I looked out the window of my room to find Mikey sitting on the steps of our porch. I sigh gently. Raph's supposed to be watching him, and it's raining outside.

I stood up and walked to my door and turned the knob. Yes, I was breaking the rules of my punishment, technically, but Mikey couldn't sit outside in the rain like the way he was. Hopefully Leo will understand.

I walk down the stairs getting dumped off into the living room. I walk to the front door and turn the doorknob and exit to the outside quietly. So quietly that Mikey doesn't hear me.

He isn't crying, but he isn't laughing. I can barely see the side of his face. He isn't smiling. I look at him with sad eyes. "Hey." I say.

His head looks back at me. His eyes are dull; his lips aren't twitched up into a smile either. Without a word, he turns his head back towards the rain. I sigh gently before walking over to him and sitting next to him.

"What's wrong, bud?" I ask gently, looking at his oversized orange hoodie. The hoodie reached to his knees.

He kept watching as the rain as it bounced off of the pavement and slid down into the grass. The clouds were so dark it almost looked like it was nighttime. And it was only 3:22pm.

"Why are kids so mean?" He suddenly asked.

I sighed gently as I looked out at the rain with him, my fists stuffed into the pockets of my purple hoodie. "I don't know, Michelangelo. Why is Raph such a hothead?"

Mikey stayed silent despite my attempt at a joke. I sighed. "Some kids are just mean like that, Mikey. There's no explanation as to why they're so mean, they just are."

Mikey took in a deep breath, his baby blue eyes closing. "It doesn't make me feel good."

I sighed gently, wrapping my arm around Mikey's shoulders. "It never does. They don't want us to feel good."

"But why?" Mikey asked as he leaned into my side. I sigh as I rub my hand against his arm.

"We'll never know, Mike. Some kids do it because their life isn't easy. Some kids do it to make themselves look cooler."

"But it isn't cool." Mikey said as he nuzzled his head against my ribcage.

I sighed as I stroked his hair. "I know it isn't, Mike. But other kids don't know that. No one knows that until they go through it. And I'm sorry to say that you're going through it at a very young age."

Mikey curled up into my side, his legs going into his chest. "Do people do this to you, Donnie?"

It wasn't the kind of question I had been expecting. Needless to say, I choked a bit on the air that was going into my lungs. When I was calmed down I gave him my answer. "Yeah, people do it to me. Almost everyone goes through it, Mikey. I promise that you're not the only one."

Mikey nodded against my ribcage and I smiled gently before a clap of thunder interrupted my thoughts. I gently pick Mikey up in my arms before entering the house. "Mikey," I ask, "do you know where Raph is?"

"No," Mikey says as he lies his head against my chest. "I haven't seen him in a while."

I groan lightly, looking back out the window. I gently place Mikey on the couch. "Stay here, Mikey. I need to find Raph." I tell him as I run up the stairs. Maybe he's in the bathroom.

When I reach the top of the stairs, the bathroom is indeed shut. I knock loudly. "Raph!" I call. "Raph, are you in there?" No answer.

I groan as I open the door. No one's in there. I feel a bit of fear overcome me. I take in a deep breath. Calm down, Donatello. Maybe he went to our room.

I run to our shared room and open the door. "Raph, are you in here?" I asked. Once again, no reply. I cursed under my breath. I searched Leo's room. No. Our parents' room. Nope. The kitchen. Nada. The garage, the hallway with all the pictures, the shed, even, but no matter where I looked, he was nowhere to be seen!

I grabbed my cellphone, a device that I was forbidden from. But this was an emergency. I first called Raphael, hoping he would answer.

He didn't.

You called Raphael. Obviously, I'm busy, so leave a message, and I'll get to you when I can. Bai!

I groaned as I heard a gentle beep. "Hey, Raph, it's Donnie. Where are you? Call back when you get the chance."

With that I hung up the call only to call back once again. The same thing happened. I groaned. "To hell with it." I find Leo's contact and press it and listen to the ringer.

