A/N: Hey guys! Back again with another chapter! Your feedback is AMAZING and I love you guys!

This one is kinda filler, and shorter than I'd wanted it to be, but I think we need a bit more humor after the feel-fest of the last chapter XD

I hope you like it!

I OWN NOTHING!

Enjoy!

Chapter 27

"Kindness can transform someone's dark moment with a blaze of light. You'll never know how much your caring matters…"

― Amy Leigh Mercree

Their eyes wide and unblinking as they stood side by side in the center of their little front garden, the three young turtles stared blankly out into the darkness of the forests beyond, illuminated only by the moonlight hanging above them as the winds blew, stirring the trees and the tails of their masks as they swayed and flapped gently in the breeze. None of them dared to move or speak as they shared a blank look with each other.

His wide, baby blue orbs blinking up at his older brother, Michelangelo lifted a hand and pointed towards the bushes. "…Don-Don…the ball rolled to the forest," he squeaked.

His gaze following Mikey's little finger, Donatello gulped, ignoring the use of the nickname he hated. "…oops," he mumbled.

The multicolored ball that the children had been playing with earlier had managed to bounce out of their reach after a hard kick from the purple clad turtle sent it flying, and it rolled beyond the barrier of bushes that surrounded their home. Of course, it was very dark out by this time, and with Master Splinter taking Leonardo out with him for their scavenger hunt that night, it was up to one of the three of them to retrieve it. But none of them wanted to be the one to venture out and find it, lest something else find them first.

"…I'm not gonna do it." Donnie peeped with a shake of his head, breaking the tense silence as his two remaining brothers, turned to stare at him incredulously.

"Why not? You're the one who lost the ball, so you gotta go get it!" Raph barked, folding his arms over his chest crossly as he glared at Donnie, almost as if the three-year-old was daring him to defy him again.

"It was an accident!" Donnie protested, though he nearly shriveled under Raph's angry gaze, and it didn't help that he was at least an inch shorter than his older brother. "And it's so dark out there…and Leo and daddy aren't back yet. Besides, daddy always says not to go into the forest in the dark without him. Let's wait for them to come back and then –"

"We can't wait that long!" Mikey whined, tugging on his brothers' arm as he jumped up and down on the spot impatiently. "By the time daddy and Leo get back it'll be too late! We gotta finish our game now! Please go get the ball! Please, Don-Don!"

And there he goes with the nicknames again.

Rolling his eyes and sighing heavily as Mikey continued to bounce and cling to his arm like a limpet, Donnie finally relented as he shook Mikey off his arm with an irritated huff. "Fine! I'll get the stupid ball," he muttered, stomping his way across the front garden and down the path until he reached the bushes and stopped. Though outwardly he appeared very annoyed, inside he was really quite scared. He hated admitting it out loud, especially to Raph, but he was still very much afraid of the dark, probably more so than Mikey was. Their youngest brother had been coping better with his own fear of the dark due to the bear that he'd named 'Little Leo' being with him every night. Donnie, however…well, not so much so.

Casting one last glance behind him at Mikey and Raph, who motioned their heads forwards wordlessly as they watched him with growing apprehension, Donnie drew in a deep breath before he squeezed himself through the thick shrubs, tripping on a loose branch as he tumbled forwards with a startled yelp into the darkness of the wide open forests.

In a near instant, the second youngest turtle found himself frozen where he stood, his mahogany eyes wide and terrified as he gulped fearfully.

There was a very good reason why their father strictly forbade them from venturing out into the forests alone. They could easily get lost, and there were all sorts of creatures lurking out there that could easily hurt them, or worse. If there was one thing that Donnie did not want to happen to him, it was to get lost or eaten alive over a silly ball that they could easily find in the morning when it was lighter and they could see better. But then again, he didn't want Raph to tease him for being a big baby and being afraid of the dark. He was supposed to be a ninja for crying out loud; they ALWAYS worked in the dark, just like Splinter said they did in the stories he told them at bedtime.

Perhaps this could be Donnie's chance to prove himself to his brothers and to his Sensei. Perhaps if he managed to find the ball and bring it back without calling for help, he would finally show them all that he wasn't just a weakling cry baby after all! With that in mind, Donnie squared his shoulders, put on his bravest face (which looked more like an adorable childish pout in reality) and he trekked onwards in search for the missing ball...

