Ninja Turtles 1. Chapter 1

_His head hurt… no, his heart hurt. A sense of pain overwhelmed him as he dropped into the darkness of depression, swallowed by nightmares, eaten alive by flashbacks._

_"Why did you bring back that _murderer_?"_

_"Raph, here's some advice. Next time, instead of taking someone else's life, why not, take your own?"_

_"I'm trying to say that we're all better off without you. We don't need you, and you'll only be a burden if you even thought about killing your own."_

Don thrashed around in his bed, screaming. His brothers were trying to calm him down.

"Donny, wake up!" Mikey said nervously. Don didn't get nightmares, it was usually just him.

"Donny-boy, you better wake up…" Raph muttered under his breath.

"Don…c'mon, get up…" Leo whispered.

Master Splinter stood there watching, unsure of what to do but wait for his son to wake up.

_"This is all, YOUR fault! If Leo hadn't been so busy protecting _you_, this wouldn't have happened!"_

_Words and memories, images, voices, emotions, expressions… everything flashed through the genius turtle's mind._

_He felt himself falling…falling into a deep pit… knowing that it would take a lot to climb out, Don found it easier to just wallow inside it… he felt the thick black liquid rising…high enough to suffocate him. Suddenly, the liquid brightened, turned into a crystal clear mirror which reflected everything he did._

_"WELL WHAT DO YOU CALL ALMOST STABBING LEO, THEN?" Don yelled back.  
>"…We don't need you…"<br>"I don't get why you keep on defending your murderer!"_

_Don fought the images, he wanted to close his eyes and cover his ears so badly, but he was frozen, forced to watch his disgusting actions. "No…" he whispered. "NOOOOO!" He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't watch himself do what he did…"Please…please stop. Just stop! Help! Please, make it stop! Make it _stop_!"_

Suddenly, the genius turtle jerked awake. He wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead. Looking around at all of his anxious brothers and father, he breathed shakily and said, "It was…just a dream."

Everyone exchanged glances knowing something wasn't right. Don could feel the tension in the air and so as to avoid questions on what the dream was about, he piped up.

"So, what happened?" he asked.

"Well Raphie," Mikey started, ignoring Raph's growl, "and Leo were fighting when you suddenly fainted at the entrance of the kitchen. So they carried you here and you suddenly started kicking about and screaming…"

"Anyways, is anything wrong, Don?" Leo asked, concerned.

Don shook his head slowly and smiled as reassuringly as he could at his family. He didn't need, no, he didn't want people to care about him…he didn't know why but he didn't want his family's comfort and not knowing why bothered him. Maybe it was the fact that he didn't know why he hadn't forgiven himself even when Raph had was bothering him. Maybe it was just the matter of him not being able to forgive himself that gave him those cold nightmares.

Everyone exchanged worried looks, wondering what was wrong with the little brainiac. Don ignored those looks, pretending not to see them, stood up and glanced at the clock. Seeing it was almost time to train, Don looked to Splinter and said, "Sorry, Sensei. I'm just…not feeling well. Can I skip training for today?"

Leo glanced at Splinter who made eye-contact before nodding at Don, giving his permission. Half-heartedly, the turtle smiled and watched as Splinter left his room.

Leo, Raph and Mikey asked first if he needed anything before leaving, Mikey leaving last and saying, "Donny, you sure you don't need anything?"

Don smiled at the gesture and nodded.

Mikey left. He couldn't help but wonder why his genius brother was troubled. Weeks have passed and, painful as it was, the whole thing was over! Everyone was forgiven, weren't they?

In his room, Don lay in bed, feeling his shaky breaths. His heart felt ripped out from his chest. Maybe having it ripped out wouldn't have felt as bad. The purple-banded turtle felt his soul getting numb. He felt cold, ice-cold, no, even colder. He never thought he'd hurt so bad.

_Why?_

The genius turtle got frustrated at not knowing _why_. _Why _does it still hurt though he was forgiven? _Why_ did these suffocating nightmares come? _Why _were all his memories popping into his head in the forming or torturous nightmares? _Why _couldn't the pain go away? _Why_, of all things, couldn't he forgive himself?

Drowning in questions, Don couldn't feel the tears falling from his eyes.

