Chapter Text
Ꝋ𐌍𐌋𐌙 Ꝋ𐌍𐌄 𐌌Ꝋ𐌓𐌄 𐌂𐋅𐌀𐌍𐌂𐌄 Ꮤ𐌉𐌋𐌋 𐌁𐌄 Ᏽ𐌉ᕓ𐌄𐌍 𐌕Ꝋ 𐌕𐋅𐌄 𐌁𐌓Ꝋ𐌊𐌄𐌍 𐌌𐌉𐌓𐌓Ꝋ𐌓 𐌁𐌄𐌅Ꝋ𐌓𐌄 𐌕𐋅𐌄 𐌌𐌙𐌵𐌓𐌓 Ꮤ𐌉𐌋𐌋 𐌅Ꝋ𐌓𐌄ᕓ𐌄𐌓 𐌂Ꝋ𐌍𐌔𐌵𐌌𐌄 𐌕𐋅𐌄𐌌 𐌉𐌍 𐌉𐌕𐌔 𐋅𐌵𐌍𐌕.
𐌕𐋅𐌉𐌍𐌊 Ꮤ𐌉𐌔𐌄𐌋𐌙 Ꝋ𐌓 𐌙Ꝋ𐌵 Ꮤ𐌉𐌋𐌋 𐌅Ꝋ𐌓𐌄ᕓ𐌄𐌓 𐌋𐌀𐌔𐌕 𐌉𐌍 𐌋𐌉𐌌𐌁Ꝋ Ꮤ𐌉𐌕𐋅 𐌍Ꝋ 𐌓𐌄𐌕𐌵𐌓𐌍 𐌕Ꝋ 𐌕𐋅𐌄 𐌓𐌄𐌀𐌋 ᏔꝊ𐌓𐌋𐌃. 𐌀 𐋅𐌄𐌋𐌋 Ꮭ𐌵𐌔𐌕 𐌌𐌀𐌃𐌄 𐌅Ꝋ𐌓 𐌙Ꝋ𐌵.
𐌕𐋅𐌄 𐌁𐌓Ꝋ𐌕𐋅𐌄𐌓𐌔 Ꮤ𐌉𐌋𐌋 𐌅Ꝋ𐌓𐌄ᕓ𐌄𐌓 𐌁𐌄 𐌕Ꝋ𐌓𐌍 𐌀𐌐𐌀𐌓𐌕 𐌀𐌍𐌃 𐌔𐌵𐌅𐌅𐌄𐌓 𐌉𐌅 𐌕𐋅𐌄𐌙 𐌂𐌀𐌍’𐌕 𐌅𐌉𐌍𐌃 𐌕𐋅𐌄𐌉𐌓 Ꮤ𐌀𐌙 𐌁𐌀𐌂𐌊 𐌕Ꝋ 𐌄𐌀𐌂𐋅 Ꝋ𐌕𐋅𐌄𐌓. 𐌕𐋅𐌄 𐌁Ꝋ𐌍𐌃 𐌍𐌄𐌄𐌃𐌔 𐌕Ꝋ 𐌁𐌄 𐌔𐌕𐌓𐌄𐌍Ᏽ𐌕𐋅𐌄𐌍𐌄𐌃 𐌁𐌄𐌕Ꮤ𐌄𐌄𐌍 𐌕𐋅𐌄𐌌.
As all the brothers become aware of themselves again they are still able to recall the voice inside their heads. Usually, the only voices they ever heard before were of memories made by this time loop -this being- to taunt them or the voice of the monster. This makes them all aware that there are no more turns after this.
All or nothing.
But only one of them gets an idea.
_________________________________________________________________________
It is just past 5:30 am and as Mikey goes out of his room he doesn’t bother with his bandages. Instead, he turns on the lights in the living room, takes a seat, and waits for his brothers to eventually arrive, hoping that he somehow can explain this situation to them. Even if he might sound crazy to them, this might be the last chance and he just needs to give it all a try now. He could never stomach even imagining this situation before, which is why he never gave it a chance, but if it truly is the last time…well he wants to finally pretend like they are his real brothers and not figments.
At 5:38 am Raph wakes up when bright light from outside shines through the window directly at his face. Groaning loudly while rubbing his eyes sleepily, he wiggles himself out of bed and moves out of the subway train. Immediately he spots that there are multiple lights on in the living room. He falters in his steps at that. That is strange.
“Maybe because it is the last turn?” Raph wonders to himself out loud as he walks closer.
Mikey sits on the couch staring at something that Raph can’t quite see. Worried by the sudden change and the lack of response from Mikey, Raph looks around and the worry only increases. There are neither the usual drawings scattered on the ground nor the bin with Mikey’s thrown-away bandages. Actually-
Raph looks at Mikey again and remembers the time.
Neither of his arms are freshly bandaged -in fact there is still blood going through- even when he should have been done with one arm already at this time. He then notes that there are actually some papers tightly pressed against his chest as if he doesn’t want them to see what is on them yet. Carefully and slowly in order to not accidentally startle Mikey out of his…well wherever he is with his mind at the current time, Raph steps closer and is about to touch the bandages when there is a sudden loud bang. He winces as he remembers that Donnie sometimes bangs his door too loudly around this time, although it had never been this loud and startling before.
Donnie zooms down the few steps from his workplace when he misjudges a step and descends toward the ground. Before that can happen, however, Leo thankfully has also hurried out of his room at 6 am and catches Donnie on instinct.
“Wha- how did you even just suddenly appear?”
Donnie did not mean to let that surprise loose. In disbelief, he looks at Leo as he rightens himself up again and takes a tiny step away. This shouldn’t be possible. Leo should still be in his bed and being all gloomy when he pushes his way in without even knocking. Privacy is a joke between them.
“I mean I just do a swish and a vroom and then I can be wherever I want to be. All about the vibes, you know?” Leo enthusiastically explains with hand motions and starry eyes, all in a way that only makes sense to a Leonardo.
That earns Leo a deadpan look from Donnie, but the proud smile of Leo after his brilliant explanation doesn’t disappear. Donnie steps closer again, slapping both hands against Leo’s cheeks, and squishes them together.
“You are such an idiot, do you hear me?” Donnie demands and squishes some more when Leo dumbly stares at him.
“I am an idiot sandwich.” Leo says through squished-together lips and still has the audacity to flash a smile.
Done with all of this bullshit Donnie throws his hands up and rubs his own head in favor of calming down again. Then he points an accusing finger at Leo, which he pulls back again when Leo can’t help himself and automatically makes a grab for it. Glaring daggers at him Donnie cradles his hands close to his chest.
“You know what I meant earlier. Explain yourself, how did you know that I was about to fall?”