…which would've been so much easier if he could actually see the ball or at the very least where he was going as he wandered blindly through the woods.

Every few seconds or so, Donnie found himself stumbling over stray twigs or tree branches, or nearly getting tangled in low hanging vines, and he'd just about had enough of it…and he was pretty sure he was lost by now. But he had to find that ball. If he went back home again without it, the others would never let him live it down. He had to keep going. But he so wished that he had a light with him or something –

His foot suddenly kicked against something soft like plastic, and it rolled along the earth with an audible bounce. Raising a brow as he looked down, Donnie could just see the outline of their ball illuminated by the moonlight. He gasped in delight as he grinned, his gap-tooth on full display. "There you are!" he cried, scurrying after the rolling object as he reached out to grab it and trek back home at long last. Oh, he couldn't wait to see the look on Raph's face when he returned, having braved the darkness, with the missing ball held triumphantly in his –

The ground beneath him suddenly gave way, and Donnie fell with a loud shriek before hitting the ground with a thud. Leaves, twigs, rocks and grass showered over his body as he lay there, groaning in pain. He remained motionless in the dirt for a moment, dazed and breathless from the fall, before he clambered onto his hands and knees as he shook his head to ward off the dizziness. Looking up as he rubbed the back of his aching head, Donnie saw that he'd fallen down a very deep hole...one that hadn't been made by any animal he knew of by the size of it.

With a horrified gasp as his hand fell to his side, Donnie realized that he'd fallen into some kind of trap. A human trap.

His eyes going wide as his breaths grew quick and ragged, Donnie felt his whole body tremble with terror. Oh no. Oh no, this was bad, this was very, very bad! Splinter had told them once about how some humans came out into the forest during the day to set traps for animals that walked about during the night, when it was dark and nothing could be seen clearly, and they could easily be ensnared or fall into a ditch, not unlike the very ditch Donnie had fallen into. Then the humans would take them back to their homes to put them in caged places called zoos, or kill them and mount them on walls for decoration, or even eat them.

The purple clad turtle quickly scrambled up to his feet, desperately searching for a way out of the pit. It was far too deep for him to jump out, and there were no crevices or vines that he could use to climb out.

He was trapped. And worse, it was dark. Very dark. And he was all alone…

Donnie didn't want to die! He just wanted to go home!

"HELP!" Donnie screamed, tears pouring down his face as he whimpered in the darkness. "DADDY! RAPHIE, MIKEY, LEO, HELP! SOMEBODY!"

Only silence met his desperate cries.

Despite his screams and pleas for help, even the three-year-old turtle knew that it was useless to keep trying as he slid down to sit in the far corner of the hole. Covering his face with his hands, he sobbed helplessly as he huddled against the dirt wall of the pit. He was too deep within the forest for anyone to hear him. He was all alone, and so very frightened. He was surely going to be found by whatever humans had set this trap, and then be killed and eaten or even stuffed, all because of a stupid ball. He was going to die…all alone…

"Donnie?!"

Gasping sharply, Donnie lifted his head up from his hands. That voice…it sounded like…

He lifted his head higher, and his teary eyes widened at the sight of a little green head peering over the edge of the hole, his own blue eyes wide with horror as he stared down at Donnie. "LEO!" he cried, scrambling to his feet as he wiped at his eyes. He was here! His big brother was here! He didn't know how he'd managed to find him in the dark, but he was here! Leo was going to rescue him!

But…the hole was still far too deep for Leo to reach out and grab him. And if Leo jumped in, they would both be trapped down there until Splinter came looking for them. And what if Splinter couldn't find either of them before the humans came back to the forest to claim their prize?

"Stay right there, Donnie!" Leo called into the hole as he stood up and got ready to move. "I'm gonna go and get daddy –"

"NO, no Leo, don't go!" Donnie pleaded, freezing Leo in his tracks as he looked back down at his crying brother. Donnie felt like a coward, but he simply couldn't stop the tears from falling. "P-please don't go! I-It's dark…I-I'm scared…p-please don't leave…" he sniffled, on the verge of sobbing again at the thought of being left alone in the darkness. But Leo was probably going to laugh at him for acting like such a baby. He was supposed to be a ninja, not a big cry baby…

"…don't worry, Donnie," Leo said at last as he sat back down on his knees, gazing down at Donnie with a wide, reassuring smile that could chase away any monster that lurked in the dark. "I'm gonna stay right here with you. I'll just call daddy and we'll wait for him right here together, okay?"

