:The Doorway to Happiness:

by RazzlyGummies

Summary:

In a world where mutant creatures live under the city of New York and said mutants are trained Ninjas as well as turtles with various personalities there are bound to be some crazy adventures.

Mikey is sick and tired of his brothers blaming and hurting him, he also has to keep hiding the feelings he has grown for a certain giant mutant alligator. Strange things are happening and things around the lair are going missing, Mikey is imminently put to blame. Mikey goes off into the sewers for some time on his own after yet another fight with his family, somewhere in the labyrinth of sewers that is the New York sewer system he finds a strange door leading to some very odd and eccentric new friends. As like all his other friends he enjoys their company, but what happens when these new friends don't want him leaving? what if they want the poor little freckled turtle to stay with them? What is Mikey to do? Will his brothers and friends come to rescue him? will Mikey finally confess his feelings? or will they ever see him again......Lets read and find out!

Chapter 1: Missing Beginnings

{Mikey's POV}

“MIKEY!!”

“Eh!?” I yelped, falling out of my bed landing flat on my face. I groan, lifting my head up, holding my head at the pain I sighed, getting up from the ground dusting myself off.

Yes, that's my name Mikey and the one calling me is my older brother Raph, probably angry about something I may or may not have done like usual. He isn’t my only brother, I'm actually the youngest out of four. But we are not like your any average family.

“Raph calm down, how do you even know it was him?”

“Because it's always him!! It's always Mikey’s doing!!”

I walk up to my door opening it to see Raph being held back by my other brothers Leo and Donnie. The humanoid three turtles end up falling from misbalance ending up tangled up in a pile barking insults back and forth.

Yeah were actually mutants, mutant turtles to be precise.

“There you are, you little nuisance!!” Raph yelled as he scrambled trying to get out of the pile of tangled limbs.

“What did I do this time, Raphie?” I chuckled a little as I walked over grabbing his arm helping him up to his feet.

“Don’t call me that!! Just tell me where it is” he growled, poking me in the chest.

“Where is what?” I tilted my head in confusion, was he saying I took something from him? Cause I think I would remember doing something like that.

“Oh don’t you act all innocent Mikey, I knew it was you, your always pulling dumb pranks like this”

“For real Raph I don’t know what you're talking about” I seriously had no idea what he was talking about.

“Oh really?” he huffed before grabbing me by the arm dragging me towards where we kept all the vehicles we had, we call it the garage but its really a really old train car area.

“Then what do you call this?!” He yanked me over to where his motorcycle is, gesturing to it angrily.

“Uhhh what?”

“The wheel!! The wheel is gone!!” He yelled as he shook me for a second before pointing to the missing front wheel.

“.......so?”

“So? So?! Mikey do you know how hard it is to find wheels for our vehicles, wheels that aren't worn down and broken?!” Raph went on angrily, grinding his teeth in frustration.

“Uh yeah dude I know it's hard, you drag me to the dump with you so you don’t have to trudge through the gross stuff” I pointed out crossing my arms in a huff.

“Just give me back my wheel!”

“Why would I take your wheel?! A wheel of all things bro!!”

“Because you're you!! You always do these stupid childish pranks that no one likes!! They aren't even funny, they're just an inconvenience to us!!” Raph exclaimed, getting in my face jabbing my forehead with his finger.

“Raph!” Leo scolded, grabbing Raph’s hand pulling it away from my face.

“Raph that may be true but you don’t have to be a jerk about it” Donnie said with a bit of a sympathetic expression.

“Wait...true? What do you mean by that?” Were my jokes and pranks really that bad? I just wanted to lighten the mood and make them happy…

“Well Mikey you do tend to make jokes at uh….inappropriate times” Leo said slowly as if he was trying to choose his words very carefully.

“Like during training, fighting the Kraang, the Foot, Purple Dragons, other mutants, when I'm trying to work in my lab, when we're on stealth missions, oh and that one time we g-” Donnie went on and on until Leo punched him in the arm.

“Ow- Hey!”

“What we are trying to say Mikey is, that you can’t jump around and joke when it's getting serious, we could all get hurt, YOU could get hurt, none of us want that little bro” he said putting on a soft smile while placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“Oh stop babying him Leo!! He should know that he needs to suck it up and grow up because one of these days we are not going to be able to fix his problems, he’s a liability!!” Raph pulled Leo away spouting off furiously.

“RAPH!!” The other two yelled and started arguing once again.

But I wasn’t paying attention to that, I was stuck in my own head spinning so fast I felt nauseous. Liability? That word just kept playing over and over again in my head, it wasn’t true I’m not a liability...am I? I felt like I was going to throw up. I was so caught up in my head I didn’t even feel my feet move, I had no idea where I was walking to but I just kept walking….

“Liability….” the word made my skin crawl, even coming out of my mouth it felt acidic.

“Michelangelo?”

“Huh?” I looked up tiredly snapping out of my daze to see none other than Leatherhead.

“Leatherhead?...”

“Are you alright Michelangelo?” He came closer with a clearly worried expression playing on his face.

“Oh h-hey yeeeeaaah totally” I shook my head to snap out of whatever this was I was feeling.

“What is wrong?..” he reached out picking me up and holding me to eye level.

“Whaaaat?! Nothing is wrong, what would make you think that?”

“You came here walking all dazed and dead looking…” his frown furrowed.

“I did?...”

“Is it your brothers again?” he growled a little.

I sigh and lean on his chest as he pulls me close “you can just read me like an open book can’t you big guy”.

“It's a book I enjoy reading” he smiles and starts walking to the old subway cart Leatherhead had turned into his home a long while ago after we met, with me still in his hold.

“You always know what to say” I smiled tiredly as he laid down on his large makeshift bed pulling me into it with him, his tail curled around me.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Leatherhead tilted his head before laying it down on the ground as if to say ‘I’m listening’.

I began explaining to him what had happened with my brothers, going on about that stupid wheel and Raph blaming me and stuff, as well as Leo trying to dance around the fact that he didn’t want to just spit it out that I wasn’t funny or whatever, and Donnie listing all the accidents I have with my joking.

“And then…..he-...” I choked a little bit, starting to feel tears swell up in the corners of my eyes.

Leatherhead placed his large clawed hand on top of my own much smaller hand as to say he was there for me.

“He called me….a liability” I said quietly as I pulled my knees up to my chest hugging myself.

“HE WHAT?!” Leatherhead roared, shaking the old train cart as his eyes slit with rage.

“Leatherhead…” I looked up at him pleading he wouldn't get mad at them.

“....I’m sorry” he sighed and pulled me close to him nuzzling his chin against the top of my head for comfort.

“I just don’t get it…” I clenched my fists a bit feeling that anger I usually have to push so far down starting to surface itself.

“They all just look down on me...like I’m not worth it, They get so surprised whenever I get something right like with those mutant killer wasps!! Oh and I never even got a thank you for that!! The squirrelanoids sure they saved me in the end after I saved them and we like had that brotherly bonding stuff but everything just went right back to the same thing!! Mikey says one thing and bam smack to the head, Mikey makes a suggestion smack to the head, Mikey asks a question oh you guessed it smack to the head!! I don’t think they realize how much it hurts….”

“I think what hurts most is they openly say they don’t want to be with me like seriously straight to my face!! ‘I don’t want him, you take him’ ‘why do I always get stuck with Mikey’ ‘well I don’t want him either’ right in front of me!! Do they just think that kind of stuff isn’t hurtful?!” I felt my eyes sting as tears started cascading freely down my cheeks.

I was taken back a bit by Leatherhead lifting my chin up to look at him, giving me a gentle smile as he leaned down putting his forehead against my own.

“I don’t understand how they could be so awful to you, but since I am not allowed to inflict pain upon them…” I gave him a small look as he said this. “I will settle with this, I will always be here for you Michelangelo”

I smiled at this, laying my head back against his chest, people were usually so scared of Leatherhead even my brothers and father. They thought he was unstable and that he would end up hurting me, they may have gotten use to the idea of Leatherhead but I still don’t think they completely trust the larger reptile.

“Thanks for letting me rant to you L.H, I really needed this..” I wiped the tears from my eyes.

“Anything for you Michelangelo, you mean the world to me” He cooed cuddling up to me laying down wrapping his arms around me like a child would a teddy bear.

I felt a small blush creep its way to my cheeks cause I wasn’t expecting that, sure I know Leatherhead is a bit of a cuddle bug but he just does it so suddenly...and maybe just maybe I may have a tiny itty bitty crush on the other mutant...ok a big one but I couldn’t say anything….it would just make things weird, I mean were best friends and he trusts me with his life I don’t want to drive him away, he actually listens to me and lets me talk about stuff without being mean about it, he doesn’t think I’m….stupid, I don’t want to up and lose him. So it's best if I just keep my feelings to myself…

“Same here buddy...same here”

Chapter 2: Painful Truths

*Mikey's POV*

“MIKEY!!”

“Auuugggg not again…” I groan lifting my heavy eyelids from sleep, I didn’t realize I had actually even fallen asleep.

“Wha….what are you guys doing here?” I looked up to see my brothers standing there looking very defensive arms ready to reach for their weapons.

“What are we doing here? What are you doing here?! Do you have any idea how long you’ve been gone? You had us worried sick!!” Leo exclaimed in a whisper.

“No I don’t know how long I was gone, does that really matter?” I whispered bitterly, it was clear to me that Leatherhead was asleep, I didn’t want to wake him up with my stupid family drama.

“Uh it matters when you leave without telling any of us!! What if you got hurt or even worse you could ha-”

“I could have actually been around people who act like they care about me?” I interrupted moving my eyes to the side so I wouldn’t have to look at them, I didn’t want to look at them right now.

“I swear what is with you today, we're just trying to look out for you Mikey!” I could hear Raph growl as he tried to keep his voice down so as to not wake the much larger reptile.

I didn’t even respond, I merely carefully rolled around in Leatherhead’s hold so I wasn’t facing them anymore and I was now facing Leatherhead's chest. Once they were out of my field of vision I closed my eyes desperately wanting to go back to sleep so I wouldn’t have to deal with them.

“Mikey you can’t just run off whenever you feel like it, especially here, how would we be able to protect you?!”

At that my eyes flung open, were they trying to say Leatherhead is going to hurt me?! Heck I’m better off here with him then I usually am with them!! How dare they think that way about Leatherhead, sure he’s had violent outbursts but that's only because he was tortured and experimented on by those horrible Kraang!! He was the victim of so much abuse I can’t dare let them try to criminalize this gentle soul.

“Are you trying to tell me that you think Leatherhead would actually intentionally hurt me?” I practically hissed, the mere idea leaving my throat felt like acid burning my flesh.

“Bro you have to admit he’s a bit….unstable” Leo tried to once again sugar coat the fact that they did as a matter of fact think he would hurt me.

“Oh yeah he’s unstable, maybe because he was tortured and experimented on for most of his life!! He’s not a monster and let's face it the only reason he ever acts like one is because people keep treating him like one and he’s not going to get better if you guys won’t even acknowledge the fact that he’s TRYING to get better!!”

I whirled around and yelled, breathing in and out deeply as a tear slid down my face, I had practically yanked myself out of his grip. I was so harsh in my movement I didn’t even realize I had woken up the much larger male.

“Mikey I-” Leo was about to say something but I cut him off.

“Don’t you Mikey me!! You don’t even realize how much a hypocrite you are, you all think Leatherhead is going to hurt me. But you don’t even see how much you guys hurt me yourselves!!” I cried out letting the tears slip down my face.

“You treat me like I'm below you guys, I get that I’m not as strong or smart as you all but you don’t have to always make a comment about it!! Or everytime I get something wrong or say something you guys find annoying you either make a point to belittle me about it or hit me, and don’t give me ‘it's just a playful love tap’ crap. It stops being playful after two of them, not sixteen!!”

I didn’t even bother with their shocked faces, I was too caught up in my rant. I had been waiting to do this for years, I needed to finally let this all out.

“You’ve even said it directly to my face that you don’t want to be around me!! ‘Oh why do I always get stuck with Mikey, you take him’ ‘I don’t want him either you take him I’m the leader’ ‘what makes you all think I want him’ and it hurts so much more because somehow my stupid brain still looks up to you guys!!” I screamed as I finally let everything out.

Practically losing my balance I didn’t even realize that Leatherhead caught me with one of his large hands and pulled me up to his chest wrapping me in a hug.

“I think it's best if you three leave…” I heard Leatherhead’s warm voice now taking on a cold menacing tone.

“But w-”

“NOW!!” He roared, with no hint of remorse at all.

I don’t know if they left or not, I just continued to sob into my best friend’s chest. I thought that letting all this out would feel good. But for some reason I just felt so awful, like my heart was just ripped from my chest.

“It’s alright Michelangelo, I have you” Leatherhead cooed quietly as he gently nuzzled my head with the underside of his chin.

“A-are they g-gone?” I sniffed as I tried to stop the tears running down my face.

“Yes, I’m sorry if I lost my temper with them, my friend…”

“No your good big guy...I should be the one that's sorry, I shouldn’t have to bring you into my dumb family biz” I sighed running a hand down my face.

“I don’t mind being in your family biiizzzz” He said gruffly as he tried to repeat what I said.

I couldn’t help but chuckle, after wiping my tears away I held his large snout in my hands. “You're adorable sometimes you know that right?”

I felt blush creep up to my face when I realized what I said, quickly remove my hands and look away.

“I think I need to be alone for a little bit L.H…” I muttered as I hopped out of his hold and back onto the ground.

“I can leave for a little while if you’d like?” He suggested looking to the door of the old train cart.

“Oh no no, I’m just going to take a walk around the sewers near by don’t worry I know my way around, I’ll be fine, don't worry. I wouldn’t want you to have to leave your home for me it's fine really” I explained while walking backwards nearly tripping over the railing of the train cart in the process.

“Yeah I’ll be back, love you!”

My eyes shot wide and I quickly whirled around and jogged as fast as I could back into the sewers.

“I love you?! Really?! You just had to keep running your mouth Mikey great!!”

I sighed fidgeting with my hand wraps, I felt so stupid. Why would I say that?! Aug he’s going to think I’m weird..well he already knows i'm weird but now he’s going to think I’m weird in like a bad way or something.

I couldn’t lose Leatherhead…most of my I barely ever see again like Mondo or Napoleon, My brothers all had someone they could talk to or rant to in the past, granted one of them did become a crazy maniac that was bent on destroying me, Leo and Donnie. But yeah without Leatherhead...I’d just be alone again, probably even more now since I yelled at my brothers…

“Maybe yelling wasn’t the best option..” I thought to myself as I continued walking through the sewers though not really paying attention to all the twists and turns I was making.

“So what if I get lost, my brothers would be better off with me gone anyway...they don’t need me in their way all the time” I cried out softly.

Memories of all the times I messed up came flooding back to me, maybe all that stuff they say about me I deserve...Master splinter says I have so much raw talent, and look at me look at how I’m using it. I can’t be serious for more than a few seconds, I have some great moments...but what are any of those moments worth if most of the time I just screw things up…

“Yeah that's me...the screw up”

I looked up and realized I had no idea where I was, I had never seen this part of the sewer. Continuing on I entered what looked like a giant sewer drain, a really old one at that. The walls were made of a combination of cobblestone and large stone bricks, large sewer pipes trailing down from the ceiling and into the ground. At this point I finally noticed that the drain’s catwalk was so high up I couldn’t even see the drain part, looking down off the catwalk it was like standing on a bridge over an abyss.

“Woah...what is this place? I don’t think I’ve seen this place on any of Donnie’s maps..” I said to myself as I looked around at the place in awe.

Looking around I caught a glimpse of odd pictures that were chiseled into the old walls. It was kinda like fancy combinations between cave paintings and aztec hieroglyphics, maybe whoever did these were inspired by them?

I continued walking along the long catwalk, until I ended up accidentally run into a large wall without paying attention.

“Huh? What's the point of a catwalk in a sewer if it doesn’t lead anywher-” I was cut off when I looked up at the wall I ran into.

The wall had a large carved arch in the middle of two with one pillar in the middle which stopped half way for the arch. There were multiple circles engraved into the smaller arches within the largest, each circle had a chiseled piece missing making them all look like eyes, all of which staring at the center of the giant arch. The center was shown to have another circle but this one had a large pearl or maybe it was a gem or something smack dab in the middle of it.

“Why would someone build this in a sewer? Not judging, from one artist to another I’m just saying it seems kinda odd, unless they didn’t really want anyone to see it….and I’m talking to yourself again, but there is no one around to talk to….and you’re still doing it” I feel myself facepalm.

“Eh Whatever, I should probably get back to Leatherhead”

I began to walk away only to start hearing odd whispering, at first I thought it was just the sewer pipes. Donnie told me when we were younger that sometimes the pipes make weird noises because of water pressure. But I don’t think this had anything to do with that.

I turn my head back to the arch thing tilting my head a bit in confusion. The whispers weren't creepy, well they were but not like those moments on TV or in movies. Cause usually in those movies or whatever the whispers are like telling you to come closer or something but these whispers sounded like people, people who were arguing.

“Hello?” I called out looking at the archway.

“Is...is someone in there?” I put my practically nonexistent ear against the chiseled stone trying to hear if this was where the whispers were coming from.

“Nothing…” I looked up a bit at the center gem thing again looking closer this time.

Slowly raising my hand I placed it on the gem, though by accident I placed a bit too much pressure making it push into the wall, like a button.

“What the…what did that just d- AH?!” I jumped back when I heard the sound of old stone and rock scraping against each other.

I took a few steps back as the inner part of the archway began to move like a big gate or door, two halves of the archway door moving away from each other revealing a bright blinding light.

“H-Hello?”

Chapter 3: New Surroundings

{Leo’s POV}

Me and my brothers had just fled from our youngest brother’s giant angry best friend, it was probably best to leave it alone for now. But once we were finally at a safe distance I couldn’t help but let my mind wander. How long has Mikey felt that way? How could we have not seen the pain Mikey held? Were we really that horrible of a family to him….

“Well that was uh...something” Donnie spoke, his face still a bit pale with fright.

“Are we really that bad of brothers…” I sigh leaning against the sewer brick wall sliding down to sit.

“I’ve never heard Mikey sound like that before...he sounded so hurt, so sad….this is all my fault” I see Raph walk over to the other wall across from me sitting down.

“Raph it's not just your fault...we all were pretty bad jerks to him” Donnie came over sitting a bit ways between us.

“Pretty bad doesn’t amount to what we did…” I ran a hand down my face with exhaustion, this whole situation was tiring. I want to apologize to Mikey but I’m not sure if that's going to make up for all we did to him.

“Well what are we supposed to do now?!” Raph exclaimed, clenching his fists in anger.

“I…...I don’t know” I had no idea what to do now, I'm still just caught off guard by all this. All this time we had been hurting our baby brother, and were supposed to protect him!! He’s our baby brother for shells sake!!

“Of course you don’t know what to do” he huffed growling under his breath as he crossed his arms.

“Oh like you have an idea” I growled back getting up from the ground.

“Guys now is not the best time to start another fight” Donnie hurried over getting in between us before things could escalate.

“Your right...I’m sorry Raph”

“Yeah...I’m sorry too I guess…” he muttered rubbing his arm awkwardly.

“We need to think of something, we need to make things right with Mikey….we really have been horrible to him” I say as I look back to where we had come from.

 

“How are we going to do that?, that's kind of a LOT to make up for” Donnie asked looking down sadly.

“First we apologize” I say turning towards the way back to Leatherhead’s place.

“If I was Mikey I would have kicked our asses ages ago…I should have noticed something sooner” Raph huffed, running a hand down his face in frustration.

“We underestimate how good Mikey is at hiding stuff from us so Raph don’t go putting all the blame on yourself. We all took part in what we did to Mikey, we’re all responsible and were going to fix it” I looked back to Raph sending a sympathetic look, when things like this happened Raph was always so quick to blame himself.

“Yeah but he’s Mikey, he’s supposed to be happy and goofy, making people happy and just all in all the greatest guy we know. How could we have treated him like that for so long and not even realize?! Shell I smack him all the time, he probably hates us now” Raph argued clenching his fist fueled by his own self loathing.

“As much as he probably wants to, Mikey doesn’t have it in him to truly hate someone, he’s too nice. I kinda wish we were like that, after all the crazy people we’ve met we kind of got a bit messed up...heck i'm pretty sure each of us have almost murdered someone before, granted they were bad guys”. Donnie declared as we walked through the sewers back to Leatherhead’s place.

We made our way back, finding Leatherhead picking up a few things around his area, he looked like he had something on his mind. But Mikey wasn’t anywhere in the old cart turned house, had he left back to the lair?

“What are you doing back here?” a gruff voice called out snapping me out my thoughts.

“Heh...hey L.H, sorry to come back and bother you but we just really need to to talk Mikey”

“I don’t think he wants to talk to you any time soon..” He growls, turning away going back to what he was doing.

“Leatherhead, please, where is he? We just want to apolo-” Donnie had tried to reason with the much larger mutant, only to be interrupted by said larger mutant grabbing him by his face.

“WHY IS IT ALWAYS MY FACE?!”

“Pathetic…” the alligator snarled, tossing Donnie back to us.

“Hey! You can’t just toss others around like that L.H!” I exclaimed, helping Donnie to his feet.

“But it's ok to belittle and hurt your siblings for no reason?” He narrowed his eyes at us before heading back over to his large makeshift bed nest thing.

“We're trying to apologize, Leatherhead!! But we can’t do that if we don’t know where he is, we get it we suck!! We're horrible brothers that don’t deserve Mikey, he’s the living embodiment of sunshine. But we want to make things right, we know we have a lot to do to make up for what we did to him but everyone has to start somewhere. I love my baby brother, I made a vow to protect him from people who would try to hurt him...I never thought I’d end up becoming one of those people…” Raph began loudly, his voice dipping and eyes furrowing, I could have sworn he had tears starting to form.

“I know he probably won’t forgive us right away, but we need to try. It's always been us against the world, losing him would be the end of our own. So please, tell us where he is, I can accept it if he doesn’t forgive us, it's his call but I would rather stab myself with a rusty dumpster spoon then not try and make things right...so please Leatherhead…”

Raph was actually crying….openly in front of other people….I think I fell into an alternate universe….

“.....He left to clear his head, he said he needed to be alone for a while” The large alligator gave in, turning back to us.

“Where did he go? Back to the lair?”

“He told me he was going to take a walk around the sewers near by”

“Well let's go find him then!” Raph exclaimed, heading towards the sewers.

“Uh Raph we don’t know which way he took, this far into the sewers it's like a maze you could get lost without the ma- Mikey doesn’t have a map….HE DIDN’T HAVE A MAP!!” Donnie shrieked, putting his hands to his face.

“So you mean Mikey could be lost in there?!”

“What are we gonna do?! How can we search an enti-”

“You know you could just ask and I’d help you find him” we turned back seeing Leatherhead stepping out of his old train cart.

“You’d actually help us find him, even after we, you know...kinda accused you for being a danger to Mikey?” I looked up a little surprised by the other mutant.

“I wouldn’t be helping you, I’d be helping Michelangelo” He exhaled a tired sigh as he walked past me and to the next sewer entrance past Raph.

“I thought you didn’t know where he was?” Donnie asked, quirking up an eyebrow ridge.

“I don’t” He looked between two separate sewer tunnels before choosing the one on the right and started his way inside with us following close behind.

“Then how do you know which way he went?”

“I follow his scent…” he grinned a little as he said this, taking a whiff of the air.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you could do that, what does Mikey smell like to you?” I looked up a bit puzzled, I wasn’t aware he was able to track people’s scents.

“Like chocolate and fresh fruit…” his eyes relaxed as he described our brother’s scent, taking another inhale of the air around us.

Thinking about it now, I keep forgetting just how deeply Leatherhead probably cares about Mikey. I mean he was probably the first person to show him just an ounce of kindness since...god knows how long. Dang we really were horrible if we thought this big gentle giant would actually hurt him, we’ll have to fix things with Leatherhead as well when we talk things over with Mikey.

I’m sorry Mikey….

{Mikey’s POV}

“H-Hello?”

My eyes were burning from that blinding light, I had them clenched tightly not wanting any of said light pouring back in. What happened? Did I just die? I feel like I might have died...but I don’t remember doing anything that would have killed me. What did I do, what what what...Oh I opened that big stone door thingy and then BAM big bright light, what happened to me?

 

“W̴̛̖̼̰̗̹̜̩͐̉͋͂̉̿̉̀̌̏̈̽h̶̛̬̠̰̪̔͛͌͐̋̔̈͑͒͑͠͠ä̵̞̖̯͖͓̞̥́̽͆̇̐̓͑ṫ̷̻̺͇̣̯̦̱̹̽̑͐͛̍̏͘̕ ̷̛͕͈̬̮͎̙͉̤͈͇̞̽̿͊̓̏̂̈́̈́̑̈́͝͠ĩ̴̜̰̱͇͈̜̳̺̯͍͚̹̙̭̎̓̓̇͂̇͘͝ͅș̴̱̭̠̓̔̅͌͒͐͆͆̓͊͝͠ ̴̨͉̫͔͓̲́̓̚i̴̞͕̱̗̩̠̺̥̭̱̽͗t̶̡̡͍̣͔̙͙̼̲̭̖̱̟̩̄̀̓̋͋́̉̐͂͘?̴̧̛͉̳͙̣͖̦̟̰͍̫͓͉̞̖͗̈́͛̆͘”

 

“I̸̪̝̜̲̤͐̾s̵̨̻̪̗̠̻̠̠̗͐̓̓͛̏̅̚̕͠ ̶̢̗̯͇̳̮͕̩̞̆͒͒͆͐i̵̢͓̭̻͖̖̮͆͝ͅţ̷̖̬̠͍̗͓̗̱͊̓͊̈́̍̚͜ ̷̬̜̤̦̜̞̠̭̋̈́͊̊̽͠d̶̛̙̥̎̄͌̒̈́ė̶̘̭͚̣̦̺̲̔̇̓a̴̡̠̫̘̳̣͕̲͇͌̔d̴̡̼͚͉͎͙̣̪̘̳͇̑̾̐͌͝?̸̧͈͙̜̭̼͎̰̻͈͚̔͐̊̒͘”

 

“Í̸̡̢̗̱͈͇̺̺̻̰̈́̓̃̏͑̉͊t̵̢̨̧͇͉̙͇̠̘͈̋̈͋̂̎͑̃͐̏̆'̶̨͙̻̘̣̲̭̦̅̊̀̃̒̾͑ͅš̴̼͖̝̠̹̬̍ ̵̨̨̭̰̝̺̤̩̮̠̃͂͆͊́̏̂́n̴̨̹͙̘̰̓̇̍̋͌o̴͚̩̞͎͈͆̍̑͆̃͋͒̒t̸̡̗̼͕̲͇̰̰̦͈̒͂̃̈́̆̃͜ ̷̙͔̼̹̃̇̐͘d̵̛̼̞̠̊̃̒è̵̝͕̱͓̞͇̗̠́͒̿̚͘͝͝a̴͚͇̤͕̺͎̲̯͒̊̊̏̑d̴̡̢̦̺̟͓̟͎̠̙͒͋̔͊ͅ ̸̢̳̦̜͉̼͚̠̔͐̅̒̅̔͒͊͊͐͝y̶̺͎͈̆̒̒ͅơ̷̧͖͈͉̺̟̹͖̼͐́̄͋͑͂͝ṵ̷̲̺̏̋͒̀́̽̒͐̒̚ ̶̧̮͕̦̠̝̦̯͔̲͋̂i̴̢͉̬͇̝͕̊́̀̔̓̌̆͌̐͘d̸̛̤͕̺̻̅̅͂̈i̷̟̝͙͋̋̌͆͠o̶̪̾̇̉̐̃ͅt̵͈̯̱͍͒s̷̡̙̪̦͋̅̈̚,̵͚̤̈̈́ ̵̢̖̻͈͐̚Ǐ̸̧͇͕̩̫͉͍̘͍͓̒̾̈̐̈́̈́͒ṫ̵̝̄̈́̔̎̾̉͘’̴̖̠̩͇̟̳̗͕̹̈́̒̾̾͐̆̈́͌͘͜͝s̷͕̙̙̮̰̝͂̾̀̐̚̚ͅ ̴̡̡͍̤̊̆͗̆͆̿̐̌͊͘c̵̝̎͌̂́́̀̚ļ̴̧̹͎͓̫̤͇͋͊̈́͐͜e̸͈̣̫̪̝̹̬̬̳̍̑͌̏̎̐̑a̶͕̘̝̮̋̈́͘ṛ̴̛͓̹͋̄͊̔̅͝͝l̵̢̡̨̛͕̥̖͎͍̳̥̈̅̀̄̀̔͐͛͝ͅẏ̴̭̦̍̊̇̋ ̷͔̖̥̙̦͇͕̄̄̈̌̋̄b̵̖̳̰͔̰͖̔͋̃͆̍r̷̡̹̜̜͊̎̋e̶̡̱̤̯͙̙͇͖̩̲͗͑̃͊͊̕á̸̰͛́̽̍̊̎͘t̸̛̤̏̅̄̎̓͛̂́̍ͅh̴̡̡̩̹̦̊͆̕i̶̠̚͜n̶͎͉̠̘̹̙̰͕̥̟̋̃́̍̐̈̕ͅg̸͔͇̼̫̺̅̐͐͐͜”

 

“Ō̴̪̭͉̙̬̄͗͛͛̄̆̂͘h̶̫͍̲̲̘͑͗̋̄̈͛͆̐̿͌ͅ ̸̨͇̘̫̹̳̺̾͐y̸̧̢̺͕̭̦̫͙͙͆o̵̹̠͖͚̮͎̰̚u̵͔͑̀̆͒͝ ̵̥̋́̌̌̋̓͐̿͘w̴͓̜̬̤͐̐̅̿͝ͅä̴̰̞͝n̴̫̱͍̾͂̒͂̎̕̚n̷͇͎͙̟͉̟̖̳̟̥̉̅̌̾͗a̶̛͔̯̒͛̈́̈́̈́͝͠ ̴͈͈́͊s̸̥͓͉͓̣͓͇̘̻̫͑̀͜ṯ̴̢̨̲̖̈́̇̈́̓͆̎̕å̸̛̠̝͙̮̙̄͂͋̒̽͘r̵̘̬̭̮̥͔̳̕ͅt̷̫̼͚̝̟̱̗̲̬̄́̂̍̚͜ͅ ̸̉͜s̶̨̓͌̌͒̏ǫ̵̼̝̓̅͛̆̿́̃̃͜m̴̼͓̥͉̮̱̻̖͒̌̄̒̈̈̇̉͝͠͠ẹ̷͍̆͆̍̏̏̐̎̋̅ẗ̷̝̻̙̹̞͕́͆͆̀̋͗͒̽͌͠h̶̤̦̘̯̒̐̚͜ỉ̷̝͌̊n̴̠̼̮͓̭͉͔̩̦͎̅͌͜g̵̳̖̱͖̲͙̞͚̍̽̉̊̂͛̄̃͛̚̕ ̵̠̻͇̳͖̈́̑̾̊̽̓̎̚̚͠s̶͓̲̟̯̪͓̈́̆̒̓̔̐͌͜m̴̜͙̳̼̙͕̮̭̱̺̠̿͐̈́̇̿̉̏̓̿̈́a̶̳̹̍͛̈́̿̊̎̂̕̕ȑ̵͉̖͐̍͋̍̌̃ṭ̴͚͓̟̜̱͎͙̟͇̮̂́̌͌̃̈́̿͆̚a̶͖͕̘̮̤̐̔̏̌͜s̴̨̤̮̲̋̃̈́͘͠s̵̡̮͖̱͚̫̭̹̬͊̃̉̈̅́̊?̸̖̙̼̭͖̭̞͐̊!̷̨͇̟̳̩̎̈́̇̄̒̕͠”

 

What were these voices? They were hard to hear, I could barely make them out, they sounded kinda scary. All scratchy and creepy, were these voices in my head? Oh god am I going insane?!

I slowly opened my eyes to see where I was, only to be met with three blurry figures standing above me. I think they were yelling at each other now cause the figures kept going back and forth from either swatting at each other or snapping what I think is their mouths at one another.

“H-hello?” I called out weakly, it was just now when I realized how much my body ached right now. I felt like my muscles were on fire, but you know…..not on fire.

The three figures stopped and turned back looking down at me. I think they started talking again but I couldn’t hear them for some reason. Which is weird because I think I heard them before?

I felt so tired and weak I let my eyes close for just a second and next thing I know I’m being carried, close them again, I hear arguing and growling, again, I’m now lying on something soft and comfortable.

“What the heck is going on?” I groan tiredly as I sit up on whatever I was laying on. Looking down turns out it was something that was kind of like Leatherhead’s nest except more fancy? It was like a big circular pink pillow or maybe a mattress? If this was a mattress it's definitely a lot better then mine back at the lair.

I looked up to see what looked like purple silk drifting from what I’m guessing is a bed frame? It reminded me of a bed I saw on a cartoon show with princesses and knights. The silk hung in the same shape of the bed, so it was like the bed itself was a room on its own, the only real exit being where the silk ended forming curtains at the end of said bed.

“Where am I…” I tried to stand but the plushness of the mattress threw me off balance making me fall back down, so I had to crawl out pushing the curtains open.

After that I finally got a look at where I am, gosh I must have fallen into some kind of palace or mansion or something!! Cause heck this place looked like fanciness overload.

I was in a big room, it was almost the size of the main room of our lair. The bed I was in was placed dead center in the middle of it all, upon further inspection I can see a variety of other items you would find in a bedroom except you know fancier. Over on one side of the room was a big vanity table complete with a mirror and some little nick nacks placed on the counter of it.

Next to the vanity was a large fancy wardrobe or I think it's called an armoire? We found something like that at the dump and Donnie was arguing with Raph about what it was called. On another side of the room I can see a carpeted area with a series of desks and art supplies like paint, canvases, easels, and a whole bunch of other stuff used for art.

Basically yeah this place looked like a fancy person’s paradise.

I stepped out of the bed placing my feet on the floor having to stop for a second cause the floor was ice cold for a moment. There is no way I was still in the sewers, but if I was I needed to meet whoever did all this remodeling cause it is fantastic. Not exactly my style per say but still really awesome nonetheless.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the sounds of footsteps getting closer, it was just then I realized. What if whoever brought me here was dangerous? Like they only brought me here to hurt me, but that wouldn’t make sense would it? If they wanted to hurt me wouldn’t I be in a dungeon, tied up or something? Not free to walk around in a pretty room with flowers decorating the walls and shiny floors. Still I need to be ready if this was some form of trick, Raph told me people who seem nice can just as easily be evil like the other villains we’ve faced.

So I decided to hide, I looked around quickly contemplating which would best be suited for hiding. I set my sights on the wardrobe rushing over as quickly and quietly as possible and hid amongst the many clothes and fabrics waiting for whoever was approaching to come in.

“You think it's awake by now?” I heard a voice say, the voice was deep and kinda gruff, like someone who people think is mad because of the tone of their voice.

“That's what we're here to see you dolt, so shut up!!” a more raspy voice spoke up, whoever it was sounded like an old cartoon show villain like some kind of crazy scientist, or like the one from Leo’s show the character with skeleton arms who screams at men in short shorts with long hair.

“Both of you need to shut up, you're giving me a headache” the last voice growled followed by the sound of two punches. This voice was also deep like the first guys but he wasn’t all gruffy and angry, he was more annoyed sounding. Kinda reminded me of Leo but like if Leo went through puberty a second time.

“Wait, it's not here, where’d it go?” the gruff voice spoke again, they must have checked to see if I was still in bed.

“Well it’s gotta be in here somewhere, the window and doors are locked, look for him the room isn’t that big.

Well I wouldn’t say that it's pretty big, it just has a lot of open space and not much other than a few bits of fancy furniture.

“Oh little strange creature come out, we won’t hurt you!!” the raspy voice called out creepily, he was using some type of sing song tone and it really freaked me out.

“You’re just going to scare it off if you do that, cut it out you freak show” The angry voice spoke again laced with another hateful growl.

I could hear them stomping around the room, were they stomping? Or were they just big like Leatherhead is? Sometimes when he walks around his regular stepping can sound like stomping because of how big he is.

I needed to figure out what to do, I needed a smart plan!! Leo! Leo is good at making plans, oh what would Leo do? What would Leo do?!

Once again the world seemed to be turned against me, one of the voices had finally decided to check in the wardrobe….

“There you are~”

Oh no…...

Chapter 4: The Brothers Three

{Mikey’s POV}

Oh no….

“There you are!!”

I felt a bit of sweat build up as I came face to face with a giant lizard-like creature, its scales and skin a variety of shades of purples and greys. He had ecstatic looking eyes which were a deep emerald green. When he spoke I could see he had horrifyingly sharp teeth, and long blue tongue.

I had no words. I couldn’t say a thing as this giant purple lizard reached down into the wardrobe picking me up as if I weighed nothing at all. It was at this moment where I realized this guy was even bigger than Leatherhead, albeit by maybe two or three feet.

“I found him brothers, silly little thing hiding in the armoire” the purple lizard cooed down at me like I was some kind of baby animal.

“You gave us quite the scare we thought something might have happened to you”

I looked over to see a slightly smaller giant lizard creature, but this one was dull greyish blue with dark blue splotches splattered against his scales and skin. He had what looked like six pale yellow eyes, all of which felt like they were staring into my very soul. Unlike the first one, this one appeared to have giant folded wings on its back, they looked a bit scarred and tattered.

He just kept staring at me, it really freaked me out. Was I shaking? I feel like I’m shaking.

“Don’t be scared little green thing, your safe with us”

Oh god there’s another one.

The last one was a bit shorter than the blue one but was definitely a lot more muscular. He looked like he could snap me like a twig, he was a solid scarlet red with a few vibrant red stripe markings on his arms and legs and a few around his neck. He had large horns protruding from the tops of his head, as well as several small spikes going down his neck, back, and onto his long tail. This one looks like he might have had four eyes once but one was scarred shut so only three remained of the pitch black eyes.

“W-where am I?” The only thing I could muster was a shaky whisper.

“Oh so you do speak that wasn’t just our minds playing tricks on us again!” The purple one seemed happy by this discovery turning me around, holding me up to his face showing his wide sharp toothed grin.

“Oh quit that you're just gonna scare it even more!” The red one growled, reaching over grabbing me by the top of my shell pulling me away from the purple one causing me to yelp.

“You are both scaring him you idiots” The blue one finally spoke up again and took me away from the red one, this time I was being held like a pet or a toy.

“We don’t manhandle our guests, it's rude” He said before placing me down on the ground, god I kinda felt even more anxious now, cause now I could see just how tall these guys were looming over me.

“So uh...where am I?” I shook away my uneasiness and looked up the three.

“You're in our home, we found you outside barely conscious.” The blue one explained gesturing to the nearby window.

“Oh well um...who are you guys?”

“I am Zadicus, these are my brothers, Reath and Devdan. It is a pleasure to meet you, what is your name, small green creature?” He smiled looking down at me, he didn’t seem as intimidating as before.

“Oh My name is Michelangelo but most people just call me Mikey”

“We have a question for you Michelangelo” Zadicus kneeled so he could be at some kind of new eye level with me.

“Yeah?”

“When you got here, You came in through a door, correct?”

“Well I guess it was a door or something, but yeah it was like a big circular door made of stone, kinda like the door to a safe” I said trying to think back to when I had found the big stone door, wait how could a door in a sewer lead to a place that's clearly outdoors surrounded by a thick forest? It makes no sense.

“Hmmm...alright thank you” he rubbed his chin before standing back up.

“Wait, why did you wanna know about the door?”

“Just something personal...anyway, would you care to join us for our afternoon meal?” he asked, sending me a kind smile as he held out his large hand for me to take.

“Sure, I’m pretty hungry anyway, didn’t really have time to eat breakfast and I got a little distracted during lunch time heh..” I chuckled a bit to myself, maybe these guys weren’t so bad.

I took his hand as he led us out of the room and through the large halls. I’m not really sure where we were but it looked like a fancy mansion or a palace of some sorts, we couldn’t still be in the sewers could we? Or maybe I'm just having a crazy dream, I’m going to wake up still snuggled up next to Leatherhead ain’t I? I actually wouldn’t mind that.

After a bit of walking we finally made it to a big dining room, with a big table. And I don’t mean long where a whole bunch of people can sit. I mean this table looks like it was made specifically for the three giants. Along with three giant chairs surrounding the table.

“We have an extra chair don’t worry Devdan is going to get it” Zadicus said as he went over to the table setting it.

The muscular red one who I now know as Devdan came back with another chair, the same size as the other ones, I guess they only have them in these sizes, that's cool though I can work with this.

Once he set the chair at the table the purple lizard Reath came over carrying a few big cushions, placing them on the seat of the chair.

“There you go now you can reach the table!” Reath exclaimed as he picked me up once again, placing me on the cushions.

It was also at this moment where I realized Reath actually had four arms, the other pair were set on his waist.

“It’s so nice to have company here after all these years” Reath spoke happily as he patted my head and walked over into another room attached to the dining room, probably the kitchen.

“So it's just you guys in this place?” I looked over at Zadicus who had just finished setting the table and was now sitting at his chair across from me.

“Unfortunately yes, it does get rather boring here, things get awfully...predictable” he sighed as Devdan took a seat at the table.

“Well uh could I ask you guys what exactly is this place? Like where exactly I am?”

He and Devdan looked at each other as if contemplating whether they should answer that or not, but thankfully for them, Reath came in carrying four plates of food, one plate in each hand.

“Dinner is ready, my lovely family!” He cackled cheerfully as he placed the plates down for each of them before sitting in his rightful seat.

“Sorry about Reath he’s a tad on the insane side of things” Zadicus said tiredly as he picked up his fork ready to eat.

“By a tad insane, he means completely bat-shit crazy” Devdan growled under his breath mocking Zadicus’s tone of voice.

“No cursing at the dinner table you heathen!!” Reath hissed at his brother snapping his sharp teeth.

“Oh you wanna go, cause I will jump across this table and strangle you!” Devdan roared, starting to stand up.

I sat there not knowing what to do, so I just kept my head down picking at my food awkwardly, this was a lot like how it was with my brothers back at the lair.

“ENOUGH!!”

Everyone stopped, I looked up to see Zadicus up from his chair fists clenched laying on the table, his giant wings spread out for all to see, it was actually really intimidating.

“This is not how we behave in front of a guest, have you no manners” he growled as his wings outstretched smacking the two in the back of the heads.

Meanwhile I just sat there wide eyed not knowing what to do.

“Sorry Zad…” The two huffed sitting back in their seats crossing their arms.

“Terribly sorry about them, their idiots” Zadicus said, adjusting himself before he sat back down folding his wings back in.

“Oh no no, it’s ok really, I’m kinda used to this kinda stuff” I chuckled awkwardly and took a bite of my food.

“You are?” Zadicus raised an nonexistent eyebrow looking down at me.

“Heh yeah, you guys kind of remind me of my brothers, they fight alot...mmm! This is really good, Reath, you're a great cook!!” I exclaimed as I took another bite of my food.

“Oh well I-” The large purple lizard seemed to get a little flushed at the comment, his cheeks growing a bit red.

“Hmf, It's nice to see someone who appreciates my fine cuisine for once!” He grinned looking back at the other two with a sharp look.

“I’ll tell you it's so hard to cook for these two, so picky and ungrateful!” Reath turned away from them dramatically but you could tell it was in a playful way.

“Well maybe it's because you insist on making everything fancy shmancy, food is food, it’s meant to fuel you” Devdan said but he had a smile on his face this time unlike before.

“Pardon me if I like to make a little presentation, we're not savages” Reath chuckled before eating his own food.

“Some of us are” Zadicus whispered, hiding his mouth with his drinking glass while taking a sip.

The three looked at one another before laughing at this, it made me smile. It reminded me of the times me, my brothers and master Splinter would eat together as a family. We didn’t do that much anymore. We'd either eat separately, or we’d all fight or just make small conversation. Sure we still had these moments but they’ve been becoming more rare as of lately.

“Anywho, now that we know you can actually speak little green creature, why don’t you tell us about yourself” Devdan said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Yes, tell us about yourself, like what exactly are you?” Reath asked, looking over examining me with a tilted head.

“Oh I’m kinda just a turtle, but when I was a baby I got mutated with human DNA so were my brothers, so yeah I’m just this now” I explained making little jazz hands at the mutated bit.

“How fascinating” Reath’s eyes lit up with excitement at the new found information.

“Don’t you go trying to dissect him” Zadicus gave him a tired look, kinda like Leo or master Splinter would do when they were tired of dealing with us.

“Yee of the little faith in me brother, I could never dissect such a sweet little face” Reath cooed as he reached over one of his arms poking my cheek. “Well I could, but I won’t cause I enjoy his presence”

“Uhh...thank you?” Was that supposed to be a compliment?

“Anyway, anything else you can tell us about yourself?”

“Well uh...I’m a trained ninja!! My father taught me and my brothers ninjutsu since we could walk!” I exclaimed excitedly.

“Ninjutsu? What is that?” Devdan tilted his head confused.

“You guys don’t know what it is?” I asked, earning a simple shake of the head from all of them.

“Oh well that's ok, it's a form of martial arts, you know like fighting” I explained making two chop swinging motions with my hands.

“Could you show us?” Devdan appeared to have gotten more intrigued when he heard the word ‘fighting’.

“Like right now?” I said looking around the dining room, if I was in my own home I would have just done it, but I didn’t want to be rude or break something.

“Sure, we’d love to see it” Zadicus said, resting his hands on the table after finishing his food.

“Ok, uh let's see” I got up standing on the cushions and chair.

Taking a deep breath, I jumped up into the air moving my legs back to hit the back part of the chair. Using it as leverage to get up higher and further,flipping mid air landing directly in the center of the table, thankfully there was no centerpiece or that would have been destroyed.

In one swift motion I pulled out my nunchucks moving them expertly in my hands, using my legs I swept the now empty dinner plates into the air. Hitting them each so fast with my nunchucks it was hard to see when the impact even happened, once the pieces finally fell to the ground I pulled out one of my smoke bombs, throwing it onto the tabletop below me sending me into a large poof of smoke.

The three gasped at the show they were given, having probably never seen anything like it before.

“Where did he go?!”

“Sup” I called, now laying on my side on top of a china cabinet close by on the side of the room.

“How did you...how did that just..what in the world” They were almost at a loss for words, all in all they were absolutely shocked.

“Sorry about the plates, kinda got a little ahead of myself heh” I chuckled awkwardly hopping down from the giant china cabinet.

“No no it's alright, we have plenty more, this will be an easy clean up anyway” Reath spoke cheerfully with that big sharp smile of his.

“I can help with the clean up, I mean I did make the mess” I said putting my nunchucks back into their slot on my belt.

“Oh no no, I don’t want to keep you from the tour, plus I clean very fast” Reath snickered as he flexed his four arms. “I have the power of productivity!”

“Wait, Tour?” I looked up at the other two confused.

“Well if you're going to be staying here for a while you might as well know your way around, don’t want you getting lost now do we” Zadicus smiled reaching down patting my head.

“Oh I guess you're right...wait stayi-”

“Come along Michelangelo” Devdan said, putting his large hand behind my back leading me back through the halls with Zadicus.

“Alright?....”

{Leo’s POV}

“God how far did he go? I don’t even recognize the tunnels anymore” I looked at the tunnels surrounding us, it appeared they kept getting older and older looking the farther we went in them.

“Is it just me or does this place smell worse than usual?” Raph asked, looking around sounding like he was trying not to vomit or something.

“Yeah it's like sweaty mothballs and toxic waste” Donnie gagged, covering his nose with his hand.

“Can you still smell Mikey’s scent L.H?” I looked up at the larger reptile who looked hyper focused at the moment.

“.....in there” he points to a wide tunnel entrance.

Walking in we found ourselves in what looked like a giant sewer drain, but this one looks like it hasn’t seen water in years, dry as a bone besides from the large pipes leading from the ceiling and into what looked like a freaking abyss under a catwalk.

“What the heck is this place..”

“Mikey?! Mikey you in here?!” Raph called out, the giant room letting an echo bounce off the walls.

“Mikey we're not mad!! We wanna apologize, please come out!” Donnie shouted for their little brother, but once again there was no answer.

Continuing our way, walking across the catwalk we caught a glimpse of the strange art on the walls, it looked both painted and chiseled. Maybe Mikey was here, Mikey loved this type of stuff, old artwork. But still I couldn’t shake the strange feeling I had from this place…

“Mikey please come out, we’re sorry!! We want to figure out how to fix this!!”

We kept going until Donnie, not paying attention, hit his face against a wall.

“Ow! What th- wait what is this?...”

I looked over to see Donnie had not hit a wall, but hit some sort of door or archway or something. It was covered in chiseled markings and gems, jewels, pearls in simple ways of saying it, this thing was fancy.

“How have we never found this place, it's too huge not to be noticed on your sewer scanner” I looked at Donnie who appeared to be at a loss of words.

“I have no idea!!” Donnie exclaimed before he started to examine the large door thing.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this place…” I said as I looked over back at the walls covered in strange art.

