Archive of Our Own

Sometimes, Leo was a chronic liar.

Donatello could only imagine where he developed the habit from. You ask him where your leftover barbeque went and he’d make up an elaborate story about how a pack of raccoons managed to fight their way into the lair to steal it before just admitting he ate it. 

He’d be good at it too, if Donatello hadn’t grown up with him and could always tell when he was doing it. 

And a sleep deprived Leo made it more obvious than anything else.

“Leo.” Donatello grumbled as he hunched over one of his latest projects. After the whole pizza puffs incident, he started working on something that could analyze magical poisons and hopefully help produce an antidote. “When did you last sleep?” 

Leonardo blinked at him, slow, in a way it looked like his eyelids didn’t even move in sync. “Twenty minutes ago.”

“Incredible, the stench from that bullshit is so overwhelming I may faint.” Donatello turned his chair toward his twin. “And what are you doing in my lab?”

“Bored.” Leo hopped up onto one of the emptier tables to sit, swinging his legs back and forth. 

“If you’re bored, how about we play a game?”

He straightened up, though it almost made him fall over. “Oh? Like what?”

Donatello smirked. “Truth or dare.” 

His twin squinted at him. “Truth.”

“As I asked earlier, when did you last sleep?”

Leo glared even harder. “Nevermind. Dare.”

“Go to sleep.” 

He blew a raspberry and hopped down. “Would if I could, Don Tron. But you know it’s not that simple.”

Donatello did, and tried to hold back his sass just because he was frustrated with being pestered. “You could at least lay down.”

“I’ve tried. I’m just so… bored.” Leo put his hands over his eyes as he tilted his head back. “Whatever. I’m going to find Mikey I guess.” He shuffled out of the lab, the door hissing closed behind him.

Donatello sighed and tried to turn back to his device, only for his gaze to fall on the book nearby instead. He’d grabbed it from the mystic library. A miracle he and his family hadn’t been banned from the establishment after last time. Only Raph wasn’t allowed back in.

The book dealt with the subject of magical potions, and how to make them. He figured studying the components would be good for his device, getting a better range for analysis. 

But maybe…

Donatello snatched up the book and began to flip through the pages, searching for something that could help with sleep. 

Donatello had gotten a lecture on ethics more than once.

Once after he turned Raph’s tongue blue on accident for a week. Again after causing his dad’s house plant to grow to a point it took up his entire bedroom. And again after Mikey caught him testing chemicals on an ant farm. 

Respect living things. Ask for permission. Don’t test things without someone’s knowledge.

But if Donatello asked Leo to take this sleeping potion, he definitely wouldn’t.

It shouldn’t be too much. He read the instructions carefully. Add a few drops to a beverage for a full night’s sleep. 

Even after making it, he debated if it was even necessary. After all, maybe Leo finally got the sleep he needed without it. He did see the slider passed out on the couch.

Sadly it only lasted for a couple of hours, and somehow it made Leo even groggier than before. He stumbled around the lair and, for whatever reason, would not stop talking. Raph had to pick Leo up and carry him off before Donatello lost his mind at the rambling about a musical he couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of. Leo broke out into song during it. 

So, screw ethics. He was going to put some of this potion into a cup of tea, give it to his twin as a loving gesture, let him sleep all night, and then everything would be normal tomorrow. 

He currently stood in the kitchen, the cup of tea cooling on the counter. He let it steep longer than necessary to make sure the strong flavor covered up any other strange tastes. He didn’t want to add the potion when it was still steaming, just in case the temperature messed with the effects. The book didn’t mention anything about it, so better safe than sorry. 

When the tea was cool enough to the touch, he disposed of the leaves and got ready to pour the potion into the cup.

“Donnie!”

Mikey’s scream made his hand jerk. He then snapped the vial behind his back and closed it before his little brother saw it. “Michael. What are you doing?” 

“Looking for you.” Mikey grinned as he hopped inside. “I found another glitch to use in the Hot Soup: The Game speedrun, wanna see?” 

“Yes, of course.” Donatello forced a smile. “Let me just take this tea to Leo.”

“Aw.” Mikey clasped his hands together. “You care so much don’t you, Donnie.”

“More like I care about getting him to stop pestering me while I work.” Donatello snatched up the cup and the saucer. “I’ll meet you in the game room in just a few minutes.” 

Mikey kept jumping in place as Donatello shuffled past him. Phew. He didn’t notice the potion it seemed.

He kept his pace even and smooth, not wanting to spill any of the chamomile. He poked his head into Leo’s room, relieved to see his twin was in there. His eyes stared at the comic book in his hands, but they didn’t seem to be absorbing a single thing on the page. 

“Hey.” Donatello announced as he slipped inside.

Leo glanced in his direction. “Oh, hey.” Then he noticed the tea. “Huh? What is that? Donnie being nice to me?”

He made sure to exaggerate his pout. “Shush, you know it’s just to help you sleep so I can get some peace and quiet.” He set the cup down on the nightstand. “And fine, perhaps a bit of concern. It’s been a while since you’ve had this much trouble sleeping.” 

“Yeah.” Leo let out a long sigh and put the comic book aside as he grabbed the cup. He took a long sip. No adverse reaction to the flavor at least. “Something keeps jerking me awake if I try, or I just don't fall asleep at all.” 

“Hm, not consuming too much caffeine again, are we?”

“No, Donnie.” Leo kept sipping at his tea. “It’s fine. It’ll pass eventually. Or I’ll just pass out, eh?” He shot him a smile but it swiftly fell apart. “Thanks for the tea, though.” 

“Of course.” Donatello put his hands behind his back, unsure if he should say anything else. Leo certainly didn’t bother to fill the silence, which at this point was unusual. Maybe he finally reached that stage of being tired. “Well, if you don’t take the cup to the kitchen, I’ll come fetch it later.”

“Aw, how sweet of you. I might cry.”

“Shut it, Nardo.” Donatello muttered as he stepped out of Leo’s room and headed for his lab. He needed to put the rest of the potion into storage before going to see Mikey.

But when he got in there and pulled the vial out of his shell, his shoulders went rigid. He’d only meant to put a few drops in, so why was most of the container empty?

Mikey! When his brother surprised him he must have dumped in far more than originally planned.

He gripped his panic and shoved it back down as he stored the vial away. It’d be fine. Leo may sleep a bit longer than planned but he’d certainly wake back up. It’d be easy to blame the long spell on his insomnia. If there was a problem, it’d be easy to fix.

Easy to fix.

Ah, sweet, wonderful, blissful silence. 

Donatello woke to a much more peaceful lair the next morning. He decided to check on Leo and found his twin curled up in his bed, just like he looked last night when Donatello went to fetch the tea cup. 

Good, he was catching up. 

The morning stayed fairly routine. Donatello went to the kitchen to find Mikey making breakfast. He tried to take a bunch, but Mikey scolded him for taking too much. “Save some for Leo,” he said. Which, fair, no doubt the slider would need it when he came to. 