Sniffling loudly, Donnie wiped his eyes with the back of his hand as he stared up at Leo in a mixture of relief and confusion. Why wasn't he laughing at him? Was it because he was scared for Donnie? No, that couldn't be right. Leo was never scared of anything; he was their strong, brave big brother. So…was it simply because Leo understood that Donnie was the one who was scared of being alone in the dark, even though they were supposed to be ninjas? "…you promise you won't leave?" Donnie whimpered.

Nodding once, Leo's smile grew. "I promise, Donnie. I won't leave. Daddy's gonna come and save you, and then we can all go home."

Donnie blinked once in awe, before a watery gap-toothed smile grew across his tear-stained face as he nodded back. Of course Leo wasn't going to leave him here all alone. Of course he wasn't going to laugh at him for being scared. Because Leo was his big brother. Leo would never leave him. Leo would always be there to protect him from everything that scared him or tried to hurt him. And best of all, Leo always kept his promises. "Okay, Leo! I believe you!" Donnie called back up, wiping the last of his tears away as Leo beamed.

And as Leo turned his head to shout for their father at the top of his lungs, Donnie no longer felt ashamed or afraid. There was nothing for him to fear with his big brother there to keep him safe from the monsters in the dark…

Standing there in front of the metal barrier separating him from his youngest brother, Donatello squared his shoulders and raised his fist, readying it to knock at the door whilst his other hand was occupied with a plate of cold pizza that he'd grabbed from the fridge. However, just as his fist was inches away from the door, it froze again as Donnie closed his eyes and released a long, quiet sigh, his shoulders sagging. Now that he really thought of it, he was no longer sure if this was the best idea at the moment. In fact, he wondered if Mikey would even let him inside the room in his current state if he chose to go through with the idea. But even so, he had to try something. He was the leader of the team after all, and as such, it was his job to look out for his teams members. Even if they refused to come out of their room or talk to anybody…because of what happened during their most recent mission.

Sighing once more as he opened his eyes again, Donnie decided to just go for it and pray for the best as he rapped his knuckles on the door three times. "Mikey?" he called quietly, but loud enough so that his brother could hear him through the thick metal door. "Mikey, can I come in?"

Silence endured for several moments. Donnie was about ready to walk away in defeat, before a half-hearted "okay" finally answered his call.

Slowly, Donnie opened the creaking door and slipped into the bedroom, closing the door behind him as he stared at the hunched, desolate form of his younger brother sat cross-legged on his bed. His baby blue eyes were glued to the floor, no longer sparkling with the familiar laughter and hope, but were now dull and vacant of life at all. And held tightly against his chest, was the stuffed bear from the dojo.

Donnie inwardly winced; it was worse than he'd thought. Nevertheless, he had to make things right again somehow.

Clearing his throat, Donnie attempted a reassuring smile as he walked to stand in front of Mikey. "Hey, buddy," he said gently, holding out the plate in his hands. "I brought you some pizza, in case you were hungry. It's your favorite; Jellybean, Anchovy and Jalapeno."

Unresponsive for a moment, Mikey's eyes drifted up to the pizza held in front of him, before they lifted up to meet Donnie's hopeful, brown-eyed gaze. He then lowered his head to stare at the floor once again, much to Donnie's disappointment as he frowned sadly. They made jokes about it all the time, about how if Mikey refused to even eat pizza then things must really be bad…but tonight had been different. And not only did he refuse to eat, but he'd even taken 'Little Leo' from his seat upon the shrine and shut himself within his room. He'd been locked up in here ever since they returned from T.C.R.I…without one member…

"We're broken, aren't we Donnie?" Mikey finally said. His voice was weak, barely above a whisper, but it caught Donnie off guard all the same as he stared at Mikey with wide eyes.

"No, Mikey of course not!" Donnie said as he set the plate of cold pizza down on Mikey's bedside table, kneeling down so that the two of them were eye level with each other. "What do you mean by broken anyways?" he asked.

