutching Donnie's staff and goggles. "But, we left the Tank at the lair!"
"We'll move fast. Or- Leo!" Raph looked to his other side. "We need- Leo?"
Leo wasn't beside him. Raph turned around. Leo hadn't budged from where he'd first seen Donnie's wound. He was still half bowed, shaking and panting.
"Leo!" Raph said, forcing his voice into sharpness.
Leo flinched and looked at him. Eyes distant and tone flat, Leo said, "He said he was fine."
"It doesn't matter," Raph said, unable to maintain his harsh voice. "We need a portal back to the lair, then Donnie will be fine, okay?"
Right on cue, Donnie shuddered and coughed. Raph looked down, wondering if Donnie was waking up. Ice raced down his spine when he saw red dribble from Donnie's lips.
Raph's head jerked up. "Leo!"
Leo grimaced and swung his odachi. A small, flickering portal appeared in front of them, barely big enough for a single foot, then it flickered out. Leo flung the odachi again with a strangled shout. This time, he didn't even get a speck of portal.
"I-I can't!" Leo said. He tried again, getting nothing. "I-I- Raph!"
"I have him," Raph said, spinning on his heel. He roughly wiped his eyes with one wrist. "Mikey, Leo, watch my back!"
Much as he wanted to, Raph couldn't go straight to the lair, in case one of the evil mutants were watching. Raph tore down a street in the wrong direction, wincing at every jolt that made Donnie moan. Raph wished he could turn Donnie onto his back, cradle his brother more comfortably, but he didn't dare put that kind of pressure on Donnie's fractured shell.
Minutes felt like hours as Raph ran through the deserted streets. Hours that stretched further when Donnie's moans became quieter and quieter, until Raph was pounding straight toward the lair, uncaring if even every single evil mutant was on his tail.
Three blocks away from home, Donnie coughed once, then went silent. Raph looked down, going dizzy for half a second at the bloody slick covering Donnie's shell and his own arms.
"Hang in there, Donnie," Raph said with a voice that shook. "I've got you, bro. I've got you."
Nothing.
Raph skidded to a halt at the manhole cover leading to the lair. He had a split second of panic when he realized he couldn't lift the cover without shifting Donnie, then Mikey slipped under him.
Mikey's hands were bloody as he lifted the cover away. Raph stared at them. Leo had patched Donnie's shell, so why-
No, Mikey had. That's why Mikey's hands were bloody, only one of Raph's brothers were injured, Mikey would have said-
"Raph?"
Mikey's tentative voice dragged Raph back to the present. He pushed back the spiral of panic, trying to be strong so Mikey wouldn't panic like… Leo.
"Where's Leo?" Raph asked.
Mikey pointed back the way they'd come, but didn't speak. Leo was fine, then.
Except Donnie had said he was fine, but-
"Raphie!" Mikey's voice broke.
"Keep it together," Raph told himself. To Mikey, he said, "Help me steady Donnie."
Mikey sniffed, but nodded. Raph climbed awkwardly into the manhole, sitting on the edge to give Mikey a chance to grab Donnie's shoulders. Raph slid the rest of his body down, keeping one hand raised to hold Donnie outside. He braced himself by wrapping one leg around the ladder, then looked at Mikey.
Where was Leo? They needed his help!
As if summoned by the thought, Leo appeared beside Mikey. Raph opened his mouth to tell him to help Mikey, but hesitated when he saw how unfocused Leo's eyes were.
Mikey didn't, as he said without looking up, "Leo, help me!"
Leo blinked, and Raph felt that Leo was seeing them again. Noticeably gritting his teeth, Leo knelt to help Mikey support Donnie's chest.
Everyone ignored the blood that dripped from Donnie's mouth onto Leo's arm as he did.
The three of them gently maneuvered Donnie so Raph was holding him inside the hole. At Raph's order, Mikey slid past them and quickly descended to warn Splinter of what had happened. Raph looked at Leo, who nodded silently and climbed across from Raph to support Donnie's drooping head and neck.
Descending one-handed was harder than Raph thought it should have been, though it was mostly due to trying to keep from jostling a totally silent Donnie. A passing thought made Raph freeze.
Donnie was too quiet. Was he even breathing?
