These two requests are for Starfire201. Set in the "Akari" universe.
NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.
Apologies
The doorbell rang and Casey hurried to answer it. "Oh, boy!" he said to himself excitedly as he reached for the knob. "I'll bet it's that limited edition hockey stick signed by Patrick Lawson!"
But instead of the mailman, a certain cyborg Turtle greeted him with a small, nervous smile. "Um, hey, Casey." His robotic right arm was still missing, having been melted off from Mutagen Man's acidic touch. What's more, his eyes seemed completely normal and soft again, unlike the cold, emotionless cybernetic ones from before.
"Donnie?" Casey couldn't believe it. "W-What are you doing here?"
"I just want to talk."
"About what?"
"Eveything."
Casey blinked before he stepped aside and opened the door wider. "Uh, okay? Come in and...make yourself at home."
Donnie nodded to him as he stepped inside. "Thanks, Casey. Is April home?"
"Yeah, I'll go get her," Casey said as he went up the stairs. "Have a seat and we'll be right there."
The Turtle sat down on the couch and looked around him. It was really nice here. It had been years since he stayed in a house with a warm bed and comfortable furniture. Being a cyborg and a workaholic, he rarely slept at all, and whenever he did, he'd rest his head on his desk. Morph Enterprises was his home.
"Donnie?" Said Turtle looked up to see April walking down the stairs with Casey following behind her. She was very surprised to see her old friend sitting on their couch.
Donnie smiled warmly at her. "Hi, April. How have you been?"
April was taken back by Donnie's strange behavior. The last time they met, he was cold and apathetic, and now all of a sudden he was smiling and being friendly toward her? "I, uh...I've been okay," she said as she sat down in one of the chairs. "How about you?"
The smile on his face dropped and he looked down at the floor in shame. "Not good, actually. I feel so horrible about what happened to Timothy."
April shivered at the memory of Timothy's organs burning up inside his canister after Donnie gave him that strange red stuff. "Y-Yeah. And Shadow is taking it very hard, too. What about Raph?"
"He's hurting, too," Donnie softly said, his eyes still downcast. "He was determined to find a cure for Timothy. But me? I just wanted to put him down since it was the easiest route to take. Finding a cure probably would've taken years, but I still should've tried anyway. I was a terrible friend to Timothy..." He lifted his eyes to where April sat. "...and you. I'm so sorry, April. For everything."
April could see the sadness in his auburn eyes and hear the genuine remorse in his voice. "Oh, Donnie. It-It's okay."
Donnie shook his head. "No. No, it's not okay, April. I totally acted like a monster. I know it's no excuse, but I was so devasted over Mikey's death that I wanted to detach myself from everyone else so that I wouldn't feel the hurt again. I wanted to be a cold, unfeeling machine, but in the process, I became so alone and even more miserable. I see now that I was wrong, and I want to try and fix things between us."
He got off the couch and walked over to April, got on his knees and took her hand with his only one. "Again, I'm so sorry, and I hope that you'll still think of me as your friend. And if not, then I completely understand."
April smiled down at him with soft eyes and got down on her knees to wrap her arms around him. Donnie stiffened in her embrace and his eyes became wide.
"Of course I will, Donnie," she told him as she rubbed his shell. "We'll always be friends. I'm just happy to have you back." She buried her face in his shoulder and tightened her hold on him. "I really am."
Tears brimmed in Donnie's eyes as he returned the hug with his one arm and rested his cheek against her head. "Thank you," he said in a choked up whisper.
He felt someone touch his other shoulder and looked up to see Casey standing over him with a grin on his face. "Good to have you back on the team, nerd."
Donnie chuckled. It was comfort to know that Casey hadn't changed much over the last thirty years. "Yeah, it's good to be back, Jones."
Alone
"It's been years since we've been on patrol together," Raph yawned as he sat on the ledge of a building next to Donnie and Shadow. It was past midnight and the three kept watch over the city for the past three hours. "Brings back memories, don't it?"
Donnie nodded as he yawned too. "Yep. Still boring as ever. Can't believe you talked me into this."
Raph only chuckled. "Are you kidding? You were practically begging me to let you come with."
"Nooooo," Donnie corrected him. "What I said was, I needed to take a breather from work, and I could've been enjoying a caffé mocha right now instead of sitting here all night watching the cars and helicopters go by."
"Come on," Raph playfully nudged him on the shoulder. "Admit it. You missed doing this."
"Patrolling?" Donnie smiled and shook his head. "Nah. But spending time with my brother? Yeah, I definitely missed that."
Shadow dozed off every now and then with Raph having to nudge her awake. "Uncle Raph, I have a math test tomorrow," she whined, rubbing her eyes. "And I need to study or I'll fail and Mom will kill me. So can we please go home now?"
"You're such a whiner, Shadow," Raph teased, though he was feeling a bit tired himself. "Still, yeah, maybe it is time to call it night." He got up on his feet and stretched himself...when he noticed a shadowy figure standing on the rooftop of a building several blocks from where they were. It dashed away with incredible speed the second Raph spotted it and disappeared out of sight.
"Raph?" Donnie followed Raph's gaze when he noticed the surprised look on his brother's face. "What is it?"
A bunch of theories as to who or what it was went through Raph's mind, but he quickly shrugged it off, too tired to even deal with it right now. "It's nothing, Don. Let's go."
Unknown to the two, their former leader and eldest brother walked in a dark alley alone and deep in thought.
Donnie looked so happy. They both did. Watching them reminded Leo of the good old days when Mikey was still alive and they were all still together as a family. But after that fateful night, Leo became so convinced that the family would fall apart without their most innocent and optimistic brother. And sure enough it did.
But now Leo was starting to wonder if it really was Mikey's death that drove them apart. Instead of staying to mourn with his brothers, he pursued after Shredder and got his revenge, and he didn't stop there. He then took it upon himself to cleanse the city of all scum and criminals in honor of his dead brother, becoming the infamous vigilante the Serpent. He was always there for the civilians, but he was never there for his brothers.
Raph and Donnie needed their big brother more than ever after Mikey died, but since he was never there, they had to deal with their grief in their own ways, with Donnie transforming himself into a cyborg and Raph mutilating himself and becoming a hermit.
He was supposed to be the shoulder for them to lean on, and instead he abandoned them for vengeance. He was only thinking of himself for the last thirty years, and he didn't deserve to be accepted back into the now healing family.
He deserved to be alone.