"Donnie? You're not supposed to have your phone." Leo growled.

I groan. "No time to explain, Leo. I can't find Raph; he's not here!" I say panicked.

Soon, Leo's voice is etched with the same worry that mine had possessed. "What do you mean he's not there?!"

"I mean," I clarify, "he's not home! He was here earlier, but he must have left while I was in my room."

There were panicked voices on the other side of the receiver. They were so muffled that I couldn't decipher the voices. "Ok, Donnie, stay calm, but you and Mikey need to get into the basement. There's a tornado warning."

"And Raph's missing?!" I shouted in fear.

"Donnie," Leo yelled, "calm down! Right now you need to worry about you and Mikey getting to the basement."

I nodded even though Leo couldn't see me. "Ok, I'm on it." I told him as I was about to hang up.

"And Donnie!" Leo said.

"What?" I asked as I bounded down the stairs.

He sighed. "I love you. Tell Mikey I love him as well."

I smile slightly. "I'll tell him. Gotta go!" And with that I hang up. I scoop Mikey up into my arms and run to the basement.

"Where are we going?" Mikey asks as I run down the stairs.

"We're going to the basement, buddy."

"Why?"

"Because I said."

"Why?"

"Mikey." I warned gently, not wanting to play games like these. I placed him gently against the cement floors of the basement before reaching my arm towards the ceiling and pulling the chain of the single incandescent lightbulb to turn on the light.

"Get underneath the table, Mike."

"Why, Donnie?" He asked, his eyes wide with fear.

I sigh gently as I scoop him up into my arms and sit underneath the table, holding him in my arms. He looks into my maroon eyes with his ice cold, baby blue eyes. "Is Raph going to be ok?"

I suck in a deep breath. Hopefully, I think. "Yeah, he'll be fine." I say. Loud sounds penetrate through the atmosphere. The sounds sound like a freight train that had derailed, and the wheels were scraping against hard cement.

Mikey looks up at me with fear-filled eyes. "Donnie?!" He asks me in a loud, fearful scream.

I hug his head into my chest, protecting his head in case the worse came to play. "Leo said he loves you." I told him trying to calm him down.

That didn't work.

"Donnie, what's that sound?!" He asked in a scream.

"Don't worry about that," I told him, "just answer the questions I'm going to ask. What's your favorite color?" Good, this will keep him occupied.

Mikey closed his eyes tightly, tears peeking out from underneath his eyelids. "O-Orange!"

"How old are you?" I ask, still protecting his head in my chest.

He shook underneath my grip. "Ei-Eight."

And just as fast as the sound had come, it went away. As the sound left our hearing range, Mikey slowly lifted his head, revealing tear streaks against his face. "I…Is it gone?" He asked me.

I loosen my grip on him gently and nod my head gently. "Yeah," I say as I look around the barely touched room, "it's gone."

Mikey pries himself from my grip-not that I was holding him tightly-and stood on the ground. I came out from underneath the table myself and looked around the room as well.

The room hadn't been touched at all.

I make my way up the stairs, Mikey trailing behind me. I open the door that lead to the living room of our house, fearing the worst.

I gasp.

The house is perfectly fine.

OoOoOoO

"Thank gosh you two are alright!" Leo said as he hugged Mikey and I tightly.

"We're just fine." I reassure him as Mikey nuzzles his head deeper into Leo's chest.

Leo sighs gently as he pulls away from the hug and scoops Mikey up into his arms. "I'm just so glad that you both are ok."

Mikey happily wraps his arms around Leo's neck, burying his face into the crook of Leo's next. I look into Leo's blue eyes, hopefulness embedded into my own maroon orbs. "Any word on Raphael?"

Leo sighed as he rubbed Mikey's back gently. "No," he said sadly, "I haven't." He walked out to the kitchen and looked at the digital clock that sat on the counter.

6:34pm.