Maybe he did know the reason. He would do whatever he could if he meant he could take back his words. Most of them hurt, but they didn't matter in comparison to the one he wanted erased, wiped from everyone's memories.

"_I. Hate. _You._"_


	2. Chapter 2

"_I. Hate. _You_."_

He had said it with a smirk, hoping for the words to be as sharp as poison. But somehow, the tables have turned and that very poison was destroying him, bit by bit, tearing his heart and soul into a millionth of the size of shattered glass. And yet, this was only the beginning.

**(In the kitchen)**

"Hey, I wonder what's wrong with Donny," Mikey said, curious as he chewed on his slice of pizza.

Nah, he said it was just a nightmare. Even Don has fears, Mike," Leo said, brushing off the question.

Raph shook his head silently – this wasn't the first time Splinter Jr. was oblivious to something.

"Leo, can't you see? Don's acting all jumpy. He's the reasonable type and never once had he let a nightmare get to him. Which just proves that this time is different! Something's wrong," Raph said.

"Well," Leo started his argument. Mikey, not wanting to hear their petty 'discussion' on the matter, picked up his plate of pizza and left the kitchen abruptly. As he neared his room, his oldest brothers' voices fade away but he could hear whimpers coming from Don's room. Curious, he knocked on Don's door before pushing it open gently, only to find that he's brother had fallen asleep again, but it wasn't peaceful. Tears streamed down the genius turtle's face as he whispered in his sleep. Mikey could hear him say 'No'.

**(the dream)**

"Leo? Mikey?" Don asked, wondering why his brothers were kneeling in the middle of the dark, their faces sullen.

"What do you want?" Leo asked, spiteful.

"Get lost, murderer," Mikey added bitterly.

"What…what did I do?" Don whispered, disbelieving. Why'd Mikey call him that? Why was Leo angry at him?

Suddenly, the last turtle appeared out of thin air. Parts of him were getting blown away slowly by an icy breeze. Don reached out a hand but he couldn't feel his brother. He was but a soul.

"Ýou…"´the soul said, right before the ground below Donny shattered like fragile glass and he fell heavily onto the ground far beneath.

"…killed me," the spirit continued.

Suddenly, all was dark and Don couldn't see his own hands. Raph's Brooklyn accented voice boomed throughout the never-ending darkness.

"You. You told me I should just kill myself."

"No…"

"That if I'd even think of killing Leo, I should just kill myself…attempt suicide. You didn't even know the whole story! So I did what you told me, murderer. But it wasn't _just _an attempt, now was it?"

"No! Please stop!"

"Did _you _stop when you said all those things about me? Well, did ya? _No_, you didn't…"

"Stop!"

"Why should I? Or a better question, why didn't you? Why didn't _you _stop when you called me a murderer, when you told me I should just kill myself? Or how about when you claimed I wanted to kill Leo for my own sake, not because I wouldn't want to deny my brother's death wish? So why should _I _stop?"

Don tried to stand up, he felt too tired - every part of him was aching. He tried to get up, but he couldn't. It was almost as if he was being held down by a million steel chains.

"Please! Raph! You said you forgive me! What happened to that? Why are you doing this to me? Stop it, please!" Don cried out, tears streaming down his face.

Don heard footsteps. Leo and Mikey! They neared him, looked in his direction, but only for a few seconds. Both shaking their heads, they walked away, leaving their pained brother lying on the ground, hopeless. Don listened as their footsteps faded away.

"Oh, and guess what?" Raph's voice echoed through the darkness.

"I hate you."

Don could almost hear him smiling as he said that. He felt trapped, unable to move or snap himself out of the hellish dream.

"Please…WAKE ME UP!" he yelled, fear of the whole nightmare engulfing him.

And when he least expected it, a sudden warmth jerked him back into reality. His eyes snapped open to see that his baby brother was hugging him.

"Hey, Mikey…what are you doing?" Don asked, hoping that he hadn't screamed while he was asleep.

"C'mon, Don. It's obvious you were having a nightmare," Mikey said, releasing his hug. Don smiled at his brother's kind gesture.

"I, of all people, should know what it's like to have a nightmare!" Mikey said smirking. "So I know how it feels to wake up alone," the turtle continued.