I tilted my head as I examined the artwork, it appeared to be a depiction of a village. But the village appeared to have been on fire with a lot of smoke. Tiny people were fleeing, laying dead, or kneeling. Above the village were three giant silhouettes, scary looking figures with outstretched arms over the village.

“What the…”

I followed the pictures leading to an area covered in gross moss or something. Carefully getting on the railing of the catwalk and getting as close as I could to the wall, using one of my ninjatos I cut the moss off the wall letting it fall into the abyss.

Once it was removed I could see what else had been engraved on the wall. It was a picture of the door only a few feet away, surrounding the door appeared to be small depictions of people in hooded robes pointing strange objects at the door.

The objects appeared to be sending a stream of light at the door. Looking up above the door there were three chiseled figures, all of them looking like the silhouettes from before except it looked like they were screaming and trying to crawl out of a hole. The dark silhouette’s had noticeable bright chains wrapped around them tightly as if they were trying to pull them into the hole.

Something clicked in my head and I whirled around to my brothers.

“Don’t touch that!!”

Donnie who was reaching out to the giant pearl in the center of the door immediately stopped and looked over confused and a bit worried because of my tone.

“What? What's wrong?” They both looked confused, giving me a worried look in their eyes.

“We need to talk to Master Splinter…like right now”

Chapter 5: Rubba Dub Dub Turtle In The Tub

Notes:

In the story there is a picture, yes the picture is mine I drew it, but I do not own the character sadly.
I do not own TMNT or its amazing characters, but I do enjoy them very much.

{Mikey’s POV}

We had been walking for over an hour and a half and we still weren’t done with this tour, I can barely keep track of any directions in this place. There is no way I could walk around here without getting lost, there were hundreds upon hundreds of rooms. How could they be bored with all of this, I guess they kind of got used to it? Who knows.

I had been shown rooms with weapons and armor, a big fancy ballroom, a room filled with nothing but weird creepy ‘trinquets’ as they called them. They even had a museum-like hall room, like no lie it was like a museum inside their house. They also showed me where they worked.

Devdan showed me what he calls ‘his sanctum’. It was a big open room that kind of reminded me of the dojo back home. Except he had so many more weapons lining the walls, but they were kinda dirty, rather rusty looking on the blades and ends. He had a bunch of battered strike dummies laying in the corner, some of them still had some form of weapon stabbed into them, I didn’t say anything about that though, didn’t wanna be rude.

Then we went down to Reath’s workshop, which was down a whole lot of stairs. Zadicus carried me down them, he said it was easy to trip down them. I wasn’t that surprised by the look of Reath’s workshop, it was mostly very clean. Tapestries lined the walls and tools of all sorts lay scattered on the large stone table in the middle of the room. I was kind of scared at first by all the tools, especially a certain bone saw that looked like it had been recently used on something…

After that we finally made it to Zadicus’s study, it wasn’t at all like the other’s work area’s. It looked like an actual study, a big desk, ink and quill, shelves stocked with books and parchment. I guess Zadicus really liked plants cause there were a bunch of them in all the corners of his office. On the far end of the room there was a big map framed on the wall above a table, the map appeared to show a giant castle in the center of a large empty field which was surrounded by a thick forest. But the oddest thing about the map was all the red crossed out areas in the forest. Was this where we were right now?

“There, do you have any questions now that you’ve seen everything?” Zadicus smiled looking down at me, I guess we finally finished the tour.

“Uh quick question, is that this place?” I asked, pointing to the giant map.

“Yes, that is our castle, which you are in right now my friend”

“Can I ask what's up with all the red marks?” I tilted my head a little in confusion.

“Oh those….we were...looking for something, it's kind of personal” he said as he looked at the map, his smile turning to a sour frown.

“Oh sorry I didn’t realize it was personal, my bad man” crap I didn’t want to offend them, maybe asking about the map was a bad idea.

“No no it's quite alright, we’ve practically given up our search anyway. Anyhow we should take you back to your bedroom, Reath should be almost finished with it” Zadicus waved off the idea of whatever he was talking about, moving back towards the door.

“Huh? My bedroom?.....finished with what exactly?” I couldn’t help but raise a nonexistent eyebrow.

“While we were taking you on the tour Reath was fixing up your room, something more suitable for your stay” Devdan explained as we began making our way back through the maze of hallways back to my supposed bedroom.

Coming back I could already see a new change, Reath had painted the white door with designs of orange flowers. But I was not ready for when Zadicus and Devdan opened the door.

The room had a big color change, the walls which were once a very light purple were now a sunset peach color, the circular bed in the middle was still pink as before but Reath had changed the purple silk curtain things above it to orange. Now the big window had a bumped out window seat with comfortable looking pillows and blankets.

Upon further inspection of the bed there was now a variety of different plush toys and pillows and new blankets. The flowers on the walls were repainted a pastel orange, there were also cool paper lanterns and beads hanging from the ceiling, as well as what looked like little paper swans.

“Wow…” my jaw dropped, never had I seen a room like this in all my life.

“Oh your back, sorry I know it isn’t much but it's something!” Reach chuckled, turning around as he saw us, placing down what looked like two bean bag chairs by the window area.

“How did you do all of this in like two hours?” I was shocked, a room like this would have taken at least a week to redo on your own.

“As I said before, productivity!” Reath chirped in a sing-song voice as he made jazz hands with all four of his own.

“This is amazing, but why would you do this for me?” I felt so confused, these guys had just met me hours prior and now remodeled an entire room in their home for me.

“Why it's because we just adore your company here Michelangelo” Zadicus spoke in a ‘as a matter of fact’ type of tone.

“And that coming from him, you know that's something” Devdan chuckled as he went ahead and took a seat on the floor.

“Anywho, you still haven't seen your bathroom yet” Reath walked over to a door on the side of the room, I didn’t even notice that before.

“There’s a bathroom in here?” I popped my head in, and yes as I expected the bathroom was just as fancy as the bedroom was.

The bathroom was probably bigger than my bedroom back home!! There was a big bathtub at the end of the bathroom, a counter top sink with drawers and cabinets underneath, and a big fancy mirror. Of course there was a toilet, thank goodness, I didn't wanna have to have embarrassedly request that.

“Speaking of the bathroom, you really should use it, you're kind of...filthy” Reath said as he raised my arm with his hand looking at the bits of dirt and the stains on my hand wraps, which is weird because they were clean before.

“Oh my gord, where were you living before?!” Reath looked disgusted and immediately started removing my hand wraps himself.

“Uh….in the...sewers?”

The three of them looked at each other with a bewildered expression plastered to their faces, like they could not believe what they had just heard.

“It's usually clean I swear, I guess I mu-” I tried to explain but Reath covered my mouth with his fingers.

“No no, no more talking about that, while you're here we must insist that you stay clean. Now I don’t know how it works where you're from but with all this muck and grime you could get sick or worse!!” Reath went on and finished removing all my wraps including the ones on my feet, he had Zadicus hold me up for that one.

“Worse how?”

“....Well I don’t really know, but definitely something bad!! Here remove your gear, don’t worry we’ll put it where you won’t lose it” Reath exclaimed as he opened up a drawer nearby.

“Uh...ok..” I hesitantly removed my gear and mask, handing it to Reath who placed it in the drawer, shutting it.

“Now time to get you nice and clean, oh you're going to love it!” Reath seemed far too excited by this, he picked me up and put me down so I was sitting on the bathroom countertop.

“How would you like to smell? Like sweet fresh cut grass or delicious cherry pie?” Reath asked as he picked up two bottles from a small white cabinet next to the tub.

“Uh cherry pie please” I smiled a bit, kicking my feet over the edge of the countertop.

“Good choice, one of my favorites if I do say” He chuckled as he turned the knob pouring warm hot water into the tub.

Once the tub was filled up a bit Reath poured some of the contents of the bottle into the tub with the water creating foamy bubbles like a bubble bath. When it was finally almost full, Reath dipped his hand in to check the temperature.

“Great, not hot enough to burn, but hot enough to melt away all those pesky germs crawling over your little body” Reath once again spoke in a sing song voice as he reached over picking me up and carefully placed me into the tub.

“You know I can wash myself Reath, really i'm fine”

“Oh but we wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself, you could slip and fall and bust your head against the perfectly polished porcelain which will cause blood to seep from your wounds slowly draining your body of the life force it needs to live….” Reath began but slowly and gradually started speaking more lowly, one of his eyes I could have sworn I saw twitch.

“.......w-what”

“Or you know something like that...something like that could happen, Anywhosies arms up!”

I half heartedly lifted my arms up for him as he poured some type of product on a sponge brush and began to scrub me with it.

“And while we're doing this, Zad and Dev are picking out something nice and comfy for you to wear, doesn’t that sound nice?”

“You guys really don’t have to, this is all way too much…”

“But we do want to do this Mikey, just think of it as while you're here, you're part of the family!!” Reath cheered as he turned me around so he could scrub my shell.

This was getting creepy, or maybe I’m just overthinking this. I didn't know how to feel about this, I don’t wanna be rude because they have been nothing but nice to me, but I need to figure out what exactly is going on. Cause this is feeling too real and too weird to be a dream, I would have woken up by now wouldn’t I?

“See without all that muck and grime, look at how your face sparkles!” Reath gushed as he turned me back around washing my face with a rag. “Your freckles are like little stars, so adorable!”

“Thank you?...”

“It’s so nice to get to take care of something that doesn’t run in fear of you..” Reath sighed looking down at me, his happy face turning low.

“Run in fear? What do you mean?” I asked, letting him put some sort of product on his hands and began to rub it on my skin, probably some type of lotion or something.

“Usually when others see us, they scream and run, you know ‘ahhhh run away!’ or ‘they're going to kill us ahhh!’ I know me and my brothers can appear quite frightening to other creatures, but we still have feelings, just like them” He said whilst mimicking the voices with scared tones.

“....I know someone who had the same problem”

“You do?” He picked me up, shaking a little to get the rest of the dripping water off.

“Yeah..he felt like a monster cause...everyone treated him like one” I couldn’t help but smile a little remembering the giant alligator back home, I hope he’s doing alright.

“You are quite the intriguing little thing aren't you Michelangelo” He placed me back on the countertop only for him to plop a big fluffy towel on me and proceeded to dry me off.

“Upsie Daisies!” Reath cackled, scooping me up in the towel wrapping me up in it like a person would do to a baby. “Let's go see what they picked out for you, let's also hope it's not a complete disaster”

“Alright what do you guys got!?” Reath asked, skipping out carrying me, using once again another sing-song tone.

“We found these in the armoire, we thought it would look nice on him” Zadicus said holding up a pair of long peach pink fingerless gloves, or maybe they were arm warmers?

“I found a pair for his legs to match” Devdan called from over by the armoire.

“Oh and there is this, not sure what it was originally but it feels nice” Zadicus held up a long pastel orange scarf with the arm warmer glove things.

“Hmmm yes I do believe I can work with this, good job brothers!” Reath exclaimed as placed me down on the bed and walked back over to the drawer where he had put my mask and gear.

He came back with my mask in hand, he took the cloth and warmers from Devdan and Zadicus and was now making work at dressing me. I didn’t wanna say anything about it, Reath seems a bit unstable but he also looked really happy to do this so I didn’t wanna make him upset.

“Aaaannnnnnnnndddddd….Tada!!” He cheered moving out of the way so the others could see.

“Ah yes very well done Reath, very nice” Zadicus smiled as he and Devdan clapped to show their appreciation.

“Are there stickers on my face?” I asked, feeling something stuck to my face, it felt kinda like paper so I assumed it was a sticker.

“Yes I saw some fell out of a little pocket in your belt, I thought they looked cute” Reath said happily, reaching over he picked me up once again and took me over to the large vanity table sitting me down on the table top letting me look at myself in the mirror.

“Don't you look just darling!!” Reath cackled happily as he fixed the bow on the back of my new scarf.

“Thanks guys this really looks great!” I smiled up at him.

Reath and them looked so happy, I really did like the new look. But I still felt kinda odd about this whole thing. Just earlier it was like they couldn’t stand each other but now they were all as close as brothers could be. They had been snapping at each other left and right and threatening to strangle the others, and now here they were laughing and talking like normal brothers.

“Alright brothers, how about before it is time for our slumber we take part in some frozen treats?” Zadicus smiled at his brothers, putting his arms around the two.

I couldn’t help but smile at this, seeing them get along like that.

“That means you too Mikey, if you care to join us?” Zadicus looked down at me with a smile, while the other two grinned waiting for my answer.

“Oh sure, I’d be happy to Zadicus!!”

“Please Mikey, while you're here your part of our family, call me Zad” He came over picking me up and placing me on his shoulders, oh wow this was like when my brothers would put me on their shoulders and race around the lair, we haven't done that since we were little kids.

“Alright….Zad” I smiled as he began to walk out with Reath and Devdan followed close behind.

“If you're gonna be calling him Zad, you're going to be calling me Dev, got it?!” Devdan boasted cheerfully.

“Sure!” I chuckled a bit at this, never had I seen someone so excited by a nickname.

“Oh this is going to be wonderful!! So much fun!!” Reath chortled happily, skipping ahead of us.

You know what...I think I’m going to like it here.

Chapter 6: Master Splinter Tells a Story

{Master Splinter’s POV}

“MASTER SPLINTER!! MASTER SPLINTER!!”

I opened my eyes when hearing the frantic voices of my sons calling for me, I felt my ears tense. It had been a long while since my sons have called for me like this, last time meaning there was great trouble that almost cost my sons their lives. I was currently meditating with April and Casey, more like attempting to, Casey was very difficult to teach these things.

My sons barreled into the dojo and began yelling and stammering all at once it was hard to understand, the only words being made out were “Mikey”, “door”, “Jerks” and “Leatherhead”.

“Yamete!” I looked over at them before standing back up and making my way over to them.

This got them to stop and gave me a chance to see just how scared they looked. It also gave me a chance to notice that one of my sons was missing from the four, my youngest Michelangelo.

“Now What is wrong? And where is your brother?”

“Well uh..” The three started nudging each other trying to get one another to answer but it ended up with Leonardo taking a breath and finally answering me.

“We all had uh….a bad fight, Mikey didn’t take it so well and then he went to go see Leatherhead, so we got worried cause we couldn’t find him and he got really mad at us...which we did deserve cause we realized how awful we were being to him..but when we tried to apologize Leatherhead said he went to into the sewers to clear his head and we were scared cause he didn’t have a map so Leatherhead helped us track him down. But then we still couldn’t find him and we found this crazy place in the sewers with a big door and weird art on the walls and we still can’t find Mikey and we don’t know what to do!!”

Leonardo said this all at once and nearly fell over trying to catch his breath.

“....What?” I raised an eyebrow at this.

They all began to explain what happened once again only slower and calmer this time, I was getting more worried the more they went on. I was a little surprised when they told me about Michelangelo blowing up at them, my youngest boy was always so timid when it came to fights with his brothers. They told me how they had been treating him and how they felt guilty, I truly felt disappointed in the three at the moment.

“I’m very disappointed in you three for how you treated your brother…”

“We're sorry sensei….” They lowered their heads to the ground.

“It's not me who you should say sorry to my sons” I made my way out of the Dojo and into the living room where I found Leatherhead waiting patiently, though looking very fidgety and frustrated.

“So what did you mean by a door?” April came out with my sons, Casey following close behind.

“Like an actual door, but huge and made of stone….I think….I think Mikey went through it” Leonardo looked away, arms wrapped around himself.

“Take me to this door…” I tried to keep my composure, but on the inside I was panicking. I had already lost one child, I can’t lose another, not my Michelangelo.

“Why didn’t you just go through the door to get him?” Casey asked loudly, it was hard to deal with him sometimes without getting a headache.

“It's hard to explain...we didn’t want to go in unprepared, I saw something that I don’t understand too well and I feel it's better if we know what we're getting into” Leonardo began to lead us through the sewers.

“What did you guys see?” April asked worriedly.

“It was….this art..on the walls and these...these symbols, I thought Master Splinter might understand them” Leonardo explained keeping his head a bit low as he led.

I know how my son was feeling, he felt guilty for all this happening. As leader he had a lot of pressure on his being, but I made him leader for a reason and I know one day he will figure that out. All of my sons had a purpose, it was just hard for them to realize this, Especially my oldest and youngest.

The rest of the walk was relatively silent, with small conversation here and there until we finally made it to wherever it was we were going. And Leonardo was right, there was artwork chiseled and painted on the walls, and I now knew what he meant by bad feeling. There was something wrong with this place...something sinister.

“There it is..” Leonardo gestured to the door once we were closer to it.

“That's the door? It looks freaking ancient” Casey looked over at the old door with curious eyes.

“You think your brother went through it?” I made my way to the door and placed my hands on the stone.

I closed my eyes and began to focus on the door, or more specifically what was behind it. If my son was there I’d be able to feel him, a small part of me knew he was in there but the rest of me wished he wasn’t. I prayed that he was just back at home laying in his bed safe and sound.

My head cleared as I opened my eyes, and there I was in the dark landscape of my mind. Taking a deep breath I began making my way through this darkness, the only thing leading me was the feeling of warmth. I would do this sometimes when my boys were out, the only thing to level my ease for the safety of my sons.

Finally I had found it, I followed that feeling of when sunlight is hitting your skin. There amongst the darkness was a bright orange ball of light, nothing seemed out of the ordinary for it. But what concerned me was the large gloomy shadows appearing around my son’s light.

Quickly I opened my eyes snapping me out of my mindscape, It was true my Michelangelo was behind this door, and there was something in there with him...something dangerous.

I had to catch my breath for a second, coming out of that struck something for me. The crippling fear….the crippling fear I hadn’t felt since I lost my daughter. The same fear I can never seem to shake when my boys go on those missions of theirs.

“Master Splinter are you alright?!” Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello quickly rushed over to me with panicked looks etched onto their faces.

“I am fine my sons...but it appears you are right, your brother is in there” I ran a hand over the fur on my head trying to shake the fear away once again.

“W-what about the stuff on the walls? What does it all mean?” Donatello looked around at the artwork all over the walls nervously.

I took a moment of studying the walls before it finally came to me.

“It’s telling a story..” I walked across the catwalk until I reached where the artwork began.

“What story Master Splinter?” April asked as her and the others followed closely behind.

“Once long ago there stood a prosperous village of outstanding farmers and builders, they came seeking a new land to make their new home” I let my eyes read over the symbols and chiseled of a village being built by little depictions of people as well as small farmers planting seeds in the ground.

“Life in the village was grand, it’s people were happy and thriving. That is...until three nightmarish creatures rose from the darkness” I looked on as the pictures coming up next had the very same village, only this time it had three dark depictions of lizard-like monsters. The monsters looked as if they were roaring at the pictured village people who were fleeing in fear.

“But the creatures pleaded to the village, that they did not want to hurt them, that they wanted to live amongst them to be apart of their little town” The next set of pictures showed what looked like one of the monsters holding what looked like a flower out to the villagers, as if to show peace.

“The villagers foolishly accepted their peace, they became friends, the villagers and the creatures. They had blindly fallen for the creatures' gifts and flattery, they couldn’t see beyond their masks, for you see these creatures were as charming as they were evil…” I furrowed my eyes a bit as I read on. The next portrayal showed the monsters giving them gifts such as jewels and gems, flowers, food, only the villagers couldn’t see the evil smirks placed upon the monsters faces.

“Soon enough the creatures had the village in the palms of their hands, they tricked the poor foolish builders to build them a castle, a paradise for them to live in” A large castle was painted on the wall. A beautiful castle it was, several base structures and quite a few towers, including one fairly tall tower that a bridge was needed to get into.

“Once the castle was finished the creatures turned against the villagers, laughing and mocking them for their foolishness. The villagers knew they were no match for the large beasts and were forced to serve under their relentless iron fists…” The walls now showed the three monstrous figures looming over the poor village which was now covered in flames and smoke, arms outstretched over the villagers who either lay dead or kneel before them.

“But unbeknownst to them a simple but smart farmer had seen through the monsters façade, she had left her home in search of someone powerful enough to stop them, she had traveled for many days until she had came across young sorceress” Pictures of a girl painted the walls, she was traveling in a cart before she ran into another girl only she wore a cloak and carried a staff.

“The farmer told the sorceress about the creatures that came to her village, so the sorceress agreed to help her. The sorceress gathered her fellow magic users, a witch, a wizard, a warlock, an enchantress and a sorcerer” The girls in the pictures sailed across the painted sea with a few others wearing hooded robes and cloaks.

“When they finally made it back to the village, the sorceress told the people to build a large door made of stone and the purest of gems they could find, so the builders quickly went to work day and night until they finally had finished” and there you could see the little depictions of builders building the same door that wasn’t too far away from them now.

“While they built, the magic users created a mystical seal circling the castle and the forest surrounding it. Once the seal was complete they had the villagers move the door to the seal, the sorceress was determined to turn the monster's paradise into their prison, no one would ever be hurt by these monsters again” The door was now shown in the foreground of a thick forest and castle, the sorceress’s staff raised into the air with a faint glow.

“Finally the five magic users and sorceress used their most powerful spells to seal away the castle and monsters forevermore” It finally showed off the pictures depicting the magic users blasting the door with streams of light. Above the pictured door are the silhouettes of the monsters crying out and clawing trying to get out of a glowing hole, chains wrapped tightly around their arms.

“From then on the creatures were never heard from again…” When I turned back over to my sons and their friends, all their mouths were gaping open in awe of the story.

“Hold on hold on!! So you're saying Mikey is in there with those crazy monsters?! Raphael exclaimed his eyes wide, pupils shrinking from fear.

“I’m afraid so Raphael…”

At this Leatherhead continued to stare at the door, his face seemingly void of any emotion, he practically looked dead in the face, not moving a single inch frozen to the catwalk where he stood, but I could feel waves of rage and protectiveness, fear swarming around him like an ocean.

“Oh god this is all our fault what are we gonna do?! What if they hurt Mikey?! We're never going to see our baby brother again!!” Donatello snapped out of his daze trying to run to the door but was stopped by Leonardo, who pulled him into a hug trying to stop him from doing anything crazy.

“Donnie no...no we're going to get him back….w-we just need a plan...w-we can figure something out” Leonardo stammered sucking in his breath, it was clear he was struggling to keep his tears from falling.

“My sons...come here” I stepped closer pulling all three of my boys in a hug kneeling down, pulling us all down to the ground where we sat huddled up together letting them quietly cry into my embrace.

At times I think they forget their still children, yes they do these outrageous things but as of lately they just seem to not realize that they're allowed to enjoy life. Michelangelo has always been the one to bring the three out of their tough exteriors, I pray my precious boy is safe...my sweet baby boy….Michelangelo.

“We’ll bring him home my sons….”

Chapter 7: Our New Baby Brother

Mikey’s POV}

“Psst hey Mikey, it's time to wake up kid”

I groaned while turning on my bed. I know I usually don’t have such a hard time waking up but right now I was exhausted and I’d found the perfect comfortable position.

“Mmn...five more minutes Raph..” I murmur pushing my face into the plush pillow tiredly.

“Raph? Who’s Raph?”

“Huh? What are you ta- AH!!” I yelped as I finally opened my eyes to find the face of a scarlet red lizard creature looking down at me, what the heck?! Who is th- oh right...forgot.

“Woah you alright there?” Devdan tilted his head in concern, he had pushed the orange bed silk curtains back so he could see me.

“Oh heh yeah just...thought you were my brother sorry” I chuckled awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck.

“We are brothers silly, now come on it's time for breakfast, Zad wanted me to wake you up” He smiled holding his hand out for me to take.

“Oh ok, wait what did you just sa-”

“I think you’ll like what Reath is making, said something about making something really special” he interrupted, gently pulling me out of the confines of the canopy bed.

“What's he making?” I held his hand as we walked, having to walk a bit faster to keep up with his large steps.

“Don’t know, but I bet it's good” He smiled, leading me towards the dining room.

“Hey Dev, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course Mikey, you can ask me anything” he looked down at me waiting for the question, a sharp toothed smile still placed on his face.

“How exactly did I get here? I mean I get the whole door thing, and this place is great and all but no offense I kinda just thought this was all some crazy dream. But now I can tell I am actually awake and that's not the case, so can you explain that? Was the door real or am I just going insane?”

“Oh….well I’m not sure how, but yes the door is real and no you're not going insane, It's hard to explain, but Zad will probably explain things when your ready” he shrugged it off as we finally made it to the dining room.

“Ready for what?”

He looked like he was trying to think about what he was going to say something but he was cut off by Zad seemingly coming out of nowhere.

“Ah there you two are, took you long enough” He smiled gently as he reached down picking me up by my under arms.

“How was your sleep Mikey?” He asked as he began to make his way with me to the table.

“Oh it was great, how about you?”

“I slept wonderfully for the first time in years” He smiled with content looking down at me, before placing me on a chair next to the table.

Though this chair seemed new, it was big, yes but it was more of my size and the seat was high from the ground with legs kinda like a stool, I didn’t think much of it until he folded a small counter over the arms of the chair….wait is this a highchair? Like for a baby?!

“Uhh...Zad?”

“Yes Mikey? Something wrong?” He turned and placed a plate on the highchair counter.

“Why did you uh...put me in a highchair?” I tilted my head a little bit in confusion.

“Oh is that what these are called? Reath just wanted to make you a chair that wouldn’t force you to sit on the very edge to use, why is something wrong with it?” he explained as he gestured to the old chair that still had the cushions on it that was used to help me actually reach the table.

“Oh..sorry it's just, where I’m from they use these for babies, I guess I was just a bit embarrassed but I do appreciate it really!” I flushed a bit embarrassed.

“Terribly sorry, I didn’t realize it was embarrassing you, but I don’t know how it would be if you fell off the old chair. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if you got hurt because of that, so this chair is better suitable for you alright?” He flashed a kinda scary looking grin, reaching down booping my nonexistent nose.

“Umm… ok”

Zad went back to setting the table, humming a small tune to himself. I mean he probably didn’t mean to, like he said he didn’t know what a highchair was, to him this was probably a new invention.

“Hey Zad..Dev said that you would be able to tell me exactly how I got here and what was going on, could you please tell me? Don’t get me wrong I love the hospitality dude but I had a big fight with my brothers and now that I know this is all real I should really get back to them”

“Oh you want to go back?....but if you had such a big fight with your brothers you wouldn’t wanna go back would you?” He stopped what he was doing for a moment before looking at me, all six of his eyes blinking at me.

“What? No no!! Just because we had a fight doesn’t mean I don’t wanna see them again, they're still my brothers Zad I love them” I looked at him baffled, did he think that I never want to see my brothers again.

“Well there is no way to go back to wherever you came from, so there really is no need to talk about it” He waved it off as he finished setting the table.

“What?! What do you mean no way back?! Zad I can’t just stay here forever!!” I raised my voice as I tried to get out of the chair.

“Ah ah ah, no no, Mikey you're going to hurt yourself” He sauntered over gently pushing me back into the highchair.

“Zad, I want to see my family…” my face lowered, I didn’t want to believe that I couldn’t see them ever again.

“We’re your family now sweet Mikey, see nothing to cry about” He smiled cupping my face in one of his giant hands.

“Huh?!” What was Zad saying?! I had a family, and I need to get back to them, I can’t just stay here and leave them!!

“We are your family now Mikey. Me, Dev and Reath” he chimed, petting my head before taking his seat which was now directly next to mine.

“Zad this is insane! I can’t just stay here, my family is going to think I'm dead!” I struggled looking down seeing I was buckled in place, when did that buckle even get there?!

“Breakfast is ready for my beautiful family!” Reath danced in from the kitchen with a happy sing-song voice carrying trays of food.

“Awww what's wrong Mikey? You look upset” Reath asked, placing the food on the table.

“Reath, Zad just said that I can’t go back to my world!! Please tell me that's not true and please get me out of this thing!!” I struggled once again trying to kick my legs and break the buckle, why can’t I unbuckle this?!

“Oh you finally told him?” He looked back at Zad as he began to pour some juice into the cups around the table.

“Yes I realize it's better to just be out with it now, he’ll adjust, don't worry” Zad chuckled as reached over taking a cup and took a swig from it.

“Adjust?! What are you talking about?!” I looked at them flabbergasted, what the what is going on right now?!

“Awww don’t worry baby brother, you’ll get used to it eventually, I know change is scary but it’s part of life” Reath cooed at me, patting my head.

“I don’t want to get used to it, what I want is my real family!” I narrowed my eyes at him pulling on the strap keeping me in the chair.

“Hey don’t talk like that to your older brothers, it's disrespectful” Zad said waving a finger at me, like I had been a misbehaving child.

“You know what else is disrespectful?”

“What Mikey?”

“KEEPING ME HERE AGAINST MY WILL!!”

The two giant lizard creatures just laughed at my antics and went back to what they were doing, Reath pouring Zad some what I assumed to be Coffee, while Zad began to place some food on a plate.

“Sorry I’m late, I had to use the bathroom” Dev came in, sitting down at his assigned chair.

All he had to do was take one look at me before saying “ I take it you already explained things to him?”.

“Yeah he just needs some time to grasp at the idea, but don’t worry, with enough help from his big brothers he’ll get it in no time” Zad declared as he took a fork picking up some food and held it up to me.

“What are you doing…” I raised a nonexistent eyebrow as he tried bringing the food closer to me.

“Say ahh” He smiled, nudging the food a tad bit closer.

“What?! No your not feeding me, I’m not a ba- Mmnnff!” I tried to retort, only to have the food shoved into my mouth.

“So cute!” Reath chortled happily as he took a bite of his own food.

“What is wrong with you guys?!” I yelled as soon as I was finally able to force the food down.

“Oh Mikey there is nothing wrong with us, we're just looking out for our new baby brother” Zad beamed as forced me to take another bite of food.

“I’m not your baby brother!!”

“Someones cranky aren't they” Dev chuckled.

“Don’t fret little brother, you can get out the chair once you finish your food!” Reath encouraged cheerfully as he continued to eat his own food.

“Can you all seriously not see what's wrong with this?! I need to g-” I was cut off once again by more food being stuffed in my mouth.

“STOP DOING THAT!!” I yelled, spitting out the food.

“We're just trying to be good big brothers Mikey” Zad said trying to sound soothing, but it only made me more tense.

“I just don’t understand, you guys have each other as brothers, why do you want me?!” I backed up as much as I could in this horrible chair.

“We’re not sure, it's just something about you….” Reath admitted before looking over to Dev.

“Before we hated each other, spending every second of every day together was tiring and annoying” Dev growled to himself probably thinking about the past.

“But with you here we all became close again, I no longer feel the need to rip out their jugulars, it's like you somehow….completed us” Zad smirked as he reached down softly running a claw down the side of my face.

“So you guys just want….a complete family?” I say softly looking up at them in confusion.

“Now you get it baby brother” He gave a delighted look on his face before turning to eat some of his own breakfast.

“I understand now….I’ll be your baby brother” I gave a small smile to him.

“Wait...really?” Zad and the others looked at me a bit surprised by this.

“Yeah, I mean I guess you're right, like you said there is no way back right? So what's the point in fighting it...maybe this will be good for me, having a new family...you guys really wanna be my family?” I looked up at them with big eyes filled with hope and sadness thinking about my father and brothers.

“Oh yes of course we want to be your family Mikey” Reath coos looking like he had a bit of tears in his eyes.

“Can I have a hug please?” I lifted my arms up to Zad, who smiled reaching down unbuckling the chair and picked me up holding me close.

“See, isn't that better than fighting it?” he snuggled up to me letting his chin rest on my head.

“Hey Zad…”

“Yes Mikey?”

“I’m sorry about this…”

“Huh? Sorry about wha-”

“BLAM!!” I whirled my arm back before punching him right in the snout.

“Gah!!” as part of reflex he dropped me and held onto his snout in pain.

I took my chance as I landed on the ground and began to run as fast as I could through the halls of the castle, not looking back I kept my pace booking it, I needed to find a way to get back to my family!!

“MICHELANGELO GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!!”

“No way big bros, I got some real big bros to find!”

Chapter 8: Lost Hearts

{Leatherhead’s POV}

This couldn’t be true, Michelangelo wasn’t in danger right? He couldn’t be, Michelangelo is the one good thing I have in my life. If I were to lose him there would be no point in going on, he was usually the first thing I thought of when I woke up and the last thing before I slept. I’m not sure what I would do if he were to be gone…

I walk over to the door staring at it, I should have gone with him. The only person in the world who didn’t think of me as a monster was gone...he could be hurt, scared, weeping, and I couldn’t do anything about it or maybe I could...

Narrowing my eyes I lift my hand to the horrible ancient door.

“Leatherhead stop!! What are you doing?!”

I turn back to see the human girl April looking at me with fear and confusion.

“He needs me…” I say bluntly, turning back to the door.

“L.H we know you care about Mikey, but we need to do this smartly, we can’t just go in willy nilly. You heard what Master Splinter said, those monsters in there are pure evil.” April hurried next to me trying to pull my attention away from the door.

“Which is exactly why I need to go and help him..” I huffed letting out a small growl.

“Even if you do go in, we don’t know how to bring you and Mikey back, Master Splinter does it say anything about that in any of the art?” April called back towards Master Splinter who was still wrapped up in hugging his other sons.

Master Splinter gave his sons one last embrace before getting back up, he examined the walls for a moment before examining the one wall that appeared to have only one painting on it. It appeared to be a painting of the sorceress from the story, but only she was holding a key, a key with a beautiful orange gem in its center and swirly intricate designs engraved in it.

“A one way gate locks one’s fate, a key to one side sets the repine” Master Splinter reads over the symbols just below the painting.

“Seek the key at the risk of your world and the magic that will unfurl, for what is lost cannot be replaced, you will learn this after the trouble you face…” he continues his brows furrowing as he reads on.

“What does that even mean?” Raphael seemed to have finally wiped the tears away and composed himself.

“It’s a warning, saying something bad will happen if we try to get the key, which must be the key to the door” Donatello adjusts himself before saying this, trying to hold back his obvious fear and sadness.

“If a key is needed to open the door, how did Mikey get inside?” Casey butted in sounding as confused as ever.

“A one way gate…. it might mean that you can only use the key from the inside?” Leonardo offered.

“So if we go in to get Mikey the only way to get back out is with this key…” April said to no one in particular as she tapped her chin thinking.

“How do we find it…” I turned to Master Splinter, not bothering to join their questioning conversation. My priority was purely focused on Michelangelo, I couldn’t care less about the door, if I needed this key to get to him back so be it.

Master Splinter nodded to me and began to once again read over the painting symbols “The key I create and leave behind shall be passed along the line, from one child to the next they will continue to protect those from these pests”.

“Aug why do all these old magic people never just say things straight forward?! Everything is always some dumb riddle” Casey complains rolling his head back.

“Wait….along the line...one child to the next...maybe she means her family tree!! Like she passes the key down her family tree like an heirloom!!” Leonardo jumped with the idea turning to Splinter hoping he was correct.

“You could be right my son, it's worth looking into” The old rat nodded to his eldest son.

“So now we just need to figure out the sorceress’s name!” April exclaimed.

The group began to talk amongst themselves trying to think or something, I couldn’t care less. I went back over to the door and continued to stare and think….what if I’d never see his smiling face again, the one light in my continuously dark life.

Before all this sometimes I would think, think about Michelangelo, I would wonder how I could possibly deserve to have such a wonderful friend. How anyone could deserve such a person like him to be in their lives, his smile always seemed to calm me and warm up my chest.

I sat down on the ground by the door, thinking about the last moment I had seen him.

‘Yeah I’ll be back, love you!’

Thinking about what he said filled my chest with that same sweet warmth I felt before. I know he probably didn’t mean it in the way I was hoping for, but it still made me feel so happy just hearing it come from him. I wanted to tell him about these feelings, about how I felt for him but I realized...what if he didn’t like it, what if he was afraid...I couldn’t live with myself if I ended up driving the sweet turtle away.

I sigh to myself and look over the door again before I noticed something.

There was something there on an old brick of the wall next to the door, it looked to be writing covered by dust. So I reached over to wipe off the dust, and there were two names carved into brick.

The brick read ‘Demetra Willos & Atziri Itzam’ with little hearts and swirly symbols carved in around them.

I tilt my head a bit before looking back at the paintings, at the painting left over after where it showed the monsters being locked away, it appeared to be the village celebrating and in the center of it all was the sorceress and the farm girl only in this they were holding hands.

I get up walking back over to the group only so I can grab Donatello, and yes I grabbed him by the face, it was just fun for me to do at this point. I then dragged him to where I found the names and plopped him down in front of it and pointed to the names on the brick.

“Hey Leatherhead!! Ow sto- huh? What's this?”

“Names..” I put it simply before pointing at the painted wall with the farm girl and the sorceress.

“Oh!! One of these names must be the sorceress's!!” Donatello exclaimed as he pulled out his Tphone and started rapidly typing on it.

“What are you doing Donnie?” April asked, walking over and looking over the purple clad turtle’s shoulder trying to see what he’s doing.

“I’m looking for any possible descendants with these last names, I’ve hacked into CIA records before, it's not that hard” He replied, continuing his tapping on the phone.

“I got a few results for Willos, but it looks like there is only one continuous strand of Itzam’s”

“Doesn’t really sound like it would be a common name so duh” Raphael commented leaning over.

“It looks like the Itzam name has stopped at someone named...Miori Itzam, Oh and just our luck she lives right here in New york!” Donatello cheered at the discovery.

“We can only hope that she has the Key...if it doesn’t work we must find another way to save your brother, now hurry we cannot waste time” Master Splinter quickly turned walking back to the exit ready to lead us back so we can find this Miori person.

I didn’t want to leave...I was scared that if we were to go then this place would just disappear and I’d never see him again.

“Leatherhead you coming?”

I turned to look at them, they all stood at the exit waiting for me. I sit back down next to the door already starting my plan to stay. “I will stay...I don’t want to leave him”.

“Alright big guy….just don’t go through the door without us ok?” Leonardo gave me a sympathetic smile before turning and leaving with the others.

I rest my head on the wall next to the door, closing my eyes, letting pictures of Michelangelo swim in my mind, memories of his sweet voice comforting me through my restlessness and rageful moments. Through every step of my recovery he was there, he never gave up even when I told him he’d be safer without me….he just kept going. I knew that if something were to go down in there when we went to retrieve him..I would lay down my life for him.

“I love you too, Michelangelo…”

{Mikey’s POV}

I had been running for what felt like maybe ten minutes!! It seemed like everywhere I turned they were always there, but they did have a big advantage, they actually knew their way around this horror castle. So here I was dodging their relentless pursuits. If it wasn’t for all these years of training I’d probably would have been caught by now.

“Michelangelo we’re not playing these games, come here this instant!!” I heard Zad yell from wherever he was, I couldn’t tell if he was close or just really loud.

I rounded the corner only to come face to face with Reath, he flexed his fingers on all four hands ready to grab me. So I took my chance running at him, using his arms against him I jumped swinging on his arms kinda like parallel bars throwing myself behind him and continued running.

After some more running and navigating I found myself in front of a very angry Devdan, thinking quickly I knew Devdan had extreme strength in his arms but his legs were a bit on the weaker side. I made my quick decision running at him and right before he tried to swing his arms and catch me I dropped to the ground sliding under his legs to the other side.

I ran and ran as fast as I could, I knew I couldn’t run forever so I needed to find a place to hide so I could think of something. That's when I found a large door that looked kinda dirtyish, it was also slightly open and I could see it was almost pitch black in there. I knew I didn’t have time to be choosy so I quickly sneaked my way inside as quietly as possible.

I could barely see a thing as I entered, I took only a few steps before I stepped on something almost making me trip. Reaching down I pick up whatever it was, looking at it now in my hand I see it's...a flashlight? Huh ain’t that convenient.

Quickly I flipped the switch on the flashlight letting it turn on and pointed it in each direction to get a look at the room I was in. Now finally seeing the room, I could see it was kinda like a storage room, but filled with junk.

“Why would they have all this…” I looked around seeing random stuff placed on tall shelves and hung on the walls.

I made my way deeper into the room once again, almost tripping on something, gosh this room needed to be cleaned there was stuff all over the floor. Pointing the flashlight down to the ground I see I had nearly tripped over a wheel.

Wait, that's...that looks like the custom hubcap that Donnie designed for Raph’s motorcycle. Looking closer I see it actually is the same hub cap, this was Raph’s wheel that went missing!! But how would it be here?

Did they steal all this stuff or something? But how could they if they said there was no way out of this place...either they were lying or something extra mega weird is going on here.

I began to look around a bit more but as I was walking and moving the flashlight around I suddenly ran into a shelf, I held my flashlight up to see only to be faced with a full on rat skeleton just laying there its jaw hanging open.

At this I accidentally let out a scream jumping back, falling over something on the cluttered floor and landed right on my shell.

This is when I heard the loud footsteps rushing closer and closer.

Shoot!! As quick as I could I jumped up and began climbing up a shelf to get some highground, of course avoiding the rat skeleton. I swiftly flicked the flashlight off as I heard the creaking door open and ducked further into the darkness.

“Mikey, we know you're here, why don’t you just come out and we’ll talk things out like a family” I hear Reath call out as he slinks his way into the room.

“We’re not going to hurt you Mikey, we just want to talk” Devdan was blocking the door with his large frame obviously prepared for me to try and escape.

“Your only making this harder for yourself baby brother, I promise you’ll be happy here, think of all the fun we’ll have” Zad made his way through the room carefully, I could see his pale yellow eyes glowing in the darkness, his voice was terrifying bouncing off the walls with a sickeningly sweet tone.

“Oh Mikey, I don’t think you realize what's going on here, you're stuck with us whether you like it or not, there is no escape for either of us, me, you, Reath or Devdan. We're stuck here forever the same day looping over and over again...so just make it easier on all of us AND COME OUT!!” Zad had probably hit something creating a huge bang noise.

I flinched violently and covered my mouth as I had to quickly jump from my highground to not get caught. Once on the ground I rolled quietly underneath the cluttered table and hugged my legs up to my chest. I had been in some pretty messed up situations but this right here might take the messed up cake.

I didn’t want to cry, I really didn’t want to. I was covering my mouth with my hands trying to keep my hiccups and sobbing inside, but I was so scared I didn’t know what else to do. I wanted nothing more than to cuddle up with my dad and my brothers, my real brothers, not these horrifying sadists.

“Awww Mikey is that you? No need to cry, we're not upset with you, we just want to help you” I heard Reath coo as he walked around trying to find me, probably trying to follow whatever noise I was making.

“And what does the outside world have anyway? So overrated, and think about it...if your real family cared for you so much where are they? Time here is rather tricky I hear, it could have already been days, a week? Since you left...if they really cared for you wouldn’t they have come for you?” Zad chuckled darkly, I could hear him getting closer and closer.

“Face it Mikey...they let sleeping dogs lie and forgot about you, we’re all you have now and that's how it's going to be from here on out..forever” he hissed with a delighted snicker.

Was it true...had it been days since I went missing for them, he had to have been lying right? My brothers wouldn’t have just moved on without me right? Sure I yelled at them and...made life harder for them with my jokes...and loudness..my dumbness...oh god...they really didn’t need me did they…

But what about Leatherhead...what would happen to him if I just disappeared, he’d notice I'm gone right? I’m his best friend...he wouldn’t just leave me right? He has been making friends with other mutants lately...like the mighty mutanimals..what if he didn’t need me anymore…

Thinking about these things made my chest tighten up, was I really so useless...I curl up on myself hugging my knees up to my chest as tears begin to stream down my face. I didn’t know what to do, all I knew was I wanted my family and friends, I wanted to tell them how much I loved them, I wanted to say how much I loved HIM!! I wanted to tell Leatherhead how I felt but now I might never be able to...im so sorry dad..i'm sorry bros...im sorry Leatherhead...this is all my fault.

“Found you~”

Chapter 9: When a Turtle Falls

{Leo’s POV}

Me, my brothers and our friends were making our way through New York, to get to this Miori Itzam’s place. Luckily for us it was still late enough that no one would be out on the road, so we took the shellraiser, and Donnie was able to find her exact address. It led us to a very old looking neighborhood, most of the houses looking kind of abandoned. We stopped at a house that was maybe three or four stories tall, it was a beautiful house just very old looking, beautiful pillars wrapped up with vines and flowers and a small garden fountain with statues of different species of birds.

“Ok so what do we do now, break in and take the key?” Raph asked, looking through the window at the house.

“We're not going to break in, we're just going to have April and Casey go and knock on the door, we’ll be close by just in case” I say opening the door making way so they could leave the shellraiser.

“So what, we're just going to ask for the key straight up?” Casey hopped out of the shell raiser following us as we walked across the path going through the garden and up to the porch.

“We’ll figure it out Casey don’t worry” April said as me and my brothers hid in the bushes next to the porch.

After taking a calming breath April reached up and knocked on the door using the door knocker attached to the door. It was shaped to look like a ring of silver hanging from a beast's mouth. But no one answered, so she knocked again, and again, and still no answer.

“Maybe she’s not home?” April shrugged while Casey leaned over trying to look through the door’s peephole.

“Yeah dudes, this place is more empty than a JV football team’s bleachers” Casey said as he turned back away from the peephole.

“Maybe we should try one more time” April reached back up to the door knocker only for the door to suddenly whip open and she was greeted with the tip of a sword blade to her throat.

“Woah!!” April yelped, backing away from the blade quickly.

There in the doorway was a short tan woman, raven hair tied up in a braided back ponytail, purple highlights popping against the dim porch light. She narrowed her piercing gold eyes at the two teenagers on her porch, sword grasped tightly in her hand.

“Get off my property…” she spoke lowly taking a step out from her doorway holding the sword in a threatening stance.

“Wait please we didn’t mean to bother you!!” April held her hands up defensively backing up as she took another step forward.

Me and my brothers took out our weapons just in case the woman tried to attack our friends, why would this woman threaten two teenagers?! She didn’t even know why they were knocking just yet.

“I don’t care just leave, I don’t have time for anymore of you childish pranksters” she spat harshly gesturing to her and Casey with her sword.

“We’re not here to prank you lady!” Casey exclaimed as he too held up his hand in defense while the other was held in front of April for protection.

“State your purpose then…” her voice remained cold, her piercing stare held no remorse whatsoever for the fearful teenagers in front of her.

“We’re here for Miori Itzam!! We thought she might be able to help us….with a door” April said quickly as she closed her eyes quickly as if expecting the woman to strike.

The woman’s face suddenly went blank, her eyes slowly growing wide. She lowered the sword a bit and stood there looking at the two with an odd look on her face, her face contorted a bit like she was thinking.

“What door…”

“I uh..a big one? Like made of stone and old gems?” Casey looked at her a bit baffled by her sudden switch in mood.

“...Come inside, oh and bring your green friends too, those bushes aren't too comfortable” She turned walking back inside leaving us stunned.

“Did she see us?” Donnie got up looking surprised.

“We’ll question that later, lets just go” I said leading them all inside following the lady, my hands still tense ready for action, just in case she was planning to actually attack.

“Please close the door on your way in, would any of you like some tea? I have quite the selection, jasmine, oolong, blueberry, green, black” The lady asked from the kitchen, sounding suddenly very upbeat and happy very much contrasting from how she was just a few seconds prior.

“Uh no thank you...we just need to talk” I told her as she came in carrying a tea cup of her own.

“Wait, are you like not surprised at all by the three giant turtles in your house?” Casey looked at the woman bewildered by her 180 mood switch.

“I’m not one to judge, anyway you wanted to talk about the prison of the Tassellis?” She said quite casually as she took a seat on her fancy couch taking a sip from her tea cup.

“The prison of the Tassellis?” I tilt my head a bit confused.

“Yes that's the name of the ‘door’” she did air quotes using both her hands as the tea cup somehow remained floating in the air where she was just holding it.

“Woah!! How did you do that?!” Casey looked amazed by the floating tea cup.

“Magic” She chuckled a bit doing little jazz hands.

“So I'll take it that you're Miori Itzam?” Donnie asked butting in.

“The one and only, now tell me why are you here, and why do you want to know about the door?” She cut to the chase, raising an eyebrow to us.

“Look we’re so sorry to bother you, miss, but...our little brother is trapped behind that door” I walked over to her, wincing a little as I thought about what could be happening to Mikey in there.

At the moment I had said this she was taking another sip of her tea, after hearing the part about our brother she had a quick spit take moment.

“Your brother passed through the doors?!” She got up from the couch floating her tea cup away letting it rest on the coffee table.

“Yes, and we need the sorceress's key so we can save him!” Raph exclaimed as we watched her walking back towards the kitchen area.

“I’m sorry but I can’t just give you the key…. “ She sighed, running a hand through her hair.

“Please, you don’t understand, our little brother, we treated him so horribly and we never even realized it. We just want to make things right, we want to give him the love he deserves, he’s the nicest most amazing person you’d ever meet...he doesn’t deserve to be in there with those monsters…” I pleaded to her, the guilt panging against my heart as I thought of Mikey being in there with those horrible creatures.

“Again...I can’t just give it to you…but...I will help you” She smiled gently as she walked back into the living room after putting her teacup away.

