Why The Twins Abandoned Draxum

*No. I have no qualms about how it affects the story; I just don't like deviating from canon in works in general. **I like playing around with it in fanfics/AUs, but I don't think it should actually happen in canon. ***Yes, a thousand years of cattle children and the general demon population suffering should have been compensation enough. ****Combination of two or more listed options since tumblr won't let us have multiple choice voting.

Sort of a continuation of this poll from last year.

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 6)

Just three words: Norman. Cursed hair.

Do your thing.

I got another idea and ran with it.

Donnie hated that he could see the future. It wasn’t because it was troublesome, or he saw things that would scar any normal person, but because his visions were all useless to him. He couldn’t use any of the information he got in any sort of productive way. Leo’s visions he could use to plan, since Leo’s visions were about disasters to come. The knowledge of what Mikey was going to make for breakfast was just useless. Knowing what he was going to get for a present was annoying. Seeing the good things that were going to happen never helped them on missions, but knowing that Mikey was going to sprain his ankle, or that Meat Sweats was going to try and poison an entire tv channel? That was important information to have.

Donnie hated his visions to the point where, if it were up to him, he would have never shared his ability with anyone. However, fate was a cruel mistress, and Donnie managed to get stuck in a particularly bad waking vision without even noticing it. According to Raph, the vision had left him comatose for several days. Raph had also asked what the vision was about, but Donnie had refused to explain it.

He wasn’t withholding the information because he was embarrassed, or felt like the others wouldn’t understand, what with his emotionless bad boy image and all, but because the vision was useless. Well, visions. Donnie hadn’t been in a loop, seeing the same vision over and over again, but was instead coasting through multiple, falling deeper and deeper into his vision state as the minutes passed. Inside the visions, time was meaningless, as some went by faster then others.

However, even with the time jumble, Donnie hadn’t realized he was stuck in a vision until he had heard Raph trying to talk to him. His biggest brother’s voice had sounded like the equivalent of tv static, words blended together into an indiscernible hum, but the simple act of hearing him at all from somewhere other then directly around him, had almost snapped Donnie out of the trance he was in.

Almost.

It wasn’t until Donnie felt Leo’s presence afterwards, again affected by the nothingness of time, that he was able to pull out of his vision. His brothers had been extremely excited, and clingy, when he was finally fully conscious, and it was nice, but Donnie had only been able to be annoyed at the time.

A part of him wanted to return to his vision, floating into the sea of good fortune and joy he so desperately craved in life, and a part of him was happy to be back with his actual family. However, the largest part was just filled with annoyance. He had been plagued with visions for three days, and not a single thing in them was useful to him in the waking world. He saw Mikey cooking, Raph getting a new bear, Leo winning some competition, his father saying that he was proud of Donnie, Draxum joining in on celebrating some holiday, and all kinds of other stuff. A brain full of useless crap.

Even months later, Donnie refused to talk about his visions. “It will spoil the surprise. If I tell you then you may mess up a good thing. It was just Mikey cooking something again.” None of them were really lies, but Donnie was positive his brothers picked up on his reluctance, especially since they eventually stopped asking.

No, the one with useful visions was his twin. Leo always saw useful things in his visions. Leo was a doom prophet, blessed to see the bad that was coming their way. Donnie was just a soothsayer, cursed with the useless good. Leo didn’t like sharing his visions either, but Donnie had a way around that reluctance. When Leo’s insomnia had gotten worse, and he was awake more times then asleep, Donnie had created him a dreamcatcher. It was a small device, and worked as a white noise machine, but that was just the secondary purpose.

It’s primary purpose was to record Leo’s dreams. The deceive had been created in hopes of finding out a trigger to Leo’s countless nightmares, a way for Donnie to curb behaviors to grant his twin more peaceful dreams, but Donnie had stumbled on facts he had tried to deny for months. Leo’s dreams, no matter how bad, had a habit of coming true. Once it was determined that he was a seer, Donnie switched gears and began studying Leo’s dreams, finding ways to prevent disaster.