After breakfast, Donatello got to work in his lab. Without having to fret over his twin, his mind had a much easier time focusing on the task at hand. He got through upgrading his goggles, coded some bug updates for Shelldon, did some design work on another combat suit for the little droid, and even sketched up some new weapons for his Tech-Bō. 

He emerged from his lab for lunch, at about one, to find it still very quiet.

Odd.

He wasn’t the only one who noticed. Twice Donatello saw Raph peek into the kitchen, glancing around like he was looking for something.

The third time, while Donatello was in the middle of gnawing through his sandwich, the snapper put his hands on his hips and sighed.

“Donnie, have you seen Leo?”

Donatello raised an eyebrow. “Is he not in his room?”

“Is he still asleep?” Raphael growled. “It’s past lunch.” 

Donatello saw his big brother heading off, probably to check on Leo, but alarm bells rang in his head. He shoved the rest of the sandwich in his mouth and darted past him to cut him off.

“He’s probably just trying very hard to catch up on all his lost sleep.” Donatello forced a smile. “We shouldn’t bother him.” 

Raphael crossed his arms and glared down at him. “Did you do something, D?”

“No, absolutely not. I did give him some herbal tea last night if that’s what you mean.” 

Raph sighed. “I’m going to check on him.”

Donatello let him, but he followed, both of them peered into the slider’s room to see him still in the same position as before. 

Him not moving around in his sleep was normal, right?

Raph grumbled but backed away from the door. “Fine, I’ll leave him to it I guess. But if he’s not up in the next couple of hours I’m shaking him awake.” 

“Of course.” Donatello kept a serious face until his big brother finally vanished into his own room.

Then he dove inside, shutting the curtain. He took a few cautious steps toward Leo. Neither him or any of his siblings liked to be suddenly awoken, and in their youth there’d been one too many biting incidents. 

Donatello reached out a hand. He gave Leo a light shake. Nothing. Shook him harder. Still nothing. He rolled the slider onto his back and his mouth hung open slightly. At least he didn’t drool. 

“Leo?” Donatello hissed. “Leo, can you hear me?” 

Nothing. 

Donatello grit his teeth. He patted Leo’s cheeks. Still nothing. He put a thumb on his eyelid and moved it up. 

The eerie purple glow made him flinch and let go. What was that? He took a deep breath and tried again, using two fingers this time to open the eye all the way.

Definitely glowing, the entire eyeball, a sort of lavender hue with faint spirals that moved in and out. 

That… probably wasn’t good. 

Donatello cursed. He almost rushed back to his lab before he thought better to move with a bit of stealth, lest his family realize his panic. He shuffled out of the room after making sure the coast was clear, then scrambled up a floor to get into his lab.

Once inside he shut the doors and grabbed the book. He looked over the pages on the potion he made, trying to find anything about possible side effects. Did he just portion the ingredients wrong? Or did he really add too much?

Would Leo wake up at all at this point?

The air got stuck in his lungs. Flipping pages gave him no answers. What was he supposed to do about this? Try and go back to the library?

Or maybe—

Donatello snatched his phone out from his shell and scrolled through the contacts. As soon as he saw Draxum’s name he tapped it, holding his breath as it rang.

It took a while for a response, but the Baron did pick up. “Donatello? Why are you calling me during school hours?”

“It’s an emergency.” He bit his lip. “Maybe.”

“Maybe? What happened?”

“Aha, well, so it’s a bit of a funny story.” He turned the first page of the potion. “So Leo hasn’t been sleeping, and as such I got… concerned about his well being.” 

Draxum hummed like he wasn’t buying that for a second.

“Anyway, while researching magic, specifically potions, I found a sort of… sleep potion?”

“Donatello.” Draxum’s sigh was so loud Donatello swore he could feel his breath through the line. “Please tell me you did not poison your brother.”

“I wouldn’t quite say poison as much as—”

“Did you, or did you not, give him a sleeping potion.”

“Not all of it.” Donatello snapped. “Maybe just… more than was intended.” 

“You cannot be serious!” The Baron shouted. “Donatello, do you even know what you’re messing with?”

“Well that’s kind of why I’m calling you.”

“I swear…” He grumbled. “Fine. I’ll come and assess the damage, but I can’t leave the school just yet. I’ll get there in an hour.” 

“An hour? Yeah that’s fine, that’s—” The line cut off. Donatello glared at the screen, the end call button blinking before it returned to the homescreen. “Fine.” He finished the sentence. He clenched his hands, tapping his fists lightly against his chest a few times. “It’s fine. Cool cool cool. Cool cool cool. We just need to wait for Draxum to show up and fix this and then never do that again.” 

He slammed the book shut. 

Keeping his family unaware of his massive screw up began to prove harder and harder by the second.

No less than three minutes after Donatello left his lab, he heard Mikey calling through the lair for Leo. He had to hush his little brother, insisting Leo was still sleeping.

Ten minutes later, their father started to do the same thing.

“Dad.” Donatello hissed. “Leo’s asleep.”

“Still?” Splinter raised an eyebrow. “Just what kind of tea did you give him last night?”

How did his father even know he made tea? Did Raphael mention it, or was the man just showing off his selective observational skills. 

“Just some chamomile.” Donatello crossed his arms. “I imagine the lack of sleep is just really catching up with him. We shouldn’t interrupt.”

“Hm, I suppose you are right.” His whiskers twitched. “But I don’t want him sleeping all day. It will ruin his schedule.” 

At least that was a load off his back, but then came the added challenge of Raph. The snapper kept glancing in the direction of Leo’s room, so Donatello made it his mission to hang out in the center of the lair and intercept anyone who tried to go in there. True, seeing Leo sleeping wouldn’t be a big deal. But if they tried to shake him awake or saw his eyes…

Busted. No doubt he would be busted and be in so much trouble. He was already risking the lecture from Draxum but, let’s be real, he still didn’t give a damn what the sheep man had to say about him. Not their real dad. He couldn’t punish them. 

Of course, he should have considered that when the Baron did finally show up to their lair, a fanfare would come with it. 

“Barry!” Mikey cheered, having noticed Draxum before anyone else. 

“Hey. Who let you in here?” Splinter snapped. 

“Yeah.” Raph agreed. “I thought Donnie’s security system was set to tase him if he approached.”

“It’s what?” Draxum growled.

Donatello chose then to interrupt. “Draxum.” He grinned as he approached. “Thank goodness you’re here.” 

“What is he doing here?” Splinter glared at him. “Why did you not tase him?”

“What is all this about tasing me?” Draxum shouted.

“I invited him.” Donatello kept smiling. “I need help with some mystic research I’m doing. So…” He pried Mikey off the Baron and tugged him toward his lab. “We are going to my lab. To work. In silence. Don’t bother us.” 

“Donnie.” Raph kept his gaze fixed on him. “You better not be building some wild magic bomb or something.”

