"We don't want you to leave."
Donnie put an arm out in front of Mikey and stepped back with him, tightening his grip on the strap of the med bag. His gaze stayed fixated on the children, who just stood there, watching them with empty eyes. Slowly, as not to set anything off, Don reached for the broom next to the bed.
He flinched when the children's faces twisted in a hypnotic way and the broom was flung across the room by an invisible force. Mikey's breath hitched, and set off a short round of coughing.
"Donnie! Mikey!"
Leo and Raph. Don and Mikey exchanged looks. They wanted to be with their mates. They really didn't want to be separated again. But they also didn't want them to come inside and be attacked by those monsters.
"We're okay!" They couldn't hear a thing, since the ghosts didn't make any noise, but they figured something was keeping their brothers from entering. It would be such a relief if they could actually see them.
"Guys, we have to leave this house! Out the window if you have to! We meet on the roof of the pharmacy!"
The footsteps running away they could hear. Apparently they were being chased by something. Why didn't the ghosts in here attack? Donnie risked a glance at the window. They'd have to cross the bed to reach it, jump through the glass to save time. They were in the first floor, it would be easy to get down unharmed, despite Mikey's sickness.
And yet, Don hesitated. He wanted to go first, to take the shards when they had to break through the window and possibly help Mikey with the landing. But there was the danger of the ghosts attacking right then, and his baby brother could be stuck with them. Alone.
"Sweetheart." He whispered, eyes not leaving the ghosts. "I'm going to give you the blanket now. Use it to shield you from the shards. You're going first, I'll be right behind you."
"What about the wolf?"
"We have to be quick. The pharmacy is just across the street. Maybe it can't jump that high or climb." Mikey's pale face didn't look convinced. "Are you up to climbing?"
Michelangelo hesitated for a moment before nodding. His muscles quivered from the effort to stand alone, but he knew he had to pull himself together now. He couldn't leave all the work to Donnie.
He watched as the genius grabbed the blanket from the bed, pulling it off and handing it to him. But as soon as he tried to grab it from him, the children's faces twisted again and suddenly the floor was gone.
A hoarse yelp escaped him and he was vaguely aware of Donnie grabbing him protectively. The fall ended in a crash to stone ground. Mikey heard Donnie grunt in pain. As fast as he could, the younger turtle rolled off the genius and knelt next to him.
"Donnie! Are you okay?!"
"Uh..." Donatello sat up and rubbed his aching backside. At least he didn't hit his head. "Yeah. I guess." He looked around. The ceiling was still intact, it was as if it just became intangible to let them fall through. Fortunately the ghosts weren't coming after them... yet.
It seemed they were in the basement of the house. The walls were of dark bricks and cobwebs covered most corners. Don looked around for stairs to lead them back up, but there was nothing. Not even a ladder. There was some sort of boiler, which made no sense in an old house like this, and a fireplace. The boiler was making rumbling noises and warmth radiated from it, and the steam coming from some of the seams was making Donnie feel really uneasy. A single light bulb illuminated the otherwise dark room.
"We have to get out of here..." he mumbled, trying to get up and hissing when he put weight on his left ankle. "Damn!" He must've twisted it when they landed. Great, just what they needed right now.
"Is it broken?" Mikey asked worriedly, eyeing the slightly swollen ankle. It didn't look broken, but what did he know about bones? He was sick, for shell's sake.
"No... just twisted. Not even a sprain I think." Donnie grabbed the med bag that was laying right next to him and rummaged for the bandages he put inside back at the hospital. He made quick work of wrapping his ankle up with practiced hands, and Mikey couldn't even express how relieved he was Donnie was well enough to that.
"Are you gonna be alright?" The question was more like a whisper, followed by a weak cough.
"Of course, sweetheart. Are you hurt?"
"No, you cushioned the fall..." Donnie let out a sigh of relief.
"Good. Now let's find a way out of here." Standing was easier now that the ankle was wrapped up, still Mikey stood close to him to offer assistance if needed.
"There's not even an opening in the ceiling..." Mikey muttered, eyeing the whole room. "And that boiler is seriously freaking me out..."