“How?” We followed her until she pulled out a privacy divider and stepped behind it.

“Simple, you need the key so you can escape the prison with your brother, but I can’t give it to you because of magic prophecy rules and crap, sooooo-” She stepped out from the privacy divider revealing her newly changed clothes tossing her pajamas to the side. “I just have to come with you and use the key myself”

“Really you’d do that for us?”

“Of course, the entire purpose of my magic is to protect people from those three, and that includes you giant turtle guys” She grinned while picking up her sword.

“Thank you so much, you don’t know how much this means to us”

“You can thank me later, we need to get down to that door” She walked over to a painting next to the front door removing it revealing a small hidden area with a folded cloak and a large satchel.

“But what about the key?” Donnie questioned raising a nonexistent eyebrow.

“Don’t you worry about that, I always have it with me” She held the door open for us as we left going back over to the shellraiser.

“So uh Miori...what was up with that whole ‘get off my property’ sword thing?” Casey asked as we all got situated into the shellraiser.

“Yeah, and why did you call us pranksters?” April added looking just as confused as Casey was.

She blinked for a second before laughing a bit awkwardly “I’m sorry about that, I’m just used to teenagers coming over and egging my house and stuff, calling me a witch hag, you know that kind of stuff”.

“Oh that sounds awful…” I got in the front seat ready to drive back to the lair.

“You get used to it down the road, I’ve been tempted to curse them I admit, but that isn’t what my family is about” She sat down where Mikey usually sat spinning in the little swivel seat, for a second it almost felt like Mikey was here.

“Was everyone in your family capable of using magic?” Donnie asked, actually seeming rather interested in the idea.

“I thought you didn’t believe in magic Donnie” Raph smirked leaning back in his chair.

Donnie sputtered for a second before turning back to Raph “If magic exists there must be science behind it, it doesn’t just happen Raph!!” He retorted, a little bit red in the cheeks.

Miori chuckled at this and began talking to them about magic or something but I kind of tuned them all out while I was driving, I just couldn’t get the thought of Mikey being in danger out of my head. What if...what if we didn’t get there in time...that fight would have been the last moment we had with him...No no no Leonardo you can’t think like that, be positive, just gotta look on the bright side….but what is the bright side. Aug if Mikey was here he’d be able to make things so much better, sure he was a bit childish but that was what was amazing about him, he could look beyond all of the seriousness and still make us laugh.

We never gave Mikey the credit he deserved, we just got too caught up in Mikey’s silliness I guess we never tried looking past that. Besides, why shouldn’t he be silly and have fun, we’re still young, not everything should have to be a life or death situation for us…

I swear Mikey when this is all over, I’m going to make it up to you, I love you so much little brother...I’m so sorry.

{Mikey’s POV}

“LET GO OF ME!!” I cry out as I struggle in Zad’s iron-like grasp.

The large reptile growled as he stomped through the castle, his large hand wrapped tightly around me by my waist. He huffed angrily making his way back to my bedroom or as I see it now, my prison cell.

“I’m really disappointed in you Mikey, but you're lucky I’m so nice cause if you weren’t our baby brother I would have crushed you already” He let out a snort from his nostrils letting little wisps of smoke pour from them.

“Stop calling me that!!” I kicked trying to get away but still nothing.

“I’m sorry Mikey but you put this on yourself, but we’ll think about this as a teaching moment” Reath declared following close behind Zad.

“Yes, every time you act up we’ll be forced to send you back to your room, you need to learn that these things will not be tolerated if your going to be staying with us”

“I don’t want to stay here!” I yelled as I continued trying to pry open the large hand wrapped around me.

“Well there is nothing that can be done about that now, is there? So you’ll just have to learn to accept that dear Mikey” Zad chuckled darkly as we made it to the long hall that my room was at the end of.

But we stopped in the middle of the hallway, turning toward the curtained wall Zad nodded to Reath, who rushed back to the end of the hall and pulled on a rope in the corner. The curtains that lined the entire hall walls opened revealing a variety of giant windows leading all up and down the hall. At this moment I realized this hall wasn’t just a hall, it was a long bridge leading to a tower. Wait, this entire time my bedroom was actually the top of a tower?

“You see all this land Mikey?” Zad looked out the window with a blank expression, his eyes looked dull and lifeless, baron of any feeling it was scary.

“We’ve been trapped here for years upon years.. we’ve searched every last inch of this place, there is no leaving...no escape, So now you know...if you think of leaving out there, if you try to get away from us...there is nowhere you can go that we won’t find you…” he said his voice dripping with a cold acidy venom void of any kindness that I had been fooled to think that was there in the first place.

“I just don’t understand...w-why keep me here...w-why do yo-” I stammered trying to think only to be cut off with him tracing one of his fingers down my cheek to my chin lifting it slightly.

“Being trapped in the same place for thousands of years will do things to a creature, even the hardest of hearts can crumble over time…” his voice dipped almost sounding...guilty.

“Please...I just want to go home Zad, you don’t have to keep me here, we can still be friends..” I smiled reaching my hand up for him to take, maybe deep down in there, there was someone who really did care.

He looked down at my hand, his face twisting as he hopefully thought over what I said before making a small smile and taking my hand in his much larger one. I couldn’t help but smile bigger, there really was good in him, he just had to dig deeper to see it.

“I’m sorry Mikey…”

“It’s ok Zad, I know it's hard but this isn’t how to dea- wait what are you doing?” I jolted as he let go of me with his other hand but continued to hold me up by the hand that was holding my own making me hang from it.

“Zad? Zad?! ZAD?! What are you doing?!” I shrieked as he opened up the window and leaned over to hang me outside the window over the huge drop down below.

“Promise you won’t leave us Mikey…” he says his eyes staring into my now wide, tear filled eyes.

“Zad please!! Stop this!!” I cry out trying desperately not to look down.

“Promise me Mikey…”

“Zad you're scaring me!! Please stop!!” Tears were now freely flowing down from my eyes. There was no possible way for me to survive this, there was nothing to slow or catch my fall, if he were to drop me I would most definitely die.

“All you have to do is promise Mikey…” There was no sign of lying in his eyes, he was truly ok with letting me fall to my death, I knew that look. I’ve seen it a dozen times in many of the enemies me and my brothers would face.

“This is insane Zad!! Devdan, Reath Please!!” I called out looking at the two other lizard creatures who seemed to look away a bit.

“Promise Mikey…”

I couldn’t say anything, I stared at him my tears betraying me sliding down my face relentlessly, he was really going to let me fall to my death was he...all this talk about brothers and family, and I was going to die without them...they don’t even know where I am and I’m going to die… I was never going to see them again, not Leo, not Raph, not Donnie, not even Dad….and I’m going to leave this world with all these feelings..never to be said to him...never to be said to Leatherhead.

“Have it your way then…”

I felt it...he let go, he actually let go of my hand...I was going to die. But I don’t wanna die yet!! I want to live life, I want to grow up, I want to see my family again!!

I fell getting closer and closer to the ground, tears flying upwards from the pressure of the winds, I could see where I was going to land, the place I was going to die, what was I thinking?! Why didn’t I just say yes?!

“YES, YES I'M SORRY YES I PROMISE!!”

I squeeze my eyes shut as the ground came close, this was it...it was time, I’m sorry dad..I’m sorry bro’s I love you so much, if I didn’t go off on you guys before I’d still be with you its all my fault...I’m sorry Leatherhead...I promise I’ll watch over you when I'm gone….I love you.

But….the pain I was expecting never came, I slowly opened my eyes to see I was surrounded by clouds and blue sky...did I die? Is...is this heaven?

“Glad to see you made the right choice…”

I jumped, turning at the voice, I now saw I was laying in Zadicus’s arms, his giant wings outstretched flapping every now and then. We were flying...he had caught me...I sat there staring into the vast blue nothingness of the sky, thinking about how I should have been dead...the man who had just killed me was holding me...was I really alive...and now...he was laughing, this was all a cruel joke to him….

“You’re looking a bit ill, let's get you back home baby brother, some rest will do you well” he chuckled lightly as he turned flying back to the palace.

We reentered from the window...they were speaking but I couldn’t hear...I couldn’t listen. I was being taken into my bedroom and laid on my bed, all I could do was curl in on myself taking the nearest pillow into my clutch shaking….

I laid like that for a while, a few minutes? An hour? I had no idea...I just continued to stare at the silky canopy curtain walls of my bed, everything outside from this bed did not exist...I was alone, I was stuck in this hell hole alone. I can’t stop myself as I ball up my fist punching the mattress below me over and over again sobbing into the sheets and pillows, I just want to go back and be with my family...

“I just want to go home…”

Chapter 10: Everybody Needs a Hug Once in Awhile

{Leatherhead’s POV}

I was continuing to lay by the bottom of the large door that my best friend had been trapped behind, Master Splinter ended up staying with me to make sure I wouldn’t go through. But I knew he probably stayed more so for the reason that he too didn’t want to leave Michelangelo's side, even if it was through a magical door. I desperately wished this wasn’t happening, with all my being I just wished that Michelangelo was here in my arms and not behind that awful door.

“Leatherhead, I just want you to know I’m sorry for how my sons have treated you, they may have thought they were looking out for Michelangelo, but they went about it the wrong way, they undermined your progress of getting better and that was wrong..”

I turned my head a little so I could see where the other mutant was sitting. I may not have had many conversations with the rat man, but I knew he was a generally pleasant person.

“It is not your fault...but your words are appreciated” I let out and lay my head back down curling around my body.

“Can I ask you something, Leatherhead?” The fellow mutant asked as he sat there continuing his stare at the door.

At this I merely let out a small gruff to say I was listening, I’m still having to get used to making conversations with others besides Michelangelo. Even with all the practice with co-leading the Mighty Mutanimals I still have trouble with these kinds of interactions.

“Are you in love with my son?”

At this my eyes fling open and I whirl my head around looking up at him before slowly sitting up, not letting my eyes leave his. Surely I had not been that obvious? Yes Master Splinter was an observant man but I would have thought I hid my affections for the orange clad turtle quite well.

I continued to stare not knowing what to do, was he angered? Upset? His face was completely unreadable. I knew from experience not to try anything with the rat, last time I had caught him on his bad side he had managed to knock me out quite quickly, was he about to do so again?

“No need to fear my friend…”

“You aren't upset?...” I raised myself a bit more, feeling a bit awkward in this situation.

“There is no reason for me to be, you clearly care very deeply for my son and have shown what you would go to for him” The older mutant gave a small smile.

“I would have thought you’d be angry…”

“Angry? I hold nothing against you Leatherhead, you treat my son very well, you have no idea how much he speaks of you my friend” Splinter chuckled to himself looking like he was thinking back on memories.

“He speaks of me often?” I was a bit surprised, I know Michelangelo is a very excitable and talkative person but I didn’t think he spoke so much about me to others.

“Yes and take it from me, keeping your feelings to yourself will only bring you regret” The rat man stated giving his beard a stroke, closing his eyes, lowering his head a bit.

“What if….he doesn’t see me that way, and he leaves…” I lower my head a bit, thinking of the possibility of that happening.

“I highly doubt Michelangelo would even think about leaving you, you are far too precious to him, and you never know if you don’t try…” The older mutant seemed to have grown a smirk and gave a simple wink.

Wait...did he know something? Does Michelangelo...like me? Was his father hinting at this?! Is it possible, can it work between me and the orange clad turtle? From as far as I know, Master Splinter is not one for lies, but why would he tell me this…

“Why are you saying these things?...”

“I love my sons more than anything, and I want them to have a good life just like any other parent. It's clear my sons don’t get to experience such normalcy in their lives, I know my son feels for you, I just don’t want him to have regrets if something happens and it may possibly be too late..”

I knew what he meant, Michelangelo and his brothers face certain death on a weekly basis. It would be tragic to go when you still have so much ahead of you, and to keep something inside wouldn’t turn out well in the end..

“Now that doesn’t mean I will just let you go ahead with everything, I’m still his father and I will keep my eyes on you. But I do trust you, and you're already aware of what I’m capable of, my friend” The ninjitsu master said with a knowing grin.

I couldn’t help but send a smile back, I needed to tell Michelangelo my feelings once we were reunited. This could be the start of a new chapter in my life, a chapter I will get to spend with the one I loved more than anything, and those creatures on the walls won’t get in my way.

“Master Splinter, Leatherhead were back!”

“Yeah and we found Miori!”

I turned to the entrance to see the others returning, crossing the catwalk with a new girl in a strange attire with piercing gold eyes that practically glowed in the darkness. She seemed very lively as she bounced a bit with every step she took looking around at the room with a wide enamored expression.

“Wow it's just like Nana described!” The girl gasped, twirling once they finally made it across the catwalk.

“Miori, this is Master Splinter and Leatherhead,” Leonardo introduced gesturing to me and their father.

“Greetings Mr. Alligator man and Master Rat dude!” She greeted doing goofy finger guns before her eyes widened when she saw the door.

“Woah...seeing the door in person is just...wow, mind blowing like pqqssswaaaa!!” She exclaimed while making a slow motion exploding sound with her mouth? I assume that's the noise she was going for as she made the noise while making exploding hand gestures near the sides of her head.

“So do you have the key that will aid us in saving my son?” Master Splinter asked, seemingly trying to get to the point.

“Oh yeah yeah, don’t worry I got it riiiiigggghhhhht here!” She exclaims as she whipped out a sword from the scabbard hooked to the side of her hip.

“......that's a sword” Raphael gave the girl a look as if she were crazy.

“The sword is the key, shell head!! I just need to-” She stuck her tongue out a bit trying to concentrate, giving the sword a shake making it glow.

“Tadaa- oh wait..” She stopped herself when the glowing went away revealing a silver and gold parasol.

“I swear I just had this..no no no no not that, definitely not that..auuugg!!” She goes on turning the magical object into different things, most of them of gold, silver and amber varieties.

“Finally! See voila magic key!!” The girl exclaimed as she was now holding up the same intricately designed key from the wall art.

“Heh very uh...multifunctional?” Donnie shrugged with a small awkward laugh.

“Yeah yeah whatever, it's just been awhile since I had changed this thing alright, the key hasn’t been used in like forever” she shooed the comment away before walking to the front of the group.

“Ok here's the deal, as you have probably guessed we can only use the key from the inside. But we can’t use it just anywhere in there, it needs to be used in the same spot we enter from so we can come back through the door” The bright eyed girl explains as she gestures to the door behind her.

“Rule number one, if you come in contact with the any of the Tassellis don’t trust them, they thrive off their charms and egos the size of canada”

“Rule number two, make sure they do not find out where the hidden exit is, so we absolutely cannot have them following us back here!”

“And rule number three, do not underestimate these guys under any means, they will go to any lengths to get what they want, and I mean any lengths very unspeakable lengths” her voice grew very dark at the last rule.

“Oh and when we go inside there is going to be a powerful surge going through your body so, in order for that not to happen so we won’t pass out the minuet of arrival we’ll need to hold onto one another while I use the key so the key absorbs that shock”

“Wait surge?” Leonardo looked confused raising a non-existent eyebrow.

“Yeah, it's magic stuff, kind of like a protection spell but if you're holding a magic item or you know the key the magic won’t affect you, like a shield. That spell was originally casted so if in a case that the Tassellis escape they’ll be weakened so it will give enough time to toss them back in”

“Oh wow that's actually a really smart idea” Donatello said surprised.

“Well when you're ready to join hands or whatever, then I will open the door, no backing out” She says putting the key into her bag and holding her hand up to the large pearl-like gem in the center of the door.

We all gave one last glance of the room before taking eachothers hands, the turtles giving one last affirmative nod to each other before putting their hands to each other and their father’s. I didn’t need to be told twice I took the april girl’s hand as she grasped the raven haired boy’s. We were ready to go forward, we were ready to save Michelangelo...I was ready to save my love.

I’m coming for you Michelangelo and nothing is going to get in my way.

{Mikey’s POV}

I jumped up from bed with a gasp, when had I fallen asleep? I take quick shallow breaths looking around the room, once again remembering where I was. My body sags in disappointment, I wanted so badly for this all to just be some crazy nightmare and wake up in my own bed. But no here I still was being held prisoner by these fancy monster reptiles in a tower inside an insanely big castle. Why can’t I just have a normal life?!

I sigh rolling off the bed, falling, taking the blankets and one of the pillows down with me. I shrug the canopy silk thing off me as I get up from the ground, walking over to the bumped out window seat.

Why is it always you who gets in these stupid situations...your a ninja for peets sake, look at you getting captured...you let your guard down...Master Splinter would be so disappointed.

“Stupid voice in my head, you don’t know me…” I groaned, flopping onto the cushioned window seat, pulling one of the pillows close, hugging it tightly.

I look out the window staring out at the endless blue sky with motionless clouds, jeez why is this place so weird, heh Donnie would probably have a field day with this place.

I smile a little at the idea of Donnie’s face when he discovers something new to examine or study, it was like he turned into a little kid in a matter of seconds.

Leo would probably be meditating or something, trying to think of a plan to get out of here. If he were here he'd have already found a way out of this mess.

Raph, he wouldn’t like it here at all, he would be punching at the doors or maybe throw something out the window to try and break it so he could escape.

Why wasn’t I trying to escape? Why am I just sitting here moping?

I looked out the window, looking down below at the plummeting drop and felt my stomach churn. I quickly rolled off the bumped out window seat and back on to the ground, covering my mouth with my hands. I felt like I was going to puke.

Wait what? I’ve never been afraid of heights, like this at least. I’ve always been able to let it slide off my back, I mean I hop from buildings to buildings back home. But now when I look out...I just..

I feel my mind flashback to when I was falling, the ground coming closer and closer. The growing feeling of dread and air pin pricking at my skin as I fell, it was so much all at once. And the worst part was, I was alone….

“Oh Mikey, are you ok in there? I hear the sounds of regurgitation!!” I hear Reath’s voice calling from behind the door after knocking.

“I’m fine…” I groan, turning on my side curling in on myself, holding onto my knees.

“Are you sure, you sound a bi- oh why are you on the floor?” The door opened with Reath poking his head inside.

“Because right now life is meaningless and I don’t care…”

“Ok Mr. Grumpy Pants, how about you tell me what's wrong” He strides over picking me up off the ground and puts me back on the bumped out window seat before sitting down next to me.

“What’s wrong?! Reath this is basically kidnapping, how do you not see that!?” I narrow my eyes up at him in anger.

“Well uh...I know your dealing with some feelings, it's a very hormonal time in your life and that's perfectly natural, it happens to all of us an-”

“Hormonal?! What does being held hostage have anything to do with hormones? Oh god please tell me you're not about to give me a birds and the bees talk, gross!”

“...I’m not sure what birds and bees have to do with it either, but no no look I’m sorry...I just wanted to see if you needed anything, and I’m sorry about what Zad did...it was awful and unnecessary” He sighed rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward fashion.

“What I want is to go back home..” I hug my knees up to my chest, wanting the room to just swallow me whole.

“And I’m sorry I can’t fix that baby brother...but uh, how about I make something for you so you won’t feel homesick? Huh how's that, you can even help me make it!” Reath exclaimed, reaching down and throwing me up into the air for his upper pair of arms to catch me.

“Is this so you can bond with me or is this to make sure I don’t try and escape again?”

“Can’t it be both?”

“Alright whatever, not really like I have anything else to do…” I sigh rolling my head back.

“That's the spirit, onwards to the workshop!! Brotherly bonding yay!” He cheered carrying me through the castle and down to his workshop.

“Did this place used to be a dungeon?...” I looked around at the workshop, before on the tour I didn’t really get to see that much of Reath’s workspace, I kinda stopped looking around when I saw that bloody bone saw.

“Well yes, but we had no use for a dungeon so I turned it into my workspace, but I did keep some of the decor, what can I say, I have a certain taste” Reath chuckled, spinning a hanging cage from the ceiling that appeared to have lit candles inside.

“What is it you do down here?” I ask as he sits me down on a counter, my legs dangling off the edge.

“You know I dabble in a bit of everything, I make sure everything runs smoothly around here, that means making new dummies for Dev so he won’t end up punching holes in the walls. Making whatever contraption Zad says he needs for his...uh projects, I do pretty much everything” He states, sitting on a swivel stool spinning around.

“Now tell me, what would you like me to make for you?” He smiled leaning on the counter, reaching over booping me.

“....I don’t know, I just wanna go home, I want to be with my family..and Leatherhead” I mutter the last part feeling a bit of heat rise to my face.

“Leatherhead?” He tilted his head in confusion as he reached into some cabinets below the counter.

“Oh uh he’s my best friend..” I smile a little thinking about the larger mutant.

“Pfft sure ‘best friend’” Reath chuckled, waving one of his hands as if swatting away the idea.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I feel myself raise a nonexistent eyebrow at this, did he not think I had any friends back home?

“Forgive me, but I know better than anyone what that face means” he stated while poking my cheeks, and placing some materials on the counter next to me.

“Huh?”

“You have feelings for this ‘Leatherhead’ correct?” He twirled around before walking over to a rack of fabrics in the corner.

“W-What?!” I exclaim, my face becoming flushed with red.

“I may not be a genius like Zadicus but I am pretty observant Mikey, the way your face just lights up with joy as you say that name, it's plainly obvious. Tell me about them, I won’t judge” He goes on as he looks over all the fabrics.

“He’s just a r-really good friend...well yeah he’s my best friend, and he’s a great listener and actually cares about what I have to say...he makes me feel...I don’t know like...like I’m wanted”

My mind is filled with the many memories of Leatherhead and me hanging out, reading some comic books to him, the times he’d put me on his back and we’d run through the sewers. Or the times we’d just sit and just talk about our days or lay in a little sleep pile.

“I bet he was a wonderful little turtle, just like you”

“He’s not a turtle”

“Oh? Well what is he?” He asked, seemingly putting away some fabric he picked up.

“He’s a giant mutant alligator..heh” I chuckle awkwardly, this reminded me of when I told April and Casey about LH, they screamed but I guess that's kinda expected of them.

“Hmm, well that's alright baby brother, love is love after all, it's a spectrum who’s to say what's normal or not”

“You know your surprisingly more tolerant than I thought you would be”

“Oh trust me, I have experience in this sort….of….thing” he’s voice faltered as he said this, looking down a bit as he picked up some dark green fabric.

“....Are you ok Reath?”

“Huh?! Oh yes yes sorry, just thinking about someon- something, thinking about something..” He caught himself as he hurriedly picked up some different fabrics and came back over to the table.

“Reath you seem a bit less….Reathy? Than normal..are you sure you're alright?” I tilt my head as I watch him work on whatever it was he was making.

“Oh it's nothing, it's silly, yes silly” he waved the subject away like a bothersome fly as he began to cut the fabric he brought over.

“It’s not silly if it's making you feel bad” I reach over, placing my hand on top of only resting one.

“I….I too know how it feels to be in love with someone, I just...I miss them” Reath spoke quietly looking down at his hands.

“You wanna talk about it?...”

He took a deep breath before leaning on his own arm placed on the counter. “Long ago when we were still on surface world, before we had this palace and it was just me and my brothers..I met this traveler. We met by accident and by accident I mean I found them stuck in a tree, but the thing was….they weren’t afraid of me. They actually spoke to me without cowering, if anything they couldn’t stop talking” He chuckled as a bit of blush crept onto his cheeks.

“I met them almost everyday, Bowie...Bowie promised they'd never leave me. Even wanted me to join their travels, asked me the same day they gave me..this” He pulled out an old beaded bracelet with what looked like a tooth attached to it.

“Is that a tooth?”

“Heh yeah, I know it seems kinda weird, but Bowie was a weird person. One day when we were playing a game of chase they fell down a hill and a tooth came flying out of Bowie’s mouth!! And being the weirdo Bowie is, they put it on a bracelet and gave it to me” He let out a few laughs looking down at the bracelet with content.

“Bowie sounds amazing..”

“They were...but then...they left”

“Wait what?” I felt my head jerk back up looking at Reath’s teary looking eyes.’’

“Bowie left..”

“Woah woah woah!! The person who literally gave you a piece of their body to show their affection...just left?!”

“Yes...I never saw them again, they told me to wait for them at the same tree we first met at..the same tree we carved our names in, they wanted to tell me something important...but Bowie never showed up..”

“Wow that...that sucks Reath, I’m so sorry..”

“Yeah well...nothing can be done about it now, Bowie’s long gone and I have so...so much other stuff I could be doing to keep my mind off i-” I cut him off as he sounded like he was about to cry, I wrapped my arms around his arm in a hug.

“....Thank you Mikey...this...this actually helps” he smiles pulling me to his chest hugging me close.

“Everybody needs a hug ever once in awhile…”

Chapter 11: Distant Feelings

Notes:

Hello darlings, sorry its been a long while. I've been kind of busy and yes I am still continuing my series, I have just been focused on many other things. Especially when its coming up to holidays. Anyway I would like to make it clear I am continuing the series and I am very much not done, I will update whenever I can and want to, writing has always been a hobby of mine and I really enjoy doing it. So please try to refrain from constantly asking for the next update, Anyway I hope you all really enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Have a blessed day and Happy Holidays everyone!!

{Leo’s POV}

I could feel my heart beating fast, I couldn’t see anything except this bright blinding light. No matter how tightly I squeezed my eyes shut the light still poured in, a tingly sensation drifting across my entire body. I tightened my grip on the hand holding my own, this would be the closest thing to comfort I had in my reach. I didn’t feel any pain as Miori said, but that didn’t stop the staggering pain of guilt from hammering against my chest. To think Mikey had to go through all of this, I was blind to the pain we were causing him and I did nothing to help him…

I felt myself gasp for air as the light finally dispersed, flooding my vision with darkness. I can feel myself tumble down onto something soft, only for what felt like a bunch of other bodies falling on top of me.

“Auuhhgg…” I my eyes slowly flutter open trying to adjust to the light.

I looked down to see I was laying atop some grass, still a bit wet from morning dew. Slowly lifting my head I feel my eyes widen at the sight. There it was, the same castle and fields from the paintings, so much more grand in person.

“Get the shell off me brainiac!!”

I looked up to see Raph and Donnie were the ones that fell on me. Raph pushed Donnie off of him and onto the grass, huffing he got up dusting himself off and pulling me and Donnie up to our feet.

“I can’t believe it….ah it's just like Nana said!!” Miori got up twirling around giddy with excitement.

“Alright, we're here, now where the heck is Mikey?” Raph said, crossing his arms.

“Most likely he’s already been captured and is being held in the dungeon, I don’t want to make you all worried but he’s probably being tortured.” Miori stated, looking into the distance at the castle.

“How would that not worry us?!” Donnie yelled looking at her, one of his eyes twitching.

“What? I’m not gonna lie to you guys, my purpose is to help people not blindly hope for the best.” She stated, placing a hand on her hip while changing the key back into her sword.

“We just need to get in and get out with Mikey, easy.” Raph said as he looked on at the castle, narrowing his eyes.

“Easy? What if those monsters find us before we even get to Mikey.” Donnie added, giving Raph a low expression.

“Then we beat them to a pulp and get Mikey, like I said, easy!”

“Raph I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as you think, what we do can affect what is going to happen to Mikey and we can-” I tried to reason only to be interrupted by Miori.

“Uh yeah sorry for interrupting your little moment here but your giant alligator is already running down to the castle.” She pointed towards the field.

Low and behold she was right, Leatherhead had taken up a full on sprint towards the castle. As quickly as we could we ran after him, he was getting too close, he was going to get noticed. So I thought quickly pulling out my chain and throwing it, letting latch onto his legs and sending him to the ground.

“Why would you do that..” Leatherhead growled, whipping his head around, eyes slit dangerously.

“Sorry L.H, but this is a sensitive mission and we need to do it right.” I say as I remove my chain from his legs.

“Well what do you suggest we do? I guess busting down the front door isn’t an option is it?” Miori said as she looked over the giant palace, particularly eyeing the front door.

“No, we're Ninjas. We do this quickly and quietly.” I gaze over the large building looking for any entry points, my eyes finally landing on a balcony with large opened doors. “We can get in through there” I pointed up to the balcony with one of my ninjatos.

I didn’t even need to turn back towards everyone, Leatherhead was already climbing the walls. He wasn’t saying a word, he was focused on one thing and one thing only and that was getting to Mikey.

“He’s fast for such a big guy.” Miori chuckles a little as she starts to climb up the wall trying to keep up.

We had finally made it up the balcony, it was going to be a bit harder to sneak around the place because of the number of people we had with us. Especially with a giant alligator and a magic lady with no stealth training.

Cautiously walking inside we were greeted with a large fancy ballroom, shining with accents of white and gold. Wasn’t really what we were expecting for a castle belonging to evil monsters but no matter.

“Stick to the shadows guys..” I narrowed my eyes as I hurried out of the ballroom and into another hallway.

“So what, we split up?” Casey asked as the others followed me.

“Yes in teams, Casey you're with April and Miori, Sensei can you go with Leatherhead? He’s big and will need help getting around without caus- Where is Leatherhead?!” I turned back, splitting them up only to see Leatherhead was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh he left back at the ballroom.” Miori piped up pointing backwards over her shoulder.

“Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“I thought he already had a plan or something I don’t know!” She exclaimed in a whisper.

I sighed, running a hand down my face. “Okay Master Splinter will go wi- and Sensei is gone. Does anyone listen to me?!”

“Master Splinter is fine on his own dude, he’s like crazy skilled yo.” Casey said, moving his arms about like he usually does.

“Bro’s you’re with me, stay close, stay alert, for Mikey…” I say putting my hand out.

“For Mikey..” They agreed, placing their hands on top of mine.

We broke away, with Donnie and Raph we split away from our friends and into the hallway opposite to them. After a while of searching we found ourselves at a cross path, we looked around trying to figure out which way to go until we heard heavy thumps getting closer.

Nodding to my brothers we parkoured our way up to the ceiling, balancing on the columned hall decorations. I could feel my eyes grow wide when I saw what had come through the hall.

A giant red monstrous reptilian creature, broad muscles, ripe scars spread across his arms and body. Four pitch black eyes, one scarred shut, giant horns sticking out from his head and spikes running down from his head all the way down to his tail. He was more intimidating than how he looked in those paintings.

The monster walked through the hall but stopped before turning the corner. Lifting his head he sniffed the air with a curious look on his face, his face twisting in disgust. Growling he whirled around looking in every direction for something.

We tucked further into the shadows, had he been smelling us? Did he know we were here?

At finding nothing the red creature huffed scratching the back of his neck looking confused and kind of embarrassed. Eventually he turned back around and went along with what he had already been doing.

“That's one of those Tassellis?!” I heard Raph whisper.

“He’s even bigger than Leatherhead….” Donnie’s eyes were wide with panic.

“It will be ok, we’ve dealt with worse right? I mean we’ve literally tackled down mutants the size of buildings, we can handle some giant reptiles, we’ll take on a hundred of these guys if it means saving Mikey!” I looked at them, I could feel my determination swirling in my chest and I knew they could feel it too.

“Miori said he’s most likely being held in the dungeon, we just need to figure out where that is.” Donnie said whilst tapping his chin.

“It will take us forever to find it, this place is huge!” Raph exclaimed gesturing to the many large halls.

“We just need to keep going down!” Donnie points downward to the floor.

“Down?”

“Well yeah dungeons are basically just basements where you’re ‘supposed’ to keep people against their will.” Donnie shrugged.

“Alright let’s go, Mikey is probably scared to death right now..”

{Mikey’s POV}

“Tada! One brand new alligator friend for my favorite little brother!”

I looked up to see Reath holding up his finished work. In his hands was a big alligator plush, it was about the size of my torso. I liked it but it made me think about how I’d never see Leatherhead again.

“It’s…great.” I give a weak smile, taking the plush as he hands it to me.

“Don’t you just love it?!” he cheers, picking me up by throwing me up into the air and catching mid air.

When Reath didn’t get a response he frowned looking at me sadly. “You don’t love it…”

“No no, it's not that I don’t love it, I really do! It’s just this makes me think of how I’ll never see L.H again…” I say honestly as I pull the plush close for comfort.

“I understand, I wish I could do more but I’d be pushing our luck…” He said tucking me into the crook of his arm, now carrying me like a baby. What is it with these guys and carrying me around like a baby?

“Come on, you must be hungry. You never did finish breakfast so you should be dying for some lunch, I know I am!” He cheerfully made his way back up the stairs with me in his arms, humming his little melody.

“Hey Reath?”

“Yes Mikey?”

“W-Why did Zad throw me out the window?...” I felt myself shiver at the memory, the screams that tore through my throat as the ground kept getting closer and closer. But instead of being left to an agonizing splat, Zad saved me at the last minute…not even seconds after tossing me out the window. How could he do such a thing?!

Reath had almost come to a stop, only to quickly correct himself and keep moving. “Well Mikey..Zad has always had a tendency to…overreact and do…questionable things.”

I could feel Reath tighten his grip on me, his fingers fidgeting like he was nervous about something. Quickly he picked up his pace to speed walking through the halls only to run into Devdan.

“Oh Dev, great!! Here you take our sweet baby brother here, I’m going to make us all lunch!” Reath exclaimed hurriedly as he transferred me from his arms to Devdan’s and scurried away looking anxious and panicky.

“Well that happened..” Devdan said awkwardly and tucked me into his arm.

“How about we go hang out in your room until lunch is ready? Or maybe you wanna go somewhere else in the castle?” Devdan asked, patting my head.

All I can muster is a simple shrug, I don’t know what's wrong with me. It’s like I don’t feel quite myself anymore, what's wrong with me? Why do I feel so empty and sad?

“You alright little buddy?” His face softened, I could feel his eyes gaze over me with concern.

“Yeah…I just wanna sleep forever..” I sigh, pulling my new plush close to my chest, right now this was my only real source of comfort and I just didn’t want to let go, not for a long time.

I’m not sure what exactly was happening, I just laid there in Dev’s arms. I couldn’t quite find myself falling asleep, more like staring into nothingness. I knew I was awake but nothing around me seemed really in need of my attention, so I kinda freaked out a bit when I was yanked back into reality by being placed on something that felt like grass.

I looked up to see I could now actually see the sky, but through glass? I sat up looking around to see I was surrounded by grass and flowers, it was like I was in a large dome-like green house. In the center of the place was a large tree that's branches and leaves hung low to the ground, beautiful purple flowers hanging from them. Lush vines curled around the glass walls, small pink flowers growing on them, there was even a small pond with lily pads treading delicately across the water.

“What?...Where am I?” I was astounded by the impressively beautiful garden, but I also had a sense of dread and caution seep through me as I don’t even recall coming here.

“You're in my garden.”

I turn to see Dev sitting on a large marble bench as he watered a patch of flowers next to him.

This was Devdan’s garden? He didn’t seem like the type to do stuff like that, from as long as I’ve been around Dev I’ve seen he’s quite hostile and angered easily. But I have seen that he is somewhat reasonable and friendly when he wants to be.

“This is your garden?” I ask quietly, watching him as he places his watering can down.

“Yes, do you like it?” He smiled gently.

“Yeah it’s…it’s gorgeous” I say as I return to looking at all the flowers around me.

We stayed silent for a while, just appreciating the beauty of nature surrounding us. For a little bit I didn’t feel so enclosed in my own shell, like all this invisible weight was being lifted. I liked it here, but why would he bring me?

“Dev? Why did you bring me here?” I pulled my knees up to my chest, still clutching my plush alligator.

“It’s clear you're under a lot of stress right now Mikey, it's a big change to adjust to. I just want you to have a steady ride, I don’t want you to fall any deeper into this depression baby brother..” He said calmly, reaching down gently and patting my head.

“Depression?” I looked up at him, I could feel my hands fidgeting on their own. I just needed to do something with my hands, I felt so nervous but I don’t know what to do with them.

“Don’t worry about it Mikey, just keep watching over the garden. Oh and if you ever feel like you just need a little peace and quiet time, you're always free to come here” He gave a supportive grin before turning back to look over the garden himself.

Depression? Was I becoming depressed? That's not me! I don’t wanna be like that, I just want to be me. But what if this is me now…what if this feeling never goes away? My real brothers barely wanted me with my own stupid personality, at least then I was good for a laugh. But what about now? They wouldn’t want me back even more now, especially if I’m just going to be a downer all the time now!….

Oh what's the point, I’m stuck here with a family of giant psycho reptiles with boundary issues. Not only that I’m just useless now, I can’t look through a window anymore without panicking and feeling like I’m going to puke. I mean what kind of Ninja is afraid of heights?! None of them!!

“Oh there you two are, me and Reath were looking for you.”

I shakily turn my head to see Zad walk into the greenhouse, Reath following close behind carrying a large basket.

“Awww what if we ate lunch here? All together picnic style!! Oooo that would be so cute!” Reath gushed, doing a little spin before trotting on over to us.

“Why that sounds like a wonderful idea brother, nothing like some good wholesome family time.” Zad chuckled as he took a seat on the marble bench next to Dev.

“Oh this is just great, isn’t it Mikey?!” Reath cheered, plopping down next to me on the grass.

He began to rummage through the basket, pulling out some plates with food on them. Handing one to each of us, mine had what looked like mashed potatoes, carrots, peas and what I’m guessing is a porkchop.

“Hm? What's that you have there Mikey?” Zad asked, looking down at the plush alligator Reath made me.

“Oh uh..Reath made it for me..it's nice.” I say quietly, squeezing the alligator in my arms.

“Isn’t that just adorable, good work Reath.” Zad patted him on the back before continuing to eat his own food.

As they ate and chatted I stared down at my large plate, my mind was plagued with memories of my family, my brothers, my dad, my friends. The weight that had seemed to pass a while ago was back and it was crushing, like I had to gulp down my air just to breathe.

“Mikey? Aren't you hungry?” I looked up to see Zadicus eyeing me suspiciously.

“Yeah just..I got a little distracted.”

“You should eat something, you barely ate breakfast, do you need me to feed you again?” his eyes narrowed only in the slightest and it still sent shivers up my spine, what set me off more was his signature fear inducing smirk plastered onto his face.

Reath and Dev looked to each other with a worried look, they turned looking back at me sending me pleading looks that screamed ‘just do what he says’. I quickly shook it off and picked up my fork and started eating, I didn’t exactly feel like eating. Yes I was really hungry but this weird feeling was just overpowering the nagging growling hunger.

“There we go, isn’t that better?” He chuckled, everytime he laughed it sent me back to that moment he threw me out the window. When he caught me he laughed…so casually, like it was completely normal and even comical that he had almost killed me…

“You know what, how about after lunch we all do something fun huh? Patch up the day from this morning, doesn’t that sound great?!”

“What do you think we should do?” Reath asked as he ate, and I just realized how weird it is to see them eat. Reath had wrapped his long tongue around his porkchop thing and yanked it back into his mouth like some kind of frog.

“I’m not sure, maybe we can go outside and play a game, oh how about hide and seek!! Remember when we used to play that when we were younger? Oh, we had so much fun.” Zadicus sighed contently at the seemingly fond memories.

“Don’t you think that's a little uh…advanced for Mikey?” Dev said awkwardly as he rubbed his arm.

“Advanced? It’s hide and seek.” He raised an eyebrow at him, a frown now forming on his face.

“Well no no, I think Devy means…well we can get rather ‘intense’ if you know what I mean brother..it might scare him.” Reath explained, fidgeting with his hands a bit.

“Oh pish posh, he can handle it! Besides he’s a part of the family now so he’s going to end up doing these things anyway, might as well start early!” he exclaimed before ripping apart the entire cooked chicken that was on his plate in one bite.

“Well uh…if you think that's best, then I’m sure Mikey is fine with it. Right baby brother?!” Reath turned back to me, giving me a cheerful expression that just popped up out of thin air.

“Uh…ok? I g-guess that’s fine..” I mutter, taking in another bite of mash potatoes.

“Then it's decided! After we're finished here, it's right to the forest we go!” He boasted clapping his hands together excitedly, that dark look never leaving his eyes.

“Oh this will be fun~”

Chapter 12: :Hide And Go Scream:

{Leatherhead’s POV}

I was quickly making my way through this maze of palace halls, only one thing was clear in my mind and that was Michelangelo was here. I had separated from the group, I could not wait any longer to save him. I have faced constant torture at the hands of my captors and look what it had done to me. I had become a shell of who I once was, rage and sorrow being felt at each twist and turn in my life. I couldn’t bear to think how Michelangelo would be after all this. The sweet, kind-hearted turtle could have been crushed under the weight of newly found trauma.

Running through the halls, the only thing guiding me was my nose. I followed the faint scent of my orange-clad friend, it worried me how diluted his scent was.

“Separating from the group might not have been a wise decision, Leatherhead.”

I skidded to a halt, turning to see Master Splinter had followed me. I honestly keep forgetting that the old rat was just as fast as me, it’s like he’ll just pop up anywhere and everywhere without notice.

“Why do you follow me…”

“Somebody has to make sure you’re alright, and to make sure you keep your head.” The older mutant said as he began to walk ahead of me.

As we were walking the ninjitsu master would stroke his beard, like he was thinking. His brows furrowed as he looked ahead into the vast halls of the castle.

“I see, you sense it too? My son's scent has weakened while he was here, he said as he took a whiff of the air around him.

I didn’t say anything, I just continued forward. My brain was plagued with the vision of Michelangelo, of what could be happening to him right now. I felt so useless, I know he’s somewhere in here, but I have no clue as to where.

Me and Master Splinter continued to follow the faint scent of Michelangelo. It led us down a few corridors and corners, I almost became frustrated by the lengthy time this was taking me. But that's when I saw it when turning the last corner, me and Splinter had to falter back behind the wall.

Walking out from a pair of large doors was a beast even larger than I, he was a horrific-looking reptilian mass. He had greyish blue scales lining his skin and six petrifying yellow eyes, large tattered wings protruding from his back. All and all he truly did depict a beast.

The blue beast appeared to be humming to himself as he walked among the halls, leaving behind whatever it was behind those doors. With that, something in my chest stirred as I got another whiff of that faint, increasingly diluting scent of Michelangelo, and it was coming from there.

Once the creature was gone, I wasted no time and hurried into the room behind the doors. Inside appeared to be a large study office, an office filled with odd trinkets and doodads. Potted plants hung from the ceiling in the corners, a desk made large enough for that beast sat near the windows, and a large map was pinned to the wall at the end of the room. But there was no sign of Michelangelo.

“I don’t understand…I could have sworn I smelled him in here.” I look around, the feeling in my chest faltering at the revelation that he was not here.

“It appears you weren’t smelling him, rather more his gear.” I turned to see Master Splinter, only now he was holding up a gear belt and nunchaku that quite clearly belonged to Michelangelo.

“If these beasts have hurt him, I shall rip them apart..” I said, a growl slipping past my clenched teeth.

“With that, I agree with you, my friend.” The older mutant said quietly as he held the gear belt close, his face showing off a sorrowful expression as he gazed down at it, caressing it with his thumb. “We must continue to search for my son.”

We leave the room behind and continue our search. Thankfully we didn’t run into any more of those beasts, we continued to track the faint scent as best we could. The remains of Michelangelo’s natural aroma was a distinct smell from the scents of these halls, leading us in many different ways.

We stop yet again at another room, the door smells vaguely of Michelangelo’s fragrance. But what really caught my attention was all the new familiar scents, coming from behind the door. Opening it, letting the light pour through I saw something unexpected.

It was a large storage room filled with things from our world, there was no consistency with the variety of things either. On one shelf there were lamps, another was mirrors, ceiling fans, rugs, wheels of all different kinds. It mostly looked like a bunch of stolen human junk.

“How did they get all this?”

I was so confused, from what the story said. These creatures hadn’t had access to the human world since they were banished and that was over a thousand years ago. So they had to have gotten these after that since I don’t believe ceiling fans and fire hydrants were things back then. But how could they have gotten them?

“It seems they must have a way to get things from our world, I’m not sure how. We should ask Miori once we reunite.” Splinter said with another stroke of his beard.

I nodded at this, if they were able to take things from our world, then who knows if they could find a way out on their own without the key.

After a quick search around the dark room, just to make sure Michelangelo wasn’t there, we left. Onwards we continued to search the halls and rooms, this place truly was a maze and most of the halls looked very similar, so it felt like we were going in circles.

Where were they keeping him? I continued to try and follow his scent, but it feels so thinned out that it's almost impossible to tell. As well as that, the scent seems to be everywhere, like he’s already graced each of these halls.

We went around a bit more until we came across another room. It appeared to be a large kitchen built perfectly for the size of those beasts. But soon I realized we weren’t alone, I heard a soft humming coming from a big metal door. Maybe it was a pantry? But anyway, I and Splinter quickly darted back to the door as the metal one opened.

Making its way out of the metal door was another one of those awful creatures. Only this one was much taller and thin, it had four arms protruding from its sides and a long slithering tail. He was humming a song to himself as he was carrying a few things over to the kitchen counter.

“Little bit of this, a little bit of that.” The large purple beast sang as he danced around in that spot, seasoning what looked like cooked chicken.

Wait, how could they have access to fresh meat like this? More and more of this is becoming questionably concerning.

“Reath, is lunch almost ready?”

Walking in from another door was the same blue creature from before, his face contorted into a horrible sharp-toothed grin. I may have had a bad smile myself, but unlike my own, his was filled with maliciousness and wickedness.

“Oh yes yes dear brother of mine, I have prepared everything.” The purple one exclaimed in a sing-song voice, spinning around while placing plates of food into a large basket.

“Is our baby brother still in his room? He did take quite a….tumble.”

“Are you seriously calling that a tumble? Zad you know what you did was wrong, what would have happened if you didn’t catch him in time? Oh right, I know SPLAT!!” he said, making a motion with his hand into his other, making a loud smack.

“There is no what if’s, I caught him, that's that.” The blue one said, seemingly not paying much mind to the other beast.

“But Zad, what if this sticks with him, he’s young and very impressionable.”

“Enough, we're done talking about this. Now is our brother still in his room?” He huffed in annoyance.

“Zad we really should ta-”

“I SAID ENOUGH!! NOW, WHERE IS OUR BROTHER?!” The shorter one snapped, getting up into the purple one’s personal space. His sharp teeth were barely inches from the other's face.

The taller creature visibly shrunk under his thunderous snap. His limbs shaking, trembling in fear. “He’s with Dev…”

“See now, wasn’t that easy?” He reached up, patting his brother’s cheek.

“I’m sorry little brother, you know how I get. Just happens sometimes, how about you finish packing up lunch and we’ll go look for them together? Doesn’t that sound fun.” He gave a greasy smirk to his purple brother.

“Y-Yeah you're right…l-lets go.” The other stammered, picking up his basket with one of his four arms.

“Good, I’m sure the others are missing us. Just try not to embarrass yourself, ok?” He patted the taller one’s face before taking his hand and pulling him out of the room.

What the shell had I just witnessed? I knew they were awful charming monsters, but this was just odd.

“An instance of a toxic family relationship…” Master Splinter said with a stroke of his beard. “But we mustn't dwell on this, we still have to find Michelangelo.”

I nod and we go back the way we came to continue our search. There was no way we could go through the kitchen to the next door, that would be like asking to be seen by those beasts.

We went on, down more and more halls and corridors. It felt as if this place was nothing but halls, after feeling we searched this place enough we found the stairs and went up. Still, we continued to follow the scent. Eventually, it leads us to what appears to be a hallway bridge, the walls lined with large windows leading us all the way down to the single door that awaits at the end.

It was a large white door with pretty orange flowers painted on it, the doorway around it carved and formed into beautiful intricate designs. But behind it? I could smell the strongest presence of the scent.

Quickly I opened the door and we head inside, it wasn’t at all where I was expecting them to be keeping Michelangelo. The room was gorgeous and colorful, it had a large bed with silk curtain things and big fluffy pillows and sheets. Little paper cranes, swans, and lanterns hung from the ceiling with beads, the walls decorated with what looks like large stars painted here and there.

Was this really where they were keeping him?

“Michelangelo? Are you here? Please say something if you are.” I look around the room, searching each nook and cranny for the freckled turtle.

“I believe he was here yes, but it doesn’t appear he still is, Leatherhead.” Splinter said from over at the large vanity table.

I can’t help but claw at my chest, he was here. The strength was so strong as if he was just here, if I was only quicker I could have had him in my arms and I would be able to tell him all my feelings. “I missed my chance, I failed him yet again!”

“Leatherhead, calm, we haven’t failed. We just need to keep searching.”

Looking down I see he had placed a comforting hand on my side, was I that open in my pained expressions? The comfort is not unwelcomed, it just feels somewhat odd that it was coming from someone…who wasn’t Michelangelo.

“I’m sorry…I just- it feels so painful, keeping this in any longer. And him being here, all the things that could happen are just spiraling in my head…” I sighed running a hand down my snout, thinking about how Michelangelo would hold it endearingly in his gentle hold. Staring up at me with those big sweet eyes.

“It is painful for me too yes, but plaguing my mind with all the things that ‘could’ happen will only distract me from what we are determined to make happen. Which is finding my son and bringing him home.” He spoke calmly and clearly, he gestured for me to follow as he took a deep breath in and out.

I did as he did, breathe in and out. I’m actually surprised that this helped, it calmed me, gave me a clear head to think again about what to do next.

“How do you feel?”