“Perish the thought.” Donatello forced a laugh and kept pulling. “Come along, Barisimus, to the lab.”

“What in the High Council did you just call me?”

Donatello ignored the disgust in Draxum’s voice and kept pulling him up to the lab. 

Once inside, Donatello instantly let go and rushed over to the book on his desk. He held it out to Draxum who took it, his expression going sour in an instant.

“This?” He pointed to the diagram on the page as he turned the book around. “This is what you managed to screw up? Even children can make these.”

“Hey.” Donatello snapped. “I don’t think I screwed it up, I just… added too much to his tea by accident. Mikey surprised me and a bunch more of it spilled out in the process.” 

“And you still gave it to Leo?”

“I didn’t realize how much I put in until I got back to my lab. I thought…” Donatello ground his teeth together. “I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal.” 

Draxum sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Donatello, tell me it wasn’t the whole potion.”

“No, not all of it.”

The Baron lowered the book and began to flip through the pages. “Well, that’s a relief, otherwise it might have killed him.”

“Huh?” Donatello didn’t mean to shout. “Tell me that was a joke.”

“It’s not, but as it stands he should stay alive. Just in some kind of… coma, as it were.”

“Cool, great.” Donatello put a hand on the book and shoved it down to get Draxum to look at him. “So how do we fix it?”

Draxum fixed him with an uninterested stare. “I know how to make an antidote.”

“Great, wonderful, how do we start?” 

Draxum slammed the book, hard enough that it pinched the tips of Donatello’s fingers. “Well, in order to make it, I need some ingredients that you’re only going to find in the Hidden City.”

Donatello shook the pain out of his hand as he stared at him.

The Baron narrowed his eyes. “The Hidden City, which I am banned from entering, and last time I got dragged down there my disguise failed and I got thrown in prison. That Hidden City.” 

“Right, okay.” Donatello sighed. So sending Draxum down there wasn’t an option, but he was the one who knew what to look for, so he had to go right? Maybe another sort of disguise? But who would help him? Donatello needed to stay here to keep an eye on Leo and keep his family from finding out what happened at all costs. 

Who else could—

“April!” Donatello shouted. “You should take April with you.”

“Are you insane?” Draxum bared his teeth as he shouted. “Yes, a fugitive of the law and a human running around the Hidden City. That certainly won’t go poorly.”

“Oh come on, she was fine last time. Though she did get banned from Witch Town.” Donatello mumbled. “You know, for whatever dumb reason that was.” Not his fault. Totally wasn’t. 

“This is still a poor idea.”

“Well, what if she invited Sunita?” Donatello offered. “And maybe even Mayhem?” 

“I am not exploring the city with that rat who’d sooner sell me out to the authorities than help.” 

“Okay, fine, how about Sunita then?” Donatello raised an eyebrow.

“Perhaps, she is at least a yōkai so it would make it a bit safer to sneak around.” He crossed his arms, still glaring. “But I still don’t like it.”

“Well what other options do we have, Barry?” Donatello waved his hand out in an arc. “I need to watch Leo, and we are not telling my brothers or my dad about this.” 

“Coward.”

“I am not!” 

“Whatever, fine, if that really is our only option to fix your mistake. But let it be said that if I get arrested again I am informing your entire family of why they had to come bust me out of prison.” 

Donatello grit his teeth again. “Fine.” 

Donatello sent the text to April, asking her to come by the lair ASAP today, and to bring Sunita with. She sent him a number of question marks and a few suspicious emojis, but he ignored those. He wasn’t explaining this over the phone, she should focus on class. 

At least drawing the attention away from Leo was easier as long as Draxum was in the lair. Mikey was far too preoccupied with talking to him and Splinter far too preoccupied with keeping a watchful eye on him. At least their hostility levels dropped significantly after the big outing to the Hidden City, however that happened. 

When April and Sunita did arrive, Donatello once again whisked them all off to his lab. He didn’t miss the blatant stare that Raph gave him. His big brother knew he was up to something weird, he just hadn’t put a pin on what yet.

Hopefully, he never would. 

Donatello explained the situation again, a bit easier with Draxum’s help who noted the actual properties of the potion in question. Again, nothing dangerous at the very least, but Leo was bound to be out until they got that antidote. 

“So, hang on, hang on.” April had her hands folded together, resting in front of her face. “Let me get this straight. You straight up drugged your brother and now me and Barry have to go fix it?” 

Donatello cringed. “That isn’t exactly—”

“Donnie!” April grabbed his shoulders and shook him back and forth. “Are you kidding me? Just what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I wanted my brother to get some rest and to stop wandering around the lair like a noisy parrot.” 

“Ugh, you’re so—” April didn’t finish the sentence. She just shoved him back. “Fine. I’ll go, but it’s to help Leo . Not you.” 

Donatello rubbed his shoulder and avoided her gaze. “That is fair, I suppose.” 

“This shouldn’t be too hard, at least.” Sunita smiled, clearly in a better mood than everyone else in the room. “I know of a good street market down there that sells a lot of potion ingredients. We should be able to run in and out in a flash. Though…” She tapped a finger to her lips as she looked at Draxum. “We need to find a spare cloaking brooch.”

Draxum glared down at her. “I am not getting turned into a teddy bear again.”

She giggled. “Not what I had in mind, but that would be cute.”

“No!”

“Where would we even get one of those?” April frowned. “Where did Mikey get the last one?”

“Oh, I got it from Hueso.” 

Donatello’s blood ran cold at the sound of his little brother’s voice. His gaze snapped over to the doorway. When did it open? Why didn’t he hear it? Mikey leaned to the side to look through it, a smug smile on his face. 

“Donnie.” His little brother sang. “What did you do?”

“Michael, you better not tell.” He pointed at him.

“Maybe I will.”

“Don’t.”

“What are you going to do to stop me?”

Donatello groaned, putting his hands over his eyes as he tilted his head back. “What do you want?”

“Hmmm,” Mikey tapped a finger to his chin, still smiling. “Maybe you should finally get me that streaming set up so I can make these speedruns official.” 

“Mikey, we talked about—”

“You could just make aVtuber model to keep me a secret. Or I don’t even have to show my face.” 

“Look—”

“You do it or I’m telling.” Mikey fixed him with a sharp stare and began to inch his way out of the doorway. 

“Fine. Fine. Whatever.” Donatello shouted. “But if Dad and Raph find out, the deal is off.” 

“You got it. Anyway, yeah, Hueso should have a few spares.” 

“Who?” Draxum looked at April.

“The skeleton pizza man.” She sighed. 

“My dad is good friends with him.” Sunita added. “We might convince him to give us one for free. Come on, let’s not waste any time.” She grabbed hold of April and Draxum’s wrists and dragged them toward the exit. “We’ll be back soon, Donnie!” 

He sure hoped so. The less time he had to deal with this headache the better.

Speaking of which…

Mikey now stood next to him, smug smile still on his face.

