oh hi! i hadn't even noticed i've got one! sorry about the wait i honestly didn't get the notif? but the moment i saw this prompt i got struck with an inspiration, thank you for the ask! (also sorry for that(?))
content warnings: family death/major character death, description of a dead body (it's short and not detailed but still), grief and denial
ao3
6. “We’re gonna fix you up, brand new. I promise.”
A welder sends sparkles into the air, dancing in front of a mutant turtle's face, protected by a mask. A room is dimly lit, barely giving any idea what is going on inside. It smells of burnt metal and paper, sweat, copper, as well as something that… in the past would be, perhaps, harder to identify, but after spending ten years in the apocalypse the smell of a rotting corpse becomes obvious. And this room reeks of it.
There’s banging on the door, people yelling, begging, pleading… it’s all targeted at the engineer, he knows, although he cannot decipher what is being said in detail, his head’s stuck, swimming at the bottom of the ocean. It’s a barrier between him and the rest of the world, shielding him from hearing things that would stop him from working, from registering how his body aches and begs for rest. The murk of dissociation ensures he can finish his most important but the most challenging project yet to date.
He has to succeed. Failure is not an option.
The softshell finishes wielding two metal rods and turns the torch off, darkening the room even more. He sighs and, lifting his mask, stands up, ignoring the wobble in his legs and dizziness in his head, staying up only by the sheer force of will. He maneuvers through the metaphorical minefield on the floor full of the robot parts. He gets to the light switch and he flicks it. Weak ceiling lamps blink to life, revealing the workspace in its entirety; it’s a mess of scattered projects, destroyed and gutted machinery, drawers ripped out of the cabinets, their contents haphazardly thrown on the floor, glass and ceramic shards are everywhere, as if someone smashed mugs in rage. Then, amongst all the chaos, there are bloody and dried stains all over the place. The almost black droplets can be seen as high as on the ceiling.
Yet the most imposing and eye-catching scene is located in the center.
Here’s a medical table on which lays an enormous, spiky robot body of a mutant turtle. His green skin and red accents made of steel are shining in the light, looking surprisingly clean and neat, considering the state of disrepair and dirtiness of the workshop. There were small details that were lovingly applied during the long hours spent on this craft, like the snaggletooth was perfectly shaped and sized, every spike applied exactly where it should be and the so called “Raph Chasm” is carved ideally, just at the exact depth and size.
On the opposite table lies a nearly identical looking mutant body, the main difference being a gaping hole in his chest and the many, many, many scars the body acquired through the years that the scientist decided to ignore in his design.
Donatello turns around to see his progress on the robot, but his eyes accidentally gaze at Raph and- the moment he catches a glimpse of the gigantic carcass… his body moves in its direction almost like on autopilot, his mind’s set dead on the need to be by his big brother’s side as fast as possible. He doesn’t even register tripping over and stepping on the precious robot parts that he so painstakingly retrieved from the ruins of the civilization as they knew it. At this specific moment, this didn’t matter.
When he finally finds himself by Raphael’s side, Donatello lays his hand on the cold, decaying fingers covered in dried blood. His voice wobbles a little when he says: “We’re gonna fix you up, brand new.” He takes the much bigger hand in his two, squeezes it with trembling fingers and lays his forehead on its bony knuckles. A small whisper leaves his lips: “I promise,” and he means it. He will not stop until Raph is back with them, even if it kills him.
hello! was just curious, I saw that you tagged a post about etoiles and missa as supernova duo -- is that their duo name?? if so thats such a good one :0
Yes! I don't know where the duo name originated but I saw a post about it [twice I think] of like art with Missa and Etoiles and that wa the tag they used for them. It really is cool, tho now I gotta try and remember why they were called that in the first place lol
