Song of a Sunny Day (fading into dusk) - Idk_im_just_here_now (2024)

Chapter 1: Old Bandages, New Troubles

Chapter Text

His hands were trembling. Again.

Mikey hated it so much.

The pencil in his fingers fell to the floor as violent spasms shook his scarred hands, clicking loudly against the floor of his room. It sounded throughout the subway station halls, and Mikey could hear it echo far down the abandoned tunnels.

Damn his scarred hands. He couldn’t even do the things he loved anymore without being reminded of those horrific three days. The worst days of his life.

It was all blurry and he could hardly remember it sometimes; other times it was clearer than the constant beeping that came from his brother’s heart monitor. The memories hurt, more often than not, and when he thought of it it felt like there was barbed wire twisting around his heart. Whenever his hands twitched this badly it made him painfully upset.

His brothers had noticed it a few times, how badly the twitches frustrated him. But they had their own issues - Mikey didn’t want to add onto their worries with his own problems. He needed to be okay for them.

That was how it had always been. And for everyone’s sake, that was how it needed to stay.

Mikey gritted his teeth and picked up the pencil again. It shivered in his hands as they shook, and he very carefully, pressed it to the sketchbook on his bed.

The line he drew was not the usual quick stroke, but a wobbly, dark claw mark against the white paper. He tried to draw another line.

The sound of the graphite tip snapping sounded loudly in his ears.

That was the last straw.

Mikey tore out the page and balled it up, although it was tricky with how badly his hands were shaking now. He threw it across the room toward the trash can, where dozens upon dozens of other crumpled up pages lay. He curled up on the bed, his head almost fully in his shell.

Mikey was so out of it that he didn’t notice Donnie coming to stand in the doorway of the subway car.

“Mikey? Is something... wrong?” Donnie’s voice jolted him out of the daze.

sh*t.

“Nope, Just drawing,” he replied quickly, trying his best to sound carefree and cheery. It felt so forced.

“You sure?” Donnie asked, glancing toward the pile of crumpled paper in the corner. It was messy, sure, but it wasn’t anything he needed to worry about, was it? It was just paper.

“I mean, I guess I’m trying,” Mikey admitted carefully. “Not the easiest with shaky hands.”

He laughed, but even in his own ears it sounded hollow instead of happy. What was wrong with him? He couldn’t let Donnie be worried about this - the softshell’s injuries were still a lot more of a priority.

Donnie moved further into the room to sit next to Mikey on the floor. Silence strung between them as Mikey tried his best to make his hands steady and draw. Apparently, though, the scarred fingers had other plans, as he dropped the pencil on the floor again.

Trying to pick it up was way too hard, so he just gave up and stared at the paper. There wasn’t even a line on the page he could go off of. His mind was just as blank for an idea.

“Are you absolutely certain there isn’t something bothering you?” Donnie asked again, his voice almost a whisper but still loud enough to echo in the small subway car.

“Compared to you guys, it's really nothing. I promise you, Dee, I’ll be fine.”

“That’s bullsh*t and you know it,” Donnie snapped suddenly. “Come on, let me see it.” The softshell stretched out his hand, and Mikey just dropped his own into his brother’s. They were still shaking like crazy.

Donnie undid the wraps Mikey had put on his hands to try and help them heal (he’d done a terrible job on them by himself), which were still soaked with dried blood from the wounds. A small, somewhat choked gasp escaped him as the wraps fell onto the floor.

Mikey didn’t dare meet his brother’s gaze, because he knew what would be waiting for him there if he did - shock and fear and worry for him. Things he didn’t want to see right now.

“Mikey, when was the last time you switched out these wraps? They look awful, I’m surprised your hands didn’t get infected from this.”

“I haven’t taken them off,” he whispered. “I put them on after… y’know, and my hands have been too bad to change them. It's not worth the effort.”

Silence from Donnie. That didn’t bode well. He was half waiting for his brother to grab him under the arms and drag him into the medbay with Leo, which would have been entirely fair considering that however bad it seemed was worrying him.

“Come on, let’s go wash your hands off and get some clean wraps on them,” Donnie instructed, standing up next to him. Mikey saw from the corner of his eye how his brother had to grab the handle of the subway car to get up. Before all this no one in the Lair had ever needed to use them to get up.

Everything was different. It was all wrong now.

“Do we have to go to the medbay?” Mikey whispered. He may have taken some pleasure in sitting next to Leo while he slept and talking to him, but the beeping of the heart monitor and everyone’s constant, grief-filled coming and going made the place feel terrifying. “I don’t want Raph to see this - it’ll just get him more worried.”

A small, exasperated sigh from his brother.

“Ever the family therapist, aren’t you?,” Donnie muttered quietly. “Yeah, we can change them in the bathroom if you really don’t want Raph or Splinter or anyone else seeing it.”

“And you won’t tell them?”

“I swear I won’t. If your hands had actually gotten infected, it would have been an entirely different situation. Now come on,” Donnie said, grabbing Mikey’s arm and gently pulling him up.

He wasn’t stupid. He saw the strain it put on Donnie’s injured back, where the snaking wounds marked him in that eerie spiderweb he’d had to help patch up after the big fight.

Mikey didn't dare say anything as they walked through the Lair, even with how awfully quiet it was. The Lair had been too quiet as of late. Sometimes he'd find himself wandering near Donnie’s lab just to hear something other than distant trains and that terrifying beeping. At least the music offered something that he could focus on other than fear.

Donnie paused outside the medbay, where he heard quiet voices and the ever present beeping sound ringing through the subway car.

“Why are we stopping?” Mikey asked.

“I need to get you clean bandages,” the softshell whispered. “I can’t really patch you up if I don't have any.”

Mikey nodded. The beeping was all too loud as Donnie went into the medbay, and the soft whispers of whoever else was inside stopped. For a solid few minutes, no words were spoken that he could hear.

Donnie re-emerged from the subway car, eyes tired but bandages in hand. He quietly gestured to Mikey to follow him, and he did.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Raph was in there.” Not exactly surprising - the snapper had been practically living in the medbay since they’d brought Leo home after the invasion. “He looked at me funny for a little bit while I was getting bandages, but nothing too over the top. He didn’t even ask me why I needed them.”

“That’s not like him.”

“It’s not like me to willingly grab medical wraps and gauze either, considering the aversion to… well, you know.”

He did in fact know. Donnie hated absolutely anything and everything remotely slimy touching him. It was understandable, and Mikey hated it too, but Donnie’s sensory issue with it took the word “aversion” to an entirely new level.

He remembered how terrified Donnie had been on the Kraang’s ship. The eerie tentacles of the control panel. A shiver ran down his spine as he forced away the memory of the panel violently sucking his brother into it, leaving him alone in the room.

Donnie sighed again - a real sigh, not full of anything for the first time in a while - and they both went to patch up Mikey’s arms.

Chapter 2: Orange Strings

Chapter Text

The fresh bandages roughly rubbed against his scales as he carefully leapt from rooftop to rooftop.

He knew sneaking out was a horrible idea. If someone found him missing they’d lose their collective sh*t, even though Mikey knew Donnie had implemented trackers into their gear practically the day after the invasion. He wasn’t entirely sure where the trackers were, as Donnie probably didn’t want them to be found, but he still sometimes looked over his mission gear trying to find it.

The sound of construction in the city below reverberated in his tympanum, and Mikey stopped running across the rooftop to just take a moment. Their city may have been half destroyed, but there was a strange beauty to it - the rubble coating the streets, the half-shattered windows, the scaffolding beginning to build up around skyscrapers and the sounds of thousands of people helping to rebuild the city.

He dropped down to sit on the edge of the roof, which again, he would absolutely have been chastised for if his brothers were here or if they came running and saw him. He’d be yanked back from the edge and scolded about how dangerous it was with the state most of the buildings were in. He probably wouldn’t have been allowed out on his own for a while.

A heavy sigh escaped his beak. It was unusual for him, considering his demeanor.

Mikey should probably head back before Donnie activated his emergency pod. He was not going to explain why he had been out by himself. Even if he said he just needed a break from the constant silence and eerie beeping, they would still be furious.

Mikey began the run home, leaping between buildings with a grace his brothers still couldn’t match.

He would have kept going home had he not spotted a small, silver glint in the alleyway below him.

Dropping down into the alley, he debated going closer to the shining thing, still half in shadow from the streetlamps beyond. On the one hand, it could be dangerous. He was always warned time and time again not to mess with things by Raph and Donnie, despite the both of them immediately trying to investigate anything and everything they could get their hands on. On the other hand, he was old enough to handle anything that came at him by himself if he needed to.

Mikey made his choice, walking closer and grabbing at the thing with a shaky, sore hand. It closed around a handle, and he dragged an elegant case out of the shadows. It was covered in dust, but he could still see fine black leather underneath. The silver he’d seen was the handle thingies (he could not remember the name of them for the life of him right now.)

He clicked open the small file lock, and opened the case. Sure, it wasn’t his, but it was old and dusty and it didn’t seem like anyone else was going to take some random case out of an alleyway, so he may as well check and see if it was dangerous, right?

The case lid thumped open, and Mikey couldn’t help but gasp.

Inside the case was a beautifully polished violin, the wood shining in the yellow streetlight. The bow seemed like it was new, and the strings were all well tightened. It was pretty much a brand new violin, from the looks of it.

Mikey took the instrument out of its case, even if it was with some difficulty. He cursed his shuddering hands once more and put it up to his chin. He’d seen plenty of violinists on the orchestras Splinter watched sometimes, so he knew how to use the violin.

The actual question was whether he could use it without breaking it. He was starting to hope so - it was a really well-made instrument, and it shouldn’t have been just lying there on the ground with no one to play it.

He set the bow to the string, and dragged it along them. A loud, angry screech emitted from it, hurting his ears. He roughly dropped the bow on the ground, and his hands started shaking again.

Mikey sighed angrily and put the violin back in its case, locking it forcefully.

He wasn’t entirely sure if he should still take it. It was basically a brand-new violin, meaning he should probably return it to the store where it came from. That was what his brothers probably would have wanted him to do.

But he didn’t even know anywhere where he could return this, and he didn’t have a disguise or a cloaking brooch or anything. Besides, the lair was too quiet. Maybe learning the violin could bring life back to it.

Mikey made up his mind. He grabbed the handle and picked it up, nearly dropping it as his hands protested with a sharp pang. A few curses slipped loose as he readjusted his grip to hold it between his arms.

He had the violin. Now the only real problem was getting it home. On one hand, Mikey was not about to drop this thing down a manhole - it could go literally anywhere when it hit the bottom and he might never see it again. Plus, the walk home would be long enough that someone would notice him missing.

On the other hand, if he called his emergency pod right now, Donnie would flip his sh*t about the pods not being for casual transportation and Raph would be panicking for the rest of the day. Mikey didn’t even know how Splinter or Casey would react if he came home in the pod.

There was another way, but it wasn’t ideal. And if his brothers or Draxum found out, he would be grounded for years, most likely.

With Mikey’s hands as bad as they were, Draxum had immediately discouraged him from trying any more mystic spells until his hands were healed from the impact of the dimensional portal he’d made. Donnie had immediately made him promise he would never do anything that stupid again, and Mikey had agreed.

This wouldn’t be as big as ripping a hole through space to get to another dimension - it would just be a little portal to get him back to his room.

His mind came to the decision pretty quickly. A little bit of pain would be worth not worrying his family any more than they already were.

Mikey closed his eyes and reached out for that small spark of light, his ninpo. It was easy to reach, a familiar movement, almost like breathing. He grabbed a hold of it.

Alright. A portal to my room. Nothing too tricky.

His hands started warming up, and he opened his eyes to a swirling golden portal. The scars on his hands were glowing gold as well, shining in the thin cracks like the sun between leaves.

Mikey could see his room on the other side of the portal and for a second he just took it in. The floor was littered in crumpled paper and pencils, and covered wall to wall with artwork and spray paint and posters. Gentle, hanging fairy lights glowed from the overhead grips. It looked like walking into a real art studio from a dark alleyway.

The warmth of his hands was starting to burn, and Mikey flinched as a golden speck floated past him. No more delaying, or he would end up getting more hurt than just a few flecks.

He dashed through the portal, clutching the case as tightly as he could - Mikey did not want the shiny new case to be damaged because his stupid hands wouldn’t work.

The feeling of going through the portal was familiar - tingly and sparking, like how he always felt going through Leo’s portals. Mikey emerged into the subway car, the familiar smell of pencils and paper hitting his nose. The portal whisked shut behind him, a small pop coming from the space where it had been.

He put the violin case on his hammock and sat as the thought of Leo came to mind.

The Lair had been nothing but quiet and empty since they’d rushed him home that day into their medbay. He’d been half-conscious, making jokes and puns and smiling up at them from their makeshift gurney.

Joking despite the blood that was running from his mouth. Smiling despite the fact he was in nothing less than critical condition. Mikey had only been able to wonder how Leo was still keeping up a face after everything. Not even a tear running down his face, although Mikey hadn’t really been able to tell through his own tears.

Then Leo had been put under, and the rest of those first weeks blurred together into a haze. The only thing out of the whirlwind of stress he remembered was Leo’s sh*t-eating grin as they rolled him in.

God, he missed his brother. He may have just been in the medbay, but Mikey missed him.

A tear rolled down his face. He hadn’t even realized he’d started crying. He sniffed and dried his eyes, but a stray drop escaped and landed on the violin case. His hands shuddered, still glowing from the mystic energy.

The tear shimmered orange as Mikey looked over at the case. In the fairy light, it reflected from many angles, like a small watery diamond.

The glowing on his hands faded away, leaving only small, bloody lines through the fresh bandages. Donnie was not going to appreciate his hard work being immediately wrecked, but for now, Mikey wasn’t going to go back to him about it. The softshell still had healing to do.

A wave of exhaustion overtook Mikey, and he put the violin case under his hammock and laid down, falling into dreams of long beeping and shimmering orange as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Chapter 3: Nightmares and Long Tones

Chapter Text

He was on Staten Island. Upturned concrete and building wreckage laid behind him as the red sky beyond lit up in a mesmerizing cloud of colors.

Raph fell to his knees behind him, his cries echoing softly. Donnie said nothing - only a few small, empty gasps came from his brother. The air rang with the distant sounds of the Kraang’s ship exploding and crashing into the city, and Mikey cannot clear the ringing from his ears.

Leo is gone, swallowed up by the closing portal and alone with the final Kraang. Trapped in the prison dimension. His brother, who never gave up on any of them, was trapped and alone.

His desperate begging for Casey to take the key still haunted him. Leo never begged. He never pleaded. He was willing to risk everything.

Mikey’s brain locked onto something as tears ran in rivers down his face, whimpering as fear began to flood him. Leo couldn’t be gone. He was always there for them. It wasn’t right that he was gone.

A small spark started up in his hands, and he raised them in front of him. Mikey was crying, praying, begging that his power could bring Leo back.

“Mikey.” Raph’s raspy whisper sounded from behind him, echoing again as he tried to stop his own tears. “It’s over.”

“Leo never gave up on us. I’m not giving up on him!” Mikey cried. His hands glowed, the bright gold staining his vision as the power rushed through him. Bits and pieces of his arms began to crack, shining through his scales like the sun behind clouds.

The cracks grew longer and pieces began to fall away as a portal tore itself open in front of him. He saw Leo, drifting gently toward him, battered and broken, but smiling nonetheless.

The power was burning now, his arms almost entirely gold. Mikey desperately looked around, begging for someone to come and help him, but he was alone on the island. The only crying that he could hear was his own.

Mikey returned his gaze to the portal, gold running up and down his body. Leo reached a hand toward him-

And was grabbed by Kraang, who was trying to pull his brother away, crushing his brother’s shell in its massive, sharp claws.

The gold was already spreading across his chest and inching up his neck, pieces flaking away like falling leaves, but no way was Mikey leaving Leo in that thing’s grasp. A golden chain snaked through the portal and grabbed his brother around the wrist, and Mikey did his best to pull back on it as the cracks crawled up his face.

Leo was almost back, only a few more seconds and he would be home free-

The Kraang yanked back hard on his brother, completely decimating his shell. Leo screamed long and loud, before it cut off.

“NO!” The portal shimmered closed, and the chain snapped in half as Mikey vanished in a flurry of gold.

-=-

A hand was shaking him awake, and Mikey bolted upright, gasping and crying and trying desperately not to cry out for his brothers. He drew into his shell, trying to contain the panicked sobbing that was forcing its way out of his throat. Everything was spinning and swirling and he couldn’t think right. It was like being stuck in tar and he was drowning.

Someone was calling his name, but he was too lost to understand. His hands were glowing orange, and the glow faded away until the only thing left of his hands was blood on the bandages.

The voice broke through his panic, and whoever it was kept a hand on his shell.

“Mikey, relax, please, it was a nightmare. Try to breathe, okay? Can you do that?”

Raph’s voice wormed its way through the panic, and Mikey did his best, even if the deepest he could breathe was a long, choked gasp. He sniffed, and warily poked his head out of his shell.

The gentle fairylights of his room greeted him, and it took a few moments to be grounded, along with Raph’s panicked and worried face. A surge of guilt overcame him - he didn’t need to see Mikey like this. Normally the nightmares were manageable enough that his brothers didn’t come running.

“It was just a nightmare,” Raph repeated carefully. Mikey looked away, half-drawing himself back into his shell. “Don’t worry. Big brother Raph is here now.”

Mikey tried to clear his watery eyes, but it was a bit late to pretend he hadn’t just been bawling his eyes out a few moments before. He sank into the hammock as Raph gently rubbed his hand along his shell.

He couldn’t see Mikey’s hands spasming again, thankfully. He turned to look back as the snapping turtle, wincing as he saw Raph’s right eye, which had basically been scarred shut.

A small memory from that hazy few weeks arose. Raph had needed to go to a hospital in the Hidden City to get his eye removed because the Kraang infection had left it in extremely bad condition. He remembered waiting for hours in the small waiting room with his family as nurses went about their business as though nothing had happened.

Mikey shook his head and tried to focus on his breathing again, which had started to speed up.

In for four, hold for four, out for five, hold for four.

Minutes passed as Raph sat next to him on the floor, one hand on his shell, as Mikey did his best to try and calm down. The tears still drifting down his face made it hard to forget the nightmare.

“Are you doing better now, buddy?” Raph asked after the fifteenth breath out. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was counting.

He nodded quietly. He didn’t want to say anything.

A few more moments of quiet.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

It caught him off guard for a second. Normally it was Mikey who was always asking others if they wanted to talk. Or forcing it, if his brothers needed Dr. Delicate Touch’s help. Raph rarely asked if someone wanted to talk, even less so after everything that had happened.

Besides, did he really want to talk about that kind of nightmare? It would freak his brother out and make him feel guilty for not being there, but if he said no Raph would feel like he couldn’t trust him.

Damn having emotional dilemmas.

“It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone else, if you don’t want to.”

That was all it took for Mikey to start crying again. He didn’t retreat into his shell again. Instead, he slipped off the hammock into Raph’s arm, hugging him and sobbing into his plastron. Raph said nothing, only enclosed him in a tight hug.

A few more minutes passed, the only sound he could hear being the distant heart monitor and his own muffled crying.

Mikey took a few more breaths, each one hitching and stopping again. “It was about the p-portal,” he cried. “You weren’t t-there anymore. L-leo didn’t get through the portal, and…” he trailed off, not wanting to reveal the final part of the dream to his brother.

“You weren’t there!” he whispered, lapsing back into crying. Raph hugged him tighter.

“I promise you, Mikey, we’re always gonna be here,” his older brother said carefully. “You are not alone.”

Anatawa hitorijanai. The phrase rang through his head, and the familiar comfort of it calmed him, albeit not by much.

A thought pinged in his head, and Mikey started panicking again. “I need to see Leo,” he said, voice beginning to rise. He needed to see his brother. The edges of the nightmare were still lurking in his mind, and he needed to be sure his brother was okay.

“Mikey, calm down, I was just with him-” Raph was cut off as the small turtle wriggled his way out of the hug and dashed through the subway station halls.

I need to see him, please, let him be okay, please let it be true that he’s okay.

Mikey skidded into the medbay, the heart monitor’s beeping loud and humming through the air. He slowed and walked closer to the bed, his hands shaking violently.

Leo was alive, but he looked absolutely awful. An oxygen mask rested over his face and there were casts and bandages all over him. Bruises and sewn up cuts littered his brother’s face. The worst part about it was how quiet Leo was. Leo was never this quiet. It was disturbing.

He walked over to the bed and kneeled next to it, more tears falling from his eyes. He quietly took Leo’s hand, and it was cold and still. He gripped it tightly and put his face in the blankets.

Mikey heard footsteps behind him, and a heavy hand was on his shoulder barely moments later. Raph spoke softly, somehow standing out through the haze of his brain.

“It’s gonna be okay, little brother.”

The beeping sounded, repeating over and over, whispering ominously throughout the air.

Chapter 4: First Note, Empty City

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The first thing Mikey learned that week was that learning his newfound instrument was not going to be easy in the slightest.

For one, his hand tremors were always making him drop the bow or pull it the wrong way without him meaning to. It was frustrating and annoying and a good amount of the time it made him want to throw the violin across his room. For another, it made holding the violin in place just as difficult, if not more so. He’d nearly dropped it so many times that at this point he’d lost count.

The second thing he learned was that he had to try practicing either in his room or out of the Lair. Splinter had mentioned that various items from stores across New York were missing in the aftermath the other day, and Mikey did not want to have to return the violin because he’d found it and he absolutely wanted to keep it.

The third thing he learned was that it was very tricky to find the time to practice out of the Lair. Despite how much he didn’t want to be stuck underground in the abandoned subway with the heavy grief that kept following everyone and haunting everything, there somehow managed to almost always be something that needed doing. It was actually shocking how much needed to get done around the Lair still.

Speaking of which.

“Michelangelo! Can you go drag Donatello out of his lab? I haven’t seen him in days,” Splinter called. A frustrated sigh escaped him as he stowed the case back in the hidey-hole he’d made for it. Of course something needed doing right this immediate instant.

He grabbed the handle bar in his room to pull himself off the floor, which proved to be a horrible mistake. His hands spasmed, and his grip loosened. It barely took a moment before he was falling to the floor and hitting his head on the door frame.

“Ow,” he muttered. “Stupid fu- freaking hands.” Mikey corrected himself before actually saying the curse - Raph had ears like a hawk when it came to people swearing and he especially hated when Mikey swore. His brothers always got lectured about swearing afterwards.

Ironically enough, Mikey was the one who’d taught them most of the curses they knew and among the four he had the highest record of continuous cusses in a sentence.

Mikey groaned and forced himself up off the ground. No handle bar this time - he no longer trusted himself to grip it properly. He’d hit his beak pretty hard on the landing; one gentle tap with his finger had him wincing. There was definitely going to be a bruise there. He couldn’t pinpoint where else he might have taken any damage, because his nose was honestly the main focus.

He marched over to Donnie’s lab, and plastered a grin on his face. Donnie was probably going to be snappy after being locked up in there for a few days, so a friendly face would be better than a tired one.

He knocked carefully on the makeshift door his brother had installed when they’d first moved here.

“Dee? Are you in there?” He was praying Donnie hadn’t gone off to a junkyard to get more parts, because he was going to be getting one hell of a lecture and sternly instructed bed rest afterwards.

Thankfully, a short, tired grumble made its way through the door.

“Can I come in?” Mikey called quietly. The Lair still felt too quiet - he could hear the beeping of the heart monitor from here, the furthest corner of their home. It still wormed its way into his ears and made his spine shiver.

On second thought, he might just join Donnie in the lab and ask him to turn on the soundproofing mode.

The door opened, and the bright purples and blues of the lab lights flooded out into the station hallway. Donnie wasn’t to be seen - he was probably further back in his lab at one of the work tables he was always telling them to stay away from.

Mikey stepped into the lab and the door slammed shut behind him, and he jumped. The beeping was muffled now, more so than when he just closed his door, but it was still there.

“Back here,” Donnie called before Mikey could ask any questions. He followed the sound of electrical wires zapping and frustrated tapping of nails on the table.

There was a strange array of parts on the worktable, and his brother’s spider shell was absently fixing wiring into place and routing pathways. It was like an art form of its own, watching the metal arms work, until Mikey remembered something.

“Dee, you know you’re not supposed to have your battle shell on until your back is fixed,” Mikey commented absently, his eyes focused on the dancing sparks and wires. “Raph is gonna lecture you to heck and back if he finds out.”

“Well, the plan is to not let him find out, Angelo,. And the soundproofing is on now, you can cuss as much as you’d like,” Donnie replied, turning to face him. Concern - or what passed for Donnie’s concerned expression - flashed across his face.

“Mother of chicken on f*ckwaffles, what happened to your face?” he asked. Mikey grinned at the words - Donnie’s ability to mash swears and regular words was always funny.

“I, uh… tripped.” It wasn’t a complete lie. He had tripped, and he wasn’t good at lying most of the time.

Donnie raised an eyebrow. “Sure, and by tripping you managed to bruise half your face, how convenient.”

“Okay, okay, fine,” Mikey snapped. “I tripped after my sh*tty hands lost grip on the subway car handle bar and fell on my face, happy?”

“Better,” Donnie said. “You did hit something though, your cheek is bleeding a bit.”

Oh, so that’s what he’d started feeling when he walked into the lab. He’d barely noticed it above his bruised beak.

“Come on Dee, Dad sent me to get you out of the lab. When was the last time you did anything besides working?”

The spider shell arms paused, and Donnie turned his eyes back to the mess of parts on his work table. Immediately, Mikey felt several alarm bells go off in his head.

“Donald, when was the last time you left your lab?” Mikey demanded. He didn’t feel like going Dr. Delicate Touch, and no doubt the softshell didn’t want it either.

“Uhhh, yesterday?” Donnie said.

Unfortunately, Donnie was the worst liar in the family, and his nervous tone of voice told Mikey all he needed to know.

“Do not lie to me,” Mikey said. “When was the last time you left?” He was already getting ready to grab his doctor outfit.

“Will I get in trouble if I say… five-ish days?” the softshell said.

Nope. That's it, last straw Donnie.

Dr. Delicate Touch was in the room before Donnie could blink.

“You’re coming with me, Donatello,” he said harshly, grabbing the back of his brother’s battle shell and dragging him out of his lab.

“No, Mikey, come on! I’m almost finished wiring up new security cameras, I’ll be fine for another few hours-”

“Donnie, I love you, but if you don’t get your workaholic ass moving and do some self-care right now I'll lock you out of your lab. Am I understood? And take off the damn battle shell, your back still needs to heal.”

“Okay, okay, fine! Jeez,” Donnie growled. He detached the battle shell, hanging it up and following Mikey reluctantly out of the lab. He motioned his brother toward the kitchen.

“And if I see you with your battle shell on or that you’re in your lab again without getting any rest you’re being forced on a break, okay?” Mikey said politely. At least, it sounded polite, but from the way Donnie was looking around nervously he knew he was making his “scary psychiatrist” face.

He watched his brother rush into the kitchen and groaned. There was now a headache from hitting the floor and he didn’t want to do much other than practice right now, as frustrating as it was.

The second his brother was out of hearing range, and the only thing he could hear was the beeping, he rushed back to his room and grabbed the violin case and his phone. He didn’t want to practice in the Lair - the beeping was starting to get to him again.

Mikey didn’t bother trying to find the tracker in his gear so he could leave it behind, as much as he didn’t want to worry anyone. He’d tried and failed at it so many times that doing it again wasn’t worth the effort.

He didn’t want to dare sneaking out the entrance - if Donnie’s trackers hadn’t put him on edge already, then his brother’s security systems and in progress cameras sure had.

A small, uneasy sigh passed through him, and he raised his arm toward the wall of his room. A golden light shimmered in the wall as his hands began to warm and glow, and Mikey stepped through the portal into New York’s destroyed streets, ignoring the thin lines of blood seeping through the bandages and small flecks off his arm as he left the Lair again.

-=-

The bow let out yet another god-awful screech as Mikey’s hands twitched against his will. He nearly dropped it on the ground, and his phone almost followed suit as he leaned down to grab it again and nudged it.

Unfortunately, Mikey’s hands did not get to the phone in time. It hit the ground with a small crack.

“Oh, for f*ck’s sake, you’ve gotta be kiddin me.” He sat back against the building walls and put the violin down to pick up the phone. Sure enough, when he turned it over, another crack had spiderwebbed over it. The instructions he’d been following were even harder to read now.

He grabbed the bow and set it to the strings again, practically glaring at his phone in the dark. Dragging the bow across, his hands shivering in pain, Mikey gritted his teeth and prepared for the usual angry sound.

But instead, a high-pitched, melodious sound filled the air. It was one note, what he’d figured was a G note according to his phone, but it sang through the dark alleyway. For a moment, Mikey heard nothing but the long note, the single piece of a song he wasn’t able to play yet.

A grin crossed his face as he tried it again. The sound wasn’t as great, because his hands were shivering, but it sounded just as awesome as the first. Giddiness rose inside him as he replayed the note again.

Mikey was actually doing it! He’d played a note! It was certainly better than the usual screeching the instrument emitted, and it was better than no note at all.

The box shell kept replaying the note, over and over, as the moon slowly began to set over a dark, crumbling city, ringing hopefully in the dim night. Even as Mikey’s hands trembled, the note slowly became steadier as he pulled the bow along the strings.

He moved his unsteady fingers to a different position and pulled the bow again, according to the instructions. The note wasn’t exactly as great sounding - his hands still needed to adjust to the new hold on the violin - but it was still at least recognizable as a note.

Mikey was mid-way through repeating it when he saw a call coming through on his phone. With a sigh, he set the violin in its case and turned off Do Not Disturb mode.

Immediately, he was bombarded with missed call notifications and text messages, the number of which was way too many to be a casual conversation. Nobody willingly calls somebody 35 times in a row without good reason nowadays.

Scratch that, nobody willingly called anyone nowadays.

Mikey checked the caller IDs and messages.

“Oh no,” he muttered, his voice growing louder by the moment. “sh*t, sh*t, sh*t.”

Every single text and call was from Raph, and as his brother’s phone came through again, Mikey tapped the answer button faster than he could think.

“Raph?” he whispered nervously. He was in some deep trouble, he could tell already.

“MIKEY! THANK GOD, YOU FINALLY PICKED UP.” Raph’s voice was loud and relieved, but he could hear something else underlying it. “YOU’VE BEEN GONE FOR FIVE HOURS, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?”

Five hours? Omigosh, I should have been paying attention to the time.

“Sorry, Raph,” Mikey tried. “I lost track of time up here.”

“What do you mean, lost track of time? You’re literally one of the second-most on-time people we know!” A quick pause. “And what the hell are you doing on the surface right now? It’s dangerous up there, and you should be resting with everyone else!”

A small ping of annoyance. He was fine on his own, why did Raph have to be so worried?

“I’m fine,” Mikey said. “I can make my way back now if something needs doing.”

“Mikey, Donnie’s big tracking computer says you’re halfway across the city from the Lair. No way in hell are you walking back.” Raph’s voice was stern, and it made Mikey cringe to himself over the phone how annoyed it was. “How did you even get out of the Lair without Dee’s security systems picking it up?”

Extra sh*t. He’d be grounded for infinity if Raph found out he’d portaled himself.

“I, uh…” Mikey really didn’t have an excuse here. Unless…

“I used the Hidden City’s new transport carriages to get here. It was really fast.”

A huff from the other end of the line.

“Fine. But you’re not walking back to the Lair or using Hidden City transport. I’m gonna use the pod to get you home, okay?”

“NO, Raph, it’s fine, I can get home on my own!” Mikey shouted, a panic suddenly overcoming him. “I’ll be home in a few minutes, I was already on my way!”

He hung up before his brother could answer him, and quickly gathered up the violin and shoved it back into its case.

Mikey barely noticed the tiny glints of orange on the instrument before he slammed the case lid shut and locked it.

This time Mikey knew he couldn’t teleport directly to his room - that would raise way too many questions. Instead, he created a portal just outside Donnie’s security perimeter.

Mikey thanked the Pizza Supreme in the sky the softshell had shown him where the perimeter was.

His hands glowed, and he stepped through the portal and the swirling golden circle sparked and his bandages showed the faintest hints of red in the glowing gold cracks.

Chapter 5: We Need To Have A Little Chat

Chapter Text

“Mikey, we need to talk.”

Mikey winced as he closed the portal he’d made to hide his violin, and was glad he’d managed that before Raph had come swinging around the corner.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets quickly. He didn’t want the snapper seeing them. “What’s up, Raph?”

His brother narrowed his eye, his worry chasm creasing on his face. “Don’t ‘what’s up, Raph,’ me. You snuck out without telling anyone, you know what’s up!”

Mikey looked away from his brother as Donnie came around the corner behind Raph.

“Mikey! Oh my f*cking god, what the hell were you thinking? You went out by yourself!” The softshell rushed over, a shocking display for Dee. He half waited for Raph to call Donnie out on his language, but this time the snapper said nothing.

Oh boy. If Raph’s not pulling the language card then I am in some deep sh*t right now.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Raph asked carefully, his gaze flicking between Donnie and Mikey. “We all know it's dangerous up there right now, with all the broken buildings and construction crews of people. Not even just that - there could be remnants of those things lurking around out there!”

The subway tunnel went still at the mention of the Kraang. For a moment, nobody spoke, as memories and feelings washed through all of them.

Mikey barely remembered the Kraang itself, only the mess it seemed to leave everywhere. The fleshy vines, the monsters that had once been people, the neon green eyes that tracked their every movement with terrifying accuracy. The massive hive that had been the Kraang ship, with doors resembling massive teeth and a computer that had a heartbeat.

“You gotta understand, Mikey, we need to lay low for as long as it takes for this to clear up,” Raph said in almost a whisper as one hand went to his empty eye socket. “I ordered that because we need to be protected while we recover. We need people on deck, especially for Leo.”

Raph looked at Mikey dead on. “Mikey, you need to say you’ll never do that again. It was a one-time adventure, okay?”

He winced at the mention of ‘one-time adventure.’ He thanked the Pizza Supreme in the sky that Raph didn’t know he’d been doing this all week.

Beside him, Donnie tensed, and way too late Mikey remembered that Donnie was the worst liar in the family. Mikey could lie when he needed to, but for his brother it was too difficult to tell a good lie.

“Yeah, a one-time adventure, yes, absolutely, it was a one time thing,” Donnie said nervously. Mikey tried to glare at him to shut up, but it was too late. Raph had noticed.

“Donnie, you’re not fooling me. Is there something else you need to say?”

Both younger brothers didn’t move a muscle. Neither of them spoke.

Raph raised an eye ridge, clearly unimpressed. The worry chasm was still there, but so was the very clear beginnings of annoyance.

“Do you want to be grounded?” Raph threatened. “Because if nobody spills the bees, I’ll do it.”

Normally, when Raph threatened to ground his brothers it was always as a joke. After the Shredder, it had sometimes resulted in actual groundings. Now, however, the look in Raph’s eyes was fully serious. He wasn’t joking.

Donnie still didn’t say anything, and Mikey was getting more upset about lying by the second. Sure, he hadn’t technically lied, but it still stung at him.

“Raph,” Mikey said as carefully as possible. He put his hands up in a “please stay calm” gesture. “The truth is… I’ve been going up there since last Friday. Not every day, but often enough.”

Donnie let out a sigh of relief. “Yes, Micheal is unfortunately telling the truth. As unhappy as I am with him doing so, I have been monitoring him on the tracking computer and no incidents have occurred. That I know of. You have been moving incredibly quickly, however, how are you managing that?”

Raph looked like he was about to burst a vein, and his worry chasm deepened to a worry trench. A small ping of guilt went through him - the fact that it was his fault made him feel bad about ever sneaking up to the surface in the first place.

His eyes drifted down to Mikey’s bandaged hands, which were still being soaked by thin lines of red, and in an instant his brother’s protectiveness tripled.

“Mikey, what happened to your hands?” he demanded, grabbing the box turtle’s wrist as carefully as possible.

Donnie grumbled a few curses, still not getting tagged on his language. “Those look exactly along the lines of your mystic scars, Mikey. Did you use your power to get to the surface?”

Two sets of eyes were on him immediately. Mikey didn’t want to lie about this, but he didn’t want to let the idea of being alone and away from the eeriness of the place he was supposed to call home go. He didn’t want to be stuck here in grief - Mikey wanted nothing more than to get away from it.

And he didn’t want his brother’s worrying about him. They already had to deal with their own injuries - his shaky hands shouldn’t be their top priority.

“I’m not stupid, Dee,” Mikey said with an eye roll. “I wouldn’t make a mystic portal again. I only tried out a different spell, and it didn’t work anyways. It’s fine.”

Raph and Donnie gave each other a look, one that said they were still suspicious.

“Okay, fine, I’ll believe you,” Raph said calmly. “But, we’re fixing up your hand in the medbay, and you’re staying home for a week, understood?”

Mikey grimaced, but nodded his head reluctantly. He’d just have to find somewhere else for his violin practice.

Donnie cautiously put a hand on Mikey’s shoulder, and the three walked back to the Lair, the distant beeping growing louder by the step.

Chapter 6: Extra Pizza, Anyone?

Chapter Text

The week of being grounded was horrifically boring. Even his sneaking away to work on the violin couldn’t ease Mikey’s overwhelming boredom.

The Lair was quiet, nothing was happening that demanded their immediate attention, and he just couldn’t focus on anything to keep him not bored. Which frustrated him, because he wanted to do something, but he couldn’t focus on anything long enough to consider it doing something. And whenever he did start doing something, he always got stuck on a decision and he got bored again.

Worst week ever.

And his punishment wasn’t even half done yet. How he would last another four days before being “allowed” to sneak up to the surface again, Mikey had no idea.

He wandered the hallways of the subway station, his headphones half-blasting music so he wouldn’t have to hear the dead silence and the heart monitor.

Mikey turned into his room for the fifth time that day, and stood in the entryway, looking absently at the place where he’d hidden the violin. Something clicked in his brain, and he turned and shut the door to his room. He closed the blinds - something that none of them had ever done in their new home after Shredder except for when they wanted peace and quiet - and pulled out the instrument.

Unlatching the case, Mikey took a second to admire it - the polished wood that had somehow remained pristine despite the sewer air, the gentle shine in the fairylights reflecting off the strings, the bow resting serenely next to it. It seemed so safe, so calm despite the tensions that ran thick throughout the Lair without meaning to.

Carefully, Mikey took the violin out of its case and put it on the floor next to his hammock. He set up his phone, which had been repaired by Donnie even when Mikey had insisted it was fine. That had been two days ago.

He set the bow to the strings and did his best to play a series of notes. The first runthrough was horrific - the violin only screamed in protest as Mikey’s shaky hands slid and forced things that weren’t supposed to be forced. The second time, a couple of notes came through the chorus of screeches made by the instrument.

For a good while, Mikey repeated this activity, slowly running the bow over the strings in the series of notes he wanted. He’d switch up the notes, according to the guides on his phone, so that he could get used to different sequences. Slowly, he got a bit faster. Every time he replayed the notes, the sound got steadier and longer.

Mikey closed his eyes, trying to see if he was good enough to play a sequence without looking yet. He jumped a little as another scratch from the strings came through.

Nope, definitely not on that stage yet. He’d have to do a lot more practice before he could try anything like closing his eyes the way professionals did.

An idea popped into his brain. He was getting better at the sequences, despite the awful state of his hands - why not give a real song a try?

Mikey grabbed his phone quickly, nearly dropping the bow and his phone simultaneously, and started searching for easy songs to play on violin.

He listened to the supposedly easy songs, but most of them involved more than five notes, which was more than his hands could do at the moment.

Mikey paused on one called “Sketches.” It wasn’t like the other beginner songs - it was four notes, with only one note changing at the end of each measure. It looked fairly simple, and as Mikey looked further into it, he found it was made for a horror game soundtrack. Again, surprisingly simple for something that otherwise used an orchestra, after listening to the other songs in the soundtrack.

Mikey pulled up the music sheet, and put his phone down again. Four full notes in a row, change to a lower note for the second measure, repeat process.

He set the bow to the strings, and started to slowly draw it across. The sound came out well on the first measure, but the second one got him with the lower note.

Mikey chirped, something he only ever did when he was annoyed, and tried again. Once again, the lower note evaded him, and he ended up just repeating the first measure.

A small wave of frustration. He’d just been doing the patterns before, why wasn’t it working now? His hands shook as he tried again, and he nearly dropped the bow when a quick spasm shot through them.

“Dammit!” he snapped. For a moment, Mikey put the instrument down. Why wasn’t this working anymore?

One more try, then I’ll find something else to try and occupy the boredom.

The song blasting in his headphones drew his attention. Mikey paused the song and put them on the hammock - maybe he’d be able to focus better with them off.

Maybe.

He raised the violin and bow once more, and looked intently at the notes. Surely he could get it right this time. It was just switching one note, after all.

He set the bow to the strings, and made it through the first measure a lot easier than he would have expected. The notes were cleaner, longer - they sounded like the song. Mikey tried to relax as he started the second measure, and to his shock, he managed to lower the note.

Excitement pulsed through him. He’d done it!

Mikey repeated the song, over and over, until the notes became familiar to his scarred hands and he could play it without having to glance at his phone every few seconds.

The long, high notes melted into the silent subway car around him, turning the quiet into something eerily blissful. Mikey kept playing, the bliss slowly bleeding into his thoughts and clouding everything else out except for the five notes he needed.

I could close my eyes. Maybe I can keep the song playing long enough for me to just turn off my brain.

Mikey closed his eyes, and for the first few notes after, his hands shuddered, disrupting the weirdly endless harmony of Sketches. But he let himself relax, and felt the spark of mystic power surge. He wasn’t sure why it was activating, but his mind was so lost in the gentle fog that he didn’t particularly care.

What Mikey didn’t see was the gold shimmering through the cracks of his scars, stained red by the thin lines of blood. He didn’t see the fairylights glowing just a little brighter as the song hummed through the air.

He didn’t see the bow glowing a golden orange as it made its way across the strings, sparking where the strings ran like shining rivers down the instrument, nor did he notice the small mystic chains that began to form from those sparks.

Mikey let himself be lost in the music, the strange power surge, the calm fog of his mind. It was as though none of his thoughts could touch him, couldn’t brandish their worry and anger and fear into his mind.

Everything stood like that for a few minutes or so.

Mikey’s phone buzzed loudly, startling him out of the rhythm. In the moment he opened his eyes, the rivers of string and golden bow and small chains were gone. Only a few sparks remained, dancing on the wood polish before fizzling out. The fairylights dimmed as Mikey picked up his phone to check what had disturbed him.

The fog was also gone, and all the boredom and worry returned. Damn notifications.

He saw a text from Raph, and he opened it. Mikey didn’t want a repeat scenario of when he’d been caught out in the city, so he’d been checking messages like there was no tomorrow.

It simply read:

“Pizza’s here!”

Pizza? Is Run of the Mill still open after all this? Mikey wondered.

Oh well. He didn’t need to wonder about it for long - he’d see when he got to the kitchen.

Tucking the violin haphazardly into its hiding place, he grabbed his phone and opened his curtains - no need to have them closed when he wasn’t in his room.

Mikey rushed to the kitchen, determined to get the first slice of pizza before Raph could call rock-paper-scissors for it.

-=-

“Alright gang!” Raph announced as Mikey walked into the kitchen. The snapper looked triumphantly at his brothers before dropping the pizza boxes on the table. Mikey happily dropped into the seat next to Donnie, who was fiddling with some wiring under the table.

Mikey was too excited to count the boxes. He’d been excited for the day they’d get more Run of the Mill since their first week after the invasion. He’d been half wondering if the establishment had survived at all.

“So, what do we have on the menu today, Raph?” Mikey asked, a grin stretching across his face. He couldn’t help it - he was hyped to finally have some pizza!

“I’ve got pepperoni for Mikey,” Raph said, sliding the box toward him. Mikey’s excitement doubled when he saw the label at the top read “Run of the Mill.”

“A vegan pizza for Donnie - put away your gadget, Dee, I’m pretty sure you said something about not getting grease on your tech,” he said, passing the box over as Donnie begrudgingly put away the motherboard. “A meatlovers for me, and a Hawaiian for Leo!”

Raph stopped dead in his tracks as he picked up the last box. Mikey froze, and Donnie looked at their older brother in what appeared to be shock. A cold, eerie silence fell over the room as Mikey watched the snapping turtle process what he’d just said.

For a few minutes, nobody moved as they all stared at the fourth pizza box in Raph’s hands. Mikey couldn’t find a name for what he was feeling, but eventually, it all seemed to roll itself into one thing.

Guilt.

He saw it in Raph’s eyes as they began to water.

Donnie moved first. He grabbed his box and was out of the kitchen before anyone could say another word.

Raph moved second. He put the box down gently, as though it were made of glass. Then he too took his own pizza and left.

Leaving Mikey alone in the kitchen. Alone with the sorrow and guilt and the fourth box.

He felt his own eyes begin to tear up, but shook them off and squished down the feelings. He had to stay strong. Mikey could deal with this.

Yet as he quietly ate alone in the kitchen, his eyes kept drifting over to the abandoned box, the label running across it against the white cardboard. The beeping sounds, which had been all but distant, gently began to pulse in his ears louder and louder.

Mikey jammed his headphones on faster than he could think, and put on the most obnoxious songs he could find at almost max volume. He would have been scolded for it any other time.

But nobody else was there.

Nobody came to make sure he was okay.

Nobody came to do something with the Hawaiian pizza.

Nobody came back.

Mikey’s eyes drifted back over to the box, and somewhere in the back of his mind, through the loud music, a decision was made.

-=-

The medbay was quiet, except for the sound of the monitors. Mikey shivered as the sharp noise dug its way into his bones and froze him. His hands were shuddering so violently he was tempted to just leave and do this another time.

The Hawaiian pizza slid in its cardboard casing. Nope, he couldn’t turn back and just put it in the fridge. People would question him. Sure, he could say it was his own pizza, but he doubted it would be likely considering his own was already in there.

Leo would have called him a scaredy-cat if he’d been awake.

“Too scared to approach your fatefully ill brother, Angelo?”

Mikey shook himself. No, he was not going to chicken out on this.

Nobody else was in the medbay (thankfully) so Mikey slipped inside and pulled up one of the bedside chairs they’d gotten years before. He put the pizza box on the table nearby before sitting down and looking at his comatose brother.

Leo looked a little better than he had when Mikey had seen him after that nightmare. Some of the lighter bruises were clearing up, the smaller cuts were mostly scabbed over. But that didn’t erase the scarring lacerations, the seal over cracks in the plastron, or the nastier bruises that ran up Leo’s face and arms.

Most of all, it didn’t erase his brother’s stillness. It wasn’t like him. Leo was never ever still. It felt so wrong seeing his confident, somewhat co*cky brother, who was always moving and talking and doing things, being the complete opposite.

Cautiously, Mikey took Leo’s hand. It wasn’t nearly as battered as the rest of him, so he figured it would be okay.

Leo didn’t react as Mikey’s grip tightened.

Barbed wire squeezed at the box turtle’s heart.

“Hey Leo,” he whispered quietly. It was barely enough for him to hear what he said over the monitors, but it was loud enough to be heard by the two at least.

Mikey had heard that people in comas could hear someone when they spoke to them. May as well give it a shot.

“Raph got you pizza,” he said. “I brought it up for you, if you want it.”

Nothing. No snarky comment, no quip, no puns. Just dead silence.

He tried again. “It’s from Run of the Mill - I can’t believe Hueso opened up shop again after only a month. I guess he needs to keep business going somehow, right?”

Beeping.

“He got Hawaiian. Donnie didn’t even say anything about how ‘incompatible’ pineapple is on pizza this time. I think he would have done it any other day.”

Donnie was really upset. I don’t think he would have said anything anyway.

“April’s coming over in a couple of days to check on us. She’s been really busy helping out the city by using that crane license she got. Hopefully she stays for a while.”

Mikey took a breath. The monitors beeped again and again.

“I got grounded the other day,” he said. “Turns out those ‘younger sibling privileges’ you told me about don’t always work. I’m stuck in the Lair for a week. Don’t tell Raph, but I’m sneaking back up to the surface when I figure out where Donnie’s trackers are.”

Mikey smiled, the grin half hearted and barely there. He squeezed his brother’s hand as a few tears rolled down his face.

“Everything’s different with you asleep,” he whispered. “It's too quiet here. We miss you Leo. We all do. Nobody says it, but we want you back.”

The silence bore heavy in the room, as even the monitor faded into the hum of white noise. Somewhere in the back of Mikey’s mind, his thoughts returned to the gentle bliss that had been the music he’d played.

Maybe if he was able to, he’d play a song for Leo when he woke up.

If he wakes up…

No, he wasn’t going to think like that. His brother would pull through. He would wake up. It couldn’t be long now.

Mikey rested his head on the bed next to Leo, the eerie sharp beeping slowly pulling him into sleep.

Chapter 7: Nail Polish and Gossiping

Chapter Text

It would have been a completely normal, quiet day if April hadn’t come to visit.

Mikey was beyond thankful for his older sister’s presence, because the endless days of being stuck in his room with nothing to do was going to grate him down into a permanent state of Dr. Delicate Touch if something interesting didn’t happen soon.

A small ding from his phone mid-practice broke his concentration just enough to notice he’d gotten a text. A bit of annoyance dragged through him, before he opened up his phone to see who it was.

at the entrance, where tf is everyone?

B right there!

Mikey hid the violin in its case, the few remaining sparks of mystic energy fizzling out on the polished wood as he slammed the case lid shut. He was too excited to bother hiding it properly - April was finally here!

He rushed out of the room to Donnie’s tracking computer by the entrance, where April stood on the other side of the swinging metal grate that locked the entrance to the Lair.

“Finally!” she said dramatically. “I was startin’ to think no one was home!”

“Don’t worry, ma’am, you’ll be through security in no time!” Mikey announced. He dramatically typed in the security passwords - Donnie had for some reason installed four passwords and a pin number - and with a relaxed beep, the grate unlocked.

April swung it open full force, and had it been a little lighter it would have slammed into the station walls. It shut behind her as she walked in with another beep.

“So, what are we doing today?” Mikey asked. The brothers usually pulled off some pretty wild shenanigans with April around, even if it was just in the Lair. “Mario Kart? Pie baking contest? Finishing that DND campaign we started four months ago?”

That last one had been more of a joke, but they had never come back to it before the invasion.

“Actually, I think today I just wanna relax if that’s cool,” April said, stretching out her arms. “Handling the cranes all week has me exhausted.”

The two walked toward the part of the lair that had become their living room, through high arches and Christmas lights that decorated the walls.

“Oof,” Mikey said. From what he could tell, operating cranes meant a lot of moving your arms around. “At least they’re paying you for it, right?”

April practically fell into the couch, and glared up at the ceiling. “That's the thing, they ain’t paying me sh*t! Not a dollar since I started tearin’ down the damaged buildings!” She flung her arms in the air in outrage.

Mikey gasped. “Oh, no way,” he gasped. “Are you being for real right now?”

April sat forward and looked at him with wide eyes. “I am being the realest of real, those assholes haven’t even considered paying me even though I’ve done, like, sixty percent of the work on the buildings. Half the workers are lazy jackasses who won’t do anything except eat bagels!”

“That is the biggest pile of BS I’ve heard of this week,” Mikey announced. “You should ask them to start paying you! I’m pretty sure you could take them to court about it-”

“That’s the thing, the court wouldn’t do sh*t!” April groaned. “That, and they’ve started up uni classes again, so I gotta do that too!”

“Holy sh*t, that is extra.”

Footsteps from behind the couch, and Mikey saw a flash of green and purple scales hanging over the back of it.

“My apologies for barging in,” Donnie announced, “but I do believe the sounds of sh*t-talking the government reached my tympanum and I couldn’t help but join you.”

Mikey grinned as Donnie hopped over the back of the couch to sit between Mikey and April, with a smile on his face. It was brushed over by pain for a moment as he settled into a more comfortable position - the wounds on his shell were pretty bad still - but it glossed over with excitement before April could see it.

“Wassup, Dee?” April asked.

“Nothing in particular, minus joining your sh*t-talking session.”

“April, tell him about the guys running the construction crews,” Mikey said, rolling his eyes dramatically.

“Yeah, like I said to Mikey, I’ve been working for em for weeks and done most of their f*ckin’ job, and they haven’t even considered paying me for it, and I can’t take em to court cause it wouldn’t work out anyways. Plus uni started up again-”

“Your university opened again after only a month?” Donnie actually sounded quite shocked, and from the way his eyebrows raised it wasn’t hard to tell.

“Yeah, which is BULLsh*t!” April’s voice rose to shouting volume on the last word, and everyone looked around, half-expecting Raph to appear out of nowhere and scold her for it.

But for once, there was nothing. A bit odd, but the snapper had been more tired than usual with helping Splinter take care of Leo.

“Even worse, Sunita’s still in the Hidden City, so I’m entirely by myself for however long it takes for that to get sorted,” April muttered.

The brothers winced sympathetically. “At least she’ll be back before the semester is over, right?” Mikey asked.

“She will, but that couldn’t come faster,” April said with an eye roll. She sat up on the couch and crossed her legs. “There has been some crazy stuff going on at school - I’m talking about sh*tty teenage romance drama stuff that could get put on Netflix if someone bothered hiring a film crew.”

Donnie and Mikey both leaned forward. This had to be their favorite part of visits with April - the sessions where they all just gossiped and talked.

Mikey leaned too much on his hands, and flinched when a sharp sting ran through them. Annoyance coursed through him, but he didn’t dare let it be seen by his family.

Instead, he kept the smile on. It was just easier.

“Oh my Pizza Supreme in hell, drop the can of beans and spill that sh*t,” Donnie demanded, his eyes brighter than they had been in weeks.

April began talking about how the drama classes had been split up over how to properly portray a play called Macbeth, and how some students were allegedly trying to get people expelled over it. The two turtles listened avidly, paying attention to every detail and popping in whenever something stood out to them.

“Omigosh, you could practice your journalism on this thing!” Mikey said, catching April off-guard for a second. She seemed surprised, but a confident grin crossed her face.

“Great idea, bro! Hey, maybe you guys can help me plan it out-”

Donnie stood suddenly. “If we are going to be participating in your homework that involves turning your school newspaper into the biggest gossip scandal there is on campus, then we need our important supplies!” The softshell rushed off towards the bathroom, and came back with a basket of makeup supplies.

“Oh wow, you got April that new color after all?” Mikey noted as he checked over the nail polish. This was really a special visit - Donnie only ever pulled out the makeup kits when they were doing something he considered important.

“You know it, dear Angelo,” Donnie said. “I may not have your eye for color theory but that is absolutely April’s.”

“Aw, f*ck yeah!” April said, plucking the bottle from the basket as Donnie arranged the other kits on the table. “Pass the green over there, I wanna try something.”

“If your atrocious lemon-lime mix ruins either bottle I’m not buying more,” the softshell warned.

“It’ll be fine, Dee, I know what I’m doing!”

Mikey watched as April undid the lids on both bottles after the green slid across the table, a twinge of jealousy sparking through him. He would have absolutely offered to help with the makeup if his hands weren’t as bad as they were.

“Angelo, what colors do you want?”

Donnie’s question snapped him out of his daze.

“Huh?”

The softshell grinned. “I questioned what colors you wanted. The usual, or do you wanna switch it up?”

A small debate rolled through his head, before he settled. “Just the normal colors today.”

He needed something normal today.

Donnie pulled the orange nail polish out, before taking out his own various shades of purple. Mikey reached for the orange bottle, but a quick shiver from his hands had him draw them back.

Of course he couldn’t even participate in the makeover anymore without the aftermath of the invasion coming back to haunt him.

April noticed the flinch back, and Mikey saw as her eyes caught on his bandaged hands.

“You want some help with that, bud?” she asked quietly.

He blinked. Would they get annoyed if he said yes?

You can’t do it yourself anymore. Even if they’re annoyed, you should ask for it anyways.

“Um, yeah, sure,” he responded. April smiled and held her own hand out.

The hours passed as the three discussed the subject with vigor and excitement, and conversation topics blended into one another as nails were painted, eyeshadow was applied, and blush was scattered across the table.

It was the best thing that had happened since the invasion, and Mikey couldn’t be happier.

“Ack, Mikey!” Donnie shouted as he absently dripped purple face pain on his hand. “Now it's on my hands-”

“It was already on your hands, Dee!” April wasn’t wrong - there was purple and green and yellow and orange splattered all over everyone’s hands and the table.

“You’re tempting me to paint over your eyebrows now!” Mikey teased, and an evil grin crossed his face.

Donnie’s expression wrinkled. “Angelo don’t you dare-”

He chirped in surprise as April snuck up behind him with yellow face paint and plastered it on his face. Donnie turned, but April was still wielding the brush, and they all watched as Donnie accidentally bit the bristles and got the yellow in his mouth.

“OH MY f*ckING HELL, EW!” Donnie shouted, and Mikey burst out laughing as Donnie dragged his hands along his tongue in an effort to get the paint out.

The sounds of laughter filled the Lair for the first time in weeks as the chaos continued, the joyous sound drowning out the eerie silence.

Chapter 8: Sleeping, Yet Still Smiling.

Chapter Text

Another two days passed before Mikey was allowed to sneak up to the surface.

Well, technically, he wasn’t allowed; nobody was, and Raph had made that clear after grounding him. But his week was over, therefore he was technically permitted to go wherever he pleased.

The night was surprisingly quiet for NYC - no cars blaring their horns in traffic, no sirens from rescue vehicles, no thundering footsteps from thousands of people walking below.

Instead, the constant humming of hundreds of construction crews rumbled through the city, some distant and low, others close and loud.

Mikey returned to his usual practice spot, an unfinished building that in 3 years still hadn’t been touched again. It was the same place where they had first discovered Mayhem, and the secret entrance to the Hidden City. It lay in near ruins from the invasion, but the wall still stood firm as he walked past destroyed steel beams and fractured cement.

Carefully, he jumped up through the broken rafters and sharp metal, reaching the place where he could practice without anyone below hearing.

Mikey started to set up, but his phone started buzzing.

Annoyance crept through the box turtle. He’d just gotten here - what could be so important that someone was calling?

He pulled out the phone. The caller ID was none other than Donnie. Immediate panic set in as terrifying thoughts started up in a hurricane.

Because the softshell never called anybody unless it was a massive emergency.

His hands spasmed, and Mikey nearly dropped the phone as he tried a few times to hit the answer button. Finally, one press landed, and he brought the phone up to his ear.

“Donnie?”

“Oh thank the Pizza Supreme in the sky, you actually picked up!” Donnie’s usual monotone was not laced with the fear or panic Mikey had expected - instead, excitement carried through the line. “You are not going to believe what just happened-”

“DEE, WHAT HAPPENED TO 'I'LL ONLY CALL IF IT’S AN EMERGENCY?’” Mikey scolded.

“If you'll allow me to explain, then you’ll see I’m technically still abiding by said protocol, dear brother.”

Mikey sighed and pinched the bridge of his beak the way he’d seen Raph do many times before. “Alright, alright, just tell me what happened-”

“Leo’s eyes opened. It was just for a second, but he opened them!”

Everything stopped as the words sunk in, and the humming of the quiet city below and Donnie’s voice faded out.

Leo’s eyes opened.

Excitement shimmered through the box turtle, and he turned back into what Donnie was talking about.

“...which is fantastic for him, but-”

“You can explain the medical stuff later, Dee, I’m coming home!”

He hung up before being inevitably asked about what he was doing on the surface again, and instead powered up a portal to his room on the bar where he was sitting.

Falling through the glowing gold was a freeing feeling, but as he fell into his room Mikey couldn’t help but remember the last time he’d felt like this.

Being thrown backward as Donnie’s mystic shield failed and the Kraang’s fist connected.

Freefalling through the air as debris and glass flew around him, the sharp pieces of glass grazing his arms and legs.

Shining mystic power engulfing him and his brother as Raph held onto them for dear life.

Mikey panicked and almost missed the hammock, his violin case dropping to the floor as his hands glowed even brighter than usual.

The excitement of Leo’s eyes opening again overtook the fear, and Mikey was on his feet and running to the medbay before he even realized he’d gotten up again.

He skidded into the medbay, nearly sliding and falling over at the subway car door.

Donnie was sitting next to Leo, his expression mostly blank as he watched Mikey nearly slip over his feet. Leo was still, the sounds of the monitors following his breathing.

“How did you get here so fast?” Donnie asked.

“Not important,” Mikey dismissed quickly as he shoved his still glowing hands behind his back. “Now what was the medical stuff you were talking about on the phone?”

Donnie eyed him suspiciously, but sighed and resumed talking. “As I was saying before you rudely interrupted me and hung up - never do that again, by the way, I was temporarily startled by your disappearance - it is good that our dear brother is opening his eyes and becoming responsive again. That means he will wake up soon.”

Mikey grinned and plopped down in the chair next to Donnie. “My bringing him pizza must have summoned him,” he joked. “Magic pizza, baby!”

“That was you?” Donnie’s eyebrow raised as he looked over.

Mikey nodded. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened after he’d done that, considering he’d woken up in his hammock.

He looked over at Leo, trying to see past the wires and tubes.

It was hard to still see his brother through it all.

“Then there’s the bad news,” Donnie said, scratching his arm nervously. “He’s waking up.”

Mikey felt confusion simmer through the air. “How’s that a bad thing? Leo’s finally gonna be awake again!”

Donnie looked away before explaining.

“The thing is, Mikey, he still has extensive damage all over him. When he wakes up, it’s not going to be pretty. Not only will Nardo be extremely out of it when he does, he’s also going to be in severe pain from the injuries. In any other circ*mstances, if he were less injured, this would be entirely fine, but in these ones? It’s going to be a sh*tshow.”

“Oh.” Mikey’s grin fizzled out and he started playing with his hands as the thought sank in.

“Not only that, but we all know Leo can take anesthetics about as well as a modern day Karen can take criticism, and we barely have enough to keep him down when he does start waking up, certainly not enough to keep him asleep long enough for doctors in the Hidden City to be up an running and move him there.”

The silence stretched thin like a wire, before an idea popped into Mikey’s head.

“Couldn’t we just steal some anesthetic?” he suggested. The softshell turned his head with a raised eyebrow.

“You want to sneak into a human hospital to steal that sh*t?” he clarified. Mikey nodded excitedly, his hands shivering again. A plan was already unfolding in his head.

“Exactly! We can be in and out of their storage like that with what we’ll need to help Leo! Maybe you could send in a drone, or I could portal us into the hospital storage and we could grab the anesthetisa stuff!"

“Anesthetic,” Donnie gently corrected. “And you heard what Raph said - the surface is really dangerous right now, going up there could potentially be a huge risk to our safety!”

Mikey glared at his brother as the beeping filled the air. “Dee, I was just up there. It’s all quiet except for construction crews.”

Donnie’s eyes narrowed. “Were you not just banned from going up there like a week ago?”

“Yeah, and the week is up, Dee. I can go up if Raph doesn’t find out.”

They both quieted, and two sets of eyes turned to the slider on the bed. His breathing was normal, the heart monitor echoing loudly through the subway car.

“Y’know what, Angelo?” Donnie said, rubbing his arms. “It has been a while since I've committed a crime to add to my ever-expanding list. Besides,” he added. “Nardo deserves to wake up without immediately being in pain again. He’s earned it.”

Mikey grinned and nudged him. “Aw, you do care about Leo after all!”

Donnie rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on his face. “Yes yes, you have caught me red-handed, Angelo, I do indeed care about my twin.”

Mikey’s heart lifted as the words left Donnie’s mouth. “And you admit that you’re twins!” he nudged the softshell, who grinned.

“If you tell Leo that I said that, I’ll never hear the end of it, Angelo,”

“He might already know,” Mikey said, his smile more real than it had been in days. “You know the rumor about people in coma being able to hear you?”

Donnie’s eyes widened as he turned to look at Leo. “Gasp, dear me, I may be in his clutches already and he hasn’t even awoken from his slumber!”

Mikey turned to look at the slider’s face, trying to see if he had any reaction. For a couple seconds, Leo’s face was still and blank, like it had been for weeks.

Then, Leo’s mouth twitched up into a smirk. Only for a few seconds, but Mikey caught it as it came and went.

“Donnie! I think he did hear you!” Mikey yelped, his words interrupted by excited chirping. “He just smiled!”

The two brothers grinned like idiots for a few seconds, before shining, happy tears began to fall from their eyes.

“So are we ago for operation ‘rob-a-hospital-to-keep-our-doofus-of-a-brother-alive?’” Donnie asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Absolutely!” Mikey said. “Should we go now? I can open a portal there if we need to-”

Donnie shook his head. “As weirdly eager as you are to open more portals, I must say no for now. You’re still healing too, and Raph and Pops will have us cleaning the Lair for the rest of our lifespans if we do that. Plus, you might accidentally open a portal to someplace else, your mystic power is a bit unpredictable.”

Mikey felt his eagerness drain a little at the realization that Donnie didn’t trust him. Sure, it had been a bit haywire when he’d first started learning mystic spells from Draxum, but the past few weeks had shown him that he was good enough at controlling his power to get them to the right place.

“I’m fine, Dee, I know what to do!” Mikey insisted. “Besides, Leo is going to need the extra stuff and you know it!”

“Mikey, please,” the softshell sighed. A real sigh. “Give me until tomorrow to figure out a plan for when we get there, and if there’s no better transport, then yes, fine, you can portal us into the cold storage. But ONLY if there isn’t a better way to get in, you hear me?”

Donnie put one finger to Mikey’s plastron, and the box turtle put up his hands. “Promise me, okay?”

The two made eye contact for a few seconds, and behind his brother’s eyes Mikey saw something stirring in the softshell’s mind. It took those few seconds, but Mikey recognized it before Donnie probably did.

Fear.

It was fear for him, fear for Leo, fear for the family. Donnie didn’t display his emotions much, but those few seconds told Mikey just about everything he needed to know.

“I promise.”

Donnie broke eye contact and lowered his hand. “Thanks, Angelo.”

The purple-clad turtle got up and left the medical bay, leaving Mikey and Leo alone.

For a few minutes, Mikey just sat there, listening to the monitors and trying to figure out a new plan that didn’t involve teleporting directly into the cold storage. For his brother’s sake, he would refrain from doing it unless it really, really needed to.

Something drifted in the back of his mind, and Mikey got up and began absently wandering the halls of the Lair, trying to catch the runaway idea and figure out what it was. He ended up in his room again, and was still lost in thought as he closed the door and pulled out his violin.

Absently, Mikey drew the bow across the strings, not playing any particular song he’d learned over the weeks he’d had it. The notes drifted through the air and his hands shivered as he closed his eyes, trying to focus the idea.