“Better, thank you, my friend…”

“Good, now we must come up with a better plan.”

{Mikey’s POV}

I was being carried in Zad’s arms as we made our way out of the castle. Yes, I hated being in his hold, but what was I going to do? The last time I had gone against him he threw me out a window and I almost died. Anyway yeah, here we are, off to go play hide and seek in the woods apparently. Maybe this will help me get away from them for a while, I’ve played games like this before with my brothers and I was pretty good at hiding, dodging, and running away in these things. This might help me get a break from them, so yeah, maybe this won’t be so bad.

Once we got to the woods, they all just sort of stood there, not doing anything. It was like they were just waiting for something to happen.

“Uh, what are we doing?”

“We’re waiting for the shift,” Dev said as he looked up to the sky.

“The shift? What’s the shif-”

I was cut off guard when the blue sky suddenly darkened into a pitch-black sky. As if it had just suddenly become midnight!!

“What the shell?!” I jumped, clinging to Zad a bit by reflex.

“Awww did you just say ‘what the shell’? Oh, that’s just so adorable and so clever.” Zadicus said, patting my head.

“What just happened?! How did it get dark so quickly?!”

“You see Mikey, here in our world there are only two times of day, which is daytime and nighttime. There is no mid-day or afternoon, It’s just this, and when it’s time for it to change it just goes ahead and changes, simple as that.” Reath explained with a boop to my snout.

“So we’re going to play hide and seek in the dark?” I asked looking out at the woods, trying to shake off the shock I had just felt seconds prior.

“Mhm, we are going to be seeking, and you will be hiding.” Zad grinned as he set me down on the grass.

“Wait all of you are going to be seeking? I thought there is only one seeker?”

“Not in this game, but don’t worry we’ll give you a head start.~” His smile soon stretched into a horrifying sadistic smirk, his six yellow eyes gleaming with vileness. “Better make it count.~”

I didn’t need to be told twice, I immediately booked it. Running through the trees, I can’t help but think about how I got myself into this. I just had to yell at my brothers and run off into the sewers, didn’t I?! I’ve always been able to put up with them, and they’ve done worse things than call me ‘a liability’ so why did it set me off so much?

As I was running, I keep hearing the sickening cracks and crunches of twigs and leaves in the distance. Why was my heart pumping so fast? Why did I already feel sweaty? It’s not like this is a life or death situation, it’s just a game, a game you played with your real brothers all the time.

I tried to calm myself, that I was fine. But quickly I was taken back by a large horrifying reptilian body dropping down next to me, giant sharp teeth snapping, almost biting down, inches away from getting a taste of turtle flesh. I quickly jump out the way and run in another direction.

Were they trying to kill me?! I thought they wanted me around, and now they’re chasing me!!

I could hear the slithering, their pace quickening behind me. I hurried, jumping up, parkouring my way up a large tree. I had to get up to better ground if I wanted a chance at getting out of this.

I hop from tree branch to tree branch, as I do this I look around for a place I could hide.

Only I was caught off guard, another dark shadowy reptilian creature jumped up onto the tree I was about to hop onto. It was so dark I couldn’t even see his eyes, just those horrible gnashing teeth.

I scream, falling out of the tree and onto the ground. It hurt and maybe knocked my shell a little loose, but now was not the time. The creature had just jumped down from the tree, the ground shaking from its weight.

As fast as I could I got up and ran, ran as fast as my legs would carry me. But that wasn’t going to stop who was chasing me, the large thuds were getting closer and closer.

I turn to see a large hole at the bottom of a tree, big enough for me to fit through. Running as fast as I could, I slide at the last minute into the hole. The large body behind me slammed up against the outside of the tree. A muzzle of large sickeningly sharp teeth snapped over and over again at the hole trying to get in.

I couldn’t hold back the whimper crawling up my throat, I back up as far as I could into the hollowed-out tree. A large clawed hand hit and rammed at the open tree bark trying to make its way through.

Turning I see another hole, this one a bit smaller than the other. I quickly and quietly try to worm my way out through it. It was hard, but I didn’t mind the scratches and cuts that I got from the jagged tree bark, as long as I was able to get out.

Once free I continued to run and run as I had never run before. This wasn’t like the near-death situations back in new york. Back then I had my gear, I knew my surroundings, I had my brothers there for backup. But here? I had none of that, I was alone.

I should have been more focused on my surroundings, It was then I was swept back by a long slithering tail. It was so strong it flung me back a good maybe seven yards into the trunk of another tree.

“Agh!”

I shakily opened my eyes to see the evil creature attached to said tail running at me like a full steam ahead train. At the last minute, I jumped out of the way, landing on the ground with loud crack noise.

“AHH!!”

I felt something in my shoulder snap like all my weight had just come down onto it. I bite my lip and roll onto my side, getting up and running away.

Holding my arm close, I still couldn’t shake the pain, what did I do to my shoulder?! I didn’t have time to dwell on this long, as the sound of large feet hitting the ground was getting closer yet again.

“Why won’t this end?!”

This time I took up a sprint, I had no idea where I was going, I just needed to get out of here fast. And yet again I made the wrong decision as I had not seen the steep incline of a cliff-like hill.

I fell and I fell hard. I rolled down the steep, jagged, rocky incline all the way to the bottom. I was now covered in mud, grass, and dead leaves. I cried out as I tried to pull my body up, my arm sagging painfully.

Now I couldn’t even bring myself to get up, a stabbing pain was shooting up my leg. I crawled over to a tree, leaning my back against the bark, taking quick shallow breaths. I cough and wheeze, my body hurt so bad and I had no idea what to do, I was panicking.

My head snaps up, looking left to right as I heard a faint whistling getting closer and closer. Eyes darting back and forth looking for what was coming, but still, I couldn’t see. I could barely see my hand in front of my own face.

“P-Please stop..p-please..I’m so scared..” I shuddered, pulling my knees up to my chest, I could feel my body trembling so hard, my heart hammering against my chest.

The thudding was getting closer and closer until…they stopped. The air was quiet, the wind gently blowing making trees sway. All I could hear were my desperate shuddering breaths.

For a moment I thought, I thought I was ok, that I was safe. But then I felt something warm and wet drip down on top of my head. I slowly tilt my head, my eyes wide as dinner plates.

There above me, were six glowing yellow eyes staring down at me, a drooling mouth filled with carnivorous sharp teeth. They were gnashing and grinding, a primal growl sliding out like venom.

“N-No please n-no please…” I fell forward, turning my body over so I was sitting upwards backing up away from him.

He said nothing, he just stared. He came closer and closer…until he decided to pounce.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Chapter 13: Almost Found

{Mikey’s POV}

“Boo.”

My eyes were squeezed shut, my body violently trembling. Slowly I open my eyes, gazing upwards to see Zadicus, he was looking down at me. He was just standing there, chuckling, like this was all a hilarious joke to him.

“I found you baby brother, but don’t be upset. You did very well, you lasted much longer than any of our old playmates.” He congratulated me, wiping his mouth of the drool that had been pooling out earlier.

I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t stop the racking sob from climbing up my throat. I lift my hands to my face, covering my eyes as tears freely cascaded down my cheeks.

“Awww no no, don’t cry. You should be happy, you did so well!” He cheered, reaching down to pick me up.

I cried out, falling to my side, desperately trying to get away from the horrible beast. But he paid no mind to my attempts and scooped me up, clearly not considering my new injuries as I could feel another stabbing pain shoot up my leg.

“N-no p-please, put me d-down! I wanna b-be d-down!!” I sobbed and hiccuped, pushing against his chest with my good arm.

He once again pushed aside my sobbing pleas and continued with trying to comfort me, running a hand down my head as he pulled me into a large hug. He repeated rubbing circles along the back of my shell, whispering shush’s into my nonexistent ears.

“Shh shh, it’s ok baby, you’re ok.” He hushed, rocking me back and forth in big discomforting arms.

I kept crying, but my voice was forcibly getting quieter from exhaustion and pain. It lowered until I was just a quivering mass of tears and hiccups.

“See all better, you just had to get all of that out didn’t you.” He cooed down at me like an adult would to a toddler.

I didn’t answer, I just kept my face pressed into his chest. It wasn’t the chest I wanted to be comforted by, but it was the only ease to these horrible feelings and pain.

“Now, how about we go find the others and we head back home, how does that sound?” He smiled gently, starting his pace through the woods to find Dev and Reath. “You must be so exhausted after all that fun and running around.”

After a bit, I heard low growling coming from behind us. I quickly dive my face back into Zad’s chest, whimpering as the recent memories of fleeing for my life began to bubble in my head.

Zad simply snarled, turning back snapping his fingers at the growling beasts. “You two, snap out of it, were done playing.”

“Huh? Oh sorry Zad, got a little out of hand out there…” I heard Dev’s voice say, coughing as if to snap himself back into reality.

“Oh, yes I hope we didn’t scare him too bad…” Reath popped up next to Zad, looking down at me with a sympathetic gaze.

“He’ll be fine, he’s our little trooper isn’t he?” Zadicus cooed holding me up by my underarms, causing me to yelp from both the pain in my shoulder and my leg.

“Oh Mikey, did you hurt yourself?! I told you this was a bad idea Zad, look at him he’s all bruised and battered!!” Reath exclaimed, bustling around me and Zadicus with worried yammering.

“Reath calm yourself, your dribbling like a fool.” Zad snapped at the taller brother, making him pull away a bit.

“We all get hurt every once in a while, and then like now is a learning experience.” He said as he pulled me back into his embrace. “Now he knows what we're capable of, isn’t that right baby brother?”

I simply nodded, I was too afraid to speak. He appeared to be satisfied with this and continued on his way through the woods and back to the castle. It was official, this giant reptilian monster man was a complete sociopath.

I could feel myself drifting in and out of consciousness, my body and mind exhausted from what had just happened. My body lay painfully in Zad’s hold, though my head was buzzing I could still hear a bit of what my ‘brothers’ were saying.

“I don’t understand why we needed to do this Zad, he already promised he’d stay…”

“Yeah, the kid knows he can’t leave…”

“Because you idiots, he needs to know he can no longer trick us, we set rules and now he knows what the consequences will be for breaking them. We may have been ‘playing’ now, but this will get him thinking of how worse we will be when we’re not ‘playing’. He’ll learn to respect our authority over him and we get a new baby brother that loves and solely relies on us! It’s a win-win scenario!”

With that, I can only think of how I truly was stuck here, for a long while I always thought I was cursed to have horrible luck. Now I know it's true, this wasn’t just bad luck, this was an entire twenty-ton weight of catastrophe being dropped on my head.

Should I just figure out how to live with this? If I followed their rules I wouldn’t get hurt again, I’m never going to see my family again anyway. I don’t want to give up, I don’t, but what am I supposed to do? My family is probably better off without me, they said it themselves…I’m a liability. This proves it right now, I couldn’t even get away from these guys for five minutes, let's face it…I’m a terrible ninja, a useless brother, and a lousy son…Yup, that’s me…the liability.

“Now we should probably get you cleaned up before bed, how does that sound? A nice relaxing bath and once that’s done we’ll fix you up.” Zadicus said as he opened one of the large front doors to the castle.

“I’ll draw up the bath, Devy you go get some bandages, and Reath you go get the goo,” Zad told the two as he started up the stairs.

Goo? What did he mean by goo? Goo as in like slime? First the shifting sky and now there is weird mysterious goo, this world is mega weird.

Once we made it back up to my room, he stopped just outside the door for some reason. “Hm? I swore this was closed last time I saw it…” Zad muttered to himself confusedly.

I turn my head a bit to see my large bedroom doors were wide open, I don’t remember it being open like this.

Zad shrugged and continued into the bedroom, placing me gently down on my large bed before going into the bathroom to fill up the tub and stuff. While I lay there I close my eyes and try not to move or think about my injuries, which wasn’t working as I could feel the pain still nagging at me.

I couldn’t help but shiver as I listened to Zad whistling so cheerfully in the bathroom. It was as if all that had just happened didn’t happen at all, he knew he had gotten what he wanted and he was happy about it.

“Alright sweetie, the tub is filled so let's get you out of these dirty things and get you washed up.” He came over picking me up once again, carefully removing the dirty arm and leg things they gave me earlier on.

He tossed them into the big hamper beside the dresser and carried me into the bathroom. The tub was filled with hot water and big soapy bubbles, the room smelled of lavender and some kind of fruit smell.

He gently placed me down into the water, I let out a small groan as the hot water touched my aching body. I suppose it helped a bit, but I was sure something in my shoulder had snapped so I’m not sure if a bath would do much, I don’t know I’m not a doctor. I lay my head back into his hand, closing my eyes as he went to work on cleaning me up.

I didn’t pay much attention during this, I was still drifting in and out of consciousness. Every time I open my eyes I see him smiling down at me, and every time it makes me want to puke. It wasn’t right, all of this, did I deserve for this to happen to me? I know I’m a bit of an idiot and I mess up things a lot…but did that mean I deserve to be here?

“Doesn’t it feel nice to have a bath after a long fun day of play? I know I’m going to be sleeping like a baby tonight, how about you baby brother? I bet you’re very tired.” He chuckled deeply as he scrubbed away the dirt and mud on my face.

I couldn’t properly respond, from both pain and the fear that was still coursing through my body. All I could manage was a small nod and grunt.

“I can’t understand you when you're not using your words, baby brother.” He let out a small growl, squeezing my face between his large finger and thumb.

“Y-yes I’m very t-tired.” I whimper, squeezing my eyes shut as to not see the angered look on his face.

“Ah yes, well don’t worry. Once you are all clean and we’ve fixed you up, you can head right on to bed. Our growing baby boy needs his rest after all isn’t that right?” He cooed, patting my head before he continued to scrub the rest of the muck from my trembling body.

Once he was finished cleaning me he picked me up out of the tub and wrapped me up in a big fluffy towel. At least this time he was more cautious with my injuries, once he was done drying me off he brought me back into the bedroom and placed me back on the bed.

“Hey Zad, I got the bandages,” Dev said as he walked in carrying some bandage wrap.

“And I have the goo!” Reath skipped in with a twirl, holding up a strange fancy corked bottle.

“Wonderful, Dev you know what to do, Reath you help me pick out his clothes for tomorrow,” Zadicus said gesturing for Reath to follow him to the armoire.

While they did that, Dev came over and started carefully wrapping my arm, shoulder, and leg in bandages. I may not be a doctor but I’m pretty sure wrapping up my broken limbs is gonna fix them.

He finally finished wrapping up all my injuries, even all of my minor scrapes and scratches. Once that part was over he reached over picking up the odd fancy bottle, popping the cork out.

Before I could even question what he was doing, he pressed the bottle to my mouth forcing the contents into my mouth and down my throat. I let out a muffled yelp as I tried to move my face from the bottle, but he held my head in place with his other hand.

“Sorry bud, but you have to drink it all, I know it tastes weird but it helps. Just breathe little buddy.” Dev said quietly, trying to calm me down.

Once the bottle’s contents were finally emptied down my throat I felt myself gasping for air, coughing at the tickling sensation it left behind.

“There you go, see, wasn’t that bad, you’ll feel all better in the morning.” Dev gave a small smile as he carefully moved me up the bed so I was laying with my head on the soft pillows.

“Yes yes not to worry at all, just gotta rest those pretty little eyes to sleep, and when you wake up everything will be alright,” Reath called in a sing-song voice as he came over placing the large alligator plush he made me in my good arm.

“Mhm, now it's about time you snuggle in and get comfy, dreamland is just moments away.” Zad chimed as he came over, pulling the sheets and blankets up, tucking me in.

“I know soon you’ll see things our way, Mikey.” He said softly, booping my nose and shutting the curtain things to my bed.

“Goodnight Michelangelo, sleep tight.”

{Leo’s POV}

I and my brothers had finally found the stairs, we assumed these were the ones that led down to the dungeon as they weren’t fancy and nice looking like the other stairs in the castle. Plus the walls leading down the stairs were a different material, like cobblestone. Anyway, we made our way down the stairs as quickly and quietly as we could.

The dungeon, to say the least, wasn’t what we were expecting. Was this even a dungeon? It looked more like a medieval-themed art studio. Tapestries lined the walls and there were shelves filled to the brim with books, boxes, yarn balls, and pincushions, there was even a giant fabric rack.

“I don’t think this is a dungeon…” I sighed as I placed my ninjatos back into my back-holster.

“Yeah, pretty sure dungeons are for prisoners not for crafts,” Raph said as he kicked away a very large yarn ball on the floor.

“Maybe this place wasn’t always a place for art…” I look over to see Donnie pulling back a tapestry on the wall nearby.

As we walked over he pulled the rest of the tapestry back, showing how it was covering up a large cell built into the wall. Only the cell wasn’t empty, there were two piles of bones lying in separate corners.

“Definitely once a dungeon…” I could hear Donnie gag slightly, holding his hand up to his mouth.

“Mikey? Lil bro are you in here?!” Raph called out as he hurriedly began to check behind all of the tapestries.

We began looking everywhere, all the cells, the weird candle cages hanging from the ceiling, even going as far as to look inside the cabinets and drawers. But still, no Mikey to be found, it was making my mind spiral, where was he? What could they be doing to him?!

My thoughts were interrupted by loud thumping coming down the stairs. It must have been one of those awful beasts. Quickly I signal my brothers to hide and we scatter into different hiding spots. Which was just us going behind different tapestries and into the cells, thank goodness they were unlocked. I moved just a bit of the bottom of the tapestry so I could see.

Down the stairs and into the room came not one but two of the beasts. It was the large red one we saw from before and this new tall four-armed purple one. The purple one had quickly started bustling around grabbing different items and plopping down at the table in the middle of the room.

“I feel so bad Dev, we got carried away!!” The purple beast spewed as he smacked his head down onto the table groaning.

“Yes, it has been a while since we’ve done that…but he’ll be fine you know that, we gave him the goo remember.” The red one who I guess was named Dev said as he placed a hand on the purple one’s shoulder.

“I know that Devy! But that goo isn’t just going fix all of our problems! We hurt him, he doesn’t love us, he’s terrified of us!” He exclaimed getting up, squeezing his fists tightly.

“Shut up! If Zadicus hears you say that he’ll-”

“He’ll what?”

The two’s conversation came to a screeching halt as a new voice entered the room. The voice belonged to who I was assuming was Zadicus, a large blue reptilian creature with big tattered wings and six piercing yellow eyes. He stood there at the bottom of the stairs, his arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

“Zad? I uh..what are you doing down here? You hardly ever come down to my workshop.” The purple one said quickly trying to collect himself.

“I’ll set aside you two’s behind my back squabbling for now…. We have more pressing matters to attend to.” The blue beast growled lowly as he stepped closer to the two.

“Like what?” The other two seem to say at once, looking perplexed.

“I believe we are not alone in the castle…” He paced around rubbing his chin as if to think.

“Well yeah, Mikey is here now, of course, we’re not alone.”

I feel myself perk up at the mention of Mikey’s name, and from the way, they’re referring to him it tells us he’s alive! I have to fight back the urge to cry tears of joy, I didn’t know what I would have done if he would have turned out…no Leo don’t even think about that.

“I’m not talking about that, you dolt!” Zadicus snapped in his face, sharp teeth barely inches away from him.

“I am talking about other people…I believe someone else has found the doorway and they are here, and if I’m correct which I usually am…they are here for Michelangelo.” He huffed as he once again began to pace back and forth.

“You think it’s his fami- I m-mean old family?” The purple one faltered and quickly corrected himself as Zad gave him an angry look.

Old family? What did he mean by old family?

“Yes, I do believe so, and he can not know that they’ve come for him. We have finally made progress with him and if he finds out that they actually care about him, all of that will go down the drain!” He roared, punching the wall making the room shake.

“So here is what we will do, Devdan, you will go and guard his room. While you do that I and Reath will go search for the trespassers.” Zad turned back to the stairs shaking his hand a bit from punching the wall.

“And what will we do when we find them?” The purple one who I now know as Reath asked as he followed his brother towards the stairs.

“Same thing we do to all trespassers, we kill them…”

With that he went upstairs, Reath and Devdan sharing a look before Reath followed Zadicus up the stairs. Devdan let out a tired sigh and began his ascension up the stairs, grumbling about being kept up all night and how this was too much.

I quickly pull out my Tphone and began texting the others, we all kept one, even Master Splinter. Especially when we go on dangerous missions.

‘Stay alert everyone, they know someone else is in the castle, and they're looking for us. We’re following the red guy, he’s supposed to guard the room Mikey’s being held, if we all meet up we can take him down and get Mikey’ I texted.

As we made our way out of our hiding places I hurriedly signal my brothers to follow him. They nodded in understanding and we went on quickly and quietly following behind the big red monster.

We followed him through the castle until he finally stopped at a long hallway and now he was just standing there with his arms crossed like he was some sort of bouncer for a club. I took a picture and sent it into our chat so everyone would know where to meet.

‘I and Leatherhead were there earlier my son, we will return to help.’ Master Splinter sent back in the chat.

‘We’re coming too.’ April texted.

“So we charge now or what?” Raph narrowed his eyes, staring at the beast blocking the way.

“No, it will be better if we wait for the others, things will go quicker and smoother, I don’t wanna take a chance at hurting Mikey by charging in…” I desperately wanted to charge in to save Mikey, but from experience I know it won’t do much good, it could even end up hurting Mikey.

“What do you think they’ve done to him?” Donnie whispered, it was clear from the look on his face he was terrified for our brother. His hands were balled up into fists and shaking.

“I don’t know…but whatever happened to him, we will help him get through it, we're a family and that's what we do.”

“That Zad guy…what he said earlier, he was talking about us…that he didn’t want Mikey to know that we care about him. What have they been putting in his head? He probably thinks we hate him! The last time I saw him I called him a liability…no one should say that to their brother…” Raph said quietly, he lowly growled as he was trying to force back some tears.

“Raph, what we did was horrible, we messed up. But that doesn’t mean it’s the end, we are going to save Mikey and show him how much we love him.” I placed my hand on his shoulder, trying to give him comfort before our battle that has yet to come.

“Hey, guys.”

I almost jumped out of my skin, quickly I whirled around to see April, Casey, and Miori standing there behind me.

“We saw the picture dude, so Mikey is behind that guy somewhere?” Casey asked as he poked his head out a bit to see.

“Yes, we should all jump him at once so it will be as quick as possible,” I said, pulling Casey back so he wouldn’t be seen.

My Tphone buzzed, I took it out to see Master Splinter had sent another message and a picture of the large red beast from another angle like he was down on the other side of the hall.

‘We are here my Leonardo, we are around the corner.’

I took a deep breath and texted back. ‘The others are here with us too, wait for our signal.’

I looked to my brothers and friends nodding to them as if to tell them to be ready. Quietly I pull my ninjatos out from my back holster, staring down one of the fiends that had dared take my little brother from me.

“Move out…”

Chapter 14: Set A Blaze

{Raph’s POV}

The minute Leo uttered those words I jumped up, charging towards the red beast, sais held tightly in my clenched fists. Hot rage was boiling in my veins, I had no idea what these disgusting monsters had done to my brother, which only made me even angrier. Mikey had probably been suffering at the hands of these overgrown lizards, I wasn’t just going to stand by and not bust their skulls open for that!

As I shot out around the corner, the large red monster barely had time to process what was happening before I jumped kick flipping off of his stomach, causing him to falter back to catch his balance.

“Trespassers!” The monster growled as he clenched his fists up preparing to fight.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll make this easy on yourself and back down.” Leo narrowed his eyes, slicing through the air with one of his blades. “No one has to get hurt.”.

“Oh someone’s gonna get hurt, I’m gonna turn this guy into the world's ugliest pair of boots.” I snarled, my eyes daring the beast to try something.

“I refuse to back down to an inferior batch of mongrels.” He said as he hurried forward swinging one of his large fists at me and Leo.

We both jumped away, giving us room to slash our weapons against him, but somehow it practically did nothing. Not even a scratch was left behind from our blows, it was like his skin was made of freaking platinum.

“Your puny little weapons are no match for my astoundingly tough scales!” The beast laughed as he turned back to us, his chest puffed up in prowess.

“Zaprenzi!” Miori exclaimed, a blast of light shooting out from her sword at the beast, hitting him in the throat.

“Gah! You irritating little parasites!” He groaned holding his singed throat.

He was about to lash out once again, only to be tripped by the sudden appearance of Donnie’s staff being thrown under his feet, causing him to stumble and topple harshly onto the ground.

“Nice one Don.” Leo sent an encouraging grin towards Donnie.

“I’ve had about enough of you lit- Ah?!” He got up seething with anger, only to be caught off by a large set of hands wrapping around his arm and flinging him into a nearby wall.

“Woah.”

Leatherhead stood there, taking large breaths. Leatherhead was a strong guy for sure, but that guy had a weight advantage. So to think of how much adrenaline was pumping through the alligator to be able to physically throw his larger opponent like that was both incredibly awesome and terrifying at the same time.

The red beast groaned in pain as he struggled to get up. Just as he was about to get back on his feet a clawed hand jammed into his neck making him spaz out and go limp.

“Very well done everyone, but I believe we should hurry and retrieve Michelangelo before the other two show up.” Master Splinter said as he slid down the large monster’s arm and back onto the ground.

Without wasting any more time we ran to the large doors at the end of the hall. It was a big pair of white doors with little orange flowers painted on them. I got boosted up by Leo to reach the door handle, as it was probably placed for the convenience of those giant freaks.

I tried to push the doors open, I even tried pulling but the door wasn’t budging, they had probably locked him in. Well duh, he is their prisoner.

“I can’t get it open, it’s loc-”

Before I could even finish, Leatherhead had gripped the other door handle and ripped it off the door, taking a chunk of the large door with it.

“Well, that’s one way to pick a lock,” Donnie said with a processing blink.

Pushing the door open we are met with a large room, a room that looks like it was made for a princess. Did they kidnap princesses before they were banished? And if so, what is with monsters and kidnapping princesses? It’s like a never-ending trope.

Gazing around my eyes settled on a large bed in the middle of the room, large silky curtains hung and draped over, encasing the bed and its sleeping resident whose silhouette could be seen laying.

“Mikey? Is that you?” I cautiously walked towards the bed, slowly pulling back the curtains to see if it was Mikey.

As I draw back the curtains I feel myself suck in a breath. There was Mikey, laying down, tucked into the bed with sheets and blankets. But the reason I was so distraught was the large bandages wrapped around his shoulder and neck.

Carefully I pulled back the blankets and sheets, revealing even more wrapped and concealed injuries, small bandage patches, and bruises littered his body. At this moment I never thought I’d see my little brother look so fragile like any light touch could break him.

“Oh, Mikey…what did they do to you?” I heard myself whisper, lifting my hand to cup his face, my third finger grazing lightly over his cheek.

“Raph is he in her-” Leo hurried over, stopping when he was presented with the painful sight.

“Look at him, Leo…they did this to him, we did this to him…we drove him away and now he’s…” I couldn’t bring myself to finish, it was all true. We made him feel worthless, I made him feel worthless and it drove him here.

“Raph, what we did was horrible and stupid, but we can’t dwell on it right now, we don’t have time,” Leo stated, pulling himself out of the stupor that caught him at the sight of our brother.

“Donnie, check him over, make sure he’s ok,” Leo said as Donnie hurried over with his medical bag.

“Don’t worry Mikey, I got you,” Donnie said softly as he knelt beside Mikey, checking over his injuries.

“Is he gonna be ok?” I let my worry slip through as I take hold of his hand.

“Well, it looks like…huh, this is weird, it’s obvious something happened. Most likely his shoulder got dislocated and leg was broken, but the weird thing is…it’s like they’ve just suddenly healed on their own.” Donnie said as examined their battered brother’s shoulder.

“That’s not possible is it?” Leo asked confusedly.

“It is with magic, they probably still have some enchanted ingredients stashed away, you know, for potions,” Miori explained, showing off a few sparkles dancing across her fingertips.

“Anway, he seems fine physically, we need to get him out of here,” Donnie said as he began to lightly tap and jostle Mikey, trying to wake him up. “Mikey, Mikey, come on wake up, we’re rescuing you!”

After a few seconds of jostling it was clear Mikey wasn’t going to wake up, so we quickly decided carrying him would be much faster and easier. And before anyone could interject, Leatherhead came over scooping him up as gently as possible.

“I shall carry him, make it easier for everyone…” Leatherhead said, though he never looked away from Mikey’s face, his eyes gleaming with sadness and protectiveness.

“We need to hurry, we don’t know when they will be back, come on.” Leo waved for us to follow back into the hall.

We made our way back down the hall, back towards where we had left the large beaten monster, but skidded to a stop when we heard a loud gasp and yell.

“Devdan!”

The large purple beast from before, Reath, came running from the other hall towards its red brother. His arms bustled about checking over the unconscious other, his mouth slipping out muttering worries.

“Dev? Devy what happened?! Oh please wake up!” He exclaimed, shaking him lightly by the shoulders.

He looked back at us for a split second before suddenly screaming. “Trespassers!! You did this to him, how dare you!”.

“Stay back or I’m gonna add some black and blue to that ugly purple skin of yours,” I snarled, twirling my sais around in intimidation.

“How rude and horrid. You come into my home, brutalize my older brother, try and abduct my little brother, and now you're threatening me? Hmf I guess I need to teach you heathens a lesson.” He growled, whipping out all four of his hands, claws spread threateningly.

“Bring it, I’ll rip that ugly mug right off your face.” I barked back, eyes daring him to come at us.

“Mug? What mug? I don’t have such a thing on my face, how would it stick? Mugs are for drinking, not for face sticking.” The purple beast raised a nonexistent eyebrow, looking confused and bewildered.

“What? No, not a real mug I- just, shut up and fight me!”.

“Fine, prepare your feeble fists for combat, for once I am done with you I shall rip your bodies in twain. You vile brutes will face the wrath of my- Gah!!” The weirdly advanced vocabulary rehearsed monster went on until he was suddenly blasted in the face with a bright light.

Blinking we all turn and look at Miori who stood there with her sword outstretched, glowing and steaming with magical aftermath. “What? I got tired of his yammering.”.

“You appallingly boorish barbarians!” The beast shrieked, holding his face in pain.

“Says the one who kidnapped our little brother!” I called out, running at him, sliding down and kicking him in the shin, sending him to the floor with a thud.

“Ah!! We kidnapped no one, I believe it was you who drove him away, yes? Face it, you don’t deserve a sibling such as Michelangelo.” He growled on the ground, slowly removing his clawed hand from his lightly burned face.

“Ok, I’ve had enough of your stupid mouth, you either shut it or I’ll shut it for you! Permanently!”.

“We must go, Michelangelo is our priority.” Leatherhead said as he held Mikey closer to his chest, a protective rumbling coming from his throat.

“Wait you’re a…an alligator…you-” The burned purple beast looked past me at Leatherhead holding Mikey. His eyes gleamed with something I couldn’t quite place, only for a loud interrupting voice came forth.

“Devdan, Reath?! What is going on here- Oh of course, you couldn’t do this one thing? I ask you two to do one thing and now you're putting our dear baby brother in danger of these disgusting mongrels, see Reath this is what I’m talking about. You always need big brother Zad to come fix your problems and mistakes, but of course what is family for.” A large blue winged counterpart of the other two beasts came waltzing in, slowly crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes.

“Alright what is all this talk about baby brother?! Mikey is our baby brother, not you overgrown soon to be hand-bags!” I raged, stepping back in their line of sight, so Mikey wasn’t visible to them.

“Clearly shows how much you care about him, if it took you this long to come and retrieve him.” He said with a smirk, his body language screaming manipulative pretentious asshole.

“We love Mikey, and you aren’t going anywhere near him ever again!” Leo exclaimed, pointing one of his ninjatos threateningly.

“Oh I highly doubt your little band of misfits can guarantee that. Now I’m a reasonable man, and I’m willing to make an arrangement here. You hand over my darling baby brother there and I won’t burn you all to a crisp, how does that sound? Good, no?” he said with a grin, small wisps of smoke spilling out of his nostrils.

“You really are insane if you think we’re just going to hand Mikey back over to you.” Donnie glared at this Zadicus guy, his staff held tightly in his hands, tensing ready and waiting for the potential brawl.

“Fine, I guess you asked for this then.” He chuckled with a shrug before snapping his jaws open, bright yellow and green flames shot out from his mouth.

We all gasp, hurrying backwards to not be caught in the sweltering flames. These things breathe fire?!

“Zadicus! Stop, you might hit Mikey!” The purple beast quickly scrambled up, pulling his winged brother back by the arm.

“I won’t, unlike you I know how to handle my own.” he snarled, pushing him off his arm. “Now stand back whilst I set these thieves a blaze.”.

I was ready to stand in the way of the next coming blast of flames, my family came first and if I could use my body to shield them I would. But before the next wave of blazes could be shed, the monster Reath appeared to be whispering into his brother’s non-existent ear.

“Hmf fine, don’t you ask me for another favor.” He sighed angrily, ripping away something Reath had in his hand.

“Consider yourselves lucky, my little brother here is fascinated with you, so you won’t perish just yet…” He revealed what appeared to be a stick wrapped up in an odd cloth.

Taking a breath he suddenly let loose another wave of flames, only as it connected with the stick it combusted into a giant cloud of smoke, drifting quickly towards the rest of us.

What was this? Why did he say to change the crazy lizard’s mind? And why did I suddenly feel so…exhausted? My legs felt like they turned to jelly, my head was pounding like someone took a hammer to my skull. I couldn’t even relay the pain to my brothers, all my words came out in slurring nonsense, like my lips were limp and drunk.

Falling to my knees, I slowly look back at my family. They too seem to have fallen victim to the effects of whatever this was. Donnie having already fallen unconscious against the shiny floor, Leo now clinging to a nearby wall, his knees wobbling about to give out. Even Master Splinter seemed to have been struck by this illing exhaustion, Leatherhead was clearly trying his hardest to stay standing, that is until he could no longer do so and fell over onto his back, Mikey laying limply on his chest.

But Casey, April, and Miori. They were gone, where did they go? All that was left in their place was a fading light.

I cough and cough trying to get whatever this was out, but it was no use. My brain was screaming ‘Don’t fall asleep Raphael! You can’t, they need you, Mikey needs you!’. But here I was falling from my knees, face first onto the hard floor. I had to watch the large beasts slowly making their way towards us, my vision slowly blacking out.

The last thing that I saw was that evil bastard picking my baby brother up from the pile that was my family. No no…Mikey, I failed him, we were so close, this couldn’t be the end. It couldn’t.

“Mikey…”.

Chapter 15: Ship Crazy

{Donnie’s POV}

I groaned as I felt my eyes slowly open, adjusting to the dim light. I felt like I got hit with a bag of bricks to the face, I wracked my brain to figure out what had happened. Then it came to me, I remembered what happened, We got knocked out by those monsters just as we had found Mikey. Quickly I sat up on the stone floor, still holding my head from the pain, I saw my family was still unconscious, weapons and gear stripped away.

“Guys wake up, Leo, Raph, Sensei!” I scrambled up, starting with Leo I shook him by the shoulders.

“Huh? What's going on?” Leo slurred, blinking the sleep from his eyes.

“Those monsters got us, I think we’re back in the dungeon,” I said as I looked back at the cell bars that were still covered by the tapestries.

“Aug, I feel like I face-planted down a flight of stairs…” I hear Raph grumble as he rises from the floor, rubbing his face in pain.

“My sons..” We all look over to see Master Splinter getting up from the floor, using the wall to balance himself. “Are you all alright?”.

“We’re fine Sensei, what about you? Are you ok?” Leo asked, walking over to our father, helping him stand up.

“I’m fine my son, but it looks as though Leatherhead is not…” He said gesturing to Leatherhead, who we could see was chained to the wall.

The poor gentle giant was shaking, his hands clutched to the chained collar wrapped around his neck. No doubt memories of suffering flood his brain, the only noise coming from him were the shallow shuddering breaths.

“Leatherhead…” Leo stepped forward cautiously.

When Leatherhead ever got like this, it was always Mikey who calmed him down. But Mikey was nowhere near, so we’re not sure how he would react to us.

“Leatherhead, it’s ok, everything is fi-” I tried to comfort but was caught off by loud stepping from behind the tapestries that shaded the light from our cell.

“Why did you insist upon keeping these awful creatures? What's the point of keeping them alive now if you’re going to kill them anyway?” An angry gruff voice growled with a frustrated stomp.

“Because I’d like to tear them apart myself, just like the good old days. Now hush, they should surely be awake by now.” The higher-pitched voice exclaimed as it came closer and closer before pulling back the tapestry.

There behind the bars were the red and purple monsters from before. Their menacing eyes practically glowed with the lighting, Sharp teeth bared in terror-inducing smirks.

“Well well well, good morning sleepyheads!” The purple one chuckled darkly as he pulled the rest of the Tapestry back.

“Let us out of here you ugly overgrown lizards!” Raph snarled clenching his fists.

“This one’s mouth is annoying, are you sure I can’t rip his tongue out?” The red monster scowled down at Raph, crossing his arms in frustration.

“Don’t worry dear brother, I’ll let you decide what I fashion his remains into, I know you could use a new dummy. Oooo or maybe I can turn his shell into a salad bowl, it does look the perfect size.~” The cheerful monster’s eyes gleamed with mischief as he slithered past its counterpart and over to the large table.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to that, but remember to fix Michelangelo’s door. These little mongrels broke it.”.

At the mention of Mikey’s name, Leatherhead's eyes snapped to the side. His pupils slit in rage, instincts pulled him towards the cell door, and roars of fury shook the cell as he tugged violently against the chains.

“Woah, heh are you sure this guy isn’t one of us? He’s sure got that spark.” The red monster grinned as we had to back away from Leatherhead to avoid getting caught in the crossfire of his rage.

“Devdan, come upstairs and help me set up the playpen Reath made, I’m not letting Mikey stay in his bedroom when the door is broken, he could get hurt.” Another voice called from upstairs.

“Coming, have fun dealing with the vermin, little bother.” He called up towards the stairs, walking out leaving us alone with the insane freakazoid craftsmen.

When the door upstairs was slammed shut, you could practically hear the snap from Reath’s neck as he whirled his head around to look at us, his grin growing wider by the second. In the blink of an eye, he had slithered up to the bars, gripping them with glee.

“Oh, it’s so nice to finally meet you! I’ve just heard so many good things from Mikey!” He cackled giddily, tail wagging back and forth.

“What? Us?” I asked pointing towards myself and my brothers in confusion, what had Mikey told them about us?

“Hm? Oh you, uh yeah sure whatever. But I was talking to big guy over there! Leatherhead is it, right?” He was practically bouncing with excitement, leaning up against the bars awaiting the still raging alligator’s response.

This seemed to somehow yank Leatherhead back to reality, he stood there confused, staring back at the taller beast with a perplexed look.

“So are you Leatherhead? Or am I speaking to another giant mutated alligator? Doesn’t seem like you have a big community.” He asked with a chuckle, tapping his chin.

“Michelangelo spoke of me to you?” He tilted his head warily, his expression growing more confused and concerned.

“Oh yes quite so, he is just so enamored with you! His heart flutters with joy and his face just heats up so adorably when he speaks of you! I want to know everything, oh please do say you feel the same!?” He squealed with a small twirl, clapping his hands like an excited school girl.

We all stood there watching the sight bewildered. Leatherhead’s face had grown hot, cheeks burning with a bright blush. Wait, what?! Did Mikey have a crush on Leatherhead?! And does Leatherhead like him back?!

“WHAT?!” I and my brothers shrieked all at once, I’m pretty sure our eyes were so big they were popping out of our skulls.

“Awww, your face! You do like him too don’t you!? Oh, that’s so sweet!” He cried out with happiness, spinning around the room holding onto his chest.

“Leatherhead, d-do you have the hots for our little brother?!” Raph whipped around, barking furiously at the Aligator.

“Raph calm down, we have bigger fish to fry…but don’t think this is over,” Leo said sternly, giving Leatherhead a quick protective brother side glance.

“Uh excuse me…if you could please stop fanboying out and talk to us for a moment if you would?” Leonardo went back over to the cell bars, calling out to the ditzy fanboying monster.

“You’re one to talk about fanboying.” Raph rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.

“Not now Raph…uh can we talk this ou-” Leonardo tried to reason with the purple monstrosity, only to be interrupted by said ship crazy monster.

“Oh don’t get me wrong little turtles, I’m still going to have to kill you and your vermin friend over there. But I was thinking I could at least try and keep this big fella alive so he can finally confess to my new baby brother, and everything will be wonderful with rainbows and sparkles. Devy and Zad will be happy knowing that our perfect little family will be getting even bigger, and Zad will finally be proud of me!!” Reath bellowed, his body slamming up against the bars, a crazed grin spread across his face as his eye twitched, causing Leo to back up quickly into Master Splinter.

We all stood there, not knowing how to respond to what we had just witnessed. This guy was spiraling deeper into insanity, there was no telling what this guy was capable of doing to us.

“Heh, Excuse me for a moment while I plan on what to do to your corpses, I was thinking of using Rat Man’s pelt over there to make a new bag, oh I bet it will look just darling!” he cackled as he sauntered off, picking up what looked like a large sketchbook and pencils, heading back up the stairs still not stopping his laughing fest.

“I do not feel safe…” I whispered as I held onto my brothers, not even realizing when I had latched on to them.

“We need to get out of here, if we stay any longer we're going to be turned into household junk, and I do not want to be turned into a salad bowl!” Raph said, pulling away from the hug, and hitting the bars with a sudden burst of new anger.

“Do not lose hope my sons, our human companions have not been captured, they surely will come to our aid.” Master Splinter said, his face returning to his calming demeanor.

“How are they going to get past those monsters on their own?” I felt myself grow anxious, sure April could be stealthy but Casey was loud and doesn’t exactly make the smartest choices.

“I believe it will be quite easy for them.” He said, his eyes closed, stroking his beard.

“How do you know Master Splinter? Can you sense it?” Leo asked looking at our sensei in awe.

“No.”.

“Then how can you tell?” Raph tilted his head a bit in confusion.

“Because they are standing right there.”.

Turning around we were greeted by April, Casey, and Miori standing there outside the bars. “Wassup Turtles.”.

“What took you so long?!” Raphael shouted angrily.

“It took me a while to figure out a teleportation spell, ok? I haven't done one of those in ages, don’t get snippy with me.” Miori huffed as she raised her still glowing sword to the cell door.

“Unlockis Iris Dooris.” She said as she waved the sword a little bit before blasting the door with magic.

I’m guessing it was supposed to unlock the door, but instead, it made the door’s hinges break off causing the barred door to the ground with a loud thud.

“Well…that’s one way to open a door. Now you go find your stuff while I unchain your alligator friend here.” Miori gestured to the side with a wave of her sword, making all the drawers and cabinets open.

We hurried out, checking each of the cabinets and drawers for our weapons and gear. One by one we found them, it looks like the monster guy spread them around the room for whatever odd reason.

“Are you guys ok? Did they hurt you?” April asked as we were putting our gear back on.

“No, but they were planning to, the only reason they kept us alive was to kill us later and turn our body parts into stuff, they wanted to turn Raph’s shell into a salad bowl,” Leo explained, a shiver going down his spine at the memory.

All three humans stared back at us in shock, their faces turning a little green at the idea. Casey even had to cover his mouth with his hand for a second.

“Not only that, but I’m pretty sure they believe they’ve ‘adopted’ Mikey. They keep calling him their baby brother, they were talking about putting him in a playpen.” I said, my face growing a bit disgusted at the thought of what else they probably had done to him.

“Miss Miori, I have a question for you.” Master Splinter turned back to Miori, who had just finished removing the chain from Leatherhead’s neck.

“Yes? Ask away Ninja Master Rat Man.” She said, hopping down from Leatherhead’s back and onto the ground, shooting little finger guns.

“How is it these monsters have access to things such as fresh food and other items that are of the time in our world? If they had been banished over a thousand years ago, and still have not broken free, how could they have such things?” He asked with a very stern expression plastered to his face.

“What…they shouldn’t have access to that stuff, the magic keeping them in right now is like a pocket dimension connected to our world. But…it could be that after a thousand years of innovation and building that it’s somehow made small gashes in this world, leading to ours.” Miori muttered as she started to tap her chin, trying to theorize what could have happened.

“But if they found the gashes and were able to get stuff from them, why haven't they tried to leave? Wouldn’t they have used them as a way to escape by now?” April asked, bewildered by the whole situation.

“Maybe they're just too small for them to fit through? Like maybe then only reach their hands through and grab stuff?” I said, trying to piece together what was going on.

It got me thinking, I didn’t understand magic at all. But if I’m making educated guesses, I’d assume this place is like a bubble, this place was here long before new york was even a concept. The magic users bubbled a piece of the world and made it detached, but in the same place where it was before. So we are technically still standing in New York? Jeez, this magic stuff is incredibly confusing.

“Unless we find a gash and examine it up close we won’t know, but this place was sealed by six powerful magic users. So these gashes are just itty bitty tiny holes in a steel bubble, if they could open them further they would have done so already. Now we don’t have time to continue with this, we need to get your brother and get out!” Miori said, hurrying to the stairs.

Leatherhead was the first to try and follow Miori up the stairs, only to be stopped by Raph getting in his way. “Hey hey!! Don’t think we forgot about all that mess, you gonna explain yourself?!”.

“I don’t see why you are so angry Raphael…” Leatherhead grumbled lowly, his head dipping a bit so he could make eye contact with my hot-headed brother.

Before Raph could say anything, the swift and intimidating sound of Master Splinter’s cane slamming against the floor stopped any words from breaching Raph’s mouth.

“Boys, Leatherhead truly cares about your brother, he treats him well, the same as Michelangelo does for him. Your brother came to him and in turn, came here because he was upset with the way you were treating him. Perhaps instead of being upset with your friend, you should be happy about their feelings towards each other and be happy that your brother found someone he can trust with his heart.”

We all stood there, stirring on what had just been spilled from our father’s mouth. Truly he was right, it would be rather childish and selfish to get mad at Leatherhead for liking Mikey. To be honest they were probably perfect for each other and balanced one another out well. Mikey had been so upset with us…it would be wrong of us to try and make it worse like this.

“He’s right Raph, if he makes Mikey happy…we should be happy for them.” Leo sighed before looking back at Leatherhead with an apologetic smile. “Sorry we freaked out L.H, it was kinda unexpected.”.

“I understand your concern, he is your youngest sibling. But I want you to know I’d never want to do anything to hurt him…” Leatherhead gave a gentle smile in return.

I and Leo looked back at Raph, who still had his arms crossed. We gave him the ‘come on’ look, in return he groaned, running a hand down his face. “Fine…Leatherhead…if you somehow make my little brother…happy…I guess I can be happy too. But don’t think I won’t be watching those hands, mister!”.

“I’ll be sure to keep them to myself, Raphael.” The larger mutant chuckled fondly at Raph’s brash antics.

“Ok mushy lovey-dovey stuff later, If we don’t hurry you might not have a baby brother to be overprotective of, yeah? Let's go people!” Miori called out, clapping her hands to get our attention.

“You’re right Miss Miori, we must go,” Sensei said, following the sorceress up the stairs.

“Don’t worry Mikey, we're coming to save you!...again!”.

Chapter 16: Stupid Baby Prison

{Mikey’s POV}

When I woke up, my head was pounding. I felt like I had been whacked in the face with one of Raph’s dumbbells. I slowly blink, trying to let my eyes adjust to the light, everything was still a little blurry but I could tell I was no longer in my given bedroom. Finally, as my eyes adjusted I could see I was in what looked like another bedroom. The style was very different from mine, the colors decorating the walls were deep sea blue and polished ivory. In the corner of the room was a large bed, unlike mine, it wasn’t circular, it was a giant rectangular bed with four pillars one at each corner. Hanging from the tops of the pillars was some deep blue fabric, on another side of the room were two large fancy-looking couches, set across from one another on a large rug with many symbols on it. The room’s decor reminded me of Greece.

After looking around the bedroom, I came to realize that I was trapped by large white walls. But the walls had bars like a cage, but for some reason, they were placed in the pattern of hearts. Looking around my little trapped area I found blankets, pillows, stuffed toys, and blocks, like the stuff you’d have for a baby.

“What the…” I sat up, looking around at the white walls for a way to get out.

I decided on going over to the bars and started to climb up. My arms and legs felt a little wonky but I felt I at least had to try. I was finally able to reach the top, my head poking up over the wall.

“Mikey, I’m back and I got you breakfast, you slept so peacefully last night I just didn’t want to wake you-” Zad had suddenly barged in, carrying something I couldn’t exactly see in his arms. He stopped when he saw me trying to get over the walls.

“Awww, now Mikey, the playpen walls are not for climbing. You could hurt yourself.” Zad smiled, placing whatever he was carrying on a nearby table, and walked over to me, gently using his hand to push me back down the wall into the playpen.

Playpen? Is that what this is? Ok, they are taking this baby brother thing too seriously! I’m a teenager, not a baby!

“Where are we?…” I asked cautiously, looking around again at the bedroom. I didn’t want to call out about my thoughts on the playpen, that would probably just make him angry again.

