Under Pressure

Giving Up

Why did Voice have to show up right as I was finally letting myself relax and get used to being with my family again? "Hey, Voice." I sighed. "I know, I know." 

"Is this really what you want?" They walked towards me, making Raph, Mikey, and Leo tense up. 

"Who's Voice?" Mikey looked at me. "What do they mean by that?"

"Did this person hurt you, Donnie?" Leo looked at me. Why was that his first concern? Didn't he see me as a traitor or something now that he knew I was working with someone else?

"Did this jerk make you leave?!" Raph glared at Voice and immediately got his sai ready, he was clearly itching for a fight. "Because I'd love for them to give me a reason to pummel them into the ground. What kind of dumb name is Voice anyways?" That was definitely not embarrassing.

"I uh... I picked it out?" I laughed nervously.

"Did you make them?!" Mikey's jaw dropped. 

"What?! No!" I was completely surprised that he thought I was smart enough for that. "I appreciate your misplaced confidence in me though, it's sweet in a dumb kind of way."

"Now's really not the time to be nitpicking what people are saying." Leo sighed. "Alright, Voice, what do you want from Donnie?"

"Why don't you ask him what he agreed to do?" Voice seemed to smirk under their mask. "I didn't make him choose anything, I suggested what I thought he wanted and he agreed to it happily. Come back to your real family, Donatello."

"Donnie, what the heck?!" Raph turned to face me. "Did you seriously betray us and leave us for some blue haired masked weirdo?! Like, I thought your thing for April was weird but this is just crazy!"

"Eww, no, that- ugh!" I facepalmed, getting irritated. "Can everyone shut up for a moment?! I'm trying to think!"

"Donatello, come here right now." Voice held their hand out. "Remember how much worse they made you feel? Remember how they treated you? Remember what they saw you as?" Why'd they have to be bringing all of that up right then? I regretted saying any of my doubts and frustrations out loud. "Remember how well I've been treating you? Remember getting plenty of rest and choosing what you wanted to do? Getting to eat when you need to and not having to constantly work on meaningless projects for a city and a family that never cared? Don't you want that back?"

"Okay, what did we miss?" Leo asked. Raph, Mikey, and Leo all stood close to me to keep me relatively away from Voice. "What don't we know?"

"I'd be able to tell you if everyone stopped talking for a moment!" I put my hands on my head, all of this was giving me a headache. "I just need a moment to think!"

"You've been overthinking again, Donatello, you're exhausted and overworked again and just like last time, it's their fault. You push yourself too far for them too often." Voice spoke softer to me, giving me a look of sympathy. "I haven't been the best, but they haven't either, and whose been actually treating you like a person?"

"Bro, don't listen to them!" Mikey clung to me. "Don't leave again! We love you, we really do!"

"I also don't cling to you when you're clearly uncomfortable." Voice pointed out, knowing that I really didn't want to be clung to or even touched at the moment. "I was there for you when no one else was, when everyone else was abandoning you and rejecting you. Come back to me, you know you want to come back and be treated with the kindness you deserve."

"Explanation. Now." Raph glared at me. With the way everyone seemed to be upset with me over this whole ordeal, I was starting to actually want to go back with Voice even though it was the worst possible choice. Going with Voice would suck, going with my family would suck, going to April would suck even though I'd at least be somewhat happy being around her. Maybe the only thing that would make me happy would be to go on my own. "Well?! I'm waiting!"