"Yeah... we should hurry up. I'm not sure the sounds it makes are healthy."
"Do you think it's gonna explode?" Donnie thought that over, staring at the boiler.
"I don't really know. In this dimension everything could happen." He took a step away from the hazard, pulling Mikey with him. "If it does I don't wanna be close."
"But there is no way out..."
"We could try climbing up the fireplace. It has to lead outside. Theoretically."
Mikey wasn't too sure if climbing was such a good idea. His aching muscles protested with every movement he made, but he could soldier through it. He was more worried for his brother with a hurt ankle.
"Are you able to?"
"Of course I am. We didn't fall too deep, it shouldn't be that far up." The opening was big enough for them to crawl inside. But the darkness made them hesitate.
"I don't even see the back wall..." Mikey whispered before muffling a cough into his elbow.
Donatello bit his lip and took a step forward, leaning into the fireplace and reaching out. He stretched his arm further... and further... and further. The olive turtle was leaning halfway inside now and there was still no sign of a wall.
"Mikey, I think this is a tunnel..."
"Where could it lead to?"
"Only one way to find out..."
"But... but it's so dark... what if The Shadow appears again?" Donnie looked around the room in thought. He still had the matches, but they wouldn't suffice. And there was also the danger of the fire setting off an explosion. He still didn't trust the boiler. He sighed and sat down under the light bulb, rummaging through the bag.
Mikey settled down next to him, warily eyeing the tunnel before turning to watch Donnie.
"What are you looking for?"
"I don't know... something we can use as a torch. There's no way we step into total darkness. I... I can't see another hallucination." There was a quiver in his voice as his hands gripped the bag tightly. Mikey understood exactly how Donnie was feeling. The Shadow knew exactly how to wreck their minds.
The orange-banded ninja scooted closer to Donnie and wrapped his arms around him, head resting on the olive shoulder. Automatically the arms came up to return the hug.
Mikey melted against him with a sigh. The skin of the genius felt really good on his heated body, despite the chills.
Donnie knew his little brother wasn't doing so well, but right now he couldn't do much for him. They had to get out of this hole and find their mates.
"How are you holding up?" he asked softly, resting his cheek on the warm head. Mikey sniffed a little, relieved that the humid heat down here cleared his airways at least a little.
"I'm okay. Though as soon as this nightmare is over I'm gonna sleep for at least a week." Donnie chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to his forehead.
"Me too, sweetheart, me too." Nobody mentioned that there wasn't a clear way out yet, and they were still separated from their brothers.
Don got back to business after Mikey sat straight again, but it was useless. He only had bandages and water bottles and the utensils he stole from the kitchen. There was nothing he could light up that would burn long enough.
A sound from the tunnel had them both freeze up and stare at the dark hole. It sounded like footsteps.
Donnie zipped up his bag and flung it over his shoulder before taking a few steps back with Mikey.
"Do you think it's Leo and Raph?"
The footsteps came closer. It were two people. They were coming at a slow pace.
"Leo doesn't make sounds..." At least not so loud ones. And especially not in such a dangerous environment.
When emerald and leaf green bodies appeared though, Don's shoulders sagged in relief, already making a move forward. "Thank god..." However, Mikey's hot hand on his arm stopped him. The glassy blue eyes were wide and his grip was weak, but the gesture alone had Donnie cautious.
"Finally we found you. We thought those ghosts got you..." Leo sounded so sincerely relieved as he stepped closer.
"What's wrong?" Raph's face was in a frown when Mikey flinched and moved away from them, pulling Donnie along.
"Mikey?" Don whispered. "What is it?"
"I... I don't think it's Leo and Raph..." Chocolate eyes widened before facing the other turtles again. They had stopped their approach and watched them with worried expressions.
"Sweetheart... I know you had a run-in with clones before... but we..."
Don stopped in his tracks when a hand landed on his shoulder. An unpleasant shiver ran through his body at the heat coming from it. With a frown he looked up at Raph's amber eyes, feeling his heart beat in his throat. That wasn't normal. Raph was cold-blooded. Even with the heat of the boiler, he wouldn't warm up that quick.