“Why this is my room, of course, your gonna be staying with me until your bedroom door is fixed. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Spending quality time with big brother? Boop!” He explained, reaching down and booping my nose.

“What happened to the door?” I asked confused, it was fine the last time I saw it.

“Oh well, Devdan accidentally broke the handle off, he forgot it was locked. He can be quite forgetful sometimes.” Zad said as he went back over to the table, picked up whatever he left, and came back over to the playpen.

“Now how about some breakfast? You must be famished.” He grinned down at me, holding up what looked to be a…baby bottle.

“Hey no! I’m not drinking from that! I’m not a baby!” I exclaimed, scrambling backward away from him, only to back my shell into the wall.

Zad paid no mind to this, only letting out a little huff before reaching over the playpen walls to grab me. I of course not wanting to be manhandled by the evil jerk, ducked out of the way, which lead to him playing a game of ‘try to catch the turtle’.

Eventually, he caught me with his other hand and plucked me up out of the playpen. Carrying me over towards one of the couches, where he plopped himself down and began to try and force the nipple of the bottle into my mouth.

“Stop squirming Mikey, you need to eat, it’s good for you.” He said as he tried to turn my head towards the bottle.

I shook my head no, clamping my mouth shut. I’d give any food a try, I’m not a picky eater. But I wasn’t going to allow an evil psychopath to feed me like a baby, especially not from a bottle. He had already stuck me in a highchair and a playpen, I’m not ok with this!

“You aren't going anywhere until you eat mister.” He continued to push the bottle up against my mouth, but I still refused to give him the satisfaction. I still have some of my dignity intact, I’m not stooping to giving him wants.

“Oh brother, may I speak with you?!” I could hear Reath’s voice call from behind the door, followed by knocking.

“Come in, it’s unlocked,” Zad said, loud enough for Reath to hear, still not viewing away from his task of trying to get me to eat from that stupid bottle.

“Goody, Alright I need to talk to you about the prisoneeeeerrrrrrrsssss-” Reath walked in, but slowed the last of his words down when he looked at us.

“About the what?” Zadicus glared, his face scrunching up with a growl rumbling in his throat.

“Oh, what was I saying, oh I believe I said…Presenters! Yes, presenters! That’s what I meant…heh.” Reath chuckled awkwardly, stepping over to us.

“Awww, you guys have the playpen I made all set up! How do you like it, Mikey? Cozy enough?” Reath suddenly asked, a small sweat drop popping up on his face.

“Uh, it’s fine I gu-eh!” I tried to answer, only for Zad to shove the nipple of the bottle into my mouth.

“Thank you, Reath, Mikey here was being a little fussy and not eating.” He said, tilting the bottle up, so the contents would more easily be sucked down.

Even if the thing was in my mouth, I wasn’t going to bring myself to suck the food down like a baby. This was already humiliating enough.

“Mikey, the sooner you finish, the sooner this will be over.” Zad chuckled, looking back over to Reath, tilting his head towards the couch as to say to have a seat.

I felt myself groan internally, I didn’t wanna do this, but I also didn’t wanna stay seated on this psycho’s lap. So with a quick responsive shudder, I began to suck down the contents of the bottle. This was so gross…

“Awww so cute!” Reath squealed with glee.

“Sure is, now what did you want to talk about Reath?” Zad asked, turning his head to look at Reath, who was seated beside him.

“Ok uh, a question about the…fish…you know, the ones we planned on using for dinner?” He went on, his voice trying to find the words very carefully.

It was obvious he was trying to hide something, from me specifically probably, I know I’m a bit of a slow learner but I’m not an idiot. I know when people are weird and suspicious.

“...Yes? What about the fish?”.

“Well, you see, what if we decided to keep one of them? Like maybe as a pet? Then we could have a brand new valued member of the family. Huh? Sound cool?” Reath said, winking repeatedly like that somehow didn’t make him less suspicious.

“Pets are too messy, plus if we did want a pet, why would we want something as boring as a fish? Plus I believe we’ve already had this discussion on what is to be done with…the fish…” Zad huffed, as he started to rock me and him back and forth.

“Well, maybe Mikey would really like a certain fish, and would want to have that fish in his life? Hm?” Reath said, his tone sounding a bit more aggressive, his hands clenching up a little into fists.

Zad’s eyes seemed to widen a bit before narrowing once again. “ Well fish can carry diseases, and I wouldn’t want our baby brother getting sick, would you?” He replied, his grip on me getting a little tighter.

“Seriously your leading with diseases? Always the scare tactics first with you.” Reath grumbled, crossing his top set of arms over his chest.

“I’m not wrong! They can carry diseases!” Zad exclaimed.

“That’s why protective gloves were invented!” Reath shot back, his nose flaring up with a small whisp of smoke.

“Well, we don’t have access to those!”.

“I’ll be happy to make them!”.

“He’s not gonna be touching the fish!”.

I just stared as they started to bicker back and forth, arguing about fish. I didn’t really know what to do, but I had finally finished the bottle, and not actually intending to do so, I let out a loud burp which brought them both out of their argument.

They both just stared at me for a second, making me a little nervous before they both let out in unison ‘Awwww’.

“I’m sorry that big brothers were arguing in front of you, that wasn’t nice of us.” Zad cooed, wiping off the corner of my mouth with his finger that I guess would be considered his thumb.

“Yes, that was very mean of us. I’m sorry Mikey.” Reath said with a higher pitched voice like he was talking to an infant.

“Uhh…it’s ok?” I responded awkwardly as Zad got up, walked back over to the playpen, and sat me down on the plush playpen mat.

“You stay right here and play with your toys, me and Reath need to have a grown-up conversation.” He said, shooting a quick glare at his brother before leaving towards the door.

“Have fun, Mikey!” Reath called out as he followed.

I looked around the playpen for possibly something to distract myself, only to catch myself when I heard Reath and Zad’s voices continue to argue. Looking to the door I could see they had accidentally left the door open a crack.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I hoisted myself up onto the playpen wall. Listening carefully to what they were saying.

“You’ve got to be joking with this!” I heard Zad exclaim, anger clear in his tone.

“I’m not joking, Mikey told me about him, they're perfect for each other!” Reath said, his voice squealing a little with delight.

“You are reading too many of those romance books Reath.” Zad sighed.

“First of all, those books are amazing, second, Mikey loves him, and he loves him back. Who are we to try and keep them apart!” Reath bellowed, a clear influence of theatrics and drama.

“We are his brothers, our love for him is enough.”.

“Of course, we love him brother, but there is more than just family love.”.

“How many times do I have to tell you, that romance is a lie. It doesn’t exist, it’s just something humans made up in order to progress their disgusting gene pool.” Zad groaned, a quick gagging sound emitting at the end of the statement.

“Romance is real Zad, I’ve felt it befo-” Reath quickly cut himself off, sucking in a breath.

“Oh not this again, are you still hooked up on that human? It’s been over a thousand years, Reath! They never even really liked you, they ran off and left you without a word.” Zad spat harshly.

“Something could have happened to them…” Reath spoke quietly as if trying to find his own voice.

“I don’t know why you bother trying to defend them, it’s plain and simple. They saw you as the freak that you are, the freaks that we are, and ran off after toying with your emotions.” Zad went on, his voice filled with pessimism.

“You don’t know that!” Reath snapped back at Zad.

“I do know that!”.

“How could you possibly know that?!”.

“WHO CARES?! THEY’RE DEAD ANYWAY!!”.

I stood there shocked, were they talking about Bowie? The human Reath fell in love with? I didn’t even realize his brothers even knew about Bowie, I kinda thought it was a secret. I feel myself frown at this, I knew Reath wasn’t exactly right in the head and was one of my captors, but he clearly really missed Bowie. Zad should know it’s a sore subject right?

“I’m sorry I lashed out little brother…but look what you went through, you don’t want Mikey to have to go through that too. Do you?” Zad spoke again, a more comforting tone filling his voice.

“...No,” Reath responded rather quietly, I swear I could have heard a small sniffle.

“Good, now you don’t have to do it now, but eventually, you know what you have to do.” He said, I could practically hear the smirk spread across his face.

“Yeah…I’ll get it done.”.

I heard Reath’s footsteps leaving the door, Quickly as the door began to open again I dropped down from the wall and pretend like I had been messing around with the blocks in the pen.

Zad walked back inside, looking down at me. I had been right about that smirk as it was still plastered to his face.

“Are you enjoying your blocks, Mikey?” He asked, leaning a bit on the playpen walls.

“Uh yeah…they’re fun,” I said awkwardly, stacking the blocks into a little tower, not much else I could do with them.

“Good, I’m glad you like them. Oh, I completely forgot about your new clothes, let's get those on you. Then you can get back to playing.” He reached into the pen, picked me up, and placed me on the large couch.

“Reath made these just for you, hold still.” He came back over to me, carrying a new set of leg warmers, glove thingies, and what looked like a blue bandana. Without warning, he began to move me around, dressing me up with all these new things.

“There you go, oh don’t you look adorable, I could just eat you up! Nom nom nom!” Zad cooed, plucking me up into the air nuzzling his face against my stomach.

“Eeeehhh t-thanks?…” I didn’t know what to say, the only people who ever did stuff like that to me were my brothers and father, and that was when I was a baby!

“Are you alright Mikey? You seem a little-” Zad spoke but was cut off by the distinct sound of Reath screaming.

“Aug, what has he done now?...” He groaned, placing me back down into the playpen.

“Now don’t you go anywhere, Zaddy needs to go make sure Reath is ok, be good while I’m gone!” He said, placing a kiss on the top of my head and heading back over to the door.

As he was leaving, I thought to myself. This could be a chance to try and escape again, only this time it won’t be foiled now that he was gone.

“Oh oh, I almost forgot! Don’t want you trying anything that could get you hurt.” Zad quickly came back over pulling down what looked like the door of a refrigerator or a freezer on top of the playpen. Pulling out a padlock he clamped the thing shut so there was no longer a way I could even climb out.

“OH COME ON!!” I hollered, thumping my head against the wall in agitation.

“Love you too Mikey!” He cackled triumphantly before sauntering out the door to go check on Reath.

“Auuggg…stupid baby prison!” I huffed, kicking the playpen wall.

“This is all my fault, I should have just stayed at Leatherhead’s…now look at me, I’m sitting here playing baby for a couple of monsters obsessed with family stuff. If it were Leo, Raph, or Donnie they would have gotten out of here by now. But you’re not like them are you?” I said to myself, looking down to find my alligator plush.

Taking the plush, I lean against the wall, slowly sliding down into the massive pile of pillows and plushies. I felt tears start to well up in my eyes as I hugged the stuffed gator close.

“You’ll never be as good as they are…cause that’s just who you are…the liability.”.

“Mikey?!”

{Picture made by me, RasberryDemon}
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 17: You Look Like You Could Use A Hand

{Mikey’s POV}

Wait, what was that? Surely that wasn’t what I thought it was, my mind must have been playing tricks on me. Because there was no way that was who I think it was calling my name. Or maybe I just fell asleep again and that was just a dream, stupid brain trying to get my hopes up. How would he even get here?

“Mikey?!” There it was again, ok that sounded a little too real to be in my head.

“Leo?” I tilted my head up, surely I was just going crazy. I didn’t want to admit that, but it would be the more realistic answer.

“Mikey, if you are here please answer!” Ok, now that was real.

I quickly shot up, running over towards the bars of the playpen, grabbing onto them and trying to look through. “Leo?! Is that you?!”.

“Mikey! Where are you?!” I heard Raph’s voice suddenly call out somewhere behind the large door.

“In here behind the door!” I called back, tears started to prick the edges of my eyes. I was praying that this wasn’t just my mind being crazy.

I felt myself suck in a breath when I saw the large door being opened. I silently repeated over and over in my head ‘please let it be them, oh please let it be them!’.

When the door was finally pushed open, I let the tears finally fall down my cheeks. There in the doorway were my brothers, father, and my friends. By far I don’t think I was ever this relieved to see them in my life.

“Mikey!” “Michelangelo!” I heard them all exclaim as they came running towards the playpen.

“Bros!” I cried, reaching through the bars, letting my older brothers wrap as much of their arms around me as they could.

“We were so worried!” “I’m so sorry little bro!” “We missed you so much!” The three went on, crying as they tightened their grips on me.

“What?! You guys, I should be the one that’s sorry, if I didn’t run off like a baby none of us would be here…” I whimpered, clutching their hands tightly as tears cascaded down my cheeks.

“Don’t you dare blame yourself for that! We treated you horribly, you don’t deserve that. Mikey, you deserve to be loved…” Raph said, his eyes narrowing in a protective glare, still even as tears fell from his eyes rapidly.

“He’s right Mikey, and we are so sorry, when we get out of here we are going to make things right.” Donnie choked a little on a cry, cupping my cheek with his other hand.

“Don’t wanna break up this happy reunion, but we need to go like right now!” A woman with black hair and gold eyes exclaimed, the fancy sword in her hand glowing mystically.

“How do we get him out?” Leo asked, looking around at the playpen walls trying to find a means of letting me out.

“Zad locked the top thingy, he has the key.” I felt another whimper crawl up my throat, I didn’t was so scared to be alone here again.

“I don’t need a key…” A voice growled, making my brothers move out of the way. Revealing none other than Leatherhead, wait Leatherhead?! He’s here too?!

“Leatherhead?!” I step back, my eyes widen in surprise as he grabs the bars of the playpen.

He said nothing, letting out a deep growl before pulling the bars apart. Ripping them out of their place on the heart pattern, his pupils had become slits as he took deep breaths to try to calm himself.

“Leatherhead!” I cried out happily, hopping out from the playpen and into his arms.

It took him a second to realize what was happening, but soon Leatherhead’s eyes were back to their normal gentle selves. Wrapping his arms around me he squeezed, letting a purring noise escape his throat.

“Michelangelo, I’m so glad you are safe.” He said, nuzzling his chin on the top of my head.

“Ahem, again tick tock boys, if we wanna not die we should get a move on.” The woman called out, a hand placed firmly on her hip.

“Miss Miori is right, we must hurry before those three set out looking for us once more.” Master Splinter nodded, I could tell he wanted to come over and hug me, but what mattered now was our safety. So instead I just sent him a warm smile to say ‘I love you too Dad’.

“Leatherhead will carry you, Mikey, I doubt you wanna run, you looked a little wobbly on your feet,” Donnie said, as Leatherhead adjusted his grip on me so he was carrying me in only one arm, so he could use the other while running.

“Thanks, my legs feel like jelly right now.” I let out a small awkward chuckle, rubbing the back of my head.

Quickly we made our way back into the castle halls, running around trying to find our outside the castle. Curse this place for being so huge, no one needs this much space!

“Mikey, when we get back home, I promise things will be different…I’m so sorry, I failed you.” I turned to look at Leo as he ran beside Leatherhead and me.

“Leo, it’s chill really…”.

“It’s not though Mikey, I’m your older brother and your leader, I should be protecting you. Not belittling you, look where that brought you…It probably won’t be today but I’m going to earn your forgiveness…I’m so sorry.” Leo went on, his gaze lowering to the ground as we ran.

Did he think I hated them? Hate him? I could never. I have long since forgiven them. They were my brothers, my family, sure I had my doubts while I was here. But that was just the captivity and crazy nonsense talking, the fact that they came all the way here for me says how much they love me.

“Leo, I’ve already forgiven you guys…” I smiled back at him.

His eyes grew wide, expression bewildered. Like he couldn’t believe the words coming from my mouth. “But how? We put you through so much, how can you not be mad at us?”.

“Oh, I’m plenty mad, sad, all those in between. But right now is not the best time for being upset and arguing, we need to get out of here so we can live to talk about this…properly. But really, all I want right now is for us to be a happy family again.” I explained, reaching out and taking Leo’s hand in my own as he ran.

“I promise, I’ll make sure that happens. When we get home we can talk about it over pizza and movie night, how does that sound? We haven't done that in a long while.” Leo finally let himself smile back, his grip on my hand tightening a little again.

“That sounds…awesome.” I felt my eyes water, that was everything I could have asked for. The perfect family night. Pizza, movies, talking, no arguing, just perfectly awesomely awesome!

He was about to say something else, only to stop when the rest of the group came skidding to a halt, almost causing Leo to knock into Raph. Before I could even ask what was wrong I could already see why they stopped.

“Oh no…”.

“You hooligans escaped?!” Devdan was in the way of the next hall, if glares could kill we’d all already be six feet under. “Mikey, what are you doing with them?”.

“Dev-”.

“He’s coming back home with us, where he belongs!” Raph snarled, clenching his sais so tight his knuckles were starting to turn white.

“I wasn’t speaking to you mongrel, I was speaking to my little broth- Mikey?” He barked back at Raph, only for his voice to falter when looking down at me.

Large harsh tears were now freely pouring from my eyes, this was all so overwhelming. I just wanted to go home to my family, we were all making up and going to be a happy family again and now things were gonna go down the drain again.

“Mikey…a-are you alright?” Dev’s voice softened, reaching out to me slightly. Which in turn only caused my family to move closer to me, their weapons drawled, ready for attack.

“Dev, please just listen to me, I don’t wanna be here. You and Reath are ok, and I’d be happy to be your friend. But I just can’t stay here! In the amount of time I’ve been here, I’ve been hunted like an animal through the woods, thrown out a window, force-fed, and locked in a tower!” I exasperated, violent crying tearing from my throat.

“Wait what?!” Everyone looked at me, wide eyes searching for any form of those being lies, but unfortunately, they could find no such thing.

“I don’t wanna stay here Dev, please…I don’t wanna be scared anymore.” I wept, I couldn’t hold it back anymore. The weight of everything that had happened came crashing down all at once.

I clung to Leatherhead, for once I didn’t care who saw me crying. I just wanted to feel safe, and every moment I’m here is a moment I could be snuggled up with my brothers, watching a movie, and eating pizza!

The air remained silent for a good few moments before a deep voice sighed and finally spoke. “Follow me…there is a secret passageway down this hall, it will take you outside to the old garden.”.

“What? Why are you telling us this?” Miori glared, pointing her glowing sword up at Devdan.

“Consider it…trying to right a wrong…I’m sorry Mikey, you didn’t deserve any of this.” He spoke softly, his voice shuddering a little like he was trying to hold in a cry.

“Dev…”.

“You must hurry, I don’t know how long Zadicus will be before he comes back to check on you, Mikey.” He said, ushering us down the hall.

Devdan was sorry? Now that I think of it, out of the three Devdan seemed the most stable. Sure he appeared to have some anger issues, but he was the calmest and most understanding of his brothers. Like when he brought me to his garden when I was feeling out of it, he didn’t have to do that.

We cautiously followed him as he lead us down the hall and over to what looked like one of those fancy wall candle holder thingies. I think they’re called Sconces? Yeah, that’s right, sconce.

“Hurry, this way,” Dev said as he turned the sconce to the side, causing a door hidden in the wall to open up, revealing a long twisted staircase.

“How do we know this dude isn’t just leading us into a trap?” Casey whispered over to Donnie.

“We don’t know…” Donnie replied, his eyes narrowing a little.

“You all don’t have to trust me, I don’t care if you do or don’t, I’m only doing this for one person…and that’s Mikey. He’s the only one here who deserves to be happy.” Devdan huffed, leading the way down the stairs.

“....What about you?” I heard myself say softly, which in turn caused Dev to stop, turning back to look back at me in Leatherhead’s arms.

“I appreciate your thoughtfulness Mikey…but no, I deserve no such luxury.” He gave me one last look before starting again back down the stairs.

It was obvious he didn’t wanna speak about that anymore, so I remained quiet until we got to the bottom of the stairs. There at the bottom was an old wood door, the door probably had not been used in years.

“You can escape through here, don’t look back Mikey. Go with your family…your real family.” Devdan let out a shuddery breath, holding the door open for us.

The group said nothing, they were dead quiet as we cautiously made our way outside the door. Everyone else appeared a little shocked to see it did in fact lead outside, an old dried-up garden surrounding the little area.

I turned back, looking over Leatherhead’s shoulder to see Dev standing in the doorway. Tears slowly started to cascade down his face, I knew I couldn’t just leave him like that.

Jumping from Leatherhead’s arms, I ran back over to him on wobbly legs, almost falling over a few times before he caught me. Lowering himself onto his knee, he looked at me in confusion.

“Devy, thank you…”. I whispered, wrapping my arms around him in a hug.

“No no, it’s ok, please don’t thank me, Mikey. I should have done this earlier…I hurt you, I can never forgive myself for all I’ve done…” His voice became shakier, as more tears flowed down his face.

“Well I forgive you, and Reath too. You guys are a bit nuts, but you guys seemed to care about me…” I continued to hug him, I wish I could have told Reath to his face that as well, but I don’t think we have the time.

“But how?! How can you just say you forgive me?! After all I’ve done…” He pulled me off him, holding me up to eye level with him.

“Well I can’t say I forgive you for everything that happened…but I learned about peace from my father…and you can never be at peace if you don’t learn to forgive…” I gave him a gentle smile, I didn’t know everything about who Devdan was before, but there is always room for those on the path of redemption.

“Mikey, I-” Devdan tried to speak, only for a sinisterly familiar voice to cut him off.

“Oh Devdan, little brother, you truly are a disappointment…”.

Quick to turn around, Dev whirled around after tossing me over to Leatherhead. Who of course caught me, carefully tucking me back into his arm, a deep growl rumbling in his chest.

“Zadicus…” Dev uttered, his voice trembling a bit as he backed away from the dark doorway.

“I should have known you’d do something like this, you're even softer than Reath.” Zadicus snapped his jaws as he started coming closer and closer to the outside light.

“Zad, what we did was wrong, we can’t keep Mikey here!” Dev exclaimed, stomping his foot to the ground to show he was standing his ground.

“Oh Devy, you are in a clear need of some management, just like Reath…”.

“Management?” Dev’s eyes narrowed, confusion clear in his voice.

“Yes, little brothers need to know the consequences of going against their older siblings.” Zadicus snickered, his figure finally coming into the light.

Only I wish he hadn’t, all I could do was bring my hands up to my mouth in shock. I had to have been seeing things, there was no way this could be real.

Standing in front of the doorway was Zadicus, only now he was covered in a splattered bright blue liquid, it was dripping from his claws and sharp teeth. But what set me over the edge, was what he was dragging behind him…

“Zad…i-is that?” Dev let a sob rip through his body.

I felt like I was going to puke, I knew Zad was insane, but I didn’t think he would do something like this…

“Oh don’t be dramatic, he’s got three more.” Zadicus scoffed, throwing down the severed bloody purple arm to the ground. Directly in front of Dev.

“R-Reath…”

Chapter 18: A Flash of The Past

Many years ago…

{???’s POV}

I felt myself jerk awake, a ragged breath tearing from my lungs. I was in so much pain, that it felt as though I had been stabbed a hundred times. What had happened to me? Where was I? Looking around it appears I was in a forest of some kind, I was lying with my back against the trunk of a tree. I looked towards the ground and saw that I was surrounded by clothes that looked as though they were ripped apart, along with torn pieces of rope, and what looked like a golden medallion.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard loud painful whimpers and whines. Turning, I could see from whom they came from. A tall, thin, purple, lizard-like creature was a few yards away. It appeared to be in the same situation I was, it was surrounded by shredded clothes and rope, its body lying on the ground withering in pain.

“A-Are you alright?” I called out, trying to be loud enough for it to hear but still trying to keep my voice steady.

The purple creature struggled to look up from the ground, his eyes widened, but still, they appeared weakened and in pain. “W-Who are you?”.

“I’m…I am…I don’t know, I can’t seem to remember.” I tried to answer him, but now that I thought about it, I had no idea who I even was.

“...Me e-either.” The purple creature said as he struggled to try and seat himself up.

I tried to lift myself off the ground, but I nearly fell over, so I had to cling to the tree for support. I realized I looked pretty lizard-like myself, my hands had sharpened claws and scales ran down my arms. All of which was a deep scarlet red, how did I not know who I was?

“Agh!”.

I turned to see the purple creature had fallen, trying to push himself back up again with his four arm appendages. Something came over me, I wasn’t sure what it was, like an instinct to help. I rushed over as fast as I could on wobbly legs and helped him up, letting him hold onto me for balance.

“Thank you…” He said, his head hung low, face perplexed as if he were trying to think.

“I’m guessing you can’t recall how we got here either. Or who even we are?” I said, gazing around at the area we were in.

We were in a large clearing of a forest, a dimming campfire in the center. How long had we been here? And why? Neither of us had any memory of coming here, or even who or what we were, what was going on?

“Oh you're both awake, I thought it would be a while.”.

I whirled my head around to see where the new voice had come from. There carrying a stack of sticks and twigs was another large lizard-like creature much like ourselves. His scales and skin were a grayish blue, he also had six pale yellow eyes and a large set of tattered wings on his back.

“Who are you?” I asked, stepping in front of my purple counterpart if I needed to defend us.

“Ah, so you two did lose your memory…” The blue creature said, his tone sounding upset.

“Lost our memory, what happened?” The purple creature asked, his hands clinging to my large arm, clearly worried.

“Well, you see, we were traveling across this forest. When a group of traveling humans came our way, they were afraid, so their wizard decided to zap at us with his little magic staff. I was able to duck out of the way, but you two got caught in his awful spell.” He explained, setting the stack of sticks onto the ground.

“And who are you supposed to be?” I raised a nonexistent eyebrow towards the new creature skeptically.

“Sorry, that's actually what I should have led with first, right. I’m Zadicus, your older brother!” He exclaimed, coming over and wrapping the both of us in a big hug.

“You are our brother? We are all siblings?” I asked, struggling to breathe for a moment with the tightening squeeze.

“Yes, we're all brothers, one happy little family!” He reached, squishing both our cheeks.

“I’m having trouble believing all of this…” The four-armed lizard-man said, slinking behind me in fear.

“As am I.” I agreed with a nod.

“Oh that’s all fine, I completely understand. You’ve both been through a traumatic event involving magic and lost your memory, I’ll give you some time to adjust, the last thing I want to do is overwhelm you with all this.” He picked up his bundle of sticks and took them to the dimming fire.

“I’m not sure what to believe, I don’t even remember my name.” The purple creature said, fidgeting with his arms, appearing not to know what to do with them.

“If you want, I could tell you your names, would lessen the confusion a bit,” Zadicus said, now appearing to be roasting what looked like an entire chicken over the fire.

Looking back and forth between Zadicus and the purple fellow, I suppose it would be best to have some form of Identity for ourselves.

“Alright…what are our names?” I asked, crossing my arms, eyeing him cautiously.

“Wonderful, your names are Reath and Devdan. You are Reath, and you are Devdan.” He stated, gesturing to us at our given names.

“Devdan…doesn’t feel right on the tongue when I say it.” I felt a bit skeptical of this, sure it could have been true. But it could still have easily been a lie.

“Pardon me for asking but…are you sure we are brothers? Sure we all appear to be the same uh..kind, but none of us exactly look the same. Not to mention we all have different accents” The one supposedly called Reath spoke up, gesturing to each of our bodies.

“Oh, we aren't related by blood. We found each other when we were just μικρά, I remember it like it was yesterday.” He let out a content sigh, placing his clawed hand on his heart.

“Where did you find us?” I asked, and that was a valid point about how vocal inflections didn’t sound anything alike.

“Well, I found you both separately, different years and such. I found you Devy in a lonely little cave all alone in Japan, while I came to find Reath in a dark scary forest in France.” He explained, continuing to roast his chicken over the fire.

“Where did you come from?” Reath asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

“Ah, you see, I hail from a great mountain in Greece. Truly was a lovely place until those αδαείς τρύπες πούτσων ran me out.”

“I have no idea what that means…”.

“That's unimportant, anyway anything else you would like to know? I’ll be happy to answer.” He grinned, twisting and turning the chicken over the open flame.

“So is this where we all live?” Reath asked, looking around at the clearing.

Yes, was it? If so did we just sleep on the ground in the cold? There is no shelter in any way shape or form.

“What? Oh no no, you think I’d let my family suffer out here, never, I refuse to risk my little brothers' health. So many dangerous variables, wild animals, diseases, and giant roots that make you trip!” He exclaimed, seeming appalled by the mere idea of us living here.

“Then where do we live?”.

“Well no where technically, not yet. You see that's how we ran into those humans in the first place, all this time we’ve been searching for a safe place to call home. Because no matter where we go, humans seem to always be somewhere close and run us out, barbaric creatures they are I tell you.” He continued, removing the cooked bird from the stick and onto a large leaf.

“Now how about you both come over, It’s not much, but I assume you're very hungry. Tomorrow we can find a more proper size meal.” He smiled, patting the space on the log he was sitting on, beckoning us to sit with him.

I and Reath gave each other a look as if contemplating the choices between us in a silent conversation. But weighing all the options, we were weak and needed food and it seemed our supposed brother knew everything about what was happening to us. So gathering up our strength we went over and ate the small meal with Zadicus.

It went on like this for days, then those days turned into weeks and those weeks turned into months even years. We grew fond of each other, traveling all over in search of a place to call home. A few times we thought we found it, but much like Zadicus had said before we were run out.

We always tried to be peaceful and mindful of the humans which were near wherever we settled. But they were all still incredibly afraid of us, and that fear usually arose in violence, I ended up getting a scar over one of my eyes, a villager had thrown a pitchfork at me. That had taken a while to heal.

After that situation, something changed in Zadicus, like a new side of him was revealed. He began going on about how humans should be the ones fleeing from us, not the other way around. How we should be on top, and how we should let out our ‘primal urges’.

I didn’t quite understand what he meant by that, sure it would be nice not to run away all the time. But primal urges? Did he mean acting like animals? Predators?

More things changed after a certain day, the day Reath introduced us to a new human friend of his that he had met. Zad was not happy about it, he believed the human to be a threat.

“What do you mean this is your friend?! That is a human!” Zad growled towards Reath, who was holding up the human in his arms.

“Well yeah they're human, but they aren't like the other humans. Bowie likes me- I mean us, they like us!” Reath exclaimed, hugging the small human to his chest. I could have sworn his purple cheeks had grown a little flushed.

“Indeed, you guys are extraordinary, like descendants of the gods.” The human spoke, their eyes staring up at us in awe.

The human had blemishless brown skin and deep brown eyes. Around their neck and wrists dangled gold, thin airy clothes draped over their body. They appeared to be carrying a rather large traveler’s bag, so they were probably not from around this area.

“Flattery will get you nowhere, creatin. Now put it down Reath, it’s disgusting, you don’t know where it’s been.” Zad huffed, waving his hand as if to brush the human away.

“Bowie is not an it, Zad, they are a living sentient creature like us.” He took a quick step back away from Zadicus, which was probably the wise decision.

“Are you hearing this Devdan? I feel like I’m going insane, tell Reath that humans cannot be trusted.” Zad turned to me, giving me a tired angry look.

“Don’t drag me into this please, I don’t wanna argue…” I sighed, holding my hands up to shield myself from this conversation.

“What?! You should hate humans more than any of us, look what they did to your eye!” Zad shouted, making it clear by gesturing to my scarred eye.

“Oh did something happen to your eye? Maybe I can help, I did study medicine under my grandmother.” The human piped up, pulling their bag out from their back and beginning to rummage through it.

I don’t know why I felt my face heat up a little bit, was it embarrassment? No one besides my brothers had ever been so quick to want to help him before. I never really needed help that often, or I never really voiced any of my problems.

“I uh-.” I tried to respond, only for Zadicus to slap his wing in front of my face, shutting me up.

“None of us need any help from any human whatsoever. I especially don’t trust any of you to try and tend to my little brother’s scars, you may just worsen it!” Zad growled, pushing me back a bit with his wing.

“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine.” The human deadpans with an unimpressed look.

“I won’t say it again Reath, put that human back where you found it. These things will only hurt us, and dare to say to be a friend. It probably wants to find some weakness and crush us.” Zadicus snapped his jaws at the little human before adjusting his composure.

“Come on Zad, wouldn’t it be nice to have a friend? It’s usually just us three and I finally found someone who doesn’t care about how we look, heck they even like the way we look!” Reath made a small twirl, holding up the human with pride.

Zadicus groaned, running a clawed hand over his face. “Reath, how many times must I repeat myself? Humans are nothing but trouble, and if you let them in their just going to break your heart.”.

“I would never break Reath’s heart, it’s too precious!” Bowie declared, climbing down Reath’s arm and quickly wrapping both their arms around Reath’s chest. “Ooo, warm.”.

“Remove your ugly fleshy sausages from my little brother this instant!” Zad yelled, his nostrils starting to produce little angry wisps of smoke.

“No! I’m not listening to you, I’m in dairyland.~” They cooed, their face mushed into Reath’s chest, more specifically his set of pecs.

“BOWIE!!” Reath shrieked, his entire face lighting up with blush, and his eyes widened in horror.

“YOU AWFUL LITTLE CREATURE!!” Zadicus roared, as he launched himself toward Reath and Bowie.

“Zad no!” Reath called out, jumping back to keep Bowie out of harm's way.

Knowing I couldn’t let this continue, I stepped in, pulling Zadicus back by his tail. “Zad, calm down a bit would you?”.

The next thing I know, Zadicus suddenly whirled around slapping the back of his hand across my face. The sudden unexpected wave of strength sent me back into a nearby tree.

“DEV!”.

I blinked open my eyes, I had closed them when I felt the impact. My brain couldn’t even register the right words, my elder brother had just backhanded me into a tree. Not sure how to retaliate.

“Ω σκατά, Devdan, are you alright?! I’m so so sorry!” Zad rushed over to me, lifting my head off the cracked tree trunk.

“Y-yeah I’m fine…why did you do that?” I looked back up towards him, my eyes searching his for any form of explanation.

“I-I’m so sorry…I don’t know what came over me, I was just so angry. Oh please forgive me, little brother, truly I would never want to hurt you!” He stammered, wrapping his arms around my neck in a hug.

“I…I forgive you, brother, just try not to do that anymore…” I use his arm to lift myself back up onto my feet, stumbling a little from the sudden loss of balance.

“I promise, and I’ll make it up to you, we can go to that lovely lake you like so much!” Zad exclaimed, swinging my arms with his, trying to lift my mood.

So things went on from there, Reath continued sneaking away to go hang around with Bowie. There were also days when Bowie would sometimes just follow us around and make chit-chat, Zad still didn’t like them at all. I had a few one on one talks with Bowie but those usually ended in Zadicus pulling me away or knocking Bowie to the ground with his tail.

I honestly didn’t mind the human’s company, sure they were very chatty and said a lot of strange things. But they made Reath happy and I guess that’s all that mattered to me, I just wished Zad wouldn’t be so venomous towards the little thing.

“Devy Devy Devy!!” Reath sang, wrapping his arms around me and spinning around like a giggly maniac.

“Yes? Why are you jumping around like that?” I asked, grabbing his shoulders to stop his dizzying twirling and jumping.

“Sorry, I’m just so excited! Bowie asked me to meet them back at our tree, they said they wanna tell me something really important! Eeee I wonder what they are gonna tell me, I’m just so happy!!” Reath squealed, hugging me close and continuing to jump up and down in a haze of excitement.

I shrugged but smiled at seeing my little brother so happy. We don’t get many moments like this, so I'm just glad he had something to look forward to.

“Oh, I’m going to go wash up in the river, I wanna look spiffy for whatever Bowie is gonna tell me. Bye Devy!” Reath cheered, skipping away into the forest towards the river.

“Good for him,” I say to myself with a smile.

I was going to walk away and maybe relax in the nearby field but stopped for a moment when I heard the distinct sound of something growling nearby. I shrugged it off, there were a bunch of wild animals out here, none of them ever messed with us though.

Later that night, I came back to our clearing a bit late. I got a bit absorbed in stargazing, I didn’t expect to come back to the sight of my little brother sitting on the stump crying his eyes out. Zad stood beside him rubbing his back in a comforting motion.

“Hey, what’s going on? What happened to Reath?” I hurried over a worried expression etching into my face.

“I found him out in the forest crying all over some tree, he hasn’t told me what’s wrong yet…” Zad said quietly, continuing to rub circles against his back.

“Reath, talk to me brother, what’s wrong?” I kneeled in front of him, taking his hands in my own, gently moving them into his lap.

“I went back to our tree to wait for Bowie as they asked, I waited and waited and waited some more. But Bowie never showed up, I waited for hours, so I got worried and went to their shelter to see if they were ok, but when I made it there…everything was packed up and gone!!” He sobbed, launching himself onto me, wrapping his lower arms around me.

“Oh, Reathy…”.

“I told you, Reath, those filthy creatures cannot be trusted,” Zad growled, kneeling with us.

“Now is not the time Zadicus…” I gave him a quick glare before turning my attention back to Reath, letting him cry it out on my shoulder.

“It’ll be ok Reath…” I said quietly, rocking us both back and forth in my arms, trying to give him any sort of comfort.

“It won’t be ok, it won’t ever be ok!” He cried out, hiccuping and sniffling against my shoulder.

“It will be alright, brothers, as long as we all have each other.” Zad grinned, wrapping his arms around both of us in a big family hug.

“Now, no more crying, we're going to make everything better. Cause I have a plan.” He said as a sharp-toothed smirk grew along his face.

“A p-plan?” Reath sniffled, not bothering to lift his head from my shoulder, trying desperately to wipe the tears from his eyes.

“You guys know that new village just outside the woods?” He got up, walking over towards the side of the clearing where that said village was just a mile or so of woods away.

“Yes?” I could feel myself raise a nonexistent eyebrow at this.

“I think it’s about time we settled down.”

{Picture made by Me, Meet Bowie!}
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 19: Chances Taken, Chances Given

{Mikey’s POV}

“REATH!!” I felt the horrified scream rip through my throat. My body was trembling, I was staring at the gruesome sight of Reath’s severed arm laying at Dev’s feet.

“Zadicus, what have you done?!” Dev bellowed, his hands flying up to his mouth.

“Calm down Devy, he’s perfectly fine, not in one piece anymore though. But still fine.” Zadicus spoke, wiping the blue blood from his mouth.

“I will not calm down!! You ripped off our little brother’s arm!!” He shrieked, his voice cracking as tears started to slip past his eyes and down his cheeks.

“Enough of this, we will deal with your insolence later. Now let’s get Mikey back inside, these awful creatures are a bad influence on him.” Growled Zadicus, stepping out closer towards us.

I felt another sob rip through me, that whole time I hadn’t turned my gaze away from the severed purple arm. Leatherhead in response, held me closer to him, turning my face so I could cry into his chest.

“Michelangelo is going home…with his real family.” Devdan held his arm out, blocking the view of us to Zadicus.

“We are his real family!” He shouted back, his nostrils flaring up with wisps of smoke.

“No! A real family would never do things like this!” Dev yelled, his darkened eyes drowning in tears.

“Whatever I do, I do out of love, I do for us!” He roared, rushing toward us. Only for Dev to grab onto his hands, trying to push him back.

“We gotta go, dudes, this is our chance to escape!” I heard Casey exclaim.

I quickly shot up, trying to wriggle out of Leatherhead’s grasp. I had to make sure Reath was ok first. Reath may have been nuts, but he was still my friend.

“No, I have to see Reath! I need to make sure he’s alright!” I cried out, pushing against Leatherhead’s arms.

“Mikey we can’t! The red guy is barely keeping that monster back as it is, if we go back we are all gonna bite the big one!” Raph tried to reason with me, he was right, but Reath…I need to know…I just need to.

“Please! He’s hurt, he might need help!” I sobbed, collapsing against Leatherhead’s arms, weakly still trying to push against him.

“Michelangelo…please.” I looked up, gazing into Leatherhead’s pleading eyes. We shared the look for a moment, I was too weak to argue and my heart couldn’t take much more of this.

Without saying anything, I just laid my head down on his chest, silently letting my sobs rack through my body. To which only made Leatherhead hold me closer. Usually, this would have me blushing or letting a happy squeal out by accident, but not right now…not after what I just witnessed.

I kept my head ducked down into LH’s side as he and the others started running away from the ongoing fight. I wanted to be happy about being saved, but this feeling wouldn’t stop squeezing my chest.

“Mikey I’m so sorry…” I heard Leo say barely above a whisper as they ran.

“We need to hurry up, the doorway is through the woods and up the hill!” Miss Miori called back as she was the one at the head of the group, leading the way.

I feel my body physically cringe at the memory of the woods. The scenes of running past trees, tripping over loose rocks, and barreling down that hill into the mud. It all played over in my head and I once again felt like up chucking whatever that stuff Zadicus fed me was.

“GET BACK HERE YOU MONGRELS!!”.

I didn’t have to look back to know that Zadicus was hot on our trail. Raph was right, Dev wouldn’t be able to hold him off for long. His harsh continued footsteps caused the ground to shake, I could hear trees behind us being knocked down, he was not letting anything get in his way.

The group tried to pick up its pace, only to have to come to a skidding halt. Zadicus had flown up and over us, colliding with the ground in a rushed attempt at landing. Standing on all fours, he snapped his jaws open letting out an earth-shaking roar, his mouth starting to fill up with smoke and flames.

“Scatter!” Leo shouted, flipping out of the way.

We followed suit, Leatherhead whirled around so fast a normal human would have gotten whiplash. He ran into the forest, lowering his snout so his neck was covering me from any form of new danger.

“LH, you have no idea how happy I am you came for me.” I let out a shuddery breath, trying to keep my eyes on him and not the disgustingly familiar woods around us.

“I will always come for you Michelangelo, that I promise…” He replied, a deep rumbling coming from his chest. To anyone else, this probably would seem scary, but to me, it was calming.

“I’m so sorry you had to get sucked into all this…” I let out a soft unsteady breath, I couldn’t help but think of all the trouble they had to have gone through to find me.

“Michelangelo, I wanted to come and save you. Don’t place blame on yourself, it isn’t your fault”. He went on, holding me up closer to the underside of his snout. Letting me snuggle up closer.

“It’s all my fault though if I just went back to the lair or stayed with you at your train cart, then I would have never gotten stuck here, and you guys wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble. That’s all I seem to be good at…making trouble for my family.” I felt more tears start to cascade down my cheeks, I had no energy to try and stop myself from crying.

“Michelangelo, it’s in no way your fault…” Leatherhead said, his voice kind yet stern.

“You were pushed and prodded for far too long, if anything you had a healthier reaction than most would have to what had happened. Most wouldn’t still be as loving as you still are, you never gave up and in turn, you never give up on others…you never gave up…on me.”.

“Oh LH, how could I give up on someone so awesomely awesome…” I gave a content sigh as I wiped my eyes of tears. Reaching up and hugging my arms around his neck. “You always know what to say…”.

“What a disgusting display…” A teasingly terrifying voice spoke amongst the trees, all around us the voice seemed to be present but nobody could be seen projecting the familiar voice.

“I should have killed you all myself, Reath was too much of a μουνί to do it himself.” The voice grumbled, a trailing tone of disappointment lingering behind as it spoke.

“Stay away!” Leatherhead growled, his teeth clenched tightly as he held my head, pushing it up against his chest.

“Such a brute, I’d say Reath might have made a decent point, you are like us. Your a beast, a savage, a monster…you would have fit in just fine.” Zadicus’s voice chuckled deeply, his tone dripping with condescendence and hubris.

This was the point where I spoke up, you could talk about stupid stuff all day, but I cross the line at calling Leatherhead a monster!

“Leatherhead isn’t the monster here, Zadicus, you are!” I shouted, turning my head away from LH’s chest, my hands balling up into fists.

“Tsk tsk tsk, Mikey, you mustn't let this foul-mannered creatin cloud your vision. Sure he seems charming enough to you, but what do you know? It’s quite clear as of now you are not the smartest sheep in the pen. Or the strongest, definitely not the best, so how can you even trust these little feelings you have?” He spoke, voice laced with venom, not detouring away from the salted insults he spat at me.

Leatherhead didn’t like what he said one bit, he snapped his jaws, letting out a loud rageful roar. “Michelangelo cannot be compared to your sheep! He is a turtle, and in my eyes, he is the best of them because no one can ever measure up to how wonderful he truly is…” He finished off, drifting to a more comforting and sweet tone.

At this, even with all this pain, I was feeling, I couldn’t stop the heat from rising to my cheeks. I know Leatherhead can have a way with his words, but this was just too much for my heart to take. I wanted to tell him right then and there how much I loved him. But then I realized once again our current situation.

“You wretched thing, how dare you to fill his head with such lies!!” Zadicus came jumping down from the tops of the trees, his clawed hands outstretched ready to tear into Leatherhead’s scaled skin.

Just before Leatherhead could retaliate, a purple blur pounced on Zadicus in mid-air, knocking him to the ground. I felt like I was going to cry again in relief, it was Reath!

Zadicus struggled as Reath pinned him to the ground with all three of his arms. His top right arm had been completely gone besides from the left behind bloody bandaged stub.

“You seem to be pretty good at doing that yourself Zadicus!” Reath growled, pushing Zadicus’s back deeper into the hard dirt.

“Reath! You’re ok!” I cried out, a new smile stretching across my face.

“Hi, Mik-EYY!!” Reath spoke, only to be flung into a tree the moment he lost focus.

“How many times are my brothers going to betray me?!” Zadicus snarled, wiping the dirt off his face.

“We betray you? You ripped off my arm, and you are trying to kill Mikey’s family!” Reath shouted back, slithering up the tree’s bark, jumping from one tree to the other as Zadicus suddenly spat a quick ball of fire his way.

“You were going to kill them anyway like you were supposed to do!” He continued spitting fireball after fireball toward his brother.

“But no, that was too hard for stupid little handy helper Reath was it?! You bring shame and disappointment to this family, at least Devdan could pull his weight! Even if he was a μαλακή μικρή σκύλα!!”.

“I still don’t understand what it is you said, but I know it was an insult! Devy was always my favorite brother, you are just a big fat jerk!” Reath shrieked, his french accent seeming to be more fluent the more angered he was. Reath had even gone to taunting his blue brother by blowing raspberries at him every time he missed.

“Stop that, you are acting like a child!” Zadicus shouted, his face turning red with anger, or maybe even embarrassment, it would be funnier if this wasn’t a life or death situation.

“I know you are but what am I!” Reath laughed, as he continued to jump around the trees and rocks, dodging Zadicus’s fire.

While that was going on, Leatherhead had backed us up to a safe distance away from the ongoing crossfire.

“Wow Zaddy, you must have gotten rusty, cause you SUCK at this!” Reath cackled, sitting on a large tree branch, kicking his legs back and forth. The jabbing taunt seemed to make Zadicus’s face even redder as he started to make another ball of fire, only this time it was getting bigger and bigger.

With that, Zadicus let out probably the biggest ball of fire I had ever seen, spitting it toward Reath like he was pitching the world's fastest baseball. If only for Zadicus it had more effect, because all Reath had to do was jump down from the large branch he was sitting on, easily evading the ongoing fastball of fire.

Zadicus stood there, gasping for air, trying to catch his breath. He bent a little grabbing his knees, coughing up bits of smoke, now I realized what Reath was doing this whole time. Zadicus probably can’t make all that fire at once without getting winded.

“You don’t look too well Zadicus, maybe you should lie down. I think Devy will be happy to help you too.” Reath giggled, sauntering over towards the exhausted monster.

“Huh?” That was all he could say before Devdan came barreling in, knocking Zadicus clean off his feet and back to the ground.

Dev huffed in anger, his horns appeared to be scuffed and cracked, which they were not like when we last saw him.

“Are you all alright?” Dev asked, looking back from us and Reath, stepping away from Zadicus’s limp groaning body.

“Yeah, we are fine, thank you so much!” I wiped the tears from my eyes as they stepped over, wrapping the both of us in a hug. Leatherhead seemed tense at first but he let it slide.

“We must hurry and get you two back to your family, Zadicus won’t stay down for long. He’s durable like that.” Devdan gave Zad another quick glare before ushering us past him and back into the woods.

It wasn’t long before everyone else met back up after scattering in all different directions. Though they all looked rather skeptical of seeing Reath and Devdan, I wouldn’t blame them in their perspective but they had just saved our lives.

“Before you guys say anything, they just saved our lives from psychopath dragon dude back there! Zadicus is down but he won’t be that way for long!” I exclaimed, gesturing back the way we came.

“Mikey you probably don’t know this, but that guy was going to turn my shell into a salad bowl. So excuse me if I’m a little skeptical of him being around us…” Raph said while crossing his arms, glaring at Reath.

“Heh…yeah sorry about that, I can get a bit vulgar in my episodes…” Reath gave a quiet apology as he fidgeted with his hands. “But you don’t have to trust me, which is perfectly understandable, but I just want to get you guys out of here. I want to get Mikey out of here…”.

“Well you can do that by staying here, we are not letting you see where the doorway is.” Miss Miori huffed, pointing towards them with her sword. “As the guardian of the door, I cannot allow it.”.

“We aren't going to try an escape, we deserve to be stuck here…” Devdan spoke up, placing a hand on Reath’s shoulder, trying to give his brother some form of comfort.

We all stood there in silence for a moment before Miori blinked, looking perplexed. “Did you just admit that you deserve to be here?”.

