The Pied Piper of New York

by Skeleton_in_a_hoodie

Summary:

Mikey’s brothers discover the identity of his strange new friend. Meanwhile, something is not right about their school’s newest teacher.

Sequel to Playing With Shadows

Chapter 1

Helping out in the library wasn’t as bad as Mikey thought it’d be.

Sure, he and his brothers had to stay an extra hour after school, and it wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but things could have been a lot worse. The librarian, Mrs Simms, was nice and the work wasn’t hard. Mostly it’s just re-shelving books and helping other kids find the books they needed. And she’d said that on days where there was nothing to do, they could read or relax.

When they arrived at the library that afternoon, whilst all the other kids went to after school clubs or started their journeys home, she gave them a warm welcome to the library. Raph and Leo hadn’t gone in there much, if at all, and Donnie only visited to return or take out books, so none of them were as familiar with it as Mikey was.

She’d also asked how they all were, though she’d looked at in particular Mikey as she asked the question.

Still, Mikey couldn’t wait for the hour to be up.

Splinter had understood when Mikey explained why he’d be late for training the next couple weeks, though he’d been less than pleased to hear that none of the boys who’d attacked him were being punished. Further explaining that his brothers, who hadn’t even been near the library, were being punished had resulted in the temperature spiking.

Mikey got the feeling that Splinter wanted to go have a word with his headteacher. He couldn’t of course, not looking the way he did.

The bright side was that Mr Silver was already on the case.

When Leo and the care home staff called him, Mr Silver sounded what Mikey called ‘not-angry’. He was evidently fuming with how the fight in the library had been handled, not to mention the wider bullying problem, but did not want the boys to know that, so kept his voice level and calm, but also warm and comforting.

“We’ll get this all sorted out, don’t worry.” he’d said to them over the phone, “Give me a few days to look into it and I’ll have a chat with Mrs Mitchel next week. I’ll drop by some time next week to see how you’re all doing.”

“I’ll have a chat with [x person]” was Mr Silver’s very polite way of saying that he was going to raise hell.

Out of all the social workers they’d had, Mr Silver was Mikey’s favourite for that reason. Yes, Mr Silver was over worked and there weren’t enough hours in the day for him to do everything he wanted, but Mikey knew that if him and his brothers needed help, they could rely on him.

(And he’d fought tooth and nail to have the brothers placed in the same children’s home again after they’d been separated. A little over a year ago, it had been decided that it was more important the brothers be adopted out than kept together, regardless of how it’d affected them to be ripped apart from the only family they had.)

It properly wouldn’t go down well though if Splinter ever appeared in Mrs Mitchel’s office. Like he’d at the very least scare the daylights out of her. Might even quit her job or move to another school if he frightened her badly enough.

…

Was there a way for Mikey to take Splinter to school? Bring your… your… your own ghost to school day?

Sometimes, Mikey wondered what what things would be like if Splinter was alive, if he was flesh and blood rather than fire and shadows.

Perhaps he’d have already introduced his brothers to Splinter by now. What would they have made of him?

(Would Splinter adopt them?)

(Mikey knows the answer.)

(It makes his heart ache, knowing it can’t happen, not in this world.)

Occasionally, when he’s exhausted all other options of things to think about, and usually when he’s feeling particularly bored or whimsical, he thinks about what Splinter would do with his time. He’d like to think that Splinter would have his own house, a nice warm home with food in the cupboards and a bed.

His name properly wouldn’t be Splinter, it’d be something else, though Mikey can’t think what.

(He knows at least one word.)

(Or he hopes at least one word would apply.)

Maybe he’d have been teacher? He liked art, so perhaps an art teacher? Or martial arts? Then again, not everyone had a job tied into their special interests or their hobbies. And it was hard to make assumptions about the man who became Splinter when so little of Him was left.

That man, whoever He was, whoever He could have been, was a ghost.

Yes, Mikey knows, he’s literally a ghost.

But he’d realised that in many ways Splinter was haunted by who he used to be. That Man didn’t make the lights of the Old House flicker on and off, floorboards did not creek beneath intangible feet, and He didn’t leave cold spots in his wake.

Instead the memory of Him hovered over Splinter, always present, matching Splinter step for step. Sometimes He brought Splinter gifts, happy memories: a brother who taught him how to use bladed, walking through a museum besides an unknown woman, watching a movie with friends. Other times, only heartache followed in His wake.

It was strange. Mikey didn’t know ghosts could be haunted by themselves.

Then again, maybe that’s just the nature of what Splinter was now. To be equal parts uplifted and tormented by indistinct shapes and emotions, surrounding him on all sides like a thick mist and just as untouchable.

(Mikey wonders what That Man would think of him)

“Mikey?” Donnie’s voice came from just over his shoulder, “Mikey?”

He jumped and his head snapped round to look at his immediate older brother, “Huh?”

“I said we’re done with this section. Leo and Raph have the next row covered.”

Mikey smiled a little sheepishly and pushed the trolley away from the history section over to geography.

As they put books back on shelves Donnie asked, “What were you thinking about?”

“Ghosts.” Mikey answered, because it was the truth and not technically a lie.

Don frowned, “You do that a lot.”

Mikey shrugged, “I like ghosts.”

Not long ago, Donnie would have argued against that. Since being little, Mikey had loved horror movies, but tended to avoid anything with ghosts in. These days most of the books and movies his baby brother read featured a ghost – Mikey had actually been disappointed a few weeks ago when the ghost in a book he was reading just turned out to be some guy living in the main character’s house without them knowing.

So instead of arguing, Donnie asked, “Why?”

“They’re cool!”

“Okay, but, they’re not that cool. For one they’re real.”

Mikey paused before saying, “Yeah they are.”

“No they’re not.”

“Are too.”

“Are not.”

“Are too!”

“Are not!”

“Are-”

“Will you two stop that!” Raph stage whispered from the other side of the bookshelf, “Don’t make me come over there!”

Donnie was about to stage whisper back when Leo’s voice, tired and middle aged, said “Guys, please. How about we finish stacking the shelves and then when the hours up, you three can go outside and argue as much as you want.”

“Sorry Leo.” Mikey said.

He heard Donnie mutter an apology as well, and the four went back to work.

After about a minute, Donnie asked, “Why do you think ghosts are real?”

Mikey paused in sliding a book back onto the shelf and bit his lip. He couldn’t really say that he knew ghosts were real because one helped him with his algebra homework… okay, ‘helped’ wasn’t really the right word. More like commiserated. Splinter did his best to help Mikey, he really did, but the boy got the impression that maths had never been Splinter’s strong suit.

So, instead, Mikey said, “There’s plenty of evidence for them.”

That turned out to be just the right thing to say to in order to start another argument on the nature of hard and soft evidence. They kept their debate quiet, and by the time the geography section was restocked Mikey got an idea.

“I bet I can prove ghosts are real.” Mikey said, trying to keep his face straight.

Donnie pursed his lips, “...Bet you can’t.”

“How much you willing to put down?”

“Hmm… whoever looses has to give the winner their sweets for a month?”

“Deal!”

---

Working in the library may not have been that bad, but Mikey was still glad when the hour was up.

Before they left, Mrs Simms took a metal tin out from underneath her desk and offered each of them a biscuit, whispering not to tell the headmistress. Mikey flashed her a wide grin and trotted ahead of his brothers as they made their way to the bus stop.

The mid December air was crisp and cold, but Leo had made sure that Mikey was wrapped up in a coat, scarf and gloves, so the cold struggled to reach him.

Above them, the sky had already turned a deep blue, though Mikey could see a distant flicker of violet on the horizon. No stars had come out yet, but by the time they reached the care home the first of them would begin to peak out.

Mikey wondered if night had already fallen at the Old House. Night time looked different there, it was… well there was so much more of it.

Raph stood close to Mikey, his eyes scanning all around them for potential threats. Wordlessly, Mikey pressed himself against Raph, felt his older brother stiffen, then relax and wrap an arm around him.

Behind them, Leo was sat on the bench, chatting with Donnie. That was good – the cold weather didn’t agree with his knee, or with the scars on his throat, but if he was happy to talk, that meant today was a good one.

It was nice, out here with his brothers.

When the bus arrived, Raph ushered Mikey on first, then Leo, Donnie and finally himself.

As they got settled in their seats, Mikey thought back to his and Donnie’s bet. Neither of them had set a deadline, Mikey knowing that he was going to win, and Donnie believing he was never going to lose. But the young boy couldn’t help but wonder when would be a good time to introduce Splinter to his brothers? He wanted to tell them soon – he didn’t like keeping secrets from them – but he needed to run it by Splinter first. He knew Splinter didn’t particularly like the idea of many people knowing about him, in many ways all he wanted was to be left in peace. Not that Leo, Raph or Don were likely to run around telling other people, but Splinter didn’t know them, so he didn’t have the same level of certainty about that fact as Mikey did.

How to tell them was another matter entirely.

Well, at least it wasn’t something he had to think about right now. After all, it wasn’t like his brothers were going to find out about Splinter today.

With that thought, Mikey finished getting settled and looked back towards the school.

The lights were still on in some rooms, the custodians would be doing their rounds and the after school clubs would either be packing up or winding down.

In one window, silhouetted, Mikey could make out the shape of a man staring out into the dark. He was short, and it was hard to catch any detail, but Mikey thought that it might have been Dr. Rockwell. Donnie had heard that the man was to start teaching next week, and would be staying for the following semester, if everything went to plan.

---

YOU ARE FREEZING! Splinter said the moment he saw Mikey.

It was true. The walk hadn’t taken long, but the temperature outside has dropped considerably during the bus ride. What had started out as cool and crisp had turned freezing cold and painful to the touch. And the cold, emboldened by its growing strength, had wormed its way through his coat and frozen him to the bone. His lips were blue despite the scarf and his fingers felt numb through the gloves.

When Splinter’s thin hands touched Mikey’s shoulders, he felt his body begin to warm back up. The ghost’s body was always warm, and that head tended to transfer to whatever he touched.

But then Mikey felt himself being pushed down the hallway and into the living room. From there Splinter sat him in front of the waiting roaring fire and Mikey didn’t argue at all, sitting in front of it gratefully and holding his hands out towards the flames.

HOW WAS SCHOOL? Splinter asked once colour returned to Mikey’s cheeks.

“It was good.” Mikey said and rubbed his palms together, feeling starting to seep back into them, “Raph was right! No one can take them seriously any more!”

Splinter let out a soft chuckle, I TAKE IT THEY LEFT YOU ALONE THEN?

“Yep.” Mikey smiled, “Kyle couldn’t look at me!”

Mikey couldn’t see Splinter’s face. The fire was bright, but the ghost kept his back to it, possibly to stop too much of its light reaching his face. Mikey still knew he was smiling back at him.

AND THE LIBRARY? HOW DID THAT GO?

“Eh, boring. But Mrs Simms gave us cookies. Here!” Mikey held out half a biscuit. He’d snapped it in two and eaten his half already.

Splinter shook his head and said softly, YOU EAT IT. YOU EARNED IT.

Mikey nodded and riffled through his bag, “I think I’ve got some cheese puffs in here… they’re kinda beat up.”

Splinter asked a few more questions about school as they ate, but Mikey noticed that Splinter wasn’t entirely focused on the conversation. There was movement from the sides of his hood, and Mikey wondered if he had ears like a rat too, ears that kept twitching as they picked up a sound Mikey couldn’t detect.

Mikey listened carefully

But he still couldn’t hear anything.

Splinter tilted his head to one side, red eyes narrowing, then he shook himself and got to his feet, THAT DEER IS MOST LIKELY BACK.

Mikey frowned. He still didn’t get why Splinter didn’t like that deer being near the house. It was just a deer, after all. So what if it left the forest and walked through the field? That’s just what deer do! It wasn’t even like Splinter was worried about the deer damaging the house, he just hated it being close by.

Whilst Splinter looked for the deer, Mikey got his homework out. There were only two weeks of school left, so there wasn’t as much work as usual. There was a paint by numbers maths worksheet that he thinks is supposed to be in the shape of a Christmas tree, a short history worksheet, and a longer one for geography. It was about volcanoes.

Splinter shook his head and walked back, a frown on his face. His tail swished from side to side, and his hands clenched at his sides.

“Where was it?” Mikey asked.

IT WAS NOT THERE.

They got started on the maths worksheet. On question 3 Splinter got up again, this time going to the front of the house, but found nothing in the fields either.

Mikey listened intently as Splinter searched. He still couldn’t hear anything, but the air felt different, somehow. When he focused on whatever it was, it felt familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Almost as if he’d been round it before, but not here. Focusing on it for longer didn’t clear things up much, and Mikey realised that he didn’t know if there genuinely was something there, or if it was simply a product of Splinter’s agitation.

Mikey felt like he was being watched.

He got up and silently walked across the room to Splinter. The ghost glanced down at him, his red eyes glowing brighter for a moment, then dimming.

LET US CONTINUE YOUR HOMEWORK, Splinter said loudly, unnecessarily loud, like he wanted someone other than Mikey to hear him.

“Okay.” Mikey said, trying to sound enthusiastic and hoping it was convincing.

They returned to the fire, Splinter sitting perfectly still, body coiled like a spring, and Mikey picking up a green pencil and trying as best he could to continue colouring in a large section of tree leaf.

The back porch creaked.

Someone, stood underneath the back window, gasped.

Another someone shushed them.

Mikey froze.

Slowly he looked up at Splinter. The ghost didn’t look back, a low growl rising in the back of his throat. An inhuman sound that promised violence against whoever had trespassed on his territory.

Mikey blinked.

Splinter disappeared. The growl cut off midway.

From the window there was a shocked shout.

Oh no.

Mikey knew that voice. It wasn’t Kyle, David or Liam’s!

The growling of a very angry, very protective ghost resumed and Mikey was on his feet and running to the back door.

“Splinter! Splinter it’s okay!”

Mikey slammed the back door open, skidded as he turned, and ran along the back porch towards the window.

WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

Mikey knew Splinter well enough to know that the ghost’s tone was more confused than genuinely angry – they were most definitely not what he’d expected to find – but they wouldn’t know that.

“Who are we? Who are you? What are you doing with Mikey?” Leo shouted back.

Raph’s voice cut in, “If you’ve done anything to hurt him, I’ll rip that tail off and shove it up your-”

“Raph!” Mikey waved his arms above his head to get their attention, “I’m fine! I’m okay!”

Immediately, Raph grabbed him, pulling him as far away from Splinter as he could manage. Then Mikey felt Raph patting him down, checking Mikey’s for any signs of injury.

“Mikey are you okay?”

“I said I’m fine!”

From the corner of his eye, Mikey saw Donnie and Leo position themselves between their brothers and the ghost before them.

“Mikey,” Donnie whispered despite the fact Splinter was close enough to hear, “Who is that?”

“Er…” Mikey glanced at Splinter, then stared at the floor.

By now, Splinter had stopped hissing. He’d most likely figured out who they were so was now watching them with interest, his head tilted to one side. Something twitched inside the hood of his robes, and he titled his head to the other side.

Mikey didn’t know what to say.

Would it be best to lie and say he didn’t know? No, that wouldn’t work – they’d seen him sat down with Splinter. His homework was still in the living room!

But could he tell them the truth? Would they believed it?

It was safe to say, this was not how he’d wanted them to meet Splinter. His imaginings had involved leading them to the Old House and introducing them, a well thought out explanation at the ready. Maybe even work shopping it with Splinter a bit.

There was no time to plan here. No time to figure out what the right or wrong thing to say was. No time to make sure things went just right.

Mikey bit his lip. He looked at Splinter, a pleading look in his eyes.

He didn’t know what to do.

The ghost stared back at him. Tension still hung on his shoulders, his body still tense and ready for action. But as he looked back at Mikey, this young boy he’d become so fond of, his posture softened.

Splinter nodded.

A half-relieved, half-grateful sigh left Mikey.

“This is Splinter.” he said, “He’s my friend.”

Notes:

The update schedule for this fic is going to be a bit different than Playing With Shadows. Don’t know how much free time I’m going to have when next semester starts, so I’m going to try to post three chapters this month! Hopefully I’ll have enough time to update afterwards, but who knows.

Chapter 2

Summary:

Mikey tries to explain things to his brothers

“What do you mean this is Splinter!?” Raph demanded.

Mikey shifted awkwardly, “That he’s Splinter?”

Leo scrubbed his face with his hands, “So… Splinter is a monster?” his eyes scanned Splinter, taking note of the long scaled tale, “A giant rat monster?”

“If it helps,” Mikey began, “he’s not a monster-”

“Well then what is he?” Raph snapped. He’d pushed Mikey behind him, as though if Splinter couldn’t see Mikey, he’d somehow be safer.

I AM DEAD.

Over the last few months, Mikey had grown used to Splinter’s voice. It still didn’t sound natural to Mikey, didn’t sound like the kind of noise that could come from a living being, and Mikey doubted it ever would. Not with the way it reverberated, or how the sound seemed to surround you on all sides rather than coming from a single direction.

But it was Splinter’s voice, so Mikey couldn’t find it frightening, not any more. Hearing that voice made him feel safe.

But his brothers hadn’t known Splinter for as long as he had. They didn’t associate his voice with soothing words and lessons. They’d never heard him complain about how complicated maths was, info-dumb about the Renaissance or Godzilla, or laugh at his own bad joke.

Raph flinched, then growled, “What does that mean?”

Splinter tilted his head to one side, WHAT DO YOU THINK IT MEANS?

Mikey pushed his hands into his face and groaned. This wasn’t going to be easy, was it?

Leo glanced at Mikey, then back at Splinter, “You’re a ghost?”

Splinter nodded, YES.

Beside Leo, Donnie frowned, “That can’t – ghosts aren’t real!”

The ghost stared back at Donnie, I AM NOT SURE WHAT TO TELL YOU.

“I thought ghosts were supposed to look like a person.” Raph hissed.

WHO TOLD YOU THAT?

“No one. Everyone knows it.” Raph took a step forward.

THEN MAYBE EVERYONE IS WRONG.

“Or you’re a liar.”

Oh boy.

Mikey pushed himself between Raph and Splinter, arms outstretched, “Okay, how about we all chill out.”

Both of them looked at Mikey and both their eyes softened.

“We could go inside. It’ll be warmer and we can talk.” Mikey tried.

“I’m not going anywhere with that thing.”

“Raph,” Leo said, the warning clear in his voice.

Raph growled again, then sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly.

“Fine.” He turned to Splinter, “But if you try anything-”

Mikey didn’t hear the rest of what Raph said. He was already walking to the back door and trying his best to think about what to say. On the way he saw Splinter roll his eyes at Raph’s threat, and repressed the desire to groan.

This was going to be fun.

---

The living room was warm now, the fire burning strong and bright. Admittedly the room was still pretty dark with everything thrown into shades of red and orange, but Mikey could get around without issue.

Donnie immediately tripped over the step.

Splinter sat away from them, as far away from the fire as he could get. They could still tell where he was though, his red eyes giving his location away. Mikey wasn’t sure if Splinter was trying to give his brothers space as to not scare them, or if Splinter himself didn’t know what to make of them, so was keeping his distance until he came to a conclusion. Either way, at least he wasn’t hissing at them any more.

“So.” Leo said, “What’s going on?”

Mikey shifted awkwardly, “Umm… well, I… uh…”

MIKEY, DO YOU WANT ME TO EXPLAIN?

“No.” Mikey replied, “I can do it. Just, just give me a sec.”

“And we want to hear what Mikey has to say.” Raph said, glaring at Splinter.

“Okay.” Mikey’s leg started to bounce, “So, a few months ago Liam, David and Kyle tried to beat me up. I ran here and Splinter helped me.”

“How did he help?” Donnie asked, “Like did he defuse the situation or do ghost stuff?”

Based on how Don said ‘ghost’ like it was a dirty word, Donnie wasn’t happy about the very real ghost sat across the room. He kept glancing at Splinter too, and Mikey wasn’t sure if his brother was also having trouble getting his head around the current situation, if he simply didn’t trust Splinter, or both.

“Er… ghost stuff.”

“Can you go into specifics?” Donnie prompted.

Mikey bit his lip, “He chase them out of the house.”

After locking them in a room and scaring them half to death, but Donnie didn’t need to know that.

I ALSO LOCKED THEM IN A ROOM AND THREATENED THEM.

Slowly Mikey turned to face Splinter, mouth agape, “Why would you tell them that?”

Splinter titled his head to one side, HE WANTED SPECIFICS!

Leo let out the groan of someone who just knew they’d involved themselves in an absolute mess and untangling it was going to take forever. It was the groan of exhausted parents and overworked retail employees the world over. A sound that asked the universe “What did I do to deserve this?”

“So you’re friends with an aggressive ghost. That’s… a thing.” Leo breathed in, held it, let the breath out slowly, “Okay. They were bullying you, so I guess it’s okay.”

Raph made a growling sound. Mikey guessed that Raph agreed with Leo, but didn’t want to agree with Splinter on anything, so was conflicted and angry about it.

Leo turned to Splinter, “Why are you teaching him how to fight?”

THOSE BOYS WOULD NOT LEAVE HIM ALONE. I AM… LIMITED IN HOW I CAN HELP. IT WAS THE BEST SOLUTION I COULD OFFER.

“That makes sense.” Leo said.

“Still doesn’t explain why our little brother is suddenly a ninja.” Raph muttered.

Splinter said up straighter.

Mikey watched him. There was movement from within the hood, like something was twitching.

Suddenly the very tip of his tail started hammering the floor and his head snapped to Mikey as he shouted, NINJUTSU! I AM TEACHING YOU NINJUTSU!

“Ninjutsu!” Mikey shouted back. “… Wait you’re a ninja?”

I WAS A NINJUTSU MASTER! Splinter jumped to his feet and began pacing up and down the room, MY UNCLE GYŌGI TRAINED ME. HE, HE… HE WAS BLIND! HE HAD WATCHED THE BOMB DROP ON HIROSHIMA.

Mikey, wanting to keep the ball rolling asked, “You’re from Hiroshima?”

NO, NO, I… I WAS BORN SOMEWHERE ELSE. MY FATHER’S FAMILY LIVED THERE BEFORE THE WAR.

Donnie leaned over to Leo and whispered, “What’s going on?”

Leo whispered back, “I don’t know.”

Ignoring them, Mikey asked, “What was he like?”

HE WAS, HE WAS, Splinter pushed his hands into his hood. There was a strange grinding sound, followed by a short hiss, STERN. HE WAS VERY STRICT AND HAD THE HIGHEST OF STANDARDS. Splinter slowly removed his hands from the hood and clenched them by his sides, BUT HE WAS KIND.

A long pause.

Mikey could tell from how Splinter stood, the way he held himself, the slight drooping of his shoulders, that he was confused as he said, HE DID NOT LIKE MY FATHER.

“… Okay, so, now that’s settled,” Donnie said, “Can we get back to…”

OH, YES. Splinter said, more than a little sheepish, PARDON THE INTERRUPTION.

Mikey frowned. He’d have liked to ask more questions, to try to prompt the resurgence of as many memories as possible. There might still be time too, whilst Splinter was thinking about his uncle. But his brothers didn’t understand how important what had just happened was. And as annoyed as Mikey was, he struggled to direct it fully at Donnie. After all, Donnie hadn’t know any better.

“Is there anything else we should know?” Leo asked slowly.

Mikey chewed the inside of his mouth as he thought, “Splinter has fire powers.”

Leo blinked, “I - What?”

I CAN MAKE FIRE.

“Can you, can you show us?” Donnie said, voice level, but not successfully hiding his excitement.

Splinter shifted awkwardly, I WOULD RATHER NOT.

“Splinter’s scared of fire.” Mikey explained.

Donnie pursed his lips and frowned in disappointment.

I ALSO HAVE… ISSUES WITH MY MEMORY. Splinter looked away from them, but his red eyes flared bright enough that for half a second Mikey could see the markings on the ghost’s face, I DO NOT KNOW WHO I USED TO BE.

“Oh, so that’s what,” Leo gestured vaguely, “that was all about.”

YES.

“So,” Raph said slowly, “You’re a fire ghost ninja?”

“Pretty much.”

THAT IS ACCURATE.

Raph looked to his brothers, “Can we talk about this.” He glanced at Splinter, “Alone.”

Mikey was about to argue – this was Splinter’s home and he was Mikey’s friend – but Splinter rose to his feet before the boy could say anything. Before leaving the room, he placed a hand on Mikey’s shoulder and said, I WILL BE UPSTAIRS.

Mikey blinked and Splinter vanished.

Donnie recoiled, “How – how did he?”

“Ghost.” Leo said.

There was a long stretch where no one spoke. The only sounds were the crackling of the fire and Mikey’s uncomfortable shuffling. It was as if his brothers wanted to make sure that Splinter really was gone and couldn’t hear whatever they were about to say, whilst Mikey didn’t know what he wanted to say.

For something to do, Mikey examined the room. It was dark and bright at the same time, some parts cast in shadow whilst others glowed under the firelight. For his brothers, it must have seemed oppressively dark. But Mikey was used to the Old House, used to this comfortable darkness, and his eyes could see just fine in the low light.

The mattresses were pushed up against a wall. Mikey had asked Splinter why they didn’t just leave the mattresses on the floor – after all, it’d save time rather than having to set up everyday. Splinter had said something about the mattresses needing to air off to stop mould spreading.

There were other pieces of furniture in the room. Splinter hadn’t brought them back after his long hours of walking though, they’d come with the building. An abandoned coffee table. A sofa that had been gutted by something with sharp claws. An old armchair that was actually still quite comfortable to sit or sleep in.

Boards covered the broken windows, and those that weren’t broken stared out into the dark evening.

One night, whilst Splinter put the mattresses away, Mikey had sat next to the windows and watched the darkness outside. The forest loomed, but Mikey found it was much like the Old House.

There was something Not Right about it that went beyond him having grown up in a city. And he knew without knowing that something (or some things) lived there that could hurt Mikey if they wanted to.

But it wasn’t outright malicious.

He knew that as long as he respected it, the forest would not go out of its way to harm him. At the end of the day the forest, and whatever lived within it, just wanted to exist without being threatened.

Above the forest was a sky like none he’d ever seen in his entire life.

Mikey had looked out of their bedroom window at the care home and found that, even with the village being only small, there was enough light pollution that you couldn’t really see the stars. Sure, the brightest and strongest were still visible, and the moon wasn’t going anywhere, but that was about it.

At the Old House you could see everything.

Stars.

Endless glittering clouds.

Blacks and blues and greens and purples all twisting and swirling around each other.

So many shooting stars.

It was as if the universe had opened itself up to just this little patch of earth.

On that particular night when he’d stared out the window and watched the forest, Mikey had decided to figure out just how long that sky went on for.

And he’d tried on the walk back to the care home. He’d nearly tripped over several times, more focused on the sky than where his feet were going. Splinter had picked him up after the third time, hefting Mikey up into his arms and opting to carry the boy back, but not before asking what he was doing.

“The sky’s different here.” Mikey explained softly.

DIFFERENT?

“There’s… there’s more of it.”

Splinter’s red eyes flared for a moment, then he looked up, AH, THE STARS YOU MEAN?

“Yeah. When does it go back to normal?”

I THINK THIS IS NORMAL, Splinter said softly, OR AT LEAST IT WAS, SOME TIME AGO… KEEP AN EYE ON IT AND TELL ME WHEN IT CHANGES.

Mikey nodded and pressed his cheek against the side of Splinter’s hood as the ghost started walking again.

As they went, Mikey found that that sky didn’t change suddenly. The stars and colours and clouds began vibrant and strong. But the further away Mikey and Splinter got from the Old House and forest, the less vibrant the night sky became.

Slowly stars winked out, colours faded.

One by one, little by little.

Until only a few stars and the moon remained, and all those wonderful colours quietly slipped away.

The night was still beautiful, but it was as if someone had hidden the rest of it from view.

Mikey hadn’t known what to make of that and still didn’t. Neither did Splinter.

“So,” Raph began, “What are we going to do?”

“What do you mean?” Donnie asked.

“You can’t seriously be asking that? A monster has been hanging around Mikey and none of us have noticed?

“He’s not bad.” Mikey said, more than a little defensive.

“How do you know that?” Raph snapped.

Anyone else might have shrank away from Raph, but Mikey knew him. Raph wasn’t angry – he was terrified. Something Raph didn’t know or understand had been around his baby brother, and he couldn’t help but feel like he’d failed to protect Mikey.

And because Mikey knew his brother, he felt comfortable snapping back, “Cause I know him! Unlike you!”

“Oh yeah? How do you know he’s not just tricking you?” Raph said with a glare.

“Why would he?”

“I don’t know! He’s a monster – they don’t need a reason. Maybe he wants to eat you!”

“He doesn’t eat people.” Mikey was glaring right back at Raph now.

Leo cleared his throat and shot a look at Raph when their brother opened his mouth to keep arguing, “Okay, what does he eat?”

Mikey stalled for a moment, his brain struggling to process the abrupt change in conversation, “… er, pretty much anything. He likes peanut butter and cheese,” a little guiltily Mikey added, “I’ve been giving him the cheese from my ham sandwiches.”

There was another pause as Mikey debated going into more detail. He didn’t want them to think badly of Splinter, or give them any potential reasons to be afraid of him. But if he didn’t tell them, if he withheld any information on purpose, then even minor things could seem so much worse than they actually were.

Eventually Mikey decided it’d be better to get it all out of the way now, “He also eats meat.”

“Like, with stuff?”

“No.” Mikey wrapped his arms around his legs, “He catches animals in the field and eats them,” a small shrug, “He can’t go to a store, so he eats what he can get. And he, um, if he doesn’t he loses control.”

“Like he attacks stuff?” Donnie asked, concern written across his face.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him like that.” Mikey shrugged again, “He makes sure he doesn’t get that hungry.”

Leo nodded, “Well, in that case we can rule out that he wants to eat Mikey.”

“How?” Raph demanded, “For all we know he’s faking.”

“He’s not.” Mikey said with enough force that no one questioned him again.

“So,” Leo said, “Any other theories?”

Donnie hummed, “Maybe it’s a feed off Mikey’s fear thing?”

Mikey tilted his head to one side, “Why would he have helped me then?”

“Okay,” Donnie admitted, “Maybe not that one… so… has he mentioned wanting anything?”

“No.” Mikey started tapping his hands against the floor, “He’s lonely, but likes it when I visit. I think he just wants company, but doesn’t know how to say that.”

Leo stared into the fire, “Do you feel safe around him?”

“Yes.”

“Mikey, you need to at least think about it.” Leo said.

“I have.” Mikey said, then added, “Okay, I’ll think about it.”

For about a minute or so Mikey made a big show of thinking it over, until Leo started laughing and said, “Okay, okay, I get it. Why though?”

It was a genuine question, not a challenge like if Raph had asked.

Mikey rocked back and forth gently and mulled it over before answering, “He reminds me of you guys.”

Raph made a chocking sound and Donnie spluttered, but Mikey continued before either of them could say anything.

“Splinter listens to me and he doesn’t make me feel stupid when I can’t do something.” Mikey started fiddling with his fingers, not looking at his brothers as he continued, “He can be scary, when he wants to, and might look like a monster, but. But he’s not. And he’s not bad either.”