Lifting his eyes from the ground as he looked into Donnie's worried eyes, Mikey released a soft sigh as he held the bear tighter against his chest. "…we're broken because we keep losing pieces of our family," he muttered sadly. "Splinter lost his wife and baby…then we lost Leo…we found him again, but he won't come back to us…and now we've lost Leatherhead…"

His heart aching in the pit of his chest, Donnie frowned deeply as he watched his baby brother. Mikey hadn't cried when he'd watched helplessly as Leatherhead hauled the lava spewing rock creature through the Kraang portal after he'd bid them a final farewell. He hadn't cried when they'd ran all the way home across the rooftops, or when they'd finally returned to tell Master Splinter that their friend was gone. All he had done was excuse himself from the group and hurried into the dojo, gently grabbed the teddy bear from the shrine and ran into his room, shutting the door behind him. But now, his first few tears of that night began to roll down his cheeks before he could stop them as he sniffed miserably.

"…he saved us," he whimpered, rubbing his arm across his face to wipe away the tears, but more quickly took their place. "…he saved us…but we couldn't save him…just like we couldn't save Leo." Chocking back a sob as he squeezed his eyes shut, he then buried his face into the chest of the stuffed bear. "…he's gone," he wept. "…we lost him forever…and I couldn't stop him."

"Oh, Mikey," Donnie sighed with a shake of his head, climbing onto the bed as he wrapped his arms around Mikey and held him close to his chest, letting him bury his face into the crook of his neck as he sniffed and threw his arms around his waist. Closing his eyes, he lifted one hand up to stroke the back of Mikey's head as Donnie tightened his embrace around his distraught baby brother, and as he began to silently cry against his shoulder, Donnie softy hummed a tune from one of their childhood lullabies as he gently rocked back and forth.

He should have known that losing Leatherhead would've hit Mikey hard. They'd spent so much time together over the past few weeks that they'd known each other, and had become so close, almost like brothers. It was partly due to nightly conversations with Leatherhead that helped Mikey to cope with everything happening between them and Leonardo that had brought them together like this, and Donnie and the others couldn't have been more thankful for the mutant gators' help. But now he was gone, with no way of knowing whether he would or could ever come back, or if he even survived the transportation. For the youngest of the family, who still felt responsible for what happened to Leonardo all those years ago, it was far too much for him to bear to lose yet another part of him…

Donnie and Leatherhead never really spoke that often, partly due to the fear of getting his face grabbed again, but they were still friends regardless, and he'd felt just as hurt to watch him go. But this wasn't about Donnie. This was about Mikey.

Leatherhead had been the only person outside of his family that Mikey could truly confide in, someone who could, in a way, understand what he and his brothers had been through concerning the loss of their older brother. Mikey had become happier with Leatherhead, despite everything bad that was happening all around him. Now, he had nobody…

No, that wasn't true, not in the slightest. Mikey still had Donnie to confide in. He still had his family to turn to when he needed a shoulder to cry on, or a hand to hold, or even someone to throw a water balloon at to take the stress off. And right now, Donnie could be that one to help deal with his pain.

"Mikey," Donnie whispered once Mikey's tears had ebbed, "I'm so sorry about Leatherhead. I truly am. But it wasn't your fault, so don't blame yourself." Slowly, he drew back so that he could cup Mikey's face between his hands and look him in the eyes. "He wanted to go Mikey, to save us. And if there's one thing that I know he wouldn't want you to do once he was gone, it's blame yourself. He'd want you to be happy, to remember all the good times you had together. And don't give up hope just yet. There's still a chance he's still alive out there, and that he could come back to see you again. And you know better than I do that there's no force that can stop that big green gator from seeing his best friend again. Okay?"

Sniffling as Donnie used his thumb to wipe away the tears from his eyes, Mikey finally nodded, lifting his hands to grasp Donnie's wrists. "O-okay, Don," he stammered after a moment. And then, much to Donnie's relief, Mikey finally offered him a small but sure smile, his eyes brightening with hope once more. "You're right. He did save us…and there's nothing stopping him from coming back, right?"

