After watching TMNT, then hearing this song again for the first time in over a year, this piece has been stuck in my head and refuses to release its fitful grasp until it gets written.

To help (sorry if this is confusing, let me know if it is): bold text- memory, italicized text- song lyrics/Donatello's writing

Disclaimer: As always, I do not own TMNT, or the song "How to Save a Life" by The Fray. If wishes were copyright grants, I'd own a lot more than those. Trust me.

Furious accusations and insults filled the lair as two brothers clashed for what seemed like the thousandth time that week. Tension was high as the verbal (verging on physical) battle turned to the climax, an ultimatum for the younger to change his ways or else. There was a choked silence, and the younger brother made a choice. Fists clenched in barely restrained rage, he ran. Out the door and into the sewers, surely heading topside, as was the typical ending to their arguments.

The oldest brother was left standing in the kitchen, staring at the floor as if it could give him the answers to his unasked questions. After a moment, he picked up the chairs that had been knocked over and fell heavily into one, suddenly exhausted, resting his head in the crook his arm on the table.

Donatello watched from around the corner as Leonardo's shoulders shook in silent grief. Worry and fear spread for his younger brother, as well as concern for the older. He had watched the encounter between them, hoping this one would go better than the others. Thankfully, Michelangelo had been shuffled to his room before it started, so he didn't have to see the escalation. He must have heard it, though. Donatello made a note to check on his baby brother. He just had to think things over for a minute, get the buzzing to slow so he could process things logically, plan what to do next.

A brief visit to his lab gave the turtle a fresh notebook and pencil. Writing down his thoughts gave him the ability to sift through his thoughts and put them in order. Pencil poised at the top of the page, Donatello thought about how it had all started.

They had all noticed Raphael's midnight excursions, smelled the alcohol on his breath when he came back the next morning and passed out on the couch, flinched at the pain in his eyes when they asked him about it. They had tried talking to him, talking at him, begging him to understand that it wasn't his fault, he had done his best. Some people just couldn't be saved. They knew he still saw the girl in his arms, covered in blood. They had been only minutes late to save her. The killer had been tracked down and dealt with. Raph had to be pulled away even after the man was dead.

Raphael hadn't been the same after that. He felt the most guilty, though no one was sure why. "Shoulda been there ta save 'er," he muttered. "She didn' hafta die."

Leonardo had had enough and decided to sit his brother down for a talk. A real one, not just a lecture. Raphael would have none of it. Donatello watched the progression spiral downwards.

Step one, you say we need to talk.

He walks.

You say sit down, it's just a talk.

He smiles politely back at you.

You step politely right on through.

Leonardo guided Raphael to a kitchen chair, noting his brother's wary gaze. Sitting across from him, Leo began.

Some sort of window to your right

As he goes left and you stay right.

Between the lines, the fear and blame

You begin to wonder why you came.

There was always a rift between Leo and Raph. Leonardo did his best to bridge that gap, to reach his brother, but was finding it difficult.

Donatello shook his head, erasing his shaky handwriting. He still couldn't believe the pain in their voices.

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend.

Somewhere along in the bitterness.

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life.

If only there was some way Don could have helped. He racked his brain for answers. Surely there was something he could have said, something he could have done.

Let him know that you know best

Cause after all you do know best.

Try to step past his defense

Without granting innocence.

Donatello groaned inwardly as Leonardo automatically went into lecture mode.

Lay down a list of what is wrong,

Things you told him all along.

And pray to God he hears you.

And I pray to God he hears you.

Donatello hoped Raphael thought about what Leonardo said at least. God knows where he was right now. The purple-banded turtle fervently hoped for his errant brother's safety.

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend.

Somewhere along in the bitterness.

And I would have stayed up with you all night,

Had I known how to save a life.

Raphael did not take lectures well. Especially not this one.

As he begins to raise his voice,

You lower yours, and grant him one last choice.

"Drive until you lose the road,

Or break with the ones you follow."

Chairs clattered to the ground as both stood angrily. Leonardo quietly gave his ultimatum: continue the behavior and get yourself killed, or let go and come back to us.

He will do one of two things:

He'll admit to everything

Or he'll say he's just not the same,

And you'll begin to wonder why you came.

Donatello scoffed at what he had just written. "He'll admit to everything." Yeah, right. As if Raphael would ever do such a thing. Don only just refrained from scratching it out. It was part of the thinking process after all.

Another sigh escaped him. Of all the times he wished Raphael would listen, this was one that he had wished the hardest.

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend.

Somewhere along in the bitterness.

And I would have stayed up with you all night,

Had I known how to save a life.

Don clutched his pencil tightly, both in frustration and anguish. He should have said something, anything. Stopped his brother from going down his destructive path. But he had nothing. If only he had known.

How to save a life.

R&R please. Honest is the best policy.