Chapter 18

Donnie P.O.V

Once April had left with her cruel words ringing in the brothers' ears, Donnie had finished his soup quickly as the tension levels rapidly rose. Admittedly, he did not even taste the boiling liquid as it slipped down his tight throat, yet as he scrapped up the last spoonful, he felt slightly nauseous.

"How can you say that?! How can you not want revenge on them for hurting Leo, how can you? Are you fine with Leo being broken?"

Broken.

April could not know how close she had struck to the bone. She couldn't know about Leo's depression and his own confessions of failure, she just couldn't… Or could she? When she had glimpsed into his mind, had she picked up on those darker thoughts?

"Yo, Brainiac- you gonna pass the food or what?" Raph huffed kindly. That in itself was something the genius wasn't used to hearing. He nodded and picked up the bowls, passing one to Raph, then leaning over Leo to pass the second to Mikey. That was when the world moved into slow motion, the purple banded turtle's worn out mind processing the goings-on with great difficulty.

As Mikey took the bowl from Donnie's hands, the youngest yawned, yet due to either his sleepy state or the action just being a reflex response, his hands shot to his mouth, bowl of soup and all, to stifle the yawn. Donnie and Raph could both only sit and watch as the boiling liquid flew from the bowl, looking as if it were just hovering before it began to drop once more thanks to gravity. This would have been fine if not for one problem, Leo's prone form was directly under the soup's decent path, and there was no possible way to move him in time, so with horror stricken eyes, the three brothers could only watch as the food landed with a splash over their fourth's shell.

The effect was instantaneous.

It was as if a switch had been thrown in Leo's brain and his eyes shot open yet stared upwards, unseeing while his mouth hung open in a silent scream and his body shook violently.

"Leo!" Raph cried while Mikey stared, white faced and wide eyed, however it was Donnie who managed to jump into action.

"Grab his arms!" Donnie cried desperately, his voice pulling his brothers to their senses, while in the meantime, the genius was pressing a hand upon Leo's forehead- which felt much too cold- and checking his pulse. "Heartbeat's erratic- he's having a flashback…" He looked at the empty bowl and recalled Xever's sickening words during Leo's torture. "Turtle soup! That's what he's thinking of!"

"Fascinating- but how the shell do we stop him!" Raph yelled sarcastically as he held down one of the eldest's thrashing limbs.

"Mikey, on the side- the syringe." Donnie pointed across the room, directing Mikey to the sedative, which the youngest quickly passed over. With one hand still on his brother's head, Donnie used his other to find the correct spot on Leo's arm and then injected the drug, causing Leo to visibly relax and close his eyes once more.

Slowly, the brother's released their hold of Leo and stepped back for a moment before Mikey thoughtfully began dabbing the soup off his eldest brother with a pillow. Just as the orange banded turtle sat back down, April and Casey's footsteps came thundering up the stairs and poked their heads around the door. It was April who spoke up.

"What happened? We heard voices? Is he-"

"He's fine, Casey." Donnie replied sharply, purposely ignoring April, "Just a relapse."

"Donnie-" April interrupted, "All of you- I'm sorry! I-"

"You should never had said that!" The genius raised his voice, and he saw his directly younger brother shiver with the spite dripping from his voice, "You think you can act all concerned when you clearly stated your views on the matter- what Mikey?" The second youngest spun angrily at the tapping to his arm. Then he saw what Mikey was directing him to. Leo's eyes were open, the sedative must have been too weak. Sharply, Donnie turned back to the humans, "Wait outside." Was all he said before he bent down next to his brother, his voice softening.

"Leo?" The eldest's eyes were still hazy and not as bright, nor as focused as usual. Leo continued to stare upwards towards the ceiling as his lips moved, yet it took Donnie a few seconds to catch what he was saying.

"-Forgive her, Don… She was right…" Then Leo moved suddenly, pulling himself with what seemed like a lot of effort, holding his side tightly, as he sat upright and lent against the wall behind him with his eyes closed. "I am broken."

