#update: I have a TMNT blog now! its theseweroff19th

[whiteredrose13]

So, I haven't written fanfic in a long time, and it's been even longer since I've posted it. But, oh my god, this fucking AU--

Do you know how long it's been since a piece of media has captivated my ADHD brain into doing more than drawing or just thinking about it really hard?? And then for an offshoot of that media to rot my brain just as badly??

Anyway, all this to say, @somerandomdudelmao I love your AU and I literally cannot stop thinking about it, it's consumed my waking thoughts. Donnie and Leo's reunion has me in a death grip.

(Apologies for any spelling/grammar errors, wrote this on my phone with very little sleep.)

Donnie is going to kill him all over again when this is over.

Mumbling, cursing, Donatello walks the surface of the spiritual lake, stray drops of glowing blue falling up around him. It's been hours. At least, it feels like it's been hours. Donnie knows time dilation is one hell of a drug, that what feels like hours to him may only be minutes–seconds, even–to anyone on the outside. He also knows that he's never had an ounce of patience for pointless tedium in his life, which is really not helping. That does not, however, negate the fact that his feet hurt, and it's fucking cold, and no matter how far he walks there's no sign of Leo–

Stubborn, selfless, reckless, candle-in-the-wind, dum-dum Leonardo!

Of course he'd be the hardest to resurrect! Donatello isn't sure why he had expected otherwise. His twin has always been the most grating individual he's ever met; Leo lived to spite him. It only makes sense that he'd make Donnie jump through hoop after hoop to save him. First his soul being barely more than an ember, weak against even the barest breath and aggravatingly flighty, and now this.

Growling, Donnie hunches slightly, staring ahead into the endless distance.

“Leo!” He screams, the sound echoing far and forever in the void. “Leo, you moron, where the hell are you?!”

Leo doesn't answer. Donnie pretends this doesn't scare him. He leans into the anger, letting the heat of it push him forward, urge him on. He can't be afraid. He's done this before, he's pulled their brothers from death's icy grip, given them a second chance. It's worked perfectly, up til now, and it's going to keep working despite Leonardo's attempts at driving Donnie insane.

Donnie's feet hit the lake harder as he stomps on, and on, and on, eyes darting frantically around for a shadow, a flicker, a sign, something. He calls for Leo until his voice is hoarse. Until his feet are so far past numb he's circled around to feeling them again.

Until Donatello realizes he can feel something under his feet.

He thinks it's the numbness creeping back in again, turning his nerves fuzzy and oversensitive (it wouldn't be the first time). But, no, he realizes, as something pushes up from underneath. Donnie stops dead. So does the thing below.

No. Not a thing.

Sparks flare to life at the back of his brain, familiar yet faint. It's a ghost of that feeling, the connecting thread between him and his other half, that twin sense Leo never shut up about and Donnie always maintained had no scientific evidence to prove. Donatello hasn't felt it since the day he died. Yet, tremulous though it may be, it's here now, bidding him to stop.

The breath vanishes from his lungs as he looks down.

There, amidst the quicksilver finish of the lake, is–

“Leo!”

His brother looks up at him. Or rather, looks up through him. Leo doesn't seem to recognize him. He stares, still as stone. Their twin sense fills with static. Donnie feels sick to his stomach. Clenching his hands, Donnie takes a steadying breath. Pressure begins to build behind his eyes. He's there, he's right there, but he still feels so far away. Donnie wonders for a moment if it's really Leo he's seeing down there.

“I miss you, Leo,”he says, though he's not sure why.

Leo copies him, mouth moving but no sound coming out. Curious. When Donnie moves, so does he, a perfect reflection, right down to the tilt of his head. Donatello kneels. So does Leo. He presses his hands against the glassy surface of the lake. So does Leo. He blocks Donnie, no matter how he moves, keeping himself on his side and Donnie on his. Just like all those games they'd play when they were hatchlings. Donnie hated those games then. He hates them even more in this moment, because on top of being annoying, now he's actively preventing Donnie from doing anything to save him.

“You are not making it easier, you know,”Donatello hisses, irritation replacing fascination.

Gritting his teeth, Donnie presses harder against the water, feeling the tension begin to give way under his right hand. The hand, he notes, Leonardo is missing.

There's nothing to block him there.

Reeling back, Donatello's fist hits the surface with enough force to send shards of glassy cerulean flying. It sinks further down, but not enough to get through. Leo's interference again, he knows. After staving off the sweet oblivion of death for so many years, fighting a decade-and-a-half in a losing battle, he's tired. Leo doesn't want to leave. He's supposed to be here, resting. This is home. That's what the twin sense tells him.

“It's not home,”Donnie grunts, punching the ice again. “Home-” Punch. “Is waiting-” Punch. “For you-” Punch. “Right here!”

Blessedly, Donatello's hand breaks through the icy surface. It's fucking freezing. Painful cold jolts up Donnie's arm into his shoulder, the shock nearly shutting down his nerves. He pushes through. He forces his arm deeper in, willing his fingers to move and close around Leonardo's scarf. Donnie's knuckles turn a startlingly light mint with the strength of his grip.

And he pulls.

He drags Leo, his twin, his brother, the other half of his soul, up and up from the depths of the water. The current shifts beneath his feet, waves lashing against his legs as it threatens to pull both him and Leonardo back under. Still, he keeps pulling. Donnie grimaces at the sharp sting of frost. Leo mimics him.

“Come here, you dumbass!”

Leo sneers up at Donnie. Rain pelts his skin, icy droplets pouring up in a deluge strong enough to nearly knock Donatello off his feet.

“You're coming with me and that's not up for discussion!"

The lake wants to take them both. It didn't want to let go of Leo, and now it thinks it can bring Donatello down with him if it tries. What it doesn't know is that the only thing that can stop Donatello is Donatello. He didn't come this far to give up now.

He didn't fight and claw and rage against all known laws of the universe to come back without his brother.

Both hands close around Leo's scarf. Then his shoulders, his sides, until Donnie's arms are under his, gripping tight around his shell. Donatello slams his foot against the lake for leverage, hauling Leo free of the water's frigid embrace.

“FUCK YOU, DEATH! I'M TAKING HIM!”

The water ripples in reply, and suddenly, it lets go. Gravity shifts. Everything tilts, sending the brothers spinning, dizzy, up–down?–into the dark.

Through it all, Donatello keeps hold of Leonardo's hand.

He made the mistake of letting go once. He's not about to make it again.

#rottmnt #cass fic tag #donatello #leonardo #rise of the tmnt #tcest dni #disaster twins #cass apocalyptic series #cass apocalypse au #update: I have a TMNT blog now! its theseweroff19th