“Sorry, Mikey. I am very busy. Some other time, okay?”
“Okay, dude! Your loss – that is the most awesomest space monster movie ever!”
“You use the most awesomest grammar ever, Mikey,” Donatello chuckled.
Michelangelo stuck out his tongue and cheerfully jumped out of his brother’s sanctuary. It was not until he was out of Donatello’s line of sight that he dropped his sunny attitude to replace it with a look of disappointment. He knew that Donatello had super-important things to do, but he had been hoping that Donatello would have joined them for the movie night.
Sure, Raphael and Leonardo were there which was great, but this meant only 3 out of 4. The achievement “Unite all Mutant Turtles on a couch” would not be unlocked. Michelangelo frowned. His two oldest brothers wouldn’t even get that awesome gaming joke. As they would not get any of the amazing geeky references and puns he planned on throwing around during the movie tonight. Donatello would…
For a second Michelangelo paused. The feeling of being watched made him look around, but when he saw nobody, he continued his way to the living area. Upon hearing Leonardo’s and Raphael’s voices, he put back on his happy face before making his presence known.
When Michelangelo had joined his brothers, the three went to the kitchen to prepare some snacks and Renet, once more hidden by the magic of the time scepter, joined Donatello in his laboratory. For a while she watched him work. He was setting up a test he had been meaning to do for some time now.
When he turned his back on the experimental assembly, Renet used her scepter to stop time. Taking out her list, she looked at the turtle who was now frozen in time.
“Well, Donatello,” she said in a professional tone. “According to my totally rad list, you will spent, like, 7 valuable hours of your precious time with this experiment. You will fall asleep on your desk chair, completely exhausted of course, and wake up just to find out that nothing happened, like, literally. No noteworthy chemical reaction at all. You will be frustrated and grumpy for days and so never touch that specific experiment again.”
Of course Donatello did not react to her, but nevertheless as she had done with Raphael, Renet apologized.
“I am really sorry, old friend, or, young friend, well younger-than-your-older-self friend. Whatever! I am sorry, okay?” she said. “But nothing will come out of this experiment that will contribute to science in general or to your work in particular. So why not, like, end it with a bang?” With that she stole his keychain.
Renet was not specifically qualified in the field of chemistry, but she knew an “explosive” sign when she saw one. And rummaging through the cabinets Donatello usually kept locked, she found what she needed. Magically protecting Donatello and the rare, expensive and/or irreplaceable parts of the laboratory’s equipment, she addressed Donatello once more.
“It is for your own good!”
After borrowing some gloves, she opened the bottle she had found and took a liiiiiittle amount of the powder, just a pinch, to let it freeze just above the little test tube Donatello had mixed his ingredients in.
She stepped next to Donatello to return his keys, feeling safe. Due to her protective magic, what was about to come would be more show and fireworks than damage and danger. Self-confident, she swung her scepter.
Only a millisecond later the silence of the lab was ripped apart by a deafening, thundering noise. Glass shattered, walls shook, liquids were spilled and the ashes that were left of the equipment too close to the eruption flew through the room. Donatello turned around wide-eyed, resulting in his face being covered in the black powdery substance. Knowing that the force of the explosion would not be strong enough to pull him from his feet, Renet pushed him down. Just for show...
The timestress barely had time to remove the protective magic she had put on several objects and Donatello before the door was pushed open. Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo stormed in. Not taking even a second to look around, they all ran towards their brother who was lying on the floor, coughing, confused, shocked and full of ashes.
“Donnie!” Leonardo examinded his brother’s body looking for any injuries. “What happened?”
“I… I don’t…” Stammering, Donatello looked into Leo's face, his mind completely void of any coherent thought.
“Did you hit your head?” Leonardo carefully helped him to sit up.
“Uh…” Donatello thought about this question. Could be an explanation… But then again, no. There was no explanation how the set-up that was on his work table could possibly have…
“Donnie!” Raphael’s harsh words pulled him back to reality. “Talk ta us, genius! Are ya hurting? Ya got a headache? Any pain at all?”
Donatello furrowed his brow. Did he have a headache? No. At least he did not think so.
“My rear-end and my tail hurt…,” he finally mumbled.
“What?” Usually Michelangelo would laugh now, but he was too worried at the moment.
“I think I landed on my rear-end, when…” Donatello’s thoughts trailed off again.
“When the explosion hit you?”
Donatello hesitated. He thought he had felt hands pushing him down, but there had been no one here. So Leonardo was probably right. But how…
“This should not have happened,” Donatello muttered.
“Yeah, no kidding!”, “Well, duh!”, “Obviously!” His brothers all responded at the same time.
“No, what I mean is that this COULD not have happened.”
“I think I quote you, when I say ‘What is true is also possible’,” Leonardo managed a small smile as he helped his smart brother to his feet, finally positive that he had suffered no serious injury.
“Yes, but…”
“No ‘but’, Brainiac!” Raphael said. “Your stuff blew up.”
“I admit that I did not know exactly what would happen. But…”
“Mistakes happen due to fatigue. When was the last time you slept, Donatello?” Leonardo asked strictly, grabbing his arm, and before Donatello could answer he added, “And with ‘slept’ I mean ‘having a good night’s rest’ not ‘passing out from exhaustion in the lab’.”
Rolling his eyes, Donatello said, “Leo, this has nothing to do with overtiredness! I literally used nothing that could have caused…”
“What is this?” Michelangelo was magically drawn to any bottle, flask or container that was marked as dangerous. So it was no surprise that it was him who found the powder Renet had taken from the forbidden cabinet.