Finally Mikey looked up.

Leo hummed and nodded thoughtfully.

They were all watching him, not just Mikey, waiting to see what their eldest brother would say.

“You can keep visiting Splinter.”

“What!?” Raph shouted, “Leo you can’t be serious!”

Leo didn’t look at Raph, instead he kept all his focus on Mikey as he asked, “If I said no, would you just ignore me and come anyway?”

“Oh yeah, totally.”

Now Leo turned to Raph, “And how would you suggest we stop him?”

“I… I… this is stupid!”

Leo shrugged, “Also, I wasn’t finished yet.”

Mikey squirmed as Leo turned back to him, nervous about whatever it was Leo still had to say.

“You come here everyday, yeah?”

A nod from Mikey.

“We’ll come with you from now on.”

No no n- wait...

“What?” Mikey and Raph both said at the same time.

“We can’t stop him coming.” Leo explained, “But if we’ve got any issues with Splinter, we can watch him and make sure Mikey is safe.”

Raph closed his mouth, scowled, but didn’t say anything.

Donnie, however, asked, “Shouldn’t we ask the ghost – this is ridiculous – shouldn’t we ask the ghost if we can visit?”

“I’ll ask him!” Mikey said,

“Wait! Mikey-” Leo rushed to say, but it was too late, Mikey had already ran to the doorway.

“Splinter! You can come back now!”

“- never mind.” Leo said, “We can talk about it tomorrow.”

“Wonder where he’s going to come out.” Donnie said, craning his head to look around the room.

From directly behind him, Splinter asked, WHAT DID YOU DECIDE?

Donnie screamed, then shouted, “Would you STOP DOING THAT!”

Notes:

I cannot tell you how long it took me to find Gyōgi’s name. I knew I’d read somewhere that Splinter had an uncle who trained him, but couldn’t for the life of me find what his name was. Turned out Gyōgi was from the Archie comics and I was looking at the 87 show.

Chapter 3

Summary:

The brothers return to the Children's Home. After everyone else is asleep, Leo and Raph talk

Training was cut short that night. Splinter ran Mikey through the kata’s they’d practised the previous day and showed him another set, but decided against sparing.

It had been difficult to suppress his disappointment – Mikey enjoyed sparring. He liked the fast pace and being able to show what he’d learned, how he’d improved since last time.

(And that fond, proud smile. Mikey liked that too. The smile that told him without words that he’d done well.)

But tomorrow was Saturday, so at least he’d get to visit for a lot longer then. And their normal routine hadn’t gone completely out the window – they’d finished his homework, so there wasn’t really anything pressing he had to do over the weekend. Well, outside of helping his brothers get used to Splinter, but Mikey guessed that’d take more than two days to accomplish.

Speaking of which, his brothers being at the Old House from now on would make things different. Just how different he’d have to see, but at least he’d still get to see his-

…

Mikey would still get to see Splinter.

And he wouldn’t have to lie to his brothers any more! That was good! He’d have to get used to not lying to them now, but that wasn’t a bad thing.

Although it did feel very strange for Splinter to not walk him back to the house. Raph had rather firmly said that they didn’t need Splinter to take them home – they had each other and knew the way, thank you very much .

The walk itself was… kinda awkward actually. None of them really talked, and his brothers kept sending nervous glances back the way they’d come.

When they got back to the Children’s Home Tracey, the on duty social worker, noticed the strained atmosphere and asked how their detention had gone.

“It was okay.” Leo said.

“Kinda boring.” Raph muttered, then pointed at Don and Mikey, “Those two wouldn’t stop arguing about ghosts.”

It was at that moment Donnie’s eyes widened and he slowly turned to Mikey, brows furrowed and mouth hanging open. Mikey flashed him an innocent and not at all mischievous grin.

When Tracey turned her back, Donnie whispered “You little turd.”

Mikey snorted.

“I am so mad with you right now.” Donnie hissed.

He tried to give Donnie another sweet smile, but it turned into a laugh.

Leo, watching them from the corner of his eye, said, “Would you two stop.”

Donnie poked Mikey.

Mikey poked him back.

The resulting slap fight had Leo sighing and rolling his eyes, and left Tracey equal parts confused and amused, “So, you guys aren’t at all broken up about this, are you?”

Mikey shrugged, “Mrs Simms is nice.”

She gave him a fond smile, “I’ll tell Mr Silver you’re doing okay. But,” she added quickly, “He’s arranged a meeting next Thursday.”

Leo nodded, “I’ll write it down.”

---

After that, the rest of the night went on as normal. Or at least it went as normal as it could when three of them had just learned that ghosts were real and their littlest brother was friends with one.

It wasn’t until it was time for bed though, as he pulled on his pyjamas, that a thought occurred to Mikey, something that he’d forgotten to mention at the Old House.

“Leo?”

“Yes Mikey?”

“Where did you put the library book? There’s something I need to show you.”

“Er…” Leo paused, then stuck his arm underneath his bunk and patted around for a few seconds, “Here.”

Mikey shook his arms to untwist the sleeves of his sweater, slid off his bed, sat next to Leo and started flipping through the pages. They’d had the book for a few weeks now, and Leo was most of the way through it, but he’d not gotten to the section on Tesso yet. Miley had already guessed that – if Leo had recognised what Splinter was (or might be, Mikey couldn’t be sure), then Leo would have said something already.

“This.” Mikey showed Leo the page and waited as Leo read it.

“… oh no.”

Raph’s head snapped towards them, “What? What’s wrong?”

Leo turned the book round and showed their remaining brothers, “Read this.”

Donnie clambered down from the top bunk, paused to put on his glasses, and joined them.

After a long, quiet, horrible moment, Leo turned to Mikey. Raph ground his jaw and Donnie started fiddling with his glasses.

“Is that Splinter?” Leo asked, voice kept calm and even, but not hiding the panic underneath it.

“No.” Mikey said immediately, then added softer “It’s just, I think he’s the same thing. Or is becoming the same thing. I don’t know. I’ve not told him yet.”

Donnie said, voice slightly shrill , “What do you mean you’ve not told him yet?”

“He doesn’t know.” Mikey said, confused about what wasn’t clear, “He doesn’t know what he is and I’ve not showed him this before either.”

“So why are you showing us?” Donnie asked.

“I thought you’d be mad if I waited.”

Raph started chewing on the inside of his mouth, “So, he’s definitely some kind of monster. And this other guy turned into one and he killed a kid? Splinter must be up to something.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Mikey, I’m with Raph on this one.” Donnie said, “We don’t know anything about him – from what you’ve said neither does Splinter. How do we know he’s not planning something?”

Because he’s my friend , was what Mikey wanted to say.

But that wouldn’t convince them, so instead he turned to Leo, eyes pleading.

Leo’s face was pensive as he stared into space, humming softly to himself, “Is there a way we could find out?” he said eventually, “If he did something?”

“He didn’t do anything.” Mikey said.

“I’m not saying he did. I’m saying if he did, could we find out. Way I see it there are two options. Option one: Splinter did something terrible and was turned into a monster. Option two: Someone did something terrible to him and now he’s a monster. Either way, we need to know. Which leaves us with this: how do we figure that out?”

Mikey opened and closed his mouth. He didn’t like where this was going. They were judging Splinter without knowing him.

But if his brothers started investigating Splinter’s past, even if it was to find something wrong, then perhaps they’d realise along the way that he wasn’t a bad monster, just a lonely one. And it’d be a lot easier for Mikey to find information on the rat ghost if he had help.

With that in mind, he said, “I’ve been writing down when he remembers stuff. And some theories on, on how he died. Would that help?”

“It could narrow things down.” Leo said, “Donnie?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we could look up similar deaths, but we don’t know where or when he died.”

Raph shrugged, “That’s if anyone knows about it.”

Mikey really didn’t like that idea. Didn’t at all like the concept that Splinter could have died without anyone noticing or caring about his absence. Someone out there had to miss him, someone out there had to still love and remember the man he used to be. His brother or his uncle Gyogi perhaps? Wherever they were.

Besides, he was a ninja master! Like how many of those are out there?

Leo nodded again, filing that information away into the back of his mind for later inspection. He wasn’t ready, not right now at least, to start making a thorough plan of action. It had been a long day, and they all needed rest. Especially considering the… interesting day tomorrow was all but promised to be.

“How about we put a pin in this for now and come back to it this time tomorrow.” he looked up, “We’ll also have a better read on Splinter by then.”

Raph shifted uncomfortably, but didn’t argue, which surprised Mikey. Then his eyes, vivid green, focused on Mikey “Want a story before bed.”

Raph had always read Mikey bedtime stories. It was something their dad used to do, and Raph hadn’t liked the idea of Mikey missing out just because he was too young to remember having a parent.

They’d finished Coraline a while ago, had then moved onto the first Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Now they were on The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. It was a bit of a departure from the horror books they’d been reading previously, but Mikey had seen the rats on the front cover and got excited.

(That made a lot more sense now. Leo hadn’t failed to notice what Splinter’s tail looked like.)

Raph looked a little reluctant to pick the book up - he pursed his lips and frowned - but he picked it up anyway as Mikey climbed into Raph’s bunk.

Leo turned the pages of his own book until he found his place again, marked by a Space Heroes bookmark, and continued reading.

When Mikey yawned for the third time in a row Raph said, in a voice so much softer than many would have expected him to be capable of, in a voice that sounded so much like their dad, “Okay goof ball, time for bed.”

“I’m not… I’m not tired though.” Mikey managed to say through another yawn.

“C’mon, let’s get you in bed. If you’re not tired, I’ll read another page. How’s that?”

Leo didn’t hear Mikey’s response, but a moment later Mikey clambered down the ladder and stumbled towards his bed. Raph followed, book in hand.

He got halfway down the page before Mikey fell asleep.

Donnie put away his own book, a thick textbook on physics that Leo couldn’t understand but still liked the drawings of stars it contained, and laid down.

“Night Leo.”

“Goodnight Donnie.”

Leo turned the light off, climbed into bed, and waited.

---

He waited for longer than he thought he would, watching the bunk above him in the pitch blackness of their bedroom. Maybe Raph wanted to make sure Donnie and Mikey were fast asleep first?

Leo shuffled over as he heard Raph climb down the ladder. They did this every now and again, usually when something was bothering one of them and they needed someone to talk to, someone who understood.

Seven months ago, after Leo had been released from hospital, Raph hadn’t let him out of his sight and more often than not they’d shared the same bunk.

Raph gently nudged Leo aside as slide underneath the covers. He didn’t say anything immediately - he was waiting for Leo to talk first.

“What’s up?” Leo whispered.

“Are we really going to go back there?”

“You got a better idea?”

“Leo, we can’t trust him.”

“I know, and I don’t.”

T hat wasn’t entirely true. There was a voice deep inside of Leo that told him he could trust Splinter, that this creature didn’t mean any harm. The voice was small but strong, and he’d listened to it before.

But Leo had to think of his brothers. And no matter how strong that voice was, no matter how insistent it was that there was no danger here, he couldn’t stake their safety on what was still just a feeling.

H e wasn’t going to judge Splinter unfairly, but he wasn’t going to just trust him without question either.

Leo rolled over so he could look at Raph as he spoke, “ And this way if Splinter tries anything, we’ll be t here to help Mikey.”

R aph chewed the inside of his mouth again , “We shouldn’t be there at all.”

“He knows where we live.” Leo said softly, “If he wants to hurt Mikey, he could just come here.”

Raph’s face twisted with worry. “Is there anything in one of Mikey’s books that could help?”

“Maybe. What about those movies?”

Raph shrugged, an action made awkward by him laying down, “Salt and stuff like that. Don’t know if it’d actually work though.”

“It’s a start, at least. We can look into it.” Leo glanced at the other top bunk, “I’ll talk to Donnie.”

Raph didn’t say anything for a while. Leo started to wonder if Raph had fallen asleep with his eyes open again, and prepared himself for a night sleeping next to his twin.

“He gets one chance.” Raph growled. “He gets one chance and if he hurts any of you, he’s out.”

Notes:

This chapter was originally planned to be longer, but this felt like a good place to end it. Plus this will hopefully mean that it won’t take too long for chapter 4 to be finished.

Chapter 4

Summary:

The Brothers spend the day with Splinter.

Notes:

Heads up for panic attacks, dissociation, and implied/referenced child abuse. The tags have been edited to include the first two.

“Guys c’mon! Hurry up!”

“Since when were you a morning person?” Donnie, a borderline owl, grumbled.

Leo shouted back, “We’re not as used to coming here as you are!”

Didn’t help that the field looked so different during the day. Last night Leo had paid carefully attention to everything around him, trying to build up a mental map of the field. He’d made note of potential escape routes and hiding places, items that they could use to distract someone if necessary. Back then the dark house with its boarded up or broken window had seemed so imposing, standing tall at the far end of the field, not all that far from the forest’s boundary.

But here and now in the bright light of a winter’s day, the house had been transformed. There was something quaint, inviting almost, about its rough exterior and the plants climbing up one side. It reminded him of the magical houses in some of the books he’d read: a place yearning to be explored, somewhere you could happily spend a summer before school and the real world called you away.

Mikey threw his hands up in the air, “It’ll be nighttime by the time we get there!”

Next to Leo, Raph muttered under his breath. “If we’re lucky, we won’t get there at all.”

Leo saw Mikey frown and knew his little brother had heard Raph. He didn’t comment on it though. Instead he bit his lip and hopped nervously from one foot to the other. He wanted today to go well, Leo could tell, and was likely hoping that soon enough his brothers would realise that there was nothing to be worried about.

Despite himself, Leo smiled.

---

Mikey wished they’d hurry up.

It had taken long enough just to get to the field, never mind the house itself! Leo had decided that they should take food, which Mikey wasn’t opposed to and he’d helped Leo make their lunches, but it took more time to make five than it did to make one with extra snacks.

Admittedly the fifth was made on his assistance. Explaining to Leo that Splinter got hungry had been a bit difficult, largely because Mikey himself didn’t understand it either. Saying “He just does” hadn’t been a satisfying answer, and Mikey had avoided explaining that Splinter did it to avoid becoming aggressive – he didn’t want to give Leo a reason to fear Splinter.

After making lunch, he’d then had to wait whilst his brothers got ready. Mikey had stood next to the gate, bouncing up and down, whilst they got their shoes on and Donnie badly tied his laces.

Now, the house was (finally) just in sight. It was so close and they were still so far away. Smoke was rising from the chimney, so at least it’d be warm when they got there.

Eventually, (eventually) they arrived and whilst his brothers took their coats and bags off, he bounded into the living room, where Splinter was throwing another log onto the fire.

“We’re back!” Mikey said.

HELLO MICHAELANGELO! HOW WAS YOUR NIGHT?

“Eh, it was okay,” Mikey said, “We had spaghetti for dinner.” A moment passed and he added, “Oh, we brought you a lunch too!”

OH?... THANK YOU.

“It’s a ham and cheese sandwich.” Mikey explained, “there’s an apple too. We think they’re still good.”

There were also three juice boxes and two bottles of water, because there wasn’t enough juice left. Plus some crisps and a chocolate bars.

Splinter sat down, tail slowly moving behind him, like a particularly large but lazy snake.

AND THE REST OF YOU? ARE YOU WELL?

Leo kept his face carefully neutral, “We’re fine.”

Raph glared suspiciously at Splinter, the words “why do you care?” painted across his face, though he didn’t say anything. And he didn’t need to. Raph was an expert at letting the people around him, especially adults, know that he didn’t trust them as far as he could throw them.

Donnie, however, “Why do you want to know?”

Splinter titled his head, I AM MAKING CONVERSATION. IS THIS NOT NORMAL?

“No,” Donnie said slowly, “It’s normal. But most people ask and don’t actually care. Or they do care, but they’re after something.”

WOULD IT HELP IF I SAID I AM TRYING TO ASCERTAIN YOUR OPINION OF YESTERDAY?

“Oh, yes. That makes sense. I had no nightmares of rat monsters or ghosts.” Donnie said.

… THAT IS GOOD.

Leo cleared his throat, “We do want to talk though. About,” he gestured vaguely, “all this.”

“We have more questions.” Raph said.

Donnie’s face brightened, “I have some too!”

Mikey looked at Splinter, “Is that okay?”

YES, I HAVE ONE AS WELL. WE CAN START WITH YOUR BROTHERS’ FIRST – MINE CAN WAIT.

“Okay, so,” Leo began, “Mikey said he’s been coming for a few months. After the first day, why did Mikey come back?”

Mikey said, “I wanted to say thanks, and then…”

“And then?” Leo prompted, as softly as his voice would allow.

“He seemed lonely.” Mikey said, not looking at Splinter.

He didn’t think Splinter would be angry or anything, but for some reason it felt awkward to say it out loud.

“Okay. Raph?”

Raph glared at Splinter,“What do you want?”

WANT?

“With Mikey.”

NOTHING. HE IS A FRIEND AND STUDENT.

“And what do you get out of it?” Raph pressed.

Splinter titled his head again, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION.

“People don’t just do stuff because they’re nice. What do you get out of this? What’s your angle?”

Splinter titled his head again.

Eventually he said, COMPANIONSHIP, I SUPPOSE. I DO NOT HAVE MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO TALK TO OTHERS. BUT, I ASSURE YOU, I HAVE NO ULTERIOR MOTIVES.

Raph opened his mouth to argue, but Splinter continued before he could, THERE ARE PARTS OF BEING ALIVE THAT I EITHER HAD NO NEED FOR, OR NO WAY OF ACCESSING. HAVING ANOTHER PERSON TO TALK TO IS ONE SUCH THING, the window suddenly occupied Splinter’s attention, IT IS SUCH A SMALL THING, HAVING COMPANY. YOU DO NOT REALISE HOW VITAL IT IS, HOW MUCH YOU ENJOY IT, UNTIL IT IS NO LONGER AN OPTION…

...

WHAT IS YOUR NEXT QUESTION?

Mikey glanced at Raph. He still glared at Splinter, but he wasn’t arguing. For now, at least, he was satisfied with that answer.

“Donnie?” Leo prompted, “You’re up.”

“Okay,” Donnie said and took out a notebook, “I have a few.”

Splinter blinked.

Leo bit the inside of his mouth, then leaned over, “Donnie… how many pages do you have?”

“Er…” Donnie flipped through, revealing several pages of carefully written questions, “Not many. I left space underneath each one to write his answer down, so there’s not as many as it looks.”

Oh boy, Mikey thought.

Splinter was about to be interrogated.

“Okay, so, number one: What are you made of?”

MADE OF?

“Ghosts are supposed to be made of ectoplasm, is that accurate? Or are you made of a different material?”

I, DO NOT, KNOW, Splinter’s tail moved rapidly for a second.

“I’ll write down unknown. Number 2: how long have you been a ghost?”

WHAT YEAR IS IT?

“Two thousand and eight.”

… OH.

His brothers didn’t notice it, or at least Donnie and Raph didn’t, but Splinter’s shoulder’s slumped and a sadness creeped into his voice, ROUGHLY TWELVE YEARS.

“Three: You have fire powers – what can you do with them?”

NOT MUCH, I AM AFRAID. CHANGING A ROOM’S TEMPERATURE AND A FEW FLAMES IS THE EXTENT OF IT. A pause, WITH PRACTICE, I MIGHT BE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH MORE, BUT I HAVE NOT TRIED.

“Four – what else can you do?”

I CAN MOVE FROM SHADOW TO SHADOW – MIKEY CALLS IT SHADOW WALKING. INVISIBILITY, THOUGH I AM NOT SURE IF THAT IS JUST AN EXTENSION OF SHADOW WALKING OR VICE VERSA. WALKING ON WALLS, BUT, He raised his hands and wiggled his fingers, showing off the sharp claws at the end of each digit, THAT IS MORE TO DO WITH THESE, THAN ANY POWERS. AS FAR AS I AM AWARE, THAT IS ALL.

“Can you possess people?” Leo asked carefully.

I DO NOT KNOW AND IF I CAN, I WOULD NOT WANT TO.

“Back to your claws, how sharp are they? Can I look?”

Splinter nodded, carefully holding out a hand for Donnie to inspect.

“Raph, can you write this down for me? Thanks. Okay, he has four digits on each hand: one thumb and three fingers. Rats generally have five digits. Have you lost a finger – there doesn’t appear to be room for a missing digit?”

AS FAR AS I CAN REMEMBER, I HAVE ONLY EVER HAD FOUR.

Donnie nodded and turned the hand over so that Splinter’s palm was facing up, “Fingers are really long, but that might be normal for him. Most noticeable features are scars across the palm and underside of the fingers,” he pressed Splinter’s fingers closed, uncurled the hand, then pressed it closed again “Looks like you grabbed something sharp and it cut your hand pretty bad. Does it hurt?”

NOT PARTICULARLY.

Donnie frowned, “There are smaller cuts too.”

THOSE ARE FROM BROKEN GLASS. THEY DO HURT.

“But the other’s don’t?”

NO, THESE ARE NEWER. I DON’T KNOW IF THAT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT.

Don closed each of Splinter’s fingers one by one, “Can you still use your hand with all the scaring?”

YES, THEY WORK WELL ENOUGH.

“He can sew.” Mikey added.

“Okay, so, dexterous like a human hand.”

Donnie adjusted his glasses before continuing, “Raph, his hands are somewhere between a human hand and a paw,” he paused, squinted, then added, “There are pads.”

“Pads?” Raph asked.

“Like a cat’s paw.” He looked up at Splinter, “Can you run on them?”

YES. QUITE QUICKLY, IN FACT. BEFORE YOU ASK, MY FEET ARE THE SAME.

Mikey turned away from Don and Splinter and towards Leo. As Mikey watched him, Donnie’s rapid fire questions and Raph’s attempts to keep up faded away.

His oldest brother was nodding to himself, and Mikey could see the gears turning in Leo’s head as he processed all this new information and slotted it next to everything he already knew. If he knew if brother half as well as he thought he did, Leo would be accessing how safe Splinter was and, whilst Donnie’s questions were definitely his own, Leo was using them to that end.

After several seconds, Leo hummed to himself, nodded, then turned round and shouted, “DONNIE! GET YOUR HANDS OUT OF HIS MOUTH!”

“He doesn’t have any canines!”

“I don’t care!”

EASE OP AT.

“What?” Donnie asked.

Splinter made a gagging sound and pulled Donnie’s hand away, PLEASE STOP THAT.

Donnie examined Splinter’s hooded face, “You have rodent teeth.”

… YES?

“Why are you a rat?”

Leo made a shrill panicked sound, “DONNIE! You can’t just ask someone that!”

“Why not?”

Splinter grimaced, moving his jaws and tongue in the manner of someone who’d just tasted something disgusting, WHEN DID YOU LAST WASH YOUR HANDS?

“Cause it’s rude.” Leo explained, “And you shouldn’t shove your hands into someone else’s mouth without asking!”

“Why? Is that rude too?”

Splinter wiped his mouth, leaving a dark smear on his hand, IS THIS… MOTOR OIL?

“YES!” Leo said, either having not heard Splinter or not caring.

Raph and Mikey stared at the three, Leo and Donnie arguing about the wisdom of shoving your hands into an unfamiliar creature’s mouth, and Splinter screwing his face up and trying to get the taste of a car engine out of his mouth.

“I’ve never met a ghost before!” Donnie shouted, “I was curious!”

“About what? If he could bit your arm off.”

“Well, no, but…” Donnie turned to Splinter “could you do that?”

Splinter gave up trying to get the taste of oil out of his mouth, and reached for one of the water bottles Leo had brought, I AM NOT SURE. I HAVE NEVER BITTEN SOMEONE BEFORE. He unscrewed the cap and then added, I CAN BITE THOUGH METAL THOUGH.

Donnie’s eyes widened with excitement, “What kind of metals?”

Leo sighed heavily and pressed his palms into his eyes, “Don, Donnie, Donatello you are missing the point.”

I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TYPE OF METAL IT WAS. Splinter said, WAS A BIT OF A CHALLENGE THOUGH.

Mikey appeared next to Donnie, making his immediate older brother yelp, “Why were you eating metal?”

I WAS NOT EATING IT, Splinter put the water bottle down, I JUST WANTED TO CHEW ON IT. I NEEDED TO GRIND MY TEETH DOWN AND THOUGHT IT WOULD BE GOOD.

“Ah,” Donnie said, “I get it. I like to chew pencils when I’m working.”

Raph groaned, “All of our pens and pencils have Donnie’s teeth marks on them.”

“It’s about the crunch.” Donnie explained.

Splinter nodded, THE CRUNCH IS VERY SATISFYING.

Donnie turned to Raph and said, “I don’t chew on pens, - that’s Mikey.”

“Why?” Raph exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

“Crunch good.” Mikey said.

Raph let out a sigh that sounded more like a growl, “Great, here’s my brothers: ink poisoning and mouth splinters.” he gestured at Splinter, “Guest staring: iron deficiency.”

“To be fair, chewy stuff is really good.”

“… Leo. Shut up.”

---

After that, they got started on homework. Splinter and Mikey took their usual places near the fire and went through their regular routine. His brothers also sat in the living room, each taking their own corner.

Occasionally, Donnie would look up and watch them, usually when they got stuck on a problem and started working their way through it together. Leo in turn watched Donnie open and close his mouth, about to say something, but then he’d close it and go back to his own homework with a frown. Donnie was unsure, and couldn’t figure out how to make sense of this new situation, or if offering his own help was allowed. Splinter and Mikey evidently had their own way of doing things, and Don was an outsider to it.

Leo saw all this through the corner of his eye. Like Donnie, he was not sure what to make of this new situation, but had decided to gather as much information as possible. He would watch, and he would wait, paying attention to every little detail. And as he did so, he began the process of carefully constructing plans. Very rarely did Leo enter a situation with only one plan – he’d found it to be good practice to have several he could choose from at a moment’s notice, selecting whichever he felt would bring about the best outcome. And of course each plan had it’s own a, b, and c’s.

Examining the environment and taking mental notes helped too. The living room, where they were all sat now, had two entrances: one that came from the front hallway, and another that lead into a small room at the back of the house where the backdoor was.

It was a big room, with a large fireplace. No poker. That was one less potential weapon. Shame. Soot could still work if thrown in Splinter’s eyes, but best not to touch it until it had cooled.

A sofa that Leo guessed Splinter had torn up at some point (large slash marks in patterns of four, made by claws, with individual swipes too big for a rat or a stray cat to make).

Two big windows – one at the front, one at the back, both giving a wide view of the field and forest respectively. Smaller windows on the outer wall. Out of one, the roof of children’s home could just about be seen. Visibility was reduced by several of the windows being broken and bordered up with crude wooden planks.

Donnie could properly figure out how to repair them – Donnie could figure out pretty much anything if you gave him enough time – Leo shelved that idea.

Mattresses against one wall. Weapons? Properly not. Not unless you could get the springs out of them and then got creative. That’d be a lot of effort though, properly best to just use them as barricades or something to slow an enemy down.

But would that matter if the enemy could teleport using shadows? How did the teleporting work? Was there a limit or conditions he couldn’t do it under? If a room was bright enough, would Splinter be unable to shadow walk into it? How big did a shadow need to be?

Would asking Mikey help? Hmm, no, properly not – Mikey didn’t see Splinter as a threat, so insinuating that he was wouldn’t go down well. Not unless Leo was careful to present it as an honest question, but manipulating Mikey didn’t feel right.

No, they’d research it instead, see if anything like Splinter had existed before and if so, how had people dealt with it. Was that something else Donnie could help with? Donnie had always enjoyed research and Leo wouldn’t even have to explain that he didn’t trust Splinter, he’d just need bring up how little they knew about ghosts and Donnie’s brain would latch onto New Research Area with more tenacity than a barnacle.

Donnie’s brain was like a bear trap for new interests – once his mind snapped shut around something, it would never let it go.

Leo added that to the imaginary cork board.

So far, Leo hadn’t seen much of the rest of the house, but he imagined it was in much the same state as this room. When he’d poked his head through another door on the bottom floor, he’d seen a wide open space that could fit a table and chairs on one end, and was lined with empty, doorless cupboards on the other. There’d been a blackened, cobwebbed void between two cupboards, and Leo guessed there’d been an oven there at some point.

No pests though, he’d noticed. A few spiders here and there, but no bugs, no mice, no (normal) rats. No signs of mould or other fungi either. Plenty of dust though.

Something was off about this place. Not… unnatural, that wasn’t the right word, Leo knew. He didn’t know what the right word was to tell the truth. To his surprise, it also wasn’t bad – he felt quite safe here.

Only a few observations remained. The building was big enough to have once accommodated a large family. His current estimate was that a family of six could have stayed here with easily enough room to spare. Even more could have lived here if rooms were shared. He’d yet to see the attic or basement, but guessed they’d be spacious too, though he didn’t want to check when he was still so unsure of Splinter.

Perhaps that’d be something to check out on a day where Splinter wasn’t around? Wake up early, get here, then investigate? Maybe take a bag of snacks and pretend to have arrived early and be waiting for him?

Anything else?

Splinter looked like a rat, so maybe looking into their weaknesses would be good too? Might not help – Splinter wasn’t actually a rat, just something that looked like one – but Leo would rather have that info and not need it, than need it and no have it.

Okay, what else? What else had Leo learned?

...

Hmm, that might be it.

Not bad, not bad at all after just a few hours. Future visits would help build up what he knew and he’d discuss everything they already knew with Raph later.

But for now, back to his geography homework.

Homework complete, now they could move onto the thing Mikey was the most excited about. Whilst Splinter arranged the mattresses and blankets, Mikey took his shoes off and jumped up and down in place.

Leo sat with Don and Raph and watched with equal parts curiosity and caution.

There was a part of Leo that tensed up at the sight – a larger, stronger figure stood next to his little brother, looming over the small boy – but Splinter was only showing Mikey a new kata. After he demonstrated it, Splinter turned to Mikey, who copied him. The ghost watched him, hands folded behind his back, head tilted to one side.

When Mikey was finished, Splinter nodded, VERY GOOD. TRY BENDING YOUR KNEES A LITTLE MORE.

Mikey nodded, tried again, and looked up at Splinter, face eager. A nod and warm smile, and a brilliant smile broke out across Mikey’s face.

From there, Splinter showed Mikey how to defend against the kata. He went over three different ways. Based upon the way Splinter talked, Leo guessed that Mikey already knew one of them, and was simply being told how he could apply it in a new way.

Something Leo noticed, and that he found quite strange, was that none of these kata had names. When the pair talked they described it, or showed the other which kata they meant.

Frowning, Leo remembered Mikey’s claim that Splinter didn’t remember much of his old life. Perhaps that wasn’t a lie. Or, Splinter was doing a thorough job at faking it.

(That didn’t sit right with Leo – something inside suggested that this was genuine.)

“Can we spar now?” Mikey asked, vibrating with excitement.

Splinter tilted his head again (was that a tick?), NOT YET. WHAT TIME IS IT?

“Er,” Mikey inspected his watch, “… about two?”

WE WILL HAVE A BREAK, THEN WE SHALL SPAR.

“Okay!” Mikey jumped about the mattresses, then cartwheeled towards his shoes.

Splinter let out a soft chuckle, following Mikey off the mattresses.

