Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT 2012.

Leonardo unconsciously rubbed his throat while Raphael placed a hand on his chest. Both were as good as spooked. But you can't blame them.

Their alternate-dimension counterparts had suffered brutal deaths.

Michelangelo sniggered but then laughed out loud, the restrain on his amusement breached. Shell, even April had to cover her mouth to hide a giggle. Growling, Raph smacked the back of his baby brother's head, earning a yelp and a scowl.

"Raphael, Michelangelo. Please," Master Splinter suddenly beseeched as he stood up from the couch. "Donatello…is reliving experiences that never should have been tampered again."

At that, all eyes fell to the disfigured turtle on the center of the living room floor. He had his knees pulled up to his chest, his face buried in his thighs as he sobbed silently. Leo, in both worry and sympathy for the brainiac, sat by his side and soothingly wrapped his arms around him, going into Big Brother Mode. Donatello looked up at him instantly, watery, burgundy eyes wide with both surprise and embarrassment.

"Hey, if you can't take it anymore, we'll stop right here, right now," the blue-masked turtle reassured, smiling softly. "We won't force you if it hurts to tell."

Nodding in agreement, Raph and Mikey also settled on the floor in front of the alt-dimension brainiac while April sat by his other side, placing a hand on his shoulder. Splinter stood behind him, but the expression he wore was like those of his pupils', tender and caring. Donatello blushed a bright shade of scarlet as Leo eased his embrace around him.

"Wow…" He whistled, rubbing the back of his head. "You gaki sure know how to warm a guy like me up. Thanks."

"Don't mention it, genius," Raph said with a small, out-of-character grin. "We…should've known that you had gone through those kinds of things. We should've been more understanding instead of being judgmental."

Everyone looked at him with surprise slapped on their faces. The hothead recoiled slightly as if he had been punched in the gut.

"What? Can't I have this sort of moments every once in a while?"

Donatello chuckled a genuine chuckle and his lips pursed into a true smile. Now, he actually looked like a teenager despite his scars and not the mature, grouchy turtle he had always acted. Yet his smile immediately fell and he was serious once more.

"No, I must go on," he half-sighed, closing his eyes and everybody noticed, for the first time, the dark green mark on his right eyelid. "You all have the right to know. I've been lying to you guys too much and for so long."

The sense of worry for him was clear in the ambience. Nonetheless, his audience reluctantly nodded.

…

Blood. It was everywhere.

On the people around me who had fallen in battle…Tainting and carpeting the bare, brown ground…On my brother in red's chest, leaking from two wide holes…Spurting from my brother in blue's severed head that lay not far from me…Covering most of my body and staining my purple bandanna-bandage…

In my mind and my heart and my soul. I have never seen so much of the crimson fluid before in my life.

"Three down, one more to go," a deep voice echoed through the blankness my mind was submerged in. "You turtles are the bane of my existence. Once I get rid of you, nothing and no one else would dare to stand in my way. Ever again!"

Inside, I was empty, floating in a jet black void. But then, I felt white-hot heat course throughout my frame. It wasn't pain nor was it guilt or sadness. It was sheer anger. Pure, unadulterated fury. I let it blaze fiercely, burning away at my core and igniting every inch of me with corrupted power.

I rose to my feet and dashed past Shredder, leaning a bit to my right to avoid his incoming claw. Behind him, I came to a skidding halt in front of my eldest brother's headless body and without a second thought, grabbed one of the discarded katana near it. In my right hand, I gripped my brothers' sai and katana, the forked blade pointing skyward while the sword was positioned with its tip to the ground. Mikey's lone nunchaku was in my left hand, spinning rapidly and menacingly. I had clutched the shaft of my naginata with my teeth, my chompers digging into the wood.

This was my first official take on the hijutsu I had learned from my trip to Japan.

"Impressive," Shredder commended, turning to me, "but you don't have what it takes to bring me down. Your brothers have tried vainly many times over to do so and failed miserably. Do you seriously think you can turn the tables on me, Midoriyasha?"

