Chapter 3

A/N: Omg I'm alive. It's a miracle I know but life sadly has a way of kicking you when you're down. So yeah...these past few months have been rough and chaotic. I also just got back from a con (Plus BONUS POINTS: I got to cosplay as Leonardo ) Best thing in the world in my personal opinion since he is amazing.

Oh great now I am fangirling again ugh.

Okay this chapter is different then the others so far; why? Because I said so XD

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this amazing chapter XD

Summary: All I remember is the sight of my father falling, blood trailing out like a waterfall as I can only stand there in utter shock. The utter satisfaction in her eyes makes my skin crawl, all I could do is watch as she raised her blade to finish the job…. eliminating me. Leo/April completely centered AU

Disclaimer: I don't own Ninja Turtles or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, all of it owned by Viacom and Nickelodeon.

The sounds of the keyboard typing rapidly broke through the silent lair, pitch darkness enveloped the area as a long figure sat at the desk in the lab portion. Head drooping from sleep but still actively focused on the blaring screen of the computer that broke through the darkness. A heavy yawn left the lips of the purple banded turtle, his left hand coming up to rub at his puffy mahogany eyes as his right hand continued to type like a mad man possessed. Heavy bags were underneath his eyes, evidence of long all nighters as he shifted in his seat slightly.

His eyes darted across the screen, shifting the mouse over as Donnie moved to the left of him to snag at a coffee cup. Lifting it to his lips, his passive gaze shifted to annoyance as he groaned. "Just great...have to brew another mug." Donnie mumbled softly to himself, his eyes never leaving the screen. Clicking on one of the links on the computer, Donnie shifted the mouse over to quickly input a few equations and codes. His old machine buzzed to life as Donnie groaned softly, leaning back to crack and straighten out his back and shoulders.

Stretching his long arms above his head, Donnie didn't stop till he heard the satisfying crack of muscles and bones shifting into place. Leaning his head on the back of his chair, Donnie stared absentmindedly up at the ceiling as his mind continued to run a mile a minute.

"The equations are correct, I just need to figure out the variable. Granted the odds of finding him isn't entirely in my favor and there is a high probability of-AH! I can't think that way! He is alive, I just need to find him." Donnie exclaimed softly, sitting up straight completely while rubbing and scratching his head in annoyance. Images of his older brother being injured severely flashed through his mind but quickly banished at the last second as he mentally slapped himself.

"No more doubt Donnie, you will find him." Donnie muttered softly to himself in a determined tone, his expression shifting to a serious gaze as his typing increased. The more the purple banded turtle focused on the screen, the more aggravated his headache was hurting. It had started out as a slight annoyance but it now quickly developed into a flat out painful reminder of how many days Donnie went without sleep.

Ugh...I need coffee. This migraine isn't helping either Donnie thought in silent agony, his typing slowed down as he gently leaned back in his chair. The back of his head hitting the top part as Donnie gazed up at the ceiling, his mahogany eyes staring blankly up at it in deep thought. Laying his head back like that, Donnie could feel his eyelids start to droop as his vision started to get blurry.

A loud yawn escaped his lips as Donnie could feel his entire body start to relax at the position he was in. "No..have to stay awake." Donnie mumbled gently, slowly righting himself as another yawn slipped past his lips. Tears forming at the edge of his eyes as Donnie softly rubbed at them both, effectively rubbing his all ready sore and red eyes again.

Out of nowhere, in the depths of his quiet lab a familiar sound drifted through as it snapped Donnie out of his daze as he stared owlishly around. "W-What? Oh! Shit the T-Phone!" Donnie exclaimed, his mind shifting to full on alert as he turned to the right side of him. As he did that, his right elbow knocked into the huge pile of coffee cups that, out of boredom and a break from his never ending struggle to find Leonardo, had painstakingly complied all of his used paper coffee cups into a tower.

"God damn it! I don't need this, and why the hell did I do this anyway?!" Donnie exclaimed, eyes wide at the sheer idiocy that he had conjured up at this. His right hand feeling around on the desk among the many coffee cups, hearing the familiar ringtone blaring and trembling as a bright smile split across Donnie's lips.