Eating was done in almost silence. Leo internally went over everything he’d observed so far, whilst Raph and Donnie seemed unsure of what they could talk about with Splinter present, who was himself sat in a more companionable silence with Mikey.

Everyone had their own lunches, but Leo noticed that Mikey still took the cheese out of his sandwich and past it to Splinter.

MIKEY, YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THAT.

“It feels weird not to.” Mikey explained, “We always do it.”

HMM, HOW ABOUT I GIVE YOU THE HAM FROM MINE?

“Yeah, that’d be work!”

WE HAVE AN AGREEMENT THEN, Splinter said, passing Mikey the questionable meat circle in exchange for a plastic slice of cheese.

Raph looked up from his own sandwich, “We have an agreement? What is this? It’s a slice of ham and cheese!”

Those glowing red eyes flared for a moment, WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO SAY THEN?

“Most people would just say, ‘okay’ or ‘here’s your ham’, not ‘the bargain is struck’.”

Leo made a choking sound. So much for best behaviour.

Slowly, Leo turned to look at Splinter. An unknown adult who Raph had just mocked. An unknown adult who was both much bigger and stronger than them, in an isolated location, with strange powers. This was bad, this was really, really bad. Come on, Leonardo, think! What to do, what to do, what -

Splinter laughed.

He just… he just laughed.

I SUPPOSE MY MANNER OF SPEECH IS CONSIDERED OUTDATED.

“When was it dated?” Raph asked, quirking a brow.

I AM NOT SURE. NOT TOO LONG AGO, I SHOULD THINK.

Donnie sat up straight, “Yesterday you mentioned Hiroshima. So around 1945?”

Splinter shook his head, THAT DOES NOT SOUND RIGHT.

“Too late?”

NO, TOO EARLY.

“So post-World War Two?”

…THAT, SOUNDS CLOSER.

Unless Splinter was lying, which was well within the realm of possibility. But, if he wasn’t lying, then it was a clue. If nothing else it narrowed down where Splinter might have come from.

They finished their food, and everyone retook their places.

READY?

“Ready!”

GOOD, HAJIME!

And with that the spar began.

Leo watched as Mikey and Splinter danced around one another, attacking, blocking, avoiding, defending.

Mikey was laughing, high and bright. His posture was relaxed – he knew that Splinter would never hurt him on purpose, and that gave him a level of safety that stopped the spar from feeling like an actual fight and more akin to a game they were playing.

For Mikey, it was simple fun, a chance to show off how much he’d learned that day, how much of Splinter’s lessons he’d absorbed. A chance to show off and impress all at once.

But for Leo, Mikey’s laughter was a million miles away, crushed beneath dread and fear and a familiar mantra.

Keep them safe.

It’s, it’s not the same. Yes, Splinter loomed over Mikey, and yes it looked like a real fight, but he wasn’t trying to hurt him. They were sparing - it wasn’t a real fight, just another part of the lesson. There wasn’t a risk of Mikey’s arm getting broken again, or Splinter turning on Leo and wrapping his hands around Leo’s -

Leo felt his breath force its way out of his lungs, catching on his throat, chocking him. He felt his body shakily climbing to its feet, adrenaline masking the pain of his knee as the mantra took over everything else.

Keep them safe, keep them safe, keep them safe!

By the time he was stood up, Don and Raph were already on their feet, their voices distant and indecipherable.

KEEP THEM SAFE! KEEP THEM SAFE!

The match had finished – cut short – and Mikey was running over but Leo can’t hear him either.

(“Leo? Leo it’s okay! Look! I’m okay!”)

He pushed Mikey behind him, positioning himself between his little brothers and the approaching threat. He planted his feet firmly on the ground, and tried to steel himself.

The Dark Shape was coming.

Leo wanted to tell his brothers to run, but his throat was too tight and instead he just made a horrible half-chocked sound.

The Dark Shape stopped about a foot or more away from him and slowly knelt down.

The Shape spoke, voice soft and gentle, LEONARDO, YOU ARE ALRIGHT. NOD IF YOU CAN HEAR ME.

That was was wrong. He should have been furious! Why wasn’t he mad?

Perhaps he was, and was just hiding, waiting for the right moment to snap.

Leo nodded. He didn’t want to disobey and make things worse. He had to protect his little brothers.

GOOD, THAT IS GOOD. CAN YOU, The Dark Shape looked around the room, CAN YOU NAME THREE THINGS YOU CAN SEE? COULD YOU DO THAT FOR ME?

“Ma-matresses, door - doorway, my bag.”

YES, THAT IS CORRECT. NOW, THREE THINGS YOU CAN HEAR? CAN YOU LIST THREE THINGS FOR ME? The Shape – Splinter – asked.

The fire crackled, it was a comforting sound that reminded him of camping and the taste of marshmallows. He could also hear his brothers’ strangely hitched breathing. And from outside, the sound of wind as it rushed through the field.

“The fire, breathing, and the wind.”

YOU ARE DOING VERY WELL. NOW, AND THIS IS THE LAST THING I WILL ASK OF YOU, CAN YOU TELL ME THREE THINGS YOU CAN FEEL.

“My knee hurts.” Leo said. He hummed before continuing, “My shirt’s scratchy and my throat feels weird.”

Splinter nodded, DO YOU HAVE WATER ANY LEFT?

“I think so.”

DONATELLO, CAN YOU BRING LEO HIS DRINK.

After Leo had drunk some, Splinter looked at each of them carefully.

HOW ABOUT WE SIT FOR A WHILE? IS THAT ALRIGHT?

Leo nodded.

Keep them safe, keep them safe.

Keep them safe.

Notes:

This is another chapter were more was planned to happen, but ending it here worked better. This’ll properly be the last chapter uploaded for a while – I’ve got a lot of assignments coming up, so the next chapter will be sometime in May at the earliest.

Chapter 5

Summary:

Splinter makes a promise.

Notes:

The original half-joking summary for this chapter was Splinter decides to adopt three more children.

Since their parents died, Leo had learned a lot of things he wished he hadn’t. There were a lot of memories he wished he could forget, but knew he never would, and nightmares that returned like clockwork.

There was something almost (almost) comforting about the routine. Something terrible would happen to him, or even worse his brothers, and their small family of four would be forced to reckon with the aftermath. Eventually things would improve, though he wouldn’t say things got better. Better implied good, which was something Leo had become unfamiliar with. Living in a children’s home with adults who cared about you, but were far too busy to actually look after you, was better than their past experiences with the care system, but it wasn’t necessarily good.

Leo worried sometimes (most times) that Mikey and Donnie wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. The section of his life that could be described as good had been short lived, but at least he could remember it. Donnie and Mikey didn’t have that, not really, they just had to take his and Raph’s word for it. His little brothers had to trust him and Raph when they said that once, long ago, they were happy and loved.

Back then, all those years ago, when he was young, Leo had believed that the world was an inherently kind place.

(He was still young, but these days he felt so much older than his eleven years. More like a middle aged father of three children, than the child he was.)

Sure, bad things happened, Leo had believed, but the good far outweighed the bad and he could always rely on Mom and Dad to keep him safe!

He’d soon learned that Mom and Dad couldn’t protect them from everything, and wouldn’t always be there for them.

Lesson two: the world did not care about him or his brothers. If they were lucky, they’d get through the rest of their lives with few tragedies, but Leo wouldn’t bet money on that. Death and loss were part of being alive, Leo knew that, had know it since Mikey was three, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

Lesson three: show no weakness. It wasn’t just the adults that you had to be wary of, everyone was a potential threat. Showing weakness meant everyone around you now knew exactly how to hurt you, or had just received confirmation that whatever they’d done had hit the mark. The best way to protect yourself and the people you cared about was to never let anyone know just how much they’d hurt you – be strong, be quiet, and protect what you loved. Don’t cry no matter how much you wanted to.

The fourth lesson had been to never back down. They could burst your lip, give you a black eye, break your bones, destroy your body, but don’t ever back down. Do whatever you have to: snarl, bite, rend and tear, and do it with your head held high.

Leo had lost count of how many fights he’d gotten into for his brothers’ sake.

Raph had gotten into plenty too, throwing himself into the line of fire to keep the rest of them safe. It had earned Raph more than his fair share of battle scars and a bad reputation. He acted like it didn’t bother him, like the things people said behind his back didn’t hurt him, but Leo knew it did. Leo also knew what the people said, had heard them call his twin a problem child, among other things.

Those people didn’t know the first thing about his Raph, and in Leo’s opinion didn’t deserve to.

Right here and now, Leo was pretty sure he’d broken lessons three and wasn’t sure if he’d broken number four yet.

He forced himself to look into those glowing red eyes, but wanted so badly to look away, to stare at the floor and let the world swallow him whole.

Leo had been doing so well these past few months. He’d thought he was better than this! He thought he was stronger than this!

But that didn’t change the past, did it? Didn’t stop the fear that rushed through his veins, wrapped around his vocal cords, and blurred the world around him, everything else fading into nothingness.

And it didn’t erase what had happened the last time someone had loomed over Mikey.

Donnie came back with a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap and carefully past it to Leo.

His hand shook slightly as he took it, but not so bad that it slipped out of his hand or that he couldn’t sip away at the cool liquid. It soothed his aching throat, and gave him a few seconds to collect himself.

Splinter didn’t say anything until Leo screwed the cap back on and set it down on the floor.

ARE YOU ALRIGHT? Splinter asked softly.

“I’m-” Leo’s voice cracked. He coughed into his hand, tried again, “I’m fine.”

DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT?

And give you more ammo? Leo thought suspiciously, but didn’t say. Instead he said, “No. I’m good now.”

Splinter titled his head to one side and his tail swished from side to side. Was that a nervous habit? A tick?

WHAT CAUSED IT?

Leo frowned, “Why do you want to know that?”

He got the feeling Splinter was frowning back at him, SO IT DOES NOT HAPPEN AGAIN. IF I KNOW WHAT I DID, I CAN AVOID REPEATING IT. There was another long pause before Splinter added, I DO NOT WISH TO HARM YOU.

Leo sincerely doubted that. Mom and Dad had taken care of them, had loved them, kept them all safe, but so far they’d proven to be unique among the adults Leo knew.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t entirely fair. Mrs Simms and Mr Silver were okay, but Leo was pretty sure that was only because taking care of them was their job. The care home staff were alright too, Leo supposed, in that they did their best to make sure the brothers were okay, but for the most part left Donnie and Mikey’s care to him and Raph.

It wasn’t like any of them were being kind because they actually cared about them.

What reason did Splinter have to care?

Leo glanced at Mikey, saw how his little brother looked between him and the ghost. There were nervous lines around his eyes, and he was clenching and unclenching his hands, twisting his fingers into the fabric of his trousers.

Could it be Mikey? Did Splinter want to stay on Mikey’s good side? What reason would he have for that?

Was loneliness a good enough reason to care about what a random eight year old thought? Assuming that he was just that lonely and not lying.

Or did he simply not want to disappoint the child?

Leo could understand that. He didn’t want to disappoint Mikey either.

Mikey was his baby brother who gave everyone a chance and shone brighter than the sun. He had a good heart, and, yeah, he didn’t always think things through all the way before doing them, but Leo couldn’t put into words just how much Mikey had done to keep the three of them going when things got rough. Or rougher, if Leo was being more accurate.

After a long, awful day, nothing was as reassuring as a hug from Mikey. Leo wasn’t big on physical affection, preferring to show affection in other ways, but Mikey was and those hugs were always warm.

And after each hug, Mikey would flash a brilliant smile and suddenly nothing else mattered, because he was here. And, well, nothing, no matter how bad, could stand against that.

Mikey’s hugs were the most like their mom’s, but that smile was just like their dad’s.

Leo never wanted to give Mikey a reason not to smile.

And if Leo lied to Splinter now, Mikey would know.

But, Leo also genuinely didn’t want to talk about it, and he knew Mikey would understand that.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO TELL ME IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO, Splinter said softly.

Leo bite his lip and said, “It’s hard to explain – it’s a long story.”

Splinter’s tail flickered again, YOU DO NOT NEED TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING. WAS IT THE SPAR ITSELF OR SOMETHING ELSE?

Leo nervously glanced at his brothers and bite down on his lip again, trying to figure out how to explain this without giving away too much.

“Do you want me to explain it?” Raph asked.

“No. I can do it.” Leo said.

“We can all leave the room.” Donnie said, “If that’d help?”

Leo frowned and thought it over.

Mikey already knew the full story, had been there when it happened. But Raph and Donnie… Leo didn’t actually know how much they knew about what had happened. Sure they knew Mikey’s arm was broken and Leo’s… everything got broken, but he’d never spoken to them about it.

When it had first happened, Leo hadn’t been physically able to talk at all. The scars on his throat had made every word fall out of his mouth in a stilted, pained gasp. Even after he’d been able to talk again, his voice had been different, too low and gravely. All these months after the fact, he still wasn’t used to his new voice and he doubted that he ever would be. It didn’t sound like him, more like someone else was speaking through him.

He missed his old voice, missed being able to sing softly to himself and his brothers.

And he missed baseball. He’d been so good at it, but couldn’t do that any more either, not with his knee. The brace helped, as did the cane, but he doubted any teams would take him.

Some nights, Raph would climb down into Leo’s bunk and they’d talk as quietly as they could to avoid waking up their younger brothers. Raph’s voice a soft whisper, Leo’s strained, close to breaking. His twin never asked about what exactly went down – Raph knew Leo wasn’t ready to talk about it – but he could see the after effects of it, and Leo wouldn’t have been shocked if Raph had already put the pieces together.

Donnie might have, but Donnie was also nine. The smartest nine year old Leo had ever met, maybe even a genius, but still nine. There were things Donnie had noticed about his oldest brother, things he wouldn’t understand until he was much older, and would then wish he didn’t. Other things he would never understand, but that would be fine by Leo.

(He hoped Donnie would never fully understand. Didn’t want to think about what would need to happen to his little brother for such an understanding to be reached.)

Donnie was only a little kid, after all. Even now, he’d taken to carrying throat lozenges, cough sweet and painkillers wherever he went, just in case Leo needed them, as well as plasters, antiseptic paste and rolls of bandages.

Leo shook his head, bringing himself back into the moment.

“I’m not going to tell you everything,” Leo said, glaring up at Splinter, “We’re gonna get that straight.”

I DO NOT EXPECT YOU TO.

“Good. Cause I won’t.”

Leo bit his lip, tasted blood, “Spars and fights don’t look that different."

… AH, I SEE, Splinter said.

“And you’re bigger than us. If you wanted to, you could hurt Mikey and we wouldn’t be able to stop you.”

Splinter turned to look at the mattresses and didn’t say anything for a moment, as if he was trying to build a picture in his mind. His head slowly turned to where Leo had sat before, when the panic attack began. Since then they’d moved closer to the fire and its warmth.

(Leo noticed how Splinter flinched whenever a log moved, how his hands clenched at particularly loud crackles.)

His tail swished again. Definitely a tick.

I WILL NEVER HURT HIM, NOT IF I HAVE A SAY IN THE MATTER. He said eventually, YOU HAVE MY WORD ON THAT.

“How can I trust you when you say that?” Leo asked, “We don’t know you. Mikey does, he trusts you a lot, and I trust him. But what reassurance do we have that you won’t? Adults say things all the time that they don’t mean.”

Splinter titled his head to one side. There was movement from within his hood.

I COULD PINKIE PROMISE?

“Eh?”

MICHELANGELO TELLS ME THEY ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS.

“I don’t think you even have a pinkie.” Leo said, reaching a hand out.

This was properly a bad idea wasn’t it? Making an oath with a ghost-demon thing. Then again, it was an oath to not hurt Mikey, so maybe that was okay?

BUT -

“But?” Leo asked, retracted his hand.

BUT, Splinter began again, NEVER COME HERE AT NIGHT. I CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR SAFETY FROM 2 TO 2:30.

Leo clenched his knee, “Why?”

Splinter tail flickered, I AM NOT MYSELF. He shot a quick glance TO Donnie, who was picking up his notebook again, a gleam in his eye, I DO NOT KNOW WHY. Splinter said quickly, IT IS – HOW TO DESCRIBE IT? IT IS AS THOUGH I AM NOT PRESENT IN THE MOMENT, AND MY BODY ACTS WITHOUT MY INPUT?

“Compelled.” Mikey offered helpfully.

YES! I AM COMPELLED.

Leo hummed, “What do you do? When you’re ‘compelled’.”

I WALK. USUALLY INTO THE CITY THESE DAYS.

“Why?” Leo tried to stop it sounding like a demand, and only half managed it. His tone was clipped, offering no space for argument.

Splinter’s eyes dulled for a moment, TO SEARCH FOR SOMETHING. I DO NOT NOT KNOW WHAT, ONLY THAT IT IS IMPORTANT.

“Is this a ghost thing?” Donnie asked, looking up from his notebook.

IT IS A ‘ME’ THING. Splinter explained, I HAVE MET A FEW OTHER GHOSTS WHO ENDLESSLY SEARCH FOR THINGS OR PEOPLE THEY HAVE LOST, BUT THEY DO SO OF THEIR OWN VOLITION.

Mikey frowned, “What’s va-lition?”

VOLITION – TO DO SOMETHING OF YOUR OWN FREE WILL.

Raph’s eyes darted about, “Other ghosts? What other ghosts?”

Splinter titled his head to one side, SURELY I AM NOT THE ONLY GHOST YOU HAVE HEARD OF?

“Well, no, but – how many are there?”

IN NEW YORK? MORE THAN YOU WOULD THINK. MOST OF US DO NOT GO OUT OF OUR WAY TO HARM THE LIVING, NOT UNLESS THEY INTERFERE WITH OUR DOMAIN, BUT THAT IS A DIFFERENT MATTER. CHANCES ARE YOU HAVE PAST THROUGH A GHOST’S TERRITORY WITHOUT EVEN REALISING IT.

Donnie stopped his writing, “Is this house your territory?”

IT IS PART OF IT, YES. AS IS THE FIELD – I DO NOT HAVE MUCH.

Donnie scribbled away in the notebook, “Could you show me the territories in New York?”

Splinter frowned, IF YOU GAVE ME A MAP AND PEN, I COULD MAP IT OUT. IT WOULD TAKE SOME TIME THOUGH.

“That’s okay.” Donnie said, “You mentioned Domains. What’re-”

“Anyway,” Leo said, wanting to get the conversation back on track, “So, I promise we won’t come from 2 to 2:30, and you give us your word that you won’t hurt Mikey if you can help it. Does that sum it up?”

YES.

“What happens if you break it? Does anything happen to you.”

I WOULD FEEL BAD ABOUT IT.

“No, I mean, do you get banished or… something?”

WHERE WOULD I GET BANISHED TO? Splinter asked, sounding alarmed.

“I don’t know! You’re the ghost here. Is there, like, I don’t know, an afterlife or something?”

Splinter shrugged, I SUPPOSE. BUT I DO NOT THINK… he paused, tried to concentrate, tried to remember, I HAVE NOT BEEN THERE. AT LEAST I DO NOT THINK I HAVE? IT IS POSSIBLE THAT, I MAY HAVE BEEN THERE AND, AND I SIMPLY CANNOT REMEMBER IF I HAVE?

Leo chewed the inside of his lip, “Okay. Good enough.”

Perhaps if they got to know Splinter better, he’d let something slip and then they’d figure out a way to stop him if he became a problem. If not, they’d be doing their own research, so maybe they’d still find a way to rid of a dangerous ghost.

They linked their hands.

Splinter’s hand was strange. Leo had expected it be deathly cold, but it wasn’t. The skin was warm, not all that different from the fire. In places the hand was rough, and in others smooth - it reminded Leo of melted plastic. And then there were the deep gouges in each finger. He was surprised that Splinter still had fingers.

After a moment, Leo pulled his hand away.

He stared up at Splinter, unsure of what to do now.

Splinter stared back in turn.

Then he looked at each of the four children in turn, slowly working his way through a problem. Leo noticed that strange twitching motion again, the fabric of the hood shifting slightly, as if something was moving against it. That long tail swished from side to side.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN NINJUTSU?

Leo blinked in confusion, “What?”

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN NINJUTSU? THE FOUR OF YOU COULD TRAIN AND SPAR TOGETHER. He tilted his head to on side, THAT MAY ACTUALLY BE HELPFUL FOR MICHELANGELO.

It would also mean that Leo wouldn’t have to see a strange adult looming over his baby brother, but neither he or Splinter said that out loud.

Knowing how to defend themselves would also be good, not just for potentially dealing with Splinter, but for anyone else who decided to hurt them.

(Unconsciously, Leo squeezed his knee.)

There was a piece of Leo that was still hesitant to agree. Was this a trick? Was this a trap and if they said yes, he’d have some power over them? Or was Splinter trying to get on their good side, to gain their trust, so he could get close and hurt them?

None of that felt right. If agreeing to this gave Splinter power over them, then he could have hurt Mikey a long time ago, and Leo doubted Splinter was one to play the long game. And if it was a trap, it was a trap that Leo was on the look out for – why try to trick someone who was already searching for the wires and trap door, and not someone who didn’t think to question anything?

He looked to his brothers. Mikey’s face was hopefully, though Leo could tell that he was trying to hide his excitement. Donnie looked right back at Leo, waiting for his big brother to make a decision. Raph’s attention was firmly on Splinter, his face a mask of confusion and suspicion.

“When could we start?”

WHAT TIME IS IT?

Mikey blurted it out, almost jumping to his feet, then sat back down with his eyes trained on the floor.

HMM… Splinter tilted his head to the other side, and Leo was reminded of a particularly large cat, WE WILL HAVE ENOUGH TIME FOR AT LEAST TWO BLOCKS, MAYBE THREE DEPENDING ON HOW THE LESSON GOES.

“Blocks?” Donnie asked.

HOW TO DEFEND AGAINST STRIKES. THAT AND LEARNING HOW TO LAND PROPERLY WHEN THROWN ARE THE FIRST STEPS, He glanced at the mattresses, I DO NOT THINK WE WILL HAVE ENOUGH ROOM FOR EVERYONE TO PRACTICE THROWS AT ONCE, quieter, more to himself than them, he added, PERHAPS IF TWO DO THROWS AND THE OTHERS… THAT CAN WAIT. BLOCKS FIRST, THROWS LATER.

Raph looked Splinter up and down, “When can we fight?”

A FEW WEEKS? IT DEPENDS ON HOW EVERYTHING GOES. He gestured at Mikey, WE HAVE BEEN GOING AT OUR OWN PACE, WHICH HAS ADMITTEDLY BEEN FASTER THAN I EXPECTED. YOUR BROTHER IS QUITE TALENTED.

Mikey smiled at that, bright and beaming. Leo didn’t need to question why – the warmth and love in Splinter’s voice had been undeniable. It reminded Leo of –

No.

No, he wasn’t going to think that, not when he still didn’t trust Splinter as far as he could throw him.

“Okay,” Leo said, “We’ll do two, then we’ll go back.”

Splinter nodded, IF ANY OF YOU WANT TO STOP FOR ANY REASON, LET ME KNOW AND WE WILL HAVE A BREAK.

---

RAISE YOUR ARM A LITTLE HIGHER, Splinter told Donnie gently.

In a lot ways, Mikey mused, this training session wasn’t all that different from his first. Sure, there were more people, but the structure had remained largely the same. Splinter would show them how to block, they repeated it, and then he gave them some pointers on how to improve.

He’d also split them off into pairs – Donnie and Mikey in one, Leo and Raph in the other – which seemed to be working well so far. Leo and Raph were picking it up at the same speed, whilst Donnie was taking a bit more time. That was okay though, no one learns everything the same, and Mikey knew enough to be able to help. He wondered if that was why Splinter had paired them up.

“Am I doing this right?” Donnie asked, blocking a strike from Mikey.

YES, Splinter said, YOU ARE DOING WELL. YOUR FORM IS VERY GOOD.

Donnie frowned as Mikey tapped him, “It’s not perfect though.”

NOTHING IS THE FIRST TIME YOU DO IT. DO YOU FEEL READY TO LEARN THE NEXT BLOCK?

“Er…” Donnie looked at his older brothers, “What do you guys think?”

Leo blocked a final strike from Raph, “I think we’re ready. If you want to keep going with this one though -”

“No, no. I’m fine. We can do the next one.”

VERY WELL.

Mikey titled his head slightly and looked up at Splinter. The ghost was watching Donnie carefully, like he was trying to figure something out. Splinter’s tail swished from side to side and he glanced up, catching Mikey’s gaze.

Mikey glanced at Donnie, then back at Splinter. There was a slight answering nod.

It had been a good first training session, but Splinter was going to keep an eye on Donatello. If he was going to be training them, then all three of his new students needed the chance to learn at their own pace.

All in all, today had gone better than Mikey had been expecting. He’d still get to visit and train with Splinter, and his brothers were getting on with the ghost surprisingly well!

Maybe, just maybe, Mikey didn’t have anything to worry about!

Notes:

Special thanks to DarkWolf133, who’s comment made me realise that I’d completely forgotten about the 2:00-2:30 rule.

Chapter 6

Summary:

Hide and seek (part 1)

Sunday went much the same way as Saturday. The brothers awoke, dressed in their warmest clothes, got ready for the day and then made their way to the Old House.

They went over their homework, then practised. The brothers were put into the same pairs again, Leo and Raph in one, Donnie and Mikey in the other. Whilst they practised, Splinter watched them patiently. He’d walk around them, head tilted to one side, and make corrections if needed.

Usually after training, Mikey would have gone back to the care home to hang out with his brothers and the other children. Some days he was reluctant to leave, wanting to spend more time with Splinter. But the ghost would laugh softly and insist that Mikey needed to return home. He enjoyed Mikey’s company, and didn’t always manage to hide his reluctance to send the boy on his way, but it was important that Mikey’s other relationships didn’t suffer as a result.

Splinter knew what it was like to be totally alone, and did not wish that same fate on anyone, let alone the fire bright child who had brought him so much joy.

Yet there were also days where Mikey got the feeling Splinter wanted to be on his own for a bit. On those days, Splinter was quiet. He wasn’t a loud person on his best days, but there was a distinct difference that Mikey found hard to ignore. The ghost’s posture was different, as if the quiet sadness was dragging him down and away to a place that Mikey could not reach him. The sound of laughter would prompt a tired smile, so similar yet so different from the small, yet warm smiles Mikey had come to know so much.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar sadness.

The had seen it before, in his brothers, and knew what it was like personally.

One day a year, always on one particular day, he and his brothers would remember and grieve the family they’d once had and the family they could have been.

On that day, it was hard to smile. Mikey would try, because if he cracked jokes and acted like nothing was wrong, then maybe it would lift his brothers spirits. If their baby brother could still laugh and act like a normal 8 year old, then maybe they still had at least one reason to smile.

When Splinter had a day like that, Mikey would hug the ghost extra tight before leaving their home. It didn’t make anything better, but it was all Mikey could do.

(A hug may not have made anything better, but it helped.)

(It helped a lot.)

But, today, Splinter wasn’t alone: Mikey and his brothers were with him.

After training, they were free to do as they pleased. None of them really knew what they wanted to do – Splinter didn’t have any suggestions handy, his brothers didn’t trust the ghost enough to make their own, and Mikey just didn’t want to sit in awkward silence whilst everyone twiddled their fingers and avoided saying anything. The end result was several games of hide-and-seek in the fields around the house.

The fields were perfect for it – the long stalks hadn’t rotted yet, so were still tall and thick, providing plenty of cover. And whilst the sun still shone, the weather was warm enough that they were able to stay outside as long as they kept their coats on.

As they played, Splinter watched them from the porch, head tilted at a quizzical angle. It was possible that Splinter wasn’t quite sure what they were doing, so was trying to figure out the rules of the game based on what they were doing, or if he just wanted to watch them. When Mikey and his brothers had been at parks before, he’d noticed that the parents would stand to one side whilst their kids clambered over monkey bars and played together. Maybe that was what Splinter was doing?

After a few rounds, Mikey shouted, “Hey, Splinter! Want to join?”

Splinter jumped slightly and shook his head, NO, I AM FINE.

“C’mon! It’s fun!”

I DO NOT-

“Pleeease!”

Somewhere in the field, Mikey could feel his brothers watching Splinter.

Donnie was behind Mikey, about three meters or so, and making a lot of noise for someone supposed to be sneaking up on another person.

Raph was further afield, doing a slightly better job at hiding than Donnie, though based on the crunching sounds was anxious to get moving again, too impatient to stay in one place for too long.

Leo was… hmm, Mikey wasn’t actually sure. He couldn’t hear ragged breathing, the slight metallic creak of the brace or the sound of rubber pressing against dry crops. Which either meant Leo was far away, or right next to him.

A weary sigh, WHO IS SEEKING?

Donnie fell out of the stalks next to Mikey and tapped his little brother.

“I am!”

---

Turns out, playing hide-and-seek with a ninjutsu master is really, really,reallyhard. The brothers had plenty of experience keeping out of sight, but that didn’t have anything on decades of ninja training.

And it was only his training Splinter was using – the decision had been made that using ghost powers to win a game would be unfair.

When it was his turn to seek, Splinter made no sound as he moved. If he did make a sound, it would be so faint as to be almost inaudible, and catching it was a victory in itself.

During one of Splinter’s turns to find them, Mikey realised that whilst holding his breath made little noise initially, the need to take in great gulping breaths made the strategy more trouble than it was worth in the long run. Better to take steady, quiet breaths and only hold it if he knew Splinter was close, than to keep holding his breath and announce his location every 10 seconds by gasping.

Even then, Mikey was usually the last to be caught. He did have to admit he had a bit of an advantage over his brothers. Even excluding the fact he’d had more training than them, Mikey was small, closer to the ground, and easier to overlook. Not to mention his hair wasn’t all that different in colour from the wheat around him, whereas his brothers were all dark haired like their mother. Not being dressed in blue or purple like Donnie and Leo also probably helped.

To his left, he heard the snap of a twig.

Mikey stayed as still as he could, kept his breaths slow and steady.

Silence.

…

No more twigs snapped.

But Mikey could hear a strange sound, like short, rapid intakes of breath.

Splinter was sniffing.

Mikey had forgotten about that: his brothers may have had their disadvantages, but Splinter knew what Mikey smelt like. He could just follow the boy’s scent to find him.

A tap on Mikey’s shoulder.

I FOUND YOU.

Mikey stood up and brushed leafs and twigs out of his hair, “How’d I do?”

YOU ARE THE LAST TO BE FOUND. YOU LASTED FOR THREE MINUTES. WELL DONE, MY BOY, YOU DID WELL.

Mikey stretched, shooting Splinter a mischievous grin, “Know where you’re hiding?”

YES AND NO. I WILL BE HIDING IN THE FIELD!

“Worth a shot.” Mikey said and laughed when Splinter ruffled his hair.

As Mikey made his way back to the house, he mused that, as hard as it was to hide from Splinter, finding Splinter was even more difficult. The rat ghost had lived in the Old House for at least a couple years, and knew how to quickly find the best hiding places.

At least Splinter wasn’t using any ghost powers. Shadow powers on top of ninjutsu and heightened sense would have just been ridiculously unfair.