Maybe Donnie expects too much of this already changing last loop because the answer he gets is not one that he is prepared for.
Shrugging his shoulders, Leo nonchalantly answers:” Just a twin thing. I told you that already before and don’t act like you don’t have it as well. There were plenty of moments when you just knew I was in harm's way.”
Before? Before when? They never have such a conversation in any loops. Or did he already forget? Is that his punishment and he will slowly forget everything while he is stuck in this limbo? The voice did mention that it would be their personal hell and that they will be consumed. While Donnie is having an existential crisis, Raph comes over to them and despite their complaining picks both of them up with ease and drags them away. Leo is still blabbering at Raph when they get sat down in the living room on the couch.
“Raph what the hell-”
“Mikey, what’s wrong?”
Donnie stops his tirade early just to see why Leo sounds so worried. Leo has crouched down in front of Mikey that is sitting unresponsive in the corner. He is staring past them as if he doesn’t really see them, which is something concerning that they all became aware of before the whole time loop thing. That is a condition they can deal with and are familiar with, though the bloody arms and barely visible scars under the bandages are not.
As harsh as that sounds, that is something they can only concentrate on after Mikey is back with them.
“This never happened before. All of this.” Donnie speaks to himself, thinking that he won't be heard.
While Leo has all his attention on Mikey and is trying to ease him back into the real world n̷o̷t̷ does not hear the odd words, Raph with his superior hearing that everyone seems to forget about does. He could have let it slide and just done as he always did before, though with it being the last loop there is no point to try acting consistently.
What was there to gain from it in the first place other than the illusion of normalcy they all wanted back?
“Yeah, it changed.” Raph agrees with the statement.
Donnie would love to question Raph about that however, Raph too brings his attention to Mikey as if nothing happened just now and Donnie seriously questions if he just hallucinated this short and quite ominous exchange. Leo keeps on talking to Mikey while Raph sits down next to them and rubs small circles on Mikey’s shell. Feeling left out Donnie huffs and joins them albeit he does not more than take the Vitals with his two fingers pressed against Mikey’s neck. Logically speaking it’s the most important and yet none of them did it so far, so of course, that is Donnie’s job now. He neither knows what else to do.
They are all patiently waiting on Mikey.
In the past, they panicked too quickly because it took so long. Splinter was the one who bonked them all on the head and said to do as he tells them to instead. They did not question why he was so familiar with the situation. It was a rare sight of Splinter being softer again as he talked to Mikey speaking of old stories and squeezing his hands with his own. They all watched and Donnie hurriedly wrote down notes for the future because Splinter said that it most likely won’t be the last time, and probably wasn’t even the first time either. Maybe it was his way of hinting that he had been there for Mikey before when none of them knew. He had been right, of course. Mikey still vanished into a world that none of them could follow on different occasions and it took a long while until he was back once more. He was always kinda strange after those, nearly disoriented as if he needed to get used to an unknown world again.
At last, after many minutes Mikey finally twitches with his fingers again, and shortly after that, the tension deflates from his body.
“There you go, buddy,” Leo says encouragingly and squeezes his knees. “good to have you back with us.”
They don’t question it when Mikey stays silent, instead looking around the room until his sight lands back on his brothers. Slowly blinking he leans against Raph -the anchor in the storm like he always was- and mumbles something unintelligible. Raph and Donnie exchange a look over Mikey’s back. Sighing, Donnie nods and leans down to be on Mikey’s height.
“Can you repeat that? We didn’t understand you, Angelo.”
Still a bit confused, Mikey turns his head in Donnie’s direction and silently stares. For a moment even Donnie is concerned that he won’t answer them when Mikey reaches out and his stiff fingers get a grasp of Donnie’s mask ends after the third attempt and tugs at them. Because Mikey is the baby of the family and terribly spoiled by all of them, Donnie does not blow a fuse for that as he would with others and lets Mikey…he guesses, enjoy himself. So he indulges the younger one in whatever he wishes to achieve with the mask tugging.
“Still alive,” Mikey mumbles before he gets a hold of himself and seems to finally recall where he is. Hastily he tugs more as if he wants attention, though he already has with those words. “I need my drawing utensils, Dee.”
“Mikey, I think now is hardly the time for that. You just zoned out on us and you have wounds on your arms. There should be a conversation about that instead.” Raph interrupts and lays a hand on Mikey’s head.
His other two brothers can certainly share the sentiment of wanting answers.
With a scrunched-up face, he shakes his head so much that the hand of Raph slips off. He stops Raph when he tries to do it again. After all, what he needs isn’t comfort and questions at the moment. He just needs them to listen. He is sick and tired of never being listened to all because he is the youngest.
“I told you before that you can hold your dad's lecture tomorrow, Raph. Is it tomorrow yet? Nope, so give me my drawing tablet and I can show you something that will help. Along with explanations because I think I just found our solution.” Mikey insists stubbornly and doesn’t take no for an answer.
Raph is taken aback by those words that Mikey shouldn’t even remember. Leo and Donnie are rightfully confused and want to insist on talking more, but Raph is the one that convinces the two to do as they are told. Obediently Leo is the one that leaves to search for Mikey’s drawing tablet. Meanwhile, Mikey spreads his other artworks around the ground as the other two assess what they are looking at. When Leo comes back the drawing tablet is being snatched out of his hands and Mikey begins drawing at once. Seeing as Mikey is completely focused on drawing, he instead joins his brothers and inspects in disbelief all of the drawings.
There is one of the laboratory under the warehouse where that hourglass that caused the whole trouble was kept.
Some with a shadowy figure with green eyes staring at them. Sometimes here in their home, or in that alleyway, or even on the roof of a building. All places they have been at during the loops. And just like in those loops there are always corpses of certain turtle mutants around the creature. Gritting his teeth, Leo looks away from the drawings as he saw his brother's deaths often enough that he doesn’t need to be reminded of it even on Mikey’s drawings now. Raph is looking downright murderous and doesn’t seem to notice that he is shredding one of them to pieces. He looks like back then when he was mind controlled and while Leo doesn’t hold that against Raph, he certainly does not plan on approaching his brother like that. Donnie is solely focused on the drawings as if he intends to study them and doesn’t pay his surroundings any attention.
Seems like Leo needs to be the voice of reason and be the serious one.
“Mikey, what do all of those drawings mean?” Leo asks carefully as if he isn’t well aware of what is going on here.
He needs to hear the truth from Mikey himself to be sure. Said brother starts biting his lip and slowly setting the drawing tablet down. From here Leo can’t make out what it is yet, but there is no doubt that the creature is featured on it as well guessing by the big amount of black color in the middle. Mikey holds out the tablet and after some hesitation, Leo steps forward and takes it from him. Once it's out of his hands he begins massaging his hands absentmindedly. When he catches Leo watching him he urges Leo to look at the drawing instead.