"Got it! I really need to organize this desk a bit more." Donnie said with a sheepish smile, softly shifting the phone to look at it as his eyes widened at the image on his screen as he quickly touched the call button.

"Doctor Rockwell, have you found him?" Donnie asked right away, his concern evident in his voice as he recalled the last conversation the two of them had. Ever since Leonardo had disappeared, Donnie knew that he was being dependent on the Mighty Mutanimals more and more each day while he focused on the data surfing more than the physical side of things.

"I apologize for the late report Donatello," Doctor Rockwell's voice broke through the phone as a soft sigh could be heard coming out from the chimp's lips. "It has become quite chaotic on the streets with the Purple Dragon's still prowling around at this point." he said calmly as Donnie's expression shifted to concern. "As for your question Donatello, I regret to inform you that we've failed to find him this time. We've searched high and low for him throughout the city," Rockwell said softly, the heavy feeling in Donnie's gut dipping into a dark abyss as the reality of Rockwell's words hit him hard.

"But yet, we haven't found a single trace of him." Rockwell followed up with as Donnie shot up from his seat, his hand slamming down on the desk with a huge amount of force. "I'm sorry Doctor Rockwell, but that can't be the end of it. I know my brother, he wouldn't just disappear into thin air like this!" Donnie said urgently, his eye wide as an image of his brother's slowly disappearing body going into the dark abyss could be visibly seen in his mind.

Silence could be heard on the other side of the phone as Donnie spoke this, his body tense with determination and desperation. Taking a deep breath, Donnie turned around where he stood and started to walk around. "Raph still hasn't contacted me in the past six months, granted it had been pretty hectic since we last talked but I know Raph. If he found Leo, he would've contacted me. I know I'm asking a lot for you and the Mighty Mutanimals but please, please give it one more try." Donnie said softly, his pacing slowing to a stop as tears could be felt on the edges of his eyes. Biting his lip to refrain from busting into tears, Donnie did his best to compose himself as he awaited Rockwell's answer.

"I understand your concern Donatello," Rockwell's voice came through the phone, laced with concern and sadness that Donnie didn't think that Rockwell could possess as a deep sigh soon followed. "Give us about a week to recover, I understand that you want to continue the search as soon as possible but we've all been running ourselves ragged with both patrols and searching for Leonardo." he said softly as Donnie bit back his initial reaction to the news.

"Yes, of course please rest up. All of you have been a huge help for us and I can't thank you enough." Donnie said sincerely as a soft chuckle went through the phone. "I'll remember that the next time that you need another favor from a brilliant scientist such as myself." Rockwell's voice went through the phone as Donnie's expression shifted to a playfully annoyed gaze. "Thanks Doctor, I will." he said in a dry tone before the two of them hung up, Donnie's figure slumped slightly from him standing up as he took a deep sigh.

His mahogany gaze drifted down to his desk; his body cracking as Donnie shifted over and sat down on his chair. The familiar sound of the chair creaking as he relaxed in it, Donnie's mind still running a mile a minute as he let out another deep breath of air. Out of the corner of his eyes, Donnie caught sight of a familiar object underneath his mess of paperwork and formulas.

Digging his hand underneath, Donnie withdrew a dusty T-Phone with a crack in the screen. Guilt started to well up in his gut at seeing the crack, remembering the day that both Raph and himself drove Leo away. Biting his lip at the memory, Donnie tried to calm down despite his eyes starting to mist over. "Get a grip Donatello," Donnie told himself with a soft chuckle. "You need to focus on finding him. It's the only way to make it up to Leo."

His gaze shifted up to his diagrams and hypothesis of the possible locations where Leonardo could've ran off to. Having searched high and low for each of them only to come up empty was a heartbreaking experience but it just made Donnie even more determined to find his brother. His hands curling around Leo's T-Phone tightly, mentally wishing that the phone itself could magically bring his brother home.

"Gahh! I just keep running around in circles and getting no where." Donnie said in an aggravated tone, laying his head back in his chair as he stared up at the ceiling. His stomach growling constantly since this morning, knowing that eventually Donnie would have to get up and make his stomach shut up for once. But with no food in his system, Donnie could feel the effects of the constant all nighters hitting him as he yawned loudly.