“Of course, we deserve to be here, we’ve brought so much harm to others. We believed we were doing what was best for us like we needed to place ourselves on top to have a life of our own…But after so long here we know what we did was wrong, and we deserve to suffer here…” Reath went on, his head turning down in shame.

“You all hurry back to the doorway and leave, never return, even break the door if you have to. We may have to suffer here, but you all don’t, we will head back to the castle.” Dev said, turning back, beginning his walk back towards the castle.

“What are we going to do about Zadicus? He’ll be really angry when he gets up…” I could hear Reath whisper, his voice shaking a bit.

“Well uh…we’ll figure something out, just be prepared alright…” Dev said as if he were trying not to sound scared himself.

We all stood there watching as they walked, but I couldn’t take it anymore. From what I know, they’ve been living here with that sociopath for hundreds of years, probably even more. They had been living through the same hell I have been, and I’ve only been here for like what a few days? They’ve been dealing with it for literal centuries!

“Wait!” I called out.

They turned back, looking at me with a concerning gaze. When I got their attention, I quickly turned back to Miori. “Miss Miori, let them come with us. Please?!”.

“WHAT?!”.

Everyone looked at me in shock and confusion, even Reath and Dev.

“Honey, did they drop you on your head while they were babying you? Because that is crazy talk, you have yourself a screw loose?!” Miori was exasperated, looking around at everyone to see if she was the only one hearing this.

“Look at them, after what they did Zadicus will probably kill them, he already ripped off Reath’s arm! He’s insane, and that’s probably the reason they are the way they are now. I would be nuts too if I spent any more time with that creepo babying me like that.” I exclaimed, shuddering at the mention of the babying.

“Mikey, if they are let out they might just cause even more trouble than they did all those years ago,” Donnie said, eyeing the two carefully.

“We can help them get better, they aren't bad, just mislead and their brains are filled with crazy unhealthy junk! No offense.” I went on, turning to them at the end, I didn’t want to hurt their feelings I just wanted to say the truth.

“None taken,” They said in unison.

“How can you say they’ll even get better, they might just relapse and go crazy again. I’ll have to send them back here or worse.” Miori glowered, her eyes narrowing.

“I can’t say it will work straight away…”.

“Then we shouldn’t take that chance!”.

“YOU WON’T KNOW UNLESS YOU GIVE THEM A CHANCE!!” I yelled, having jumped down from Leatherhead’s arms.

“You’ll never know if someone is capable of change unless you give them the chance. We all grow and change as people. Raph isn’t as hot-headed as he use to be, Donnie doesn’t have to overthink things anymore, and Leo isn’t constantly doubting himself as a leader. They learned from mistakes and helped themselves get better, but none of them could do that if they were alone!” I shouted all at once, having to take a few breaths as I finished.

They all stood there, eyes widened at my sudden outburst. Oh god, this was gonna be just like before, I’ve gone and messed everything up again, didn’t I. Look what you did Mikey…

“I agree with Michelangelo…” Leatherhead stepped forward, placing his large hand on my head.

“LH?...”.

“If it weren’t for Michelangelo I’d still be the rageful gator I was before, I was alone and I had no one there. But he showed me better ways to deal with my hurt, and for that, I will always be grateful.”.

“Michelangelo speaks the truth, my sons, you have given many others a chance so why not for these two misguided souls?” Master Splinter had suddenly appeared next to me, his hand settled down on my shoulder for comfort.

“Thanks, dad…” I feel tears start to well up in my eyes as I gave my father a shaky thankful smile.

“You know what, screw it, if anyone can make a couple of weirdos like them good guys it’s you, little brother.” Raph sighed, coming over and wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug. “But if they hurt you again, I won’t hesitate to rip off their giblets.”

Leo and Donnie gave each other a quick look before rushing over to join the hug. I take it they agreed as well. But I couldn’t think properly right now, my heart was melting like warm butter. It had been forever since we had a big family hug. This was all I could ever want and more, especially since Leatherhead, Casey, and April joined in.

“Awwww they're so cute, I wish we were like that…” I heard Reath coo to himself.

“Oh shut up and come here, Reath.” I felt myself laugh a little, Devdan had wrapped Reath in a hug of his own, making Reath yelp in surprise.

“Well, Miori? You think you can let this one rule slip?”.

She continued to eye us, her arms crossed not backing down her skepticism.

“PLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!” I clasped my hands together as I continued stretching the word, watching her eye twitch a little before letting out a loud sigh.

“Fine! Fine! Shut up, stop doing that, just stop that, it’s too cute and I think you know that.” She huffed, slapping her palm against her face, letting it slide down her face in an exhausted manner.

“This is gonna be a treat to explain to my ancestor's spirits…” She groaned, turning and starting to walk up the big hill. “Well, are you sappy idiots coming or not?”.

“You are letting us out of this place?” Reath’s eyes seemed to light up, tears of happiness threatening to fall.

“Yes of course, of course, now let's hurry up shall we? We don’t get much time I believe before loco lizard man is up again!” Miori said quickly as she ushered us up the hill.

For the remainder of the walk, my brothers decided to help me walk themselves. They were profusely spouting apology after apology. Some people might have found it annoying at this point, but the whole time they were holding me close and hugging all over me. When you have a family who has stacks upon stacks of trauma, hugging is usually scarce, so these times always gave me such a warm fuzzy feeling.

I hadn’t felt this at peace in a while, so I couldn’t stop myself from starting to doze off, leaning my head over on Donnie’s shoulder.

After a while, we found ourselves in a familiar field. Oh now I remember, I was extremely weak but I think this might have been the field I was stranded in after I went through the door. Aug just thinking about that bright light gives me a headache. But I had a sudden sense of joy buzzing around in my chest, we were almost back home.

That is until…

“Everyone get down!” I heard Master Splinter yell, panic clear in his voice.

Before my brothers could take us down to the ground, a powerful force yanked me off the ground and out of my brother’s grip. It was incredibly painful, the force had latched onto me by my neck, so the air had been quite literally whipped out of me.

I heard voices call out in panic, but I can’t register what they are saying. I feel like all my weight is dangling under me, and the grip along my throat was only getting tighter. Desperately I tried to call out to someone, I didn’t know who, but I was calling.

All that was left of my vision was a small pinhole of light in the darkness. I could see blurs of blue, red, and purple…deep shades of greens and greys, small vibrant shades of colors. I tried reaching out for what it was, but my hands found nothing to grasp but the thick scaley thing wrapped around my throat.

What was happening? The pain slowly started to fade, the small light was being consumed by the darkness. The colors were disappearing, where were they going? Why were they going? Maybe they aren’t going…maybe I’m going, is that it? If so…where am I going?

Nothing left but darkness….

“MICHELANGELO!!”

Chapter 20: Sealed in Wax

{Mikey’s POV}

I sat up gasping for air, I felt like all the breath from my lungs had been suddenly ripped out. After taking a few replenishing breaths, I look around to see I was sitting in the middle of what appeared to be a standstill? My family was on one side and the other was Zadicus, they all looked horrified at what he was holding up. Needing only the slightest turn I could see why. Zadicus was holding…me?

No no, this couldn’t be right, how was I seeing myself? I tried waving my hand in front of Leo’s face but it did not move. No one was moving at all, it’s like they were all frozen.

“What is going on?...” I was so confused, continuing to look at myself. My supposed self’s body was limp, my eyes rolled into the back of my head.

“Wait…am I dead? Is this what death is like?!” I exclaimed, feeling around my face.

“Hey calm down there, buddy, you ain’t dead, at least not yet you aren’t” An unfamiliar voice spoke, it had a cheery tone and had a broad what I was assuming Egyptian accent.

“Huh? Hello, who said that?” I called out, quickly whirling around trying to find the owner of the voice.

“Hello.” A human had suddenly appeared behind me, they had brown skin and dark brown eyes with short flowy black hair. They had gold draped around their neck and arms and wore thin, airy clothes.

“AH!” I jumped back, surprised by the sudden appearance.

“Oh sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” They said, holding out their hand for a shake.

“Heh, it’s alright I’ve just been a bit jumpy lately, I’m Mikey,” I said awkwardly, my mind was still racing but I still shook their hand.

“I already know who you are Mikey, I’m Beanu, but everyone just calls me Bowie.” They introduced themselves, but what they said had my brain halting to a stop.

Did they just say their nickname was Bowie? As in Reath’s long-lost human love Bowie? THAT BOWIE?!

“Wait, are you-” I tried to ask, only for them to finish my question for me.

“The Bowie that Reath told you about? Yep, that’s me. Always a pleasure to meet a fan.” Bowie chuckled, pulling their hand away from the shake, grinning rather nonchalant.

“How are you here?! Why don’t you go talk to Reath?! And most importantly, why is everyone frozen like that and why can I see myself?!” I shouted, gesturing towards the frozen scene behind us.

“One question at a time kid, first of all, I’m here cause I’m dead simple as that. Two I can’t talk to Reath cause again I’m dead. And Three, they aren't frozen we are moving a thousand times faster than they are or something like that.” They explained, grabbing my hands and gently moving them down to my sides.

“Your dead? I guess I’d assume you were because humans can’t live that long but…wait, you're dead and we're both here. Does that mean I’m dead too?!” Looking back at my frozen family, I panicked, my eyes starting to well up with sudden tears.

“No no, like I just said earlier, you are not dead, not yet. I brought you here so I could talk to you, you were on death’s door so I borrowed you before she could answer the door per se.” They grabbed my face, turning me away from the sight so they could explain again.

I stood there for a moment, how could they have done that? Was it just like spirit magic or something? But what puzzled me most was why did Bowie want to talk to me?

“Ok? What did you wanna talk about then?” I asked, pulling their hands down from my face.

“Well as much as I’d like to have a carefree convo with you, this is business.”.

“Business?” I felt my head tilt to the side a bit, emphasizing my questioning tone.

“I know what you're trying to do for my Reath and Devdan. A second chance at life, but there is more you can do, something I need you to do.” Bowie goes on, putting their arm over me and leading me back toward my frozen family.

“And that is?”.

“Before I tell you, heads up!” Bowie exclaimed suddenly, before shoving my face directly through Reath’s stomach.

“AHH-Ahhh-ah?” I was caught off guard by the sudden motion, but I stopped when I saw something strange.

As I was shoved through Reath’s stomach, I saw I was surrounded by a dark purple goop-like substance. It was honestly really cool and gross at the same time, the strangest thing however was a bright green light swirling around in the center of all this goopy crud.

“What is that?” I said in awe of the swirling green light.

“That there is the real Reath,” Bowie said as they shoved their head next to mine.

“What do you mean the real Reath? Isn’t this all Reath?” I asked, gesturing to the complete body of Reath around us.

“Well yes, to a certain extent, this is Reath’s soul. But as you can see, it’s trapped behind all these scales and goop. The same goes for Devdan, these giant lizard bodies were never their own. Think of it as one of those clay figures, you start by shaping a bunch of those twisty wires and you can shape it into whatever you’d like. But then you add on the clay and it can come out looking completely different than how it is underneath.” Bowie explained, holding up their hands, a wire figure in the shape of a little man appearing in them. While twisting their hand, the wire figure grew patches of clay from its body until it was covered and shaped like a certain lizard-like creature.

“Woah…wait, are you saying that Reath and Dev were once…human?” I felt my jaw hang open in shock. All this time Reath and Devdan were humans? This is crazy!

“I believe so, and that’s why I need your help, why they need your help,” Bowie said, a more severe expression etching their face as they grab my hand and pull me back out of Reath’s body.

“Me? What could I do? I’m not saying I don’t want to help but…I’m the whole reason this all is happening to them. Reath wouldn’t have had his arm ripped off and Dev wouldn’t be going through this emotional rollercoaster!” I exclaim, pulling my hand away from Bowie’s.

“You are not at fault turtle, he is,” Bowie said simply, pointing up towards Zadicus.

“Ok yeah…but still what can I do? He’s right about something, I’m not…I’m not good enough to do any of this. I’m not the best sheep in pen, or whatever it is he said, I’m the can’t do nothing turtle on the team and in the family…” I sighed, turning back and looking at the frozen-in-place faces of my brothers.

“Can’t do nothing? I watched you nearly escape all three of these big guys twice, you got Reath to open up about me after never speaking about it for over four hundred years. You made Devdan feel empathy again, you gave him a reason a new reason to care.” Bowie went on, a large encouraging smile filling their face ear to ear.

“No can’t do nothing turtle could do that, you don’t need to be the strongest or the smartest, or simply the best. You probably have one of the biggest purest hearts I’ve ever seen and helped my father mummify bodies, so I’ve seen a lot of hearts.” Bowie said, poking my chest, creating a bright orange light where my heart should be.

“Now are you gonna help me?” Bowie grinned, holding out their hand for me to take.

I stood there thinking for a moment, that maybe Bowie was right. I’ve been degrading myself for so long about what I couldn’t do right, but not even thinking about all the stuff I could do and have done. I’ve saved my family several times, and I’ve also helped out a lot of other people and mutants alike. I’ve never given up when it means helping my friends so why should I give up now.

“Alright, let’s do this!” I grasped Bowie's hand, a new wide smile stretching across my lips.

“Good, now come along, we’ve got work to do.” Bowie grinned, pulling me over towards Miss Miori, she appeared to be in the middle of whipping out her glowing sword.

“While I’ve been here, I’ve read every book in that library of theirs, even Zadicus’s secret library behind his knickknack shelf. I was searching for answers, but so far I haven't found much about fixing all this. But when golden eyes here stepped through the portal, I was able to cross-reference this book of hers with a few others in Zadicus’s library.” Bowie began to explain, reaching their hand through Miori’s bag and pulling out what looked like a transparent version of a large book, decorated with lots of symbols.

“Woah, how did you do that?” I stepped over, looking down at the transparent book as Bowie flipped through the pages.

“When I spirit grabs something in the mortal world they can make a spiritual version of it, like a complete copy, but for dead people to interact with,” Bowie said, eyes lighting up as they found the page they were looking for.

“Here we go, after cross-referencing this page of transformation spells and Zadicus’s book of corruption curses, I was able to figure out that what happened to Reath and Devdan wasn’t just one curse. It was a combination of two.” Bowie went on, showing me a page of the transparent book, filled to the brim with strange words and descriptions of transformations. Those words accompanied a picture of a human body with symbols between it and a depiction of a wolf-like creature.

“So is there a way to turn them back to normal? Wait, do they not remember being all human and tiny?” I asked, looking back and trying to picture the giant lizards as small humans.

“I don’t believe so, most corruption spells do affect the mind, morals, memories, and or personality. Depending on how their minds reacted to the curse, they could have had completely different personalities as humans.” Bowie explained, examining more of the page.

“Does that bother you at all? That Reath could have been a completely different person?” I felt myself asking sincerely, not meaning to even let that out.

“Well, I’ve thought about that for a while. He’s suffering in a body that isn’t his own and doesn’t even know it, it would be wrong of me to let him stay like that simply. Not only that, but I love him, so I want him to have the life he lost, the life he deserves.” Bowie said, looking up towards Reath with a fond look. “Besides, lizard or human, Reath’s one hot piece of Dukkah to haunt~.”

“You know, Reath was right, you are one cool weirdo.”.

“You got that right Turtle Baby,” Bowie smirked, as a pair of sunglasses magically appeared on their face, tipping them down a bit to wink.

“Anywhosies, while I’m looking for a counterspell or something, how about you spill the deets on you and that big hunk of leather and scales, hm?” Bowie gave a couple of eyebrow bounces as they glanced up from the transparent book.

“Well uh, heh, n-not really sure what to say about that…” I felt a sudden wave of heat across my cheeks.

“Orange you don’t have to hide it, I’ve been watching you since you first popped into this place. So I pretty much know about your feelings for tall dark and scaly over there.” Bowie chuckled, giving a quick smirk towards Leatherhead as they began to float in place, examing a particular paragraph.

“Even though that’s the case, I don’t know what to say. How am I supposed to explain all these weird emotions and junk? Not only that, but LH doesn’t like me like that, if I said something it would just make things weird, I’d make it weird…” I sighed, fidgeting my feet against the oddly blue-colored grass.

“Pshhftt, honey please, if you can’t see how bad he’s got it for you then you must be blind.” Bowie let out a small scoff, pursing their lips at me for a second.

Wait did Leatherhead actually like me back? Like like-like?! As these thoughts filled my head, I couldn’t stop the heat from rising to my cheeks. It got me thinking about all the moments we had spent together as friends, simmering under awkward moments of potential romance. Aug we could have been in smooch city by now!

“How have I not noticed this?!” I groaned, flopping back onto the blue grass, running a three-fingered hand down my frustrated face.

“Well maybe it’s because you were too busy worrying about all the negative possibilities,” Bowie said with a shrug, summoning a piece of chalk out of thin air.

“How can I not think about that junk? What if I just end up screwing up the best friendship I’ve ever had…”.

“Mikey, baby, sweet shell, of course, your gonna be screwing with your friendship. Because you won’t be friends anymore, you’ll be lovers! Sweet sensual cold-blooded mutated lovers~.” Bowie went on, letting out a sultry purring noise at the implication.

“Ew ew ew, Bowie! Stop that, don’t say it like that!” My entire face drowned in a shade of red as I swiftly clasped my hands over my face to hide such reddening.

“Oh please, at some point when you two are older, you’ll be getting into some frisky business. Anyway that aside, friendship doesn’t just die like that, the moments you had as friends will probably mean even more to you when you're together.” Bowie continued, using the chalk to draw out circles and symbols beneath Reath and Devdan’s feet.

“Now hush up with all this nonsense and talk about what could happen. So I can tell you what will happen.” Bowie said as they finished off using the chalk.

“You and I, we are going to save Reath and Dev. You are gonna return home with your family, you and Leatherhead are going to confess to each other so you can have that happy ending yourself. Do you hear me? Just because I lost my chance to make a life with the giant lizard of my dreams, doesn’t mean you have.” Bowie grinned, pulling me up onto my feet, grasping me by the shoulders.

“Now are you gonna stick around here in the desolate old spirit world contemplating all these what if’s and should have? Or are you gonna go out there and live your life? Cause you have a whole of a lot of life to live.”.

“I’m gonna live!” I cheered in triumph, lifting my arms into the air in celebration.

“That’s right Turtle Baby! Now I'm gonna need you to memorize these words for me. You can do that, yeah?” Bowie said, handing me the translucent book before heading back over towards the other’s still bodies.

Looking down at the sparkly transparent book, I could see that some of the words on the page glowed a vibrant gold. I began to mutter to myself trying to memorize the golden words, repeating them over and over to myself.

As I tried to memorize an odd sound erupted from somewhere nearby. I wasn’t sure where it had come from but it reminded me of something sad, more than just sad, it sounded plain sorrowful. It sounded like a soft howling of pain, like a poor hurt pup trying to call out to its pack.

I looked around, trying to find the source of such noise. But as I turn the only thing I could see was the tall looming figure of Zadicus, the furious blue creature that still held onto my body’s throat in a heavy grip.

I couldn’t help but think, to when Bowie pushed me through Reath’s body, I saw that ball of light. Bowie had said that was the real Reath. So did Zadicus have that? Or has he always been this way?

Not thinking much of it, I began to pad forward towards Zadicus’s still body. I just had this nagging feeling in the back of my head, that there was more going on here than what’s been happening.

Cautiously I stepped forward, reaching up to his stomach, and low and behold much like Reath’s body, my hand went right through it. My breath hitched, taking a deep breath I jumped up, barreling through Zadicus’s stomach.

Looking around I saw it was very much similar to Reath’s body. The infinitely dark walls were covered in an inky midnight blue sludge substance. The sludge was in a constant state of trickling down the walls of this infinite room. I quickly started to look around for any form of light, hoping that being a certain ball of glowing colors.

Yet all I found was the boundless trudging slime and sludge…

That is until I heard the noise again…

Rapidly I began to search once again, I looked high and low until I found a dimming light that appeared to be at the bottom of this grotesque landscape of an inner self. I kicked and moved my arms, trying to use a swimming motion to pull my floating body down towards the light.

I got closer and closer to the dimming light, only now that I was moving closer I couldn’t stop myself, I couldn’t pull away. So I ended up falling right through the now blinding light.

I wasn’t sure what to expect to come after such an event, but I wasn’t expecting this. After falling through the light, I fell on what appeared to be a stone floor.

“Huh?” I let out confusedly and pushed myself up so I could sit up on the cobbled stone floor.

Around me no longer was the disgusting slime and sludge, but instead was an interior of a home. A cozy-looking home with clean white walls and windows letting beautiful sunlight cover the little dining area and kitchen.

“What is this place?” I heard myself muttering as I continued to look about the room.

I was suddenly caught off guard when the front door opened. A tall dark figure walked inside, it was completely made of shadows and darkness, but the eyes were completely white.

I felt a startled squeak leave my throat as the figure began to walk closer to me, at this I quickly got into a defensive stance, ready to retort if the figure made an act to attack me. But the figure made no reaction as it simply continued to walk forward, its shadowy body passing through my own.

“Woah, wait what?” I whirled around to follow the figure’s motion after flowing through my body.

I decided to follow the strange figure as it began to walk up the stairs of the house. It leads me to a hallway with three doors, turning at the last door the figure opened it and passed through. Following its steps, I walked into the room to reveal it was a small bedroom, it bared a single bed, a large chest, and a crib placed by the wall.

“Hey Shadow dude, can you see me?” I said, walking over and waving my hand in its face to see if it had any reaction.

The figure made no sign of acknowledging me. It stepped over to the crib in the corner, reaching inside and picking up a small blanket. The figure appeared to have white tears cascading down its cheeks as it clutched the blanket to its chest.

I didn’t know what to make of the situation. But before I could even try to think of something else, a new voice spoke up from behind me and the dark figure.

There in the doorway was a tan woman with raven hair tied into a fancy bun with curls. She wore a long pearly white toga, draped with a deep violet silk fabric, and gold jewelry decorating her body and hair. Bright teal eyes stared from the darkened doorway of the windowless room.

“Icarus, I knew I’d find you here…” The woman spoke, her voice sounding light and cold.

“Where else would I be?....” A distorted male voice spoke, his voice trembling and sniffling.

“You need to take a break and enjoy the festivities, Icarus, you only torture yourself by returning…” The woman stepped into the room, reaching out to the shadowy figure.

“I deserve such torture…” The figure whispered, taking a seat on the bed, caressing the small blanket with its thumb.

“Icarus, it’s not your fault that this has happened, no one could have predicted such outcomes. Please come with me to the festivities, you will enjoy yourself.”.

“You mean, you will enjoy yourself. The parade, the plays, the celebrations, they’ve all been honoring you, and you soak it up like a drying shrub.” The figure said bitterly, his eyes narrowing towards the woman.

“I’m being honored for saving our empire, our people, our home, so pardon me if I take part in how the empire wishes to thank me.” She huffed, turning away from him slightly.

“You have been saving the empire from these rising beasts, yes. But yet you turn a blind eye to the people in your village disappearing, you rather frolic in the fruits of short-lived success rather than try and do something about the brewing trouble of our home.” The figure stood up, barking back his argument at the woman.

“Icarus, please my love, you must understand. I was once viewed as a lowly witch, a future recipient of the burning steak. But now look at me, I am so close to being a part of the emperor’s council, a part of his coven. I am finally someone that matters.” She declared, taking the figure’s hands in her own.

“Ursa, you have always mattered, an amount of gold or color of your drape shouldn’t tell you what defines what your worth…” The shadow man said softly, grazing his hand to cup her cheek.

“Icarus, this is all I’ve ever wanted, and I know that you are afraid this rise of power for me will separate us. But it won’t, I’ve spoken with my fellow superiors and they agreed with me that you can remain by my side as a concubine.” She exclaimed, wrapping the taller figure in a hug.

Wait I’m pretty sure this dude is grieving a death or something like that, and she’s here telling him to be her concubine?! Wait what is a concubine?

“Excuse me, what?” The figure took a step back, his eyes widening with disbelief.

“See, we can continue to stay together after all.” She cheered, spinning the two of them around together.

“Why would we even have to separate? Wait don’t tell me you're going to-.” He tried to retort, only for her to interrupt.

“We’re going to move up to the palace, surprise my love, isn’t that exciting?!” She grinned, practically bouncing with glee.

“I’m not moving anywhere Ursa…this is my family home, I raised my brothers here…” He quickly pulled his hands away from hers, his white eyes narrowing in disgust.

“My darling, I know you love this place and I know you love your brothers…but you have to accept that they're gone…” She gave a sympathetic look as she reached for him.

“No, they are not gone, they are lost, I will find them, I shouldn’t even be here listening to you. I should be out there looking for my baby brothers…” Icarus growled, slapping her hand away before heading back towards the door.

“Wait, please, at least let me help you!” She called, following the figure with a panicked look on her face.

“Oh like you have been for the past month? If you were here instead of sucking up to the emperor, maybe my brothers and all those missing in our village would be safe…” Icarus huffed, his eyes narrowing once again.

I continued to follow the two as they argued and bickered back and forth. The woman kept bringing up how she was making their lives better, but the shadowy figure didn’t wanna listen to that.

As they left through the front door, the room around me started to bend and shift, fading into a new environment.

Now I found myself at the mouth of a large cave. Confused, I turned to look into the cave, as I faced the dark entrance, I was greeted by a voice muttering strange words aloud.

Cautiously I take a few steps, walking into the dark cave. It didn’t take long before I found the lady from before. She was in the middle of the darkened cave, drawing on the ground with chalk and lighting several blue candles.

“What is she doing?” I heard myself whisper.

I made the horrible decision of looking to my left, I was greeted with the gruesome sight of a giant dead carcass. Only it wasn’t just any normal animal carcass, it was an incredibly large yellow furred creature with giant ram horns, it had the muzzle of a wolf and four crooked hooved legs.

“AHHH!!” I screamed, falling backward and crawling away from the bloodied bead beast.

Shakily I turned back towards the woman, only now with all the lit candles I could see just the sheer amount of beast bodies there were in this cave. These giant creatures had been stacked on top of each other, their limbs lying in grim bloody piles.

“I just need to make a few more and I’ll be set for life, or maybe just one really big one…my place in the coven will be secured.” The woman grinned, as she stepped away from the circle of chalk, admiring her work.

“Make a few more?...” What did she mean by that?

“Who won’t be missed? The last few were rushed…I can’t be careless, I’m finally nearing the end of this pathed road of dullness. I can see the jeweled gates at the end of the road!” She said with pride, kneeling in front of the chalk circle, opening a large fancy-looking book.

Pieces started to find their place in my mind, I felt my eyes widen in horror. She wasn’t just defeating beasts, she was making them…All these bodies, these bloodied monstrous carcasses were once innocent people…

“URSA!!”

Hearing this, both I and the woman turned back toward the mouth of the cave. There in the natural light pouring from the rocky entrance was the very same shadowy figure guy. his bright white eyes narrowed, fists balled up around a small ripped piece of green fabric.

“Icarus?! W-what are you doing here?!” The woman’s eyes widened in surprise and quickly stood up, moving the fancy book away with her foot.

“I want you to explain this…” The figure said lowly as he held up the ripped green fabric.

“What is there to explain? It’s just some old ragged cloth.” She said, averting her gaze from the angry figure.

“You know good and well, Ursa, this belonged to Rhys! Our family crest is on it!” He snarled, pointing to the embroidered dragon symbol on the ripped fabric.

“Well, that’s great, now we may have some clue as to where he is, we can go look at-” She tried to continue only to be interrupted by a dark trembling voice.

“I found it in a trunk under your bed…along with some other things that don’t belong to you.” The figure’s eyes may have only been white but you could see the rage swirling in them from a mile away.

“I-I can explain that my love, j-jus-”.

“Don’t call me that, I have no idea who you are anymore…I know what you did, I saw your journal…” He whispered, large white globs of tears pricking his eyes.

“That was not yours to read, Icarus. But I’m doing this for us, we have a place of our own, settled on top of the golden pillars of life!”.

“Which ones are they…” He whispered, his voice teetering back and forth on the edge of breaking.

“Wha-”.

“WHICH ONES ARE THEY?!” He screamed, the tears flowing freely down his cheeks. So much sorrow and agony fueled those tears, that scream was one of someone who had lost everything.

Ursa stood still, her eyes relaying shock and fear. She quietly turned to a pile of carcasses, the pile only consisting of two large creatures and one small.

One of such was a giant lion-like creature with six legs, its thick mane a minty green, and its body adorned with lizard scales and a long purple scorpion tail. The second appeared to be that of a large black-coated bull, with two sets of dead red eyes accompanying its face, matching the large pair of horns on its head was the spikes lining its spine down to its tail. The last of the poor bloodied beasts was a creature relatively smaller compared to the other two. It was a lamb-like creature with pink and orange wool, and its poof ball of a tail was as big as its head, a small pair of deer antlers placed upon its head.

Icarus said nothing as he made his way over to the pile of carcasses, unable to stop himself from falling to his knees. Shakily he ran his hand along the lamb creature’s head, leaning his head against the bull’s, his other hand clutching onto the muzzle of the lion’s.

I couldn’t shake the pain in my chest when I heard the poor shadowy figure let out another harrowing cry.

“Icarus, it will be alright…their sacrifice will not be in vain…” Ursa said, holding her hand to her heart in obvious false sympathy.

“Sacrifice?... Is that what you're calling this?” He said barely above a whisper, his head slowly turning back to look at the woman.

“I did what I had to.”.

“THEY WERE CHILDREN!!” He yelled, standing up from his pool of tears.

“THEY WERE MY CHILDREN, I RAISED THEM, I TOOK CARE OF THEM WHILE FATHER WAS OFF WHO KNOWS WHERE!! I WAS THE ONE WHO BATHED THEM, I CLOTHED THEM, I TAUGHT THEM SPEECH!!” He sobbed, pulling out a hidden dagger from his shadowy toga.

“YOU TOOK MY CHILDREN, YOU KILLED MY CHILDREN!!” He screamed, running towards her, blade held ready to stab the woman.

“Icarus, please think reasonably!” She yelped as she ran, trying to avoid the man’s blade.

“Reasonably? Was it reasonable for you to use me and use my siblings?! Theos was an infant, and you turned him into some monster for you to slay!” He growled, slashing against her chest with his blade.

“Agh! Please, my love, have mercy!” She cried as she fell at his feet, begging for mercy, holding her blood-seeping wound.

“This romance you tricked me with, you plead for your life on its bases. But I know better now, this kind of love is a lie, I’m nothing but a piece of meat for you to cling to, just like how all these people were nothing but cattle for you to slaughter for payment of gain.” He snarled, twirling the dagger in his hand before holding it up once again to stab her.

“No!” She screeched as the blade came down. Using what strength she had, she reeled her leg back and kicked the man in the stomach, sending him stumbling back.

When the shadowy man found his footing again, he made a move to launch himself at her. Only now he found himself unable to move his legs. Confused, he looked down seeing he had stumbled into the circle of chalk and candles.

“W-what?! Why can’t I move?!” He yelled, trying desperately to leave the circle of chalk symbols.

“Hmf, I needed a new monster anyway…” She huffed, wiping her hand over her wound, letting it slowly seal.

“You will be paying for this Ursa, that I can guarantee,” Icarus growled, his fists balled up so tight I would assume his knuckles were white.

“Oh no, my darling Icarus, it will be you who pays the price. You and all those who believed me to be some lowly hag.” She went on as she brought the fancy book back over to herself, flipping through the pages till she found the right one.

“Once this is complete, I will finally be able to take my place in the emperor’s coven, I will finally have the life I deserve!” She cackled, placing both her hands on the ground in front of the chalk circle.

Icarus said nothing, only letting his stare become colder as he narrowed his eyes at the horrible woman.

“Oh don’t give me that look, darling, you won’t remember a thing.” She smirked.

“Brought new fate, sealed with wax, shape this body for brand new acts. Monstrous creatures who lurk in the dark, open your arms and let you mold all but its heart” She chanted with pride as her eyes began to glow with their ominous teal tint.

As these words were said, all the blue candles that surrounded the man began to melt. The blue candle wax started to swirl and lurch towards Icarus who still stand frozen in the circle of chalk.

The wax continued to creep closer and closer, and as it did that the blue wax began to get increasingly bigger. I didn’t know how to react to all this, all I could do was watch as the wax slowly started to envelop the man. Icarus desperately clawed at the wax, trying to make his way out of it, but nothing worked.

“I promise you, Ursa, I will kill you if it’s the last thing I do!” He swore as the wax finally sealed itself over the poor screaming man.

I couldn’t believe my eyes, I had just watched a man being suffocated in magic candle wax. But that wasn’t the last of it, the wax began to mold itself into a giant goopy creature-like statue thing.

“From living body to wistful spirit, succumb to thy transformation, heed these words with bated breath, let this creature rise from death!” She laughed as the veins in her arms began to glow the same as her eyes.

Suddenly the goopy wax began to harden and crack. Piece by piece the hardened sludge began to fall away, behind the hardened sludge was living scale-covered flesh.

“Memories tainted and sealed, let the feelings with the-” She began to chant once again, only to be silenced by a sudden blast of yellow and green fire thrown at her side.

“What?! F-Fire?! That s-shouldn’t be possible, none of the other c-creatures could do such a thing!!” She exclaimed in shock, the light dimming from her eyes and veins.

I loud rumbling could be heard as more pieces of the hardened goop fell from the giant’s body. The creature’s arm ripped away from its hardened wax prison, swiping out at the air around itself.

“No no, this isn’t right, I haven’t completed the last spell!” She scrambled, trying to reach the spell book.

Before she could even graze her finger along a single page, a large clawed hand slammed down grasping her in its palm, squeezing her abdomen so hard there was a distinct snap noise.

“AGHH!!” She screamed, eyes wide and desperate.

The clawed hand slowly brought the trembling woman up to its still cracking face, a deep growl rumbling as large wings flapped free of their incasing hardened wax. The creature’s face slowly cracked away, finally revealing one of its eyes.

The eye snapped open, revealing a pale cold empty yellow eye. It had no pupil, but you could tell it was staring directly into Ursa’s soul.

Ursa tried to plead to the beast, but all that she could muster were pained gasps and yelps. She stared in horror as the rest of the wax fell from its face, finally revealing all six of its horrifying yellow eyes.

Wait six eyes…was this…

The wounded woman screamed, begging for her life to be saved as the creature roared in her face. It gave her one last look before opening its sharp-toothed jaw, a cloud of smoke starting to build up from its nostrils.

“W-Wait no no please, please, I beg of you n-no NOOOOO!!” The last words she cried out as the beast let out a long-drawn breath of fire.

I had to turn away, my hands meeting my mouth. This woman was being roasted alive, her screams filling my ear holes. Slowly the screams died down, when I turned back the only thing that remained of the woman was ash.

“Oh my god…”.

My jaw was slack, I had just paid witness to a gruesome firey death. Sure she deserved it, but it was still awful to witness in person.

The winged creature took a few deep breaths, but at the moment he appeared not aware of his surroundings. Taking a second, he reached down taking hold of the fancy spell book, though it was rather small in his hands.

The pages were open to what I was assuming may have just been a random page. He took his clawed finger, dragging it along the page like he was trying to read something.

“Z-Zaa Zaaadi- Zadicus…”.

I felt my whole world come to a halt, the whole time that shadowy figure, that Icarus guy…Icarus was Zadicus.

“Holy Shell…”.

Chapter 21: See The World Through The Dragon's Eye

{Mikey’s POV}

I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. So Zadicus is actually Icarus, and Icarus wasn’t a bad guy like Zadicus is now. He was just some guy trying to raise a family, then this lady Ursa comes along and turns him into a monster. She had turned dozens of innocent people into monsters, people trapped in new horrifying bodies, and all for what? So she could live in a palace and have power? How could anyone do that to someone?

The cave landscape slowly started to shift and change again, and soon the world around me had turned. I was now in the middle of what looked like an old-fashioned village, the houses simple and pretty, lots of little gardens, and those long clotheslines hung across windows.

It was a peaceful-looking little town, and it was until people started running past me screaming. The village people ran with panicked looks plastered to their faces, they yelled to each other in vaguely familiar language.

“Monstre, courez pour vos vies!”.

“Oh, they're speaking French!” I exclaimed as it finally dawned on me.

“Wait am I really in France?” I said, looking about the village again.

“Quick, everyone this way, se dépêcher!” A voice called out, beckoning the other screaming voices closer.

I turned to see a tall young man with blonde curly hair, and bright emerald green eyes. He appeared to be wearing a leather apron with tools hanging out of his pockets. He was calling over the other villagers towards what looked like a basement cellar door.

“rapidement vous devez y aller, use the tunnels, they will lead you out to the woods!” He exclaimed, guiding them into the basement door one at a time.

“Maman, Papa?! Celine, have you seen my parents?!” The young man grabbed hold of a girl who was holding a child, asking her with a look of panic.

“I’m sorry Felix, I haven’t…” She said with a sorrowful, apologetic look.

“I have to go find them, I cannot leave them here with that monster!” He declared before running off from the escape tunnel.

I decided to follow the man, as he kept running and calling out for his parents the surrounding area grew more with flames and ash. Buildings were starting to collapse, the fire so hot they were already melting through the roofs. Beams holding up signs were falling to the ground, nearly hitting the man.

“Woah dude be careful!” I hear myself call out when the guy nearly got crushed by a bakery sign.

“Oh yeah, I forgot you can’t hear me…” awkwardly I ran a hand down the back of my neck, hurrying up my pace so I could keep up.

“Maman! Papa! S’il vous plaît dites quelque chose!” He came across a burning building, its door blocked by broken beams.

“Felix?! Baby is that you?!” A feminine voice called out, coughing a bit.

“Maman! Yes it’s me, is Papa in there with you?!” He tried to kick the wooden beams away, only for more to start falling onto the door.

“Son, please run, save yourself!” Another voice cried out.

“Papa, no, I refuse to leave you behind!” Felix exclaimed, looking around until his gaze landed on the window.

He gave the window a quick glare before taking a running start and hurling himself through the glass window, shattering it on impact. I was stunned for a second, peering in through the now broken window I could see Felix stumbling to pick himself off the ground.

I feel myself wince at seeing all the cuts and bits of glass sticking out of his exposed arms and neck. “Yikes, that doesn’t look like it feels good at all.”.

“Oh, my precious boy!” His mother cried, reaching out, holding her son’s face in her hands.

“Are you ok Maman?” He wrapped himself around her in a hug, not caring about the cuts along his arms.

“I am my boy, but your father is stuck!” She turned back to see her husband, who was still caught under the debris from the collapsed stairs.

“Felix, take your mother and run, get to the escape tunnels!” His father demanded, slamming his fist against the ground.

“I can’t leave you here like this, Papa!” Felix huffed in defiance, grabbing his father’s arm.

“You don’t have the time, leave me, please…” He stared up at his son as tears started to cascade down the burly man’s face.

“I said…I refuse!” Felix suddenly yelled, running toward a workshop area in the corner, and grabbing a pickaxe.

He took the pickaxe, hurrying back to his trapped father, and slammed it into the debris. He used all his strength to elevate the crumbled debris from squishing against his father. He kept at this until his father could finally shimmy his way out of that spot.

“We must go, the house is going to collapse!” Felix exclaimed, letting his father lean on him as he guided them back to the broken window.

His mother climbed out first, helping her son lower her husband out of the window. They said a few words to each other that I couldn’t quite understand but they were huddled together close, affectionately leaning into each other's hold.

The little family hurried down the cobblestone path, doing their best to dodge the flames and falling debris. The fire around seemed to have begun growing to a much larger scale but that wasn’t stopping them, they were running back toward those escape tunnels.

“Felix?! I thought you and your family fled already. Que faites-vous encore ici?!” A man covered in armor approached them, helping them lift Felix’s father.

“Maman and Papa were still trapped in the shop, I had to go back for them Andre,” Felix said, him and Andre bringing his parents over to the basement door.

“What is happening? What has set our village a blaze?” Felix’s father asked in concern, he and his wife probably didn’t see what happened while they were in their house.

“A monster, that’s what, and we believe it to be heading back this way so, please run through the tunnels as fast as you can, get to safety,” Andre told them as he reached down to open the tunnel door.

Only just as he was about to open the door, a thundering roar shook the ground around us. A large shadow looming over us had me whipping around to see none other than Zadicus himself, standing on top of a building with more flames pouring out of his mouth.

“Of course, he did all of this…”.

“Oh mon Dieu!!” Felix shrieked at the sight of the monstrous winged beast.

“Dear lord, it’s terrible!” Felix’s Mother cried out, clinging to her husband in fear.

Quickly Andre unsheathed his sword from his scabbard, readying himself to attack the horrible creature. “Begone foul beast or I shall gut thee like a fish!”.

This seemed to catch Zadicus’s attention, only instead of cowering as Andre might have intended, he let out a gut-wrenching laugh. As if what Andre had said was the most hilarious thing he had ever heard.

That only seemed to surprise the humans below him, they hadn’t expected this dragon man to bust out laughing, or even laugh at all.

“Oh, am I supposed to feel threatened? Am I supposed to be afraid of you? Ahhhhh oh no, I’m so terrified, I’m so sorry, I’ll leave right away!” Zadicus had mocked, his thick greek accent hard on his laugh.

“Y-You speak?” Felix spoke up, bewildered by this new knowledge.

“Of course I speak, I’m not primitive.” Zad scoffed, lowering himself so he was now lounging his body atop this building’s roof causing it to cave in a little.

“If you are not some mindless beast, why would you do all this?!” Felix yelled, gesturing to the burning village around him.

“Simple, you humans are the roaches of sentient beings. So shallow and imprudent, not deserving of the land you tear apart to build up your meaningless lives. The lives of non-humans are left to be given decided fates by your oh-so-superior complexes.” He growled, his incredibly sharp teeth clenched tightly by his jaws.

This made me think back to when Zadicus first became Zadicus. He was surrounded by dozens of those giant bodies, all of them somewhat resembling him, all humongous beasts, and all of them dead. Seeing that and Ursa could put a lot of different assumptions into his head, not to mention the corruption would mess with his mind anyway as Bowie said.

“Please, just leave us be, can’t we be civil and make amends?! You don’t have to continue burning our village and we won’t hurt you!” Felix called out to Zadicus, trying to bargain.

“Felix, there is no point in trying to reason with this beast!” Andre whisper-yelled to Felix, pulling him back and out of the way of Zadicus.

“There you humans go again, assuming I’m some form of a lost cause, a barbarian unmoved by your brave yet feeble attempts.” Zadicus scoffed, jumping down from the roof, momentarily causing the ground to shake once again, throwing a few guards off balance.

“But you, you might not be so bad, I saw what you did blondie. Racing through my flames to get to those parents of yours, such a plucky little twig.” He said as he reached down, knocking Andre off his feet and lifting Felix by the back of his shirt.

“Hey! Put him down you monster!” Andre commanded, his teeth clenching in anger as he brought himself back to his feet.

“My baby!” Felix’s mother cried out in fear of her boy.

Felix on the other hand did not scream, on the contrary, he was paralyzed in fear. His face appeared petrified, unable to respond to what was happening to him, his eyes staring into the deep yellow voids.

Andre and his fellow guards tried to rush Zadicus, trying to free Felix from his grasp. But that only brought Zad to fling some of them back into the ground and crush the others with his heavy tail.

That seemed to snap Felix out of his petrified state, now he could be seen trying to push at the clawed hand wrapped around his waist. Desperately he tried over and over, but it did nothing, Zadicus didn’t even seem to notice as he was occupied with the rest of the guards.

“Pity, I would have assumed at least some of you armored buffoons would be worth a good fight-” Zadicus went on, his face showing no hint of impression. But he stopped when his sight came back to Felix who was still struggling for dear life.

The world around seemed to shudder, like when an old video would play and it would freeze up, rewind, and play again. It freaked me out, but something was majorly off the shell nuts.

While the world around me shuddered and froze, bits and pieces of Felix would change color and shape. Like how his blonde hair would suddenly turn a chocolatey brown, and emerald eyes abruptly turn to a calming violet.

“What the what…”

As I watched closely his entire body started to look different, like Zadicus was no longer holding Felix. Instead in his place was a deeply tanned boy with violet eyes being reflected by large circular glasses, and silky chocolate brown hair held back by some kind of hair accessory.

Looking back up at Zadicus I could tell he was seeing it too. Wait this isn’t just the past, I’m not time traveling, I’m literally in Zad’s soul. So I’m seeing all of this through Zad’s own eyes.

The world finally stopped buffering and everything was back to how it was, only Zadicus still looked surprised by what he saw. Watching Felix’s face twist in confusion as he stared up at him brought Zad back out of his shocked state.

Taking the moment to gather himself, he took a breath and began to examine Felix with the look of someone who is trying to figure out if they wanna buy something. “You know what, I think I’ll keep you.”

What he had said bewildered Felix and the other humans, not to mention me. “Keep me?! W-What do you mean?! Cher seigneur, il est fou!”.

“Hmmm, we will have to do something about all this…” Zadicus muttered as he gestured to Felix’s everything.

“No no, let go of me!” Felix cried out, struggling even harder to get out of his captor’s vice-like grip.

“Oh quit squirming, if I drop you and you break your neck that will be your fault.” Zadicus scolded, his tone shifting from sounding like a pompous greater-than-thou jerk lord to a more parent telling a child not to jump on the couch kinda voice.

“Now as much as I’d love to continue setting your charming little rat infestation of a village a cinder, I have some new matters to attend to. Tah-Tah.” Zadicus grinned as he stretched his wings out before beginning to take flight.

“FELIX!!” The young man’s parents cried out to them, his father rushing to try and go after him only to fall over on his crushed leg.

“MAMAN!! PAPA!!”.

I stood there, eyes wide and mouth hanging open in shock. I had just watched the kidnapping of some french dude and I couldn’t do anything about it, what was Zad going to do to him?! Eat him?! Wait no, I don’t think Zad ever ate people, I mean he could easily do so but he seems more repulsed by them.

Just then the world around me began to fade away, the desecrated village dwindling until it was no more. Now stood a lush forest, tall stalks of bamboo growing from rich soil, it reminded me of stories Master Splinter would tell us about ancient Japanese warriors. It was truly beautiful.

“Is this Japan? I can’t think of any other places with bamboo forests,” I said, looking around in awe at the gorgeous scenery.

While taking in the beauty of the land I noticed a bush rustling, I was able to be greeted by a rabbit hopping out from its little hiding place. Its adorable little nose twitched as it appeared to be staring directly at me.

“Awww hey there little buddy, aren't you cute, you lost in here like me?” A smile finally graced my lips for the first time since I had been in this place.

As I said this, I squatted down, holding out my hand to pet the little bunny. I knew my hand would end up going through its body but I just couldn’t help myself, I mean look at that face! Oh so freaking cute!

Right before any of my poor aching fingertips could even scratch the furry little guy a spear came hurling in, stabbing right through the rabbit’s back and practically nailing the poor thing to the ground.

I nearly choked on my air, all I wanted to do was pet a bunny! Is that too much to ask?! Not to be traumatized every other second?! Whhhhyyyyyyyy!?

“Thank you noble spirit, your meat and fur shall not be wasted, anata no jinsei wa nani no yaku ni mo tata nakat ta desho yo.” A sudden voice spoke, deep yet tender sounded.

A man with a deep red warrior's kimono stepped forward, removing the spear from the rabbit’s body. The man appeared to be young but quite built, all his jet black hair tied up into a neat bun, and deep chestnut brown eyes closed to pay respects to his fallen prey.

With one last bow of his head, he picked up his kill and began to start walking back the way he came. I decided to follow, because who knew if I’m seeing this guy in Zadicus’s soul he might have been important.

I followed close behind, only to almost run into his back as he suddenly came to an unexpected halt. The man gazed around, eyes narrowing with focused caution. Following his eyes and listening close I could hear a raspy strangled sob.

“That doesn’t sound like an animal…”.

Taking some twine he wrapped it around his kill’s neck and tied it to the rope-like belt under his waist strap. Once he had done that, he grasped his spear in both hands and ran towards the noise, gracefully weaving his body around the bamboo trees without so much as a peep.

I had to ignore the itching feeling to reach for my nunchucks, because not only did I not have my nunchucks on me but I knew they wouldn’t be of any use here. This whole situation screamed danger to my ninja senses.

When I caught up to the man, I found him taking cover behind a large bush. He peered over to look into a small clearing in the bamboo, amongst the clearing was a large cage, like the kind you would use to contain a bear.

The distressing sobs only seemed to grow louder, and the hiccuped words in between them started to sound more coherent.

“W-what am I g-gonna do?! Voici comment jemourir!” The familiar voice cried out.

“Wait…is that…Felix?!”.

The man’s eyes widened when he heard the voice, hurrying toward the cage. Pushing back the shrubbery he came face to face with Felix, who might I add, looked like a total wreck. The poor guy was battered and bruised, leaves and twigs sticking out of his matted hair.

“Ah?!” Felix jumped in surprise, his back hitting the wall of the cage.

“Hey hey, it’s alright, I will not hurt you, my friend, are you alright?” The man spoke calmly, crouching beside the cage to be at eye level with Felix.

“No I’m not alright, a monster has me trapped in here, please help me. He’ll be back any minute now,” Felix whispered to the man with panic swirling in his tired green eyes.