Looking down he-
“Oh.”
“What ‘oh’, Leo?” Raph and Donnie pipe up intrigued.
Curious the two join standing next to Leo and looking at the drawing as well. The biggest surprise is that none of them really recognize it. Drawings them are in their home and holding down the creature. At the head of the creature is Mikey with his arms glowing golden and fascinatingly enough the place where Mikey touches the creature seems to start dissolving to dust.
“This might happen today if we do it correctly. Or so I was told.” Mikey speaks up as he points at the drawing.
Donnie pushes himself further to Mikey and with squinted eyes, asks:” What do you mean with you were being told? Nobody else was here and we can’t see the future.”
Unimpressed by Donnie’s suspicion, Mikey crosses his arms and makes a vague hand motion that looks like he wanted to flip his older brother off, though thought better of it in the last moment. Amusing as that brief moment is, Leo can’t help but share the suspicion that Donnie is holding. Mikey looks between all of them and seems to realize that as well.
“You can’t, but did you forget that my mystic powers are kind of special?” Mikey taunts them with a smirk.
“Nah, you can’t see the future. You can’t bullshit me.” Donnie deadpans.
Groaning Mikey let’s himself fall back on the couch and like before he starts massaging the joints of his hands. When Donnie gives a victorious smirk, Mikey flips him off for real this time before he visibly winces and goes back on trying to ease up the muscles of his cramping hand. Mikey bites so hard on his lips to stay silent that he draws blood and a thin trickle of it makes the way down his chin. Mother hen Raph is at his side before they can even blink and after wiping it off again gives him a lecture. Huffing Mikey pushes Raph’s worried hands away when he tries to inspect his arms up close.
“Listen, this may sound crazy, but this zoning out that I do is actually when I kind of leave my body and, well, talk with someone else. Some are from the future and others aren’t even of this world. A different dimension maybe. Point is, I spoke with the future me and he showed me how we could escape from this time loop shenanigan. I really, really just wanna go back to my real bed, spend time with my real brothers and just wake up to a tomorrow and not another loop of the same day. Gotcha?” It bursts out of Mikey as he rambles all of that off without taking a breather.
Then he heaves a sigh and leans back to be prepared for everything.
“Spectral projection that proved that there is a multiverse? That is incredible! I knew time travel and time loops couldn’t be the end of it! Mikey, you absolutely need to tell me more! If we were to discuss more with them we might be able to invent a whole new kind of technology and hold the greatest power. The things we could do-!”
Leo slaps a hand over his twin’s mouth to stop his onslaught of words to hear himself think again. His own brain is still trying to catch up to all the new information. Donnie does not take kindly to being forcefully shut down, but after he slaps Leo’s hand away he doesn’t start rambling again. Mikey is visibly surprised that Donnie isn’t even surprised himself by the time loop thing. His other two brothers remain speechless, however. A sneaking suspicion comes up in Mikey’s head then.
Raph leans forward, propping himself up on his knees and after some more thinking he then states:” So I assume we all were aware of being stuck in a time loop, tried to change something on different occasions and yet never cared to speak about it with each other.”
All of them slowly nod after some hesitation, looking in surprise at each other when they realize that it actually isn’t far off. They…really didn’t even consider it or tried and whenever something was oddly different, they blamed it on the time loop itself trying to trick them when really all of them making different decisions even caused the changes. So, they were so convinced to deal with it alone that they forget that they are family and a team.
“Damn, I feel so stupid now.” Donnie murmurs.
All of them feel the same way.
_________________________________________________________________________
To redeem himself -the logic of perfectionist Donnie- said brother made sure to make the plan after they all filled each other in. It was bizarre to talk about their deaths and what happened after them. That is how they learned that the creature might not actually be able to know where Mikey is. The creature never comes after him and even when they are all dead, the creature does not wish to be close to him. As if the creature Myurr is aware that Mikey is the only one who can harm it and henceforth the natural enemy. They also somehow made up a lie about Splinter’s favorite soap opera in Manhattan and promptly April was forced to go drive to a fake meet-up of the actors. Their sister wasn’t happy at all, but after a promise of pancakes with strawberries and lots of ice cream she was happy enough to comply. Even the un-real April is very scary when there is a need for it and they feared she would whoop their asses for a moment there.
The three of them are waiting for the creature in their home while Mikey is forced to stay in the shadows, specifically over them. The youngest does not like staying out of the action until his brothers manage to pin Myurr down, but he wants them to be free and for that, he needs to follow the plan. So he swallows down his displeasure and does as he is told.
All of them have their weapons drawn already when they hear a low rumbling and a shrill scratching noise as the claws of the creature drag along the floor. A few meters away from the three it stops and shows its teeth. It is taunting his family, though the brothers know better now and don’t fall for it. It is still too far away from the traps that Donnie set up in preparation. Taunting the creature himself now, Leo twirls one of his katanas and makes a ‘come at me’ hand motion.
A low growl vibrates from the creature and it sinks lower to the ground and tenses its muscles under the shadows.
“Scared you dumb demon kitty? Itty bitty Myurr.”
With a roar, it springs into action and as suspected targets Leo first.
“𐌉’𐌋𐌋 𐌊𐌉𐌋𐌋 𐌙Ꝋ𐌵 𐌐𐌵𐌍𐌙 𐌌𐌵𐌕𐌀𐌍𐌕𐌔 Ꝋ𐌍𐌂𐌄 𐌀𐌍𐌃 𐌅Ꝋ𐌓 𐌀𐌋𐌋!”
Just before the strike of Myurr can hit Leo, he hops away through a portal to the other end of the room and laughs. Angry the creature is blindsided enough that it solely focuses on Leo, instead of the others or the traps. Step after step it gets drawn closer to one of the traps as Leo taunts Myurr, lets it get so close that he smells the foul breath, and then vanishes before its eyes again.
The thing about Myurr is that once you actually figure out how the mindset of it works, it is quite simple-minded. There is a set-in-place structure that it needs to abide by. Always hurting Leo first, before killing Donnie, then Leo and then Raph, and so on. It can’t break those rules for whatever reason, which means as long as person number 1 can keep on evading being caught, the others are relatively safe and are free to attack.
This is why when the trap activates and the giant metal ball hits it in the face, Raph does not hesitate and with the help of his mystic powers tackles the stumbling legs specifically. While they can’t wound it, physical forces still work on it. Myurr topples over Raph and crashes to the ground.
