#tmntfic

He didn't answer right away, ears flattening and breath hitching as his earlier nightmare surged up into the forefront of his mind.

He shook his head trying to dislodge the after images.

There was none of the dismissive bluntness of his dream as Raph gave an accepting shrug.

"Yeah, you're right, you an April got this. But if you do need a hand remember we got your back, ok?"

Casey nodded lingering anxiety still turning down the edges of his features, and didn't expect when Raph  leaned back to glance along either side of the hall before darting forward and giving Casey a supportive hug.

"Everything's gonna be fine, so stop stressing."

He of course followed this up with a much more in character grumble of  "Never tell anyone I did that." once he'd released the rat mutant.

He must have been freaking out bad if even the generally physically unaffectionate tough guy of the team had considered such support a necessity, and while it was a surprise, it had also helped.

The edge now taken off his bad dream induced panic he was able to offer up a smirk and a punch to the arm.

"Yeah you're right dude, and I wont tell anyone you're actually a big old softy."

Raph sputtered and Casey snatched up his hoodie as he raced past before he could get a retaliatory strike in, laughing the entire time.

/

"So, you hear Raph do that three am super snore thing?"

April asked as they trekked their way through the sewers toward the manhole by Casey's apartment complex, the easiest way to get there without being seen.

He snorted, Casey kept forgetting she'd had to live with them for a bit when the whole 'the krang are trying to kidnap me' thing had first happened.

"Naw, passed out too hard the last few nights. Did hear somebody makin lil whistling noises though."

Now it was April's turn to laugh, having to smother it so it wasn't too much.

"That's Donnie! I think it's cause of that little gap in his teeth. You can always tell when he actually gets some sleep cause of it."

He refrained from commenting that the sound was kinda cute.

"Don't tell him I said so but it's kinda cute." April commented absently and Casey settling for a noncommittal noise in response to her voicing his thoughts, sometimes it was weird how she could do that.

Everything about her body language was relaxed and casual. Like they were on their way to her place to study instead of on their way to possibly the most stressful conversation of Casey's life. 

They were taking the sewers to get there, he was wearing his hoodie and cargo shorts (leaving his vigilante equipment at the lair of course, April was still going in first but on a different path then Casey was. No borrowed oversized hoodie to hide in, no nerve-wracking slinking through crowded hallways, no lurking awkwardly outside his own home.

The further they got from the details of his dream the more His panic returned to a more reasonable level of anxiety.

April shouldered the heavy manhole cover open and popped up into the alleyway first, checking the coast was clear before Casey joined her.

They were silent as they parted ways, April out to the street to head in by the front door while Casey would go in through his own bedroom window.

"Hey," His gaze jerked back to the alley entrance where April had popped back around the corner " It's going to be fine, you got this!"

Her warm, supportive smile disappeared around the corner again.

He lingered in the empty alley probably longer than was wise. Staring up at the bedroom window that he'd snuck out of countless times without a care.

He skipped the fire escape ladder, Instead he kicked off his shoes and put his new paws to good use, claws allowing him to scale the brick wall with surprisingly little difficulty and going over the railing.

For all that it freaked him out Casey had to admit some of the benefits of this whole rat thing were pretty darn cool.

One last check of his phone to make sure there were no ABORT MISSION messages and he popped the window lock with an ease born of years of practice and slid inside his bedroom.

/

His room was exactly as he left it.

Which made sense, considering it had only been the weekend, but it sure felt like a lot longer

He hesitated, he could hear the muffled sounds of the city from the again closed window he'd just come in through, muted conversation filtered through the walls from the direction of the living room, his little sister singing to her stuffed animals filtered from her bedroom in the other direction.

It all felt so normal, and for a moment he was caught between the comfort of it and the fear of how it could all go wrong.

The living room voices started to draw closer and his heart jumped to his throat, leaving him internally  scrambling for what he should do. Ultimately retreating to his bed and sitting anxiously perched on the edge nervously worrying at his tail.

When the door swung open, revealing his dad's tense frame and concerned features still turned partway over his shoulder to April, Casey couldn't breathe as he waited for that gaze to land on the strange creature that was his son.

But there was no jerk , no disgusted flinch, no gasp.

Instead the concerned crease unknit from Mr. Jones brow, shoulders relaxed, the worried frown turned up into a relieved smile. He crossed the room without hesitation and the rat mutant was scooped up into a tight hug which he returned with equal ferocity

Even with the air being squished out of him by his dad's embrace he felt like he could breathe for the first time in days.

Over his dads shoulder April was absolutely beaming at them, shooting Casey two thumbs up and eliciting an eye roll from him.

"You scared the crap out of me disappearing like that!"

"Sorry dad."

One last big squeeze and he pulled away to give his son a proper once over.

"So…this is a thing…"

Casey ducked his head a bit in embarrassment, nose giving a twitch and ears flattening to the sides as he offered a muttered.

"Yeah."

Mr. Jones looked caught between confusion, concern, and amusement.

"You know when I gave you 'The Talk' this isn't what I meant when I mentioned hair in weird places."

April went bright red, groaning into her hands as she shook her head in disappointment and Casey burst out laughing. She supposed he had to get his sense of humor from somewhere.

As their laughter faded the concern returned to his expression and he asked seriously.

"Casey, are you okay?"

Casey fidgeted, not just firing off a knee-jerk reassurance but actually giving the question the consideration it was due.

"I…Yeah, mostly? Like, it hurt when it first happened and it's kinda super weird but its not that bad. Some of its kinda cool even." He considered the tail he was currently worrying at in his hands. "And my bud and his bro's are helpin me out, like get used to it an stuff."

"April mentioned them. These are your friends who are - turtles?"

Casey snorted at the look on his dad's face as the man tried to brace himself for the weirdness he now knew was coming.

"Yep mutant ones, and Ninjas, and their dads a rat."

Mr. Jones eyed him.

"That, uh, that doesn't have anything to do with this does it?" motioning to his ratness.

April and Casey were quick to end that line of reasoning, filling him in on the Reader's Digest version of the Rat King, Master Splinter's disdain for him, how the martial arts rodent had put an end to his reign (even if they didn't know the how of it), and had readily offered Casey their spare room for the duration of his mutation.

"Not so sure how I feel about that," Mr. Jones admitted "you staying with folks I'm only just hearing about and never met"

This was April's cue to reassure him

"I had to stay with them for a couple weeks a while ago there is no safer Place promise."

Mr. Jones didn't look especially convinced but a little more of the stress tensing his frame drained away at her reassurance.

"When you didn't come home or answer my calls, I thought the worst. 'Specially after what your sister went throu-"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO CHLOE!?"

