Shooting Fallen Stars

~*~*~*~

Turtle tot fiction! Donatello-under extremely odd circumstances-is accidentally shipped off to the hospital on Christmas Eve as a PRESENT. A present going to a small, lonely child diagnosed with leukemia. Can Donatello help grant this suffering boy's greatest wish?

Hallo, everyone! ^^ It will be, perhaps-a little while before I can publish this fiction….(I'm back at my grandmother's….so no go on updating anything for awhile….but, in the meantime, I've decided to find the old keyboard and type to my heart's content….or, until my ideas rot out. Whichever comes first. :D I just finished 'The Worst Stories Ever Told Ever…' and I'm glad to say I was able to update it at the library with Raph, Leo, and Don's tales up.)

I've pondered something like this for quite some time. Originally, I was going to put Mikey in as the main character…but, decided I'd rather see a little more Donny action here-mainly because he's perhaps a little more understanding. I wouldn't want to overwhelm Mikey with a concept that could prove very difficult for him to accept.

I spent a fair amount of time in the hospital in my youth when I was diagnosed with melanoma. The full surgical procedures were never finished, but those operations come when I'm a little older-perhaps in six months, or in a year or two. Que sera sera. What will be, will be.

Late holiday fiction. Or, perhaps not. 364 days till Christmas comes once again, and already we can keep the feeling of the holidays bred in our bones until it swerves around in 2010.

Regardless, please, take care, everyone. And a very happy new year to you all, my dear friends.

~*~

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. However, there is a…NEW owner, if you've been monitoring the turtles, as of October.

Mirage Studios and 4kids TV actually sold the rights to our favorite quartette to….Nickelodeon.

………………

Don't believe me? Well….perhaps you'd better look it up for yourself. D: I'm not exactly sure what it means, in the long run….oy, vey….

This fiction is dedicated in memorial to Miss Shirley Brinkerhoff, a fellow writer as well as an example. May candles receive the passing fire.

神は賛美し、報酬を与える。

Quote:

"Ah, my dear lad. Tis not the giving in the season….nor the getting. Merely the loving."

~*~*~

It was getting increasingly difficult not to fidget.

Still, some basic training had, at the very least, taught Donatello not to wriggle around too much, even in the discomfort of all these suffocating….suffocating…..

He resisted the urge to twitch a slightly itchy nose once again, mentally exhaling as Splinter carefully surveyed the area behind the frost covered trees where they lurked.

How did humans STAND wearing all these itchy and suffocating articles of clothing? Honestly, the first thing Donny was set to do once they returned home was to immediately toss these articles OFF.

But as of right now, he WAS semi glad of them, to be quite honest. Especially in this kind of weather.

~*~*~

At this time of year, with supplies becoming harder and harder to procure, Splinter had had no choice but to head topside.

And, seeing as he would be forced to be away for several hours, he'd been forced into another corner-one he duly hoped to avoid, at any given opportunity: Bringing Donatello and his brothers with him.

Don dreamily inhaled the fresh, chilly air-watching Mikey exhale nearby, breath creating a slight puff in the freezing atmosphere.

Splinter had been well satisfied with their daily scavengings, and the five had stopped to detour back to the sewer streets in a nearby park, glittering white snowflakes lazily dropping from an indigo skyline in great abundance.

Raph stuck out his tongue to catch a few, and then made a face.

"Needs sugar." He muttered to himself, watching Leo happily collapse his arms and legs on the ground, and began moving them rapidly.

Pulling himself up, Leo cast an uncertain look at his somewhat odd-looking snow angel. Their darn shells DID make it awfully difficult to make it right….

Don squinted as he glanced at a nearby streetlight twinkling in the distance. When he squinted at it, the small beacon became a hazy, distorted hue of light-and, when he moved his head-

Pffhhh!

The little Mr. Wizard started violently with a cry of exclamation as the well hurled ball of snow made direct contact with the back of his head.

Splinter limped forward in his black cloak, a small, twisted smile on his face.

"You may wish to keep your guard up, my son….."