He could practically feel how heavy his eyelids were, it was almost like someone was pulling them close. It was taking all of Donnie's energy to keep them open, his right hand coming up to sleepily rub at his eyes again. Another huge yawn following soon afterward as Donnie could feel his jaw cracking at the action. "No..can't sleep just yet." Donnie mumbled gently, his conscious slowly slipping away as the battle for control was shifting in favor of sleep.

It was almost like clockwork as a loud obnoxious noise ripped through the air, practically shattering the silence enveloping the lab as Donnie almost fell out of his chair in shock. His hands scrambling for his desk, his chair falling backwards as Donnie practically slammed himself onto his desk. Clutching it like a life line as his dead lifeless eyes practically flew open like saucers, Donnie's head whipping around like crazy. "I-I'm up! I'm up! I didn't fall asleep! Nope, wide awake!" Donnie exclaimed frantically as his heart started beating like crazy.

Donnie started to rub his eyes again, groaning softly at the soreness developing around them before awkwardly fumbling around. Lifting his head up, Donnie could see the faint blinking on his computer as his tired mind scrambled for a bit before remembering his little brother's big grin filtering through his mind.

Before Donnie could even process it, his hand lifted up to push a button on his computer as it activated the dimensional communicator, silencing the obnoxious sound as a large projector like screen came out from a sphere like device that was connected to his computer. Almost like a machine was booting up, the screen turned white before bringing in color as a pair of baby blue eyes were pushed up against the screen. As if trying to see through the screen as much as possible as a shit-eating grin soon followed afterward.

"Hey D! What up?! It's been so long since I've seen you bro," a familiar green turtle was visible as Donnie couldn't help but chuckle at his younger brother's greeting. The loneliness in his heart was quickly disappearing at seeing Mikey again. "Hold on a minute, D when did you last eat?" Mikey asked, his jovial tone quickly leaving as his baby blue eyes narrowed in irritation at taking in his older brother.

Quickly replacing the calm atmosphere, Donnie's smile turned into a sheepish one as he awkwardly looked off to the side before meeting his brother. "U-Um since the night before. But it's okay, I'm not even-." Donnie started to say but was quickly silenced by his stomach growling loudly. "Hahaha! Oh man your stomach failed you on that! But seriously," Mikey said firmly after laughing a little. "Go and grab yourself a slice of pizza or something. I'm worried about you dude, you look like you haven't slept in weeks or even days!" Mikey expressed quite clearly as Donnie rubbed his arm softly, knowing that his younger brother was just being worried. His mahogany eyes looked down at his feet in shame at the fact that he probably did look horrible, considering how Donnie was looking at his brother and seeing how healthy he looked. Especially considering how Mikey was only 24 and looking even healthier then when he first left Earth to travel with Renet.

"Okay, I'll go grab some curry quickly." Donnie promised with a smile, giving a soft wave to his brother as he headed towards the kitchen. Everything was still in its place since everyone left, Donnie barely needing to worry about the overload of dishes or generally staying in the room itself other then to make coffee or grab a quick bite to eat. He couldn't help but think about all of the family dinners they had, his eyes bristling with tears at the memory as Donnie quickly started pulling out pots and pans.

Oh shoot, almost forgot about the magic elixir here Donnie thought to himself, a soft smirk slid across his face as he turned on the coffee pot. The sweet smell of his favorite beverage started to drift around the area as it helped with his tears a bit, helping him focus on the task at hand. It wasn't long before Donnie was finishing up on his dish, his mind still going in circles at what he still needed to do. "I wonder if I could contact-." Donnie mumbled out loud before a certain someone came into his mind, making his hand on the pan stop moving. It was as if a light bulb went on in his mind, the mere thought of forgetting about her was hard enough to believe as his eyes darted side to side.

"I-I could ask April," Donnie said softly before quickly remembering as he shook his head. "N-No I couldn't, she never did give me her new phone number and besides she's probably all ready got her hands full keeping Casey in line." Donnie said softly, his grip on the pan's handle tightening at remembering the young girl that stumbled into his life nine years ago.

