A/N: Chapter revised and slight dialogue additions added on July 31, 2022.
Chapter TextChapter Three: What Was Lost…Now Found? Part 2
"My sons, your brother…Donatello…will not be coming back home," Splinter regretted each word. The look on his small sons' face made the rat feel like he had aged. His heart went out for his sons, and he wanted nothing more than to comfort them, but how could he?
How could Splinter comfort his sons when he was dealing with his own pain? For the first time to Leonardo, who was trying his best not to break down in front of their sensei, Splinter did not have all the words he wished to hear. Splinter always would have a way to answer their questions. But when Michelangelo had asked when Donatello would be coming home soon…
Leonardo shivered. Donatello, his little brother, would be coming home. There was no way that Donnie would stay missing for long. It was not the first time that one of them had gotten lost in the sewers.
It was a 13th birthday. Nothing big and nothing special.
Well, it was supposed to be a birthday that was big and special, anyways. However, Mikey recalled that this day met with the same silence and darkness that covered their home too often.
March 20th used to be a day that was usually celebrated in happiness, celebration, takeout food, and of course the fun. The best thing about anyone's birthday was that there was no training, unless it was Leonardo's.
(Said turtle had somehow managed to convince Raphael last year that a game of tag would not be training even after Michelangelo had devoured too much cake. This year that was not happening!)
There would be a massive amount of presents for a certain brother who was quite shy on his birthday. Sadly, the orange masked turtle remembered, this day was now probably one of the darkest days of the year.
The lair was silent, and Mikey noticed none of his brothers had made their way into the kitchen yet. Mikey was up extremely early today. He knew it was a birthday and it deserved to be celebrated with happiness, even if the rest of the family members did not feel that way. Don's birthday reminded Michelangelo that he existed. Donatello's memory deserved to be honored on his birthday. Today was going to be different.
Why, it was Mikey's idea to have the entire family together on this day instead of sulking in their rooms.
Today was Donnie's birthday. Ever since his older brother had passed away, Donnie's birthday as more as the morning of a funeral than celebrating what time they had enjoyed with Donatello. Unlike the actual date of the accident, his birthday seemed to bring up even more pain for everyone.
Mikey was determined to change that this year. For when it is your 13th birthday, it is the time you start to enter your teenage years and grow into a man (at least, for a certain turtle named Leonardo who was trying to act more like a man than Raphael or Mikey himself). So, Michelangelo decided instead of trying to focus on the sadness that Donnie would not be celebrating his 13th birthday; rather Mikey chose they would celebrate it for him. To celebrate his life.
Everything had been all set. A small birthday cake that both Master Splinter and Michelangelo spent a couple of hours baking last night. The cake tasted like espresso, vanilla, and chocolate. It sounded gross but thanks to his father's sense of taste and smell, it had a taste of espresso and coffee that Mikey secretly knew Donnie would have loved. Now, it was just the matter of stopping himself from digging into the cake. He loved sweets and he quietly wondered if Master Splinter was eager to try the recipe they had made together.
Both Michelangelo and Master Splinter sat at the breakfast table, waiting calmly as they could for the entire family to be there. The only missing two were, of course, Raphael and Leonardo.
"Michelangelo, go see what is keeping your brothers this morning," Splinter ordered in a nice tone. Though his sensei did sound happy this morning, Mikey knew that it was more of a forced tone coming from the rat. Mikey knew that it was an act more than likely to help Michelangelo's and his brothers' pain on a day like this. Donatello was on Splinter's mind more than ever this morning.
"No problem, sensei."
Mikey walked towards the dojo, where he last recalled seeing both Raph and Leo at. Coming from the sounds in the dojo, the two brothers were currently sparring and talking. The orange masked turtle raised an eye ridge in surprise. They weren't fighting? That was exceedingly rare. The older the two turtles got, the more moodier they had become.
Peeking through the door to call them to come to the breakfast table he stopped when he heard Raphael's voice.
"I don't understand why Masta Splinter decided to let Mikey actually go through with celebrating Don's birthday today. He ain't even here to celebrate it with us."
Mikey frowned. Of course, Raphael would not even want to acknowledge that today was Donnie's birthday (even if he was no longer here to celebrate it). The sounds of a katana meeting a sai and then a quick movement to the left made Mikey back away from the door and sink to the floor.