Raph couldn't tell, not with Donnie facing down and his own arms shaking from strain and fear. And, really, it was pointless to think about. Donnie was fine, he was always fine, and it was Raph's job to get him to the ground so he'd stay fine.
"Illogical reasoning."
The little voice in Raph's head sounded almost like Donnie, but Raph was still right. Get Donnie to the lair, and everything would be fine.
Like Donnie had said he was fine.
Realizing he'd stopped climbing, Raph shook his head. Leo was staring at him, eyes weirdly blank and terribly silent.
"We're almost there," Raph said, voice gruff with fear. He didn't even know who he was talking to, but it got them both moving again.
The climb went without incident, until Raph stepped off the last ladder rung and his foot slipped. Leo was there, steadying Donnie while Raph caught his balance, both studiously ignoring the puddle of blood that had caused Raph to slip.
Mikey was there a second later, noticeably less calm. April and Splinter were on his heels, trying to understand his stumbling speech.
"We didn't see- said he was fine- Raph's got 'im- Leo couldn't-"
April was the first of the two to see Donnie's limp form. Her eyes shot wide and she reached out like she wanted to take Donnie. Splinter followed her gaze, then he was suddenly more intent than Raph had seen him in… well, ever.
"What happened?" Splinter asked.
"Foot Clan." Raph suddenly remembered how Donnie had stumbled into Recruit. "Donnie tripped, I-I- it was an accident."
"Accident, my foot!" Splinter huffed, then hurried toward the lair, waving at the brothers. "Bring him inside, hurry!"
Raph hurried after Splinter and laid Donnie on the table. April was at his side a second later, bearing rags to wipe up the blood.
Raph looked at Splinter. "What do we do now, Pops?"
Splinter harrumphed, but didn't answer. Raph felt a slam of alarm when he realized Splinter didn't know what to do!
"We need to clean away the blood, see what's cut."
Raph heaved a sigh of relief and looked at April. He moved toward Donnie, then froze, staring at his big clumsy hands. The gash in Donnie's carapace didn't seem so big all of the sudden.
Luckily, April was already at work, mopping up the blood that just wouldn't stop. Raph dropped to his knees beside the table and stared at Donnie until he saw the slight movement of breathing. Too slow, too shallow, but there.
April growled. "There's shell splinters in here. Mikey, you're Dr. Delicate Touch, right?"
"Uh…" Mikey waffled for a second, but the prospect of helping Donnie seemed to ground him. "What do I need to do?"
April pulled him over and took a pair of tweezers from her pocket. "You see those splinters? Each one needs to come out, got it?"
"But won't it hurt him? M-more?"
"Mikey." April sighed and patted Mikey's shoulder. "Not gonna lie, probably. Raph, if Donnie starts moving, you need to hold him down, got it?"
Raph swallowed hard, but nodded. April guided his hands to two stable sections of Donnie's carapace.
"Leo, you… Here, Mikey, hold this rag here." April took Leo's bloody arm and gently guided him to sit at Donnie's head. "Hold his shoulders. Here and here. Watch his face, and tell me if he starts to wake up, alright?"
Leo nodded. His eyes on Donnie's face, he didn't see the worried looks Raph and April exchanged. But there wasn't time to comfort Leo, not yet.
"Splints, we need denture glue," April said.
Everyone except Leo and Donnie looked at April. Splinter didn't move to follow the request, and his silence prompted April to look up.
"Okay, whatever you use to glue your shells together when they get broken."
"Is now a bad time to mention this has never happened before?" Splinter asked.
"So? Just get the supplies, man!"
"Or that we've never prepared for this?"
"You what?!"
Donnie shifted at April's yell. She quickly looked down and reclaimed her makeshift bandages from Mikey.
"Get to work, Mikey. The sooner he's clear, the sooner we can glue him back together." April looked back to Splinter. "Now. Say again?"
Splinter didn't bother repeating himself, only threw over his shoulder as he hustled out, "But I'll find something!"
April looked at Raph. "You've really never prepared for this?"
"Our shells… don't break. I don't think?" Raph struggled to explain. "They haven't… this is a first… for all of us. Donnie might have something, but…"
"Great, the turtle with the weakest shell is the one with the repair plan," April muttered.
Raph grimaced.
"Relax, Raph, I've got this. Lucky for you guys, Donnie isn't the first turtle I've patched up!"