"Uh..." he started, brain working over-time to think of something. "C-Can you... you know... prove that you're them?" While he spoke he took a step back, shaking Raphael's arm off. The smirk didn't make him feel butterflies like it usually did.
"Of course." In the blink of an eye the red-banded turtle had Donnie in a lip-lock, tongue aggressively invading the genius' mouth. The olive turtle struggled to break free, the grip on his shoulders becoming strong enough to bruise the more he tried.
Using his years of ninja training he managed to dislodge the muscular clone's arms and send him to the ground. Seeing the Leo clone approaching he grabbed Mike's hand and pulled him towards the tunnel. There was no way he'd be able to fight both clones alone. Especially with a hurt ankle and a brother he had to protect. He felt Mikey shaking and swaying as he dragged him along; he wouldn't be able to help.
"You can't run away from us!" The clones' voices followed them as they ducked inside the fireplace, following the black tunnel blindly.
Mikey coughed as he was pulled along, glad it was so dark so he couldn't see the hallway tilt.
They almost ran into a wall, but fortunately Don had thought far enough to keep his free arm out.
"Shit!"
"What now?!" He heard Donnie fumble around in the bag.
"Somehow they got in here. There has to be a way out. I just need to see..."
There was a rattling sound and a hiss and suddenly a burning match was creating a little bit of light. Footsteps were coming closer again. The sound chilled their bones. Donnie quickly checked their surroundings. They could walk left or right. Some sort of pipe was leading from the left side back to the basement.
"This way." Don decided and threw the match to the ground, thinking it would stop burning. He was totally unprepared for the way the ground behind them lit up, running back to the basement. As if... as if there was gasoline on the ground.
"Oh my god, RUN!" Grabbing Mike's hand again, he started running at full speed towards what he assumed was freedom. Sure enough there was some sort of trapdoor leading outside. Suddenly there was a loud boom behind them, and just as the turtles reached the opening the fire caught up with them.
With a mighty jump they felt the cool night air and hit gravel, with Donnie throwing himself over Mikey to shield him.
They were in an alley, somewhere on the back of the ghost house. With wide eyes Donnie watched it light up from the basement, the ground floor already burning brightly. The fire was spreading upwards quickly, but didn't touch the neighboring houses.
"Donnie... w-what about Leo and Raph...?"
xxxxx
"Where do those kids come from?!" Raph growled when he and Leo reached the stairs. A huge bunch of the ghost children were coming from the ground floor. They were just walking calmly, but both turtles knew the damage they could deal. The bruises and scratches littering their skin were evidence enough.
"We need a window. There's no way we can get past them." Leo turned around to get back to where the rooms are, but more children piled into the hallway from them. It seemed longer than before. As if the aisle stretched and stretched.
"This is ridiculous!"
"There." Leo stared at the previously closed door. It was the only room where none of the children came out from. Wherever it led to, they'd be safe there. At least the leader hoped so.
He didn't have to tell Raph that they had to fight their way through. Well, more like trying to get through without being beaten and stomped to death. The open doors could work for their advantage.
Using their training, Leonardo and Raphael jumped on top of the open doors on either side of the hallway. That way the ghost children couldn't reach them. The hallway stretched more, but eventually they reached their goal. Leo jumped and balanced on it, waiting for Raph to cross the hallway.
"Wait..." Taking a risk, the emerald turtle jumped a few more doors until he reached the bedroom they've been in before. There was no sight of his brothers, and Raph didn't know if he should be relieved or worried for them. Did they make it out through the window? Or did the children overrun them?
"There not here anymore. I think they got out." Raphael informed his older brother as he landed on the door next to him. The hazel eyes narrowed and nodded once, trying not to freak out. He knew it was a bad idea to split up! He shouldn't have left with that ghost! And if they got out of this alive, Raph would never hear the end of it. But they had other priorities right now.
The children shied away from the door and their faces twisted, making hissing noises when Raph and Leo stood just inside. The turtles pulled the door closed and were drowned in darkness.
"Of course we pick the one room without a single window..."
"This is another hallway."