Leo stumbles but catches himself on a wall when a dizzy spell hits him. Quickly he gives a thumbs up to Mikey when he looks ready to jump down. Never mind that his brother isn’t even hurt by the creature yet.
“It’s getting up again! Raph double bodyslam to the right!” Donnie calls out as he runs.
Raph does as he is told without questions asked, twisting in place and jumping up with his elbow pointed down to hit it in the back. Donnie too reaches Myurr, with a twisted grin his staff activates and transforms with a big drill on top and he swings. Momentarily his eyes have a purple glow to them. The drill hits the creature right across the face drilling, especially into the emerald eyes. There is a crack heard as they spring apart and some pieces fall to the ground. Dark green liquid flows out of the sockets and it barely has time to cry in anguish. Raph lands at the same moment on the creature’s back and it lets out a bark of pain as all air gets pressed out of its lungs.
Their assumption that it was immortal was wrong, just like the different timeline Mikey had said that it must be weak to high physical prowess and eyes that do not consist out of the same shadows as its entire body.
“Ꮤ𐋅𐌀𐌕 𐋅𐌀ᕓ𐌄 𐌙Ꝋ𐌵 𐌃Ꝋ𐌍𐌄?! 𐌉 Ꮤ𐌉𐌋𐌋 𐌔𐌋𐌀𐌵Ᏽ𐋅𐌕𐌄𐌓 𐌙Ꝋ𐌵 𐌀𐌋𐌋! Ꮤ𐋅Ꝋ 𐌃Ꝋ 𐌙Ꝋ𐌵 𐌕𐋅𐌉𐌍𐌊 𐌙Ꝋ𐌵 𐌀𐌓𐌄 𐌕Ꝋ 𐌃𐌀𐌓𐌄 𐌔𐌕Ꝋ𐌐 𐌌𐌄 𐌅𐌓Ꝋ𐌌 𐌄𐌔𐌂𐌀𐌐𐌉𐌍Ᏽ 𐌕𐋅𐌉𐌔 𐋅𐌄𐌋𐌋𐋅Ꝋ𐌋𐌄?! 𐌙Ꝋ𐌵 Ꮤ𐌉𐌋𐌋 𐌁𐌄 𐌂Ꝋ𐌍𐌔𐌵𐌌𐌄𐌃!”
It stands up to its feet again and snaps wildly with its maw when it smells for their presence. Raph just barely manages to avoid getting his arm bitten off because Leo appears behind him and pushes him aside just in time. Raph looks over his shoulder to see his brother standing there with one arm still outstretched. Getting a bad feeling suddenly Donnie widens his eyes and tries to reach his twin in time. However, like the creature always said, there must be a price to pay. Just the price it wanted was something else.
The maw had taken hold of Leo’s arm and bit down.
The creature gurgles in delight when it tastes blood and flesh in its mouth. In response it bites down even harder and then there is a loud snapping sound. All color and blood is draining out of Leo’s face as he stumbles away in shock, his mouth opened to a silent scream and he collapses to the ground while clutching the remains of his arm.
Donnie is absolutely fuming as he readies himself to attack, but he never gets that far. Raph slaps him on the neck and points at Leo.
“You have the most knowledge from Draxum. You keep him from dying, is that clear? We don’t need you to get hurt as well.” Raph orders with his green eyes frighteningly murderous and glowing.
Raph stomps on the ground and clasps his hands against each other. When the creature lunges for Donnie with an open maw, he springs forward and catches it by its teeth on both sides and pulls. He ignores how the sharp teeth dig into his own hands just like he pretends he doesn’t see and smell the blood that it's covered in. That is Leo’s blood. Enraged Raph kicks one foot out under the creature away and it stumbles. Using that momentum he slams it fully to the ground so hard that it seems to vibrate. But he isn’t finished with this monster yet. Grasping it at the claws he tugs, beginning to spin in place with the growling beast, and when he has enough power behind it, he lets go and it gets thrown across the room. It can’t afford to get a break, however so Raph runs after it, and just when it got up again he wrestles it back to the ground. They turn and twist on the ground as they punch and kick each other. Multiple times the teeth snap shut just a hairlenght away from Raph as he tries keeping it at bay.
Albeit Donnie wanted to beat Myurr up to a pulp himself he knows it's too much of a risk and Leo is the priority now. Leo had always been the one who saw Donnie die before him because he couldn’t do anything. He does not wish to find out now how Leo must have felt to lose his twin like that. Donnie crouches down next to Leo to see the damage and nearly throws up when he realizes up close how torn apart the flesh is. Practically only a stump right under the shoulder remains. Leo breathes harshly next to him with closed eyes and a face so pale that Donnie starts to get seriously worried that he may not be able to help. His brother doesn't show any reaction to his presence like he usually would.
He can’t fail now. He absolutely can’t! But why is his brain drawing a blank now and he can’t think of anything to do?! He is supposed to help and be the smart one. Raph is trusting him with rescuing their brother from dying. Donnie's breathing gets swallower and his vision is swimming in front of him. His hands start trembling so much that his staff drops down on the ground next to Leo.
“I- I don’t have the materials for this.” Donnie panics and rummages through all the pockets he has.
He-...he needs help.
As if sensing it Mikey drops down next to Donnie and rests a reassuring hand on Donnie’s head, softly drumming. He takes a deep breath as he tries to get control back over his own mind and body. He shouldn’t panic like this in a life-or-death situation.
Donnie wants so badly to act like a soldier that he forgets he still holds humanity inside himself and that it is human to be mentally scarred and no longer be able to act the same in certain situations.
“We need to stop the bleeding right? I can heat my weapon up pretty well.” Mikey tells him with more calmness than he expects.
“Need to stop the blood flow first.”
Nodding Mikey does not speak more, instead working together with Donnie to help their brother out. It is scary how normal talkative Mikey gets so quiet nor shares any smiles as comfort. After some thinking they take Leo’s mask, wrap it around the stump, and with the staff of Donnie, they tighten it until the blood flow severely changes. Donnie holds it in place while he nods at Mikey to do the cauterizing. Shuffling in generosity Mikey takes a bit until he takes out his weapon and begins using his mystic energy to heat it up to the point that steam starts rising from it. Quicker than Donnie can even prepare Leo for the incoming pain, Mikey presses the ends of his weapon against Leo’s stump. The eyes of Leo snap open as he screams and jolts with his body up. It is on Donnie to keep him down and murmuring ‘I am sorry’ and ‘It will be over soon’ over and over again in hopes that Leo hears and gets some reassurance from that. After an eternity Mikey takes his weapon away. The flesh has turned visibly red and inflamed, but the blood at least stopped.