After the fifth round in a row where no one found Splinter, they changed the rules slightly. Now when it was Splinter’s turn to hide, the four of them would work together to search for him. In this new game, Splinter would win if he found them all within a time limit.

It was still like trying to find a needle in a haystack… a giant needle in a haystack. Splinter was big, but that didn’t seem to matter at all.

“Okay, so, Donnie gets the east, Raph west. Mikey, you’re on south.”

“Which way is east?” Donnie asked.

“Where the sun rose from.” Leo explained.

Raph frowned, “And that would be?”

“Er, hang on a second…” Leo said softly, and turned to look for the sun, “It’s over there now, so it’d come from… er...”

At that moment Splinter shouted, voice echoing all around them, THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE FACES EAST.

“… Thanks?” Leo said, then quietly added, “I hate it when he does that.”

I CAN DO THIS INSTEAD, Splinter said, and then his voice came from right next to Leo, as if he was stood next to him, I CAN THROW MY VOICE!

Leo closed his eyes, “That is somehow worse.”

---

Surprising no one, they didn’t win that round. They did manage to narrow down which part of the field he was hiding in though, which was better than the round where they ended up on the opposite side of the field to him and ran straight into one another.

A few more rounds were played after that, but the game was eventually put to an end by the setting sun. With it, the temperature rapidly dropped, forcing the five to retreat back into the house.

Splinter threw more logs on the fire, and ushered the boys towards it. Raph and Donnie didn’t move at first, but when Leo went to sit in front of it with Mikey, they followed him. And they sat there until blue fingers turned pink again, and warmth seeped into their bones.

Another hour past, the sky turning pitch black before all the stars and multi-coloured clouds of gas began to bloom. It was time to return to the children’s home.

The fire offered just enough light for them to pick they way through the house as they gathered the bags, scarfs and gloves.

YOU NEED TO WEAR YOUR SCARF, Splinter said as he helped Mikey put his scarf back on.

“I know.” Mikey said as the worn fabric was wound around his neck.

YOU WILL CATCH A COLD IF YOU DON’T, Splinter pulled the scarf over Mikey’s nose.

“I know.” said the boy, his voice slightly muffled.

AND DON’T TAKE IT OFF UNTIL YOU’RE BACK INSIDE.

Mikey threw his hands in the air, “I know!”

Splinter let out a chuckle, BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY.

“Mikey, you need to put your gloves on.” Leo said, handing him his gloves.

Mikey groaned. It was like having two Leo’s.

---

WHERE ARE THEY?

NOT HERE

FAR AWAY.

SCENT IS OLD FOLLOW IT.

GETTING CLOSER.

THEY WERE HERE KEEP LOOKING.

MUST KEEP GOING MUST KEEP GOING CANNOT STOP.

SCENT STOPS HERE SMELLS LIKE OIL. CAR?

LOST THEM LOST THEM LOST THEM

NO NO NO! THEY WERE HERE!

CAR COMING HIDE

DO NOT LET THEM SEE ME DO NOT LET THEM SEE ME DO NOT LET THEM SEE ME

CANNOT FIND SCENT

MUST BE CLOSE MUST BE

WHERE ARE THEY?

WHERE HAVE THEY GONE?

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

MUST FIND -

- Splinter came back to himself half a second before his body planned to leap between buildings.

There was just enough time to stop himself and Splinter dug his clawed hands and feet into the roof.

The sudden change in momentum had him lurching forward.

For a horrible moment, he teetered over the ledge. Fragments of the roof broke away and fell as dust to the alleyway below.

If he fell, it would not kill him, but it would hurt. Splinter didn’t know much at all about how his body worked, and did not want to test it. Did his body had anything like a bone that could break? He didn’t know and didn’t want to find out by breaking one.

Once he was sure he wasn’t going to plummet to the alleyway below, he carefully stepped back from the ledge on all fours. He didn’t feel steady enough yet to walk on his legs alone, so padded about on all fours towards the centre of the roof.

Waking up never got easier.

Years ago, Splinter had thought that one day he’d get used to it. That the ear splitting headache, nausea, general confusion, and feeling that someone had reached inside his body and puppeted it around for half an hour with no thought as to how he’d feel about waking up miles away from home, would one day become normal and not bother him so much. That having his consciousness pushed completely aside by something else would become routine.

It never got better.

If anything it only got worse. The sick feeling clung on for longer and longer each night. At 2:30 he would still become himself again, but it took more time before he felt fully himself again.

In those first few years after his death, Splinter had been hopefully that a lot of things would get easier with time. He’d wanted to believe that he’d eventually adjust and find a measure of peace with this new existence.

He’d been proven wrong about that too. How was he supposed to adjust to this?

It didn’t even feel right to think of that person as being Splinter. He’d barely been a person, merely a shadow that drifted across New York and then retreated to a lonely house, so he could wait out the time until the last pieces of himself were finally eroded away.

No, Splinter didn’t start until only a few months ago, when the shadow had been given a name by his remarkable little boy. The ghost liked being Splinter a lot more than being the shadow.

Splinter shook his head, and rose to feet.

New York was a big city, and he never really knew which part of it he’d wake up in. Certain parts of the city were more familiar than others, and he’d become particularly well acquainted with Queens over the last year. As far as he could tell, there was nothing particularly special about the area. Nothing that could offer him a clue as to why he was compelled to venture there.

It was just a residential area, home to many families.

The building he was currently stood on wasn’t actually in Queens - it was a few blocks away. Close enough to a familiar place that he could almost tell where he was, but far enough away that he wasn’t entirely sure.

If he started running and kept up a good place, he’d be back home by the time his boy was off to school.

Shadow-walking would, in theory at least, make it even quicker.

In practice he had very little control over any of his abilities. Shadow-walking was fine over short distances, going from one room to another, but trying to go from New York to the old house was a very easy way to get completely and utterly lost. The one time he’d tried it, Splinter had ended up in New Jersey.

Maybe he should work on that.

Well, that could wait until another time. Tonight, he had a task to do: time to start mapping out the city.

Splinter reached into his robes and pulled out a map and pencil. Donatello had given them to him first thing on Sunday, his face bright and excited at the idea of learning more, even if the concept that ghosts existed was still ridiculous to the boy.

The ghost leaped across the rooftops and got to work.

---

New York was not unique for its ghostly populace – all cities had undead citizens. If anything, a place completely devoid of spirits, whether they be deceased humans or beings who were never human, would have raised more alarm bells. Like walking through a forest filled with birds, and then everything suddenly going quiet. Or being on a packed train and noticing one cart was completely empty. Something interesting might be going on over there, but it’d probably be better in the long run to avoid it.

Splinter had vague memories of a city, an ocean away now, that had been so similar and yet so different. Spirits had lived there too.

All cities had their ghosts. The dead were just people after all. No longer breathing, yes, but a person’s humanity didn’t stop when their pulse did. Even if the ghost in question didn’t look like a human anymore, that didn’t stop them from being a person.

Garson Grunge was a good example of that.

Splinter didn’t know how Garson had died, and based upon the other ghost’s appearance, really didn’t want to. Not that Splinter had room to judge – excluding his current appearance, after he’d died no one had needed to ask to know how he’d died. Over the years, as the changes to his body continued to mount, the burns healed and most were now covered by a thick blanket of fur. Not all, admittedly, the scars on his arms and torso were large enough to always be visible, but at least he wasn’t a patch work of blistered skin anymore.

He could hide most of them with clothes anyway.

Besides, even if anyone had been curious about what exactly happened to him, asking a ghost how they’d died was incredibly impolite, to put it mildly. Asking another ghost what had happened to them was a very quick and easy way to start a fight.

Splinter did not want to fight Garson. Garbage based abilities aside, he was a nice enough ghost. A little rough around the edges and the talking eyeball was dis-concerting at the best of times, but still a good neighbour to have. He’d been kind to Splinter, and hadn’t pressed when Splinter said he didn’t want to share his name.

Splinter didn’t plan on talking to Garson tonight. He’d lived in New York long enough to know the rough outline of the territories within it, so didn’t need to talk to anyone to make Donatello’s map. For the most part he just needed to check street names, which suited him fine. Splinter was not known for his sociability – despite his loneliness, he didn’t like people intruding on his space.

Now, if Donatello wanted to know the exact location of the Domains within New York, then Splinter would need to talk to Garson. Despite both having lived around New York for at least a decade, Splinter had no idea where Garson called home, just as Garson had no clue that Splinter returned to the Old House everyday.

That being said, Splinter didn’t predict a situation wherein he or Donatello would need to know where another ghost’s Domain was.

In the centre of Garson’s territory, Splinter drew an eyeball.

Several hours were spent drawing across the map and marking out territories. The vast majority were inhabited by one ghost, though some were home to several. It wasn’t uncommon for a group of ghosts to co-own an area, or for a stronger spirit to allow others to live in its territory.

Ghosts had friends and family too, and it wasn’t unusual in the slightest for love created in life to persist after death. And even when a ghost didn’t have loved ones, that didn’t mean they could find new friends and family.

(He knew that better than anyone.)

So far, he’d counted about 37 territories, roughly 7 of which were shared between ghosts.

All in all, not a bad night’s work. There was still more to do, with much of the city left unmapped, but Donatello hadn’t given him a deadline for the map’s completion. Regardless, Splinter would give the boy a progress update tomorrow, if anything so that the child knew Splinter had taken the request seriously.

Carefully, he put the pen and map away, hiding them away in his robes and found a secluded spot where he could take a break.

Cities never truly sleep and the idea of being spotted filled him with dread – he did not want his photo taken, especially not in high definition – and as the sun rose so too did the chances of him being spotted. Already he could see the crowds of people thickening, but he needed to rest before making the trip back home.

Home.

What a strange concept that was. That the lonely house had now become a place he enjoyed returning to. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a home. Japan maybe? Back when he’d lived and breathed.

After twelve long years he had a home again.

A name and a home.

And a -

No!

Best not, best not think of that.

Better to focus on other things. Like the fact there was still one more thing he needed to do before going home: Splinter needed to find breakfast.

He climbed to his feet and slipped through side streets and alleyways, expertly avoiding the sight of the living.

On his way out of the city he found a pizza shop, and riffled through the bins. The food was cold, slightly soggy and past its best, but Splinter wasn’t picky. He couldn’t afford to have standards, just as long as it kept the hunger at bay it. Besides, it was far from the worst thing he’d eaten. At least the crusts weren’t blue.

In the shadows above the shop, he ate. Once that was done, it was time to return home.

---

Hours later, he arrived back at the Old House.

The sun was high and bright, and a cold air blew threw the field. On instinct, he pulled the cloak tighter and stuffed his hands under his arms as he walked. His breath misted in the air.

He dropped the map off in the living room, and then groaned. It was the early afternoon, which he supposed for most people was a decent time to be awake, but for him it was the equivalent of still being awake at 4 am after having not slept all night.

Right now he had two choices: go into the field and hunt for a more substantial breakfast than cold pizza crusts and wet fries, or go to bed.

Splinter yawned and scrubbed his face with both hands.

A night spent traversing the city had left his body aching and tired, and as the seconds past clambering into his nest became more and more appealing. And he had eaten that morning, so it wasn’t like he was going to bed on an empty stomach.

Another yawn escaped him.

That settled it: hunting could wait, he was going to bed.

He walked into the nearest shadow and stepped out into the attic. With all the holes in the roof mended, and with the daily fires in the living room, it was a dry and warm place.

There were a few grimy windows, their glass unbroken, through which sunlight shone, casting everything in sepia shades. The light only reminded him of how late it was for him.

Splinter spent about 10 seconds re-arranging his nest into something neater, before reminding himself of the futility of making a bed only to immediately climb into it.

And so the ghost curled up under blankets and hide his face from the world.

In the warmth of his home, sleep came easy.

Notes:

I kinda can’t believe that it’s taken this long for me to write something from Splinter’s perspective in this au.

Chapter 7

Summary:

Leo hears something strange at school.

Splinter shares a meal with the boys.

School the next day was, well, it was school.

Leo got his little brothers up, having to all but drag Donnie out of the top bunk when the younger boy decided he’d rather be nocturnal. In the end, Leo made a cup of coffee and left it near the door. Two minutes later, Donnie came down the stairs, mug in hands, and ate breakfast with them. Afterwards they continued getting ready for school without issue, though Raph ran back in to grab Mikey’s bag when the boy walked out the door without it.

Once at school, nothing of note happened. It was a little quiet yes, but not strangely so.

It was just a normal Monday.

Until it wasn’t.

Leo supposed he shouldn’t have expected any different. Over the course of one weekend the world had been upended.

It wasn’t right to say that everything he thought he knew was wrong, or even that the existence of some form of life after death was a shock to him. If anything knowing that there was something else confirmed private hopes he’d held since he was five – it was comforting to know the ones he’d loved would never, truly, be lost to him. And it meant that if anything ever happened to him, he could still make sure his brothers were cared for.

But now he and his brothers knew a ghost personally. They were involved in that other world and already things were starting to change. From now on, they were going to be making daily visits to the Old House, they were training in ninjutsu, and suddenly Splinter had become a part of their life.

For so many years it had just been the four of them, and Leo didn’t know how to feel about thinking of them as being a group of five. Didn’t know how to feel about this stranger orbiting their family.

(Splinter was not part of their family. He was just someone important to Mikey.)

(Besides, he was an adult. Splinter would get bored of them eventually and leave, or break his one and only chance and Leo would make him leave.)

There had been someone, years ago, that Leo had started to think of as family. Mei was about their age, another child living in the system. She’d been boisterous and refused to let anyone get in her way, and could match Leo in terms of seer stubborn will. They’d called her Venus, a nickname Mikey had offered, and which Leo would later suspect was the boy’s way of asking if she wanted to be one of them. Part of their small family.

It had been years they’d seen her, and the last Leo had heard, she’d been adopted.

He was glad – she was their almost, could have been, sister, and she deserved the chance to be happy.

But she was different than Splinter. Venus was like them: alone, with no one by her side, failed again and again. Together the five children had been stronger.

Splinter was an adult. He didn’t need them, didn’t need them to help him or help keep him safe. As far as Leo was concerned, Splinter could look after himself. And Leo still didn’t know why Splinter was okay with their presence.

Yes, the ghost admitted he liked the company, but what reason did an adult have for looking after a child?

Splinter was a mystery, not because of missing memories or whatever his sickness was, but because Leo could not figure him out. He had no idea what to make of the ghost, and that put Leo even more on edge. Leo was used to knowing what he should expect from adults, and hated this uncertainty.

As such, Leo was caught somewhere between being resigned and relieved when he heard strange music.

It sounded to Leo like a woodwind instrument of some kind. The musical notes themselves didn’t change all that much, almost as if the musician didn’t have much variety to work with. Like the instrument itself wasn’t made for more than a few notes. Something about it sounded old.

When the verse ended, the music repeated, and now Leo could hear another instrument playing alongside the first. It sounded much like the first, only the pitch was different.

Leonardo stopped walking and frowned.

He was on his way to the library, which was in the opposite direction of the music. No one else was around and his brothers would cover for him if he was late. Not that Mrs Simms would care – Donnie was had been late last Friday and she’d not said anything, just told him where his brothers were and asked how his classes had been. If he wanted, he could investigate what was happening.

As he walked down the hallway towards the music, he did his best to remind himself that just because he’d never heard anything like this before, that didn’t mean ghosts were involved. The school band didn’t practice in this part of the school, this area was home to the science department and library, but that didn’t rule out a room change.

Not to mention, if this was something supernatural, he’d rather know for sure. It wasn’t! But it didn’t hurt to check.

The music sounded like it was coming from one of the classrooms further down the hall, rather than the hallway itself.

And as he walked, it changed again, a third instrument joining the band. They all sounded the same, a band made up of variations of a single instrument.

A big part of him, a worryingly big part of him that didn’t feel like himself and which grew stronger as more instruments began to play, wanted to continue on his journey and find out what was happening. It said that all he needed to do was open the last door and he’d be with whoever was piping.

But another part of him told him to run. To get away and find his brothers and drown out the music together. It was the same part of him that told him he could trust Splinter.

The music paused.

Leo stopped moving. The feeling that he should keep going stopped.

In the music’s absence, an oppressive atmosphere rushed in to replace it. The hair on his body stood on end, and his muscles tensed.

Someone was watching him.

Leo was used to people staring at him, and he knew what it felt like when that person was trying to hide it. Adults did it all the time – trying to look at him without looking, and that burning as their eyes bore into him was the only indication of what they were doing. He’d spooked more than one grown up by letting them know that, yes, he knew they were there, and were they just going to stand there for another five minutes or did they have somewhere to be?

Other kids did it too, but Leo had found that most of them didn’t manage to hide it as well. Earlier that day, he caught Liam watching him, and Leo had taken great delight in stretching his face into the widest, coldest smile, showing all his teeth, and then turning to stare directly back at Liam.

Liam had immediately looked away and gone back to his lunch.

Just as he had practice knowing when someone was watching him, Leo had also learned to not give any indication that he knew they were doing so. Sometimes it was just less trouble, other times it was a valuable opportunity to scope someone out.

So even as his skin itched and burned, as the hairs on his body stood to attention, Leo kept a suitably curious but vacant expression on his face.

Soon enough, the feeling left. The unseen eyes retreated and Leo was left alone in the corridor.

And, so far away he almost couldn’t hear it, the music began again.

---

The walk to the library wasn’t long at all. If he’d measured it on a stopwatch, the walk only last three minutes.

But Leo was on edge and searching for any and all potential threats. He listened carefully for the music, waiting for it to start again, waiting to see if it was closer or farther away than before. His hands were clammy, making the grip on the top of his cane somewhat slippery. To compensate, he gripped it tighter, turning his knuckles white as the bones pressed hard against the skin.

Nothing else happened.

Even so, the walk felt like it went on for an eternity.

As the library doors swung closed, his shoulders sagged and he let out a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding.

He dropped his bag off and went to find his brothers. The three were discussing how best to divide up the work and not getting anywhere fast – Raph was trying to pull seniority whilst not having a plan, Donnie was over complicating everything, and Mikey was trying to get their attention and being ignored.

Mikey’s rolled his eyes at their brothers, then caught sight of Leo and his eyes lit up, “Hey Leo!”

Leo managed a strained smile and Mikey’s face dropped, “What’s wrong?”

Raph and Donnie stopped arguing.

“What?” Raph’s head snapped to Leo.

“Did something happen?” Donnie asked.

“I’m not sure.” Leo said carefully. He nodded at the stack of books, “Let’s get started and then I’ll explain.”

---

“Someone was playing weird music in the science block.” Leo explained as he put a book on the shelf.

“It wasn’t polka, was it?” Mikey said, voice dripping with disdain.

Leo laughed despite himself, “No, it sounded like a woodwind of some kind.”

“Like a clarinet?” Donnie asked.

“No. It was more like,” and Leo tried his best to imitate the music. He didn’t do a great job – string instruments had been more his thing – but it got the idea across.

“Maybe the music club was there?” Raph said.

From the other side of the stacks said Donnie, “They met on Wednesdays, not Monday.”

“It was properly just a radio then.” Raph picked up another book, walked down the stack and scanned the books for the right space.

“Maybe,” Leo said.

That was properly it. Just a teacher or one of the cleaners listening to music a bit too loudly, who’d maybe noticed him walking towards the library and had stopped their work to watch him.

It was a normal explanation that didn’t rely on ghosts or demons living in the school. He’d been at Laird Elementary for a good few months, had gotten used to it and its quirks, and liked to think that he’d have noticed if something supernatural was going off.

Then again, he’d not known that anything weird was going off with Mikey until the fight last week, so maybe ghost stuff had been happening at the school the entire time and he’d just not noticed.

The idea that he could have missed something that important filled him with unease and guilt.

Leo shook his head and tried to get rid of that thought. Just because ghosts were a thing did not mean that every slightly weird thing that happened was because of a ghost. The living were plenty weird on their own, and random music wasn’t actually all that odd.

Now, if anything weird happened that he couldn’t find a logical explanation for, then he’d start considering ghostly interference. He doubted anything like that would happen though.

Leo went back to stacking the shelves with his brothers. They talked about other things, what they’d done that day and so on. During science Donnie had the new teacher, one Dr Rockwell, and wasn’t sure how he felt about him. The man was knowledgeable, Donnie said, but was very insistent on the room being totally silent – he’d given several students warnings for talking, and glared at anyone who made noise.

Well, they’d had teachers like that before. Nothing new.

By the time their hour was up, Leo had almost put the music out of his mind. But as they walked across the yard, they saw something scurry across the concrete and up one of the drains, before disappearing on the roof.

“What was that?” Donnie asked, alarmed.

Leo hadn’t known. Whatever it was had been small and quick, and he’d not gotten a good look at it.

But his littlest brother, remembering blood and teeth, said, “A rat. It’s a rat.”

---

Rats, Leo decided on the bus, were not out of the ordinary. And just because he’d heard weird music and then saw a rat at school did not mean the two were connected in any way shape or form. It just meant someone needed to turn the volume down, and Mrs Mitchel maybe needed to call pest control.

Another decision he’d made was that he wasn’t going to discuss it with or near Splinter. The ghost did not need to know anything about Leo’s school life. At least not anymore than Mikey had already told him. As far as Leo was concerned, his personal life and Splinter were to remain as far away from each other as possible. The ghost was only going to find out about the music if it proved to be a problem that Leo and his brothers couldn’t solve on their own.

Leo did reluctantly (very reluctantly) have to admit that the ghost wasn’t as bad as he’d been expecting. That didn’t mean Leo liked him, it just meant he’d been surprised. It also didn’t mean that he was going to let his guard down. Sometimes people had started off nice enough, and then the more time Leo spent around them to worse and worse they got until the monster they actually were and always had been was revealed.

When they got back to the Old House, the sky was already dark and shimmering with stars and dust clouds. Despite himself, Leo had to admit it was beautiful.

From the Old House, an orange glow peaked out from the windows, and a cloud of smoke drifted lazily from the chimney. It smelt different this time, similar to a barbecue: smoke and cooking meat. The answer to the question of what Splinter was burning came as soon as they took their coats off and walked into the living room.

Rabbits, two of them, over the fire. They’d been skinned, and were tied to sticks that Splinter had placed in front of the fire, leaning forward slightly.

Mikey, much to Leo’s surprise considering the dead animals in the fireplace, bounded over to Splinter, “Hi!”

MICHELANGELO, MY BOY, Splinter said, HOW WAS YOUR DAY?

The small boy answered – school was fine, no one had bothered him, and he didn’t have much homework – but then his eyes caught sight of the rabbits.

“What’re those?”

RABBITS, Splinter said and turned one slightly, I WAS HUNGRY.

Leo eyed them warily. Mikey loved animals, cats being his favourite but rabbits weren’t far behind. He’d wanted a pet for as long as Leo could remember, but they’d never been able to get one. In all honesty, they were lucky enough that they’d been allowed to keep Spike.

With the rabbits tied up, gutted, skinned, he was expecting Mikey to freak out.

“Where did you get them?” Raph asked.

THE FIELD. Splinter turned the other rabbit, THERE ARE A FAIR FEW WARRENS AROUND HERE AND THEY ARE SIMPLE ENOUGH TO CATCH.

“With snares?” Donnie said, looking out the window.

Splinter eyes flared, I HAD NOT THOUGHT OF USING SNARES.

Leo blinked, “So what? You just chase them?”

YES… IS THAT NOT THE PROPER WAY?

Maybe if you were fast enough to chase them down.

A few years ago, Leo had found an old book, Watership Down, and read it. The dogs in that book had appeared monstrous, and he’d never really forgotten the ending, old General Woundwart facing one such monster down. Leo had felt a grudging respect towards a creature that must have known it didn’t stand a chance in hell of winning, but went down on his own terms regardless.

The idea of Splinter being fast and agile like that dog, able to successfully hunt down two rabbits, did not sit right with Leo. How fast would Splinter have to be to do that? Did he shadow-walk, or just rely on the strength of his limbs?

How must it have felt to be those rabbits?

Leo shook his head. He doubted Splinter would have been cruel about it, and besides, plenty of people ate rabbits. It wasn’t that uncommon. Plus he couldn’t imagine Splinter going to a burger joint and being able to order anything. In the end, it didn’t really matter how Splinter had caught the rabbits – he was just another hungry person trying to feed themself and Leo understood that well.

“Sure, it’s one way to do it.” Leo said, “Do you even know how to make snares?”

I – I AM NOT SURE. HMM, I SUPPOSE I COULD USE A BOW AND ARROW INSTEAD. I WOULD NEED TO MAKE THEM THOUGH.

There was a gleam in Raph’s eye at the mention of weapons, “Could you teach us?”

WHEN YOU ARE FURTHER ALONG IN YOUR TRAINING, I WILL.

“Aw come on!”

Leo tried and failed to stop himself from laughing as Raph did his best to convince the ghost to teach them how to make weapons.

“How about a knife? A little knife?”

RAPHAEL, Splinter chuckled, I AM NOT TEACHING YOU HOW TO MAKE A KNIFE WHEN YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO USE IT.

“So, just to be clear,” Donnie said slowly, “the issue isn’t us having knives, but being inexperienced with knives?”

YES! THAT IS CORRECT.

There was silence for a while after that. The boys did their homework, and Splinter helped Mikey whilst keeping an eye on the rabbits.

When the ghost took one of the rabbits and drew it towards his mouth, Leo expected Mikey to freak out. Instead Mikey just pulled a face and stared down at his work.

But then Splinter caught Leo’s stare and asked, WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY IT?

“I-” Leo blinked, “Why?”

YOU LOOK HUNGRY. THERE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH TO SHARE.

“Are you sure?” Leo asked.

“You said you were hungry.” Donnie said.

I CAN ALWAYS HUNT FOR MORE LATER, AND YOU ARE CHILDREN.

The ghost tore a chunk of meat off and held it out. Leo took it, turning it over in his hands carefully. You weren’t supposed to eat food offered by spirits, he didn’t think. Or was that fairies? No, he’s pretty sure it was fairies. Unless yokai were the same? He really needed to finish reading that book.

Leo sniffed it and watched Splinter. The ghost had started eating, tearing a leg off and crunching through bone and meat with ease, and Leo remembered that this was a ghost that could bite through metal.

His brothers had been given chunks too. Donnie and Mikey were eating it slowly whilst Raph watched the,

“It tastes good.” Donnie said brightly, as if that were the problem his older brothers were having.

“It’s like a weird chicken.” Mikey said and passed a bone to Splinter, who crunched through it.

Raph glanced at Leo, then at the meat in their hands.

Leo breathed in.

If Splinter was planning on eating the rabbits himself, then they probably weren’t poisoned. They were safe to eat, hopefully at least.

Leo breathed out.

He bit it.

…

Huh. Donnie was right: it actually tasted nice. Gamier than Leo was used to, but still nice.

Leo took another bite.

So, he could trust Splinter not to poison them.

DOES ANYONE WANT TO TRY THE LIVERS?

Never mind.

Notes:

I now know how long this fic will be! It’s going to be roughly 24 chapters long. After it's complete, they’ll be about 2 or 3 shorter stories before we get into the next big one.

Chapter 8

Summary:

Ghosts are disappearing from New York.

Meanwhile the Piper continues to play his song.

THEY WERE HERE THEY WERE HERE

WHEN?

HOURS AGO.

CLOSE SO CLOSE SO CLOSE

FOLLOW IT FOLLOW IT FOLLOW IT

THEY HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE!

SCENT IS STRONGER HERE!

TOO MANY OPTIONS

NOT ENOUGH TIME

WHICH ONE?

THIS ONE TRY THIS ONE

PLEASE BE CLOSE

PLEASE BE THERE

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

SCENT IS GONE

NO! NO! NO!

NOT HERE. NOT HERE NOT HERE

I AM SORRY I AM SO SORRY

I -

He stumbled, lost his balance and fell heavily against the wall, scrapping down it until he was on his knees, clutching his aching head.

Splinter curled around himself and did his best to relax.

The feeling would pass, he just had to be patient.

As he waited for the nausea to subside, he wondered where he was.

If the nearby smells were any indication, he was somewhere in Queens. More specifically in an alleyway in Queens.

On one end of the alleyway opened up to a street and a road. There were not many cars, it was half two in the morning after all, but even that was too much. His hearing, sensitive at the best of times, made it sound as if the cars were right beside him. A car horn blared, and Splinter curled tighter, hissing in pain. It already felt as if his head were being crushed in a vice, but each and every sound made it feel as if a sledgehammer were being added to the mix.

When the pounding in his head eventually receded, he uncurled slowly and sniffed the air. He was definitely in Queens. Well, at least he knew where he was.

He wiped his nose and eyes, and climbed shakily to his feet. Splinter took another few minutes to compose himself and allow the last remnants of the sickness to fade. As he waited he took deep, steady breaths and tried to clear his mind.

Then he dug his claws into the closest wall and climbed up and up out of the alleyway. If his legs were steadier, he could have just jumped to the roof – his legs were more than strong enough – but he didn’t want to risk body slamming into a wall and then having to scramble up it before the building’s inhabitants all opened their windows in search of whoever had decided to re-enact a WWE cage match at 2:34 am on a Tuesday.

So instead he clambered up hand by hand, foot by foot, until he reached the edge of the roof and pulled himself onto it. Up here, where passers by could not see him, he felt safer, even if his instincts were telling him to stay close to the street and find a hole to hide in.

Taking out the map and continuing his work on it was just as much about searching for a distraction as it was not wanting to disappoint Donatello.

Speaking of which, Donatello had been pleased with the map so far, though he had seemed shocked when Splinter showed it to him.

After the last rabbits was eaten, Splinter licked his hands then used them to wipe his face, repeating the motion until both were clean. With winter fast approaching and the temperature continuing to drop, food was becoming scarce and it had been a combination of skill and luck that had lead to such a successfully hunt. In truth, he probably should have kept the rabbits to himself, but it hadn’t felt right to leave four children hungry, especially not when he had food to share for once.

It felt only right to make sure they didn’t go without.

Once his hands were clean, he remembered the map and called Donatello over to him.

Leonardo’s eyes snapped to him. Splinter was not unaware of the face that the boy often watched him, waiting for something to happen. Whatever it was Leonardo was waiting for, Splinter didn’t know, but the ghost took care not to do anything that could be seen as a threat. He did not want to give these children reason to fear him.

“Yeah?” Donatello said slowly.

COME, I HAVE AN UPDATE FOR YOU. Splinter said and picked up the map from where he’d left it that morning.

As he unfolded it, he tried to smooth out the creases.

Slowly, Donatello made his way over to the ghost.

“It’s the map!” Donatello’s voice was filled with surprise.

When Splinter glanced down, the boy was staring up at him in a mixture of confusion and delight.

The ghost wanted to ask why that was so surprising? Who had taught this boy that promises meant so little? What could he do to let this boy know that Splinter took promises seriously, and would always to his best to keep them?

But he decided against it. Best not to ask questions he knew would yield uncomfortable answers, not for him but for the child.

Instead he decided to encourage Donatello’s good mood and said, YES. IT IS NOT YET COMPLETE, I AM AFRAID, BUT I WISHED TO GIVE YOU AN UPDATE REGARDLESS. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO SHOW YOU?

Donatello nodded.