“Stop that, Michael. This is serious. Leo could be in trouble.” 

“Maybe, but I know Barry and April can fix him. So I’m not that worried.” He hopped in place. “So what’s the plan to keep this a secret?”

“For now we need to buy as much time into the idea that Leo is just taking a long time sleeping.” Donatello rubbed his chin. “After that… I’m still working on it.” 

April hoped this trip to the Hidden City would not take long. The sooner they got back the sooner she could kick Donatello in the ass for starting this mess and ruining her plans for the night. It was supposed to be girl’s night. A whole evening playing games and watching movies with Sunita before having a sleepover before more school tomorrow. 

At least Sunita was still here. And Barry. At least all her time of seeing him at school made him easier to hang around. Sunita opened the portal to the restaurant in a flash. She cheered as she jumped inside, over half the patrons recognizing her in an instant. April followed in after her. The smell of garlic and cheese made her stomach growl. Too early for dinner, but standing in here always made her crave pizza crust. 

“Good evening, Sunita.” Hueso approached, prim and proper as always. “I’m afraid your father isn’t here if you—”

“Oh nah, we don’t need Pops right now.” She put her arms behind her back as she smiled. “We need a favor, actually.”

Hueso’s glowing eyes darted from her, to April, and then Draxum. “Fascinating. It’s normally the turtles who come to pester me for those.” 

“Yeah, we know.” April sighed. “But Donnie kind of screwed something up.”

“Not Leonardo for once?”

Draxum snorted. “Leonardo is what Donnie screwed up.” 

Hueso’s serious expression faltered for a moment. “¿ Perdón ? What happened to him?”

April answered. “Donnie gave him too much sleeping potion. So now he’s out, like, almost in a coma, out.” 

The skeleton narrowed his eyes further. “That sounds rather serious.”

“He’ll be fine,” Draxum said. “But we need to go to the Hidden City to get ingredients for an antidote.” 

Sunita pointed to the sheep yōkai. “Barry needs a cloaking brooch. Do you have any you could spare?” 

The restaurant owner scoffed and crossed his arms. “Normally, I would charge you for this. However, since pepino is the one in trouble and your father is a good friend of mine, I’ll let it slide. Just wait here a moment.” 

April did as he asked, standing idle near the entrance and staring at all the other patrons munching away on food.

“Man, I’m hungry.” She mumbled.

“Should we get something to go?” Sunita asked.

Draxum growled. “There’s no time for that.”

“Aw,” She pouted. “Oh well, we could grab some street food in the Hidden City, I bet. You should try more food down there, it’s really good.” She grinned at April. 

“Better not involve living slugs that beg for death.” 

Sunita laughed. “No, no, but you should still try those.”

“Pass.” 

Hueso returned, a simple brooch in hand. The gem on this one was a deep blue. He handed it to Draxum. “It’s not a customizable one, but it will definitely keep you disguised, assuming it doesn’t get broken.” 

“It better not turn me into a bear.” Draxum took it.

“No, no, this one turns you into a—”

Draxum pinned it to his robe. Blue light emerged from it and twisted around his body. In a matter of seconds it shrunk and vanished completely. 

For a second, April wondered if Draxum just turned invisible. Then she looked down to see the very angry looking cat at her feet. The fur was a deep maroon, fluffy to the point the beast looked twice the size and shaped its face like it had a mustache. 

“Aw,” Sunita cooed, hands clasped together. “Barry, you look so cute!” 

“Are you kidding me?” Draxum shouted as he jumped, legs flailing. “Do you not have anything more respectable?”

“For free?” Hueso raised an eyebrow. “No.” 

“You look fine, Barry.” April reached toward him before thinking better of it. “Uh, can I pick you up?” 

His orange eyes stared through her. “Only if you swear not to make any kissy noises.” 

She’s not sure she could promise that. The longer she stared at Draxum’s little kitty face the harder and harder it became to resist picking him up and nuzzling him. Still, she managed to carefully pick him up off the floor.

“Ugh, jeez Barry.” She propped the feline against her hip. “I thought you were just fluffy but no, you’re heavy too.” 

“Your weak, feeble, human arms are just too pathetic to carry anything bigger than a textbook.”

She glared at him. “Watch it. Or I’m dropping you in the nearest water container.” 

“Guys, guys,” Sunita interrupted. “Come on. Let’s get to the city. The faster we’re done the faster Barry can go back to normal.” She shoved April toward the exit. “Thanks Hueso. If my dad comes looking for me, tell him that I’m up to something totally safe.” 

Hueso hummed. “You’re lucky I’m a better liar than you are, Peridita .”

April let herself be pushed all the way out onto the street, still holding onto Draxum. At least he was warm. “Alright then guys, to the Hidden City?” 

Draxum grumbled. “Indeed. Let’s make this quick.” 

The trip into the Hidden City took a bit of time. While they could have used the closest portal—aka the dumpster—Sunita guided them to another one that would put them closer to the heart of the city. From there they followed her into the market. April had to adjust her grip on Draxum a few times, and eventually the cat just scrambled up onto her shoulders to stand there instead. The weight didn’t feel any better, but at least it gave her arms a break.

The street market was busy and absolutely crowded with yōkai. April glanced at the stands, unable to read half the signs and unable to identify some of the wares. At least some things were universal. Like food stands, or those scarves, and even some guy trying to sell people pets that were trapped in cages way too small for them.

“Alright Barry,” Sunita turned to look at them, arms behind her back again. It was always so cute how a lot of her body language between her human and yōkai forms stayed the same. “What are we looking for?”

“Well, if you know anything about potions you know we need the base first. In this case one with healing properties. It’s typically referred to as a cure tonic. After that we need three kinds of herbs: Jolt, spark rose, and brilliant yarrow. After that we just have to get hold of some Hidden City Honey.”

April raised an eyebrow. “Huh? What’s special about Hidden City Honey?”

Draxum hit her in the cheek with his tail. “It’s made in the Hidden City, obviously, by corpse-eating bees.”

She pressed her lips together. “Sorry? What? Tell me they aren’t named that because—”

“They suck the organs out of corpses? Yes.”

“And they make honey out of it?” 

“It has a lot of medicinal properties.”

“No, nuh uh, that’s so gross.”April shook her hands, as if something was stuck on them. 

“Anyway,” Sunita interrupted. “I know where we can get this stuff. Let’s go. The honey stand is the closest.” 

April followed after her friend, grateful that her bright green color made her easy to keep track of in these crowds. Thankfully none of the yōkai said anything about her presence here, though a few shot her an odd look.

The honey stand was indeed closest. The stuff didn’t look a thing like honey, a disgusting dark red like coagulated blood. April tried not to gag as Sunita shook one of the jars. It moved like molasses. 

Next came the tonic. A huge stand selling a number of potion bases and other premades had them in stock. April almost hoped they’d just have the antidote in stock, but no luck. 