The random notes filled the air, until Mikey realized he was playing a song he knew without realizing it. It was calming and familiar, and the surge of mystic power sparked inside him as he kept the notes playing.

The gentle fog overcame his mind, and the stray idea slowed and centered itself.

And the idea blossomed before him, weaving and threading itself into a vague idea of a plan. There was one key component he was missing and Mikey’s brow furrowed as he kept searching for it.

The song hummed through the air as thin chains twirled through the air, bow and string running in molten rivers of gold and the lights brightened. Small sparks of light danced around the room, moving in tandem with the music.

The key item was almost in his reach, the fog stilling the running piece and finally, he grasped it. The song began to fade away into its finish, and his eyes snapped open. This time, he saw the mystic power fluttering in the air, before it sputtered out.

Fascination filled the back of his mind, but Mikey had a goal now.

He ran to one of the cubbyholes he used for hiding important things, rummaging around for a few minutes before the item fell onto the floor.

With glowing, shivering hands, Mikey smiled and picked up the tiny object, the round little gem glimmering in the brightened fairy lights.

Chapter 9: Grand Theft Anesthetic

Chapter Text

Mikey had to admit, he looked great already as a turtle in a doctor’s outfit. Maybe he’d wear this more when he was doing his work as Dr. Feelings.

On the other hand, once he added in the cloaking broach, he passed for a very convincing, albeit colorful and flamboyant, doctor in a human hospital.

His skin was dark, and his hair curly and wild with colored streaks in it. His usually blue eyes were now a deep brown like the rest of him. Stickers decorated his stained bandages, and his markings now looked more like alternating skin tone.

All in all, it was a better disguise than he was expecting

“Mikey, where did you get that costume?” Donnie asked, the communicator in his ear making it seem like his brother was right next to him. “It looks awesome!”

“I snagged it from the wrestling ring that one time Leo knocked Ghost Bear out cold, from that Einstein costume,” Mikey said confidently.

The sound over the communicator dimmed at the mention of the slider. Before Donnie could catch the falter in his face, however, Mikey grinned and turned toward the corner.

“Okay Mikey, remember. The communicator will automatically distort and deactivate any cameras in your vicinity, but I won’t always be watching. Keeping an eye on the cameras around the hospital is just as important, because if a villain shows up we need to scram because we are in no condition to be fighting anyone and we cannot have them knowing that.”

“Got it!” Mikey slipped around the corner and walked into the front doors. He hadn’t used the broach enough times to know how human doctors would act, but one thing was for certain. Sticking to the literal shadows would be suspicious.

So, better to just stick to lesson 4: blend into his environment.

The halls were bright from the fluorescent lights, nearly blinding him from all the time he’d spent in the Lair these past months.

Nobody looked twice as Mikey walked through the reception.

“Alright, to get to the storage, you’re going to need to turn left at the last turn on this hallway.”

“Got it,” Mikey said. A few doctors turned to him, raising an eyebrow or giving him a confused look.

“Don’t reply to me,” Donnie advised. “People will get suspicious.”

Mikey didn’t say anything this time. Instead, he sheepishly grinned at the staff and kept walking, praying that they didn’t have the mind to report him.

He continued moving, with Donnie occasionally directing him while monitoring everything else. Mikey simply followed the directions, trying not to screw up the path to cold storage.

“Okay, go to that elevator and press the lowest key you can find. That should take you there.”

Mikey walked into the small elevator. For a while he hadn’t seen anyone else around minus the occasional janitor, so he was basically clear to go in by himself.

The doors closed without issue, and the elevator started descending.

“Great job, Mikey. We should take you on more stealth missions, you’re good at this!” Donnie said.

Mikey was practically glowing from the praise. He’d never been complimented on his stealth before - hearing it from one of his brothers who took missions seriously meant a lot. And it was coming from Donnie, which meant even more. He did his best not to explode from the excitement, although it was trickier than he expected.

“I’ll talk to Leo about it once he wakes - what the f*ck?” Donnie’s voice went from mildly excited to dead serious in an instant, and for a second everything went quiet. Nerves started jumbling up through Mikey.

“Dee? Is everything okay?”

Donnie started hissing - not just a pain hiss from his injuries, this was an aggressive, angry hiss. Which coming from the softshell meant something bad was happening.

“You’ve gotta be f*cking kidding me. I am going to have a talk-”

“Dee! Where do I go now?” The elevator doors had opened into a freezing room, where rows and rows of medicinal supplies were stacked in bottles, boxes, and hanging fluid bags. The lights in here were dimmer, probably to protect certain supplies, but along with the chill it gave the entire room an eerie feeling that chilled Mikey to the bone.

“Okay, the anesthetic is near the front, two rows to your left and halfway down the third section. Now what in the frog-splaying f*ck-”

Mikey tuned out Donnie’s annoyed rambling as he followed the directions, even though it felt like Donnie was talking about something important.

The chill of the room became more intense the further in he walked, and Mikey couldn’t help the shiver that went through him. He decided to move his fingers to try and keep them warm, even as needle-stabs of pain shot through his hands every time he did. It was better than numb fingers, he knew that.

The hanging bags were right where Donnie had said. Mikey recognized the labeling from their own medbay, and carefully started taking bags.

“Dee, how many do we need?” Mikey asked, pausing his hand movements to still as the chilly air rushed through him again.

“Based on my calculations, if we want to keep him sedated long enough to transfer him to the yokai hospitals, then about 48 intravenous bags. I don’t know how we’ll sneak that much out though, so unless you have yet another plan loop I haven’t been made aware of, then now is the time to bring it out, dear brother.”

Mikey grinned. “You know I’ve got another loop! I snagged a big trash bag from the janitor’s cart while you were busy checking outside cameras!”

“Jesus, Mikey, you really are good at this.”

Mikey started carefully counting out bags and dropping them into the trash bag. He was only halfway through when Donnie hissed again, this time in unease.

“Mikey, there’s someone else in the hospital. I think it’s one of Big Mama’s assistants.”

Unease flooded the already cold room, and Mikey couldn’t help but shiver violently as he kept working. His hands nearly fumbled one of the bags as he lost most sensation in them from the chill.

“Are they headed my way?” he whispered.

It was stupid - he didn’t have to whisper, since there was no one else in the room with him. But that uneasy feeling was changing, the undercurrent of fear dragging into it almost seamlessly.

“Not yet, but I recommend you hurry up and get out of there just in case.”

Mikey started yanking bags off the shelf, still carefully enough that he didn’t accidentally break the plastic. The bag wasn’t heavy enough yet that he couldn’t carry it out, but keeping a grip on it was starting to hurt his hands. He absently checked the bandages and saw thin red lines leaking through from the cold. Or moving them.

Well, sh*t, Donnie’s not gonna be happy about that, Mikey thought regretfully as he continued filling the bag.

He kept the count in his head as he pulled anesthetic intravenous from the storage, the numbers sometimes jumbling in his head.

46,47,48!

“Donnie, I got the bags! Can you see anything?”

Donnie didn’t respond, which immediately sent warning bells through his body.

“Dee? Dee, can you hear me?”

No response again. The worry turned to panic.

Keep calm, I’m sure he’s fine.

Mikey stood in the cold storage, the chill seeping in more by the second. As the panic seeded deeper and deeper, the sounds in the room became louder and louder. The quiet humming of the lights turned to a deep roar, the ongoings of the halls above echoed loudly, the sound of gears grinding to a halt from the elevator.

Wait a minute.

That wasn’t right.

Mikey carefully closed the trash bag and moved back to the elevator. His ears had not deceived him - the elevator’s system sounded like it was stuck.

Which was especially not good.

“Donnie? Donnie, the elevator got stuck,” Mikey said, his voice raising as he tried to get through to the softshell. “I can’t get out of here otherwise. Can you do anything? Dee?”

Another shiver ran through him. Technically, the cold storage wasn’t freezing, but for Mikey it was getting pretty damn close. He had already lost feeling in his fingers - it wouldn’t be long before the cold would sink in too deep.

Mikey went back into the shelves to the IV bags, opting to stay closer to them in case the elevator started working and he had to go.

He kept tapping his fingers together in an effort to try and regain feeling in them, but the only thing that he felt were quiet stings of pain as the injuries on his hands opened up and began to bleed through the bandages.

It’s okay, maybe Donnie went to check on Leo and see if he’s doing any better. Or maybe he went to let Junior know about him waking up soon. He’ll be happy about that for sure.

Casey had been staying with his mother since the invasion, visiting whenever he could when he wasn’t being dragged around and shown the wonders of a non-apocalyptic New York by Cass and April. Out of everyone, he’d stayed with Leo the most when he visited.

Minutes kept ticking past as the chill embedded itself firmly in Mikey’s body, and at this point he was starting to shiver despite the clothes. They were okay, but weren’t doing very much anymore.

He checked the call button again, his panic growing with each press of the button. At some point, the button gave under his bleeding fingers and didn’t come back up.

“sh*t, sh*t, sh*t, you've gotta be KIDDING me!” Mikey shouted. “Come on, stupid elevator, don’t give out on me now! I made a promise I wouldn’t use my power to get out of here! I promised Dee! Just work already!”

Mikey’s voice had raised to a shout, echoing in the large, dark room as he fruitlessly slammed his bleeding hands on the broken call button. When he pulled away, small stains were left behind.

Frantically, he tapped on his communicator again, trying to get Donnie to at least notice that he was stuck or hadn’t moved, but his hands were shaking so badly now that it took several tries to even hit the right button.

“Donnie! Can you hear me yet? I’m stuck in the cold storage, the elevator’s broken!”

Nothing. Just the deafening sound of radio silence from the softshell’s end.

“Donnie, I don’t want to do this, but if you don’t respond I’ll have to portal out, okay?”

Still quiet. Quiet like the medbay, quiet like the Lair.

“Dee, it’s really cold down here. I don’t want to portal out as much as you don’t want me to either.”

Dead.

Silence.

That’s it, Mikey thought, the chill already making him feel sluggish. I’m sorry Dee, but I don’t have a choice. I’ll freeze.

Mikey lifted his trembling hands and let the mystic energy pool into them, the red wraps stained orange as he drew a shaky circle on the floor around him and the trash bag. The glow was faint at first, but as more power slowly surged through his veins and his injuries gleamed in rivers of gold, the portal began to swirl open beneath him.

He could see the medbay car, with Leo still soundly sleeping on the bed and their equipment hooked up next to him. Donnie was nowhere to be found.

Why didn’t he respond to me?

The spell came to completion, and Mikey suddenly fell through the portal onto the medbay floor. He tried to catch himself, but his hands refused to cooperate with him and he instead ended up landing sideways on the car floor. The cloaking broach cracked, and before he knew it he was back to his usual, green and orange-scaled self.

He groaned, but didn’t bother trying to get up. He was too cold, and the air in the medbay was warm. Mikey just wanted to lay on the floor for a bit and sleep. If it meant he’d get warmer, then that would be a bonus too.

Donnie apparently had other plans, as he was in the subway car before Mikey could really register that his brother was there.

“Mikey! Holy sh*t on burnt toast, why would you portal? You swore you weren’t going to do that unless it was a last resort! You promised!”

You promised.

Mikey forced tears away. He’d broken the one promise he’d made to his brother for his safety, and now Donnie was going to be upset with him.

“I’m sorry, Donnie, but you weren’t answering your communicator, and everything was starting to get too cold, so I needed to get out before I froze, and-” Mikey stopped himself.

And you weren’t there to help.

Hey, no, he didn’t do anything,

his mind whispered angrily. You were the one who came up with the idea to steal stuff for Leo.

Donnie didn’t say anything, just carefully helped Mikey sit up. Everything was somewhat numb, and the warmth of the Lair made his limbs feel like they were made of static.

“What happened to your hands, Mikey?” Donnie asked.

“I was trying to stay warm,” he whispered. “They’re not usually that bad after a portal jump. I swear, it’s better than it looks.”

At that moment, someone walked into the room, apparently alerted to the situation. The entrance to the car was shadowed by a large figure, and before either of them knew it Raph was on the floor next to them.

“What the- how- when did this-,” Raph spluttered, cradling Mikey’s hands in his own. Finally, he managed to spit out a weak, “What happened?”

“It was just a messy portal jump, Raph,” Mikey said, entirely unaware of Donnie crossing his arms in a massive “no” signal over and over. “Like I told Donnie, it’s better than it looks, I’ll be okay in a few hours!”

Forget a few hours - Mikey wanted to stay under a heat lamp for the rest of his life and never move again.

Raph’s face flashed in a whirlwind of emotions, his eye revealing the storm behind the minute changes in expression, before it landed on something neutral that Mikey was too fog-brained to pin down.

“Donnie, what happened?” Raph said, his voice eerily calm. Raph’s voice was never like that unless something was wrong, Mikey’s tired brain remembered.

“Well, we were trying out a spell to make Mikey’s graffiti glow in the dark the next time he painted something, and, uhm, it didn’t go according to plan?” Donnie tried, his voice thin and strained.

Raph raised an eye ridge, and his gaze shifted to the trash bag full of intravenous equipment.

“Donnie, you’re a terrible liar, and we all know it,” Raph said, his voice lowering closer to a growl. “Mikey, give it to me straight - what happened?”

On one hand, trying to lie to Raph when Donnie had already made it very clear with his best attempt that this was no “glow-in-the-dark spell” accident. It would only make Raph try harder to pry the truth from them both, until someone admitted it.

On the other hand, admitting the truth off the bat would get them both in even bigger trouble than his visits to the surface to practice the violin, and only their ancestors knew how long they’d be confined to the Lair. That, and Raph wasn’t the biggest fan of stealing, and Mikey hated lying to his brothers. Lying about the portalling had already been weighing on him - this would be worse.

“Leo needed more IV stuff,” Mikey said. “So I came up with a plan to take some more, at least to hold us over until we could get him to a yokai hospital. Donnie monitored me, and I went into a cold storage to take some of it, but the elevator got stuck and it was getting too cold so I had to portal out!”

His voice had risen again, and the tears were back, threatening to spill over and make him cry.

Even when he opted to tell the truth, it still hurt.

Oh, no wait. That was his hands, as they regained feeling and felt the pressure of Raph’s hands, sending more stinging pains through his arms.

The snapping turtle was terrifyingly quiet, and the sound of the beeping monitors overtook the car.

Donnie reached over to their older brother, concern crossing his face. “Raph?”

Raph didn’t say anything, but an angry chuff left his mouth before the red-clad turtle spoke.

“Don, get Mikey patched up and warm. When he’s ready we’re having a family discussion.” The snapping turtle stood up and left the car, the weight of his words carrying heavy in the air.

Tension ran thick through the car, and Donnie wordlessly began doing his wrappings. Mikey tried to ignore the softshell’s unease as he undid the bloody bandages.

It was a few minutes before either of them said a word. Then, from Mikey.

“We are so f*cked, man.”

Chapter 10: Flashbacks

Chapter Text

Apparently when Raph had said ‘family discussion,’ he’d meant family discussion. Donnie and Mikey were sitting on one of the couches in the lair, across from Raph, Splinter, Draxum, Junior and April, all of them glaring pointedly at the two.

Mikey wanted nothing more than to retreat into his shell, the heat of the glares and the eerie silence of the Lair broken by the occasional beep making him uneasy. Next to him, Donnie looked like he was about to do exactly that, his head as close to his shoulders as it could get.

Splinter sighed and leaned forward.

“Raphael has told me some of what happened,” the rat said, his voice in that zone of deadly calm that you never wanted to hear from a parent. “But I believe it is best, my sons, if you two tell the story yourselves.”

More silence followed. Draxum’s ear flicked in annoyance, before he spoke up.

“If neither of you are willing to speak, then we will perform this in turn. I say Donatello should speak first.”

Mikey felt his brother tense up, and he couldn't blame him. This kind of thing was uncomfortable for everyone - even Casey was fidgeting nervously, and April was picking at something on her hands.

“Well, ah, for starters,” Donnie began, scratching his arm as he spoke, “I would like to communicate that this heist was done with good intention. Leo was in dire need of more anesthetic to keep him down long enough to be transported to a yokai hospital, and we had nowhere near the required quantity to do so, which for everyone involved would have been one hell of a sh*tshow.”

“Donnie, language,” Raph snapped.

The softshell’s fingers drummed together, pointedly ignoring the language card. “I found this out after Leo started to show signs of emerging from his comatose state yesterday, so I called Mikey to tell him about it. I explained the situation, and that’s where our beloved younger brother came up with a plan to retrieve the necessary equipment.”

Donnie was absolutely nervous - he had a tendency to switch into a more elaborated vocabulary when stressed.

“Wait, so Sensei was waking up and you didn’t tell anyone else?” Casey snapped suddenly. His anxious fidgeting had stopped, and his gaze was fully turned to Donnie.

The softshell stiffened, and Mikey tentatively put out a comforting hand. His brother took it, and turned his gaze away.

“Leo is in no condition to be coming out of that comatose state, Casey,” Donnie explained. “His wounds are still severe enough that he needs proper rest more than anything else, and coming out of that would be painful enough for him as is.”

The softshell turned to him. “And that was where Mikey’s plan came into play.”

All eyes in the room turned to him, and for a moment, Mikey wanted nothing more than to run away, get out of the Lair and be lost in some distant melody. The thought of returning to the songs he could play grounded him enough.

Not all the way, but enough.

“It was pretty simple,” Mikey explained. “Dee would remotely monitor the hospital cameras, while I used a cloaking broach to sneak into the cold storage and take what we needed. It was all going fine until one of Big Mama’s assistants showed up, and then the elevator got stuck and I had to portal out so I wouldn’t freeze.”

Stunned silence from everyone, before a barrage of questions assaulted both turtle’s ears.

"What- where did you get a cloaking broach? Those are expensive!”

“You went in by yourself?”

“One of Big Mama’s assistants was there?”

“You nearly froze?”

“You used your mystic powers specifically when I had told you it was dangerous?”

Mikey shrank back into the couch. He hadn’t been expecting a reaction this big from everyone, but he should have seen it coming. They were all protective of him, to the point where it was almost ridiculous.

“Guys, it’s okay, I made it out fine,” Mikey insisted.

“Mikey, even I have to disagree there, your hands were bleeding like a dam broke,” Donnie said. “And when you got back you were bordering on your usual temperature for hypothermia.”

Shock pulsed through him, but it quickly melted into annoyance. They were on the same side of the family death glares - they needed to have each other’s back!

“I was fine afterwards, wasn’t I?” Mikey snapped. His hands balled into fists, and stinging protests from his sore scars shot through his arms, but he couldn’t care less.

“Donnie, you shouldn’t have let him go in alone,” Raph growled. Everyone’s attention turned to the snapper as he spoke. “Now Mikey’s hurt worse because you both went along with this plan.”

An offended gasp from Donnie - a real gasp, mind you - and the softshell hissed in return. “I shouldn’t have let him go? Raph, he let himself go! You can’t pin all the blame on me here!”

“He’s right, Raph, it was my choice to go in by myself!” Mikey added. “I’d say we should be equally punished, if anything.”

Raph ignored him and stood up, and from the corner of Mikey’s eye he noticed the rest of the family backing away from the angry brothers.

“That doesn’t mean you should have encouraged it! We all agreed not to go up to the surface while everyone was recovering!”

“This was important, Raph!” Donnie practically snarled. He stood up from the couch and glared at Raph. “It was about trying to help our brother! You would have done the exact same thing and you know that!”

Before Mikey could blink, Raph was standing up as well, the two turtles staring each other down. It was terrifyingly familiar, and memories of all the fights between Leo and Raph slowly leaked into his thoughts, their shouting filling the Lair every day.

“Raph, Donnie, calm down,” Mikey said, standing between them with his arms outstretched, sending lightning bolt shots of fresh stings through them.

Normally, getting in between any of the brothers when they were fighting wasn’t the best idea. Especially between the two most aggressive turtles in the household.

A memory of Leo and Raph fighting, just before everything had gone horrifically wrong, arose in his mind.

Mikey wasn’t going to let it happen.

“We were trying to stay safe, Donnie, you know that!” Raph growled. “We needed to lay low in case anything else could be out there!”

“Oh yeah, like anything is even left out there anyway! Half the city was basically leveled, Raph, and as much as I despise them the government did a pretty fan-f*cking-tastic job of cleaning up any remains of the Kraang that were out there!”

“We don’t know that, Donnie! There could still be more out there-”

“Guys, enough!” Mikey snapped, at this point trying to force the two apart with how close they were coming. “Just punish us and get it over with already!”

“I agree with Michelangelo,” Draxum said, advancing to try helping Mikey. “This has gone far enough. Cease this useless arguing at once.”

For a moment, nobody spoke. Then Donnie bared his teeth and hissed.

“From the amount of times you’ve snuck up, Raph, I’d say the streets are majorly alien free, wouldn’t you?”

Silence settled over everything again. Adrenaline started coursing through Mikey.

Raph had been going up to the surface this whole time?

“That’s right, Raph. I saw you out there last night while monitoring the outside cameras. You know I have access to every camera in the city - your little escapades would have come to light sooner or later.”

“That’s different,” Raph said. “I’m doing it to make sure we’re all gonna be safe.”

Donnie chirped in annoyance. “We were trying to help Leo.”

Mikey watched on in shock and as the two stood closer, Mikey was suddenly no longer standing safely in the Lair.

He was hung up like a sacrifice, watching the monster that had once been his brother stand over Leo as tears ran down his face.

Leo begging for Raph to come back. Saying he understood.

Watching Raph hold his brother by the throat, ready to run him through without a glint of mercy.

For a minute, Mikey was too lost in the memory, his breathing quickening and fear washing over him in a cold, unforgiving wave. He blinked, and the memory was gone.

But everything else was still there.

The two had started arguing again, their voices rising throughout the whole Lair. Splinter and Draxum started trying to drag the two apart, while April dragged Mikey away from the brothers.

The sound was too loud, and as it rose in volume, so did the harsh beeping coming from the medbay car. Everything was intense and sharp and it felt like everything was trying to assault him at once.

It was too much, the sound overwhelming, and Mikey felt tears run down his face. A gentle hand on his shoulder guided him away from the living room to his room, and two sets of footsteps were behind him as April shut the door to the subway car. The sounds dimmed, but they were still there, hovering barely on the edge of his hearing.

“Angie, buddy, can you breathe with me?” April whispered. Her hand stayed on his shoulder, a comfort among the drone of his mind. He slowly nodded, and started repeating his breathing practice.

It took ten minutes before he felt calm enough to look up. April was sitting next to him, and Casey was standing near the car door, eyes flicking as they stared attentively through the window. The curtains had been closed by someone, and the fairy lights were dimmer than usual.

“Hey, buddy,” April said, her voice quiet and comforting. “You doing better now?”

“Y-yeah,” he replied. Mikey’s voice was hoarse, even though he hadn’t been crying that badly.

“Sorry about that, I’m havin’ one hell of a chat with those two later,” April said, patting the bed next to her. Mikey scooted over, and melted into his older sister’s arms as she held him in a tight hug. “Do you want anything right now?”

Mikey would have said no, but the wish for the gentle fog that the violin made came to the front of his mind.

“Could you grab the case from in that cubbyhole?” he whispered. He trusted April and Casey not to rat him out about it.

The young boy walked over to the cubbyhole and pulled out the case, the leather and hinges still as shiny and fresh as they had been two weeks ago.

“Woah, where’d you score that from?” April whispered.

“Found it in an alley,” Mikey admitted. He took the case from Casey, who flashed him a smile before returning to his lookout at the door. “Nobody was really around, so I snagged it. I tried it out a bit, and I’ve even managed to play a few songs.”

A small smile crossed April’s face as he took the instrument out of its case and set it up. “Oh? Would you be able to play a song for us?”

Mikey knew she was trying to make him feel better. What was slightly annoying was that it was working. He did want to play.

He didn’t want to play the song he’d been practicing for Leo - that was for his brother. He had another one, but it was a lot more difficult than the other one. And with his hands as bad as they were after the hospital escapade, it might not work.

“Go on, Master Michelangelo,” Casey encouraged suddenly. “I believe you can do it.”

“Thanks, Case,” Mikey whispered. “Although you don’t gotta call me master, remember?”

The boy nodded. He dropped from his position near the door into a crouch, eagerly awaiting the song.

Mikey took a deep breath, and pulled out his phone, hunting for the simpler version of the song he’d learned. Thankfully, he’d saved the music sheet. At the top, it read “Phantom of the Opera: Overture.”

He set the bow to the strings, and shakily started playing.

-=+=-

April wasn’t mad at her brothers, per se.

No, no, she was furious. Finding out her baby brothers had snuck out on a dangerous mission while everyone was still healing was pretty bad, according to her standards, especially without telling her. Donnie usually told her about every hare-brained plan he was going to execute!

But that had not been the thing to almost send her over the edge of hitting the boys with her bat this time.

No, that honor went to the massive fight that had started because of said hare-brained plan. Everyone had started shouting, and April had seen Mikey freeze up. By the time she and Casey were out of there, the room had been so loud she was almost 100% certain that she would go deaf before she made it out of the Lair.

Someone was getting hit with the activated mystic bat for sure.

Now she was sitting in Mikey’s room as the box turtle was doing his best to play a song for her and Casey. April didn’t really care where he might have gotten it from - he seemed at least somewhat excited to show them, and that was better than anything right now.

The first few notes were shaky, but April recognized the song as the overture for Phantom of the Opera from Leo’s theater kid phase (she wasn’t entirely sure that had passed, actually.)

At first, Mikey was shaky on the strings. His hands, which were still hurt from whatever had happened in the hospital, were shaking worse than usual, but nobody mentioned it. The song coming from the violin was actually a lot better than April was first expecting.

Then Mikey closed his eyes, and the melody steadied, which was impressive on its own. The song began to flow through the air, and for barely a moment April wondered how long Mikey had had the instrument in his possession. Clearly long enough for him to be adept with it.

For a few more moments, the song began to build up, and April and Casey both sat in awe.

Then, the song hit a peak, and everything began to glow.

Mikey’s freshly scarred hands, still wrapped in freshly blood stained bandages, glowed a harsh golden-orange. The lights in the room brightened, and the springs on the violin ran gold as the song hummed through the air.

April sat frozen as gentle sparks lit from the bow, and slowly began to spiral out into familiar orange chains to the sound of the song,

The chains wound around April’s wrist, and the moment they touched her it seemed like a thousand different feelings were shooting through her at once. She couldn’t even find her own panic through the endless sea of fear and sadness.

Memories that weren’t her own flashed quickly through her mind as the song rose and fell; memories of arguing, memories of black tendrils crawling up her arms, memories of a ship that echoed with an ever-sounding heartbeat.

One stood out in particular among the whirlwind of sensations and images and sounds.

Raph, infected by the Kraang, violently lunging for Leo.

Holding her brother by his neck as he apologized and begged for Raph to come back.

Fear filled her in a cold wave, and for a second April wanted nothing more than to reach out through the cold mirage and cry out, help them, do anything to get Leo out of there. It wasn’t her own desperation - the desperation she felt was like a dying flame licking at any kindling it could find, trying to light once more.

It was terrifyingly unfamiliar, and as April watched the memory over and over, the sound of Mikey’s music haunted every movement made by the blurring figures, the color dancing together and fading away as the song slowly came to a close.

The chains around her wrist had gently melted away as Mikey finished the piece, and everything she’d felt - the sounds, the feelings, the sights - were gone in an instant.

But the memory was still there, imprinted in her mind, branded and burnt into place by the power of the music and glowing mystic chains.

It wasn’t even her own memory. Those weren’t even her feelings.

But they still burned, fierce and fresh like she’d just witnessed the event unfold a million times over.

April shivered as she took a moment to reacquaint herself with the fact that she was still in Mikey’s room, sitting next to the box shell, while Casey sat on the floor. Mikey didn’t even seem to realize what had just happened, his gaze expectant as he watched them both.

“Well? Was it okay?” he asked quietly.

April paused.

No way in frozen over hell was she telling her baby brother what had just happened. April did not want to scare him. Nor did she want him to know that she’d seen what had happened on the ship, why he’d frozen during the fight.

That was for him. She’d tell Draxum after she was done knocking some sense into the other boys.

“It was great, Angelo,” April said, rubbing the little turtle’s shoulder. Casey nodded, and turned to meet her gaze.

It didn’t even take a moment of eye contact for her to understand that he’d seen it too.

“Oh, that reminds me!” Mikey chirped, standing suddenly from his place on the hammock. “I wanted to play Leo a song too - I’ve been practicing for a while now. Even if he’s asleep, maybe he’ll hear it!”

Gone was any trace of the turtle’s fear. Instead, it was replaced by the hyper, excited grin she was so used to.

“Maybe he will hear it, Mas- Michelangelo,” Casey said enthusiastically, catching himself before saying ‘master’ again. “I'm certain he’d enjoy it.”

Mikey’s smile widened, and the stars seemed to shine in his eyes as he opened the door, careless of whether or not the argument in the living room had ceased. He was gone before either of them could say anything.

For a minute, the two humans sat in Mikey’s room, the orange glow of the fairy lights less comforting than usual. Paper still littered the floor, and Casey absently rolled a balled up page under his hand.

“You saw that too, right?” April asked sternly.

Casey nodded. “Master Michelangelo was powerful in my time, enough so that he could transfer whatever he needed telepathically if he needed or wipe entire battlefields clear of enemies if necessary. If your Michelangelo is tapping into that power so soon after what happened with the portal, then I can’t imagine it will be under control for very long.”

“Come on, Junior,” April said, standing. “We’ve got two things to do. We gotta tell Barry about this before someone gets hurt.”

Casey rose to his feet as well, tilting his head in confusion. “And what’s the second thing?”

April’s grin turned menacing as she picked up her mystic bat. “We’ve got a few boys to knock some sense into.”

Casey’s eyes widened in shock. “Commander Sunita said to never get on your bad side for a reason. I understand why now.”

April grinned wider, and stormed out of the subway car, a few flecks of mystic gold still floating by the lights.

Chapter 11: A Light in the Dark

Chapter Text

The medbay was eerily quiet, as per usual, with the intermittent beeping spotting through the air. The sounds of the argument had died down just after Mikey had left the subway car.

He hadn’t been able to help stopping and listening to the final dregs of it. Hearing the hurtful barbs and sharp tones echoing through the Lair.

Everything feeling wrong about it.

He sighed to himself.

And it’s probably only going to get worse until Leo wakes up.

Hesitantly, he stepped into the car, looking around to check nobody else was inside. Mikey didn’t have to check for anyone else, he knew that. But it didn’t hurt to make sure.

After triple checking, he put the violin down on the bed and shut the subway car doors. Mikey took a shaky breath, and nervously spoke.

“Hey Shelldon?”

For a second, nothing responded. Then, from the sound system.

“Yeah, Mikester?”

Mikey shivered. “Can you lock the doors and initiate soundproofing mode? I know Donnie installed it in everyone’s rooms, I just don’t know how to activate it manually.”

“Well, Don told me not to, in case there was a medical emergency,” Shelldon replied. “Why do ya need those on?”

Mikey tapped his fingers together, even though it hurt. “I’ll only tell you if you promise not to tell Donnie.”

It was a somewhat ridiculous request - the softshell’s data systems, as he’d explained once, tracked and recorded everything that Shelldon heard or did in the Lair’s smart system. But it would make him feel better about playing his instrument for Leo.

“I can try for ya, bro,” Shelldon agreed. “But if something happens to Leo, I gotta alert Dee. Safety protocols.”

Mikey sat down as the doors clicked into its locks and the familiar whoosh of the soundproofing coming on. He opened the case, and was surprised by the strings looking a bit orange. Had he stained them without noticing?

Whatever. He could google how to clean them later.

“About a month back, I found a violin in a back alley. I guess I stole it, but it’s been nice having something to be able to do with my hands again. I wanted to play a song for Leo but I didn't want anyone else to come in and take it before I got the chance.”

That, and it was a bit embarrassing to hear him play. He wasn’t great yet, and still felt a little upset about it. Plus, this was something just for his brother. But Mikey wasn’t going to tell Shelldon that, because Donnie would end up seeing it.

Rather ironic, if one took into account Dr. Feelings.

“That’s way cool, bro!” Shelldon said. “Mind if I listen in? Everything around here’s been so boring lately!”

Man, I wish he wasn’t right.

Mikey sighed and set himself up, pulling up the notes on his phone. As much as he’d practiced, he couldn’t remember all of the notes.

He looked over to Leo, who was peacefully resting as everything went on around him. He probably wouldn’t be able to see this, but Mikey could pray he heard him.

As if answering his prayers, Leo’s mouth twitched up for a moment, before falling back into that eerie stillness that Mikey was growing to hate.

He took a breath, and set the bow to the strings for the second time that day. His mind, which was still stuck on Phantom of the Opera, quickly reversed gears to the new song as the first few notes began to play. They were drawn out and haunting, and before long Mikey had slipped into the gentle fog the music brought, unbothered even by the consistent beeping of the heart monitor.

The piercing white lights brightened as Mikey’s eyes drifted shut, sparks emitting from the strings and spiraling away into chains. Golden flecks lit the air, floating gently around the two turtles.

The chains serenely wrapped around Leo’s wrists, and as Mikey truly lost himself in the music, he didn’t notice tears forming in the slider’s eyes.

He didn’t notice the beeping slowly begin to speed up either.

-=+=-

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been stuck in this quiet, dark place. How long visions of tall metal suits and writhing pink flesh had bombarded him from all directions. How long the cold claws of those memories dug into his tired mind.

How long he’d had respite when whatever kept him here began to wear off, or where the faint, distant pain from those moments came from.

He did know that he was able to hear his brother’s voices between the visions. Choked up and crying, sometimes outright sobbing from somewhere beyond the dark. Whispered words that weren't meant for anyone else to hear, confessions of guilt and tearful begging for him to come back to them.

Leo knew his family wanted him back. That was why he kept floating in the darkness, kept letting the freezing cold claws take him. Why he’d try to be present enough to listen to them, so he could know if they were okay.

The slider was alerted to the presence of someone in the medbay. Usually, that meant company. The cold had been particularly sharp and upsetting this time - he was starting to hate remembering what had happened. Mainly because it felt worse knowing.

Leo shook himself and drew up to listen. The whispering had just finished, ending just as Leo became aware enough to hear it.

Maybe the unknown voice would come back. He wasn’t sure who this was yet, because he’d only caught the tail end of some conversation.

He felt the beginning of another cold vision starting in his head, and he tried his best to shake it off.

The whispering did not return, but in its place, a slow, beautiful song flowed through the dark and waved away the oncoming nightmare. Leo was left drifting peacefully, and he couldn’t help but smile a bit. That was kind of cool.

The song was pretty, but it somehow still held an eerie note to it. Leo almost felt lighter, listening to it, and as he turned and drifted in the darkness, something glimmering caught his attention.

Glowing golden chains, slithering out of the peaceful emptiness, moved toward his hands. They were warm, warmer than any visions of the jagged lands and ruins of the nightmares. Softer than the vicious metal blades that cut through him time and time again.

They felt like home.

Leo reached out, a sudden desperation for the warmth overcoming him. They curled gently around his hands, before settling like fiery sparks on his scales.

But it didn’t burn. Golden flame danced across the chain links, but it never burnt, never dimmed away.

Leo couldn’t help crying. The beautiful music began to crescendo, the sound and feeling beginning to pull him away and out of the dark. Away from the uncertainty and pain, away from the fear. Like the light at the end of the tunnel everyone always talked about, but different.

Then the fog of memories overtook him.

Leo had not been expecting it - he’d been waiting to be pulled through the dark tar and onto some sunny meadow or something like that. Instead, the lulling song and fiery chains dragged him into a fog, where thousands of images and feelings and sounds began to barrage him endlessly.

The consistent hum of a heart monitor, a sound Leo thought he would never hear.

The sound of his family arguing over something, the distinct feelings of being scared and his hands stinging in pain.

Shock as one of his brothers had done something for him while he was… asleep? No, that wasn’t right. A coma.

A nightmare, falling into someone else’s arms.

Leo winced as he was pulled from memory to memory, feeling to feeling, sensation to sensation. It was almost - no it was horrifically overwhelming. That was the only way Leo could describe it.

More memories, from further away, for crimson skies and shattered city towers.

Leo almost shouted - had he still been able to cry out, the panicked wail would have torn his own eardrums to shreds. The chains had made their way up his arms by now, and the song was beginning to whirl in his mind.

The terrifying orb that was the Kraang’s ship hanging like a morbid decoration for all to see.

Horrifically contorted and twisted people, arms and bones and skin meshing with pulsing pink flesh, with eyes where they shouldn’t have been any and teeth that could tear through metal.

Columns of smoke drifting up from the city below as fires gently raged without a care in the world.

Surrounded by malformed creatures, hounds and machines and people, all covered in the repulsive pink.

Watching his older brother, the one who’d protected them and held them when they’d cried, be torn apart by the Kraang’s transformation, becoming unrecognizable in a mere moment as he threw Leo across a room.

Running through a room with a computer at its heart, panic blinding them both, pulsing and beating as his brother was sucked inside.

The incoming hit from the massive metal suit, seemingly falling forever before they fell with a crash among debris on an island.

Hearing as his brother pleaded and begged with a boy who didn’t want to lose him again to let himself be lost.

The mystic chains were wrapped around Leo entirely as he was pulled more violently through the memories, tears forming in his body’s eyes as emotion hit him like whiplash over and over.

Watching the colorful cloud decorate the skies as he felt something inside be cut away and beaten down.

His brothers crying. His brothers losing their hope.

Resolving to help his brother,

even if

it took

everything.

Leo’s eyes widened as the gold flared to life, pulling him out of the fog and into a blinding light, tears tracking down his face as the song came to its final notes.

The warmth surrounded him, and before he knew it, he was surrounded by the whispers, by panic and by bright white medical lights.

-=+=-

Donnie was still fuming. How could he not have been? Raph wasn’t seeing things the way they were! Leo had needed their help, and he’d done what he’d thought best.

Well, technically speaking, what Mikey had thought was best. And it had been going to plan until Big Mama’s assistant had shown up and he’d been distracted by Raph’s blatantly obvious hunting through the decimated New York streets. That was admittedly on him.

He didn’t need to be so angry about it though.

A small beep from Donnie’s wristband alerted him that a door had been locked, presumably Raph’s or Mikey’s. He was still too pissed to bother checking.

A thought of the sewer grate being ripped off its hinges when they’d returned from the invasion fluttered through his mind. Donnie really needed to get that upgraded security system up and running.

Yeah, that was a better thing to dedicate his processing power to. Better than thinking about the fight.

Donnie sighed and fell into his work chair, flipping his goggles down as his spider shell pulled out a small welder. He was almost done making the camera’s body, then he could copy it as many times as he needed to.

A couple more beeps from his wristband, and an uneasy feeling started to settle over him as he worked. Donnie’s criminal detection systems had been offline for two months, and every other system in the Lair was functioning like it should. Nothing should have been alerting him.

Except for Shelldon, keeping an eye on Leo…

sh*t.

Donnie dropped everything and sprinted to Raph’s room. He didn’t want to go into the medbay alone - as much as he missed Leo, there was something unsettling about being in there with him that Donnie just couldn’t shake.

He skidded to halt outside Raph’s closed door, tapping his wristband frantically. No, nothing was supposed to be happening right now! Leo shouldn't have been waking up!

“Raph! Raph, I know you’re mad right now but something’s happening!” Donnie shouted, banging on the door. He tested it, and it wasn’t locked.

The softshell threw open the door, to find Raph sitting on his bed with tired eyes.

“Donnie, I don’t want to talk right now,” Raph growled.

Donnie groaned. “That’s not why I- oh forget it, Leo’s monitors have been alerting me in a way they shouldn’t, okay, can we PLEASE GO CHECK ON HIM NOW?” His voice rose louder than he’d meant, but apparently Raph was already up and moving before Donnie was finished.

In their rush, they passed by Casey, who didn’t even need to know what was going on to be on the run with them. Panic was bristling between all of them, and as Donnie reached the medbay, he saw that the subway car windows were closed.

That didn’t stop them from seeing the bright golden light seeping through the shutters.

“What the- why is the door LOCKED?” Raph shouted as he violently hit the car door.

“SHELLDON, WHAT IS HAPPENING?” Donnie almost screamed. His brother could be dying in there and of course the doors just had to be LOCKED-

“Mikey requested that I lock the doors, bro. I promised him nobody would bug him!” Shelldon protested.

“YOU OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW, YOUNG MAN!” Donnie snapped. Casey and Raph were both ramming the door with their shoulders, trying to force the door down or at least dent it open. But of course, it was thanks to Donie’s insistence on reinforcing their home that the car door wouldn’t budge.

“Just give me a minute, Dee!” Shelldon replied, and the electrical hums and whirrs of the doors unlocking started sounding.

Donnie flicked his hands nervously, and started trying to help force the door, despite the screaming pain of his torn up back telling him to stop.

-=+=-

Mikey came out of the daze of the song to, at first, nothing. Everything was deafened, and as he pulled his eyes open, he realized they were stained with tears.

He had no clue why he was crying, but if that was what was happening now, then alright.

The second thing he became aware of was that his hands were bleeding again. Not only that, but they were glowing slightly. Mikey put the violin down quickly, in case the blood stained something too. His hands shook violently, the spasms shooting sudden pains through his arms. Not the usual tiny stings, but actual lightning bolts like he hadn’t felt since he’d started using them again.

He winced, and that was when he became aware of a third thing.

Leo’s hand gently taking Mikey’s own in his, seemingly mindful of the stabbing pain in his hands.

Mikey looked up, everything emotion and feeling inside him waiting for the illusion to fall away, to look up and see his brother still sleeping soundly.

Deep blue eyes met bright blue, and Leo’s face turned up into a sh*t-eating grin.

“Hey, baby bro. You still got that pizza?” the slider asked hoarsely.

For a moment, Mikey couldn’t say anything. Tears freely slipped down his face as he stared in shock.

Then everything broke, and the box turtle practically threw himself onto Leo, wailing as he hugged his brother tight.

“Ow, hey, watch the bones, buddy,” Leo snapped, but it wasn’t biting. “I see you missed me.”

Mikey could not find the words to talk. He just sobbed and nodded, holding as tight as he dared in case this wasn’t real, and Leo was still asleep and he would fade away if Mikey let him go-

Leo returned the hug, even as Mikey heard him grunt in pain. And he knew this was real, his brother was really back and awake and he was here.

“I missed you too, little brother.” Leo let him go, and Mikey pulled away, trying to contain his tears. “Yeesh, how long was I out? You’re looking at me like I died and came back to life.”

“It was kinda like that, yeah,” Mikey admitted. “You were in a coma for a month. It was pretty sh*tty.”

Leo mockingly gasped, although he flinched back. “Michelangelo! If Raph heard you say that, what would he think?”

Mikey laughed, and Leo's head turned to the instrument that lay half-forgotten on the bed.

“I heard that song you were playing,” the slider said, “Which was pretty impressive, by the way. When did you pick that up?”

Mikey was about to answer when the car door was slammed open, revealing Casey, Donnie, and Raph all looking on in panic.

Everything stopped as the three saw Leo awake and watching them.

“Pizza Supreme, you all look awful,” his brother said. “Where were you, Jersey?”

Silence for a second.

Then all three burst through the door, rushing in and holding onto Leo for dear life.

“OMIGOSH YOU’RE AWAKE! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT-”

Raph cupped the slider’s face in his hands, tears pouring in rivers down the snapper’s face. “Leo, goddammit, you’re never allowed to do that again!”

Casey had enveloped the turtle in a hug, while Donnie was frantically trying to find room to hug Leo as well.

“Sensei, I thought you weren’t going to wake up!” Casey cried.

“I agree with the dum-dums, you’re banned from scaring us like that ever again!” Donnie cried.

Leo was crying a bit too, and Mikey rejoined the hug. “That was a really long month, wasn’t it?”

Mikey nodded, and the five stayed there for a while before Leo spoke up again.

“I wasn’t joking about the pizza earlier, do we have any? I am literally going to starve if I don’t get food soon.”

Raph laughed and pulled away, his mask basically drenched. “Yeah, we can order some Hawaiian for ya if you want.”

Leo raised an eyeridge. “No take backs?”

“No take back for a while, you idiot,” Donnie said.

“So what I heard was true, you do care about me?”

Donnie groaned. “Dammit, I knew you'd pull the blackmail card!”

Everyone laughed, and settled back into the hug.

It was quite a while before anyone felt like moving. And quite a while longer before anyone actually did.

Chapter 12: Mystic Melodies

Chapter Text

After Leo woke up, the Lair seemed brighter than it had been in what felt like forever. The slider had been doing his best to help cheer people up, and Mikey could not be more grateful for the change of atmosphere. If there had been one more gloomy day he might have just taken to roof-hopping for the rest of his life.

Even after waking up, Leo somehow wasn’t in as much pain as Donnie had predicted, a strange miracle. Every time he was asked what woke him up, he just said something warm and left it at that. At first no one really questioned it - coming out of a coma, one isn’t really bound to remember much.

But then Leo started recalling details, and Donnie told Shelldon to show the medbay footage from that point in time. Mikey had been sitting with Leo when Donnie came in, brows furrowed and a serious expression on his face.

“Hey Dee, what’s with the face?” Leo asked with a smug grin. Mikey tapped his hands together, the rough, slightly soaked bandages moving uncomfortably against his skin. His brother’s oddly stern face not quite sitting right with him. For the past few days he’d been nothing but relieved eyes and grateful smiles.

This was different.

Donnie pulled a notepad out from somewhere and sat on the end of Leo’s bed.

“Oh sh*t, what is this, an interrogation?” Leo’s smug grin made Donnie dramatically roll his eyes.

“Of sorts, yes. I reviewed the footage from the medbay a few days ago and I've found some… interesting things, I’ll put it that way.”

Another figure entered the car, and to mostly everyone’s surprise, Baron Draxum took a seat as well.

“Please continue, Donatello,” the yokai said. There was something in the way he was talking that made Mikey nervous.

“As I was saying,” Donnie continued, shooting Draxum a look, “The video footage I went through had some rather fascinating aspects that were not disclosed to anyone except for Shelldon, and apparently Draxum because April and Casey informed him before this incident. So I’d like to ask you two questions.”

Leo and Mikey shared a glance. Judging from the look in the slider’s eyes, he was probably going to ask about the miraculous recovery again, even though Donnie had already interrogated him four times over it.

But Leo made no move to stop the softshell - he couldn’t move anyway - and the two turtles could only wait.

“Leo, you said you didn’t remember much coming out of the coma,” Donnie prodded. “It's been a few days - do you remember anything that could have, let’s say, pull you out of it?”

That was confusing. Leo had just woken up, nothing had pulled him out of it. Although Mikey couldn’t be sure - he’d been too lost in that strangely addictive fog that came with playing the violin.

He hadn’t been allowed to play it for a bit, because when they’d all moved his hands had been basically drenched in red. Raph still hadn’t said anything about the instrument, so for now Mikey had a feeling he was in the clear for keeping it.

His hands had bled randomly over the past few days, when he moved them around too much, but nobody else needed to know that. He needed to be okay for them.

“It's still mostly fuzzy,” Leo admitted slowly. “But it wasn’t fun either. I was just doing coma things when these really bright gold chain things grabbed my arms and yanked me into a light, and then I was back. The ride wasn’t great, but I can't find the guy’s Uber to rate him badly.”

A few snickers from Mikey, but Donnie’s brow furrowed in a way that told him that was exactly what he’d been looking for.

Also, Leo had his lying smile on. The slider had the best memory of the family, able to recall things crystal clear. No way his older brother’s memory would have been “still a bit fuzzy.”

Sure, maybe the coma had messed with it, but Leo’s deep blue eyes said it all.

“Okay, anything specific about the gold chains?” Draxum demanded. He was leaning forward, a lot more intrigued than Mikey thought was probably a good thing.

“Well, they were on fire,” Leo said as though that were the most normal thing in the world. “But it wasn’t the ‘burn your skin off kind.’ It was like relaxing and just that kinda warm you get under the heat lamp.”

The interrogators made an identical ‘hmm’ noise, earning a few more laughs. But then Donnie turned to Mikey.

“Mikey, what were you doing when Leo was waking up?”

A sense of unease came over him. “Well, I was playing the song I’d practiced for Leo, because I thought he might hear it. Y’know, the people in comas can hear you thing?”

“And I did hear, it was stupendously well-played, little brother,” Leo said, slowly reaching out a hand to pat him on the shoulder. It wasn’t his usual quick pat either - the slider left his hand there for longer than usual before moving it back to the bed.

Donnie raised an eyebrow. “A detail you neglected to mention, Nardo, thank you.”

“Did anything happen to you, Michelangelo?” Draxum asked.

“I kinda zoned out,” Mikey said. “I got wicked zoned out playing, then my brain got all foggy and it was peaceful. There was some kind of spark too, it was nice and warm.”

Donnie’s eyes widened. Leo caught it. Their twintuition at work, as everyone called it and Donnie hated.

“What’s this really about, Donnie?” Leo asked. “You’re being less than conspicuous about your investigation here. Plus you brought Draxum, which smells of mysticism to me.”

“That is a bit weird, Dee,” Mikey admitted. He kept up his confused demeanor, but inside he was starting to freak out.

Mysticism? I’m the only one who really trains with it a lot, even if I'm not supposed to be.

Did I do something wrong?

Did I hurt my brother?

“I recovered footage from Shelldon - against his will, may I add, which made it more suspicious - from between the exact time Mikey went into the bay to when we got there. I’ve shown it to Draxum already and I believe you two are going to want to see it as well.” Donnie passed over his tablet to Leo, and Mikey scooted up next to the bed to watch, his worries swirling around in his head as the slider shakily pressed play.

The two turtles watched the footage. It was an aerial view of the medbay, with the doors already closed. Mikey was setting up his violin, while Leo simply laid deathly still in the medical bed. Mikey shivered, and Leo reassuringly patted his arm. It was unnerving to see the scene from so high up.

The footage continued, and Mikey began to play the song. The audio was a bit scratchy at first, and Mikey was about to ask why Donnie and Draxum were showing them the footage.

And then the lights started glowing brighter.

Mikey’s arms started to glow, the scars along his hands lighting up like a lightbulb as he played. The camera switched to a different one, where Mikey was facing the camera instead of facing away. Leo let out a small gasp.

Mikey’s eyes weren’t closed, like how he’d felt them do in that moment. They were wide open and glowing brighter than the lights, as the violin strings ran gold and mystic chains emerged from the sparks made by the bow.

“What the hell?” he whispered to himself as the chains gently wrapped around Leo’s wrist. The moment the glowing gold touched the slider’s hands, his face twisted into a grimace and the beeping from the monitor sped up considerably.

This went on for the rest of the song, with more chains spiraling through the air or wrapping around Leo’s bruised and broken limbs. At the climax of the song, the chains even set on fire.

Mikey frantically flicked his eyes to Leo’s wrists, but they were burn free. His mystic fire hadn’t hurt his brother.

The song ended, but the Mikey in the camera footage was still glowing a bit, the blood that was rapidly soaking his bandages dripping through and turning to golden flecks. He put the instrument down, and Leo, now awake, put his hand on Mikey’s.

Donnie snatched back the tablet as the footage finished. “As you clearly saw, judging by whatever is on our faces, there are some rather unexpected side effects of Mikey’s violin playing. Draxum was informed about thirty minutes before this, and none of us actually saw it until I dug up the footage.”

Leo and Mikey exchanged a quick glance.

“What’s your point, Dee?” Leo said. “Mikey just brought me back to life with his superpower and a violin, shouldn’t this be a good thing?”

Mikey went cold at the words ‘brought back to life.’ they rang in his ears as he realized just how bad things could have gone. Sure, he’d gotten him out of the prison dimension, but everything after that could have gone wrong in a second.

Deal with that later. They can’t see you upset like this - they all need a moral booster more than ever.

“Donatello’s point is that Michelangelo just performed a mystic miracle,” Draxum growled. “His first demonstration of that level of mystic power could have killed him had nobody else been with him, and the fact that he only got out with nerve damage is astounding to even the most dedicated yokai scholars. All records of interdimensional travel like that have killed the user before they’ve finished the spell or the user died shortly afterwards. Not to mention any other consequences of the space-time continuum. The spell that Michelangelo performed on you was a healing spell that woke you early from a coma you shouldn’t have come out of for another week at the least, and mostly resolved the major health issues keeping you in one, and came out of it with only reopened scars and his only aid being a channeling instrument.”

“English, please,” Leo snapped, but Mikey saw Leo’s eyes freeze over and the chill dancing behind them. He understood well enough.

So did Mikey.

“TL;DR,” Donnie summarized, “Mikey, the level of mystic power you put into that spell could have killed you.”

Dead silence stretched through the medbay, thin and taut and ready to snap at any moment. Donnie shivered and ran a hand down his back as the sentence left his mouth. Draxum looked down at his feet. Leo had gone entirely still, to the point where Mikey glanced over to see if he’d been living a dream and Leo was still asleep. The quiet horror in his brother’s eyes said it all.

And how did Mikey feel? He thought about it for a moment before realizing.

Entirely numb.

He didn’t have any kind of reaction - not scared, not upset, not anything, really. He hadn't even realized while he was playing just how bright the mystic power had been burning, just how at peace and happy he felt doing it. Mikey had played that song wishing for his brother back, and now as he was told he could have died…

I would have done it again. No matter if I explode or set on fire or turn to dust or whatever happens on a mystic overload.

I’d try to help Leo because he’s my brother.

Even if it could have cost everything.

He looked down as his bandaged arms, the scar tissue having cracked and bled while he was fidgeting with the bandages. They were beginning to soak through again, which was extremely uncomfortable against his scales, but he did his best to ignore it.

Absently, Mikey tried to summon up that spark of mystic power, and his scars faintly glowed and the lights flickered brighter for a moment.

Out of nowhere, Mike was yanked from his stupor by Leo wrapping his arms around him and pulling him into a hug.

“Goddammit, Mikey,” the slider muttered. Mikey carefully eased into the hug.

“It's fine, Leo, I’m right here,” the box turtle whispered.

“Michelangelo, your father and I have made the decision for your medical safety that you shouldn’t practice with your human instrument until your hands have scarred over properly,” Draxum said. He didn’t look over at the turtles as he spoke.

“What? Why?” Mikey demanded. “I’ve been getting better with it for weeks now and my hands have been mostly fine each time!”

“How long have you been using your powers after you were told not to?” Draxum asked.

“I was only portalling to the surface to practice a couple times, I didn’t even know I was activating them with the violin before today!” Mikey snapped.

Are they really gonna do this?

“Angelo, please,” Donnie said, his voice quieter than it had been before. “I know you don’t want it taken away, and I for one think its pretty f*cking cool you managed to learn that in what, a month and a half?”

A shimmer of pride rose in him as Mikey realized that he’d managed that. But the shimmer dimmed as Donnie kept talking.

“But I’m with Dad and Draxum on this for now - until you’ve got your mysticism more under control and your hands are healed, we can’t risk you accidentally doing something like this and overloading. Nobody wants something to happen to you, okay?”

Mikey paused.

Even after everything, they’re still treating me like a baby? Like I can't fend for myself? How can they when Leo was almost f*cking killed?

“What do you mean, you don’t want anything to happen to me?” he suddenly snapped. “Do you not remember what happened? Something happened to all of us! Why are you still treating me like I can't fend for myself?”

“Mikey, chill out,” Leo said, tightening his hold on the box shell a little more. “It’s not going to be a permanent thing, just ‘til your hands aren’t going to turn into a bloodfall every time you play it. Medic’s orders. Also, you are shouting in my ears and they are still very much sore.”

Mikey turned his gaze away from Donnie in confusion. “How are your ears sore? They’re in your head.”

“Getting the sh*t beat out of ya make you realize you can be injured in the weirdest spots,” Leo joked. Mikey gave a half-hearted grin, but the weight of the words settled deep in his stomach, simmering from fear to rage.

“Mikey, please let us do this for you,” Donnie said. “This isn’t babying, I promise, but we've all come to the decision that this is best to help you heal too. I’m going to pull out my own Dr. Feelings here and say that everyone is healing and we have to do what’s best for everyone.” Donnie mockingly shuddered. “Oh Pizza Supreme, the emotions are infecting me and my emotionally unavailable bad boy image.”

Mikey had two options for what to say. Either he agreed and didn’t complain, or he fought back and got forced.

There was a third option - lie and steal it back - but Mikey had met his lying quota for a long while. And he didn’t want anyone getting mad when they should have been focusing on getting better.

But he liked having something to do with his hands, something to create in place of his drawings. Mikey didn’t know how much longer he could stand being chained down and unable to do things he loved like spray-painting or drawing or cooking.

“Donnie I’ll lose my mind without something to do!” he begged. “Please, I promise I can be more careful!”

Draxum shook his head. “I am sorry, Michelangelo. This is for your health, and in these trying times, healing is something everyone wants to have, for themselves and others.”

“I say we let him keep it, Donnie,” Leo said. Surprise flitted through everyone as the slider made a painful effort to sit up and speak louder. “Angelo’s been practicing with it for almost a month and a half and he’s clearly got a knack for it. Plus, he woke me up with it. Double plus, Draxum, didn’t you say he could have died doing that? I feel like the only reason he didn’t turn into glitter doing it was because he was using the instrument. I mean, did you see the way the strings were glowing?”

Silence for a few seconds.

“I admit I didn’t notice that part,” Draxum said, “but you two are outnumbered two to six. In your democratic terms, a win by a landslide.”

Mikey couldn’t help but feel a waterfall of emotion run through him. Anger bubbled up under his scales, and he let out a few irritated hisses and chirps in Donnie’s direction.

“Michael, language!” Leo said with mock offense. Donnie’s brow somehow managed to furrow deeper and Mikey stormed out of the room.

The Lair dimmed as he closed and locked the door to his room. Mikey retreated into his shell, trying not to cry in frustration. Of course, right as he’d started feeling free, his brothers had to come in and baby him again. He didn’t even care that his hands were bloody and sore from it - he’d do it a hundred times if it meant doing his part and helping everyone.

Mikey would let himself fade away into the gentle notes of the songs if it meant his family could be healed and happy again.

Chapter 13: Memories on Torn Paper

Chapter Text

He would have been entirely fine with them taking away the violin if he’d had something else to do instead of thinking.

He also would have been entirely fine with it if it meant his mystic power wasn’t going to act up out of nowhere.

The first day without the violin practice was alright, albeit super boring because he didn’t have anything to do. Mikey wandered the Lair, sat with Leo, and debated sneaking out just to feel open air on his scales again. All in all, it wasn’t terrible.

The second day was much worse.

He woke up with his hands glimmering and bleeding slightly, and a few golden flecks floating serenely around his room. Mikey didn’t want to think about what that could mean, but he ended up thinking about it anyway.

Mikey sat in his room for the rest of the second day, just worrying about what it could mean that his mystic powers were activating without a command. He tuned out of the world, looping one song as the thoughts spiraled in his head. He didn’t really tune back in until he checked the time on his phone and saw that it had somehow gone from 12PM to 3AM in what felt like the span of 15 minutes.

Today was the third day, and it somehow was even worse.

Mikey absently flopped back into his bed, his headphones at the loudest volume he could tolerate, glaring at the fairy lights on his ceiling and half-wondering if he could melt the glass through the whirlwind of uneasy thoughts.

You know you probably can’t melt them. Why are you just sitting there?

Ah, there was Dr. Feelings.

I can still try.

You didn't answer. Why are you sitting in bed doing nothing?

Mikey flicked up the volume another notch. It was louder than he wanted, but it was anything to not think about anything.

About why you’re not helping anyone?

That wasn’t a familiar voice. But it was right. He wanted to get up and help but he didn’t want to move. It felt like too much effort.

Whispers of the thoughts started creeping in through the loud music, crawling to the forefront of his mind like disgusting vines.

A memory flashed behind his eyes, and he involuntarily closed them.

The inside of the tower, covered wall-to-floor-to-ceiling in living, pulsing flesh, in glowing, slitted eyes that followed his every move. Vines dripping from the floors above, flicking of their own will.

Pillars of flesh that still had hands, still had normal eyes and teeth, writhing and reaching out for him as he looked around. Torn jaws whispering garbled pleas for help and final words. Pin flesh covered limbs slowly moving, occasionally jerking around in ways an arm or leg shouldn’t move as bones snapped and changed.

Eyes, neon green and pink and human, all watching him from the depths of the fear-stained walls.

Mikey shot up and his eyelids tore open, cold adrenaline running through his scarred hands and down his shell. sh*t, he really didn’t want to think about that.

He dropped off the bed and grabbed a sheet of paper, his hands violently shivering as he grabbed hold of a marker. He tried to draw anything remotely cohesive, something with pattern, but as he kept making shaky lines and violently dragging the marker across the page he realized what he'd made.

It wasn’t the best sketch, nowhere close to one, but it was easy enough to identify.

Another memory threw itself up.

Gleaming, cold black metal rushing toward them, the impact throwing them off the shattered windows and into the air.

The suit sitting on a throne made from a massive skull, of what he didn’t know. Held up by insidious black sinew as the suit taunted his brother, its movements graceful and haunting.

He almost cried out, and he immediately tore up the page to the best of his ability. He grabbed another one and tried again, trying to shove away the memories and instead make something happy.

That was his job, wasn’t it?

Mikey’s new drawing was no happier. It was a rough, terrifying image of the old building where the portal had been made.

Rushing magenta light flowing over and through the ruins.

The sound of the Kraang screeching tearing through him, draining him of the familiar warm gold energy that had been with him for years.

Mikey shoved the paper away and tried again, his lines becoming more frantic as memory after memory lurched into the forefront of his thoughts. He barely noticed the lights in the room brightening or his hands glowing brightly.

The sounds of the tank being crushed in the Kraang’s tendrils as he held onto the hope that he could portal him and his brother out of it.

The dank, disgusting subway station, tendrils of wet flesh slithering across the floor and itself.

The computer room of the ship, the control hub grotesque and misshapen, pulsing over and over as it became clear that this was the ship’s heart.

Watching his brother be overrun by glowing blue and purple tendrils, digging into the softshell and violently dragging him into the ship’s core.

The massive eye that stared down at them as he watched his brothers fight below the Kraang’s throne, blood being drawn as some of the sharp strikes caught Leo’s face.

Listening over and over in his head Leo’s begging for Casey to shut the portal. The audio crackled and buzzed out as he heard his brother being beaten to death, the sound fizzing out as the sky lit up in beautiful explosions, and half the ship crashed into the city below, more color emanating from the destruction below.

With every memory a new, fearfully created sketch was produced, the scenes and small hints of color bursting to life under his glowing palms and his blood and his tears.

Panic had overridden his senses, and after the last drawing he couldn’t help but shove away everything and pull himself into his shell, almost fully shutting the hinge that it had and encasing himself just barely in the dark. Tears ran down his face, drifting off into gentle gold as he cried.

Why couldn’t he make anything good or happy? It used to come so easily to him - where had that easygoing helper gone?

He needed to be able to do this. For his family, so they could be happy, so they could heal-

But what about you?

The thought was sudden, so jarring, that Mikey’s brain stopped entirely at the roadblock that was the small thought.

I don’t know. My family needs me. When they’re better then I’ll think about that.

Faintly, he heard the subway car door open, but he didn’t pay much attention to it as he grappled with the new question.

What about him?

He didn’t even realize the outside world was doing things and that someone was there until a hesitant hand was laid on his shell, warm and familiar unlike the memories that were storming through his mind.

“Mikey? Are you there?” someone asked. For a second Mikey didn’t recognize the voice, still too distracted by the thoughts in their river. Barrel a moment later, he noticed that someone was talking to him.

He hesitantly poked his head out, and brought one arm out to quickly dry his eyes. The owner of the familiar voice gasped a little and carefully took his wrist, and he watched as a dark gentle hand held his own and rubbed his back comfortingly.

“What’s all this?” April asked, gently gesturing toward the scattered, horrific sketches across the floor. He couldn't see her face, but it didn't take a genius to tell by the tone of her voice that she was entirely terrified.

“Oh, don’t worry, that’s nothing,” he said, but even to Mikey’s ears his hollow voice carried no truth. The words were so quiet and empty that he felt shame burn through him as painfully as the mystic scars.

“Are you sure?” April’s voice was barely a whisper as she picked up one of the harsh scribbles and looked it over. Mikey closed his eyes, not wanting any more memories to resurface.

He couldn’t say anything here that wouldn’t make his big sister suspicious. But he didn't want to tell the truth either.

“Yeah, I was just practicing my drawings again,” Mikey said. The lie burned through him, and more tears faintly appeared at the edge of his vision, and it took everything he had not to break down sobbing on the spot as his chest twisted up and his throat closed.

April rubbed his hand. “What is with this family and being terrible liars?” she whispered almost to herself, before picking up the rest of the drawings and moving them off the floor. Now only the blank pages were left scattered across the subway car, the gentle white inviting, begging for something to be made across it.

But Mikey was done with creating for today. It had only brought him pain and fear - maybe tomorrow everything would go back to normal and he could not worry anymore.

April sat down next to him again and pulled out her phone, always keeping a hand on his shell. It helped him not fall away again, kept him in his room and didn’t let him fall away into some past nightmare.

Eventually, the calm washed over him, and he fell asleep again.

Mikey didn’t know how long he slept, but when he half woke up later, he was in a turtle pile in the medbay next to Leo’s bed. It was warm enough that he didn’t even remember to be mad at them.

He just settled in again and let himself sleep.

Chapter 14: Golden Petals Fall Freer When They've Been Burnt

Chapter Text

The restrictions being put into place for everyone’s safety were starting to get ridiculous, in Mikey’s opinion.

For one, Splinter had said that the turtles weren’t to leave the Lair to go to the surface anymore, to prevent further incidents from occurring while everyone was recovering. It pissed off pretty much everyone, but the past few weeks had been nothing but a clear indicator that they still needed time before they went out to cover their hero responsibilities again. Sure, Mikey didn’t have a reason to leave the Lair anymore, with taking care of his brothers, but he could still be pissed about it, so sue him.

Another thing that had been put into place by the adults was a ban on using anything mystic. Draxum had mostly directed that one at Mikey, but he also forbade his brothers from using mystic spells until they were all healed and they could properly start training on how to use them. That one just felt painfully barbed.

He had never intended to use his power while practicing! That had just slipped out, in a second nature way.

But the new restriction that pissed Mikey off the most was that nothing in the Lair was to be closed off anymore. That meant doors couldn’t be locked, blinds couldn’t be used unless you were changing, soundproofing was disabled everywhere. Essentially, there was less privacy. Not enough for it to be considered weird, just enough for it to feel horrifically suffocating because that meant anyone could just walk into anyone else’s room for a check-in completely unannounced.

