The Lost Son

<Chapter 11>

!PLEASE READ THIS!

A/N~ this isn't a continuation of the last chapter but rather Donnie's POV of the day the brothers and Mikey met, I know you wanted to know what happened but this chapter is important, I hope you enjoy <3

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POV Donnie:

I examine the machine, waiting for it to brew my coffee, I waited eagerly for the device to finish brewing. I look at my fingers, picking at the chaffed skin from the night before, writing equations upon equations for hours, trying to come up with formulas that could help with the process of creating the retro mutagen, but none of my ideas were working, all of the test lead to failure, I need to do this, for April.

"Donnie?", I flinched at the sudden voice I looked over to see Leo looking at me from the kitchen entrance watching me, 'how long was he there', I turned to the device and poured my mug of coffee, "What's up Leo, need something", the way it sounded made it not a question, I felt Leo look at me, I grabbed my cup and started making my way to my lab, "Donnie what time did you go to bed last night?", he was blocking my way, I looked at him through lidded eyes, I rubbed my head and groaned in annoyance, trying to rid my body of its drowsiness and the growing headache, "At five, okay, I was busy with things I needed to finish okay? Now move.", I went to push him out of the way but he didn't budge, instead he glared at me, "Donnie we've talked about this, you need to go to bed at a reasonable hour, your tiredness is messing with the missions and your training".

I turned around to let him know I wasn't listening, but he followed after me as I rummaged through the cupboards looking for something to rid the nasty taste in my mouth. I grabbed a strawberry pop tart, chewing on it to focus on something other than this conversation. "Donnie! You need to seriously start taking better care of yourself, your eye bags have gotten worse and your diet is horrendous", I turned around and looked at Leo, 'great I've angered the almighty leader', I chewed on the piece in my mouth waiting for him to finish, but he said nothing waiting for me to respond, "Fine Leo I'll try doing better", I walked past him and made a slow journey back to my lab. When I closed my door, all that was heard was, "I'm serious Donnie, this is extremely unhealthy, and training starts in five minutes!", I rolled my eyes at the comment, walked back to my desk consuming the two things in my hands, I closed my eyes to try and rid of the headache, and made my way to the dojo.

I entered the dojo and saw the infamous tree standing proudly in the center as I made my way over to my mat, I sat down as the others and I saw Master Splinter enter from his room. We watched him sit in his usual spot, "For training today were are going to start with meditation, then finish with sparring", "Hai Sensei", that was all we said, as we readied ourselves for training.

(4 hours later)

"Yame!", I looked up from where I was and stood up as Master Splinter signal the end of today's training, "That will end today's training, you are now dismissed", we all bowed our heads responding with our normal responses, "Hai Sensei!". I began leaving for the lab when something from the shrine caught my eye, the mysterious wooden turtle and orange mask, I stopped, and stared at the shrine.

"Master Splinter, may I ask you a question?", I looked over and watched as Sensei stopped in his track, turning to look my way, "Oh course, Donatello, what is your question?", his expression was blank hard to read, I looked back at the shrine, freezing when I heard Leo and Raph's footsteps stop, probably wanting to know the question, "What does the wooden turtle and mask mean, were they for you deceased wife or daughter?". I looked back at Splinter only to meet not with a blank expression but a sorrowful one, sensei walked over to the shrine picked up the mask and wooden carving and rubbed the turtle with his thumb. He starts making his way back to his mat, not to sit on it but to explain. I looked toward the mat, Raph and Leo were sitting ready for what was most definitely going to be one of Master Splinter's past stories. I sat down, waiting for sensei to answer my question, we watched him hold the two items, rubbing his thumb on the carving as if it would disappear any second. "I've told you about the story of how my life changed, how you three became part of my life that very day, corrected?", I nodded my head not waiting to make a response to disrupt the story, "Well there was a part of the story I failed to tell you, I never told you in fear that you would grow saddened from the information".