Smiling as he released his face, Donnie patted Mikey affectionately on the head. "That's right, little bro," he said, glad that for now, his baby brother was in better spirits. Granted, he wasn't the best at comforting others like April or Master Splinter were, or how Leo had been back when they were younger. But he wagered he was all that Mikey really needed. That was all that mattered.

Mikey nodded again under Donnie's palm, his smile growing wider as a thought came to him. "Yeah. And I found this," he declared as he gently set the bear down on the side of the bed and dug into his belt, with the purple clad leader watching him bemused the whole time as he pulled out a small, rectangular device and held it out so that Donnie could see it.

His non-existent brows creasing together as he stared down at the device, Donnie took it from Mikey and examined it, turning it over and over in his hands. "What? What is this supposed to be? Where did you –?"

And then it clicked. He'd seen one of these things before. It was a…

Donnie's eyes went very wide as he gazed down at what he was holding, and then quickly looked back up to Mikey. "Mikey…do you…do you realize what this is?" he stammered disbelievingly.

Confused, Mikey blinked once and tilted his head to the side. "…um…shiny?"

Unfazed by his little brother's vague answer, Donnie grinned widely at him as he giddily pointed at the device. "It's a Kraang data storage device!" he cried excitedly as he leapt off the bed, unaware of Mikey's bewildered eyes watching him. "If I can decode it, maybe it can help us find a way to stop them!" Whooping with joy, Donnie then pulled Mikey in for another hug, this time lifting the younger turtle off the bed entirely as he spun around with him held tightly in his arms. "Mikey, you're a genius!" he crowed.

Confused beyond belief as Donnie swung him around like a child with a new doll, Mikey could only shrug and smile as much as he was able to with his face smooshed against Donnie's plastron. "Like A Turtle Do, D!" he laughed as he was finally set down on his feet again once Donnie realized what he was doing.

With a gap-toothed grin, Donnie took Mikey by the hand and hurried towards the door. "Come on, we need to tell April and the others!" he said, tugging the door open as he and Mikey made a break for the main room, where April and Splinter sat in the pit by the T.V, and Raphael was throwing punches at the practice dummy, most likely due to frustration over their loss against the Kraang. However, he along with April and Splinter all turned in surprise as the two younger turtles came bounding in.

"Guys!" Donnie announced, still dragging a perplexed Michelangelo by the hand. "I think Mikey found something we can use to stop the Kraang!"

Now, as one of the highest ranking ninjas within the Foot Clan as well as the heir and only daughter of the Shredder, Karai saw herself as one that knew where she stood. She knew where her boundaries lied as Shredder's third in command (with Tiger Claw being his second), and she knew how to act during certain situations. She knew when it was time to be sarcastic, playful or even mockingly flirtatious, she knew when to remain silent and focused, and she knew when to push all other emotion away, leaving nothing but a blank slate in the heat of a battle. Indeed, Oroku Karai was an intelligent, sophisticated, discerning young kunoichi…

So why, the moment Leonardo, Bradford, Xever and Tiger Claw walked into the throne room later that night to receive their next assignments, was she forced to slap both hands over her mouth to stifle her burst of laughter at the sight of the blue clad turtle with large, glaring fang marks in the side of his head wearing an expression on his face that read he was clearly done, all the while in the presence of the Shredder himself? And as if that weren't enough, Tiger Claw's expression told her that he was clearly pleased with himself and was reveling in his son's current misery.

Apparently, a certain someone had stayed out too late again, and was in some serious trouble.

The harsh sound of Shredder clearing his throat brought the girl to attention once again, dropping her hands to her side and regarding her father and master with the utmost respect as the four mutants came to stand at either side of her, bowing to the armored ninja master seated upon his throne. As Shredder began to fill them in on what their next mission was to be that night, Karai was positive that she had regained her composure.

However, as she slid her gaze to the side, and the ninja turtle and the kunoichi made eye contact, she was forced to bite down hard on her bottom lip to restrain the smirk that threatened to form at the look on his face. And due to the soft smirks she could hear on Leo's right, it was clear that Xever and Bradford were having similar problems.