The week was going by horribly as well. Mikey would never let his brothers see it, but those few days without his instrument were strangely crushing as thoughts and memories and feelings assembled themselves in an endless typhoon in his head, and nothing he did could shake it off.

Drawing? Absolutely not, that had ended awfully the last time he tried and April had walked in on him having a meltdown. He didn’t want his brothers seeing the hell that had turned out to be - he’d hidden the drawings immediately after April left.

Spray-painting? Entirely a no-go, considering his hands were as bad as they had been in the day just after the invasion and he couldn’t hold a spray can for sh*t. Plus, he had a feeling the paintings would turn out the same way as the drawings, and since he couldn’t leave, he didn’t think his brothers would appreciate the reminders painted on the walls.

Cooking was just straight up out of the question. He loved doing it, loved preparing meals for his family and sitting with them to eat breakfast. With Mikey’s hands the way they were, if he could barely scribble out horrific drawings, no way would he be able to make the delicacies he once could.

All he could really do was help out his family. That was Mikey’s role, his job, (was it really?) what he was supposed to do. Especially after the sh*tshow that had been those three days, the three days that had felt like a long, endless nightmare.

It still felt that way. Mikey sometimes wandered the Lair and would flinch as the phantom sound of the persistent heart monitor echoed in his tympanum. Some days he rounded corners with a feeling of dread, half expecting malevolent magenta eyes to stare back from the corridor.

Some days he wandered out into the tunnels, a creeping feeling chasing up his spine that with the next step everything would suddenly be covered in the wretched pink biomass, until the feeling became too much and he would flee back to the safety of home.

Some days he entered the medbay expecting to see Leo lying there as though he’d never woken up.

Some days he went into Donnie’s lab, able to see nothing but living, crawling tendrils covering the walls, the once-comforting and familiar glowing purples and blues of his brother’s tech distant and cold.

Some days it felt like the nightmare had never really ended.

So on those days where everything was too much, he broke the rules.

Mikey didn’t actually break any rules - he wasn’t going to the surface. Nor was he wandering the subway tunnels the way he usually did.

He smiled to himself as he walked the busy streets, the lights and sounds a wonderful distraction from his thoughts.

They’d all said no going to the surface. Nobody had said a word about the Hidden City.

Mikey traversed the crowd easily, keeping his face and scales covered by a black mask and the rest of his clothes. Yokai sellers left and right called out to people in the crowd, shouting about their wares and calling others over to examine them.

He wandered for a few more minutes before something caught his eye. A small, multicolored gem on a jeweler’s stand. In the yellow and green lights of the hanging city lanterns, the jewel was refracting all sorts of colors. Vaguely, he remembered what it was called from Donnie’s geology phase (before he said the science sucked.)

The opal was on a silver necklace, with other, tinder opals in the shape of pearls hanging from it as well. It was absolutely amazing to look at, but as his eyes flicked up to the price he audibly sucked in a breath.

It made sense, but holy sh*t, that was a lot of money!

Mikey turned and walked away, moving away to mindlessly drift between stands, occasionally checking out items before wandering away again.

He’d done this before, when his family had come on that big Hidden City trip a couple years back (and when everyone got arrested for reasons he still had never been told about). It was mind-numbing, easily distracting from any thoughts that he didn’t particularly want in his head at that moment in time.

Mikey didn’t know how long he spent wandering the streets, but a buzz from his phone alerted him that Raph had noticed him missing. The text was worded calmly, but judging by how many there were from other family members he was grounded for life when he got to the Lair.

He quickly sent his own text about being home quickly, and made for the exit when a commotion started up behind him.

He couldn’t risk being late back home - he’d just be punished worse for breaking the rules - but something about it was setting off alarm bells in his head, something telling him that he needed to stop whatever was going on because it would be a massive problem if he didn’t.

So he turned and followed behind, putting his stealth to use as he followed three thugs through the crowded streets, somewhat annoyed that he couldn’t roof-hop here because of his hands.

The thugs vanished into an alleyway, and it took a few seconds before Mikey could get close enough to the entrance to hear what they were saying.

“... certain that’s the specimen we’re meant to take to the mistress?”

He peeked around the corner to see three hooded figures holding some sort of jar. It was shaking rather violently, as though there were something inside it that very much did not want to be there.

“I’m certain.” The tallest thief hissed. “Nothing else on this planet looks like a living vine, does it?”

More alarm bells started ringing in his head. Sure, plants could move on their own, but something about the way the thief had said it was sending shivers down his spine.

“How can we be sure you didn’t grab an overly aggressive or enchanted venus flytrap?” the first one snapped. Whoever it was, they were doubtful. “Maybe we missed what we were meant to grab because you don’t know what it looks like!”

“I know what it looks like,” the third one said. He was the quietest, but somehow his presence felt looming and terrifying, and every instinct he had told him to hide because there was a predator nearby.

“Take it out,” the thief hissed. “I was on the surface during the event that brought it here. I’ll know if we truly grabbed what the mistress needs.”

The alarm bells were no longer ringing to keep investigating - something was telling Mikey that he really, really wasn’t going to like whatever was in the jar.

And that was two really’s.

“We can’t, it's infectious. It’ll kill you if you touch it,” the first thief protested. “At least, from what I've been told.”

Infectious, murderous plants?

Every instinct Mikey had was screaming for him to run, get out of here. But he stayed anyway, because he was too enraptured by whatever might be in the jar.

The quiet thief put on a glove and reached into the open jar, pulling out a hissing, screeching mass of something disgusting and drippy.

It was horrific to look at, and horrifically familiar.

There was no mistake. The glowing neon green eyes, the writhing pink flesh, the ear-splitting screeches - he knew what that was.

“That’s the specimen we needed. Good job. Let’s get this to the mistress.”

Memories gently began to flood into Mikey’s mind, the memories he’d come here to escape. A rush of cold ran through him, and in his building panic he didn’t notice the mystic spark beginning to grow stronger.

The thieves began to move away, the fleshy vine in their possession being dropped back into the jar.

A single resolve emerged from the fear.

Get rid of the thing.

Destroy it.

Kill it.

The mystic power surged, and Mikey was moving before he knew it. The thieves were on the ground in the blink of an eye, howling in fear at the sight.

He didn’t notice them. His eyes were only trained on the shattered remains of the jar, and the disgusting tumor that glared back at him without remorse. It was almost taunting, as though the little flecks of neon green recognized and remembered him.

The familiar warmth of the power turned to a burning sensation - it was no longer gentle and easygoing but enraged and ready to burn the thing before it without mercy.

The creature hadn’t shown his family mercy.

Why should I?

He screamed, and a shockwave of power let loose from the turtle. The tumor shriveled up into charred waste, the piercing green crumbling to dust. The thieves, who had been injured by his rushing in, howled as the fiery wave passed through them, and as it reached them they crumbled into a shower of gentle golden dust.

It fizzled out as quickly as it came, and Mikey’s senses came back as the fear slowly began to subside. Everything began to come back into focus, and it was in that second that he realized he’d incinerated the thing.

Mikey didn’t dare move for a moment, in case it was pretending. But the charcoaled outline of where the thing had been all but confirmed that it was dead.

He turned, but the thieves were nowhere to be found. All that was left of them were piles of golden dust.

The fire was not yet dimmed, and the mystic power was still thrumming through his veins. The cracks in his scales were glowing like a streetlamp in the darkened alleyway, blood dripping through the bandages again and fizzling out to the same flecks that scattered the ground below.

To any outside observer who could have looked down the alleyway, they would have seen nothing but piles of mystic dust scattered around a bleeding, frankly terrifying looking turtle.

But nobody came.

A wave of dizziness washed over the box shell, and Mikey took that as a sign that he needed to get home.

No way would he get home before something bad happened - he could feel that in his gut. So instead, he opted to use what was left of the fire and portal into the subway tunnels.

By the time he’d gotten to the Lair entrance that was the closest to the Hidden City, his mind was somewhere entirely different. He walked into the Lair, past his annoyed and terrified family members and went straight to his room, retracting into his shell as he tried to get the dizziness to wear off.

Mikey played the scenario over and over, trying to figure out what had even made it possible for him to do something like that.

And every time, it came around to what Draxum had said a week before - that his mystic power had been channeled through the violin, and most large spells were dangerous enough to kill him if he wasn't careful.

Was that what that was? Mikey wondered absently. Did my power get out of control and do that?

He worried into the late hours of the night, ignoring anyone who came in to check on him or chew him out about sneaking away. Every time, he’d hide in his shell until they left and close the door after them. He really did not want to face his family with the thought of the Kraang remnants on his mind. If he slipped up then his family would lock down the Lair without question.

Plus, it would only make them worry more. And they already had too much to worry about - why add more troubles onto their plate? They’d seemed terrified when he’d walked back into the Lair, so that was already a mission failed there.

Yeah, I'll just do my best to avoid them for now. Then they won’t have to worry about me, and I won't do that thing where I end up telling the truth because I hate lying to them. It's not lying if they don’t ask, right?

Mikey sighed and closed his eyes, letting sleep crawl over him. Tomorrow will surely be better.

Like nothing had even happened.

Chapter 15: Small Talk Is Served Best At 3AM

Chapter Text

The days kept passing. After the incident in the Hidden City Mikey had been grounded (as expected) but the whole thing had deterred Mikey from leaving his room.

He’d gone over everything in his head and came to the conclusion that leaving his room might not be great. If he was in the room with one of his brothers, if his power overloaded again, then they might turn into dust like the crooks in the alleyway.

Not that he wanted to think about that.

Not that he should be thinking about it.

His family didn’t know what had happened - all they knew was Mikey had snuck out and he’d come home with his hands bleeding like a river. It wasn’t a great look - he’d have preferred that nobody noticed that part, but being half-loopy on magic he had barely noticed and simply shrugged off their efforts to help. He didn’t want them to worry about it.

So, Mikey did his best to keep up the facade that everything was okay. He could tell his family wasn’t fully buying it, but he still tried.

It didn’t exactly help that he kept having nightmares. Nor did the fact that they kept getting worse. Most nights now the box turtle would just wander the Lair.

It was on one of those nights that Mikey caught someone attempting to sneak around the Lair. And for once, it wasn’t because he was doing something along the same lines.

He walked into the main room of the Lair, not expecting anything - everyone was asleep anyways, and nobody would have suspected that he wasn’t.

So when Mikey heard a cough in the dark behind him, he yelped and immediately popped into his shell, which in any case was justifiable considering nobody else was awake.

Or so he thought.

He poked his head out cautiously, looking around and trying to locate the source of the noise. It didn’t take much time before his eyes, adjusted to the dark, caught sight of someone leaning against one of the support pillars.

“Who’s there?” Mikey demanded. Absently, he let a bit of the spark go, and a small fire appeared on the floor in front of him.

The orange glow illuminated an IV tube, connected to a turtle with yellow and red stripes. Dark blue eyes met pale blue, before Mikey picked himself up off the floor.

“Leo, just what are you doing out of bed?” he demanded. “You're still recovering, you should be lying down! How did you even get out of the medbay with two broken legs?”

“I know, I know,” Leo muttered as Mikey rushed over. “But I hate being stuck in bed all the time, y’know? There’s nothing to do? Besides, I wanted to take a breath away from all the machines.”

Leo wasn’t entirely lying, but Mikey got the sense that his brother was outside the medbay for other reasons than just stretching his legs. His brother senses told him so, along with the slight wavering of Leo’s ninpo somewhere deep down.

“You still shouldn’t be out of bed,” Mikey said as the mystic fire on the floor fizzled out, leaving the two in near total darkness. The dim lights on the walls just barely lit up Leo’s guilty expression.

“And what are you gonna do about it? I’m already out of the medbay,” Leo growled.

“Nothing. I don’t mind the company, I guess. Just wanted to know why.”

They both stood around for a second before Leo shifted and winced. Mikey sighed.

“Do you want help over to the couch?”

Leo nodded. “Yes, please. I may have walked all the way out here but I forgot to take some painkillers and this really hurts.”

Mikey giggled and put an arm under Leo's, taking hold of the IV and carefully walking his brother over to the couch. Leo’s occasional winces as he walked didn’t go unnoticed by the box turtle.

Mikey did his best not to drop Leo onto the couch, although it was a bit tricky considering how much bigger his brother was than him. A visible wave of pain crossed Leo’s face as he sat, and Mikey felt his own grimace slip onto his face.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I’ll grab you some painkillers, if it helps anything.”

“No, I’ll be okay.” Leo waved him off. “At this point it’s only everything that hurts, but not as much as before. Now sit.”

Mikey plopped down on the couch next to Leo, but remembered entirely too late that his hands still hurt like hell. They landed palm down on the cushion with force, sending sudden jolts through them and earning a hiss of pain.

“Oh sh*t, you alright?” Leo asked, tilting his head.

“Yep, totally fine, just my hands feeling like they’ve been hit with lightning.”

The slider snorted, before leaning over in what Mikey could only assume was exhaustion.

Perfect. Leo was more honest when he was tired.

“So, why are you actually up and awake?” Mikey asked, carefully putting a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “I know you wouldn’t actually walk this far just because you wanted to stretch your legs, not with everyone henning you.”

“I mean, I just did it, so temporarily everyone can suck a lemon,” Leo’s voice didn’t have the same air of confidence he was trying to produce - it was hollower, less convincing. Mikey was about to ask him again when the slider continued.

“I also wanted to try and find your violin. I don’t know where they’re keeping it and I thought the middle of the night was the perfect time for a heist.”

“A heist with broken legs?” Mikey joked. Inside his head, though, his mind was reeling in a whirlpool of surprise. Leo had gotten up, risked the wrath of the mother hens and being in pain, just to find his violin? To any outsider, it didn’t seem like something Leo would do.

But Mikey was not an outsider, and he was Dr. Feelings. It was absolutely something Leo would do.

“I mean, April told me about the heist you pulled off with injured hands and haywire mystic powers, so I’d say we’re both in the same boat for midnight heists.”

A few moments of silence stretched between them in the dark.

“Why were you trying to find my violin?” Mikey asked, a small hint of suspicion climbing in the back of his mind.

Leo sighed and leaned back into the couch, and Mikey heard him biting back another hiss of pain. Presumably so he wouldn’t go get the medications.

That was typical Leo for you.

“I may be injured, Angie, but I didn’t go blind. I can see you’re miserable without it. And sure, your hands definitely still need to heal, but April mentioned some incident the other day, and you came back from the Hidden City a couple days ago glowing like a lava lamp and your arms were covered in blood. You are also currently awake at an ungodly hour of the night, so I’d say that doesn’t exactly qualify as ‘fine’ or ‘healing’, in my professional medical opinion.”

Mikey snickered. “You say professional opinion and yet you are the worst patient on the planet, Leon.”

“Ah, sh*t. You’ve got me there.”

They giggled for a few moments, the dim glow of the hanging lights in the Lair casting gentle blues and purples over the walls. It was calming, for once in a while. Like nothing had happened, that everything was fine in that moment.

“Now, I know your hands were bleeding from the power,” Leo admitted, “but this handsome face cannot lie when I say that my first thought was that you just straight up went to the Hidden City and murdered someone.”

Mikey laughed along with Leo, but his mind froze dead in its tracks as details he hadn’t noticed from his visit to the city started to surface.

I really did kill them.

Holy sh*t.

I didn’t even mean to do it! It just happened!

A gentle prod on his shoulder jolted him back to the Lair, just as the memory of the overload’s cause started to creep in.

“Mikey? You’re glowing again, are you okay?”

Mikey flicked his eyes toward his hands - and yep, there it was. The shimmering glow of mystic power in his scars. His fingers were almost entirely lit up, and as Mikey checked, his markings were glowing too.

It was definitely going to be a lot harder to pretend he was fine if his powers kept lighting him up like a christmas tree every time he remotely thought about what had happened.

“Okay, I don’t mean to panic you, but your eyes are glowing too. Not our usual ‘ using our mystic powers/ninpo’ glow,” the slider added, “the whites of your eyes are… Well, they’re definitely not white anymore. I think they’re black.”

“Leo, if this is a prank, it is not funny,” Mikey said, feeling a rush of anxiety wash through him. His hands started to shiver again (he hated it he hated it so much) and the glowing brightened a little bit.

He looked over at Leo in a panic, and to his shock, Leo’s stripes were faintly glowing too. The reds and yellows stood out among the gentle blue and purple, and as Mikey faintly tapped into the ninpo a wave of blue stress hit him.

“Maybe you should look in a mirror?” Leo suggested.

“Yeah, in a second,” Mikey muttered. “But you’re glowing too - not to this degree by any means, just a little bit.”

Leo nodded, but the facial features illuminated by the red and yellow were twisted into a nervous frown.

Mikey’s brother senses were tingling again. This time he didn’t even care that his power was active, although he was careful not to touch Leo in case he spontaneously dusted or something else awful happened. He looked Leo dead in the eyes, and the slider shifted uncomfortably.

“Leo, I’m not stupid,” Mikey whispered. “I can tell you’re being bugged by something that’s not my violin or needing to stretch or this whole situation.”

Mikey absently remembered the fact that Leo had a habit of being unable to sleep often usually due to…

“Is it nightmares? Is that why you can’t sleep?”

Leo stiffened.

That was all Mikey needed to know.

“I don’t want to ask about your nightmares if it’ll make you uncomfortable,” Mikey said.

If they’re anything like mine, then Leo won’t talk about them.

“You could call it that,” Leo muttered. “‘Sides, it's not fun being alone at night either.”

Mikey understood that. As much as he hated that he did, he understood perfectly.

Silence stretched long between them, before Leo carefully leaned over and rested a head on Mikey’s shoulder, the spots still glowing brightly in the dark.

“Can we stay here a bit longer?” his older brother whispered. “I don’t want to go back.”

I don’t want to go back.

If the nightmares were like anything Mikey thought they were, no doubt it was the prison dimension his brother was talking about.

“Yeah sure. We can stay.”

Mikey glanced over at the IV drip as Leo gratefully let his head lean onto the box shell’s shoulder. It still had enough to the point where it wouldn’t need to be changed until morning.

He’d sit here for as long as Leo needed.

This ended up being a bit of a regrettable choice, as before Mikey knew it the slider was passed out on his shoulder.

Sleep was beginning to tug on his eyes as well, and for a moment longer Mikey looked down at his hands and markings, glowing a warm orange in the darkness of the Lair. it wasn’t as bright as before - nowhere near it, actually.

Mikey thanked the Pizza Supreme in the sky that his power had settled for the night, before lapsing into sleep as well.

And he didn’t have a single nightmare.

Chapter 16: Gentle Dawns (and very burnt eggs)

Chapter Text

Mikey woke up first, and found himself surrounded in a turtle pile. Donnie had an arm over him, and Raph was stretched over the back of the couch and half on the subway floor. Small streams of sunlight dropped in from the glass roof over the stairs, giving the morning a gentle glow. The golden shine was calming, and the faint sounds of construction crews echoed through the Lair. Mikey could have sat there for the rest of time and just existed.

A growl from his stomach returned him to the present.

Right, yeah. He was hungry.

Maybe I could try making something that’s not just cereal today. Like scrambled eggs. That sounds better than cereal.

Mikey carefully scooted off the couch, being extra careful to make sure Leo wouldn’t fall over and potentially get hurt. Sure, they were couch cushions, but Leo’s bones were still hella fragile right now, not to mention the healing bruises and cuts.

After triple checking that nobody would get hurt if they fell sideways or forward, Mikey scampered off to the kitchen. It was empty at this hour - not much of a surprise, considering it was 7AM when he checked the clock.

His scars twinged as he set to work getting what he needed for scrambled eggs, quietly notifying Mikey that they were bleeding. A quick glance down at the fresh bandages showed only the tiniest spots of red. It would be fine if he was careful.

He turned on the stove and set the pan down, dropping a bit of butter on it. It was trickier to spread with the constant shivering, but he made it work. Cracking the eggs was the harder part - he ended up breaking several in the process of just trying to open two.

At some point, he finally managed to get the eggs into the pan. A small buzz of relief coursed through him, and Mikey turned away to check his phone.

Scrolling through his notifications, however, was unfortunately his downfall - and just as unfortunately, the end of his scrambled eggs. He got lost in the scrolling, and before long, a sharp, stinging scent filled his nose.

Oh, sh*t sh*t sh*t sh*t-

Mikey’s train of thought cut itself off as he fumbled for the pan handle, and the burnt eggs dropped all over the kitchen floor. He panicked, half trying to catch the pan and half trying to salvage the eggs, and before he realized it hot metal made contact with his palms.

“OW, f*ck!” he shouted, dropping the pan immediately. It was on a collision course for his feet, but before it hit, a large hand snatched the handle and put it back on the stove.

He looked up to see Raph’s worried eye trained on his hands.

Well, sh*t.

“I’m sorry, I was just trying to make breakfast, and I forgot to check the pan and then everything started dropping and-”

Mikey was cut off as Raph carefully took his wrists and flipped them over. “Did’ya burn yourself badly? Do I need to get anything for it - oh, shoot, you’re bleeding a little too.”

Mikey’s entire brain flipped over. Raph wasn’t mad that he’d made a mess? He wasn’t mad about him dropping an f-bomb? He wasn’t mad about the fact he was using his hands when he was supposed to be healing them?

Raph took a few more seconds to look over Mikey’s hands before speaking again.

“It’s not bad - no more scars for your hands, thank Pizza Supreme,” Raph muttered under his breath. “Now, what were you trying to do?”

“Trying to make breakfast,” the box shell grumbled. “But I forgot to actually scramble the eggs for too long and they burnt. I panicked trying to get it off the stove, I hit the pan, and now there’s eggs everywhere.”

Raph snickered, and Mikey faked an offended gasp. “How dare you laugh? I was trying my very hardest, dear brother!”

“I can see that- ow, okay, okay, mercy!” Raph laughed as Mikey jokingly punched him a few times. Sharp stings ran through his hands, but they weren’t as bad as last night, thankfully. It meant they were easier to hide.

“Fine, I shall spare you for now,” Mikey said, dropping back into a chair, wincing as his hands hit the table. “But don’t you dare make fun of me for that ever again!”

“Of course not. Also, where’d you go?” Raph turned his head toward the kitchen door in confusion, and all Mikey could see was his blind side. He’d forgotten that Raph was still getting used to not having an eye on that side and he often panicked if he couldn’t see the person he was talking to for too long.

“Sorry, blind side,” Mikey alerted, and Raph turned to the table. The large turtle sat next to him, absently waving his hand in the air trying to clear the smoke.

They sat there quietly for a few minutes, with Raph continuing to try and get rid of the smoke while Mikey kind of just sat and stared at the clock. He vaguely felt his eyes following the second handle as it ticked by, second after second…

A heavy hand on his shell jolted him out of his timekeeping.

“You alright there, big man?’

His train of thought derailed immediately.

Half of him wanted to say he was fine, that everything was going to be okay and that there was nothing to worry about. To lie to his family, again.

But there was a quieter part, a part that no matter how small it was seemed to scream louder than the rest of his thoughts. That no, nothing was fine and he was going to lose it if he didn’t do something with his hands soon.

But that wasn’t what Raph needed to hear right now.

“I’ll be alright,” he said. Not exactly lying, not exactly being truthful. A healthy (absolutely not healthy, screamed his head) middle, if you asked him.

Raph’s eye ridges furrowed into a familiar chasm, before he sat down next to him.

“Mikey, your markings are glowing. I’m calling the biggest pile of bullsh*t you’ve ever seen,” the snapper said, his gaze steady.

The entire fact that Raph was trying to worm the truth out whizzed by him as Raph’s other words sunk in. Mikey gasped in mock surprise, a grin crossing his face.

“Did you just cuss, Raphael?” Mikey asked. “No, this is impossible!”

“Hey, I know cuss words, you guys just shouldn’t be saying them!” Raph snapped, but a light was in his eye that Mikey hadn’t seen in what felt like ages.

It was a miracle to see.

Raph grinned, baring his sharp teeth in full while Mikey giggled. The sun gently dripped in from beyond the kitchen’s entrance as the two laughed, comforting and warm golden light covering the floor.

“Can I try breakfast again?” Mikey asked.

“Of course buddy, but I’m helping out this time,” Raph insisted.

“Oh come on, Raph, I’ve got it under control-”

Raph raised an eye ridge, in perhaps the most accurate impression of Donnie’s ‘are you being serious’ face he’d ever seen from anyone other than the softshell.

“Okay, fine, you can help,” Mikey said. He nudged the snapper’s side and added, “Just be sure to make it so that the carnivores keep their sh*t separate from us vegetarians.”

“Oi, watch the language.”

“So it was fine when I said f*ck but not when I say sh*t?”

“No, that’s not what-”

“f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck,” Mikey chirped.

“Oh my GOD, MIKEY!” Raph shouted “STOP IT.”

The box shell grinned mischievously and started singing loudly. “OH YE OLDE MOTHERf*ckERY-”

Raph gently hit the back of his head, but they both stopped dead when they heard Leo shout from the living room.

“OH MY GOD, WE CAN f*ckING HEAR YOU!” they heard him yell hoarsely. “Okay, well, maybe not Donnie, he’s still out cold, but I CAN.”

“I can hear them too, Nardo,” Mikey heard the softshell grumble. “And you shut it, you’re loud as hell-”

“I wasn’t the one singing about motherf*ckers-”

Raph sighed and went into the living room, and Mikey followed in suit. It was probably for the best, to make sure the twins didn’t try to kill each other.

He saw Donnie and Leo on the couch, with Raph standing with his arms crossed over them both.

“Both of you, mind your language, Mikey is right there,” Raph said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Last I heard, Angelo was the one basically doing an opera in the kitchen of pure swears, so I’d say using him as an argument is off limits, big brother,” Leo retorted with a grin.

Raph sighed, but it wasn’t an angry sigh - it was almost a sigh of relief.

Makes sense, his mind whispered. After the sh*t that went down? Even if Raph was pissed off before, a month-long coma would make anyone miss Leo being an asshole.

Mikey knew he certainly had missed it. Judging by the slight smile on Donnie’s face, even he had missed it.

“Hey, how about we all get some breakfast now? I am starving!” Mikey declared. A growl from his stomach reinforced his question.

“Of course, little brother,” Raph chuckled. The snapper turned to Leo and Donnie. “Do you two need any help?”

“I mean, my legs are kinda broken,” Leo joked. “Hurt like heck walking over here the first time.”

“Yea, why were you out of bed anyway?” Donnie demanded.

“I’ll tell ya later,” the slider said.

Mikey smiled to himself at the sight of his family up and about, moving around and chatting. It was almost like normalcy had returned to the Lair.

He’d forgotten how much he’d missed this. How much he needed it, after everything.

Before long, the four were off to the kitchen, and it didn’t take long before an almost lively conversation filled the Lair as the dawn light rose through the windows.

Chapter 17: Mystic Chains Don't Mix With Flesh

Chapter Text

Another week passed. The days seemed to get longer and longer; every night was the longest night of Mikey’s life as the nightmares and the outbursts of mystic power slowly started to grow and grow. He was mostly doing his own bandages now - he had seen just how bad his injuries were getting because of the mystic power, and he didn’t want any of his brother’s worrying too much about him.

Everything seemed to be slowly returning to normal. Raph was getting better and navigating and working with his missing eye; Donnie was told he could start wearing his heavier battleshells again (despite the fact that he’d been wearing them anyway without the adults' knowledge).

Casey and April were coming to visit the Lair more often, along with Cassandra occasionally tagging along.

Even Leo seemed to be getting better, at least physically. He was walking around with crutches, and he wasn’t nearly as out of breath with every sentence he said. To Mikey, Leo no longer looked like he was about to shrivel up and collapse, which was better than anything.

But the slider still wasn’t smiling as often, still wasn’t making as many jokes as he could have been. He’d even refrained from taunting Donnie, which alone set off all of Mikey’s Dr Feelings alerts, but for the moment Mikey didn’t have the energy to confront him on it.

It seemed like everyone was starting to recover.

So why wasn’t he?

Admittedly, he hadn’t been sleeping well, as his daily walks around the Lair in an effort to find his violin (and ward off the memories, memories that kept ruthlessly assaulting him night after night) were proving to be less fruitful than he’d thought they would be. Most mornings, when he woke up, he wouldn’t get out of bed until he could smell breakfast.

It was straining, trying not to lose control around his family. At this point, the only thing keeping the mystic power away from them was his fear of accidentally hurting them like he’d done the smugglers in the Hidden City.

Mikey woke up that morning absolutely exhausted. He’d spent nearly three hours last night just scouring the Lair for any potential hiding places, and at this point concluded it was either in Splinter’s room (where he was not nearly desperate enough to check… yet) or in Donnie’s lab in a safe of some kind. The latter seemed more likely, but Mikey knew Donnie’s security system and it required a voice activated password, among other things he didn’t know about. Absolutely no way was he going to try that.

No matter what he tried, he couldn’t find the damn thing.

An annoyed chirr left his throat. All he wanted now was to sleep, but that was unfortunately out of the question because everyone else was awake and already doing things. That meant he needed to be awake too.

Oh Pizza Supreme, damn it.

Okay, new plan, he thought. I get up and pretend like I haven’t been fully exhausted for weeks on end, then try to not talk to anyone before dinner. Yeah, that’s better than nothing.

Are you sure this is a good idea?

Mikey’s eyes blinked open in surprise. There was that little voice again, that tiny whisper in the back of his mind.

They’ll notice if you just suddenly start avoiding them.Why not just tell them what’s bugging you?

Mikey sat up almost immediately, hissing at the wall of his room and trying to keep the memories down. “No way. They’re already dealing with too much - I can’t do that to them.”

Ever so silently, it whispered again.

But what about you?

“Shut up!” he snapped out loud, before clamping his mouth shut in case something heard him.

In case someone heard him. Why did he think something instead?

It didn’t matter. Someone would get suspicious if he was in bed any longer than he already had been.

Mikey chirred again, but left his room with a smile plastered across his face.

He was greeted with almost instant chaos. Even from down the halls, he recognized the sounds of a Hamato breakfast squabble.

“Come on, Raph, I don’t need help! I can feed myself!”

“Leo, that’s a lie, you just got off the IV drip. Your arms are almost as bad as - Donnie, oh my god, take off your heavy battle shell, you’ve been wearing it all week.”

“My dearest older brother, as a valued member of this family, I respect your opinion,” Donnia said, “But for this morning? Screw you, Raph.”

“OI! LANGUAGE, JEez.”

Mikey entered the kitchen to a scene of just about pure chaos. Raph was sitting at the table with Leo and Donnie, his worry chasm yawning on his face, while Leo was leaning away as much as he physically could. Donnie was on his phone, while April and Casey Jr were attempting to figure out breakfast.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” April called. “What’s up with you? Normally you’re the first person awake.”

Mikey grinned wider in an attempt to cover his wince. “Late night, I wanted to get some more sleep.” He shook himself and his eyes automatically drew to the kitchen counter, which was a disaster. “What are you guys making?”

“We were trying to make pancakes, but Comma- April has apparently never heard of stirring slowly,” Casey joked. The boy’s face was covered in white flour, with a smile that reached his eyes plastered across his face.

“Well, I’m sorry for wanting to make the pancakes faster!” April snapped, but her voice was excited and relaxed. “It usually works when I’m cooking with Mikey!”

“And how many times have you two turned the kitchen into a danger zone of flour when that happens?” Leo asked.

“Approximately 87 times, brother.” Donnie looked up from his phone to see the absolute insanity that was the kitchen counters. When Mikey looked at him questioningly, Donnie simply added, “I record everything, remember?”

Right. Donnie always recorded everything.

“Sit down, mi hermano!” Leo said. “We were just talking about you.”

“Leo, you may be a better liar than Donnie, but you are really bad at this,” Raph muttered. The snapper rubbed at the lines between his eye ridges, and gave up on trying to help Leo eat.

April and Casey abandoned their cooking abomination and sat down with surprisingly unburnt pancakes. April slid a plate down to Mikey with a smile, but there was something about her face that told him that something else was going on.

Actually, everyone’s body language was saying there was something else going on. Everyone looked relaxed and at ease, but Casey’s shoulders were hunched in a way they only did when he was nervous, and Donnie was pointedly glancing every now and then at the walls.

A few minutes passed in tense silence, before Mikey glared up from his food at the snapping turtle across from him.

“Alright, what’s going on?” he demanded. “You’re all acting weird.”

“We’re not acting weird,” Raph objected.

“Casey’s shoulders only hunch like that when he’s nervous about something,” Mikey deadpanned, and the teen looked up in surprise.

“Holy sh*t, you’re good at reading people,” Casey muttered.

“I told you he’d pick up on it, Raph,” Donnie said absently from next to him.

“Hey, I at least tried,” his older brother muttered.

“So are you gonna tell him what’s up?” April said. “Or keep dancing around the issue?”

Goddammit, why couldn’t this be a semi-normal morning?

Everyone at the table shuffled nervously, clearly waiting for someone else to speak up.

Nobody did. It was painfully uncomfortable, like being in an elevator with only one other stranger.

“Since nobody’s gonna talk, and I am the once-was faceman,” Leo said, rolling his eyes dramatically, “Mikey, we’ve all been talking, and we think that we have to address some stuff.”

Oh.

Oh sh*t.

This was an intervention, or some form of one.

April took the lead, waving Leo off quickly. “Mikey, bud, we’ve been noticin’ some stuff going on with you lately. Everyone’s got stuff going on after… that, but you’ve been extra weird.”

“What are you talking about?” Mikey said. He already had an idea of where this was going, and he didn't like it in the slightest.

“Well, there was the sneaking out, there’s the nightmare you had a few months ago, your powers acting up, and don’t think nobody’s noticed you combing through every square inch of the Lair in the middle of the night,” Raph listed.

“That, and your ninpo’s been going wild these past few weeks,” Donnie added. “I may not be the type of guy who pays much attention to the mysticism, but just on the sixth day of Leo being awake it went insane, and I can't count how many times I’ve gone close and it felt like I was going to spontaneously combust.”

A conclusive nod among the other brothers and April. Which clearly meant it was bad considering her ninpo connection wasn’t nearly as strong as the turtles.

I forgot that my ninpo reacts to all of me, not just my power. f*ck.

“Also, your hands look like sh*t at any given time. They’re supposed to be healing, but it just looks like they’re getting worse.”

Mikey dropped his gaze down to his half-empty plate. He should have just gone back to bed when he woke up.

“What we’re trying to ask, Angelo,” Leo said, shooting Donnie a ‘not helping’ glare, “is, are you doing okay?”

Immediately, his brain fired off in every direction.

Yes, I’m fine, everything is okay, there’s no need to worry-

No, not okay, danger everywhere, I’m still scared-

“It’s fine, I promise you guys.”

“And that was a lie,” Donnie announced. “Your ninpo just turned into a wildfire.”

“Dee, drop it, I’m okay,” Mikey said. He couldn’t help the harsh snap in his tone.

“This all started when you got the violin,” Raph said. “Your powers were acting up more when you used it, right?”

“It wasn’t just the violin!” Mikey replied. “I was opening a few portals to get around but it’s nothing much!”

Leo’s eyes widened, and a slightly panicked look crossed his face. “You were opening more portals? Why would you do that?”

“Because being stuck in the Lair sucks, okay? You’d know that!”

“Michelangelo, your markings are glowing…”

Casey’s quiet comment silenced the entire table, dropping over them like a soft blanket. Mikey looked down, and indeed, his hands and markings were glowing again. He finally realized that he was angry, actually pissed off at his brothers because they kept trying to pry.

He wasn’t exactly inclined to stop being angry. They needed to heal - this wasn’t their business.

But you’re a family. I thought you all agreed to be honest.

“Mikey, remember when we all agreed to be honest on the way home?”

Why was the little voice mirroring what his brothers were saying?

“If something’s wrong, you need to say something to us,” April said. She got up from her chair and walked over to him. She took his shaking hands and sat on the table. “Nobody wants anyone to be hurting, okay? Anatawa hitorijanai.”

sh*t, of course they were going to pull that card.

“I promise, I’ll be fine. I’m going to go cool off,” Mikey said, standing abruptly. He pulled his hands away from April and stormed out of the kitchen, silently trying to contain his panic and tears.

He made it to the living room when the first drop fell. Mikey’s breathing quickened noticeably, and before he knew it, he was standing in the middle of the subway station, trying not to have a panic attack in earshot of his family.

Why didn’t you tell the truth? They can help you.

“Shut up,” Mikey hissed out loud between panicked breaths.

You need to calm yourself. Just take a few deep breaths, go back in there, and tell the truth. They already suspect something’s wrong - you walking out will just prove it in a bad way.

“Will you be quiet?” Mikey snapped at the little voice, attempting to dry his tears with his shuddering hands. When he put them up to his eyes, even with the lids closed it was like looking at the sun.

“Angelo? Who are you talking to, hermano?”

God f*cking dammit.

Mikey quickly wiped away his tears as he heard Leo shuffle over. A hand laid across his shoulder, and when Mikey opened his eyes Leo was standing next to him.

For once in his life, Mikey hated his brother’s stubbornness.

“I’m not an idiot, buddy,” Leo said. “You’re lying to us. At least tell me the truth. You can do that for me, right?”

Leo’s voice was not smug or condescending or anything like that. It was soft and quiet.

“Which one of them told you to go after me?” Mikey growled.

“Nobody did. Angelo, your eyes are still wet and you are hyperventilating. I don’t mean to reverse roles, but you are a terrible client for Dr. Feelings.”

Mikey would have laughed, but right now he was too upset.

“Can you guys just drop it, please?” Mikey snapped suddenly.

Just tell him, you’ll feel a lot better afterwards.

No, he’s still trying to recover! I can’t just dump everything on him!

“Mikey, please, you’re starting to scare me,” Leo pleaded. “There’s something bothering you, I know it. Hell, you’re doing that glowing thing you did a couple weeks ago - the whites of your eyes are black again.”

Everything was becoming too much - his thoughts, the buzz of the Lair, the small spark, the memories, even Leo’s voice and comforting touch.

“Leo, drop it!” Mikey snapped, backing away from the slider. “You’re still healing too - I’m not stupid, you haven’t been yourself since you woke up either!”

Mikey backed away from his brother, the one who he was so worried about, the one who he was so scared to leave alone for fear of him doing something stupid again.

"Mikey, please," Leo said. "This isn't about me right now! This is about you, and I'm worried for you!"

This isn't about me.

Casey, back when the invasion was still fresh and everyone was badly hurt, had once told him his master's final words to him. To hear those now, coming from his own Leo, who he realized had discovered that through his own brand of apocalypse, was the final straw that broke him.

The mystic spark surged forward in a violent, fiery tidal wave, rushing through his veins and burning in the cracks in his arms. He backed further away from Leo, in a desperate attempt not to hurt him with the surge.

Mikey’s mind immediately flicked to the comfort of the violin, and chains spinning out from his hands without him mentioning a spell, spiraling off into the Lair. Leo’s eyes were wide and filled with a strange determination. It came back barely a moment later with the violin, dropping the case roughly on the ground, but Mikey didn't notice through the firestorm.

"Don't say that!" Mikey nearly cried. "Leo, please, for your own safety, just leave me alone!"

Leo's voice was gentle and quiet. "I'm not leaving you like this, Mikey. You're clearly going haywire right now-"

"JUST STOP!" Mikey snarled, and the mystic chains whipped violently through the air around him. His thoughts were a whirlwind, his hand hurt, the fire in his veins was burning so brightly-

That he lost control of the direction of the chains, just for a moment, but just in that moment, everything went wrong.

.

.

.

.

.

Shink!

.

.

.

.

.

A quiet thud jarred Mikey out of his daze, and when he looked down at the ground where the sound emanated from, everything stopped. The fire was blown out, and icy shock spread up his entire shell until he was frozen in place.

Red stained the ground, in two slowly growing pools across the Lair's floor. It crept toward him so quietly, only disturbed by the small droplets of blood that fed them.

In one pool stood Leo, his eyes wide in pain and deathly pale face half splattered in red.

In the other, lay his severed and burnt right arm, peacefully resting there as if nothing had happened.

For a moment, for an eternity, nothing happened. The drip of blood echoed quietly, and Mikey stood paralyzed,trying to process what he'd just done.

Then Leo let out a blood curdling scream.

It was the worst thing he'd ever heard in his life. Sure he'd heard his brothers cry, he heard them angry, heard them yell in a panic, but this?

He never wanted to hear something so horrific ever again. Not for the rest of his life.

Not from one of his brothers, someone he held so dear.

And then it struck him.

He'd done this. Mikey had just completely severed his older brother's arm from his body. It was his fault his brother was in pain, his fault that the dying limb now lay serenely on the floor instead of attached to its rightful owner.

Everyone else rushed into the living room, horrified gasps and panicked shouts fading into the background as Mikey's mind buzzed with empty, glass filled static and the sound of the blood dripping gently on the floor.

It's my fault

I did this.

I don't even deserve to be called his brother.

He was just trying to help, and now look at him.

He felt someone gently place a hand on his shoulder, but only barely snapped out of it. He was aware enough to know that someone was trying to comfort him, but that was not what he deserved anymore.

Mikey wrenched himself out of the person’s grip, panic building fast like a wall between him and the rest of the world. He stumbled backwards, desperate to be away from the pained howls of his brother. His foot bumped the violin case, and he just barely noticed nobody looking as he picked it up. They were all too focused in their panic.

You shouldn’t be here. This was exactly the kind of thing we were worried about, and now look. It's happened.

You should leave, before you hurt anyone else.

This could have all been avoided if you had just said something.

And now look at the consequences of your actions.

You almost gave everything to get him back.

And now it's gone to waste.

His ears were ringing, his mind trying to work out something that he could do. But purely based on how the situation looked, he wasn’t going to be of any help.

He never had been.

Mikey slowly backed away, the cries from his brother echoing in his ears as he snuck away. Better to leave them before something else went wrong, or they threw him out themselves.

The sounds of screaming echoed throughout the subway tunnels, even as he reached an exit. His mind falling away into fear and grief-stricken fog.

He didn’t notice the figure following from behind as he wandered the busy streets, scoping him out as he ran.

All Mikey cared about was being away, away from what he'd done and what could have happened. Away from the memories, away from his family. He severed his ninpo link in his hazed wanderings, barely noticing the connections dim out.

Yet even then, he could still hear the blood curdling screams.

Chapter 18: Blocked Signals

Chapter Text

Leo woke up about a day later, thoroughly displeased to be stuck in the medbay again.

The first thing he noticed was that just about everyone was sitting around the medbay bed, an anxious look on their faces as he was coming to.

The second thing he noticed was that Mikey was not among them. That was weird - he was always the first person that was in the medbay when someone was hurt.

The third thing he noticed was that he couldn’t feel anything below his right shoulder.

And that just so happened to be what woke him up fully.

“Hey, uh Donnie,” he said, doing his best to stay calm as he desperately tried to move his arm. Still nothing. “Quick question, what happened? Another question, why can’t I feel my arm?”

The silence in the air changed from anxious to tense immediately.

Leo didn’t want to look over. The last thing he could remember was a blinding pain in his shoulder, and the clank of swiftly moving mystic chains.

Leo shuddered, and steeled himself to look over at his arm.

What… where is…?

“Dee, where’s my arm?” Leo said, desperately trying to keep the fear and shock from creeping into his voice. “This is a prank, right? You guys found more invisibility paint or something. Yeah, that’s it.”

Raph’s brow creased even deeper into a canyon, something Leo was really preferring to not be his reaction. Casey was trying to blink back tears, although Leo could tell he wasn’t doing great with that. April quietly rubbed his left hand, trying not to cry as well.

Donnie’s face was arguably the worst. His twin’s eyes were actually somewhat watering, and his mask was stained darker near his eyes.

And Mikey was still nowhere to be found. Maybe he was hiding?

No, he’s not hiding, Leo realized as his brain quickly put together the pieces in his head. Mikey’s not hiding in here. He probably left after he…

He cut my arm off.

The realization stuck him like a thunderbolt.

His little brother had been panicking, and begging for Leo to leave him alone, but his stubbornness wouldn’t allow that. Leo had only been out of the medbay for a few weeks at that point, but seeing his brother upset like that had made him follow.

And Mikey’s power had gotten to the point where it had cleaved his arm from its shoulder.

I shouldn’t have followed him out. It’s my own fault this happened, and now our little brother is somewhere where I can’t help him.

No longer was Leo panicking about his arm - as much, anyway. Now he was a lot more concerned about where his little brother had gone.

“Where’s Mikey?” he demanded.

The entire room full of people immediately looked away from him.

“We don’t know where he went. After what happened, he went into the sewers and we haven’t seen him around since,” Casey explained. “We didn’t want to bother him, and you needed medical attention, so we haven’t really checked.”

Leo sat up straighter in the bed. Pizza Supreme, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“So nobody went looking for him after he didn’t come around for who knows how long?” Leo snapped. Casey looked a bit taken aback, as though he hadn’t been expecting him to get upset over it.

“Well, Nardo, excuse us for trying to make sure you didn’t actively bleed out on the living room floor,” Donnie snapped. “Making sure you didn’t… making sure that nothing went wrong was kind of the number one priority at the time.”

Leo caught Donnie’s hesitation quickly, and pieced together what his twin hadn't wanted to say.

Making sure you didn’t die.

Nobody spoke for a few moments, before Casey sniffled and suddenly rushed Leo, enveloping the slider in a hug.

“Woah, hey, relax Casey,” Leo said, doing his best to carefully pry off the teenager, who had him in a near death grip.

“I’ll relax when you stop scaring the sh*t out of everyone,” Casey shot back. Leo’s mind went to say something back - a quip, a joke, a snappy remark, anything - and yet he couldn’t bring himself to. As far as Leo knew, Casey had every right to be concerned about him. The boy had practically been here every day since he’d woken up.

But this isn’t about me right now. This is about Mikey - I can have a heart attack over losing an arm when I know my brother is alright.

In my case, I’ll be all left.

“Donnie, how long has Mikey been… away… from the Lair?” He danced around the word ‘missing’ - it carried too much panic behind it.

“He hasn’t been seen since the incident,” Donnie said. “And unlike your presumptions I did attempt to locate him, but Mikey somehow either blocked the signal on my subcutaneous tracker or he managed to remove it entirely, which is honestly the worst case scenario because we’ll only be left with an idea of his last location before he removed it. However, I don’t think he even knows where I planted those, so the likelihood is quite low. It's more likely something is blocking the signal.”

“Wait, you planted a what?” Raph asked.

“Subcutaneous trackers, to monitor your vitals and locations after the Shredder problem,” Donnie said, waving off Raph’s supremely concerned expression. “They’ve come in quite useful when someone almost gets kidnapped or goes missing or when we needed to find someone after an argument problem.”

Leo winced at Donnie’s blunted jab. Sure, he and Raph had fought a lot during the few months he was leader, but had it really gotten that bad?

Maybe he had just never noticed, because he was too busy trying to piss someone off enough to shift away from the leader position again.

“Well, is there a way to tell if the tracker’s been… removed?” April asked, her usually confident voice pausing over the last word. He could understand why - the implications of that were not something Leo wanted to think about either.

“Again, I doubt any of you know where I planted those, but in the case that Angelo did somehow locate it, I programmed the signal to hijack anything else nearby that can give off a location for us. There was only one thing I couldn’t make it subvert, and that was - That’s it!”

Donnie spun around, a strangely hopeful expression on his face. “The one thing I couldn’t overpower with those trackers were neighboring mystic energy signals. They were compatible with ours only because I made them after getting the hang of my ninpo, and they’re fine tuned to everyone’s signals. But with any other mystic signals, I couldn’t figure out how to get past them. My mystic tech couldn't even do it. I was planning to go to Draxum about it before the invasion, but I never got around to it.”

“So what you’re saying is that Michelangelo could be somewhere where there’s an abundance of mystic energy signatures?” Casey asked, almost immediately putting two and two together before Leo did.

“It’s the more desirable probability in this situation,” Donnie confirmed.

“And we know one place where there’s a lot of mystic energy that could be screwing with Dee’s trackers,” Raph added. “The Hidden City, right?”

Pieces of information began swirling in Leo’s head, clicking into place and forming into a plan. It wasn’t the most efficient way to find Mikey, but it certainly would work, given enough time.

“Alright, boys, I’ve got an idea,” Leo said. Everyone turned to look at him, but this time, there was no fear of what he was saying, no bored eye rolls or angry sparks between the team. There was confidence and attentiveness, and the thought that Leo was getting the hang of the whole ‘leader’ thing briefly flashed in the back of his mind before returning to his plan.

“If Mikey is in the Hidden City, the best case scenario is that we find him in a couple days if we each take a section of the city to look through individually. I don’t recommend going anywhere where you’ve been previously arrested, and it's not the most efficient way of looking, but if we each can cover one part of the city, he’s bound to show up somewhere. Worst case scenario for mystic tracker blocking, Mikey got involved with something and couldn’t get out of it. My first suspect there is primarily Big Mama, because she always seems to be the problem involving mystics now that the goat man is out of the evil equation.”

“And what happens when we find him?” April asked. “I know you couldn’t really see anything, Leo, but Mikey was scared out of his mind before he vanished, and I highly doubt that he’s going to be up to talking to any of us.”

“He’s probably more scared of hurting any of us again,” Casey added. “The Michelangelo from my future always did his best not to hurt anyone or anything in our bases, and he’d mostly avoid whoever he hurt for weeks unless there was a mission if something happened. Unless he was fighting, of course - you couldn’t hold him back if you tried when he was fighting those things.”

Casey shifted nervously, and his eyes flicked to the stump that was now Leo’s shoulder. “Sensei lost his arm in the future too. From what I’d heard from the older members of the resistance, it played out almost the same as what happened here.”

Leo shuddered, trying his best not to think about what his future self could have possibly done to make a powerful mystic like his brother in the future lose his sh*t like that.

Probably something really, really bad. And that’s two really’s.

“So, if we do find him, we need a plan to try talking to him,” Donnie said. “I think that on the fly, that could be improvised if necessary, but a general script to follow would be better than nothing.”

“We’ll figure that out tomorrow,” the slider said. He forced himself up, and out of the stupid medical bed he seemed to be constantly coming back to. “For now, let’s get to a map of the Hidden City and start searching. Mikey’s been away a day already, and for all we know someone like Big Mama could have gotten their hands on him.”

Raph immediately went to sit him back down. “You’re not coming, Leo. Your arm was just chopped off, you need to rest.”

Leo glared into his older brother’s eyes, his face set in stone and his eyes cold. “Raph, that our little brother out there. I’m not going to sit by and do nothing while he’s potentially in danger. None of us would and you know that.”

They glared at each other for a moment, the tension between them thick like oil.

“Fine,” Raph growled. “But if we come back and even one of your stitches are ripped, you’re benched until your shoulder’s better.”

“Glad we can agree on that,” Leo said, his smug grin returning. “Now, let’s go find Mikey.”

Chapter 19: The Song That Haunted The Ruins

Chapter Text

When he’d run from the Lair, Mikey had not really considered what he was going to do after he was away from his family.

Mikey had run so far that he couldn’t feel his legs, and by the time the next day had dawned, the box turtle was all but exhausted.

He took a moment to rest in a hollow of nearby wreckage, doing his best to ignore the destroyed foundations and discarded books in languages he didn’t understand.

Mikey sighed and dropped against a wall, dropping his violin case next to him. He closed his eyes, but only for a moment - the surprising heaviness of his eyelids snapped him awake, and Mikey had to remind himself that he was still technically on the run and he shouldn’t sleep unless it was in a safe place.

The abandoned ruins of a Hidden City block were probably not the best place to rest. There were still yokai wandering the streets outside, construction crews hunting through the streets for new materials, and who knew else.

But Mikey could not help but feel completely drained. It wasn’t hard to, considering how much mystic power he’d used yesterday, and the fact he’d spent almost an entire day trying to run to a place where nobody could find him.

His hands shuddered, and a little itch started in the back of his head. It wasn’t overpowering, but it certainly was provoking.

Mikey looked over to his violin case again, and opened it without thinking.

Is this really a good idea? the little voice whispered.

I need to do something, Mikey shot back at it. Or I’m gonna lose my mind. I haven’t been able to practice in weeks, so I should probably get working on it again.

But is it safe for you?

Mikey shuddered, and tried not to think about what that could mean. He was starting to hate this little voice, with its little remarks and questions always clipping at the edge of his mind. Making him doubt his own decisions.

It was right up there in his head with things that scared him. More memories tried to push their way in, but Mikey immediately blocked them out as he went looking for a song to try practicing. His phone screen was already pretty busted - probably from running frantically through the sewers and the city in such a way that he hit almost every wall in sight.

Mikey immediately started downloading any sheet music that looked remotely interesting to his phone, and he knew he needed to do it quickly. Donnie had trackers on everything, and if his phone started sending signals to his brother’s computers, it would be game over for Mikey trying to keep his family safe.

Keep them safe from me.

Mikey sniffled, and desperately tried to hold back a sob before anyone found him hiding under the destruction that still lingered in the Hidden City’s walls. He’d barely noticed running through the outskirts this time, but the last time he’d been here just about everything had been in shambles, even the inner city.

Don’t think about that place. Or what you did to those thugs.

They deserved it for trying to save those things.

Mikey tapped the side of his head, ignoring the tiny stings that shot through his scars. At this point the bandages looked like they had months ago, when he’d barely changed them because it hurt to move them. They were dirty and gross looking, and Mikey got the feeling he probably shouldn’t be wearing them anymore.

Mikey reluctantly peeled off the bandages, and had he been at home still he would have been benched off of any missions for months. The scales were raised and irritated around the scars, which themselves looked fresher than the day he’d gotten them.

Maybe he should listen to that little voice this time - Mikey knew when something looked enough like sh*t to the point where it shouldn’t be used. He’d seen it with pencils, paintbrushes, spray cans; how were the hands that used those any different?

Even though every wire in his brain was telling him not to, Mikey steeled himself and set the bow to the strings. He opened one of the songs he’d just downloaded, and shakily set it on the ground in front of him.

The notes came out scratchy and slow, barely sounding anything like the song he was trying to play, which was frustrating. He’d been getting better with it - why had his family felt the need to take it?

A small scramble in the rubble nearby made Mikey pause and reach for his nunchucks - only to realize he’d left them in the Lair when he ran, and he was essentially weaponless and injured.

And alone.

Mikey backed up until his shell hit the wall, fear slowly flooding his body and heightening every single one of his senses in the direction of whatever had made the noise. Half a dozen worries and thoughts crawled through his head as to what could have possibly made that sound.

Another tiny showering of rocks, and a very small being emerged from the darkness of the ruin. It was nothing more than a couple of rats, who promptly skittered away into the dark again.

Mikey shivered, and he shook his hands out. There wasn’t anyone or anything around - no other sounds were reaching his ears.

Mikey picked up the violin and tried again, over and over, until the notes slowly began to meld together and into the song he was supposed to be playing.

He didn’t dare lose himself in the calm, in the gentle fog that came with playing. Mikey wanted to see for himself the effects of his mysticism on the instrument.

A few small sparks emerged from the strings as he did his best to play, but nothing much seemed to happen.

Dammit, maybe I need to be in the trance to get that kind of mystic effect, Mikey realized. The thought sent a small shiver down his spine - partly because he didn’t want to be discovered, and partly because he didn’t want anything bad to happen to anyone who might find him if he let his power flow properly.

“I could just record a video of it,” Mikey whispered to himself. “Set a timer for the song’s duration and call it there. But I need the sheet music for now…”

Just try it. If anything feels off, you can stop playing.

Another shiver ran through him as Mikey prepared to play. The air seemed to still, the noises from the outside of the ruins deafening as Mikey set up his phone. Calm settled over the rubble, the polar opposite of what had destroyed it in the first place. The kind of calm where one could settle down, but not quite enough to be at rest.

The bow ran along the strings, and shaky music began to fill the air. Mikey tried his best to stay in the present, where he was right now, but the gentle lure of the music and of the welcoming fog in his mind overtook quickly.

The song began to hum through the air as Mikey played, as the world slowed and the violin strings began to glow an orange-gold. Sparks flew as mystic power ran through the instrument, through the little turtle, through the air itself.

Chains twisted out from the sparks, swimming through the air like dandelion seeds on a breeze, opposing the violent display that had played out in the Lair.

The thin lengths of metal flowed between bars and building materials, their glows illuminating the dark of the ruin. Each one seemed to carry a weight, low-flowing and slow. They whispered of memories, of feelings long past and new.

The golden glow was visible from between the cracks in the rocks, a sure beacon to anyone who would properly be looking for him.

As Mikey played, he lit up as well - his scars ran gold, his markings orange. Gentle little spheres of light floated around his head as he let his mind fall back into the fog, letting the present and the memories drift away and into the quiet and the music.

One chain wrapped around the recording phone, blinding the camera with light. Mikey’s drawing of the bow became a bit more confident as the song continued, the melody flowing easier and with more emotion behind it.

The chains carrying the song began to add along in the thin symphony. The camera shuddered, and the screen began flashing colors and memories across itself, before the video cut off as the phone was overloaded.

Despite being in the fog, something about this trance felt different to Mikey. Instead of being light and carefree, as the melody sang, he could feel the memories dancing just beyond his reach, loaded with emotions that he could not touch. There were the memories of hell, mixed with the ones he’d all but lost over the years.

Running through the control room, the heartbeat thundering in his ears as he ran.

Helping Raph and Leo build a lemonade stand by the old Lair, excited to do something like other kids would.

Relaxing with his family as they rewatched Jupiter Jim movies for the thousandth time, knowing how it went but staying quiet all the same to keep the ambiance.

Being on the docks, having to run and dodge around sharp claws, the metallic screeches of the Shredder tearing through the air like fine needles.

Running through the tunnels in the old Lair, racing Leo and Donnie as they swam in the current next to him.

Spray-painting on the wall for the first time, the unbridled joy and excitement fueling the paint that splattered on the wall.

The memories hummed, and the notes flew through the air. The chain wrapped around the phone pulling away to venture somewhere else. The phone, now free of the mystic grasp, resumed its recording.

The song changed, from low and downcast to almost happy and calm as the fog fully enveloped Mikey. The good memories seemed to show more prominently, the chains floating higher as he smiled. The blood that was seeping from his scars turned orange, drifting off into the display without so much as a care in the world.

It was so calming, so easy to lose himself in the mist. It was warm, and safe, and Mikey would have loved to stay in it forever. It was the feeling of being safe, of being happy and at peace, like nothing could reach him here.

Mikey barely noticed that he was smiling. He barely noticed the feeling of gold-lit tears running down his face as the music filled the air.

He didn’t notice the figure lurking in the darkness of the ruin. He didn’t notice their approach, as the song’s pleasant notes rang through the air.

The chains, however, seemed to converge toward the shadowy figure, dancing around them slowly, only mere inches from touching the stranger. The power surged, and the chains lit.

The violin relapsed back into the first melody, the notes dipping and swaying in his ears. This part of the melody felt sadder, less easy to play through, but Mikey stayed wrapped in the safety of the warm fog as the chains encircled the stranger.

The melody sped up, and the stranger swatted the chains away, moving toward the little box turtle.

Mikey’s eyes flipped open, but he didn’t leave the trance. Glowing orange and black met the stranger’s masked face. He was still smiling, tears still running down his face and staining into his mask.

Mikey was up and standing in front of the figure, violin notes still playing and threading the air with mystic power. The chains began to swirl quicker and quicker.

The song slowly began to close out, and Mikey tilted his head unknowingly at the masked figure as his glowing hands worked the bow. The glowing magic began to dissipate, and Mikey began to back up as the figure approached and he emerged from the trance.

He went back into the frame of the camera’s recording, and the figure followed. The song’s notes fell away, and in an instant the gold fizzled out of existence, and Mikey was brought out of the fog.

And he promptly felt the rush of everything hit him at once.

Blood loss immediately caught up to him, along with the earlier exhaustion. He passed out moments after the mystic power rush left him, falling forward right into the masked figure’s arms. The figure took a moment to adjust their hold on Mikey, before they vanished into the dark with the little box turtle.

Hours later, a large snapping turtle discovered a still recording orange phone, and blood staining the stone and little glowing plants below his feet.

Chapter 20: Footage Not Found

Chapter Text

Nobody in Donnie’s lab could believe what was on the computer screen.

The brothers all stood silently, some with jaws open, others trying to hold back a few tears. Casey and April were frozen, April practically clinging to Raph’s arm and Casey standing stoically next to Leo. Splinter was trying to do anything besides panic, and Draxum was keeping a close eye on the replaying footage.

Raph had already been worried out of his mind when Mikey didn’t show up a few hours after the incident. He became more so with every passing hour. And yet somehow, that worry hadn’t even peaked when Leo had started making plans and guessing what could have happened.

That honor went to when Raph had been nervously exploring the ruins of the outer city, debating going back to his original search post when something had caught his eye in the rubble.

An orange, very broken phone, camera still aimed at a blank wall, and dark reddish stains leading away into the darkness.

His first instinct had been to stop the recording. His second had been to try and use whatever was left of the battery to follow the bloodstains, but the second the recording was stopped the phone died.

Raph had tried anyway. The trails were spread out, dragged over several patches of crumbling stone as though Mikey had been trying to throw off whoever was looking for him.

He’d almost lost it when he couldn’t find anything else. The snapper had been near full-blown tears by the time he’d managed to activate the communicator signal to beacon everyone else to the location.

Raph hadn’t slept that night. His thoughts kept circling back to his little brother, injured and alone, so out of it that he’d left his phone filming a blank wall.

But seeing what Donnie had extracted from the phone’s gallery, Raph wasn’t just worried anymore.

He was pissed.

“I don’t understand how this is even possible!” Donnie said. The softshell was doing his best to sound calm, but Raph could pick out Donnie’s panic tone anywhere. “The amount of mystic energy he’s using here is off the charts according to the visual algorithm’s calculations! This is a dangerous level of mysticism! The phone itself even has traces of the power, and it seems to spike right in the middle of the glitched footage!”

“Why would he even consider doing that after we told him what the effects were?” Leo asked no one in particular. A growl lay dormant in his voice.

“And who the f*ck was that at the end?” April demanded suddenly, her voice almost dropping into the human version of a snarl. Raph didn't bother correcting her language - he was too pissed to care this time. “He walked right up to the guy, all smiling and sh*t, and then just passed out when the song ended! What’s up with that?”

“Oh my son,” Splinter whispered. It was barely audible over the dim playback and everyone spitballing questions to nobody in particular. “I knew you were suffering too, but what could have pushed it so far?”

Raph didn’t want to think about what could have done that. He didn’t want to think about what something or someone could have done - or if it was his fault.

Actually, now that Raph’s thoughts had jumped onto that train, things started to click in his head. Perhaps not as quickly as Donnie or Leo would have put things together, but realizations hit him one right after the other as the others continued talking.

Mikey wasn’t being as badly hurt before we took away the violin. It was after that that his mystic power started going’ haywire.

Heck, the spell he used on Leo didn’t hurt him as badly as it was supposed to! Donnie and Draxum told us about it. I didn’t understand some of the terms they were talking about, but I got the idea.

Mikey only started getting worse after that too. He was always tired, he wasn’t talking as much, and Leo mentioned him roaming the Lair at night.

Maybe this is Raph’s fault. Raph was the one to put forward the idea after Draxum and Donnie explained. I was trying to keep him safe, dammit!

Raph shuddered, trying desperately to not hyperventilate and panic even more than he was already panicking. He dug his claws into his arm, almost painfully so, and forced himself to listen in to the conversation again.

“Donatello, did you attempt to analyze any of the disrupted footage?” demanded Draxum. The warrior-alchemist’s voice was strangely shaky in a way Raph was not used to hearing from the grumpy old goat.

“Well, not really,” the softshell said. “The footage is entirely corrupted - my analysis algorithms couldn’t make heads or tails of anything. The weirdest part is that it’s a two minute long corruption, so you’d think there’d be something there…”

“Maybe because your algorithm’s aren’t designed to pick up mystic energy transference,” Draxum said. “You saw that recording - the mystic power interacted with the technology, which caused the disruption. It could be that your technology is more focused on tracking visual and audio effects. If we could alter this tracking algorithm to track the mystic energy -”

“Draxum, that could take months!” Leo snapped. “We might not have months! Donnie told me that he hasn’t had time to calibrate his systems to mystic power yet because he needs your help for that!”

The word months made him feel uneasy. Leo had an unfortunately good point - they might not have months. The very idea sent shivers down Raph’s shell, and he barely noticed his claws digging in harder.

“Casey, was there anything in the future that maybe could give us a clue about this?” April whispered to the young boy, who seemed off-put by the arguing between the three others. Raph listened more into what April and Casey were saying.

“Well, um,” Casey muttered quietly. Raph absently remembered that the boy didn’t like talking about the old future, or anyone from then.

“Well, Uncle Tello did have ways of tracking the mystic levels for Master Michelangelo,” Casey whispered back. “It was specialized technology that he only explained to me once or twice. He wasn’t able to tell me very much about it, and I was never able to figure out where the files for it were in the folders he gave me. They’re probably somewhere in the recorded files for my mask.”

“What made it work?” April pressed gently. Casey looked more than off-put by the arguing - the teen now looked terribly upset,

“Well, Master Michelangelo was really powerful in my time - I think I’ve told you this before, April. Capable of leveling entire battlefields if it came to that, memory transference to get orders and information across quicker, flight so he wouldn’t get hit as easily by enemies. That was just stuff that we saw on the battlefield, and after… something… happened, his power was wilder and a lot more ferocious in battle.”

Raph saw Casey’s eyes cloud over as he spoke, and the snapping turtle drew him close with one hand. He didn’t react like he normally would - instead he just stayed quiet, eyes downcast and shivering a little.

“I’m sorry, did you just say memory transference?” Leo asked suddenly, cutting through the bitter words and whispers.

Casey looked up, seemingly startled back to reality by being addressed.

“Um, yeah,” he replied obediently. “Master Michelangelo was able to do that. He didn’t do it very often, so as to not intrude on other people’s minds too much, but I’ve gotten orders transferred to me through that method. It felt warm most of the time, like fire.”

“Oh, that’s it!” Leo exclaimed suddenly. “I felt that same thing when he was waking me up from the coma, except the memories weren’t orders. They were more like flashbacks. He kind of dragged me through them to wake me up, which was a dick move on his part, but it certainly did the job.”

“Wait, Casey, you did mention this before!” April added. “When he was playing for us and the mystic chains did their weird wrapping around the wrist thing! That’s what that was, a memory transfer!”

“Wait, Leo, you knew about this?” Raph asked in shock. Why hadn’t he told anyone? All Raph had known about this was what April and Casey had vaguely told him during the discussion.