Raph had never been so relieved. And confused. "Who was the first?"
"Spike, my grandpa's pet box turtle. We found him beside the road with a split shell and brought him home. Grandpa patched him up with denture glue, and the little guy's been living the turtle dream life since!"
"Okay, done!" said Mikey, who didn't appear to have heard April.
Raph looked at Donnie. He hadn't had to steady Donnie once, and he again had to make sure his brother was still breathing. He was, but was it slower now? He touched Donnie's neck, feeling for his pulse. He found one, just as Donnie began to shiver.
"Guys, Donnie's getting cold," Raph said.
"Okay." April thought for a few seconds, then said, "Mikey, find one of your portable heat lamps and set it up over us."
"Ay-yi-yeck!"
Mikey dropped the bloody hand he'd briefly saluted with. Before he ran off, Raph grabbed his arm.
"And clean up," Raph said.
"I will once Donnie's okay," Mikey said, then pulled away.
Raph turned back to Donnie as Leo reached past him. He silently took one of the rags and wiped Donnie's bloody lips.
"Now what?" Raph asked. April had mentioned glue… "Put a patch over the gap?"
April shook her head. "The shell's way too open for how few broken pieces there were inside. At least it's only in two pieces, eh?"
Raph stared, thoughts moving slower than molasses. But Donnie was still bleeding, still shaking, still unconscious on the table, and Raph… Rap just wanted to fix him!
"We have to put the pieces back together, Raph," April explained, her voice gentle.
"Oh…"
Donnie groaned. Raph smiled briefly, but as encouraging as the slight sound was, if Donnie started to wake up while they were putting the carapace back together…
"We need to hurry," April said.
Raph pointed regretfully to the oozing wound. "But, he's still bleeding."
April bit her lip, then brightened. "I know what we need. Here, here, hold this."
Raph reluctantly covered the bloody rags. Donnie groaned again at the pressure.
"Don't let go," April urged. "Donnie doesn't need to lose any more blood."
Realizing he'd unconsciously lessened the pressure, Raph pushed back down with a quiet apology. Donnie moaned and coughed slightly, spraying blood on the table. Leo wordlessly cleaned it and stroked Donnie's forehead until he stilled.
Mikey ran back in, one of their wheeled heat lamps rattling behind him. Raph moved to the side, letting Mikey move the heat lamp so it hung over Donnie. There was a brief moment of silent panic when Mikey and Raph realized the lamp cord was too short to reach an outlet, then Mikey scurried off to find a battery.
April returned at the same time as Splinter, both carrying supplies. April set down hers, a syringe, a small glass vial, and a spray bottle.
"Put them there, Splints," April said, gesturing to a chair that had been shoved out of the way.
Letting April reclaim Donnie's carapace, Raph looked at Splinter's supplies. Three different kinds of glue -denture, super, and a big jug of glue missing all of the label except for the part with a skull and crossbones on it- spare sashes, duct tape, and a rounded piece of plastic.
Mikey returned with one of Donnie's batteries that had been rigged with an outlet. Mikey plugged in the heat lamp and switched it on, then pushed the battery under the table to keep it out of the way.
As Mikey was working, April was filling the syringe from the vial. Catching Raph's look, April explained as she gave Donnie the shot.
"Sedative. I dunno if he's going to wake up while he's still in this shape, but we don't want him thrashing around while we put his shell back together."
Raph nodded mutely. He stood helplessly to the side while April beckoned Mikey over. She handed him the spray bottle.
"There's a coagulant in this." When Mikey frowned, April explained, "It will stop the bleeding. I'm going to remove the bandages one at a time. When I tell you, spray the spots with this, okay?"
Mikey nodded and crawled under the table so he was between April and Leo. The pair started at Donnie's shoulder, painstakingly removing rags and spraying the spot.
Some of Raph's tension eased when the bleeding eased to a stop, but he couldn't stop worrying that maybe it was because Donnie had lost too much blood already. He shook his head and reached across Donnie when Mikey paused spraying.
"You… you're doing great," Raph encouraged, patting Mikey's hand.
Mikey smiled weakly, then returned to his work. He and April finished half of Donnie's back. Rather than have Mikey move around the table, Splinter took over spraying.
Everyone leaned or stepped back when the job was done. Everyone except for Leo, who hadn't taken his eyes off Donnie's face.