Donnie could still remember how beautiful April was when he first laid eyes on her, knowing that this random chance meeting was more then that. It was almost hard to believe how close they had become, it practically made his heart soar every time they were around each other.

And yet, I lost. I lost to him of all people Donnie thought bitterly, the sounds of his brother in the background echoing as he talked with his girlfriend kept the purple banded turtle focused on the present but still allowed the memories to resurface. It was inevitable though, Casey was able to give her a normal life. She deserved it after everything that had happened. Donnie thought as he signed outwardly, shifting the sauce onto a plate of rice that had been prepared before grabbing the plate and his coffee as he headed back towards his lab.

I knew that I was setting myself up for disappointment anyway, but it just seemed too good to be true. Donnie thought, his feet softly shuffling across the living room leading to his lab as mahogany eyes landed on the vacant living room. Staring over at the TV, Donnie could almost picture his older brother sitting in front of it with his entire attention on the new episode of Space Heroes.

A big grin on his face as he took in the corny show with the eyes of a child as that thought alone caused Donnie to bite his lip in sadness. His grip on his coffee cup tightened as Donnie's mahogany eyes looked over at the couch, almost making out the muscular form of his other older brother. Raph calmly sitting on the couch watching Leo with an amused look while pampering his pet Chompy.

I need to snap out of it, this isn't helping me at all and besides, Mikey is waiting for me in the lab Donnie mentally berated himself as he shook his head before quickly turning his back on the memories, wanting to keep facing ahead and figuring out what to do next.

As soon as Donnie sat down, Mikey immediately pounced up as Renet silently moved away from the communicator. Ever the hyperactive one, Donnie could see his brother softly bouncing in place as Mikey watched him chow down. "Oooh! Curry, man I miss that! Almost as much as I miss pizza." Mikey said excitedly, his feet kicking back and forth.

That comment made Donnie's innate curiosity perk up as he looked around at what was behind Mikey. "You're not in Italy anymore?" he asked curiously, the excitement in Mikey's expression quickly disappeared. "No, stupid Lord Simultaneous wanted Renet to go to another place and time period entirely. I didn't even get to try a genuine Italian pizza or a cal zone! It was so horrible!" Mikey replied overly dramatic at the trauma he just witnessed.

That comment alone made Donnie roll his eyes and let out a chuckle at his brother's own misfortune, his food all ready almost finished as he took a sip of his coffee. Casually glancing up from his plate, Donnie couldn't help noticing a distinct difference in his brother's appearance. "Hey Mike," Donnie said as Mikey stopped what he was saying to pay attention. "You've grown taller since I've last seen you." he pointed out with a smile as Mikey's smile widened at the observation.

"Ah! So you've finally noticed? I know right! I'm about as tall as Leo back when he was fifteen. I think I'm even taller then Raph now." Mikey said happily as Donnie couldn't help but chuckle, the tightening in his gut following soon afterwards at hearing his older sibling's name but he knew that Mikey was just being honest on the matter. He also noticed that Mikey's muscles had become more prominent then before, a clear indication that he was still keeping up with his training.

"Raph can't call me pipsqueak anymore now! Heck, I might even be able to use him as an arm rest now." Mikey said with a mischievous laugh, his mind all ready quickly shifting into his pranking state of mind. A cheerful laugh soon slipped past Donnie's lips, knowing that Raph was in for quite the surprise whenever he decided to stop by.

"You do realize that he'll still find a way to call you that. To him, you're his pipsqueak younger brother." Donnie brought up as Mikey's lips shifted into a pout as he crossed his arms in front of him. "Yeah yeah, the jerk always finds a way to win battles." he mumbled softly before Mikey looked off to the side, almost as if he was in deep contemplation.

"D," Mikey said softly as Donnie looked up from putting a spoonful of curry in his mouth. "Speaking of Raph, has he tried contacting you recently?" he asked gently as Donnie's hand tightened around his spoon before gently pulling it out and looked off to the side. "No, not since he checked out Dimension X for us. He's been with Mona from what I've heard," Donnie stated simply as he shifted his food around on his plate. "Nothing else sadly that I can tell you."