Casey shot up at the mention of his baby sister; posture going rigid, ears straight, hackled raised, and teeth bared, every inch of him was suddenly on the defensive at the implication of a threat as he demanded "What happened?! Is she okay? Where is she!?"

"She's fine! She's fine, calm down."

He pushed Casey back down, ruffling the fur on his head as he did so for good measure before he explained.

To Casey's horror it turned out his baby sister had been disturbingly close by when Casey had been mutated, having been snatched by one of the Rat King's monster rat's like so many others, it was a wonder Casey hadn't seen her among the other caged hostages.

"You can imagine my relief when the pizza delivery kid showed up with her in hand, but then I didn't hear from you and I was worried they'd gotten you too." He eyed his rodent son. "I guess I wasn't too far off."

Casey was still too concerned to even look embarrassed.

"But she's okay? They didn't hurt her or nothing" A worrying thought occurred to him "Oh God, she just got kidnapped by a bunch of monster rats. I'm going to freak her out!"

Mr. Jones snorted.

"Considering with the pizza boy handed her over she was raving about how cool it all was and asked if we could keep one…"

April made a face remembering the how unpleasant the rat monsters had been.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Actually, she's been worried about you too." with no additional warning Mr. Jones turned and called out "Chloe! Casey's home!"

The swift pounding of small feet heralded the arrival of the youngest Jones.

"CASEY! Where have you been! You had me and daddy scared!"

She was already lecturing him before she even reach the bedroom door, stomping in all prim and proper in her dress and hairbow with arms crossed.

Only for her righteous fury to melt into confusion as she paused at the threshold.

Her gaze turned questioningly to her father, then April, then laser focused on the final furry figure as she puzzles him out inspected him.

Casey waited, frozen by her gaze and his own fear of scaring her.

Or worse, hurting her somehow.

Her head tilted slightly as she took him in and suddenly recognition lit in her eyes.

"Casey!"

The teen in question was rocked as the full weight of a gleeful six year old launched into his chest.

"Your fuzzy! Why are you fuzzy! You got whiskers! Is that a tail? that's so cool!!"

"Oh yeah, your family looks terrified" April snarked as Chloe crawled all over him, inspecting his new form, and the redhead was rewarded with a pink tongue stuck out at her when his sister's attention was securely elsewhere.

"So," Mr. Jones brought their attention back to the topic at hand as Chloe continued to harass her big brother unabated. "About this whole stayin at your friends' thing."

/

"Captain Ryan! Look ouutttt!"

Yet another Space Heroes episode blared on the TV. 

Master Splinter sat on the couch, his sons scattered about the rest of the recess they called a living room.

 Donatello was curled around his laptop in the corner of the couch, furiously typing away at his newest theory on his retro mutagen, gaze flicking up to the tv every now and then to keep up with the plot. 

Michelangelo and Raphael were both sprawled out on beanbags. Mikey in rapt attention while Raph putting on a grumbling show of not liking the program at all but was definitely watching from the corner of his eye.

Leonardo was perched at Master Splinters side, excitedly explaining the show to his father.

A nameless red shirted ensign was vaporized right after warning Captain Ryan and being roundly ignored in favor of a showy frontal assault.

"This Captain Ryan seems a bit…enthusiastic about endangering his team."

This netted the elder rat mutant a lengthy theological lecture about the subtle undertones of the Captains  heroics and motivation, most of which sounded to him like a good it of projection on his eldest sons part.

Splinter chuckled to himself as he nodded along, glad to see his son so passionate about something other then training. Even if he didn't really get the show and preferred his soaps.

The peace was unexpectedly broken by the shrill ring of the cheese phone, Splinters ear twitching toward the dojo in alarm.

It was surprising to be receiving a call to begin with, especially since all four of his sons were all with him safe and sound.

"Oh shell," The almost curse had fallen from a very concerned looking Raphael "What if it's Casey?"

The thought had occurred to Splinter as well and he was tense with worry as he lifted the plastic cheese slice to his ear.

"Moshimoshi."

All four brothers were pressed almost in a pile just behind him, trying not to actually crowd him as they waited impatiently to find out what was going on.

"Hai April."

Four sets of eyes widened, definitely about Casey then.

"Ah, yes I understand."

Mikey started to whine, his silence lasting longer then he could handle, and Donnie slapped a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet.

"Yes of course, we will see you soon."

Calmly, Master Splinter returned the cheese slice to its dock and turned to the mound of anxiety awaiting news that was his sons.

"It seems that we will be having some additional company this evening. Casey's father wishes to meet us."

---------------------------------------------

A hand was gripping his wrist, an arm wrapped around his chest, gently but securely keeping him from running. Something he rather desperately wanted to do right now.

"My sons."

Splinters voice was calm and soft as he addressed his three youngest children

"I believe that will be the end of practice for today, you are excused."

Nervous glances were traded, words almost spoken but caught in their throats. Donatello gently led Michelangelo out by the elbow with Raphael trailing after, shooting a supportive look Leonardo's way as he slid the door closed behind him.

There was silence, for a moment, and Leo could only hear his own heart pounding in his ears and the light jitter of his wings trying to escape from under his shell. Tears were starting to sting his eyes and flow down his cheeks and he just wanted to not be here right now.

A deep breath behind him.

In, then out.

His wrist was released, the arm shifting to his chest to join the other one, and a fuzzy chin rested against the top of his head as the restraining hold was turned into a loving hug.

"I am sorry."

Leonardo had been conjuring up all manner of outcomes over what had just happened.

A gentle, almost mournful apology from his father had not been one of them.

He managed a confused noise, since emotion was currently choking off any hope of speech, and his father explained.

"I thought you needed time to process what had occurred at your own pace. I was afraid of pushing you before you were ready, or forcing you to talk about this before you'd had a chance to understand things for yourself. And seeing your brothers working so hard to support you, I felt so proud I did not want to disrupt their efforts and how much it seemed to be helping."

A soft sigh.

"Somehow I thought this would be easier for you, that the sudden change would be less traumatic since it had happened before. I forgot just how young you all were when we were changed. It hadn't occurred to me you wouldn't remember what it was like suddenly becoming mutants, this is all you've ever known. I should have realized that, given you guidance and support from the start instead of waiting for you to seek out my help. I hope you can forgive me for that."

Leo twisted to give him an absolutely bewildered look that would have been humorous if not for the pained undercurrent.

"But I attacked you!" His expression crumpled further as he whimpered out "I'm a monster."

He tried to curl further in on himself. Hands clamping to either side of his mouth, hiding the clicking mandibles that resided there and closing his eyes tight to hide the ominous black.