“This won’t be a solution for long. He is at high risk of infection.” Donnie mumbles as he stares at the wound.
The words of Draxum are going through his head as the sheep Yokai taught him more about medical knowledge ever since the Invasion happened and all of them got severely hurt with practically no idea how to treat wounds. He insisted on it, but only dragged Donnie into it so far despite that Donnie is still mistrustful regarding him.
Now that truly seems to come to good use.
“After we took this monster out.” Seethes Mikey.
Then before Donnie can even say anything the younger has already dashed off with his weapon drawn. He wants to go after him to help despite the risks, but then he feels a tug at his fingers. When he looks down Leo is barely conscious and with his hand grasped Donnie’s. Of course, he is scared. Donnie makes sure to let his frown disappear to seem softer for Leo now.
“Don’t wanna go back to the medbay.” Leo mumbles still in his shock with the adrenaline most likely failing on him now.
There is a barely visible smile on Donnie’s face as he promises his twin that he won’t be left alone. At that Leo seems relieved before promptly passing out on him. Donnie will forgive him the rudeness just because he had another near-death experience and lost an arm now.
Raph is bleeding and backed into a corner by Myurr when a familiar chain wraps around its neck and yanks. It howls loudly as it didn’t expect such strength behind the user along with not being prepared for a behind-the-back attack. Raph smiles in relief, but the tension in his body also raises as he still wants to protect Mikey. Mikey gives Raph a nod for the plan to continue. Even when it got out of hand they will still make sure that the plan will succeed. His body is groaning from all the bruises and scratches however, Raph doesn’t need to be told twice and after hyping himself up he readily throws himself once more on the creature’s body. Raph takes a hold of Mikey’s weapon and begins wrapping it around its hands and legs to stop its movement. Which is easier said than done with a monster like that. Somehow Raph manages it though and Myurr screeches loudly as the chains tighten around it and begin giving off a golden light. Raph hurries to get off the creature just as Mikey advised them before in their planning. The heat his chains radiate is only not affecting him and would be harmful to everyone else involved, which is why he said multiple times that they absolutely shouldn’t be close even if they want to keep Myurr down.
Mikey will be able to handle it alone, he must he had said.
Then and even now Raph wishes he could hug Mikey instead of helplessly watching as he extends his hands and they start glowing. Slow at first the golden veins quickly travel up to his shoulders and grow more vibrant. Through the bandages, blood is coming through and flowing down his arms where it mixes with the golden light. It is hauntingly beautiful and yet so dangerous to look at. So much power in his little brother’s hands that only hurts himself too.
What good is power if one pays the price for ruining their own body and life?
Mikey then steps closer to the screeching Myurr and kneels down to its head. The screeching grows to a such high frequency that Raph needs to cover up his sensitive ears, less he’ll lose another part of his senses. For the better of Mikey who did not want his family to hear his choice of words directed at that monster. Mikey still holds his hands above the blood-soaked eyes, or more like once were. With his back turned to his family they don’t see how a big, innocent smile comes to his face, and yet his own eyes have turned a cold, golden color that stares at the creature with indifference. He has a feeling that regardless of the loss that the creature sees him perfectly fine.
After all, it would be disappointing otherwise when they were made to be natural enemies and yet only one of them always had an advantage.
“̴M̴̴y̴̴u̴̴r̴̴r̴, ̴t̴̴h̴̴e̴ ̴s̴̴o̴-̴c̴a̴̴l̴̴l̴̴e̴̴d̴ ̴s̴̴n̴a̴̴k̴̴e̴ ̴d̴̴e̴̴m̴̴o̴̴n̴, ̴y̴̴o̴̴u̴ ̴t̴̴r̴̴u̴̴l̴̴y̴ ̴n̴̴e̴̴v̴̴e̴̴r̴ ̴h̴a̴̴d̴ a̴ ̴c̴̴h̴a̴̴n̴̴c̴̴e̴ a̴̴g̴a̴̴i̴̴n̴̴s̴̴t̴ ̴m̴̴e̴ ̴b̴̴e̴a̴̴s̴̴t̴. ̴I̴ ̴p̴̴i̴̴t̴̴i̴̴e̴̴d̴ ̴y̴̴o̴̴u̴ a̴̴t̴ ̴t̴̴i̴̴m̴̴e̴̴s̴ ̴t̴̴o̴ ̴f̴̴o̴̴l̴̴l̴̴o̴̴w̴ a̴ ̴m̴a̴̴s̴̴t̴̴e̴̴r̴ ̴b̴̴l̴̴i̴̴n̴̴d̴̴l̴̴y̴ ̴t̴̴h̴a̴̴t̴ ̴n̴̴e̴̴v̴̴e̴̴r̴ ̴i̴̴n̴̴t̴̴e̴̴n̴̴d̴̴e̴̴d̴ ̴t̴̴o̴ ̴s̴̴e̴̴t̴ ̴y̴̴o̴̴u̴ ̴f̴̴r̴̴e̴̴e̴ ̴o̴̴f̴ ̴t̴̴h̴̴i̴̴s̴ ̴w̴̴o̴̴r̴̴l̴̴d̴. ̴N̴̴o̴̴w̴ ̴t̴̴h̴̴o̴̴u̴̴g̴̴h̴,” Mikey speaks with a sinister voice that is not his and lowers his shining hands. “̴I̴ ̴d̴̴o̴̴n̴’̴t̴ ̴f̴̴e̴̴e̴̴l̴ a̴ ̴t̴̴h̴̴i̴̴n̴̴g̴ ̴f̴̴o̴̴r̴ ̴y̴̴o̴̴u̴ a̴̴n̴̴y̴̴m̴̴o̴̴r̴̴e̴. ̴Y̴̴o̴̴u̴̴r̴ ̴f̴̴i̴̴r̴̴s̴̴t̴ ̴m̴̴i̴̴s̴̴t̴a̴̴k̴̴e̴ ̴w̴a̴̴s̴ ̴t̴̴o̴ ̴t̴̴h̴̴i̴̴n̴̴k̴ ̴y̴̴o̴̴u̴ ̴w̴̴e̴̴r̴̴e̴ ̴b̴̴e̴̴t̴̴t̴̴e̴̴r̴ ̴t̴̴h̴a̴̴n̴ ̴m̴̴e̴. ̴Y̴̴o̴̴u̴̴r̴ ̴s̴̴e̴̴c̴̴o̴̴n̴̴d̴ a̴̴n̴̴d̴ ̴f̴̴i̴̴n̴a̴̴l̴ ̴m̴̴i̴̴s̴̴t̴a̴̴k̴̴e̴ ̴w̴a̴̴s̴ ̴h̴a̴̴r̴̴m̴̴i̴̴n̴̴g̴ ̴t̴̴h̴̴o̴̴s̴̴e̴ ̴t̴̴h̴a̴̴t̴ ̴I̴ ̴c̴a̴̴r̴̴e̴ ̴f̴̴o̴̴r̴. ̴I̴ ̴s̴a̴̴w̴ ̴t̴̴h̴a̴̴t̴ ̴y̴̴o̴̴u̴ ̴l̴̴i̴̴k̴̴e̴̴d̴ ̴c̴̴h̴̴o̴̴k̴̴i̴̴n̴̴g̴ ̴m̴̴y̴ ̴b̴̴r̴̴o̴̴t̴̴h̴̴e̴̴r̴. ̴C̴̴u̴̴r̴̴i̴̴o̴̴u̴̴s̴ ̴h̴̴o̴̴w̴ ̴t̴̴h̴a̴̴t̴ ̴m̴̴i̴̴g̴̴h̴̴t̴ ̴f̴̴e̴̴e̴̴l̴, ̴b̴̴e̴a̴̴s̴̴t̴?”