An herb shop should do it then, right? The group took the time to find one big enough to have everything they needed at once to avoid jumping around. As they moved deeper into the market, they got flooded by more and more food stands. The smell made April’s stomach growl.

“I’ll get you a snack.” Sunita smiled.

“No, no, you don’t have to. You’re already the one paying for all this stuff.” April gestured to the shopping bags.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Sunita kept smiling. “Donnie’s going to pay me back for this. One way or another. What do you want to eat?”

April sighed. “Anything that’s not still alive.” 

Sunita picked out something that kind of looked like a pretzel, though a much different shape. The dough tasted a bit more sour as well, but it was edible. She even let Draxum munch on a few pieces. 

“I hate that I’m letting you feed me like a pet.” He spat.

“Then stop biting it.”

“Much like you, I’m also hungry.” 

One more block and they came across a big herbal shop. April snatched up a few of the bags to fill with whatever Draxum pointed to. Jolt came first, easy to spot because of its bright yellow color. They were flower petals of some kind, jagged much like lightning bolts. Next was the brilliant yarrow. Also easy to spot. The flowers literally glowed in their designated bin. April stared at them in awe for a few moments.

“Man, could I grow some of this?” She smiled. “It’d be like an organic lamp in my room.”

Draxum snorted, but curled closer to her neck as he kept inspecting the bins. “I could possibly show you how, but getting the seeds can be tricky.” 

An idea for another time.

The spark rose didn’t sit in a bin like a lot of the other herbs. The whole flowers sat behind the counter in a glass case. White flowers with dark blue stems. They really did look like roses. 

“Excuse me,” Sunita smiled at the golden mole yōkai running the stand. Was smiling even worth it? The guy didn’t appear to have any eyes. “How much are the spark roses?” 

His nose twitched. “Thirty bright coins each.” 

“Eh?” Sunita squeaked. She snapped out her purse and glanced at the two full bags of herbs, then her purse again. “Oh no, I don’t think I have quite enough for all of this.”

April groaned. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you buy me some food.”

“I didn’t think they’d be that expensive.”

“Relax.” Draxum interrupted. “Buy the jolt and the yarrow. I… have another idea for the spark roses.” 

April turned her head to look at the cat. “It better be something simple.” 

He turned his head away, tail lashing back and forth. “It’ll be simple enough.” 

“Not buying that, Barry.”

He hissed at her. “I’m sorry, do you have a better idea?” 

No, she didn’t. She was so out of her element right now, she didn’t even know what to expect.

But fine. Whatever. For Leo. She’d do it for Leo.

Donnie better be taking care of him. 

Okay. They had a plan.

Mostly. 

Perhaps not the most flawless kind, but Donatello got desperate. Raph got more and more impatient with Leo sleeping so if Donatello didn’t pretend he was awake and fine soon, there’d be trouble. 

Besides, who would notice? The fishing thread was practically invisible. Shelldon proved himself to be an excellent puppeteer and Donatello had endless recordings of things his brother said. As long as the drone stayed up high and out of sight, no one should notice.

And yeah, maybe the sunglasses were a little weird, but Leo had worn them inside before. 

As Donatello set things up, Mikey stood watch at the door in case Raph came along.

“You know I’m going to videotape most of this.” Mikey shot him a grin. “Maybe Leo will think it’s funny later.” 

“Oh I’m sure all of us will think it’s funny later when our brother is not in a coma.” Donatello tied off the last of the threads and signaled Shelldon to fly up. The drone did, tugging Leo out of bed. 

Donatello had to admit. Something about his brother’s body moving while not actually conscious was very unnerving. At least he didn’t seem to be in pain, expression still peaceful. 

“Want me to make him dance?” Shelldon chuckled as he lifted Leo higher. 

“Shelldon, be serious.” Donatello sighed.

But Mikey cheered him on. “Do it!” 

Shelldon clicked out a jaunty tune as he made Leo’s limbs more or less flail around. Donatello tried to glare but a very unflattering snort escaped his nose. He covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing. 

That failed when he tried to shout the droid’s name to convince him to stop. Every time he opened his mouth the laughter escaped. Mikey laughed along with him. 

“Okay, okay, no, stop.” Donatello waved his arms in a flapping motion. “You’re going to hurt him if you do that too much, Shelldon.” 

“Fine.” The droid sighed. “But if you guys start some kind of dance party later, let’s just say our bro here is gonna be tearing up the floor.”

“Possibly quite literally.” Donatello shook his head and got down a pair of Leo’s sunglasses. He slipped them over his twin’s eyes. It looked… somewhat convincing. The limbs were definitely off. “Shelldon, lower his arms so it looks more like he’s standing.” 

The droid did as asked, and while Leo slouched just a bit, the pose definitely looked more natural. 

“Okay, good. Now remember the plan?” 

“Walk him to the living room.” Shelldon said. “Stay out of sight. Have him turn on the TV and sit there.” 

“Perfect.” Donatello turned to Mikey. “Meanwhile we are going to…”

“Make excuses if Raph wants Leo to do any training.” His little brother saluted. “He feels sick after oversleeping. He’s still kinda drowsy.” 

“Just pick an excuse and stick to it. Raphael may not always be the best at connecting the dots but he can be very observant of what we say and do.” Donatello put his hands together and pressed his fingers to his lips. He hoped this worked. It had to work. And April and Draxum shouldn’t be gone too long. As soon as they got back Donatello could toss the ruse aside and fix this whole problem.

But until then… 

“Speaking of, I’m going to head out first and provide a distraction so you can get Leo to the living room without interruption. Mikey, make some coffee to put on the table.” 

“What, are you going to have him pretend to drink it?” Mikey tilted his head.

“Hopefully not. It’s just a visual prop.” Though they would have to empty it at some point. Whatever, he’d work out the details later. “Just stick to the plan the best you can, alright?” 

With that, he slipped out of Leo’s room, keeping an eye on the area for anyone coming to check. Nothing, and eventually he found Raph in his usual spot. Training in the garage. 

“Hey Donnie,” Raph flashed him a smile. “Finally done being weird for the day? You should go a couple of rounds, it’s been too long.”

It had been, because Donatello hated the physical aspects of training, but then…

“You are correct.” He crossed his arms. “But training with these dummies is far too simple. Would you do the honors of a sparring match?”

Raphael’s eyes lit up, as predicted. Good, perfect, this would work as a wonderful distraction as long as Donatello could keep up. Maybe no one would even find Leo in the living room. 

The struggle was, as usual, keeping up with Raphael. 

In some ways, Donatello could best his brothers in hand to hand combat fairly easily. The first things he decided to learn growing up was less how to throw a punch and more how to make someone trip over their own feet. 

The problem was, Raphael was twice his size. And even with all the strength in his shoulders, redirecting a hit was often a futile effort. 

Still, Donatello decided to take a risk. He put aside his Tech-Bō and did a bit of light stretching to prep.