I didn't answer. Internally, I was meditating to restrain my inner demon, to not let it take control of me. I knew well that if I let it go, I would go into a bloodlust-fueled frenzy and even slaughter what was left of my allies. I would go on a killing spree and not stop until I had exhausted the living out of me. And I would do all of this with blank eyes and a crazed grin.

But if looks could kill, Shredder would've melted into a puddle of gooey flesh under my one-eyed glare.

Without warning, I struck. I didn't actually know how or what moves I used. I was too busy struggling to contain my inner demon and had allowed anger and instinct to decide how I fought. I was there physically, but internally I was holding down the monster I didn't want to set free. And I was falling short of it.

The beast inside me was a mindless, bloodthirsty entity whose strength was none like any other in this world. It lived in the recesses of my subconscious, pulling at the chains I had created to keep it back. My interdimensional journey had been stressful, twisting me in the most terrible ways possible. And from this, the beast was born, emerging from the primordial ooze with a vengeance and unrivaled temper.

Right now, I was spiritually face-to-face with it. It was massive, looking much like a muscular dinosaur-turtle hybrid with a short, thick tail and a rather spiky shell. Hungrily, it licked the edges of its long jaws with a lengthy, dark red tongue.

'Release me.'

Despite it being senseless, it had the power to communicate with me. It taunted me for being so weak, laughed at me for being a pacifist. It would influence me every now and then when anger nipped at the back of my mind, telling me to let him handle the stress when I felt like I would give in.

'Release me,' it repeated, its voice too deep and too feral for my liking, 'and I will kill Oroku Saki for you…and for your loved ones.'

Now that was unexpected. Why would it do something for me AND for my family?

'Have you not heard of vengeance, Donatello?'

'I have, but it is not the road my father had taught me to traverse. Revenge is nobody's game.'

'But where is your father now? And what of your brothers? They are gone and you are the last of your kind. Is it not justice that Oroku Saki must die by our hands? By the hands of the beings he himself eradicated?'

'I am not you, Demon. I am educated in the ways that would bring peace without bloodshed. And I will use these ways to end the crisis at hand.'

It laughed deeply and forebodingly, the chain around its neck rattling.

'And have these ways brought you peace? Have they satisfied you? Have they filled your empty cup?'

I was unsure with what I was going to say to that. I bowed my head, tearing my gaze away from its glowing, crimson eyes. I couldn't answer back.

'I have made my point, have I not?' the Demon questioned, strangely sounding intelligent all of a sudden. 'You are clearly unpleased. You wish to draw blood, but could not because you do not have the stomach for it. Ah! So you are a coward!'

'I am not!' I finally growled back, glaring back into the crimson void that was its eyes.

'Then what are you waiting for? Release me! You and I both crave the human's blood, to have it spray all over us and stain our body! Is it not your wish to do so? To avenge our family's sufferings and deaths? To restore the honor we have all lost?'

I remembered it all. Sensei's grave…Mikey lying in a pool of his blood…Raph dying in my arms…Leo's severed head rolling towards me…the lost look in April's sky blue eyes that wouldn't go away, even when she would laugh…I felt a flurry of grief, guilt, anger and loathing strike my very core, leaving fresh wounds and reopening old scars.

But, no! If justice is to be carried out, I myself would do it, not my Demon. Never the Demon!

'Iie. Watashi wa Shredder no shinigami*,' I spoke through my mother tongue and I'm sure I must have caught the Demon off-guard. 'I'll be the one who will kill Oroku Saki, not you. They are not your family and for the monster that you are, you will never gain honor. You slay because you want to, because you see pleasure in gore and bloodshed. I slay because I HAVE to, because I know that MY family's integrity should be regained. Shredder shall die by the hands of impartiality, not by the hands of bloodlust.'

I saw its face twitch slightly before it roared out in what I could tell was rage. The Demon then began tugging at its shackles violently again, the iron somehow fortified as my resolve was.

'YOU CANNOT DO IT! YOU ARE A COWARD!' The Demon bellowed as its chains dragged it back into the darkness. 'RELEASE ME! RELEASE ME!'

I felt my lips purse into a smirk.

'Farewell, Demon. You are no longer a hindrance to me.'