Splinter nodded back and knelt down on the floor.

Donatello sat next to him, adjusting his glasses as he did so. The boy’s black hair was getting long, fringe poking away at his glasses and eyes, but when he tried to brush it out of the way the strands simply fell back into his face.

“Woah, that’s a lot of ghosts.” Donnie turned to look at him, “Is that normal?”

FOR A CITY OF NEW YORK’S SIZE IT IS. THOUGH IT IS WORTH NOTING THAT THESE SEVEN ARE SHARED TERRITORY.

“Shared?”

WE – GHOSTS – HAVE FAMILY AND FRIENDS JUST AS YOU DO. THIS TERRITORY, he said and tapped a symbol shaped like a crystal, IS HOME TO A GROUP OF FRIENDS. THEY CO-OWN THE TERRITORY.

Splinter titled his head to one side and taped the eyeball, THE GHOST WHO OWNS THIS TERRITORY IS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO LIVES THERE. HE PROTECTS GHOSTS WHO ARE WEAKER THAN HIMSELF.

He tapped a third territory, AND THE HEAD GHOST HERE ADOPTED SEVERAL YOUNG GHOSTS A COUPLE YEARS AGO.

“Ghosts can adopt?” Raph voice came from behind Splinter. For once, he didn’t sound suspicious.

WE CAN AND DO.

“What do you need to do?” Mikey asked, trying to hide his interest and excitement.

Splinter’s ears twitched and his tail moved from side to side, IF I RECALL CORRECTLY, IT IS MERELY A CASE OF MAKING A VERBAL AGREEMENT. NO PAPERWORK OR FAN FAIR REQUIRED, THOUGH I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT PARTIES ARE OFTEN THROWN.

He’d never really asked for specifics on what the agreement entailed exactly – whether all that was needed was the group to call each other family, or whether a particular string of words was required. Maybe he could ask Garson the next time they ran into each other? He’d been a ghost much longer than Splinter, and was much more sociable, so knew more about ghosts than Splinter did.

It would also be a good idea to introduce Donatello to Garson – the boy had so many questions that Splinter had no answers for, but which Garson might.

“Which one’s yours?” Donatello asked.

HMM, WHAT? Splinter, who had not been paying attention, asked.

Donatello pointed at the symbols, “I’m guessing these are the owners. Which symbol is yours.”

OH, I HAVE NOT DRAWN ONE. Splinter said, I DID NOT THINK IT IMPORTANT.

His territory was so small, only the house and surrounding field, and its only note worthy feature being how close it was to the deer’s territory, a sprawling forest that encompassed a mountain and much of the countryside. Splinter felt no desire or need to expand his territory. To do so, he’d need to either fight other ghosts, possibly devour them as well, or convince his neighbours that they could relay upon him for protection. The first did not appeal to him in the slightest, and he doubted he could do that latter successfully.

He’d also never put much thought into what his symbol would be. After all, who was going to summon him? And it felt silly to have an image that told everyone who he was, when he didn’t even know that anymore.

Donatello stared at him, tilting his head to one side and sending his hair tipping in front of his eyes. The curious look in his eyes was replaced with annoyance as he pushed the hair out of his way again.

Splinter waited to answer the question he already knew Donatello would ask, "Did you make these? Or did the other ghosts?"

I MADE THESE. THEY ARE NOT THEIR ACTUAL SIGILS - I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THOSE ARE, SO THESE ARE JUST TO MAKE IT CLEAR WHO IS THE HEAD GHOST OF WHICH AREA.

"What's the difference?" Donnie asked, "Between these symbols and theirs?"

THE OFFICIAL VERSION ARE SIMILAR TO A NAME – IT TELLS PEOPLE WHO YOU ARE, AND THEY CAN USE IT TO CONTACT YOU.

“Like a phone number?” Donatello asked.

YES! I DO NOT HAVE ONE.

“Why not?” Leo asked.

I HAVE NOT MADE OR CLAIMED ONE. Splinter explained, THERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ANY POINT IN DOING SO – WHY HAVE A PHONE IF THERE IS NO ONE YOU CAN CALL, OR WHO CAN CALL YOU?

“So if we wanted to call you,” Mikey began, “Could we?”

PERHAPS? Splinter’s tail swished and he added A SUMMONING RITUAL OF SOME SORT MIGHT WORK, BUT THAT WOULD CARRY GREAT RISK– YOU WOULD ESSENTIALLY BE SHOUTING AND HOPING IT WAS ME WHO ANSWERED, BUT THERE WOULD BE NO GUARANTEE OF THAT.

“Like shouting ‘hey you!’ and hoping for an answer.” Leo said, “Someone else could think we were shouting for them.”

“Or follow it back to us.” Raph said with a deep frown.

PRETTY MUCH, YES.

Donatello chewed the inside of his mouth before asking, “Can’t you just make one?”

Splinter shrugged.

Leo frowned, “What’s that mean?”

I DO NOT KNOW. PROBABLY.

That hadn’t been a lie – he truly did not have a sigil and was unsure if he could make one.

But he had an idea for something that could work. There was, there was an unclear shape at the back of his mind, the shadow of a picture, but it was not designed to be carried by one singular person. It wasn’t made for one man.

It – he did not know what it meant anymore, but he could tell that it had meant so much to him once.

That night and early morning he made note of another 20 territories and did his best to ignore memories of people lost to him. Instead he tried to focus upon his current task and reminded himself of the little boy, currently fast asleep, who had called the Old House home. He also had the good fortune of finding a couple stale bagels and a third food item of unknown origin and classification, that he thought was made of bread but couldn’t be sure.

If that had been all that happened, he’d have called it a good night.

When he’d first realised what the changes to his body meant, what exactly he was beginning to look like, he had never even considered that one day he would be relieved to have taken on a rat’s sense of taste. There was a lot about his current eating habits that the man he’d once been would have been mortified by and sometimes Splinter felt like he could almost hear Him, shouting to please put that questionable piece of cabbage down and eat literally anything else. Almost.

Although perhaps if Splinter was still whole, he’d still eat whatever he could find. Desperation tended to make people do a lot of things that they wouldn’t under normal circumstances.

These days eating half rotten food was not enough to warrant calling a night ‘bad’.

But this night he didn’t only map out more of New York’s dead citizens and then eat questionable food.

Something was amiss.

The further he got away from the city’s heart, as he made his way towards the outskirts of the city and prepared for the long run back home, the dead went silent. He carefully added more territories to the map as he went, but found he could not hear the sounds of spirits going about their business.

Dawn, being the threshold between night and day, was usually a busy time. The dead were fond of liminal places, and the end of one day and the start of another counted.

And yet, on the edge of the city, he could not sense anyone else. His core worked away inside of him, the very thing that powered his existence, but it couldn’t detect another ghost in the area.

Just last night, he had past through here and it had been filled with life.

And yet tonight he was completely alone.

Splinter felt as if he had just walked through a forest filled with birds, and suddenly he could hear nothing.

He frowned, fur standing on end and put the map away.

Did he have time to investigate? A little, if he was quick.

---

He did not find out what was responsible that night.

As he drew closer to whatever was causing this, the silence became more oppressive. Even the presence of the living didn’t bring a sense of relief, instead the few humans milling around reminded him that their dead counterparts were no where to be seen.

Whatever he was heading towards, it wasn’t death so much as the complete absence of any life.

But he kept going. Wherever he was headed was still on the way out of the city and he saw no reason to give in and run home with his tail between his legs.

And he was curious.

Splinter had always been too curious for his own good.

Eventually he came to a collection of building. They were clustered together around a yard, and surrounded by a fence. There was a sign on the fence that read: Laird Elementary. No lights were on yet, but it was still very early in the day, so he supposed that wasn’t an indication that anything was wrong. Not to mention it was possible that the custodian staff were already at work, and he just couldn’t see the rooms they were working in.

Soon though, people would enter and the halls of the school would be brimming with life.

Splinter paused on a building across the street, unsure of what to do.

He’d been crouched there for a while, and would have expected someone to turn up and ask what he was doing. He was known for coming into New York and then leaving at his earliest convenience, not for hanging around in one area.

Maybe the resident ghost simply didn’t see him as a threat or didn’t care he was here?

But that didn’t sit right with him.

A territorial ghost could, possibly, explain the lack of unlife in the area. And a ghost who hung around a school and didn’t want any other ghosts around would make sense – a lot of ghosts who gravitated to such places tended to be very protective of children. It was similar to bogeymen, really. Creatures that spend a lot of time around children tended to realise very quickly that there are far worse things out there than them, and it was hard to not want to protect children.

At least it was for Splinter.

He was getting off track.

A territorial ghost would explain the lack of other ghosts, but that just made it even stranger that he hadn’t seen anyone yet. Wouldn’t such a being want to find out why he was here? Or have already flung him across the state border by now?

An instinct, ingrained so deeply it could have only come from his living self, told him that wasn’t what was happening here. That feeling told him that something else was going on.

Splinter sniffed the air and strained his ears. It smelt like any other part of New Yor -

…

He could smell rats.

Hundreds of rats.

Far too many concentrated in one area to be normal.

And inside his torso, his core, shuddered.

Whatever had created this, this dead space was among those rats and it was getting closer and closer.

This was beyond him, Splinter realised. He needed to talk to Garson about whatever this was and hope the older ghost knew a way to handle it. As the head ghost of his own territory, he must have dealt with interlopers before, must have experience in dealing with this sort of thing.

Splinter knew that he was not strong enough to deal with this alone and, even if he hated socialising, something like this had to be investigated at the very least.

If they were lucky, then at least ten ghosts had gone missing.

If not, then…

Then at least ten ghosts had already been devoured and children, living children were at risk.

Splinter retreated back to the Old House. As he went, he tried to figure out who else he could ask for help.

There was no one. If Garson could not help, then the ghosts of New York would need to fend for themselves.

---

Tuesday morning, there were rats on the school yard. Not very many, only three that could be seen, perched in the dark corners of roofs and gutters. Their red eyes watched the children step off buses or climb out of cars, walk the yard and into buildings on their way to the first lesson of the day.

If Mikey didn’t have months of training under his belt, if he hadn’t known Splinter, he may not have noticed the rats at all. If he did, he wouldn’t have trusted his own instincts enough to realise that they were right: someone was watching him. He didn’t know who exactly, the feeling couldn’t give him any specifics, so he had no idea if it was the rats who were watching him or someone else.

As he walked across the yard with his brothers, splitting off on their way to class, Mikey had managed a quick glance at each of them. Neither Raph or Donnie had noticed, but Leo had a strained expression on his face. He knew something was wrong too, but he didn’t want anyone to know that he did.

Their eyes met, and Mikey gave his brother a broad, comforting grin. Leo managed a small smile, though it didn’t reach his tired eyes.

---

As the school day past, Mikey saw more rats.

He noticed part way through third period that they eyes were not simply red – they glowed.

And the rat, the one that had made him realise that, caught him staring and watched him. Its tail did not swish, its whiskers did not move, and its ears stayed high on its head. It just stood there, perfectly still for eleven long minutes before its ears twitched, as if it had heard something. And then the rat and its glowing red eyes were gone.

Mikey was not worried.

These rats were strange, and he could feel them always watching, dark red eyes boring into him. The feeling reminded him a little of being sat in that attic months ago struggling to maintain his composure, when glowing red eyes had fixed upon him. But it wasn’t the same. Even back then, he’d known that the ghost who became Splinter hadn’t meant him any harm – the ghost was simply curious about who this little boy was.

Splinter was a Monster, but he wasn’t a monster.

This was different. It was familiar, but an itching beneath his skin and twisting in his stomach told him that these rats were not simply wondering who he was and why he was in their territory.

He wasn’t worried. He had his brothers and Splinter! If it turned out he and his brothers were in danger, they could ask Splinter for help!

---

WHAT DO YOU MEAN FIFTEEN PEOPLE ARE MISSING!?

After becoming himself again, he had sought out Garson, wanting to ask his fellow ghost about what was going on and, if Garson wasn’t aware of the dead space, tell him personally.

But fifteen missing ghosts? Fifteen! This was worse than Splinter had thought.

Garson picked a piece of trash up, “Since about last Thursday, a few folks went quiet. Not showing up to days out with family, not answering when called. That sorta thing.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “Some people went out looking for them. Y’know in case it was just a bad couple days, something like that.”

AND THE ONES WHO SEARCHED FOR THEM, DID ANY RETURN?

“No.” The ghost swallowed thickly, “Joe and I checked in on some of them.”

DID YOU FIND THEM? Splinter asked, daring to hope at least some of the fifteen had been found safe and sound.

Garson shook his head, “Couldn’t even get through the front door. Their Domains are falling apart.”

Splinter ran a hand through his fur, DID ANY OF THEM LIVE NEAR A SCHOOL? The rat ghost scrubbed his face and tried to remember the name he’d seen written on the sign just outside, LAIRD ELEMENTARY?

The other ghost slowly dropped the trash in a bin and closed the lid. Without turning around he asked“… How’d you know that?”

I WALKED THROUGH THE AREA LAST NIGHT, Splinter explained, ON MY WAY OUT OF THE CITY. IT WAS TOO QUIET.

“Did you see anyone?”

NO. BUT THERE ARE TOO MANY RATS THERE, FAR TOO MANY.

Neither of them said anything for a while.

Eventually, Splinter found that he could not take the silence and asked IS THERE ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE?

Garson frowned, deep in thought.

When he didn’t answer, Joe rolled out of Garson’s left eye socket, “do you know who it is?”

Splinter stared at the eyeball and tried to both keep his face neutral and stay focused, NO. I ASSUMED THEY WERE NEW.

“I’ll see who can help.” Garson said and tried to push Joe back into his socket.

THANK YOU.

“Don’t hold your breath though.”

“folks will properly want to stay out of it”, Joe added, “you how it is.”

I UNDERSTAND. HOW SOON DO YOU THINK SOMETHING CANBE DONE.

“Hmm, a week? Lotta people to talk to.” Quietly Garson added, “Hopefully a lot of people to talk to.”

Splinter nodded grimly and sat on the edge of the roof.

Sometimes ghosts managed to complete their unfinished business and did not develop a new obsession to keep them tethered to the land of the living. So, for lack of a better term, they crossed over and became a spirit. Whatever they thought they afterlife would be, they would have it. There was a chance that some of the missing ghosts had done just that.

But for 15 ghosts to do that all at once? At the very least someone would have come back to New York to let everyone know what had happened. And their Domains, their homes, wouldn’t be collapsing. A domain without a ghost was like a flea without a dog – they could not survive on their own and soon after their owner’s demise, so too would the Domain come to an end.

So that left only one option.

Someone was hunting down other ghosts.

Which…

This was so much worse than he’d thought.

He needed to know where the boys went to school. Mikey, his little boy, and his brothers would attend school somewhere in New York. Splinter prayed that it wasn’t Laird Elementary.

“One thing though,” Garson said and Splinter’s ears pricked up, ready to listen, “Don’t go running in on your own.”

Splinter straightened and glared at Garson, I AM NOT A CHILD. I CAN LOOK AFTER MYSELF.

“that’s not what we’re saying,” Joe said in that strange voice of his, like someone trying to disguise their voice in a puppet show aimed at children, “but you really shouldn’t rush into this on your own!”

“What he means,” Garson added, “Whoever this is, they’re bad news, and we’ve lost enough people as is.”

DO YOU REALLY THINK ME SO RECKLESS AS TO RUN HEAD FIRST INTO DANGER? Splinter snapped.

Beneath his skin, the temperature rose.

“I don’t know you.“ Garson said with a shrug, “Don’t know your name or nothing about you, but you’ve never caused me any problems, so figured you were worth warning.”

Splinter felt his anger leave him and he nodded, THAT IS FAIR. THANK YOU GARSON.

“Much obliged. Stay safe out there.”

With that they both turned to leave.

Before Splinter leapt away, he paused and looked over his shoulder at Garson one last time, SPLINTER.

“What?”

MY NAME IS SPLINTER. GOODNIGHT GARSON.

One moment Splinter was crouched on the roof, Garson and Joe staring at him in surprise, and in the next he was gone, leaving not even a shadow behind.

---

More rats appeared the next day, enough that now all Mikey’s brothers noticed small dark shapes moving against the windows and drains and walls. The rats were at their worst in the science block, and there other kids noticed glowing red eyes watching them through the glass.

No one knew where they were coming from.

By Wednesday afternoon Mrs Mitchell had called in the exterminator, though they wouldn’t be able to visit until the weekend.

It could have just been a backed up sewer drain, either attracting all the rats or forcing them out of their normal homes and towards the school. The brothers didn’t pay it much mind, which is to say they paid it a lot of mind but pretended that they didn’t.

Their unease wasn’t helped by others hearing the music. Not many, but a few other students had reported hearing that music and then feeling the irresistible urge to follow it. Mikey had asked one of them about it, a kid called Nico who he sat next to in History class. Nico didn’t have an explanation, just that he heard someone playing a pipe when he was on his own in the science block and he’d had no choice but to follow it. He’d walked around the science block, following the music, until a cleaner had found him.

Mikey asked what happened next, and Nico shrugged.

“The music stopped.” Nico explained.

“Have you heard it again?”

“No. Avi has.”

Mikey hummed and then, to diffuse the weird tension that now hung in the air, he said, “Did you see the new Crognard episode?”

Nico gasped in delight and they talked until the end of lunch about cartoons and heroes wielding magical swords. And Mikey did his best to ignore the prickling at the back of his neck.

Mikey did not want to judge whoever kept watching him without knowing them. He’d known kids who had been left hardened by their experiences in the system, and so watched everyone with weary suspicion and were ready at all times to fight for their life. And he knew that part of their hostility was caused by the fact they had tried to call for help before, and nobody had came.

Leo was like that. So was Raph.

Mikey and Donnie though? Whenever they’d called for help, their big brothers had come running.

Maybe this ghost, because Mikey was sure this was a ghost’s doing, had simply been left alone for too long and hadn’t met anyone who made them feel safe in death.

It was difficult to hold onto that thought. Especially when Mikey was stood in the hallway, his teeth on edge, arm aching terribly, and spine frozen solid.

He was in the science block, standing in an empty hallway just down the hwall from the library. Today he was running late – it had been his turn to help clean up after Art class, and by the time he’d finished cleaning paint brushes and pallets everyone had already made their way outside, leaving the school almost entirely deserted.

Mikey breathed in, breathed out.

Just one foot in front of the other. The library was so close. Inside those walls were his brothers and Mrs Simms. Safety.

And if he shouted, they’d come running.

Mikey managed a small smile and raised his foot.

The music began.

One pipe, then another and another and another until he could feel his heart beating in synch with each and every note.

And then there was the sensation of something burrowing and then squirming beneath his skin, twisting further and further down through meat and flesh until it’s claws were hooked into his bones. It wrapped around his throat, his mouth, his lips, until all he could do was breath.

The world around him began to fade, and the dim, joyless hallway lost the few colours it had. A red mist descended over his vision, making the world look as though it was covered in wet meat. It was almost impossible to distinguish shapes from one another, everything was so blurry and he could barely see two feet in front of him.

Come here
(come here)

It sounded like a group of, of things all talking at once. If Mikey had any control over his body, he’d have turned in whatever direction was furtherest away from that voice and walked away.

But he didn’t.

Come here
(Come here)

Whatever had dug itself into him moved his arms on legs as if they were on strings, and Mikey’s legs started moving on their own, taking him away from the library and his brothers. Deeper into the science block.

Tears brimmed at the corner of his eyes

Don’t cry little puppet
(Don’t cry little puppet)
I will not take too long
(I will not take too long)
This will all be over soon.
(This will all be over soon.)

And now Mikey couldn’t even cry. The tears dried up.

The route his body took was meandering, walking around the science block as if he were taking a leisurely stroll.

He’s taking his time today.
(He’s taking his time today.)

The music became quieter, though it didn’t go away, and through the mist Mikey could make out dozens and dozens of bodies, scurrying about the yard, across roofs and around windows. He was aware of them, as if there were invisible threads connecting him to those rats.

Despite the mist, he could tell that their eyes were glowing. He wondered if his were too.

When the voice returned, the music became louder once more.

Shall we go outside?
(Shall we go outside?)

Mikey wanted to say no, let me go, please let me go.

But then, as his body turned around and the Piper began leading him out of the building, the music paused again.

Oh, here he is!
(Oh, here he is!)

Slowly, ever so slowly, the music faded away and Mikey’s throat, his mouth, his lips, his hands, his arms, legs and feet were under his own control once more.

Before the music stopped entirely, the voice said, a smile in its voice,

Goodbye, little puppet,
(Goodbye, little puppet,)
Maybe I will see you again soon.
(Maybe I will see you again soon.)

And as quickly as it had appeared, the music was gone.

Mikey’s legs wobbled, then collapsed beneath him. He knelt on the floor, breathing heavily, tears rolling down his face as he quietly sobbed.

He felt sick and confused and nauseous.

“What are you doing here?” An unfamiliar voice asked, “Young man?”

He looked up, tears still streaming down his face. The man in front of him was short, with brown hair and eyes.

Dr Rockwell.

The doctor’s eyes widened at the sight of Mikey’s face, and he quickly pulled a tissue out of his jacket pocket.

In an awkward, stilted voice, as if he wasn’t sure to comforting anyone, Rockwell said, “There’s no need to cry. Here, dry your face.”

Mikey took the tissue, wiped away tears and then blew his nose. Then he held the tissue out to Rockwell.

The man stared at the crumpled, used tissue.

“… You can keep it.”

“Okay.” Mikey said shakily, “thank you.”

Dr Rockwell nodded grimly, “Are you supposed to be here?”

Mikey shook his head.

“So you just wandered here?”

Mikey just nodded. How could he explain what had just happened? There was no way Dr Rockwell would believe him.

Even through the sick feeling in his stomach, he could see the strange series of emotions that passed over Dr Rockwell’s face. Anger and annoyance, Mikey was expecting, but not the panicked look in Rockwell’s eyes.

“Where should you be?”

“The library.”

“Is anyone still there? The librarian?”

Mikey nodded again, “Mrs Simms and my brothers.”

Dr Rockwell let out a relieved sigh, “Even better. Come on, let’s get you back there.”

The music did not return as they walked. No pipes played and the choir did not speak again.

Mikey clenched his left arm and kept his head low.

By the time they reached the library, his eyes were still red and swollen, but they were dry.

And when his brothers saw his face and rushed over, asking what had happened, he was able to smile.

Mikey was afraid, but at least he had his family.

Notes:

I wrote the second draft of this chapter to take a break from doing the last draft of chapter 7, and thought I’d have the self-control to leave this chapter mostly finished for a couple of weeks so it could be posted in September... turns out I severely underestimated how excited I am about this fic, and really over estimated my self-control

Chapter 9

Summary:

Splinter visits the boys’ school.

Notes:

Feels like it’s been a while since I updated this. Uni’s started up again so updates may be a bit less frequent, but I’ve written first drafts for chapters 10 to 13, so hopefully I’ll still be able to make regular updates.

Within seconds, Raph’s arms were wrapped around him, pulling Mikey into a bear hug. A moment later Leo was carding his fingers through Mikey’s hair, whispering softly that Mikey was safe now. Beside them, Donnie was doing his best to check Mikey over, though he couldn’t get a good look - Raph was holding Mikey so close, and Mikey had pressed his face into Raph’s shoulder. He didn’t want to cry anymore, and refused to do so in front of his brothers and worry them more than they already were, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t take comfort from their pressence.

And they were definitely worried. They were talking, not to him, but about him.

“You think they had another go at him?” Raph asked.

If Mikey was anyone else, he would have easily mistaken Raph’s tone for simple earth shattering fury. That wasn’t to say that Raph wasn’t angry – he was, and with good reason. But there was more to it than that, worry and fear and, Mikey knew, guilt that Raph hadn’t been there to keep his baby brother safe from whatever had just scared him so badly.

“Why would they?” Donnie asked, voice shrill.

“Because no one is taking them seriously.” Leo said.

Leo’s voice was full of steel and colder than ice. Mikey had heard once that ice could burn if you held it for long enough, that freezing cold could act much in the same way as a fire. He’d not believed it at the time, after all, how could something cold burn? Hearing Leo’s voice, he didn’t doubt it any more.

Hearing Raph’s rage, burning hot and predictable, was comforting by comparison, “I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them and no one will find all the pieces!”

“It wasn’t them.” Mikey said.

Or, more accurately, he tried to but his voice was still so hoarse from sobbing that it came out a garbled mess.

He was about to try again when Mrs Simms came out of the staff room, saw them, and rushed over, “What happened?”

“We don’t know,” Leo said, “Mikey just got here.”

“We’re trying to help him calm down.” Donnie added.

Mrs Simms examined Mikey carefully “Are you hurt?”

Mikey shook his head, not trusting his voice to remain steady. If it broke again, even if he said he was feeling much better now, she wouldn’t believe him.

“We don’t know.” Leo said, voice clipped and still void of warmth.

She pursed her lips and glanced at the staff room door. Then her eyes scanned the rest of the library, taking note of the few students milling around. Some were working and hadn’t noticed the brothers, but others had noticed the commotion and were watching the brothers with keen interest.

“Follow me,” she said, “You boys can sit in the staff room until Mikey’s feeling better. I’ll close the door so you can have some privacy.”

---

Calling it a staff room wasn’t inaccurate, but it almost felt like an exaggeration when referring to the very small, very cramped room that sat behind the library’s front desk.

There were two desks, one of which was almost completely covered by an ancient computer, even older than the one at the children’s home. Donnie’s eyes lit up when he saw it, the same way a zoologist’s eyes might light up upon seeing a previously thought to be extinct insect. The other desk was buried underneath a mountain of paperwork and just enough space had been cleared for a photograph of a young boy who looked very much like Mrs Simms, except his hair was black instead of grey and he wasn’t dressed in every possible colour at once.

Two chairs were also sat in the room, and Donnie moved them next to each other and guided Mikey towards the first and Raph the second. Raph had loosened his grip on Mikey and was now keeping him close in a loose side hug.

Donnie leaned against the farthest wall, and Mikey guessed he was keeping an ear out for any sign of Mrs Simms or anyone else approaching.

Leo, meanwhile, stood in front of Raph and Mikey, leaning against the desk behind him. He held his cane loosely, almost absent-mindedly, but every so often his hand would clench and unclench around the handle, knuckles turning white.

“How are you feeling?” Leo asked.

Mikey squeezed his left arm, “Better.”

“Can you talk about what happened?”

He nodded. Took a deep breath and spoke, “There was a ghost.”

“Where?” Leo’s voice lost some of its chill, surprise mixing in and thawing it somewhat.

“In the science block.” Mikey took another deep breath, “I couldn’t, I couldn’t see it. There was just, there was just this, this music and, and…” Mikey wiped his eyes and felt Raph hug him tighter.

“It’s okay.” Leo said evenly, “We’re here. You’re safe.”

Mikey curled up against Raph. He knew he was safe here, but being close to Raph made him feel especially safe. No one messed with Raph – everyone knew he could protect himself and had no issue fighting back.

For a while they sat in silence. It was was only broken by Mrs Simms opening the door to check in and pass them the biscuit tin, saying to take as many as they wanted.

And as they sat and waited for him to talk, Mikey thought about what he wanted to say and tried his best to remain calm.

Finally, Mikey said, “They were playing this music and it felt like,” he tried to think about how it had felt, the feeling of something digging and clawing beneath his skin and wrenching control of his body away from him.

Suddenly, he remembered something Splinter had said months ago.

COMPELLED MEANS THAT YOU ARE FORCED TO DO SOMETHING. IT IS NOT OF YOUR OWN FREE WILL, AS IT WERE. I HAVE NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER.

“I think it compelled me. I didn’t have a choice.”

Leo clenched his hands, “Did it feel like part of you wanted to follow it?”

“No. I, I didn’t want to. It was like being a puppet.”

Leo frowned at that. Chewed the inside of his mouth. His face kept switching being angry, afraid and irritated. Mikey could practically hear the gears turning in his older brother’s head as he thought through the problem.

“I think,” Leo said, voice firm, “That we need to tell Splinter.”

---

The second the bus stopped moving, the brothers were on their feet and running to the Old House. Raph was up front, charging through the long stalks. At his heels Donnie sprinted, doing his best to not fall over. Leo and Mikey brought up the rear, running alongside each other. As they ran, Leo held his hand and did not let go.

They nearly tripped up the steps, and Donnie did, grabbing the rail to stop himself hitting the floor. The commotion was loud enough to attract Splinter’s attention, and the ghost ran out of living room, worry coming off him in waves.

BOYS? ARE YOU ALRIGHT? WHAT HAPPENED?

Leo didn’t even question telling Splinter, didn’t think about if it was a good idea to reveal this to a ghost. In that moment, all he cared about was that Splinter loved Mikey and that meant he’d want to protect Leo’s baby brother.

“THERE’S A GHOST AT SCHOOL!” he shouted so loud his throat hurt.

WHAT!?

“It tried to TAKE MIKEY!” Raph all but screamed, shaking with fear or anger, Leo couldn’t tell.

“It’s,” Leo throat clenched painfully and he doubled over, coughing, “Don – Donnie.”

Water was pressed into his hand as Donnie explained, “Leo heard someone playing music on Monday. Other people have been hearing it too. It makes you feel weird, like you have to go towards it.”

AND MICHELANGELO HEARD IT TODAY?

“After school.” Mikey said, “I was in the science block.”

Mikey was vaguely aware that he was shaking. Only vaguely though, because it felt like someone else’s body was quivering. He could feel Leo’s hand, but there was a barrier between his mind and body. He was still in the room with his brothers and Splinter, but at the same time he wasn’t.

ARE YOU ALRIGHT? Splinter asked softly, kneeling in front of him.

He nodded, because what else could he do. If he told the truth, that’d worry his family and he couldn’t do that to them. Mikey was the one who never stopped smiling, no matter how bad things got, because if Mikey could keep a smile on his face, then that meant they could get through whatever terrible thing was happening to them.

The ghost, his ghost, rested a hand on his shoulder and combed the other through his hair.

Leo stood next to Splinter, saying something Mikey could hear, but not register.

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IT WANTED?

“No idea!” Leo said, “I guess it wants people to follow it, but we don’t know where or why?”

“Could it be a nice ghost?” Donnie asked, sounding desperate, “Like we’re freaking out over nothing?”

“Oh yeah, let me just borrow this 8 year old for totally not nefarious purposes!” Raph shouted.

“At least I’m trying to come up with ideas!” Donnie snapped back.

RAPHAEL, DONATELLO, THIS IS NOT HELPFUL.

Raph snarled at Splinter, “Oh yeah, you’d know all about helping wouldn’t you. Got any secret ninja skills that can help, or are you going to shut up and let us deal with this?”

“Raph-” Leo started, but Splinter cut them both off.

I WILL GO TO YOUR SCHOOL AND INVESTIGATE THIS MYSELF. His voice was firm, and invited no argument, but it didn’t sound angry.

Raph glared at the ghost, “And what will that do?”

INFORMATION IS CRITICAL IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS. I TAKE IT YOUR SCHOOL IS LAIRD ELEMENTARY?

Mikey heard himself say, “How do you know that?”

