You're Needed Here Now, Donnie

Chapter 12 - Promises Broken

*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

*Author's Notes: Here is chapter 12 of 'You're Needed Here Now, Donnie' and it's a dramatic one. ;)

I would like to thank everyone who has been taking the time to read this story and share their comments with me. Also, thank you to my followers. I really appreciate your support. I hope that you enjoy this chapter. ;) CJ

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Chapter 12 - Promises Broken

"Leo! Mikey!" Raph barked at his two brothers who were finally starting to move around, and then, he stared back down at his brother who was not. Raph leaned over Donnie and gently cupped his little brother's face in his hands. Donnie's skin was still roasting with fever, which sent another flood of panic rampaging through Raph. "Look at me, Donnie! Wake! Up! Please!" Raph's voice rose by several decibels with each passing word that he choked out.

Still, there was no response.

"You promised me, Donnie! You promised me! You said that you would stay put and you would stay awake! Now, open your eyes!" Raph was practically begging at this point, something that he never did when he was in his right frame of mind.

Patience long gone, Raph glanced back at Leo to see that Fearless was taking his sweet time getting up. Raph could hear his older brother groaning and he could see him trying to shake the cobwebs out of his head as he pushed himself up onto his knees.

"Leo! Get your shell over here, now!" Raph snarled over his shoulder, not concerning himself with what a rude awakening that must have been for his older brother. Truthfully, Raph really didn't care. Right now, the turtle in red didn't have the time or the consideration to worry himself over something as trivial as Leo's feelings.

Unbeknownst to Raph, who had turned his back towards his older brother about halfway through his last sentence, Leo's head had shot up before his immediate younger brother had even finished yelling at him. The distinct inflection in Raph's voice had instantly snapped Leo out of his momentary haze.

Due to Raphael's undeniably poor communication skills (poor was putting it very, very mildly), the red-clad turtle's three brothers had had years of training on how to recognize and interpret the hothead's different vocal pitches and nuances accordingly. Leonardo knew Raph's current tone all too well and it spoke volumes without the need for actual words. Leo's heart filled with unspeakable dread, for the tone that his temperamental brother had just utilized told him all that he didn't want to know.

Raph doesn't use that tone unless . . .

"Donnie?" Leo gasped as he looked in the direction that Raph's voice had projected from.

The first thing that caught Leo's attention was the sight of Rahzar pinned underneath a big cardboard box, seemingly down for the count. The second thing that Leo noticed was Raph. His younger brother's slouched frame was hovering over their genius brother, whose thin figure was laid out on the street just off to the right of where Rahzar was. Panic seizing hold of him with rapid force, Leo did a frantic scan for Mikey and soon discovered that the youngest turtle was lying down on the sidewalk about twenty some feet away from where Leo was currently kneeling. Mikey looked as though he had gotten his bell rung, but he was at least making an attempt to get up. Donnie, on the other hand, did not appear to be moving. Standard triage protocols told the leader in blue that his purple-clad brother took top priority.

Without a second's delay, Leo pushed himself up and was at Donnie's side before Raph even realized that the oldest turtle was back on his feet.

"Raph? What happened?" Leo asked more bluntly than normal and the scorn in his voice was obvious. The smooth contours of Leo's face were shadowed, but Raph could still see his older brother's facial muscles tighten and twitch with a combination of fear and disgust. Leo's piercing sapphire eyes stayed locked on Donnie as he quickly went about checking his second youngest brother for new injuries while he waited for Raph to respond to his question.