For a moment no one could find the words. Never before had they seen Leo this defeated in attitude or appearance. For the first time, the extent of the mask-less turtle's injuries became apparent to the genius, which for so long had been hidden by his rose tainted view of his brother.

Leo's face was scratched and haggard looking, his eyes shadowed by thick, dark bags and his gaze lost and pained. His shell front was scarred horrifically, the deep parallel gashes caused by Shredder were still red while Leo's newer cracks were all black voids. Then there was the matter of his leg- the one the mutant tiger had so fiercely shattered without the slightest thought of honour- which was sticking out sideways at an odd angle, clear proof that it was broken.

Just like Leo's mind.

It was Raph who finally found the words first, yet they weren't even directed at Leo.

"Could you give us a second?" The red masked turtle looked at the two youngest of the siblings, who both slowly moved out the room to wait on the landing with the humans, however before Donnie could open the door, Mikey whispered to him,

"Do what he said, D."

The scientist glared at his little brother, hating the fact that he needed to forgive April for her words due to Leo's admitted state of mind, however, deep down, beneath the anguish and hate of the current situation, Donnie knew he wanted to forgive his crush because she had gone above and beyond the call of duty their friendship asked for, and the turtle knew that no matter how long they would live- he would forever feel indebted to April for bringing the Hamato brothers to safety.

They moved outside.

To Donnie's surprise, April was hugging Casey and he felt his blood boil, but a subtle nudge from Mikey made him calm down.

"Uh, guys…" he muttered awkwardly, making the pair break up, yet all was not as it appeared for April's eyes were red and damp from crying while Casey was looking fairly relieved to be free of comforting duty. Mikey must have noticed this and was trying to tell Donnie subtly. Sometimes the youngest never ceased to amaze him. "Raph's talking with Leo right now," he continued, filling them in, "We may have dropped the bowl of soup on him- that was the sounds you heard- he had a panic attack, most probably due to what Xever did to him- so we gave him a sedative which did not appear to be strong enough…" Donnie turned to April. "April, I'm… I'm really sorry for yelling at you- I understand what you saw must have been horrific- I mean, we saw it from a video clip, but you were in his mind…" The scientist actually shivered at the thought, "Leo believes he's beyond help and that I should forgive you because you were correct," April's eyes widened in fear, "But-" Donnie continued, his gaze never leaving the red head's, "that's not why I'm speaking to you as I've realised how much you've done for us… Without your help Leo would have-" Donnie felt his throat tighten and the words would not come out, their predicament only just becoming real at how Leo had escaped death. Thankfully, April had understood, and she moved up to him and wrapped her arms around the turtle, both in thanks and in comfort.

When he released her, she was smiling once more and squeezed his hand,

"Leo will pull through. He always does." Her confidence was just what Donnie needed and he squeezed her hand back. Casey then decided to ruin the moment in traditional Casey Jones fashion.

"So you've left Raph in charge to talk it out with Leo?" Donnie and Mikey both nodded in response, "You mean the usually angry, insensitive, violent, emotionally unstable maniac is your best shot of getting through to him?" Another group of nods and two smiles.

"Tell you what, Jones," Donnie grinned, "Would you like to hear the unheard tale of the red masked softy in the night?" Casey looked a mixture of shocked and enlightened. "Well then," Donnie began in a dramatic voice, taking a seat on the floor, closely followed by the others, "It all began on a dark, stormy night when we were just little baby turtles…"

So while Raph is being all serious, Donnie's like, what the heck, let's ruin Raph's rep! ;P

Sorry for the long wait but when family are down I can't write a lot in a morning as it's rude to sit on a compute and ignore them!...

SO:

Will Raph get through to Leo?

Will Casey ever be able to respect Raph again?

Will Leo stop sulking?!

Thanks for all your support guys! You're the best!

LL99 out!