Don was shocked that his brother, the joker, had said such thoughtful words. Taken aback, the genius just smiled at his brother, but his smile was a curtain, closing a million tears from the world.


	3. Chapter 3

_Dear Diary,_

_Hey, Mikey again. Well, Don's been pretty much down since…well you know what happened. Anyways, he told me he still felt bad about what he said. Well, what he said was bad but Raph forgave him, right? So I don't see why he should get so worked up over it. But I guess I'd feel guilty too…_

_Anyways, since I managed to get Donnie to talk about what's wrong, I found out what's been causing him to have those fits at night. I mean, of course I know it's 'cause of nightmares but he told me what those nightmares were and…man, were they creepy! I'd wake up in the middle of the night too if it were me with those nightmares!_

_I may not ever say this to Donnie but it hurts me to see him that down. That's why I promised to always be there to listen to his problems! I mean, he always listens to me going on and on about something, I should be nice to him too._

_Heh, did you know how persistent I was in asking him what was wrong? It's fun to mess around with Donnie. He doesn't mind it that much. I kept bugging him asking why he was sad and I even pulled out Mike's Puppy Dog Eyes look before he gave in! _

_You know, they always give in. Unless it has something to do with: Leo and training, Raph and his bike or Don and his experiments…and his coffee. That's when things get serious and I can't try to plead my way out of it. Leo'll give me this entire lecture of some sort. Raph will whack me around and shout stuff at me. Nothing too bad…so far. Donnie will most probably decapitate me and hang my head on the wall. That's when he's _really_ mad. But now he's sad. I have really no idea how to cheer him up except for listening to him and tell him one of my famous jokes. Hey, here's one! Why was the stopwatch dumped by its girlfriend? Because it was a two-timer! I found this one while using Donnie's computer the other day. I don't think he'd like to know that I used his computer and risked getting all his research destroyed. But I'm not that careless._

_Hey, even though I know Don's been getting nightmares that are creepy as shell, I don't get why he's been acting real jumpy lately. It's like everything catches him by surprise. I mean, dude! All I wanted to do was tell him that dinner was ready and he practically screamed! Then he started saying something about getting a heart attack one day. He's never _that_jumpy! Something's wrong. Something worse than him not getting his coffee. Dude, that guy's a coffee junky! But when he doesn't get his cup of coffee, he'll scream, not get jumpy. Something really wrong. I'm gonna find out what! _

_But first, I better get started with dinner! It's not going to cook itself and Raph and Leo sure as shell aren't gonna cook it! Last time Raph cooked, the kitchen was a pigsty! And don't get me started on Leo! He set the kitchen on fire! I wonder what it is with those two. All I do is break the toaster. Well…that's not _as_bad as what they did._

_Anyways, sooner or later, I'm going to find out what's going on with Donnie if it's the last thing I do! I hope it isn't, though, or else my life sure is short! Anyways, I'm going off-track again. And I'm… __procastrinating__...__pocrastrinating__… __procastringating__… pro-cras-ti-nat-ing. Heh, it's a new word Donnie taught me. See, I'm smart._

_Talk to ya later, dude!_

_-Mikey_

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><p>Sorry it was a short chapter but I had to upload something. Anyways, there are some discreet hints in this diary entry you may not catch but it is there. Anyways, hope this brings a slightly happier note to the story before -gasp- you <em>don't <em>wanna know. -sigh- Enjoy!

Love, Jas


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: _I'm so sorry. The hiatus and long break, really, I wish I'd have returned sooner but I seriously, seriously lost any writing talent I had. But now it's back and I have a big curveball to throw at you people. Or at least I hope it's a good ending, but if you knew the alternative, you'd agree it's better. Anyways, sorry, I really feel pathetic, really, leaving you guys but. I'm back. For now. Hopefully this time, I'll stay. If you read this, thanks for doing so!_

"Hey, Donnie!" the youngest turtle called from behind Don as he worked in the lab.

"Ahhh!"

"Dude, chill! Anyways, Leo says we're leaving soon so get ready!" With that, Michelangelo left the room. The turtle in purple caught his breath and saved his research before he got up to get his bo staff and meet his brothers in the living room.