He knew he’d never told Splinter what school he went to – Splinter never asked, and Mikey hadn’t ever felt the need to specify what school he went to. Why would he? It wasn’t like that information would be of any use to Splinter.

But as soon as he asked, he wished he hadn’t. Mikey could see the distrustful looks being shot Splinter’s way.

Splinter himself didn’t seem to notice, OVER THE PAST WEEK, THERE HAVE BEEN DISAPPEARANCES AROUND YOUR SCHOOL.

“But, no one’s missing.” Donnie said, confused.

“Yeah, I’ve not heard of anyone going missing.” Raph said.

I DID NOT SAY LIVING PEOPLE HAD GONE MISSING.

“Other ghosts?” Leo asked.

Splinter nodded grimly, IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN TELL ME?

“… There’s rats everywhere.” Leo said.

“Little ones.” Mikey clarified and gestured with his hands.

Briefly, he wondered if there were other tesso and rat yokai in New York, or if Splinter was the only one. Could something like Splinter be doing this?

“The music sounds like a pipe.” Leo said, “But it’s like the instrument can’t do many notes? I don’t know how useful that’ll be.”

ANY INFORMATION IS GOOD, Splinter said gently.

Splinter turned back to Mikey, IF YOU HEAR IT AGAIN, DO YOU THINK YOU COULD FIGHT IT.

Mikey didn’t know. If it was like the music Leo heard, then maybe. But if the Piper roused the entire orchestra again, Mikey doubted he’d be able to do anything other than exactly what the Piper wanted.

“I don’t know.”

THAT IS ALRIGHT, Splinter said and squeezed Mikey’s shoulder.

Then Splinter rose to his full height, and folded his hands behind his back, I WILL GO TONIGHT.

To Donnie he added, I HOPE YOU WILL NOT MIND IT IF I POSTPONE WORKING ON THE MAP?

Donnie shook his head, surprised that Splinter thought to bring it up, “Yeah, no, that’s fine!”

WE WILL GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS. Splinter promised. His voice was bright, almost cheerful.

It soothed Mikey and brought a small, but genuine, smile to his face.

---

To say that Splinter was furious would be a gross understatement. For the first time in his existence, he wanted to rip and tear someone apart with his teeth and claws, to rend them limb from limb and scatter the pieces so that they could never be whole again. He wanted to burn everything this ghost had ever loved to the ground for daring to hurt Michelangelo.

Whoever this piper was, they were lucky to be already dead.

He did not know this ghost, did not know their history, and he frankly. Did. Not. Care. All that mattered was that they had targeted Michelangelo, and were going to pay for that.

Splinter had not forgotten Garson’s warning against fighting this ghost alone, but he could not wait a week for Garson to gather help, if that were even still possible.

The piper needed to be stopped now.

His desire to take their core, grind it into powder, then dump it into the Atlantic did not ease as he entered the dead zone, or when he stood across the street from Laird Elementary.

For a few moments, Splinter stood on a roof opposite the school, examining the buildings. He could not see any lights on, though there was a car parked in the staff car park. So, the school was not entirely empty, but it would not be difficult to evade one human.

With a hiss, Splinter shadow walked across the street, past the school gates and into the courtyard.

His core couldn’t detect another ghost nearby, but that didn’t mean their Domain wasn’t nearby. Based upon all the ghosts who had been consumed, Splinter wouldn’t be surprised if the Piper was out hunting.

And maybe if he found their Domain whilst the Piper was out, he could cause a big enough commotion to draw them back? Set their home on fire and let the flames climb high, chock them with smoke and ash, and then finish them off. It was a terrible thing to experience. He knew that from personal experience.

Splinter reached into his robe and pulled put a thin piece of paper. It was a small map of the school, buildings coloured and labelled, quickly drawn by Mikey. The science block was a bright purple.

With a nod, Splinter disappeared into the shadows.

---

There was something vaguely familiar about the building, though Splinter could tell he’d never been here before. The feeling, it was like he had been to a place like this before. The words had been different, in Japanese rather than English, but that didn’t stop the feeling of familiarity that swept over him.

Had he ever been to school? He must have, mustn’t he? If he’d once been a human man, then at some point he must have been a child and most children went to school.

Out of curiosity, Splinter poked his head into one of the class rooms. There he found many tables and chairs, a white board, and the walls were lined with cupboards and strange taps. Splinter flipped one on, and then hurried to turn it off when he smelt gas. Something he had learned as a being of fire was that it was best to avoid flammable gas.

From there he walked to the front of the room.

He’d been expecting the board to have a little container with chalk at the bottom, but instead there were marker pens and a cloth stained with blue ink. Vaguely, he could remember hitting dusty blocks together, a cloud of chalk fluttering away from them.

How old had he been then?

Splinter frowned and tried to focus on the memory.

Smaller than Mikey was now. The little, presumably human, boy would have reached Mikey’s shoulder. There were other small children in his memory, but their faces had been eroded away and all he could make out was dark hair.

Nothing more came from the memory, and Splinter wished that it had resurfaced when Mikey was present. Remembering being human was so much easier with his boy around.

Leaving that room, Splinter continued down the corridor and sniffed the air. Was the lone human nearby?

The smell of humans had permeated everything, as did the scent of cleaning products, dust and dirt, ink and paper. Of those scents, one was stronger than the others – it was still fresh: the human was somewhere within this building.

And they were not alone.

Splinter sniffed the air again, to check that his nose was not playing tricks on him.

It wasn’t.

Beneath him, in the floors; above him in the ceiling; and in the walls all around him: rats.

Splinter kept his gaze trained ahead of him. Their eyes were not upon him, but a rat doesn’t need to see something to know it’s there. If their noses were half as strong as his, then the rats surrounding him already knew he was here.

Which meant the Piper did too.

Being a ninja, this thought did not please him. If possible, Splinter would have liked to remain hidden until he decided to reveal himself. But hiding from ghosts was another matter than hiding from humans.

Splinter shook his head. What did it matter if the Piper knew he was here? It was difficult to rend someone into ectoplasmic pieces and shatter their core if they weren’t present.

As he walked down the corridor, Splinter couldn’t help but think about the rats.

Based upon what the boys had said, the Piper’s control was not limited to rats, and Splinter couldn’t help but wonder if the Piper had chosen rats in particular, or if they were easier to command than humans, either being more susceptible to commands or requiring less energy. If it were the latter, then that could explain the hoards of rats Splinter had smelt the other day – if less energy was needed to control a rat than a human, then that could mean the Piper was able to command more rats at one time than humans.

He imagined Garson would have some strong words to say on Splinter doing this alone, but Splinter was not a rat and he told himself this as he walked down the school’s hallways.

---

Much to Splinter’s disappointment, he did not find the Piper or his Domain within the school.

That, puzzled Splinter initially.

The school was definitely part of the Piper’s territory, but it was not the Piper’s home. Was the school simply a hunting ground then? Or did the school hold some importance to them? Was something within the school of interest to the Piper? And, if they were spending so much time here, then perhaps their Domain was nearby.

Splinter titled his head to one side. Or, their Domain was no where near the school, which could explain why the Piper had consumed so many other ghosts – their hunting ground and home were too far away, and the ghosts in between were an obstacle.

He swallowed thickly and clenched his hands. If that were the case, then coming here tonight meant nothing more than the Piper knowing of Splinter. As a ninjutsu master he should have known better than to be so reckless, revealing himself to an enemy he knew nothing about. Gyogi, Uncle, would not have been impressed with him. The man had often tried to council his nephew to be more patient, less reckless, to at the very least think before he acted.

Despite himself, Splinter smiled. It had taken a long time for him to fully learn that lesson (though it didn’t appear to have stuck with him after death). Regardless, Uncle had remained patient and loving throughout the process, though not without judgement or comment. Splinter could not remember much about his uncle – those memories, along with almost everything else, had been taken from him – but he remembered that Uncle had loved him. He knew it to the depths of his core, as if the love his uncle had for him, and he for his uncle, had been so well practised and maintained that it had become like the ninjutsu Gyogi taught him – it was muscle memory, though he no longer had muscle.

Death brought an end to many things, but not all. This was one of them. That had always brought Splinter a sense of comfort. And as his memory failed him, the knowledge that he had been loved and loved in turn had brought him some peace. He was dead, but the love for his family was not gone.

So, with Uncle and his teachings in mind, perhaps he should exercise more patience. If the Piper’s Domain was not here, then he needed to search for it. Donatello’s map gave some indication of the breath of the Piper’s territory. It was a large area for one person to cover alone, but it was a start and he could search throughout the day and then return to the Old House in time for the boys to be back from school.

Even if he didn’t know where the Piper was, he refused to stand by and do nothing.

Splinter sniffed the air again. There were still many rats and he could feel the eyes of several upon him. And he could hear them sniffing the air, sniffing him, learning his scent.

A shiver ran over him, as if someone had walked over his grave.

And then -

His core hummed.

Someone was coming.

The rats scurried about inside the walls, as if a great excitement was sweeping through them. Above him, he could hear the sounds of tiny feet hammering against the ceiling tiles.

The Piper had returned.

Splinter braced himself, body tensing for a fight. The fur across his body stood on end, his ears pressed against his skull, and a deep growl came from the back of his throat.

And all the while, the rats clambered over each other, biting and hissing when they got in each other’s way. Their fur too was on end and the red glow of their eyes grew brighter, as if a fire had been lit within them. It leaked through the ceiling tiles and the cracks in the walls, sharpening all the shadows in the room as everything was soaked in red.

But these shadows did not allow Splinter to hide within them. Instead, Splinter was left exposed as he cautiously made his way down the bloody corridor.

A shout of fury and anger had him on all fours, hissing and snarling at whatever it was that made the noise.

Splinter did his best to keep his breathing level. Even then, he could feel panic rising and his body growing hotter as his core prepared for an attack. It was difficult to keep his nerve and not allow the panic to take over and push away rational sense. Here and now, he needed to keep his head, needed to remain in total control of himself. He did not want to know what would happen if he lost himself here.

…

But no attack came.

Nothing came.

He could hear the rats leaving, the writhing mass shuffling away. Suddenly, Splinter was alone in a dark corridor, the red light snuffed out. It was little better than being surrounded by enemies that he could not see.

Slowly, Splinter rose to his feet and wiped his hands on his robe. Then, clenching and unclenching his hands, Splinter walked towards the direction the shout had come from. It had been a male voice, and did not sound like it belonged to a young man.

As he approached, the smell of rats grew stronger again, but he knew they were not concerned with his presence. Something else had caught their interest.

And he could feel his core humming away in his chest, telling him that another ghost was nearby, though it could not tell him where the Piper was. Much to his frustration, cores were adapt at sensing other beings, but were not very accurate. If Mikey were present, Splinter would say that it was like hearing someone’s footsteps, but being unable to tell from where they came.

At least he could tell where the angered shouts were coming from.

As he approached, the man’s voice became clearer and clearer until he could make out words.

“ - can’t keep doing this!”

And a voice, or rather voices speaking as one, replied,

What are you going to do about it?
(What are you going to do about it?)

Splinter stopped in his tracks and felt every strand of fur stand on end.

How will you stop me?
(How will you stop me?)

“I – I could-”

Do what?
(Do what?)

The voice, mockingly, continued,

Whatever will Doctor Rockwell do?
(Whatever will Doctor Rockwell do?)
Call the police?
(Call the police?)
Your ‘friends’?
(Your ‘friends’?)

That voice laughed, a horrific chores of cackles.

“Whatever it takes.” The sound of a lighter being flicked open, “I know where your body is! I could burn it!”

Another laugh, but this time devoid of mirth.

Oh,
(Oh,)
You think that will work.
(You think that will work.)

“Stay – stay back! Don’t touch me!”

You will never be rid of me
(You will never be rid of me)
Of us.
(Of us.)

“Let me go!” the man shouted, voice panicked and desperate.

You know that Tyler,
(You know that Tyler,)
You always have.
(You always have.)

There was a pause as Splinter felt a hundred small red eyes turn towards him.

… What?
(… What?)

Here?
(Here?)

Splinter began backing away.

Well, let us introduce ourselves to our visitor.
(Well, let us introduce ourselves to our visitor.)

The rats began storming into the ceiling above him and he could see the ceiling tiles shaking under the movement. Many more crawled along the walls, completely covering the windows. After a few moments, the rats stilled and… it was as if they were waiting for something.

Waiting for someone.

A ceiling tile three meters away from Splinter began to move. Long, thin fingers, a horrible corpse grey, curled around the edges of the tile and pulled it up and away into darkness.

A face began to push itself out of the darkness. It was gaunt, with cracked lips pulled back in a hideous smile, and dark hair partly hidden by a wide brimmed hat. Bandages hide the Piper’s eyes, but Splinter could still feel the Piper’s attention firmly fixated upon him.

Hands reappeared, holding a long wooden instrument with a flared end.

The piper began to lift the shawm to his sneering lips.

Before he could play a single note, Splinter shadow walked away.

Notes:

Forever amused that 2012 Splinter advocated for taking your time when solving problems and waiting for the best time to act, meanwhile DDMG Splinter decides to fist fight a dangerous ghost less than a day after being told not to because it hurt Mikey.

Chapter 10

Summary:

The Boys investigate Rockwell

Notes:

The alternate summary for this chapter was Baby’s first breaking and entering

Considering the circumstances, none of them really wanted to wait until after school to hear how Splinter’s trip to their school had gone last night. If he’d managed to find the Piper, then that meant they could go to school with the assurance that they were safe, that Mikey was safe. And if not, then they at least knew to take precautions. Either way, they weren’t going to school without talking to Splinter first.

Last night, after Donnie and Mikey went to sleep, Raph had climbed into Leo’s bunk and they’d talked it over.

“I don’t want them going to school with that thing there.” Raph whispered.

“I don’t either.” Leo whispered back.

“Do you have any ideas?”

“For keeping them home from school?” Leo asked.

Raph nodded.

Leo shook his head. One of them being able to convincingly pretend they were too sick for school wouldn’t be that hard, but Leo had doubts two of them could pull it off. Besides, whilst Leo and Raph didn’t want their little brothers going to school with the Piper lurking around, neither would Donnie or Mikey be willing to let their older brothers walk into a dangerous situation without them. They were, Leo was proud to say, good kids.

“What are we going to do? We can’t just do nothing.”

Leo bit the inside of his mouth, “We’ll wait till morning and see what Splinter says. Then we’ll come up with a plan.”

Raph frowned, his eyes were filled with concern. Leo knew that his twin wasn’t fond of the idea of relying on Splinter for anything, let alone their little brother’s safety. The ghost was still just an acquaintance at best, and hadn’t earned their trust yet. Yes, Mikey trusted him, but he’d had months to get to know this not quite tesso and come to love him. They hadn’t. The rest of them had known him for a week at most .

But, and Leo wasn’t sure how to feel about the concept, Splinter cared. Leo didn’t know if Splinter cared about the rest of them, or if Mikey was his only real concern and the four of them just so happened to be a package deal. For all Leo knew, he and his remaining brothers were the human equivalent of a buy one get one free offer when you really just wanted the one thing but the shop keeper was being pushy. Like, fine, I’ll take the extra kids. They’d met people like that before.

Although in this instance, Leo supposed that Splinter didn’t need to care about all of them, just as long as he cared enough about Mikey to do what was necessary.

“We can trust him to not disappoint Mikey.” Leo said reassuringly.

Raph’s frown lessened somewhat, “I guess.”

A moment of quiet passed between them.

“What do you think about him?” Leo asked eventually.

“He seems to be doing okay,” Raph said, “Was really freaked out earlier, but we calmed him down well enough. Mike will be okay.”

“I meant Splinter. But, yeah, Mikey will be okay.” At the very least Mikey had smiled when he’d seen them and if Mikey could still smile, then everything would be okay in the end.

“He’s…” Raph’s frown deepened again. “Not the worst.”

Leo tried not to snort.

“Not saying I like him or anything,” Raph added quickly, “And I still don’t trust him.”

Leo nodded. He had to admit that, putting aside the Piper, things had been going better than he expected. It was strange though, having an adult waiting for them to return and worrying when they got hurt, enough to act instantly. And hopefully, by tomorrow the danger would have past.

---

“So the Piper is still there?” Leo said and clenched the top of his cane.

It was the next morning and sun was streaming into the Old House through the open door. On the walk over, Leo had been surprised by how nice the house and field looked in the daylight and he hadn’t been able to help the feeling that if some repairs and cleaning up were done, it would make for a nice home.

HE IS THERE SOME OF THE TIME, BUT HIS DOMAIN IS NOT LOCATED THERE. I WAS UNABLE TO LOCATE IT LAST NIGHT. Splinter said, clearing the ashes from the fireplace, THE SCHOOL IS EITHER A HUNTING GROUND, OR HE IS ATTRACTED THERE BY SOMETHING. The ghost paused and turned to look at Leo as he said, THERE IS A MAN THERE, THE PIPER CALLED HIM TYLER ROCKWELL.

“Rockwell?” Leo blinked hard and almost took a step back.

Splinter nodded, I HEARD THEM ARGUING. ROCKWELL SAID “I KNOW WHERE YOUR BODY IS. I COULD BURN IT!”

“They know each other?” Mikey asked, the shock evident in his voice.

Splinter nodded, IT SEEMS MOST LIKELY. ANOTHER THING: ROCKWELL SOUNDED VERY FRIGHTENED.

“He was talking to a ghost,” Raph said, “what do you expect?”

Splinter titled his head to one side, I DO NOT SEE WHY THAT WOULD BE INHERENTLY CONCERNING.

Raph opened and closed his mouth, face turning red.

Leo tightened his grip on his cane again, the plastic creaking under the strain, “Could Rockwell have done something to the Piper? Something that turned him into a ghost?”

YOU MEAN DID ROCKWELL KILL HIM? Splinter asked, IT IS POSSIBLE.

Mikey spoke up, voice initially soft, but growing more confident as he continued, “Sometimes people get stuck as ghosts when they weren’t buried right or died suddenly. If Rockwell killed him, then maybe the Piper is stuck and taking it out on us.”

“Could have just asked for help,” Raph muttered, “Didn’t have to be an asshole about it.”

WHILST I DO NOT APPROVE OF HOW RAPHAEL PUT IT, I AGREE. THAT WOULD CHANGE NOTHING. Splinter carefully rose to his feet and carried the ash can outside, AND WE ARE MAKING AN ASSUMPTION – TO KNOW THEIR EXACT RELATIONSHIP, WE WOULD NEED EVIDENCE.

Raph crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway, “How would we do that? I don’t think he’s gonna want to talk to us if we say, hey, got any dead friends you’ve not told us about?”

“I could do research online!” Donnie said brightly.

“Into what though? Just his entire life? Everything he’s ever done?” Raph asked.

Donnie nodded enthusiastically, “Yes! You’d be surprised what you can find on the internet these days.”

Raph blinked slowly.

Splinter threw the ashes onto a pile outside and wiped his hands on his robe as he came back inside, TONIGHT, I WILL RETURN TO THE CITY AND CONTINUE SEARCHING FOR THE DOMAIN. I SHOULD NOT HAVE LEFT WHEN THE PIPER APPEARED.

“Is that safe?” Mikey asked, “You’re a, I mean-”

The ghost’s eyes flared and he knelt in front of Mikey, MICHELANGELO, I AM NOT ACTUALLY A RAT – I ONLY LOOK LIKE ONE.

“I though tesso’s were rat demons.” Donnie said absentmindely, then bit his lip when Splinter’s head swivelled to him.

A WHAT?

“A… tesso?” Donnie glanced at his brothers, uncertain of what to say.

“It’s, it’s a rat yokai,” Mikey said softly, drawing Splinter’s attention back to himself, “they have stone skin and metal teeth, and... and this man, Raigo, he-”

Splinter raised a hand and gently squeezed Mikey’s shoulder, I KNOW THIS STORY. HE PRAYED THAT THE EMPEROR WOULD HAVE A SON, BUT WHEN HE DID NOT GET WHAT HE WANTED IN RETURN, HE REFUSED TO EAT AND DIED AFTER ONE HUNDRED DAYS. IS THIS THE STORY YOU HEARD?

Mikey nodded, “But then he came back, and the son…”

THE CHILD DIED. WHERE DID YOU HEAR THIS?

“I read it in a book from the library. It had all this stuff in it about ghosts and yokai.”

Splinter nodded, I AM NOT SURE IF I AM SUCH A THING. He raised his other hand and wiggled the fingers, AS YOU CAN SEE, I AM NOT MADE OF STONE. REGARDLESS, I AM NOT SIMPLY A RAT.

Mikey frowned, “We aren’t either and it still caught us.”

FAIR POINT. STILL, I WILL NOT LEAVE THIS ALONE. The hand that rested on Mikey’s shoulder went to his face, and Splinter gently stroked Mikey’s cheek.

“Whilst you do that, we can focus on doing research at school.” Leo said.

Mikey blinked, and the red glow of Splinter’ eyes dimmed temporarily. Then Splinter turned to look at Leo, his head titled inquistively.

Leo continued, “We’ll ask questions at school to see what people know. Rockwell is using Mrs Meredith’s desk and he keeps his bag underneath it – we can go through them both.”

“When? He locks the door behind him.” Donnie said, “Timothy forgot his pencil case yesterday and couldn’t get it back until after lunch.”

Raph shuffled awkwardly, “I can get us in. I’ve got some tools in my bag.”

NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT. I WILL NOT HAVE YOU GETTING INVOLVED IN THIS.

Leo glared angrily said, “And outside of sneaking around at night, what can you do? Or is your plan just for us to hang tight whilst you hunt him down? That is, if you don’t bail the second you see it?”

A long, silence moment stretched out between them, and an oppressive atmosphere bleed into the bright morning. All the while, Leo kept his gaze on Splinter, daring the ghost to argue. He could see Splinter trying to come up with something to say, but in the end it was Donnie who broke the silence.

“I think we’re already involved.” Donnie looked around the room at everyone, “We might as well do something.”

And Mikey added, “I don’t want anyone else to get compelled.”

Splinter shook his head and said, his voice imploring, YOU ARE CHILDREN, INTERFERING COULD GET YOU HURT!

“Us going about our lives got Mikey hurt!” Leo snapped.

I - Splinter stopped short and scrubbed his face with his hands. Then he took a deep breath and said, IF YOU DO THIS, YOU MUST PROMISE ME THAT YOU WILL DO SO AS SAFELY AS POSSIBLE. IF YOU FIND THE PIPER, YOU WILL NOT TRY TO FIGHT HIM ALONE AND, CONSIDERING IT IS ONLY WHEN PEOPLE ARE ALONE THAT IT ACTS, NONE OF YOU WILL ACT ALONE. He looked at Raphael, WHEN YOU BREAK INTO ROCKWELL'S DESK, TAKE SOMEONE WITH YOU.

“If there’s more people, we’re more likely to get caught.” Raph argued.

THERE ARE WORSE THINGS THAN DETENTION.

“Okay, when Raph goes in, I’ll be with him.” Leo chewed the part of his mouth he’d already bit, where the skin was swollen and sore, “If it’s me, people will assume we have a good reason to be in there.” He glanced at Mikey and Donnie, “You two do research on Rockwell. Ask some questions, see what you can find online. We’ll meet up at the library after school.’ And to Splinter he said, “After we report back, you go in. If Rockwell is involved, then we’re going to need certain information that I don’t think we’ll get on the internet.”

Splinter tilted his head, WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN MIND?

“I want to know where Rockwell lives – we might need to give the doctor a house call.”

“His details should be in Mrs Mitchel’s office.” Donnie said helpfully.

Splinter nodded and folded his hands behind his back, THEN WE HAVE A PLAN.

“Yeah,” Leo said, “We do.”

---

Thankfully, when Leo and Raph went to Mrs Meredith’s classroom the hallway was empty, everyone else having gone to lunch. Raph crouched beside the door, and Leo stood next to him, leaning against the wall as casually as he could.

“When did you learn to pick locks?” Leo asked quietly and looked down the hallway, finding no one.

Raph paused in his work and shifted awkwardly, “… I broke out a lot after we got separated.”

Leo opened and closed his mouth a few times, unsure of what to say.

When they’d all been separated, Leo and Mikey had been kept together, but Donnie and Raph were placed in different homes. They’d been allowed to write to each other and call at set times, but that had just made the distance between them seem all the greater and they’d reacted to that in different ways. Leo had wanted to find his younger brothers, but he’d had Mikey to protect. And he’d known that he couldn’t look for the rest of his family and look after Mikey at the same time. But he couldn’t have left Mikey alone either, especially not at their last foster home.

Donnie didn’t talk about those months he spent alone, instead electing to ignore that they'd ever happened. The few times Leo tried to ask Donnie about it, his younger brother immediately changed the subject. There had been no subtlety to it, and the message that Donnie didn’t want to talk about it had been received loud and clear. As such for the most part, Leo focused on making sure Donnie was happy and kept an eye out for any indication that Donnie was struggling.

Raph had also been left on his own without an anchor, but whereas Donnie had shut down, Raph reacted explosively. He’d broken out of every home he’d been placed in, and learned how to pick locks when he realised that would raise less alarms than smashing a window in the dead of night. From there he’d walk and walk and walk, searching for the family he’d been torn away from.

Leo had known that Raph broke out a lot, but Raph had never gone into detail on how he’d broken out.

Right now, Leo wanted to ask Raph how he was doing, wanted to ask what had happened whilst they’d been apart.

But this was neither the time or the place for such questions, so instead he asked, “… Are you sure you can do this-”

The lock made a satisfying click and the door swung open. Raph flashed Leo a smug grin and Leo shook his head, half irritated, half fond.

Leo glanced down the hallway again. It was still empty. Good.

To Raph he said, “Let’s go.”

The classroom was normal and very little had been changed by Rockwell, which meant that there was nothing about it that said a dangerous ghost had been there the previous night. The idea that just last night the Piper and a hoard of rats had been in the walls and ceiling sent a shiver down Leo’s spine.

“Should we check the cupboards?” Raph asked.

“No, that’ll take too long. You open the desk and I’ll do his bag.”

The desk was locked as well, which they’d been expecting, so Raph knelt down got to work with his tools.

It took a minute for Raph to get it open. Whilst he picked the lock, Leo riffled through Rockwell’s bag. Carefully, he took out every item and laid them down, making note of its exact position within the bag so he could put everything back in its place later. Rockwell might not be too perturbed if the classroom door was unlocked, after all he may have just forgotten to lock it, but if he then found the desk unlocked and everything in his bag moved? They were pushing their luck as is, Leo didn’t want to push it too far.

When the lock finally clicked open Raph muttered, “They need to oil this thing… or just replace it. Thing’s covered in rust.”

Raph pulled the draw open, finding it stuffed with papers: tests, homework, notes left by Mrs Meredith for Rockwell, but nothing that told them anything about Rockwell himself or the Piper.

Raph let out an irritated hiss and turned to Leo, “Found anything?”

“Papers. Pens. Weird amount of body spray.” Leo glared at the collection of things as if they had personally insulted him.

Out of frustration he upturned the bag, causing a tidal wave of pens to fall out.

“Have you checked his wallet?” Raph asked, “Might be pictures.”

Leo shook his head and reached for the wallet. He flipped through it and found two photographs.

The first featured Rockwell holding a glass of wine whilst stood beside another man. The man was taller, with dark blue eyes, a large nose, and hair greying at the temples. In one hand he was holding a glass of his own, and the other was wrapped around Rockwell. The Rockwell in this photo looked younger and, shockingly, capable of smiling. On the back of the photo was written: "New Years at Kirby’s – 2003."

The second photo was in much worse condition than the first, looking like someone had screwed it up and thrown it into a muddy puddle. Despite the damage and ink that had run, distorting and blurring the faces in the photo, Leo could make out a group of people, all dressed in black robes and wearing weird looking hats.

This Rockwell was even younger, somewhere in his 20s if Leo had to hazard a guess. Again he was stood next to a taller man, though Leo supposed that most people were taller than Rockwell, so that wasn’t really saying much. The man’s hair and eyes might have been dark, but it was hard to tell as someone had scribbled over his face.

Beside them were two other men. One very well could have been a younger version of the unknown man in the first photo, though his hair was mousy blond instead of greying. Next to him was a man with bright flame red hair, tightly curled and struggling to remain underneath the cap.

Turning the photo over, Leo read “Tyler, Victor, Jack and Kirby – graduation!” in the same handwriting that had been on the back of the first photo.

Underneath it, in different handwriting were the words “We’re free!” and a doodle of a rat wearing a cap and gown.

Leo smiled at the little drawing, even more so when he saw the first person had written back, “Kirby, stop drawing rats on everything.”

“Kirby, draw more rats” wrote another person.

“Jack, don’t encourage him.”

There was another rat, this one throwing its cap in the air.

“Hey, Raph, look at this.”

“… Why’s the guy’s face scratched out? Think this is our ghost?”

Leo shrugged, “Could be, but I think it’s too early to say.”

“Maybe Donnie can check it out?”

“Maybe.” Leo bit his lip, tasted blood, “He might be able to check if they’re all alive and go from there.” Raph handed back the photo and Leo began carefully repacking the bag, “I’ll ask Donnie when we meet up at the library – I’ll tell Mrs Simms he’s got homework to do.”

“Why not just use the one at home?” Raph asked as he repacked the desk.

“Pretty sure that thing would blow up if we put more than one search in.”

“Ah, yeah… it’s a good blanket warmer though.” Raph closed the draw with a frown, “I can’t relock this, or the door.”

“Don’t have to. Rockwell will just think he forgot to lock it.” Leo said simply, “Everyone forgets.”

Or Rockwell will think the Piper was messing with him. Either way, he wouldn’t know they were there.

---

Donnie had taken to his assignment with enthusiasm. Whilst Leo and Raph broke into Mrs Meredith’s classroom, Donnie had booted up one of the library computers and gleefully typed away. After talking with Nico and Avi in the lunch room, Mikey had met up with Donnie to make sure that he wasn’t alone in the event the library was empty for any reason.

When they met up after school, Leo asked Donnie to look into the other men in the photo, and Donnie had been practically giddy at the idea of more research. He’d returned to the same computer and was already scouring webpages before Leo had the chance to finish talking. At the same time, Donnie worked on an actual homework assignment on the off chance Mrs Simms asked to see what he was doing.

Leo made note to find more things for Donnie to look into. Not just things related to their current case, but anything in general. Maybe it’d be a good idea to get him and Mikey to work together on researching whatever Splinter’s deal was.

Whilst Donnie did his thing, Leo and Raph caught up with Mikey.

“Did you find anything?” Leo asked.

Mikey shrugged, “Nope. Avi said his mom thinks Rockwell used to work for a university.”

“What about the Piper?” Raph said, standing on his tip toes to reach the right shelf.

“Same as normal.” Mikey said, “Some more people have heard him in the science block, but they didn’t really want to talk to me about it.”

“Anything else?” Leo asked hopefully.

Mikey shook his head, then remembered that his brothers couldn’t see him through the shelves and said, “No. Sorry Leo.”

“It’s okay.” Leo said softly, “You gave it your best shot.”

So, that was a bust. But they still had Donnie and (Leo tried not to be relieved at the thought) Splinter’s contribution to go.

If Splinter didn’t chicken out again, Leo thought grimly.

