Just a Shell

Chapter Six

Even though he was still frazzled by the dream, Donatello said nothing to his brothers or his father. He had no idea what they would say if he told them about his dream, but no matter what they did, he knew he wouldn't like it. It seemed their where two options: Either they'd overreact, or they wouldn't care at all. Something in the back of his mind told him it would be the latter of the two, and he couldn't handle that. Not right now.

Two days later, April told them about a rush of break-ins at various pharmacies in town. Small-time stuff, but the police hadn't been able to catch the culprits and they had been stealing medicine that people needed, so the brothers set themselves up to catch them. While Donnie and Mikey took the pharmacy on the north side of town, Raphael and Leonardo took the one on the south. They were the only two left that hadn't been broken into.

The two younger siblings where hidden behind the pharmacy, waiting. They were trying to be patient, but Michelangelo's mind was already wandering and they'd only been waiting five minutes. Donatello sighed, moaning as he put his head in his hands. He was getting horrible headaches lately. They hurt like shell and he didn't know what to do about them. Aspirin had too many underestimated calories. Plus, it was acidic, and even though Donatello was in denial, he knew taking aspirin with no food in him could burn holes in your stomach.

"Hey Donatello?" Mikey asked in a voice too serious to really be his. "Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. Just a headache."

"I wasn't really talking about that though." Michelangelo continued. "I mean… We're all kind of worried. You haven't really been eating much lately."

Donatello thought it out for a moment reasonably, knowing his brother well enough to read between the lines. Mikey probably noticed because Splinter noticed, but he didn't know what was really happening… yet. He needed to work now to make sure he didn't find out later, too. He knew by 'we all' Mikey meant to include his other two brothers, but Don doubted they had caught on at all.

"You guys are overreacting." Don said, trying to sound nonchalant. "I eat after you guys go to bed. During the day I'm just concentrating on the bike and training."

"We're worried." Mikey said again. "Can't you just try to eat more?"

"Why should I do that?" Donatello asked perhaps a little too defensively for his own good.

Michelangelo looked over for a moment, completely stunned at his brothers words. Not the words themselves, but the way his voice snapped when he said them. He'd never really seen Donatello angry before, but he was getting close. Thankfully for Donnie and Mikey, that's when the robbers showed up.

The fight was easy. They were just some stupid thirty-year-old men who got in over their heads. The two turtles alone had the criminals tied up in under ten minutes. While Michelangelo called to their brothers, Donatello strolled through the isles looking at the bottles of medicine. Maybe diet pills would help? Laxatives? That would help him throw up, but he didn't have any problems with that… He looked around, checking to see where his brothers were.

They were in the background, talking about dinner. He sighed, do they ever talk about anything else? It was like they were doing it on purpose. He looked down at the pills and grabbed the one that looked the best. Phenterminsin. He'd never stolen anything in his life, but he needed this. He couldn't ask. Besides, didn't he just help save the store? Just one bottle is a lot better then how much those men came to steal. And he could always come back if he found money, and he would, obviously.

Satisfied with his reasoning, he convinced himself that what he was doing was all right, and hid the pill bottle in his belt. Even though he felt a wave of self-loathing, he couldn't wait to see if it actually worked. If it did, then he'd be able to look his brothers in the eyes again, at the very least.

A few days after they stopped the pharmacy burglary, Michelangelo was still extremely worried for his older brother. Donatello wasn't acting any better, in fact it was getting worse. In practice he was slow to react, and he would lose his balance easily. Then there was the obvious confusion Donnie had some moments. He would be in the middle of fighting, and perhaps launch himself in the air and be primed to take down one of his brothers, but then he would blink in mid-air, and it was obvious he had forgotten what he was doing, while he was doing it. He would fall to the ground without finishing his movement; usually not even on his feet. That wasn't Donnie at all.

Now even his other brothers were getting worried. They were no longer skeptical, it was just fact. Something was wrong with Donatello, and they had no idea what it was. He wouldn't talk to them about it, and when they asked him what was wrong he would just apologize for messing up. Whenever they had dinner together he remained completely silent, and barely moved. This went beyond solving some stupid problem, and all the turtles and their father knew it. But what was wrong?

They had no idea. And the one who usually figured out how to fix everything was the one that needed fixing. That day at practice, it was worse then the others. Donatello wasn't just losing his balance during flips, but even blocking, kicking, anything knocked him off. He couldn't find his center. After they were done, Splinter looked more worried then Mikey had seen him yet, and even Raph looked like he wanted to help his older brother.

"Hey Donnie are you--?" Leo started, but Donatello interrupted him.

"Fine. I'm sorry. My head and… And…" he trailed off. "Sorry."

He left after that, Splinters eyes as well as all three of his brothers eyes, following behind him. Michelangelo was scared, and he was quick to vocalize it.

"There's something major wrong with him, guys." He said worriedly. "He hasn't even been talking right. Donnie never makes sense to me, but he's always finished sentences, right?"

"Yeah…" Leonardo said, still staring at the empty doorframe. "Maybe he's sick? We need to talk to him. If something is wrong we need to know."