“Leo, why didn’t you tell anyone?” Donnie demanded, mirroring Raph’s thoughts.

“Because I didn’t know that it was going to be relevant!” Leo replied. “Besides, it wasn’t just flashbacks, it was emotions too - I didn’t want to say out of respect for his privacy.”

“Privacy isn’t gonna help him if we can’t understand what’s going on in the first place!” Donnie snapped.

“Guys, can we please focus?” Raph said. “If we can’t work together on this we’re not going to get anywhere. Now, Donnie, can you compile all the information we’ve got into some kind of document?”

His brother sighed, but nodded tiredly. “I’ll need everyone to tell me about everything they know about Mikey’s mystic power, both from the present and the future. It’ll help us coordinate the main source of the outbursts and why they’re acting up. Casey, Draxum, i’ll need your aid in pinpointing the specific mystic powers are and how they’re connected to the violin. We also need a timeline of when this roughly started, to understand how long we haven’t known what’s been going on and how long we have.”

“Nice going, Don,” Leo said. “Everyone else, rest up. We’re going out to search again tomorrow, but not all at once this time. We’ll do it in teams of two. Raph, you and I will take the first shift.”

“What can we do?” April asked, standing next to Splinter. The rat seemed a bit calmer, although not by much.

Leo thought for a moment, going to cross his arms before remembering he didn’t exactly have both arms to cross with.

“We need two people who can maintain the fort while the teams are off searching who can ensure the science guys aren’t overworking themselves to exhaustion. And,” he added, as Raph saw April’s face fall a little, “we need two people to narrow down active suspects on who might have taken our brother.”

“Alright, detective work!” April’s grin returned, although to Raph it seemed less confident than usual.

“Is everyone clear?” Leo asked.

Everyone nodded, and the family immediately set to their tasks, streaming out of Donnie’s lab. Raph walked out of the lab, half lost in his thoughts.

So lost, in fact, that it took him a few minutes to realize that Leo was tapping gently on his hands.

“Hey, big guy,” Leo said. “Your claws are too deep in your scales, they’re bleeding. Can you let go?”

Raph jumped at the sound, backing away from his brother.

Be careful, you could hurt him, you could lose it again-

But I'm not infected anymore. Raph would never hurt his brothers! Donnie told me we were in the clear three months ago!

Then why did you go looking for that

thing?

Another light tap on his hands.

“Raph, bud, you’re dissociating. Do you want me to take you to your room?”

Absently, Raph nodded, and Leo started leading Raph to his room.

Leading. It didn’t ever seem like something his co*cky, jokester younger brother was capable of. Raph certainly wouldn’t have thought it was possible two years ago. Definitely not during those few months between the Shredder and absolute hell.

But now, his younger brother seemed less like the Leo he was so familiar with - this Leo was still up to make jokes and brag, but this was the first time he’d ever seen the slider so serious, so ready to organize and command.

Raph had a feeling that was what happened when you almost lost your entire family within the span of three days.

They made it to Raph’s subway car before Raph was able to take his claws out of his arms. They were bleeding, but not badly.

It looked like something else, all too familiar, just out of the corner of his good eye.

“There we go. I can get some bandages for your arms if you’re fine sitting here for a bit-”

Raph didn’t want to be left alone. He was already missing one brother, and he’d just barely gotten this one back. The snapper took a hold of Leo’s right arm as carefully as he could. The slider froze in place - from fear or from surprise, Raph didn’t know.

But a low, scared churr from Raph seemed to get the message across. Leo returned to sitting next to Raph, and Raph didn’t notice the slider grab one of his favorite teddy bears and carefully hand it to him. He took it without hesitation.

The two sat in silence for the rest of the day. Neither of them said anything - Raph didn’t want to speak, and Leo didn’t dare probe. It was just quiet comfort, of just being near his little brother.

At some point, Leo muttered something about being tired and fell asleep against Raph’s shoulder.

Eventually, the worries slowed down enough that Raph could finally feel his eyelids growing heavy.

And eventually, Raph fell asleep too.

Chapter 21: Dealmaker or Dealbreaker

Chapter Text

The first thing he saw when he woke up was light. Not the cold blue lights of the medbay, not the greens or purples of the Hidden City street lamps. No, this light was a gentle yellow-orange, almost identical to his mystic power.

The thought sent Mikey bolting upright to check his hands. They were covered in new, fresh bandages, the bloody scars lying hidden beneath the rough fabric. These looked more professionally done, and that was when it occurred to Mikey that he was no longer in the ruins his memory last recalled.

Rather, he was in a surprisingly luxurious medical bay, with nurses rushing about nearby. He was in a private room, and he absently looked around for anything half-recognizable. The wallpaper was what clued him in.

This was the hospital that they’d had to bring Raph to in the aftermath of the invasion, to get his eye - and the infection lurking inside it - removed permanently. Mikey had a heart monitor attached to his index finger, the beeping monotone filling his ears - almost a comforting sound, yet horrible to the point he wanted to rip the thing off as fast as he could.

How did I get here…? Mikey wondered. He laid back into the bed, somehow not feeling nearly as exhausted as before. Did I portal here by accident? No, someone must have found me. Maybe it was one of my brothers -

He had to cut off the hopeful train of thought immediately. If his brothers had found him, then his mere presence was a danger to them.

Mikey didn’t get much longer to ponder how he’d gotten here, as a yokai nurse walked in at that exact moment. Thankfully, it was not one of the nurses who had helped with Raph, otherwise she would have immediately called his family and they’d be here in moments.

“Ah, wonderful, you’re awake!” the yokai called quietly. “Thank goodness for that, I doubt the lady who brought you in would be patient much longer. Something about transporting you to her own medbay, which is ridiculous.”

Rested as he felt, the box turtle didn’t have the energy to immediately conjure up a response. It took him a few moments to actually say anything, and as he spoke his tongue felt heavy and hard to use.

“How long have I been here?” Mikey asked quietly. He couldn’t remember anything beyond the wreckage. If he’d been here a few days, he probably needed to move, and soon.

“You’ve been here about three days, hon,” the nurse explained quickly as she jotted down notes on a clipboard. “You were brought in with severe blood loss and a hefty case of mystic intoxication - not even mentioning later when we figured out you were badly sleep deprived and your injuries weren’t healing properly because of that and the toxins. Most of us thought you weren't gonna last much longer than a couple hours at that point.”

Mikey’s brain sort of froze. He hadn’t even realized how bad the effects had been that time, but it was probably because he’d been more active during it. Quite possibly something to do with the ‘mystic intoxication’ the nurse had mentioned.

“What’s mystic intoxication?” he asked, quietly mirroring his brain’s questions.

“In layman’s terms, mystic intoxication is pretty much an overuse of one’s abilities,” the nurse explained kindly. “You use them too much on a large scale or you’re using them too much when you’re just starting to feel them out, it can create these energy loops, or ‘toxins,’ in the body that affect every function you have. They build up over time, and if the signs are spotted and treated then it can lead to an overload - and at that point they’re usually fatal if they’ve been going on long enough.”

Another shudder ran through the box turtle. He could have died at any given point due to the mystic powers?

I told you it wasn’t safe, the little voice whispered. You didn’t listen.

In my defense, I didn’t know I was poisoning myself the whole time!

You were ignoring any possible symptoms of illness, physical or mental, for months. No wonder you didn’t catch on.

I didn’t even know it was a thing until today! Screw off!

The nurse gently tapped his shoulder, and he started moving his fingers in an attempt to ground himself again.

“Ah ah, none of that until those are healed up!” she chided. “Now, little boy, can you tell me anything about you? Your name, your age, do you have family? Any big spells that might have caused the mystic intoxication?”

Mikey knew he couldn’t answer a few of those questions. It was better to skirt around them if he could. “Well, I’m 15,” he started carefully. “I don’t remember the other ones, but I have done some pretty big spells these past 3 months.”

The nurse absently looked around, noting more stuff on the clipboard. The scratching of the pen was a welcome distraction from the heart monitor’s beeping.

“Do you remember any spells you did?” she asked calmly. The nurse shot a quick glance toward a chair, and Mikey followed he gaze to see the violin case. “Did it have anything to do with that?”

“Well, mostly I've been playing violin, but it activates my mystic powers when I do it,” he said. “There was the one big healing spell I used about a month and a half ago, and then there was the really big one…”

Mikey didn’t want to remember why he’d done it. But the memories quietly prodded at the back of his mind anyway, starting up a gentle torrent of unease in his head.

“Do you remember it?”

“Am I gonna get in trouble if I say it was a dimensional doorway…?” Mikey asked sheepishly, looking down at the white blankets on the medical bed. They were softer than he’d really noticed when he paid closer attention. “There were also just regular portal jumps from place to place in this dimension, so nothing nearly as big as the first portal.”

“And what were you healing with that healing spell you mentioned?” The nurse’s kindness now had a hint of iron-welded concern, the tone sharp and cutting beneath the gentle words.

“Broken ribs, a cracked shell - honestly broken everything - and a lot of cuts and bruises. Oh, and Le- the guy was in a coma.”

The nurse’s pen stopped running along the paper.

Oh sh*t. I think we’re in for it now.

Don’t say we, this was on you.

“And how long have you been properly playing your instrument, sweetie?”

“About two months.”

Silence laid thick and heavy in the recovery room, intermittently broken by the rhythmic beating of the monitors. Mikey turned his gaze to the yokai, who returned it with a cold face. Her eyes were filled with pity and fear.

“No wonder your toxin levels were so high… Hon, I’m surprised you’re even still alive, with the amount there was. And the dimensional doorway was probably the biggest cause - there were feedback loops that seemed months old, but we didn’t know why until now.”

“I didn’t know about the toxin thing before today,” he protested. “Nobody ever taught u- me.”

“Sweetie, you should really be thankful to the person who brought you in. You’re lucky to be alive right now, even with your incredible recovery rate.”

“And who brought me in?” Mikey demanded. It was nagging at him that he didn’t know who had helped him, even if perhaps he hadn’t wanted it at that point in time.

“I paged the reception to call her when I saw you awake. She’ll probably be here in a few hours to pick you up - you’ll see her then.”

“Can’t I at least have a name to go off of?”

The nurse shook her head. “I wasn’t on the team working with you, although if you really want something I can ring up reception again and get the file name.”

The box turtle took a few moments to think. He looked at his hands, neatly bandaged and treated, the thought hurricane slowing just enough for him to do his best to think rationally about this.

If it was one of his family members who had found him, then he probably needed to start moving soon before they actually got here. But there was still no evidence from the nurse that it was actually his family, considering she’d asked if he had any.

If it was a stranger, he still probably needed to get the hell out because that meant it was someone who didn’t know him and had seen his mystic power in action, and only Pizza Supreme knew what they might want from him.

And if it was an enemy, Mikey absolutely needed to move because that meant that their villains up top would have word that the turtles were down for the count and missing a member of the team.

“No, it's fine. I can wait, I guess.”

I’ll just wait this one out. I don’t think doing much of anything is a good idea, especially not with that whole mystic toxin thing she talked about. If I try to portal out I’ll be screwing myself over again.

“Do you need anything before she gets here?” The yokai stood, gently taking his hands and making sure the bandages were on properly.

Mikey didn’t respond in words. He just shook his head no.

The nurse calmly unhooked the heart monitor, and the rhythmic beeps flattened into a long, painfully unnerving tone. It echoed in his ears, quietly waking memories of his brothers in the medbay, of sitting next to them as they rested. The sound felt like it was getting louder, but the memories fizzled out as the nurse turned off the machine.

“Try to get some more rest, hon,” the yokai said. “The lady will be here soon to take you home.”

And with that, Mikey was alone in the hospital room again.

He waited a couple of moments to make sure the nurse wasn’t going to come back, then he half popped into his shell as tears began to flow. The little turtle could not help it - everything felt like too much to handle all at once. The mystic power, the time he’d been out, the everything.

Mikey cried for a good while, thoughts and memories and sounds playing out through his head relentlessly, loud and upfront enough that he couldn’t focus on anything anymore.

Despite all he had done, Mikey desperately wished his brothers were here. He hated being alone - all of them did. But this had been a willing loneliness that he’d forced upon himself, and he regretted every second of it. It was crushing, it made Mikey feel like he couldn’t breathe and everything was going to fall apart if he brushed it wrong. Like a painting that was rotting and old and faded away.

But nobody was there. Nobody comforted him or told him it would be okay.

Nobody came.

The thought alone sent Mikey fully into his shell, ignoring the stings from his arms as he let the hours pass in a hurricane of feelings too strong to be named.

-=-

“He’s in here, ma’am. I’ll leave you to your discussion, but he might be sleeping.”

The sound of hushed whispering reached Mikey’s ears as the door swung open. He didn’t dare emerge from his shell, too scared to face whoever might have brought him here.

The door closed with a hushed sound, and footsteps walked over to the chairs on his right. They stopped, and he could only presume whoever it was had sat down.

Mikey knew right away it was not family - nobody really wore shoes that made clicking sounds like that, and nobody would ever want to. Maybe April when she was going out somewhere, but that was rare.

Don’t think about them. You’ll end up crying in front of this stranger.

Just put on a happy face and get it over with.

Mikey took a couple seconds to round up his thoughts, before cautiously popping his head out of his shell.

“Oh, how splendiferous, you’re awake. Don’t be shy, little one.”

Dammit, we are screwed.

Mikey knew that because nobody else spoke like that. He looked over to see a familiar face - albeit no one he particularly wanted to see. He’d have actually preferred a stranger over this.

Big Mama sat in the recovery room chair, a small smile on her face as she quietly awaited his response. Her eyes were trained on him, piercing and unnerving as they just watched.

“Hello, little turtley-boo,” Big Mama said, waving her hand calmly.

“Big Mama,” Mikey returned, doing his best to keep his voice from shaking.

The spider-yokai seemed surprised by the cold tone in his voice. “My my, someone’s in quite the fizz today. I’m not surprised though - your mystic toxins were awfully high when my assistant found you.”

“What do you want from me?” Mikey demanded. If Big Mama was here and trying to coerce him into one of her deals, he needed it upfront otherwise he’d be pretty screwed.

Then again, her assistant had actually kind of saved his life. Maybe she had some good intentions.

“Quite direct, aren’t we?” she replied, her tone now a tad more scathing than before. “I suppose if that’s how you’re going to be, then so be it. I have a scrumulent proposition for you, little one.”

Big Mama stood, and Mikey fully emerged from his shell. He needed to be ready to run in case the spider yokai attacked, but the woman made no move to get closer or drop into an attacking position. She simply paced around to the other side of the bed.

“My dear, you know the Battle Nexus that I run. Everyone in the Hidden City does. But after the absolutely grandiose catastrophe up above the Nexus has been a little worse for wear. Big Mama hasn’t been able to locate nearly enough fighters to make things exciting, the way they used to be. My audience has been slippery lately.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Mikey asked.

“I’m not finished,” Big Mama hissed. Her tone dropped into dangerous territory for a moment, before returning to its usual bubbliness. “Little one, has anyone properly educated you on mystic magic? I’m assuming not, considering the woozy-faddling situation you’re in at the moment. And where are the other little ones? I’d have thought they’d be here with you. Unless…”

Mikey froze as Big Mama drifted closer to the truth of the situation. That he’d run away willingly, given up any protection he had left in order to make sure they were safe from him.

Unfortunately, his freezing caught her attention, and a small smile crossed the spider yokai’s face.

sh*t, I think she figured it out.

No duh. Master manipulator, remember? That is what her species of yokai is known for.

“Your mystic outbursts must be the reason you’re alone,” she deduced, all too horribly quickly for Mikey’s liking. “Some woozy-faddled accident, I presume?”

The box turtle shuddered. This time there was no mistaking the memories as they rose to the surface. Quick flashes of blood and a dismembered arm echoed behind his eyes, and it was all he could do to try and block out the echoes of the screaming.

Blocking it out unfortunately didn’t stop his eyes from overflowing with tears, but Mikey certainly wasn’t going to let Big Mama see him cry. He dried them quickly, surprisingly without a hint of stinging. Probably from whatever they’d used under the fresh bandages.

However, the spider yokai caught the shift in his mood again. This time she did not smile, but an expression full of pity crossed her face. Mikey honestly thought that, through his silent tears, it was the most genuine expression he’d ever seen on Big Mama’s face in the history of the turtles knowing her.

“Oh, you poor little turtle.” Big Mama’s voice lost its bubbly and underlying slyness, slipping into a strangely quiet and regretful tone. Even to someone who knew Big Mama’s trickery, Mikey knew that there was no way she - or anyone, for that matter - could fake the hidden sadness in her voice. A small spark of sympathy woke in Mikey, and he shoved every memory attempting to force its way to the surface to focus on the strange quality of the sympathy he seemed to be recieving.

Big Mama sat down on the bed next to him, and Mikey nearly jumped out the roof when the yokai gently placed her hand on his shell and rubbed it gently.

“How would you like to make a deal, turtley-boo?” the spider yokai said. “I can see you don’t want to be found, if you’re out in the hubbub alone. If you work for me, for my Battle Nexus, I can keep you hidden. And I can help you with your mystic power as well.”

Mikey shuddered and looked over at the yokai. He made eye contact with her, seeing a flash of malevolence in them.

“You’ll never have to see whoever it is you’re running from again with my help.”

Mikey took a moment to think.

This is Big Mama. You saw that look in her eyes, she only wants to use you for her Battle Nexus. Going with her is a horrible idea!

But you heard her talking. That’s not a tone someone can fake. And if she can, then holy sh*t she’s pretty f*cking good at her job. Not only that but she’s offering to teach me how to control my mystic powers better. I might not have to stay away from my brothers forever if I can learn this stuff.

And how many times has she pulled a blindfold over everyone’s eyes to get her way?

Mikey quieted his mind, and looked down at his hands White faded into white against the blankets.

Big Mama had actually brought him here to heal him. Sure, perhaps for more malicious intentions that she was presenting to him, but she’d technically done him more than one favor by hiding him and healing him. And was offering to do him two more; to teach him how to control his mystic power and make sure he couldn’t hurt his family anymore.

It’s only fair to return the favors, right?

“Fine, but you also have to promise me something,” Mikey said. He didn’t dare look up at Big Mama, who’s hand was now still on his shell. “You absolutely cannot tell my brothers where I am. You can’t tell anyone who asks for me where I am. I’m trying to protect them, so you have to swear to me.”

Big Mama lifted her hand away in surprise. Mikey turned and looked her dead-on, feeling a rush of strange calm come over him as he made his choice.

“If you don’t tell them where I am, and help me with my mystic power…

“You have your new champion.”

The spider yokai seemed astonished. But her shock turned quickly to eagerness.

“We have a deal, little one.”

Chapter 22: Old Power And A Space

Chapter Text

Donnie hated everything about this situation. Every other minute that passed, he was listing off everything and squaring it away into neat blueprints in his head. The lists were somewhat long, although it was not a big deal for his brain’s organization.

Problem number one, and the one with priority - Mikey was missing.

Problem number two, with somewhat equal priority - his little brother was missing and was apparently harboring a very dangerous case of unstable mysticism. Along with, according to Draxum, possibly a case of mystic intoxication which the goat yokai had yet to explain to him.

Other problems dotted the list - the fact that everyone was still injured and healing, that his twin had lost an arm and now required the prosthetic blueprints he’d started creating directly after the invasion as a “just in case,” they didn’t know who had taken his little brother, he had to create a new type of mystic-accommodating algorithm to analyze the footage they’d found, along with the other thing that he always actively tried to avoid thinking about or putting into a blueprint that would be at the front of his mind. That one nobody else needed to know about.

Injuries still needed attending to, everyone was on the cusp of collectively losing their sh*t, and Donnie was going to throw his keyboard across the room in the next five seconds if the new algorithm code didn’t work the way it was supposed to. Again.

Cautiously, Donnie typed in the last few commands, nerves jumbling in his gut. Tentatively, the softshell activated the algorithm.

For a few moments, it looked like the scanner was going to work…

Before another, all-imposing error message popped up over the video feed.

Donnie let out a chorus of cusses so vulgar he was half-certain it was going to summon Raph from his search in the Hidden City. He closed the program and the video, before letting the extra mystic tech he’d been using to keep an eye on everything else dissipate as well. Donnie dropped his head on the work desk in frustration, doing everything he could in the moment to not lose his sh*t entirely and circle back to the blueprint he was trying to keep banned.

If he used that ability it could work. It had worked quite well the last - and first - tie he’d used it since the city went to hell.

But he also wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. Donnie had never asked for it - it had been a side-effect. He especially did not want anyone noticing that it was even a thing, so that included himself.

Begone, back to the depths with you! Donnie absently shouted into the mess of lists and prints in his brain. It was filed away under the “Do not touch but will inevitably explore” section, knowing it would come around to haunt him sooner or later.

“Donnie?”

“Casey Jr.”

Footsteps walked into the lab, the door closing automatically behind them as Casey walked over and crouched next to the softshell. Donnie looked over at the pace peeking up from under his arm, tired eyes meeting concerned one.

“Is the code still giving you trouble?” he asked quietly. Donnie didn’t respond with words, instead letting out a grumpy hiss as he pressed his face into the table again.

“What about it isn’t working?” the human pressed again. A slightly frustrated Donnie activated the mystic screens, with the video and the coding program without a word for Casey Jr. to look over.

Casey did not speak to him again, instead leaning over the desk and scanning through the hundreds of lines of code and muttering something under his breath. A small click, and Donnie heard Casey’s mask activate and the boy started scrolling through files.

Donnie absently listened in to Casey’s muttering, the usual humming drone of the lab that was a welcoming relief fading into annoying background noise.

“Dammit, where is the file with the mystic code that he saved here? I could have sworn I saw it before… Why did I have to tune out him teaching me about the filing system he used?”

Filing system?

“Sigh, let me see it. If I know anything about me, then I know I’d be keeping the same filing system for efficiency and personal ease of access uses,” Donnie said, looking up from his hunched position on the desk. Casey seemed visibly stressed out, which he knew was not a good thing because he didn’t know how to help him with that.

Not that he couldn’t say the same for himself. But that was for later, when the incredibly long list of to-do’s was finished.

He looked up to see multiple files hovering over Casey’s mask, looking incredibly close to Donnie’s own mystic screens, but pale and greyed like it was old an unused in recent years.

“What am I looking for?” he asked, trying to ignore the shivers of familiarity that crossed him when he began interacting with the dying screens. They flared to life when he began to interact, but it did not take long for them to return to that eerie, dead lavender.

Donnie quickly flicked from file to file, Casey quietly following his lead as the two searched. The softshell made note of encoded names that may prove useful or interesting to look over for when nothing was about to fall apart, and it did not take long before an encoded file appeared that was his filing system’s name for ‘mystic.’

“Got it,” he announced, mainly to also stop Casey from continuing to look. “No need to keep looking, and wow, that is an absolutely massive folder of information.”

“Yeah, you kept pretty extensive notes in the future,” the teen said, plopping down on the floor. “I don’t think I ever saw you without a screen at least nearby and keeping track of things.”

“That sounds like me,” the softshell said, transferring the folder over to his own mystic tech and opening it. There was so much information that it was divided into multiple different subfolders, something Donnie only did on projects he got really invested in.

It didn’t take nearly as long to find the mystic code, as Donnie was actively trying not to look at every single file his future self had created on the matter. There was enough information here to trump even the most researched of studies - although based on the timeframe Casey had once given them, 22 years was a long time.

“Alrighty, lets do this dance again, shall we?” Donnie muttered, looking over the file and quickly storing things away in his mind.

His eyes locked onto one particular line of code. The command that would permit his systems to actually run the mystic scanners he’d been trying to implement for 14 hours (not 14 hours straight - Draxum and April had made it very, very clear that he was not to overwork himself during a recovery period).

The characters were odd, looking more like an alphabet of sigils and runes than letters, so Donnie made it easier on himself by just copy-pasting the command code into his own, scooting everything down by placing it on the top line.

Nerves began sparking through the turtle again, but this time he pushed them away. If the command line worked, they would all be one step closer to figuring out what was happening to Mikey, and potentially where he’d gone, which mean he could cross those two things off his list of stressors permanently. Finding his brother was still top priority, but he would have less work to do if this worked properly.

Pizza Supreme and future Donatello, please let this work.

Donnie pressed the button, anticipation flooding him. Casey looked on in a reminiscent awe, a face he’d seen often on the boy.

The scanner pulled up the video feed, loading carefully as it seemingly decided whether or not it would work.

An error message popped up.

“WHAT? HOW DID THAT NOT WORK?” Donnie almost shouted. He was going to flip a table-

“You forgot to get rid of the space at the end when copy-pasting,” Casey pointed out, pulling up Donnie’s keyboard (the mystic one, Donnie had so many questions still because he was surprised Casey could even use it) and deleted the space. He pressed the button, and the scanner took another few moments to load.

Donnie was shocked when it started looking through the footage as intended.

“Oh my pancakes and bacon,” the softshell whispered. “Casey Junior, you are a lifesaver. I can’t believe I forgot about the stupid space!”

Donnie jumped up from his chair and darted to the lab door, excitement bundling over any nerves he may have had earlier. Moving that quickly sent a small shockwave of pain and discomfort down his spine, but he ignored it.

“OH FELLOW BEINGS OF THE LAIR!” he shouted into the subway station. “CASEY GOT THE SCANNER WORKING!”

Immediately, he could hear footsteps from the hallways above and below as people rushed to the lab. Casey looked rather embarrassed.

“I mean, I didn’t do very much,” he said quietly. Donnie spun around looked him in the eye.

“You were level-headed, and that was enough to get this bad boy up and running. Take the victory, kiddo!”

Casey seemed surprised - Donnie didn’t have to look very far to understand why as he darted over to the scanner to monitor the data collection. Only Leo had ever really called him by nicknames like that, Raph coming in a close second.

Excitement - and worry, always lingering worry - trailed into the lab as April, Splinter, and Draxum streamed in, all of them asking questions and chattering.

And all the while they mystic scanner went about hunting through the footage.

Chapter 23: New Name, Same Brain

Chapter Text

Big Mama, as it turned out, was a very patient yokai.

She had started instructing him the moment they made it to the Battle Nexus. On the dangers of overloads, how to properly manage any energy loops that may be produced from overuse of his magic (which apparently was an easy remedy that he noted mentally for later), when to recognize when the amount of power he was putting into a spell could be a danger to him, what spells he should be using to learn combat magic before interdimensional portals.

Apparently that last bit had greatly concerned her - or at least, it seemed like she was concerned. Mikey couldn’t be certain, but she was helping him, so again, maybe her intentions were better than he initially thought.

“Turtley-boo, I require your full concentration for this itsy-bitsy task.”

Speaking of whom.

Mikey was sitting on the outside of a mystic array, the circles intersecting and looping over one another in magnificent patterns. He wished he could paint something like this on the inside of the Lair’s walls, if he didn’t know that it would probably accidentally activate some mystic spell if he wasn’t careful.

“Do you remember what this pretty little array is called?” Big Mama asked calmly, gesturing two hands toward the spell on the ground. The other two rested behind her back.

“I think this one’s a mirroring spell?” Mikey guessed haphazardly. Unfortunately for him, his ass had not been listening while the yokai was talking.

“Not quite, but you are close,” she explained. “That splendiferous array there is a mimicry spell. Quite useful for hiding baubles, or making a fight more enthralling. You’ll want to learn that one for the arena.”

Mikey nodded, and started memorizing the pattern as much as he could. It was intricate and delicate, but it was no problem for the artistic side of his mind. He would have absolutely sketched it out onto paper, but surprisingly, the spider yokai had banned him from using his hands in any way other than to do simple things.

It reminds me of Raph…

NO, his mind quickly shouted, shooting down the memory before he could begin crying. You need to stay focused. You’re learning this mystic stuff to protect them from your magic.

“Now, turtley-boo, would you care to try using the spell?”

Mikey nodded, and picked up his violin. That was another thing Big Mama had insisted on - that he only use his violin for magic right now, as it was a crutch for the rest of his power.

Despite the uncontrolled spells causing a mystic feedback loop, using it with spells seemed to have the opposite effect. It was a vessel, keeping himself safe from another overload.

Mikey picked up the instrument, and imagined the array he’d just memorized in his head. He let his power surge, and the violin played sporadic notes as he traced it out mentally. There was no coherent song being played here, but as the notes grew in length he felt the familiar sensation of the calming fog creeping over him.

“Remember, little turtle,” Big Mama said. “Don’t get lost in the magic - that’s how you accidentally build up those pesky mystical loops. You must focus your intention on the spell.”

Mikey nodded, shaking himself into a place bordering on the edge of the fog full of memory and being present. His hands shook as he played, a painfully common occurrence, but this time they were steadier.

The power itself sparked into a wildfire, and Mikey had to grit his teeth to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally tip into the fog. He watched as the strings of his instrument lit up like rivers, sparks flying off of the bow as easily as birds took to the air. He closed his eyes in an attempt to concentrate further, and focused the fire onto the spell.

Beyond his closed eyes, Big Mama watched in astonishment as the mystic array on the floor lit up like a beacon, golden-orange light flooding the room where she was training the young champion warmly. The power flowed along the drawn out lines as water flowed along rivers, quickly filling the array with the young turtle’s mystic power. It radiated a warmth Big Mama was unfamiliar with, and another smaller power she had never seen.

As the last circle in the array lit and Mikey’s violin played its last note, the spider yokai was startled back as six ghostly replicas of the turtle appeared around the circle in tandem, all of them, glowing brightly and positioned to play again.

Mikey cracked open his eyes and was stunned to see six copies of himself sitting next to and across from him. They followed his movement, before looking at one another in surprise.

Holy sh*t. I did that even without being connected to my ninpo. I thought it was the source of my mystic power, but maybe it only helps amplify it?

Ninpo or no, that’s f*cking sick.

He looked over at Big Mama, who’s eyes were wide. In surprise, in fear, he couldn’t tell. He didn’t have as good a read on her as others, but it certainly looked like she was pretty surprised.

“I think it worked?” he said cautiously, and stopped talking as the six replicas spoke at the same time. It was actually kind of creepy, and he immediately let the spell go, because people talking with layered voices always unnerved him. The figures dissipated quickly, their shocked faces mirroring his own as they fell into golden dust, whisking out of existence almost immediately afterward.

Big Mama didn’t reply, but did walk over to him.

“Little one, are you certain you haven’t been trained in mystic power before? I haven’t seen someone able to pull off such a splendiferous mimicry spell in ages.”

“Draxum trained me a bit before…” Mikey stopped himself before he could say the words. The invasion.

Unpleasant memories started rising in his mind, and he was unfortunately too late to stop tears from forming in his eyes.

“I see. I’ll leave you be, little turtle - we’ve done enough here today. Remember to practice those arrays and the training my beloved assistant has been providing you. You’ll be entering the arena when I see fit.”

Big Mama left the room, in more of a hurry than usual. Mikey noticed her demeanor change when he’d started crying, but he didn’t know why.

He gathered up the arrays the yokai had drawn, and placed them back into a neat stack on a desk. He’d been given a fairly luxurious room in Big Mama’s Hidden City residence, and had immediately decided that keeping it clean was probably a good idea if he didn’t want to get kicked out - and have even more pursuers on his tail.

Mikey took off his bandanna and tied it around his upper arm. It was more ripped and stained than usual, presumably from being on the run for maybe a week at this point. It was the longest he’d ever been on his own, away from his family. It was also the longest he’d ever spent in enemy territory, having been here for about two days.

So counting it all up Mikey had been away from home for… yeah, about a week.

He rubbed his eyes and set the violin aside, dropping back onto the bed with a tired chirp. He looked up at his hands, which were still glowing a bit from the spell practice. The cracks shone, the ugly reminder making the box turtle look away in shame.

A tight feeling rose in his chest as he tried not to cry again. It was choking, constricting, to the point where he could have run out of air even with how long he could hold his breath, like the feeling was forcing the air out of his lungs. Pressure was building behind his eyes as well, and against his will, tears were forming in them.

“Stop it,” Mikey hissed to himself, his tone loaded with venom. “I don’t need to cry right now - I’m supposed to be fine. They need me to be fine.”

A tear fell. This time, Mikey’s mask was not there to catch the droplet as it freely rolled down his face.

Damn it, why did he have to bring up his family?

Because you miss them, the little voice whispered bluntly. It's natural for you to miss them.

Mikey didn’t even bother trying to keep his scared chitter to himself. “But I shouldn’t - I left to keep them safe!”

And? As you’ve told them many times, familial bonds are quite strong. You’ve never been away from them this long.

It unfortunately had a point, but Mikey was too upset to notice at this point. Tears were tracking down his scales quicker now, but the orange glow of his hands thankfully did not grow any brighter.

“I can’t miss them this soon though! I need to stay away until I get my stupid power under control!” At these words, Mikey flicked a blurry glance at his hands, but their glow remained stable. They also didn’t hurt, thankfully.

They are probably worried out of their minds. You left without a word, and they certainly miss you too.

“Why should they?” Mikey suddenly shouted, his voice echoing in the room. “They absolutely would not miss me! Especially not after what… w-what I did to Leo…”

His voice dropped off at the mention of his brother, and the memories of the incident flashed up through his mind once again. The turtle’s breathing was heavy and panicked, and it only got worse as the vivid images painted themselves behind his eyes, stained in blue and orange and dripping red, his brother’s screams echoing in his ears relentlessly.

The sounds in the room began to amplify, fading together into a loud, static drone that pierced his tympanum and made his head hurt. The air on his scales and tears on his face were prickly and unfamiliar, and Mikey popped into his shell to retreat when it became too much.

He was barely stifling ugly crying now, and was basically praying to whatever was out there that nobody was walking past his room and hearing him shout at nothing and have a breakdown.

Mikey really wished his brothers were here.

He wished April was here. Or Splinter, or Casey Jr, or Draxum, or even Cassandra.

But nobody was here, and he was alone. His family probably wasn’t going to look for him after what he’d done - hell, they probably were better off without him and his stupid powers, going around hurting everyone.

His family probably hated him now.

The thought alone broke the dam that had been holding everything back, and Mikey cried properly for the first time in maybe months. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since then.

They don’t hate you. They’re your family - they never will.

What happened to seeing the good in everyone?

“That was before I hurt my family!” Mikey cried. “Before my control over my sh*tty powers broke and I cut off Leo’s arm! It was my fault that that happened!”

The little voice fell silent, fading into the overwhelming static, seeming to finally have run out of things to try and comfort him with.

Mikey did not know how long he was trapped in the static, in the droning hum tearing through his ears and the terrifying trains of thought that were circulating his head without rest, jumping from one horrible scenario to another.

Mikey did, however, faintly notice when someone entered the room. He quickly popped his head out of his shell and quickly dried what remained of his tears and plastered on the best smile he could manage. He looked up to see Big Mama standing in the doorway. As he watched, the yokai’s expression shifted slightly. Into a smile, hiding whatever had been there before. He could only pray that she hadn’t seen too much.

“I came to ask you something, turtlely-boo,” she said quietly. Her tone was weirdly soft and distant. “I came up with a brilliant name for the Nexus’ newest champion. I needed to know if you wanted it.”

“What is it?” Mikey asked, looking up at the yokai in surprise.

Big Mama’s expression briefly flickered into something reminiscent of a strange sadness, before a smile spread across her face.

“How would you like to be called ‘The Golden Angel?’ I think it would suit you quite well.”

Mikey paused, rubbing at his eyes.

If he declined the name, he risked pissing off Big Mama and going into the arena without any cover for his identity other than what was provided.

If he accepted, he was betraying his family who already probably hated him enough.

The choice felt obvious to him.

“I think that’s an epic name,” Mikey said, a smile crossing his face.

If he couldn’t be a good brother by staying with his family, he could be a good brother by being a Nexus champion.

And by Pizza Supreme, would he be the best Battle Nexus champion ever.

-=-

Mikey woke up the next day to knocking on the door.

“Uh, yeah?” he called, jumping out of bed quickly and reaching instinctually for his weapons - only to once again remember that he’d left them in the Lair. So instead, he scrambled over to where he’d left his violin and pulled it out of the case.

“Big Mama is requesting your presence, Golden Angel. No weaponry is required.”

“Uh, okay, yep, I’ll be out in a second!” he replied. He tied his bandanna around his arm again and opened the door.

He was met with the red and white mask of Big Mama’s assistant. “Come along - I have been sent to escort you.” their voice was deep and somewhat distorted,like the mask had an implemented voice changer of some kind. He wouldn’t be surprised - being Big Mama’s main assistant would probably put a target on your back.

Mikey nervously followed behind the masked assistant, moving swiftly through the halls of the surprisingly luxurious Nexus grounds. Servants and bellhops and guards all ran around, the bustling halls seeming full of life.

They stopped in front of one of the more intricate doors, where the assistant knocked on the door without hesitation.

“The Golden Angel has arrived, Big Mama,” they announced. Mikey couldn’t help but grin - being announced by the new name was exciting.

“Send him in!” someone called through the door. The assistant opened it swiftly, hurrying the box turtle inside and glaring around behind them, as though they were keeping watch for any potential outside threats. In a place like this, it really was something he should have expected sooner.

“Hello, turtley-boo!” Big Mama greeted, a full grin of sharp teeth setting him slightly on edge. She was in her yokai form now, scuttling over on four long, spidery limbs. Despite how often Mikey had faced Big Mama in her yokai form before now, he would probably never be able to get used to it.

“So, I have been thinking about your outfit for the Battle Nexus, and I believe my tailors have come up with a few you may find fantamptuously exciting.”

Mikey was immediately dragged into a fitting area, where Big Mama’s tailors began bombarding him with flashy outfits and things that were way too brightly colored, even for him.

A couple things did catch his eye among the flurry of fabrics, but one item really grabbed his attention. Maybe it was because of how dull it was compared to the bright glitters, maybe it was the color itself, Mikey didn’t know. But it felt a lot moreright compared to all of the other things the tailors were bombarding him with.

Like he was supposed to have it.

“What about that?” he asked, pointing to the item in question. The tailors looked over, and caught sight of what he’d been seeing.

It was a long, dusty orange cape, with a hood and square spirals etched into the hem of the cape. It did not look like much to the outside eye, but to Mikey, it looked perfect for hiding. It was probably something he could wear out in the Hidden City and nobody would look twice at him, not even anyone who was looking for him.

“Are you certain?” one tailor asked hesitantly. “Big Mama’s champions are always flashy, to attract the crowd’s attention.”

“Can you make an outfit that does the opposite? That hides the fighter from view?” the box turtle asked carefully. He notices Big Mama’s eyes narrowing from his peripheral, probably a bad sign that he was screwing something up, but he needed this to protect his brothers.

“We can do that, of course,” they said, immediately bustling off to go find things for the outfit, while Mikey turned to Big Mama.

“Why would you choose something so drab and dry, Golden Angel?” she asked. “You know my champions are trained to whizzle-dazzle the crowd.”

Mikey absently grabbed the cloak and set it over his shoulders, and it was maybe the warmest item of clothing he’d ever owned. It fit pretty much perfectly, albeit a bit long.

“Because,” Mikey said, returning the yokai’s many-eyed glare, “if I’m gonna be the Golden Angel, I’m gonna do it my way.”

For my family.

Chapter 24: A Blade To The Throat

Chapter Text

Weeks had passed. Mikey had been trained rather extensively, by Big Mama herself, all the while not a hint of his brothers had shown up according to her assistant and the servants in the hotel. Mikey was taken up above to the Nexus hotel once or twice, in his new disguise, always by Big Mama’s side.

His power had become slightly more stable as well, as learning proper spells using the violin had somehow prevented the usual exhaustion of using his power that had always come around before. His hands, while they were still scarred and trembled if they were used too much, were a lot better than they had been months ago.

Even with all the training, however, it still couldn’t force away thoughts of his family. It couldn’t force away the ideas that they all hated him now, that he couldn’t go back.

It wasn’t as easy to shake off as he really thought it should have been.

So when he was taken up to the Nexus Hotel on a check-in trip, so Big Mama could make sure that everything in the hotel was running smoothly and efficiently, visitors were not what he was expecting.

He was standing awkwardly in Big Mama’s office, next to her regular assistant, who for some reason seemed a lot… taller? He couldn’t put a pin on it - it was like they were always shapeshifting or something.

His new Nexus outfit was making it somewhat annoying to move, but he wasn’t complaining, because it actually looked really really cool. That was two really’s.

The orange cape he’d initially chosen was draped over his shoulders, and the hood pulled up over his head to hide any green or orange scales that might peek through. It was a little too big, drooping over his field of view and he sometimes had to push it back up. A black mask covered the lower half of his face, with a golden feather design lacing around the edges. His arms were wrapped in black, as they had been before, but they were again decorated with beautiful golden and orange lacing. Where Mikey had once worn hand-painted knee pads, he now had sharp, darkly colored boots. A black shirt and pants covered the rest of him, and he had arm bands with long, dangling streamers hanging from them.

And to top it off, on his left arm, he’d tied his old orange mask. He didn’t want to get rid of it fully. It was a quiet reminder as to why he was here.

Radio static burst to life from Big Mama’s phone, and the spider yokai tapped on a button.

“What is it?” she hissed. Eight eyes glared down at the phone in irritation, and Mikey awkwardly shifted from side to side.

“You’ve got some visitors,” a voice over the machine replied. “They’re not looking too patient, and I believe one already knocked out half our guys. They say it's urgent business.”

“Fine, fine, send them up!” Big Mama hissed. “If it is who I believe then it will be easier to get this over with quickly.”

A small creeping feeling of unease settled into Mikey’s stomach. Something was happening that was for sure, especially if Big Mama sounded so pissed off.

Then another feeling ignited, and it was one he’d forced himself to block off for weeks now. And it scared the sh*t out of him, enough to make him flinch heavily. The assistant noticed, only offering a pat on the back before returning to their statue-like pose.

Ninpo. They’re here, and they came looking.

I told you they would.

I don’t think you understand how problematic this is, Mikey internally snapped, at the same time as forcing the connection shut again. If they feel my ninpo here they’ll know I’ve been around or with Big Mama!

Right as he finally managed to snap the connection shut, the elevator dinged, and the door opened slowly. Time seemed to pause as Mikey watched in fear from beneath his hood as light spilled out from the elevator and cast a distinct shadow across the office floor.

Big Mama didn't even get out a scathing greeting before the two figures were standing at her desk, one’s face set in cold determination, the other almost pure, barely withheld rage.

“Big Mama,” Leo greeted coldly.

“Turtley-boos,” she hissed in reply. Even if she was looming over them, Mikey was arguably more cowed by the figures of two of his brothers. The energy radiating from them was nothing less than terrifying, and it made him want to hide in his shell even more than he already did. But he held his position.

“Where is our brother?” Leo demanded. The slider’s normally relaxed and joking eyes were gone, replaced by a cold, dangerous predator. Raph, who was next to him, was just barely containing a growl.

Mikey, without even noticing he did, looked his brothers over, checking for any new damages. Raph looked mostly the same, and Leo was not facing him in a way where he could see whatever damage Mikey had done to him.

He didn’t want to see, but he needed to know.

“Whatever do you mean?” Big Mama asked, her convincing tone tearing any illusion of him being there to shreds.

Leo leaned forward on the desk, his eyes narrowed and teeth bared. “Where. Is. Our. Brother?”

“Well, whatever do you mean?” the yokai replied again. “Do you mean to tell me one of your silly little team members is missing?”

The snapper’s teeth were bared now too, and he let out a growl that made Mikey want to run faster than he ever had before. He noticed the assistant freeze up too, their two-fingered gloves drifting down to one of their many weapon pouches.

How have I never noticed they have two fingers before?

“Cut the bullsh*t, Big Mama,” Leo snapped. “Mikey’s been missing for three weeks now, and we’ve checked with everyone except for you. So either you kidnapped our brother, or there’s still some option we have checked with yet - oh wait, my checklist is finished.”

Leo’s sarcasm was dripping with almost murderous intent.

I told you they cared.

That doesn’t mean I should go with them! I could hurt one of them again!

“Well, it is flamgasteringly rude that you would immediately assume I took him,” Big Mama replied, her own voice layered with anger below the calm. “I haven’t seen one of you blasted turtles since you meddled with my Nexus whizbang - today an exception, of course.”

Leo’s grip on his sword had tightened. Both of them looked ready to spring.

“Tell us where he is right now,” Raph snarled. “Or we call in Donnie and April, and they’ll help us get an answer whether you like it or not.”

The sound of a metal fan blade whipping open next to him told him that the assistant was taking the threat seriously. Mikey also drew a weapon, temporary until he participated in the Nexus - a plain, battered katana that matched his overall look. He didn't know how to use them very well, but he was currently hoping he wouldn’t have to.

Leo looked over, the cold gaze locking onto Mikey and staying there. “I see you got another friend,” the slider said calmly. “And I also see they don’t like us much.”

“None of my hotel staff do, considering how many times you wrecked the place and injured them,” the yokai remarked snidely. Raph’s hand came down on her desk, and she immediately flinched away.

Within the blink of an eye, Leo was in front of him, looking down with a calculating expression on his face - and Mikey finally got a view of the missing arm.

Or rather, where it was supposed to be.

A metallic green arm had replaced his brother’s living one, marked with yellow stripes and a purple panel on the shoulder with Donnie’s logo. The prosthetic moved just like a real arm, but just looking at it made his stomach turn violently.

Casey had once mentioned that Leo had a metal arm. Mikey couldn’t imagine why.

But now, with the technology in place of something that he’d cut away?

He didn’t have to imagine. He only needed to remember.

Out of nowhere, Leo was behind him, holding him harshly with the arm that was wrong and the other holding a blade to his throat.

“I’m gonna ask you one more time,” the slider snarled. “You tell us where our little brother is, or your new pet here can feel what it’s like to have their throat slit. It’s a simple problem, a simple solution.”

The assistant was holding their tessen in a position that meant they were ready to strike, while Raph’s usual gentleness seemed to somewhat return. Big Mama was tense, and looked beyond uneasy.

Mikey’s brain slowed everything down. Fight or flight kicked in quickly, but apparently his body chose to freeze as adrenaline poured through him and he went cold. He couldn’t even process what was happening.

The blade pressed closer, making contact with Mikey’s neck. It didn’t hurt, but the cold metal resting finely there had everything in his body on hyper alert mode.

“Well?” Clock’s ticking, eight-legs,” Leo said. “Tell us, right now, or this guy gets it.”

“Okay, Leo, take it back a notch,” Raph instructed. “That’s not going to get her to tell us anything and you know it. This is too far.”

“And you destroying whatever was left of the Foot Clan and their carrier boat three days ago wasn’t?” Leo snapped back.

Raph destroyed an entire ship?

And killed whatever was left of the Foot Clan, apparently.

“Start talking,” Leo growled, returning his attention to Big Mama. Leo’s sword pressed deeper into his neck, and Mikey felt a warm trickle of some liquid begin to drip down from the injury.

That’s… that’s blood. My blood.

He actually cut me.

And if Big Mama doesn’t spin some lie to get me out of this I might actually die.

His brothers were willing to kill to get him back. In the past, they’d often joked about such things, but now, after the invasion? After hearing that Raph had killed whatever Kraang infested creatures were left?

After having his own brother put a sword to his neck and draw blood, without knowing it was Mikey under the disguise?

That threat was too real.

The sword pressed in a little deeper, making Mikey wince and flinch away as more blood fell onto the katana and rolled in beads down his neck.

“You have three seconds,” Leo said. “Fess up, or this guy dies.”

Tension threatened the room’s stability.

“One…”

The sword pressed harder, making him hiss.

“Two…”

“Leo, stop, this wasn’t part of the plan!”

“FINE!”

Big Mama’s shout paused the sword, and Leo’s metallic grip loosened a bit. “Fine, I will tell you the truth.”

“You really like that one,” Leo noted, drawing away the sword. Mikey let loose a breath he hadn’t known he was holding, and a sudden spurt of blood rushed down his neck, He absently covered it with one hand, the pressure almost a relief.

Big Mama sighed, before pausing for a second. “I am being completely honest with you, turtle-boos - I haven’t the slightest clue where your brother may be. I haven’t seen a trace of you since the Nexus, and I think this encounter was far more violent than it needed to be. I am telling the truth.”

Silence rang out through the room, but it was a different kind of silence. It was heavy, desolate and filled with an emotion so dark Mikey was not sure there was even a name for it.

Then Leo shuddered, and his voice broke.

“Come on Raph. We’re… we’re done here.”

The two left quietly, without another word to each other or Big Mama. Distantly, Mikey could feel Leo’s ninpo, electric and chaotic, dim and fall into nothing but faint sparks. Raph’s solidified and dimmed as well. Everyone else did as well, as they seemed to feel it too.

The elevator door closed, and everything seemed to hit Mikey at once. Namely, the shock of the entire encounter. The pain from where his brother’s sword had cut him.

He dropped to the floor, shaking hard, forcing tears away. The assistant crouched next to him, their silence an odd comfort.

“I apologize, Angel,” Big Mama whispered. “I did not realize they would get aggressive.”

“I want to go back,” he said quietly.

A moment of silence as the spider skittered over to him.

“Of course, Golden Angel. I won’t bring you here again.”

A portal opened up behind them, and Mikey was taken back to the Hidden City manor.

-=-

It didn’t take an idiot to see that their final suspect had been a loss.

Donnie knew that the moment Leo’s ninpo dimmed.

He could have sworn his own had felt Mikey at the Nexus Hotel, that his tracker had brought them here.

The moment the elevator door opened, Donnie knew it was a no-go. Leo was shaking and nearly crying, while Raph was clearly trying not to.

“Did you find anything?” April asked as they walked out the door.

Leo just shook his head. Donnie would have frozen right then and there, because his twin was completely silent, and it wasn’t natural. It reminded him of before.

Then something else caught his attention, and his dismay turned to alarm.

“Leo, there’s blood on your sword,” he noted. “Did you kill somebody up there?”

Again, the silent head shake made Donnie want to do eighty different things and none of them were good for the wellbeing of others. Namely Big Mama’s.

“She had this new assistant up there, and Leo threatened to kill ‘em if she didn’t tell us the truth,” Raph whispered. “She was pretty attached to them, so she fessed up that she didn’t know jack.”

Smaller blueprints formed in Donnie’s head, absently wanting to analyze what that might mean and who it was, but the last time he’d tried tracking down information about the first assistant he’d come up with absolutely nothing. Four times he’d tried, four similarly empty results. No doubt this one would yield something similar as well.

“Well, now what?” April muttered. “We’ve tried every villain, every underground criminal group we know - f*ck, we’ve even tried the Purple Dragons, and they weren’t even active anymore!”

They were out of the hotel by now, and as Donnie watched, April let out a shout of frustration, pulling her bat from the strap on her back and obliterating a parking meter.

“April, calm down!” Donnie said, which was completely hypocritical because he was currently the opposite of calm himself.

“Don’t you dare tell me to ‘calm down’, Dee!” April snapped. “I will calm the f*ck down when we find out who took our baby brother!”

With that, she hit the parking meter again, shattering the metal pole to pieces.

“Let's just go home and re-evaluate our options, okay?” Donnie said.

“Fine,” April snarled. “But the minute we find out who it is, I’m calling first dibs on breaking bones.”

Raph and Leo were already heading to the tank.

“First dibs is all yours,” Donnie said. “But only if I may join you in said destruction of calcium and collagen structures.”

“Deal,” she muttered.

The two walked away from the hotel, following the trail of blood left by Leo’s sword, and Donnie couldn’t help but feel like he’d missed something there.

Chapter 25: Angels Don't Have Blood on Their Hands, Right?

Chapter Text

The day had finally arrived. Weeks of training and learning to use his mystic power had led up to this.

Mikey shuddered and pulled his mask up around his face. He quickly made sure everything was secure - the cloak, his weapon sheath, backup weapons. Even the orange bandanna he now had permanently tied around his right arm. A quick tug ensured that the little good luck token would stay secure on his arm.

Outside, he could already hear the roaring of spectators, excited yokai who were ready to watch a bloodbath. That was the only part he might have trouble with. He didn’t want to kill any of his opponents, but according to Big Mama he might not have a choice.

Speaking of whom.

“Are you certain you’ll be able to do it, Angel?” Big Mama questioned, skittering out of the dark. “I know you and the other turtley-boos seem to have some trouble with properly disposing of your enemies.”

Mikey shivered. “I’ll try to do it, Big Mama.”

Even the idea of drawing blood from an opponent made him nervous. Flat out killing them made him want to run away and hide.

“You may not have a choice, Angel,” she said silkily “There is only one rule in Big Mama’s Battle Nexus.”

Mikey knew the rule by heart, from how many times it had been drilled into his head. By the assistants, by trainers, by Big Mama herself. But she continued on.

“Survive or die. I’ll leave you to prepare yourself, but remember that you must make a hizz-dazzling show, my dear. I’ll be watching.”

And with that, the spider yokai skittered away, out of the dark of the arena entrance and through the dungeon. Her words left him feeling cold and uneasy, but the tiny spark of determination warmed him.

He was going to do his best. Mikey had no other choice.

You did have another choice.

Immediately, he shut the thought off, refusing to acknowledge the little voice. He was about to fight in the Nexus - he didn’t have time to think about that. Maybe once it was over, he could, but not right now. Distractions would get him killed.

He did one final check, to ensure he had his main weapon. The violin was secure in it’s newly made sheath, and the bow rested gently at his side. It was so serene compared to what he was about to go into.

The sounds of cheering rose louder, and Mikey quickly snapped his focus back to the arena entrance in front of him. He had a plan to dazzle the crowd - thanks to some good old razzmatazz.

The announcer began speaking, one of the yokai he’d spent the most time around in training - the little octopus yokai who announced for every event Big Mama held and also operated the main hotel elevator.

“Welcome, yokai from across the Hidden City! Are you ready for a whizbang whirlwind?” the yokai boomed over the speaker. The sounds of yokai shouting reached a near-deafening volume with the way it reverberated in the tunnel. Mikey took a few steps forward, quietly preparing himself. He grabbed onto the mystic spark and began to pull as the announcement continued.

“For your first thrilling experience,” the octopus continued, “We have something truly spectacular today. In the opponent’s corner, we have a returning champion to the Nexus - the currently undefeated and tip-toppity champion, Steel Scream!”

Across the arena, one of the massive barred doors lifted quickly, and out came a massive kamaitachi. Its hands were made from nothing but massive blades, and Mikey absently remembered that kamaitachi were fast and relied on speed.

The blade-handed weasel shrieked a call into the arena, and the audience went wild as he called out a challenge in Mikey’s direction.

“And in our other corner, we have a new challenger!” the yokai announcer called. “The rumors are true, Nexus lovers and fellow yokai - Big Mama has added to her champion’s arsenal, with a powerful mystic warrior! The challenge of a lifetime, what we’ve all been waiting for for weeks! Everyone give a warm welcome to our newest champion; the Golden Angel!”

Mikey smiled under the mask, and firmly pulled on the mystic spark. His markings began to glow under the cloak, and his eyes shone. Violin and bow in hand, Mikey took a stride toward the barred gate.

Time for some razzmatazz, baby!

As the gate flung open, Mikey began to play. The quick notes sang sharply through the air, and mystic chains shot out through the entrance of the arena. The crowd shrieked their excitement, and Mikey dashed out, a golden, glowing blur among the wildly swinging chains. Sparks danced off them and fell into the arena stands, and the observers jumped back from the burning embers, their excitement rumbling in Mikey’s tympanum as he let himself show off.

The chains exploded into fiery embers, dousing the entire arena in a shower of orange and gold flecks. He turned to look at Big Mama in the stand above him, who’s expression could only register as impressed and even a little unnerved.

The scars under his hand wraps were glowing through the black fabric, giving the illusion of the power melting like a river down his arms.

The crowds went insane, cheering and screaming as he took his place in the front of the arena door.

“What an impressively dip-dazzling display from the Golden Angel! Now let's see if he can fight as well as he astonishes! Champions, you know the rules -now fight!”

A horn blared through the arena and Steel Scream shrieked another challenge across the arena before lunging for Mikey. He barely managed to dodge, managing to roll out of the way just in time as the scythed weasel lunged for him again.

A few quick notes on the violin developed into a song, quick and constantly flowing. An array popped up in Mikey’s head, and a quick stroke of the bow left the kamaitachi bewildered as three copies of Mikey popped up around it. It screeched and began clawing at them as they ran about, distracting it while Mikey pulled up more spells from his memory.

An array to enhance his own speed. The illusions caught it too, drawing the yokai away from the box turtle as he continued to play. Music filled his ears, and the spark surged into a fire as his mind danced along the line between the clear and the glassy fog.

The three illusions were shredded to pieces before Steel Scream finally turned to him. A scythe-like claw came down on Mikey’s shoulder, ripping through bare scales and leaving a shallow gouge.

A quick hiss, before he leaped away from another incoming claw strike. The music ramped up, filling the entire arena with its song as more arrays drew themselves out in orange chains. Sand was whipped up in the whirlwinds left by both the spells and the kamaitachi, the speed whipping up a storm of dust and golden sparks.

The weasel caught the hem of his cape as Mikey managed to get away from another near-shot to the chest. These yokai did not tire easily, but Mikey was unfortunately not that. The drain of his mystic power was beginning to exhaust him.

He needed another energy source. Something that wouldn’t let him down, aside from his own energy reserves.

It was risky, and would possibly call unwanted attention.

A claw slashed down his arm and tore the wrapping, the gouge deeper than the last time. The kamaitachi picked him up, but Mikey called up another array - a quick teleport - and managed to get to the other side of the arena before the yokai was able to slam him into the ground.

Do it. We have no choice.

Mikey called out, and opened the connection to his ninpo.

Immediately, he felt the others brighten and feelings of hope and panic came from their connections, but Mikey had no time to pay attention to it. The yokai had lunged across the arena once more, and Mikey managed to play a few more notes to shield himself from the clawed attack.

The shield itself was delicate, and wouldn’t last long. Mikey needed to get hits in on this guy otherwise he’d be very thoroughly dead.

He quickly whipped up a few more chains, and whipped them quickly and violently across the kamaitachi’s limbs. It screeched in pain as blood from both sides dipped onto the sand, clumping it up and making it stick to any exposed scales.

A few more strikes, and the yokai backed off, still snarling but more hesitant to attack. Miky lowered his shield, playing the song as it reverberated throughout the arena.

Lowering it was a mistake. Steel Scream howled like a tornado and rushed him, throwing up sand into the stands. It caught Mikey in the leg this time, in a very bad spot, and he couldn’t help his own shouts of pain as he dropped to the ground.

The ninpo of the others freaked out, panic building in all of them as they tried to call for him. Mikey called upon more energy from the ninpo, and he could feel concern radiating through the link, but he needed to get up and move.

Barely in time did he manage, the violin shaky in his bleeding hands and the magic beginning to sputter.

He took a second to look up at Big Mama from across the arena, who made a motion with her hands that seemed to signal “finish this up.”

Steel Scream rushed him again, and Mikey suddenly lost his grip on the edge between clear and foggy. Memory overtook him, and suddenly he was no longer in the arena.

An underground track with horrifically mutated creatures rushing him on all sides.

A shriek tore from the turtle, and the ninpo and mystic energy flowed quickly into the violin. But it was not fear that motivated the sudden outburst.

Rage bubbled through Mikey, and in that moment, the fog snapped away and Mikey was already moving.

The glow of his power tore through the air as he began to lash out at the yokai in the arena, as he spilled blood into the sands on the ground, kicking up clouds of dust and hiding the two in a haze.

Mikey managed to pin the massive creature, and wrapped a few chains around his claws. The blades shone maliciously in the golden light, stained red and glimmering gold.

The yokai hit him with one, clawing across the side of his face and catching on his beak. Mikey snarled in response, wrapping up the last claw and keeping the yokai pinned down.

The sight alone could terrify - a small mutant, covered in claw marks and dripping with red, as golden orange chains danced around and forced the much larger yokai down. Black and gold eyes were a spotlight in the haze along with the rest of the glow, and for a moment, the spectators in the arena all hushed their applause as the dust settled.

It came down to the final moment. Mikey was draining quickly, and the rest of the ones connected by the ninpo could tell. Would the Golden Angel kill?

The world seemed to stop as Mikey’s mind worked.

Killing him would be awful. He’s just trying to survive.

He’s trying to stay alive.

Another thought took over, one completely detached from everything he knew.

Survive or die. If we let him go, he could hurt someone else.

How can you protect your brothers if you’re already dead?

That was the final straw.

With a scream that tore through the turtle’s throat and sounded loud through the stadium, the chains acted.

The bladed claws snapped off, leaving the kamaitachi howling in pain, before the sound of the music led them to their target.

Steel Scream’s throat was obliterated, and the broken scythes were tossed to the side as Mikey slowly regained his senses. The concern flowing through the ninpo link was overwhelming and painful to listen to, so he quickly snapped the connection closed.

He turned to Big Mama, blood dripping from his mouth and arms, the violin closing out gracefully and with a burst of energy.

The crowd was silent for a moment.

Then the stadium erupted into cheering,

The golden magic faded away as Mikey limped back into the arena door, bellhops rushing out to dispose of the corpse. Blood was sinking deep into the sand, like a weed in the yellowish grains.

Mikey didn’t make it very far into the Nexus dungeons before he passed out, exhaustion hitting him like a truck.

-=-

The little box turtle woke up in Big Mama’s med bay. He was patched up, and his arms and leg were wrapped neatly in white fabric. He unfortunately wasn’t coming off any painkillers, so the second Mikey tried to sit up he couldn’t help hissing as pain shot through him.

“Nope, just gonna lie back down,” Mikey growled to himself. “Not trying that today.”

Absently, he looked around the medical room, and was surprised to find Big Mama and her assistant standing there.

Was it just him or was the assistant a lot shorter than they had been two days ago?

Eh, it didn’t matter too much. If they were some kind of shapeshifter yokai then it wasn’t any of his business, although he was really curious about that now.

“How’d I do on my first performance?” Mikey joked, wincing as his face sent a sudden sting through him.

An emotion that he was too slow to catch decorated the spider yokai’s face for a moment, before a reassuring smile crossed it.

“You did a wonderful job, Angel,” she said. “But you must remember to keep your magic under control. There wasn’t much doubt about it - I saw you slip over the edge.”

Right. That hadn’t been his fault, but Mikey felt upset about it nonetheless. “I’m sorry-”

“However,” Big Mama continued, cutting him off quickly, “you did spic-spactacular for your first fight. Once you’re all patched up, you’ll take on another champion.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Mikey hissed. He really should not be talking, the remnants of the cuts on his face proved that fairly well.

Big Mama smiled, before turning to her assistant. “J, you keep an eye on our new champion. Make sure he doesn’t run - and that nobody comes around to try and pick him up.”

Mikey was fairly certain that he wouldn’t be running any time soon, judging by the dull throb of pain in his leg whenever he moved.

That also meant he was now awake. And could think about what had happened.

Most of it was now a blur, memories hidden behind clouds of sand and flying gold. But he clearly remembered the shrill screeching of the yokai. The blood clumping up the sand.

The red on his own hands.

Probably worst of all, and most clearly, the shredded throat of the yokai, lying limp on the sand as his opponent bled out and twitched on the sands.

It wasn’t something Mikey had ever expected to witness.

It wasn’t something he’d ever expected himself to be able to do.

What happened? he thought to himself. Where was the line? When did I cross it?

How did I remove myself so far from my family that everyone is willing to kill now? Raph, Leo, probably Donnie and April, and now me.

What’s happened to us all?

Mikey was snapped out of it by somebody quietly moving over to his bed and sitting there. It was the assistant, who even from beneath the mask seemed to be offering him a strange look of pity. Why they would do that, Mikey had no clue.

A note was passed to him, before the assistant got up and went to stand guard outside the room. Again, Mikey was entirely mystified by the assistant’s behavior. It changed day to day, plus the shapeshifting and now this, was something he definitely wanted to explore more of.

He couldn’t do that. He needed to keep his family safe.

Mikey needed to be the Golden Angel.

Even if angels were not supposed to have blood on their hands.

He shakily opened the note.

The first kill is hard for all of us. You’re a strong kid, Angel. You’ll get used to it one day, if you survive the Nexus long enough.

That was the weirdest thing he’d ever read. But it made sense.

Exhaustion was starting to overtake Mikey again, so he just gave in and went back to sleep.

-=-

Leo would have been beyond relieved to sense Mikey’s ninpo again if it hadn’t been absolutely fraught with fear and stress.

Everyone in the living room had tensed up when Leo felt the connection open - no doubt they did as well. And also immediately, through the shared ninpo connection, he felt everyone grow concerned when Mikey began to draw on the connection for energy. His link, usually bouncy and all over the place, was a focused streamline of fire, drawing on the connection without a care in the world. The only emotion Leo could feel from his little brother was fear and unease, clearly from opening the link in the first place.

The agonizing few minutes of just feeling his brother be scared, occasionally laced with genuine spikes of anger scared Leo. He’d never felt his little brother’s spirit like this before - terrified and ready to run like a prey animal.

Then a different kind of spike happened. One that made Leo go cold all the way down to his bones.

It lapsed for a moment, any emotion coming from Mikey’s link. Then it blasted them all, and Leo absently noted some people curling in on themselves.

Pure, fiery, unbridled rage emanated from his younger brother, and the energy pull was so strong Leo would have knocked himself out right then and there to not feel like a living battery. The ninpo burned, burned loud and clear for a solid few moments, before lapsing again into a much cooler, yet terrifyingly indifferent burn.

A few more moments, then Mikey severed his connection. All Leo could feel now were sparks of panic and unease from his brothers, April, and Splinter. Even a faint glimmer was coming from Casey Jr, even with how weak the kid’s ninpo was at the moment.

“We all felt that, right?” Leo whispered out loud.

April and Raph, who were also in the living room, nodded quietly. Raph was shuddering, and April had carefully laid a hand on her brother’s shell.

Leo didn’t even want to think about what could have made Mikey scared enough or angry enough to finally open up to them again. Based on that heatwave of rage toward the end of the connection, whatever it was certainly wasn’t good.

But Leo was too rattled to call everyone and get them ready to search. Even though his baby brother’s life might be in danger, the experience was too much for him at the moment.

It was his fault his little brother might be scared or hurting somewhere without them. Most definitely his fault that he was mad.

Leo scooted over to Raph and April, and the three could do nothing but sit and quietly comfort one another. They didn’t move for a good while, and Leo ended up falling asleep.

Chapter 26: Spiderweb Filing and a Fleshy Problem

Chapter Text

The fact that Donnie hadn’t implemented this type of mystic tracking before annoyed him to such a great length that he would have once again had the thought to flip his entire workstation over, train car and all.

