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frogandbird · 7 months ago

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Strawberry Skys - Chapter Nineteen - Junkyard Fires and Purple Eyes

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The sounds of a metal and plastic crashing to the ground made Donnie jump. The junkyard he had found was new, to their dimension at least, and was full of parts and things and stuff that they could use for anything and everything around the house.

They had yet to encounter the owner, but the sign outside the yard had been modified to advertise a guy with purple skin, so they weren’t as careful with sneaking in as they normally were.

Donnie slowly stood up from the car they were perched on, climbing to the roof to try and see better. He hissed as his hand caught on some broken glass. They paused, checking for blood. He continued on when the scuffed scales refused to produce blood.

Finally finding a stable part to stand, they looked around the active junkyard.

A few car stacks surrounded him, only a few dozen feet high. In the distance, they could a dirty clowd that was slowly falling back to the ground, presumably kicked up by something big falling down.

A car was lazily making its way to the spot, dark red and faded paint smelling heavily of gasoline even from so far away.

Donnie stiffened as something black began to rise form the cloud. He hissed as the smell of burning gasoline finally hit him. he should probably go check that out. No, no they didnt. It wasn't their problem.

They slid off the car they had been standing on, grabbing their bag from the dusty ground. The bag was now full of different metals and wires, stuff that would last the family months if he used it right. It had taken him several hours to gather it all, and no way in hell where they gonna lose it to some human lighting a fire in a junkyard.

The heavy oder got stronger, making Donnie wrinkle their snout as they zipped the bag shut. The smell of burning plastic and rotten fruit wafted closer and closer, along with the sound of tires skidding closer and closer to Donnie.

Donnies head snapped up, swiveling to look for the source of the sound.

They managed to get a glimpse of the trunk for earlier driving fast past him, in the direction of the exit. Donnie hummed. it was probably smart to get out before the authorities got here.

Donnie began the walk back to the door they had slipped in through. They guessed they had been lucky to find a hole in the fence big enough for them, but they were far too used to jumping the fence to really put any thought into how it had gotten there.

They ignored the small pit that was forming in their stomach as they walked. The cold feeling that came with leaving a family member hurt and in pain making them shiver slightly. He would have to check on their siblings when they got back, it was probably one of them.

The feeling grew and grew the further away they got from the fire. The fimiler sounds of fire trucks and police sirens far off as something metal whined. It was probably Mikey or El. Maybe El tried to cook again.

Donnie got halfway to his exit before the feeling got to be too much, forcing them to stop and crouch down. They brought their hands up to their head, one cold and the other warm. Even the sudden cold of their metal arm couldn’t force the feeling away.

They didn’t need to go back. No one was hurt. Their family was at home. El was probably cooking again. Maybe Raph got scrapped up again. Why does it hurt wHY DOES IT HURT WHO IS HURT WHO-

Donnie was halfway across the yard by the time the sirens even got to the gate, legs moving quickly and silently as they jumped from car stack to car stack, diving into shadows and slid past silhouettes cast by fire light.

They managed to get to the fire quicker than the trucks, surveying the area with a panicked eye.

A collapsed car stack was taking up most of the small clearing and had probably been the start, as it was engulfed in fire and black smoke. The smell of burning plastic and scorched metal was nauseating. Where was their sibling? Where was Raph?

Several of the adjacent car piles were getting dangerously close to the fire as the pale flames continued to grow. The other cars were scraped of paint, and rusting. Donnie could only hope that they had been stripped of their fuel unlike the fallen stack.

A figure a few feet away caught Donnie’s eye, the person standing still and dark against the pale and dancing flames.

They stood almost eight-feet, four long spindly limbs holding them up. Four more blocky limbs hung limp compared to the long ones, something like silver on their head in the fire light. Or, what Donnie assumed to be their head.

Donnie snuck forward, reaching out for the tall mutant. They reached for something that was alarmingly cold and slick, dragging the mutant away from the flames.

If they could get this strange mutant away, then they could go see which of their siblings or friends had snuck in behind them, see who got hurt.

Donnie was about two yards away from the fire with the stranger in hand before they realized that the dark pit in their gut was lessening. It didn't scream at him or threaten to push him over anymore, finally backing into the little box they normally kept their fears in.

Donnie glanced back, looking at the mutant they brought with them. The long limbs had retracted, where Donnie had no idea, leaving the mutant to run on two of the other limbs.

Without the extra libs to give them height, they were now smaller than himself as they both ran, the other looking back at the fire with a pained expression on their face.

The sounds of fire trucks and firemen shouting made Donnie pick up speed, dragging the other with them. The other behind them yelped at the increase in speed but managed to keep up.

The pair ducked under a car stack, enticing into a small cave like space that could fit both of them with only a little wiggle room.