"Mikey was the one that took the longest to get over what happened, remember?"
"Ya kidding Leo, Mikey still hasn't gotten over it." Clash, clunk. An angered and hurt growling noise from Raphael met the youngest turtle's ears.
Could he really be hearing Leonardo and Raphael talk about him missing Don that way? Were the two already over that their other baby brother was not with them on his birthday? No! He clearly remembered how the other two always seemed to be…off when Donnie was ever brought up by name or in passing.
Mikey frowned and slowly fought back a rush of tears that were forcing their way out. No, if Leo and Raph had their way, they would just like that Donnie mentioned or thought of again. At times, even Splinter seemed the same way…
What was wrong with his family? Was Mikey wrong in wanting to acknowledge Donnie's 13th birthday? A mere two weeks before his own?
Donatello hurt. His jaw hurt. Blood was seeping from the inside of his lip, and he knew his jaw was badly bruised. The blood tasted like a rusty iron and left a terrible taste. Secretly, Don hoped that his jaw was not fractured.
The young turtle leaned heavily on his bo staff as he waited for the large man's next move. The man kept charging and was not allowing Donatello the chance to even use any smoke pellets. He had to stay on the defensive side every time the man charged, or Donatello rushed him.
Though the bo staff was a defensive weapon more than an offensive weapon, the idea of fighting with it was to keep any opponents away from you. The bo staff was a long-range weapon, so it helped keep your opponents away from you. However, the weapon was hard to wield in tight places such as his current predicament.
The ninjas had circled even closer around Donatello and the large man. A quick glance around him made a stone form in his stomach. He wanted to get revenge on these humans for hurting (he did not use the word killed because he refused to accept it, not until he saw it with his own eyes) the Akira family.
Don rushed towards the larger man while Hun grinned. The turtle had not even worn him out. There was no more playing around with the turtle. As the turtle swung the staff towards Hun's head, the large man grabbed the staff with both hands above his head. In a split second, Hun removed the staff from Donatello's hands and broke it in half.
Though, Hun was not expecting the sudden round house kick that met his face when he had grabbed the bo staff. Instead of trying to fight for his weapon back, Donatello used the situation to his advantage.
Finally, for once, the kick dazed the large man. Hun flew backwards into several ninjas, at least making Hun's landing little softer. Reaching into his bag, Donatello grabbed some smoke pellets and threw them at the feet of the ninjas. The smoke filled the air within seconds and Don jumped up and courtesy of the taller ninjas, they became a nice landing stool for him to get an escape.
A grip on his foot said otherwise. The turtle's escape was cut short when he felt a strong hand grab his foot. Suddenly, the law of physics caught up with the turtle as found himself flying around in a circle…
"Raph, slow down! We do not even know what we are getting ourselves into!" Leonardo yelled.
"Oh come on Leo, lay off! All we have to do is break up a little gathering with the Foot," Raphael replied. The red masked turtle was leading with Leo and Mikey running behind.
"Our last little 'break up' resulted in us barely escaping alive," Leo reminded.
Michelangelo took that moment to chime in and looked towards Leo, "But weren't you too busy trying to talk Karai out of hurting us is how we got ambushed by more Foot Ninjas?"
Leonardo resisted the urge to slap his youngest brother and he heard Raphael's snicker. Yes indeed. He had been too busy talking to Karai (trying to persuade her from her current dealings with the Foot which somehow never seem to work).
Leo opened his mouth to respond when they were finally coming upon a fire and smoke just a couple of buildings away. The smoke mixed in with the smell of the city, creating an aroma that made the eldest turtle frown. The smoke made the city smell…wrong.
The turtles stopped and looked towards Leo. For a split second, Leonardo was expecting to see Raphael suddenly charge down and start kicking the shell out of their enemies. Honestly, no one could blame Leonardo for thinking that either. Raphael was sometimes the most predictable (or unpredictable) turtle when it came to these nightly runs.
Leo nodded quietly and approached the edge of the building, as did his brothers. A pained cry made its way up to the turtles' ears.
To their horrific shock, the turtles looked down and saw a dreaded enemy they knew all too well. The Shredder aka Oroku Saki.
But most shockingly, there seemed to be a turtle at his feet, with his "clawed" hand ready to strike…