It had taken a few days after the ninpo surge to properly implement, but with Draxum’s help (and a lot of snarky banter between the two) the mystic infused trackers were complete.

Donnie had immediately planted most of them, including on himself, because if he or another one of his family members went missing during or after this incident he would have much better luck of them being found. Or them finding him.

Of course, nobody actually knew where the new trackers were. Except for Donnie and Draxum, nobody knew they’d even been planted. They had their suspicions (as usual) but that was nowhere near the top of his priority list.

Many things were near the top of his priority list, and finding Mikey was off the page and through the roof.

When the final suspect had been a bust, and the ninpo flare-up had happened only a week or two later, Donnie figured that might not be all to the case. Something had been missing from Leo’s synopsis of the encounter, he could tell.

So, Donnie set out for the fifth time to try and track down any information on Big Mama’s latest assistant.

This time, there were a few things that popped up - letters associated with the previous four, records of years old Nexus footage, strange evaluations of skill testing. None of it made too much sense - for a ruthless gladiator arena that had a habit of picking yokai and humans off the streets, there were surprisingly extensive records of champions in years past. Hell, donnie even found records for his father. Donnie couldn’t help applauding how organized Big Mama’s system was.

The files with letters for names were locked a little tighter behind mystic-coded firewalls - a rather inconvenient situation considering he still needed to implement mystic hacking systems - so the softshell still couldn’t access those files. Another thing to add onto his project list, which was filed away both in his head and on another glowing purple screen.

The general firewall wasn’t as tightly secured, so he quickly typed in the codes required to take down class A encryption. It was the same stuff the NYPD had, and Donnie had much more practice and familiarity with that system than he would ever admit.

The firewall dropped, and a massive, slightly less organized group of files crossed his computer in a strange spiderweb design. Files were backlinked, interlinked, zipped - there were even entire subfolders inside subfolders, and some of those were locked behind passwords and pin codes. Not unlike Donnie’s own security systems, minus the fact that his ingenious coding kept it a lot safer than this.

Donnie skimmed the web of files before realizing that the information he was looking for could be hidden anywhere in the mass - it could be in Big Mama’s finances, weapons shipments, combat records, et cetera.

The missing piece could be literally anywhere in here.

A flare of panic lit up in his brain, before the softshell forced it back.

Alright. We can do this. Start with the high priority files, try looking for anything that could potentially be a password or pin number to unlock those other files. Easy enough.

Donnie could do this. He was the tech guy for a reason. While his brothers were out searching in the real world, he could search the digital one.

A quick refill of the coffee mug, and Donnie began his search.

-=-

It had taken seven hours of painstakingly clawing through Big Mama’s filing system, but something had finally caught Donnie’s eye.

Even in her documents she still uses an absurd amount of made up words!

Donnie growled to himself, thanking Pizza Supreme that he’d managed to catch a bit of odd phrasing in a subfolder labeled .champions. Most of that entire subfolder was locked up tight behind more temporarily unbreakable firewalls, once again filled with documents labeled only by singular letters or initials. Some of the singular letters were really randomly taken from the alphabet, such as V and J and L. To him, that just implied these were either fake files to trick people, or these were random yokai or humans taken off the streets.

Others were actual initials, although again they were initials that Donnie couldn’t pinpoint or track to any yokai in the Hidden City’s police database (which was so poorly secured that the softshell was disappointed in whoever had decided using a basic computer security system was a good idea.) Initials like MU, YU, OS, were completely untraceable. Potentially they were really old champions who had fought before the filing systems had been digital.

But three initialed files caught Donnie’s eye.

One was double initialed, being LJ - YH. The initials looked familiar to him, and he filed away a copy of it, and it was apparently created about 27 years prior.

The second only had one set of initials, being HL. This one was arguably newer, created approximately two years ago. The initials were also very familiar. Donnie also copied it over to his own file system.

The third was labeled PENDING.

And the third wasn’t locked behind one of the surprisingly well-protected firewalls. Probably because the whole pending thing might mean that this champion wasn’t high enough priority to be locked away.

Donnie clicked open the file, which backlinked him to a file he’d previously overlooked in the shipment folder. Strange, considering this was a pending, potentially high-priority champion.

The overlooked file, now that he wasn’t painfully skimming, began to look less like a botanical shipment and more like one of her weapons deals.

Actually, more a mix of the both. And the conditions of the pickups and transports and drop-offs were extremely suspicious. Back alley deals, scrounging through construction sites, absurd amounts of money for seemingly harmless creatures recovered from said sites.

One noted that a shipment had been halted by a stranger, and promptly destroyed. The only thing left in the alleyway to recover were piles of golden dust. The shipment itself had been incinerated beyond saving.

That is really weird, Donnie mused absently. Out of all of these records, this is the only intercepted and destroyed shipment. It was a one time event.

And it links back to another document, but this one’s not even labeled with initials. It has more of those strange sigils and runic markings.

Donnie tried to click on it, and as expected, it was another firewalled champion document. This one was way higher security than the others, and with it being linked back to the interrupted shipment, he suspected that this went way deeper than he’d originally thought.

Another thing in the shipment’s document caught his attention, and this time Donnie’s blood began to chill as blueprints and lists and other such things lit up alarms in his head.

The intercepted shipment was dated to the same day that Mikey had snuck out to the Hidden City and come back with blood pouring in rivers down his arms.

Another detail he’d read earlier poked out at him - the yokai in charge of transport had been discovered as nothing but piles of glowing dust.

Absolutely no way was that a coincidence. He immediately flicked back to the file, rereading it over and over to scour out details. Something about these shipments was nagging at him, and if Mikey had anything to do with the intercepted one, then there was absolutely good reason to believe they were nefarious.

Because Donnie knew his little brother. Angelo wouldn’t have turned three yokai to dust if Big Mama was shipping regular weaponry.

Mikey didn’t kill people.

He started tearing a bit more rigorously through these shipment files, until he came across a file linking back to the PENDING champion file. It was written by scientists (specifically biologists, a field which he was not very experienced in but could recognize the language for) detailing some kind of artificially created champion for Big Mama’s Nexus. It would be composed of living subjects, all of whom could assimilate others of its kind or other entities entirely into its being.

Warning bells began to sound in Donnie’s head. That sounded… uncomfortably familiar. Too close to something else. But Donnie needed to keep reading. If there was any relation to where Mikey had gone, then he needed to find it.

It was more or less a very vague document, but the thing that finally clued him in that this was a really, really big emergency was the attached images of the specimens.

Neon green and yellow eyes met Donnie’s from the screen, from pink flesh that pulsed and tore itself to pieces in order to crawl under skin and turn anything it came into contact with into disturbing, unnatural monsters.

These were shipments of Kraang remnants.

Cold shot through Donnie’s entire body, and somewhere in the back of his head the forbidden blueprint began to lurk over his thoughts as panic also began to take over and disorganized his neatly laid out plans.

Big Mama was creating a champion made of Kraang remnants.

And Donnie knew that without a higher connection like a Prime, it would be wild, unstable, unpredictable, and in every way, extremely dangerous.

It could kill the entire arena in under half an hour and the yokai would be none the wiser.

The shipment that had been destroyed had been the only one, and who knew how many she’d managed to amass in the time where the turtles had been down for the count and unaware of the surface activity.

It made slightly more sense that Mikey would have gone ballistic if the Kraang were involved, but he still wouldn’t have killed three random yokai over it. Incinerating the specimen itself would have sufficed. So it still couldn’t be his little brother, although a small pit of unease opened at the thought in his stomach at the prospect of some random yokai killing others because they were working for Big Mama.

The first document he’d opened linked back to the mysterious champion’s file, and the PENDING label on the first one was probably to indicate it was a work in progress. Why there were potentially two copies of the same file, one higher security than the literal work-in-progress monster, the softshell didn’t have time to look into.

A work in progress.

How long has she been doing this for?

Donnie couldn’t think. He needed to tell his brothers right now, because if anything had been proven from the invasion, it was that anything Kraang was absolutely top priority and could not be ignored.

Even if that meant needing to slot his little brother’s kidnapping into second priority.

Chapter 27: The Calm and The Storm Before the Hurricane

Chapter Text

Mikey never used to have so many scars. Not from his old villains, not from the Shredder, not even from stupid stuff done around the Lair.

Now his scales were pockmarked with twisting, rough lines, some painful holes, some geometric, some burns. There were even a few from the most recent fight that had him temporarily unable to use his hands and one leg, partly because of mystic power hitting a bit too hard and the opponent actually breaking his leg.

He knew it would heal quicker than most other people, considering the whole mutant thing, but it still took time. Time he probably didn’t have, if he was going to go into the Nexus again this week.

Big Mama’s healers were very proficient in their ability, so his healing time might even be reduced further.

In mild annoyance, Mikey tried to move around his room, but the sharp stings from his leg and hands made him stop pretty much immediately. It hurt too much to try and move.

He wasn’t tired - more so antsy from being stuck for so long. Stuck in his room, stuck in the Nexus, stuck in the Hidden City. it sucked a lot more than he’d initially thought it was going to. The routine he followed got boring fairly quickly - train, accompany Big Mama, occasionally go into the Nexus to fight and maintain his championship, heal any injuries that came from it, repeat cycle for however many weeks he’d been here now.

Mikey had lost count at some point.

Closing his ninpo was automatic and easier to do now.

He didn’t care nearly as much when his eyes turned black and his power would run wild in combat. At some point, the fear of it was lost upon him.

Even the dead yokai who’s blood stained his hands and his mind and the sand under his feet didn’t get to him all that much anymore. The crowd’s cheering became background noise in the single goal to stay alive to fight again.

He sighed, and brought his hands up over his head and into his field of view. His usual black wraps were replaced by bandages, a sight he was all too familiar with. Faint glowing gold rippled underneath the bandages as his mind flicked absently to the golden chains.

They were nowhere near as bad as they had been however long ago it was when he’d been intoxicated by his own magic. Learning spells and using the violin as a crutch had actually saved him a lot of trouble.

The violin came into his mind, and the box turtle looked over to it. It had gained several chips throughout his fights, and these cracks would sometimes fill themselves with the power he was unleashing into the instrument.

The songs he played now were foreign to him, weaved into being in the middle of the arena, unique and spellbinding in such a way that the finale of the fights often left the crowd speechless until he was out of sight.

Mikey turned his head away and toward the door. He half expected one of her assistants, usually V, to come through the door any second with a request that Big Mama was waiting for him or he was required in some kind of training. But nobody came through the door.

Big Mama had been acting a bit odd lately. Cagey and uneasy. After spending weeks with her, it was becoming a lot easier to pick up on the spider yokai’s tells and behaviors. She was snapping more regularly at staff, tapping her pen on documents she needed to work through, praising him more curtly and quickly before rushing off to attend to something else.

He would have called it regular business management stress if it wasn’t for the fact that he’d been here a while and had never seen it before these past few days. It didn’t make any sense as to what might be stressing her out so badly.

But Mikey was not in a position to ask questions. He was here to protect his family, to be the Golden Angel, even if it never felt like he was doing the right thing. The box turtle always had to tell himself that he was.

I’m keeping them safe. This is the only way now, because I can’t back out at this point.

A look at his arm seemed to have the little voice, which had reduced to quiet discomfort, protesting. Long, jagged claw marks from the first fight with Steel Scream were still there, fainter than the others but still there.

He no longer bothered remembering the opponents names.

Does that make me worse than I already am?

Do you feel worse?

I feel like sh*t, my leg is broken.

He could have sworn he heard Leo laughing at his sass. But Leo wasn’t there.

Mikey had thought his family hated him. The fact that they were still looking for him, even after he’d cut off his brother’s arm - a shudder ran through him, he didn’t want to remember that - somehow made him feel even more guilty.

But he wasn’t gonna go running. He was keeping them safe from himself, from his unstable power, from the possibility of him hurting them again.

Leo’s screaming.

He quickly shoved the memory aside, although the sound still chilled him to the core. A small spark flickered in his now fully scarred hands, and they flashed orange for a moment before dimming.

Sure, Mikey had some level of control over his power now. But he didn’t trust himself not to accidentally explode again or let something go wrong.

Mikey wasn’t going back until he was sure that he wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Which meant potentially never.

The thought alone sent a small tear running down his face. He wiped it away quickly, at the moment too tired to bother trying to process anything that was going on.

The box turtle chirred in annoyance with himself, before a sudden knocking at the door startled him out of his thoughts.

“Who is it?” he called through the door. Mikey’s voice was a lot hoarser than he would have liked it to be, a lot more exhausted and rough than he would have ever thought his voice could be. It was strange to hear coming out of his own throat, his voice. He actually rarely used it nowadays, except for in conversation with passing bellhops and Big Mama.

“It’s Big Mama, turtley-boo!” the aforementioned spider yokai called. “I have something of the utmost importance to discuss, if you are willing?”

That was the first time he’d ever heard Big Mama say an entire sentence without using any strange or made up words. This was probably quite serious.

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

The yokai entered quickly, closing his door after hissing something to her assistant outside. She still seemed very on edge, and It made Mikey’s scales crawl with unease. Sure, she usually spoke to him alone, but the way she’d been in such a hurry to close the door had him uneasy.

She turned to her human form, and stood in front of Mikey with a nervous and scared look in her eye.

“Angel, I’ve decided to pull you from Friday’s whizbang,” Big Mama said, and Mikey knew for a fact she was not faking the worry in her voice. No way could she fake a tone like that - he’d been here long enough to know the difference between something faked and something genuine, even if perhaps the genuine showed itself a lot less often.

“What? But why?” Mikey yelped. No, no, he needed to fight in the Nexus! He’d sworn to be the champion, without question, to keep his brothers safe! Why was she pulling him out?

“For a number of reasons, Angel,” Big Mama said. “For one, my security files have been all disrupted and cip-copied over to another system outside our network. Nobody can find this kicker-hacker, and they stole quite a few important things for my operations. But I suspect it was your brothers.”

A small pang of longing, much smaller than normal.

“But why does that stop me from competing?” Mikey demanded. So Donnie had stolen Big Mama’s operation files, how did that warrant him not being able to participate?

“They stole files on Friday’s whizbang opponent, Angel,” Big Mama continued, calmer but still worried. “And knowing you turtle-boos, they’re probably going to try and take out your competition, and you as well if they suspect you are working with me. I’ve done a tip-top terrific job at keeping you hidden from them, so they will probably use you as bait.”

They’re probably going to be at Friday’s fight. Trying to take down the champion before I can get to it.

They probably know something I don’t.

“So what if they’re gonna be there?” Mikey protested. “You already said I’d be ready by Friday for this fight, I've been practicing my spells all week for this!”

A strange look passed over Big Mama’s eyes. She apparently also knew something he didn't, judging by the look in her eyes.

“You may not be ready, Angel,” Big Mama said. “This opponent I found for you is very… problematic.”

“And?” Mikey growled. “I took out that giant yokai last week without much problem. A minor slip into the mystic fog and nothing more. I’ve taken down every opponent you’ve thrown my way, but somehow this one is going to be enough of an issue that the others are going to be there?”

Her eyes steeled. “Golden Angel, don’t take that dipdopping tone with me.”

Mikey hissed back at her. “I can do it. I’ll practice more spells, I’ll get the healers to do more work on my injuries. I don’t care if my brothers take me hostage or something like that - I know I’m ready for this.”

Big Mama’s eyes narrowed, until they were cold with fury.

“Fine. You’ll go into Friday’s whizbang, on the condition that your performance is tip-toppity splendiferous. If your brothers show their faces, you are not to engage with them and return to my main booth immediately, without question. Am I understood, Golden Angel?”

Tension sprung between them both, and Mikey quietly nodded to show his agreement.

Big Mama left without another word, and the moment she was gone Mikey went for his arrays and began memorizing.

-=-

“So her new secret champion is an amalgamation of those… things?” Leo demanded, a fearful snarl creeping into his voice.

No way Donnie could be telling the truth. If it was true, then it was definitely taking all priority on their to-do list.

But the expression his twin was making was not one of panicked lying. And he knew Donnie would never lie about something like this. The expression was something of fear and disturbance and pure knowing.

Donnie was not lying. Leo knew his twin wouldn’t, not during this kind of situation. The puzzle pieces slotted together in his mind, and Leo understood it too.

There were still remnants of the Kraang, lurking in the shadows of their lives and of their city. That thing was still hunting around, still potentially turning people into disgusting, twisted, and utterly wrong creatures.

Leo temporarily shoved his panic back, sliding those connections away to focus on making a plan to infiltrate the Battle Nexus - and kill the creature that Big Mama had.

“So, on a scale of one to ten, how dangerous will this thing be?” Leo demanded, trying to keep the fear out of his voice by fidgeting with his fingers. “How difficult will it be to kill?”

The metal ones still felt so strange.

“Full ten for the first question,” Donnie said, a nervous glint in his eyes. “For the second, I cannot properly estimate that, as we haven’t come across rogue Kraang creatures before.”

A pointed glance was sent toward Raph, who’s hand tightened on Leo’s shoulder a little. Casey shifted uncomfortably, while April tapped her hand against the living room couch.

“The reason it’s so dangerous is because of what we did to the Technodrome,” Donnie said. “We essentially destroyed the hivemind connecting them and locked away the Primes controlling the hivemind.”

Casey Jr nodded. “In my time, Uncle Tello was able to do a few experiments with Kraang monsters in the field, researching how the hiveminds worked in an attempt to figure out a way to defeat them from the inside. Sever a Kraang hound’s connection, destroy the hive, or kill or lock away the Prime controlling it, and those things default into a type of savage mania that is arguably more dangerous than a controlled force.”

A chill ran through Leo. If Casey Jr was confirming Donnie’s information and backing it up, then this was worse than he thought.

“Okay, so we have a very indignant flesh pile in the loose in Big Mama’s arena,” Leo summarized, his sarcasm barely covering the shake in his voice. “Donnie, when did those files say she was going to be bringing out this new champion? We need a date and time to make sure that we’re prepared to get rid of it.”

“It’s this Friday,” Donnie answered, pulling up the files on a mystic screen. The flickering purple screen seemed less… stable than usual. Donnie’s ninpo was also glitching about nervously, a bit scattered and all over the place.

He’d never felt his twin’s ninpo like that. Raph’s was a lot more solid, but it was still compressed and uneasy.

Leo turned his gaze to the file copies on the screen, absently noting them and placing those pieces away into its own, separate little puzzle. A few files didn’t quite fit in yet, the pieces amorphous and blobby in his head and being put away separately for now.

“Over the past few months, based on Big Mama’s shipments files,” Donnie droned, “she has been importing these remnants since the day after, even before those government agents were able to secure the other… others. I was not able to locate or access any experimental files, however, the file we had that led to this discovery was of the only interrupted shipment. The specimen was completely incinerated, along with the transporters.”

“Get to the point, Donnie,” Raph snapped. His older brother was a lot more tense than usual - probably because of the whole situation.

“I was getting there, Raph,” Donnie growled. “The specimen was not incinerated by just anything. According to the file, the transporters were obliterated into glowing piles of mystic dust. Orange and gold dust, dated to the day Angelo snuck out of the lair to the Hidden City. This interruption was potentially our dearest younger brother’s doing.”

April gasped softly, and Casey noticeably stiffened. Raph’s hand tensed as well, and Leo froze.

The focus of all of their missions over the past month or so had been to find his little brother. The one who’d run scared when he’d cut off Leo’s arm.

He still was having trouble processing that.

“So we need to get into Big Mama’s Battle Nexus and go up against a potentially feral monster, and this entire thing might also have a clue as to Mikey’s whereabouts if we can properly weasel out of her this time. What else do we know about this thing?”

Donnie sighed, rubbing his arms rather harshly. “We either need to find a way to kill it, which could result in it causing some potential collateral damages. The other method would be to reconnect it to a hivemind, or a Prime of some kind, and we don’t have access to that… anymore.”

A small, uneasy feeling settled in Leo’s stomach. Why did Donnie know so much about this? He’d never known anything about the… those things. None of them had. No way he could have just found that out in time for this emergency.

Even Donnie’s mannerisms were off, when he was speaking about it. There was something else behind his twin’s eyes, something that signaled to Leo that this was wrong.

A flash of gray made him shudder involuntarily.

“So the best solution is to kill it outright?” Leo asked. It was harder to hide the lacing of fear in his voice. The softshell nodded, turning his attention back to the files. Leo caught sight of a file labeled PENDING, and was a bit confused, storing that away for later.

He could definitely figure out that puzzle later, because right now, with the talk of having to face down a savage version of those monsters?

Leo was very much eager to get out of this conversation. And potentially hide and never leave said hiding place again. And maybe throw up.

“For now, that’s our plan,” Leo said coldly, trying to quickly wrap up the discussion because out of nowhere everything felt too high-pressure. “We’ll figure out details later.”

“Are you sure-” Raph’s voice was cut off as Leo rushed out of the living room, fear rolling through the slider in waves as he walked.

By the time he made it to his room, he’d already yanked off the prosthetic and thrown it to the side, trying not to hyperventilate without making too much noise.

Flashes of bright red light.

Colorful explosions in an endless gray void of broken remnants.

Being thrown into solidified, mummified flesh as the shockwave echoed through the Prison Dimension.

The hissing, enraged voice of the creature he’d trapped himself with, taunting him as bones gruesomely snapped and twisted. As his shell was snapped and cracked, the sound clawing and reaching slowly through the crawling, terrifying quiet.

The sound of his own blood dripping onto the dried up stone below.

Floating in the endless gray, red light chasing after him, pain quietly bombarding every sense in his brain and setting fire to every nerve he had.

The quiet understanding that this was probably going to be forever for Leo. Hurt and hiding, mutilated and trapped.

“WIPE THAT GRIN OFF YOUR FACE!”

Leo half-snapped out of it, absently feeling tears running down his face and his breath coming too fast, too fast for him to get a hold on.

The quick flashes of color, of feeling and being there again, buzzing silence clamoring in his ears and the air being way too heavy, his own shell feeling off and wrong and the port for his arm suddenly too cold and bright on his scales.

The air the dim light, it was all too much, too much, too much-

“Leo? I need you to breathe, can you breathe with me-?”

That voice, familiar, broke through the static, the pressure, the wrong and the gray and red and color.

Glitching purple reached out. It spoke of warm and safe and right.

Leo quietly followed the instruction, breathing in time with the glitching, warm purple as his mind began to slow and the air started to lighten. His shell was part of him again.

Leo’s breathing was normal again, the echo of the memory fading back into the vault in the back of his head.

He wasn’t there. He was here. He could breathe. No part of him was shattering.

Donnie had an arm around Leo’s back, looking his twin in the eye and trying to also keep Leo breathing evenly.

Eventually, the glitching purple that he now recognized as Donnie’s ninpo, calmly poked against his own, although filled with worry and concern, asking back? and safe now and okay?

Leo poked back, offering the softshell a small smile. Returning feelings of okay and sorry and safe now. The glitchy purple hummed a sense of agreement, before Donnie awkwardly patted Leo’s shell.

Leo distantly sensed the concern of the others - aside from Mikey, he missed his little brother’s warm ninpo - but Donnie quickly reassured them that he had it handled.

“Are you… better, now?” Donnie asked hesitantly.

Leo nodded, his mouth feeling wired shut.

“I think the discussion was a bit insensitive,” Donnie admitted, pinching his snout with his hand. “I was uncomfortable as well. I am sorry, and I also have no clue if that apology is adequate.”

Leo grinned, dropping his head on his brother’s shoulder, and let him know that it was fine through the ninpo connection. Donnie visibly relaxed, offering a quick chitter of calm now?

Leo nodded, chirping in return.

He’d make a proper plan tomorrow. His brain was too exhausted to think, especially when it was still teetering on the edge of falling back into fear.

He’d get rid of that thing. And he’d find his baby brother.

Just not right now.

Right now, Leo was tired.

Chapter 28: Connection Established. . . Connection Terminated

Chapter Text

Leo had never sat in the stands of Big Mama’s Battle Nexus before. The only time he’d been here was while trying to get the mystic collar to secure the Shredder, and most of that time had been securely placed in either Big Mama’s booth or down on the dusty arena floors with the audience screaming and roaring for him and Splinter.

The kind of cacophony created by these crowds, however, was beyond the cries of bloodlust and excitement he’d gotten. He’d seen the entry posters upon arriving with his brothers, and whoever the Golden Angel was, these yokai were beyond excited to watch them fight the abomination that would soon grace the arena below.

The plan so far was going well. Leo and the fam were to sneak into the Nexus stands and position themselves in such a way that they could easily jump down when - and if, since it was not clear if Big Mama had changed her plans or found out they knew - the savage Kraang beast appeared. If the champion alone couldn’t take it, then Leo and everyone else would jump in to interfere. Hopefully, whoever the Golden Angel was would be willing to help out, since they’d popped up out of nowhere and were rumored to be one hell of a mystic warrior.

“Michelangelo, you are the greatest mystic warrior of all time!”

Casey Jr’s words rang again in Leo’s mind, breaking free from all the strings and pieces floating around that still felt out of place in the puzzle he was trying to solve. It was such an innocent line, yet not knowing who this mystic warrior was, a small thought had circled through Leo’s head for the remaining days leading up to the plan.

He risked a quick glance across the arena, catching Casey Jr’s gaze for a moment. Without any clear yokai traits, he and April were stationed closer together in case of trouble. The boy caught the slider’s gaze, and a quick set of signs reassured the turtle that he was okay.

Leo was weirdly close to him. He didn’t quite understand why, what cosmic force willed it, but right now was not the time to figure that out.

Now was the time to concentrate. On a multitude of things, mainly the plan, but also not freaking the f*ck out if it was released into the arena.

If Leo messed up another simple mission, he would probably get berated pretty heavily. And also, there would be even more blood on his hands.

NOT THE TIME.

Leo took a steadying breath and sat down in the arena stands, the two pens he kept in his pocket if the need arose to draw blades at the ready. A massive snake yokai, patterned with gold and black spots, slithered past him, and he watched as three more yokai - a cat, a bird lady, and a woman who seemed to be part fish - took up the seats to his left and started yelling excitedly over the crowd.

“Is everyone in position?” Donnie asked through their communicators. It was barely noticeable through the thunderous screaming of the crowd, but Leo could hear it perfectly fine considering it was hidden in his attire.

“Blue King, in position,” Leo replied carefully, shooting cautious glances around to make sure nobody caught him talking or acting suspicious. Then again, his family’s tells for suspicion were hilariously obvious sometimes.

“Red Rook, in position,” Raph added.

“Yellow Queen, in position,” April replied.

“Grey Bishop, in position,” Casey Jr. said.

“Purple Knight, in position,” Donnie finished the roll call. “Alright gang, quick rundown before the event begins. Operation Rogue Hound is active and in progress, the objective being to locate and dispose of the disconnected Kraang beast - Leo shuddered at the name alone - as soon as possible. We are to ensure the safety of any Hidden City citizens present, and you are permitted to dispatch this thing by any means you deem necessary or effective.”

Normally, Leo would have joked to Donnie about how he sounded like an FBI agent, preaching instructions to soldiers before they went into the field. Told him to get to the point. Hell, Leo would have probably asked to change his codename if he was feeling really co*cky.

But this situation was far from normal, and again, Leo was half-focused on trying not to have a panic attack in the middle of the stands.

“We also have a subset goal: Operation Hidden Piece. If we find any clues to Orange Pawn’s whereabouts or if he shows up, we are to attempt a peaceful approach to bring him home safely.”

Leo shuddered. As worried as he was about the first plan, the second one was nearly overwhelming with fear and unease - Mikey had been away from home for way too long. Leo missed him dearly, even though the whole chopping-off-his-arm bit would probably be due for some apologies to the little box turtle.

Leo had pushed too far, so karma had come and bit him in the shoulder for it. He still was not used to the new right arm, as much as Donnie tried to make it comfortable for him.

The snake yokai, who seemed to notice Leo’s tense and uneasy demeanor, leaned down to tap the red-eared slider on the shoulder. “You alright, dude?”

The yokai’s voice was fairly powerful, and Leo was able to nod in reply. He was not risking one of these yokai recognizing him and reporting their presence.

“If you say so,” the snake yokai replied, and turned his head to return speaking to his companions.

It took another agonizing 15 minutes for the stands to properly fill, which was something along the lines of 10 000 yokai, and in every minute Leo became more and more uneasy. Something in the air crackled with an energy he could not place, yet it felt horribly familiar.

A bright red beam, laser-focused on him.

He could sense the energy in the air, and if he’d had hair it surely would have been standing on end. Leo currently wanted nothing more than to hide in his shell for the rest of the match. It definitely was here.

Based on the look Donnie’s face was making, halfway across the arena and to his left a bit, he knew it was there too. How Donnie might have known Leo wasn’t sure - few people were comfortable discussing what had happened, let alone what had happened in the bowels of the ship.

Leo shot a quick glance toward Big Mama’s booth, where the spider yokai was sitting calmly and clearly waiting for the stands to fill to their fullest. Even if the arena was at capacity, Leo knew there would be spectators watching broadcasts from all over the Hidden City and in the Nexus Hotel.

He looked away before it was possible for the yokai to make eye contact, and his eyes unwillingly drifted to the still calm sand that covered the arena floor. The dunes were so gentle and sloping, quiet and free of the dust storms that rose and fell with the thrill of the fight.

Still dry, and hungry for blood.

An aching weight seemed to settle around Leo’s neck like a heavy collar, like the universe was messing with him as nightmare images of the Battle Nexus from the first Shredder problem rose unbidden to mind. The sand red from the blood, always sharp and electrifying if Leo never killed.

He shook the feeling of quick sparks and the heavy collar away. He really needed to stay in the moment. Leo was leading the team, and they needed him ready. Not as a mess of janky nerves and memories of a dream that didn’t exist.

Thankfully, the octopus yokai who ran the elevators finally began to make the announcement. Leo turned his head toward the projections hovering wildly over the arena, their eerie, sickly green light drawing across the faces of every surface and yokai in the arena.

“Welcome, welcome, Battle Nexus enjoyers,” the octopus announced, his shrill voice loud and clear above the crowd's sudden silence, “to another tip-toppity fantastic Nexus whizbang! The fight you’ve all been waiting for!”

The roar of the crowd came back twofold, and the enthusiasm rallied Leo enough to quickly message the others.

“Guys, play along,” he advised quickly. “Big Mama’s here, she will definitely notice if there are five spectators not standing and screeching their heads off.”

Leo quickly joined the cheering, noting his family doing the same, although he knew from their reactions in the ninpo that it wasn’t without irritation and annoyance that they did so. They hated to get roped into this as much as Leo did.

“For tonight’s fizzy-fantastic spectacle, we have a very special treat prepared! Thanks to none other than our whizz-wonderful, spic-spectacular, Big Mama!”

The cheers were directed toward the spider yokai, who smiled sweetly and took a bow, before doing something rather off. She gestured to the little octopus yokai to hand her the microphone. Clearly confused, the bellhop obeyed, a smile on his beak all the same.

Leo was always unnerved by the blind loyalty to a dangerous manipulative yokai, but it seemed to work for her. Frankly, Leo never wanted to see blind obedience again after what happened in the throne room.

“Thank you, dear,” Big Mama said to the bellhop, before turning to the crowd, who was eagerly awaiting her words. Even the ones who didn’t work for her were still always enraptured by the jorogumo’s nature.

“My dearest Nexus enjoyers,” Big Mama spoke, “never before have I seen my arena so crowded with such enthusiasm. You all know how much tempering time it takes for Big Mama to prepare thies wonderfully thrilling whizbangs, and you returned the favor in kind.”

Leo was beginning to hate the word thrilling.

And every other word that came out of the yokai’s mouth, actually, but the way she said thrilling really grated on his nerves.

“Our most memorable warriors always made such tip-toppity exquisite performances of my Nexus whizbangs,” Big Mama continued. “Maybe this time, our simply splendiferous champion will stay at the Nexus to perform another day. Tonight’s combatants will certainly spark some interest in a few of you woozy-faddled and gracious spectators.”

Big Mama’s gaze locked with Donnie’s and Leo briefly felt the panic flare up in the glitchy purple ninpo, before Big Mama handed the microphone back to the octopus yokai.

“Such a wonderful speech!” the announcer cried, and the arena yelled after him. “Thank you, Big Mama! Now, onto tonight’s combatants!”

The stands cheered loudly, and Leo could barely hear what the announcer was saying over the rumble of sound. But thankfully, the projection volume seemed to match the crowd, and the bellhop’s voice became audible again.

“In the ring tonight, we will have a spizzy-spazzing spectacle between our recent, undefeatable champion, a powerful mystic warrior the likes our Nexus has never seen, and a challenger with a temper and more teeth than you can count on one flipper!”

Leo noticed everyone in his family lean expectantly forward, and his hand dropped to the pens he was carrying. The crackle of ninpo showed in his markings, slightly glowing but barely noticeable.

“In the challenger corner,” the announcer continued, “Big Mama has a beast the likes of which we’ve never seen before. Created of the invaders to the surface world and three times as deadly, everyone gives a warm welcome to… The Faceless Sorrows!”

The crowd around him screamed the name as Leo watched, with dread filling his entire body, as the gated door on the opposite side of Big Mama’s booth slowly creaked up and open, and horribly familiar shrills and shrieks emanated from the wall.

The sounds rooted Leo to the spot as a massive cart was wheeled out, and restrained to it was an utter monstrosity.

It looked nothing like the Kraang creatures he’d faced before. Eyes and mouths and sharp spikes were jutting out everywhere, lashing tentacles and moving pieces of flesh thrashing violently against the restraints. Human-like teeth and razor sharp blades lined the mouths, gurgling and shrieking. The eyes stared violently in all directions, seemingly catching the gaze of every person in the arena. It was a constantly shifting mass of pink tendrils and eyes and teeth and flesh, the locations of everything changing around every moment.

Even awkward, tentacled limbs were constantly moving and shifting in a cruel mockery of its origins. One shot out straight in an attempt to break free of the bindings, and a quick flash and sharp yet distant sound of a shell being snapped open sent chills down the already frozen turtle’s spine.

Another shrill shriek echoed through the arena, and for a horrible moment Leo thought he felt his entire being flicker again, before realizing that he was not actually being harmed by the sound and was just imagining it.

The look on his family’s face was nothing other than the same fear and horror that he could feel emanating from their ninpo - even the faint, fiery green and even fainter, rounded pale gray were loading their connection with fear.

Leo pitied the poor champion who had to fight that thing. He was tempted to jump down there and try finishing it off right now, and his hands gripped tighter around the pens.

“And in the champion’s corner,” the announcer continued, entirely unaware of the horrified Hamato family below, “we have our current champion. He has brought our spectacular Nexus nothing less than the most whiz-wonderfully exciting fights we’ve seen in years. Picked up off the streets, now a trained and honed, fizz-fantastically powerful mystic warrior who dazzles all, everyone gives an even warmer welcome to our one and only… GOLDEN ANGEL!”

The crowd went absolutely wild. Leo had no idea the Golden Angel was this popular, even with the rumors floating through the streets of the Hidden City that he overheard on his searches for Mikey.

But something stuck out from the description. Picked up off the streets.

He was missing something. But as Leo tried to puzzle it out, a new sound reached his ears as the crowd settled under its influence.

The shrill cries of the Faceless Sorrows (a much better name for it) were no longer the focus of his hearing.

This sound was familiar, drawing out long and unnerving against the atmosphere, settling an almost tense feeling over the entire crowd.

He knew a sound like that. Mikey had played it for him once.

As the gates opened, long, thin strands of glowing golden-orange power seeped out between the bars, quick violin notes piercing Leo’s ears. The strands grew thicker as the music grew louder, and beautiful glowing balls of light that felt so familiar lingered through the arena.

Within moments, the strands were chains, and the arena was doused in fast moving sparks, and the door under the booth was violently swishing with the chains. The display was positively beautiful, but a spark landed on Leo’s hand, carrying such violent intent he flicked it off faster than he’d ever flicked something off his scales.

From the writhing mass of chains, sparks, and out of nowhere fire, a figure rushed out of the door, a violin on their shoulder and a cloud of dust left in their wake.

Leo was shocked.

The figure was none other than the assistant he’d threatened weeks ago, the black and gold attire shining in the orange, eagerly flickering fire. Molten mystic energy flowed into gauntlets on their wrists, and the violin let out a shrill cry as they finished their entrance by making every single cain burst into flames and fizzle out over the audience.

Even Leo shouted in excitement, genuinely hopeful now that whoever this was might be able to beat the Kraang on their own.

A small thought drifted to the back of his mind, but he shoved it away for later. No way was that Mikey - the violence carried by the display, the attire, the types of mystic power, working for Big Mama - none of it lined up with the little brother Leo knew was out there somewhere.

His brother could never induce such pure, soldering rage into his magic.

Just as Leo finished the thought, a small flicker passed through the ninpo - orange and a pure wildfire - before a pink and orange portal opened up under Leo’s seat and he was promptly dropped through onto a seat in Big Mama’s booth.

Leo did not get out of the way in time, and Donnie landed directly on his legs.

“Ow! Dee, get off!” Leo snapped. The softshell hissed, before Leo turned his gaze to Big Mama and the rest of his family dropped in behind the couch. In the arena, the announcer was doing the final announcements before beginning the match.

“What do you want?” Leo demanded harshly. The spider yokai was not taken aback by the slider’s aggression, or at least from what he could see.

“Silly turtle-boo,” she hissed. “I thought you would want the best seats in the house for tonight’s show. It's going to be simply fantastic!”

That was officially the most sentences he’d ever heard her go without saying a nonsense word, which in his experience was a really, really bad thing. That was two reallys.

Being dropped through the portal meant Leo had missed the beginning of the fight, which he turned back to. He was not going to let Big Mama see that he was uneasy, even though she let out a mildly irritated hiss as he turned his back to her.

“What’s your game, Big Mama?” Donnie snarled, even though he was also keeping his eyes on the fight.

“You are not ruining another whizbang for my Nexus,” the yokai hissed in return. Casey Jr scooted over to Leo, the boy tense and in that hyper alert mode that Leo often saw him go into whenever he was too stressed out.

“This performance took sip-simply forever to put together,” she continued, venom dripping in her voice. “You turtley-boos are not going to ruin it for me or my champion.”

That caught his attention. Leo had been glaring into the arena without really focusing, music thundering through his ears and the mention of Big Mama’s champion snapped him back into watching. And what he saw was terrifying.

The sands below were thrown up in a massive storm of dust and grit, fiery golden power cutting violently through the clouds and the song piercing through the shrill screeches of the Faceless Sorrow (yeah, he was definitely going to call it that now.)

The Golden Angel themself was shockingly fast, fast enough to keep up with the beast and stay fairly far out of reach. Crazy mystic spell after crazy mystic spell was assaulting the thing, the song of the champion’s instrument was thrumming through the air and making Leo feel less terrified.

Leo flinched as a sharp, fleshy tentacle tore into the champion’s leg, which was met with a shocking trill from the violin as they flinched. The violent swing of the chains severed the limb, to which the creature screeched and charged them.

Now that Leo was properly paying attention to the fight, he was noticing things about the champion’s fighting that seemed off. Sure, anyone facing down an animal like that would be pretty scared, and reasonably so. Leo probably would have preferred being comatose to fighting one of those again.

But the way this guy was fighting seemed less scared than it should be. The violent swings of the fire chains, the way it was also actually setting the severed limbs on fire, the hard trills and shrieks of the violin, was telling Leo that whoever Big Mama’s new champion was, they were absolutely enraged.

Something about the fighting style felt familiar as well, along with the aura of the chains. The thought passed by again, but Leo reasoned that there was no way Mikey would side with Big Mama. No way would he ever fight this disjointedly and violently.

The creature grabbed the champion in a tentacle, and Leo shuddered because that both felt disgusting and he knew that, and the champion was probably about to die.

The entire arena gasped and started screaming louder, and even his brothers were gripping the glass barrier hard enough to crack it.

To Leo’s shock, the champion lowered their mask and bit into the tentacle, and Leo felt Donnie’s ninpo curl back in pure disgust. They tore a chunk out, before the music resumed and the tentacle was completely shredded. Unfortunately, he was too far away to make out any features other than green skin.

It was clear that the attack had rattled them, their movements slower and much less coordinated. The swinging of the chains were flickering between attacks.

Leo’s brain clicked something into place that bode horribly for their plan.

If the champion died, this absolutely insane mystic warrior who had already half-shredded the creature, it would turn its attention on the audience and start killing them.

“We need to get down there.” His own voice surprised him. Heads turned, and Big Mama's eyes narrowed.

“You’ll be doing no such thing,” she snarled.

Leo turned to her, his own resolve hardened and cold. “If your Golden Angel dies,” he hissed, “guess who’s next? Your adoring crowd. They’ll all be dead before you can even start evacuations in the city, and who knows if you'll even make it out alive.”

The spider stiffened. Donnie tore his gaze away from the fight as well.

“Leo’s right,” the softshell said, brandishing his staff in a way that wasn’t exactly threatening, but was enough to make her assistants draw blades. “That thing is not a calculated champion. It does not think, it does not plan - it just kills. There is no thought or discrimination behind who it will murder, not even to you.”

“Besides,” Casey Jr added, “Five extra warriors would make for a much more entertaining fight than just one warrior.”

Everyone turned to him in surprise, but nobody dared to ask any questions as to how Casey Jr knew how to negotiate with Big Mama. Based on what Leo had learned, he’d probably learned it from the slider himself.

Another shrill shriek echoed through the arena, and a small flicker in the ninpo caught Leo’s attention. He didn’t feel anyone else take notice. The flicker was all he needed.

Mikey’s here.

Big Mama was clearly considering, although he caught something in her behavior that was also off.

“Fine,” she snapped suddenly, which was surprising considering Leo thought they’d have to jump out of the balcony against her will. “Hurry up, will you?”

Leo quickly signaled, and they were out of the booth and on the sand in a matter of seconds.

-=-

Donnie was not looking forward to fighting this thing.

For one, and the most major reason, gross.

For two, and the secondary reason, he didn’t really feel like getting his ass nearly kicked by this thing again.

And for three, the least major reason that could become major if the need arose, he didn’t want to accidentally scare the sh*t out of his brothers. He’d already thoroughly analyzed what might happen and it really didn’t look good.

So as he dropped onto the sand, in front of the half-downed champion, a quick list of things and pieces of the creature to eliminate, he very much was ready to run the other way if it so much as touched him because he really, really didn’t want to touch it.

The Kraang thing screeched sharply as it started eyeing them, the shifting growth moving its eyes from one tentacle to its body to another tentacle.

The champion behind him struggled to their feet, a sharp hiss escaping them as Donnie scooted in front of them.

“Don’t worry, we’re just trying to help-” Donnie was cut off as the creature finally landed on a target, and it started rushing Casey Jr.

Raph caught it in a whirlwind of sand, hitting it hard where its head might have been and jolting the thing off course. A snarl rolled through it as his brothers started hitting it. Donnie did not want to get involved, but the champion rushing past him and adding in his own array of mystic attacks didn’t give him much of a choice.

The creature also didn’t, as it was turning to rush him. A quick rocket launcher, launcher and all, irritated it pretty quickly.

He rolled out of the way of one attack, and nearly had his battle shell taken off by one of the champion's chains swinging just behind him. The creature hissed as it got a limb wrapped around Raph’s armand threw him halfway across the arena.

The creature turned and lunged for Leo.

“Oh no you don’t!” Donnie snarled, a glowing purple barrier up within seconds before a chainsaw was slicing its way into the thing, a trail of neon green leaking behind him as he moved it away.

Another chainsaw revved as Casey Jr lodged his own weapon into the creature, and from behind him he heard April fending off something else behind him. The champion wrapped his chains around the beast, yanking hard and nearly taking out Raph as he rushed him again.

“Are you crazy, Golden boy?” Leo snapped as he sliced another limb off the thing. “Are you trying to kill us too?”

The champion paused, which was enough for the beast to throw him off and into the wall with a sickening crack.

“Leo, don’t antagonize him!” Raph snapped, moving out of the way of a rather indignant tentacle trying to bite him. “We need his help!”

“Helping would be not nearly re-opening my shell every time he tries to get a hit in on this thing!”

The champion in question came back, powering into the creature and flinging it into the wall - and in turn taking everyone nearby across with it.

Slamming into a wall had not been what he’d been expecting. Considering the fact none of this fight was really going according to plan, he couldn’t say much else about it.

“Leo!” he yelled over the very loud screaming of the crowd and the creature he was currently half cornered by. “Use one of your arm implements!”

“My what?” Leo shouted back.

“Nevermind - flamethrower arm!”

Leo’s arm quickly twisted, pieces snapping and changing fast enough for him to barely catch it, before the end was a flamethrower’s spout and blue flames were arcing over the beast.

“I have a f*cking flamethrower? Dee, you’re the best!” Leo called, immediately swinging it around and nearly catching the crowd with it.

A loud crack sounded behind him, and pieces of the wall were coming down from where they’d landed. Yokai were scrambling away from the wall, their excitement now laced with fear.

A chunk hit him in the battle shell, which knocked him down and threw the bo out of his grip. Sand billowed up as the wall crumbled around them, and distantly Donnie could make out the others getting caught up in it as well.

A hissing sound, before the creature made its way over to something, prowling up to them in a very ‘moving in for the final blow’ way. Donnie absently checked to make sure his family was safe, forcing the heavy chunk of rock off of himself and forcing himself to his feet.

He was very much bleeding, from several places he wasn’t sure he should be bleeding from.

A look beyond the writing mass of flesh had him nearly frozen to the spot.

It was advancing on Leo.

And all at once, every precaution he’d taken about using his trap card was gone.

Donnie lunged up behind the Kraang beast, his battle shell hissing and falling from his back as he clicked it off.

Leo’s not gonna get hurt by this thing again.

His hand landed on one of the creature’s writhing tentacles.

Establishing connection. . .

.

.

.

Establishing Prime hivemind. . .

.

.

.

Accessing entities. . .

.

.

.

Connection founded. 1 entity connected to Prime.

.

.

.

Blue and purple strings lunged from Donnie’s hand and burrowed into the pink, and more emerged from his shell, latching on to the flesh and digging inside easily. The softshell’s eyes flicked over white, and the creature backed off.

Requesting order.

Donnie’s breath hitched. The creature was responding to him. He was a new Prime, according to his own limited knowledge thanks to the Technodrome remnants. Flashes of distant memory, none of them his own, weakly prodded in his head.

Unlock target.

Move away from prior targets, to the center of the arena.

Once placed, engage memory transfer.

Instructions confirmed.

Donnie walked with the creature, half-ignoring, half completely unaware of the horrified look in his family’s eyes.

The memory transfer was fast and ruthless, but surprisingly, the remnants kept it stored away somewhere else. If he tried, he could access it. Anything he needed to know about the Kraang was now at his disposal.

Requesting new order.

Do not move.

Donnie disconnected from the creature, but it had taken shape into a new kind of beast. It closely resembled the hounds that had run rampant through the streets during the invasion, but the usual pink glow was replaced by Donnie’s own signature violet.

“Donnie, what did you do?” Raph’s voice reached him as his eyes returned to normal. The eerie blue-purple tentacles remained in place on his shell, pulling back from his hand.

“I didn’t want to scare you-” Donnie started, but a sudden whip from familiar golden chains caught his eye. A flicker in the ninpo that was all too familiar.

The Kraang hound was torn to shreds, and the sudden cut caused him to black out.

-=-

Mikey couldn’t believe his eyes.

That was his brother, with the same disturbing blue-and-purple tentacles of the Technodrome, sticking out of his shell and his hands, controlling thatthing.

The song from his violin had stopped, and as Donnie turned around to meet Raph’s concerned gaze, so did time, it seemed.

He’d been doing pretty good on his own - no tipping into the fog, only a few injuries - when his family had swooped in from somewhere and started whaling on it while he was down.

Byt that point, Mikey had been too focused on ripping it to shreds, barely noticing when they shouted at him to be careful or he nearly caught them with a swing of his chains.The music and getting rid of the Kraang were the only things that mattered in the moment.

Launching it and everyone else into the wall hadn’t been his brightest idea (and surely Big Mama was going to be a lot angrier now that her arena wall was broken) but it had certainly thrown the thing off guard.

But now he couldn’t find the violin. And the wood splinters in his hands told him what he needed to know.

And looking at the scene before him, with Donnie panicking trying to explain himself and that thing sitting mere inches away, Mikey was not going to let it hurt his brother now that the control had been undone.

He was too drained to do it himself, and without even realizing it, his ninpo weakly flickered to life and let the chains lash out.

The Kraang hound was in pieces in seconds, and a shocked expression crossed the softshell’s face before his eyes rolled back and he slumped forward into Raph’s arms.

The cries of the arena were no longer there. The people were gone, and judging by the fact that Big Mama’s booth was also empty, there was a fair chance it had evacuated.

Even though Mikey’s logical brain was screaming that it was a bad idea, he rushed over to make sure Donnie was okay.

Only to be cut off by a very aggressive, angry Leo.

“Don’t touch him!” the slider snapped. “I don’t know what it is with you and showing up whenever Mikey’s ninpo wakes up, or why the f*ck Big Mama’s so attached to you in particular, btu it’s not gonna do us any good. You nearly killed him - I said stay back.”

Mikey was met with the blade of his brother’s sword again, and for a moment he was back in Big Mama’s office with blood running down his throat.

Behind him, Donnie was waking up, clearly bleeding out into the dry sands. All of them were hurt.

Mikey hadn’t escaped harm either. Some parts of his clothes were torn where the creature had hit him, and he could feel a cut on his hands bleeding profusely.

“Who are you?” Leo snarled, dragging out each word like a cold claw down his spine. Mikey took a step back - he wasn’t sure if his voice would work for him.

“You’re not getting close to my brother if you don’t tell me who you f*cking are.”

A blade sliced close to his leg, and absently he felt more red running down it. Leo had cut him again. And he was clearly willing to do it again, judging by the way his blade was angled.

Still unsure if his voice would work, Mikey threw up his hands, the golden glow of the scars flickering like a dying fire through the black wrappings.

Leo wasn’t convinced, and grabbed a hold of Mikey’s arm.“His bandanna… why do you have Mikey’s bandanna?” Leo yelled. It was enough to get the attention of his family, who were now eyeing him with suspicion.”I knew she was lying, what have you done to him?”

The metal grip was too tight to get out of, and it was starting to hurt. He tried to force it away.

No, no, his mind whirled. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Nobody was supposed to get hurt, and now they’re all hurt. I was supposed to keep them safe-

The force was crushing, so much so that Mikey cried out.

“Let go of me! That hurts!” he snapped, trying his best not to hurt his brother any more than he’d already failed at that today.

He let his ninpo flicker back to life, but the connection was frail. The usual wildfire of him was dim and sparking. Barely there anymore.

But it was enough. Leo let him go, and Mikey scrambled away from his brothers. A shocked expression dawned on their faces.

“What the… no, you can’t be.”

He ripped off his hood and mask, revealing teary eyes and still healing scars twisting across his scales.

Mikey had really failed to keep them safe.

Leo’s eyes drifted to the scar on his neck. Where his blade had dug deep. The others were trying to process, from the way it felt, but they were willing to rush in and bolster Mikey’s dim ninpo.

“You were Big Mama’s new champion?” Leo snapped. “Her assistant - you’re the guy she picked up off the streets?”

Shame built up, and he looked away, nodding carefully.

“Do you know how worried we’ve been?” the slider continued. “We tore apart both cities looking for you! You just ran off after… after this, and never came home. You didn’t call or tell us you were safe! When we came to Big Mama we were on our last solid footing until Donnie figured out that there was a creature running around here!”

Mikey didn’t look up. They were not going to see him cry.

“And you were just here, participating in her Nexus?”

“Yeah, I was,” he snapped back. “What about it?”

Leo strode forward, but Mikey backed away further. Raph grabbed the slider’s shoulder and pulled him back.

“Mikey, buddy,” Raph said, keeping his gaze locked on the box turtle. “Leo’s right, we’ve been worried sick. This is getting too dangerous. If Donnie hadn’t forced that thing away - which we are gonna talk about, Donatello - we could be in a very different situation right now.”

He was right. Mikey should have gotten rid of it first before it hurt someone.

“Let’s all go home.”

He wanted to. Every part of him wanted to go home and forget any of this ever happened.

But he’d just gotten his entire family hurt. Just like how he was trying to avoid from the start of this whole mess.

I can’t go home with them after this.

I’ll just hurt them again. I’ve already done it enough.

Mikey blinked the tears away, and Raph carefully moved forward, his arms open in the familiar way that meant he was offering a hug. A soft, tired smile drew itself across the snapper’s face. From the looks on everyone else's faces, they were fully expecting him to rush forward into Raph’s arms and leave with them.

A small array arose in his mind, and Mikey held his breath as he scooted back further.

And Mikey vanished into thin air. Immediately, panic broke out among them, but by the time they were enough in their senses to start looking, Mikey was already gone.

He’d failed in his mission. He wasn’t going to let it happen again.

Chapter 29: Hazy Thoughts and Quiet Hugs

Chapter Text

Raph had spent way too long clawing through the rubble of the Nexus wall. He’d had to be dragged away by an eerily quiet Casey Jr, who could surprisingly pull the mutant without much effort or strain.

The portal home had been too short. Not enough time to process. The snapper barely registered the quiet look of fear on Splinter and Draxum’s faces. He didn’t see the quiet debate between April and Donnie, ending with her dragging him off into the medbay.

They were all fairly hurt, but Raph barely noticed the stinging of his wounds as Splinter patched them up and tried coaxing them into explaining what had happened, if the creature was gone, if they’d found his son.

Everything was just a haze. Raph didn’t feel like he needed to notice things, or focus on anything. But there was something to focus on - the quiet guilt, the missing piece of his youngest brother.

All because he’d told Dad and Draxum about that stupid idea to take away Mikey’s violin until his hands weren’t trembling and he wasn’t bleeding from his supposed-to-be scars.

The voices around him were a fuzzy blur of sound. Not enough to snap Raph out of the haze. He dug his claws into his arms, trying to steady the dizzying whirlwind of everything moving around him.

It was way too much for Raph to process in the moment, even as people tried to get his attention and talk to him. He couldn’t think.

At some point, Raph found himself back in his room. He didn’t know how he got there, just that he was… there. It was quiet, the only noise being distant and buzzing voices. Raph finally started trying to think back to the events of the arena.

Fighting that thing had felt both terrifying and also quite good at the same time. Seeing another one of those things up close, after months of worry about them lurking in the depths of the ruined New York, had made Raph jittery and terrified in a way he couldn’t properly describe. It was cold and overwhelming and made Raph want to run away and hide.

But being able to get rid of another one of those… that had felt good. Being allowed to take out the anger, the fear of these things, on the unstable Kraang beast, was satisfying in a way the snapper also couldn’t fully place. Because he was making it pay. Making those things pay for what they did to him and his brothers.

Then the wall had collapsed, and Raph hadn’t been able to reach his other siblings in time - he’d managed to cover April and Casey Jr before the wall came crashing down on his shell. A feeling too familiar, and he’d nearly panicked as a few rocks slipped through the large crack in his shell.

Thankfully, the rubble they’d be underneath was not deep, and Raph had been able to easily push off the large concrete slabs on top of them.

Just in time to see the unstable thing looming over Leo, and Donnie lunging for it with his battleshell off.

The next few moments had been a blur as he’d run for them, but Raph clearly remembered the glowing blue-and-purple globby vines sprouting from Donnie’s back and burrowing into the thing. How his brother had led it away from Leo and into the center of the arena.

Donnie had tried to apologize, but the champion had sliced the creature to bits and Raph had needed to catch his little brother because he’d been knocked out cold by the connection cut.

Leo threatening the champion, who was panicking as Raph caught a glimpse of a splintered violin among the rubble.

Mikey being revealed as the champion, in that moment breaking the snapper’s heart as he saw how many scars were covering his baby brother’s face, no doubt everywhere else too. Offering to bring him home.

The worst moment had to have been when the little box turtle just straight up vanished into thin air.

After so much effort, so many desperate searches and so many nights where Raph had woken up panicking, seeing Mikey vanish into nowhere right in front of his eyes was devastating. Vanish right after being given the chance to come home. To be with his family and heal.

Raph could barely understand why Mikey didn’t want to come home. He could certainly see why being around Leo after that whole incident might be difficult, but running away from the opportunity was just heartbreaking to see.

Mikey had been terrified to see them. He’d been worried about Donnie, but terrified of all of them nonetheless.

Raph couldn’t quite fit together why.

He could still feel his little brother’s ninpo, weak and flickering and sending the occasional wave of unease down the connection line, but it was so distant and small that Raph wasn’t sure he was feeling any of those things. Any time someone had tried to reach out to the sputtering orange flame, it drew back and temporarily flicked closed until the other back away.

A small shuffle in the subway car door finally snapped Raph out of his hazy thoughts. He looked up, to see Donnie nervously flicking his eyes around and scratching his arms. It was one of the stims that indicated the softshell was really stressed.

He noticed Raph staring, and Donnie immediately started talking.

“Raph, do you mind if I come in?”

He didn’t feel like he could speak right now, so a simple nod was the only response Donnie received. The softshell was very hesitant in his movements.

“I just wanted to say that I didn’t mean to freak you out,” Donnie muttered, scratching his arms a bit harder. He’d draw blood at this rate. “I didn’t want to freak anyone out, that’s why I didn’t tell anyone about… that. But it was going to hurt Leo again and I threw all my caution to the wind, I didn’t even know what could have happened when I did that. I was trying to understand it better before, and I thought you all were going to hate me-”

Donnie didn’t look up, but Raph’s ninpo carefully drew closer to Donnie's, afraid of upsetting him further. But the softshell returned the feeling of quiet gratefulness that Raph didn’t hate him.

Raph could never hate his brothers. They could be scary, but he couldn’t hate them.

Donnie moved further into the room, clearly taking quiet notice of Raph’s zoned out silence, opting to just sit next to him instead of standing awkwardly in the doorway. Raph didn’t really mind. He was too tired to think, and his wounds were mildly stinging him out of the hazy thoughts.

A quick sign from Donnie caught Raph’s eye.

“Are you alright?” Donnie asked.

He didn’t feel like talking, in any form. Raph just quietly shook his head no. The memory of his brother vanishing was starting to run tracks in his mind.

“Ah. Non-verbal, got it.”

They sat there in agonizing silence for a few more minutes, which was not exactly what Raph needed at the moment. The memories continued to replay, over and over, new scenarios branching out and taking the places of what had happened.

Was Mikey okay? Where had he gone? He was hurt when he vanished, would he be able to take care of his injuries? Would he go back to Big Mama, even after what had happened in the Nexus? Where was he now? He was still alive, his ninpo was there-

“Raph? Raph, buddy, come on,” Donnie said, grounding the snapper again. “You’re panicking-”

“Is he okay?” Two more figures appeared in the doorway, and Raph faintly recognized them as April and Leo.

Donnie signed something to them, and they were reaching out and calmly whispering to Raph in an instant.

Worry flooded their connections quickly, and a faint brush against Raph’s own ninpo had them mildly panicked as well, which did nothing to calm him. Everyone was upset and scared and it was his fault now-

April had Raph trapped in a hug in seconds.

“We’ll find him, big guy,” she whispered. “He’ll be okay.”

With that, Raph broke down into quiet sobs.

April kept him in the hug, while Leo and Donnie joined in carefully.

They stayed like that for a while, quiet reassurances passed between word of mouth and through the familial connection. Quiet reminders that Raph wasn’t alone.

None of them were.

He wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that. Raph didn’t care. It felt safer here, in his brothers and sister’s arms.

And somewhere, distantly, he felt the orange fire flicker away and close off from them again.

Chapter 30: The Missing Mystic

Chapter Text

It had officially been a month since Mikey had abandoned the Nexus.

It had been 3 months since he was picked up off the street and started training his power with the violin.

It had been 5 months since Leo woke up.

But Mikey could no longer find it in himself to keep counting.

He’d been hunting through the Hidden City for weeks now, using the cape he got from the Nexus to hide himself - as ripped and somewhat bloody as it was, he’d apparently made a fashion statement with it, so he blended into the crowds fairly thoroughly.

Occasionally, Mikey would sneak up to regular New York, looking for a few things he might need, but ultimately stayed in the most run-down parts of the Hidden City to avoid detection. Often he narrowly escaped fights between pirates and gangs, and Mikey mildly wondered why he hadn’t just listened to Big Mama’s instructions and gone back to her when his brothers showed up - this place was worse than any sewer he’d been in.

It wasn’t hard to find things to eat and drink, or a somewhat safe place to sleep. It wasn’t hard to hide his scars and injuries from strangers on the streets. He didn’t need them knowing how easy he was to rob right now.

The only other remnants of his Nexus era were his fairly ripped up clothes and the orange bandanna that was even more beat up than before.

Tonight, the docks were bustling with yokai, from some kind of night market festival. Mikey was sticking mostly to alleyways, mainly because he didn’t want to get recognized by the crowds and potentially alert Big Mama to his presence. Or his family.

Immediately, the thought of family was shut down, a lot harder and faster than it had been in the Nexus fights. The streets of the Hidden City were no place for contemplating what went wrong and how he could keep them safe from himself.

Mikey was sure that Donnie had figured out some kind of tracking system on that subcutaneous tracker he mentioned during the invasion. He knew it was only a matter of time - Mikey had no idea where Donnie had planted the thing, and he didn’t have Leo’s medical experience if he wanted to get rid of it.

He slipped through the crowd again, hissing in pain slightly as someone bumped his right shoulder - and by proxy, the cracked piece of his shell. He wasn’t sure at what point he’d noticed the pain of the crack, or how many times he’d already accidentally banged his shell on the walls of buildings or against a stranger too hard and worsened it.

He was a bit too focused on staying alive on the streets to prioritize it - it was probably just a small crack, he hadn’t looked in a mirror in months - and it wasn’t causing too many issues other than just being really irritating and painful.

Those count as issues.

I’m trying to stay alive - a little crack in my shell doesn’t matter too much.

The little voice went silent, and Mikey continued making his way through the crowded streets. Brightly glowing green and blue lanterns hung overhead, swaying in a breeze, odd considering they were underground. Yokai wandered from storefront to storefront, chattering and hissing and talking excitedly about what they wanted from one place or what food they were curious to try.

Mikey wasn’t against browsing the wares - there were some genuinely cool things, along with things he didn’t understand at all. He even spotted the same necklace from when he’d snuck down to the Hidden City a few months back.

But just because he was browsing didn’t mean that Mikey wasn’t on high alert. He stayed away from alleyways that were a bit too shady, from yokai who eyed him oddly or acted out of tune with the rest of the crowd. Even being in a place that was mainly relaxed and easygoing, he felt like he needed to be very attentive otherwise he’d end up hurting worse.

Another yokai bumped into his shell, and Mikey bit back a hiss. That one had hurt. A lot more than usual, and he heard a minute crack as the small crack expanded a bit more.

Mikey had to duck into an alleyway this time. The bustling crowd was only going to make his injuries worse and browsing through things he couldn’t have was only going to make his resolve waver. And the stupid crack was stinging really badly, way more than it should have been for a small crack.

He dropped against the wall, sending a smaller pang through cuts on his arms and legs and even on his face. Mikey didn’t want to admit it out loud but everything hurt.

He desperately wanted his brothers. He wanted his dads, his sister. Even the Caseys. Mikey missed them, even though only a month ago he’d been faced with the option to just go home.

A small part of him wondered why he hadn’t just done it - just let himself fall forward into Raph’s arms in that arena and let them take him home.

The flash of memory of Leo’s metallic arm, Donnie passing out because he’d finally killed the Kraang thing.

He’d hurt them, both times while trying to make sure they were okay. Both times because he’d let his power and anger get the better of them.

Mikey couldn’t go home until he was absolutely sure that he wouldn’t hurt them.

A sound caught his attention from the open end of the alleyway. Mikey quickly dragged his face mask up and pulled his hood down further.

Someone was standing in the open alleyway. He couldn’t tell who it was, or what they wanted, but based purely on the last time he’d been cornered in an alleyway, it couldn’t be good.

Mikey tried to scramble to his feet, but a sharp sting in the cuts on his legs made him hiss and fall back over. The stranger approached, their shadow looming behind the green and blue light of the streets.

“S-stay back!” he shouted, scrambling away. The familiar mystic orange was too dim and exhausted to stay active and open for long, even with the small, barely there connecting to the ninpo.

His hand scrambled for something, anything, to keep himself safe. A shard of glass was what he picked up, and it ended up cutting him as he kept scrambling against the wall.

“I’m not afraid to use this if you don’t back off!” Mikey snapped as the stranger approached.

“Woah, woah, calm down kid,” the stranger said, raising their hands in a rare vulnerable display. “I just noticed your face was bleeding. And those scars are really nasty - do you want some help?”

Mikey’s entire brain had to take a moment to backtrack and repeat what the yokai said.

They want to help me?

“I’m sorry?” he asked, everything in his mind thoroughly stopped and confused.

“Do you need help?” the yokai repeated, dropping low to the ground and approaching Mikey carefully. He couldn’t make out their face in the dark, but he hissed a bit and backed up.

“I don’t even know who you are,” he growled, gripping the glass tighter. “How do I know that you’re not one of Big Mama’s guys or someone else just trying to hurt me?”

“That crazy jorogumo?” the yokai scoffed. “I don’t want to go anywhere near her. I promise, you can trust me.”

Mikey absolutely didn’t. Trusting Big Mama had been one hell of a gamble, and it had ended with him fighting one of those things and hurting his brothers. Even further back in the day, trusting Meat Sweats had just ended up hurting him. One really would have thought Mikey would have learned his lesson by now.

But he was hurt. Everything mildly stung and based purely on past experiences, having a cracked shell was dangerous if it was left untreated. He’d already left it for a month. He was tired and hungry and practically ready to pass out if he wasn’t careful.

So Mikey tiredly raised an arm, dropping the glass shard as the strange yokai helped them up. They were a lot taller than him, but even so opted to try helping Mikey with walking.

“I can walk fine- ow!” he yelped as the stranger’s hand made contact with the crack in his shell. Okay, that definitely was not a small crack. Maybe a slightly bigger than small crack.

“Oh my god, okay, sorry,” they apologized. As the two walked into the street, Mikey finally made out a few things about the strange yokai - an orange hoodie, two horns, a long , fluffy-ended tail, a scar over ghost white eyes. They seemed fairly calm, despite leading a very injured Mikey… somewhere. He wasn’t quite sure where they were going.

He didn’t exactly have the energy to ask - his mind was foggy. Not the mystic fog that came with playing the violin and using his mystic power, which he sorely missed; no, this fog was one that made it hard to think. It had come and gone over the course of the month, but it was starting to feel heavier now.