April stretched until her back popped. She wiped her hands on a rag, then shook them and exhaled.
"The good news is, it doesn't look like anything major got cut," April said.
Nobody could help looking at the pile of bloody rags sitting on the table.
"A lot of less-important things got nicked. I think." April hurried past that dubious thought. "Now for the hard part."
Mikey looked quickly at her. "That wasn't the hard part?"
"We have to… put the carapace back together," Raph explained.
"Take a breath, boys," April said, scooting off her seat. "I need to see what I have to work with."
Raph looked at Donnie. He was so still, Raph again had to make sure Donnie was breathing. He was, a bit deeper and more even than before. And he wasn't shivering anymore. Which was good. That was good.
Raph looked at Leo, worried about his silence. Leo glanced at him, but didn't say a word. He seemed focused on watching Donnie's face. At least Donnie wasn't coughing blood anymore.
Which was good, too. It was all good. Donnie would be fine.
Fine for real.
"Alright," April said. "We got everything we need right here. Raph, I need you to push Donnie's carapace back together."
Raph jerked around. "What? I gotta… you don't mean-"
"I do mean it, and I'm sorry, but we gotta do it." April took Raph's wrist and squeezed it. "We do this now, and we do it fast. Donnie's not going to sleep forever, you know."
Raph's stomach twinged at the thought. "You're right."
Under April's guidance, Raph gently pushed Donnie's carapace together. It was… stiffer than Raph thought it would be, and Raph was terrified of hurting Donnie further.
"You're doing great, big guy," April said. Her smile was more like a grimace.
Raph grimaced back. Raph's job wasn't easy, but April was currently making sure the closing carapace didn't puncture, break, or squeeze anything vital inside Donnie. Mikey and Splinter were helping her, each watching a part of the carapace.
"Leo?" April winced as she poked something -Raph tried to not think of what it could be- back with a finger. "We could really use another set of hands here."
Leo didn't seem to hear at first. But after a moment, he scooted to the side and looked inside the broken shell. Still silent, still expressionless, Leo joined the trio's efforts.
The two halves of Donnie's carapace touched with a low grinding noise that sent a chill through Raph. He struggled to keep the carapace perfectly in place while the others backed quickly off.
April delicately smeared super glue across the parts of Donnie's carapace that weren't missing any slivers, then covered it with denture glue. She then tore several long strips of duct tape and used them across the glue.
"Real slow, Raph, let go," April murmured.
Raph's hands shook as he pulled them back, but April's patches held. April took the curved piece of plastic that Splinter had brought, and laid it carefully on Donnie's back. It was a little short and there was a gap between the plastic and most of Donnie's carapace, but April taped it into place.
"Almost done, Donnie," April said with a quick look at Donnie's still face. "Raph, lift him up really gentle. Splints, I'm rolling the tape under Donnie to you. Keep it going over the plastic."
"L-like a new shell?" Mikey asked.
April nodded. "It'll keep the gaps clean until Donnie wakes up. I'm sure he has something better…"
April fell silent, intent on securing the plastic with duct tape without tugging on Donnie too much. Splinter did as he was told, passing the duct tape over Donnie and back to April. They did this five more times, then April tore off the end of the tape and pressed it securely across the left shoulder of Donnie's carapace.
"There… you can put him down now, Raph."
Raph did while April sat back. Raph stared at her, then Mikey gingerly prodding a few loose tabs of duct tape into place. Then to Splinter bouncing slightly on his toes, his expression tight with worry. He looked at Leo, sitting silent as ever, then followed his gaze to Donnie's face, lax and pale green except for the smudges of dried blood around his lips and chin. Last, to April staring at her handiwork.
"Now-" Raph cleared his throat, not that it shifted the lump in his throat making his voice gruff. "Now what?"
"We wait." April got up and began gathering the bloody rags. "We've done everything we can, and all-"
April broke off and everyone looked at Leo as he flung himself from the table. Before Raph could react, Leo had crossed the room in a stumbling run. Leo collapsed to his knees, shoulders heaving.
"Leo, what's-"
But whatever April had been about to say was drowned out by the sound of Leo violently retching.
A/N: ...well.
Leo and Mikey's roles were originally reversed, but then Mikey took charge and I just rolled with it.