That studying led Donnie to learn two things.

One, Leo’s visions didn’t happen in a timeline format, and instead bounced around, very rarely going in order. This added more work for Donnie, as he had to learn the behavior patterns of the bad guys. However, it was a positive, as it became easier to best them in fights.

Two, sometimes the future was set in stone. Whatever forces decided on how the world worked, also decided what things absolutely had to happen. Like the Kraang for example. No matter what they did, Donnie was 100% certain that the Kraang had to happen. As did their first trip to the Hidden City, and the return of Shredder. Donnie however, had yet to determine if the creation of him and his brothers was one of those fixed points as well.

Regardless, none of it truly helped him with his current task, which was the creation of a device intended to temporarily neutralize the regeneration powers of that… worm they sometimes fought. Donnie wasn’t really sure how the worm man generated a doom dream, but it was better to be cautious in his books.

Donnie was in the middle of some less important circuitry when there was a knock at the entrance to his lab. Donnie pretended not to hear it, hoping that his restless leg would be taken as him listening to music, but it seemed that even music wasn’t going to ward off the unwanted visit of his twin.

Leo entered the lab after his second, louder knock, and planted his feet on the other side of Donnie’s desk, where Donnie had no choice but to acknowledge him.

“Sigh, yes dearest brother? What can I help you with, since I am obviously working on nothing important. Also, that was sarcasm, I am very busy, please go away.” Leo was quiet for longer then usual, and Donnie sighed again, this time with his breath and not his words. “What’s up Nardo?”

“I need your help.” Leo’s voice was significantly quieter then usual, and Donnie stopped his work, turning his full attention to the turtle in front of him. His goggles focused on the new visual target, scanning his brother’s physical state.

Bags under his eyes, darker then usual. Shallow scratches on his arm, surrounding area darker. Mask tails uneven. Breathing heavy. Rapid eye movement. Shaking. Shifting weight. Avoiding eye contact. Tear trails on cheeks.

Donnie put down his tools and pushed up his goggles before standing up, offering his arms for a hug. Leo hesitated for only a moment before stepping into reach, wrapping his arms under Donnies, and along the top of the purple turtle’s shell. Donnie held his brother for a moment, before noticing the shifting of his brother's hands as they tried to find a good place to rest. Donnie sighed once more and hit the release mechanism on his battle shell, letting it fall off before returning to the hug.

The two embraced for, what Donnie perceived as, an eternity before Leo stepped back, pulling out of reach of his twin. “Don I,” the slider took a shaky breath before finally looking at Donnie directly. “I had a really bad vision, and I don’t know what to do.”

Donnie thought, studying his twin’s face. Their embrace seemed to have brought new tears to Leo’s eyes, and while he was looking directly at Donnie, Leo’s eyes were still distant. “I’m guessing you need someone to plan out a reaction?”

Leo started off nodding, before shaking his head. “I mean, yes but no? A plan would help, but I need my twin first. It was… I don’t… I can’t…”

Donnie held up a hand, trying to give his brother a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about telling me. What do you need from me?”

Leo looked around, before his eyes went to his feet. “Can we move out of your lab? I just need to be near you.” Donnie nodded and turned to pick his shell off the ground, intending on putting it away. “Is it okay if I ask you to leave the shell off?”

Donnie nodded. “I was just about to hang it up to charge. My room or yours?”

“Yours is quieter, and the others leave you alone.”

Donnie gave an affirming hum, hung up his shell, and turned to his brother, raising an eyebrow when he saw that Leo had not moved. “Are you coming?”

Leo shook his head as if shaking off a thought, before nodding. “Yeah, let's go.”

The two turtles crossed the lair towards Donnie’s room, when the soft shell noticed no one else around. “What time is it?”

“Two thirty-eight in the morning.”

“Is it really?” Donnie made the statement, regardless of not wanting the answer. If the lair was dead, and it was that late, it meant Leo had just woken up from a vision, and immediately went to Donnie for comfort. That told Donnie more then anything else about his twin’s state.