"No." Splinter bundled the now sobbing teen closer, pulling the boys hands away to hold them in his own.

"You are my son, and nothing will ever change that."

"B-but I-"

"You protected your brother. As you always have, and always should. From a fight that should not have happened in the first place."

Leo managed another confused look and Splinter gave a remorseful laugh as he elaborated.

"You are not the only one I owe an apology to today. When your brothers pride gets away from him he- reminds me a bit too much of my younger self. And sadly, we sometimes repeat our parents mistakes. Your grandfather goaded me into a similar fight as a young man to knock some sense into me as well."

He considered the memory.

"I seem to recall it not working then either, now that I think about it."

Even with his breath still hitching, that comment managed to draw out a small laugh. Splinter smiled warmly down at him, glad to see he seemed to be calming.

"Let me tell you from my own experience that suddenly having an entirely new species instincts to contend with is no easy task. My learning curve was - rather steep."

Leonardo's breathing had finally settled, he'd relaxed enough to snuggle into Splinters robe, and while his eyes were puffy and his face wet tears were no longer falling as he listened.

"You are dealing with your own much better then I did at the start. But what you felt, it was not wrong. Just - still a bit intense. I made the mistake when first changed of smothering them completely, but just like the ones you've had all your life they are there to help you, to keep you healthy, and safe as well as those you care about. You just need more time and practice to better handle them."

Leonardo let out a resigned sigh.

"I guess I'm on a break from training again then?"

Ah, the priorities of an overachiever.

"No, prohibiting you from training was another of my mistakes. If you wish we may also add some additional training, just you and I, to focus on honing your new skills."

Now that suggestion made him perk right up.

-----------

After a long heart to heart talk they finally emerged from the dojo.

Met immediately by three turtles who weren't even bothering to pretend they hadn't been waiting anxiously for him the whole time, just short of outright eavesdropping.

"Raphael, may I speak to you for a moment?"

The red masked turtle shot his sibling a very concerned look as they traded places, Leo shooting back a thumbs up to try and tell him it was a good thing, Raph not looking so sure as the door slid closed again.

"Soooo…?"

Donnie started to prompt an explanation only to be cut off by a flood of questions from the barely-keeping-it-contained Mikey.

"Are you okay? Are you in trouble? Is Raph in trouble? You guys were in there for ages what'd you talk about? You didn't get lectured the whole time did you? What-?!"

A hand slapped over the mile-a-minute-mouth as Donatello dragged him out of Leo's face and glared him down, daring him to start up again as he demanded of his over-hyper baby brother.

"Do you ever breath!?"

He couldn't help but burst out laughing at the sight they made, and that bit of mirth was enough to let them know they could relax.

Mikey yanked Donatello's hand away enough to get out "So what happened?" before it clamped into place again, both waiting for his reply.

-----------

"-And dad said he'd talk to you guys later on too, I think because he let Raph's teasing get so out of hand."

There was a certain shock brought on by a parental figure that they'd collectively placed on a pedestal over the course of their lives apologizing and admitting to not one but multiple mistakes and had every intention of fixing them, and as Leonardo finished summing up what had been discussed behind the closed dojo doors both sibling where staring at him with surprised expressions.

"So nobodies in trouble." Michelangelo clarified.

"Nobodies in trouble…except dad a little maybe? But none of us are in trouble."

The orange turtle gave an overdramatic *PHEW* and flopped back onto the concrete.

"Good, you had us super worried there for a minute dude."

"Yeah, that was…unexpected. How are you feeling?"

Donatello was looking him over with a critical eye, obviously still gauging if this had just been an overreaction or something they actually had to worry about.

"Better. Embarrassed, but better."

"You look it, I think that helped a lot. Your eyes-"

"Oh no what's going on with them now."

Donnie gave him an amused look and waved off the concern.

"Nothing, they're normal again. Do they feel any different?"

Well that was an exciting turn of events, Leo touch his face and resisted the urge to rush to the nearest reflective surface, knowing his brother wouldn't lie about something like that.

"Not that I noticed? They're really back to normal?"

"Yep, blue just like always, I bet it's tied at least partially to stress. That whole thing might have been just the catharsis you needed to finally calm down enough for it to switch back. Speaking of which, No lingering aggression?"

Relief flooded him at the tiny return to normalcy and he gave a quick shake of his head.

"No, that went as fast as it happened. Like one second I was so absolutely sure Raph was in this big huge danger and then soon as it caught up that he wasn't it was all just - gone. Any idea why I lost it?"

Donnie had obviously been considering exactly that since they'd been excused from training.

"Well, when you were first infected with the wasps venom the whole point of it was to ensure a food source and protector for its egg, and wasps are usually pretty territorial to begin with."

Leonardo shuddered, not liking how this was going.

"So I'm gonna go nuts again?"

"No, no that’s not what I'm saying at all. I think it - " He took a moment to get the words just right. "I think that territorial protectiveness just found a new focus, zeroed in on something you were already protective of."

"Yeah dude," Mikey chirped from where he was still flopped on the concrete, legs dangling over the edge that dropped off toward the drainage pool. "You've been like super snappy lately if any of us start fightin' or arguin' 'n stuff."

"I think it's more something we just need to keep tabs on then actually be worried about."

Well that was a relief at least.

"It was kinda cool though, you're like a superhero!"

Leo gave his baby brother an incredulous look.

"I attacked our father like a feral animal, how could you possibly interpret that as me being a superhero."

"Naw, see, you were like swooping in to save the helpless citizen!"

Mikey was too excited by his explanation to react to Donnie's mutter of "I dare you to say that to Raph's face." as he pushed through with the rest.

"And you fly now! So totally a superhero! Oh oh can I be your sidekick!? Turflytle aaaannd -"

"Don't you dare try to give me a new name."

"Awww but I was gonna pick something super cool!"

Michelangelo flopped back again to sulk as Leo scoffed holding his ground.

"No names, and I didn't fly that’s just ridiculo-"

He turned to Donnie for backup but came up short, his brother was not sharing his amused expression, and was staring at him with that blank 'you've got to be kidding me' face he got when one of them was missing something obvious.

"Did too! It was so cool you went like-" He motioned straight up then angling down imitating the buzzing noise.

"But that wasn't flying I just- I couldn't-"

The moment, blurred as it was, replayed in his head, and it slowly dawned on him that he had in fact shot up a lot higher then he should have been able to under his own power alone. He turned to Donatello helplessly who offered only a shrug.

"I thought you were avoiding it on purpose cause it was another dysphoria thing, you really didn't realize those things work? That's the second time I've seen you use them."