"Shit Fearless, how do ya know? It's pitch black..." Leo grabbed Raph's hand and pulled him forwards, away from the door. The hothead couldn't see it, but Leo was rolling his eyes.
"Careful, there are stairs leading up. Probably to the attic." The leader explained. Since he was used to the darkness he could make out the different nuances of black, and from upstairs came a tiny sliver of moonlight that made it easier.
"Why are the ghosts not coming up?" Raph asked as he carefully climbed the stairs with Leo.
"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough..."
But as they reached the attic, there was nothing scary jumping at them. A huge circular window let the moonlight in and illuminated the dusty interior. Boxes and chests were littered all around, a dresser and broken mirror, and a bookshelf.
The weird part was that the bookshelf looked pretty new. The cherry wood was practically shining as if polished, and seemed out of place there.
The turtles stepped closer to it, examining the carved in ornaments.
"Look..." Leo pointed at one particular book. While all of the others were pretty colorful, this one was gray and seemed old. Carefully the leader took it from the shelf, reading the cover. "Shadowland?" he read out loud with a frown. When he thumbed through the pages there were sketches from the hospital, the city itself, the wolf, along with scribblings.
"Is this a guide for this shithole?" Raph squinted his eyes, trying to decipher the words in the dim lighting.
"Could be... we should definitely-" Leo was interrupted by some sort of earthquake. There was a loud boom accompanying it.
"What the shell!" Raph growled as he yanked Leo to the side when the bookshelf came close to falling over.
"Was that an explosion?!" Leo watched the stairs with wide eyes, worried for the safety of his younger brothers. From below, there was smoke slowly swirling up between the floor boards.
"We have to get out of here!"
The two ninjas ran to the window, the leader keeping a tight grip on the ancient book they've found.
It was getting harder to see with how fast the smoke seeped into the attic, and they could already feel warmth from the ground. Exchanging a look they simply jumped through the glass. They neatly landed on the ground, mindful of the shards.
Behind them the building was burning up to the first floor, the flames already licking up to the roof. It was hard prying their gazes from it.
"Let's find Mikey and Donnie..." Leo was the first to turn away, making his way to the pharmacy. His heart was still thumping hard from the adrenaline, and he wanted to be reunited with their younger brothers as soon as possible.
A weight fell from the leader's shoulders when he and Raph climbed the pharmacy and an olive turtle was waiting for them.
"Donnie!" he sighed in relief, but stopped in his tracks when he found his baby brother missing. "Where's Mikey?"
The genius grimaced and dove into Raph's plastron, wrapping his arms around him.
"Woah, what happened? Babe?"
"He didn't make it. The children got him. They burnt him." Both Raph and Leo felt their hearts stop. No. This couldn't be. Leo was already turning around, about to jump back to the burning house to help him, but some nagging in the back of his mind stopped him. Don sounded... off.
Raphael's arms were hanging uselessly at his sides, eyes wide in shock. In slow motion he moved to wrap his arms around their genius brother. He had no reason to doubt him... why would he lie about it? But why... why was Donnie so calm? A trickle of doubt formed, confirmed when he found the olive skin was hot to the touch.
"Donnie... why are you so hot?"
The arms around him squeezed shortly before a hand grabbed his tail.
"I'm hot for you..."
Raph jerked away, or tried to, and hissed at the way his tail was twisted. Leo came to the rescue, prying the clone away, ignoring the twinge in his heart.
The familiar looking face was twisted to a dark grin.
"Where are our brothers?!" Leo demanded, glaring at the clone. It was cackling loudly.
"Dead. My brothers are taking care of them... You should just give in, there's no way out of here." Raph snarled, on the verge of just attacking, but Leo's arm held him back. They needed answers.
"You're lying."
"Maybe I am. Maybe not. You'll never know."
"Quit the crap and tell us where they are!" The dark eyes were glinting with dangerous amusement.
"Show me some love and you might get information."
"I'll show ya some pain until ya tell us, ya fucking clone!"
The clone hissed before grinning.
