What They Don't Understand, What They Can't Conquer (#6)

"People fear what they can't understand, and hate what they can't conquer."

-Andrew Smith

Notes: These both hurt me hard (of course slavery hurts everyone, or it should at least make you lose at least a bit of faith in humanity) and the Ferry incident got me so disturbed, I couldn't sleep for 4 days. I really couldn't, it shook me up too much. I couldn't stop thinking about it since my worst fear is being with people and turning around to them being gone only to find out I've been abandoned.

(Tmi Ik)

TMNT 2k14/2k16 - Don and Raph

Part Two – What They Can't Understand

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NINJA TURTLES OR THEIR AMAZING BROTHERLY FLUFFINESS

Don tried to keep his sniffling quiet. Why was he so worked up about this?

"Don?"

'Damnit.' He thought, belittling himself.

"Don, what's wrong bro?" Raph stood concerned in the Lab entrance, his eyes sweeping over anything physical on Don, also trying to read his younger brother.

"Don…" He was losing his patience. There was not a (at least new anyways) scratch or dent on him, nor was anything in the area standing out.

"I-I'm fine." He stammered lamely.

He scoffed. "Sure."

"Please Raphie, I'm fine." He sniffed, fixing his glasses and shifting in his chair.

"Well, I ain't leavin' 'till I know what's got ya upset." Raph said stubbornly. He continued to stare at Don and smirked as he watched Don slowly break by shifting, moving around, flickering eyes back and forth, etc.

"Fine! I was- was watching…" He mumbled the rest.

"What? Don, I can't hear ya bro if ya ain't speakin' up." He growled, not much more patience left.

"I said I was watching a video!" Don snapped lightly.

"It was about, about African American humans, or more like all colored humans..." Don seemed nervous but Raph was still deadpanning. Don figured as much, none of them had to learn from Master Splinter about history in America. Only Japanese history, and even then, it was limited. So naturally, Raph didn't really know about slavery, none of the brothers did for that matter.

"Yeah?"

"And-and how people used to sell and beat and use them like slaves way back in history." He finished meekly.

To Don's surprise, Raph just sighed.

"Wait, do you already-"

"Leo and me… we both did our fair share of searchin'. Remember when Leo and I got along? We used ta find books an' stuff about it. We were shocked too, but learned ta except it. It's history now little brother, it's done wit." His Brooklyn accent was heavy with sorrow and nostalgia.

'Now I seem dumber.'

"Is that what ya were snifflin' 'bout? Slavery?"

"Ma-maybe…" Don kept his head down in embarrassment and his green cheeks were pink now. He twiddled with his fingers as Raph approached him.

"Don, it ain't nuthin' ta be ashamed 'bout. Yer just more sensitive ta that stuff. It's fine bro. In a way, they were kinda just like us." It was rare Raph mused, but when he did, he normally was great at connecting the dots right back to the source. Mikey sometimes would joke about how he could be a detective if he could.

"How?" Don was about to wipe the fresh tears away but Raph had crouched down at Don's eye level and done it for him.

"People fear what they don't undastand right? Just like us, no one could undastand why they were a different color. Same thing wit us. Just, 'tis more than just a skin color." He finished smirking.

"A-and like how people didn't think of them as equals because of it, just like us." Don's lisp came more pronounced with each word as he struggled to recompose himself. How could people do that.

"Yeah." Raph looked over to Don's laptop and realized what he'd been doing. On the screen was a YouTube video with a paused screen showing dark skinned men in crummy clothes being spraying by policemen with water houses. He cringed, knowing that in one book, it explained that high pressure water could feel like getting blasted or shot.

Raph forcefully, but not too much to break the damned thing, slammed the laptop shut.

"Yer sleeping, now."

"Bu-"

"No objections Brainiac. Sleep, now." Don sighed as Raph grabbed him in a headlock before shoving him out of the lab.

"Hey," He said gently, seeing Don's saddened face, "Yer sleepin' wit me tanight." He knew Don was thinking about the unpleasant images again.

"Thanks."

"No problem little brotha. Just next time, don't go round lookin' up that crap. Ain't no time ta live in tha past, right?"

"Right."

Raph held him younger brother tighter than he ever had before that night. He'd be damned if anything else humans did wrong reached his little brother again. He held him tighter, as if to protect him from the world. And Don did nothing but sleep, his brother's tight embrace letting him know he was safe and that it was all just really in the past.

Raph and Leo shared glances, since they'd woken up first, they had decided to share to each other their last night stories, and they both came up with the same solution to their problem.

"We're banning them from YouTube."
"Tha internet in general."

"Yep."