Then a very loud crash rang through the lair.

“Huh?” Raphael straightened up. “What was that?” 

Oh no. Were his dumb dumb droid and his dumb dumb brother ruining the plan already? “Uuuuh it was probably Mikey, doing something.” Donatello mumbled. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Raphael eyed him and walked out of the garage. “I’m going to take a look.” 

Donatello snatched his weapon back up and scrambled to follow. He wanted to make more excuses, convince Raphael to return to the garage, but no doubt it’d just make the snapper more suspicious. 

Of course Raphael headed straight for the living room. That is where the sound came from, but his tall form blocked the entrance and Donatello tried to peek around him.

“Mikey!” Raph shouted. “What happened?” 

“Ahhh sorry, Leo’s uh, still feeling really bad.”

Donatello finally got a visual. One of the shelves off to the left side of the room had been completely knocked over. And how had that even happened? It wasn’t anywhere near the sofa. He shot up a glare to Shelldon who now hovered at the top of the room, right over where Leo sat on the sofa.

“Is Leo finally awake?” Raph stepped further into the room. Now able to get a good look at Mikey, Donatello wildly gestured to the shelf without speaking, trying to ask what happened.

Mikey just gestured back, shaking his head. He apparently didn’t know either. He must have been making the coffee. 

“Leo?”

Right. Shit. His big brother was in here asking questions. 

“What’s up, brother?” Shelldon played the recording, throwing the sound like he’d been instructed. He even had Leo wave an arm. 

But Raphael still squinted. “Leo, how are you talking without moving your mouth?” 

Shit. Donatello didn’t think of that. Crap crap, he should have put some kind of scarf on him or another mask or—

“He’s been practicing ventriloquism!” Mikey suddenly cut in, leaning into Raph’s field of vision. “For um, some magic stuff he’s doing. It’s pretty cool right?”

Leo snorted, or rather, Shelldon must have.

“Why is he using it now?” Raph glared harder.

“Please, you know what a show off Leo is.” Mikey waved a hand. “Anyway, yeah he’s awake, but he’s feeling pretty crummy.”

“Crummy how?”

“Headache.” Shelldon responded with Leo’s voice. “Nausea. Drowsiness. No wonder I slept in, right bro?” The words at least sounded natural, mostly. Donatello could pick up on the small clips where Shelldon rearranged some words, but it was barely noticeable. 

“Uh huh.” Raphael pointed at Leo’s face. “What’s with the sunglasses?” 

“Probably to help with the headache.” Mikey smiled. “Photosensitivity, you know?” 

“Now can you move?” Shelldon had Leo wave a hand again as he tilted the slider’s head to the side a bit. “You’re blocking the TV.” 

“I’m shocked Dad even let you have it.” Raphael shook his head.

Donatello decided not to mention that when hatching up this plan, he’d convinced his father to try out a new tablet game and the man probably hadn’t left it for the past three hours. 

“Look, Raph,” Mikey nudged him toward the door. “I know you’re worried about Leo, but let me look after him for a bit. All he needs is a bit of Dr. Delicate Touch.” 

Raph still didn’t look convinced. “That’s not comforting, Mikey.” 

“Go on. Get back to training. Check in again in an hour or something.” Mikey gave his biggest grin.

Donatello sometimes forgot that his little brother had a knack for acting like the rest of them. 

“Fine, fine, quit shoving.” Raph nudged Mikey off of him. “I’ll be back in an hour then. Come on, Donnie, back to sparring.”

Oh, right, he did agree to that didn’t he. He shot Mikey a desperate look but his little brother just gave a shrug. No help getting out of this one it seemed. 

Fine. Whatever. He’d just—

Only halfway to the garage, Raphael suddenly grabbed his shoulder and forced Donatello to look at him.

“Donnie, I don’t know what’s going on.” He jabbed him in the plastron. “But my big brother senses have been firing on all cylinders for most of the day. Is something seriously wrong with Leo?”

Donatello stared his big brother in the eye, brain screaming. He couldn’t lie right now. He was so bad at lying under pressure. But maybe he could just… not say the whole truth. “He’ll be fine.” 

“Donnie.” 

“Seriously, don’t worry about it.” He forced a smile. “He may feel unwell but Mikey and I can take care of it. You stress out enough as it is.” He patted Raphael’s shoulder and tried to move along, but his big brother didn’t let go.

“All out sparring match.”

Donatello blinked. “Huh?”

“All out sparring match.” Only now did Raph let go and crossed his arms as he straightened up. “If you beat me, I’ll stop asking questions. But if you lose, you have to tell me what’s really going on.” 

“Wh-why should I even agree to that?” Donatello glanced toward the living room. 

“Because if you don’t, I’m walking back in there and finding out for myself.” 

Damn it. Between a rock and a hard place. Donatello wrung his staff in his grip before straightening up. “Fine.” He agreed, because if nothing else maybe he could draw out the fight so Draxum could get back, make the antidote, and then everything really would be fine. 

At this point it was the best plan he had.

“Draxum,” April let out a long sigh as her fingers curled around the iron fence she currently dangled from. “When you said you had an idea, I hoped it’d be easier than this.” 

She kept trying to get a view of the garden in front of them, though pulling herself up over the iron bars was trickier than she’d like due to how tall they were. Sunita gave her a boost before using her yōkai form to slip through, but that was barely enough. 

“There’s no other option.” Draxum’s cat claws dug into her back. “Spark roses are difficult to grow, and this is the only successful garden in the city.” 

“So not only do I have to climb over this stupid fence.” April kicked her legs as she kept trying to pull herself up. “But we’re also trespassing and stealing.”

“We already got arrested down here once. What does that matter?”

“I’d like to be able to come back here for another visit.”

Draxum scoffed. 

April finally got her elbow on the top of the fence and managed to haul herself the rest of the way up. She tossed a leg over the rail and attempted to lower herself down, but without anything to put her feet on she mostly just flailed in the air.

“Hang on.” Sunita stepped over. She wrapped her arms around April’s legs. “Okay, let go.” 

April wanted to warn that she might be too heavy, but wanted off the rail so bad she didn’t hesitate.

Should have warned her.

Sunita immediately stumbled back. Both girls screamed as they hit the dirt, and when Draxum got squished on the ground he let out a very undignified yowl. 

“Shit, sorry Barry.” April sat up immediately. “You two okay?” 

Sunita gave her a thumbs up, despite April still sitting on her. 

“Let’s hope we can get out of here faster than we came in.” Draxum shook out his fur, all of it fluffing up to twice the size. 

“So, what do we need exactly?” April got up and helped Sunita up as well. “The petals? The stem?”

“Petals. I say grab at least five flowers, just in case.” 

“Cool.” April stepped up to the nearest bush. They looked a lot like roses on the surface, in terms of the shapes of their leaves, petals and blooms. The white flowers weren’t unusual either, but the leaves and stems were much more of a deep ocean blue rather than a dark green. The thorns as well looked rather terrifying, jutting out far and sharp.