"You can't hurt m-" The fake Donnie was interrupted by an emerald blur jumping at him. Raphael had his forearm pressed against the clone's throat hard, keeping him in place with his body weight. The clone tried to free himself, but it was in vain. As soon as he realized he was stuck he stopped struggling to glare at the turtle on top of him.
"That don't hurt?! HUH?!" Raph was so angry. It was his fault they were separated, just because he was so insistent about this horror house. And now this asshole was trying to taunt him. That stupid grin...
"That's what you like, hm? Hurting your mates."
Raph recoiled for a second, but caught himself quickly, punching the damned clone's face. It would be easier if he didn't look like Donnie.
"Shut the fuck up! Where are they?!"
"I bet they're enjoying the rough treatment my brothers are gonna dish out to them. I mean, if that's how you make love to them, they're gonna be ecstatic with-" The clone started choking as Raph wrapped his hands around his throat, squeezing his windpipe hard.
"Raph, stop, we need answers!" The hothead ignored his leader, tears blurring his vision as he crushed the throat, leaving the clone to collapse lifeless. Gasping out a sob he scrambled off the clone and gripped his own head.
Leo knelt next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"He... he wouldn't stop talking. He wouldn't have said anything. He... he just wanted to torture me."
"It's okay, Raph... calm down." To be honest, it had been hard watching his brother choke the clone to death. He knew it was just a clone, but still... "We... we have to find the real Donnie. And Mikey..."
The slightly larger turtle nodded and wiped at his eyes, trying to regain his breathing.
"Yeah, you're right."
"R-Raph? Leo?"
The careful voice coming from the ground had them hurrying to the edge. Down on the street were their brothers. Donnie was supporting Mikey, who clung to him as if life depended on it. It had to be the real them. The Donatello-clone was dead, what were the chances there was another one running around?
"Are you okay?!" Leo asked after he and Raph jumped down. The genius seemed wary.
"Please tell me you're the real Leo and Raph..."
"Oh fuck, of course we are..." Raphael would deny it any other day, but he was crying when he hugged his two younger mates close. Nobody would call him out on it.
Donnie relaxed into the hug, enjoying Leo's soothing touch on his carapace as the leader joined the hug from behind them. There was still the danger of the wolf lurking around, but at the moment he didn't care.
When Mikey sagged more against them they broke apart. Raph took the weight from Donnie, holding their baby brother upright.
"His adrenaline is wearing off... We... We need a place to rest. I need to disinfect these scratches," he motioned at the bloody marks on Raph's and Leo's arms and legs from where the ghosts got them, "and I have to re-bandage my ankle... Not to mention how exhausted we all are." The genius sounded so done with everything, so defeated that Leo felt his heart clench. How much more did they have to endure until they could leave this hellhole?
Raphael scooped Mikey up and looked at Leo for their next plan of action. He wouldn't dare make any suggestions anymore with how badly he fucked up already. There was the danger of the wolf, and they probably still had a bunch of nighttime to go through.
Leo was at loss. The encounter with the clone was unsettling enough. He wouldn't have given them any answers, but Leo wished they hadn't killed him. Somehow they would've made him talk.
If it was as easy as he thought; leave the town and everything would be fine; The Shadow would try harder to keep them busy. However, as it was, they had enough spare time. If they skipped a little sleep they would've left already. It couldn't be this easy.
He still had the book from the attic in one hand and looked down on it with a thoughtful face. They barely had any sleep, especially Raph. Don seemed ready to collapse from his probably nerve-wrecking experience and Mikey was barely able to stay awake, with his eyes squeezed close and breath coming out in pants. Their best plan of action would be to find a place to rest, like Donnie said. No one of them was in condition to keep this up for much longer.
"Let's go to the mall." Chances were high that it was abandoned at night, like the rest of the town. If not, they could deal with it then.
Receiving nods from his awake brothers, Leo pulled one of Don's arms over his shoulders to help him keep off some weight of the hurt ankle. He really wanted to know what exactly happened to them, but that had to wait until they were in safety.
The mall was one of the biggest buildings. Not as high as the hospital, only three stories instead of five, but it was way wider. A dried out fountain was in front of the main entrance, surrounded by rotting wooden benches and withering plants. In the moonlight it didn't look too inviting.