"Wait, when else did I-"

"The day you first mutated, when you ran off and I followed you? Yeah your feet didn't touch the ground at all from what I saw."

Stunned, Leonardo glanced over his shoulder incredulously at the still foreign appendages. He hadn't thought to even considering that the things were actually functional.

And yet he'd apparently used them without knowing twice already.

Another concerned glance at his brothers and phosphorescent veined wings blurred into motion, their owner gasping as his feet left the ground and they snapped closed again, dropping him back to earth.

"What was that? You barely hopped!"

Michelangelo was obviously unimpressed with his first intentional venture.

He was going to argue, insist this was all still new to him so he'd need time to figure it out, but before he managed to even open his mouth his bratty baby brother had gotten a wicked gleam in his eye.

"Come on show us what those babies can do!"

With a quick shove he sent Leo off the ledge, a quick drop off to the drainage pool they often used for swimming or an extra entrance.

"What the shell Mikey!"

"Well it worked didn't it? It's like baby birds!"

And loath as Leo was to admitted it the fact that he was currently hovering a good number of feet above the water, still at the same level of his brothers, proved Mikey's off-the-cuff theory did have some truth to it.

"I am not a baby bird." he insisted petulantly, a bit peeved it had worked so well.

"Naw you're much cooler! Like A turtlebug do, bro!"

---------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:

But as they began their katas in the crisp morning air he couldn't bring himself to feel too disappointed. For all his complaining  nature and the unnaturalness of their presence there he was really starting to love being in the wide open outdoors.

As their morning katas came to an end the red masked turtle's attention drifted to his older brother.

Carefully keeping his appraisal as subtle as possible as he checked  on their recovering leader. Leo had barely been out of his three-month-long coma for two weeks, the progress  he'd made with injuries as intense as his in such a short amount of time was impressive. But his stamina was understandably almost nonexistent while his stubbornness was holding strong.

It was obvious that Leo's leg injury was bothering him today, the subtle way he ground his teeth, the slight flinch as he shifted from one form to the next, the way his weight was kept leaning away from the pain.

"HHHHhhhmmmmm."

He hemmed and hawed theatrically till he had all three brothers attention.

"You two-" he pointed an accusatory finger toward his two younger siblings who gawked in confusion "-owe me a turtle hunt."

Orange and purple masked faces fell.

"Aaaww come on Raph!"

"But it's not our fault!"

"Doesn't matter!" He informed them chipperly giving D a hard slap on the shell and nearly sending him sprawling "I want a rematch! Unless, of course, you too wanna leave the score as is? Cause I seem to remember you two running right into me, you can always share coop cleanin duty after all."

They practically fell over each other insisting that was not what they wanted to do.

"Yo, Fearless! Mind finishin up solo so I can hand these two their shells? And this time without any random cryptid encounters to save em!"

Leo looked relieved, he as struggling this morning but pride wouldn't let him admit it yet and Raphael's competitive spirit was giving him a perfectly acceptable out.

Of course he knew what Raph was doing, Raph knew he knew too, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to take the offer and he definitely appreciated it.

"I guess that would be okay. Maybe I can convince April to abandon her spring cleaning and spar a bit."

Raph snorted.

"Good luck with that, more likely you get dragged into helpin her clean."

That was exactly what would happen but it'd give him the rest his aching leg sorely needed but Leo just rolled his eyes dramatically and pivoted on his crutch to limp back inside.

Mikey was already whining before they'd even made it to the tree line, Raph practically dragging him by the shell to get him there.

"I liked it better when you thought nature was stupid!"

"Yeah yeah yeah, shut your beak and get hiddin. Same terms as last time, Five minutes and you gotta stay hidden at least an hour, and at least try this time!"

He stood, a squirmy feeling under his skin he decided must be anticipation from waiting for them to go, and a smug smirk on his face while his younger brothers exchanged nervous looks.

"Go oonnn." he shooed at them and they finally took off as he called after "Hope you were paying attention to bigfoots tips guys! Don't want this to be too easy!"

"Here?"

"No."

"Here?"

"Nuh uh."

"What about here?"

"Ugghh that won't work either!"

Dontatelo groaned as Michelangelo collapsed onto a boulder.

"We're gonna be cleaning the coop out, aren’t we?"

They were so horrible at this nature stuff!

"Yeah probably."

Donatello admitted ruefully, It was a wonder that Raph had taken to it so well in the months since they'd first gotten here.

"Did you ever figure out if we can burrow? Maybe that’s still an option."

Mikey asked sliding slightly on the boulder so he was hanging off the edge enough to paw at the dirt experimentally.

"No, I forgot all about it when we got caught up in the whole bigfoot thing."

He dragged his little brother back up, they sure weren't going to avoid capture by flopping down out in the open, and they started moving again.

They'd definitely used up their five minute head start by now and were nowhere closer to any kind of plan or hiding place.

"What about there? " Mikey bumped his shell against Donnie's motioning towards the clearing they'd just come across.

Donatello started when he realized that Mikey was indicating the shed,  door poorly repaired from the damage done not even a week prior.

"Are you serious? You want us to hide in a busted up gardening shed where Raph recently got turned into a plant and all his mutagen sucked out where there's absolutely nowhere to hide?!"

"Well, yeah. I mean, we already beat The Creep. He's gone! But Raph might still be just weirded out enough not to wanna go lookin for us in there. "

Donnie looked considerably less then convinced.

"And if he isn't? We've got no chance to run, we'd be cornering ourselves."

"Only if he looks!  dude still isn't getting firewood on his own. He's not gonna go peaking in there if only cause he'll think we're too scared to!"

"You know, that actually probably woulda worked."

Both turtles yelped as they spun around to face none other then the red masked turtle in question,  leaning casually against a tree trunk and watching them with an amused smirk

"If you'd actually bothered to hide that is, instead'a sittin here gabbin out in the open. It's barely been twenty minutes, by the way. And that's INCLUDING the head start."

He may have been all smugness and bravado on the surface right now but Mikey was right this place freaks him right out he barely remembered most of what happened that night but what flashes did come back to him made his skin crawl being so close to the place where it happened even in daylight left that discomfort absolutely writhing  under his skin.

And he was distracted just enough by bad memories and putting up a front for his brothers that he didn't notice how literal that writhing was, veins shifting under green skin but stilling as he scratched his arm absently.

"You know what I'm feeling generous today-" both brothers look hopeful, till his grin widened wickedly "I'll give you guys a chance to even the score."

They look considerably less hopeful as they realized what that most likely meant

The first ten minutes he just put as much distance between him and his brothers as he could.

