No Use |TMNT

Chapter 27

"Donnie?" Mike entered the room, slowly, his grip white-knuckled on the handle. He approached the bed where his brother sat and scribbled on a notebook.

"Hey, buddy, whatcha doing?" Mikey asked, his voice now louder, and he set the tool box down.

Don looked up at him.

"Watcha doing?" He asked again, his hand massaging his shell. Donnie glanced at his notebook and showed Mikey his doodles. Mike heart felt like it stopped, "you drew this?" He whispered, wishing that Donnie would have shaken his head, but he nodded.

Both Raph and Donnie were great artists, they didn't really use their talent, but when it did, it was marvelous. But this, this bunch of random, nonsense scribbles—they shattered Mikey's heart. This wasn't the Donnie he loved, this was… his brother was never going to be the same, just like Kirby had told them. But he didn't want that to be true.

"Come on." He said almost stubborn and gripped Donnie's wrist, pulling his brother up. Donnie complied quietly, he looked up at his brother as he trailed behind.

Mikey harshly released his grip, and sat down on the floor. Donnie followed along and sat across from him. Mike opened the tool box, and laid the tools in-between them. Don gawked and then looked back at Mike. Mikey squeezed his shoulder, blue hardened eyes locked on confused brown ones.

Mikey's jaw clenched, his hands visibly shaking. He hated the way his brother looked so confused, so oblivious, his face flushed. "Here take this." He shoved the screwdriver on his brother's hand. Donnie held the screwdriver, limply. He released the tool and the screwdriver hit the floor with a thud.

"Come on, work with me, bro!" Mike cried out and forcefully grabbed Donnie's wrist, and placed the screwdriver in his grasp again. "You used to work with this nearly every day, and now you can't even hold it?!" Mike's tears blurred his vision, and he hiccupped. "Stop acting like that- like you can't do this. It's not that heavy!"

His hands wrapped around Donnie's hand to make sure his brother was holding the screwdriver. Mike released, and rubbed his eyes, roughly. "See? You can do it! Now, here." He dug into the tool box, grabbing a piece of wood and various nails. "Do something, smart, science-y. Anything!" He's practically screaming at him, and Donnie almost hid himself in his shell.

Tears started to stream down his face, but Mikey kept yelling at him.

Donnie's grasp on the tool loosened, hitting his leg, but he was more focused on his brother. He used the back of his hand to rub his eyes. Confused on what to do. Mike would never lash out at him.

He whimpered and in a fearful attempt, tried comforting Mikey. His hands trembled as he hiccupped tears back. He wanted Mike to stop, it was triggering blurs of memories that he wanted to forget. In both frustration and fear, he reached up to his little brother, in hopes to calm him.

Mike didn't allow Donnie to touch him as he shoved him away.

"Quit it, Dee!" Mikey said in-between sobs, "J-just stop. You're not you anymore, I – I…" He didn't finish when both Leo and Raph came to what seemed like crashing through the door. All they could see was the tools laid out, and nails everywhere. Mikey was hysterically crying, and Donnie was hunched against the wall.

"What's going on?" Leo asked, before Raph could. He opened the door wider, pushing the tools away and walked in between his two youngest brothers. From the corner of his eye, Leo could see the fallen screwdriver by Donnie's figure. There was a brightly red stain by it, and Leo's gaze hardened.

Mike didn't answer. Raph stepped from behind Leonardo and towards Donnie to check on him.

"Mikey, what are you doing?" He looked at all the tools, and wordlessly pushed them away from Donnie.

"I – I" Mikey sputtered in a heap of helplessness. He couldn't answer – he couldn't —not when sobs shook his body to its very core, not when Donnie wasn't —wouldn't ever be—another whimper escaped him. He didn't want to think of that – he didn't want to think of his brother any different.

Before Leo could ask another question, he turned to find Raph carrying Donnie out in fireman style. Leo gave a firm nod towards Raph, Leo didn't want Donnie to listen.

Leo closed the door, and folded his arms. He waited for Mikey to calm down to speak to him. But after seconds turned to minutes, Leo's face softens and he knelt by Mikey. Mike looked at him, eyes filled with tears, and finally answered. "I – I, I'm sorry." He sniveled, and the tears continued to roll down his cheeks.

"I didn't mean for this to happen." He softly whispered, and Leo believed him, because Mikey would never act this way purposefully. Leo sat on the ground, looking at the tools. It didn't take a genius to understand the situation.

"You gave him the tools for Donnie to do something with them, right?"

Mike gaped at him like the whole world had frozen. He sniffled, and closed his eyes out of shame, and nodded.

"Mikey it's-"

Mikey unexpectedly jumped into his arms. His sobs rose again, and he buried his face into Leo's shoulder blade. "I want Donnie back!" He cried suddenly, "I want him to be normal, and for him to speak. I – Leo." Leo found himself embracing his brother back, hushing him like he's done to Donnie. His throat closed, and he lost himself for words.

He wanted his brother back too, but there was no way – no chance ...

"I know." Leo whispered, bringing Mikey close to him as possible. "I miss him too, but – but Donnie, he's here. We just – we're still adapting, it'll take time."

Leo pressed a kiss on Mikey's head, and Mike's sobs lowered. Leo closed his eyes and once again whispered, "it'll take time."

Normal wasn't a thing for them anyway.