Burnout

Nothing Forever

(TW: Major Character Death)

"I needed this... so much, Leo. I-I... I wanna go home. But, I want it to be home, not wherever we've been living for who knows how long. I want our dad, not Master Splinter, and I want Raph and Mikey and Leo, not Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. I wanna be Donnie, not Donatello, not brainiac, not nerd. Just... just Donnie." I sighed and let myself get silent.

"Donnie, we can go home now. I'll talk to Sense- dad and we'll figure things out, okay? Everything's going to be alright now, Leo's got you." He stood there, unmoving, protecting me and holding me in his arms. He was my older brother, he was going to make things ok again. I could hear the pain in his voice, though, he was trying not to cry. I was going to find a way to repay him. Before I could catch my breath, Raph and Mikey ran up, only seeing Leo's concerned face in the arms of a stranger, and stopped to assess the situation. I knew they were there, which only caused me to tighten my grip. Leo's tears fell onto my cloak and he winced at my tight grip, giving them the impression that I was a threat.

"Leo!" Mikey screamed out in fear, only worsening my nerves. I grabbed my mask from Leo's hand to hide the fear without thinking about the consequences. 

"Don't your dare hurt him, you coward! Fight me!" He pulled out his twin sai and charged, motioning for Mikey to take Leo out of "harms way", even though I wasn't going to hurt him. As he went to attack, I did my best to dodge, but my panic got the best of me, causing me to stumble forward; that gave the impression that I was moving to attack, I supposed. Before I could even realize, I couldn't see his one of his sai anymore. I could feel a warm stream trickle down my chest and filter through my cloak. I heard Leo scream and looked at him, unaware what could've bothered him until I looked down. The sai was deep in my chest, being forced further by Raph. 

"Donnie, no!!!" Leo broke free from Mikey's arms as the realization hit them both. Raph ripped of the mask quickly and stared into my eyes.

"D-Donnie?" I could see the fear in his eyes.

"Hey Raph..." I was only so calm from the adrenaline rush that induced a shock to numb the pain, which didn't last very long. It felt like fire spreading from the deepest part of my wound to the surface, dancing around and burning brighter as every second passed. He yanked out the sai and threw it to the ground, which I knew wasn't good. "Wait, don't!-" escaped my lips as he did so. 

"Why?! I just stabbed you!"

"You don't pull it out or you risk bleeding out!-" As if on cue, the blood began pouring out from the wound. I pulled off my cloak and wrapped it around the wound, hoping to stop the flood of my own vital fluids, and laid down on the ground so I wouldn't pass out. They all gathered around me, Mikey was already sobbing and holding onto my hand a bit too tightly.

"I'll get Splinter, he should know what to do." Leo sprinted as fast as he could until he was out of sight. I winced as the pain grew stronger, the hole in my chest tearing away at me. 

"Donnie, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I swear! You're gonna be ok, buddy, everything's gonna be fine-" Raph was panicking as well.

"I know, Raph, it's ok. Could you apply some pressure to it?" I didn't talk much or overexplain like usual to conserve energy, and he listened for once. Sensei ran in and scooped me up, racing to my lab to do whatever he could. None of them were aware enough to help right, though, especially with all of the technology they'd never paid enough attention to understand. I knew I was a lost cause at that point and started searching my mind for anything that might make things somewhat better. "Mikey, Call April, get her over here. Sensei, pick up the box labeled 'stitches' and stitch the wound. Leo, keep anyone out who doesn't need to be in here. Raph, grab the morphine and prepare anesthesia just in case, then hand it to Sensei and leave." Everyone listened to me and followed instructions perfectly.