He knew, based upon what they already knew about the Piper taking control of others through his song, that he was being harsh. Their local fire powered rat ghost coming under the Piper’s control would definitely be bad, so Splinter shadow-walking away to avoid that was justified. But Leo had also been really hoping that Splinter would follow through and get rid of the problem.

At the same time though, knowing that he was being harsh preventing him from classing this as Splinter losing his one chance. And outside of Splinter not being under the Piper’s thrall being a good thing, Splinter could still be useful and Leo would hate to lose a valuable resource under these circumstances.

(And Mikey would be upset if Leo cut Splinter out for it.)

After they finished restocking the shelves, they went to the computers and found Donnie vibrating with excitement.

“You found them?”

“I’ve found them!” Donnie said, grin so wide it went ear to ear.

Raph smiled, “So, what you got?”

Donnie moved to the side so that they could all see the computer screen, and he flipped through his notebook to a section dedicated to Rockwell.

“Number one: Dr Rockwell. His staff profile from Hamelin University says that he’s working on medicine designed to help dementia patients. It’s still in the early stages, but initial results are promising.”

Leo titled his head slightly, “What’s he testing it on?”

“Monkey brains for now. Or, well, DNA samples of them at least. Rockwell and his team were trying to figure out a way to trigger the regeneration of healthy brain tissue. The project is on pause for now.”

“What about the others?” Raph asked, peering over his immediate younger brother’s shoulder.

Donnie rolled his shoulders, cleared his throat, and continued “Dr Kirby O’Neil attended the same university as Rockwell during undergrad. He specialises in psychology and most of his research is into animal behaviour – think making rats run through mazes, seeing how their environment affects their mood, that sort of thing. Currently working as an adjunct professor on the other side of the country, but a local university is advertising him as a new member of permanent staff for next year.”

Donnie pause, then asked, “Any questions?”

Leo hummed to himself. The mention of rats perked his interest, but if Dr O’Neil was alive then it didn’t really matter to them right now. Dr O’Neil wasn’t their man.

Mikey asked, a thoughful look in his eyes, “Do you think his stuff would work on Splinter?”

Donnie let out a snort, “You want to put Splinter in a maze?”

Mikey threw his arms up and said, “He might like it! He needs a hobby!”

Raph smirked, “How about next year we take him to Macey’s corn Maze?”

“Oh! That’s a good idea.” Mikey said wide eyed, prompting a laugh from Raph.

“Okay,” Leo said, trying to keep Donnie’s momentum going, “Onto the next guy.”

Donnie smiled, “Jack Kurtzman is a journalist in New York. Started out writing in the science column, but has gradually branched out into investigative journalism. His most recent article was published two days ago.”

Donnie paused again, and tried to keep his face neutral, but a smile kept breaking through.

Leo raised an eyebrow, “I take it you’ve left the best till last?”

“Yes!” Donnie very nearly shouted, then cringed and said in a quieter voice, “Rockwell, Dr O’Neil and Kurtzman were all in the same undergrad science course, so I thought maybe the last man in the picture had been another student from that department. There were a few men who matched the description you gave, so I looked up how they’re all doing.”

He brought up another screen on the computer, “The majority are still alive, but two are dead and one is missing.”

“So he’s one of those two?” Leo asked.

“I don’t think so. One died in a motorbike accident, and I don’t think that’d make sense for someone who controls rats, and the other was in an industrial accident.”

“So it’s another dead end.” Raph groaned.

“Not necessarily.” Donnie said with a grin and flipped to another screen, showing them a photo of a man with dark hair and hard eyes, “The missing man, a doctor Victor Falco, went missing a few weeks ago. Before that, he also worked at Hamelin university, doing his own research into pest control…” Donnie paused and put on a dramatic voice, “guess what he was using as test subjects?”

“Rats?” Mikey asked.

“Yes! He was using rats!” Donnie spun in the chair with his hands in the air.

Leo peered closer at the screen, “Donnie, this just says he’s missing.”

Donnie deflated slightly, “Okay, not officially dead, but he was reported missing a couple of weeks ago after being fired from Hamelin.” Donnie’s eyes brightened again, “Look here! A certain someone reported his disappearance.”

Leo’s eyes scanned the page and he read aloud, “Victim was reported missing by Dr Tyler Rockwell. If anyone has any information that could help the investigation, please contact the NYPD immediately.”

Raph stared at the screen and said, “Splinter said Rockwell knew where the Piper was. If he reported Falco missing, do you think he,” Raph’s eyes flickered from Leo, to Mikey, then back to Leo.

Mikey glared at Raph, “You can say ‘killed’. I’m not a baby.”

“Okay, do you think he killed him?” Raph asked, and gave Mikey an affectionate hair ruffle.

“I think.” Leo said softly and glanced about the room, checking for rats, “That we’ve got a solid lead. Great work Dee!”

Donnie beamed.

Notes:

I want to note here that this chapter is set on a Thursday, and the brothers met Splinter the previous Friday. It has taken *checks notes* 6 days for the DDMG boys to go from meeting Sensei to breaking into places.

Chapter 11

Summary:

Splinter breaks into Mrs Mitchel’s office.

Notes:

This chapter is going to be a bit shorter than the rest. There’s no particular reason, other than the ending just felt right.

Also sorry for any spelling and grammar errors – I am sick and cannot get warm for the life of me, but needed something to do whilst turning into some kind of lizard

Another night. Another search for something he didn’t remember.

This time he came back to himself on an apartment building in Queens. He was on the fire escape, climbing down the stairs to the next level, and as the clock struck half two he swooned, lost his balance and fell back.

Splinter threw an arm out to steady himself and managed to grab onto the railing, but he wasn’t quick enough and his body hit the stairs hard. For a moment he stayed perfectly still. The noise had been cacophonous, loud enough that someone could have easily heard him and known immediately he wasn’t a stray cat or bird.

Beneath him, he heard a lock unlatching and someone climbing onto the fire escape, followed by a woman cursing under her breath. Whoever she was, she was in a hurry, and that made her clumsy, which gave him the time he needed to blend into the shadows and scramble up the building, unseen, until he reached the roof.

His exit from the shadows was less than graceful, he half-fell, half was spat out the shadows onto the concrete roof. His body, still not fully tangible, sank in up to his wrists, but he pulled himself out and once his body was solid again, he pressed his back against a high wall and slid down until he was sat on the floor.

Ghosts cannot vomit like humans – they don’t have gag reflexes or even stomachs to empty. Most of their body was made up of ectoplasm, which their cores created and maintained. Some could eject their ectoplasm, a thick black substance that could easily be mistaken for ink, but Splinter wasn’t that type of ghost. Even so, he could still feel nausea, and that feeling left him queasy and sitting on the roof waiting for it to pass, breathing heavily even though he knew breathing was useless to him.

And as he sat there, eyes closed and clawed hands digging into the floor beneath him, Splinter realised something: there was a lingering sense of dread and devastation, and even though he didn’t understand the feeling, he knew that he had been so close to finding what he was looking for.

If he kept looking, even now when he didn’t know what it was he was searching for , maybe he’d find it. Maybe tonight his search w ould finally be over and he’d feel, if not whole, then a little bit less like a fractured mess. Less like s omething that had once been whole and complete, and was now little more than the shattered splinters of someone else.

Splinter sighed. Michelangelo had chosen his name well.

Splinter had never actually asked Mikey why he decided on that particular name - it had never come up, and Splinter wasn’t usually in the habit of thinking about himself. In fact he preferred to think about literally anything else. As a result, he had assumed for the most part that the name was inspired by the general disrepair of the Old House.

Regardless, the name fit. Not like a glove, at least not at first. The ghost that had become Splinter needed time to grow into the name and get used to needing a name again. Because of Mikey, he wasn’t just a shadow anymore.

Perhaps, if he kept searching for whatever it was that pulled him into the city, he could grow in other ways. Or regrow, depending on what he found.

But, no. That wasn’t important right now. His boy and his brothers were in danger, and that had to take priority. As such, he needed to stop wasting time and get to the school – tonight’s top objective was learning Rockwell’s address.

Getting his legs underneath him and then moving well enough to carry him away from the apartment was difficult. The lingering sickness was strong enough that he didn’t so much walk across the roof, as he did stumble about a strange winding path. Once he was stood at the edge of the roof, and feeling slightly less nauseous, he shadow-walked to the nearest building. From there he shadow walked again, slowly but surely moving away from the apartment.

When he was some distance away from the apartment building, but not so far away that it wasn’t within view, Splinter turned back just once to stare at it. There was nothing special about the building, nothing about it that caught his eye. It was the type of place that was easy to forget was there, not because it was small, it wasn’t, but because it was so normal and unassuming that it looked like every other apartment building. The things that made it unique were the homes and families inside, and as far as Splinter knew, he did not know anyone who lived there.

Such as the woman who still stood on the fire escape, staring out into the night. In one hand, she held a long object of some kind – Splinter was too far away to make it out, it could have been a bat or length of pipe for all he knew- and i n the other hand, she held a torch. Splinter could just about make out her cast ing the torch’s light about the fire escape, scanning every inch for whatever had caused the racket.

Splinter watched her climb up and down the fire escape and cringed out of embarassment.

As he watched her, t hat feeling of loss returned. He shook her head, trying to rid himself of the strange feeling, and turned his back on the apartment building.

He was wasting time.

---

Finding Mrs Mitchel’s office was simple enough. Donatello had marked her office on the map, and written directions on another piece of paper just in case. It was in the main building, on the ground floor.

Nothing happened on the way there, in so far as he did not see or hear the Piper again, though the rats were still present. He could hear them in the walls, breathing as one, and the glow of their eyes leaked through every crack and crevice. That and the rough carpet beneath his bare feet made him feel as if he was walking down the mouth and then throat of a large beast, asleep for now but capable of waking up at any moment.

Splinter glanced out the window. He could not feel the Piper nearby, but he wanted to be sure that it was only the eyes of possessed rats he could feel on his back, and not something much worse watching him from a distance.

He was dead, but he had to wonder what would happen if the Piper gave the order and the whole hoard suddenly sprang upon him. Would their teeth and claws rip him apart? Destroy his core and put an end to his existence. Or would he be left weak and vulnerable, a rat caught in a terrible trap until the Piper returned?

Splinter shook his head. He ought to avoid of thinking of such things and instead focus on what he needed to do. Get in and then straight out.

Such thoughts, thinking of himself as nothing more than a grotesquely large rat, had been cropping up more as of late.

He did not know if it was because of the current situation, a creature that could command rats preying upon his… the young boy in his care, or if it was a result of having come to know Mikey and his brothers and seeing how different he truly was from humans.

Splinter was under no illusions – he was not human and would never be again. Humans had beating hearts and lungs that drew in breath and internal organs and blood and… and he didn’t have any of that.

Didn’t have much really. Not anything he could offer anyone or add to their life. He supposed he had ninjutsu, a skill he could teach to four young boys to help them protect themselves from a world that had already failed them so severely. But after that, what did he have to give them? He was nothing and had nothing. Couldn’t even remember who he used to be.

What reason would the boys have to stay after he had given all that he could?

At least he could still remember them. As dark as things became, he had been able to take at least a small measure of comfort from those memories. They weren’t as clear as he’d like them to be, they were blurred at the edges like an old photograph that had been left out in the sun for too long, but they were clear enough and he held onto them as tight as he could.

Splinter stopped walking and scrubbed his face. He ha d not been thinking about them as much lately as he normally did, and couldn’t help but feel guilty about that. It was natural, he knew, when he had a child, now children, to teach. For the first time in twelve years, he had something else to think about, people to look forward to seeing.

S peaking of which, he needed to stop getting lost in his thoughts and do something more useful, such as paying a ttention to whether or not a hostile ghost had returned to the school, which was itself still filled with a hoard of rats!

(Uncle would not have been impressed. Splinter wasn’t particularly impressed with himself right now either – staying present in the moment had always been difficult for him, but he shouldn’t be so easily distractable.)

Splinter turned a corner and found a corridor lined with doors on either side. The doors had plaques, and as Splinter walked down the corridor he read them, until at last he found Mrs Mitchel’s office at the far side.

Before entering, he sniffed the air. There were rats here also, breathing deep and slow in the walls, almost peacefully. Then he peered through the door’s window and listened, trying to learn if anyone was inside. It was late and there were no lights on in the office , yes, but he wanted to avoid rushing into things a second time and making more trouble.

Once he was satisfied no one was inside, he walked through the shadows. Everything went black for a moment, as if all the light had been snuffed out. Leaving the shadows left him standing in small office room, with a desk and many filing cabinets. Here and there, he could see photographs, and the wall in front of the desk had several framed diplomas.

Splinter glanced about the room as he approached the desk, quickly searching for anything of note. There was nothing.

Kneeling down, he took out Raphael’s tools and got to work on the desk’s lock ed draws . For a minute or so, that mostly meant jiggling the pieces of metal up and down and cursing under his breath whilst he tried to remember what he was supposed to do, until some form of muscle memory kicked in and he felt the first pin move upwards. He allowed himself a moment of satisfaction, then continued lifting the pins until he heard a soft click.

Inside the desk he found nothing of use, only paperwork, which he flipped through to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. Afterwards, he put it back as close to where he had found it as he could, but took no real pains to make it neat.

It was petty, he knew, and should have been beneath him, but if he couldn’t have a word with her about her treatment of the boys, then he could at least mildly inconvenience her. The mature thing to do would be to leave her office as she’d left it, and not make a mess for the sole purpose of being a nuisance. And, as a ninja, he should also make an effort to leave no sign of his presence, so he really should tidy up after himself-

He stole all her pens.

As he shoved pens into his robe, he looked out the windows again and saw no one on the surrounding rooftops, though a few rats stood on the window sill, watching him. However, his core couldn’t detect any nearby ghosts, so he felt safe enough checking the filing cabinets.

Splinter riffled through the cabinets, finding only more tests and paperwork, but not the paperwork that he wanted. Occasionally he would glance up, and see the rats still watching him. If he had any doubt about that, it was dispelled when their heads followed him as he crossed the room to investigate the remaining cabinets.

It was in the second to last cabinet that Splinter found what he was looking for: staff personal details. As fast as he could, he flipped through the folders until he found Rockwell, and pulled out his file.

Scanning through it, Splinter found what he needed and began writing it down on the same piece of paper Donatello had written the directions on. Halfway through, the pen ran out, so he left it on her desk and took out another. Once that was done, he put Rockwell’s address into his robe and looked out the window one final time.

A dark figure stood on one of the roofs across the street.

The Piper was starting right back at him.

He was holding his pipe in both hands, just beneath his lips.

And before Splinter could shadow walk away, the Piper began to play his song.

Splinter had excellent hearing. For much of his life as a ghost, it had proven incredibly useful, making it easy for him to avoid detection by humans. But now he could hear the music, faint though it was, drifting across the road and into the office. If he were still human, he wouldn’t be able to hear it so far away.

Splinter frowned and packed the file away. He could feel the music beginning to wrap around him and encouraging him to go towards the Piper. He wanted to follow it (FOLLOW IT FOLLOW IT FOLLOW IT), but he also knew what a poor idea that would be. He wanted to find the Piper, but not on the Piper’s terms.

Another pipe began to play, and the feeling grew.

Splinter took in a deep breath and, keeping his eyes on the Piper, began to back away.

When he felt the door handle dig into his back, he moved through the shadows and back into the red hallway and then into the office next door. Once there, he stared out the windows, trying to see if the Piper had followed him.

There was no one on the roof outside.

Back in the corridor, Splinter sniffed the air. The smell of rats had increased in number, as those who had left with the Piper had also returned. But they had not climbed into the walls, instead they filled the corridor. And, deep within his torso, his core began to hum.

He needed to get out of here now.

Two more pipes began to play.

That voice from inside said with increasing urgency FOLLOW IT FOLLOW IT FOLLOW IT.

And in time with the melody, the office door handle moved up and down.

Splinter went to for the nearest shadow, intending to shadow-walk to safety, but the rats that had been in the walls were climbing out, joining their brethren in the corridor. And the combined light of all those eyes left him no escape.

More pipes began to play and he could feel the music worming its way beneath his skin, writhing under the surface and squirming deeper and deeper until it reached his core. It felt like fingers pressing into an open wound.

Rapidly he could feel control over his body being lost, and with great difficulty he kicked down the door of the nearest office, leapt across the room and smashed the window. Shards embedded themselves in his hand, but he didn’t care. Outside there was so much darkness, so many shadows, and he could not let himself be lost to the Piper.

Splinter was violently flung back.

No on touched him, and the rats hadn’t swarmed him, he just fell back and landed hard on the office floor.

Leaving so soon?
(Leaving so soon?)
You only just arrived.
(You only just arrived.)

The pipes became quieter as the Piper spoke, but they did not stop.

Splinter hissed, and the fur along his body stood on end. He tried to get up, hoping that the quieter music would have less of a hold upon him, but he couldn’t move. His limps were no longer under his control.

He heard the door open and the sound of naked feet on the carpet. Slowly, casually, the Piper walked around the desk and knelt beside Splinter. A white rat sat on his shoulder and it chittered away as the Piper reached for Splinter’s hood and pulled it off.

Splinter flinched, and his hands twitched as he instinctively tried to pull his hood back on to hide his face.

Tension hung in the air, and the seconds ticked by slowly, ever so slowly, as the Piper examined him closely.

After an age, the Piper, with a horrible smile that revealed all those loose, clacking teeth, placed a hand underneath Splinter’s chin and titled it so that Splinter was forced to look in the Piper’s eyes.

Who put these strings on you?
(Who put these strings on you?)

Splinter’s left arm raised without his consent, moving jerkily as if it was being puppeteered.

… Do you even know?
(… Do you even know?)

And then the music grew louder, swelling into a symphony as the Piper straightened up and began to leave the room. Splinter felt it as possession of his body was completely wrenched out of his hands, and he lost control of his own senses.

The last thing he heard was the Piper, a smile in his voice, whispering,

Come here,
(Come here,)
My puppet.
(My puppet.)

Chapter 12

Summary:

Splinter is missing and Mr Silver has some questions

Notes:

Before we get into the chapter, I’d just like to say that as this March will be DDMG’s 2nd anniversary (how did that happen?) I’ve written a short fic to celebrate! It’s 4 chapters long, so I’m going to try to post a chapter every Saturday in March up to the 23rd. Thank you to everyone who has read this au!

Before school the next morning, Mikey and his brothers returned to the Old House.

They weren’t expecting Splinter to have solved the problem this time, but Leo said they needed to know how last night had gone and if Splinter had found the information they needed. If he had, then they (Leo) could get to work coming up with a plan of action, and if not then they could brainstorm how to find Rockwell’s address. Worst case scenario, Donnie would have a new project to work on.

Mikey knew his older brothers were eager for this situation to be over and done with, and he couldn’t fault them for that. He did too. He didn’t want anyone else to feel like something was clawing deeper and deeper inside of them, whispering to them, making their body move without their input. It had felt like being trapped inside his own body.

But he was also worried about Splinter being on his own in the school with the Piper still at large.

Splinter was a ninja master and an adult, and usually both those things would mean that Mikey didn’t need to worry about him. And, as Splinter himself pointed out, he wasn’t really a rat, only something that looked like one, so hopefully he wasn’t as susceptible to the Piper’s powers as rats were.

And yet that hadn’t stopped the Piper going after Mikey, Avi, Nico or anyone else for that matter. Maybe the Piper just had an easier time controlling rats, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t control other things.

Not to mention Splinter was going alone. There wasn’t going to be the chance that, if the Piper took control, someone would walk round the corner and interrupt the Piper’s song. If the Piper got Splinter, who’d be able to help him? How long would Splinter have to wait for help to arrive? And how long would it take Mikey to find out what had happened to his -

…

to his friend.

But that didn’t mean something bad had happened to Splinter, only that it could . For all Mikey knew, Splinter was already back at the Old House, preparing for bed.

It amused Mikey sometimes, that whilst he was at school doing algebra or learning about the Appalachian mountains, Splinter was curled up in his nest of blankets, fast asleep. And then he’d wonder if Splinter thought the same thing when he was doing his rounds of the city and Mikey was at the Children’s Home, sleeping sound in the room he shared with his brothers.

After all, Mikey realised during one English lit lesson that he wasn’t paying attention to, because he was scrapping by and trying harder never improved his grades, that he was probably as strange to Splinter as Splinter was to him. H e’ d wondered what about him was the strangest to Splinter, what gave the ghost the most pause? Was there anything Mikey did that Splinter found inherently unsettling?

When they first met, Mikey had been perturbed by Splinter’s shadow walking. I t had been disorientating and startled him when Splinter forgot himself and didn’t announce his arrival, but he’d grown used to it over time.

These days he could sort of tell when Splinter was nearby. The room would feel different, the hairs on the back of his neck stand ing on end, then settl ing after a moment. And there’d be a strange feeling inside of him, like a part of him he didn’t know existed was recognising Splinter and knew not to be afraid.

It felt like coming home.

W hen Mikey and his brothers stepped into the Old House, he didn’t get that feeling. Something important was missing.

And Splinter was nowhere to be seen.

Whilst his brothers checked the ground floor, Mikey went up the stairs to the attic, reasoning that Splinter had returned to his nest rather than waiting for them, because he hadn’t been expecting them until the evening . Winter was well and truly here, and that morning the Old House was freezing cold, Mikey’s breath misting in the air. It made sense, Mikey told himself, for Splinter to seek out somewhere warm and bunker down until he and his brothers arrived. And despite its general appearance, the attic was surprisingly warm.

Mikey knew that the cold didn’t bother Splinter. Fire was part of him in the most literal of ways, so Splinter could feel the cold only as much as a campfire did. It was something that he was aware of, yes, and he knew when Mikey’s face turned pale and his lips blue that meant his little boy needed to be warmed up, but it wasn’t something he had any personal experience with.

And even if he could feel the cold, Splinter had the ability to change a room’s temperature as and when he wished. If the Old House was too cold for him , Splinter could just turn the heating up.

W hich, now that he thought about it, made Mikey realise something: the Old House had never felt this cold before.

(What would happen to a building if it’s resident fire ghost was gone)

(Splinter wasn’t gone though. He was fine! He had to be.)

M ikey opened the attic door carefully, just in case Splinter was half-asleep, but then his nerves got the better of him and he half-ran, half- tripped up the stairs.

Months ago, he’d been stuck in this attic whilst three different boys hunted him down. The attic had been so dark, and he could remember how hard he’d sobbed.

Ordinarily, it wouldn’t have been a memorable day. He’d cried like that before, and felt fear leagues worse than that.

And yet , somehow, it had turned out to be one of the best days of his life. B ecause he’d meet Splinter.

Shadows didn’t bother as much as they used to. He could leave his room at night and walk down the long hallway to the bathroom without glancing nervously at the shadows and jumping at every little sound, because darkness was part of Splinter, and if it was part of him then it couldn’t be that bad.

He’d also realised that he’d never really been afraid of the dark itself, but what the darkness hid. T hat particular fear w as flung unceremoniously out the window when he remembered that one of the possible options for what lurked in the shadows was a rat ghost who could be bribed with peanut butter chocolate bars or slices of cheese (any cheese, of even the worst quality).

So when he ran into the attic, it wasn’t the shadows that frightened him.

Splinter was not there.

His nest was arrange suspiciously neatly, the blankets folded and piled on top of each other. M ikey felt like he’d just woken up and found all his brothers’ beds unslept in.

Splinter hadn’t returned last night.

Mikey ran back to the attic door and shouted, “He’s not here!”

“What?” Raph shouted back.

“He’s not here!” Mikey sprinted down the hallway, down the stairs to the ground floor and into the living room, “He’s gone!”

Leo rushed over, “Hey, hey it’s okay. He’s just not home yet.”

Mikey shook his head, “Something’s happened. I know it!”

With a grimace, Leo leaned down and said in that soft voice that used to remind Mikey of someone he couldn’t remember anymore, but these days made him think of Splinter, “Has he ever been late getting home?”

“Yeah,” Mikey said, his voice cracking. Then, more confidently he added, “Sometimes he doesn’t get back until we’re on the bus.”

“Is it possible he’s just taking his time getting home or is running late.” Leo asked, “Maybe he found something and is investigating?”

Mikey nodded slowly. That was possible. If Splinter had found something about the Piper, he might have decided to stay in the city a little longer until he’d followed the lead as far as he could. Or he might not have found anything else and was on his way home, but was taking things slowly to avoid being seen by any humans.

“Or he found another blanket.” Donnie added, “Or some socks.”

Raph wiped his hands on his trousers, “Or some bleach. This place is gross.”

“Not the time Raph.” Donnie shot his immediate older brother a look.

“You were thinking it too.”

Donnie’s look turned into a glare, “No I wasn’t.”

“Anyway,” Leo said, drawing Mikey’s attention back to him and cutting off the budding argument, “Splinter’s properly fine.”

Mikey nodded again, though he wasn’t convinced.

He could feel that something wasn’t right. The house felt wrong, like it hadn’t been lived in for a very long time. As if it had been abandoned.

His fear must have shown on his face, because Leo offered him a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, and said in that same soft voice, “How about we see if Splinter is back after school, and if he’s not, we’ll come up with a plan. How’s that sound?”

Feeling slightly better but still rife with worry, Mikey repsoned, “Good. Sounds good.”

A t least if the worst had happened, they’d know after school. Even if that was an eternity away.

---

There were even more rats at school.

No longer did they hide in the shadows, instead they scurried across the yard in packs and stood outside the windows, scratching at the glass, hissing.

Mikey did his best to avoid looking at them. He knew the rats were watching him, their little heads followed his every move. And at the end of every lesson, he could feel their eyes on his back, could hear them following him in the walls and ceiling.

The Piper wanted to keep an eye on his little puppet.

Mikey wondered if the Piper was keeping tabs on the other kids he had lured away as well. Mikey would need to ask Leo if the rats were following him too. Technically he could have asked Nico and Avi, but he didn’t think that was a good idea.

He’d been surprised when the two boys saw him after second period and shouted him over. Nico was sure that Mikey was in the same class as him next, and Avi needed to go there too, so did Mikey want to go with them?

As they talked on the way to their next lesson, Mikey noticed how Avi glanced nervously at the rats and the way Nico actively avoided looking at them. The rats didn’t have the same issue, and kept their gaze fixed firmly on the three boys, ignoring everyone else in the corridors.

Both boys were already freaked out, and Mikey didn’t want to scare them more by planting the idea that the rats were spying on them. That was, if the rats were watching all three of them, and not just him. Besides, his apparent lack of concern towards the rats seemed to put them more at ease.

It was as they walked to their next class, that Nico said, voice hushed, “Someone tried to break into the staff offices last night.”

“What?” Mikey said, eyes widening.

“Carrie told me,” Nico continued. He and Mikey stood in the hallway, watching Avi walk down the hallway to his class three doors down, “Someone smashed the glass in Mr Johnstone’s office.”

Mikey blinked. That had to be Splinter.

But why would Splinter smash the glass and not just shadow-walk away?

“Do they know who did it?” Mikey asked.

Nico shrugged in the way that meant he didn’t know, “Avi saw some police when his mom dropped him off. I guess they’ll look into it.”

“… Weird.” Mikey said.

A smile, small and nervous, appeared on Nico’s face. It dropped when they made their way towards their desks, which were next to the window. Here, waiting for them, were more rats. And it was both of them, because when Mikey took his seat, half the rats continued following Nico.

Mikey wasn’t really in the mood for joking around, something had definietly happened to Splinter last night, and more than anything he just wanted to find him. But until the school day ended, Mikey couldn’t do anything to help. What he could do though was help Nico feel more at ease. So Mikey made a joke that got Nico laughing, and helped take the other boy’s mind off the rats less than a foot away from them.

Scratching at the glass.

---

After school and their hour in the library, Mikey was so anxious to get back home he was practically shaking. Mrs Simms had asked him if he was okay, and at the end of the hour gave them extra biscuits.

Nothing had actually happened at school, outside of the rats becoming bolder than ever, but that didn’t change the fact he was worried. If anything it just made him panic more. At least if someone happened, it would have given Mikey something else to think about.

He was hoping that they’d return to the Old House and find Splinter in the living room, making a fire to keep them warm, or perhaps eating a bird of some kind. Mikey didn’t really care about the finer details, just so long as Splinter came home and was safe.

When they got off the bus, Tracey was waiting for them.

She smiled at them, and gestured in the direction of the Children’s Home where an old blue car was parked out front, “Mr Silver is in the dinning room.”

Mikey’s stomach dropped.

“Has he been here long?” Leo asked.

“No, just got here. I’m making him some coffee, do you guys want anything? We’ve got some cocoa left.”

“Cocoa would be nice.” Leo said, “The bus was cold.”

She nodded and led the way back to the Children’s Home, her hands shoved under her armpits because Tracey always forgot to wear gloves outside, even when she reminded them to wear theirs.

As they followed her, Mikey whispered to his brothers, “Can’t you guys go and I’ll skip it this time?”

“You know that’s not going to work.” Donnie said.

From up front Leo added, “You were the only one at the fight in the library, so he’ll definitely want to talk to you.”

Mikey groaned, which promoted Raph to say, “Besides, you really think we’re going to let you go to a possibly empty house in the middle of nowhere when it looks like this outside?”

Mikey glanced about. It was already pitch black, and the frost that hung in the air made everything slightly hazy. Above them the moon shone bright, and it might have offered enough light to guide Mikey to the Old House, but he knew that wouldn’t make his brothers feel better. After speaking with Mr Silver, they’d need to grab torches, then visit Splinter.

“I guess not.” Mikey grumbled.

“It won’t take long,” Leo promised, “And then we’ll go straight to the house.”

“Kay Leo.”

They were right, Mikey knew. There wasn’t a way to get out of this meeting.

Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have tried – Mr Silver wasn’t like most adults. He cared about them, and did his best to make sure they were safe. The meetings with him were usually to check how they were doing and make sure the staff were looking after them. For the first few months that had largely entailed asking Leo and Mikey how their recovery was going, checking that Raph hadn’t tried escaping, and asking if Donnie was talking again.

Going to the Old House first wasn’t an option either. Even if Tracey hadn’t been waiting for them, if they kept Mr Silver waiting whilst they checked if Splinter was back home, he’d have questions about where they’d been and why. Questions which they didn’t have answers for that wouldn’t prompt more, and which also ran the risk of him wanting to talk to Splinter, which Mikey knew would be a disaster in and of itself.

No one else had asked where they’d been disappearing off to everyday, but Mr Silver would.

After taking this coats off, Tracey led them into the dinning room.

“They’re here.” She said brightly to Mr Silver, “I’ll just go get your drinks sorted.”

Mr Silver nodded and thanked her graciously.

It had been a few weeks since they’d last seen him, but he hadn’t changed at all in that time. Not that Mikey expected him to. Honestly, Mikey hoped Mr Silver wouldn’t change – it was nice to have someone in their corner who was predictable.

Perhaps predictable wasn’t the right word to describe Mr Silver. The fact that he’d argued the brothers needed to be kept together rather than separate, and then convinced other adults he was right was far from predictable. Mikey had never expected an adult to do that for them, and had been left shocked beyond words when he was told that Leo and himself would be living with Raph and Donnie again.