Donnie flopped down on his bed as dramatically as he could when they arrived, pleased with the chuckle it earned from Leo. He rolled so that his body was parallel to his bed, and patted the bed. Leo hesitated for a moment, and at first seemed like he intended to take a spot next to his twin, but instead took a spot on top of him, laying on his stomach as well.

Donnie grunted, wiggling to shake Leo into a better position. “Get off you, you way a ton!” Leo snorted, so Donnie upped the dramatics. “What are you, a turtle or a magic hippo? I’m gonna be a pancake because of you!” Leo hummed, muttering a want for pancakes. “Lucky you, Mikey’s planning on pancakes soon. Unlucky me, that will only make you heavier.”

“Mikey’s making pancakes soon?” Leo shifted to put his chin on top of Donnie’s who snorted.

“Yeah, strawberry chocolate chip I think. Could you maybe not try and cut my head with your stupid sharp chin?”

“Oh! My favorite!” Leo sat up, and Donnie groaned at the sudden shift in weight.

“Okay, I didn’t think this could get worse, but you made it worse. Get. Down.” Donnie grunted, shaking around to force Leo into a spot that didn’t crush his lungs. Leo laughed, and Donnie paused, thinking. “Wasn’t the last time he made those around the time we found all of those fireworks?”

Leo laughed harder, and Donnie guessed he was nodding with the way the bed shook. “Yeah! Remember the one that went off in Splinter’s room? Oh he was pissed! It was amazing!”

Donnie nodded, twisting onto his side, which knocked the slider off him, sending him into the wall.

“Ow Donnie!” Leo huffed, and sat up, mirroring how Donnie was now sitting, legs folded, and hands holding feet together. Donnie found the position to be extra helpful when he needed to move, but didn’t want to get up. The two rocked in sync with each other.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Leo clammed up again, and Donnie smiled. “That’s okay, I needed to check. If you want to talk at all, you always can. Otherwise, you don’t have to tell me anything.” When Donnie had determined that the silence had gone on too long, he spoke up again. “Do you want to know what Mikey gets Draxum for christmas?”

“How do you know what he got? There’s no way Mikey has already started getting things!” Leo leaned forward, fingers tapping on his feet.

Donnie shrugged, trying to force the information to fit into what would be an acceptable state of unimportance. “I saw it in a vision. He gets him socks. Not just any socks though, wool socks, with sheep on them.”

“Wool socks with sheep? For the sheep man? Oh that’s good! Tell me something else!” Leo was bouncing now, which was good. If Leo was bouncing, he was happy. Donnie rocked backwards, leaning his back against the wall. He adjusted, and put a pillow between his shell and the wall, before speaking again.

“Casey is going to go absolutely nuts when it starts to snow. Apparently it never snowed in his timeline. Cass is going to teach him to play hockey, and if you think Cass is obsessed, then get ready for it being Brightspot’s biggest obsession.”

“Wait, even more then pizza and movie nights?”

“Even more. I wouldn’t be surprised if he skipped the occasional movie to go practice.”

Leo pretended to be offended in the most dramatic way he could. “Now that’s just crazy! How could hockey be better then ‘Pizza and Movies’? That’s blasphemy!” Leo clutched in front of his plastron, in the way an old housewife would clutch a pearl necklace.

“Blasphemy, good one. Where did you learn it?”

“Jupiter Jim comic.” Donnie nodded in approval, and Leo went back to acting dramatic. “We’re gonna have to have a serious talk with Little Hope then.”

“Little Hope?” Donnie tilted his head at the name. He knew that’s what Casey’s Leo had called him, but he also knew that he wasn’t supposed to know that.

“Oh, yeah, it’s just something I picked up.” Leo shrugged off the question, his nerves starting to show again.

Donnie leaned closer to his twin and whispered “it’s okay, I call him Brightspot.”

Leo chuckled, settling back into a more relaxed state. The two sat in the quiet for a moment, before Leo snapped his attention to Donnie. “I have to get something off my chest.” Donnie raised an eyebrow, expecting to hear about Leo’s dream, only to be unpleasantly surprised when Leo’s thing turned out to be a loud burp.