Patrolling was a normal occurence, so much that no commands were needed to carry it out smoothly. Hence, the turtles usually spent their time talking, teasing and laughing. But one of them was silent throughout.

The turtles had split up to speed up their patrol. Don and Mikey had been paired up as Leo so it was the best thing to do. If anyone could cheer up the depressed turtle, it was definitely Mikey. Leo and Raph were, amazingly, having an easy-going conversation. Well, easier than most, at least.

"Well, I still don't get how you and Don can live off that rabbit food of yours!" Raph exclaimed, hands gesturing exaggeratedly.

Leo chuckled at his brother's antics. "It's just food, Raph."

"Whatever," the red-masked turtle said stubbornly.

All of a sudden, Leo's shell cell went off.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, Leo. Just sayin', there's some Foot ninj-AH and they're coming at us like wolves. And Don isn't ex-AH-ctly in the right mind to fight so-HIYA! Do you mind coming over here?_" Mikey's voice called, a little short of frantic.

"We're on our way."

Leo snapped his shell cell shut as Raph looked at him expectantly.

"Well, what'd he say?"

"Donnie...we're being followed."

Said turtle jumped in surprise as he said, rather loudly, "What? By who?"

Michelangelo almost face-palmed as he whispered lowly, "The Foot."

Mikey had taken out his shell cell to call Leo. It wasn't, long before the Foot attacked while Mikey was on the phone. And like he had mentioned, Donatello wasn't exactly fit for a fight. They were largely out-numbered and it was obvious to anyone with a brain that Raph and Leo were too far away and that it was a losing match. Don held up alright for a guy whose brains were scrambled, but soon enough, he was knocked out. His lack of sleep threw off his aim a little so he could hardly defend himself from the attacks of the group that was surrounding him. He struggled longer than he had expected to do so himself before he was hit on the head hard enough to knock him out. He fell into a dreamless sleep for the first time in a while.

Mikey, being in a better mental condition had held up a few minutes longer but with all of the attention on him, Mikey couldn't help but fall prey to the Foot, too.

By the time Raph and Leo got to the alley where the attack had taken place, all that was left were the bodies of some injured Foot ninjas, bloodied weapons and Mikey's shell cell.

Picking it up, Leo heard Raph curse under his breath. Mentally, Leo had done the same.

When Don opened his eyes, it was a few hours later. He wondered where he was as he glanced about the room he was in. Most of it was bare but also old and stained with dirt and a bit of blood. Don's first instinct was to get out of the place but chains clattered when he tried to move his hands. That was when Mikey's voice was heard.

"Donnie! You're finally awake, dude!"

That was when Don's memories of the ambush swirled into his mind and he figured out where they were.

"...Shell."

"Yo, Fearless. How's it coming along with finding Mikey and Don?" Raph asked gruffly as he sat down next to Leo.

"I've got an address. C'mon, let's get moving." The amount of raw seriousness present in the oldest turtle's voice was unnerving.

"Leo. What happened was not your fault."

"Putting Mikey and Don together - when Don was obviously not in the right mind to fight - was."

"Quit blamin' yourself, Fearless. We gotta get our brothers back first, alright? And then, I can beat some sense into ya," Raph tried to joke. A grunt was all he got from his brother as he headed to the lair entrance.

Not more than three hours ago, both turtles had been bloodied and beaten to a bloody pulp. Not even beginning to recover from the gruesome attack, they heard footsteps.

Four foot ninja had walked in, a sinister laugh as they harshly dragged the two captives roughly from the cell into a dark, blood-tainted room. The floor where the turtles were dragged was marked with blood.

They shut the heavy metal doors behind them as they exited, leaving the two turtles wary of what was about to happen. From the dark corners of the room, seven dingoes had walked into view of the brothers. Snarls were heard as the hounds circled their prey. Weaponless and beaten, the two could hardly stand. A hidden camera allowed the foot ninja to enjoy the show. A growl and a loud bark escaped the largest dog's hungry mouth as a cue for his pack to attack. The pack understood, loud and clear.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: _Okay, I re-read my last chapter and noticed how weird it was. After having been transferred from my phone to my laptop, the formatting messed up, so sorry if that made things confusing. Anyways, I was at a loss of ideas on what to do with this story. Hence, there were delays and even more delays writing this. Oh, and I edited some of the content of that last chapter._

