A Million Miles Apart

A/N: Hey, new story! I came up with the plot for this story a while back, and I wanted to write it down now, since I've wanted to write it for a while now.

So, the only thing is, I don't know what way to do it. So I have put up a poll with two alternatives of what kind of story I will write. I would really appreciate it if you could at at least check it out and give your opinion. But you don't have to feel forced.

Prologue

Journal entry, July 14th 2014 (A.K.A, about a week after the Wormquake incident)

You know, I'm not gonna act like my brothers and I are perfect. I know we all have our flaws and we drive each other crazy that way, but still, I wouldn't change them in any way. To me, they're great the way they are. Sounds cheesy, I know, but it's true. Call me a dork if you want, I still mean it.

Leo may be a perfectionist, a teacher's pet, and sometimes a bit too protective and cautious, but he's also a great older brother to all of us. He's very strong, caring, and does everything he can to protect us from any harm. I believe that he, without a thought of hesitation, would just sprint into a burning building to save us, even if it meant that he would lose his own life in the process. Plus, he's also the only one of my brothers who doesn't crash or destroy everything he touches. Well, except the toaster but he doesn't do it intentionally.

Raph is, to put it mildly, a hothead and very irrational. But he's a warrior through and through and that drives him to protect us from danger as well. He once told Splinter that he had no problem with risking his own life when in danger, but he would never risk our lives. That both worries me and makes me feel special. Raph might show it very rarely, but he has a soft side... But in order to cover it up he sometimes acts like a bully. Although to be fair, he's gotten less cruel since that first Kraang invasion when Leo sacrificed himself so we could get away.

Mikey, well, what can I say about Mikey? He's very random, wild and very optimistic. I'm convinced that he lives in his own world where everything is awesome and always great. He's by no means stupid, but he has problems with keeping his focus and has a hard time staying serious. I told Splinter when I was ten that I thought Mikey had ADHD, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He's a great fighter and if he did focus a little more when we train, I think he could be better than Leo. But with that being said, he's really sweet and kind, kinda like a little kid. He's that light that keeps the dark away from completely surrounding us.

But lately, ever since the whole Wormquake thing happened about a week ago, I have had a hard time getting along with the guys.

Leo hasn't really been so bad, but he's stopped listening to me and my ideas about how to take down Shredder or the Kraang. And he barely even talks to me about anything else, the things I need to fix being the only exception.

...

Leo walked into my lab and I looked up from my computer with a smile.

"Hey, Leo. What's up?" Leo didn't smile back and placed one hand on the desk, looking me straight in the eyes. He wasn't pleased, I could see that.

"Donnie, I asked you to repair the Shellraiser three days ago and it's still not fixed. Why is that? We need it for tonight's patrol, and it's not ready or repaired. Why?" I held back a groan, stood up and walked up to him.

"Leo, I've tried to make time to fix it, but Raph and Mikey have been giving me other things to fix the last few days, and you know that they won't give me any peace until Mikey's video game system or Raph's punching bag is fixed. I've also tried to make more retromutagen for the mutants we have to un-mutate. I'm trying to make the time but-" Leo interrupted me and narrowed his eyes at me.

"Well, make sure to make the time you need! We need it tonight, so make sure it's ready!" He turned around and was about to leave, but I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Uh, Leo? I've actually come up with a few ideas for inventions that can help us take down the Kraang's portal, for example. I have an idea for an invention that can-" Leo shrugged off my hand and stared me down with stern eyes.

"No, Donnie! Right now, all you need to think of is making sure that the Shellraiser is ready for tonight. Nothing else matters right now." And with that he left the room, leaving me feeling hurt and depressed. He hadn't even bothered to listen to what I had to say, he just shot me down and left. I sighed, turned off my computer, picked up my toolbox and walked over to the Shellraiser. I started to work.

...

Raph has become more aggressive than usual and never listens to what I have to say. He breaks things, (probably out of anger) hands them over to me and just expects me to fix them without any second thoughts, since "that's all I'm good for", like he says.

...

"DONNIE!" Raph stomped into my lab with the toaster under his arm. He looked angry, as usual, and his loud voice made me jump in my seat, since I was so focused on what I was doing. I looked up from my laptop and tried to smile so Raph would calm down a little.

"Yes, Raph? What is it now?" Raph ignored that I sounded a little sarcastic and just dumped the broken toaster on my desk. I saw that a thin trail of smoke was seeping from the top and assumed that Raph had broken the toaster himself and hadn't found it broken.

"You have to fix this thing! Mikey's gonna complain all morning tomorrow if he can't make toast for breakfast, you know that just as well as I do!" I frowned at him and looked back at my computer.

"Sure, I'll get to that in a minute. I have to repair the Shellraiser's engine so we can use it tonight. The mechanics have messing with me a little to so I have to check that out too, and the electromagnetic-" Raph growled, slammed his fist down on the desk and made me jump a mile into the air.

"I don't care about what you have to do, just make sure that you fix that stupid toaster! It's been broken, like, a million times in the past, so fixing it now shouldn't take that long, right?" I took a few deep breaths to calm myself after Raph's little outburst, stood up and looked Raph straight in the eyes.

"Raph, don't you ever stop to think that I may have other interests than fixing things for you guys? Don't you think that I may want to just sit down and watch TV or play video games or do the things that you guys do with your free time? I'm only half-human, you know. I want to enjoy my time of being a kid like you do too." Raph just raised an eyebrow at me before he turned around to walk out of the room.