Splinter nodded, but he looked unsure. He was worried more then his sons, because deep down he knew what was wrong with Donatello was self-inflicted. His sons eyes gave it away back when they were drinking tea together. His genius son knew what was happening, and he was the one causing it, or so Splinter believed, though he would not share those melancholy thoughts with his sons just yet.

"We should go to his lab and ask right now." Leo said, and his two brother agreed and followed behind, both lost in their own thoughts.

Just as they walked towards the lab Raphael pointed at the door.

"Donnie never closes the door! What's up with that?" He asked.

"He's been closing it a lot lately." Mickey told them, opening the door. He didn't knock, not thinking it mattered. But when he entered the room he, along with his brothers, knew he should have.

Donatello was in the corner, shivering like he was cold, even though the room was pleasantly warm. His eyes were wide, staring at his hands and he looked out of it. His brothers immediately ran over, Leonardo leading them.

"Donnie! Donnie are you all right?" Michelangelo asked, cursing himself for not coming sooner. No reply.

"Come on, man. Stop kidding around." Raphael said, even though he could tell his brother wasn't kidding. No reply.

"Don? Answer us. What's wrong?" Leonardo questioned, trying to be the leader although he was scared out of his mind. Still no reply.

Donatello kept shaking, and it worried his brothers so much that for a moment all of them, even Leonardo, had no idea what to do. Donatello looked completely blank and was starting to twitch faster. Then Leonardo stood up.

"I think he's having a seizure, guys. We have to stay calm, okay? We just… Time how long it is, first." He looked around. "Splinter said we all used to do this… H-He said it might come back… but that was when we were kids."

Leonardo took a few deep breaths to calm down.

"He taught me how to take care of it. We have to loosen all his gear first so it doesn't hurt him." he moved closer and started undoing Don's belt. His brothers took his lead and started removing his arm pads and knee pads from practice. In the process, Donatello fell to his side, still twitching. They put a folded-up jacket under his head, and then Leonardo sat down. "We stay until it stops. Mickey, go get Splinter, kay?"

Michelangelo looked unwilling, at first, but then Leonardo told him again and he sprinted out of the room. Leonardo sat down next to his trembling brother, who was actually slowing down a bit now, but obviously not finished. Raphael seemed afraid to sit down or even move closer to Donatello.

"We all used to do this?" He asked skeptically.

"We had epilepsy." Leo explained. "Probably a side-effect from whatever mutated us, that's Master Splinter had said… It faded when we got older. He didn't think that it would happen again, but he told Don and me how to deal if it did."

"And not Mikey or me? Why the shell not?!"

"He didn't think it would ever happen." Leo repeated, just as Donatello stopped moving completely. Leonardo checked his pulse, which was fine.

Donatello's eyes opened, he looked confused.

"What happened?" He asked, starting to sit up, but Leonardo blocked him. "Leo?"

"You had a seizure. Wait here Splinter is coming." Leonardo told him, smiling. "You're fine now."

Donatello looked from one brother to the other, not sure what to think just as Michelangelo came in through the door behind Splinter.

"He stopped." Leonardo said, as if that needed explaining. "It lasted about thirty seconds, but he had started before we came in."

"I see." Splinter said, obviously wary that something wasn't right. "I supposed if it happens again we will have to make sure Donatello takes medication. Though I hope this won't happen again…"

He trailed off, and Donatello pushed Leonardo's hand out of the way angrily. He didn't like being held down.

"I had a what?!" he asked loudly, with more power then he usually spoke. He didn't know where the anger was coming from, but it was coming fast. Leonardo tried to get him to lay down once more, but he pushed his arm away again, with more force. "We grew out of those, remember?!"

"That is exactly why I am worried, my son." Splinter said, coming forward. "It has been many years since this has happened, and it is only you who was stricken, and not your brothers. This worries me. You're health could be--"

"Would you people stop talking about my health already?!" Donnie barked in a way that wasn't like him at all. "My health is fine."

"Then why aren't we all doing any freaky dances too?" Michelangelo asked, obviously trying to lighten the mode, but it didn't work, Donatello just glared at him.

"It was probably just a flashing light or something!" Donatello said angrily. "It would have happened to you guys if you were here. Now can we just let it go already?"

"It just happened five seconds ago, Don. It's not time to let it go yet. First we have to make sure you're okay." Leonardo said, offering Donatello a hand up, which Don ignored.

"Like it matters." Donatello muttered angrily. The brothers exchanged a look, not understanding what Donnie meant, but then the bo-wielding ninja continued. "I feel fine. I just need to sleep, is that all right with you guys?"

"No, Donatello." Splinter said, tapping his walking stick on the ground, obviously irritated by his kindest sons attitude towards the family. "You will come with me. I have some tea that will help ease your mind."

Donatello opened his mouth, obviously about to retaliate, but he was interrupted by Leo.

"Go on, it won't kill you. Just go with Splinter and then we can all rest easy."

There was a long silence before Donatello stood up, feeling dizzy in the process, and following behind as Splinter lead him to the other room.

Short chapters have the downside of me feeling like I gypped you guys. XD Hope the next chapter will be out quickly. It should be, since I'm already writing it. I hope you liked this chapter, though. By the way, Phentermine is a drug found in a lot of diet medication that is extremely dangerous. You'll hear about it more in later chapters, though, so I won't explain Donnie's behavior yet.