Wordlessly, he gestured to a snickering Mikey just a few feet away, already hurling a snowball at Raph.

Raph had been chortling at Donny's misfortune….

….only to receive a snowball straight in the face. Growling, Raph impatiently swiped it off, turning to face Mikey, who was now doubled over, laughing hysterically.

An evil smile splashed on Don's face as Raph hurled a hunk of snow directly at Mikey's shoulder, while Don aimed for the now staggering turtle's shell.

"Oof!"

And, with that, Mikey landed in a snow bank with an angry "HEY!" of exclamation.

Leo meandered over to Mikey, glanced at him once, then grabbed a triumphant Raph's fist and extended it into the air.

"Let's hear it for the double-team!"

Don began to giggle as Mikey, now somewhat dazed, pulled his head from the snow bank, scowling.

"Heyyyy……no fair! You guys only got me because I LET you! I say you guys go against Leo and me and THEN will see who'll be laughin', then-"

"My sons."

Leo started, and inwardly winced as Splinter began to march over, reproving glance on his face.

Raph shuffled his foot at the snow uncertainly while Splinter gestured to the next street, grabbing an abashed Donatello's hand.

"You may play….later. I told you-no nonsense on the surface world. Now, let us be off…..home."

Mikey's face contorted into sadness.

"Awww…."

But still, he dragged himself up, and fell into line, albeit with a sigh.

It was so unfair. Why did Splinter get so uneasy "outside?" Were they not in disguise, well….

…..but that was different. The rat still preferred to do all of his daily search-and-recover excavations underground…and even THEN he was still kind of an edgy person.

You had to be, if you were a mutant and wanted to live another day.

~*~

Donatello trailed behind his brothers, giving a somewhat wistful glance at the snow still falling, twinkling faintly in the lamplight.

It was much harder for snow to make its way into the sewers. The only exciting thing was that everything froze.

EVERYTHING.

In a sometimes milky, opaque frost, and sometimes glassy freeze-the pipes, the canals, the stone….

All became a complete and total ice park. Only the stronger canals escaped freezing, and that was simply because they were too dirty and they moved far too rapidly moving to freeze very easily. The rapids would make it impossible-but everything else was covered in a rich, slippery coating of ice.

Everywhere you went, there it was. Ice. Ice. On the arctic circle ice. Their home was, most thankfully, an exception. It still got chilly from time to time, but that was easily remedied with a blanket or a fire in the grating. In addition to the little heater Don had once took apart to see how it worked.

As well as that toaster he took apart to see how it worked.

And that toy.

And that one thing that MIGHT have been a microwave….

~*~

Surprisingly enough-for four cold blooded turtles, chill was easily amenable in the sewers.

What wasn't, come Winter?

Getting around.

Everywhere, feet sliding-with nothing to grab but a few rusty, frozen pipes that broke off the moment you grabbed them….falling to your bottom or knees and sliding down the sewer halls…

Don suppressed a giggle at the memory of him and his brothers sliding down a deep elevation downshaft. To say the least, it had been….interesting, if not merely time consuming-getting back up the hill to get back home. In the end, they HAD managed it….

….after sliding down forty or fifty times, give or take.

As they neared the nearest manhole, Don couldn't help but feel the slightest tinge of sadness. With a small sigh, he nudged at a snowy clump, looking bored.

You couldn't win in a human's world. Not even if you WERE human, sadly enough.

Mood darkening slightly, Don continued to listlessly follow Splinter's careful and alert footsteps, resisting the urge to exhale heavily.

Being a naturally curious soul, these little excursions were quite rare. Especially in Winter-there were too many people roaming about Times Square…especially on New Years Eve, which would take place in just a little under a week.

Everyone flooded in to…watch the ball drop, whatever that meant. It certainly sounded exciting, though.

Not for the first time, Don wondered vaguely what it would be like to be a human himself. After casting a curious glance at his tri fingered hands, pondering them having four more fingers instead of six….

He cast a curious gaze at his brothers still droopingly following the rat, now feeling slightly interested.

