Brothers

Useless

He could have been there, fighting alongside his brother. He could have helped more. He should have helped more.

Instead he stood by, listening to his younger brother getting pummeled through their communicators.

Useless.

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Donnie sighed.

He had only been trying to help. He didn't understand why Leo was mad at him.

Albearto could have hurt him.

An image of the robot drilling into Leo's face flashed through his mind.

He immediately shook his head, trying to ignore the thought.

Don't think that way.

He wouldn't have gotten hurt. At least not as bad as last time.

The purple, veiny, tentacle covered monsters.

He could have been there, alongside his brother. He could have helped more. He should have helped more.

Instead he stood by, listening to his younger brother getting pummeled through their communicators.

Useless.

"Donnie?" He jumped, then snapped his head towards where the sound had come from. "I got you some flavorless juice," S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. said.

Note to self, set up a system to announce when someone comes in.

He quickly snatched the juice, chugging half of it.

"You doing okay?" Donnie nearly dropped his juice. He had completely forgotten that S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N was there.

"Leonardo seems to be pretty mad at you."

The two were silent for a second.

Donnie sat down on his bed, head in his hands. "Yeah." He whispered. "Yeah, he is." Or he thought so, he really had no idea what his brother was thinking sometimes.

"Why?" S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N asked. "I have no idea," Donnie replied. "I was trying to help him, why would be be upset about that?!" He stared off and into a corner of his room. He was trying to think of what to do, when he heard a knock on the wall.

"Hey little bro. You okay?" Raph was standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, Raph. I'm fine."

Silence.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"Positive?"

Donnie looked up at his brother, and kept his eyes there for a moment, wondering whether or not to tell the truth. Raph started to speak, but before he could get a word out, Donnie answered, "I'm good."

Raph stood there awkwardly, just looking around. He knew Donnie wasn't telling the truth, but he couldn't really force it out of him. "Okay. Dinner in an hour." And then he left to go talk to Leo.

Donnie sat there for a few more minutes, occasionally looking around the room, desperate for something to do.

He didn't know how long he'd sat there for. Five minutes turned to ten, then to thirty, then- "Donnie!" He shot up like a rocket, realizing he'd sat there for a whole hour.

What a waste of time.

Then, something caught his eye. It was a buckle from one of his escape pods. He'd kept it there to look at and work out how to improve it.

Why not make up for that hour now?

"S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.?"

"Yes?"

"Bring me some dinner."

As the drone flew off, Donnie started gathering parts and putting them on the table.