It is begging and Mikey is getting bored of it. Annoyed he puts his hands around its throat, taking note of how huge it truly is. Not even two hands are enough to wrap fully around it. Well, he can certainly make it more effective if he wishes to. He isn’t the person that harbors that many sinister feelings for the creature that he wants to torture it, that was all of them before. Dark green is beginning to start to slip through his hands and coating them, but it is far too slow as he realizes. Myurr is still able to breathe and speaks as well. He concentrates with closed eyes on the center of his mystic energy and forces himself to let more flow through his body. He is unaware of how the lines on his arms grow thicker and burrow even deeper into his flesh or how much blood he truly loses. When one is in constant pain because of those powers it kind of becomes irrelevant to him how much more he pushes to cross the line.
It is overwhelming and frighteningly feels as if someone is cutting through his flesh carelessly with blunt scissors that barely do their job. But he learned to endure it in a fight and to take care of it. That is when he will treat his wounds and allow himself pain relief -or as close as it gets to that.
“Mikey?”
Raph is calling for him he realizes.
He opens his eyes to see a golden figure sitting in front of him. They are not much older than he is he had learned upon first meeting them. When they realize he is seeing them, they huddle closer and press their snout against his cheek. With distaste they look back down at the corpse that now lays before Mikey. Myurr is no more, its throat as if melting and its own blood still bubbling from the heat his mystic power generated. He might have used more than he intended to do.
“̴Y̴̴o̴̴u̴ ̴g̴a̴̴v̴̴e̴ ̴t̴̴h̴a̴̴t̴ ̴b̴̴e̴a̴̴s̴̴t̴ a̴ ̴q̴̴u̴̴i̴̴c̴̴k̴̴e̴̴r̴ ̴d̴̴e̴a̴̴t̴̴h̴ ̴t̴̴h̴a̴̴n̴ ̴i̴̴t̴ ̴d̴̴e̴̴s̴̴e̴̴r̴̴v̴̴e̴̴d̴, ̴b̴̴u̴̴t̴ a̴̴t̴ ̴l̴̴e̴a̴̴s̴̴t̴ ̴i̴̴t̴̴s̴ ̴f̴̴i̴̴n̴a̴̴l̴̴l̴̴y̴ ̴d̴̴e̴a̴̴d̴ ̴n̴̴o̴̴w̴ a̴̴n̴̴d̴ ̴t̴̴h̴̴i̴̴s̴ ̴w̴̴o̴̴r̴̴l̴̴d̴ ̴w̴̴o̴̴n̴’̴t̴ ̴l̴a̴̴s̴̴t̴ ̴f̴̴o̴̴r̴ ̴m̴̴u̴̴c̴̴h̴ ̴l̴̴o̴̴n̴̴g̴̴e̴̴r̴.”
The fox-person-whatever kicks at Myurr and seems delighted as the body dissolves into dust where they touched it. They continue to do so for a while and letting out high pitched giggles that don’t fit together with this dark situation. When there is no sign of letting up, Mikey shifts in place and pulls a face.
Whenever he is with them of all people he can’t seem to talk. Something about the people's own creation of Utopia as his own future version told him. For them, it meant only being listened to and never sharing who they are. A strange person that Mikey doesn’t find much enjoyment in their personality. Along with their tendency to sometimes take control unallowed.
“̴O̴̴h̴, ̴y̴̴e̴̴s̴, ̴y̴̴e̴̴s̴ ̴I̴ ̴w̴̴i̴̴l̴̴l̴ ̴s̴̴e̴̴n̴̴d̴ ̴y̴̴o̴̴u̴ ̴b̴a̴̴c̴̴k̴ ̴q̴̴u̴̴i̴̴c̴̴k̴̴l̴̴y̴ ̴t̴̴h̴̴i̴̴s̴ ̴t̴̴i̴̴m̴̴e̴. ̴Y̴̴o̴̴u̴ ̴g̴a̴̴v̴̴e̴ ̴m̴̴e̴ ̴e̴̴n̴̴o̴̴u̴̴g̴̴h̴ ̴e̴̴n̴̴t̴̴e̴̴r̴̴t̴a̴̴i̴̴n̴̴m̴̴e̴̴n̴̴t̴ ̴f̴̴o̴̴r̴ ̴n̴̴o̴̴w̴ a̴̴n̴̴d̴ ̴l̴̴o̴̴o̴̴k̴! ̴I̴ ̴w̴̴i̴̴l̴̴l̴ ̴e̴̴v̴̴e̴̴n̴ ̴g̴̴i̴̴v̴̴e̴ ̴y̴̴o̴̴u̴ ̴t̴̴h̴̴e̴ ̴k̴̴e̴̴y̴ ̴t̴̴o̴ ̴r̴̴e̴̴t̴̴u̴̴r̴̴n̴ ̴t̴̴o̴ ̴y̴̴o̴̴u̴̴r̴ ̴w̴̴o̴̴r̴̴l̴̴d̴ a̴̴n̴̴d̴ ̴i̴̴t̴ ̴e̴̴v̴̴e̴̴n̴ ̴t̴̴e̴̴l̴̴e̴̴p̴̴o̴̴r̴̴t̴̴s̴ ̴y̴̴o̴̴u̴ ̴h̴̴o̴̴m̴̴e̴. ̴N̴̴o̴ ̴b̴̴i̴̴g̴ ̴s̴̴e̴̴c̴̴r̴̴e̴̴t̴ a̴̴b̴̴o̴̴u̴̴t̴ ̴h̴̴o̴̴w̴, ̴j̴̴u̴̴s̴̴t̴ ̴d̴̴e̴̴s̴̴t̴̴r̴̴o̴̴y̴ ̴t̴̴h̴̴e̴ ̴v̴̴e̴̴s̴̴s̴̴e̴̴l̴ ̴o̴̴f̴ ̴t̴̴h̴a̴̴t̴ ̴t̴̴h̴̴i̴̴n̴̴g̴ ̴f̴̴o̴̴r̴ ̴g̴̴o̴̴o̴̴d̴. ̴A̴̴r̴̴e̴̴n̴’̴t̴ ̴I̴ ̴s̴̴u̴̴c̴̴h̴ a̴ ̴g̴̴r̴̴e̴a̴̴t̴ ̴p̴̴e̴̴r̴̴s̴̴o̴̴n̴? ̴O̴̴h̴, ̴I̴ a̴̴m̴! ̴H̴̴e̴̴h̴̴e̴! ̴H̴̴i̴̴p̴ ̴h̴̴o̴̴p̴, ̴o̴̴f̴̴f̴ ̴y̴̴o̴̴u̴ ̴g̴̴o̴.”