Were he and the Hamatos human, what wouldn't be possible for them? The whole world would be wide open to explore and traverse at will.

There was so much to see and create, to do and leave behind, to ponder and to discover and, and, and….!

……….and he, while pondering the universe, would miss even a slight token of it all: The world.

There was only so much you could DO in the sewers, for while people, amazingly enough, threw the oddest and most exotic treasures away in this city…..

…you seriously had to keep a mind open and buzzing with many, many ideas.

Luckily, Don had those-all leaping off the assembly line-!

Brow constricting in slight sadness, Don watched Splinter approach the now nearby manhole….

…and freeze, fur now slightly standing on end.

~*~

Don shuddered.

He'd seen that look before, and it never boded well. He uncertainly inched towards the stricken rat, wondering if he ought to tug at his cloak to get his attention.

"Sensei? What's….what's wro-?"

Deep in thought Donny had fallen into, the abrupt silence was quite a surprise.

Goosebumps prickling on the back of his neck, the turtle exchanged mystified glances with his brothers, before the rat silently gestured for a nearby alley.

Raph the rat a puzzled glance.

"Uh….Sensei….? That ain't the way home. I though you said-"

A gray finger found the surprised turtle's mouth, and the rat soundly ignored Raph's words before he scuttled into the darkness, hand tugging a surprised Raph behind a nearby dumpster.

Leo blinked, looking confused, but he and Mikey both rushed for a nearby garbage can.

Mikey scratched his head….before realizing that he had a banana peel on top of it. Peeling it off and resisting the urge to yecch, he glanced at the road, instead.

Silence. Then, a car rushed past on the road. Mikey's brow creased in comphrension.

Oh. So that had been why Master Splinter had wanted the four to hide!

He made to get up, but Splinter silently shook his hand rapidly in the surprised turtle's direction. Mikey slowly sank back to the ground.

Another rumbling from the road. Must be a car. A really big one.

…or a truck. That worked, too.

Leo cast the slowing down engine a thoughtful look.

Why was it stopping by this old building? Donny knew more about this stuff then he did.

He looked round, wide eyed.

"…….D-Donny….?"

~*~*~

Don, admittedly, HAD and HADN'T found a good hiding spot.

Leaping on top of the dumpster, Don had scurried up the old building's fire escape latter. Now, he remained, perched up high-peering down at the scene below.

Splinter cast a quick, anxious glance around the alley, mentally counting bandanas.

Red beside him, blue over there, orange on the right-

….he glanced upwards, and internally buried his face in his clawed hand.

…aaggghh….

Donatello was dangerously closer than any of the others to that delivery truck. Oh, dear.

If someone looked directly above….well, that was an unpleasant thought, but Splinter could easily distract the men who were pulling the truck to a stop….

His fingers curled into his palm.

~*~*~

The two men were exiting from the small truck, amiably chatting with one another.

"Did you hear-honestly, the economy's just goin' down the toilet, and, with that new bill-"

"I wouldn't say it's that bad. Truthfully, considering the fact that the boom in industry has just-"

Don peered down with bright interest as the two headed for the building's door. Later, they seemed to grow bored of talking of politics, and began to discuss other matters.

"So nice of Miss Jacobs-bless her heart. At least Meagan left us a good haul of wrapping paper-else I'm not sure what we'd do with them all."

The other man-a slight, easy going smile on his face, shrugged as Don continued to observe the man in the darkness.

"Why-we'd get gift bags, of course. Man's most perfect creation."

The other man chuckled.

"You can tell a guy created them. Honestly, did you see the way Anna's face fell when I wrapped that one gift? You would have thought I put it in a green garbage bag and put bows on them….."

The two bustled into the store, still chuckling. Don exhaled slightly.

Splinter shot Don a warning look-and the turtle managed the tiniest nod in response.

He had to wait until these two drove away. He knew that well enough.

Enjoying the unexpected time he'd been granted outside, Don turned his face to the indigo skyline, sighing softly as he wriggled his toes.