He didn't even bother to cover his trail, mostly because he was pretty sure they need any help they could get. After all it wouldn't be any fun if he won because they wandered off in the wrong direction.

Once he'd given himself a comfortable lead he started searching for a good hiding spot.

Of course it would be easy enough to keep moving and stay ahead of them for the entire hour, just wait out the clock, but again that wouldn't be nearly as fun.

Another five minutes and he found the perfect spot.

A little hollow in the undergrowth surrounded by thick foliage that he made even more obscuring by adding strategically-placed branches a clear view out zero view in multiple exits if they did get close, and the bonus of a comfy beam of sunlight against an equally comfy tree trunk.

It was perfect, he settled back against the trunk and a contented sigh escaped him.

He meant to keep watch, sitting against the tree gave him a perfect view of any oncoming siblings. Spying instead various wildlife snuffling by, including a chipmunk, two rabbits, and what he was pretty sure was a badger.

But with the comforting smell of moss filling his lungs with every breath, the warm sun on his face, and his fingers and toes dug into the cool soil, the instinct to bask as nature intended was hard to fight against.

It was calm here, and made him feel settled and secure in a way he rarely experienced

He put up a good fight, keeping himself alert for a good while watching as more wildlife. But as a doe passed through the clearing, seeming to look right at him and quizzically tilt her head before continuing on her way, his eyes finally slid shut as he drifted off. That shifting under his skin felt more like a comfort than a concern

Slowly Raphael drifted up into consciousness from what may have been the most comfortable rest he'd had in ages. He was drawn from his rest by familiar voices talking in hushed, urgent tones over him, quickly recognizing them as belonging to his younger brothers and groaned internally.

Confusion gave way to annoyance. At his cozy nap being interrupted, at the fact he'd dozed off to begin with, and at the possibility that he probably lost this round of turtle hunt.

A hand gently shook him by the shoulder and he grumbled as he finally bothered to open his eyes and drowsily met Donatello's concerned gaze.

The sky behind his brothers form had darkened considerably, now awash in color. So he had won after all.

"What took you so long? Were you even looki-?!"

His posturing was cut short as he tried to sit up and found himself restrained.

"What the shell?"

Vines and roots surrounded him, wrapped around his chest, tangled around his legs and arms, pinning him to the forest floor.

Donnie gave a helpless shrug,

"We just found you like this, are you okay?"

The purple masked turtle was checking him over as much as possible around the leaves.

"We just thought you were messing with us when you didn't turn up to rub it in our faces once the two hours were up."

He couldn't exactly fault them for the assumption, it was a very him thing to do.

"Yeah I'm fine just - just get me out of here!"

He started struggling to pull free, it stung oddly and he wondered if there were hidden thorns somewhere in the mess.

Off to his right Mikey announced proudly "Don't you worry bro we'll have you cut out of here in a jiffy!" right before a deep and sharp pain exploded through him.

"WHAT THE SHELL MIKEY THAT HURT!"

He craned his neck as much as his restrained state would allow to find his youngest brother staring at him in confusion, small blade in one hand and a severed vine in the other.

"What'd I do?"

"You stabbed me you dingus!"

The orange masked turtle glanced down at the vine that he'd carefully pulled away from his brothers body to get an easy cut and back again and answered flatly

"No I didn't."

"Yeah you did, I felt it!"

"No, really. I wasn't even close to you. I did it just like this, look."

Mikey snagged another few vines and worked them away from Raph's body, just enough to use his own hand as a guard to keep his brother safe from harm as he slid the blade under and pulled up, severing them all in a single smooth motion.

Raph only just bit off the curse that tried to escape as the piercing pain came again, like he'd just been stabbed hard.

Mikey dropped the offending plants like he'd be next and starred in abject confusion, that definitely should not have hurt!

Donatello had been alternating between keeping a wary eye on their surroundings and taking in Raph and Mikey's conversation. Concern flared in him at the latest turn of events and he began trying to untangle the roots instead of cutting them.

"Hey, I'm gonna pull one up tell me if you fell that too."

Raph nodded and braced himself.

The root pulled free of the dirt with surprisingly little resistance, much to Donatello's surprise the one he'd tugged and expected to tear from a thicker root in the ground revealed itself to be the end, not part of some larger structure.

"What the… Did that hurt?"

Raph shook his head but looked confused, he'd definitely felt something when Donnie'd yanked the thing up but he couldn't properly put it into words.

There was something off about this whole thing and the fact he couldn't quiet put his finger on what it was made him feel more then a little panicked, memories of power outages and garden sheds rising unbidden in his mind.

"Just cut em."

He announced with a finality that didn't at all reflect how he was feeling right now.

"Are you sure?" Donatello eyed the sheer number of the things warily. "We should probably know why they're causing you pain when cut before we go any-"

Something shifted not far away and something else called into the quickly setting night a further still, setting them all on edge.

Panicking now, he began to struggle again. Ignoring the discomfort yanking at the vines caused as he gritted out.

"I said Cut. Me. Loose!"

Exchanging uncertain looks Michelangelo and Donatello nodded, each taking a side and carefully lining up their blades to get the job done in as few strokes as possible.

"Sure as shell not eating popcorn again for a long time, I'll tell you that."

Mikey, still curled up on the couch spouting horror comic wisdom periodically, gave what Raph considered an entirely unwarranted relieved sigh stating

"Oh good! My kernels are safe."

As he uncurled and revealed the popcorn bag he'd been guarding, only for Leo to swipe a handful against his baby brother protests.

Raphael blanched.

"I can't believe you guys are eating that."

Despite Mikey's continued attempts to defend his snack, Donnie stole a handful  as well with relative ease  and toss them into his mouth with a shrug.

"Well, none of us had any squirrel babies munching on it in our upper intestine. So that makes it pretty easy actually."

He munched a few more pieces with a smirk as his brother glared at him and growled out

"I did not have squirrel babies."

"Raphael, a new life came into existence within you-" Donatello intoned like it was something natural and beautiful, before swapping back to teasing

"You totally had squirrel babies!

He didn't make it very far before the red masked turtle dive-tackled him. And from there the resulting wrestling match didn't last more than a few minutes before he admitted defeat, mostly because Raph was sitting on his shell.

"I feel like we're missing something, like there's some important detail we overlooked."

His sibling's considered, Donnie tapping a finger on the concrete floor that he was flattened against, offering up.

"Is it what Master Splinter said about the squirrelanoids getting out of the septic tank?"

"Mmmm, I don’t think so, you said that it hold him for a while anyway. Right?"

"Right."

"Then naw that's not it."

