Lost til you're found, swim til you drown, know that we all fall down.

[betterthanraph]

Characters: thepartydude, tic-tech-turtle, betterthanraph and iwitnessdamsel, not quite closed but any other tags will probably be dealt with as after the fact.
Location: Just outside Raph's room, Deck 6 room #7297
Date: Right after Raph's punishment is announced.
Rating: Vaguely PG-13 for maybe graphic imagery.

Comments

[thepartydude]

Michelangelo sat with his knees drawn up to his plastron, huddled down at the foot of the bed. The comm was set neatly a few feet away.

He felt ... what did he feel? Angry. No, furious. But also very, very scared. This place was like nothing he knew, nothing he could comprehend. The Shredder didn't torture people. He didn't make them scream like that. He was evil, but this? This was like something out of a horror movie, come to life.

But Leo was coming. Leo would come, and Leo would have a plan, and they'd go get Raph back. That's how this works. Leo fixes everything and they fight to stay together. Because they're a team and a family and it's not a family without Raph

[tic_tech_turtle]

The touch on his shoulder was a shock, and Don's stiff wince probably showed it. He blinked, breath shortening a little, and he glanced at Leo from the corner of his eye.

He swallowed quietly and lightly fisted his hands. Leo. They weren't shaking. Yet. But they would be soon. If he let them. He couldn't let them.

Donatello looked away from Leo to April and then to Mikey Mikey you shouldn't have seen this, with the not-quite-wide, lost eyes of someone waking up from a disorienting dream, and then he looked down. He closed his eyes. He let himself be led.

[thepartydude]

They were walking down the hall. He knew that much. There was carpet beneath his feet. The fibers were short, and rough on the soles of his feet.

The carpet was blue. It was a nice color.

[iwitnessdamsel]

April tugged open her door and gave Mike a soft push to head inside. "Go sit on the couch," she told him quietly. Then she took Leo's arm, guided him forward, told him to do the same. When she got to Donny, she wrapped her arm around his shoulders and walked in after him. Her free hand pulled the door shut behind them and, half hugging the teen, she brought Donny across her room to join his brothers

[betterthanraph]

It didn't take much badgering to get Leo to Mike's side, but instead of sitting down he took to a knee in front of Michelangelo, reaching up to hold his face and meet his eyes. "Mike," he said softly, stroking his cheeks with his thumbs. "Mikey, look at me."

[tic_tech_turtle]

Don leans into April and smiles a little at her, or tries to. It's far more pained than he would have liked but he hasn't figured out how to make it seem realistic yet.

Then he's across the room and on Mikey's other side. Silent, but there. He moves to place an arm around Mikey's shoulders, stilling his shaking forcefully.

[thepartydude]

Michelangelo blinked once, slowly, then his eyes refocused and he looked at his eldest brother.

"Leo?"

His cheeks were still damp, his arms still trembling, but then Donnie was there holding him and things began to feel more painfully real. He chewed on the inside of his lip, eyes welling up with unshed tears.

[iwitnessdamsel]

The reporter came around to perch on the arm of her sofa, hand running from his shoulder down to his elbow and back again, comforting.

She waits, giving Leo the floor for now. Mikey's his brother...

She's just worried he'll hike up all of the responsibility on himself. A look to Donny brings about the same worry.

Yeah, she's not going to let them get away with that.

[betterthanraph]

Sparing a glance for April, Leonardo notices Don's expression and his shaking. This wouldn't do. He stood, but leaned over and drew both of them into his arms and against his shoulders and plastron. Mike would be relatively easy to open up, and while it would be...painful, to say the least, it would be for the best. Mikey always felt hard, cried hard and crashed hard, but he healed fast because of it.

Don- Leo didn't like the changes he was starting to see. He was shutting himself down, something he'd never done before, and Leonardo didn't like it one bit. Donatello had always been somewhat reserved, saving his more powerful emotions for later or simply not displaying them at all, but this sort of thing was new to him. Donatello never simply shut down. If he was upset and didn't want others to know he usually withdrew from the situation.

This was...unnerving.

So he stroked the back of Don's shell and murmured to them both, "I'm here. It'll be okay." He repeated himself, eyes flitting over to April, requesting her support.

[thepartydude]

Cheek pressed up against Leo's shoulder, Mike reached up and grabbed the back of his shell in a desperate grip. Don was right there, Leo was speaking quietly, Raph was dead, it was just too much. It was all too much.

Mikey choked out a sob and tried to swallow it back, but the dams had broken and he couldn't hold it in any more. Clenching his eyes shut, he buried his face between his two brothers and just sobbed.

[tic_tech_turtle]

What was with the touching right now?

But Don didn't mind it, much. He stilled, then maneuvered until he could curl around Mikey and press tighter to Leo at the same time. Other than that he didn't do much of anything.

He was focused on Mikey's shell instead, running his fingers lightly along any part of it he could reach, closing his eyes, and listening to Leo. He tried to give the same comfort to Mikey without the words.

And he didn't stop holding on to his little brother's shell.

[iwitnessdamsel]

The hand on Mike pulled back for a moment, just to settle again on the back of his head. "It's okay to cry, Mikey," she whispered. "It'll be okay."

The last sentence carried some weight. She hoped the boys didn't see it as a lie--they'd been old enough to recognize them when she met them, three years later there'd be no excuse--but she believed it. Her voice carried that belief.

Raph would be back, but there was no shame in grieving over his pain.

Supporting herself on the back of the couch, she reached out and placed the other hand on Donny's head.

"It's okay."

[betterthanraph]

"Don," Leo urged, pulling back slightly to rest his forehead against his younger brother's. He didn't say anything beyond that, just lets his fingers scratch over the back of his shell again and hopes that he's conveying what he wants to say to him. Just...not aloud, not in front of April or Mike.

I know what you're doing. Stop it. Don't make me go further than this.

[thepartydude]

It felt like retreating into his shell, his brothers and April curling around him, like they were shielding him from all the evil in that place. No matter how much he protested and insisted he was the same as them, Mikey was still the youngest, still the most naive and trustworthy. The thought of one of his brothers dying just ... hadn't occurred to him. They were like the superheroes in his comic books, there was always a deus ex machina there to save them in the end.

Now he'd started the flood, he couldn't stop, just choking and sobbing and clinging to his brothers. The thought of the system, of Raph coming back hadn't even come to his mind. All he knew was that he had died, and in horrible agony.

sleep is necessary soon as a warning to you all

[tic_tech_turtle]

Don sighed a silent little sigh in relief as Mikey started crying, curling tighter around him and, for the moment, ignoring April and Leo.

Until he realizes what they're doing, and he pulls his face away from where he'd tucked it into Mikey's shell to give Leo a long look which he then turns on April. He knows what Leo's saying. He knows what April's trying to say. He buries his face back into Mikey's shell and ignores the knot in his throat, but not very well.

Not now.

[iwitnessdamsel]

Oh no you don't, Donatello. You may hide your head against Mikey, but it's still in April's reach. And she's going to keep stroking your crown and whispering little, comforting nothings.

And guess what, Leo, they're for you, too. And once she's ready to leave Mikey, you're getting it next.