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Donnie knows he’s done for when the Shredder… well… shreds through all of his tech. That was everything he had, and it wasn’t even close to being enough.
Activating the blasters on his metal shell, he makes a break for the sky. He just needs to gather himself and his thoughts. If he can get away from it, he has a better shot at attacking.
The turtle is ripped out of his thoughts when a cold claw grabs his ankle with an iron grip. The blasters are torn from his back, causing his battle shell to move and dig painfully into his leathery carapace. If the bruises already starting to form weren’t enough, the Shredder drags him closer for another swipe.
When Donnie sees that steely silver claw rise above him, he knows what is soon to come. Acting almost purely on instinct, he thrashes and squirms, squeezing his eyes shut as the metal flies toward him at speeds he can’t process.
He feels the warm liquid spilling down his back before he feels the injury itself. Quickly having pooled at the bottom of the battle shell, blood begins to seep out of the three massive gashes in his tech. This is it.
This is goodbye.
I hope my brothers are OK. And Dad, and Shelldon, and April.
This is not how I wanted to go out.
When Donnie blinks open his eyes, the first thing he notices is his brothers. The second thing he notices is the fact that he is currently being crushed in a hug. And the third thing he notices is the pain. Oh wow the pain. His shell is on fire- why is he burning??
Raph’s mouth is moving, but Donnie can’t hear a word. His eyes flick around to survey his current situation, and… the fight is over? The Shredder is gone. His brothers are talking about going home.
We don’t have a home anymore. Everything will be gone.
But, regardless, his dad begins to herd them in what is most likely the direction of their sewer.
Donnie’s ears are ringing. Everything is wrong. He can barely stand, let alone walk. He has no idea how he finished the fight, but he sure-as-shell isn’t moving now.
He blinks his eyes back into focus to see Leo staring down at him, saying something, but all Donnie can hear is his own heartbeat. It picks up pace, and his vision blurs. His twin grabs his wrist and hauls him to his feet, causing the world to spin and swirl. Ooooh no.
The momentum he gained from being hoisted up carries over to when he’s upright, and Donnie can only watch as he falls forward. As I said before, oh no.
Leo breaks away from the hug with a tired but genuine grin. At least it’s over. He allows his gaze to sweep over his brothers, assessing their current states. Man, I’m turning into Raph. He chuckles to himself. “Well, it’s been a good one but I’m ready to hit the hay. It’s been a loooong… uh… one, two, three days.”
Splinter butts in, “yes. We are all exhausted. Rest would do us well. Come with me, boys, home is this way.” He points them to a (half-wrecked) sidewalk.
“Woof! I am beat! ” Leo turns toward Donnie. “And I bet you wanna get back to your tech, eh Dontron?”
He pauses when he gets no response. “Donnie?” Leo twists back around to face his twin, who hadn’t stood up after the hug. “Hey, Dee,” he squats down, “you alright there?” His eyes are barely tracking… “Coooome on.” He grabs his twin’s wrist and gently tugs him to his feet.
He watches Donnie’s eyes in hopes of seeing any flash of recognition, but his stare remains blank. To make matters even worse, his twin, as opposed to standing, starts to tip over. “ Shit- ”
He lunges as fast as he can, wrapping his arms around the now unconscious turtle.
“Leo? What’s goin’ on?” The blue-clad turtle sees Raph start walking back toward them.
“I don’t know! Donnie just collapsed! ”
“ WHAT?! ” Splinter and Mikey’s voices join Raph’s.
“ WOAH WOAH! Don’t crowd me. I’m gonna try to see what’s wrong.” Very slowly, Leo lowers his twin to the ground. Holding him up, he looks over Donnie’s front. Nothing. That means… He lays him face-down over his leg and oooooh no.
His brother’s shell, his soft, leathery shell, was shredded. His battle shell had been cut through like butter, leaving a large portion of his softshell exposed and open to injury. Actually, the battle shell had possibly made the gashes worse. Shards of purple metal had been bent inward and shattered, then pressed into the shell, further desecrating Donnie’s carapace. “ Shit… ”
Leo draws in a deep breath. “We need to get home, now. ”