It wouldn't stop nagging him, the feeling that they'd missed some relatively small but important detail.

Donnie sighed, pulling out his phone to pass the time as he served as an impromptu stool.

"Well if you figure it out let us know."

He mumbled a passive acknowledgement but was lost in thought replaying the earlier showdown, trying to find the discrepancy.

"Hey Leo! Do you still have that issue of ~It Came From Beyond the Beyond~ I lent you?"

Mikey shouted from the couch.

Leo, who had started up on the pinball machine considered, not taking his eyes off the ball but after a moment called back.

"I gave it to Raph."

Mikey turned his best 'I need it or I'll die' puppy eyes to the new target.

"Rrrraappphhhh~"

"Yeah yeah I'm gettin it, it's in my room."

Donnie celebrated his freedom is Raphael went to retrieve the comic, still mulling over his memories trying to figure out what about that last battle hadn't quite added up.

It was just there on the tip of his tongue as he swung his bedroom door open.

A monstrous, skeletal, red face perked up from where it had been snuggled into the blankets of his bed, giving him a warm chirp.

The door slammed  shut again.

"Guuuyyyss? I figured it out!"

All attention turned to Raph, shell pressed to the door and body quaking as they eyed him curiously.

"Wha-"

"That last fight?" He explained shakily "There were only three Squirrelanoids."

Alarm lit on his siblings faces at the news.

"But where could the last one go? We've got to find it!"

"Nope, we don't"

"What are you talking about, of course we do! If that thing gets to the surface it'll cause complete havoc!"

He was not a turtle who showed fear often but there it was written all over his face, still waiting expectantly for a slam from the other side of the door as he squeaked out.

"Already found it."

He hitched a thumb over his shoulder toward his room and understanding dawned alongside the alarm and blossomed into fear.

"It…it's in your room?"

"It's. In. My. Room."

Slowly, ever so slowly the bedroom door inched opened. 

A face peeked around the door frame.

The Squirrelanoid yawned widely, perking as the door inched open and the scent of kin that had first drawn it here when the others had seen fit to attack came closer.

*Chuurr?*

The face yanked back out again.

"Not that I'm complaining, but-" Mikey whispered from by Raph's elbow "Why isn't it attacking?"

"I don't know!" Raph hissed back, more confused then angry at the question. "It's just - just layin there! Oh shell what if it tries to eat spike! I'll never forgive myself!"

"We won't let that happen." Leo assured him, already switching into leader mode.

"Donnie, swing right. Mikey, go left, Raph you get Spike out of there then get back to help us."

A round of nodded acknowledgment answered him. silent, tense, and ready for action with eyes whited out by protective third lids.

The fight did not go at all how they expected.

After they threw the bedroom door open the room exploded into chaos, Squirrelanoid jumping in surprise at the sudden intrusion and scrambling as three of four turtles attacked it from all sides, but instead of retaliating it leapt up, dodged around them, and went straight for Raph.

To cower behind him.

Raphael had froze, pet tortoise cradled protectively to his plastron in one hand and sai half raised in the other, staring down at the massive monstrosity that was making pitiful little noises as it cowered into the back of his legs.

There was a very long and uncomfortable silence, the only sound the Squirrelanoid's fearful chitters.

Until it was broken by Michelangelo's stage whisper.

"STILL not complaining but why isn’t it attacking us and WHY IS IT SNUGGLING RAPH?!"

Staring straight ahead he didn't answer and didn't dare to look at the bright red and sharp sharp teeth that was behind him as he very slowly eased away from it. A second after he broke contact it squeaked in fear and quickly pressed itself against him again.

"It's scared?"

"It's a ten foot long murder machine, why is it scared all of a sudden?"

"Yeah, it had no problem attacking us earlier, what changed?"

Slowly their weapons had lowered as the  Squirrelanoid continued to not act even the tiniest bit aggressive towards any of them. Content, it seemed, with its place 'hidden' safely behind Raphael's shell.

"Dudes - what if it wasn't?" confused looks shot Mikey's way "Like, did we actually ever fight all four it once after we first saw 'em? The other three coulda done it all on their own. It could've been sleeping in here the whole time and we wouldn't'a known!"

As they discussed the strange turn of events Donatello observed the creature intently, watching as it nuzzled its weirdly elongated face lovingly into his brothers knee almost knocking him over, gears turning over every possibility.

Slowly, very slowly, he inched forward and around his brother to get a better look at the thing.

"What are you doing!?"

Raphael hissed desperately, still scared to move in case it trigger a sudden change in attitude.

"Testing something." Donnie explained bluntly "Now shush."

It watched him wearily, gaze darting to the back of Raph's head every now and then like it was looking for reassurance and shifting to keep as much of its chosen turtle between them as it could manage.

The closer he got, the more it grumbled, and when it couldn't back any further around Raph's side without exposing itself to Mikey and Leo it snarled and took an unexpected snap toward him.

Raphael's reflexive reprimand was nearly as surprising, especially when the Squirrelanoid reacted like a chastised child. Pouting and leaning toward the shaken Donatello pointedly not looking at him but somehow giving off the feeling of being reluctantly apologetic.

"Welp, it definitely likes Raph best."

"But why!?"

"Okay so I'm just tossing this out there but, what if it's yours?"

Raph stared at Donnie

"Excuse me?"

"The one that went in your guts, it reproduced, made another one. That’s the only Squirrelanoid that was created inside another mutant. Maybe - I unno - ambient mutagen or some nonsense made it different. Made it actually have something like a parental connection to you. It's the only thing I can come up with I'm kind of flying blind on this one."

Raphael starred at his brother with a mix of confusion and horror, then down at the massive monster cowering behind him, pressed against him like it was seeking comfort.

Hesitantly, he placed a hand on the things weirdly elongated head and was surprised when it  calmed.

To add even more surprise to this bizarre turn of events instead of the sticky sinewy grossness he expected to feel the thing actually was silky soft, the bright red that had put him in mind of blood and gore wasn't exposed skin or muscle it was a thin layer of velvety fuzz.

"It's okay buddy, they're not gonna hurt you." he comforted, petting it awkwardly.

It nuzzled into his hand, relaxing immediately and churring happily.

"I dunno, dumpin it into the septic tanks with the other ones just doesn't feel right."

Morning training had been canceled in favor of discussing what to do with the rogue Squirrelanoid

"But what else can we do with it? We can't just let it wander the sewers, even if it's more subdued then the other ones it's still dangerous, not to mention the damage it would cause if it got to the surface."