His blue eyes were a storm of bloody murder as he narrowed them at her and the other two mutants, a primal growl rumbling from his chest. "Don't. Ask," he whispered harshly under his breath. Honestly, this was a serious matter they were supposed to be listening to, even though the sound of Shredder's voice was enough to make his scales crawl in disgust. Couldn't they stop acting like children for more than five seconds? Though he supposed they couldn't really help it; he did look rather ridiculous with those stupid teeth marks in the side of his head for all to see.

By the time he'd managed to return to Shredder's lair early in the morning after dropping April back at her house, Leo had deemed that he'd managed to make it back before Tiger Claw did from one of his missions and got lucky. However, much to his dismay, the tiger mutant had been waiting behind the door as he'd crept inside their shared bedroom. Once Leo had made it to the center of the room, not noticing that the predator was watching him with narrowed amber eyes all the while, he'd then slammed the door shut, startling the living daylights out of the turtle as he spun around with a high pitched yelp to find him standing there. Busted.

And as Tiger Claw folded his arms over his chest, wearing a clearly disappointed frown on his stripped features as he waited for an explanation, Leo only sighed and rolled his eyes in defeat. He hadn't even tried to come up with a suitable excuse this time, and lying would have only made things worse. So instead, he'd simply leaned forwards and droned, "Go ahead. Lay it on me."

So with a nonchalant shrug, he did. And god did it hurt like nothing else.

So now the poor blue clad terrapin was forced to walk around the headquarters bearing the mark of his punishment, whilst also having to listen to the hushed snickers from the Foot Soldiers and the mutants. Heck, even Baxter Stockman stifled a chuckle. And it didn't exactly help that Tiger Claw was still smiling to himself beside Karai. Though he wasn't even paying attention to him or the other four of them whatsoever, Leo sent him a side-glare.

True, Leo really should have known better than to stay out for as long as he had, and he hadn't even thought about whether or not Tiger Claw wold have been worried about him, but it had been worth it if it meant that Leo had the chance to meet April O'Neil. And deep down, he mused that he wouldn't mind getting bitten as punishment for the next couple of weeks in order to see her again. Maybe.

Still, Tiger Claw was in for a heck of an ear-mauling later. Then they would see who was laughing.

Karai said nothing in response to Leo's hissed threat, but shrugged nonchalantly and continued to smile as they listened to Shredder's commands, retaining her collected poise. But she swore, as soon as she left the room, she was going to ask for all the details of what had happened for him to receive such a 'punishment'…after she broke down into hysterics, that is. So much for being an intelligent, sophisticated, discerning young kunoichi.

But then again, despite being a cold-blooded killer and at times a deceiving little witch, she was still a teenage girl at heart, who took undeniable pleasure out of teasing her younger reptilian brother to no end.

So really, what could she do?

The sound of the practice dummy being beaten and the pinball machine pinging behind him, whilst it was rather distracting as he drew out more plans for future inventions on his notepad, brought Donatello a little comfort in knowing that they were fine and all in one piece, especially after the hectic mission they'd had that night. Whilst it had been as perilous and as 'entertaining' as any other mission they went on, this one had an unexpected surprise…that surprise being that one of his Spy-Roaches, a method he'd oh so cleverly devised in order to spy on the Kraang, managed to get mutated into a cyborg roach, which then went on a vengeful hunt for Raphael after he'd tried to squash him back in the kitchen. It didn't exactly help that Raph had a terrible fear of cockroaches ever since he was little, which had nearly put the whole mission, as well as the whole team, in jeopardy.

In the end, it had taken the fear of knowing that the earth was on the verge of splitting open like an egg, and the terror of knowing that Mikey was in danger that had managed to get Raphael to face his fear, defeat the roach creature, and ultimately save the city from yet another devious Kraang plot. Granted, it was a very close call, but they'd made it out with Manhattan, and their shells, still very much intact.

Briefly looking up from his sketching, Donnie smiled as he watched Raph pummel the practice dummy wearing a big, toothy grin on his face. Obviously he was still buzzing from having overcome his childhood nightmare made flesh, and Donnie couldn't blame him in the slightest. "Well, Raph," he said, leaning back into the beanbag chair as he set his pad down on his lap, "you faced you fear and saved the city. Not bad for a Wednesday, eh?"