There were lots and lots of stars out, tonight. Don had seen a shooting one, once-and it was gone in a little more than a twinkling and a flash of light.

Maybe he'd see another one tonight, if he were lucky. The turtle kept his eyes hopefully fixated at the heavens, vaguely pondering why stars fell.

Were they alive? Did they fall because they'd died…?

That hardly seemed likely, but he pondered it, anyway, letting go of the guardrail for just one second.

And that was when he'd made his first mistake.

Don misjudged the rail's location, and, balancing vicariously, accidentally seized thin air.

He'd begun to lose his balance. Wobbling fiercely, though the training Splinter had put him through had him holding onto the ladder for dear life, the railing was very rusty-and it creaked as it moved-

Splinter ridgened. Raph's mouth dropped.

"Hey, genius! HANG on!"

"Donatello!"

The voice was little more than a strangled hiss, but Don's hands were beginning to ache from the effort of holding himself up….

Much to his panic, the turtle was already beginning to slide-it was not TOO far from the ground, but-!

With a startled yelp as he desperately tried to scurry back up, Don made his second mistake as his foot met frigid ice on the old metal.

And he'd slipped.

~*~*~*~

"Ooof!"

Don landed face first into the powdery snow with a slight thump. Putting a hand to his spinning head, the turtle thanked heaven for small mercies.

At least he hadn't rolled….too much. Well, he didn't think so, anyway.

But Don's hood had fallen backwards, and the turtle realized that he had fallen directly into the lamplight.

……near the still rumbling engine as two men exited the nearby shop with parcels in their hands, laughing as the owner of the nearby shop, Michelle-waved them off with a "Merry Christmas."

The bell on the door tinkled slightly.

~*~*~*~

Well. That had been like a splash of cold water.

In a rush, heart thudding, Don rushed under the truck-the only hiding spot LEFT as the two men waved at Michelle, and then, opened the truck's valve with a slight grunt.

Don watched, eyes now absolutely enormous as one of the men nodded in approval after going over a checklist.

"Very good, very good…." He mused lightly.

"I think these are all the gifts, Nate. The crew will take over once we get them to the hospital-and have them wrapped before they go to the kiddies."

Don blinked, looking at the two men's boots.

Oh…they hadn't been delivery men. They'd been picking things up for….charity. That was nice.

…but Don also knew was that what would ALSO be nice would be getting away. Home didn't sound bad at all, at this point.

Nate nodded, boot tapping on the snow. He scratched his head.

"Can't help thinkin' I forgot somethin'….but it's probably-"

He broke off in mid sentence.

"Uh…Eric, I think you dropped your hat."

The man who had to be Eric took a small step back, finding a small, cotton skating hat on the ground.

"Mmm? Oh….thanks, bud."

He bent down just as Donatello was inching backwards-

And surprised blue eyes met Donatello's terrified ones.

~*~*~

Splinter went cold as he wordlessly sprang up.

Guilty though he felt, he could not risk the two men screaming and creating a scene. The two would have to be knocked unconscious.

Just as he was about to strike, he heard something that made the Hamatos give each other nervous, uncertain glances.

"Well, I'll be! It's one of those plush-action-thingamajiggers! Whew. Almost left some of the cargo behind!"

~*~*~

Eric, a pleasant chiropractor in his early thirties, gave a curious glance at the petrified Donatello still crouched near the large tires.

"Gee, Nate-looks like we almost forgot one. Musta slipped off while we were unloadin' the boxes."

The man called Nate peered at the frozen Donatello, looking faintly curious.

"Wow. Big….uh….guy. I think it's a boy turtle, anyways."

Despite the graveness of the situation, Don almost pouted.

They thought he could be a girl…?

~*~*~

Much to Don's shock, Eric effortlessly scooped him up, bouncing the surprised turtle up and down.

"Is it supposed to be a stuffed animal? Kinda looks like one of my kids' action figures gone oversized-see the little mask?"

"Yeah. Just a whole lot bigger."

Don had to stop himself from gasping-in fear or relief, he did not know.

They-the deliverymen….

…….. thought he was a toy!