Still, April maneuvered around them as she moved to pluck the flower head off. “Alright, let’s grab this and—”

“April, wait!”

She heard Draxum’s warning too late. She grabbed the flower and sharp electricity jolted from her fingers to her shoulder. It paralyzed her, stopping her from screaming, until finally the force tossed her back.

Sunita caught her, gel form splattering from the impact. 

“Girls!” Draxum padded over to them. “Are you both alright?”

It took a second for April to get her bearings. Static kept running through her limbs and over her scalp. Sunita’s goops steadily slipped back into a solid form and she patted her cheeks after regaining her hands. 

“Barry!” April shouted. “What the heck? You couldn’t have given me a warning sooner?”

Draxum’s ears went back. “I thought the name ‘Spark Roses’ would be enough of a hint.”

“Plants don’t electrocute you on the surface.” April let herself be pushed up by Sunita. Her legs shook, but she stood.

“Sure you’re okay?” Sunita asked. 

“Fine,” April crossed her arms, even if her skin still tingled. “So, if we can’t grab them, what do we do?”

“I can get them with my vines. The flowers are harmless when cut.” The cat glanced around the field. “But I will have to be out of disguise for that. You two should keep watch.” 

April didn’t want to be designated look out, especially when she’d love to get some revenge on the dumb plant for zapping her. But they should be smart about this. Waste less time.

“Got it. Sunita, you get the fence. I’ll watch the building.”

The building in question stood close to the field. It had all the charm of a gothic farmhouse. Trellises lined the side, roses growing all the way up.

April watched the windows and the door, looking for signs of movement. A crackling sound made her glance back in Draxum’s direction. Now out of disguise, his vines snapped around the flowers and pulled them free. They fell to the ground, white petals stark against the black dirt. Sparks jumped between them before they died out. 

“Work fast, Barry.” Sunita hissed, gaze fixed to her right. “Someone coming in the gate.”

April heard it now, the creak of iron hinges. She dove for the flowers, hesitating before snatching them up. Harmless, like regular flowers. She jammed them in her pockets and turned to Draxum who shifted back into a cat.

She grabbed him and followed Sunita down the fence line. They should create some distance before trying to jump over. April kept glancing back, but so far couldn’t see whoever came in.

“Oh, blorble shorts.” Sunita mumbled.

April almost laughed at the strange term—that was a new one—but then saw why it was used. The fence turned a corner and the far end was covered in thorny vines.

“Okay,” April turned to the empty fence next to her. “We gotta go.”

April gestured Sunita through before chucking Draxum clean over the top. He started to yowl before stopping himself. He landed on his feet, of course.

Sadly, that shout did not go unheard. “Hello?” A voice called out.

“Great going, Barry.” April hissed as she pulled herself up.

“Well, to use your own words, you couldn’t give me a warning?”

April didn’t argue further and focused on climbing. It took just as much effort as last time, making her struggle to get proper footing.

“Come on, April.” Sunita cheered her on, hands clenched tight.

April tossed her leg over the top and looked for a way to safely climb down. 

“Hey!” The voice from earlier shouted.

April cursed and dropped to the ground. Too far. She failed the landing and collapsed in the dirt. 

Sunita darted over to help her up. They got about halfway when the groundskeeper caught up. The beetle yōkai glared at them before light appeared on all four of its palms.

April screamed. Sunita tried to cover her, then a shadow covered them both. Draxum, out of disguise, moved between them and the fence. 

The magic attack went off. Draxum redirected it. Light bursting between the bars.

The beetle screeched. “Wait! Aren’t you Baron Draxum?”

“Time to go.” The Baron turned to the girls and picked them both up, one under each arm. “Sunita, which way to the nearest portal.”

“I don’t know.” She squeaked, then louder when another bolt flashed past them. “I’ve never been to this area of the city.”

April groaned. She hated being carried like this. Hated that they were being chased down. Hated the sound of magic blasts and the eventual wail of the police siren.

If they got out of here, she was going to kill Donnie.

Nobody really won a sparring match against Raphael.

The best Donatello could manage was stalling, by initially making it a best two out of three situation. Because then, even if he lost every round, that gave him one more round than he would have had. 

And, true to his theory, he could not win these fights. But he was shocked at how long he drew them out. The first round lasted for a solid six minutes, which honestly was a personal record. Donatello focused more on evasive maneuvers from Raph’s attacks. But despite surface assumptions, Raph was more than capable at not only fighting, but thinking on his feet. While it was easy to dodge two fists, even huge fists, it became much harder when Raphael used his projection to summon two more pairs of arms. 

He dodged one, then two, then the third one nailed him right in the stomach and sent him into the wall. 

Donatello groaned, thankful his battle shell absorbed most of the impact. Sometimes Raphael knowing all their limits was a disadvantage, because he always knew how to toe the line without causing any permanent injuries. 

“Round one, you’re out.” Raphael dropped his projection. “Round two.” 

Donatello used his staff to prop himself back up. “A guy can’t catch his breath?” 

Evidently not. Raphael rushed toward him, still with as much energy when all this sparring started.

Still, Donatello actually lasted longer this time. All the way to eight minutes. Going on the offensive proved to be just as good as his defensive tactics. Rockets, smoke bombs, and detaching his shell as a decoy all worked wonders in keeping his big brother distracted so he could land a few blows. 

But it all came to an end when Raph caught the end of his staff. Donatello should have just let go of it, but instead he stupidly hung on as his brother swung both it and him around in an arc and onto the ground. 

Donatello groaned again, and without getting up right away, Raphael declared another victory. 

“Can’t lie, I’m kind of impressed.” Raphael squatted next to him. “You were actually taking this seriously. Must be a big secret.” 

Ugh, right, the deal. He hadn’t stalled long enough. Just what was taking April and Draxum so long? Maybe he could think of another time wasting excuse. Quick, quick, what was some bullshit he could spit out. Damn it. Leo was usually the one who came up with that sort of thing.

But while trying to think of an excuse—and get up off the floor—their father’s voice rang through the lair.

“ Purple! ” 

Uh oh. Donatello hoped that was just his dad griping because the game he’d been playing stopped working properly, or it locked him out.

He decided to take it, whatever it was. “Coming Papá.” He called out and darted out of the training room. Raphael shouted after him, but Donatello didn’t slow down for even a second.

He followed the sound of his father’s voice as his color title was shouted a few more times. Donatello didn’t like that it led him to the living room. 

The first thing he saw was Splinter standing there, arms crossed and a glare on his face. Then next to him stood Mikey, knees together and biting one of his nails. 

Then finally he looked at Leo who was slumped down in the chair, sunglasses eskew. 

“Donatello.” His father used his full name this time. “What did you do to Blue?” 

“Huh?” He straightened up, trying to play innocent. “What makes you think it was my fault?”

“Mikey told me.”