Turning around to face his leader, Raph's grin had tripled in size. "Faced my fear? I conquered my fear!" he boasted, flexing his muscles for extra measure before sliding over to Mikey playing at the pinball machine. Grabbing Mikey by the shoulders, he pulled the flabbergasted younger turtle close enough so that were nose to nose. "I looked my fear in the eye," he said, before shifting Mikey into a headlock as he pulled out his Sai and aimed it like a gun to the wall, "and I zapped it to oblivion!"

Eyes huge with wonder, Mikey gasped in awe at Raph's dramatic retelling of the story, even as Raph let him drop to the floor again like a sack of potatoes as he twirled his Sai. Bouncing back onto his feet again like a jack-in-the-box, Mikey slung an arm around Raph's shoulder. "So, you're not afraid of cockroaches anymore, huh?" he asked innocently with his usual freckled smile. But that familiar gleam in his baby blue eyes told Donnie that there was nothing innocent about what he was planning to do next, and he chuckled behind his pad as he waited for the undoubtedly humorous scene to unfold.

Oblivious to all of this, Raph merely shook his head, still wearing that smug grin. "Nope!"

Mikey nodded. "Good, good," he said, before his smile grew very mischievous as he drew in closer next to Raph's ear and whispered devilishly, "Then you won't mind the one I just slipped into your shell."

In an instant, Raph's grin vanished, replaced with a look of pure horror as his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. His left eye twitched once, and then he was bouncing across the pit, screaming with his hands reaching back for his shell as he ran back and forth. As they watched him go, Mikey and Donnie only laughed at their older brother's distress.

However, despite his laughter, Donnie was genuinely proud of Raphael for facing his fears. He knew how hard it was to face something that frightened you so much…like how he once faced the dark as a child to find their lost ball in the forest. He remembered how scared he was. How he'd cried out for help and no one answered his calls…until Leonardo finally came to his rescue.

As Raphael finally caught on to Michelangelo's trick and chased him around the lair screaming Japanese curses, Donatello sat back in his seat and smiled fondly to himself at the distant memories as he began to doodle on his notepad. He remembered how Leo had waited with him, sitting at the top of the ditch he'd fallen into and simply smiled down at his tear-stained face, told him that everything was going to be okay, until Master Splinter finally arrived to pull him out of there and bring them home again. After that, Donnie had never been as afraid of the dark as he'd used to, knowing that his big brother would always be there by his side…

His smile faltered slightly as he looked back down at his lap, the pencil held limp in his hand. That Leo, the one who stood up for them and braved the very things that his younger brothers feared, was no longer with them. Now, he'd turned against them. Now, he was cold, violent, and worse, he was working for their worst enemy. He wanted to trust Leonardo, truly he did…but deep down, he feared it was too late for that. Deep down, he wondered if there was any hope left in bringing him back to them…

And then it dawned on him…

"…you promise you won't leave?"

"I promise, Donnie. I won't leave. Daddy's gonna come and save you, and then we can all go home."

Donnie stood up from his beanbag seat, stepping around the current wrestling match between Raph and Mikey as he made his way to his lab with his pad in hand. Carefully ripping off the page doodled on, he took a thumbtack and pinned the picture he'd drawn on the wall next to his turtle anatomy poster. Taking a step backwards to admire his work, he placed his hands on his hips and nodded to himself.

It was a drawing of him and Leo as children, beaming brightly as Leo wrapped an arm around Donnie's shoulders as they walked through the dark forest together. It was just as he'd remembered it all those years ago…

Donnie sighed sadly, his arms hanging loosely at his sides. He wanted nothing more than to trust his older brother, to know that he would believe them and come back home with them someday...a part of him doubted that he ever would, and that all hope was lost for him. They couldn't trust him. No matter how badly they wanted to, Donnie, as the leader of the team and the brains of the operation, knew better than that.

But just as Leo once promised Donnie that he would always be there to chase away the dark that frightened him no matter what, the purple clad leader vowed that he would not give up hope that they would one day bring him back.

"I promise, Leo," he whispered, reaching out a hand as he gently touched the drawing of his lost older brother, his expression firm. "We won't leave you behind again. We're gonna save you, and then we can all come home…together."

A/N: I lied. this one is only half humor. XD

Well, I hope you all liked that, and more are on the way! Also, keep a lookout for my next drabble/one-shot story, especially those of you who read the IDW comics...