Mikey wrapped his cape around himself as he walked with the stranger, who was using some kind of mirror to speak with someone else.

He did not manage to stay awake during the walk. Mikey finally passed out, and was whisked away by the yokai in the orange hoodie with ghost white eyes.

Chapter 31: Growing Fissures and Returned Songs

Chapter Text

When Mikey finally came to, he was in bed. Not a makeshift, quickly pulled together scrap pile before dark - a real bed, with blankets and pillows and a mattress. He was half-tempted to just stay there forever and never move again. In full honesty, he was still exhausted enough to want to pass back out again.

But the unfamiliar ceiling and dim lighting clued him in to the fact he was in a building, potentially within danger’s reach, and he had no idea who brought him here this time.

Mikey tilted his head over to examine the room. The walls were fairly pretty, being made from what looked like old, twisty tree roots. He could have spent forever just tracing the busy pattern with his eyes - following them felt guided and natural. The rest of the room was covered in scattered sketchbook pages and crumbled paper in a way that was so achingly similar to his room that he almost thought for a moment that he might have been home.

Someone moved, and Mikey noticed that there was a bundle of blankets sitting on his bed. A hooded yokai was rolled up in them like a burrito, clearly half-asleep. An orange hoodie stuck out through the pile of blankets and covered their face from view.

So he didn’t know this yokai. This was going to suck to explain to a random stranger who’d picked him up off the streets out of pity instead of malicious intent.

He tried to move, which was immediately met with dull throbbing from literally every injury he had and Mikey decided that maybe moving was a really bad idea.

But the hooded yokai noticed, jolting awake from their half-asleep daze to turn their head and yelp.

“Did I finish the- wait, nevermind. I’m watching a child.” They turned to him. “And you’re up. Do you need anything? Are you actively bleeding out at this very second or can I go grab something?”

Mikey felt too tired for words, so just nodded. They seemed to understand and were out of the blanket pile and the room before Mikey could even try moving his mouth.

He didn’t bother trying to assess himself for new injuries or problems at the moment - his brain was too foggy and tired for any kind of thinking.

But he knew something innately - he was, for the time being, safe. He didn’t need to worry about being robbed or getting his arm broken or pleasing a spider mutant or hurting someone or anything. He was just here and safe. This yokai was seemingly quite nice. And gentle.

But they’re not Raph gentle.

I miss Raph gentle.

Mikey shivered as the thought crossed his mind. Was now really a good time to think about his family? How they probably really didn’t like him anymore because they’d seen him side with Big Mama? Hurt Donnie and Leo?

Apparently it was, because he started feeling tears running down his face.

When was the last time I cried?

I don’t remember anymore. I don’t remember when.

I’m too tired to remember properly, anyway.

There was no little voice, no one trying to convince him of something. It was just his thoughts. Just Mikey.

Alone.

That thought had him nearing full blown tears, but he heard the door opening and he tried to cover his shaky breathing and watering eyes.

“... and I know it sounds crazy, but do you think- oh shoot, sorry, gotta go!”

Immediately, the yokai was over by his side; the one who’d initially picked him up. They looked akin to being dumped in several gallons of black ink, with white eyes shining from beyond the darkness of their orange hoodie. Mikey wasn’t sure why they wore a hooie of such a bright color, but it was a bit amusing.

Then again, he used to wear his mask, which was pretty much the same color.

“Does anything hurt?” the ink yokai asked, incredibly calmly to their credit. Mikey tiredly shook his head, although doing that sent minor stings through the wounds on his face and he couldn’t control the wince that crossed his face.

For only having white eyes, the yokai managed to look hilariously skeptical of his assessment, in a way that almost reminded him of Leo.

He didn’t want to pick out memories of his brothers, even though he was already failing miserably at that. Mikey sighed and tried to sit up again, which was once again a horrible mistake because stings of pain immediately ran through all of the box shell’s body.

“Lie back down, you’re gonna make all of your injuries worse,” the inky yokai protested, immediately pushing him down on the bed. “You’ve barely been down and out for a week, and your injuries were insane. I’m surprised that the massive crack in that upper part of your shell didn’t get infected.”

At the mention of the crack in his shell, Mikey’s lingering tiredness completely vanished.

“Oh, come on, it can’t be that big of a crack,” Mikey said with a smile.

The smile was hollow and tired.

The ink yokai, who’s eyes softened, sighed tiredly. “Kid, it was bad. A pretty big chunk of the upper right part of your shell was cracked like something landed on it. Based on estimates, it wouldn’t have done that if you were healthy.”

Memories of the Battle Nexus, of the invasion, of being on the run for months, flashed up. But Mikey didn’t cry. He didn’t immediately panic and get lost. He was too tired to have the reaction.

“And your hands were awful looking, too,” they added. The white flicked closed in sympathy. “A lot of your wounds were pretty bad, but your hands were just downright awful. Those scars look like they’ve been reopened way too many times to heal properly.”

The yokai mentioning his scars had Mikey whipping his hands out from under the blankets, and this time he really did not care that it hurt everything else. They were covered in bandages again, but they were a lot higher than his scars were. These bandages were halfway up his upper arm now, and dread began creeping into his mind. Something wasn’t right.

“Can… Can I see them?” he asked softly, his mouth finally deciding to work.

“The shell or your hands?” the ink yokai asked.

“Both. If that’s okay?”

They nodded before flicking their wrist as a strange black glow, presumably their mysticism. The ink yokai calmly regarded Mikey, and his attention temporarily drew from his hidden scars to the one crossing their right eye.

“How’d you get that?” he asked.

The yokai shrugged, which Mikey took as an indicator of not wanting to talk about it. Their tail flicking also felt like another sign.

Supplies bounced in the door, the bandages and a photo ramming into the floor and skidding across under a desk, before hopping up to the bed with a roll of bandages and a photograph.

“Shell first or hands?”

“Hands.” His hands were probably a bit more important than the shell. They were shaking again, much to his irritation, but the yokai shrugged and calmly started undoing them. What he saw sent cold fear dripping throughout his entire body.

The bandages hadn’t just been extra. The cracks that had constantly haunted him for months, that had always been a constant since the invasion and had put him through so much sh*t now ran all the way up to the middle of his upper arm. They seemed to glare tauntingly back at him, the geometric patterns that were so unusual for Mikey seemingly laughing in his face as his usual blobby markings vanished under raised red, scarred scales.

It looked so wrong. And he wasn’t even sure where they had come from this time.

The sound of a rock shattering his music, the splinters digging into his palms.

He’d used his powers without the crutch of his violin. The invisibility, the violent chains, occasionally defending himself from street thugs - that had to be what had taken such a toll.

They wordlessly started rewrapping his hands, while the photo flew forward for Mikey to look at. And he didn’t even have the words to describe his shock.

The uppermost right corner of his shell had a massive crack in it, not dissimilar to the cracks in Raph and Leo’s shells. It ran from the back of his head to the middle of his upper arm , the spidery crack branching off in different directions. Like a disturbing, long lightning bolt that was permanently etched into his shell.

For years, Mikey never had a scratch on his shell. Raph had his little chips, Donnie had scars from the Shredder fight, and literally everything about whatever had happened in the prison dimension to Leo. Never once had Mikey received something like that, because he’d always been hidden behind his brothers in fights.

Now they all matched.

And for some reason, it felt so wrong.

Mikey couldn’t help shivering, and the yokai gave him a weird look that he couldn’t bother trying to decipher.

I’m losing my touch, his mind whispered. It sounded surprised by the fact.

Why do I not care as much anymore? Normally I’d be asking them questions and talking like I knew them for years.

I can’t even ask what changed, because I know.

Mikey shivered again, drying his eyes fast. It wasn’t fast enough, because he found himself being draped in more blankets by the unfamiliar mysticism and receiving a pat on the head from the yokai. Something he hadn’t gotten in who knew how long.

They left the room after that. Mikey shivered again, not because of the cold, but because he was trying to keep from flat out crying. The reaction was back now, but it still seemed blank and severely delayed.

Mikey spent the rest of that day huddled up under blankets and trying to properly process everything.

And somewhere, distantly beyond the haze of thoughts, his ninpo sputtered out and locked away again.

-=-

Only a few days passed before Mikey snuck away from the shelter of the strange yokai’s home. Why he didn’t stay longer was beyond him - he was safe, and had food and a good place to rest. But some quiet part of him told him he needed to keep moving. He’d already stayed there for a week before, and the yokai had been kind enough to house him for that time.

He could probably return the favor by getting out of their hair - if they had any. He still wasn’t quite certain about that, considering they kept their hood up every time he saw them.

But Mikey had clean bandages and a full stomach. He wasn’t fully healed, especially not his hands or the crack in his shell, which bugged him like crazy whenever he moved, but getting moving was probably more important than that.

A small note, explaining where he went, was left on the bed as Mikey vanished into the city streets again.

By the time he was out of the place, he realized that he was in a completely different part of the Hidden City, one he hadn’t been to in all of his travels and hiding. It was in a rather pretty green forest, the edges of leaves glowing gently overhead as Mikey realized he needed to trek through the forest to get back to his usual grounds.

He wasn’t entirely sure what this forest had to hold, considering he’d never wandered out this far. But even as hurt as Mikey was, he probably could get through without trouble. He was a ninja, Pizza Supreme’s sake!

The woods were a lot denser than he thought they would be. Bushes and branches and low-hanging trees constantly got in his way, but no way was he going to try cutting through here with his powers. One, because he did not want to do anything that could potentially worsen his mystic scars. And two, his mystic power was based majorly around fire, so one wrong step into the magic and the entire forest would be completely ablaze, with no way to get out.

So there was no choice for him other than to hoof it through the forest. It wasn’t too much of a struggle, mainly because he was mostly energized, but as the hours walked on his movement began to slow as exhaustion and soreness set in.

It didn’t take long after that for Mikey to mildly start panicking.

He had no orientation to go off of to get back to the Hidden City - he’d struck out into the woods with no map or direction or even bothering to check for some kind of footpath to walk along and hope he found something.

He was lost and alone, in mystic woods where he didn’t know anything of what might be in there, without food or water or anything like that. Most likely that last thing would be fine, considering Draxum had mutated them to be super soldiers, they were probably able to go without food or water for a fair while, although none of them wanted to ever test that.

He had no methods of contact, no way to go back, and no way to figure out what way he was supposed to go anymore. Mikey was not quite desperate enough yet to try calling for help, and even if he wanted to, there was no way he knew who - or what - might respond back.

A shuddering breath left his lungs, and Mikey let himself drop down into the bushes. The static fuzz was beginning to take over the sound, exhaustion making him shake, the air around him beginning to feel encroaching and pressurized like it was trying to snap him in half.

Panic fully flooded the box turtle, and tears were running freely in rivers down his face as the world became a mess or static and light and pressure.

Everything was too much, he was lost, he didn’t have anyone to hide behind or protect him from any danger lurking beyond the trees. His hands shuddered as he hesitantly drew into his shell, and the hinge closed.

There was no more green light filtering in, just the dark of his own shell. It was familiar, it was safe, and Mikey’s crying was muffled enough for him to no longer bother being quiet. His thoughts were an incoherent, whirling mess, the adrenaline dripping down in cold waves.

And this time nobody came for him.

There was nobody to lean on when he was scared.

There was nobody to open a door and interrupt him.

There was nobody taking care of his injuries.

Mikey desperately wanted someone there, even if he knew it was impossible and that he could hurt them if his power got out of control.

But nobody came.

Because Mikey kept running.

In the whirlwind, Mikey’s resolve to stay away was beginning to reach its breaking point. Even in the panic, he could tell that doing this for much longer was going to end badly.

A thunk outside of his shell snapped through the storm.

Whatever the object was, it had hit the broken piece of his shell, which hurt like hell, and he had to bite his tongue to prevent yelling.

Warily, he unhinged his shell and popped his head out. The storm was lessened now, still going on somewhere in the back of his mind, but this new rush of cold had temporarily pushed it away.

A small gasp of surprise escaped him as his eyes landed on the offending object in question.

A violin case laid on the ground in front of him.

Not a violin case - the violin case. He recognized the dents it had acquired during his run out of the sewers, and the occasional drop from when his hands had been particularly bad on any given day.

The case did look a little different, with a pattern of gold fire lacing gently up the sides of the case. As Mikey popped out of his shell fully and moved closer, it shimmered briefly, and he yanked his hand back.

That didn’t make any sense. How could it do that when he wasn’t using his mystic power? Or his ninpo?

Not that he could really feel that second one anymore.

Hesitantly, Mikey flipped open the latches. He’d heard the sound of the violin breaking, so he knew there was no way it was still intact. He’d had the splinters in his hands for days.

So why was a gold-trimmed replica of his bow and violin looking back from the silvery case?

Mikey kneeled there in awe and shock, and a small spark lit where his power was again. He didn’t reach for it.

Mikey didn’t want to know how it was possible. The amount of insane things that had occurred already proved there was no point in asking what could have possibly returned it.

Mikey simply picked it up and stood, new energy returning to him as he moved through the green-lit leaves and through the woods.

And nobody came.

Chapter 32: Finally, A Lead!

Chapter Text

It was still proving quite tricky to track his younger brother, but Donnie had finally succeeded (with Draxum’s help) in creating a tracker that wouldn’t be interfered with by mystic energy. Not only that, it could locate onto specific sources of mystic energy, and it wasn;t hard for them to find something with traces of Mikey’s energy signature on it.

Donnie and April had been midway through tracking him down when something out of the corner of his eye vanished. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary - he and his brothers were on the Hidden City’s criminal watchlist (Donnie had demoted them from full time criminals)so it wasn’t uncommon for them to be recognized by yokai around the city.

It was uncommon, however, that they would watch them this closely. Nobody before now had looked at Donnie like he was some kind of strange specimen, unless you counted Draxum, so this was supremely unnerving and he was beginning to wish he’d let Leo take this search for him.

Leo is in no right mind to be searching for Mikey, Donnie immediately snapped at himself. Lists of the times Leo had broken down and panicked, times where Raph had sat with the slider and refused to let anyone but Donnie go near him, came to mind. Like he was scared that Leo would vanish if he looked away.

Donnie was the most mentally intact (he lied) so it was up to him and April to take search missions. Splinter and Draxum were also out looking, albeit in the less police infested areas of the city like the docs.

April noticed Donnie’s grip on his bo tightening as they passed yet another group of yokai who seemed all too intent on boring their gazes permanently into his skin.

“Definitely weird,” she whispered, pulling up the hood on her old green gloak. “I’ve gotten weird looks for being a human down here, but nothing like whatever the hell they’re doing.”

“Even people from Witch Town don’t give me a look like that,” Donnie muttered.

“So you’re admitting you screwed up their town now?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I am merely pointing out it is a thing they do.”

April gently elbowed him, but the lack of force behind the hit was an easier-than-normal to read showcase that April was very uneasy. Her hand kept drifting toward the bat she always carried.

Another group of yokai passed, this time one of them glaring daggers at Donnie. Specifically him, because they made eye contact as they passed. Why, the softshell had no clue. But it was going to start irritating him if these random strangers kept it up, for certain.

The search today had proven fruitless as yesterdays, and the day before. It didn’t seem like it was working, even with the energy signature isolation.

There could be some other kind of factor upsetting this tracker, Donnie thought. Maybe the calibration was too wide or the signature we inputted was too old to properly track the current energy source. I could try finding another shard of that violin somewhere, it was loaded with mystic energy.

Wait, I can't. The pieces vanished like a week ago.

That had bugged him quite a bit - the fact that the splinters of the violin they’d managed to snag had just vanished one night. Donnie knew nobody in his family would steal them, but there really didn’t seem to be any kind of better explanation for the vanishing of the few pieces he had.

He bumped into someone, who yelped and darted away immediately. Not darted like bustled out of the way - the stranger ran.

“This is definitely uncommon. People usually don’t run from us.”

April nodded, and they moved away and into an alleyway. It was dark, and the ground further in was littered with glass.

“I think I might know why they’re all acting so weird,” April grumbled, clearly displeased by whatever it was she knew. “Especially around you.”

“Why?” Donnie asked. His inquisition might sound a bit stupid, but he genuinely wasn’t quite sure. His brain was shockingly tired, even though he’d taken to using the Prime connection to store extra memories so he didn’t have to dedicate all of his processing power to focusing on everything.

In that aspect, it was helpful. Anything else, horribly uncomfortable.

“Most of the yokai in the city were watching our arena fight, right?” April said. Donnie nodded. “Well, they probably are recognizing us from that and remembering the whole ‘controlling the Kraang thing’ you pulled off. Which, by the way, you still owe me an explanation on!”

Her finger pointed accusingly at the softshell, and he put his hands up defensively. “I promise you an explanation is coming, April. It is just going to take some time to compile all of the information into easily understood points.”

April dramatically groaned, letting her head fall back to face the stony ceiling high above them. Donnie sighed and took a step back-

And immediately yelped, because he’d just stepped on some of the glass.

“Donnie!”

“Ow, f*ck! Whichever son of a pan-fried pile of bones left this here is going to come back here and…”

Donnie trailed off as he yanked the shard out of his foot. It didn’t bleed excessively or brightly, so there was no artery damage. But that wasn’t what he’d trailed off at.

One of the bigger shards had blood on it. But the blood looked burnt. Which made absolutely no sense, because what lunatic set fire to blood on melted glass in an alleyway?

“What the hell?” Donnie picked it up, which was gross because he didn’t know how many different types of germs or bacteria might be on the bloodstained thing. He flipped his goggles down.

“Dee, that’s broken glass in an alleyway. You know you don’t pick that sh*t up!” April protested, mirroring his own thoughts a moment prior. But something about the fact that the blood was dried and burnt and the glass was melted and mixing with it called the softshell to investigate.

Damn his natural curiosity. He was going to thoroughly wash his hands when he got home. And maybe wash them again. Potentially a third time.

The goggles initially didn’t pick up on anything, other than identifying the substance on the glass and in it. That was the preliminary investigation. A tap of a button initiated his more high-tech analytic tools.

The glass had initially been as sharp as everything else, according to the blueprints it was making. It had cooled off only a few days before they’d found it.

The blood itself was immediately flagged as having a trace amount of mysticism, and it quickly pulled up the trackers designated to his little brother’s tracker.

“April, this is… this is Mikey’s blood. It's burned, and the glass is completely melted.”

April immediately dropped down next to him, taking it from him with gloved hands (which was much smarter of her, he could have contaminated the specimen.)

“I’m no expert in forensics - oh who are we kidding, yes, I am - but my scanners are telling me that this blood is very recent. Approximately one week and three days old.”

“That might mean that he’s still around this area!” April said, excitement rising in her voice. “If it's that recent, there’s a chance he might still be here! We have a lead!”

April chirped excitedly, and Donnie returned it with equal excitement. They finally had some kind of lead on Mikey, something that he could use to find his brother.

Something else caught Donnie's eye - a weird, blueish green chip of rock or something lying on the ground near the rest of the glass shards. It wasn’t glass either, even though a thin, transparent segment was hanging off of it.

April had already moved back out of the alleyway, calling their family to tell them they’d found a lead.

Apparently, hazard was of no matter to the softshell, and he picked up the chip. It really didn’t feel like rock though - it was smoother, a bit tattered and covered in strange little cracks like it was going to fall apart.

He tucked it away into evidence bags (Raph never knew how he got so many and Donnie preferred not to tell) and stowed those in his battle shell’s storage. If the melted glass shard covered in Mikey’s blood was anything to go by, then this weird little chip was probably important too.

They made it back home without incident. And Donnie got to work.

Chapter 33: An Inkling of a Plan

Chapter Text

Mikey had made it out of the forest just fine, but the city part of the Hidden City was just as problematic as ever. No proper place to sleep, a lack of but not total deprivation of food, being threatened by the potential of a street fight over something vital at every turn. Mikey definitely regretted leaving the kind yokai’s house, but he wouldn’t have been able to find his way back if he tried.

Coming back to the city also had the unintended consequence of easily being locateable. Mikey had to stick to skulking around the streets during the times where he knew his brothers wouldn’t be awake, purely because he’d caught sight of Raph and Donnie wandering through a market one day and nearly ran into them not even an hour later.

They hadn’t noticed him - he’d looked like just another stranger on the streets - but they’d both looked so exhausted. Donnie had been stress stimming by scratching his arms, and Raph’s claws had seemed to be permanently affixed in his shoulders.

And their eyes…

They just looked so tired. Not a single sparkle or excited outburst toward something they might have found interesting. Just blank and dull.

Mikey felt horrible about that. Because that was his fault.

He also felt horrible physically. Getting up and walking around after only a week of bed-rest had not done him or his arms or his shell any favors. The bandages on his hands were old again, and they smelled quite bad. He couldn’t quite tell with his shell, but it was a constant, dull throbbing that would bug him on and off. It was most irritating along the crack.

Mikey wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up being away from his brothers. Being away from safety, from food, from clean water.

He was tired of this.

But he still wasn’t safe. Mikey wasn’t sure if his mystic powers would go haywire around his brothers again, and he didn’t want to hurt any of them. He’d already hurt Leo and Donnie - anyone else would be yet another indicator that Mikey was just a straight up danger to them. Raph could take an accident, maybe, but April or Casey Jr? Splinter or Barry?

His head bonked against the wall he was sitting near, and he cringed as a small pang shot through his skull.

He moved to take off the cloak, the only thing he still had from Big Mama's Nexus that was in any kind of good condition. It was mostly going fine until he got to the cracked part of his shell, to which he actually yelped as pain clawed down his back. A stupid thread was stuck on one of the sharp edges and pulling wasn’t going to help.

Mikey fruitlessly tried yanking it off a few more times, to no avail and painful stinging. A frustrated hiss escaped him, one of the few sounds he could still make with his parched throat.

The lamps hovering outside the alleyway were dimming - the Hidden City’s version of dusk approaching. Yokai were bustling about going home, closing up shops and extinguishing their own lanterns - none were paying attention to the darkest parts of the streets where Mikey hid. The cold crept in, the shadows became sharp, the light around him vanished.

He didn’t particularly want to be cold, so without too much hesitation, he lit a golden flame on his hand and set it on the ground. It was warm enough - nowhere near the heat his fire used to produce, but just enough to keep him from getting a cold later down the line. Sickness could really screw him over if he wasn’t careful.

His hands cracked, and Mikey hissed, drawing away from the power immediately. The flame sputtered out and he was left in the cold once more.

The violin case sat by his side, the golden edging and silver casing glinting faintly in the dead light. Mikey didn’t open it to try and cast a safer spell - he’d already re-opened his arm wounds, by the scent of the blood and something else that generally smelled gross.

Using his power hurt. He didn’t dare try to fully reconnect to the ninpo in case his brothers came looking.

Mikey’s injuries were too bad to risk using any mystic power. His arms were already infected, the crack in his shell probably would be in no time if it wasn’t already.

No, the box turtle couldn’t risk using his mystic power anymore.

And that was when an idea clicked into his mind.

Admittedly, it wasn’t the best idea, for someone half-loopy on everything that wasn’t supposed to happen to one’s body. But it was certainly a solution.

I could stop using my power. No more fires, no more magic, nothing.

Isn’t that what your family tried already? Look how that turned out?

I can do better.

I know where to start.

Mikey stood - slowly, because everything hurt and his head was pounding - and flipped the hood of his cape over his head. It was met with some weird resistance, but Mikey didn’t care too much. He grabbed his violin as well. As much trouble as it had caused him, he wasn’t going to leave it behind. It was something familiar. A crutch.

A crutch he might need.

A plan was forming in his mind, and it was the first one in probably months that could and should be able to be finished without interruption.

He started walking, ignoring the dark streets as he moved his battered body.

If I can’t stop the mysticism by willpower…

I can find a spell to lock it away instead.

Mikey vanished into the streets, heading for the mystic library.

Chapter 34: Spy Portals

Chapter Text

Leo could not believe what he was looking at. Even if perhaps he wasn’t supposed to be able to see it.

Having portals was quite useful - in the days before everything had gone insane, Leo had sometimes used them to help his brothers eavesdrop on things. Sometimes this eavesdropping power was used for blackmail purposes, be it for whoever asked for it. Leo wasn’t going to object about getting some blackmail on his own either.

But during times where they really needed it, like during missions, the eavesdropping portals were genius. If it was in a secure enough spot, he could even sometimes poke his head out of the shimmering blue and observe.

This was one of those times, where Leo had gotten too desperate to know what might have gotten Donnie locked up in his lab for three days straight. He did it often, but it had relented during the search for Mikey. And when April had gone banging on the lab door and the softshell had not emerged, that was cause for concern.

But seeing what he was seeing on Donnie’s tech screens, Leo wasn’t so sure he wanted to be spying.

Donnie himself was doing his usual - organizing files, working on an invention, adding things to the ever-growing amount of lists he had. It was a bit unnerving, considering he was using the Kraang tentacles he’d acquired to do these things as well (which they still needed to have one hell of a talk about).

One screen in particular had caught his eye. It read something about blood samples and DNA analysis, which was a crazy leap considering they didn’t have anything like that. Sure, Donnie could mystic in a DNA analysis machine, but there wasn’t any need.

Pieces started falling into place, though, once Leo caught a glimpse of the things in the little machine and resting idly on Donnie’s desk.

The first thing was melted glass, with dark stains tainting it that looked like blood. If Donnie knew it was Mikey’s, then he would have told everyone, right?

The second item was a weird, green chip, the edges jagged and also slightly red. The surface on the top and one side were smooth, but there were still cracks in it, and the broken edges were rough like it had been hit hard and fallen off.

Why would he go looking for rocks while searching? Leo wondered. A chill ran down his spine as the pieces connected.

Something deep in his gut told him what it was. He’d seen chips like those before, when they were falling from the sky and landing beside his head.

It was a piece of a shell, broken and jagged from where the impact wound had snapped it off. The break wasn’t clean either, meaning it would have hurt a lot.

He felt sick. The color was familiar, the pattern on the very edge telling him who’s shell it was.

A piece of Mikey’s shell was sitting on Donnie’s desk.

That was why he hadn’t come out of the lab - he’d caught waves of dismissal and disbelief radiating from Donnie for days. Dismissal that had turned to desperation.

Donnie ‘s ninpo flashed, and in a moment, something slimy had caught his hand through the crackling blue portal and yanked him through.

“OW!” he yelped, landing face first on the train car floor.

You’d have thought there would be a mechanism in this arm to stop me from falling on my face from how often it happens, Leo thought grumpily as he laid on the cool floor for a moment.

“Leo, what are you doing?”

“I wasn’t doing anything!” he immediately protested, looking up at Donnie with an indignant expression.

Twisted creatures, looming over him, with their teeth and eyes and flesh, ready to swallow him and make him one of them.

Crowding the building he needed to go through to get his brother back.

Leo snapped out of the memory before he could spiral too far, looking back up at his twin, who had since retracted the tentacles and was leaning over him, shining a flashlight in his eyes.

“Dee, what the hell?” Leo snapped, pushing the light away. “I’m not concussed!”

The light vanished, before Donnie stood up. “You’re currently more prone to getting concussions than anyone here, so ensuring that you weren’t was a priority. And I thought maybe you did have one, considering you were spying on me.”

“It wasn’t spying!” Leo protested, standing up and shaking out his arm. The metal one would be fine - apparently getting thrown into walls did nothing to it. “I was checking on my beloved brother, who hasn’t left his lab in three days and - woah, you look like sh*t.”

Getting a proper look at the softshell immediately switched over Leo’s mind to medical mode, because his brother looked like he hadn’t slept in a solid two weeks.

Properly, anyway.

“All of New York looks like sh*t,” Donnie replied, turning back to his work table. “I’m blending in with the crowd.”

“Sure, and when was the last time you slept?” Leo prodded, poking his twin’s arm.

“Right back at you,” Donnie snapped.

Leo cringed a bit - he admittedly had been sleeping worse as well.

“Okay, I get it, you got me. Care to explain what that is?” Leo pointed aggressively toward the chip on the table, trying to ignore the unease he felt.

Donnie visibly stiffened, but he didn’t respond immediately.

“As much as I didn’t want to panic anyone, that is… that’s a piece of Mikey’s shell.”

sh*t.

I didn’t actually want to be right this time.

Leo felt blood leave his face, as Donnie’s eyebrows lifted into what their family knew as his ‘starting to panic’ look. “Leo, if you are going to throw up, please do so outside of my lab. Admittedly it freaked me out as well, and I've been running test after test to make sure my goggle scanners weren’t lying.”

“I’m not gonna throw up,” Leo reassured him, although he really, really wanted to. That was two really’s. “Where did you even find that?”

“On the last search mission with April,” the softshell replied, turning his head back to the violet screens. “We were moving into an alleyway to get eyes off of us - my whole ‘taking control of the monster’ thing did not do me any favors with the Hidden City inhabitants. We were lucky we stumbled into that particular alleyway.”

“Is that why you’ve locked yourself in here?” Leo took a quick glance around the lab, and it was messier than usual. Donnie typically kept his lab in pristine condition, so that he could find things easily and have clean workspaces. This was not anywhere near Donnie’s standard of cleanliness.

“Perhaps it is,” Donnie replied, absently looking anywhere but the rest of his lab.

“How did you not notice April and Barry trying to batter down your door? They even got Casey on it and that kid broke through concrete once.”

“Scoff! I am offended you think my reinforced doors are anywhere near as breakable as concrete, Nardo.”

“Please tell me you know how much force it takes to break a solid brick wall, Dee.”

“Brick is not composed of the same things as concrete, therefore your argument is invalid.”

Frustration was starting to build up in Leo - normally their banter didn’t get to him like this. If he’d wanted to they could go on for hours about something like this, but Leo didn’t have the patience for it at the moment.

Why am I getting mad?

He took a deep breath, before resettling the puzzle pieces and strings onto a different topic. “So why haven’t you told anyone that you found a piece of our little brother’s shell just sitting in some Hidden City alleyway?”

“April knows,” Donnie protested.

“She didn’t tell us sh*t. Spill the beans, Don.”

The softshell was clearly also getting frustrated, because he was tapping the back of his neck - one of the stims he did when upset. Donnie had a lot of upset stims.

“I am sorry,” he snapped, with venom in his voice, “for not wanting to scare the life out of everyone in the Lair. We don’t even know how bad the injury might be, but it's bad if there are pieces cracking and falling off. Raph’s taking this hard, Dad and Draxum are as well. You especially are not taking it well.”

Any response Leo had faltered on his tongue.

It was my fault. I pushed him, so he ran away.

Leo stayed quiet for a few moments, and so did Donnie. Neither of them seemed able to say anything. Leo was just surprised that the softshell was apologizing so much.

The unfamiliar metal of his new fingers dug deep into his scales.

The sudden urge to yank the arm off arose in Leo’s mind, but he resisted. It suddenly felt heavy and cold and not supposed to be on his body because where was his real arm-

Donnie moved closer, and Leo snapped quickly out of the spiral again. Snapping out of it felt routine, practiced.

Not hard to practice.

His twin took off his headset, something he rarely did unless he was sleeping, and tiredly thunked his head on Leo’s plastron.

A quick sign.

“Hug? Please?”

Wordlessly, the slider wrapped his arms around Donnie, just barely stiffening when the softshell completely melted into the touch. His brother wasn’t touch-averse, but he rarely fell into hugs willingly.

The two stood there for a few moments, before Donnie’s shoulders started shaking slightly.

Leo brought his twin over to the part of the lab reserved for Donnie to calm down from overstimulation.

Leo hadn’t seen Donnie cry in ages. The last time he knew of was probably just after he woke up from the coma. Before that, he wasn’t sure.

A tear slipped from Leo’s own eye, staining his mask as it slipped away.

He did remember the last time he cried.

He didn’t want to.

The twins stayed there, arms tight around each other, quietly sobbing in the low purple light of the lab. For how long, neither of them knew.

Neither wanted to know.

Chapter 35: Observing Eyes and Heavy Hands

Chapter Text

The bat librarian was not particularly pleased to see him again. That was entirely understandable, considering what had happened the last time Mikey had been in the mystic library.

“It’s you again,” she hissed, eyes locking onto him the moment he appeared. “You’ll find the kiddie room to your left.”

“I’m not going in there,” Mikey whispered. Properly whispered, because his voice was hoarse and he barely spoke nowadays as it was.

The librarian eyed him suspiciously. “I don’t take second chances lightly, little kappa,” she snarled, climbing down from her absurdly high desk. Her wings seemed to take up the entire space.“You and your brothers caused far too much trouble for me. The kiddie room is to your left.”

Mikey made eye contact from under the hood, steeling his gaze against the slit pupils. “I need a book. I will be quiet.”

They glared at each other like that for a few moments, with a few patrons eyeing them nervously and slipping away. Mikey readjusted his grip on the case handle, trying not to drop it and upset her.

“Fine,” she snarled. “You know the rules, kappa. If the Hush Bats hear anything louder than a whisper, you’re off to the kiddie room.”

Mikey nodded, not in the mood to speak to her any more than he already had. He walked off into the library, trying to find some kind of catalog. Donnie probably would have known what it was, considering he hadn’t been immediately kidnapped the last time the brothers were here.

Enough. I came for a spell, I will find it.

You don’t need to do this, the tiny voice whispered, barely audible over Mikey’s own footsteps.

I do. I’m not safe to be around anyone unless I do. Mikey resisted the urge to shout at the little voice in his head, because it had been nagging him about this since he came up with the plan and wouldn’t shut up about trying to find some other option.

This was the easiest - and most successful in the long-term - solution. Mikey could get the ingredients, use the last burst of mystic power to activate the spell, and be done with it permanently.

He spotted another yokai shaking around a glass ball, and took a moment to watch. Watching was not usually what he did - Mikey was the one who razz-ma-tazzed the enemy, not paying attention to their every move. The Nexus had taught him otherwise.

A quick shake of the glass ball, and a misty image of a book appeared in the middle. The yokai smiled, and went to put it back. The glass ball slipped, and reflex took over.

Mikey caught it with his right hand, despite the fact his arms and shell were heavily protesting any kind of movement, especially the saving-people movement. He bit back a hiss and handed it back to the yokai, who gratefully smiled before vanishing into the bookshelves.

Mikey didn’t want to agitate his arms too much, so he went for the easy option of placing his hand on the ball. Which still hurt a lot, but the cold of the glass ball was a comfort on his hands he hadn’t known he needed.

Focus. I came for a spellbook, I’m gonna get the spellbook.

Sealing magic.

Within an instant, a book popped up in the glass ball, along with directions to it. Mikey made 100 percent certain that he knew where he was going before moving, because forgetting one instruction would probably screw him over if he wasn’t careful.

Wandering through the bookshelves was a bit daunting - they went on for what seemed to be forever, and Mikey had half a mind to try spray painting something like this.

If my arms ever recover from the stupid amount of mysticism I used.

They will, you just need time. And actual medical care. Why are you here instead of at a hospital?

Because I need to do this before I go anywhere else.

Mikey tiredly blocked out the voice, although it was still nagging him in the background. His head still hurt, but he looked up to see he’d almost missed a turn.

The box turtle absently looked up to the underside of the walkways, where the Hush Bats were glaring at him through narrowed eyes. They clearly didn’t like him still, but Mikey couldn’t care less. He yanked his cloak closer - which tugged on that stuck string and he nearly yelped as he felt something tear.

There was no time to try finding a mirror to see the shell damage - Mikey needed that spell.

A few minutes of walking through increasingly confusing walkways and rows of shelves found Mikey standing in front of a shelf, looking at a shockingly thin purple tome. It was decorated with silver, and the title was printed across in grandiose flowing letters he could barely read.

Locked and Sealed: A Complete Compendium of Sealing Spells and Potions.

Perfect.

Mikey carefully picked up the book, which was almost barely possible with his right hand holding the violin case in a death grip and trying to pick up the book at the same time. It was stupidly painful, and he nearly dropped it a few times.

But he got it - eventually - and started walking back through the library. But it did not take long before something happened.

Exhaustion was really starting to come back to bite him, so Mikey paused temporarily to at least rest. But the violin case thudded just a little too loudly on the floor, and other patrons looked over in fear. Panic flooded the room as eyes turned upward towards the bats on the walkway above.

Mikey didn’t dare move for a few moments, praying that the Hush Bats had let it pass as below a whisper.

A flapping of wings came down beside him, but he did not start flying away or hovering. No claws dug into his cloak, through to his shell to carry him away.

Mikey looked over to see two Hush Bats lifting his instrument, still glaring, but less like they were going to bite him.

One patron stood up. “How the hell is that fair?” the yokai yowled. Immediately, he was swept away by a small swarm of bats, to nobody’s surprise.

Mikey was more shocked that the Hush Bats were actually helping him out - last time he’d been here, he’d most certainly upset them and their librarian. Yelling probably hurt their ears, yet they were helping.

Maybe it was sympathy, maybe it was them being very done with something, Mikey didn’t know. But he didn’t have the energy to try understanding. That fire was too dim, and he had nothing to feed it with.

The librarian herself seemed quite surprised to see the Hush Bats helping him, but said nothing of it. She simply checked the book out, gave him a strict warning to return it in two weeks, and let him out without further incident.

-=-

As the streets grew dark, Mikey found the spell he was looking for.

It covered all the details - he would be clear for pretty much everything. It even had a counterspell, although it was even more difficult to master than the regular spell.

Mikey’s hands trembled over the page, tracing the edge of the paper.

Mystic Sealing: A spell to permanently seal away one’s mystic ability.

He looked over the list of ingredients, which was surprisingly short at only one thing needed. Other than that, a simple array was all he needed. Mikey should have figured out that he wouldn’t have needed too much to perform a spell like this, but the ingredient was going to be a bit of a problem.

He needed Empyrean.

There was only one place where he could reliably get Empyrean, which was at the Crying Titan. Draxum might have had some, but it was definitely destroyed and he wouldn’t have been permitted access to more with the whole ‘being a criminal’ thing.

Mikey knew of no other place to actually get the stuff, although he’d seen what looked like it scattered around the city right after the invasion.

There was one small flaw in his plan. Easily fixable, but potentially going to screw him over if he wasn’t careful.

Mikey, throughout most of this, still had a faint connection to his family through the ninpo. Not nearly enough for them to know where he was or what might be happening, but he occasionally got worry and fear flickering from their end. He could only presume they felt the same from him.

It really was an easy fix - he simply had to shut off the connection again.

Mikey had enough practice from the Nexus anyway.

I can’t have them interfering with this. Once my power is sealed away, then I can maybe go home.

I need that Empyrean.

I’ll go to the Crying Titan tonight.

Chapter 36: Snap

Chapter Text

Raph was startled awake by a sudden snap in the ninpo, some whisper of thoughts trailing into his head as it shut down.

Power… sealed… Empyrean… Crying Titan tonight.

Raph immediately reached out for his family, testing to make sure everyone was there - Leo and Donnie’s were buzzing with activity, along with Splinter, April, and faintly the Caseys.

Cold dread poured down the snapping turtle’s spine when he reached to try and find Mikey.

Because Mikey’s ninpo was gone. Fully gone, no trace or whispers except the thoughts left behind after the snap.

None of their connections ever snapped shut like this - forceful and harsh, purposely closed with no regard for who might be on the other end. Mikey had closed it when he was in the Nexus, from what Raph understood, but there had always been a faint trace of the fire there.

It was gone.

Not a speck of flame left.

Panic began buzzing in the snapper’s head, as he was rushing out of his room to check on the others before he realized he was moving.

Raph was met with worried faces crowding the living room, as his family rushed in. Splinter looked equally panicked, while Donnie and Casey Jr seemed less so. Leo was somewhere between trying to keep a cool and total meltdown - Raph had seen that look on his brother’s face enough times to know.

“Everyone else felt that, right?” the softshell whispered. His voice sounded hoarse, and in the back of his mind Raph knew he hadn’t been doing any self care. But it was pushed back by the other thoughts, the panic, the total uncertainty of where his littlest brother was.

Before this, they’d all at least known he was, if faintly, alive and moving.

The connection had been closed so forcefully.

The family nodded, and Raph dug his claws into his arms. He should have known by the looks on their faces that he wasn’t having some horrible nightmare that his brain came up with to torture him.

His breath hitched as he tried not to hyperventilate. This was real. Something could have just gone horribly wrong and Raph hadn’t been there.

He swiveled his head around, trying to keep everyone in his now limited range of vision. If he could see them, he knew they were safe.

“Did anyone else catch those weird thoughts at the end?” Leo asked, flapping his hands around nervously. “Something about power and sealing and Empyrean and the Crying Titan tonight? That means something right?”

Donnie nodded. “I don’t understand what the Crying Titan or Empyrean have to do with anything. The words power and sealing by themselves make no sense either.”

Raph’s brain started scrambling trying to fit the words into something cohesive. No sentences formed from the words, except for what was already there. His claws dug in deeper as he closed his eye, trying to fit things together.

“Well, there’s something going on at the Crying Titan tonight, we know that much,” Casey said, amazingly calm-sounding compared to the rest of the family. “We should probably go wherever that is so we can see what’s happening, and if it's a problem, stop it before it gets out of control.”

The plan was about as solid as water, but it was something among the newfound chaos lacing through the Lair. It was better than nothing, but that wasn’t stopping Raph’s mind from running wild with what could have happened

Mikey could have gotten badly hurt, enough to make the ninpo go away. Or something had completely nullified his mystic power. Those were the best case scenarios.

Raph did not want to think about the worst case, but his mind jumped there anyway.

His claws dug deeper into his scales. Into familiar gaps.

Leo’s head suddenly snapped up, and there was a cold and horrified look in the slider’s eyes. He wasn’t sure what could have crossed Leo’s mind for him to make that face, but he’d seen it only once before on the outside of the Kraang ship, and it was never good when it appeared.

“Those were Mikey’s thoughts, right?” he asked, to no one in particular. Everyone nodded. Leo’s eyes somehow went wider, and Raph saw his hand twitching up to where his swords usually were.

“Empyrean is a powerful ingredient for really big mystic spells,” Leo said, pacing around the room as he slowly started puzzling out the pieces. It was easy to see the gears turning in the slider’s head, but Raph really wasn’t sure he liked where it was going. “And sealing spells are probably a thing. We only really know of Empyrean being at the Crying Titan, so we know that someone’s probably doing a really powerful sealing spell there tonight. It was coming from Mikey’s thoughts, so that only leaves the word power…”

Leo’s pacing stopped dead, the sound of footsteps dulling in the Lair. Raph’s heartbeat was thudding in his ears.

“Oh f*ck.” Leo’s voice had dropped from a loud and panicked to horrified whispering. “Mikey’s going to use a spell to seal away his powers. And he needs Empyrean to activate it properly.”

Cold settled into Raph’s entire body. Mikey was going to do what?

“We need to get over there,” Raph said, without properly realizing he was talking. “We don’t know how that could end, or what could go wrong. He could get hurt even worse than in the Nexus!”

A hand rested on Raph’s, and he looked down to see Splinter standing on his toes. Worry flashed behind the rat’s eyes, and he tapped Raph’s hand wordlessly.

Oh. Claws.

Raph drew back his claws, wiping off the red on them on his mask.

“I agree with Raphael,” Casey Jr said. “We don’t know how much of a head start he could have - he could have sent those last thoughts and shut off just before he got there.”

Raph really wished Casey Jr hadn’t phrased it as ‘last thoughts.’ That felt too final for the snapper’s comfort.

“And tonight is in about two hours,” Donnie added. “Which means we gotta move if we want to intercept him. I will inform April and Draxum, since April would have my head if she didn’t get included and Draxum knows more about mysticism than any of us.”

The group dispersed without further comments, although Raph was rooted to the spot. His eyes were trained blankly on the ground, while his mind ran wild with scenarios of what could go wrong or who could get hurt.

The hand tapped his again. Splinter was still standing there, quietly waiting for Raph to come back from the distant place his mind always ran to when he was worried, when the scenes that had never been and never would be played out vividly in his head.

“My son,” Splinter whispered quietly. “You can do this. I trust you to bring home your brother safely. Leonardo knows what he’s doing, and you are a team.”

Raph’s breath hitched. “Dad… what if I can’t? What if something goes wrong?”

Splinter tugged Raph down, meeting his eyes calmly. “You can do this. You are not alone in this, Red. Anatawa hitorijanai.”

Raph’s eyes were watering, and Splinter opened his arms to let Raph hug him. The snapper fell into it without question, barely holding in his exhausted tears.

It was warm. Like Mikey was.

They would get him back.

They had to.

Chapter 37: Glowing Apocalypse

Chapter Text

The hand that emerged from the lake was familiar. The fingers arched high into the cavern, reaching for blue sky that it couldn’t touch. Stalactites drooped from the top of the cavern where the stone slowly faded into a blue, ominously watching the goings-on below them.

The Crying Titan emerged from the lake, mourning a loss no one knew and no one remembered. Kneeled before something no one could know anymore. Glowing green flowed serenely from the eye it clutched in its hand, spilling into the lake and vanishing into the water in misty clouds of green.

It was quite beautiful, capturing some long-forgotten defeat in the sculpting and location. Had Mikey been able to, he would have tried to paint the scenery on a wall in the sewers or even above ground in New York.

But he was not here to admire the scenery, to imagine what colors he might be able to use to capture it on the walls.

Mikey was here to lock something away. To keep his family safe.

To finally have a way to go home.

And even in that department, he wasn’t entirely sure it was a good idea. If the spell didn’t work, he couldn’t go back.

The spell had to work. Mikey needed it to work.

It has to work.

He’d started drawing the mystic array the second he got to the palm of the hand, albeit being awfully difficult to the point where he was frustrated. He used to be able to draw so well - now he could barely draw a line without his hands shaking like mad and bleeding. Without the simple idea of drawing a line feeling painful enough that he didn’t want to try.

When this is over, and my hands heal properly, then I can draw and cook and spray paint again.

But this spell needs to work first.

By the time Mikey had finished the intricately complex array, an hour had passed. He still needed to find a way to get the Empyrean out of the Titan’s eye.

Climbing wasn’t the best way to go at all. Everything hurt and Mikey could barely focus on anything but his plan at the moment. His mind was too foggy.

There was another option - a teleport spell - but it would hurt. A lot.

He could even try grabbing some from the lake below where it fell, since it would still be pure Empyrean if he did so.

That was the better plan. So Mikey went for it.

The lake was surprisingly shallow, reaching only to the middle of his knees as he walked. Unfortunately, it still got his cloak wet, which he didn’t appreciate much, but he would have to deal with it later. There was no fixing anything except his danger level right now.

Walking didn’t take too long, other than making him feel worse by the minute. HMikey needed to get the spell underway soon, otherwise he’d potentially be kind of f*cked.

Fully screwed, at least. Maybe he was a bit sick, but that didn't matter too much right now. Not much did.

The stream of Empyrean pouring from the Crying Titan’s eye thundered loudly in his ears, almost being too much for him to handle. The sound was bouncing around in his skull, reverberating and painfully echoing.

Mikey had no good way to transport the Empyrean. Being on the run didn’t consist of much time to get things like jars.

Hesitantly, Mikey extended his arm toward the pouring green.

Do you even know what that stuff might do to you? The little voice was back, hissing and making him pause just before he touched it.

Shredder touched it and he was just fine. I should be too.

The Shredder was made of metal. You are decidedly not.

Mikey frowned, making the beginning-to-heal scars on his face twinge and his head hurt.

You know what? I’m not listening anymore.

I’ve got something to do.

Mikey thrust his arm forward into the Empyrean.

The first thing he wasn’t expecting was for it to be so warm. It warmed him up the same way the sun did, or the Lair’s big heat lamp, except it was instantaneous and just the right temperature. Mikey couldn’t help but let out a happy chirp at the sensation - he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed being warm.

The second thing he wasn’t expecting was for a lightning bolt of pain to shoot through the arm, and his happy chirping turned quickly to pained hissing.

Okay, so maybe touching it bare-handed was a bad idea. That was on him.

Mikey rushed back to the array, muttering under his breath to distract himself from the pain sinking into the infected scars.

It was still in place on the hand, just as wobbly and messy as it was when he left. The violin case was sitting off to the side, awaiting its part to play in the symphony.

Mikey shook off the Empyrean onto the circle meant for it, on the middle ring of the array. The entire array lit up a neon green, one that felt too familiar for his comfort. Strange and terrifying, reminding him of the creatures that had torn his life apart.

The lines shifted, and his unsteady handiwork shifted into perfect circles and patterns, mimicking the array he needed properly. They glowed white in the green, and hummed with an energy that told Mikey that it was ready for the user to activate the spell.

The box turtle couldn’t help but take a moment to pause.

This was the last time he’d ever use his mystic power. The last time Mikey would use his ninpo to do anything. After this, he would be back to fighting without magic.

He tugged his hood over his eyes tighter, still met by the weird resistance that he hadn’t bothered to investigate.

Mikey wandered over to the violin, only one thought on his mind.

If this is the last time, then I’ll make it a performance to remember.

Even if no one is around to see it.

Then I can go home.

I can see my family again.

Mikey opened the violin case, pulling out the instrument that had stuck with him since the day he’d found it. Come back after it was destroyed. Been a crutch for him to use his mystic power properly.

Now it would be the thing that sealed it away forever.

A smile crossed the box turtle’s face, as painful as it was for him.

He moved to the center of the array, and reached carefully for the spark. It was barely there, but flared up as he reached out. It hummed happily about being reached out to again, which almost made Mikey feel guilty about the fact he was going to lock it away. Like the part of him that was his mysticism was a part that was happy.

Where did the rest of those parts go?

Mikey didn’t remember anymore.

The array lit up orange-gold as he walked into the center, the world humming with the background of a song that seemed to have been building for ages. The glow spread gently around the circles and patterns, flowing like streams through the glowing lines.

The display was amazing to watch. Mikey painfully raised the violin to its usual place on his shoulder, his grip on the gold-edged bow shaky and almost unusable. His shell twinged, but he ignored it for now.

He set the bow to the strings, and began to play. Mikey knew that if he wanted to seal his mysticism completely, he needed to be in the fog trance.

The lull of the music pulled Mikey away, and into the violin playing as his injured hands and spots lit up. The whites of the box turtle’s eyes turned black, and the spell began to activate as music arose in the empty, mournful cavern.

-=+=-

Leo’s eyes went wide as they reached the edge of the lake, seeing a golden glow lighting the statue of the hand. The water began to ripple, and as panicked as he was before, this did not bode well.

It had just lit, meaning Mikey had only now started the spell. The rise and fall of the violin echoed faintly across the lake, ringing in his ears in a familiar yet terrifying way.

“sh*t!” It was all Leo could say before he slashed at the air with his sword, a line of electric blue drawing open a portal in front of them and crackling with lightning. He leaped through without warning, the familiar rush of everything being displaced and put back together somewhere new and proper fizzing through him before he skidded onto cold stone.

The music was louder here, pulling his attention away from the rest of his family following behind as his eyes were drawn to the whirlwind of gold.

A mystic array was glowing brightly, the neon green being mixed with Mikey’s familiar orange. Empyrean shimmered through the lines, floating up into the air and dissipating immediately.

Casey Jr suddenly grabbed a hold on his arm, tearing Leo’s gaze away. The boy looked absolutely terrified, brown eyes reflecting the magic in a memory Leo didn’t know.

“It looked like this before…” Casey whispered.

Leo didn’t know what Casey meant by that, but he was jolted back out of his thoughts before he could properly try figuring out what it meant.

“Leo!” April snapped, grabbing his real arm. “We gotta get moving!”

“Right,” Leo growled. “Okay, Raph, Donnie, you two figure out what sealing spell he used and if you can break the circle. April and Casey, get me close. I’m gonna talk to him.”

A firm hand grabbed Leo’s shoulder.

“Leo, you’re not going in alone,” Raph snarled. His big brother’s eyes were filled with upset, and worry laced the snapper’s voice. “The last time you did something like this alone you got trapped in the Prison Dimension!”

“I agree,” Donnie added. “No way are you doing this by yourself, Nardo. Not after last time.”

April and Casey Jr nodded, and Leo couldn’t stop the wave of relief that swept through him. He didn’t want to do anything alone. Definitely not after the Prison Dimension.

“Alright,” he replied with a grin. “We’ll all get in there and talk to him.”

All of their eyes widened, before determined grins settled across their faces. Leo returned his gaze to his little brother, whose song had grown louder in the time they’d been speaking.

Leo ran forward, rushing over to the circle. The array was quite bright, almost painfully so as Leo jumped up to clear the line.

Mikey, still glowing brightly in the center of the array, turned to look at him. His eyes were black and orange, the way he’d seen them days before he left and just after the Nexus fight. The golden cracks were spread up the full length of his arms, which were still puppeting the bow on the strings of the violin. The cape he’d worn in the Nexus was still draped over his shoulders, flying violently behind him in an unfelt wind.

There was no recognition in his little brother’s eyes as Leo ran up through the array.

It certainly explained why everyone was being harassed by fiery chains, whipping through the air and trying to chase them away.

Donnie, who was coming up behind Mikey, was lashed by the sharp chains and barely got back up in time to block another attack. Casey and April were fending off chains near the edge of the array, bat and chainsaw swinging and cutting through the mysticism without hesitation.

“Leo!” His name was yelled out, before gold came flying in from his peripheral and he was caught in the face by a painful chain whip. The force behind it cut his cheek deeply, and Leo was thrown down by Raph when another one came in.

“He doesn't recognize us?” Raph yelled.

“Or he’s doing this on purpose to keep us away!” Leo shouted.

“Whatever it is, we need to get closer, and he’s not letting us do that!”

Raph ducked under another chain, before letting Leo get up and teleport out from underneath him.

The ability to teleport himself was coming in useful, as getting hit hard by one of the chains had knocked him into hyperalert. Whenever something flashed in his peripheral, he moved out of the way, even if it was someone he knew.

The song was getting too loud, too quickly.

“I’m gonna get closer!’ Leo yelled, to no one in particular.

“I’ll cover you!” April replied, fending off more of Mikey’s chains with a few hard swings of her bat.

“Watch out!”

Leo heard the warning and barely managed to sidestep a chunk of rock being thrown his way, the offending stone crashing to the ground far behind him.

“He’s throwing rocks now?” Casey Jr yelled, and Leo teleported away from another boulder being tossed in his direction.

A quick teleport closed the gap between the Hamatos and Mikey, who was playing his violin seemingly without a care in the world.

“Mikey!” Leo’s voice cracked, cold building up in the pit of his stomach. “Mikey, listen to me! We’ve come to bring you home!”

The little box turtle’s head snapped his way, black and gold meeting deep blue as the two stared at each other. His brother said nothing, simply turning back to his song. Back to the spell he was going to hurt himself with.

The golden cracks shimmered up his arm, covering the full length of the limbs. They were spreading over his plastron, piece by piece, as the music rose and the outbursts of the power grew stronger. Pieces and flecks vanished into the bright display of magic, without a care in the world.

Panic overtook Leo, and he ran toward Mikey.

No way was he letting his little brother splinter apart in front of his eyes.

No way was that going to happen.

Leo wouldn’t let it happen.

He rushed forward, ramming into Mikey. What Leo was trying to do with that move, he wasn’t sure. But desperation and fear had fully taken over.

One hand knocked the violin and bow out of his hands, but before they hit the ground they rose and continued playing by themselves, which was a really, really, really bad thing. Three reallys.

Leo’s other hand, his real one, hit the right corner of Mikey’s shell.

And to Leo’s shock, his little brother’s shell gave way for his hand, and with a sickening snap, a large chunk was knocked right off. It skidded across the stone behind him.

Mikey stiffened, and Leo grabbed a hold of his arms, which by now were rivers of gold. Pieces flaked away under Leo’s touch, and he looked up into Mikey’s eyes.

Then the box turtle screamed.

It was the worst sound Leo had ever heard.

He never wanted to hear one of his brothers scream like that again.

A violent wave of mystic power threw him and everyone else out of the array with such force that Leo almost made a hole in the rock below.

“NO!” Leo forced himself up, much to the protest of his sore body. The song was beginning to grow in volume once more, and the golden glow began to concentrate around Mikey.

The cracks were spreading too far.

It was going to kill him.

“Leo, get us closer!” Donnie yelled, and everyone grabbed on to Leo’s arm as he portaled them all back to Mikey.

The box turtle was crying, tears streaming down his face and floating away into golden specks. Blood leached from the now-open shell wound, the blood also vanishing into the spell.

“Mikey, you never gave up on us!” Leo shouted. “We’re not giving up on you!”

Leo reached out with his hand, grabbing Mikey’s splintering arm. His own ninpo charged up, and his markings shimmered blue.

Behind him, red, purple, green, and gray lit up, before they all flashed gold.

The cracks began to spread up Leo’s mechanical arm, and when they reached his scales he cried out as pain tore itself through his shoulder. If this was what Mikey was feeling, then the urgency to stop this was beyond what Leo knew.

“We’re here, Mikey!”

“Sensei! The spell’s almost complete!”

Casey Jr’s words rang clear through the music, and the music began to close out.

Gold closed in around Mikey, and sparks of color ran up his face.

Leo opened his mouth, desperate for Mikey to hear him, ready to call out once again for his little brother-

And the song finished.

The array turned white, blinding him, trying to throw him back, but Leo stayed firmly holding his brother’s arm.

He wasn’t letting him go.

Not again.

Leo screwed his eyes shut against the white, and for a moment, everything was too loud, too heavy and too rushed all at the same time. Only one thought kept him grounded where he was.

I’m not leaving him alone again.

Then the sound vanished, the array dissipated, and everyone landed on the stone with a thud.

Leo landed flat on his face, bruising his snout and not doing his just healed plastron any favors. He hissed, tasting metal in his mouth. He’d bitten his tongue.

Silence rang loud in his ears, and for a second Leo wished he could stay there forever, lying on the cold stone. It was easy on his injuries, and if he stayed here he wouldn’t have to face whatever might have come next.

The grip of his prosthetic tightened.

He needed to know, even if he didn’t want to see.

It closed around an arm.

Leo pulled himself off the ground, shaking off the dirt and dust, before adrenaline froze him again as he looked at the arm in his hand.

The green scales were no longer green - infected hand wrappings and harsh burns laced Mikey’s arm, no longer bleeding from the scars.

“Mikey!” Leo yelped, carefully pulling the box turtle in closer.

He wasn’t responding to sound, but he was still breathing. His arms were fried in third-degree burns, and the chunk of missing shell was bleeding into the worn and dirty cloak he was wearing.

Leo hadn’t properly gotten a look at Mikey in months, but his wrists were way too thin, scars tracing everywhere from where they only could have come from a fight. Mikey was roughed up, but he was alive, and that was all that mattered.

Raph skidded in next to him, looking more beat up from the fight than was good for him. Worried eyes traced down to Mikey, and the rest of the family quickly gathered.

“Is he breathing?” Donnie asked, panic lacing the softshell’s voice.

Leo nodded, too scared to say anything. Too terrified that saying something might change everything, let their hope slip.

Raph could only chuff in a panic, hesitantly reaching for their little brother with one hand. April and Casey Jr scooted over, looking over his wounds with stiff, almost petrified movements.

“Mikey, can you hear us?” Leo whispered. “Do anything if you can hear us, for the love of God.”

For a moment, nothing happened, and Leo’s grip weakened.

Please.

Please be there.

I’m not losing anyone.

Then familiar eyes blinked open, glassy and confused. Mikey’s head tilted toward Leo, and he blinked.

Tears welled up in the box turtle’s eyes.

“I thought…” Mikey cleared his throat, cringing. “Did I play well?”

Leo smiled, water blurring his vision. “You played beautifully, little brother. Do you wanna come home now?”

Mikey let out a sob and buried his face into Leo’s plastron, shoulders shaking as he cried.

Raph carefully joined the hug, sobbing as well. Donnie joined openly, and April and Casey Jr joined in as well. Soft sniffles and whispered apologies were spread between the family.

Relief swept through Leo as he let the tears fall from his eyes, which landed peacefully on Mikey’s head.

Mikey was home again.

Leo knew it wasn’t over - his brother was going to be messed up for a while.

But in the moment, the slider couldn’t care less.

He had his baby brother back.

Everything would be okay.

Chapter 38: Home

Chapter Text

Mikey blinked open his eyes again.

The light overhead was too bright, and he shut them immediately. This was a process he wasn’t unfamiliar with - this had happened a few times, and he didn’t know how long he’d been in the dark. Just that every now and then, he’d open his eyes, get blinded, and decide trying to keep his eyes open wasn’t worth it and would go back to sleep.

This time though, he could roughly feel something under his hands. He knew it was there, but there wasn’t any kind of feeling behind it.

His arms entirely were tingly and prickled somewhat uncomfortably.

Did I do something to them?

His ears were ringing, but that was beginning to fade out as another, horribly familiar sound began to rhythmically hum in his ears.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The heart monitor.

Wasn’t that attached to Leo? No, the slider was off the monitor - memory returned, slowly but surely, confirming that Leo wasn’t the one hooked up to it.

Did I hurt someone?

That thought made Mikey force his eyes open, even as his head fizzed in displeasure.

The cold blue of the medbay light blinded him again, and this time Mikey hissed quietly as he forced himself to look around. He was so used to being asleep that his eyes were no longer used to the light.

The medbay was pristine as ever, without a piece of equipment out of place. The train car door was closed, but not locked - the purple door lock was nowhere to be seen.

He looked at the medbay bed, only to find himself the one lying there. Raph was asleep, his head resting on the very end of the bed. He didn’t have his mask on, so Mikey could see the heavy eyebags decorating the snapper’s face, alongside the familiar red diamond markings. He seemed completely out, so Mikey didn’t dare to try and wake him up.

There was one other person in the room, but this one was wide awake.

Casey Jr hadn’t noticed Mikey’s newfound wakefulness, but as Mikey tilted his head to look over at him the boy’s head snapped to attention.

For a minute, neither of them spoke - Mikey wasn’t even sure he could speak, as newfound awareness of a very dry throat made him not really want to.

Then Casey Jr lunged forward and enveloped Mikey in a hug, and in that moment Mikey became aware of everything else. Stings shot through his back and arms - Casey’s grip was strong enough to rival Raph’s.

“Casey, Casey, Casey, ow ow ow ow!” he whispered, voice hoarse and jagged like he’d never had water in his life. He didn’t care to struggle, in case it hurt more, but he really wanted to.

“Sorry!” the boy yelped quietly, pulling away immediately. “Sorry, I was just excited.”

“It’s okay,” Mikey rasped.

“I got worried,” Casey rambled on. “The last time I saw you use that much power, in the future, you kind of turned into mystic dust. I stayed to make sure it didn’t happen again.”

Well that’s a cheerful way to wake up, Mikey thought, grimacing slightly.

“Well, I didn’t do that, since I’m still kicking,” Mikey said. His voice was painfully raspy - he either needed water or to stop talking entirely.

Casey Jr seemed to notice, and reached for something on the bedside table that they had. It was a glass of water. Mikey lifted his arms, but they spazzed out a bit too much for him to hold properly.

His stupid hands were a problem again.

“Leo thought that might happen. He left a straw too.”

Mikey tiredly accepted it, the cold water a relief on his throat. The box turtle looked over at the heart monitor, watching the consistent beeping lazily. If he held his breath, he could make it speed up. If he breathed deeply, it slowed down. It was a fun game to play, even if it made his ears ring.

“Do you… remember what happened?” Casey asked hesitantly.

“A bit? Sort of?” Mikey racked his brain, but he was still too fuzzy for memory right now. “Okay, not really. My brain’s full of fuzz.”

Casey snorted, a smile crossing his face. “That happens. Do you want to know?”

Uncertainty flashed through him.

Do I want to know what happened? What went wrong?

A moment of thought.

I do. I need to know.

Mikey nodded hesitantly, still trying not to fall asleep or let his eyes close. He was quite tired from just waking up, and the dull pain coming from wounds still had him wanting to fall back into bliss.

Casey hunched his shoulders, but didn’t hesitate to start explaining.

“So… when we found you at the Crying Titan, you were already working your way pretty solidly through the sealing spell. You were falling apart, and Leo wasn’t gonna give up on you, so he held on when the spell completed, and you got messed up pretty badly. You’re currently healing through third-degree burns and you’re missing a piece of your shell.”

“Did I hurt anyone?” he asked carefully.

Casey shook his head. “Leo’s only got a few scars on his bad shoulder from holding on so long, and your rock throwing was impressive, but nobody got severely injured. We’re all okay.”

Mikey let out a relieved sigh, although too much movement hurt. Casey Jr tried smiling, but it was teary-eyed and scared.

“How long was I out for?” Mikey asked.

“A week today.”

Mikey… did not know how to feel about that.

He did have an idea of how everyone else might be feeling. And he felt pretty bad about that part for sure.

Casey Jr wiped his eyes, trying not to show he was crying. Mikey wasn’t blind it it, and carefully lifted numb arms open.

“Sorry for scaring you guys,” Mikey apologized. Casey leaned in for another hug, much gentle this time and less frantic. The boy was crying softly, although he seemed hesitant to even fully do that.

The familiarity of the room, the smell of his family, even the beeping of the monitor was warm and welcoming and inviting him gently to be back home, to be safe again and not be sick and tired anymore. Inviting him to cry and laugh again.

To wash off the blood staining his hands.

“You guys are gonna give us all gray hairs, I swear,” Casey Jr muttered. “All of you are never allowed to scare anyone by doing stupid sh*t again, understand?”

Mikey silently agreed with him, and tried to hug him back, even though it was admittedly a bit tricky with how his hands were.

Casey’s shoulders shuddered, and it didn’t really take too much time for Mikey to realize Casey Jr was crying again. His arms were still wrapped around the box turtle, and Mikey really couldn’t do too much other than keep his own arms on Casey Jr’s back and sit there.

The shaking seemed to alert Raph, and Mikey watched as he proceeded to slowly blink open his eyes, shoot upright as panic wrote across his face, look over at him, and go through seven different facial expressions before something clicked.

Mikey did not have time to register his older brother moving before him and Casey were both wrapped in what was probably the most careful hug he’d ever received from the snapper, who was sobbing into Mikey’s bad shoulder.

The box turtle cringed as little stabs of pain shot through his shoulder, but the weight of the two was quite nice. It was nice enough that he might go back to sleep. The Lair had weighted blankets too, right?

Then Mikey's brain clicked, and a quick shot of panic made him nearly shove off his brother and Casey.

No, no, I might hurt them, my power might go haywire-

But the spell worked, I don’t have to be scared anymore-

I could still hurt them!

Casey Jr noticed his quickened breathing, and carefully struggled off him. “Master Raphael-”

Raph couldn’t hear him, and Mikey shuddered. Raph was warm.

He’d missed being warm, hadn’t he?

The box turtle’s heart squeezed, and his resolve broke. Mikey rested his head on Raph’s shoulder, burying into that spot where he always seemed to fit in his oldest brother’s hugs.