"Whatever! All I care about is that you fulfill your duty to this team. You're the smart guy, your task is to make sure that everything is repaired and built, and to hack into Kraang computers or find cures for their mutations. If you can't do that, what the heck are you good for then?" And with that, he left the room and I didn't know if I should be angry or start to cry. I did neither. I just took a deep breath, held it for five seconds and let it out. Then I picked up the toaster to fix it. Better fix this before Mikey comes in here and wants me to fix something that he broke himself.

Oh, yeah. And then there's Mikey. Well, to be fair, he hasn't changed all that much. He still talks to me and wants to spend time with me every other day, like talk to me while I work or watch TV with me. But he has changed a little, though. He's become a bit more annoying and likes to come in and talk or try to convince me to do something 'fun' and that usually ends up with him messing something up in my lab so I have to start my projects all over again.

...

"Hey, D!" I groaned inwardly and silently counted to ten before I looked up from the chemicals in front of me and tried sound pleasant. Mikey stood in the doorway, leaning against the wall with slice of pizza in hand.

"Hey, Mikey. Do you need something? If you do, do you think that it could wait? I'm kinda busy at the moment." Mikey swallowed the last of his pizza and walked up to me.

"No, dude, I don't need anything from you. I just wanna hang out with my big bro a little. You've been locked up in here all day." I sighed. If Mikey wanted to hang out, then he would either stay in here and entertain himself or he would nag on me until I left the lab to do something fun. I tried to smile and put down the canister with mutagen and the small syringe with April's blood that I had asked for a few days ago.

"Thanks Mikey, but don't you think that Raph might be a little more fun to hang out with, or even Leo? I mean, I have to make more retromutagen and then I have to work on the Shellraiser a little. I'm not saying that you have to leave, I'm just saying that you would probably be bored if you hung out in here." Mikey just shook his head with a smile and then, to my horror, jumped up and sat down on my desk.

"Nah dude, I think you need someone to-" He stopped talking when he knocked over the canister with mutagen and it almost rolled down in my lap! Thankfully I was quick to get out of the chair and pull it away, and the mutagen hit the floor instead. The green goo spread out over the floor. Mikey and I stared at it for a while, and then he jumped off the desk, walked up to me (careful to avoid stepping in the mutagen) and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Donnie? Dude, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" I shrugged off his hand, took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, then turned to Mikey with a forced smile.

"No, no, Mikey. It's okay, it was just an accident. Now, if you wouldn't mind, would you please get out of my lab so I can clean it up? I need to be alone for a moment." Mikey nodded understandingly, albeit a little dejectedly and slowly left the lab and closed the door behind himself. I let out a loud sigh and then grabbed the hose that I used whenever I needed to clean the Shellraiser and let the water wash the mutagen down into the floor drain in the middle of the room.

Mikey has always been a little clumsy, ever since we were little, but lately he has messed up quite a lot of my experiments or at least distracted me while I worked, which wasn't that much better. I've tried to ask him to be careful while I was working on my experiments or my inventions, but for some reason he always managed to knock something over or mess up the experiment altogether, like when he dropped that ice cream in the mutagen that later created Ice Cream Kitty. I guess that was just another part of his personality.

When I was done cleaning up, I picked up another canister filled with the mutagen and got back to work. Clumsy little brothers or no little brothers at all, I still needed to make that retromutagen.

Ever since the Kraang and Shredder came back from the first invasion, we've all been a little tense. And I can understand that they all have their own ways of dealing with stress and pressure. But that doesn't give them a reason to use me as their punching bag. And the less I say about April and Casey the better. Casey and I have an especially hard time talking or just being in the same room without fighting or arguing. Though to be fair, it has gotten a little better since we worked together to get those Kraangworms back to Dimension X, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. Though April has been around him most of the time and less with me so I haven't talked much to her lately.

The only one who listens to me nowadays is Master Splinter. He listens when I say that I feel unappreciated and mistreated. And he told me to try and talk with them and discuss how I feel and that it should stop. But whenever I try, they say stuff like 'I don't have time right now' or 'I'm playing video games right now, dude, maybe later' or even 'Donnie, a whole city and even the world is at stake every day, we can't think of our own personal problems right now!' and it's starting to tick me off.

They just never listen to me anymore. It's like I don't exist.

Like I'm a million miles away from them, every single day...

"Donnie, it's time for patrol!" I looked up from my journal. That was Leo, calling out to me from the living room. It was time to go out on patrol, so I had to stop writing and get out there, where the others were waiting for me.

"Okay, I'm coming!" I finished the last dot after 'day', put the pen down on the desk, closed my journal and put it down in one of my drawers where I had my other journals, under a thick book, so in case anyone went through my drawers they wouldn't immediately see them. I stood up from my desk, grabbed my bō staff and walked out of my lab, into the living room. Another day, another fight against evil.

A/N: Okay, that was a prologue, as a way of giving so a little something to read and tell me what you think of it. I'll put a little more drama into the next chapter, if you want me to continue it.

OBS, Please go to my profile and vote for your favorite alternative of how this story should play out. I only have one vote so far, and I want a little more than that. So please, vote! And also review, favorite and follow! G'night everybody!