CHAPTER 29 - Beginning of Their Nightmares
The hopelessness that had once infiltrated its way into Don’s anxious heart vanished as soon as he heard the sound of his twin’s voice. All his doubts and the many ‘what ifs’ plunged into the forgotten corners of his mind as he called out to his brother.
“Raph, are you alright?? They didn’t hurt you, did they? Do you feel ok? How many fingers am I holding u-”
“- GEEZ DON- You’re makin’ my headache worse! I’m fine, you can stop freaking out now.”
“I wasn’t freaking out. This is not freaking out.”, Don gestured to himself as best he could whilst being tied down to the floor, “You’re ok? No injuries?”
“Yeah, bro. I’m fine.”
Don recognized the exhaustion laced into his brother’s usual tone, but besides that nothing seemed amiss. All the purple-clad brother had to go by at this point was his hearing, seeing how his brother was still morphed and distorted into nothing but tired and angry pixels.
“What can you see?” Don asked with a hint of ember in his tone, still annoyed with the aching reminder that he still didn’t have his glasses.
“Uhhhh..”
Don heard the whispers of fabric sliding across skin. He quickly connected this to Raph’s mask tails moving as he turned his head to search their new cell. Quickly following was the subtle taps of Raph’s fingers, signifying he was beginning to get anxious. He would always do his little taps when school got too boring, or when he was waiting his turn to join in a sparring session in the dojo; He wanted to move.
“Raph, are you tied down too?”
Don’s ears caught the shuffling sounds of his brother squirming.
“DUH. Otherwise I woulda been over there smackin’ you in the head for letting us get caught like this.” Raph’s voice didn’t burn with bitterness, but instead warmed with brotherly affection. Or at least- as affectionate as the hothead could manage, going against every temper-fueled bone in his body. Don could just imagine the smile gracing his twin’s face.
Even when we’re captured he can’t help himself to tease me. Never change, brother.
“Yeah thanks for that lovely sentiment, dear twin of mine. But we still need to focus on an escape plan. Now you, the only one in this room with proper vision, describe to me what you see so I can calculate a way to get us out of here. Please and thank you.”
Don could tell from the muffled vibrations that Raph was biting his lip as he hummed to himself.
“There isn’t much, brainiac.. Four walls, a roof and a floor..”
“Thank you for explaining to the audience that we are indeed in a room.”
Don still had that same feeling of someone watching him and his brother, so going by that, he theorized there was another camera hidden in the walls of their cell.
“Oh shut up, dude.. At least I’m not blind.”
Don’s countenance fell at the reminder. He knew his brother didn’t mean for his words to become sharp blades, but Raph’s ignorance didn’t negate the fact that his simple sentence drove a piercing sting into the freckled brother’s heart.
Even with the pain of his brother’s words pulling him down, Don still took the opportunity to get some ribbing in as well.
“Well, at least I have a functional brain, compared to your useless, tied-down muscles. Intelligence can’t be restrained.”
“Ha! Yeah right. Call me when someone wins a wrestling match using nothin’ but their brain.”
“Not exactly what I meant- but regardless, we need to find a way out of here.”
As much as I’d love to continue in this lovely banter, we really need to focus here, Raph.
“Are you tied to the floor too?”
“Not exactly.. I’m on a table.”
Raph tugged and yanked, but no rings of chains echoed. It sounded closer to straps of leather, accompanied with a small tink of what appeared to be a belt buckle.
“You’re what? On a table?.. Like a surgeon’s table?”
Don should’ve thought through those sentences a bit more thoroughly before allowing his brother to hear them.
“A WHAT? Surgeon?!”
Don’s shoulders rose as he hissed through his teeth in regret. Raph’s tugs and yanks became far less controlled by the second.
Yeah, perhaps I should’ve thought that through a bit more..
“Raph stop- you’ll dislocate your shoulder or break your wrist- just.. Calm down.”
“THIS IS AS CALM AS I’M GONNA GET, DON. Cause if this is ANYTHING like in the movies, THEN I AM WAY PASSED SCREWED.”
“Yeah, we’re BOTH gonna be screwed if you don’t let me use your perfect little vision spheres to find a way out of here!”
“I TOLD YOU THERE’S NOTHING IN HERE!”
Don could sense the stress building in Raph’s body, like lava filling to the rim of a volcano. Only instead of the raging inferno being fueled by his temper, it was being fueled by something far less predictable: his fear.
If Raph has a meltdown he’ll be more useless than I am. Calm him down FAST. Use facts. They almost always help me in stressful situations such as this, so hopefully it will be the same for him.
“Please stop yelling. A headache will make my brain, the only useful internal organ I have left, far less helpful. And panicking isn’t going to help anyone. You’re only going to further injure yourself.”
“I’M NOT PANICKING, I’M STRESSING THE CRAP OUT.”
Ok yeah- that didn’t work. Try being more real and honest with him. Less facts, more truth.
“Noted. But if you continue like this you’ll have a panic attack, and that will render you either catatonic or inconsolably violent. Neither of which will help us here.”
The constant tugs of leather stopped.
“.. Did you just call me a cat?…”
You know what, I can work with this! At least when Raph’s confused he’s not moving or hurting himself.. Yes, keep him asking questions, it’s helping him calm down!
“You know, catatonic. Comatose.”
The pixelated blurb that was Raphael’s head tilted ever so slightly.
