Author's Note: Hello there! Aside from working on some other stories, I had this one on my mind and I just had to do it! Now, this is sort of an AU taking place during Slash and Destroy. Now here, "Target: April O'Neil" never happened, so April is still mad at the turtles. And Donatello, after getting beat up by Slash, isn't found by his brothers. Instead, someone else finds him, and everything begins to shift from there. Please rate and review!

Chapter 1: Strangers

For about the third time tonight, Donatello asked himself how things could possibly get any worse.

The genius turtle felt he was staring into the eyes of the Devil himself, though he knew nothing could ever compare to the hellfire gaze of the Shredder. This…monster was close enough, however. It resembled a turtle, but it was much larger, had bluish-green skin, and spikes on its shell, arms, and head. Was this another casualty of the many fallen mutagen canisters, an accident he and his brothers created? If so, then why did it act like it knew everything there was to know about him and his family? Why did he know his name?

This was just one of the many thing that had gone wrong for him lately. The worst of everything that happened was the mutation of April's dad into a hideous bat-monstrosity. That resulted in April angrily declaring their friendship over and that she never wanted to see them again. So many weeks later and she still wasn't talking to them, and he felt it was made worse with the incident involving Timothy-Mutagen Man, as Mikey called him-going on a rampage and stalking April…because he just had to open his big mouth. Then he had to freeze his former friend as a last resort…almost as if he were cursed to lose anyone he got close to.

Other instances that occurred were Leo getting captured by Karai because of his and his brothers' rebellious attitudes, mutated squirrels almost drowning Mikey, and then Mikey almost turning into a massive pimple and exploding. Tonight just added more salt to his already-throbbing wounds. He almost blew up Spike, which caused Raph to lash out at him and take a canister of mutagen into his room for 'safe keeping'. They were suddenly on the move again to track down another canister of mutagen, and Leo seemed to be ahead of them until crashing into Raph. An argument ensued, and of course, he and Mikey were left to watch. That is…until a massive pair of clawed hands emerged from the shadows and grabbed him from behind.

Now here Donnie was…a literal wreck. Bruises and gashes covered his body, his right eye was blackened to the point of swelling, his cheek was equally swollen, and his bottom lip was split from being punched. He no longer had the energy to stand and try to defend himself; he could only lean back against a ventilation unit as this creature stared him down. In its grasp was his purple mask, as though in its sick mind it saw the cloth as a trophy. Mutagen-hued eyes stared down at his broken form and a deep, dark chuckle came out of its mouth.

"You've certainly been nothing but trouble, Donatello." The creature taunted in a gravelly voice, one that made the genius turtle swallow a lump of fear in his throat. "You're supposed to be the smart one, and yet you were stupid enough to let yourself get caught."

Silence…of course, Donnie admitted to himself he was too frightened to say anything in his defense. Fright had only partial responsibility, though. It could best be deduced that emotional turmoil mixed with the fright to create the silence and Donnie inwardly agreeing with what the monster told him.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Nothing to say in your defense?" The monster asked, his voice less taunting and more threatening. "Then say goodbye…FOREVER."

Donatello watched in terror as the creature raised his free hand and viciously grabbed him by the throat. His large clawed fingers began to squeeze around the tender skin of his neck, and he slowly began to feel his oxygen intake constricting. He gasped for any sort of air, but it became harder and harder, until he finally let out a strangled, pained cry. Of course, who would hear him? Who would even care?

It was a couple of rooftops away that a lone individual stood staring at the night sky and the stars not obscured by city smog. The melody of an M83 song echoed through a set of earbuds and they bobbed their head to the beat, long bangs smacking the skin of their cheek. The music was at a low volume so other sounds could be heard; New York wasn't exactly one of the safest places to live, after all. Thankfully, because of that, the individual was able to hear the sound of a strangled cry. Frantically turning off the iPod, the stranger, a female, rushed to the edge of the rooftop and crouched down when she was who…well, WHAT, made that sound. And here she thought the whole alien business was just the spouting of nonsense from attention-seeking lunatics.

Two…giant…humanoid…turtles. Well, one was giant, but the other was about human-sized and currently being strangled by the other.

Wait, strangled!?

One part of her screamed to get out of there and hide in her apartment before she was noticed…but another part of her told her she had to save the more-human turtle before he dies. She ended up listening to the latter, indicated when she fished in her jean pocket for the switchblade she carried on her person. As insane as it sounded, she would try to take on that monster turtle alone. She finally found the switchblade and flicked it to life, preparing to dash like a mad woman and pounce, until…

"Donnie!" A distant, rough voice called frantically.

"Bro, where are you!?" Another voice, this one energetic, called, just as frantic.

