Run away, little blue (TMNT)

Chapter ten

"Don!" He barked, still unbelievably pissed at himself and everything around him, turning from his pacing to stare down his brother with the purple mask. Donnie did nothing to hide the flinch; no one liked Raph when he was like this. "It's been almost two hours, why the fuck isn't he back yet!"

"Like I should know, Raphael!" He snapped back, equally done with his new-leader's shit. He hated this. He hated feeling this weak and alone and useless. More importantly, he hated fighting with his older brother. Donnie's chest heaved. "Look, I can't solve all the problems in the world for you, okay? Just take a chill pill, Raph!"

"Oh, so that's how it is?" The red-banded turtle laughed coldly before eyeing his taller family member. "You think I need you? I've been doing a great job leading-"

"Have you now?" The brainiac didn't even know he could reach this level of agitated, but the past few days had taken its toll on him, and he wasn't sure he could go on peacefully any longer. "Look where we are, Raphael. Look. Look where Leonardo is now, huh? Probably cooped up in some cage terrified out of his mind. Look at what your leading skills got us stuck! Just look!"

"Guys..." Came a small whisper from the youngest in the room, instantly shut down by the two taller turtles, who were inches away from each other, fire dead set in their gaze. "Stop it..."

"And it's your fault Leo even ran away to begin with!" Raph growled, pushing his brother's plastron, the taller stumbling back slightly, allowing the older to move closer and push back again. "You and your stupid-"

"Stop it!" Came a sudden shout, and the room fell dead silent. The arguing turtles turned to find the youngest sniffling, stood mere metres away from them, a semi-shaking hand swiping at his baby-blue eyes. "You've got to stop it. Please..."

The fight drained out of the older mutants immediately - "Hey, Mike-" Raph started, reaching a hand out to his brother, before cutting himself off when Michelangelo turned away from the touch. "Look, we-"

"We'll get him back." Mikey met their gazes firmly, feeling the need to take control on this situation. His brothers were out of hand, and now it was up to the second-youngest to set them back in place. "We'll... we'll get him back, and we'll get out of here, okay? Okay."

...

Leo had to avert his eyes when the doctor -'Vet, doctor? When did he get here?'- flashed a light over his eyes, checking his pupils to make sure the drugs were wearing off properly. The blue-banded turtle did feel a lot better, minus the dull-throbbing behind his eyes, accompanied by the ever-growing headache from the bumpy drive to wherever he was.

"Pupils are less dilated than before." The man concluded, hand on his chin as he tilted his head slightly to the side and then up and down, checking his motor control. "Body seems to be waking up from the general anaesthesia fairly well. Good boy.""

"So note to self - don't add tons of sleeping pills to the food only one of them has even eaten yet?" Came another voice, coated in sarcasm and dry-humour. Leo stifled a groan; both at the attempts of jokes and at the petty nicknames. He wasn't a dog, for crying out loud.

The light shone a bit too close to his eyeball and he let out a startled yelp, wriggling himself despite his body not responding to his firm commands. His eyes clenched closed tightly. "Ah, I appear to have found-"

"Found the spot that'll make 'im blind? Yeah. Lay off it, Frankenstein." The light disappeared from behind his eyelids, and he squeezed them open again, one at a time just to be sure. "Alright, Blue, let's get this show on the road, yeah?"

"Where are you off to with him? Do I need to check those bandages of his before you go? I'm not quite sure what his previous injuries were; just askin'."