“Do not worry my friend, I will free you from this horrid containment. The temple is not far from here, we will be safe there.” He said as he quickly went to work trying to open the cage.

“Temple? What’s a temple?” Felix asked, watching the man using his spear to break the lock on the cage door.

The man took a moment, focusing on the lock before answering him. “A temple is a sacred place, the temple I speak of is called the Shrine of Chiyu. I am tasked to be its guardian and protect it and those who seek its shelter.”.

Finally, the lock broke, falling to the ground allowing the man to open the cage holding his hand out for Felix to take. Felix gladly took the hand, letting it pull him up to his feet.

With that, the man walked Felix away from the awful cage, letting the other lean on his shoulder for support. I followed close behind hoping they would make it back to this temple safely.

“What is your name? As much as I would like to call you by ‘friend’ it would be rather improper of me to go along not knowing your name.”.

“Oh, my name is Felix, Felix Dupont.” The blonde introduced himself to his not yet introduced savior.

“Ah, a nice name, yes, I am Kenzou Masahiro. It is quite the pleasure to meet you, though I wish it were under better circumstances.” The man finally introduced himself, a kind smile stretching across his strong-featured face.

“Now, tell me about this monster you said trapped you.” Kenzou gave him a firm yet concerned look as he continued to steady the injured man’s balance.

Felix shivered as his mind was brought back to Zadicus, his eyes drifting lower. “He stole me away after he burnt my village to the ground…”.

“What kind of man would do such a thing…”.

“But that’s the thing, he isn’t a man, he’s a monster a real monster! He towers over buildings, his body covered in scales, teeth sharper than I’ve ever seen, and giant wings that take him to the skies! He is no man…he is a beast.” Felix described Zadicus the best he could, the horror of the memories swirling around in his eyes.

Felix stared back into Kenzou’s eyes, reflecting his concern and surprise by what he had just heard from the other.

“You don’t believe me do you?....”.

“Of course, I believe you, what you have described has struck fear into your heart. Something capable of that surely is something formidable, I will protect you from this beast, that I promise” Kenzou took the other’s hand, giving it a supporting squeeze.

Soon after crossing a new hidden path, we found ourselves at this gorgeous structure, I assume this was the temple Kenzou was talking about.

It was constructed with stone bricks, many of them having been given chiseled designs. There were five towers, one at each corner and one very tall tower in its center. Raining down from the tallest tower was a beautiful water feature, pouring water down into the temple. Along with that, there were the prettiest flowers and plants I had ever seen planted around the temple, even growing along its walls.

“Woahhh..” I was in awe of the temple, never in my life did I think I’d see such a place like this.

“Oh my goodness, this place is…beautiful.” Felix too was in a state of wonderment.

“Ah yes, most are captivated by Chiyu’s beauty at first sight.” Kenzou smiled as he led Felix up the steps.

“Who is Chiyu? If I may ask.” He asked Kenzou as he gazed around at the beautiful plants weaving their vines around the temple walls.

“Chiyu was once a mystical healer, she healed all, from battle wounds to deathly ailments. No one knew how she was able to do such a feat, but one would say her very essence was a healing element in itself. So before she died she turned her home into a spring, a spring that would heal those once she was gone.” Kenzou spoke, and every word leaving his mouth held a strong grip on me and Felix’s ears.

“Sounds like she was a real wonder.”.

“She was, she was my great grandmother, and if she were here now she wouldn’t want me to keep running my mouth while your hurt, lets get you in the spring,” Kenzou said as they made it to the top of the steps.

Inside the temple was just as he said it was, it was a hot spring. The pool of sparkling water was shaped to look like a giant lotus flower, pink petals fell into the water with the pouring water from the ceiling. I’m not sure how the spring was able to remain hot but it was giving comforting whisps of steam. The inner walls were a light cyan color with pink, blue, and gold patterns lining the top and bottom of the walls, and gemstones cut in different shapes decorated the floor surrounding the spring.

“I can bring you a change of clothes unless you’d like to keep yours after soaking.”.

“Oh, I can just keep mine for after, I don’t wanna be a bother.” Felix’s pale cheeks gave off an embarrassing red glow.

“Nonsense, hospitality is important, how about I just wash your clothes for you to wear later? I am happy to do so.” Kenzou went on, pulling Felix over to a fold-out changing screen.

“Alright just uh, careful with the gloves please, my Maman made them for me,” Felix said, changing out of his clothes behind the screen and handing them to Kenzou.

“You go ahead and step into spring, I’ll go take these to the washing room,” Kenzou told him, stepping away into a room adjacent to the spring room.

“Well he’s cool isn’t he- AH!! Give a turtle a warning dude!!” I exclaimed, smacking my hands over my eyes. I was not expecting to turn over and see Felix naked, I had thought he was already in the water.

Thank goodness when I removed my hands from my face the world began to change again. When the environment around me finished fading I found myself once again in front of the temple. Only now Kenzou and Felix who was now fully dressed again were sitting on the steps eating something.

“Mmmmm, what is this stuff called again? It’s delicious.” Felix asked after slurping up a few thick noodles from his bowl.

“It's called Udon, very good, I know” Kenzou chuckled as he watched Felix eat from his bowl like a starving dog.

“You haven’t eaten in many days, yes? Would you like another helping?”.

“Yes I would very much please,” Felix stated, nodding quickly at the question.

“What kind of meat is this? It’s very tender.” Felix asked, taking a bite of the meat from his second bowl of Udon.

“It's hare meat, I caught it in the forest just before finding you,” Kenzou replied, eating from his bowl.

“Yeah, he stabbed it right in front of my face!” I exclaimed yet still knowing they couldn't hear me as I waved a hand in front of my face.

“So tell me more about this place you come from, France it’s called, yes?” Kenzou leaned back into the stairs, ready to hear more of the distant land. I guess Felix told him a few things while he was in the spring.

“Oh well it’s different from here, we don’t have these tall, thin, green trees though they are quite lovely. I do still miss the meadow of wildflowers that surrounds my village, and the babbling brook where I would sit and watch the goats.” Felix gave a content sigh as he thought of his home in France.

“It sounds like a wonderful place to live, as soon as we are sure you are safe from that monster I will find a way to get you back home.”.

“Thank you so much, I don’t understand why your doing all this for me though. You have been nothing but generous and kind, how can you so easily take people in to help?” Felix asked, he looked at the man with a perplexed yet impressed expression.

“Well, I just enjoy helping others I guess. I’ve never really thought about it, being able to lift something off someone's shoulders or make someone's day just a bit better always makes me feel better as well. In a way helping others feels like it's my purpose in life, to protect, and shelter.” Kenzou explained thoughtfully, his eyes turning up to gaze at the passing clouds in the sky.

“You might just be the noblest person I’ve ever met…” Felix blinked at him seeming in awe of his answer.

Kenzou was about to say something else until his attention was drawn back to the forest of bamboo. His stare turned narrow as he sat up on the temple steps, slowly and cautiously he got onto his feet never tearing his gaze away from the trees.

“Kenzou? Is something wrong?” Felix gave a concerned look, swiveling his head back and forth from where Kenzou was looking to back at Kenzou.

“Yes, very wrong…” He whispered reaching to the side and grabbing his spear.

We all stood there in silence, I too started to feel what Kenzou was sensing. It was like a cloud of suspense and dread was creeping up my back, and I just knew it had to deal with a certain someone.

As if on cue a deep growl rumbled from the forest trees. Deep yellow eyes began to open one at a time in the darkness that the canopy of tree leaves provided, they continued until all six stared back at us. Bits of sharp teeth and blue scales were seen from the illumination of his horrifying eyes, you could see as he dragged his long green tongue along his sharp teeth like a wolf ready to devour some unsuspecting sheep.

“Oh s’il vous plaît non…” Felix uttered, unable to stop the bowl from slipping from his poor shaking hands.

“Well looky look what we have here. I’ve been looking all over for you, you know you had me worried there.” Zadicus finally spoke, that sickly soothing-sounding voice spilling from his venomous mouth.

With that Zadicus stepped forward out of the darkness, revealing himself to Kenzou and Felix. Kenzou looked at the crazed beast in shock before quickly stepping in front of Felix, his weapon drawn ready to defend his new friend.

“You will leave at once, you are not welcome here,” Kenzou said aloud, his voice firm and demanding.

“Awww I’m not? And here I thought all were welcome in this place of healing.” Zadicus replied mockingly, placing a clawed hand on his hip with a smirk.

“Chiyu’s doors are closed to those of blood-stained hands, so go now or prepare to be cut down multiple sizes,” Kenzou said, spinning the spear expertly in his hands.

“See what you're about to make me do Felix? Because you decided to run off with some stranger I now have to get my hands dirty. But this can be quick if you make it easy and come here, your new little friend doesn’t have to die, but that can always be arranged.” Zadicus said to Felix, his tone turning condescending and pretentious.

“He does not answer to you Beast, he is not your prisoner to manipulate.” Kenzou barked back, taking a step back to push Felix back up the steps.

“Felix, I’m giving you one last chance to come forth and give yourself up, don’t be a dummy. You’re a logical boy, there are two simple options. You come back to me and no one gets hurt or you stay there like a useless baby and I rip his spine out from his throat.” Zadicus growled, stepping closer, each of his steps leaving an indent in the ground.

Felix looked back and forth between Zadicus and Kenzou, panic drenching him in sweat. It was a stressful standoff, Felix didn’t want to see his new friend be ripped to shreds but he also didn’t want to just hand himself over to be a prisoner again.

“Do not listen to him my friend, he may believe he has the upper hand with brute strength. But he has not accounted for the warrior he dares to cross.” Kenzou glared, not daring to stop staring down his soon-to-be opponent.

“Hmf fine, if that's how you want to be, don’t start crying when his limp body hangs from my teeth,” Zad growled, getting down onto all fours before letting out a ground-shaking roar.

Quick as a beat Zadicus leaped over, snapping his jaws of razor-sharp teeth ready to sink them into Kenzou. Only for the unexpecting beast to slam face first into temple steps, with the grace that would make a ballerina see green Kenzou had spun out of the way pulling Felix into his arms like he weighed nothing.

“Stay back, I will take care of him.” Kenzou huffed, setting Felix back on his feet.

A rageful rumbling could be heard spilling from Zadicus’s throat as he removed himself from the stairs, bits of rubble falling from his face. His eyes once again narrowed, his wings folding in as he darted toward Kenzou once again.

Kenzou took his chance, barreling forward, and vaulted over the beast using Zadicus’s snout as leverage. Drawing back his spear, he dug the end of its blade into Zadicus’s back as he slid down past his tail.

Zadicus let out an excruciating cry, whipping his tail out just before Kenzou could clear off. The strength of the sudden movement had shot the warrior at the temple wall. I couldn’t stop myself from wincing at this, I could hear the cracks in both the wall and his body.

“You worthless little rat. You will pay for that!” Zad snapped as small whisps of smoke started to pour from his nostrils.

“Kenzou watch out!!” Felix called out to the injured man.

His call was able to reach his ears, warning him of the incoming blast of fire. He was barely able to roll out of the way, but that didn’t stop the fire from consuming plants growing along the temple walls.

“NO!!” Kenzou exclaimed, seeing the flames starting to grow and travel to the other plants.

He quickly got up, running past the blazing plants and up the partially broken stairs. His eyes were full of panic and growing fear, swiftly he grabbed a bucket from somewhere in the spring. Desperately he used the spring water to try and put out the fire, hoping it wouldn’t spread into the shrine.

Seeing this caused a deep mocking laugh to erupt from Zadicus, watching as Kenzou scrambled to try and protect his great-grandmother’s legacy. He turned back to Felix, a sly grin growing along his lizard-like face.

“You see, my dear Felix? He doesn’t care about you, pesky little humans only care for their interests.” He spoke in a condescending tone, stepping over to the man who appeared as though he was about to have a panic attack.

Felix’s eyes glossed over with tears, staring at the shrine starting to catch flame much like his village back home. The images of his people screaming and running for their lives started playing in his head. His entire body shaking in tremors, falling back he desperately tried to scramble away from the horrible beast.

“I do love you, Felix, I do. But you broke a serious rule, and that cannot go without punishment, it just sets a bad example. You understand, right?” He loomed over the poor young man, raising his hand with claws outstretched.

I felt my breath hitch, I wanted to look away but I just couldn’t. My mind was a frazzled scrambling mess thinking of what was about to happen, and how this was gonna stick with me. I was about to witness the scarring and or potential murder scene of some traumatized french dude.

Just as those horrifyingly sharp claws were about to pierce through Felix’s skin a flash of light came between the two along with a loud clashing noise.

When the light cleared there stood Kenzou, the metal coating around the shaft of his spear pushing back against Zad’s clawed hand. Kenzou’s eyes filled with vengeful fury, his split lip still bleeding from his previous injury.

With one last look of rage at the surprised beast, Kenzou twisted the spear around pushing its blade into his shoulder. Which caused Zadicus to falter back in his state of shock, taking the spear with him and trying to rip it out.

“Are you alright Felix? Are you hurt?” Kenzou turned back to him, holding out a hand to pull him back to his feet.

“Y-yes I’m fine..T-thank you, what about you? Are you hurt? Did he nick you?” Felix asked, concern filling his voice as he examined his savior.

“Oh no, I’m fine, not to worry. Not a scratch.” Kenzou gave a supportive smile, not noticing his hair-band snapping and letting down his long jet-black hair.

“Oh uh, your…uh.” Felix awkwardly tried to gesture to his hair.

“What?” Kenzou blinked.

“N-nothing, never mind, don’t worry about it…”.

“You nauseating little vermin spawn, shouldn’t you be focused on saving your precious temple.” Zadicus huffed in annoyance, his teeth gritting together.

“Chiyu’s blessings shall protect the temple, my purpose is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. I refuse to let you harm my friend, if I get hurt while providing such protection then so be it. One is nothing without honor, and I will uphold.” Kenzou declared, his voice proud and firm as he stood his ground.

Zadicus was going to retaliate maybe with some form of taunting but once again the world started to freeze and buffer.

“It's happening again, what is this?” I looked around trying to figure out what was going on until my eyes landed on Kenzou once again.

Kenzou who was frozen much like the rest of the world was changing as the world buffered. His long jet-black hair shifted into a braided deep maroon with little strands left out like bangs. Not only that but his brown eyes flickered and changed into a soft seafoam green. This new form appeared more tan, more scars littering his muscle-toned arms.

“What the…there it goes again, who are these people? Why is Zadicus seeing them like this?” I said to myself, the more I watched the more these questions keep piling up.

It was the same as before, everything was frozen except for me and Zadicus. I understood I was seeing this from Zad’s eyes, his expression refashioned to a more confused and intrigued look. He too was trying to understand what was going on.

When the world was set back to normal the two humans were staring at Zadicus like something was wrong, well more wrong than seeing a dragon walking and talking like a dude.

“What?” Zadicus looked back at them, confused by the looks they were giving him.

“You were just standing there with this surprised look on your face for like 20 seconds straight, I thought you were about to pass out…” Felix blinked, his expression appearing more concerned than frightened.

“Yeah, is that like a normal thing for you? You might wanna get checked out.” Kenzou nodded.

“I am of perfect health, so shut up. But my plans appear to have shifted a bit, so congratulations I’m not going to kill you, yay.” He exclaimed, making jazz hands to punctuate his celebratory congratulations.

“Your plans?...”.

“Yes, hooray for you, everyone is happy. Even better, since you don’t wanna leave Felix you get to come with him, ain’t that fun.” Zadicus chuckled, zipping over in the blink of an eye and scooping the two up in his clawed hands.

“Agh! No, let us go or I’ll- ACK!!” Kenzou yelled, only to cry out as Zad squeezed his poor victim’s waist like a stress toy.

“See where yelling and fighting back gets you? Now we have a long trip ahead of us so don’t argue, please. Family road trips are always so stressful when siblings start fighting.”.

“What are you even talking about?!” Felix huffed as he kicked back and forth trying to free himself.

“He’s i-insane…” Kenzou groaned in pain.

“Now now, name calling is how it starts, we will be having none of that. How about you take a nap, you seem a bit fatigued.” Zadicus crooned with his sickly sweet tone, his wings outstretched ready to take flight.

With that, the world began to stutter and fade away into a new environment. Now it appeared we were in a small clearing surrounded by tall dark oak trees, the sky shrouded in a blanket of darkness with the glimmering stars dancing across the sky. Now it would have been a lovely little area if not for the fact that Felix and Kenzou were tied to trees like bear bait. Kenzou was desperately trying to break out of his restraints while Felix was slowly descending into a state of madness.

“What the shell is Zadicus doing with them?...” I felt a lump starting to form in my throat, worry and dread starting to wriggle their way into my brain.

“Kenzou I’m scared…” Felix whispered, tears starting to form in his fear-stricken eyes.

“I know you are, just try and stay calm. I will figure out a way out of this…” Kenzou replied, his voice soft and comforting.

Before anything else could have been said and done Zadicus made his appearance, gliding in gracefully on his large feet like some perky dancer who just got their big break. “I’m back my darling little brothers, and I finally got everything we need!”.

“Like we’ve been saying since we got here, we are not your brothers!!” Kenzou snarled, his nose scrunched in disgust.

“We are brothers my sweet little Devdan, and soon this little attitude problem of yours will be nipped in the bud.” Zad rolled his eyes as if Kenzou was some kind of toddler having a tantrum.

“Huh? Who is Devdan?” Kenzou questioned, looking concerned maybe thinking he had kidnapped yet another person.

This only made Zadicus laugh. “You’re Devdan, silly, it's your new name. Isn’t it lovely?”.

“My name is not Devdan!” Kenzou growled, his arms seething as his fists clenched tightly in anger.

“Wait…Why is Zadicus calling him Devdan? Devdan is-.”.

“Hush hush my dear brother, we are working on a bit of a time crunch here. The sooner this is done our family we’ll finally be complete!” Zad declared triumphantly with a mad grin plastered to his scaly face.

“Nous ne sommes pas une famille vous le bâtard malade!” Felix yelled, the other two clearly didn’t understand what he had said but it was clear he was frustrated with Zadicus’s words.

“Sorry, Reath, but I don’t quite understand what you said.” Zadicus shrugged off Felix’s yell, starting to walk around the trees with a piece of chalk.

“I said we are not family you sick bastard, and my name is not Reath!”.

Zadicus continued to ignore him, drawing circles and symbols around both Felix and Kenzou. He did this so nonchalantly, even bringing himself to hum as if he were just doing common household chores.

“There we go, now for the candles.” Zad gave a happy chortle, clapping his hands together like an excited schoolgirl.

As Zadicus began to set out these candles my mind began to swarm with what I had just seen before this. When Ursa was lighting those blue candles and drawing with the chalk, all the talk of sacrificing innocent people to create…monsters.

I felt myself swivel backward, my eyes bulging wide open when I saw it. There laying on a large rock was that book, the very same book Ursa had used…why did Zad have it?! He saw the evil it caused firsthand…wait, please don’t tell me he was going to do what I thought he was gonna do.

I could see the dim warm lights growing behind me, my shadow growing with it along the wet grass. I almost didn’t wanna look back, I knew what he was going to do, it all made sense now. Everything I’ve seen was leading up to this moment, and all for what? So I could see a lost part of Zadicus?

His voice came out booming over the quiet landscape, nothing but his prideful chants and horrified cries of his bound victims could be heard in the now sinister forest.

“Brought new fate, sealed with wax, shape these bodies for brand new acts. Monstrous creatures who lurk in the dark, open your arms and let you mold all but their hearts!!”.

I felt like I was going to throw up my hands racing to cover my mouth. All I could do was stand there listening to the deafening cries of Felix and Kenzou, pleading for their very lives. My heart ached but I couldn’t muster even a single word let alone a single utterance.

“W-WHATS GOING ON?! MAMAN!! PAPA!! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP, MAKE IT STOP!!” Felix sobbed, I could hear the slushing of the goopy wax climbing over him, getting closer and closer to his mouth.

“NO NO!! CHIYU HAVE MERCY!! I C-CAN’T MOVE!!” Kenzou screamed, his voice choking and sputtering on his own saliva.

I don’t know why but I looked back, I dared to look back at the horrific sight. Kenzou was drowning, his back seizing and shaking, desperately trying to bring himself above the still-moving red wax that continued to swallow him whole. Felix had barely a second left to let out one last heart-wrenching sob as the purple candle wax poured into his mouth, no doubt encasing him from the inside out.

“From living bodies to wistful spirits, succumb to thy transformations, heed these words with bated breath, let these creatures rise from death!”

As those words left his mouth, the wax that had already molded itself into quite familiar shapes began to harden and crack. Delicately carved details began to chip away and reveal their fleshy scaly counterparts, living breathing skin lay waiting behind its hardened prison.

“Minds locked like ivory towers, memories tainted by my power. Your new forms with these minds may keep old traits now with my words I seal your fates!” Zadicus cackled, a yellow glow seeping through the veins in his arms leading up to his eyes.

All at once, the hardened wax shattered, leaving behind these new unconscious beastly bodies slumped against their respective trees. The clothes they once wore now lay ripped apart and scattered across the forest floor.

“It’s done…it’s finally done.” Zadicus let out a breathy chuckle, falling to his knees in exhaustion.

“It will all have been worth it, they’ll see…” The giggling monster gasped, his hand reaching toward the newly transformed Kenzou’s face.

“I won’t let anything happen to you ever again…” He grazed his clawed thumb over his cheek, gazing longingly at the two unconscious counterparts.

“No one will ever take you from me again…” Zadicus slowly dragged himself between the two. Once settled he reached over, pulling the two into his hold hugging them close to his sides.

“We’ll finally be a family again…” He whispered finally drifting into a quiet slumber.

“Oh, Zadicus….What have you done…”.

Chapter 22: The Choice of Change

{Mikey’s POV}

I could feel my heart hammering against my chest like a heavy drum. The screams of Felix and Kenzou still burn in my ears. I knew that they were once humans, but witnessing the transformation was a completely different level. I’ve seen humans get mutated before, it’s scary, and they scream in agony. But these two died, they were given slow and underserving deaths to fulfill Zadicus’s desires.

Laying there on the ground my body refused to move, I don’t think I wanted to anyway. After seeing all of this I just wanted to sleep for a week, but resting can come later. Now I have to find a way out of Zadicus’s soul or mindscape, whatever this place was.

Taking a deep breath I opened my eyes once again, only now the sky was blue. Oh, it was daytime now and green grass was grazing over my skin.

I tried to sit myself up but still, my body dismissed my efforts. My body was suddenly shot with the feeling of fatigue, my body withering as a distant nagging tingling clutched at my limbs. I felt like I was experiencing some extreme dé·jà Vu.

Before I could even respond to once again being in this position, another set of voices came along. The voices came closer and closer until three tall, looming figures trudged themselves up the hill.

“I can’t believe after so long another human has finally passed through the door. Oh, this is going to be so much fun, it’s been so long since we’ve had someone to play with!”.

Oh god, I knew that sinisterly sing-song tone from anywhere.

“Can you not talk for like five minutes, you can talk the human’s ears off all you want later…”.

“Both of you hush, we should be nearing the sniveling little monster now-.” The last voice trailed off.

Standing before me were none other than Reath, Devdan, and Zadicus. They stood over my trembling body with perplexed looks, as if they had stumbled upon something new and unfamiliar.

“What is it?” Reath was the first to move around to get a better look at me.

“Is it dead?” Devdan spoke up, raising an odd expression.

“It’s not dead you idiots, it’s clearly breathing,” Zadicus growled in frustration, pinching the bridge of his snout.

“You wanna start something smartass?!”.

Devdan was quickly shut up by the dangerous stare Zadicus sent, turning his head low with a grumble.

I felt myself slowly tune out of the conversation they started having, or I guess it was a fight since they started swatting at each other and growling. I let myself start to slowly dissociate from this messed-up reality only to be snapped back into place by a sudden painful sound ripping from my throat.

“H-Hello?”.

Oh jeez, it felt like I had just puked up acid. I didn’t even mean to say anything, but it was like an involuntary thing. What I wasn’t expecting though was for them to hear me, and I knew they could hear me by the way they turned down to look at me.

“Oooo it talked, did you hear that?! Can we keep it, Zad?!” Reath suddenly scooped me up like I was some kind of stray kitten.

“I would have thought you wanted to butcher it up like any other human,” Devdan said, poking my cheek as I dangled in the deranged purple lizard’s hold.

“But this thing isn’t a human…” Zadicus’s voice was low and sullen, the beast holding out his hand as if to say ‘give me it’.

Reath and Devdan exchanged looks before obediently handing me over to the awful creature. His entire hand wrapping around my body quite easily, he stared down at me like he was trying to peer into my soul.

His other hand traces down from my neck to my plastron, each of his eyes looking me up and down examining me.

“I’ve never seen something quite like this before…” I heard him mutter quietly.

“You know, it looks quite similar to us. Do you think the humans might have thrown it in here as they did to us?” Reath pondered aloud, which seemed to catch Zadicus’s attention.

“Doesn’t look strong like us though, something tiny like this can’t cause too many problems for those little meat bags,” Devdan replied, pointing out the comparison of my stature to theirs.

Zadicus continued to stare at me, the feeling of dread starting to creep up my throat slowly suffocating me in suspense. Only then a light flickered in those horrible eyes, some kind of twisted thought had popped into his mind.

“It seems as though you're right, Devdan, something as small and fragile as this couldn’t possibly bring much trouble to those pesky humans…but the way I see it, he just hasn’t finished growing yet.”.

What? What did he mean by that?

“What?” Devdan and Reath said at once, perplexed by what had left their older brother’s mouth.

“You see my dear brothers, we may be big and strong. But that’s because we are grown, we are mature adults. This tiny thing here however is not, there for what does that make it?” He strung them along, turning to them and awaiting an answer.

“....A child?”.

“Correct! A child, but not just any child. A baby, a sweet precious baby! Those humans probably found it and didn’t want to have another ‘us’ happen.” Zadicus exclaimed, his mood lifting in a concerningly fast way.

“Why are you suddenly so excited about this?” Devdan said, concern and confusion clear on his tongue.

“Don’t you see, we have been given a gift. A brand new baby brother or sister, whatever it is I can’t exactly tell right now.” He was positively giddy, adjusting me so I lay more comfortably in his arms.

“A new sibling?” Reath suddenly perked up.

“Imagine all the fun things we could do! We could make pillow forts, teach them things, sneak treats, and sing lullabies!” He cooed over the mental images that no doubt started to play in his head.

“That’s right Reath, this sweet little thing is exactly what our little family needed…” Zadicus grinned staring down at me.

I wish I could have moved, pulled away, punched, yell, or anything. But no my body still refused to listen to my brain. Everything around me was freezing up and buffering but I couldn’t even look past these three to see what was changing.

Every time this frozen shuddery thing happens something changes, or more precisely someone changes. But I couldn’t see anything, that is until I looked back into Zad’s eyes.

I could see my reflection in them.

Was that my reflection? That's not what I look like. Normally when I look at myself in the mirror I see a height-challenged freckled mutant turtle. I never recall ever seeing this.

I was a baby, a literal baby!

My reflection was that of a small tan-skinned human baby. Tufts of curly chocolate brown hair stuck to my head, and sunkissed freckles splashed across my face and body. My eyes looked more or less the same, large baby blue eyes stared back at me in shock.

Why was I a baby in his eyes?! He saw me change the same way he saw Felix and Kenzou change.

“Aren't you just perfect?” Zadicus cooed, lifting me into the air with a little spin in his step.

“I haven't seen you this excited in a long time, you actually want to take care of a baby? They can be quite fussy, and you don’t have the highest tolerance for being annoyed.” Devdan piped up, watching his older brother warily.

“What? Would you expect me to leave a poor innocent infant out here to starve to death?” The older creature replied, quirking a nonexistent eyebrow.

“Of course not, I just…didn’t think you’d be to… never mind.” Dev sighed, awkwardly rubbing his arm to express his discomfort.

“Are you sure it’s even a baby, Zad? Look what it’s wearing, I don’t think babies wear equipment like that, do they?” Reath said, slithering behind Zadicus poking at my belt and nunchucks.

“Hmf fine, if you don’t want a new sibling then I’ll just have to dispose of it. Can’t get attached can we?” He huffed, pushing his purple brother to the side.

Before I could even dare breathe, the crazed lizard lifted me into the air by the back of my shell. Dangling me above his head, I had an unfathomably horrifying view of the deranged Zadicus opening his razor-sharp teeth-filled jaws. They spread so vast it was well enough to say they had unhinged.

Was he about to eat me?!

No no no, I couldn’t even fight back or beg for mercy. My body lay limp in his hold, none of my efforts to squirm away were met with success.

“Wait wait, we didn’t say that! Of course, we want a new sibling!” Devdan scrambled forward to his older brother, waving his hands about to grab his attention.

“Yeah yeah, we already love them sooooo much!” Reath exclaimed a panicked look etched on his face.

“See, was it so hard to say that?” He chuckled, lowering me away from his mouth’s reach.

Mentally a let out a breath of relief, I mean it was clear that I would have survived. But it is still nerve-wracking to know just how close I was to being eaten earlier without even knowing.

“Now how about we go back to the palace and get our new precious baby in a room to sleep? I’m thinking, maybe one of our old guest rooms. Afterward, you can have at it with decorating and making all we need, Reath. Does that sound fun?” He grinned, shifting me into his arms so I was pressed against his chest.

The two let out a relieved breath at Zadcius’s redirection of calmness. They began trudging to follow their older counterpart as he began walking back toward the castle.

“Yes, that does sound like fun. I can’t wait to get to crafting! Oh, we’ll need bottles, blankies, toys, a crib, a playpen, a highchair, and maybe a changing station! This is going to be absolutely wonderful!” Reath exclaimed, a bubbly tune playing on his tongue as he listed off the items.

“That’s the spirit! Did you hear that, baby? We’re going to make you feel right at home here. Boop!” Zad grinned, reaching down and poking my face.

“What are we gonna call it?” Devdan asked, looking past Zadicus to see me.

“Once the sweet little thing wakes up we can figure that out.”.

After returning inside, Zadicus shooed his brothers away to go prepare. Now he was alone carrying me up to that tower, his gaze falling over me in a sinisterly gleeful expression.

“You, you are just a gift from above aren’t you?” He spoke softly, letting a thumb graze over my freckled cheek.

“I always thought something was missing, time with my dear brothers was wearing thin. With human interaction at an all-time low, they start falling to previous ideals.” He sighed, looking ahead with a numb-eyed stare.

“You know, sometimes humans would carelessly push forward after finding our door, adventurers, explorers, archeologists. Before that, they sacrificed their kind to us, forcing them to pass through the door. Truly disgusting creatures they are, so high and mighty yet they turn on each other the moment there is a threat to their tiny worldview.” Zadicus continued speaking, his voice lacing itself with hatred and anger.

“But the few goods that came from them still held that horrible outer flesh. That disgusting sack of skin, the features of those barbaric creatures that knew no bounds of treachery. Fortunately, those are merely cosmetic, changeable…”.

He slowly turned his gaze back to me, lifting me closer just at his neck so he could lay his head atop mine.

“But you? Oh, not you. You came out perfect, no changes are needed. No late nights with that awful book, no gathering of special ingredients, no casting of final breaths…just perfection.” Zadicus whispered, his breath dragging over the top of my head.

I couldn’t help but shudder, Zadicus sounded downright obsessed. Words could not escape my lips already, but what words could be said anyway? How any other person in my place would react I have no idea.

“I can see it now, a happy perfect family finally complete. All because of you, my little miracle.” He cooed, pushing a door open and entering a familiar room.

“This is going to be your room, baby. The highest room in the tallest tower, a precious gem sealed away in its comfy case. A shield to those who wish to steal you from us, from me.” His lips curled in an unsettling smirk as he took in the old room.

“Now let's get you into bed, once you are good and rested we can get to having family fun.” Chuckling he carried me toward the bed in the center of the room.

Pushing back the canopy curtains, he laid me down on the plush pink bed. Tucking me in, he began to hum quietly to himself.

Zadicus sat by my side, his hand resting on the top of my head. Humming some sort of song to himself, deep in his thoughts as he stared down at me. For once his gaze wasn’t terrifying, it was soft, almost comforting.

“Sleep well, my sweet child…”.

A bright light began to invade my vision, and the tingling slowly faded. Ever so carefully I started to flex my fingers, getting a grip on my ability to move once again. My brain was fuzzy, my body loopy as I tried to stand and regain my balance.

The world was a long vastness of endless white, clouds of mist swirling around my ankles. Looking down I could see the floor beneath my feet appeared to be some kind of ocean, with ripples forming with every step I took. My first thought was “Oh god, I really must be dead this time.”.

“Help them…”.

Whirling around I looked back and forth for the sudden voice, it sounded like it was right behind me but no one was there.

“Hello? Who’s there? Bowie, is that you?”.

But Bowie nor anyone else responded, I was worried. Was this just it for me? Did going into Zadicus’s soul take too much time?

“Michelangelo…”.

As I turned this disembodied voice finally revealed itself, or at least I think it did. Three balls of light floated above me, each a different color, violet, light green, and baby blue.

“Woah, who are you?” I took a cautious step back as I craned my neck up to look at the colorful lights.

“You must help them, Michelangelo.” Another voice spoke, and as it did the violet ball of light shined brighter.

“Help? Help who?”.

“The Tassellis…” Three voices said at once, one sounding much younger than the other two.

“The Tasse-what-is?” I had no clue what these lights were talking about.

“Reath.” The violet light spoke.

“Devdan.” Then the green.

“And Zadicus.” Then finally blue.

“That’s what people called them, huh, that is kinda a cool name. But that’s what I’m trying to do, Bowie told me how to save them.” I said, watching as the lights slowly lowered themselves.

“Even Zadicus?...” Green asked, gathering close to its counterparts.

“I- well…Bowie didn’t exactly mention…saving him. I don’t think they like him very much…” I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling an awkward feeling rise in my stomach.

“You have to free him as well…” Violet said calmly.

“I have to? But uh…well, I mean no offense to you guys, and I don’t know if you guys are like spirits, gods, or something. But from what I’ve seen, I don’t think freeing him would be the best idea.” going on, I hoped I hadn’t made them upset.

“You’ve been through a lot in so short of time, this we know, Michelangelo.” Violet started.

“But Zadicus’s mind is clouded, a once caring and loving man is now a host to darkness. Forgiveness of his acts is not what we ask for, only the help to bring back one lost goodness to the world.” Green continued, following Violet in turn.

“One light that will stop the continuance of this line of torture, sorrow, and rage. Help us put it to an end, please.” Finally Baby Blue finished.

I didn’t know how to respond, it seems that with every turn I take I gain new conflicting information. Zadicus was a crazed lunatic, but who he was, Icarus… Icarus was just a man trying his best to raise his little brothers. Driven mad by a woman who used him and killed his brothers in cold blood, she utterly destroyed his life. Then you look at all that Zadicus has done, he destroyed others' lives as well, he tore down villages and ripped apart families. He forced upon two innocent souls the same fate he endured and then brainwashed them into being his family.

More and more I thought. After changing Felix and Kenzou they became Reath and Devdan, then came new issues. Reath struggling to appease his new older brother became confused and insane, he would go against himself to rip apart humans for Zadicus’s amusement. Devdan grew to feel he wasn’t enough like his strength was all he was useful for, he became depressed and angry, giving up all efforts to try to protect himself.

The circle just kept going round and round. Now that I was part of the picture, they smothered all of what had been pent up onto me. Realizing it or not they had been torturing me just as they had been. Ursa hurts Zadicus, Zadicus hurts all those people, he then hurts Reath and Devdan, they start hurting other humans, and now their hurting me. It’s all continuing in an endless loop.

I’ve somewhat forgiven Reath and Devdan, they feel remorse and regret. I’ve already convinced Miori to let them try and redeem themselves out of prison. But Zadicus, if Zadicus ever got out or if anyone else went through the door again…the cycle would continue.

More people would be hurt, at this point forgiveness and redemption could be the only options. Helping him see who he once was as Icarus, Icarus wouldn’t have decimated villages or brainwashed people. Icarus was a kind soul who wanted what was best for the family he was raising.

“Michelangelo…the spell Bowie has given you, it will revert them all to their old human selves. But they will retain no memories of being The Tassellis, it will be as though nothing had ever happened. They won’t remember any events after their turning, they would forget each other and all they know now, even you will be wiped from their memories.” Violet said with a warning tone.

“Oh…”.

“But we don’t believe that’s what’s needed. We know a spell that will not change them physically, but it will bring back all the memories they had lost as humans. They’d remember their friends, their families. They’d also be able to remember all they grew to know now, use their experiences to redeem themselves.” Green continued softly.

“So they’d be able to remember all their lives before and after turning. But they would also continue living in their Tassellis bodies?”.

“Yes, though they would evermore be in those bodies, they’d remember everything…” Baby Blue said, its child-like voice sounding tired but content.

I remember Bowie telling me, he wanted Reath to have a chance at the life he had before, a chance to go out into the human world. But from what it sounds, Bowie and these guys want two separate things, but both of them have strong points.

They deserve to take back the lives they lost, but they shouldn’t just forget about all they’ve done. Forgetting would be like covering up everything that has happened, they’d be stuck in the places they last stood as humans. They would have to go through life not knowing what happened to their families, or their homes, only now trapped in a time that would hold back answers.

But stuck in their current forms, life would be limited for them. I mean look at my family’s life as it is, we are chased down by maniacs, we can only go out at night, and we have to hide. Hiding would be hard if you were that big, Leatherhead had trouble finding a nice place in the sewer. I don’t think after so many years of solitude they’d be keen on hiding.

“We can’t control what you do, Michelangelo,” Green said, its voice hard but comforting.

“Only guide you, we can give you the spell.” Violet continued as the three drew closer to me.

“But it’s your choice which spells to use.” Blue finished, and the three lights began to glow brighter when surrounding me.

“You want me to make that decision?”.

“Only you have the means to do this, and only you can bring forth the end of this vicious cycle,” Blue replied, beginning to circle me with the other lights.

The lights glowed bright and bright until all I could see was a swarm of violets, greens, and blues. Their words filled my ears, seeping into my brain, words that would draw questions to normal ears. Words falling alongside those golden words given by Bowie, a line drawing between them. A choice ready to be made, a choice that would impact…everything.

“Choose wisely, Michelangelo.”.

Chapter 23: Gilded Fate

{Mikey’s POV}

“Michelangelo, please my son! Wake up!”.

The air tore into my lungs with a loud gasp, it felt as though I had swallowed a bag of thumbtacks. Blurry vision was what I was greeted with when I first opened my eyes, tears pooled down my face as I desperately tried to grasp my breathing. A familiar set of hands caressed my face, running calming circles against my cheek with their thumb.

“My baby, you're ok. Your Chichi is here.” The voice cried, pulling me close into a firm chest.

“Chichi?” I blinked slowly, letting the blurriness fade from my eyes.

Above me staring down with teary eyes was Master Splinter, my Chichi, my father. His fuzzy hands held my face, craning my head so I could look up at him. “Thank the spirits you are alright..”.

“W-Where is…where is everyone?” My voice sounded awful like I had been gargling acid.

Before Splinter could say anything, a loud war cry belted through the air. Startled I looked over seeing everyone trying to take down Zadicus. Even with being this far away, I could see the fury swirling in their eyes, a deadly wave washing over the surrounding area. But no matter how much they fought Zadicus refused to go down, and bright purple liquid dripped from open wounds dragged along his body.

My mind was screaming for me to get up, and perform one of the spells. But my body just wouldn’t listen, with every effort to move came a stab of pain.

“Michelangelo, don’t, you are too injured to move.” Master Splinter said, placing a hand on my chest, trying to stop me from moving.

“I h-have to fix this, I can’t let the cycle continue…” I grit my teeth, clenching at Master Splinter’s robes, trying to pull myself upwards.

“Cycle? My son, what are you talking about?” Splinter relaxed his face, trying to give me some form of comfort.

“I can stop them, Chichi, I know how to fix everything!” I held my chest as I let out each word, every utterance taking another breath from my lungs.

“No, Michelangelo, stay down. You’re exhausted.” He tried to keep me in place, while I continued to pull myself upward.

Another piercing cry shot through the air, Zadicus had been stabbed in his shoulder blade by one of Raph’s sais. His jagged scales were broken and parted by the sai sticking out of him, purple gushing from the wound dripping down his back.

“I will rip your heart from your chest!!” Zadicus roared, swiping his arm. Catching Raph mid-air as he tried to fall back from the raging beastly form.

My heart stilled, and the world became slow. Zadicus’s outstretched claws came down closer to my big brother’s chest. Nothing could prepare my body as it flung itself forward, clutching the ground, a bubbling glow seeping through my skin.

“ZADICUS!!” I bellowed, my voice no longer just containing my own, but another. A much deeper voice was clinging to mine, the tone ringing in my ears.

When my voice reached his ears, his claws were barely inches from crossing paths with Raph’s chest. Widened yellow eyes flick toward me with wild shock and confusion.

“LEAVE THEM ALONE!!” I called out again, another scolding voice pooling into mine, joining with the first.

Zadicus’s eyes continued to stare bewildered, still caging Raph in his grasp. Everyone’s eyes were on me, the Tasselis, my friends, and my family. All were a gape, no one dares to move a muscle.

At this moment I was able to take notice of the glowing splotches and symbols appearing over my body. Bright greens, purples, and blues gleam in many shapes, a shining dance frolicking across my body in rays of luminescence.

“Mikey?!” Donnie called out in worry, trying to stand up, leaning against his bow. My purple-clad brother sporting large bruising starting to swell down his left side.

“It’s time to make your choice Michelangelo…” A small voice whispered into my ear, trying hard to be heard over the constant ringing.

Shakily I raise my hands into the air, it felt as if I had a pair of thirty-pound weights hanging from my forearms. Circulating symbols shoot out from my palms, large spell circles delicately dance across the tips of my fingers. The strange depictions twist and turn in multiple directions, color flooding through my veins and into the beautiful light.

Before anyone can even say a word, the same symbols and spell circles wrap around the arms and legs of each of the Tasselis. One at a time they were slammed into the ground, held in place by bright translucent chains.

“Mikey?! How are you doing that?!” Leo exclaimed, catching Raph as our brother fell from Zadicus’s grip.

I tried to answer him, but nothing could make it past my lips. My brain was unable to let out the words with all these new voices speaking over each other. My jaw shutters as a shimmering gold liquid begin to dribble down my mouth. I see mouths moving but no words reach my ears, the voices calling out the same words over and over.

Strange words I’ve only heard in that bizarre world between this one and the next begin to leave me in bold voluminous breaths.

“Spells of the divine that lifts the veil, give me the means to end this tale. Your power was used in an unseemly way, take back your right as their minds decay. A voice once broke their human connection, let the wax melt away, and return recollection.”.

As these words came forward, more golden dribble spilled from my lips. The shimmering liquid dripped to the ground, seeping into the dirt. Slowly glowing spirals spread from the ground like planted seeds.

In fear and confusion, everyone backed away from the spiraling gold patterns, not wanting to see what effects would take place of them if they were to get in the way. All eyes focused on me, all of which held flurries of worry and alarm.

The golden pattern grew and stretched, finding its place wrapping around the Tasselis. Cries of pain wrenched from their throats, as they clawed at anything and everything trying to get free of the burning gold slowly encasing them.

“Monstrous creatures who fell from grace, flee from their hearts, don’t leave a trace. Your presence has already left its stain, return to the shadows and dissolve their pain.”.

I call out once again, my body feels as though it’s being rocked by tremors. The numbness slowly crawled its way up my legs and into my veins spreading throughout my form. No longer could I even see my family's faces, blinding light seeped into my eyes. A melodic hum was playing in my ears, it was almost calming, like how my brothers would hum to me when we were younger. When I was afraid…when they held me close and said I would be alright, that I was safe…when I was safe.

Muttering voices leave my mouth, each speaking of a different spell. It was as if no one could make up their mind, all were trying to be heard. No longer was it just four voices arguing over one another, it was as if an entire audience was trying to speak its piece, wanting its opinion to be heard, wanting their advice to be taken.

“Free their hearts, let them be, take the darkness and let them see. Memories made in darkness let them keep, they must remember the wrongs they shall now reap.”.

After letting out that final verse my breath hitched, and the voices silenced. I finally had full control over my voice. The light faded away, and I could see once again. No longer was I outside with grass touching my toes, no family or friends, not even the giant creatures I have came to know.

No, I was now in what looked like an endless white void. There was no color or any sign of life, just white walls, white floors, and a white ceiling.

I turned my head down to examine myself. I feel my face furrow a bit as I traced my fingertips down my other arm, silently measuring the blackened sickly vein-like marks trailing my now pale green skin. These markings pooled around my limbs, arms, neck, legs, and even my face.

Normally I would feel repulsed, worried, or grossed out. But I felt nothing…like I was drained of my emotions, of my words, my expressive mannerisms. What happened to me?

“What were you thinking?!”.

Slowly I turned my head, standing behind me was Bowie. Their face twisted in anger and worry, fists clenched so hard they were shaking. The spirit was accompanied by three deeply tanned humans. Humans that I recognized from when I visited Zadicus’s memories when the world would freeze up and stutter like a broken television. One I more closely recognized as the human baby Zadicus seemed to see me as. I understood now.

“Icarus…you are Icarus’s brothers…”.

“We are…” The violet-eyed man spoke calmly, but his voice held a deep sense of sympathy.

“And you were the balls of light that spoke to me…”.

“We were…” The muscular human with green eyes nodded, holding the small child in his arms close.

“What are we doing here?...” I questioned, my voice could almost confused for a whisper.

“Waiting…” A sorrowfully sweet tone left the blue-eyed child’s mouth, eyes casting a gaze of solemnity.

“For what?...”.

“For Death!! She’s coming to take us, we are going to the ethereal plane!” Bowie scorned, pulling at their hair in frustration.

“Shouldn’t you be happy? You finally get to rest in peace…”.

“Of course, I should be! But you weren’t supposed to be coming with us. You were supposed to survive and live your life! remember what we talked about?!” They exclaimed, face turning red with irritation

“Oh, so I am dead this time…” I mumbled, lowering my gaze to the ground and staring at nothing in particular, just thinking of how my family would react.

Donnie would be scrambling, trying to save me in any possible way, CPR, shaking, pressure points, the more I would remain limp the more tears would escape. His breathing is sporadic as he flings himself onto my lifeless body. Cries of agony would be slipping from his lips and into the crisp pin prickling air.

I can see Raph, how he throws himself to the ground, slamming his fists into the dirt over and over until crimson spills against his knuckles. War-like cries whirl through the air on a breeze carrying it so all could hear the pain from miles away. Unable to fully process the sorrow with his rage bubbling in his stomach, he continues to weep.

Leo stumbles, he desperately tries to stay on his feet, but gravity triumphs over him. His knees are the first to hit the ground as he falls to my side, shaking hands grasping at my sides as he pulls me close. Desperately he tries to feel my heart beating, but no heartbeat will be present. His voice catches in his throat as tears cascade down his face, no words will make it past his lips.

Chichi, Master Splinter. The vision is clear as day, my father, holding me close to his chest. Muttering a flurry of prayers for my return, begging whoever was listening to have mercy on his youngest boy. Screaming to the sky in a gut-wrenching sob, a cry of a parent losing their child.

April and Casey cling to each other, both trying futilely to console one another. April has her hands on her mouth, face turned into Casey’s chest as she wailed. Casey bites his lip, he doesn’t want to cry in front of anyone, but the hardshell he keeps around his heart can’t help but start to shatter.

Leatherhead…oh Leatherhead. He stands there in disbelief, the Michelangelo he knows always bounces back. His best friend couldn’t be gone, he’s almost died before sure, but he’s never truly gone…he always comes back. But not this time, and he falls into a pit of his own design, not knowing how he could climb back out to the sun and surface. But what point would there be…when his sun was now gone.

“Why did you do that?! You were only supposed to do one spell! Not both, you had to make a choice! You have no experience as a magic user, doing two highly advanced spells like that is incredibly dangerous, Have you no sense of self-preservation?!” Bowie hissed, pacing back and forth along the empty void.

“Everyone wanted different things…I just wanted to make everyone happy, I wasn’t thinking about myself.” I whispered in all honesty.

Strangely, I’m usually not this honest when it comes to talking about that kind of stuff. When my brothers or father scold me for not being careful and lacking self-preservation on missions I just play it off as me being a goofball.

When you aren't feeling any emotions I suppose you are just more honest…

Bowie looked at me and back at the others, the other three returned the look with an awkward yet sympathetic look.

“Mikey, look I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be mad at you for the choice you made…you did save Reath and Dev…and Zadicus. You were asked to make a choice and you made it…we shouldn’t have been trying to take control of your choice, right guys?” Bowie continued, giving the others a warning glare.

“I uh…suppose we put a lot more pressure on you than needed…for that I apologize.” The man with violet eyes said, adjusting his glasses.

“I’m sorry Mikey, I just wanted, big brother to be happy again. I may have got carried away too…” The little child apologized, fidgeting with his small hands anxiously.