They'd tried to lock it in Donnie's lab for the night, after moving his more delicate experiments out of course, It went in easy enough, and seemed relatively content but that hadn't lasted long. The thing had broken out surprisingly quickly  after they'd all nodded off and made a B-line straight to Raph's room, shoving it's way between him and the wall like a toddler after a bad dream and after the second failed attempt to convince it to leave he'd simply given up and slept with the mass of pointy edges curled up at his side, fluffy tail spread over him, and Spike on the pillow by his head.

"Well we just gotta make sure it doesn't wander around?"

"And how do you propose we do that?"

Currently, the Squirrelanoid in question was scampering around the lairs main room, curiously inspecting the space and periodically returning to the couch to nuzzle at Raphael and get the 'parental' affection it seemed to crave.

"I unno, just something better then flushing it I guess…"

It swung around again, proudly presenting Raph with it's latest discovery.

He offered it a hum of approval as he took Mikey's skateboard and set it aside, scritching it under the chin. It chittered happily and flopped down on the ledge behind him and stretched out.

"Dude's, this is just like my comic, How To Tutor Your Wyvern!"

Raph came so so close to blowing Mikey's ridiculous statement off, but after how on-point he'd been about everything yesterday he instead found himself asking

"And how is this just like your comic this time Mikey?"

Honestly he zoned out after the first few minutes of the orange masked turtles complete I scattered retelling of the entire comic plot. But the little he did catch wasn't to far off, his thoughts had started to drift to what kind of treats he should get Spike to make up for all the drama going on lately when his attention was dragged back to the present by Mikey's excited shout of

"-And I should get to name it!"

"What?!"

Leo and Donnie had tensed at Raph's shout, obviously expecting the Squirrelanoid to go on the defensive in response, but it only perked an ear as it glanced over at them, then laid its head back down again obviously unconcerned.

"Yeah, cause I'm the best at naming stuff! Ooo! How about Brad!"

"I'm not naming it that!"

"Aaawww why not it’s such a good name."

"Why do I not want to name it after Dogpound? Really!?"

Mikey had obviously forgotten that tiny detail and sheepishly backpedaled with

"Well what about Brian instead?"

"Too close."

"You called the one in my room Creepster, that's not a bad one."

"I was insulting it!"

The argument went on, names fluctuating between surprisingly mundane to downright bizarre as the other two brothers watched with mounting confusion.

Donatello threw his arms up, motioning to the argument and demanding

"Am I losing it or is this thing starting to sound like a pet?!"

"No, no, I'm getting that impression too."

"I've got it!"

Mikey looked so proud of himself as he stepped up onto the couch, put a foot on the ledge above, and motioned dramatically to the sleeping Squirrelanoid.

"We shall call him… Tim?"

He dragged the name out, checking for a reaction.

And wasn't let down as Tim looked up as soon as he said it and focused right on him.

"Huh, I think you got a winner there bro. C'mere Tim."

It perked again, attention turning back to Raph now, and scampered down to sit before him chitterlings curiously.

"Good job buddy lookit you!"

"We can't possibly be considering actually keeping this thing!" Donatello lamented as Raph and Mikey started to talk it through various simple tricks. Raphael just gave him a shrug as Tim rolled over for him.

"Hey you said these guys are our responsibility. We lost the mutagen that made it this way, its our job to fix it."

"I didn't mean by adopting one!" He looked frantically to Leonardo for backup but even their leader had a look that said he was considering it.

"It might actually be our only option." he conceded after a moment "If it was smart enough to get out of your lab, It's not too much of a stretch to think it's smart enough to get back out of the septic tanks. At least we'd have an eye on it if we kept it here."

"Bu-How would that even work though? What would we feed it?!"

"We keep Mikey fed."

"Hey!"

As if on cue Tim's stomach grumbled, the Squirrelanoid huffed and pushed itself up, bounding from the living room and into Donnie's lab.

"Oh great what's it doing now!?"

They followed it, Leo with weapons ready and Donatello berating them every step about all the horrible things it could get into in there.

Warily, they peeked into the lab, ready for the worst.

Only to find Tim happily chowing down at the algae pool, greeting them with a chirp before returning to its meal.

"Donnie, I think you owe Tim an apology."

Donatello buried his head in his hands, groaning at the ridiculousness of the whole situation.

:Notes:

He didn't answer right away, ears twitching with uncertainty and a nervous eek sneaking out of him as he considered, but eventually he shook his head.

"Naw, It's fine dude.  April should be more then enough backup. I'll be fine…it's fine."

He was anything but fine. The idea of facing his family, revealing his recent mutation and all the dangerous secrets that went along with it, ones he'd been so very carefully keeping from them.

He felt utterly terrified.

The red masked turtle gave a disinterested shrug and tossed out a "Your funeral." With a dismissive wave over his shoulder as he left that had Casey a bit stunned by the dude attitude.

Getting to his apartment was nerve wracking.

He never noticed how crowded is apartment complex was people were everywhere jostling him in the elevator bumping him on the front step pushing by in the halls and every glance every sideways look was another close call of being discovered he stood hunched in the hall and oversized hoodie borrowed from the turtles helping to hide his prominent rodent muzzle

April went in first, Casey's improved hearing just able to make out her muffled voice through the closed door as she tried her best to soften the coming blow.

"Hey."

The door had open just enough to allow April to pop her head out and give him the universal 'come on' head jerk.

And he was in the kitchen. Hood pulled far forward, shoulders slumped, tail and paws hidden under oversized jeans, and  clawed hands shove deep into pockets.

April was still talking, but Casey wasn't really listening, focusing more on keeping his breathing steady  and human and not letting any anxious squeaking escape him as his father asked questions and April answered for him.

"Where's Chloe?" He cut in, something about his sister's absence making him uncomfortable in an entirely different way then the rest of the situation.

"Somewhere safe." The clipped tone kept him from asking from what, afraid of the obvious answer, safe from him.

It was just him, April and his father then. The kitchen felt cold and claustrophobic and dim in an entirely unfamiliar way.

He was pulling back his hood, revealing fur and whisker and ears, and his heart clenched painfully as his father jerked back with a gasp as he laid eyes on his altered son, disgust clear in their depths.

His father's hands gripped his shoulders tightly and Casey couldn't push him away as he shook him, words

"What were you thinking? How could you do this to us? Put us in danger like this?!"

With each question his finger dug in harder and Casey's panic mounted, April watching stonily a few steps away but making no move to intervene. This was his battle alone.

Instincts, human and rodent alike, surged up as sharp fingers jabbed his arms, words burned like bile.

Fight or Flight, attack or run, flee or defend.

And with no way out that only left one other option.

