Raphael didn't have to look at the purple one to know he was angry, he had been glaring and huffing at them all afternoon. He had started doing this a couple weeks after Blue had changed towards him. After the night he was almost kicked out of Blue's room.

Leo, the blue one is called Leo. Knowing that name warmed him and he repeated it over and over in his head as he leaned into the leaf green turtle while he read to him from a comic. Touching him was soothing in a way he couldn't understand. Touching was safe and allowed. The voice didn't tell him not to touch. His tone of voice was soft and he changed it when he read the different characters. He wasn't paying attention to the words, it was really hard to listen to them so he only tried to when it was something important. Leo's words kept the deep voice that echoed around inside his head at bay. It was the same voice that kept telling him to strike the rat down when he had a chance.

The orange one was going through the channels on TV ignoring everyone around him as Leo turned the page and began narrating again. He nuzzled into Leo's shoulder taking in his scent in a soft sigh and he swung an arm behind his neck, laying the comic down on his lap. "Are you tired, Raph? Want to call it a night?"

He shook his head 'no' and Leo brushed his lips against the top of his head and continued reading. 'Leo Leo Leo Leo Le-'

"Don't do that." Purple snapped. "Why are you doing this?" He gestured at them. "Raph would hate it, you know."

Leo stiffened and stopped his reading, turning towards the other turtle. "This is what Raph needs right now."

"To be babied and coddled as if he were a child? If this were really Raph he would be angry, he'd hate you for it." Purple was fuming, brown-red eyes piercing blue. Orange switched off the TV and faced towards them, eyes wide.

"I'll deal with that if the time comes." Leo answered.

"When. You mean when the time comes." His tone was venomous.

"Donnie..." Leo sighed and he felt his head rise and fall against his shoulder as he let out the air.

"You decide what he eats and portion his food, you read to him, and treat him like a pet! You've given up on getting him back, you're enjoying this!" Purple accused. "That's not Raph, real Raph would hate it. Real Raph would sooner punch you than cuddle on the couch. Stop it."

"It is Raph, you just don't see it! You don't spend time with him. You need to stop seeing him as a test subject and more as your brother."

A sniffle came from Orange and a moment later he felt his warm weight against his other side, pressing him further into Leo. "I'm sorry Raph." He heard Orange saying softly. Orange had been avoiding him too but he didn't mind too much as long as he could stay beside Leo. He closed his eyes and settled into the heat between both bodies.

"No." Purple said resolutely but he didn't open his eyes to look at him, he felt too warm and secure the way he was. "I won't give up even if you two have. Raph won't thank me for this when I get him back."

"Maybe you can't fix this, Donnie. What then?" Orange squeezed him a little tighter at Leo's words and after a few seconds he heard the door to the lab slam shut.

"Let's call it a night." Leo said and his words came out as if he were supporting a weight on his chest. "I'm going to ask Master Splinter to start letting Raph train with us starting tomorrow. You're going to need your rest."

Orange pulled away and said goodnight while Leo took him by the hand and lead him to his room. That was another thing that changed that night, he didn't have to sneak into Leo's room any more. Leo made it no secret that they shared a bed every night. They hadn't done anything else, he was content with the closeness and being able to sleep by him every night. He could sometimes get a few kisses out of him and a nuzzle but he knew Leo was uncomfortable with the arrangement enough as it was, he didn't want to risk him being banned from his room. He needed to stay by Leo.

He walked into the room and let Leo pull off his gear for him before crawling into bed first and waiting for Leo to settle in beside him. The bed wasn't very large and it took a bit of moving around to get comfortable but he didn't mind. He shifted onto his side with his carapace against the wall to give Leo a little more space and then curled around him.

"Good night, Raph." Leo reached to him and gave him a soft kiss on the lips before turning the bed side lamp off.

'Goodnight Leo,' he didn't answer.

The next day he sat on the cold metal table as Purple manipulated his body roughly and took samples. He wasn't spoken to as he ran his tests on him. The same as usual.