But he wasn’t crying. Sure, earlier he’d kind of done it, but there hadn’t been tears. There wasn’t anything.

Mikey was too drained to cry.

“Goddammit, Mikey,” Raph managed to whisper between his sobs. “You’re taking too many pages out of Leo’s book. You’re never ever allowed to pull a stunt like that again, you hear me?”

He nodded, and Raph’s grip relaxed a little bit. The snapper made it abundantly clear he wasn’t letting go anytime soon, so Mikey could only burrow his face into Raph’s shoulder and just be there.

The medbay door clanged open suddenly, a sound which hurt his ears and he cringed slightly. He did not bother looking up yet - everything was still a bit much, and he wasn’t quite ready to leave the safe and relief clinging to his brother.

“My monitors detected a spike in his heart rate and breathing, is he-” Donnie’s voice was cut short by the sound of him and Leo crashing into the ground.

Raph hissed a bit and raised his head, much to Mikey’s dismay. “Quiet down, you’re scaring him!”

The snapper moving revealed the twins sprawled in a pile on the floor, both struggling to get up, with Leo succeeding much more than the softshell. A wild panic shone in the slider’s eyes, and he was scooting past Casey Jr and enveloping Mikey in his own teary-eyed hug in seconds.

“Leo, for a medic, you’re terrible at not looking over the patient first,” Donnie scolded from the doorway.

Mikey wasn’t focused on that - his attention was on Leo, the metal arm wrapped around his back, the slider just barely holding back his own tears.

Actually, scratch barely. Leo was crying. Something Mikey wasn’t used to seeing.

Donnie dragged Leo off, wordlessly inspecting Mikey with his goggles before flipping them up and sitting down.

“Did Casey tell you what happened?” he asked, straight to the point.

Mikey nodded, worry beginning to build in his chest. It squeezed at his heart and he wanted to ask so many things, but his mouth wouldn’t let him.

“Is he all clear for now?” Raph demanded, looking like he was ready to grab the box turtle and hug him again.

“Yes, but he’s still in a pretty fragile state. Be careful when you’re handling him, all of you. Now on a completely unrelated note,” Donnie said, turning to him with a scarily calm face. Mikey would have thought he was in trouble if it weren’t for the softshell pulling him into his fourth hug since awakening.

“If I ever catch you doing some stupid bullsh*t like that again I will lock you up in my lab with me, okay? Actually, let me rephrase that - if any of you do some self-sacrificial bullsh*t like this again you’re getting locked up in my lab.”

“So you can hug him but I can’t?” Leo complained. “Even Casey did it!”

“Our dear beloved brother hadn’t been checked over, you two,” Donnie replied. “As for you, Leo, CAREFULLY.”

Mikey very quickly found himself enveloped in a group hug with his brothers and Casey Jr, who were ranging between crying into his shoulders and berating him about never doing that again because they were terrified out of their minds.

The hugs were warm.

Leo looked him dead in the eye, and the slider’s face was wet with tears. “I’m sorry for pushing you that day, Mikey. I’m so sorry. None of this would have happened if I didn’t do that.”

Of all the things Mikey had been expecting, it was not an apology.

Out of everyone here, Mikey should have been apologizing to them, yet here was his brother, weeping into his plastron and apologizing for something that wasn’t his fault in the first place.

A glance at Leo's metal arm. It was unfamiliar and cold, but still felt a part of him nonetheless.

Mikey finally broke and started sobbing alongside his family, leaning into the warmth and the safety and his family like it was the last day he’d ever get to feel it.

He no longer cared that he might hurt them. The spark was gone,

He was safe.

Chapter 39: Blue

Chapter Text

As the days passed by, and Mikey slowly became more and more awake, he started noticing things.

Like how Splinter would always take time out of his day to come and just talk to him. How Draxum would stop by every few days to give him updates on what might be happening on the surface (and to scold him for the whole incident.)

How his family seemed to take shifts watching him, giving him smaller things as presents when they thought Mikey was asleep. How Donnie was always keeping an eye on his vitals even when he was in the medbay.

How Raph and April and Casey Jr would fall asleep in the medbay with him, worry always creasing their faces whenever he seemed uncomfortable.

How Leo seemed to be stuck to his bedside like clockwork without fail.

Mikey noticed these things, even though his thoughts were still a bit hazy and things hurt all over.

It was tiring to be in pain all the time. He didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much of a choice. Mikey’s choice to seal away his power to keep everyone safe had damaged him badly, so until he was fully healed he was screwed out of doing anything. Any hope he currently had of leaving the medbay was being very consistently dashed by his family’s nervousness whenever he even so much as looked out into the Lair from the train car window.

Being tired was exhausting too - he had fallen asleep 3 times already today and didn’t appreciate it.

Waking up this time was different - he could smell something, and it smelled good. There was someone sitting in the chair next to him, and from the beeps and electronic song it sounded like they were playing Geometry Dash. What song it was, Mikey didn’t have the brain cells to remember right now, but it was definitely one he’d beaten before.

The signature ping that signalled a failed attempt beeped in his ears, adding a small rhythm to the constant beeping of the heart monitor.

Mikey blinked open his eyes, seeing a much dimmer light than before, thank Pizza Supreme. It no longer hurt his eyes to look up, and he felt a bit more awake than the last time he woke up. Which he didn’t know when that was, but he definitely had.

Another failed ping.

“Oh come on! I absolutely pressed that! Stupid hand…”

Stupid hands.

I thought I was the one with bad hands - did something happen while I was out?

Are they okay?

Mikey turned his head over, blinking awake in a bit of a panic, to see Leo fully concentrated on the level he was playing, furiously tapping his phone screen like it had offended him personally. The slider seemed mostly okay, except for the fact his prosthetic was off, leaving the shoulder stump open. It was unnerving to see.

The source of the smell came into view a few moments later.

A Run of the Mill pizza box sat further away, on a counter covered in some of Leo’s medical research. It wasn’t open - it seemed like it was placed there and left completely untouched.

Did Leo leave that there by accident? Has he been eating?

Mikey tried to ask the question, but his voice temporarily came out croaky and he instead sounded like a very done-with-everyone’s-bullsh*t frog.

It was enough to make Leo fail the level again - no way was Mikey going to call that dying because it sounded awful and hit too close to home - but when the slider looked up he seemed less upset and more relieved. His mask was on, but even through it Mikey could tell his brother was exhausted.

“Mikey! You’re awake!” the slider said, scooting closer and tapping his fingers quickly on the bed. “How do you feel? Sick? Numb? Any tingling in your arms?”

Mikey narrowed his eyes, before tiredly blurting out, “You haven’t been sleeping enough, Leo. I can see your eyebags through the mask.”

“There he is,” Leo sighed, leaning back as relief rushed across his face. “Only you could tell that.”

Mikey stifled a grin, before his eyes turned back to the pizza box. “Why’d you leave that in here? I thought you didn’t like food in the medbay because it gets crumbs everywhere.”

Leo grinned, a bit sheepishly. “Raph accidentally ordered an extra pizza while you were out, so I brought it here. I didn’t really know where else to put it.”

Mikey bringing the extra pizza box into the medbay, quietly talking to Leo as he explained why he’d gotten it.

Crying as his brother, weeks later, asked for the pizza that he’d brought.

For a moment, Mikey didn’t know how to react. His brother had done the same thing he had, completely unaware of it. Leo was still rambling a bit, his eyes turned away from Mikey.

Then the reality hit him, and Mikey couldn’t help but smile a bit as tears started to form in his eyes.

His sniffling made Leo’s attention immediately whip over to him, and upon seeing Mikey crying he immediately started panicking.

“Oh, sh*t, sh*t sh*t, does something hurt? Did I do something wrong? Crap, it’s okay-”

Leo’s hand was flapping about in panic, but Mikey couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“Nothing’s wrong, Leo. It’s just… I did that too. I broke the no food in the medbay rule when you were out.”

“Oh, right.”

Silence stretched between them, as Leo seemingly mimicked the action of rubbing his neck, before he sighed.

“Okay, uh, I didn't get to properly say this before,” Leo said, clearly struggling to put his words in place. “But I'm sorry for pushing you so far that day. If it wasn’t for my stubborn ass trying to make sure you were okay, none of this would have happened.”

Shock pulsed through the box turtle. He’d done this when he woke up, why was he doing it again?

“Why are you apologizing?” Mikey croaked out, his voice just barely failing him. “I ran away and worried everyone, I hurt Donnie! I cut off your arm, Leo! If anyone deserves an apology, it’s you!”

“I still pushed you too far. Plus, you just got your sh*t taken away by Dad and Draxum, and you were upset about that.”

Mikey really could not process what Leo was trying to say.

Is he apologizing for me running away?

Is he saying sorry for losing an arm?

Mikey blinked back new tears, these ones frustrated instead of happy. “I mean, if you’re really that insistent on saying sorry, then I accept your apology, Lee. But I cut off your entire arm, Leo - that’s not just something you can let slide easily! I thought you were mad about it!”

Leo’s eyes widened, and he rushed closer. “Angelo, no. I can’t hate you for that.”

Mikey was crying again, and he bonked his head against Leo’s plastron. The slider tugged him into a hug - or as close to one as he could get while sitting next to him - and rested his head on top of Mikey’s.

“It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not yours either.”

“I know. But I needed to say sorry anyway.”

Mikey chirped quietly, a small sound of scared and sorry and not safe.

Leo replied with a quiet hum of okay and sorry and safe now.

They sat like that for a few minutes, before Mikey started quietly talking.

“What level were you trying to beat?” he asked carefully.

“Power Trip,” Leo growled. “It’s so stupid the, back and forth switching keeps f*cking with my coordination. I literally can’t with this level dude, I swear I'm gonna delete this app and oh my god Mikey stop laughing at me.”

Mikey snorted at Leo’s comment, before laying back carefully to rest his head on the pillow again. The weird resistance was still there, even after all of this - he still didn’t know what it was, and Mikey couldn’t exactly use his hands to check.

“Oh yeah, by the way,” Leo said nonchalantly, leaning back in his chair with a look of slight disgruntlement, “when the actual hell did you start growing hair, dude? I didn’t even know turtles could do that.”

Mikey almost shot upright at the question. “I’m sorry, I thought you said hair?”

Leo’s eyes widened a bit, and he wordlessly put a hand mirror in front of his face.

And right there on Mikey’s head, the usual green of his scales was replaced by short, fuzzy dark brown hair.

“What the f*ck?” Mikey demanded nobody in particular. “How is that even possible?”

“I have no idea, but man I wish I could do that.” The slider seemed almost pouty about the fact. Judging by his expression, Mikey could have even called him jealous.

But he was getting tired again, and the shock of finding out he had hair had drained a fair amount of his energy.

Leo seemed to notice, but this time leaned over and gave Mikey a proper hug.

“I missed you, Mikey. Don’t ever do that again, okay?”

“I won’t. I missed you too.”

Leo’s eyes lit up as he pulled away, and Mikey did his best to return it before the heaviness of his eyelids dragged him off into sleep again.

The last thing he heard before he passed out was a quiet “I love you.”

Chapter 40: Purple

Chapter Text

Mikey woke up again.

This time, the beeping was coming from more than the heart monitor. It wasn’t coming from a video game either.

No, these beeps were coming from a much more familiar device.

He opened his eyes to see a warm violet glow hovering nearby, machines whirring quietly and scanning his hands.

Donnie was humming a song, his vocals moving up and down quickly with the rhythm. It was moving so fast Mikey could have thought his voice was part of the song.

He looked over a bit more obviously, and Donnie still didn't notice. He was much more focused on the screens hovering nearby. The softshell seemed worried, keeping a closer eye on one with lines and graphs that Mikey couldn’t really understand.

Not that he had the energy to do so. He was pretty tired still, half debating whether or not he should just go back to sleep.

The decision was made for him when Donnie tapped his shoulder.

“Mikey! Okay, you’re awake, do you feel anything? Pain, tingling? Numbness of any kind?”

Mikey nodded his head for the numbness thing, although he was barely thinkingly straight at the moment.

“All of that or just one?”

“Last one,” Mikey muttered tiredly.

“Do you require anything of me? Water, food, anything-”

Mikey shook his head.

“You’re lying, your voice sounds horrible. Drink some water.” A metal arm shot out in front of his face, holding a cup with a straw.

Mikey accepted it gratefully, although his head felt a bit fuzzy. He was waking up though, which ruled out going back to sleep anyway. Plus, he hadn’t really gotten much of a chance to catch up with Donnie yet.

The purple glow shimmered as another ninpo screen popped up.

The eerie glow of the Technodrome control hub, tentacles slithering slowly in between one another and bubbling unpleasantly.

Tentacles, branching off deliberately and wildly, growing from his brother’s back and lunging into the creature, burrowing into the disgusting flesh.

Mikey shuddered a bit.

Nope, not thinking about that. He wasn’t doing this right now.

“Why do you guys keep giving me straws?” Mikey asked, trying to divert his attention away from his thoughts and memories. “Aren’t turtles always choking on these things?”

“You’re correct. However, we are superior to our unmutated brethren, therefore we can actually handle straws thanks to our somewhat human mouths.”

Donnie’s rambling ended too quickly. Normally, he would have tried theorizing or going into details.

The softshell was clearly tired.

That’s probably my fault, Mikey realized. They probably didn’t get too much sleep after that. He shouldn’t be here, Donnie should definitely be resting!

“When was the last time you slept?” Mikey asked, letting a hint of suspicion creep into his voice. Donnie did not freeze up or look sideways or start tapping his fingers like he did when he needed to lie.

“Last night, Angelo. Why are you asking?”

“Because you seem tired.”

Silence stretched carefully between them, winding in a river between screens and machines. The rhythmic, harsh beeps of the heart monitor kept sounding in his ears, and Mikey absently started looking around the medbay again, before turning his eyes upwards and intently studying the ceiling in an attempt to ignore any memory trying to leak through into his head.

Donnie sighed suddenly, and sat down in one of the chairs next to him. The screens flickered out of existence, except for the one he’d been keeping the closest eye on.

The softshell took Mikey’s arm and pulled out bandages, carefully unwrapping one of his arms.

“If you don’t want to see this, I'd suggest averting your gaze,” Donnie advised. Mikey did, even though there was nothing he could really throw up if it did turn out to be particularly nasty.

It probably was. He didn’t want to look, especially not when the cold air on his arms felt so foreign and slithery.

The silence stretched thin again, as Donnie patiently redid Mikey’s bandages while the box turtle looked away, down at his other arm. It was still wrapped in the white, although resembling more of an off white than the white he was used to.

It definitely looked better than his old ones, which had been crusted and yellow and stiff. Better than the ones that had stuck uncomfortably to his scales.

Donnie sighed again, something Mikey had missed hearing. He recognized that sigh as well. It was Donnie’s I’m-so-done-with-your-sh*t-but-I-also-have-so-many-questions.

“What do you wanna know?” Mikey asked. His voice was so raspy. He hadn’t talked this much in who knew how long. He certainly didn’t know.

Donnie actually snorted a bit, muttering something along the lines of “you know me way too well, Angelo,” before finishing rewrapping one arm and moving around to the other side to get his other.

“Well, my first question is rather grandiose, and can be subdivided into many,” the softshell said, “but it’s mainly this: Why?”

A thousand answers ran through Mikey’s head. What was he asking that about? His power? The spell? Running away? Joining Big Mama’s Nexus?

“I’m gonna need you to be a bit more specific, Dee,” Mikey croaked tiredly.

“Had a feeling,” the softshell replied quickly, working a little faster with the bandages now. “Let's start with an easy one, I suppose - why were you in Big Mama’s Nexus?”

“I thought you said it was easy,” Mikey protested with a smile.

Donnie rolled his eyes, but kept his attention on Mikey. He could tell in the way his brother kept his head angled, the twitching of his hands in how he wrapped the bandages.

“Well, at first it wasn’t really voluntary,” Mikey admitted, looking away. “I don’t really know what happened, but after I played a song in a ruin on the outer part of the Hidden City I passed out, then woke up in a hospital.”

“One of her assistants kidnapped you,” Donnie filled in. “There’s more than one, yes it’s a shock, now please continue.”

Mikey would have asked about that, but he felt no desire to use more of his energy than necessary. “I guess after that, she seemed like she was genuinely sorry for me and offered me a spot as a champion. She wasn’t acting normal - she was a lot nicer and more concerned, I think. She even tried keeping me out of the Nexus a few times when my hands were really bad. I did listen to her, except for that one time before I got out.”

“You know jorogumo are manipulator’s by nature, right?” Donnie said, a slightly pressed tone in his voice.

“Yes,” Mikey answered. “But you didn’t see the look in her eye, Dee. That wasn’t anything I’ve ever seen before, and probably nobody’s ever gonna see again.”

“Okay, I suppose I’ll take your word for it. Next question, this one’s probably easier - why’d you take that violin, from wherever you found it?”

“Because it was there,” Mikey replied. This one was a lot easier. “It was like, maybe a month after the whole… incident, and I don’t think anyone was going to find it in the mess it was in.”

“So you stole it,” Donnie clarified.

“It wasn’t stealing!” Mikey objected, trying to sit up a bit more. “It was literally just lying there!”

“Mikey, lay back down, you’re gonna irritate your shell,” Donnie snapped, carefully pushing him back down.

“What do you mean?” Mikey asked. “It’s just a crack. A really big, painful crack- Donnie, what happened?”

Mikey’s eyes narrowed as Donnie looked away nervously, tapping his fingers nervously.

“Well, you see, Angelo,” Donnie started nervously, unease creeping through all of the softshell to the point where he was hunching his shoulders the same way Casey did. “During that fight, where you were absolutely losing it and throwing rocks and scaring the everloving sh*t out of Casey and Leo for reasons both of them have yet to specify, Leo ran up to you and tried to knock the violin out of your hand. It worked but… his other hand took out a pretty big chunk of your shell. The part that was cracked.”

Oh.

That’s why that hurt so much.

Mikey tried to twist his head to see, but it wouldn’t do him much good.

“I’m working on a prosthetic for it at the moment, so your back won’t be exposed like that. Kind of like my battle shell except for just that one area,” Donnie explained proudly. “It’s a prototype for now, and I'll probably have to fit it later, but for now the bandages will keep it closed.”

Mikey took a moment as Donnie went into the details, his focus lost on the questions he was asking previously.

He’d lost a part of his shell. Forget looking like his brothers with their cracked shells - he’d lost an entire segment. Leo had accidentally knocked it off trying to stop him from completing the spell.

I guess that’s kind of payback for cutting off his arm.

He tuned back into Donnie’s rambling, tilting his head over to look at him.

“...and I’m making something else that should help when you’re healed enough to be able to use your hands again. They’re specially engineered compression gloves, so that you can still do all the things you used to do. They’re just blueprints right now, but- oh, sh*t, are you okay? Why are you crying? Does something hurt?”

Indeed Mikey’s eyes were watering, a wobbly smile crossing his face. “You mean… I might be able to draw again? And paint, and cook?”

Donnie nodded, worried still, creasing his eye ridges and Mikey started crying a bit more. Hesitantly, the softshell scooted closer and wrapped his arms around the box turtle. Mikey leaned into it.

“Thanks, Dee,” Mikey whispered through his sniffles.

“You can thank me by never scaring us like that. Ever. Never in the history of ever are you allowed to do that again. I can’t handle more self-sacrificial dum-dums in this family.”

Donnie was crying too. Mikey felt the tears drop onto his shoulder.

The last time he’d seen Donnie cry was after...

After Leo went into the portal.

“There were points where I thought we lost you, Mikey. I’m not losing any more brothers. Not again”

I’m not losing any more brothers.

Donnie’s shoulders were shaking. The softshell had buried his face in Mikey’s shoulders and he was almost genuinely sobbing. It wasn’t often that he did cry like that, but-

Oh.

Oh.

Donnie was sobbing.

Mikey couldn’t have really helped it after that. He started crying as well as Donnie’s words resonated in his head.

I’m not losing any more brothers.

Not again.

Mikey’s heartbeat sounded in his ears, in time with the steady beeps of the heart monitor and the gentle cries filling the room.

I’ll stay.

Chapter 41: Red

Chapter Text

He’d woken up crying this time.

He couldn’t truly remember why - the dregs of whatever nightmare had plagued him were already fading away into hazy half-memories. But some feeling of panic, of fear, of something Mikey couldn’t place, lingered in his head rushing through him in a wave of freezing cold.

All he knew right now was that he was not safe, that something was happening and he couldn’t stop it from happening-

Keep it together, some distant part of him cried out, but there was no stopping the whirlwind of panic, tears rushing down his face, the ringing humming in his ears and the beeping of monitors shooting through his skull like bullets.

Can’t help, can’t get away, trapped, danger, danger, we are danger-

A weight settled on one of his hands and Mikey tried to tug it away, because if they were touching him they could get hurt. He could make things worse for them, he didn’t want anyone else in the medbay with him.

The weight stayed.

He curled up on himself, pain from his shell telling him he shouldn’t go into it even though he really wanted to. Mikey cried into damaged arms, even though distantly he really should not have done that.

A voice broke through the cacophony, a voice that time and time again drew him away from nightmares like these. Familiar, warm and safe.

Albeit, it wasn’t really helping that he sounded just about as panicked as Mikey felt, but it was better than no one.

“Mikey? Come on, breathe with me, breathe with Raph. You’re okay, I promise.”

Raph.

Listen to him. He’s safe.

Mikey did try breathing, although it was hard considering everything still felt like it was running a million miles a minute and the sounds kept piercing into his head like knives. He tried to cover his ears, but the hand - Raph’s hand - kept them down.

“Dammit! Okay, Mikey, don’t worry, I’m turning this thing off. It’s buggin’ me too. Donnie can yell at Raph later about it.”

A click, and the incessant beeps vanished entirely. It was a relief, and the storm in his head started to quell as Raph kept muttering.

“I’ll just text him so he doesn’t freak out too much. That’s the right thing to do, right?”

Mikey shuffled a bit, not looking up from where he was but trying to find Raph all the same. The snapper seemed to know and carefully, very carefully, dragged the little box turtle over to him.

He was warm. That was good.

Right?

“You doing a bit better now that the stupid monitor’s off?” Raph asked, very quietly. It wasn’t like Raph to be so silent, but Mikey had seen him quiet a lot since the whole incident. First and second one.

Mikey didn’t reply with words, only nodded and tried to wipe away his tears.

“sh*t, careful, your hands are still bad!”

As if that hadn’t been clear enough, Mikey’s hands spasmed again, although he couldn’t feel them nearly as much now. They actually almost caught him in the face, which would have been both funny, and a bit rude on his own part.

Raph took hold of both of Mikey’s wrists and held them carefully away from his face, keeping his other hand on the undamaged part of Mikey’s shell. It was familiar.

Safe.

He’d missed safety.

When did I lose it?

Probably when you ran away.

Well, no sh*t.

“What was it about this time?” Raph asked carefully. “If you’re okay with sharing.”

Mikey’s brain wasn’t working right, and he couldn’t really remember. Pieces and fragments started coming back to him, but it really didn’t feel like something Raph would want to know.

The memories were starting to click in place, and more panic had him remembering what happened. He started panicking, trying to get away this time. Raph was also panicking a bit now, keeping a careful hold on the box turtle and trying to calm him down. The snapper’s voice faded out as the dream slowly crept back in.

Mikey was back on the ship, watching the terrifying creature that was his brother threatening Leo again. Fear had been running rampant, and in a burst of desperation, Mikey had broken free of the black, spiny flesh keeping him in place.

Eyes watched from everywhere - overhead, embedded in the walls, on the bridge under his feet. He’d rushed in slow motion, trying to stop his brother, to get him to drop Leo.

Gold had flowered from his hands, wrapping around Leo, trying to pull him away. More wrapped around the tentacle that Raph had wrapped around Leo’s neck, and his brother raised his fist. Sharp spines shot through the flesh, preparing for something.

A shriek from behind him, as Donnie was covered in the vines, another chain shot toward him in an effort to pull him out.

Mikey pulled on all three, trying desperately to stop whatever might happen next-

And everything had happened at once.

The chains around Leo's arm lit aflame, scorching it and slicing deep through charred flesh, and dropping the arm on the ground. He screamed that gods-awful scream, chilling Mikey to the bone.

Raph shook off the chain, the sharp spines rushing forward in a blur and spraying red everywhere as the spines snapped through plastron and shell and muscle. The tearing sound was horrible, and Leo dropped down into the abyss of the ship.

Only red remained where he’d been held.

Donnie cried out again, and Mikey tugged harder on his chain, trying to get the disgusting slime off of him. The purple and blue tendrils burrowed into his skin, into his eyes and through his bones, cracking and splintering their way in..

He too was pulled up and yanked down into the waiting darkness, glowing neon green eyes following his fall before turning back up to stare accusingly at him.

A shout from Raph had Mikey turn to look back at him. The rest of the chains had wrapped themselves around his older brother, burning away the parasite. It hissed and shrieked, falling away and scurrying out of sight.

Relief had flooded Mikey, but the relief turned back to fearful panic as the burning didn’t stop. The orange-gold fire, his fire, kept burning away, until Raph too, fell into the abyss.

Mikey screamed, or tried to scream - his throat was caught, and he hacked up red.

Panic overwhelmed him, and he began to fall.

Neon eyes watched, all too gleefully, as Mikey fell, screaming as the golden chains withered away and died, as his arms flashed vibrantly in the dark and began to fall apart.

There had been nothing left of him but a shower of golden flakes and an orange cape, all while the metal and flesh monster laughed distantly.

Panic welled up in Mikey, as the quiet realization that he’d hurt Raph filled him and urged him to get away, in case he hurt him here and now and in the real world and the damage couldn’t be undone-

“Mikey, Mikey, it’s okay! Nothing’s gonna get you here, you’re safe-”

I’m not safe, I hurt them, how are they still tolerating me here after everything-

Raph stopped Mikey’s attempts to escape by firmly wrapping the box turtle in a hug. “C’mon buddy, tell Raph what’s bothering you. You’re gonna be stuck here ‘til you do.”

Mikey tried fruitlessly for another few minutes to try and get away, which he probably should have expected considering what state he was in still. Eventually resigning himself to his fate of being eternally stuck until someone came to panic over the monitor, Mikey curled up around Raph’s arms.

“I… I hurt you all again,” Mikey whispered quietly. He felt Raph stiffen slightly. “That’s all I've been doing for… I'm not even sure how much time has passed since the invasion anymore. But I couldn't help you, it was my fault you all got hurt again.”

The two sat quietly for a few minutes. The faint hum of the subway car’s tech filled the air, the sound welcome compared to the beeping of the heart monitor. Mikey didn’t dare to try wiping away his tears. He could only let them fall now.

Raph suddenly shuddered, sniffling quietly.

He was crying too.

“I’m sorry,” the snapper whispered tiredly. Not his usual tired - this was a type of tired Mikey had only heard a few times. “If I hadn’t suggested to Dad and Draxum to take away your violin, none of this would have happened. It’s my fault.”

Immediately, that didn’t sit right with him.

“Raph, it’s not your fault,” Mikey protested, almost automatically. “I shouldn’t have done anything like that, I shouldn't have gotten so stupidly upset over it.”

“Ey, no,” Raph muttered. “You had every right to be upset over it. We didn’t… I should have asked you first, before doing anything.”

“Doesn’t excuse the fact I cut off Leo’s arm,” Mikey muttered. “You guys are very much ignoring that part. And then running away. And making a deal with Big Mama, or learning that sealing spell. I still don’t even know if that spell worked or not.”

“Okay, some things are gonna require a talk or two, but none of this was your fault, Mikey.”

How is it not?

All I've done for months is scare them and hurt them and make them worried. That’s not what I'm supposed to do, I'm supposed to make sure they’re okay and that they’re happy.

How is it not my fault?

To that question, Mikey had no answer. Nor did he think he was going to find one any time soon.

Raph pulled him in closer, keeping Mikey firmly tucked in the hug like his life depended on it. Like the box turtle might vanish if he let go.

Even with his damaged arms, Mikey did the same. He might have still been dreaming, still somewhere in that dark abyss while his head tormented him. Like if he let go, Raph would turn to dust and he’d be left alone again.

The warmth told him it was real.

The sound of Raph’s heartbeat told him he was really here.

The calm and the quiet, familiar calm, told him he was safe.

The tears shed told him that it was going to be okay.

Even if it hurt along the way.

The two fell asleep like that.

And the nightmares didn’t come back.

Chapter 42: Green

Chapter Text

Re-learning how to walk wasn’t something Mikey was expecting that he’d need to do during the recovery process. Apparently, this was what happened when you’d been out cold for a week and nothing was being done with your legs, according to Leo. He knew the slider was speaking from experience and as the team medic, so listening to him was probably the best thing Mikey could do right now.

He was doing okay at it, for the most part. He’d only fallen maybe three times and each time Leo was catching him before he leaned too far forward. Mikey could pretty confidently say his legs would be back in working order fairly soon.

It really didn’t need to hurt this much though.

Sure, he had injuries on his legs from plenty of things, but most of those were scars - the recent ones were nothing if on the fast track to being properly healed.

But stepping the wrong way didn’t need to involve so many pins and needles, so many dull flashes of hurt that made him pause for longer than he wanted to.

It was a bit irritating, but Mikey didn’t really have much of a choice if he wanted to get out of the medbay as fast as possible. He was doing well, but not well enough to be any further away from the medbay than his room, and he hadn’t even gone back in there yet.

Today he hadn’t seen anyone yet, but that was going to change soon for sure. Absently, Mikey started messing with the heart monitor attachment. He’d forgotten what it was called, but apparently they were stupid expensive (how Donnie had acquired one genuinely made no sense - he was opting for the idea that Donnie had either made it or stolen it.)

The subway car door opened, but he didn’t look up immediately. The footsteps were light, but were moving alarmingly fast.

Mikey looked up and didn’t even get a chance to say anything before he was being embraced again, for the millionth time this week, maybe.

“Michelangelo Orange Hamato, you are in so much trouble!”

April.

“Hey, watch the full name!” Mikey joked, relief washing through him. April hugged him tighter. “And the shell, ow!”

“sh*t, sorry!” The inhuman strength of her hug lessened, but she didn’t pull away entirely. “But I swear to God, if any one of you pulls a stunt like this again you are grounded to infinity, do you understand me?”

“Loud and clear, April,” the box turtle muttered. The human didn’t let go, quietly letting out a scared chirring in his direction. It almost sounded completely natural for her, and Mikey automatically responded with a more calming chirp.

“You boys are gonna give me more gray hairs than Splinter at this rate,” April scolded carefully, finally letting him go enough for Mikey to see her face. It was screwed up in a mix of worry and anger and relief, and he currently couldn’t tell which emotion was winning.

“Okay, emotions can be sorted out later, but firstly, Leo said you need to get out of bed and walk around.”

Mikey groaned dramatically, although it was only half-exaggerated. He hated doing it, even if maybe only three days had passed and he was doing mostly fine.

“Don’t you give me that!” April replied, her snap holding a hint of amusem*nt and relief. “You need to heal properly, so if this is what the medic says you gotta do, we’re gonna do it!”

“Okay, okay, I understand!” Mikey snapped back, just as playfully.

He forced himself all the way, carefully stretching his arms. They were nowhere near as bad as they had been before, but they were certainly still problematic. He still couldn’t pick anything up, and his hands still shook with spasms and pain. At this point, they were just like how they’d been post-invasion.

A snap in front of his face. Warm brown eyes and hands stayed near.

“Mikey? Can you come back to me?” April’s voice was not distant, but it was close enough to bring Mikey back before he fell back into memories of places he never wanted to think about again.

“Can you get up by yourself?” April asked. Mikey nodded, even though it wasn’t the actual standing part that was hard. The hard part was bracing his hands in a way that would actually get him up and wouldn’t hurt.

Mikey eventually managed to force himself up - even if the stings of pain in his arms were not pleased by the way he managed that any - and absently tried to remember where he was supposed to try going today. Leo had been walking him around the Lair. Just to random places, nowhere specific.

April stayed close, making sure that Mikey wasn’t going to fall over before they left the medbay. She still clearly wanted to talk to him, though, which Mikey admittedly wasn’t sure he was ready for.

Let her ask questions. It would be helpful.

But I’m not sure I want to answer too many questions yet! They’ve given me space, but I could still hurt them if I’m not careful!

Just do it, you moron!

That last thought sounded like Dr. Delicate Touch, enough so that Mikey couldn’t help cracking a small smile and being slightly terrified.

“So, where do you wanna go, Angelo?” April asked, holding the medbay door open while Mikey dragged himself out slowly. It was a lot slower than he would have liked it to be, but he was walking and that was the important thing.

“I’m not really sure,” Mikey admitted. He took a moment to look around - the Lair looked mostly the same, plus or minus a few odd claw marks in the walls that definitely hadn’t been there before. They looked old enough not to be fresh, but not old enough to be old.

The Christmas lights and fairy lights that decorated the Lair were a lot dimmer than usual, probably because Mikey was used to the brighter lights of the medbay. The color from them decorated the walls and train cars, and it was casting him in a rather pretty orange shadow.

Bright golden light, burning into his eyes, his arms, he had to get rid of it-

Mikey shook his head and hobbled out of the light as mild panic built in his mind, but it was quickly settled when April carefully grabbed his still bandaged shoulder.

“Come on, how about we wander around instead of just picking a place. You let me know if you get tired, and we’ll go back, alright?”

Mikey nodded, trying to shake off the memory and push it into the back of his mind. He was supposed to be healing. He was supposed to be safe. Even if every psychology textbook said that it was normal, he wasn’t supposed to be upset about this.

Mikey was the support. He couldn’t crumble again, or someone could get hurt, maybe even worse this time.

The two started slowly wandering the Lair, and Mikey made a quick note of how silent it was. Again. Somehow, with only the sounds of the duo’s footsteps echoing through the Lair, the quiet was even worse.

“Where is everyone?” Mikey whispered, barely daring to raise his voice out of… what? Why wouldn’t he raise it any higher?

Why can’t I speak any louder?

“They’re out dealing with a couple of mutants causing some trouble,” April explained easily. Her voice filled the silence properly, unlike his own which couldn’t even be louder than their footsteps. “Even with NYC under heavy repairs, those guys are still causing trouble. Probably think they can get away with more because everything’s so destroyed.”

“Oh. Okay then.”

A few more footsteps in agonizing silence. They passed under more lights, this time blue and red and purple.

A chill passed through Mikey.

Something felt off. Why did everything feel so cold inside all of a sudden?

As he kept walking, he tried to figure it out. Absently, Mikey went to reach for the ninpo-

It’s not there.

The connections were gone. Even if perhaps he’d willingly closed it, they should be back, right?

Mikey tried opening the ninpo, but it was to no avail. No sparking blue or gentle red or fiery green energy to be felt anywhere.

It was cold.

Panic slowly welled up inside him. Sure, he’d been focused on getting rid of his mystic stuff, and he hadn’t been paying too much attention to things over the course of his medbay stay, but he’d just assumed it was closed because he hadn’t reopened it!

“Angelo, can I ask you a question?”

No, not right now, scared, uncomfortable-

“Sure, what is it?”

April took a deep breath, somehow making his unease worse.

Why am I so scared?

Because we’re cut off. If the spell worked, it might have done more than just lock away my mysticism.

April paused, and turned to the box turtle, keeping one hand on his shoulder. “Angelo, do you need to talk about… this whole situation? And the whole situation before it? I’ve managed to get a couple of our brothers to talk about it, but you’ve just been through too much to be back to normal.”

Cold dread settled into his stomach.

His heart squeezed, everything in his chest seemed to tighten, and his throat felt suddenly closed up and blocked.

“Can we go to my room first?” Mikey managed to whisper. His voice was so quiet and almost wobbly now.

Why does my voice sound so wrong why why why-

April smiled softly, something he hadn’t realized he’d missed his sister doing. “Sure thing. You need any help?”

Mikey shook his head. He could do it.

His arms were shuddering.

Why did the idea of going into his room scare him? Why was any of this scaring him?

The box turtle’s thoughts seemed to run in circles, digging repetitive trenches into his mind as the feeling looped over and over and over again.

“Nobody’s gone into your room since you… since the whole incident,” April said, clearly dancing around the words ran away. “Not a thing should be out of place.”

Mikey nodded, his chest squeezing even tighter.

Stop. This is my room. It’s safe in here, I’m fine-

No, something is wrong, I shouldn’t go in-

April pushed the subway car door open, and the two were met with a gentle glow. For a moment, as they moved inside, April was right. Not a thing in his room was out of place - the hammock was messy as the day he’d left it, the pile of crumpled pages in the corner where his trash can was buried was still there, his posters and canvases and spray paints still lying messy in their corner where they were supposed to.

But then something caught his eye that made him freeze completely.

The light switch for his fairy lights was off.

Meaning the room shouldn’t have been well lit the way it usually was.

Mikey craned his head upward, and whatever warmth he had left in him drained away in an icy wave of fear.

Because what he was seeing shouldn’t have been there.

Floating gently on the ceiling, bobbing around without a care in the world, were small orbs of light, glowing golden orange.

A terrifyingly familiar shade of golden orange. It was mystic power, or whatever might be left of it in this room.

“Mikey, what… oh wow.” April’s voice was more in awe than anything else, and for a minute he couldn’t understand why she wasn’t scared.

The spell didn’t work, it's still here, it's still HERE-

Hesitantly, Mikey reached an arm upward, toward one of the glowing orbs that was hanging a bit closer to the ground than the rest of them. It floated closer, and he flinched his arm back hard enough to send a sudden bolt of pain through it.

He needed to know. He needed to know what it was, why it was still here of all places. Maybe get rid of it if he could.

It drifted closer again, and gently hummed in his hand, singing a violin’s song that he barely remembered now.

It touched Mikey’s scales, and his mind was suddenly thrown into a memory, one he wasn’t expecting to see again.

He’s hung up in the throne room again, watching his brothers fight.

Hearing Leo beg for Raph to come back, to break free of the monster controlling him. Leo doesn’t beg. Mikey knows this better than anyone.

Seeing Donnie be pulled up next to him, feeling tears free flow down his face.

Leo’s voice is breaking, he’s pleading for Raph. It’s the closest Mikey has ever heard to hearing his older brother cry in years.

Raph lifts Leo into the air, and sharp vines rip through his fist. Mikey panics, starts struggling as Raph’s arm raises, he needs to help-

He let go of the light, his breathing too fast and his heart thudding painfully loudly in his ears. The cold rushed through him violently, dripping down his spine and latching around his chest and it hurts, it hurts so much, why of all the things had it been that memory?

Mikey’s legs were shaking too hard to keep him standing, and he dropped to the ground. A quick flash of panic and instinct made him throw his arms out for support, before remembering too late it was not a good idea. He hit the ground palms first, sending lightning bolts of shooting through his arms.

April was there immediately, but Mikey could barely tell through the heavy breathing and the whirlwind in his head and the tears watering up his vision and the agony coming from everywhere. His arms hurt, he didn’t want to move them anymore. The quiet was loud, the gentle buzz of the air weighing horribly heavy on his ears and drowning him in the quiet.

Distantly, he felt April helping him sit up, but Mikey’s mind was flooding with too many memories and emotions to process and it hurt, his heart hurt, he couldn’t breathe, tears were flowing fast down his face-

Of course it was his magic, his stupid, good for nothing mysticism that was hurting him, it had only ever hurt people, why couldn’t Mikey breathe-

A warm hand carefully touched his shoulder, sending smaller stings through his arms.

Don’t let them touch you, you could hurt them, stay away, I don’t want to hurt you, please-

The box turtle started wailing, flinching hard away from the warmth even as he desperately wished for it to come back. The cries forced themselves through his closed throat, sounding horribly strangled and guttural even to his own ears.

A voice tried breaking through, the hand tried to come back, but Mikey’s voice reached a keening cry and it pulled away sharply. The absent thud of something slamming closed pounded through his head.

Not safe not safe need to move can’t move have to stay away-

“MIKEY!”

The shouting of his name managed to partially snap him out of it, although he was leaning dangerously close to falling back into the hurricane of terror and fear that he had been so locked into.

Strong arms grabbed him - minding his bandages and injuries - and pulled him close to the warmth, even as he tried to struggle away in panic.

They can’t be close I might hurt them-

“Mikey, it's okay, you’re gonna be okay, I’m right here. April’s got you.”

She can’t what if she gets hurt-

The box turtle’s struggling slowed, the panic leaving his body slowly.

But the slow, creeping uneasiness was still there. The room was still lit with golden light. Mikey was still shaking, his arms still filled with pins and needles as the pain ebbed out into dull throbbing. His breathing still hitched, he was still sobbing.

Mikey buried his face into April, trying to stave off the golden glow from reaching his eyes. He couldn’t stop himself from crying, why couldn’t he stop?

“Oh, Angelo…” April’s voice was unbelievably soft and quiet, almost lost in the heavy buzz of the air in his ears. “Can you talk right now?”

Mikey shook his head - his throat still felt closed up and strangled, even as he slowly started crying out loud again.

He did manage to get something through the sobs, just barely loud enough for April to hear. But she did catch it, from what he could tell.

“I’m sorry.”

The silence was loud. It spoke more than any words could have.

Mikey’s mind was leaning back into the hurricane, his breathing hitching painfully again and the quiet started to become heavy, but April’s voice carefully pulled him back out.

“It’ll be alright, Angelo. We don’t have to talk right now. Just… just let it out.”

And the tears came back, and the world faded away into nothing but muted blurs of color and ringing in his ears as he cried. Thoughts and memories swirled together, a rushing storm pounding in his head.

His crying echoed through the train station, even from behind a closed door. All the while, April kept him close. She stayed, and that was all Mikey needed.

He didn’t know when he ran out of tears. He didn’t know when his sobbing died down into exhausted coughing and hitching breathing.

Mikey didn’t know when April pulled out her phone, or when the subway car door was almost ripped off its hinges.

He didn’t know when his brothers piled around him, whispering quietly to April and making sure he was comfortable.

But he did know that this time, he wasn’t alone.

This time, people were there. His family had come back from their mission, and it seemed like they were going to stay.

A low churr from someone, whispering safe and love and worry.

Mikey let himself relax, exhaustion washing through whatever was left of his thoughts.

He was safe.

He wasn’t alone.

Chapter 43: Gray

Chapter Text

Of the people Mikey was expecting to see after Donnie had installed his new shell prosthetic (purple logo and all) it wasn’t really Casey Jr.

The boy hadn’t been distant, per se - he’d just been oddly quiet. He never kept eye contact with Mikey for very long when he did visit. Something about Casey had hardened and become eerily cold, even though he never acted like that - the aura felt different compared to what Mikey knew, to what should have resided there.

Maybe if Mikey hadn’t locked his mystic power away, he could have understood why.

Not that he actually wanted it, but it would have maybe been a little helpful in this case.

“Michelangelo?”

sh*t. I was supposed to be listening, wasn’t I?

“Huh?” Mikey said, blinking back into reality. The medbay was mostly quiet, except for the two of them. While Mikey was no longer confined to his bed - not that he really wanted to leave the room anyway. Casey Jr was sitting next to him, seeming mildly concerned at Mikey’s spacing out. Which was somewhat fair - Mikey wasn’t usually one to space out.

He’d been doing it a lot lately. In some part of his mind, he knew why, but made no effort to try counteracting it or make himself stop.

“I was just asking if you wanted to know a bit about your future self,” Casey repeated patiently. “Donatello has determined it probably won’t screw up the timeline we’re in, so it should be okay.”

Mikey’s attention was immediately captured by the idea. Casey Jr had been very closed off about their future selves - and the other timeline in general - so Mikey’s ideas of what his future self might have been like had spiraled off into wild theories and speculation.

“Hell yeah!” the box turtle yelped, leaning over a bit too far and sending a small throb of pain through his shoulder. But Mikey easily brushed it off - he was so used to pain at this point that he often barely noticed when something hurt. Which probably wasn’t a good thing, but right now he didn’t care too much to think about it.

Casey smiled faintly, messing with his hands and tapping his foot. “Okay… where do I even start with Master Michelangelo?”

Mikey hummed. “Maybe some stuff he did? I bet it was super cool!”

Casey nodded, his nervousness beginning to drop away. Mikey could tell by the way his shoulders relaxed and his fiddling ceased. But somehow, even at ease, there was a weird vibe coming off of the boy.

“Well, he was the most powerful mystic warrior of the time,” Casey Jr said. “He was the majority of our mystic artillery, and he taught the younger mystics how to properly control their powers and ensure they didn’t get feedback loops. He helped keep the resistance’s morale up, and always told these fantastical stories of a world where the sky was blue and the ruins that towered over the city were covered in colored lights. There were too many people in that world to count.”

When described like that, New York City sounded like a strange and magical place. Mikey couldn’t blame Casey for believing it, especially if the… alien problem here had somehow been worse in his timeline.

He tried to ignore the shiver of fear when the word mystic was said.

“Master Michelangelo always told us those stories with his mysticism, too,” Casey Jr continued. “Sometimes rooms would be full of these really detailed scenes, like they were painted into thin air. For years, I always thought that if I tried hard enough, I could have reached through them and found out what he was talking about.”

A small sigh emanated from the boy. “Even though he was the most chill person in the whole resistance, the one who always kept our hope alive, if he was fighting and he got ticked off, there was nothing in the world, dead or alive, that could even come close to stopping him. The battlefields would be charred and covered in glowing dust piles for weeks after. It could be pretty scary sometimes, but he always made sure everyone was okay afterward.”

The box turtle shrank back a bit. Of all the descriptions of himself he’d been expecting to hear, scary hadn’t been one of them. A quiet hiss, the terrifying idea of him accidentally hurting his family with his power, curled up in his mind, but he shoved it away.

He’d locked it up. He was safe to be here - he couldn’t hurt anyone. According to Draxum, the lights in his room had just been residual mystics, and should fade away after a while.

Casey seemed to notice his freezing, and Mikey heard his tone change. “Master Michelangelo spent a lot of time with the younger members of the resistance.”

He looked up again, his interest piqued once more, as he tried to keep the thoughts away.

“He taught us a lot of stuff,” Casey Jr continued, no longer looking at Mikey. He seemed to be somewhere else, looking at the ground with a distant gaze. “He mostly hung out with me though, after my mom disappeared. He showed me how to do all sorts of stuff.”

“Like what?” Mikey questioned quickly. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

Casey absently messed with his hair, before rolling up a sleeve and showing Mikey an array of surprisingly colorful beaded bracelets. They were made with such a wide range of beads and trinkets that Mikey half-considered that they’d holed up in a crafts store in the future.

As the bracelets progressed, the colors slowly dimmed away into pretty grays and browns. The bracelets almost covered his entire forearm.

“He taught most of the resistance how to paint, too, even though the practice sort of fell away as time went on. When the resistance couldn’t sleep, there would be these really pretty displays of golden butterflies everywhere until people calmed down. In a way, he was really the heart of everything.”

Mikey could only listen in awe. That sounded amazing. For a moment, a brief flicker of excitement flashed through his mind - maybe one day he could do those things, too - before he remembered why he couldn’t do that. Why he shouldn’t.

“He lost a part of his shell, too,” Casey Jr said, motioning to Mikey’s newly fitted prosthetic. “It was a pretty nast injury, but Uncle Tello was a miracle worker. He managed a lot of the resistance’s medical affairs, alongside defenses and weapons for us. It looked almost exactly like the one you’re wearing.”

“Donnie? Handling medical affairs?” Mikey questioned. That didn’t really sound like something his brother would do.

Then again, Mikey had a feeling there was really only one person who could have performed Leo’s port surgery. Maybe something had shifted, even if it was a little bit.

“Yeah, he and a team of doctors handled most of the injuries after supply runs or raids went afoul,” Casey explained. “Which was… more often than what would have been optimal.”

The box turtle nodded, completely enraptured by the boy’s stories of the future already. The two carefully continued to discuss it, with Mikey backing off whenever Casey Jr’s vibe went cold and he seemed uncomfortable discussing something.

He learned that in Casey’s future, the bustling city was dead silent. There were no people, no working cars, no living animals unless you counted the wandering corpses. No life other than slime that crawled up the sides of buildings, always watching something; nothing beyond dead grass on the city’s outer limits and infested trees that moved like they were breathing.

The sky had apparently been dominated by the Kraang ship, by bright lights and floating concrete that could wander too far out of the ship’s orbit and plummet to the ground. The sky had been decorated an eerie crimson.

Deep caverns in rubble and subterranean places were some of the few places the roots hadn’t reached.

He learned that he and his brothers had become the most operational members of the resistance, alongside any yokai or mutants who were able to survive the initial hell. The humans who wandered with them were small in numbers and hardened by years of war.

The only sounds outside of the safe places had apparently been those of terror, warnings of battles and the wails of the dying.

But apparently, it hadn’t been all bad. They still celebrated holidays, still did communal activities. The resistance had maintained their hope.

At some point, Mikey noted that as the stories went on, the number of yokai and mutant names he knew started to slowly dwindle. Mikey didn’t prod - Casey Jr didn’t explain.

And in return, Mikey told Casey stories too.

He told him about the time Raph had gotten stuck under one of the train cars trying to find something he’d dropped. About the time Leo had tried to steal potentially dangerous journals from a magic show to do some “light reading,” even though he ended up putting them back later. The time Donnie had somehow acquired a mech through a video game and piloted it around the city.

The stories were enough to stave off the exhaustion. Enough to keep away the trails of fear from creeping into his head. Casey Jr seemed happier too, becoming more enthusiastic in his own storytelling as the time passed.

They kept the fear at bay.

Somewhere, in a place of connections, a small spark flickered to life. So faint it barely dented the connections, barely enough to be noticeable.

But it was alive again.

Chapter 44: The Family Has A Talk

Chapter Text

Mikey was so damn glad he could finally leave the medbay properly.

Truth be told, things still stung - whenever he tried moving his hands, his knuckles cracked painfully, his back hurt, all the other little bits and pieces of cuts that were mostly healed still twinged occasionally. But by Pizza Supreme in the sky, Mikey had never been so glad to step foot out of the Lair’s medbay before.

“You sure you’re good to do this, Mikey?” Leo asked, for what was probably the third time.

“I got this, Leo,” Mikey replied. “Besides, I can face a family discussion. Or five.”

The slider snorted, his usual smirk crossing his face. “Barry and Pops probably have you marked down for at least fifteen lectures. Donnie’s finally taking some heat for the stunt he pulled in the arena - I think before that we were all too busy looking for you to really address it.”

Mikey winced at the mention of Donnie’s newly acquired power - it still unnerved him that there were Technodrome pieces inside of his brother’s shell.

“And don’t worry, I’ll be your moral support,” Leo added, noticing the look on Mikey’s face. “April’s coming over for this too, so I’m not entirely sure if it's Dad and Pops you should be worried about.”

Mikey halted just outside the entrance to a staircase, replaying Leo’s words in his head. He turned to the slider, giving him a look of curiosity. “Did you just call Draxum ‘dad?’”

Immediately, Leo froze, and a grin spread across Mikey’s face. “You did! I knew Barry would grow on you!”

“He saved my ass a few times while we were searching the Hidden City, now shush or I’m not helping you down the stairs,” Leo replied quickly.

“I’m telling Barry,” Mikey teased.

“SHUT-” Leo snapped, carefully dragging Mikey down the stairs in a way that still was easy enough for Mikey to not feel like he was going to explode from the sharp little pins and needles that would sometimes run rampant in the spots where he was still healing.

The living room was actually filled today - although Mikey probably wouldn’t know, considering this was the first time he’d left the medbay since the whole incident. The colored lights that decorated the room were easy and welcoming, and Mikey’s older graffiti also decorated the walls. A small pang of wishful thinking hummed through him - the minute that he was better, he would definitely add new pieces and definitely touch up some older ones.

Casey Jr noticed Mikey first, and immediately rushed over to see him. “Michelangelo! You’re out of the medbay! Are you okay? Does anything hurt?”

“I’m alright, Casey,” the box turtle reassured him. “Just kinda nervous.”

Casey nodded solemnly, as though he understood perfectly. The others came over, and April immediately swarmed up to him.

“Mikey! Omigosh, are you feeling alright? Your legs doing okay?”

“I’m fine, April,” Mikey repeated, offering his older sister a weary smile. The dark brown eyes were pretty much boring into his own.

“Alright, that’s good.” April dragged him into a careful hug, the pressure calming him easily. “You are in for a talkin’ later from me, Mikey, but right now, I’m just glad you’re starting to feel better.”

Mikey didn’t get the chance to reply, as Splinter and Draxum had also crowded closer to check on him.

“Orange! Sit, sit, we were just preparing to speak to you,” Splinter said. That felt incredibly ominous, considering this was a whole-family discussion, but Leo patted Mikey’s shell carefully and walked over to the couch. Mikey followed him, settling next to the slider and Donnie. Raph sat on the floor in front of him, while April chose to lay on the floor above and behind the couch. Casey, Splinter and Draxum were sitting on an opposite couch,

The warmth was familiar. Familiar meant good.

Draxum pinched the bridge of his nose, seeming extra tired at the moment. There were bags under his eyes that could rival Leo’s when the slider hadn’t slept - like father like son, he could only assume. The goat yokai looked very ready to be done with the upcoming conversation as soon as possible.

Nerves jumbled up in Mikey again, but a reassuring chirp from April soothed them slightly. Mikey couldn’t pinpoint which part of this talk was going to be the worst quite yet, and Pizza Supreme in the sky he did not want to find out.

The box turtle didn’t exactly have much of a choice, however. He was already here, so there really was no way to back out of it unless he tried bolting.

Why am I considering running again? I guess it is that easy, but I'm supposed to be getting better!

A voice quickly snapped the train of thought in half.

“Orange, are you listening?”

Splinter’s voice, gentle and careful. Nervous as well.

Why is Dad nervous?

“Orange, my son,” Splinter tried again. “I’m sure Blue has already informed you of why we are all having this discussion. And if not, he is next on the list after Purple.”

Donnie stiffened, but relaxed a little more when April tapped his shoulder.

“Now, I suppose the question is, where do we start with, uh… this whole situation.” Splinter rubbed his eyes tiredly, before snapping his head back up to look at Mikey. “No, wait I do know. Firstly, Orange, you’re grounded!”

“Oh come on!”

“Do not give me that, Orange! The last time we saw you in the Lair before this incident was almost 8 months ago! Do you know how worried sick we have all been? How many hours we have spent clawing through the cities trying to find you? I am certain we have earned an explanation, and especially the right to ask you questions about what on Earth was going through your head!”

Mikey shrunk his head back, which still hurt because his shell wasn’t fully healed yet. He’d figured out they’d been looking for him, but he hadn’t quite realized for how long.

When did I stop keeping track, anyway?

I don’t remember anymore.

“That was 8 months?” Mikey whispered, his voice weakly cutting through the quiet.

Silence settled over the room, the fact sinking in slowly. A quiet wave of panic flashed through his head, and his hands shuddered even though they were firmly held at his side.

Leo broke the quiet, in an uncharacteristically solemn voice. It sounded like the leader voice he’d used to jokingly put on during missions, but… not.

“Yeah, it was a while. Can we move the discussion along?”

“Blue is right,” Splinter said. “We must continue. I believe the first question is that of where Orange acquired the instrument he was using.”

Mikey flinched slightly at the mention of his violin. “I kind of stole it off the street,” he admitted. “It was just laying there, so I grabbed it and maybe portalled home.”

No use in trying to lie anymore. They’ve already worried over me for months now.

Donnie’s eyes flicked over to him suspiciously. “I thought you said you didn’t steal it.”

“Dee, I love you, but the semantics thing can be addressed later,” April said, lightly whacking the softshell on the back of the head. A hiss came from his brother, but it wasn’t aggressive.

“Okay, so you stole the violin off the street,” Leo said, clearly trying to redirect the conversation. “Then what?”

Mikey sat up a little straighter, a small feeling of pride growing in him. “I started teaching myself. I’d leave the Lair, go somewhere in the city, and practice for a bit until I either got a call or too much time passed.”

A small chuff from Raph, annoyed but still relieved.

Draxum looked beyond annoyed. “So you were using your mystic powers even before the issue was brought to light? Specifically when instructed not to, and when you were already suffering the effects of mystic feedback looping and nerve damage?”

Mikey shied back and nodded.

Draxum sighed, but it was not his usual one. This one had a touch of something else there - maybe relief? It wasn’t full-on disappointment, at least.

“When did you notice that your mystic powers were activating while you played, Michelangelo?” the yokai asked.

“When Donnie showed me the footage after Leo woke up,” Mikey replied. He couldn’t help noticing Casey’s shoulders hunching up again, and April had stopped her nail-tapping behind him.

“The rest of us first noticed just before you did so, Michelangelo,” Draxum said. “Or at the very least, April and Casey Jr did. They came to me right before you woke your brother, saying that you had accidentally engaged in a memory transfer spell with them while playing music on your human instrument. Memory transfers are no small feat, but at the time it did not seem like too much of a concern considering the accidental part of it. I realize now that should have been a warning sign.”

A warm hand rested on the unbroken part of his shell, and the tip-tap of April’s nails started up again.

“Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?” Mikey demanded.

“Angelo, it slipped our minds,” April replied, still sounding surprisingly calm considering the circ*mstances. “A lot of things were going on, and I’m sorry about that.”

She pulled him back carefully, wrapping her arms around him loosely.

Careful, I could hurt them still, I don’t know if I’m safe, she needs to let go-

The tapping kept him calm. A small chirp from Leo forced his thoughts away from the thoughts.

Safe. I’m safe here.

“After this, from what we understand,” Splinter said, his tail flicking, “you started wandering the Lair at night, presumably looking for your violin after we told you that for your safety we were keeping it away from you. There were also mentions of you waking up in the middle of the night, nightmares, and other such things.”

“I was looking for it because you didn’t ask me before you took it away!” Mikey suddenly snapped. His voice was still painfully hoarse, and he couldn’t do anything more than raise his voice a bit more than usual. “You never asked me before you took away the one thing that was apparently keeping my mystic sh*t from going haywire - What else was I supposed to do? I can’t draw or cook or spray paint or anything else!”

“Yeah, that wasn’t cool, Pops,” Leo added. Mild surprise shot through Mikey - Leo was defending him, even after everything? - and he let himself settle back into the couch. “Coping mechanisms shouldn’t be taken away, especially not that soon after trauma.”

“Leo, it was damaging his hands,” Donnie replied. “And you’re one to talk, asshole.”

“Yeah, but look at what happened when you took it away!” Leo objected. “This isn’t about me right now, Donnie!”

Mikey shrunk back again, Leo’s words ringing painfully familiar in his ears. Casey also stiffened, but thankfully April slapped them both on the back of the head. “Again, you two can argue later! We gotta get through this one first, alright?”

Twin grumbles of agreement emanated from them both at the same time, and Mikey desperately wished he’d caught that on camera.

Splinter cleared his throat, and all attention immediately snapped back to him. “I agree with April, we can discuss that later. For now, we are going over the big points. For example, what happened the day you ran away.”

Silence iced over the room again. Mikey hated that that kept happening.

“Why did you cut off your brother’s arm, Orange?” Splinter’s voice was careful, gentle. Draxum raised an eyebrow, whispering something underneath his breath.

“It was an accident, I promise!’ Mikey immediately burst out, his voice wavering and cracking as panic started welling up again. “I didn’t mean to do that, there was just too much happening and I was trying to get him away before something happened and-”

The panic welled over, and Mikey ended up cutting himself off with a choked sob. The air was heavy again, the warmth of April’s arms weight too much and burned, everything was loud-

He was dragged off the couch and onto the floor, ever so carefully, even as he cried and tried to get away because he wasn’t safe and he was going to end up hurting them again.

Strong arms secured Mikey firmly against someone’s plastron, and a familiar worried churr filled his ears.

Raph.

It’s okay. I’m okay.

“I got you, Mikey, please. We’re here.”

A few heartbeats passed, where Mikey went quiet and just tried to breathe. It was shaky and uneven, and a few chirps from Donnie brought his head back enough to uncurl himself. Worried eyes were all looking at him, all huddled around Raph. Leo slipped Mikey his hand - the cold, metal one - but he did his best to take it anyway. It was Leo’s hand.

He would be okay.

“Michelangelo, we do not need to do this all at once,” Splinter said. The unfamiliar sound of his name in his father’s voice stunned him out of the growing hurricane, and he could only blink up at the rat in surprise. “We can space these talks out over time, if they are easier on your mind. You are still healing as well.”

He sniffed, going over it in his head.

That would be more beneficial for you, y’know.

But if I get it out of the way now, they won’t need to deal with it later.

“We’ll talk more tomorrow, okay?” Raph told him. “I think right now you need a break.”

Mikey let out a tired sigh and nodded. He didn’t have the energy to fight them on the decision, plus it meant having less of a huge mental breakdown in front of his family.

“Alright. Orange, you’re off the hook for today. Now, Purple,” Splinter said, and Mikey could feel the stern glare even though it wasn’t turned on him. “Explain your… situation.”

Donnie seemed nervous, standing up from his spot among them while scratching his arms. As he turned, Mikey offered him a weak smile.

The softshell returned it, before taking a deep breath.

“So, most of us were there during the whole Battle Nexus situation, correct?”

Heads bobbed in agreement, and Mikey’s brain sunk tiredly into the memory of that fight. That one had lasted way too long in his opinion. He still knew where the scars from the creature were.

“Well, I'm almost entirely certain everyone saw… um, what I did to save Leo during that fight. And we haven’t been able to properly address the subject, so I suppose an introduction is in order for this.”

An introduction?

Who could he possibly be introducing us to?

Donnie took off his battle shell, which was Mikey’s first warning that he already had a fair clue as to what this might be.

And Pizza Supreme, he wasn’t looking forward to it.

Chapter 45: Potentially Malevolent Blobs and Turtle Piles

Chapter Text

Somehow, what he had been expecting ended up being correct.

And somehow, it was even worse at the same time.

“You three might want to move to the other couch,” Donnie advised, nodding to the three sitting on the couch opposite him. Everyone had shot him suspicious glares, especially Casey Jr. Like he already had a feeling of what was happening. He shared a look with Mikey, and they both blinked in a mutual understanding that something was definitely, horribly wrong.

They all collectively pulled back a bit, and Raph tightened his grip on Mikey a bit.

Moving back had decidedly been the right choice.

A weird, squelchy kind of sound rang through the room, and Donnie shuddered. Mikey watched in morbid fascination as blueish purple vines of flesh emerged from behind his brother, weaving and seemingly slithering through the air. The sting of familiarity that sang out in the back of his mind was one that sent a chill rushing down his spine and through his whole body - even his arms felt momentarily cold.

Somehow, the glowing vines seemed to be multiplying, but the only sound that he could hear from it was wet and squishy and Mikey had to wonder how his brother could possibly stand the feeling of that.

The mass of blue and purple flesh fell onto the floor with a wet splat, and Donnie finally relaxed. The mass was still moving - vines were overlapping and reforming and falling out of whatever shade they seemed to be trying to create.

Mikey didn’t dare to move - he didn’t know anything about it other than it had just crawled out of his brother’s shell. The very same vines that had dragged him into the heart of a monstrous spaceship.

“Family - oh, I can already see it on your faces, and I agree, it looks as disgusting as it sounds,” Donnie said, noting their expressions and the general unease burning through the room, “I’d like you to meet a companion of mine. Her name is Rem.”

The blob of glowing vines finally took shape, the vines lacing into a somewhat dog-like appearance. It had a flat head and a crest of blobby, still moving spines. Most of the vines were still moving, in a way that suggested this creature wasn’t entirely used to having a shape other than just being a blob.

Three magenta eyes blinked open, one resting cleanly in the middle of its- Rem’s forehead.

For a few moments, the room was stunned silent. Mikey wasn’t sure if he had the energy left to fully process what had just happened, because it was unbelievable and terrifying as the thought crossed his mind that they hadn’t known how long Rem might have been inside Donnie’s shell.

Apparently, someone did have the energy to process it.

The revving of a chainsaw cut through the room and Mikey was yanked to the side by Raph as a blur of motion lunged for the new creature. A few surprised shouts, alongside quickly snapped orders and panicked yells.

“Raph! You can let me go, it’s okay!” Mikey yelped, a slight hiss to his voice as it rasped painfully in his throat.

Raph wasn’t really listening, but his grip did loosen a bit. Mikey managed to swivel his head around to catch sight of Casey Jr and Leo, weapons in hand, being held back by April and Draxum, while Donnie was standing in front of a newly terrifying blob of Kraang slime. The previously blobby places had sharpened, mouths had cropped up all over it, and its eyes had slitted into needles.

“Donnie, get away from that thing!” Raph shouted.

“I will not!” Donnie snarled. “You didn’t give me a chance to explain! She’s not going to hurt you unless, oh, I don’t know, you pull a f*cking weapon!”

Mikey managed to wriggle out of Raph’s grip, enough that he could get his feet planted on the floor. His arms cried out in irritation as he used them to brace himself up, while the shouting rang rampant through the room.

“That’s a Technodrome remnant, Donatello!” Casey Jr yelled. “Do you understand how dangerous it is to neurally connect with one, let alone keep it’s connection?”

“How the f*ck else was I supposed to pilot the ship?” Donnie hissed back. “It didn’t have an up and down switch, in case you weren’t there!”

“So instead of getting it checked out or removed, you let this thing grow in your f*cking shell?” Leo snarled. Mikey moved closer, carefully, and saw that his brother’s hands were shaking.

Mikey dropped into the shadows behind the panic, trying his best to tune it out while getting a better look at the new creature. He snuck a bit closer, keeping a close eye on both his panicking family and the new creature.

Rem noticed his approach much sooner than anyone else, and he had to push back any memory of the control room and the ship. Slit magenta eyes met his own, and he put up his hands carefully.

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” Mikey whispered. Even if he didn’t want to hurt this thing, he didn’t want to get particularly close either. He’d much prefer running, but Rem seemed a bit too scared to be cooperative with anyone who wasn’t shouting.

The Kraang thing regarded him for a moment, stretching its lower jaw (in half, he noted nervously) before the spikiness of its- her spines faded back into blobby crests. The slits fell away, and the sporadic eyes and mouths closed up like they’d never been there.

Rem trilled quietly in his direction. She was actually much bigger than she looked, maybe being a little shorter than Mikey if he was standing up fully. That wasn’t terrifying at all, knowing this Kraang beast was maybe the same size as him.

The box turtle moved closer, after a lot of rapid-fire debate in his head. Maybe she wasn’t so bad? She hadn’t hurt his brother yet, and she’d been in his shell (still gross) for months now.

Maybe Rem is okay.