"Do you have any idea where he could be, Donatello?" Leo asked me.

"No, I…" Wait, I think. Maybe…but he hasn't spoken to them in…those guys are dangerous. Perhaps…are they the ones that…

I run to the garage in search of my bike. As soon as I spot it I run to it and kick up the kickstand. "Wait," Leo calls after me as I make my way down the driveway, "where are you going?!"

I look over my shoulder briefly. "To the spot where Raph may be! But I'm hoping I'm wrong!" I yell as I pedal as hard as I can.

I can hear Leo yelling in the background, but I ignore him. Raph could be doing something extremely stupid, and I had to stop him.

I turn my bike sharply, heading down towards Nathan and his gang's hideout.

Last time he hung out with those guys, he nearly got beat up on his own. What will they do now? Did they do that to Casey?

When my bike turns, I drag my foot across the pavement to prevent from toppling over. He's a lunatic, I think as I begin to pedal harder and faster. I keep my eye on the lookout for the brick alleyway with a purple dragon spray painted onto the wall.

My twin's so stupid. He doesn't know that he's going to get himself killed. We're only in eight grade for gosh sake's and he's getting into fights with kids in tenth grade. Multiple kids at that.

"I did part of the job! You didn't have to beat Casey up!" I heard the sound of my twin's gruff voice. I pedal harder.

"True," I hear Nathan's voice, "you did do part of the job, but you didn't do all of the job."

"I can't hurt him!" Raph objects. "Why do you want to hurt the one's I care about?! What did they ever do to you?!" What are they going to do? I heard a loud echoing sound of metal hitting brick and I winced, speeding up a bit more.

"It's not about what they did," Nathan's voice was deep, quiet, and dangerous. "It's what you did."

"Well," Came Raphael's impatient voice, "what did I do?"

Nathan chuckled dangerously. "Don't you know?" I was so caught up in listening to the conversation that I didn't notice the giant pot hole in front of me. My tire bumped the pot hole causing me to lose control of my bike. When the tire tried to go up the other side of the pot hole, it got stuck and sent me flying across the air, tumbling when my body reached the pavement.

I groaned as my body flopped down in front of the hideout, showing not just Nathan, but…

2…

4…

6…

8…

10…

12…

14…

fourteen other kids in the Purple Dragon's gang.

"Donnie?" Raph asks with a bit of an edge. I look over at him and wave nervously.

Raph groans as the Purple Dragons smile maliciously my way. My expression is one of nervousness as I slowly back away, crawling on my hands and scooting on my behind. With each move I take backwards, the PD's take a step forward.

"Leave him alone!" Raph yells. Everyone turns to him, a look of shock on their faces. "This between me and you bozos! This doesn't concern my brothers or my friends or anyone else at that! If you wanna fight someone, you will fight me, not my brothers, and not my friends! Me!"

I get to my feet and look to the PD's and then back to Raph. "Raph," I ask, panting heavily, "what are you talking about. What's between you and them?"

Raph looked to his feet that were planted on the cement ground. He didn't utter one sound or word. "You mean he didn't tell you?" Nate asks me.

I look to Nate in confusion all the while Raph death glared at Raph. "What didn't he tell me?"

Raph growled under his breath, his eyes still directed to the cement. I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "What didn't you-"

"He trashed your locker." Nate told me quickly.

My eyes widened. "You?" I asked with venom. "You trashed my locker? So that means you're also the one who tore up my textbooks and ruined my projects. You?!" I screeched, my voice high and scratchy.

Raph didn't look at me. He didn't speak. He didn't sigh. He didn't groan. He was motionless.

"How could you do such a thing?!" I asked in a yell.

Still he said nothing. Why isn't he saying anything to me? I growled under my breath. "You're coming home with me now, and if you object I will call Leo, and we both know that he doesn't take no for an answer!"

Raph looked back at the Purple Dragons, and Nate nodded before whispering something in his ear. I look in curiosity, but my anger still bubbles underneath my core. Slowly, Raph makes his way up to me, my glare still hard and cold.

