𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚝 ペイント 𝚕𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚘 𝚡 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

chapter nine: at this point, everybody needs therapy; including me.

     "What do you mean, 'Leo's missing'?" You demanded, rising to your knees as you held your hips, eyeing the mutant before you. "How do you lose him? Your older brother? The giant identical turtle in your midst?" Your voice had risen, almost to the same octave of Yaki and Raph arguing in the next room, your eyebrows furrowed. You didn't mean to sound so angry but you couldn't believe that they had simply lost their brother again. You understood why it had occurred last time, because he had been injured, but now you couldn't comprehend why. The text he had sent the night before hadn't indicated anything of Leonardo's mood, only his joy at how much they had bonded together.

    "Well there are four of us, it's easy to get confused." Donatello stared at you, unblinking.

     You stared at Donatello, your mouth slightly ajar, an eyebrow raised. "Um..."

      "That was supposed to be a joke, by the way," Donatello chuckled softly, rubbing his shoulder as he tilted his head to the side with a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

     "It's-it's alright." You laughed quietly, plopping yourself back down onto the floor. "You just don't seem to be the sort of type to make... Jokes." You winced softly, wondering if you had overstepped the line with your remark.

     "It's my face, isn't it?" Donatello sighed, massaging his temples with a frown. "Ugh, my father always said I always looked too serious, just really grumpy all the time." He quietly grumbled, tugging at the collar of his deep purple sweater.

     "Donnie-" You exhaled, shoulders slumping, rubbing your hands along your forearms. Worry was consuming you, as you were desperate to grab any silver of information concerning your dear friend.

    "Oh- right," Donnie let out a shrill nervous laugh, quickly clearing his throat. "As I was saying... I went to check up on Leo a few hours ago and- he wasn't in his room." He frowned as he glanced down at the palms of his bandaged hands, exhaling. "He wasn't in the dojo, the tunnels, or any of the rooms."

    You nodded your head as if you knew what he was going on about. What the hell was a dojo anyway? Was it anything like the training room from that show, ninjago? It was probably that same room, seeing as they were all... ninjas. 'Oh wait Donnie's still talking-' You thought sheepishly, slightly shaking your head to regain your train of thought concerning Donnie's droning.

      "And he disabled the tracker I had on his phone!" Donatello huffed, crossing his arms out of annoyance as he looked up at you. He seemed to be more annoyed at the death of his little tracking device, then of his older brother missing.

      "You-" You rubbed your eyes, dragging your hands across your temples, gently shaking your head. "You put a tracker inside of your older brothers phone?" You let out another small flustered, full of disbelief.

      "Uh... Yeah." The mutant scoffed, twisting the purple bandanna that was tightly wrapped around his wrist. "He wasn't supposed to know about it, it was simply a precaution to keep him safe."

      "Safe? Safe from what?" You questioned cautiously, gently shuffling forward on the hardened carpet that seemed to scratch at your grey sweats.

      "Himself." Donatello paused to allow the dramatic revelation to settle, while you merely eyed him, awaiting his next sentence.

      "Are you saying... That you think, Leo went out tonight to... hurt himself?" From the little that you knew about him, the thought seemed absolutely absurd. You didn't know whether to laugh or fall back against the carpet full of tears and shock. But who were you to question the man who was literally Leo's brother? He obviously knew the mutant better than you did, and though you had learned much about him through their few days together- it would never be enough... Would it?