The monster turtle glanced to the side and offered a deep growl. Great…those two were in the vicinity, and if he brought on too much suspicion right now, everything would be ruined. His mutagenic gaze went back to Donatello and he offered the semi-conscious turtle a sneer. "I'll be back for you later." With that declaration, he tossed the genius turtle aside and tied his purple mask around his arm, leaping away into the night to divert the voices' attention.

Donatello managed to open his good eye and try to crawl on the rooftop to call for his brothers. He glanced around and saw two things that officially made the situation worse. The blade in his Bo staff was snapped off with a small sliver of metal remaining, and his T-Phone was completely shattered. He tried to cry out but he only let out a wheeze, his throat feeling crushed and his lungs fighting for air. He also noticed a sharp pain in his left arm, intensifying with more pressure put on it. Did he break a bone? Or maybe twisted a ligament? If he could just call for his brothers, he would be okay.

But he knew he wasn't okay, and he couldn't get off this rooftop. Donnie found himself slowly resigning to the monster returning and putting him out of his misery. His consciousness began to fade as his breathing became labored, when he heard the faint sound of footsteps. It didn't sound like his brothers' footsteps…could it be…

April?

"Donnie!? Donnie, please, answer me!"

Raphael whipped his head back and forth to get a good look at every single rooftop in his field of vision. Donatello had been missing for almost an hour, and Leonardo kept steadfast in his pursuit of the mutagen, unaware of the situation unfolding. Michelangelo trailed closely behind his red-masked brother in the search for their purple-masked brother. Mikey was the first to alert Raph to their brother's absence, which occurred shortly after the appearance of the newly-mutated Spike…well, he preferred to be called 'Slash' now.

"Donnie!" Mikey called, hands cupping around his mouth to increase the volume. "Tell us where you are, D!"

Raph found it a bit odd that when Donnie disappeared, Slash was also MIA. Maybe he was just scouting ahead for the mutagen…there was no way he would try and harm his brothers! Right? It just had to be a coincidence. Then again, it was odd that Slash tried to lash out at Mikey when Raph didn't want to come with him to pursue the mutagen. What would possess his former pet to do such a thing?

Of course, they managed to jump a few more rooftops, and called out several more times for Donnie…no response. It was on one particular rooftop that Mikey noticed something strange. He walked closer to the strange sight on it, and once he got a better look at it, he visibly cringed and cried out, "Raph, get over here!"

The red masked turtle stopped dead in his tracks at his youngest brother's command. He hoped it was either Donnie or the mutagen, and not some random thing like a pizza box or a cat. Well, he knew Mikey could be serious when he wanted to be, especially if it concerned their family's safety. He raced a rooftop back and saw the orange-masked turtle staring in horror at something. Once his eyes laid on the scene, he could understand why Mikey stared at it with that expression.

The ventilation unit on this rooftop had deep slash marks on the siding, but that wasn't what horrified them the most. Over to the side lay a Bo staff with a broken blade and a shattered T-Phone, but no Donnie in sight. It only took a few seconds for Michelangelo to put two and two together and he turned to his brother.

"Raph…" The freckled turtle began. "…I think Slash hurt Donnie."

"W-What?" The hotheaded turtle sputtered, green eyes flashing towards sky blue. "No…no, that can't be right. Spike…Slash is my friend! Why would he want to hurt Donnie!?"

"Raphie…" It was rare for Mikey to give him that nickname anymore, unless he was very troubled by something. "What kind of stuff did you tell Spike…about us?"

"Mikey, what does that matter? It's not like…" That's when it hit Raphael like a truckload of sand bags. Before Spike mutated into…Slash, the red masked turtle often used him as his means of unleashing every frustration he kept bottled up. Unfortunately, almost all of those frustrations involved his brothers, particularly Leonardo. He always unloaded on his pet tortoise on how his brothers always held him back, how they always got on his last nerve…how he didn't need them. But it wasn't like he meant any of it…right? He truly didn't mean to say awful things about his brothers, but Slash didn't know that.

No…he only knew Raph's side of the story. He didn't know that half of the fights between the leader and hothead were instigated by the latter out of jealousy. He didn't know that Raph was usually the one who started the teasing until it came back on him. He didn't know that a lot of the problems weren't caused by the others' quirks, but by Raphael's own insecurities and overwhelming need to show everyone else that he wasn't fragile on the inside.

And because of his verbal backlash towards his brothers…it ended up costing him one.

The red masked turtle collapsed onto his knees, leaning forward to brush his fingertips along the Bo staff. He had to finally face the truth that Slash acted out on Raphael's harsh, momentary wishes for his brothers to just disappear. Donnie ended up being the first casualty in it, and now Leo and Mikey had big, fat targets on their shells. He flinched when he felt his youngest brother place a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. How could he be comforted when he caused his brother to possibly be dead right now?

"…It's all my fault, Mikey…" Raphael mumbled, eyes threatening to spill guilty tears. "This is all my fault…" Letting out pathetic whimpers, he began to claw at his head and face before shouting, "DONATELLO!"