"Subject doesn't respond to the new formula." Purple spoke with a tired voice into the microphone of his computer. "The results are the same as previous tests performed on the sub-"

Purple cut off his sentence with a sharp intake of breath and he covered his face with his hand. His shoulders were trembling and jerking as he tried to choke back his sounds.

No... not 'Purple', Donnie. This sometimes happened to him. Every so often it was like peeking through a veil and he could almost see... something.

Donatello grabbed the rack with the test tubes he was labelling as he reported his findings and threw it all across the room to shatter against the wall. The loud crash lifted the veil further. He knew that kind of anger as if it were his own. He could almost taste that anger that always used to be bubbling right beneath his skin. Right beneath... his... skin.

"D-ddddd..." Donatello's head shot up at the sound, pupils sharpening to pin points as they settled on him. He grunted in response and gathered his will to try again now that he had his attention. He focused on his anger that ran white hot and sharp in his senses, cutting through the fog. "Ddddd...nnnnnnn!" He had to stop to pant and catch his breath as Donatello ran across the room to him. This was so hard, he couldn't speak but he had to let Don know. He could fix it if he knew, if he could tell him. He punched the table with a fist in frustration as Donnie reached him, hands squeezing his shoulders. He looked into his brother's eyes with his frantic green ones, begging to be understood.

"Raph! What, Raph? Tell me! What do you want to tell me?" Don looked at him with a mixture of hope and pain.

"Ddddd...nnnnn!" He huffed, trying to talk was pointless. He lifted his arms to show him. Look at me Donnie, look at what I'm trying to show you! His mouth wouldn't cooperate, his whole body was shaking from the strain and he could feel the veil settling in again. "D-nnnie... aaaaAAAAAARGH!" He screamed, clawing at his arms and legs over the scars, raising skin and then breaking it. Understand me, Donnie! He begged him with his eyes while he cried out his fury and his frustration. Please! You need to... you need... need...

"No! Nononono... NO!" Purple's hands were on his cheeks rubbing them and then digging into his skin, shaking him slightly. "Raph! Come back, Raph! No! Look at me, damn it!"

The numbness enveloped him completely as Blue stormed through the door. He looked angry, why was he angry? Purple's hands were pulled off him and he was pushed back behind Blue. He was yelling at Purple but he could barely hear them through the fog.

They are your enemies, you must destroy them when the time is right, his Master's voice echoed in his head.

He looked up at Blue who was holding up his arm by his wrist and looking at the bleeding scratches, gesturing at them and then yelling at Purple. The fog cleared slightly as he tried to focus on them. The voice had to be wrong, Blue was good, he was protecting him. Blue would always keep him safe, he had to follow Blue and listen to him, not the voice. Focus.

"He tried to talk to me, Leo! He was trying to say my name and tell me something!"

"What did you do to him? He's even worse than before! You treat your brother as if he weren't even a person, as if he were a thing. I'm not going to allow you to mistreat him any longer. This ends now." Blue reprimanded.

Purple's mouth snapped shut and he ground his teeth. "I can't give up on this now, Leo! I saw him, it was Raph! I could see it in his eyes, he's trapped in there!"

"THIS IS RAPH! Stop looking for your brother somewhere else!"

Purple flinched as if he had been slapped. After a moment of silence he answered in a much quieter tone. "You're right." Purple sighed and leaned against the table, shoulders drooping in shame. "I've been mistreating him and I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Leo. I just couldn't... I couldn't think of him as Raph. I was wrong." He paused to look Blue in the eye. "He tried to tell me something, Leo. I think we missed something important. I need to scrap everything and start again. I think I can do this. Please give me another chance."

Blue's anger seemed to deflate at the other turtle's plea.

"Just blood tests and the basics. If I don't find anything this time around I'll concede to you."

Blue nodded and put a hand on Purple. "It's been hard on all of us, I know this has taken a toll on you especially. If you don't find anything you need to know this isn't your fault, Donnie. None of this is, okay?"

Purple smiled weakly and began collecting items from a cabinet at the back of the lab. He brought the gauze and antiseptic over to begin cleaning the scratches and cuts. This time, Purple was gently moving his limbs as he worked, talking softly to him under the watchful eye of Blue who kept a soothing hand on him.