'THIS IS NOT THE LAST WE MEET, DONATELLO! I SWEAR I WILL BREAK FREE FROM MY BONDS! I WILL RETURN!'

Before I knew it, I had returned to the world of the living from my inner conflict. Pain coursed through every molecule of my body but I forced myself to my feet. The Battle of New York was still thundering around me though the number of its participants seemed to have diminished. Limping, I picked up my weapons and was about to leave the scene when I heard a groan somewhere near me. I whipped my head to where I deduced it had come from, only to feel anger burn in me again.

A few feet from where I had lain was my sworn enemy Shredder, probably half-dead. My clash with him must have been so intense that most of his armor had been stripped off and the tubes that were once attached to his body had been ripped from their lodgings, the fluid leaking from them electric blue hinted with vital red. His very mask was missing, leaving his aged face exposed for all to see. His gaunt cheeks each housed a Ping-Pong ball-sized hole, glass shards sticking out from each gap, most likely the remains of the bulbs containing more of the alien stimulant-like substance. At this observation, I had to resist the urge to purge whatever meal I had eaten before the war.

In moments like this one, I just HATE IT when my hypotheses are right.

But disgust aside and quickly forgotten, I hobbled towards him, my and my deceased brothers' weapons in my blood-slicked grip. He must have been too exhausted since he did nothing but stare at me with glassy, mismatched eyes.

"Jigoku," I merely uttered as I arrived at his side, "that's where I'll send ya, Saki, and where you'll burn for the rest of eternity for slaughtering Otousan…Otouto…Oniisan…"

I plunged Leo's katana into his right knee, effectively shattering the patella and severing the hamstring. My anger wasn't quenched even the slightest when I heard his agonized scream.

"That is for Leonardo."

I fell to my knees by the left of his head. With Raph's sai, I made my mark on his face, slashing slowly yet deeply on his left eye. The forked blade vibrated off his bodily tremors.

"This is for Raphael."

Using the chain of Mikey's nunchaku, I trapped his left elbow in a joint lock. Clamping together both ends of the nunchaku, I twisted the chain, crushing his elbow until his left forearm popped out from the hinge joint's ligaments and only cords of muscle attached it to the rest of his arm.

"This is for Michelangelo."

I reached the large glass shard in my foot and pulled it out, not caring if I had already lost much blood. I examined it first before spearing it into Shredder's abdomen, twisting the shard painfully. Too tired to yell, he only grunted.

"This is for Father."

With my naginata in my hands, I raised it above his head, my arm muscles shouting in protest which I outright ignored.

"And this…is for fucking with my life."

I brought down the blade, what was left of my strength ebbing out of me. I heard the unmistakable crunch of bone as my naginata impaled his skull, killing him instantly. But it wasn't enough. I wrenched out my weapon, then thrust it in again. I redid this several times over, grey matter spattering on my arms and torso as I reduced Shredder's head into an unrecognizable mound of mush. Minutes later, I stopped, panting and leaning heavily against the shaft of my naginata which I left imbedded. Nonetheless, I let a smile grace my features.

I had finally avenged the death of my family.

"Bakemono! Kore wa bakemono korosu Shredder-sama!**"

I swiftly turned around, my world spinning wildly as I did so. When my sight stabled, I was greeted by a drove of black-and-silver figures. I was surrounded by the teched-out Foot ninja!

"Bakemono ja nai***!" A voice among them countered the first exclamation. "Yasha da! Midoriyasha!****"

Their fear of me was as clear as day, as if they were staring at the Devil himself. Yet I also sensed the intangible heat that was their anger as they armed their energy rifles. What's more, several of the Kraang controlling massive battle-grade robots joined the fray. Against my body's disapproval and wanting to rest, I stood on shaky feet, my artillery in my hands again. Wiping away the trickle of blood from the corner of my mouth with the back of my arm, I shifted into a battle stance.

"Whatcha ahondura waiting for? You terrified to go at me?" I spat out, my lips tugging into a smirk. "Let's dance, ladies!"

With a battle cry and newfound strength, I lunged forward.

… … …

"I…I'm sorry for…the way I acted," Donatello quietly apologized, sighing heavily, "I was buried too deep in my anger that I didn't just let it all go. Instead, I became a being as terrible as my Demon. I didn't think things through and let my rage get the best of me."