However, the distant howling noise didn't leave them much choice. None of them felt up to fight a ghost wolf.
The large glass door was sporadically barricaded by a few long wooden boards and a chain held the chrome handles together. It was a poorly done job, the knot of the chain was easily undone and the turtles had no problems ducking under the boards to get inside after they pushed one side of the double doors open.
The inside wasn't as dark as they expected, the huge skylight in the ceiling was a blessing. Unfortunately it only illuminated the main part of the mall, where the non-working elevators and the non-moving staircases were. There could be another skylight at the far end of the mall, but that would require crossing the whole building.
They were lucky enough that it was as abandoned as expected. Better not push it.
"There." Donnie motioned to a sign near the stairs. For a few seconds they read the sign in silence, aside from a weak cough coming from their youngest brother.
"Wait, do you see that?" Raph nodded his head towards one of a few dozen clothing shops on the left.
"Yeah, what about... oh." Leo blinked. The pharmacy had been empty, but here the stands they could see through the windows were full of clothes. A little dusty, but there.
Donnie kept reading the sign, pointing at one line.
"I think it's because it's one of the main buildings. The hospital was furnished too. There's no pharmacy, but here's a drugstore." He tapped the words with his finger. "They have those herbal all nature meds. It's worth a try."
"Okay, then let's raid a few other stores on our way there. We can build a nest with clothes and maybe we find something to start a fire with." Leo suggested, feeling his spirits finally lightening up. As long as they don't run into any more ghosts for a while things were going to be fine.
Raph shifted Mikey in his arms, the smaller turtle burying his flushed face in the crook of the muscular neck.
"Water, too. We need to cool him down, he's burning like furnace." The hothead pressed his lips to Mike's head when he mumbled something in his fitful sleep.
"I brought a few bottles from our food bag. When we find something else to drink we can use them." Donnie patted his white bag, eyeing the surrounding shops. "Let me re-bandage my ankle first, then I can help carry the stuff."
Leo helped Don sit on the stairs.
"You're going to be okay?" He asked, gently stroking the side of his face, smiling when Donnie rolled his eyes good-naturedly.
"It's just a sprain. I overdid it a little when we ran from the explosion." Donnie couldn't help but chuckle at the way Leo's face fell. He leaned up to press a short reassuring kiss to the corner of his leader's mouth. That was the mother hen he knew and loved. "I'm fine. We can exchange stories after we get settled down."
Leo blinked and cleared his throat with a small blush before nodding. He couldn't help but worry. Especially here.
He helped Donnie bandage the ankle tightly, relieved when the genius could walk easier with it.
Despite being exhausted, the chance that things were going to get better gave them new energy. It was easy picking the locks and getting into the shops.
Donnie and Leo layered a few thick articles of clothing over Mikey after Raph insisted he could take the extra weight. At least the shivering got less now.
While his brothers scouted for things they could use, Raphael kept a close eye on them and their surroundings. He didn't trust this peace yet, and he would be damned if he let anything sneak up on them.
An especially hard cough from Mikey brought his attention to the turtle in his arms.
"R-Raphie?" The turtle in question nuzzled the sweaty head, tightening his grip on his trembling brother.
"Yeah baby, I'm here."
"W-Where... no... hospital..." Raphael could tell Mikey wasn't fully awake, and his high temperature was making it hard for him to think. Still it was unsettling to see him in such a state. It's been a while since he's been sick like that.
"We're at the mall, Mikey... Don't worry, we're safe." Raph frowned when Mike's fingers on his shoulder tightened as he coughed again, tears smearing on his shoulder from where Mikey's face rested.
"No... h-hospital..." The youngster coughed out. Raph glanced at his other brothers, making sure they were okay still. They were gathering books and magazines from a bookstore, for building a fire probably.
"Babycakes," Raph soothed after checking none of their mates could hear them. They would never stop teasing him if they heard him use such a nickname for their brother. It was his personal special nickname for Mikey, reserved for when he was sick or after he had a nightmare. "We're okay. We won't go back to the hospital. Relax, you don't have to be scared..."