Sharp teeth came down on soft flesh and his father cried out, reeling away and clutching his injured hand to his chest, April rushing to the man's side and eyes wide demanding in shock and horror

He was stunned, frozen, horrified that he'd harmed family in such a way. But as he stepped closer, apologies already spilling and stuttering from his mouth, April blocked his path.

"What have you done?" her horrified tone cutting him to the bone as his father hunched further over his wound, back to his son.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to I swear I never-'

"What Have you done?"

Casey's father echoed as his shoulders twitched and shuddered, voice turning rasped and warped and Casey realized that something was very very wrong.

April, still trying to get a look at his hand, didn't have time to pull away as he grabbed her yanking her forward with and biting hard on her forearm.

Now Casey could see his father's features twisting and distorting. Eyes a murderous red as fur blossomed painfully across his body, bones crunching and scraping as it stretched into a wrinkled deformed snout, jagged teeth jutting from his maw.

April cried out as her hands became clawed and fur raced up her own arm, her body spasming as her own transformation began.

"Nononono this cant…Donnie he…"

Before his eyes both parent and friend contorted painfully into creatures less like himself and Splinter and more like the giant rat monster that had menaced the city only days before.

"This cant be happening"

His legs collapse from under him as they both rounded on him accusing and Scratchy and inhuman voices screeching

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?!"

There was nowhere for him to go, nothing that he could do. Only stammer apologies and beg for their forgiveness. But there was no forgiveness, only the infection, and soon it would spread and Spread and SPREAD until everyone he cared about, his friends and family and the world beyond, would all be twisted into feral monstrous creatures.

He was sobbing now, huddled against the kitchen wall as the rat monsters continued to demand an answer from him.

He didn't know, didn't understand how this could have happened.  Donatello had run tests and checks and assured him that he wasn't some walking biohazard. How could this have happened?

"Don't you understand child?" 

There was no kitchen wall at his back now, replaced by a tall blindfolded and emaciated figure that smirked down at him with rotted teeth.

Casey's heart jumped into his throat and pounded there even harder with panic so that he could only just barely squeak out a desperate "But you're dead."

The Rat King laughed and it sounded like a dry crypt "Yet you're still here my boy." a rotting hand patted him condescendingly between his folded flat ears and he was horrified to find he couldn't move, couldn't pull away. "And now thanks to your work this wretched world will be mine and all the people in it beautiful rat creatures under my control."

There was no turning away from what had happened, what he caused, what he had done.

He was surrounded on every side by the monsters he had created. Not even Splinter and the turtles could escape the effects of the virus Casey himself had spread, now joining the monstrous snarling freaks that had once been April, his father, and like the final twist of the knife his beloved little sister. All turned into grotesque mockeries of rodential mutations that shrieked and snapped at him as standing over them all, cackling gleefully, was the King that controlled them.

He couldn't move, his body was no longer his own. The maniacal laughed now echoed within his head as well as without and the only thing left to him was he desperately swirling panicked thoughts surging to more and more frantic depths.

This couldn't be happening I'm so sorry this wasn't supposed to happen this can't happen please don't let this be happening please please stop plea-!

   THUD THUD THUD

   Casey's eyes snapped open, his chest rising and falling rapidly with short frantic breaths as reality filtered back into his mind. He was curled into a tight ball on his borrowed bed. The blankets twisted and curled around him in a makeshift nest, another little push from his new instincts. His tail was tucked almost to his nose, knee's to his chest, and fur sticking to him with fear induced sweat.

He hadn't gone home yet. None of it had been real. Just a bad dream.

A very very bad dream.

Shakily he pulled in deep even breaths, trying to steady the crazy speed of his pounding heart.

There were still hours till he and April were to head to his place,

Another set of thuds that he belatedly realized it was knocking at the bedroom door, and it finally registered that the first set had been accompanied by someone saying something through the door but he wasn't sure what it'd been.

This time the door opened, and Donatello peaked in. A worried expression on his purple masked terrapin face.

"You okay in here?"

He wasn't, and it took him too long to murmur out an unconvincing " 'M'fine." for there to be any chance that he'd just let it go.

"What happened?"

Before he could argue further that no, really, he was just fine the light had been flicked on (momentarily blinding him) and the resident medic was at his bedside poking, prodding, and peering at him.

"Did something start hurting? That fever didn't come back did it? I just checked your levels there shouldn't be any further changes happening with your mutation but this is a new variation so-"

A bit of flailing and Casey was finally able to pry Donatello off from inspecting how his pupils were reacting to the light, pulling both hands down and holding them in place with a huff.

"Nothings hurting and nothing started changing again! Chill gaptooth I'm tellin you I'm fine."

Donnie's nose scrunched at the teasing nickname but didn't rise to the bait.

"No you're not fine It sounded like you were in pain. So what is going on then, because somethings up."

He faltered, the tilt of his rounded ears giving his emotions away till he finally accepted there wasn't an easy way to brush things off.

" 's no big deal Dee, Just a bad dream." his ears were pinned back and he suddenly couldn't quite look at the turtles face.

Donnie inspected him critically.

"Must have been some dream, you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, fine, swear. Sorry for buggin you."

Haltingly, Donnies weight shifted on the bed, willing to let him be but unsure about it. He did pause however and give a laugh.

"Until you come waking me up at oh-god-why'thirty because your monster movie marathon has you convinced carrots are going to eat your brain you're not even close to bugging."

One ear perked in amused curiosity.

"Mikey?"

"Mikey, twice last month to boot."

 He was almost in the clear, Donnie just about out the door and willing to brush the whole thing off as nothing.

Anxiety had him worrying at the end of his tail again and as his gaze went down to his fur covered and clawed hands the nightmare came surging back in all its gruesome glory.

"Dee, wait."

He paused, one hand on the door.

"The Rat king, that stuff he wanted to do… the whole virus thing…"

Donnie shrugged "Yeah he totally screwed that up, lucky he got the mutation part stable before your dumb ass fell on it." The smirk he shot Casey's way fell quickly as he noticed just how freaked out he looked as he quietly asked.

"You're sure?"

Welp, he didn't have to ask what Casey's nightmare was about anymore.

"Yeah, I'm sure. You want, I can show you the negative results. Can even run a few more tests to be totally sure."

While the idea of being poked at and sampled more wasn't especially attractive, the image of his little sisters grotesquely mutilated form was even less so.

"Okay, yeah, lets do that. Check everything over before April gets here." Before he risked bringing anything more then his own messed up self home.

The usual insults and teasing were kept at a minimum as Donatello carefully reran every test and check he could think of to make absolutely sure there was no chance Casey's nightmares could become a reality.

Notes: