Risetober 2022

Family

A/N
Sequels for the win!

Sometimes it's easy to forget you aren't alone, that your family stands by your side, ready to fight with you.

Donnie wonders sometimes if Leo forgets that...

That's a lie. Donnie wonders that a lot, ever since they saw how far their twin brother was willing to go to protect their family, how far he was willing to go alone.

Donnie can't imagine how maddening it is, to be stuck alone with a madman.

They spin the staff, preparing for a swing, only for a pair of katanas to be in the way. Donnie frowns and hisses, chittering out a playful insult that isn't as playful as it once may have been.

Leo's been through that twice and Donnie hates that.

They need a new angle, a new perspective, a new viewpoint, but Donnie isn't good at roundabout actions.

And Leo knows that.

Donnie won't leave Leo alone, not this time.

The little orb jiggles.

———

Mikey has always been able to flip and razzmatazz against any enemy. She's unpredictable, an unknown variable, a wildcard, but she's still Mikey, the one that loves to tag any wall and to bake every culinary possibility.

She likes to keep her hands busy.

But that's no longer an option, so she falls back on the few thing she can do.

And one thing Mikey is good at is paying attention to the details, like how Donnie, who takes every opportunity to quote theatre quotes only the twins understand and explain science without taking into account their lack of science brains, is no longer using words to communicate, like how Raph isn't rushing in, staying directly in the middle of Mikey, Donnie and Leo, like how Leo keeps blinking, like he's trying to wake up.

Like how Leo doesn't quite move like Leo, always a second too slow or leaning to the right instead of the left when Leo always leans to the left when swinging his katanas like that, a habit from wielding the heavier odachi.

The signs are there.

When Leo moves and arm to block a blow from Dad's tail, swiping at their father with one of his blades, Mikey sees it.

Mikey isn't a badass mystic warrior in training for nothing. Arms or no arms, she isn't helpless.

Mikey uses her feet to draw a spell circle, focusing on what she wants.

Her arms may be useless, but she still has the rest of her body.

———

April swings her bat, careful to not let it ignite. Leo gets in her way and Raph charges again, but he's slower now. April gasps as the air is kicked out of her. She glances up, watching Raph twist the katanas down, trying to avoid breaking them as he tries to disarm Leo.

April already knows it won't stop Leo and she's right.

Leo lets the weapons go, Raph charging and getting his sais stuck in the ground. He turns, only to get kicked in the face, making the much bigger turtle stumble back a bit, having lost his balance.

April's eyebrows furrow and she charges at the human in black, watching Leo grab Raph's shoulders, using them to change his moment and swing his feet around to use Raph's plastron as a springboard. It's a split second movement, but one April's seen Leo do many times before.

It's slow, she notes, pulling her bat back before it can strike Leo's already bruising arm.

April smirks, hand removing itself from her pocket as she bends under Leo's other kick, eyes locked on Leo's feet.