In the relative safety of the metal cave, Donnie could finally look at the kid now. They were differently younger than him, a smaller build lit up only by the blue and red glow from goggles they wore. A bag was held tightly in their hands, though Donnie had no idea where they had gotten it.

Donnie was glad their eyes had been adjusted to the dark for so long as now they could see the metal mass that rested on the kids back, probably where the long limbs had come from.

Donnie huffed and leaned against the metal car he was sitting next, watching the exit as the kid moved about next to them. They hadn’t gotten too far from the fire, so acconal fire light would dance over the entire hidden space, flashes of orange and white light in the dark.

Donnie broke the silence, blinking at the kid when they jumped. “Are you hurt?”

The kid shook their head slowly, looking them up and down again. “I.. I am fine.”

Donnie nodded, not wanting to stress the kid out. His siblings where fine, no one hurt. It was ok, everything was fine,

The pair sat in silence as the sounds of the fire and people began to taper off, yelling and shouting fading into loud voices and indescifrable words.

They remained in silence for a good long time, even hours after the humans and fire left. There little cave had long gone dark without the fire light.

Donnie watched the kid mess with their hands, bandaging them the same way EL often did, covering the palms but not the fingers. The purple wraps were pulled from the metal hunk on their back, making Donnie tilt their head again.

“Battle shell.” The mutant stood, easing towards the exit of the pile. “Thanks for the save.”

“Yeah, sure.” Donnie hummed, following the kid out of the metal fortress.

The last of the pink from the sunset had left the sky, the dark purple-blue now covering the sky. Neon lights flickered in the distance, the general sound of the city far in the distance.

Donnie looked back to where the kid had been only moments before, now just some lifted dust as a dark form retreated to the wire fence.

Donnie sighed, tracing a different path as they left for their home, needing to keep track of their family as the small pit flicked back to his gut. No one was hurt, not when he was close.

——

Violet scrambled onto the roof of a low building, clutching at the warm concrete and brickwork under them.

That had been way too close of a call, on far too many fronts.

First, they had actually crashed into a car pile that had been slightly too precariously stacked for no reason, then one of the cars had apparently had a lighter in it, setting the whole thing ablaze in a matter of seconds.

Then that strange turtle mutant had come out of nowhere and dragged them out of the range of the humans, pulling them to safety.

The mutant had been strange, not just in the sense that Violet trusted them for no reason other than their gut told them to. They ignored how the stranger had felt like Sky, someone to trust just because they hatched on the same day.

Violet knew that they shouldn’t be trusting people with no data to go off of, but here they were. Trusting a stranger for no reason. With no data or experience.

Even stranger was how their hands were almost as calased and big as Onixs, to the point they had mixed the two up when the mutant first grabbed them. And the mutant had a metal arm! which meant that they had probably been human first, as they would have had to get that knowledge from somewhere-

Violet yelped as their phone vibrated out of their pocket. They picked up the still vibrating phone and turned it on.

Onixs contact was lit up, the snapper was apparently calling them.

Violet hisse and picked up the call, doing their best to keep their claws seethed and out of the way.

Violet didn't get the chance to ask what was wrong before Onixs low growl came over the speaker of their phone.

“Where. Are. You.”

Violet chuckled nervously. “Not so nervous laughter, what do you mean sister of mine?”

“I know you snuck out. Sky is being antsy. Where are you.” Onixs voice was thicker than it normally was, gravely and low as she growled at them.

Violet hissed, looking around the building they were still perched on.

“I’ll be back in a bit?” Violet hissed, legs curling closer and the metal arms from their battle shell folding out and into the night.

“That's-“ Onix cut herself off with a groan, making Violet shake their head. “You know that's not what I asked you.”

Violet stood slowly, not answering as they began to move.

“Look, I'm coming back now.” Violet jumped over a roof, landing on the next roof easily.

“Fine.” Onix huffed. “Tell Sky you're coming back, he is driving me up the wall.” The snapper let out an affectionate huff as noise in the background picked up.

“I'll call him.” Violet rolled their eyes, keeping their momentum as they jumped onto a particular high roof.

“Good.” Something crashed over the phone. Onix hissed. “Oh, and next time your out for so long,”

Violet winced.

“Tell someone or yo’re in trub- SKY PUT THAT-“

Violet let themself smile as the phone clicked off, Onixs voice picking up as she yelled at Sky, cut off by the call ending.

#tmnt 2012 #strawberry skys au #tmnt mikey #tmnt leo #tmnt raph #tmnt donnie #birdboys writting #rottmnt #have i ever mentioned how much i hate formatting?#cus i do #the way this fic gose through like 4 different websites/apps is probably why i hate it so much lamo #and only having one working shift key #that also fulls the hatred

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