Mikey opens his eyes and in his hands is a certain hourglass that got them into this trouble in the first place. It actually looks quite pretty if it weren’t for that snake with emerald eyes that wound himself around it. Those eyes even now look soulless as can be, in that way that haunts you.
He hopes that they weren’t messing with him when they said to destroy it as they can seem quite unpredictable.
What an unpleasant person.
“They really could stop taking control over my body. So rude of them to not even ask anymore.” He huffs in annoyance.
Raph who sat down next to Mikey as he was in another zone out, or well talking to someone apparently, perks up at that in alarm, and his mouth falls open. Noticing Raph’s shocked expression he merely flashes a smile while shrugging. Ups, there went the mind-to-mouth filter that he barely possessed to begin with. Hopefully, he will never need to have a conversation about that. The best way of escape is a distraction then.
Without explaining he springs up to his feet and quickly drags Raph back to their siblings then. The twinge in his wrist as he does that makes him wince, but suddenly letting go would be suspicious for Raph. Donnie is talking to Leo -oh, how great!- that just gotten consciousness back again when Mikey leans against Donnie without warning and holds up the hourglass in his grip.
Mikey can’t fault Leo for looking completely lost and out of it by the sudden added presence of the youngest. After giving a wave that Leo returns, Mikey choses to mainly talk with his other two brothers that are more capable of understanding him at the moment. Wiggling in place out of excitement he shoves the hourglass once more into Donnies line of sight and shakes it.
“Ta-da! Look at what I got! This whole mirror world will apparently go poof soon, so we gotta destroy this key for good.” Mikey happily exclaims.
Instead of being happy about his well-done work they only stare in horror -well, Leo is just Leo and not a good judge right now- at his arms for some reason. Why that now? Pouting he looks down at his own arms and ah-
Well that is unfortunate. His arms are bloody as can be and now that he pays attention to it they are feeling a little achy as well.
His siblings immediately start worrying about him and his condition when it is just a bit of blood. It’s not like the chronic pain he suffers through now can be reversed and neither with the scars. So what, there will most likely be some more. He will make sure that he takes proper care of them and it’s okay.
“Leo nearly died, again. Why are you worrying about a bit of blood with me?”
Leo gasps loudly as if he was offended. Raph gives him a light shove and shakes his head in disappointed. In actuality he just needed to feel that his brother is alive. Seeing your brothers nearly die a bunch of times does that to someone.
Donnie can’t believe what that idiot just said so he puts two hands on Mikey’s shoulders and furiously shakes him and starts his ramble about the risk of infections, scars, and even possible frequent pain in the limbs. Only when he reaches the end of it does he see that Mikey tilted his head with a smile. The cat is already out of the bag anyway because they all must have realized or will soon. Mikey is also too tired of pretending any longer just to seem stronger and less like a failure.
That is when Donnie recalls how painkillers vanished out of his medbay, or how Mikey started covering his arms up with everything and just said it was some fashion choice. The messaging of his joints when he thought nobody was looking. Frequent wincing that they thought came from training bruises. Mikey always liked cooking too, but since the past few months he pushed it off to others on some days and then just stayed in his room locked away.
So many missed signals that had been so obvious.
Hanging his head, Donnie sighs:” Well talk about this when we are home. Including Draxum who won’t be as merciful as me, Angelo.”
At that, the smile of Mikey drops a little. Ultimately he admits defeat when Donnie keeps on insisting and his siblings sigh in relief. Mikey then throws the damned hourglass that bounces off at Raphs chest and snickers when Raph ends up giving him a disgruntled look for not warning him.
That damned snake that bit him and then they were suddenly in this dimension. Raph gladly destroys the hourglass with his bare hands and Mikey and Leo whoop. Donnie lectures Raph on not causing himself even more injuries as he goes over to make sure that no glass got stuck in Raph’s hands.
_________________________________________________________________________
When the brothers wake up again in their home there is a long moment where they fear that it was all a dream and that they are still stuck in the mirror world. But then after some groaning and some more shifting they realize that they are not in their rooms. This is the medbay.
Donnie lifts himself up in bed and pinches his arm just to be sure that he really isn’t dreaming. When he looks around he notices that he isn’t the only one here. All of his brothers are. Mikey and Leo are further away -too high infection risk most likely and thus the separation- still sound asleep and covered up in thick blankets, which is probably much needed. Personally, Donnie could do with an energy drink right about now.
“Don’t even think about it and sleep instead.” Comes a tired grumbling from his side.
Whipping his head around he spots a half-asleep Draxum in his chair watching the vitals of Leo and Mikey intently. That can’t be good for his back. Actually why does he care? He hates that man after all.
“But-”
“Be a good son and sleep like the rest. Otherwise, I will intervene.”
Donnie lets himself fall back into the pillow and turns to the side to pretend as if he is sleeping. Not because he got embarrassed by the man's basic admittance that they are his children just like Mikey said the whole time. And here Mikey missed the whole thing because he is knocked out cold because of painkillers.
Admittedly Donnie does fall asleep again.
_________________________________________________________________________
“Who am I?” Comes the confused sound of Leo out of the corner.
Raph and Donnie who are playing cards on their beds that they pushed together look up from their game toward said brother. To say that Leo sat up would be a massive overstatement as he can barely lift his head high enough to stick out from the nest of blankets he created. Draxum was very frustrated at that whenever he came in and tried to lay them out correctly again, but the moment he turned his back the nest wiggling was back, and at some point, the man was just too tired to care anymore.
It was highly amusing.