“Really Nardo? How civilized.” Donnie leaned back against the wall, and Leo smiled wide, standing up.

“I’m feeling better already. Thank’s Donnie.”

Donnie caught Leo’s arm as he tried passing by to leave the room, and Leo froze. “Do you want to talk about it?” Donnie watched a shiver go up Leo’s body, and wasn’t surprised when Leo responded with a ‘nope’ before darting out of the room.

Donnie waited on his bed for exactly fifteen minutes, the length of time it took Leo to sprint out a little energy and either portal off or return to his room, and stood. First, he went to his shelves, grabbing a pen and a sticky note. He wrote three notes, and hid them in the small area where his shell didn’t meet his skin. He then snuck into Mikey’s room, where he stuck a note saying ‘Please make Leo strawberry chocolate pancakes’ on Mikey’s mask.

Once the first note was placed, he snuck up to the surface, heading to April’s apartment. He placed the second note that read ‘Please bring Mikey strawberries in the morning’ on the inside of her fire escape window.

Then, Donnie moved onto his next stop. Donnie usually wouldn’t enter Run of the Mill unarmed and shell-less, but he was trying to move quickly, and didn’t have time to return home just yet. Once he was inside, he snuck up to the podium and placed the third note, which read ‘Leo needs an easy win.’

With all the notes placed, Donnie headed home, and checked on Leo when he returned. He looked around for Leo, and was happy to find him sleeping once more.

‘Now, time to see what that dream was.’

Donnie pulled out a tablet with a blue star engraved on the back, turning it on in order to look through Leo’s previous dreams. When he found the one he wanted, and watched it, dread pooling in his gut.

He watched it again, and again, each time growing more and more worried. If Leo’s dream was right, which they almost always were, then Donnie had to amp up security to the lair, and prepare for him, and his brother, to be snatched up, and dragged to the Hidden City.

This is so cool! I love the idea of Donnie "i don't like seeing the good things" Hamato leaving post-it notes to make sure those things do actually happen lol. I love this very much!

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no one here to talk about how raph’s sense of self-preservation vs self-sacrifice is directly tied to how it affects the safety of his family and i resent that

leo gets dropped off a building, raph all but throws himself after him to catch him, no real plan, just desperation.  shadow of evil, he sees they’re way outnumbered, he literally picks his entire family up and runs.

battle nexus new york he posts himself over donnie as a personal shield against shredder

shreddy or not, not only is he the second mvp of the initial brawling (gram gram is of course biggest mvp) putting it all on the line THROWING HIMSELF at shredder, saving bacon left and right with like zero regard for his own safety. he then has to buckle down and make the choice to get his brothers to safety TWICE while leaving people behind in the span of a couple of minutes, and he looks so absolutely torn up about it

in the movie, he’s the one who sees them getting their butts handed to them in the first kraang showdown and calls for the retreat/escape pods! and then he puts himself on the line saving leo’s life, getting hurt in the process, then getting leo out safely and being captured in the process.

and i think it’s so interesting that like. when he knows his family made it home safe in one piece, when he’s alone in enemy hands and sister kraang is straight up like “let’s kill him already he won’t tell you anything,” raph is just like. “yeah, she’s right.” no trying to stall for time or argue back. 

like his sense of self-preservation and i think overall worth really is SO so directly tied to his family’s safety. which makes it hurt even harder to see his mind and autonomy get violated and used to hurt them imo

thinking about how the grief seed madoka used to purify homura’s soul gem (3rd or 4th timeline we see?) is sayaka’s

“don’t let me turn into this” she says, holding the corrupted soul of her best friend

He speaks in turtle haha

I like to think that Donnie uses turtle sounds instead of speech much more often than his brothers. So I wonder where Casey might have picked up the habit from hmm hhmmm

my mom got me this little thing and im obsessed with him.... little creature..

“Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, knowing full well that there was no one left to heal”

I got to Shaman Village last night 😬💔