“Ya used nothing explosive, Donnie-boy?” Raphael said sarcastically, pointing on the apothecary bottle in Michelangelo’s hand. “That sign here coulda fooled me!”
“Let me see!” Donatello freed himself from his oldest brother’s grip and took the bottle from the youngest’ hands. “Impossible! I do not recall getting this out…”
“That’s it!” Raphael growled. “Forgetting stuff ya did minutes ago? Ya need a break! No lab for a week!”
He grabbed Donatello and easily threw him over his shoulder.
“Hey!” Donatello protested. “Leo!”
“Sorry, Donnie, but I agree with Raph,” Leonardo stated and immediately muttered, “Can’t believe I actually said that.”
“Look, guys!” Donatello tried to explain himself as fast as possible. “This bottle belongs in the cabinet over there. That is where I store the really dangerous stuff. It is locked, well, it should be. The key is on the same keychain as the lab-key. And the moment I unlock the cabinet, I lock the lab door. It is an automatism for me. I could not have forgotten it.”
“What?” His three brothers exclaimed at the same time, Raphael set him down and Donatello nodded.
“Yes. Whenever I handle the stuff in this cabinet I make sure none of you incidentally walks in. I would never endanger you, guys!”
Raphael and Leonardo were speechless and just stood there as if struck by lightning. Unlike Michelangelo who was wildly gesturing with his arms.
“Dude!” he yelled. “You really think we are upset because one of us COULD have been in here during the explosion? We are upset because you actually HAVE been in here during the explosion!”
Leonardo rubbed his face with his hands, collecting his thoughts but staying quiet for a moment.
“Damn, Donnie,” Raphael muttered, his expression much softer than before. “Ya can’t lock the door when doing dangerous stuff.”
“But else you might…”
“Then put a sign on the door next time!” Leonardo interrupted him. “Then we stay out, but if we hear an explosion or a cry for help, we need to be able to get to you as fast as possible.”
“Okay, if it makes you feel better…”
“Of course it does, Donatello!” Leonardo bellowed. “Believe it or not: The less my little brother puts his own life in danger, the better I feel!”
“Same here,” Raphael rumbled. “Crazy us, huh?”
Donatello took a defensive stance in the face of their aggressive tone and Raphael’s sarcastic remark. He was about to bite back when he saw that none of his older brothers met his eyes. They were looking sideways, the corners of their eyes shimmering lightly, both making barely audible sniffling noises.
“Leo? Raph?”
Before he could further address them, Donatello felt Michelangelo’s hand on his arm. Unlike Raphael and Leonardo he did not hide that he was crying.
“Donnie,” he said with a wavering voice. “We heard an explosion. From a room we knew you were in. And we found you lying on the floor covered in ashes. What do you think how that felt?”
“Mikey, I…,” Donatello whispered.
“It is only property damage this time, but you could have been seriously hurt.” Michelangelo’s voice hitched for a second before he finished, “Or worse!”
Slowly regaining his composure, Leonardo stepped in front of Donatello and put his hands on his shoulders.
“We do not want to lose you, Don,” he said. “What would we do without you?”
The crying had stopped, but Michelangelo’s voice was still weak as he spoke, “We love you, Donnie!”
“Yeah…” Raphael cleared his throat. “What they said.”
Donatello suddenly found it hard to swallow and felt tears forming in his eyes, too.
“I am so sorry,” he pleaded. “I guess, I did not think this through until now.”
“Well, next time ya try ta kill ya’self, please get our opinion ‘bout it first.”
“Deal.” Donatello wiped his eyes, laughing and crying at the same time. The next second he yelped in surprise as he was picked up and thrown over Raphael’s shoulder again.
“Raph? What…”
“All that sappy stuff aside, ya still almost blew ya’self up! The ‘no lab for a week’ still stands!”
“Leo!” Donatello whined again, hoping for the leader’s support.
“I still agree with Raphael!” the turtle in question said before murmuring to himself, “Does this count as two times now?”
“Come on, dude! You totally need a break.” Despite the still reddened eyes, Michelangelo came back to his usual joyful self. He had to lower his head a little to be eye-to-eye with Donatello who was hanging awkwardly over Raphael’s shoulder. “We will totally pamper you. You sit down on the couch – well, Raph dumps you there - , I will get you a blanket and popcorn and hot chocolate and then we watch the movie.”
“He is right, Donatello,” Leonardo affirmed. “You need to relax. Body AND Mind. What better way to do that than with a stupid space movie.”
Michelangelo refused to be provoked.
“With ‘stupid space movie’ Leo means ‘shining example of the sophisticated art of science fiction in cinematic form’.”
As Michelangelo had proposed, Donatello was placed on the couch, put under a blanket and supplied with snacks. When the movie started, he found himself between his brothers, safe and protected. Bickering, joking, laughing they enjoyed their movie night. Together.
“Achievement unlocked!” Renet smiled at Michelangelo and blew him a kiss before she disappeared. Michelangelo paused once more but quickly brushed it off and returned his attention to his brothers and the movie.
Donatello had an excellent memory. But nonetheless, he would erase things he considered unimportant over time. A few months later, he had forgotten what the movie they watched that night was about. After a few years, he did not recall the nature of the failed experiment anymore. The mystery of the explosive powder, leaving the cabinet on its own, stayed with him longer yet faded away after a decade. But he never forgot the feeling of belonging, of being loved and cared about and of being part of a family. Of being a brother. A brother in arms, in heart and in soul.
Ending 1