"He probably still needs some time alone," Mikey suggested gently, his baby blue eyes softening into his adorable puppy gaze. "Or he's on a planet outside of communication range."

Donnie's attention snapped back to his little brother's saddened tone; knowing that a change of subject was in order. "I'm sure he'll contact us soon, I wouldn't worry too much about Raph." Donnie stated calmly, wanting to divert the conversation. "You and Renet still planning on staying in that dimension for a while?" Donnie asked curiously, noting that it looked like different planet in the solar system.

"Y-Yeah! Renet told me all about the different kinds of sports they have around here! I was hoping on checking it out and showing them my sick skateboarding moves!" Mikey bragged with a proud tone to it, Donnie rolling his eyes a bit at his brother's cockiness.

Seeing Mikey's smile grow brighter at the change of subject, made Donnie's mood lift a little higher every time that Mikey spoke as they conversed back and forth with each other happily.

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Donnie groaned softly, leaning back in his chair as he cracked his shoulders again. Having just disconnected his call with Mikey, Donnie could feel his mood lighting up a bit at the mere thought of his baby brother. His mahogany eyes slowly opened up, staring at the ceiling for a while as he processed the conversation that the two of them had together. Idle small talk at best but it was enough to help each other out even if it was just a little bit.

A soft sigh left his lips, an object to his right catching his eye as Donnie reached over and gently grasped Leo's T-Phone again. His thumb lightly touched the crack on it as the memory of when his brother threw it on the ground in anger flashed through his mind. "Everybody misses you; they just want to make sure that you're okay." Donnie said softly to himself and to the phone as his hand curled tighter around the phone. The memories of his family still together, both the good and the bad filtering as he held the phone tightly. The many battles and constant life or death moments that had happened in their lives kept flooding through, the allies they had both gained and lost as the end result of the nine year war.

Nine long years, of both fighting the Shredder and being apart from one another. We drove the Kraang back for good and the Foot Clan retreated back to Japan, with Shredder's head disappearing into the dark abyss of the last war we had Donnie thought back to their final battle, shuddering at how bloody it had gotten and how everyone pushed themselves to the limit.

"Especially you," Donnie said softly, Leo coming to mind as he remembered staring at Leo's back as he looked out at the battle ground. "You were always standing so strong, it was almost like you were a statue that couldn't be moved."

Leo's name slipping past his lips caused Donnie's to tremble, knowing that the pain had to come out some time. It had to come out and be heard and it was taking Donnie everything he had to keep it at bay, but now it was becoming unbearable. Almost as if it was perfect timing, Donnie's cell went off at that moment as he let out a surprised yelp before groaning loudly.

"Geez, snap out of it Donnie. Dr. Rockwell doesn't need any incentive to give you his 'honest' opinion on the matter." Donne grumbled softly to himself, too focused on composing himself to look at his caller I.D.

"Did you manage to find any clues Doc?" Donnie asked softly, massaging his temples lightly to help ease the tension out of them. His migraine still pulsating inside as Donnie relaxed into his chair. It was eerily quiet on the other side of the line, almost making Donnie worry that something bad had happened or had come up.

The silence felt like it was going to drag on forever so Donnie got ready to say something else when a familiar voice rang through the phone. "Donnie? It's me, April." the voice drifted through the speakers as Donnie practically felt his heart stop in his chest, his mind going blank for several minutes. It was almost too good to be true, and especially after he had started thinking about her too. His hand tightened around his T-Phone as Donnie struggled to get the words out clearly. "A-April?" Donnie asked again, wanting to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating or that this wasn't a dream.

"Heh, yes it's me."

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"But it was perfect timing, in this dark room, you led me to the light." - Hurts – Song: Perfect Timing

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A/N: I HAVE FINISHED! Multiple and I mean multiple nights of me staring at my outline and trying to figure out HOW TO WORD THIS CHAPTER! Donnie is so difficult to get into his state of mind but I think I finally got it! So yes, a new character has finally shown up and hopefully, get this story really going XD

Read and Review please!