๐ด๐ ๐น๐๐ ๐ฑ๐๐ ๐ธ๐
๐๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ค๐ฒ๐ข
He didn't remember a time when he had felt this at peace. He didn't remember much of anything really.
Weird.
Everything was wonderful here.
Everything was perfect here.
He didn't need to remember.
๐๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ? ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ? ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ.
He stretched his arms up toward the sunshine and smiled at the steady warmth that he absorbed from it as he wandered the large expanse of tall glittering green grass. It felt good on his pebbly textured green skin.
๐๐ฆ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Leo?
He stopped and furrowed his brow.
Who was Leo?
He shrugged again and continued walking. He walked the same path everyday now for...
"Huh...I don't even know how long." He smiled serenely to himself as he crested a large hill and looked down at the field below.
It was covered in fluffy pink, magenta, coral and white flowers for as far as he could see really. He descended the hill and wandered through the field slowly. The green foliage under the heavy heads of the blooms brushed against his clothed legs.
His three fingered hands brushed against the soft petals as he passed by.
Every time he moved through them and disturbed them by touching the silky soft petals they released their intoxicating perfume into the air.
๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฌ๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ง๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฑ๐ด. ๐๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต.
He laid down within the field of flowers and pulled a deep breath in through his nose. He wasn't sure why he came here every day. It felt...right...or familiar. Something like that.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ. ๐๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ถ๐ณ๐บ.
He shook his head. Barely able to dislodge the strange images that kept bombarding him.
He looked up at the brilliant blue sky and watched as giant fluffy white clouds floated by slowly. He watched the massive flower heads bob in a lazy breeze and he reached up to brush his fingers over them again. Hmmm
What were they called again?
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฌ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ. ๐๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ?
Poppies? Hmm no. That wasn't it.
๐๐ฆ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Pansies? No no. Not it.
๐๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฆ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ, ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฌ๐บ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Petunias?... Absolutely not.
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ถ๐ด๐ฌ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆs ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ด. ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Primroses?...Still nope.
๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ค๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฆ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
He furrowed his brow again and stared intently at one of the soft pink blooms. Something about them felt so familiar. So safe.
They felt like.
Home.
But where was home?
"๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ." ๐๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ. "๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต!"
"๐๐ฐ!"
"๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ...๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ."
"๐๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด!๐๐ณ๐ข๐จฤ, ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ. ๐๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ณฤ๐ช ๐งฤ๐ณฤ ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ." ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ.
"๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ."
๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ.
"๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ช๐ต."
He rubs at his temples as a steady searing pain blossoms there. Something warm trickles from his tympanum. He lifts his fingers to touch it, bringing them in front of his face. Something metallic and gold is there on his finger tips.
Home. Where is home?
"๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ด." ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฑ.
"๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ...๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ...๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ." ๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ.
"๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ด." ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐จ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด.
"๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ...๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ...๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ...๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ." ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ธ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ญ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
He sat bolt upright as pain speared his temples again.
"Peonies!" He nearly screamed. The pain throbbed again and he had to grit his teeth.
"Peonies. Feel like home. You...are home. I said I would find you." Donatello wiped at the golden liquid that trickled from his nostrils and shifted to his knees. He squeezed his eyes shut.
He had to remember.
He had to remember everything.
He reached up to his neck where he had just noticed the light weight of something.
His fingers delicately brushed against the slim silver chain necklace there and he wrapped them around it and tugged. The chain snapped off and he held it in his palm. He gazed at it and watched as it pulsed with a golden glow and morphed into the shinmering image of a silver and gold elongated eight pointed star, hovering over his open palm.
He had to remember. Remember home.
He grasped at the star and pulled it back towards him, pushing it into his plastron, right over his heart.
Remember.
His heart was hammering in his chest. Tattooing a rapid beat there.
Home.
Memories flickered over his closed eyelids. Pain kept a steady throb in his temples.
His brothers.
He had to grit his teeth as the pain turned to a steady burn.
His family.
He cried out in pain, doubling over, holding his hands against his head as if it were splitting in two and he had to hold the pieces together.
Luciana.
The pain suddenly stopped. He took in a deep, shaking breath and looked around. Thankfully he was alone.
Or so he thought.
Where was he?
"Oh fuck." He remembered now. He remembered everything. He was dead. Very dead. Super dead.
He lifted his hands to wipe the ichor off his face and on his-
He looked down and noticed he was wearing only a pair of white slacks and a white tunic.
"Shit. There's no fucking way. Not with all the petty crimes I committed. Assault. Assault with a deadly wrapon. Blackmail. Cyber crimes, Harboring a wanted criminal, Illegal possession of firearms, the list can keep going..." He was muttering to himself as he stood up and started walking out of the field.
"There's no way they'd let me in here. And I thought I was supposed to go wherever the Hamato clan is." He narrowed his eyes in contemplation as he crested the hill again and looked around.
Yup. There was no denying what he was seeing. Glittering white city. Sunshine. Feilds of flowers. Golden gates off in the distance.
"Fucking Heaven." He growled lowly, clenching his hands into fists at his sides.
He was in Heaven. And he definitely did not belong there.