Donatello glared at his younger brother. “Narc.”

“What did you want me to do?” Mikey whined. “Dad came in here demanding the TV and when we tried to get Leo up he noticed something weird right away. He shook the sunglasses right off him.” 

“You could have taken the blame.”

Mikey puffed out his cheeks. “I am not taking the blame for this.”

“Donnie.” Raph’s voice came from directly behind him. “What did you do?” 

Donatello turned to look up at his big brother, feeling smaller than he had in years. “Um… I may have… given him too large of a dose of a sleeping potion?” 

“What?” Their dad screeched, at a volume almost inaudible to their reptile ears. “Where did you even get something like that?”

“I made it. And it’s fine.” Donatello insisted. “It’s fine. Draxum and April went to get stuff to make an antidote and—”

“Draxum?” Their father kept screaming. “Is that why he was here? Why would you trust him with something like that?”

“Because he knows about alchemy and April is with him, it’s fine!” 

“Donnie.” Raph grabbed the back of his battle shell and lifted him into the air. “Why didn’t you tell us about this sooner?”

“Because I meant what I said earlier. You stress too much.” He crossed his arms, not even bothering to try and wiggle free. “It was a mistake, a fixable mistake, and we will fix it.” 

“You should have still told us.” Splinter continued to lecture. “Instead of parading your brother around like some kind of street puppet.”

Donatello grumbled. Even if he wanted to keep arguing, he didn’t have anything he could say that would make his family concede defeat. This was the exact situation he wanted to avoid. 

Shelldon, who kept hovering in the air, flew up a few inches as his eyes lit up. “Oh! April’s back!” 

“She is?” Donatello and Raph both asked at the same time.

“Yup! I’m going to say hi.” Shelldon took off out of the room.

The strings attached between him and Leo were still very much intact.

Donatello watched in horror for a second as his twin’s unconscious body was dragged over the chair, dropped onto the floor, and then slid along the floor.

“Shelldon!” Raph shouted first. “Wait!” Still carrying Donatello, he took off after the drone, trying to catch up to Leo to get him off the floor. 

Thankfully Leo caught on… something at the base of the steps to the exit. The slider came to a stop and Shelldon jerked backwards in the air. Raphael took the chance to pick Leo up with his free hand.

“Donnie, undo these threads.” 

Donatello did, letting his older brother move him around so he could cut through all the various bits of fishing line. 

Just as he finished, April, Draxum and Sunita appeared at the top of stairs. Donatello was about to smile at them but then saw the state they were all in. April had scuff marks on her cheeks. Her poofy hair somehow looked even bigger. Leaves and dirt clung to her jacket and her yellow dress. Draxum’s hair also looked frazzled, a part of it and part of his robe completely scorched.

Sunita looked fine at least, just tired. 

“Whoa.” Shelldon spoke up first. “What happened to you guys?”

“Not a word.” April snapped. “Come on Barry, let’s get this antidote made up so I can throttle Donnie after Leo wakes up.”

Uh oh. Did the job go that poorly? Donatello wanted to ask about them but Draxum and the girls scurried off towards his lab. 

Draxum asked questions as they all went, Raph still carrying Donatello and Leo with Splinter and Mikey tagging along behind.

“How is Leonardo doing?” The alchemist glanced back at him. “Seems to be developing some bruises? That’s strange.”

“Shelldon dragged him across the floor.” Raph mumbled. “Because some genius thought it’d be a good idea to wire him up to Shelldon.” 

“He was fine up until then.” Donatello rolled his eyes. 

“You’re gonna be lucky if that crash into the steps didn’t give him a concussion.” 

Raph finally set Donatello down when they reached the lab so he could show Draxum where the rest of the supplies were. He watched in fascination as the alchemist worked, letting Sunita and April assist him. He drew an extract from the rose petals, crushed up the other two dry herbs, then mixed it with the honey and another additional liquid into a whole potion. It looked a bit like loose leaf tea. 

“Alright.” Draxum held the glass up. “Lay him down and hold his mouth open. We have to make sure he swallows it.” 

Raphael placed Leo on his back, carefully, like he was made of fine china. Donatello held his breath as Draxum got close and Raph reached for his twin’s mouth. Only now did the anxiety hit him. What if this didn’t actually work? What if Leo was trapped in a coma for good?

But just as Raph put his hands on Leo’s face, the red slider snorted, then started laughing.

Everyone in the room stared in shock, including Donatello. 

Leo opened one eye and glanced around. It was back to its usual color, the same shade of brown that they all shared. 

“Oh man, sorry, sorry. I just ruined it.” He waved his hands to get Raphael to let go of him as he sat up, criss crossing his legs in the process. “I was going to jump up like a man possessed after Draxum tossed that in my mouth but my nose is too ticklish.” 

“Huh?” Donatello’s shoulders went tight as he stared at his twin. “Just how long have you been conscious?” 

Leo gave him a smug grin. “Oh, I woke up while you and Mikey were chatting about stringing me up to Shellon.” 

“Huh?” He shouted. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I wanted to see how far you’d take it.” Leo kept chuckling as he stood. He took the antidote from Draxum who just stood there, dumbfounded. “Did not enjoy the bumpy ride towards the staircase. Good thing I caught myself, huh? Is it cool if I still drink this? It won’t have any weird side effects right?” 

“I…” Draxum shook his head. “I am astounded that much sleeping potion didn’t keep you out cold. Something about your mutation must have made you more resistant to it. But yes, you can drink it, I suppose.”

“Sweet.” Leo downed half of it, then shivered before bursting out laughing. “Wow, that has some bite! And whoa,” he shivered again. “Energizing too. Hey can you make more of that? For us to add to our coffee?”

“No.” Draxum crossed his arms. “Overdosing could make your heart give out.” 

“Hang on.” April shoved Draxum to the side as she got in Leo’s face. “Are you telling me that you just recovered from all that? That we didn’t even need to go on that hellish trip to the Hidden City to get the antidote ingredients?” 

Leo kept giggling, vibrating. The glass was taken from his hands by Mikey who sniffed the concoction before drinking the rest of it. “Sorry April. But uh, you can’t blame me for it, you know.” He turned his smug grin to Donatello.

Now Donatello felt everyone’s eyes on him. All of them were glaring, well, except for Mikey who began to literally bounce off the walls after downing the potion. 

“Bro.” Shelldon flew down next to him. “You might wanna run.” 

Leo kept smirking. “Thanks for the nap, Don Tron. Seriously. But uh, good luck, hermano.” 

April charged first.

Donatello screamed and ran out of the room. He could hear four sets of footsteps thundering behind him. 

“Wait!” Donatello shouted as he kept going, even activating his shell to hover instead. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Ahhhh!”

In spite of the furious shouts and his own frightened screaming, Donatello could somehow still hear Leo laughing at him over this whole mess.

Ah well, at least his twin was okay, and well rested. 

Even if his ruse made Donatello want to knock him out all over again.