His mind whispered the thought, and he sat down and scooted closer. He stayed behind the couch, to make sure his family wouldn’t immediately panic upon seeing him interact with Rem.

She tilted her head curiously, and Mikey mimicked her. She trilled, and he chirped quietly.

Rem’s eyes went wide, and the larger, long blob of vines started flicking like it was a tail. They both watched it curiously - Mikey in not knowing how the Kraang would know how to wag their tails, Rem in seeming delight and intrigue.

Rem didn’t seem dangerous. She acted more like a mix of angry cat and excitable puppy.

Sure, she was still Kraang, and his experience in the Nexus showed how problematic uncontrolled Kraang beasts could be, but if Rem had been a part of the Technodrome, then maybe that was why she wasn’t going totally feral.

“Mikey! What are you doing?”

Four voices yelped at the same time, and Mikey finally tuned back in to see his entire family staring at him in shock and fear.

Donnie looked completely mystified, while everyone else was just kind of scared.

“What? She’s not doing anything wrong,” Mikey objected. Rem bobbed her head in agreement, and Donnie pointed at them both. From behind, Mikey could see the holes in his brother’s shell.

“I told you! She’s harmless! I think we all would have noticed if the alien was homicidal - she would have been a secret for a much shorter period of time,” Donnie objected.

Rem made a noise that almost sounded exactly like Donnie’s irritated scoff, except much more warbly and deep. Mikey had to restrain his giggles.

“Is that why your mystic aura changes sometimes?” Leo demanded. “Because Rem was with you?”

The conversation paused entirely. Leo looked around, realizing that he might have said something that maybe not everyone knew. Mikey certainly didn’t know what he was talking about.

“Leonardo, since when could you see mystic auras?” Draxum demanded.

“Eugh boy,” Leo muttered. “How about we have a chat about that later, Barry? Right now I think we need to figure out what to do with the jelly blob in the room.”

“I say we get rid of it,” Case Jr immediately growled. “We don’t know what dangers it might bring us, or what it might have done in the time we didn’t know it was here.”

“Wouldn’t it be more beneficial, then to study it?” April objected. “Besides, it hasn’t hurt Donnie and he’s really the one who should get the most say here.”

“Rem has not caused us harm, apart from a mild scare,” Splinter interjected suddenly. All eyes turned to the rat as he spoke. “Unless she enacts true injury or damage upon us, I see no true harm in allowing her residence here to continue.”

The room settled into disgruntled mutters, and exhaustion began to settle over Mikey again. He was really tired - there was way too much action happening at once for him.

Rem noticed, and trilled something up at Donnie. The softshell looked over at him, before loudly announcing something about a turtle pile.

Mikey was okay with a turtle pile.

It was set up quickly, and calm spread over him as he drifted off.

He was safe. It was okay.

Chapter 46: Remember? 16!

Chapter Text

“Mikey? Can I come in?”

The box turtle’s head snapped up from his drawing. Which, at the moment, didn’t look half-bad compared to a while ago. His hands were getting better now.

They still weren’t great, but they at least weren’t bleeding every other day.

“Yeah, sure,” Mikey replied absently. Raph smiled and carefully entered the train car, with his hands behind his shell. Mikey took a quick breath and shoved the drawing aside. Raph was here, talking to him, so he needed to focus.

“I thought you said you were waiting ‘till your hands were healed to start drawing,” Raph noted.

“Eh, my hands work better now,” Mikey replied. “It’s better than nothing, I guess.”

Raph made an unfamiliar sound - a strange hiss-tic-tic sound - and kneeled down next to Mikey. He was sitting at his drawing table, next to the pile of crumpled up paper that was still there from months ago. He hadn’t really bothered to clean it up.

“You sure you’re alright?” Raph questioned again. “Your hands are shaking.”

sh*t.

“Y-yeah, I’ll be alright,” Mikey muttered, immediately moving his hands out of sight. He still didn’t like how they shook so visibly. They were getting better, but he’d rather not use them in front of his family. They would worry.

“Anyway, what did you need?” the box turtle asked, trying to keep his voice pleasant. He didn’t want to snap at his older brother, not after all the sh*t he’d put the snapper through this past while.

“Do you remember what day it was a few weeks ago?” Raph asked, a hopeful glint in the snapper’s eye. “Anything stand out?”

Mikey’s eye ridges furrowed as he tried to remember. A few weeks ago…

Cold alleyways. Burning green liquid soaking into his open wounds.

“Nothing right now,” the box turtle answered, wincing slightly as he saw the hope flicker in his older brother’s eye. “I could check the calendar, I suppose.”

“Wait, don’t!” Raph yelped as Mikey started to get up. Confusion coursed through him, but he didn’t look over at the calendar. Besides, he hadn’t seen such a hyper gleam in the snapper’s eyes in ages.

“Raph, what are you doing?” Mikey asked, a confused half-smile crossing his face.

The snapper’s smile widened, his fangs bared, and he stood up quickly. “It’s a surprise! Leo wanted me to come get you, come on!”

Mikey stood up, a little slower than his brother. He hadn’t seen any of his brother’s with that silly, mischievous expression on their faces in a while. Raph was partly hopping from foot to foot, his hands flapping the way Leo’s did.

The two left Mikey’s train car behind, Raph leading the way and keeping one hand on Mikey’s shoulder. Even without his ninpo, Mikey could see how energetic Raph was. It was infectious, and soon Mikey’s smile was as wide as his brother’s.

“What is the surprise?” the box turtle asked as they walked upstairs to the kitchen.

“Wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you!” Raph answered, pausing at the top of the stairs. “Stay right there, I’ll be right back.”

The snapper disappeared, presumably into the kitchen, and Mikey stood on the same step. He was so curious, but he was going to wait. If it was a surprise, he wasn’t going to mess it up.

Absently, Mikey tried to remember what day Raph could be talking about, but it was lost within hazy memories of being on the streets and the sealing spell being put into place. There really wasn’t anything to clue him in - at some point, he’d stopped counting the days.

When was that point?

Was it when I fought in the Nexus? When I was wandering the streets?

Mikey’s smile faded a little at the wondering thought. He did want to remember, but there was just nothing of note. It was nagging at him, the longer he stood there.

There was a very distinct sense that he should remember what it might have been. What possible day it was that his brother had been so hopeful to see him remember.

The longer he stood there, the more frustrating it was. It was almost there, just out of reach, if he kept digging he probably could figure it out.

However, he was interrupted by someone tapping on his shoulder. Mikey jumped, before he realized that it was April.

“You with me, Angelo?” she asked. Mikey nodded, shaking off whatever trains of thought there were left.

“Yep! I’m here,” Mikey answered, absently running his hands over his arms. The faint feeling of scars below his fingers absently let the thoughts continue working.

Did I do something wrong? Maybe I did - I was probably supposed to remember this! Stupid time and going by too fast.

April tapped on his arm again, and Mikey forced the thoughts away.

“Angelo, if you’re not up for this, I can always tell the guys to try this another time,” she explained carefully. “It’s not the end of the world.”

Mikey snorted, a half-smile creeping across his face. “Wasn’t it the literal end of the world like, 8 or 9 months ago?”

April laughed, and soon Mikey was giggling alongside her. His sister had that effect on people - if she was laughing, the entire room would be in minutes.

“You’re right,” April said, after their giggles had subsided. “This definitely isn’t the end of the literal world, but it might be of the figurative one.”

“I can do it. I don’t know why they’re being so sneaky, but I think I can handle whatever they’re planning,” Mikey announced, trying his best to sound confident and not nearly as nervous as he felt.

“That’s the spirit!” April said, messing up his short hair. Mikey yelped and flattened it indignantly - he wasn’t used to having it messed with still. And he actually had the energy to brush it this morning!

“Come on, I promise you’re gonna love this!” April said. She hopped up a couple stairs and offered him her hand.

It wasn’t scary, or malicious, or unnerving. It was genuine, something he was getting used to again. An open offer of trust.

Mikey took it with little hesitation. This was April, his older sister. Of course he trusted her - that wouldn’t change, not even after everything that had happened. Any other thought in his head that said otherwise was being rude.

She led him up the stairs, all the while keeping an excited and mischievous energy to the way she walked. April was definitely in on whatever his family had planned.

Just before they got to the kitchen - from which he heard weird shuffling and hasty whispering - April stopped them. She turned to the box turtle, a careful and gentle expression crossing her face.

“Mikey, are you gonna be okay if I cover your eyes?” she asked. “Just for the last few steps, just with my hands. All you gotta do is tell me yes or no, okay?”

She put her hands up, as if trying to show him that she didn’t mean any harm.

On the one hand, walking in completely blind to whatever his family had planned wasn’t exactly the most appealing idea. Walking in blind to anything wasn’t, even for a few steps. The dark alone would unnerve him more than whatever his family had planned.

But on the other hand, he trusted April. He trusted all of his family with his life.

He knew he could trust them with that. Walking maybe five feet to the kitchen was way less than that.

Mikey let himself smile, properly. “Yeah, sure! I’ll be okay, I promise.”

“Alright, just tell me if you need me to stop.”

“Will do!”

Mikey closed his eyes, and darkness settled in his vision and the warmth of April’s hands over his eyelids.

The box turtle let her walk him to where he knew the kitchen entrance was, and then they paused. Why they paused, Mikey wasn’t sure, but he did know he could hear his family hastily moving around and trying their very best to organize something. Which, in their cases, usually ended in the kitchen being a slight disaster zone.

They were still standing there, and Mikey absently shifted from foot to foot. What was taking so long? The shuffling had stopped, but the whispering hadn’t. Mikey really wished he could know what they were feeling, wished he could reach out and be comforted by the feeling of his brothers ninpo, but that was locked away from him.

For good reason, a tiny voice whispered.

Mikey took a deep breath. The dark wasn’t scaring him, it was just making him a bit nervous now. April’s hands were still there - still safe - but he was getting a little bit antsy about being stuck not able to see for so long.

“You alright?”

“Yep!”

He was okay. Mikey knew that.

A few moments passed, in total silence, and for a second Mikey thought he’d straight up fallen into some kind of void. Dark and quiet? That sounded close enough.

Then April’s hands came off his face, the lights in the kitchen blinded him, and a loud shouting of “SURPRISE!” caught him very off guard. April’s hand stayed on his shoulder while he adjusted, and Mikey managed to blink through the bright lights to see his entire family standing proudly in the kitchen.

All of them were smiling brightly, an excited sparkle in their eyes while he quickly took everything else in. He wasn’t sure he’d seen Casey Jr smile like that before.

Then Mikey noticed the decorations in the kitchen, and immediately the thing he’d forgotten clicked into place in his brain.

Leo bounded over and put an arm around him. “Happy belated birthday, Angelo!”

Mikey gaped at them all in utter shock.

The fact he couldn’t even say he was surprised he’d forgotten about this sent a small pang through his heart.

They’d remembered where he’d forgotten. All at once, every emotion seemed to slap him in the face, and Mikey’s eyes began to tear up.

Leo noticed immediately, and jumped in front of him. His hand kept a steady hold on Mikey’s shoulder. “Woah, woah, sh*t, you okay? Is it too much?”

“It’s okay, I promise!” Mikey yelped. “These are good tears, I swear!”

The box turtle quickly hugged his older brother. He couldn’t believe that they’d remembered, even throughout everything that had happened!

“You were kind of out cold when your actual birthday happened,” Raph called. Mikey looked up to see Raph. His brother looked excited and a bit woeful. “And we didn’t wanna overwhelm you too much while you were healing, so we figured that now that you’re doing a bit better we’d celebrate now!”

“Additionally, it is the first proper birthday celebration we’ve had in a while,” Donnie piped up, “therefore, it’s going to be awesome, no exceptions to the rule, we’re all going to have a great time.”

“It’s your sweet sixteen, no way you’re missing that!” Leo announced proudly. His brother kept his arm around him, and Mikey leaned in gratefully.

“Did the surprise work?” April asked, smiling as well.

“Heck yeah!”

“Alright!” Leo called. “Let’s get this party started!”

-=-

“Raph, you’re totally cheating!”

“Raph’s winning, Dee!”

“I will hijack your controller!”

Mikey grinned, the typical shots getting fired as he watched his brothers play a racing game. This one always got everyone shouting at one another, the competitive fun always upping the ante on their usual banter.

“Come on, Raph, get him!” April shouted from her place on the couch.

“You got this, Dee!” Leo yelled.

Casey Jr scooted closer to him, confusion gracing his face. “Is this really what game nights were like for you guys?”

“Oh yeah,” Mikey replied. “Any kind of multiplayer game that gets competitive is something that we get competitive over. Tabletop games, too - if you challenge Leo to Clue he’ll have it figured out in maybe five turns or less, and Pizza Supreme help you if Leo’s the actual suspect.”

“Sounds about right,” Casey confirmed. “Sensei was always unbelievably good at figuring out strategies and predicting moves - he knew pretty much everything that was going on in the resistance.”

Mikey hummed in agreement. That definitely sounded like the slider.

A loud shout of joy, along with a frustrated yell, echoed from his family. Raph had the controller raised in victory, while Donnie had doubled over in dismay. April cheered and hugged the snapper, and Leo politely patted his twin’s shoulder in sympathy.

“Don’t worry Dee, you’ll get him next time,” Leo said smoothly. “As your very favorite twin, I believe in you.”

“Raph, you traitor, you took the shortcut!” Donnie yelped. “I thought we agreed that specific one was banned!”

“I don’t remember that!” April objected. “I thought this track was fair game!”

“No I was there, we banned this one!” Mikey objected.

“We did not!” Raph shot back playfully.

Casey Jr fell over laughing, and Leo dissolved into giggles alongside him as Donnie and Raph continued to playfully yell about which tracks shortcuts were banned and why they really shouldn’t be using blue shells.

Mikey and April both started laughing when Donnie started complaining their controllers were janky.

“They’re old controllers! There’s gotta be something off with them!” the softshell objected.

“That’s a skill issue,” Raph snarked, and Mikey almost fell off the couch laughing.

“HIGHLY OFFENDED GASP!” Donnie playfully punched the snapper’s shoulder, a mock look of outrage on his face. “I have all of the high scores on this game and you KNOW it, dear Raphala!”

The box turtle had to take a fair amount of time to make sure he could still breathe after laughing so hard. Leo and Casey were wheezing erratically on the ground between leftover giggles, while April was containing her own laughter while quickly checking her phone.

Just as she did, a very loud, very hyper shout echoed through the Lair.

“ORANGE ONE! I ARRIVE WITH PREMIUM BROWNIE CLAN BAKED GOODS IN CELEBRATION OF YOUR EXISTENCE!”

Mikey jumped to his feet, rushing to go greet Cassandra in an excited whirlwind.

-=-

The cake his dads had baked was surprisingly well made (without any strange mystic enhancements or spices per Splinter’s request - when did he and Draxum start getting along?) and it was tasty, as an even better bonus.

Casual conversation was made the whole time, with at least one person staying engaged with Mikey at all times. Cassandra and Raph were in the middle of an arm wrestle (nobody could tell who was winning and it had been five minutes), Donnie was excitedly explaining to Casey Jr plans to rebuild Sheldon, and the rest of the table was watching both of these happen in either amusem*nt or intrigue.

Mikey hummed, feeling more relaxed than he had in a while. This was honestly the wildest day he’d had in a while too, if you didn’t count everything before this.

Mikey absently started to drift into the memories, but before he could fall in too deep, a loud slam on the table jolted him out of it.

“I REIGN VICTORIOUS!” Cassandra shouted triumphantly, holding his oldest brother’s arm down. Whoops and yells echoed from their side of the table.

“Ow, okay okay! You win, gimme back my hand!” Raph yelped, shaking it out once Cassandra had let it go.

Leo seemed to be bouncing his hands a lot more, and Mikey gave him a curious look. The slider brightened when he saw it, eyes shining.

“Time for presents?” Leo suddenly asked, “Yay absolutely one hundred percent yes?”

“Ooh, yes, absolutely!” April answered, her eyes now shining even brighter than before.

“Mikey, are you good to wait here?” Leo asked. The box turtle nodded, trying to fix his composure so that he didn’t look like he was about to explode from happiness. Even though it was really hard to school his expression and he probably was going to.

Immediately, the majority of the family darted out of the kitchen, leaving only Mikey and Splinter in the room.

“My son,” Splinter said. Mikey’s head turned quickly at the sound, the box turtle’s eyes landing on the rat quickly.

“How are you doing? Do you need any kind of break before we continue with this?” his father asked.

Mikey was about to answer, before pausing. Did he need a break? This was the most amount of big interaction he’d had in a long while. Did he feel particularly drained?

Not really, he concluded. The little voice - something he hadn’t thought about in ages - also seemed to agree.

“Nope! I’m doing alright!” Mikey answered cheerfully. “It’s a lot, but I’m doing okay.”

“That is good.” Splinter settled further into the chair he occupied, an air of calm seemingly overtaking the room. “I do not believe I’ve seen them this excited in months. Even Draxum was quite excited.”

Mikey’s smile faltered a little. That was his fault wasn’t it? Scaring them all so badly, running away and disappearing right after they’d found him.

“I do not mean to upset you, Michelangelo.” Splinter said. Mikey’s eyes widened at the use of his name. “I am just happy that you are home, and that you are safe and healing. And I am happy that the family is back in its typical level of chaos.”

Mikey’s smile returned, this time accompanied by watering eyes. They were happy he was back. If his dad was saying it, it was for certain.

The rat opened his arms, and MIkey fell into the hug gratefully. Splinter’s hugs were always the best, and that hadn’t changed a bit.

The hug broken just as Casey Jr and Cassandra rushed back into the kitchen,

“ORANGE ONE! I HAVE ACQUIRED YOUR EXISTENCE DAY GIFT!” Cassandra announced proudly. Her grin didn’t seem nearly as manic as usual, holding something more genuine, but still extremely energetic nonetheless.

“We got our gifts too!” April called, triumphantly bounding through the door with something under her arm. The rest of his brothers entered as well, but Draxum was still off somewhere else.

Mikey didn’t mind it too much at the moment - his eyes were all caught on how happy his family looked. They placed an array of wrapped gifts on the table, all of them wrapped in varying levels of colors and tapes.

“Okay okay,” Leo announced. “You pick whichever one catches your eye first, and we’ll just go from there, okay?”

“Alright,” Mikey said, eyes drifting over the array in front of him.

The gifts were surprisingly varied. Handmade bead bracelets from Casey Jr, matching the ones he wore already. Face paint from Cassandra, as the mark of a fearsome warrior (according to her). A recipe book from April that had mystic recipes in it as well, so they could try making some later down the line.

Donnie (and Rem, according to his brother) gave him compression gloves to help stabilize his hands that fit perfectly, covered in purple and orange bands. Any shaking he had lessened by a lot, and Mikey almost cried while he hugged the softshell.

Raph and Leo had made a joint gift, and when Mikey had opened it he’d been shocked to see the dusty orange cape he’d worn for months sitting there. It was cleaned and folded nicely, and the tears in the edges had been sewn and embroidered over with Leo’s signature lightning flowers and Raph’s red fern leaf patterns. He’d put it on immediately, familiar weight and warmth washing over him as it settled on his shell.

As everyone was beginning to settle down, a familiar clacking of hooves signified Draxum’s arrival. Heads turned toward the door as the goat yokai walked over to him, clearly hiding something behind his back.

“Michelangelo,” he said although his ears were flicking the way they always did when he was nervous about something. “I am not the best with words, nor with gift-giving. However, I believe that all those months ago, I made a grave error in my actions. So, I have done my best to amend this mistake.”

The yokai pulled out the object he’d been hiding behind his back and presented it to him. “I believe this belongs to you. It’s been modified with mystic safeguards, in case you ever wish to use it for such purposes again, but it has linked to your mystic signature. It is yours.”

Mikey inhaled softly, eyes wandering over a familiarly shaped case.

HIs thoughts quietly began whispering in his mind, darting all over the place as he tried to understand what lay in front of him.

It can’t be.

Are they really giving this back to me, after everything?

How can they trust me with it? Why would they?

Mikey looked around, seeing the worried, slightly hopeful looks of his family around him. Leo’s eyes softened, and he gave MIkey a reassuring thumbs-up.

They really trust me. After hurting them and scaring them, they trust me.

They trust me even knowing what might go wrong.

Mikey smiled and took it from Draxum. “Thanks, Barry.”

Raph sighed, an expression of relief crossing his face. Everyone else seemed to relax as well, and Mikey allowed his own shoulders to drop as well.

“My son,” Splinter said, walking up to him as well. “I believe this belongs to you as well.”

An orange mask rested in his father’s hands, serenely waiting there. Quietly inviting him to take it, to be part of him again.

Mikey’s smile softened as well.

The fabric brushed against his hands as he put it on, something finally clicking that felt right. Like he belonged here again.

Somewhere, in the dark, a small orange spark flickered back to life.

Chapter 47: Alien Melody, Familiar Notes

Chapter Text

Mikey carefully eyed the case sitting on his desk.

He hadn’t dared to open it yet.

Mikey fiddled with the buttons on his compression gloves, the pressure and clicking of buttons a welcome relief to the quiet. His lights were dim, just enough so that he’d still be able to see but wouldn’t feel entirely blinded by it - the once familiar safety of the orange glow had shifted to something else.

The only bright lights in his room were the mystic orbs that still floated on his ceiling. Mikey still had no idea why they were there, or why they hadn’t dissipated, but at some point he began to consider them as part of the fairy lights.

The box turtle boredly tapped his hands on the edge of his hammock, nearly tipping over the edge a few times with how far he was leaning forward. He didn’t want to fall, but staying still was arguably the worst and most boring thing he could possibly be doing in the history of ever.

He could try drawing again, but he’d already made a new pile of crumpled paper in the corner of his room - it looked almost like he’d never cleaned it.

A shadow appeared in his doorway, and Mikey quickly took notice. It had a faint bluish glow to it, and it was much too small to belong to any of his family members.

A shimmer of blue and purple poked through the doorways, and Mikey froze for a second before he calmed back down.

It was just Rem - nothing bad. Since she’d been introduced, the remnant had been allowed mostly free reign to wander the Lair, during odd hours of the day or at night. She was hilariously curious as well - she stuck her ‘face’ into whatever she found that interested her. It had resulted in a couple losses of random objects strewn around the Lair, but other than that nothing really bad had happened with her around.

“Uh, hi?” he greeted. The remnant hummed politely in return, seemingly awaiting some kind of invitation.

“Oh, yeah you can come in here,” Mikey said quickly. “It’s alright!”

Rem chittered, padding into the train car without much of a care. She had also quickly gotten used to Mikey’s presence, alongside Donnie. When wandering, he was usually the one she’d follow around if Donnie was doing something else.

Rem also tried following the other family members around, and their responses often varied. April and Splinter didn’t really do much other than give her a sharp side-eye when she came into view. Same with Draxum, although the yokai seemed more interested in her biology than anything. Raph would often just give her a look - the kind he’d give his brothers when warning them not to try something stupid. Leo and Casey Jr would, more often than not, either portal away or hiss to tell her off.

Mikey could understand the harsher reactions, but Rem really hadn’t done anything except for existing. And living in his brother’s shell.

Okay, so maybe she’d done one thing, and it was gross, but she hadn’t done anything truly harmful.

Rem plopped down next to his hammock, her gaze tracking all over the room. It was a bit messy, and he couldn’t tell where she was looking, but a wrinkle in her face made him think she was judging him a little.

“It’s not that messy,” Mikey voiced aloud. “Don’t give me that face.”

The remnant turned to him, two of her eyes narrowed, the other open wide in what looked like a skeptical expression.

“It is not that bad! Leo’s room is worse!” Mikey objected. “I don’t think he’s shelved a comic book in ages!”

Rem shot a pointed look at the pile of crumpled paper on the floor, flicking a paper ball with the blob of blue vines that made up her tail.

Mikey rolled his eyes, half-dangling off the bed. “Okay, so maybe that corner is messy, you’ve made your point. I bet Donnie’s room is a lot cleaner if you’re pointing it out.”

Rem looked back up at him, a quick shake of her head and mischievous gleam in her eye.

“It’s not? No way, Dee always tries to keep his room clean!” Mikey yelped. Rem chittered her crests flaring as Mikey’s eyes went wide.

Mikey giggled as the remnant started chirping, like she was trying to talk to him. He did wish she could, but if she ever did that would probably scare the living daylights out of everyone.

Something seemed to catch the Kraang's attention, and she got up and wandered over to his desk. She was easily taller than it, and so Mikey could clearly see what she was curiously poking her nose at.

“Oh, that’s a violin,” Mikey explained. “I stole that one off the street maybe… almost a year ago? I’m not sure, it’s been a while. Anyway, it’s a human instrument - they use it to make music.”

Mikey rolled over in his hammock, now staring at the ceiling. “That one’s been enhanced so it can handle any mystic energy going through it. I’m not actually sure if it works, though. I haven’t used it since…”

Since everything.

A shuffling sound from near his desk, before Rem was padding back over to him. He didn’t look over to see what she was doing - he trusted the remnant not to do anything crazy. Or mess with stuff she wasn’t supposed to touch. Either way, Mikey did trust her.

Something cold was dropped into his hammock against his arm. Mikey looked over to see Rem had dropped the violin case there, her head tilted curiously.

“What? I know I said I haven’t used it in a while, but why’d you bring it over?”

Rem warbled something, before her crests flattened and her tail flicked in frustration. Now it was Mikey’s turn to tilt his head, as the remnant’s vines shifted near her throat.

“What are you doing?” he asked. The box turtle grabbed the violin, but didn’t open the case.

After a moment, Rem looked back at him, before opening a hidden mouth.

“Show? Music?”

The remnant’s voice was layered and wobbly, the sound bouncing up and down in the air. It was almost staticky, but also sounded a bit warped.

Mikey yelped and almost fell out of his hammock. When he’d wondered about Rem talking, he had not been expecting her to actually try it!

“How are you talking?” he demanded.

“Larynx structure mimic,” Rem explained briefly. She faltered for a second, before regaining some kind of composure. “Does not stay. What music? Show?”

Seeing her speak without moving her jaw was pretty creepy. If she had one.

“Wait, so you want me to show you what music is?” Mikey clarified. The remnant bobbed her head eagerly, tail flicking through the pile of crumpled paper balls.

Mikey paused, his heart speeding up.

On the one hand, he did want to try again. He really enjoyed playing the instrument, and the music he could play with it. It always felt so freeing.

On the other hand, the last time he’d used it, everything had gone to sh*t and everyone had gotten hurt. Mikey had no wish to repeat that, and if something did go wrong, he didn’t want Rem getting hurt because of it. An odd thought, considering her origin, but again, she’d done nothing malicious!

Rem nudged the case in his hand again, tilting her head. Another warble echoed from her.

“Okay, fine,” Mikey sighed. “But if I start glowing, you better stop me.”

The sealing spell should have dealt with that. If I start glowing then we have a problem.

Mikey took a shaky breath, before clicking open the locks on the case. Even with the compression gloves on, Mikey knew his hands were shaking like crazy.

It was just an instrument. It wasn’t gonna bite him.

“Okay?”

Rem’s eerie voice cut through his thoughts, and Mikey stopped.

“Y-yeah,” he replied. “It’s just… last time I used this, I ended up hurting people. I guess it’s making me nervous to try it out again.”

“Music hurts?”

“No, no, music doesn’t hurt people physically!” Mikey said quickly. “It wasn’t the music, it was my mystic powers. They kept going haywire whenever I used it, that was what was hurting people. I got them mostly under control at some point, but the actual last time I used it they messed up my arms. That’s why I'm wearing the gloves.”

The admission fell into the air with surprising ease.

“I guess it’s not really the violin, it was the magic,” he added. “But the violin conducted it, so maybe it’s bringing back bad memories.”

Mikey blinked, his eyes unfocused on the violin case. He still hadn’t opened it.

Rem made an odd noise, sounding almost like a sympathetic dove cooing at him. Her crests were flat now, and eyes drooping, almost sad.

“Okay, fine, I’ll try it!” Mikey said with a giggle. “Now I get how Raph and April feel when I use the puppy dog eyes on them.”

The box turtle took another breath, still trying to steady his hands.

The violin wasn’t going to hurt anyone. He didn’t have his mystic power available anymore. It wouldn’t hurt anybody.

He wouldn’t hurt anybody.

Even with those thoughts in mind, Mikey still closed his eyes when he opened the case. The brush of the wood against his fingers still sent a small flare of panic through the back of his mind. The bow in his hands could have easily weighed as much as the world.

An encouraging chirp from Rem - at least, he thought it was encouraging. He certainly hoped it was.

Mikey’s hands did not shake anymore as he set the violin on his shoulder. They barely shuddered as the bow was set against the strings, a tiny screech ringing in the air as it fell backward.

The box turtle’s throat closed a bit, and he swallowed quickly.

“I can do this,” he muttered to himself. “I got this. Just need a song.”

His mind wandered through all the memories of the songs he’d played, most laced with fear and red stains, but a few that were potent in happiness.

The first song he’d ever played rose to mind. Sketches, all that time ago.

It was thankfully an easy song to remember, and Mikey paused. And kept pausing. Why was he hesitating so much?

Another chirp brought him back. Right. He could do this. It wasn’t gonna bite him, he wasn’t going to hurt anyone, he was perfectly fine, nothing would go wrong if he tried it out a little bit.

The notes began to play, his hands started moving, and Mikey’s heart started racing again. The familiar sound sparked a river of unease, mixing with small specks of comfort and alertness.

The four notes rose and fell through the room, and Rem chittered while the box turtle did his best to concentrate on playing and not freaking out. It was actually a bit trickier without the mystic powers guiding his movements, but he could still at least play.

Slowly, the repetitive rhythm lulled Mikey out of his panic, as he focused more on moving his hands instead of worrying about what might happen. It was unbelievably soothing, almost cathartic, but not quite there.

At some point, an odd beeping note started playing alongside the melody, and Mikey looked over to see Rem’s head bobbing gently in time with the tune. Her crests were flashing at the same time as the beeping notes, and the Kraang creature’s entire body was swaying like a pendulum as she added her own notes.

For a long while, they just sat there, music twisting gently through the air as Mikey kept up the notes. He was unbelievably relaxed, considering his prior worry - it was getting easier the longer he played for.

The beeping cut short, and Mikey’s melody was quickly jolted out of tune by Rem nosing at his arm with quick chuffs and wide eyes.
Mikey snapped out of the trance he’d put himself in - not even mystic, just lulled into a feeling of safety.

“Music is enjoyable,” Rem said. “Thank you.”

“No problem!” Mikey said as Rem nudged him again. “Was that you making those beeps?”

The remnant bobbed her head, and hummed a couple more electronic sounding notes while Mikey stowed away the violin again.

That hadn’t been nearly as bad as the scared part of his mind had been telling him. Mikey was feeling a lot better, truthfully - he’d missed the movement, the sounds, even though they still filled him with a little bit of dread.

“Thank you too,” Mikey said. He didn’t really know what else to say - there weren’t words.

Yeah, Rem wasn’t bad. Mikey knew that now. She wasn’t going to hurt anyone, and she’d shown him that he wasn’t going to hurt anyone either. It was pretty cool.

Rem stood from where she’d been sitting, flicking aside more paper as she bounced over to the door, looking almost like she was inviting him to follow. Pink eyes glimmered in the orange light, blinking slowly as Mikey put the violin case away.

“You want me to follow you?” he questioned. Rem bobbed her head, before her eyes flicked to his desk. With a quick movement, she snatched the pencil he’d been using to try and draw and darted out the door with a mischievous flick of her tail.

“Hey! Give that back!” Mikey called, chasing after the remnant. Laughter echoed through the halls of the subway station as the two played a game of chase.

Somewhere, the spark flickered into a small flame. It lived again.

Chapter 48: Broken Seals

Chapter Text

Mikey had been practicing more with the violin again. He was a lot less worried about the consequences after the first time - he had no more mystic mojo. Nothing in his immediate vicinity would blow up if he used the instrument.

He still hadn’t admitted that to his family yet, for fear of freaking them out. Especially the part where he’d been playing in secret, with nobody really knowing except for Rem and occasionally Shelldon.

Mikey was okay to keep it that way for a bit. Even if it sparked an immense amount of guilt over him keeping secrets from his family again.

He’d really thought he was past this, but nerves kept jumbling in his mind whenever he even thought to mention it. His family had given it back to him, yes, but now that he was using it he was a bit scared of how they’d react.

Mikey didn’t want to hurt them by accident. Even without the mysticism, there was a pretty fair chance he’d scare the sh*t out of them if they saw.

On the one hand, he really wanted to tell them.

On the other, his stupid brain kept scaring him out of it.

So Mikey didn’t. He was okay with it, he was.

The pencil he was working with snapped as he applied too much pressure to the graphite.

Fine, I’m not okay with it, the box turtle thought as he grabbed the pencil sharpener, an irritated chirp escaping him as he twisted the pencil.

So Mikey wasn’t nearly as alright with keeping the secret as he was before, but it was fine , because that was probably a normal thing to think, and he didn’t want to hurt anyone with the secret, so keeping it had to be okay, right?

It really doesn’t feel like it, the little voice whispered, making an appearance for the first time in a while. We should tell them.

The pencil tip snapped in the sharpener.

The box turtle hissed, frustration beginning to fray his nerves. Now his brain was bouncing the idea back and forth, and now instead of doing anything remotely productive he was going to sit here and think. Wonderful.

But telling them might scare them!

You scared them a lot worse the first time this happened. They’ll probably freak out a lot less if you say something beforehand, his brain reasoned. And yeah, okay, that sounded pretty smart. A lot like something Donnie would say.

“Angelo?”

Damn. Speak of the devil and he shall appear, I guess.

Mikey looked up to see Donnie eyeing him curiously. The only reason Mikey could see his concern was because his eyebrows were furrowed.

“Yeah?”

“Have you seen Leo?” the softshell asked. “I’m trying to find him to teach him how to fix his arm port, but he keeps slipping away.”

Mikey shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, haven’t seen him. I’ve been drawing here.”

His older brother’s eyes drifted to the half-sketches on the page. “And how has that been going?”

Mikey’s entire brain paused. He really couldn’t say ‘well’ without blatantly lying, his brain reasoned.

“Kinda iffy,” he admitted. “I’m out of practice.”

Donnie leaned on the doorway - a classic older sibling doorway lean, Leo would say - but didn’t keep staring. “Are the gloves helping?”

“Yeah, absolutely! It’s not the gloves, I promise.”

The softshell snorted, a smile crossing his face. “Sounds like something one of those cheesy romcom romances would use for dialogue. It’s not you, it’s me!”

His brother dramatically placed a hand on his forehead, mock distress crossing his face.

“I’m sorry, I must leave thee!” Mikey added, dropping his voice as low as he could get it to go before lapsing into giggles. Donnie barked a laugh, covering his eyes with his hands.

For a moment, Mikey forgot about his worry, still caught up in laughing with his brother.

“Angelo? I have a query.”

Mikey’s laughter bubbled off, looking back up at his brother curiously. “What?”

Donnie’s eyes widened by a fraction, before he shook his head. “Sorry, that’s what Rem says whenever she wants to ask me something. I’ve got a question.”

“I know what query means, doofus,” Mikey replied with a grin. “Unlike Leo, I actually read sometimes. What’s your question?”

“Gasp, one of my brothers read actual books? I never thought I'd live to see the day!”

“What’s the question? You’ve got me more curious now!”

Donnie pointed to his hammock, a spark of curiosity in his voice. “Did you start using the violin again? The case is open.”

Mikey looked over, realizing he hadn’t closed it from when he’d been playing earlier. “Oh… um… yeah. I have been.”

Way to not tell anyone.

He literally just pointed it out, what else am I supposed to say?

Donnie’s eyes didn’t narrow, but he did freeze up a bit. “Has anything… y’know… happened?”

Mikey rolled his eyes. “Nope. Nothing earth-shattering, anyway. It’s just been a little trickier to play without the mystic stuff. I didn’t realize it was helping me.”

“Are you sure?”

Mikey nodded, rubbing his hands on his arms. The comfortable fabric was a nice feeling against his scales, keeping him mostly calm.

Mostly. The entire conversation was making him a little bit nervous now, especially considering that he’d been unreasonably terrified to even have this conversation five minutes ago. Now he felt less so terrified, more so kind of… neutral to it.

Donnie raised an eyebrow, but didn’t push it. The softshell seemed much more calm than he’d expected him to be.

“I swear, nothing’s happened. Nothing noticeable, anyway, not like last time,” Mikey said, his words coming quickly and nervously. Had he been using mystics? No, he would have recognized the signs, he knew them well enough… he thought. He hoped.

A hand rested on his shoulder, and Mikey jolted out of his thoughts. Donnie had walked up next to him and was giving him an extremely concerned look. Especially for Donnie.

“Mikey, I know I am not exactly well-qualified for emotional talks,” his brother said, “but… are you doing okay? You haven’t zoned out that far in weeks.”

Mikey’s entire brain halted.

Shiiit, what do I say?

Just tell him the truth! Nothing’s gonna happen.

But I don’t wanna put anything on him?

For the love of Pizza Supreme, just tell him!

A couple quick taps on his shoulder. “Hey, come on. Stay with me, Mikey. Don’t zone out too far, okay?”

“Okay,” Mikey muttered, taking a quick breath to bring himself back. “I’m still with you.”

Donnie’s eyes softened, crouching down to his eye level. “Okay, good. Can you answer the question?”

Mikey hummed, thought flickering through his head. He debated for a quick moment longer, before finally settling into certainty.

“Um… I guess not. I thought if I told you you’d all freak out.”

Donnie blinked in surprise. “Why’d you think that?”

Mikey ducked his head a bit, nerves jumbled and jolting with unease. “You literally just asked if anything weird happened while I was playing the violin earlier. I think you know why I thought that.”

Donnie clicked his tongue, his eyes darting away to the side. “Yeah, alright, you’ve got me there. I guess we’re both worried about that.”

Mikey huffed slightly, turning back to the page he was drawing on. He absently started doodling, carefully sketching out a circle on the page, not paying not too much attention to the little symbols he was making. They were just somewhere in the back of his mind, floating aimlessly around.

“It shouldn’t be a problem, though,” Mikey said, trying to reassure his older brother. “The sealing spell did the job pretty effectively, so nothing will happen.”

“That still scares me a tad,” Donnie said. “The fact that I just can no longer feel your ninpo anymore. It’s… strange.”

“I didn’t think about that, to be honest.”

“It’s certainly unnerving.”

Mikey settled back into his chair, still half-focused on his sketching. A warm fire had sparked in the back of his mind, the typical fire of the creative flow he always enjoyed slipping into putting him on a semi-autopilot.

“Has anyone heard you play when you’re not possessed by mystic power?” Donnie asked, tapping his hands on the back of Mikey’s chair.

Mikey rolled his eyes as another little symbol appeared in a mass of circles. “It’s not possession, it’s a trance. Big Mama explained it at some point.”

He could practically hear the questions running wild through Donnie’s brain. “I’ll answer your questions later. Weren’t you looking for Leo?”

“I’m currently more intrigued by the pattern you’re drawing,” Donnie admitted. “I’ve only ever seen similar patterns in mystic texts for spells, and never one of such complexity. There is admittedly a trace of familiarity to it, but I cannot quite pin it down.”

Mikey blinked away from the autopilot in his drawing brain, to see an array that had been carefully sketched out and constructed on the page before him. There were a lot of circles, which usually meant a more powerful spell. The symbols in it were also strikingly familiar - they were upside down, a reversal - and they looked similar to the ones of the sealing spell he’d put in place… maybe two months ago? A little longer?

The circle in the middle was empty, patiently awaiting the last symbol.

“What kind of array is it?” Donnie asked.

“I think it’s like the sealing spell?” Mikey admitted, noting when Donnie froze up. “I can’t read the runes very well, but they’re upside down. That space in the middle locks in the spell.”

“When did you learn that?”

“Big Mama taught me about arrays. I think she was trying to help me do spells in a safer way.”

A slightly disbelieving snort sounded from behind him. Mikey whirled around to see an apprehensive look on Donnie’s face. “It’s true! She was always telling me how arrays worked, or how to stave off mystic feedback loops.”

“Alright, I'll believe you,” the softshell said, putting up his hands. “I admit you’ve got me curious about what the spell you’ve drawn is now. Do you know what’s supposed to go in the middle?”

“It’s not gonna do anything,” Mikey pointed out. “No more mystic mojo, remember?”

“You could still finish it and maybe show it to Draxum. Maybe he’d know.”

Donnie did make a very good point. If anyone would know what the array was, it would probably be the old goat yokai.

Mikey started sifting through his memory, trying to see if he could remember what symbol was supposed to go there. Not that he was actively looking for it, it seemed to be dancing just out of reach, barely brushing against his thoughts before darting away again.

He wasn’t going to let it go that easily.

A few more moments of shifting through his memory, and Mikey finally caught the elusive little thing.

“I got it!” he announced, sketching it out carefully. It filled the circular space, even with somewhat shaky hands.

The last line went into place, and… nothing happened.

The brothers blinked in confusion.

“Maybe one of us needs to activate it?” Donnie tried, flipping down his goggles to examine the paper.

“If it's a problematic spell, I could do it,” Mikey offered. “It wouldn’t do anything.”

The softshell flipped up his goggles, his expression one similar to suggesting they replace every piece of technology in the Lair with rotary phones and radios.

“Angelo, I do not mean to be rude, but the last time you messed with mystics-”

“It’ll be fine, Dee! It’s not gonna hurt anybody!”

Something I still need to convince myself of, he thought ruefully.

His older brother flashed through a flurry of facial expressions, before settling on a guarded nervousness. “Okay, but if anything happens, I’m stopping you.”

“Got it!”

Mikey took another breath - he was still trying to calm his nerves a bit.

It was alright. Nothing bad was gonna happen.

He reached out his hand, and quickly placed it on the array, waiting for a flurry of fire or warmth or anything indicative of his mystic power to show itself.

Nothing.

“Oh, thank Pizza Supreme,” he whispered quietly. He leaned back in his chair, pulling his hand away - only to have the paper come with it.

That was not normal. His hand had not been placed on the page long enough for it to be sticking to his scales. It slid across the desk to the edge, but didn’t dare to pull his hand away now.

Something clicked, deep within the back of his head, like a combination lock carefully puzzling itself out. It didn’t make any sense to Mikey, but he didn’t dare brush it off.

“Mikey? You can take your hand off the paper now.”

“I… I can't. It’s stuck.”

Donnie flipped down his goggles again, confusion and wariness blossoming in the air. “Are you sure it's stuck?”

To prove his point, Mikey lifted his hand off the desk. The page came with it.

“That’s… unusual.”

The lock kept on clicking, and something started to light. It felt familiar, but in an eerie, kind of scary way.

That can’t be good.

“Donnie, can you get it off?” Mikey asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. He watched his brother’s newly attained spines (he was still getting used to those) slip out as the softshell continuously tried to get it off. The array wasn’t budging.

“sh*t,” Mikey mumbled, trying to shake it off.

The lock clicked again, and the flare grew, and just before the lock clicked open Mikey’s eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.

Donnie pulled him off the chair just as familiar, fiery warmth exploded in the box turtle’s soul, the chill he’d unknowingly grown so accustomed to chased away by a vibrant burn rippled through his entire being. Lightning sharp pain shot through his scars, and he cried out as the fire surged forth and roared .

He couldn’t hear Donnie calling his name, but as the fire burned brightly, he suddenly could feel his brother’s ninpo again. He could feel all of them, a feeling he hadn’t realized he’d missed. Even so, it burned, coursing through his body and torching his thoughts. Mikey wailed again, being held by someone, probably his brother.

And just as suddenly as the pain had struck through him, it was fading away into a manageable, warm core sitting happily in his chest where it seemed to fit perfectly.

Mikey took gasping breaths of air, trying to shake off the remnants of the sudden, overwhelming surge of mysticism. Suddenly, air had never felt so wonderfully cool on his throat.

“MIKEY!”

Oh, right. Donnie was still here.

“I’m okay!” he yelped quickly. The box turtle moved to get up, but found he was being firmly held by the softshell on the floor.

“That is it, no more messing with random mystic arrays!” Donnie scolded. “And you are definitely not okay, you just experienced a mystic power surge!”

“I’m more okay than I was thirty seconds ago, does that work?”

“Slightly better, but still. ”

Mikey bumped his head against his brother’s plastron, trying to process what had just happened. Then it hit him.

sh*t.

That was a reversal spell. It reversed the lock I put on my own mystic power so I wouldn't hurt anyone.

“Donnie,” Mikey hissed. “It undid the sealing spell.”

A short chirp of acknowledgement was all he got as he started to panic.

“No, Dee, I have to put the seal back,” the box turtle said, his words tumbling over one another. “It’s not safe to have this mystic power, I have to fix it. It’ll be easier this time, I know what to do-”

A strong hand pulled Mikey closer to his brother’s plastron, and a sniffle sounded in the now quiet room.

“Don’t,” Donnie whispered. Mikey could feel the relief echoing in his brother’s ninpo, in his entire family’s ninpo. “We just got you back. You’re back with us. Don’t… don’t seal it away. Please. ”

Mikey’s will to re-install the sealing spell completely shattered when Donnie’s voice broke.

For a moment, he was tempted to try it anyway.

Surges of relief and joy and excitement rolled through the ninpo link, the feeling surprisingly welcome among the panic. The box turtle could feel the pure euphoria from them, and the sad relief from Donnie.

“Okay,” Mikey said, even if the only-half-functioning part of his brain was heavily objecting. “I… I won’t seal off my mystic power again.”

A chirp echoed from Donnie, small but grateful, and Mikey returned the sound. He nuzzled in closer to his brother and just sat there for a while.

All while observing the newly reborn flames dancing in his chest, as they joyfully refilled the space in his being that had for so long been devoid of that very thing. Something he hadn’t even really been aware he missed.

He could figure out the mystic problem tomorrow.

For now, Mikey was safe in his older brother’s arms.

Chapter 49: A Slow Return

Chapter Text

After unsealing his power, Mikey started hiding from his family.

Admittedly, it wasn’t something he was entirely wanting to do, but the quiet fear that had subsided a while ago had returned. The one that whispered of harm and pain.

Naturally, nobody particularly enjoyed this development, and they’d seek him out whenever they could, trying to make sure Mikey wasn’t by himself. Which led to a very awkward cat and mouse game whenever Mikey was trying to keep his brother’s away from him.

And sometimes, it didn’t even work the way he was hoping for. For example, right now.

“Mikey, you gotta believe me, this will be awesome,” Leo chattered from next to him. “If we can get Casey to try pizza, he’ll definitely stop hunting rats! I can’t believe he’s been doing it the whole time, by the way, that sounds kinda gross. He offered me one the other day, but I think it was frozen.”

The box turtle’s face scrunched up, keeping his arms around himself. “He better not be keeping dead rats in my freezer.”

“I think he is,” Leo confirmed, at least having the sympathy to wince a bit.

Mikey grumbled, trying to keep his annoyance with that fact out of earshot. That was absolutely unsanitary - he hoped Casey Jr was at least cleaning them properly before putting them next to the rest of the food.

“Anyway, I was thinking,” Leo continued, trying to steer the conversation away from the dead rat thing (Mikey was not going to let that go), “maybe we could try making him pizza. Or we could order from Hueso’s place.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Mikey said. “Hueso would probably give it to you for free if he knew why you were ordering it.”

“He would never do that,” Leo snorted.

Mikey grinned, although his own wariness did not fade. “He absolutely would, you’re his favorite customer.”

“Why thank you, that’s what I’ve been telling him!” the slider announced proudly. His brother would have said something else had something not come running up behind them. A happy chirp of greeting, from Rem.

The mood of the room shifted instantly, and Mikey saw a flash of silver as Leo drew his swords. Panic sparked to life in Mikey’s brain, and he soon found himself standing between a very nervous Leo, weapons drawn, and a spooked Technodrome remnant who was hissing like a feral cat.

“Leo, it’s okay, it’s just Rem!” Mikey yelped quickly, trying his best to stay calm.

The slider hissed, glaring at the remnant with a small spark of fear in his eyes. “Sneaking up behind us doesn’t really qualify as okay, Angelo. Look, she’s clearly aggressive!”

“You drew your swords first!” Mikey snapped. “I’d be pretty ticked if someone drew a sword on me, too.”

Leo’s eyes didn’t waver. Frustration started to build in the back of his mind, and Mikey took a step forward.

“Leo, put the swords down,” he hissed. “Rem didn’t do anything.”

His older brother’s eyes snapped from the remnant to him, and they went wide. He carefully sheathed the swords without a word. Concern was flashing across his face.

“Mikey…”

The slider barely pointed to something beside him - not Rem then, as she had wandered off - and for a second, Mikey didn’t understand what Leo was worried about.

Until a flash of orange chains started to glow in his periphery, and he realized his mysticism was active.

He let go of the magic instantly, cold fear replacing the sparking annoyance.

“sh*t, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean that,” Mikey hissed quickly, “I didn’t mean to scare you, I promise-”

A cold, metal hand rested on his shoulder, the one next to his broken shell, and Mikey jolted away from it.

“Mikey, I promise, you didn’t scare me, it's okay!” Leo said, trying to calm him down. “It just happened, nothing went wrong!”

“But it could have!” he objected quickly. “I could have lost control of it, I could have hurt you again-”

The slider firmly grabbed a hold on his shoulders, shaking him a little. “Mikey, look at me. Nothing went wrong. Nothing happened. You didn’t lose control. And I know you wouldn’t hurt me on purpose.”

“But-”

“Nope.” Leo fixed a firm look on Mikey, “You’re getting used to the mystic mambo jumbo again, you’re bound to let it slip a couple times. If it’s really worrying you this much we can go talk to Barry about it.”

Mikey blinked at him in surprise. “Since when are you one to go talk to Draxum?”

Leo ‘s gaze diverted, a slightly embarrassed look crossing his face. “He’s been helping me with some mystic stuff of my own. Nothing too much to worry about. He will probably want to know that your mystics resurfaced anyway.”

“Yeah…” the box turtle trailed off, worry still hissing through his mind. “You’re really not scared?”

The slider leaned back, with such ease Mikey wondered if he’d even been scared in the first place. “Not a smidge, hermano. I’m not scared of a bit of mystic mayhem.”

Mikey snorted a little. Maybe his brother really wasn’t scared of it. Him.

“Besides, if there’s anything to be scared of, it’s absolutely the pizza experiments Cassandra’s been messing with,” Leo added, letting go of Mikey’s shoulders. “I’ve seen the stuff she’s been trying to make, it’s absolutely terrifying. I’ve never heard of squid ink pizza before.”

“Leo, that’s a real kind of pizza!” Mikey said with an exaggerated eye roll. His worry was starting to melt away. “It’s a popular choice of food in Japan.”

“NO WAY, ACTUALLY?” Leo yelped.

“Yep.”

“That sounds scary.”

“Not any creepier than the Super Creepy Supreme you and Donnie always get from Hueso’s.”

Even as the conversation turned away from the mystic outburst, Mikey couldn’t help worriedly checking over his ninpo, over the little spark that was his mysticism. He could have lost it, and something could have gone wrong.

“Angelo,” Leo said. He poked the box turtle. “C’mon, it’s okay. I’m sorry I freaked you out badly enough to activate your mystic power. Let’s just forget about it for a bit, okay?”

“Sure, fine,” Mikey muttered. “But stop being rude to Rem. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”

Leo looked like he was about to object, but Mikey walked away quickly. He needed to think. He needed to be by himself for a bit.

As the box turtle walked, a small shiver of fear echoed down his spine. He almost did the same thing that he had all that time ago, the day he ran off. That could have been disastrous.

If his mystic power acted up like that again, there would be problems. But he’d already promised Donnie he wouldn’t seal it away again, so what was there to do?

An idea clicked into his brain.

-=+=-

“You want me to teach you how to keep your mysticism in check?” Draxum clarified, a stern, almost confused look on the yokai’s face. Mikey nodded quickly.

“Yep! If I can keep my mystic power under control, then nothing’s gonna go wrong!”

The yokai eyed him with an expression Mikey couldn’t decipher. He was good at reading people, but Draxum’s expressions were still a bit tricky to pin down unless they were very extreme. Usually it defaulted either to mild disappointment or utter confusion. And sometimes evil scientist when he and Donnie were working on something.

“I must warn you, Michelangelo,” Draxum said, “What you are attempting to place under control will be difficult to accomplish. Mystics are both a well-esteemed logical science and a highly emotional and soulful art. It truly depends on the personality of the mystic user. The more connected to oneself the user is, the easier it is to wield. If the user is too far out of tune, their mystic becomes unstable and difficult to manage. My theory is that you are currently battling with the latter. Trying to control mystics by force when you are struggling to be in-tune is incredibly dangerous - if the previous results were not an indicator.”

Mikey winced at the last few words. Draxum sighed, turning away from him.
“I don’t get it though,” the box turtle said. “It was working completely fine before all this, I don’t get what should have changed that.”

The goat yokai turned back to him with a disbelieving stare. “Did you completely forget about the past almost year, Michelangelo? That alone would be enough to disconnect any sane being.”

“Wha- oh. Yeah, that makes more sense.”

Draxum sighed again - something he did a lot. “From my understanding, there is a human science that would come into play with this; I believe the term is psychology. The mystic arts are not solely about learning spells - it is founded on the balance of oneself and their physical, mental, and emotional state. It takes a lot of time to master. You were already fairly on track to becoming well-stabilized before these events; now, you will need to regain that ground. I ask again, are you certain you want to do this?”

Mikey took a few moments to think.

This sounds like it’s gonna be a lot harder than I thought.

But it could help! It could lessen the risk of hurting anyone and has the added bonus of learning how to get the mysticism back into a spot where it’s actually usable!

Point made.

Mikey blinked back up at Draxum, a grin crossing his face. “I wanna try it. I can do it!”

The yokai snorted, but there wasn’t the usual dismissive tone that always came with it. A gentle smile drew across Draxum’s face, in probably the most gentle he’d ever seen him look.

“That’s the spirit. Now, go fetch your instrument. It will be a part of the key to succeeding.”

Mikey’s grin widened, and he darted over and hugged the yokai quickly. The box turtle darted out of the room, yelling a quick thanks over his shoulder, to go get the violin.

-=+=-

The training wasn’t nearly as grueling as Mikey was expecting.

Draxum explained that they would be starting small with their exercises, in order to not generate problematic mystic feedback loops or stress him out too much. It went by very, very slowly, enough that Mikey sometimes found his mind wandering.

There was also a lot more talking involved than he thought there would be. Draxum, despite his prickly and indifferent attitude, was very calm whenever Mikey was just speaking. He just went through the motions and showed him what he needed to do. It was impressively different to the way he’d been acting toward any of them a year ago.

But there was quite a bit of just talking. Discussing random topics, explaining things about the Nexus, how their mutations and their mystics worked in tandem. Draxum explained them in a calm monotone, as though he’d explained them all before and was simply repeating a memorized speech.

The actual mystic training started quite small as well. Simple things, like making small balls of light in his hands or lifting a mug, took a painfully long time to figure out. Apparently, the consequences of being taught complex spells before simple ones, Draxum had told him.

So Mikey was maybe having a bit of trouble moving the books he was supposed to be practicing with between two tables, because it kind of hurt and he still really wasn’t used to it. The notes he was trying to play were always a bit too pitched in a different direction, so the book would slide backwards or off the table entirely. If the bow got yanked, it flew up to the ceiling before landing on the table - or on his head. That one hadn’t been fun to learn.

But it was okay. He had to keep telling himself that.

“Michelangelo.”

The box turtle yelped, started out of thought, and his hands accidentally yanked the bow to the left. The book flew off the table and landed on the other one, but not before knocking over the same mug he’d been trying to practice with and letting it roll across the table.

“Uh… I guess that worked?” Mikey said, trying to keep a humorous tone.

“I suppose it did,” Draxum noted. “Was that on purpose, or because I startled you?”

“You startled me.”

“Understood. Now you know which way the book will fly when you yank the bow in that direction.”

“It hit me in the head last time.”

“I remember this. You were shouting at it rather irately.”

Mikey looked over, slightly confused. “Irate means angry, right?”

The yokai nodded, before turning to face him. “Michelangelo, you are making progress, but it seems to me that you purposely hinder it whenever you are around others. Does that have anything to do with the previous instances of outbursts?”

Mikey actually paused, before nodding. “I told you this before. I don’t wanna accidentally hurt anyone with my mystic powers again.”

Draxum sighed, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “The more afraid of it you are, the more disconnected you will be, and it will act accordingly. You understand that?”

The box turtle nodded again, his head dropping lower into his shell a bit. His gaze turned back to the book on the table, its pages splayed open. A couple of the pages were bent at rather unfortunate angles.

“It will take time to reacquaint yourself with the power,” Draxum said carefully. “You made this choice to commit to relearning how to use it. It will be a struggle, so this may be a good first step.”

Mikey tore his gaze away from the book on the table and looked back to Draxum in confusion.

“Try moving objects around the house. Be it actively or passively,” Draxum explained. “The others will need to get used to your power again regardless of what may happen. It will help.”

The box turtle sighed, eyeing his own hands nervously. The violin that he held in them didn’t seem malicious or scary or anything of the like - it just seemed to exist. Serenely resting there as though blood had never once stained its surface.

Red stained his hands as he stood over the body of another yokai, looking down without care.

When had he lost the empathy he’d once stood so adamantly for?

He blinked quickly, trying to reorient himself.

“Will it get better?” Mikey whispered. “Like, not just the mysticism. Everything.”

Draxum stilled, no automated response immediately jumping into the air. Mikey stilled as well.

“I cannot say for sure,” the goat yokai said carefully. “But we can try to make it as better as it can be.”

The box turtle smiled, and set the violin aside on the table. He darted back over and gave Draxum a hug. The goat yokai startled, arms raised high in surprise.

“Thanks for teaching me this,” Mikey said. “And helping the rest of the family. I knew you were a good guy.”

A moment of stillness, before Mikey felt Draxum hesitantly return the hug.

“Of course,” the yokai said. “You are welcome, son.”

Chapter 50: Golden Wings

Chapter Text

Mikey was finally, finally starting to feel more comfortable with his mystics again. Draxum’s trick of using it around the house more often was working quite well, actually - he’d gotten to the point where he could lift small object without the violin. He could put away the dishes with his mind!

He was still a bit hesitant to use them as much around his family, but when he was training or just by himself, Mikey was learning quickly. It involved a lot of hard talks and a painful amount of standing or sitting still, but it was starting to work.

It was still pretty slow, though. The box turtle had to keep reminding himself that it was okay that it was taking so much time.

He could still feel a little impatient though, right?

Mikey was sitting on the living room floor, a glare fixated on a particularly normal looking pencil. He was trying to pick it up with his mystics, but for some reason this specific pencil had a habit of being very stubborn when it came to his mystic training. It had been sharpened down to half a pencil’s normal length, and the eraser was missing. Why this one pencil seemed to hate being moved by anything that wasn’t his hands, Mikey was not sure.

The box turtle chirred at it in irritation, before refocusing his thoughts to lifting the pencil. It was going to fly today , and the pencil would have no say in the matter, because it was a pencil and he could lift other pencils easier than this.

“Is that pencil still giving you trouble?” Donnie asked, popping up behind him.

“Uh… maybe? Yeah, it’s being annoying.”

Mikey could hear his older brother rolling his eyes. “It can’t be annoying, it’s not sentient."

The softshell crouched down next to him, observing the pencil carefully. Mikey stifled a giggle at how serious his older brother’s expression was, like he could incinerate it with simply the power of his glare.

“I think it’s holding a grudge against me for some reason,” Mikey joked, rolling it on the floor a bit. “Which is wild, because I treat my drawing supplies with utmost care and respect!”

Donnie snorted, observing it more closely. “Actually, maybe it is sentient. Isn’t this the same pencil you broke way back in Chapter 1?”

Immediate confusion clouded Mikey’s brain. Donnie had a habit of saying stuff like he was breaking the fourth wall, but this one hit some kind of bell in his brain that he couldn’t pin down. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t worry about it,” the softshell dismissed. “It may be irritated that you broke it.”

“You just said pencils aren’t sentient, though.”

“Hush, dear Angelo, we shall never know,” Donnie said, tapping his shell - the prosthetic piece - lightly. “The day you can lift the hostile pencil is the day it forfeits its battle with your willpower.”

Mikey couldn’t help giggling now, any concentration he’d had on lifting the pencil evaporating in an instant. Donnie followed suit, and the two dissolved into a laughing fit on the living room floor. It rang through the Lair, echoing gleefully through the halls of the subway station and carrying through every room and every hallway. It was a sound that the Lair hadn’t heard in a long time.

Their laughter seemed to be attracting people into the living room, and soon enough someone was poking their head in to see what was going on.

“And what’re you two cackling about?” Leo called from one doorway, Casey Jr poking his head out next to the slider. “Was it a meme?”

“I still don’t know what that is,” Casey Jr piped up.

“No, no,” Mikey managed to get out between the giggles. “We’re discussing the fate of The Pencil.”

“What on Earth?” Leo asked, walking into the room and sitting down next to them. Casey followed, but he didn’t sit down, instead choosing to stand

Mikey held out one hand, although his laughter was making it hard to focus on actually moving the pencil. “I’m trying to lift it, right? I’ve been trying with this one pencil for weeks , it won’t move!”

Leo snorted as the pencil didn’t move, proving Mikey’s point rather effectively.

“Wait, that looks like my Michelangelo’s pencil!” Casey yelped. “It was the one thing he couldn’t lift for the life of him!”

“NO WAY, IT MADE IT INTO THE FUTURE?” Donnie yelled, doubling over further. Leo burst out laughing as well, and by this point Mikey was crying with laughter and still trying to move the stupid pencil.

“WHY IS IT SO STUBBORN?” Mikey gasped between wheezes, trying to concentrate on lifting it, but it would not budge an inch. Leo cackled like a maniac, flopping backward onto the floor and accidentally taking Casey Jr with him, which only resulted in more laughter from everyone.

“What is going on in here?” April yelled, having just walked in with Raph, who saw nothing but a mess of wheezing teenagers on the ground surrounding a rather normal looking pencil.

“The pencil won’t move!” Donnie tried to explain, but he was laughing too hard to properly articulate anything. “It won’t f*cking move , dude!”

“I swear I’m trying!” Mikey yelped back, another attempt failing as he heard Raph snort and try to keep some kind of composure.

“HOW,” was all April could say.

By now the entire family had dissolved into laughter, the air itself alive with their joy as the sun shone down from one of the staircase windows. It bathed the room in warmth, settling over them like a gentle blanket.

Mikey was actually crying with laughter now - tears were rolling down his face as he tried desperately to catch his breath and sit up. But nope, the box turtle seemed to be permanently stuck on the floor now, all because he was laughing too hard.

He managed to pull himself back up (after a LOT of effort and falling backward again) and Mikey tried to blink away the tears in his eyes.

Something fluttered close to his face, the soft sound rippling through the air around them.

Mikey’s eyes opened, a small flash of panic sparking in his mind, before the whole world seemed to pause.

There was a butterfly on his face. It was a monarch, colorful orange wings batting gently as it skittered over and settled near his eye. The laughter went silent as he looked away, to see everyone staring at the ceiling and walls in awe.

Monarch butterflies were everywhere.

They clung to the pipes, the brickwork, the fairy light strands that arced across their ceilings, a massive flurry of orange and black almost looking like leaves in the fall. Some were flapping about, drifting from wall to wall; others were swooping low nearby the turtles, some landing on their arms and faces, settling there for a good moment before flying off again. Mikeys own butterfly took off to rejoin the swarm, and another two landed to replace it.

“Woah,” Leo gasped softly, sitting up and gazing at the shimmering waves of orange that now decorated their ceiling.

“It’s not their migration season, is it?” April whispered.

“I don’t believe so,” Donnie answered, just as softly as a butterfly landed squarely on the tip of his snout.

Mikey hear a bit of sniffling off to his left, and saw Casey Jr tearing up with a smile on his face.

“You good, Casey?” he asked quietly, trying not to startle the butterflies on his face. They seemed to like it there, settling almost warmly on his face.

“Y-yeah,” the boy muttered, watching as wings swarmed his hands. “I just… I’ve never seen butterflies before. They’re even more beautiful than I thought they would be.”

Leo grinned, gently elbowing him. “And these are only the orange ones. There’s so many other colors.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah. They come in every color imaginable.”

Mikey smiled again as butterflies scampered over his mask, a couple of their wings nearly covering his eyes. “This is so sick, dude.”

“Raph could get used to this,” April joked, pointing a thumb toward the snapper. He was looking at the butterflies in complete admiration and surprise, and Mikey half remembered how most animals didn’t like going near him. This was probably one of the best days of Raph’s existence, if the look on his face was anything to go by.

“But why are they here?” Donnie questioned quietly. “They’re nowhere near their time of year for migrating, but-”

“Donnie, shush,” Leo said. “How about we figure out the why later, after we enjoy the now, m’kay?”

The softshell looked like he was about to protest, but another butterfly landed on his snout and seemed to give him the most pleading stare an insect could give. Mikey couldn’t contain more giggles as his older brother sighed in resignation.

“I’m still gonna figure out the why later,” Donnie muttered.

“Good luck with that,” Leo said, grinning at him casually. “I don’t think the swarm’s gonna stick around long enough for you to find out.”

More butterflies landed on Mikey’s hands, and he carefully tuned out his brothers to watch them. They fluttered on the edges of his fingers, their antennae waving around curiously, some of them even seeming to stare back at him with wide, dark eyes. Flashes of orange and black shimmered all throughout his vision, and without thinking, Mikey took hold of the mystic spark.

Magical lines danced between his hands, tiny orbs of light swirling gently around the butterflies, before shaping into one that looked just like the monarchs resting on his hands. Golden wings joined the cluster of orange, and it peered back at him curiously while he watched it.

Mikey did not mind as much this time, when the mystic power multiplied, and a few more scattered golden butterflies appeared among the clusters of real ones. Nor did he care as much when little orbs of floating light started dancing about the space, brightening the Lair as much as the sunlight pouring in did.

The box turtle smiled at the one in his hands, and it flapped its wings back at him. Delight was the only thing he could process as it flapped out of his hands and joined the rest of the butterflies, nestling naturally among the melting pot of warm color.

A strange feeling of peace washed through him as he watched his own mystic butterflies settle in, like they were meant to be there, and an arm settled over his shoulder. Leo was leaning on him, watching the swarm as well.

Eventually, they were half turtle-piled on the floor, just watching and enjoying the moment. Mikey nestled in with his brothers, the familiar safety and calm settling perfectly into his mind the way it should be.

It would take time to get used to this again.

But it would be okay.

Mikey knew that.