Mikey let out a whimper before snuggling closer to his muscular brother. His brain felt like it was melting, he needed to tell Raphie, but he couldn't even remember anymore what... He just wanted to sleep...
"Everything okay?" Leo's voice made Raph look up from where he'd been observing Mikey.
"Yeah... he just babbled something, not really awake." Leo bit his lip and tightened his grip on the books and clothes he was carrying.
Don was next to him, holding some magazines, a pot and a large heavy-looking iron bowl and a grid they'd found in the previous store.
"I think we got enough extra stuff for now. Let's find the drugstore and get some meds into him."
The drugstore was further away from the skylight than Leo was comfortable with, but they were rewarded for the risk. The shelves were filled with all sorts of juices and water, normal tea and medicinal teas, band-aids and various creams and salves and candy. Well, the candy wasn't that useful, but there were crackers and power bars too they could eat.
They chose a far corner, hidden behind more shelves, to settle down. They brought enough clothes to make a decent nest, using the large winter coats to bundle their baby brother up snugly.
The iron bowl that could've belonged to a BBQ was filled with two ripped up books and a few magazines, and Donnie used his matches to start a fire. Immediately the turtles felt more comfortable, the warm glow creating a soothing atmosphere.
Leo poured a water bottle into the pot and put it on the fire to boil. Don was browsing through several tea packages and selected a few bags to throw into the water. They would all benefit from a hot drink, after all.
The genius left Leo to tend to the fire and grabbed one of the dishtowels the drugstore sold. He poured some water over it and used it to wipe the sweat from Mikey's face and neck. The cool touch made the youngster open his eyes, glassy, but a little more focused than before.
"Hey sweetheart. How are you feeling?" Donnie asked in a gentle voice. To him it was a blessing that he could concentrate on Mikey. If he didn't keep his mind occupied he'd lose himself in the fear that was still having a tight grip on him.
"Headache... h-hot... and cold..." Donnie hummed in acknowledgment, resting the wet towel on Mikey's forehead. He was trembling under the coats, voice hoarse and his speech was slightly slurred. Donatello could hear the congestion too, and the slight wheeze in his brother's labored breathing. He really wished they were back home where he could take proper care of him.
Donnie pressed his fingers to the pulse-point of Mike's neck; he didn't have the heart to extract the pale arm from the warm cocoon he was bundled in.
He didn't need the thermometer to know the fever was high, though he really wanted to know the actual numbers. However, Mikey could barely breathe as it was, and forcing him to keep his mouth closed for a minute seemed like torture. He'd take care of that after they all had some rest.
The genius grabbed the open water bottle and lifted Mike's head a little, coaxing him to drink some before he allowed him to lay down again.
"Think you can stay awake for a few more minutes, Mikey?" He gently patted his baby brothers cheek, eliciting a small hoarse groan from him.
"Do I... havta?"
"Only a few minutes. You have to drink some tea. It's gonna help you feel better."
Mikey gave a small whine, but nodded shortly and tried to get up without using his arms. Raph appeared behind him, settling down so Michelangelo could lean against him comfortably. Don pressed a small kiss to his forehead before nuzzling Raph's beak, and turned to help Leo with filling the tea in a thermos they found too.
The cap of it was perfect to use as a cup, and to cool it faster Leo even blew on it. Donnie gave a weak smile at that, and they both couldn't suppress a small grin when they heard their hothead mumble sweet nothings into Mikey's ear, thinking no one would understand the words.
After a while Leo touched his lips to the tea in his hands, satisfied that it had cooled down enough to drink. He doubted it would be much of a help, but if it brought at least the fever down a little he'd be happy.
It took some time to coax Mikey into drinking all of it, but after the cup was empty the coughing was easing up already. Raph laid back, arms wrapped tight around their baby burrito.
"Get some rest... I'll wake you both when I can't stay awake anymore." Leo whispered, pushing Donnie to curl up next to their mates and gently rubbing his arms. Raph's eyes closed after a few more seconds.
Leonardo sighed and watched their surroundings for a few more minutes before grabbing for the book he brought from the attic. Maybe he'd finally find a way out of this mess.