Raph told Donnie to not bully the man when he is basically their second father, but who is Raph to tell him what to do? So obviously he purposefully did it even more. Surprisingly Draxum does not get as angry with them as before and apparently -according to April and Casey- he even stays here and only fights with Splinter every three days. Quite literally too.
“You are Da Vinky.” Donnie says without hesitation.
Because Raph is a buzzkill he then proceeds trying to explain to a very high as kite Leo that, no, his name is not Da Vinky.
The good thing about a high Leo is that he is just as dumb if not even more as a normal Leo, which is why it is all worth it. Mikey finally woke up as well after two days of straight up sleeping and he is still not really there as Draxum and Splinter are both talking and checking them over. Leo has been staring at Splinters tail for the past five minutes in pure fascination when he turns to Mikey as if he only now becomes aware that his bed neighbour and fellow ‘I fucked up’ brother is there.
Excited beyond belief he then tells Mikey:” My name is Da Vinky!”
Draxum and Splinter stop in their speech as they stare in disbelief. Raph is groaning while Donnie is practically dying in the background with his wheezes, which causes Raph then to press a pillow on his face to smother the sounds. And maybe some more.
Raph loves his siblings and wants to protect them forever, but they are still siblings and especially younger ones can be a lot. Wanting them to just shut up sometimes because you want peace is not exactly abnormal.
“Aw, man I want a cool name too.” Mikey then whines.
Wanting to take his chance, Donnie fights the pillow off and says:” Actually it is- ompf!”
Raph threw himself on Donnie and sweetly smiles when Draxum and Splinter give him a look for that. Because he is the oldest and the golden child in their eyes he is obviously forgiven at once, to the chagrin of Donnie.
_________________________________________________________________________
“Hey, Don are you still awake?”
Donnie does not answer, instead continuing typing away on his phone as he writes with Iona about the sudden disappearance of the mysterious power source. She is quite surprised when he doesn’t seem to mourn it.
He has had enough of mysterious objects for some time now.
“Remember what you said back then when I kinda lost my arm?” Continues Leo to ask, not getting the hint that Donnie does not wish to talk now.
However, that statement can’t be left alone like this. And he also said he would try talking more about emotions and stuff. They all did. Including being more honest and speaking about what kind of problems they have.
So far their family agreed that they will ask their questions later on when they are all better. Physically and mentally.
“You didn’t ‘kinda’ lose your arm. You lost your whole arm to a damn snake demon.” He corrects Leo and drops his phone on the bed.
His eyes are kind of hurting and it is 3 am at this point. The last few days he always stayed up until 6 am and breathed a sigh of relief whenever there was no new loop happening. It might still take some time until his head fully understands.
“Yes, yes,” Leo says and makes a vague hand gesture in the dark. “but do you remember what you said?”
Donnie wracks through his brain for a bit as he wonders what Leo is talking about now. There was a lot happening in the mirror world after all and in that final loop as well. How should he know what-
Ah.
“That I would stay with you in the medbay?”
Leo tries clapping his hands together, but in the middle of it, he remembers again that he only has one arm now so it awkwardly hovers there for a while until he slowly lowers his arm again. To cover it up he clears his throat and Donnie rolls his eyes.
“So, while I am happy that you actually held on to that promise, and don’t get me wrong now, but I did not mean for you to be quite literally stuck here too for 24/7.”
Donnie turns over in his bed, closes his eyes and decides that emotion talk is not worth it.
“Don?”
No answer then.
“Did you just go to sleep on me? You?”
There is still no answer from Donnie, but Leo has always been persistent when it comes to it.
“Don I swear-”
“Leo.” Comes the voice of Mikey suddenly.
Delighted by the new company, Leo turns his head to spy on his younger brother through the bed rods, who is looking at him as well the same way. He looks pretty cute like that when he is all smushed under those blankets where he only peaks his head out. Just like a little hatchling. Leo gives the very sleepy Mikey a brilliant smile.
“I think I just heard a dumbass talking to himself because of the drugs. Please tell him to shut up so I can sleep.”
Mikey then burrows his head back under the blanket and Leo gasps out loud, not actually hurt by his younger brothers remark.
“Savage.” Comes the mutter of Donnie.
Leo quickly sits up in bed and points an accusing finger at Donnie.
“I knew you were pretending you asshole!”
As the arguing continues Raph stares at the medbay door and contemplates just leaving so he can have his peace and sleep. That is when a moody Draxum storms into the medbay and loudly tells all of them to be tired or none of them will get treated by him any longer. Donnie snorts at that, as if the man would mean it. Mikey raises his arm out of his fort of blankets to get Draxums attention.
Sighing Draxum says:” Yes, Mikey?”
Mikey shuffles further out of his blankets to purposefully give him the big, blue eyes that make everyone weak.
“Can I still get the good drugs though?” He asks sweetly.
“Yes,” Draxum says and runs a hand through his wool-hair. “promise you can still get the good drugs from me.”
Satisfied he gives a sweet smile and goes in for the ultimate gutpunch.
“Thanks dad.” He chirps overly sweet.
Draxum does not recover from that and thats the day that Mikey got another servant that he wrapped around his finger.
_________________________________________________________________________
Over the following time a lot changes in the family, for the better for once too.
They tell all of them what happened and included the invasion where a bunch of traumatic experiences happened. Many of which they haven’t even been aware of. There are a lot of hugs and in general taking more care of one another.
Splinter reverts more back to being a father for them and Draxum is there as well now for them. It is a lot of getting used to, for the two proclaimed fathers and their children. Most of all for Draxum it is a huge change. So many years of being alone and suddenly he has such a big family.
April is glad that the turtles are being more honest about their problems and genuinely try to improve their mental health. Of course, that doesn’t change so quickly as healing takes time and bad days will always exist, but at least now they aren’t being gloomy about it all alone and never talk about it. There is still much more to talk about, but they don’t plan on rushing things for themselves.
Speaking of healing, Leo and Mikey make a good recovery. Leo gets a robot arm that in his words is ‘sick’ and he calls himself half-mecha now and goes back into training relatively quickly. He learned to slow it down to not rush his body this time around, however. For Mikey, it is more complicated. As it turns out he did develop chronic pain and that will never leave him, but Draxum started him on regular pain relievers and muscle relaxants. He also does physical therapy together with Leo.
Raph, well, he finally accepted that being half blind does not make him abnormal or a monster now and that he is quite strong. He tells Donnie that he doesn’t want some replacement eye, but some sort of little assistant would be appreciated. That is how Raph ends up with a robot budgie that is always sitting on his head or shoulder. She is lovingly called Stella.
And well, New York City is still a city of many wonders and strange things so there is never a quiet day for the teenage mutant ninja turtles.