Daylight

Hello, Stranger

Squeezing berries.

Check.

Mashing up- whatever that is.

Check.

Donnie's eyes find the green leaves at the end of the list. He's reminded of what happened earlier, with the workers yelling to get their friend back. Threatening to choke what's-his-name with the vines... The turtle gets rid of the thought with a shake of his head. Donnie turns to the vine, curled up in the corner of his room. Green smoke rises to the ceiling.

'Jeremy!'

The worker had been so scared. He'd never been so strong to scare someone like that before. He had felt... powerful?

But he's scared of it too.

"S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N., can you pass me some leaves from that vine over there?" Donnie asks as he turns back to the colorful container in front of him. Oranges, pinks, reds and blues float around inside. Donnie looks to his left, a small pile of the leaves now on the table. He rips each in half, adding them to the mixture. They melt inside, the colorful concoction instantly turning the same shade of green as the leaves.

It reminds Donnie of the green that had flooded his vision. Made him hurt people. It had almost been like he wasn't in control. The turtle picks up the cup of coffee from his table, telling S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. to pour some Sunshine into a needle. The drone follows the orders, while Donnie takes a sip of his coffee.

But he is in control.

Right?

The drone beeps, signaling that he's finished. Donnie puts his cup down, and reaches for the needle. Taking a deep breath, the turtle injects it into his arm. He shivers, reminded of the Kraang's tentacles reaching into his skin, his mind melding with their ship. Donnie shuts his eyes tightly. Luckily, he only has to deal with it a little longer. Donnie takes the needle out and slaps a bandage over his shoulder.

That was awful.

The turtle rubs his shell, then reaches for his coffee again. As soon as his fingers wrap around the handle, his vision fills with green. He drops the cup, not bothering to look down when his crashes to the floor. A familiar drone's muffled voice reaches his ears, but he ignores it. Memories flood in. Memories that aren't his.

Gunshots. Yelling. Anger, sadness, and rage enter his head. Donnie's mind goes through so many different people. Part of a gang, just a worker at a store who wanted to get back at his boss, a yokai who wanted revenge. All so different. But they all had something in common.

They wanted to be stronger.

Donnie feels his head hit a wall, knocking things off tables.

Bang.

'Stop.'

Bang.

'Stop!'

Donnie lifts his head up, his vision returning to normal. He leans against the wall, gasping for air. What just happened? Why is his stuff all over the floor? Before he can get any answers, his older brother, Raph, enters the room.

"Donnie?" The turtle looks down at the mess spread across the floor. Raph doesn't ask what happened, because he gets the feeling Donnie wont give him an answer. Instead, he asks, "What are you doing up? It's eleven at night, and you're supposed to be sleeping more." He doesn't expect the truth, though.

Donnie doesn't know what happened. The turtle shrugs his shoulders. He covers his bandage, remembering that he hadn't told Raph, or anybody, what he had planned to do.

"Anyway, you should be getting to bed soon. I'm going to sleep right now, actually. Do you need help cleaning-"

"I'm okay."

Raph blinks at his brother, then gives him a goodnight before heading back to his room. Donnie flops down in his own bed, letting out a large sigh. "S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N., would you clean this up for me?" He gestures down to the mess on the floor. "On it. Good night, Donatello."

Donnie rolls over in his bed, falling asleep before he can piece together what the hell just happened.

----

Donnie sits up in his bed, stretching his arms and is reminded of the bandage on his shoulder. The turtle looks down to see a clean floor, and glances over to a S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. sitting on his charging station. 

The turtle hears an unfamiliar voice. "Hello! Gosh, you look interesting for a Daylight user-" Donnie cuts off the person with a question. "Who are you? Where are you?" He reaches for his staff and starts poking around in the corners of his room, looking for the intruder.

"Wow. Just interrupt me huh? Well, I'm J-"

The turtle continues looking around, wondering who this J character is.

"And you know that Daylight you made? Yeah, well-"

"What?"

J goes silent.

"Alright, will you stop interrupting me? It's kinda rude."

Donnie huffs. He's heard that before.

"And what do you mean, what?"

"I didn't make Daylight, or whatever it is you're talking about."

"Uh, pretty sure you did."

"No, I didn't."

The voice stops, as if thinking.

"If you didn't, you wouldn't be hearing me right now. So that means you did, in fact, make Daylight. Do you even know what you just did?"

To be honest, he didn't. When he'd injected that Sunshine into himself, he'd bashed his head into walls, been people who weren't him, and had memories that weren't his own. He had no idea what he just did.

As if on cue, J continues, "You don't, do you? Well, let me explain. Daylight is the potion that many people have made before. You got that part?"

Donnie nods.

"And it is a potion that makes you stronger."

'Which is exactly what I want.'

"I made this potion myself, a long time ago. Whenever someone takes it, they get stronger, like I said. But... this is going to sound weird, but.."

"Would you hurry the explanation up?"

The voice lets out a sigh. "Yeah, I'm trying, jesus. The person who used it last enters the new person's head as a voice, probably to give them guidance or some stupid shit, I'm guessing-"

Donnie's thinking about what they just said. So a whole bunch of people have used this before? And they can communicate with the newest user. What if multiple people use it at a time? Then what? Considering this person's attitude, they probably don't have any answers.

"What did you say your name was again?"

"I'm J. You really don't listen, do you, turtle?"

"Donatello." Donnie doesn't know how they figured out he was a turtle, but that was a question for later.

J stops insulting him, just for a second. "Nice to meet you, I guess."

This is going to be pretty interesting.