Hehe.. This is fun. I should do this more often.
Don continued on as he began to list synonym after synonym, further deepening his fiery brother’s confused, dazed state. As long as it kept Raph from hurting himself and panicking, then he would be happy to oblige to confuse the heck out of his brother. Don couldn’t help the growing grin on his face as he specifically chose the most convoluted of words; ones that would leave Mikey with his pupils slowly separating. Normally it would annoy him that his family and brothers didn’t understand the meanings to his wide variety of vocabulary. But now the thing that he had been teased and ostracized for..
.. had become his greatest strength. And with this assumedly useless gift, he had been helping to calm down his fearful brother.
“Don, what the shell are you even sayi-”
The melodious sounds of Raph’s confused tone were jarringly cut off with a sharp gasp. Don twisted his head to face the blur which was his brother.
“Raph??”
Don REALLY WISHED HE COULD SEE.
“Raph what’s wrong?? What’s going on?”
Did he see something? Is he hurt?
“Quiet Don, someone’s comin’.” Raph shout-whispered to his brother, as his voice changed to ‘protector mode’.
All Don’s work to calm down his brother vanished before his malfunctioning eyes, as the sounds of footsteps drew nearer to the door of their cell.
Don’s posture straightened as much as he could manage while still being tied down to the floor. Memories flashed behind Don’s eyes of the Man touching and prodding him like some science project.. He had felt so small under the monster’s watchful eye.. The cells of humanity flowing in his veins seemed to disappear as he refused to speak in front of his captor. It was worth it though.
It was worth it to not reveal to the Man just what he was up against.
It was WORTH IT to keep his humanity from being seen by the monster.
The door opened. Don’s spine shivered at the sound of boots.
Ochitsuke. Focus, Donatello. FOCUS.
As the Man walked towards the chained-down mutant, his pixels combined and formed into a crisp image. But for once today, Don was absolutely fine with not being able to see clearly if it meant he wouldn’t have to peer into the ghost’s face again. The mutant leaned as far back as he could as the Man’s face edged closer. The familiar sound of Raphael’s growls echoed from the back of the room.
“Welcome to your new home. Here you’ll form so many new memories.”
Don’s muscles all tensed as he fought with all his might to not back down from the creature of a Man. His stiff form wasn’t helping the growing ache in his wrists from the chains and cuffs, but it was worth it to prove his strength and will to his captor.
I WON’T BACK DOWN, YOU DEMON.
The Man reached out his hand to Don’s face, caressing the fabric of his mask. The purple-clad mutant let out his own warning growl, but that did nothing just as it hadn’t before. The Man’s slender hands brushed across Don’s cheek, making that same awful chill enter into the mutant’s soul.
Don wanted to throw up if it meant the horrible feeling of dread in his stomach would cease.
The Man took both his hands and wrapped them behind Don’s head, fluidly slipping off his purple mask. The Man pocketed it with the smoothness of a master thief.
“You won’t be needing this. Not an inch of you will be a mystery once my studies begin.”
Don’s face being fully presented to his captor made the mutant shrink in discomfort. Sure it was just a piece of cloth with two eye holes.. But he had worn that mask since he was twelve years old. It was part of his identity. But now he watched as the Man continued to deny everything that made him him; Proof to Don that what was coming for him and his brother would test everything they had in them:
Their constitutions.
Their will.
Their faith.
And especially..
..their understanding of who they are.
“These walls have kept many different… creatures at bay, and over time all of them fell. Some to their madness.. Some to my blade.”
Don’s spirit suddenly felt the embers from his brother’s seething flame.
The Man turned to face Raphael, but stayed uncomfortably close to Don’s side.
“Ah yes. Rabid Red..” the Man tsked in a facade of pity, “Seems the surplus of sedatives did nothing to cure you of your infuriatingly pitiful temper. But that’s fine with me.”
The Man reached for his coat pocket, while refusing to break eye contact with Raph. By the sound of his brother’s growls not wavering, Don figured the Man’s intimidation attempt wasn’t so successful.
But then…
All went silent as the Man revealed a syringe filled with a noxiously potent green liquid inside. The Man rose off the ground and began walking towards Raph, a frighteningly bright smile spread across his face like some awful infection.
“.. I want you to be fully awake for every second.”
Don’s pupils constricted as he turned his head to face his brother.
RAPH NO!
The cap of the syringe was removed with practiced hands, revealing the needle shining in all its horrible glory.
“.. I want you to feel every fluid ounce of agony slowly creep through your skin and into your blood. I want you to see the monster I know you are.”
Don’s ears drowned out the sounds of his captor slowly drawing closer to his brother, and instead focused on the shivering breaths and tight gasps escaping Raph.
He’s terrified.
“.. This is what you get for biting me, freak.”
NO! PLEASE STOP!!!!
Don’s heart painfully beat in his chest as the Man creeped into the pixelated shadows, once again becoming the faceless Specter that would forever haunt the freckled mutant’s nightmares.
RAPHAEL!!!!!!
Don’s hearing finally betrayed him as the sounds of his brother’s anguished cries seared into his ears.
Andddd that's it for this chapter!....
.. Is it bad that I truly enjoyed writing for Specter in this-??? Is something wrong with me?... Have I officially lost my shell? Heheh.
To God be the glory!
~ Melissa
MASTERPOST <- PRIOR CHAPTER NEXT CHAPTER ->
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