“I don’t blame any of you…I just wish I would have known that this would happen, I could have at least said goodbye to my family…”.

Bowie looked like they were about to say something, mouth opening to speak, but soon cut off by a dark looming shadow shrouding darkness over us.

Slowly turning my gaze upward I was greeted by a tall figure. The figure was clothed in a long raven purple and black cloak, sparkling purple gems, and silver chains hung from a wide-brim hat that was decorated by a white lily flower bouquet. A long elegant black train veil dragged behind the giant woman, and flowing black hair cascaded down the woman’s shoulders. The most prominent feature was the woman’s skull staring down at us with piercing amethyst eyes.

“Hello, my darlings…”.

Chapter 24: Lost without your Color

{Leo’s POV}

The blinding golden light was all I could see, my heart hammering against my chest. I stumbled, holding my hands out trying to feel for my baby brother, the last glimpse I had of him was him standing on weakened legs, shaking as a glowing aura pooled around him. Trying desperately I had tried to call out to him, all our voices falling upon him with no response.

Soon the dozens of distant voices came to a deathly silence, followed by a heavy thud. The golden light slowly fades and new voices cough and groan in exhaustion.

“W-what happened…s-something feels different…”.

Turning my gaze I was greeted by three human-like creatures lying in a pile. Slowly they rose from their positions, looking around slightly dazed.

One had light blonde hair and emerald eyes, with purple splotches of scales framing his pale skin. Sharp teeth, one of them sticking out his mouth. The tall human-like creature also had a long slender purple tail and appeared to have three arms, his top left was merely a healed stump. His body was clothed in earthy-toned old-fashioned garments, a breezy cream top paired with a brown open vest.

The shortest of the three was blowing long jet-black hair out of his face, finally revealing bright chestnut brown eyes, only one of them was severely scarred over. Scarlet red scales dotted across his tan skin and his strong-looking tail was covered in tiny black spikes. An oversized loose-fitting red kimono covered his muscular scarred body.

Then there was the last one. He had exceedingly long chocolate-brown hair and three bright yellow eyes darting around in confusion and alarm. His bronze skin was littered with greyish-blue splotches, and giant wings folded in on themselves against his back. The man was clad in a light yellow toga, accented with gold and deep sea blue, and ripped up at the bottom.

“Devy?! Is that you Kenzou…You look different Kenzou, where are we- huh?! How do I know that name, why do I know that name?! Agghhhh!! My brain hurts from all the confusion!!” The blonde exclaimed shaking his head and scrunching fists in his messy hair.

“Not to contest you my Felix, but my brain hurts from my skull changing shape…wait Felix? But you’re Reath…are you? I am baffled…I have all these new memories I don’t understand…” The man clad in the loose-fitting kimono breathed, rubbing his forehead.

The last one said nothing, slowly moving away from the two, staring bewildered and terrified. I was going to question it until I heard Master Splinter yell.

“Michelangelo!”.

Whirling around I see Mikey laying limp on the ground, the once colorful patterns that glowed against his skin now deep charcoal black, smudged and vein-like as it traveled up his limbs and face. Father was sobbing, as he continued to hold Mikey’s face, repeating CPR. No matter how many life-saving breaths Father gave, Mikey still didn’t move.

“Mikey!” “Michelangelo!” We all shrieked in terror, rushing to his side.

“Please, baby, please don’t leave me!” Father cried, continuing to try to revive the lifeless body.

“Mikey no no no, we are so close to getting home, don’t do this, don’t you dare go!” Raph’s hands balled into shaking fists, falling to his knees.

“Mikey please, please stop messing around, you're just goofing right?! RIGHT?! Please tell me this is a goof!” Donnie cries out, grasping our baby brother's hand, and putting his finger to his neck. His face goes pale when he feels no pulse.

April had toppled over into Casey, sobbing hard into his chest. Casey can’t even hold back his vocals as he sputters on choppy utterances of Mikey’s name. Both of them fell to their knees unable to keep themselves upright, clinging together with all they had.

Miori places a hand up to her mouth, turning away, a shaking hand gripping her sword. She’s muttering what sounds almost like a prayer or a plea.

Leatherhead stands there dazed, after seeing Donnie’s face and Mikey’s unmoving body. It was like his entire world was falling apart and all he could do was watch as it slipped away. Tears freely cascaded down his leathery skin, dropping onto the grass as he let out a loud sorrowful cry to the heavens.

All my emotions were swirling around in a giant pit in my stomach, they wanted to crawl up my throat, pain, heartbreak, and despair. But none of them could pass the bubbling rage building up behind my clenching teeth and pounding heart.

“YOU!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!” I roared, whirling around and pointing one of my ninjatos at that now-transformed beast who had caused my brother's downfall.

“I’LL KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!” I run at him, the cowering winged man yelps, holding up his hands trying to block the attack.

A light enveloped me only before I could land a blow, levitating me away from the man. I try to slice through what was holding me in place, but nothing worked. Turning around I could now see it was Miori using her magic to keep me from cleaving through him.

“Let me go Miori!” I yell at her, pounding my fists against the bubble I was now stuck inside.

“Leonardo…enough.” She commands, her eyes holding sympathy but her brows furrowed in vexation.

“My baby brother is gone because of him!” I yelled, continuing to bash my fists into the magic bubble.

“Gone w-what do you mean gone? Where is Mikey, is he okay-” The blonde man turned, looking past us, being greeted with the sight of Michelangelo lying lifeless in my father's arms.

“Oh, my goodness…” The man in the kimono whispered, putting his hand up to his mouth in shock.

“Miori let me out of this bubble now!!” I screamed, my fists never relenting on the repeated beating against the walls of the bubble.

“Leonardo I said enough!” Miori’s teeth clenched, her arm still trembling.

“Oh, gods…what have I done…” The winged man finally spoke, his voice whispering in a shaky worble.

The man threw himself to his knees, hacking up disgusting dark bile. His hands lifted to his hair, clenching and tugging at the brown strands as tears begin to overflow his eyes. His eyes were wild and darting upward to peer past us and to Mikey’s body. Finally, like a bursting dam, he screamed, a trembling cry breaking through the air and splitting through our ears.

“Please, release him…” He sobbed, gripping the grass like a tightening vice.

All of us stared, surprised. Zadicus’s voice was so very different, from that of a man who had replaced a once harsh tone of a monster. A sad and vulnerable man who looked as though he had walked through hell.

“Release him, so that he may finish me off!” Zadicus bawled, bowing his head to the grassy floor below us.

Miori couldn’t help but gawk, slowly lowering her sword which causes the bubble to lower as well. Once it touches the ground It dissipates, leaving me free from its entrapment.

I could feel everyone’s eyes on me as I slowly approached the toga-clad man, once again drawing my ninjatos. My heart was thumping against my chest, this would not be the first time I’d spilled blood, but it would be the first time I’d murder a man with such bubbling rage.

“You think pleading for death will make me spare you? Do you think I will take some metaphorical high ground and let you live or give you a quick painless demise?! Some trick, a disgusting creature like you would be so low to use…” I tried to keep my breathing even, I needed to think properly.

I didn’t want to make this a fast death, a quick victory for all those he had hurt, for what he did to my baby brother. He deserved a slow agonizing death, he needed to suffer for what he’s done.

With a quick raising of my leg, I brought it back down shoving him to the ground. My foot pressed against his neck, he was going to choke on his breath, just like my innocent baby brother did while that monster squeezed his poor neck…

“No, no tricks…Miche-Michelangelo did n-not deserve a-any of this…I-AcK!!” He tried to continue but I once again slammed my foot down on his throat, this time only harder.

“DO NOT SAY HIS NAME!! YOU DON’T DESERVE TO SAY IT, YOU DON’T EVEN GET TO LOOK AT HIM!!” I screamed, not realizing I had tears pouring down my face as I repeatedly slammed my foot into his neck over and over and over again.

“Leo…Leo stop.” I vaguely heard in the distance, but I didn’t listen. I threw my ninjatos to the side, reaching down I grabbed the man’s head and started to beat it into the ground, slowly starting to indent it into the dirt.

“Leo…Leo!! LEO STOP!!” Hands grabbed at my shoulders trying to rip me away from him, but I wasn’t going to stop. I couldn’t stop, not until I was able to beat this man into a puddle of blood splattered across the ground.

Blood was starting to paint my hands, everything else around me was becoming fuzzy and all noise was a distant ringing. All there was, was me and this man who I continued to edge towards an eternal dirt nap.

“LEO STOP IT, ENOUGH!!” I was then yanked away from the winged murder by my shell, and tossed backward.

Raph stood there, staring, eyes narrowed but tears still freely cascading down his cheeks. “Leo It’s over, it’s done…”.

I tried catching my breath, but turning my gaze back to the bloodied Zadicus, I could see him trembling. His hands gradually lifted to his face, his body hunching in on itself.

“It’s not over, the bastard is still alive, I’m not done until I’ve crushed his skull with my bare hands…” I spat, trudging forward to pass my brother and continue my merciless deed.

“Leo no, Mikey…Mikey wouldn’t want this!” He threw his hands up, pressing them against my plastron. Trying to keep me from going any further.

“You don’t know that!! You don’t know what Mikey would have wanted!!” I retorted smacking his hands away from me.

“ Because he’s fucking gone. Because of that monster…..because of us. If we weren’t awful jackasses he would never have even found this place. If I had just been a better…..a better big brother, we could s-still have our…our baby brother.” I started to hiccup, my body swaying as I desperately tried not to fall.

But I did fall…

I fell right into Raph’s arms.

I broke down, loud sobs ripped from my throat as I gripped my younger brother’s arms. He held me close, tightening his hold on me as his breathing also became labored with heart-wrenching sobs. Soon another pair of arms joined us, a body latching itself onto my back. I could feel the person's tears sliding down the back of my neck and to my shell. I didn’t need to turn around to know it was Donnie, his shuttering breaths caught against my skin while he muttered through desperate cries.

Slowly we all slid down to the ground with one another, I squeezed my arms out from the middle of the tangled limbs, and once freed I wrapped them around both Raph and Donnie.

Turning my gaze ever so slightly I could see just how terrified everyone looked. From what they had just paid witness to I couldn’t blame them, even the newly transformed creatures looked unsettled.

The other two creatures made their way over to us, I thought they were going to tell us something. Only it wasn’t us who they were looking to, they stopped in front of the bloodied mess of Zadicus.

“Zadicus…You’re a human…” Reath or I suppose Felix spoke, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I was…not anymore.” Zadicus choked out, laying his head back like he was giving up on trying to move.

“I remember the night you turned Felix and me into monsters…What do you have to say?” Kenzou spoke lowly, his tone edging on threatening.

“There is nothing I can say that will make up for what I’ve done…Why it had come to my twisted mind I have no idea. I did to you…what had been done to my siblings. Some part of me remembered them, remembered the pain, I tried to recreate them in the most gruesome way…looking into these new memories I…if my children could see what I did to you, they would believe I’m a monster…and I am one now…” He trembled, his crimson-stained mouth etching downward as another cry slipped from him.

“Michelangelo…he saved you both, he gave you back the lives you deserve…why he wasted that gift on me as well…please, just kill me. This whole horrible reality started from my monstrous hands…I do not deserve Michelangelo’s gift.” He sobbed, reaching out to both of them, begging for them to bring about his demise.

“You deserve punishment for all you’ve done…but Mikey gave us all what we had lost, and we aren’t letting you waste what he gave you.” Felix’s fists clenched as he swatted the man’s hand away from him.

“Whether or not you want to…you are going to live, Zadicus.” Kenzou finished, his glare piercing through the man below him. Somehow it held both hatred and sympathy.

“Please…no more Zadicus, my name is Icarus…” He groaned, coughing up some blood.

Turning away, I looked back to see Leatherhead had laid himself down, his large snout lying on top of Mikey’s plastron. His eyes were dull and his breathing was shallow, the poor gentle giant’s body raking with sobs.

“What…w-what are we supposed to do now?” Donnie whispered, his voice wobbly from all the sobbing.

“I…I don’t kn-know…” I feel my grip on my brothers tighten as I had to push down deep that red-hot rage that tried to resurface.

“We should get you all out of this prison…” Miori spoke up, her sword magically transforming into a key.

“Pick up Michelangelo’s body, I’ll honor my word with him and let these two join us. But Zadicus will remain, for his crimes he’ll rot here…” She continues, glaring past us to the winged man who lay in a bloody pulp.

“My Michelangelo…I’m so sorry, my baby…” Splinter bawled, lifting Mikey’s upper back so he was nuzzled just underneath our father’s chin.

“Oh, god why did it have to be Mikey?!” April broke down, gripping Casey’s shirt in balled-up fists. April and Mikey had always had a special bond somehow, it took us a while to see it. I had once walked in on them having a little fashion show in his room.

That memory was always so fond of me, I remember how, but Mikey and she somehow managed to get me to join in. Waltzing around in that top hat and bow tie had been fun. Now looking back to that only brought more pain to my heart.

Casey no longer able to hold back, began to wail. My baby brother had a hold on Casey’s heart as well, he was practically Casey’s little brother too. How’d they come up with elaborate pranks and new stunts to try out, it was nice seeing the two laugh so hard they’d sputter on something they were drinking.

Now I can see what will be waiting for us back at the lair. The quiet cold and dreary lair, no longer will it feel like home with Mikey gone. Michelangelo had that bright aura that gave us no need for real sunlight, his laughter, and his constant breaking into song and dance. Even his disgusting belches somehow gave the lair that cozy normalcy that a real home should have.

Where would they even lay him to rest? We couldn’t just send him adrift on the sewer’s sludge water for the sewer critters to desecrate his body. Mikey deserved something special and honorable for all he sacrificed…

“Please everyone…when you are ready, come join me at the door.” Miori turned away, making her way to the hidden door.

The door had been so close, we could have made it out with him, if only that monster would have just dropped dead. I hadn’t fought hard enough, now look where we are…

I’ll never be able to forgive myself…

{Now presenting, the newly transformed Tasselis, these pictures were made by me}

[ Reath/Felix ]

[ Devdan/Kenzou ]

[ Zadicus/Icarus ]

Chapter 25: Words That Astonish Death

{ Mikey’s POV }

“Who…Who are you?”.

I couldn’t believe my eyes, here standing before me was this giant fancy skeleton lady. Who was she? If she were to have appeared to me in the past I would have been terrified, but after everything that has happened lately, I’m not too surprised.

“I didn’t frighten you, did I, darlings?” The skeletal woman asked, her voice was hollow and echoey. Yet it still held a cold sweetness, it almost sounded motherly.

“Just a little, but it’s ok. Who are you?” I craned my neck upward so I could try and retain eye contact.

“My name is Lady Dabria, it is nice to see you again Michelangelo.” She placed her hand to her heart. Contrary to what she said, her gaze held what looked like sadness and heartache.

“Again? I don’t think we’ve met before Ma'am. Not to be disrespectful, but I would remember someone who looks like you.” I say, confused. I’ve met many strange people in my life, all coming in different appearances. But I would remember someone who was a giant beautiful skeleton woman.

“Looks like what exactly? Am I spooky, disheartening?” She tilted her head, her voice was oddly playful. If a skull could smile, I could swear one would be etched into her face.

“You’re not spooky, miss. You are beautiful, pretty stylish too!” I grinned, sending her some finger guns. “You are rocking that hat!”.

An amused giggle bubbles from her, she places a hand up to her teeth as though she is trying to keep it inside politely. “Oh Michelangelo, you are always such a delight.”.

“So, how do you know me?”.

“Well, it’s hardly the first time you’ve graced my doorstep, my sweet child.” She slowly lowered herself, settling down on her knees and onto her stomach, reaching out her boney hand, letting her finger gently graze the top of my head.

“Lady Dabria, please, you know it’s not his time…” Bowie spoke up, their voice soft yet fearful.

“It’s not my decision to change what has already happened, I’m afraid. The others have made exceptions before, but those were under many different circumstances…” The giant woman sighed, leaning her other hand against her cheek.

“Exceptions? What do you mean by that?”.

“As I said, you’ve stepped foot at my door more than once, my dear child. But those times you had something to finish, something to fight for, you being the last resort, and the only hope…But now, you’ve already done a great service, and you set out and finished a grand justice. There is no true reason for you to return…” The skeletal woman spoke, the air felt frigid and crisp around her like her very breath was a frozen wisp billowing from her sweet voice.

“You can finally rest, darling. Isn’t that what you want? To finally feel true peace?” She asked her void-like eye holes and piercing amethyst orbs somehow holding a calming effect over me.

It was a nice thought, to finally have that inner peace. Especially with all the piles of chaos that had been dumped on me these past few days. But that would mean going with her, wouldn’t it? To go to the afterlife? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, I might meet some cool ancestors.

“But Mikey still does have something to fight for!” Bowie called out, pulling me away from Lady Dabria. Bitterness heavily laced their voice, which caused the giant woman to stare down at them blankly.

The brothers of Icarus appeared frightened and shocked by Bowie’s actions. Understandably so, as you would guess one would think twice before trying to bark words like that to assumably some kind of goddess.

“You’re confident in this statement, what have you to prove this?” Lady Dabria stood to her full height, this time her shadow loomed over us, shrowding us in a pool of darkness, the only hint of light coming from her shimmering eyes and jewels that hang gracefully from her veiled hat.

Bowie stared her down, though their body seemed to tremble slightly. Taking a breath Bowie spoke up with the same confidence they started with. “If you will allow it, I’d like you to show us his family, what they are doing right now, please”.

The woman’s dead stare remained, but something behind her eyes shimmered, as though she were impressed. “Granted.”

With a wave of her hand, a swirling pool of light opened up between her and us. Slowly opening, a fresh breeze poured from it along with glimmering white smoke. Past it, you could see greenery and still clouds stretching across a light blue sky.

“Peer into the window of the living world, you may continue your defense,” Dabria said, as she too peered into the window at her feet.

As we all turned our gaze to the whimsical viewing window, it began to zoom into a scene playing out on the ground below. I feel my chest clench up as I am faced with my own dead body, held tightly against my father’s chest.

I don’t know what to say as I stood there listening to my family’s heaving sobs. They cursed out and cried in anguish, calling out for my return.

My lips tightened, as I watched my only silent brother’s hands grip around his ninjatos, the green in his knuckles turning white. He whirled around, pointing one at a winged man who lay trembling nearby.

Wait…winged man? Was that…Zadicus? No, Icarus. Now that I could see, no longer were the monsters I’d come to know lingering about, but now here they were in the forms they were meant to have. Not completely were they human, but the minds of what they had lost were returned.

I could almost cheer, I was happy to see that they could be themselves again. But my celebration had yet to begin when my eldest brother ran at Icarus with such speed, his teeth clenched and ninjatos ready to take a kill.

“Leo…” My voice whispered, I wanted to jump forward to try and comfort him. But something held me back, some sort of unknown force.

“YOU!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!” He roared with such pure hatred, something I had yet to ever hear from my usually cool-mannered brother.

“I’LL KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!” My eyes flung wide open, it wasn’t at all often that Leo cursed. He’s usually the one to reprimand us for saying anything that could remotely qualify as a curse word.

His blade soon would have made contact with Icarus’s neck if it weren’t for Miss Miori’s magic. She encased him in some sort of floating gold bubble. But that didn’t stop him from trying to get to the trembling man.

“Let me go Miori!” Leo screamed, pounding his fists against the bubble walls.

“Leonardo…enough.” Miori narrows her eyes, her voice cold but behind it laid masked sympathy.

“My baby brother is gone because of him!” My blue-banded brother yelled, a seething fury flowing as he continued to bash his fists into the bubble.

“Gone w-what do you mean gone? Where is Mikey, is he okay-” A blonde-haired man spoke his voice catching in his throat when he laid eyes on my body. I knew for sure that this was Felix, he was the spitting image of the young man I had seen in Zadicus’s memory. Only now scarred by markings of an ill-fallen form.

I turned a bit, hearing Bowie’s breath hitch. I’m guessing this was Bowie’s first time seeing Felix or Reath as a human. Their face was stricken with a red hue, despair collecting around their lips as they trembled a bit before sucking in a calming breath.

“Oh, my goodness…” A heavily scarred man whispered, putting his hand up to his mouth in shock. This had to be Kenzou, I hadn’t expected to see all the scarring but I recognise the gentleness behind his one good eye. The man looked as though he had been dragged through hell, and with his uncovered past, I can consider it a true thought.

“Miori let me out of this bubble now!!” Leo continued to scream, his knuckles blooming with new harsh bruises from hitting the bubble so hard.

“Leonardo I said enough!” Miori was desperately trying to keep her cool, I could tell. Her teeth clenched as her arm struggled to hold up her shimmering sword.

I wanted to beg Leo to listen to her, at this point he was just hurting himself. I wanted to tell him it was over now, that now isn’t the time for vengeance.

Just then Icarus threw his body to the ground, hacking up some awful blackened goop. He reached up, gripping his hair and tugging like a man gone mad. With one final glance at my lifeless body, he howled in agony, tears rippling down his face. I could even swear that steam was coming off his face, from the consistent usage of fire breath that might not have been wrong.

“Please, release him…” Icarus sobbed, his vice grip tugging at the grass.

Hearing him cry out like this, it felt like I was back in his memories. He wasn’t Zadicus anymore, he was a mortal man who lost everything, a desperate man who missed his children. Realizing that just like Kenzou and Felix, he was reliving all the memories of his past life and had to admit to himself he had become the very same person who took his family from him all those years ago. He was a man, a vulnerable man with deep regret.

Looking at his brothers who stand by my side, they looked so heartbroken with what they saw. They cling to each other for support, holding one another to try and gain a sense of comfort. Bearing witness to the man who raised them, on his knees wailing out in sorrow, they could do nothing but try and make the pain more bearable.

“Release him, so that he may finish me off!”.

The three brothers and I couldn’t stop the gasp from passing our lips. I understood he was in a state of hysteria, but this by far was not what I had planned for. I did this so they all could start over and make amends, which includes Icarus.

Mirori who was struck with surprise slowly lowered her sword, letting the bubble that imprisons my brother gently fall to the ground. It dissipates, leaving behind a blue-clad mutant turtle whose gaze lowers ever so menacingly.

“You think pleading for death will make me spare you? Do you think I will take some metaphorical high ground and let you live or give you a quick painless demise?! Some trick, a disgusting creature like you would be so low to use…” Leo spoke with such a lowness I could feel goosebumps making their way up my arms.

He made his way towards Icarus, his ninjatos held firm in his seething fists. With no warning at all he raised his leg and brought it down on his neck, shoving him to the ground and into the dirt.

My mouth went dry as I then watched my loving and sweet-toned brother start to press his heavy foot into Icarus’s throat. Eyes lighting up with everything but mercy.

“No, no tricks…Miche-Michelangelo did n-not deserve a-any of this…I-AcK!!” Icarus tried to speak, only for Leo to raise his foot and slam it right back down on his neck.

“DO NOT SAY HIS NAME!! YOU DON’T DESERVE TO SAY IT, YOU DON’T EVEN GET TO LOOK AT HIM!!” Leo screamed in his face as he started to bring down his foot over and over again.

“No no no…No Leo, stop. Please stop, stop!” I heard myself call out, flopping over trying to reach through the window, only to once again be held back by that invisible force.

This wasn’t the Leo I knew and loved, he was just overtaken by hatred and anguish. If Leo knew what I did about this man, he would know why I tried my best to help, why I went through with this mess in the first place, he just didn’t know.

Muffled voices were heard but not computed as I continue to try and yell for my big brother. I clawed at the window, desperately trying to get through or at least be heard.

Leo was ripped away from Icarus by someone, only for him to abandon his ninjatos and continue his beating, only this time with his bare hands. Blood was starting to stain the dew-covered grass below, and still, Leo has yet to hear my cries.

Icarus’s brothers too started crying out, worrying for the life of their older brother. The toddler of the three buried his face into the chest of one of his older brothers, his body raking and trembling with newly formed sobs.

“LEO, PLEASE LEO STOP!!” I felt my eyes beginning to grow overwhelmed with all the tears, I hadn’t even realized I had started to cry. Now thinking about it, this had been the first time I cried or expressed this much emotion since I got here.

“Leo no, Mikey…Mikey wouldn’t want this!” Raph exclaimed having pulled Leo away from Icarus, standing between them to try and keep them separated.

“Yes, please stop Leo, just stop!” I was so grateful for Raph’s sudden voice of reason. My hot-headed brother was usually the one who would have done something like this, it all felt so opposite this time around.

“You don’t know that!! You don’t know what Mikey would have wanted!!” Leo cried out, smacking Raph’s hand away.

“ Because he’s fucking gone. Because of that monster…..because of us. If we weren’t awful jackasses he would never have even found this place. If I had just been a better…..a better big brother, we could s-still have our…our baby brother.” With that finally said, he began to break down into a sobbing hiccuping mess.

Falling into Raph’s arms, I could only watch as Leo let out the most heartwrenching sobs. Donnie came forward, throwing himself onto the trembling turtle pile. They all looked so helpless as they tried to comfort one another. Seeing this, it felt like my heart was beating again, thumping hard and rushing against my chest. I wanted nothing more than to go back down there and hold them, tell them it was ok…but I couldn’t.

“No Leo, it’s not your fault, you are an amazing big brother, you all are…Please don’t blame yourselves…I love you guys!” I heard myself stammer, trying to reach out and touch the window.

Only it was then suddenly closed.

“Enough. What has that to prove? All you have done was deeply upset your fellow spirits.” Lady Dabria’s voice no longer held a calming tone, but that of a frozen anger. Lowering her hand as she had used it to close the viewing window.

“It has everything to prove, his family is lost without him. The balance of their clan has been disrupted, I can guarantee chaos is inevitable without his return!” Bowie said, eyes narrowing with a growing distaste for the current situation.

“The true world is always with chaos, it makes no exception with who it takes away and what is to come. That is why chosen warriors such as Michelangelo and his brothers are brought to life, for its management, as evil has brought up their own.” She says dully, clearly not phased by Bowie’s words.

“Michelangelo’s brothers will continue, they will lay a path for life’s garden to continue to bloom. Pruning the weeds ahead of them, one at a time, just as they had when their brother was alive.” She continued, her gaze bowed to look down at me.

“You say that like it’s indefinite, you just said the world is full of chaos. How are you to know if they will continue down the set path without him?” Bowie raised their voice, stepping closer to the woman with newly heightened confidence.

Lady Dabria stared down at the mortal spirit, quirking her head as though to question what was just said.

“What if because of his death, they fall all together? Do they lose sight of their doings? They will no longer fight the grand battles of upcoming evils, the very thing the blessed seemingly have chosen them for.” Bowie went on, accentuating their words by throwing a hand down onto the other with each point made.

“How do you know so much of their chosen nature? You are but a mortal spirit, yet you have the conviction of some kind of divine.” She glares at Bowie, but her voice holds curiosity, truly she wondered about their knowledge.

“I’ve been around for a long time, I’ve been stuck in the divided mortal plain for over a thousand years now. A spirit has a lot of time to catch up on their reading and listen in on other mortals. Or just being observant of others…even of those in the divine, like you.”.

“Before I pointed out anything else, you spoke about them pruning away the weeds for life’s garden. You deemed them important and from both your wording and watching Michelangelo and his family in the living world I could only interpret that meant he was a warrior. A warrior that was worthy of you to hold so dearly that he has been given several exceptions for living.”.

“He is one of chosen.” Bowie finished their rant, lips tugged up into a smirk as if daring the woman to find any faults.

Everyone was frozen in place, no words could pass. What was there to say after all that? It racked my brain. Were I and my brothers chosen to be some kind of destined warriors? Would that mean all the stuff that had happened to us wasn’t just insanely bad turtle luck?! Was Bowie some kind of genius? And somehow dares to stand up to who I’m guessing is straight-up death?!

“So what will it be, you’ve made all those exceptions in the past. Why not now?” The small human spirit said, pulling their arms up to fold them over their chest.

Lady Dabria took a moment to let out a breath, she seemed to hold onto the words Bowie had said. But her eyes still cast great sorrow. “You have pleaded a convincing case, dear Beanu. But I’m afraid it’s not that simple anymore. Time is always fleeting, and very unkind, I don’t believe another exception can be made. I’m sorry…”.

“So that’s it? I’m really gone this time…” In my seating, I pulled my knees close to my chest. What else was I to do? It’s over…there is nothing left for me to do than just go to the beyond.

“Time…wait time. Time…time, time, time…” Bowie stood straight, putting their hand to their chin as they started to pace back and forth confusing the rest of us. They continued to mutter to themself, we could barely catch a word.

“That’s it! You said time is the problem, that it’s already too late for any new exception, yes?” Whirling around, Bowie pointed upward to the skeletal woman, a proud look on their face.

“Yes? That is what I said?” If this woman had any eyebrows you could tell she would have one raised in question.

“Well, in their current location, time has no meaning, it’s at a standstill. It’s forever the same day repeating without any aspect of continuance. The clouds never move from their spot and the sky moves from day to night at a back and forth, never at an in-between. Time may be cruel in reality’s world, but not there!” The human exclaimed eyes widened with an ecstatic look of pride.

We all perked up in surprise. I and Icarus’s brothers began to look back and forth between the stunned Lady Dabria and the proud Bowie. Did that make sense?! I could barely process all that at once, they were talking so fast and my brain hurt from trying to repeat all that in my head!

The giant woman stood there in surprise, she looked like she was about to say something but soon stopped herself. She too put a finger to her chin, trying to think about what had just been said to her. When nothing came to mind, she closed her eyes and took a moment to seemingly come to a decision.

With bated breath we waited, soaking in the high tension of what was to come. What would she say? Would this work?

Finally, she opened her eyes once again. Only now her eyes no longer held a cold hollow gaze, but one of a soothing warmth. Raising her hands she started a gentle applause, praising the charismatic spirit.

“You have impressed me, darling Beanu. Your perception is as sharp as your wits” Dabria’s voice carried a smile, she was truly happy with the presented results.

“Wow…heh, I’ll be honest with you guys, I’m surprised this worked. But hey I just dazzled a goddess with my mouth words!” Bowie cheered turning back to us, wiping away a bead of sweat from their forehead.

“So what do you say your Ladyness? You gonna send Mikey here back to the living realm?” Spinning back around on their heel, Bowie grinned, snapping their fingers into finger guns.

“I only need one more thing,” Dabria says softly, her looming shadow slowly dissipating, bringing us back to the blinding white void.

“And what’s that?” I hear myself asking, standing up beside Bowie, who is still currently relishing in their victory.

“Your confirmation, my sweet Michelangelo. I need you to say, that you wish to continue living, that you want to live.” She lowers herself once again, taking a seat in front of me.

Sucking in a breath, I look back at Bowie and Icarus’s brothers. Their faces contort into supportive grins, holding thumbs up. The youngest of the spirits whispered something along the lines of ‘Go on Mikey, good luck!’.

“Before I do…can I get a hug?” I say, turning back to them, my arms held out making grabby hands.

“Oh get in here little turtle!” The maroon-haired brother brightened, throwing himself along with all who were close to him into my hold. Bowie had nearly choked from the intense squeezing.

“Michelangelo, do us a favor. when you see Icarus…tell him Rhys, Basav, and Theos love him, and always will. We’ll be waiting for him when his time comes.” The man with violet eyes smiled, trying to readjust his glasses.

“Those are your names?”.

“What else would they be?” The young Theos giggled, patting my head as his brothers finally pulled themselves from the hug.

“Hey Mikey, you be good now, you hear? Don’t let anyone change that big heart of yours, Turtle Baby.” Bowie grabbed my hand, yanking me into one last hug, giving a few pats on my shell before finally letting me go and shoving me back toward Lady Dabria.

Turning back to her, I held my arms out once again. “Would it be too much to ask?”.

“Oh, Darling…” She reaches down, holding her giant finger out for me to wrap my arms around, hugging it tightly for a fond goodbye.

“Are you ready, dear Michelangelo?”.

Letting go, I took one last big supporting breath, filling my lungs with courage. “I am!”.

She gives me a confirming gentle nod, reaching up into her hat. Plucking from it she takes a small pure white lily, lowering it, she places it in my open hand. At that moment, it was like a breeze started to pick up, catching her dark veil, and letting it billow behind her with what I can only describe as some kind of grand majesticness. Her jewels fluttered around by her silver chains, sending forth a melodic chiming.

I tenderly hold the beautiful flower, lifting it just under my chin. Pointing my gaze upward, I give the Lady one last smile, before saying…

“I want to live!”.

Chapter 26: Life Returns a New

{Mikey’s POV}

Everything was pitch black…

I couldn’t see a thing, there was a deep ringing in my ears. Muffled voices speak over each other, and a strange warmth fills my chest. Ever so slightly the voices became clear and understandable. I wanted to smile, the voices were those of my family, melodic voices that I could recognize anywhere. But my body remained unmoving.

“My dear son, my youngest…” My father’s voice spoke through breathy cries, the feeling of his knuckles grazing gently down my cheek.

‘Chichi I’m right here, I’m awake. Please don’t cry.’ That is what I wanted to say, but my mouth was numb.

“I’m so sorry Michelangelo…I failed you.” The familiar feeling of Leatherhead’s snout being placed on my plastron felt so heartwrenching. His voice was so hollow and dead-like, that it was hard to believe it was even the sweet gator I’d come to love.

“You didn’t fail him, big guy…we did.” Raph’s tone was lathered in a heavy helping of self-loathing. Why can’t I just talk already?! I need to get them to stop being so crazy with the self-hate stuff!

“Why didn’t we just freaking treat him properly?!” Donnie cried out in a sudden powerful sob. I could even feel the vibration of Donnie falling to his knees.

Once again I tried desperately to move, talk, blink, anything. But nothing worked, Am I paralyzed or something?!

My brain skidded to a halt when I heard the discernible sound of a blade being unsheathed from its sheath. Was that Leo? What was he doing?

“Leonardo, what are you doing? We agreed that Zadicus stays alive…” Miori says, her throat sounding tight and tensing up with worry.

“I didn’t agree to anything, and I suggest you don’t get in my way, Miss Miori…” Leo growled, his eyes shifting to a deadly white, preparing himself for a kill.

“Leo…p-please don’t.” I tried to scream, but every utterance slipping past my throat felt like I swallowed sandpaper. I don’t know if any real sound made it from my lips.

The world went deathly silent, hitched breaths were sucked in. It remained like that for a few seconds, I was worried I had suddenly lost my hearing. That is until I heard…

“M-Mikey?”.

Hands scrambled around me, poking and grabbing at me. A warm palm pressed against my neck and face. “Michelangelo?...”.

With all my strength I focused on trying to continue talking. My dry mouth opened ever so slightly to let out an imprisoned gasp of air. At that moment I could suddenly feel my chest start to rise and lower, the crisp air sucked into my lungs, hitting me like the force of a truck.

“MIKEY?!”.

“H-hey guys…heh, what d-did I miss?” I sputtered on a rough path of giggles, my head leaning ever so much into the warm embrace of whoever was holding me.

The slight clang of a falling sword filled my ears just as another set of hands rushed to cling to me. Tears dripped down my face from my brother above. “Mikey, you’re alive! I’m so so sorry, please please open your eyes, look at me, little brother!”.

Taking a moment I was finally able to allow my eyes to flutter open, even if my eyelids felt like stone ready to drop at any moment. The first thing I see is my oldest brother’s face littered with tears cascading down his cheeks. I smiled at him, trying to give him some kind of ease.

My blue-clad brother’s lips curved upward into a toothy smile, letting out loud heavy chuckles. But he continued to sob, a following cry choked on every other laugh. He pulled me into his arms, tucking my head under his chin.

Soon the rest of my brothers and family came along wrapping themselves around me and Leo. We were a pile of weeping mutants, everyone rattling off apologies and praises. All I could do was try and console my blubbering family, but that didn’t last long since I too started to bawl, tears clouding my already blurry vision.

“Never scare us like that again, you are not allowed to die ever!” Raph snarled but sniffles and shuttering breaths glazed over it.

“I don’t know what we’d ever do without you, I’m so sorry!” Donnie bawled, nuzzling closer into the pile. His eyes became an upsetting shade of red from his tears.

“I love you so much, little brother…please don’t leave us ever again,” Leo whispered, his face pressed into the top of my head.

“Michelangelo!” Cried Leatherhead, surprising everyone as he picked up the entire mass of crying mutants, hugging us close.

“Leatherhead!” I laugh, choking a little on the air leaving my lungs.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t get to you in time, I should have been quicker…I didn’t even get to tell you…h-how much I loved you.” He carefully set everyone back down, eyes overflowing as he reached out a shaky hand ever so slightly.

Once again the world stood still, and my chest felt warm. He meant that in a like-like love sort of way, right? Please tell me that’s what he meant, or this was gonna be so awkward with my response. I mean you can’t get more awkward than coming back to life like this.

“I l-love you too Leatherhead. If I could m-move my arms, I’d be hugging you. I wish I could say something more heartfelt, but I feel like I’m swallowing r-rocks.” I smile, though every few words that left my lips were accompanied by rough coughing.

Carefully he picked me up, placing me just under her chin and nuzzling into the top of my head. “I will hug for you, Michelangelo.”.

“Do you truly feel the same way as I do, Michelangelo? You love me?” Leatherhead asks, his tone soft yet eager.

“Mhm, more than all the pizza in New York!” I smile tiredly.

He stared down at me for a moment or two, then his eyes started tearing up. Huh?! Is he ok? Did I say something stupid?

“Y-you ok LH?”.

“I’m more than fine, Michelangelo. I am just…so happy.” A happy purr rumbles from his throat, as he leans me in closer to his chest.

My head gradually shifted and I caught a glimpse of Kenzou and Felix, or maybe they still wanted to be called Devdan and Reath? But my chest swelled in joy when I saw how they smiled when they saw me, their hands locked together reassuringly.

“Oh, Mikey! You’re alive!” Felix exclaimed with tears freely cascading down his cheeks. He ran over to us, dragging Kenzou with him.

“Hi, Felix. Hey, Kenzou.” I blink tiredly as Leatherhead turns so I am more properly facing the two reborn humans.

“You know our real names?! How?! Are you magic?” Felix whispers, realizing his usually loud and grand voice may be harsh on my ears at the moment.

“It’s a l-long story.” Chuckling weakly, I’m suddenly taken back a bit when Kenzou suddenly kneels before me.

“You have given us a great gift, dear Mikey. I will forever be in your debt. Thank you for returning our lives to us.” He bowed his head, though you could tell he was crying as his back quaked with rhythmic shuddering.

“Kenzou y-you don’t have to d-do that. I am glad I did it…” Once again I’m overtaken with racking coughs. I can feel someone’s hand patting my shell supportively, silently I thank whoever it was because I feel like at some point I will be throwing up.

“Please do not refuse, Michelangelo. Truthfully this is the very least I can do, after everything we put you through…” Kenzou raised his head, looking up at me in a deeply apologetic way.

“We owe you everything Mikey, if it weren’t for you we’d still be…monsters. You don’t wanna know about all the restless ghastly thoughts I’ve had as that creature.” Felix says with a nod, a shiver running through his spine as he recounts his past thoughts.

I was about to say something, but a ways behind Felix and Kenzou I could see a silhouette crumpled up sorrowfully on the grass. What the spirits on the other side said twirled around in my head for a second before I piped up once again.

“Icarus…” It was a hushed tone, quiet and raspy. But I knew the others had heard me as they too turned to face the winged man lying on the ground.

“Don’t worry little brother, you don’t have to see him ever again.” Raph snarled at the man, his hand pressing further onto my shell.

“He’ll never hurt anyone again…” Leo’s voice muttered, his tone again becoming hardened and spiteful.

I try to shake my head, but it doesn’t go very far. “I need t-to talk to him, need to t-tell him something.”.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea, Mikey.” Donnie gazes at the man in the distance, his teeth clenching tensely.

“Please…” I breathe out, not taking my eyes off the sulking man.

After a few seconds, Leatherhead took it upon himself to walk me over to Icarus. The man’s wings draped over himself like a tattered leathery blanket, his breathing was shallow and hard to hear. He made no move to get up from the ground, simply lying there as if accepting some kind of death.

Leatherhead stopped a few feet away from Icarus, cautious of his distance. I understood this, they were still mad at this man for all that he’s done to them and me.

“Icarus…”.

The man jolted, dazed for a moment he sat up and looked behind him. Staring up at me his eyes blown wide, almost horrified, like I was a ghost returning to seek a bloody revenge.

“Michelangelo…You’re alive.” He uttered in shock.

“I am now.” I weakly laugh.

Before I could even say anything else, he threw himself back to the ground in a bowing-like form. His hands grip the grass as he trembles, sobs clambering out of his mouth. “I am so sorry Michelangelo. For everything, for all that I’ve done to you. I drowned in that horrid inky black darkness, and I dragged innocent souls down with me. You saved me and for what? So that you may die a pure heart while I walk around a corrupted mass of wretch. I am undeserving of your gift…I am not worthy.”.

Laying in Leatherhead’s arms, I could only watch as this man fell apart in front of me. “Your brothers…”.

“W-what?” The man’s breath hitched, slowly turning his tear-stained face up at me.

“Rhys, Basav, and Theos. They wanted me to tell you something.”.

He sat there with bated breath, his pupils shrunken and shaky as he awaited my next words.

“They want you to know they love you, always have, and always will. They’ll be waiting for you…when your time comes.” I tell him, watching as a small shimmer seems to slip into his eyes, plunging past the dullness that normally peered through.

He stood still before a wave of giggles arose from him, those giggles shifting into full-blown laughter. Tears fell freely with no defense as they crashed to the ground in heavy drops. Now and again he chokes and sputters on his cackling sobs.

“How c-can they still love me, after all the horrible things I’ve done?! It’s insanity, a purely laughable hope, how could this ever be true if what I’ve done surely barries all that they stand for?!” He cried, running a hand down his face, dragging along some messy stray hairs.

“Because you are their brother, Icarus. Not Zadicus…” I rasp out, narrowing my eyes at the man.

I did not forgive him, no I most certainly did not just yet. While true I knew that it wasn’t exactly him that did this to me, his brain being clouded by darkness and bile. But it all still happened to me, and I’ve nearly died because of him several times. The last time actually did cause me to die.

But I honor the decision I made, to be able to give them all a second chance including Icarus. I wasn’t just going to withhold what I knew from him, something that would benefit both him and everyone. If this taught him something, he can use it to work towards making amends for what he’s done.

Slowly he turns his face back towards the floor. “What is there left for me…all that I knew is gone. My brothers, my home, everything…I don’t want to waste this life you’ve given me Michelangelo. But what else is there?”.

“You can make up for what you’ve done.” My voice declares, croaking a little when I let out too much air from my lungs.

“Anything, whatever it may be I will do it to amend the crimes I’ve committed. Just name it, Michelangelo, and it will be done.” He full-heartedly agrees, his hands clasping together in a begging-like motion.

“I don’t think I’m the one to decide that…” I weakly turned my head, Leatherhead turning his body with me so we were both looking back at Miss Miori.

The others looked back at us in confusion, a few of them on edge when they caught Icarus staring back.

“Understood.” Icarus lets out a breath, standing up on wobbly legs.

He walks forward, making his way towards the group. Everyone’s faces deepen into a mixture of anxiety and sourness. Once he finds his place, he gets back down on the ground, bowing before Miori.

“Sorceress…I want to repent my past doings. I have caused great harm to others, and have been the cause for so much suffering. I know not what I can do to fix or do to amend my horrid deeds, please tell me what I may do to start!” He pleaded to the magic user, who stared at him in shock.

“You are asking me what to do to make up for what you’ve done?” Her eyebrows raised, and she looked both confused and intrigued.

“Yes.” Icarus nods, remaining in his bowing position.

“Well Zadicu- Icarus, you have wreaked havoc over earth lands for many years. Brought forth many deaths and desecrated powerful civilizations. Not to mention the torture and pain you’ve brought to innocent souls, even while in prison you brought suffering to your fellow monsters. How do you expect to amends for all of that?” She says, standing tall, her voice teetering as certain words slip past her lips. Standing there she awaits his answer.

“I do not expect to be able to make up for every horrific thing I’ve done, for what I’ve done surely will outweigh whatever I dish out to fix it. But I want to use what left I have of my now mortal life to repay for everything, no matter how large or sickening the task.” He replies, his lips curling into a frown as he thinks of everything he’s done.

“Any punishment or task you deal out I shall take without hesitation. Be it I remain in this dimension to rot or I suffer the same agonizing torture I let out on others. I will do whatever it takes.”.

Miori stands there, her booted foot taps against the grassy floor as she thinks. Her golden eyes glow brightly as she closes them, traveling far into her thoughts.

Everyone watches her body stand deathly still as she slowly drawls her hand to her chin, scratching ever so slightly. No one knew what the woman would say. What would she do? How would she go about this unforeseen situation?

Finally after a few moments her eyes open and once again turns her gaze to Icarus. “I have come to a decision…”.

“Icarus, my ancestors agree that you have done far too much damage to the world around you. Damage that has left behind dark consequences all across the globe.” She says, deepening her glare as the man lowers his head in shame.

“But, since you were not in right peace of mind and were not voluntarily doing these things out of free will. They have agreed to let you make up for your past misdeeds.” Miori continues, holding out a finger to shush the man as he’s about to reply.

“You are to clean up all the corrupted messes left behind by your escapades. Not to mention you will be given regular tasks by me to protect the magical balance on earth. You will be doing this for the rest of your days. You either accept this deal or you will remain here and perish alone.” She states firmly, ending her deal with a nod.

“Do you accept?”.

Icarus sits there for a moment, all eyes are on him, boring into his head like deadly lazers. He looks her dead in the eyes and gives a stern and driven nod.

“I accept.” He holds out his hand.

With no further words, Miori reaches out taking a firm grasp of his hand. A shimmering golden light bends around both their arms like fluttering ribbons, wrapping around both of them it seems to almost burn into their bodies. This is a more point case as Icarus seems to yelp at a sudden painful feeling.

“It’s done, fails to comply and you are right back here, Icarus. No ifs, ands, or buts!” She proclaims, pulling her hand away with a huff.

“Thank you, Sorceress Miori.” He thanked her, an appreciative smile beginning to appear on his face.

“Yeah yeah, don’t make me regret it.” Tiredly she begins walking back towards the portal, her sword already magically shifting into a key.

Everyone is now chattering quietly amongst themselves as we all follow Miori to the portal. Of course, everyone was still very wary of certain newcomers. But understanding was clear in the group, thankfully. Leatherhead was an absolute cuddle bug, continuing to carry me in his hold. Which I’m honestly glad for because I’m quite sure I may be temporarily paralyzed, Oh god I hope it was just temporary. Anyway, my brothers remained close, not once did they make any indication of leaving my side. April and Casey walked with Master Splinter, who looked like he was recovering from a mini heart attack.

“I’m glad your back, Mikey. I don’t think we’d be the same without you baby brother.” Leo smiles exhaustedly, reaching up and placing a comforting hand on my head.

“Can’t let that happen, big bro. You guys would be so boring without me.” I laugh, leaning into his warm touch.

With one final good freaking bye to this freaky dimension bubble place, we all left for the normal world. Ah yes, the normal world with mutants, aliens, and robots who repeatedly try to kill us. If I ever find myself wishing for a different world or dimension again, I’ll just think back to this experience and be grateful I didn’t end up staying there.

Time went on and thankfully with the help of Donnie’s recovery plan, Leo’s mother henning, and Raph’s exercise regiment, I was able to fully recover from my paralysis! Yay, and they made do with their promises. They were far less mean to me, not completely thought, You know how older brothers can be, we are always going to be arguing about something. But now was different, no longer did I constantly feel like some type of burden to carry. We were spending time together again, watching movies, going out skating, playing wild games we made up. Everything was looking up again.

Leatherhead and I did eventually become an actual couple. After a few dates at least. My family was super clear on rules and boundaries, often getting into Leatherhead’s face for remotely bringing me back home five minutes late. Bowie was right though, eventually, Leatherhead and I did become more…ahem intimate. But it wasn’t until many years later that I felt ready for that sort of thing, and LH was very supportive. Now he is an official part of the Hamato family!

Felix and Kenzou? You don’t have to worry about them. They live on the surface now in New York, in an abandoned warehouse near the one we use to store some of our bigger vehicles. They fixed the place up nicely too, with Felix’s craftsmen skills you could hardly tell the place was abandoned, on the inside at least. Kenzou finally found more healthy ways to lower his stress, like his new zen sand garden and bonsai trees. Both of them even come by once a week for a mutant support circle we created with the Mighty Mutanimals.

We don’t see Icarus much though, he’s almost always on another mission for Miori. Turns out she was not kidding when she said there was a corrupted mess all over the earth that got left behind by Zadicus. But he kept to his word and followed through on all his missions. We even ran into him on one, and nearly got flattened by a creature made of black goo. I believe he lives with Miori now, which I think is good for both of them since I learned Miori lived alone for twenty-three years. She says it’s to easily observe him, but I think it’s because they got used to each other and don’t want to be alone again.

Now everything is as it should be. At least for now until the next case of deadly shenanigans comes along. I wonder what our next grand adventure will be.

I can’t wait to find out.