I pick up my bike that's still lying in the pothole, and I hop onto it. I look back at Raph briefly. "You can explain to Leo where we were and why." I tell him, my voice dangerously low, before I take off, glancing back every so often to make sure that Raph is following behind me.

OoOoOoO

As we enter the garage, I throw my bike down onto the concrete floor with a huff, and I stomp inside the house.

"Now, Donnie, look, I-"

"I don't want to hear it Raphael!" I say sternly as I begin to stomp up the stairs of our home. Childish? Maybe, but he destroyed a lot of my work. Important work at that.

"Donnie, ya gotta listen-"

I whirl around to glare at my twin who stayed at the bottom of the stairs, one foot on the first step. "I," I say, "don't have to listen to you! Why should I?! The one guy who is supposed to have my back goes and stabs me in the back! Am I supposed to just let that go?! All of that work that you destroyed that I was punished for?! I'm not doing it Raphael!"

"Look," Raph tries to tell me, "I'm sorry, but let me explain-"

"Why should I?!" I ask, fire blazing in my maroon eyes. "You completely destroyed work that I had to work on for weeks! Why should I let you explain?!"

Raph sighed. I guess he was done fighting, knowing I wasn't going to let him explain anything. "I'm sorry, Don."

"Sorry doesn't cut it. Not this time, Raphael." I growl, a scowl on my face. I run into our room, and I gather up his blanket and pillow before running back to the top of the stairs and throwing them down.

I didn't stick around to see his reaction, but I pictured it to be one of shock. "Yer kickin' me outta our room?" He asked in disbelief. I slammed our door in response.

I crossed my arms over my chest before marching over to my bed and sitting on it. I could feel angry tears seeping into my eyes, but I ignored them.

That no good, low life-

"Donnie?" A small voice came from my door. I look to my door to see teared up, baby blue eyes. His cheeks were wet and his blonde hair was matted. He looked as if he had been crying hard.

"Mike?" I ask in concern as I walk over to him, kneeling in front of him. "Mikey, what's wrong?"

He sniffed lightly, rubbing his right fist against his right eye. "You and Raph were fighting." He said in a high pitched, whiny voice.

I frown and open my arms, allowing him to snuggle into my chest. "Hey," I tell him as he begins to cry once more, "don't cry. Everything's alright."

"Are you and Raphie going to get a divorce?"

The question was so small and so innocent that I couldn't help but slightly chuckle. Since he was eight-years-old, and had happily married parents, he hadn't had the grasp on the concept of divorce. He didn't understand that two people had to be married to get a divorce, and Raph and I, were not married, and never were going to be married since we're brothers, and not attracted to men.

But I didn't bore him with those facts. Instead, I shook my head. "No, Mikey, Raph and I aren't getting a divorce. We just had an argument. Raph did something that made me upset, so I yelled at him. But just because we mess up and get mad at each other doesn't mean we don't love each other. We just don't always see eye to eye."

Mikey sniffed gently as he nodded against my shoulder. "Ok, Donnie." He said as he continued to sniff. I kissed his head softly while rubbing his back.

"Everything's ok." I said.

OoOoOoO

The walk to school today was different than normal ones. On a normal day, Raph, Mikey, Leo, and I all walked to school together. Today, however, Leo walked with Raph while I walked with Mikey, considering that Raph and I still aren't on good terms.

I smiled fondly as I watched Mikey continuously try to keep his balance on the curb as he quoted his alphabet. "You're doing good, Mikey."

He smiled at me as he continued to keep his balance, his arms stretched out on his sides. "Thanks, Donnie!" He said as he looked back down to the curb and began to once again recite the alphabet.

"Hey, Donatello!" I hear a familiar voice call out.

A feminine one.

My cheeks immediately begin to heat up as I notice Fang trying her best to sprint down the sidewalk to meet up with Mikey and I.