"Dude, that's all in the past," Michelangelo waved off, restraining his shivers. "At least Shredder won't be a problem to your dimension's April anymore."

"Donatello, vengeance was truly uncalled for," came Splinter's stern reminder, "and your anger…I expected you to be more rational than that."

The alt-dimension brainiac bowed his head submissively with his eyes closed, prepared for the old rat's lecture. Around him, Leo, Raph, Mikey and April huddled closer, as if to defend him from the impending verbal barrage. However, Splinter just sighed and rested a hand on the disfigured turtle's head.

"Yet you have proven yourself master of your inner demon and have controlled it. For that, I am proud of you, my son."

Donatello looked up, warmed by the smile Splinter greeted him with.

"Thank you, Otousan," he whispered then turned back to his other companions. "Ready for the big conclusion?"

… … …

The Battle of New York ended by the time the sun had set. April had found me passed out and near death on top of a heap of Foot ninja bodies and Kraang mush. The gravity of the injuries I had sustained left me unconscious and mummified in bandages for three days. April and the remaining ASF had thought that I would never wake up again.

A couple of weeks later, I stood in front of the willow tree. It was no longer surrounded by mountains of trash since April, now New York City's newest mayor, had the place renovated into a park. I was still in a considerable length of gauze when I left the base, but along the way, I removed them, letting the cool breeze chill my scarred, scaly skin. The only bandages I hadn't touched were the ones that covered the still sore upper right of my face, a new purple bandanna mask tied loosely around my neck.

Solemnly, I pushed through the tree's leafy curtain, my one-eyed gaze resting upon the four graves beyond the natural blinds. I recognized my Father's grave among them. To its right were three other tombstones. Each had a bandanna mask tied around it, the first one's bandanna was orange, the next was red and the last one's was blue.

"Hey there, guys," I mumbled, smiling sadly, "guess you're all having a great time up there, huh?"

I set down my duffel bag and pulled out from it a lighter and a pack of incense sticks. I then lighted the sticks, placed three each in four small jars and set a jar in front of each tombstone. As the strong, commanding aroma of the incense sticks filled the air in gentle wisps, I bowed down deeply, paying my respect to my deceased family.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, minna-san,*****" I spoke softly to the wind, hoping that it would carry my message to my late loved ones, "for caring for and for loving me, for believing in and for being always there for me…you shall forever be in my memory. I will love all of you, for all eternity, in this life and the next."

I stood up straight and patted Mikey's tombstone.

"Wait for me, will you? And save me a spot up there."

Swinging my bag over my right shoulder, I activated the TSJ now in my hands, once again ripping a hole through the plane of time and space. Knowing that April will be a great leader to the newly-liberated people of NYC, and maybe even the whole world, I had nothing to worry about. I can freely proceed to a plan I had in mind: To make sure that there will never be another Shredder in all of existence, and to avenge not only my family, but also every other mutant ninja turtle and rat in every dimension. I call it 'Operation X'.

I finally stepped through the portal, leaving behind my home and all I have ever come to appreciate behind, never to return again.

A/N

UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'M SO, SO VERY SORRY TO KEEP YOU FOLKS HANGING! *bows down again and again, forehead hitting the ground several times over with loud thuds*

I've been a busy person these past weeks since my last update. My school's JS Prom is this Friday and I've got a whole lot of work to do since I'm one of the emcees for the coming event. Wish me luck! :)

In case any of you are wondering, then yes, alt-dimension Donnie's Demon was based from Gamera Don in "Adventures Of Turtle-Sitting" and "Good Genes Part 1 and 2" of the 2003-2009 series. Seriously, it was so BADASS!

Japanese Vocab Corner

* - "No. I am Shredder's Grim Reaper."

Jigoku – Hell

Oniisan – Big Brother (in this case, it's plural since Donnie's referring to both Raph and Leo)

** - "Monster! This monster killed Lord Shredder!"

*** - "It's not a monster!"

**** - "It's a demon! Green Demon!"

***** - "Thank you so much, everyone."

Finally, the flashback's as good as done! ^^