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><p>In a corner, the two turtles sat, bloodied, wounded and tired. Both of them had bite marks all over their arms and legs, and places where some flesh had torn away revealed the raw, red tissue underneath. The wounds that bleed the most are wrapped by the turtle's bandannas, staining it red quickly. With not much else to stop the bleeding, both Donatello and Michelangelo are still bleeding and have no way to stop it. The wolves lay beaten on the other side of the room, dead, because they had refused to back down.<p>

The fight between the two weary turtles and the pack of starving dingoes had seemed to have gone on forever. Tired, weak, and hurt, the two were still forced into defending themselves because the hungry, barking dingoes would not stop their attack until either the turtles or the dogs were dead.

So the two turtles had tried their best, at first, to fend off the attacks until the dingoes were too injured to continue. However, their choice of action proved to not have been all that good as it wore out the two quickly, their breaths heavier and more laboured than it had already been. The dogs out-numbered them about three or four to one, each group circling its prey as they barked, lunged and tore at the turtles' flesh hungrily. Fending them off proved to hurt a lot as they had tried whacking the lunging dogs away only to get bitten. Several bites – some more prolonged than others – later, the turtles had decided that there was no use showing mercy to the wild dogs. Stomping down the skull of one or two and kicking them into a pile of whimpering pups, the turtles managed to stop the attack, maiming and even killing most of the dingoes. Donatello, worried that they might attack again, and seeing how the dogs were already suffering, put them out of their misery as quickly as possible. As the adrenaline from the fight wore off and fatigue settled in, the brothers had dropped themselves to the ground, back against the wall of the room they were in.

The two turtles had managed to prop themselves up against a wall. Tired, aching, they can hardly move. Michelangelo feels slightly uncomfortable and tries to sit up straighter, but stops when he feels a sharp white pain course through him and he winces. Donatello looks over at him worriedly, and winces as he moves over to his right to help little brother to help him sit up and maybe even comfort him, even though they're both too tired.

Meanwhile, Leonardo and Raphael had just arrived at the place where they had tracked the location of Donatello's shell cell. Upon reaching, they had both looked questioningly at the dark and abandoned warehouse that stood in front of them.

_Could Donnie and Mikey be in there? _

They were both wondering the same thing. As they walked in, they notice that there was not a single soul there, other than their own. Leonardo was getting suspicious, but Raph seemed to have decided to ignore any feeling of suspicions and just search for their brothers, or at least, Don's shell cell – it _should _bethere, right? How else could its signal be coming from that location? Just as Raphael had thought that, something caught his eye. He could see a small shadowed object in the corner on the floor. As he walked closer, he notices that it _was_, in fact, the shell cell.

"Leo, I found something!"

The leader walks up behind him and they both approach the discarded phone. Raphael picks it up and turns it on. As soon as it starts up, a loud, ear-splitting alarm goes off and all the entrances are sealed shut. Only then did Leo and Raph notice the black silhouettes crouching in the shadows, but by then, those figures had already shot both of them with about a little more than five tranquiliser darts. Needless to say, they both blacked out a few moments later, the loud sound fading as blurry figures in black walk up to them with obviously unfriendly intentions.

A similar scene is playing out where Michelangelo and Donatello had been held captive. Tired and torn apart physically and emotionally, the two were on the brink of blacking out. Their visions were already blurring from exhaustion and blood loss, but the black figures that walked into their line of sight brought them back to reality as they forced their vision to refocus. They could see the laughter in the Foot ninjas' eyes.

Even after numbing themselves to the pain, the brothers could still feel how much they were enjoying beating the turtles senseless. Fighting back wasn't an easy task, seeing as how the ninjas had restricted them, so they didn't put up much of a fight. Throughout the entire thing – dog-bite wounds, bruises, cuts and every other injury being hit until he was sure that it couldn't get any more painful than that – Donatello was thinking one thing.

_Why couldn't they just kill him._

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><p>AN: _That was terribly short, sorry. Life gets to everyone, doesn't it? Welp, I'll try updating this poor story sooner. So sorry for delays, I wanted to add on to the end but I couldn't think of anything so, yeah._


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Ninja Turtles, Family, Hurt-Comfort