Settling his knees into the dirt, Donnie moves his fingers between the blooms there, carefully teasing out the stray sprigs of things that shouldn't be there. He lets a finger brush each flower, a wistful look touching his face.

Would it ever go away? That homesickness? But it must be worse for Raph, who isn't even from this same world. It's not right, knowing he'd been pulled away from a family such as his own, more so because he hadn't done anything to deserve it. And yet at this moment, Donnie would have a hard time saying good-bye to the only person he has right now who's family and not. But Raph has his own family, his own Donatello. So the very least that Donnie can do for now is make sure he gets back to them in one piece.

"...yeah," he says quietly before breathing out a bitter laugh. "Found that out the hard way. But I guess I should have been better prepared. Somehow I didn't figure how bad things could be on a battlefield."

He'd never forget his first real battle-based mission where carelessness or hesitation could mean serious injury or potential death. That hasn't changed since. Has he gotten used to it?