"Hey, Fang." I call out weakly, my feelings towards her making me vulnerable at this point.

Once she reached me, she seemed out of breath. Probably because she hasn't eaten much, I think as I look at her ribs. Why is she so skinny?

She handed me a paper that was folded up to look like a pamphlet. "I finished the summary and stuff at the library yesterday. Y'know, before the whole tornado thing."

"Yeah," I breathed out as I began to read her summary. She had the details and facts down to smallest grammar mistake. "This is really good, Fang."

She smiled at me. "Thanks," She said as she began to pull her blue hair up into a ponytail. "So did your house get spared by the tornado yesterday?"

"Yeah," I tell her as I adjust my backpack, "it went right past our house, but everything seems fine. What about your house?"

She paled as she slightly became slower. "Yeah," She said quietly, "everything was spared."

I look at her in worry and shock before waving a hand in front of her face. "Uh, Fang," I ask, "are you ok?"

"Huh?" She asks as she gives a little jump as she came out of her trance like state. She looks to me then looks to Mikey before plastering a smile back onto her face. "Oh, yeah," She said, though it seemed forced. "I'm fine."

I looked to her arms, legs, wrists, and ankles. They were all cut up. She was bruised up too. From the tornado, I wonder? "What are all of those wounds from?" I ask.

She looks down to her wrists and ankles. "Oh," She says, almost surprised, "these? Um…I'm not quite sure."

I looked at her skeptically. That is until I heard a new voice.

"Fang!" I heard a manly voice yell. It was deep and burly. Kind of like Raph's Batman voice, just to a lighter degree. "Get back here!"

She whirled around, hazel eyes wide with fear. She nodded once. "Yes, Father." She said, almost robotically.

He grabbed her wrist, right on one of her wounds and twists her arm, her eyes immediately widening in pain. "You didn't clean up after last night!" He bellowed.

She began to tear up, her eyes still wide. "I'm sorry, Father," She said quietly. "I must have forgot." That look in her eyes told me that that was a lie. She didn't forget. Something must have happened.

I put Mikey behind me, his own eyes wide with fear. "That's going to cost you more to clean up! You're not going to school today!" And that's when she began to struggle against her father's grip.

"No, please!" She yelled, trying to rip her arm away from her father's grip. "Please don't hurt me again!"

That's when I snapped, my eyes blanketed with anger and fear. I turn to Mikey. "Mikey," I tell him quietly, "I need you to take my phone, and run as fast as you can to the school. I need you to call Leo on your way and tell him that I need some help. Say one of my friends are in trouble and that we're on Firecore street. Got it?"

Mikey nodded before taking off down the street. I look back towards the two and watch as Fang's father tries to drag her down the sidewalk. This isn't a good idea, I think, but my feet reacted faster than my brain.

I run towards the two and jump onto Fang's father's back. "Leave her alone!" I yell as I begin to tug on his short hair. Fang's father's grip releases on her, and she tumbles to the ground.

"You little runt!" He yells as he tries to grab me by something, but he fails miserably.

I growl inside of my head. Every man has a weak spot, and that weak spot is the same for them all, I think unpleasantly. I jump down to the concrete and in one swift move, I kick the man down where a man should never be kicked.

His face contorts into one of pain. And I scowl at him, a growl coming along with the package.

I look down the street to find Leo running down the street along with Raph. "What's wrong?" He asks me before his eyes land upon the pain filled man.

"This man attacked Fang. I stopped him. Mikey's at the school as we speak."

"So I've been told." Leo says as he looks to the man and then down at Fang.

"Fang," He asks, "do you know this man? What does he want? Why did he attack you?"

Fang sighs gently as she begins to stand, rubbing her hand against the top of her head. "I guess it's time for me to come clean."

This chapter uploading gave me quite a bit of trouble, but I got it up for you guys! Yay! Did you like it, love it, hate it? Let me know. Your opinion matters. :)