So, no, predictable wasn’t the right word. Dependable maybe? Yes, that sounded better.

Mikey could depend on Mr Silver to act in their best interest and raise hell when it was necessary.

What changes there were to Mr Silver were surface level. When they first met, he’d been in a white shirt with a blue tie, grey slacks and polished shoes. Today he was wearing something warmer, a pale grey jumper over a blue shirt.

He smiled warmly when he saw them, and Mikey knew Mr Silver had good news because it reached his dark eyes.

“How’ve you guys been?” He asked.

“Bullies have been leaving Mikey alone, ”Leo said, answering for them all, “so things have been good.”

“And how’s the library?”

“Not bad. Mrs Simms is nice and it’s not hard work.”

If Mr Silver were any other social worker, they wouldn’t have told him that. Working in the library was, after all, supposed to be a punishment, and the four of them had met adults who’d have taken issue with the fact they were enjoying it.

Then Donnie said, “That’s what you wanted to talk to us about?”

“Ah, yes. Would you boys like to sit down?”

They did, sitting across from him and waiting for what he had to say.

“I had a word with Mrs Mitchell yesterday. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stop your detention altogether, but considering the circumstances, it’s been shortened to one week instead of two.”

“So today was the last day?” Mikey asked.

“Yes. The other boys involved in the fight will be getting detention next week, though not in library. Mrs Simms was resistant to them being there, so they’re going to be helping out in the art department.” Mr Silver smirked at that, and Mikey wondered what exactly the old woman had said to the suggestion that those three worked in her library. “Anyway, Mikey, how are you holding up?”

Mikey shifted uncomfortably.

He was glad that their punishment was over, even if helping Mrs Simms in the library hadn’t been bad at all. But now that conversation was out of the way, he was eager to get to the Old House and make sure Splinter was okay. And he didn’t want to do or say anything that would make this discussion last any longer than it had to.

But he also knew that making an excuse to leave would give Mr Silver the wrong impression. It would make him think that something was wrong, and whilst there definitely was, it wasn’t something he could help with. After all, what could Mr Silver do if something horrible had indeed happened to Splinter?

And if he suspected that something untoward was going on, Mr Silver could stop Mikey being allowed to visit Splinter, or worse, he’d want to get involved and that would not go down well.

Which meant Mikey had to use the skill he’d learned during those months his brothers didn’t know Splinter: he had to lie by telling the truth.

“I’m good!” He said brightly.

“Settling in okay?”

“Yep.” Mikey said, popping the p.

“Tracey was just telling me that you’d made some new friends.”

Damn it. Of course Tracey would tell Mr Silver that.

“Yeah! I’ve been talking to Nico and Avi at school about Crognard. They seem cool!” Neither of which were lies. He had been talking to them about Crognard, and he did like them, though he wasn’t sure if he could call them friends yet.

“Are Nico and Avi who you’ve been visiting after school?”

“No, that’s, that’s a different person.”

“Could you tell me about this other friend of yours?”

How to describe Splinter to Mr Silver without raising any alarm bells? Mr Silver had a knack for figuring out what people weren’t saying. You could tell him one thing, and Mr Silver would figure out what you were trying to avoid telling him. So if Mikey was too carefully, then Mr Silver would know Mikey was trying to avoid telling something about Splinter.

Leo came to Mikey’s aid, saying, “He’s a man from the village. He’s sick, we don’t really know what with and he doesn’t either. Mikey’s been keeping him company after school for a few hours.”

“Really?” Mr Silver’s eyebrows rose in a way that Mikey knew meant Mr Silver had filed that information away for later, “How long have you been visiting him?”

“A few months,” Mikey admitted.

“Is he where you learned to fight from?” Mr Silver asked, almost too casually, “Mrs Mitchell seemed to think Raph had taught you some moves, but what she described didn’t sound like boxing to me.”

“Yes.” Mikey said, getting even more uncomfortable and trying harder to hide it, “He knew about school and thought teaching me self-defence would be a good idea, cause, like, he can’t, he can’t help so...” Mikey trailed off and gestured with his hands, hoping that’d get what he wanted across.

Internally he kicked himself. Smooth moves Michelangelo, that’ll put Mr Silver at ease, great work!

“That’s very kind of him.” Mr Silver said. Then to the others he asked, “Have the rest of you boys met him?”

Leo nodded, “We visited him last week. He’s offered to teach us too.”

“How’s it going?”

“It’s not baseball, but I like it.” Leo admitted, “If my leg starts acting up, he lets me sit down and take a break, so you don’t need to worry about me pushing myself too hard.”

Donnie shifted awkwardly, “It’s not really clicking for me, but I’ll get there.”

Mr Silver nodded and finally looked at Raph, “What’s it like compared to boxing? I know you’ve not been able to join a club for that here, and was wondering how you were getting on without it.”

“Not that different,” Raph said, “Like it’s still just fighting. We’re mostly just learning how to block right now.”

“Good.” Mr Silver said, “That’s really good.”

Tracey came in and handed them cocoa and Mr Silver a steaming cup of coffee.

After she left, Mr Silver said, “You all seem to have settled in here well.”

“It’s a nice place.” Leo said, “We’re grateful to be here.”

“How’s it in that room?” Mr Silver titled his head slightly, “It’s not too cramped is it?

Donnie shrugged, “We’re used to sharing.”

And it was better than the alternative. Better than waking up and knowing their brothers weren’t there.

“Are you sure? I can keep an eye open for any places with more room.”

Mikey froze.

He didn’t want to move somewhere else. He didn’t want to move to another Children’s home and leave behind his home and Splinter.

“Here’s fine.” Leo said with a shrug, sensing Mikey’s apprehension, “It’s cozy.”

“Besides, Spike likes it here.” Raph added.

Mr Silver smiled, “Ah, then you’ve got to say. Still, thought I’d check in,” he took a sip of coffee, “I didn’t want to make any assumptions.”

“We know.” Leo sipped his cocoa, “It’s appreciated, really.”

Mr Silver relaxed for a fraction of a second, as if he was mentally marking something off an enormous checklist. Then his eyes lit up and he said, “Oh, one more thing. Donnie, how’ve you been finding it? Done any experiments?”

Donnie groaned and rolled his eyes, “Raph won’t let me near the tool shed unsupervised.”

A small laugh escape Mr Silver’s mouth, “Oh?”

Raph glared at Donnie, “He keeps trying to play with the tools when no one’s looking.”

“I’m not ‘playing’!” Donnie said with a frown, “It’s science!”

“It looked like goofing off to me!” Raph growled.

Donnie snapped back, “I was writing it down!”

Mr Silver looked at Leo, “What difference does writing it down make?”

Leo did a world weary sigh, “Apparently writing it down makes it an experiment.”

Mikey giggled as he added, “Donnie writes down all the steps and tools and what he thinks will happen.”

Just then the three’s attention was snapped back to Donnie and Raph as the latter shouted, “And I hypothesise you’ll lose an eye next time!”

---

Mikey’s chest ached as they approached the Old House.

No light drifted from the cracks around the doorway or the windows as they approached. The feeling that he was returning home did not come.

He knew already that Splinter wasn’t there and hadn’t been since last night. Wherever Splinter was, it was far from home.

Despite that, they still checked the house, though in Mikey’s case it was more a mad run through the whole building in search of his missing family member. It ended with him sat on the stairs, curled in one himself, trying his best not to cry.

“Mikey, he’s not here.” Leo said softly as he sat next to him, “It’s okay. We’ll wait for him to get back.”

“We’ve not checked everywhere!” Mikey said, his voice cracking, breaking, “There’s the basement!”

“I don’t think he’s down there.”

“Have you looked!?”

“No, but-”

Mikey didn’t hear the rest of that sentence. Instead he jumped down the steps, flung the basement door open, then practically threw himself down the stairs into a large room, made even larger by its emptiness. There was nowhere down here for anyone to hide, let alone Splinter.

And Mikey knew Splinter that wouldn’t hide from him anymore.

But there was nowhere left to look.

Splinter wasn’t here.

Splinter wasn’t home.

Where was he!?

Behind him, his brothers descended the stairs. As they walked down the steps, they shone their torches across every inch of the room. The second to last step squeaked loudly, then again a moment later. It didn’t squeak a third time, because Raph elected to jump down the last three steps instead, landing heavily on the floor.

Mikey could only just hear them over the blood rushing in his ears. When Raph rested his hand on Mikey’s shoulder, he barely felt it.

“Hey, goofball, look at me.” Raph said, turning Mikey towards him, “He’ll be fine – he can take care of himself.”

Mikey was about to argue. He knew his brothers didn’t like Splinter, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t at least care about him for Mikey’s sake.

But Raph continued, “We’ll wait for him upstairs and try to get the fire going so the house is warm when he gets back. C’mere.” with that, Raph pulled Mikey into a hug, “He’s a ninja master. He’ll be fine.”

Mikey pressed his face into Raph’s shirt and did his best not to cry. He pushed that feeling down and down until his eyes didn’t burn, and his throat didn’t constrict painfully. With his face hidden in Raph’s jumper, he could also pretend that his face was bright red.

When Raph let him go, Mikey’s face was still flushed, but his eyes weren’t red and puffy, and he managed a smiled.

Leo walked over, “Come on, let’s go back upstairs.”

Further away, at the furthest side of the basement, Donnie asked, “How big is this house?”

No one got the change to answer.

Above them the front door was slammed open with such force that Donnie dropped his torch, sending it rolling across the floor. As it rolled and rolled, their shadows grew and shrank with it, distorting into inhuman shapes.

None of them attempted to move. Instead they stood in the dark, trying to breath as quietly as possible, and waited...

… And waited…

… And waited…

The hairs on the back of Mikey’s neck stood on end, then settled.

And slowly, ever so slowly, the Old House changed… Mikey was home.

Mikey was the first to move, gingerly climbing up the stairs with his torch pointed at the basement door. Once Mikey was at the top of the stairs, Leo followed, then Donnie and Raph.

I n the hallway, a few feet away from the basement door, a body was crumpled up on the floor.

They were wrapped up in a dark robe with a hood covering their face, though it wasn’t big enough to hide the long snout. A four fingered hand gripped the hood tightly, holding it over as much of his face as he could. The hand was badly scared, covered in healed burns and lacerations.

He had a tail, which was coiled around his body.

Splinter was back.

Notes:

If this was a telltale game, after the boys finished speaking to Mr Silver, a message would have popped up saying “Mr Silver will remember that”

Chapter 13

Summary:

Splinter updates the boys on last night's mission.

Notes:

Fun fact: this was originally going to be chapter twelve

Someone was touching him. Their hand was on his shoulder, moving in circles that were intended to be soothing.

If he weren’t so distressed, the fact someone was trying to offer comfort to him of all people would have been enough to ground him. Instead, he curled in on himself, trying to make himself as small as possible so maybe whoever was touching him would leave him alone.

But they didn’t leave him, and he heard a voice, no, voices all around him.

One asked, “Splinter – okay – hear me?” That voice was the loudest, so he assumed it belonged to whoever was patting his shoulder.

Another hand, bigger than the first, shook his shoulder and shouted “Splinter get up!”

The noise that left his mouth wasn’t human, a high pitched animal sound of distress that had the hand immediately withdrawing.

“Raph, stop, you’ll freak him out.” Leonardo, that was Leonardo.

The worry was familiar, it… it reminded him of someone. Maybe his older brother? Saki had looked out for him when they were younger, he knew that even if he could not remember any specific examples.

They’d been close once, hadn’t they?

Splinter’s core twisted, in much the same way a human’s heart would suddenly begin to ache.

It had been a long time since they’d seen each other, and even longer since they had gotten along, that much he was certain of, though he couldn’t remember what had happened.

Maybe nothing happened and they’d simply drifted apart as some siblings do. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that whoever Splinter had once been ended up on a different life trajectory than his older brother, and over the years they simply lost contact.

That… that didn’t feel right. Splinter knew there was more to it than that, but he lacked the memories to give the needed context.

What would Saki think if he could see his little brother now, nothing more than a hideous rat creature collapsed in a heap on the floor?

Splinter pushed that thought away and tried to focus on the here and now.

Michelangelo's voice finally cut through the static that filled Splinter’s mind, like a light suddenly being shone across a dark harbour, guiding Splinter away from jagged rocks and monsters that lurked unseen beneath the ocean’s waves.

“Splinter, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

And, oh, his sweet boy’s voice was so worried, so close to tears that Splinter had to do something.

Splinter sat up with a pained groan, and as he did so Mikey withdrew his hand from his shoulder and scooted back a bit to give Splinter enough room to move. Then the ghost, one hand still gripping his hood so they would not see his (VILE) face, he turned to look at his boy.

(He was aware of the fact that they knew what he looked like – Donatello had already asked him why he had the teeth of a rodent – but knowing and seeing were different things and he wasn’t ready for them to see. Not yet.

He could remember his own reaction, how disgusted he had felt at the sight of his own reflection. Once the revulsion ran its course, vented after smashing every mirror in the house, he’d been unable to do anything other than sob and attempt to pull glass out of his hands and feet.

Splinter didn’t want to them to think of him as a Monster.)

Michelangelo’s face was flushed and his eyes puffy. There was a smile on his face, and his eyes were bright, but Splinter was unsure if it were from genuine happiness, or the unshed tears.

Splinter reached out and very gentle cupped Mikey’s cheek.

Michelangelo flinched, “Ow!”

Splinter pulled his hand back as if burned. There was a small cut on Michelangelo’s face, and for a moment Splinter couldn’t understand where it had come from.

Then Michelangelo rubbed his cheek, and looked at Splinter’s hand. His eyes widened, and he said, “Your hand!”

“What’s wrong?” Leonardo asked.

Splinter swallowed thickly and tried to remember how talking was supposed to work. It was not that he had forgotten how to, he was simply having a hard time thinking clearly. So instead he turned his hand over and… well, that explained it.

Embedded in his hand were shards of glass. It was worse around his knuckles, and there was a particularly large shard sticking out the side, partially covered in black ectoplasm that continued to slowly ooze out. His palm hadn’t been spared, and clenching his hand brought only pain.

“Donnie,” Leonadro said urgently, “Do you have the first aid kit.”

The other boy rushed off to grab his bag and came back, “What’s the problem?”

Whilst Leonardo explained, Splinter began picking the glass out of his hand and dropped the shards into a small pile on the floor, hissing in pain as he did so.

When Donatello spoke, his voice started off awkward and unsure but grew in confidence as he continued, “No, don’t, don’t do that. Look I’ve got tweezers, let me do it. Raph point your flash light at his hand – I need to be able to see his hand properly.”

Splinter stared at Donatello for a while.

Thinking was getting easier as time went on, but the clearer his thoughts became, the more aware he became of the hunger. He needed to hunt as soon as possible, but the glass in his hand would slow him down, so it needed to come out now.

It would be possible to pick the glass out himself, though that would not be easy. Glancing at his hand, he could tell that the largest shard would be difficult to get out without help.

Splinter extended his hand to Donatello. The boy gave him a short smile before getting to work.

Whilst Donatello did so, Michelangelo leaned against Splinter’s side, watching. As best he could with Donatello holding his hand, Splinter leaned against Michelangelo. The young boy grinned up at him.

It took several minutes for Donatello to finish carefully extracting the glass, and Splinter couldn’t help but think that he’d done an excellent job slicing his hand open. Luckily, infection was not a concern, but it would take several days for everything to heal up.

“Okay, last one.” Donatello said and gripped the largest shard with the tweezers, “This’ll hurt quite a bit, but I’ve got some painkillers in my bag. I, don’t know if you can take those though.”

I WILL BE FINE. PLEASE, CONTINUE.

“Okay. I’ll start on three – brace yourself.”

When Donatello began to pull on the glass, it resisted, staying firmly embedded in Splinter’s hand, as if it were caught on something. A small trickle of black fluid ran down the tweezers, coating Donatello’s fingers and making keeping his grip more difficult.

Splinter ground his teeth together and let out a low hiss, but kept his hand still.

For a brief moment, Donatello stopped, wiped the tweezers off on his trousers, repositioned them and tried again. This time the glass moved, albiet only a few millimetres. Splinter could feel the glass resisting as slowly, ever so slow, it was pulled out of whatever it was stuck inside.

Thankfully, it did not break, though when it exited his hand there was a shower of ectoplasm, followed by a steady stream that ran down his hand and dripped into a rapidly growing puddle on the floor.

Quickly, Donatello grabbed a bandage and pressed it against the wound, trying his best to applying pressure. Inky blackness seeped through, staining the bandage, and smearing Donatello’s hands.

“Do you have a needle and thread?” he asked, “I want to try stitching this up.”

“There’s a needle somewhere.” Mikey said, “Where did we put it?”

Splinter shook his head, DO NOT TROUBLE YOURSELF FURTHER. I WILL DO IT.

“No you won’t.” Donnie said firmly, in a voice that sounded much more like Leonardo’s than his own. Then he asked, “Does the house have running water? I’ll need boiling water to cauterize the needle and thread.”

I DO NOT, KNOW. Splinter said slowly, I SHOULD THINK IT DOES NOT.

“Leo can you check?” Donnie said as he took out another bandage and put it over the first.

There was a horrible groaning as the kitchen taps were turned for the first time in a very long time, followed by silence, and then more groaning as they were turned the other way.

“No.” Leo shouted from the kitchen, “Cauldn’t hear anything either. Maybe there’s a switch somewhere to turn it back on?”

Splinter frowned to himself. There was… he knew something about this.

THERE MAY BE A STOP TAP BENEATH THE SINK, BUT YOU WILL NEED A TOOL TO OPEN IT. LEAVE THAT, I WILL HAVE A LOOK AT IT LATER.

Having running water to the Old House would be a good idea, come to think of it. For one, it would mean that when the boys needed to use the bathroom or wanted a drink, they wouldn’t have to go all the way back to the Children’s Home. And he could tidy up a bit, which might make the Old House a nicer place to visit.

Splinter looked around the room, and for the first time felt ashamed about the state of his home. All the old and broken boards had been replaced, the roof fixed, but there was still so much dust everywhere and the mold growing up stairs. It had never bothered him before, because he could not get sick from filth and grime, but these were living human children, and living children need a clean environment to thrive.

Perhaps tomorrow he should take everything that was growing a fungal colony outside and burn it. Then he could visit the forest to get some clean water and wipe everything down. There was an old mop bucket in the basement, maybe he could -

Leonardo came back into the hallway and walked over to his own bag. There was the sound of rustling and rubber soles squeaking against hard word floor.

Splinted flinched, the piercing sound feeling like fingers being pushed into his core.

In this body, the world was so loud and filled with constant noise that he couldn’t ignore or shut out. In the early days, it had driven him half mad and been part of the reason he chose this house to haunt: it was far away from anyone else and so gave him a quite place to retreat to. Here, he could sit down and enjoy as much peace and quite as the world would allow him.

Admittedly, the silence wasn’t much better than the noise. It often became too much, because it was a silence born of total isolation, not simply a desire for temporary solitude.

Before Michaelangelo came along, Splinter would often sit in the attic, either sleeping to pass the long hours, or sitting staring into space, trying to remember conversations he’d had whilst alive, because that was the closest he could get to speaking to another person.

The other ghosts of New York were not fond of him, to put it politely. When he first arrived in New York as a young, still very confused, ghost, it had taken him some time to realise that New York wasn’t empty of the dead. Back then, he hadn’t been able to recognise the way his core hummed when another ghost was near - so much had been new and frightening to him, his body included.

He could just about remember the night he first met Garson. The older ghost had wanted to know who he was and what he wanted, and the ghost who had still been… wheover Splinter once was, had been so relieved at the sight of another person, at the chance to talk to someone.

Since then, he saw other ghosts here and there, because with Garson’s word that he wasn’t a threat, the ghostly community stopped actively hiding whenever he was near.

But none of them wished to speak with him, and he was used to seeing other ghosts watching him from a distance before turning and going the other way to avoid running into him. He’d been tempted to ask Garson if he’d done something wrong, but Garson was busy with his own territory and the less powerful ghosts who lived within it, and Splinter didn’t want to impose any more than he felt he already had.

At least at night, the forest behind the Old House came alive as animals went about their nocturnal lives, caring little for the ghost that lived nearby.. He’d come to sincerely appreciated the shrieking of owls, and howling of beasts. It was nice to know that life continued, even if he couldn’t be part of it.

The rustling stopped, and the footsteps came back. Leonardo sat beside him, hissing in pain as he bent his bad knee, and held a half empty water bottle out to his younger brother, “Will this do?”

Donatello adjusted his glasses, “I don’t think so. We need enough to fill a bowl,” he frowned, “We need a bowl as well.”

THERE IS A METAL BUCKET IN THE BASEMENT, Splinter said.

“That could work.” Donatello muttered.

Leonardo looked to Raphael, who’d been hovering behind his immediate younger brother, “Could you go back and refill out water bottles? That should be easier than lugging the bucket there and back.”

“Yeah. Need anything else?” Raphael glanced at Splinter.

Splinter fiddled with the bandages Donatello still held against his hand. Then he felt the boy take hold of his fingers and say, “Don’t touch it. You’ll make it worse.”

Leonardo tilted his head to one side, deep in thought. He looked to Splinter and asked, “You hungry?”

Splinter’s ears twitched, YES.

Leonardo looked back to the half drunk bottle of water in his hand. He unscrewed the cap and held it out to Splinter and said, “Here, drink this.”

Donatello let go of Splinter’s hand, allowing him to carefully take the bottle.

“Does anyone have any food left?” Leonardo asked his brothers.

Michelangelo jumped up and ran to his bag, “I’ve got some cheese puffs!”

Donatello frowned again, “I think I’ve got an oat bar in there.”

“How long has it been there?” Raphael asked, head titled.

Donatello shrugged, “I don’t know. It’s dried anyway, it’ll be fine. Probably.”

I AM FINE WITH A LITTLE MOLD. Splinter said, and at the disgusted looks on their faces felt another wave of embarrassment.

Then Donatello face lit up as he thought of a question, “Would that make up ill? Like, can ghosts can sick?”

EATING QUESTIONABLE FOOD HAS NOT CAUSED ANY ISSUES PREVIOUSLY.

“So your body treats it like anything else?”

MORE OR LESS. THE TASTE LEAVES MUCH TO BE DESIRED, BUT IT IS BETTER THAN THE ALTERNATIVE.

“So,” Leonardo said, “A packet of cheese puffs and Donnie’s questionable oat bar.”

“Why do they keep giving him those? He doesn’t even like them.” Raphael asked. After a moment he added, “I saw some apples in the kitchen this morning. I’ll see if there’s any left.”

“I’ll come with,” Leonardo said and got up, wincing as his knee protested. He hated the cold. “I’ll grab some stuff from the stash.” To his younger brothers, Leonardo said, “Stay with Splinter.”

YOU DO NOT NEED TO CONCERN YOURSELVES WITH ME. Splinter said, confused, I SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND SOMETHING IN THE FIELD.

“I know.” Leonardo responded and looked at Splinter strangely, “But you shouldn’t have to, and we look out for each other.”

Splinter blinked, and his ears twitched. He did not know what to say, so instead simply nodded.

---

After Donatello stitched Splinter’s hand closed and wound bandages around it, they let Splinter eat and drink without interruptions, even when he started chewing on the food packets to get all the crumbs. He was grateful for that.

They wanted to know what had happened, he could tell, and Leonardo was still looking at him oddly. It was not a judgmental look, Splinter just couldn’t figure out the emotions behind it. He was reminded again of Saki and couldn’t help but wonder if it was a feature of all older siblings, or if this was just a coincidence.

Their questions could not be put off forever, however, and Splinter did his best to collect himself whilst he ate.

After he finished chewing on the packets, he handed Leonardo back his water bottle, now stained with a black handprint, and they moved to the living room. His legs shook as he walked, and he leant against the wall for support.

By the time Splinter entered the living room, Raphael was already there, cursing at the fire place.

“How does he make it look so easy?”

“I think it’s got something to do with him being a fire ghost.”

“Shut up Donnie.”

Splinter approached them and knelt in front of the fire. The house was gradually warming, but it wasn’t warm enough for four living children.

He held his hand out and conjured the fire. Sparks danced around his fingers, almost playfully, and he fed those sparks until they were flames. As the flames grew, so too did an orange glow in his scars. With the bandages wrapped around one hand, the light wasn’t as bright as usual, but it still leaked through the bandages, becoming brighter as the flames grew stronger.

Once the logs in the fireplace were lit, he shook his hand, killing the fire that still danced in his palm. The glow died with it.

Michelangelo and Leonardo had followed behind him, and after he sat down Michelangelo sat beside him, whilst Leonardo sat in front of him. Raphael and Donatello took a spot on either side of their oldest brother.

Splinter straightened his back and took in a deep breath. They would need to know how the mission had gone, and his absence would also need explaining.

Perhaps sensing his apprehension, Michelangelo leaned against him and Splinter wrapped an arm around the boy’s shoulders.

Leonardo was the first to speak, “What happened?”

I WENT TO THE SCHOOL AND MADE MY WAY TO THE OFFICE, he began rifling through his robe and pulled out the map of the school, I FOUND WHERE ROCKWELL LIVES AND WROTE IT DOWN.

Leonardo took the map and read the address, “Donnie, do you know where this is?”

Donatello peered at the paper and said, “We can check the city map.” to Splinter he asked, “Do you still have it?”

IT SHOULD BE ON THE SOFA – I HAVE NOT TAKEN IT WITH ME THESE LAST FEW NIGHTS.

Donatello retrieved the map and began pouring over it, a torch in one hand whilst the other skimmed the paper, “Leo can you pass me the paper– thanks.”

“What happened after that?” Leonardo asked.

I MET THE PIPER. It was the simplest and easiest way to explain what had happened.

Leonardo breathed in sharply, “Where did he take you?”

I – I COULD MAKE OUT VERY LITTLE.

---

It felt as if someone had dug their nails into his arms and legs, pressing deep into the flesh until their fingers curled around bone, and then manually moved his limbs.

He could not speak, shout, or scream, and it felt like a hand was pressed against his throat, whilst another grapsed his snout. As such, he could not even beg them to stop.

Splinter tried to stop moving, to dig his claws into the ground beneath him and just stand still. His claws twitched, but nothing happened. His body no longer belonged to him.

As if to drive that point in, his body kept marching along to the Piper’s song.

If he could not ask for help or stop himself following the music, Splinter reasoned, then perhaps he could try to keep track of his surroundings. That way, if the Piper let him go, then Splinter might be able to find his way back to wherever he was being taken.

Where it was, it had to be important to the Piper in some way. Admittedly, it may only be as a place to dispatch victims, but in that case it would be good to know how many victims there were. He already knew of at least fifteen devoured ghosts, but there could be more that Garson didn’t know about, ghost or human.

Doing that was easier said then done. The rest mist that covered his vision made distinguishing objects difficult – colours blended together in a red smear, and all others details were left too blurry and indistinct to be visible.

It did not help that he was unfamiliar with this place, so didn’t really know where he was going anyway. The school map was still in his robe, but he doubted the Piper was going to let him stop to take it out and reorientate himself.

And, as it turned out, that wouldn’t have been helpful for very long as the Piper lead him out of the school and across the courtyard.

“Now, how to get you through the gate?
(Now, how to get you through the gate?)
Any ideas,
(Any ideas)
my puppet?
(my puppet?)”

Splinter tensed his jaw. He did not want to answer and let this particular ghost know anything else about him.

His hood was still down, and he wanted nothing more than to grab it and pull it low so no one could see him. The idea that someone might look towards the school and see him, see what he really was, made him want to burst into flames and burn until all that was left of him were ashes that the wind would sweep away.

“I said: any ideas my puppet?
(I said: any ideas my puppet?)”

The nails that had clawed into his body dug deeper, past bone, and into his core.

It felt like someone was forcing their hand through his skull and into his brain. Then the Piper twisted his hand and pulled.

Everything that made Splinter himself was forced aside in favour of the Piper’s will. It felt disorientating, it felt violating… it felt familiar .

Splinter blinked and stood on the other side of the fence.

He’d shadow walked.

The Piper laughed:

“Well done!
(Well done!)”

Splinter wanted to be sick. Inside his torso, his core began to flare, burning hotter and hotter to rid itself of the thing that had invaded it. For a moment, he felt the Piper’s grip on it loosen and retract, if only slightly.

“Now don’t be like that.
(Now don’t be like that.)”

His core cycled down, unable to fight the Piper for long on its own. The Piper tightened his grip and twisted again, forcing Splinter to his knees. A cry of pain tried to leave him, but it was strangled to death in his throat.

“Is that anyway to treat a friend?
(Is that anyway to treat a friend?)”

There was a long moment of silence, as if the Piper was politely giving Splinter the opportunity to answer. Like they were having a casual chat, like the Piper had let go of Splinter’s throat so that he could answer.

The silence stretched out.

Eventually the Piper spoke, his voice sad, as if Splinter had done something incredibly rude without provocation and greatly wounded his fellow ghost.

“Nothing to say?
(Nothing to say?)”

Splinter’s began climbing to his feet, the movement jerky. It reminded him of a marionette.

“How about you come visit
(How about you come visit,)
and we can talk about it?
(and we can talk about it?)”

The Piper added, his voice chipper,

“Now close your eyes,
(Now close your eyes,)
and go to sleep.
(and go to sleep.)”

---

“Wake up.

(Wake up.)”

As Splinter’s eyes fluttered open, he struggled to remember what was happening.

It was not just that he did not recognise this place, but he was confused about the time. High above him was a window. The rest mist made it difficult to tell, but he thought he could make out weak sunshine on the other side, in which case it had to be early in the day. But he felt nauseous, as if he had just come back to himself, in which case it should have still been dark outside.

Splinter tried to sniff the air to get an idea of where he was, but he could smell nothing except for rats.

That scent brought with it memories. The Piper had him and had taken him somewhere. But where?

His eyes darted around, searching for clues.

One side of the room was lined with tables, on top of which were cages. Some were empty and broken, jagged messes of metal that looked like the bodies of particularly large spiders. Others were in tact, and inside of those he saw small rats.

They watched him with red eyes, and shrunk back when they realised he was looking at them. It was safer, those rats knew, to not be seen, to be below notice, because if attention was being paid to them, then that meant pain was soon to follow.

On the other side, were tables laden with old lab equipment and paper.

Splinter tried to look up without moving his head. There were more windows, all boarded up with wooden planks or iron sheets.

In front of him was an open door. He could not see anything on the other side, and he didn’t know if that was because it was dark there, or if the red mist was preventing him from seeing what was there. As such, it looked like the throat of an immense beast.

The Piper pulled him towards it, leading him through the building, closer and closer towards the creature’s mouth.

From it came a sickly sweet smell, like fruit that had gone rotten. Or meat left to decay.

Around the mouth he could see rats marching in and out.

This was the entrance to the Piper’s Domain.

“Come here.
(Come here.)”

In a deceptively soft voice the Piper asked,

“Don’t you want to come home?
(Don’t you want to come home?)”

The hands withdrew from Splinter’s core, and if not for the fact his body was still not yet under his control, he’d have sunk to the floor again.

“Don’t you want to meet your king?
(Don’t you want to meet your king?)”

Finally and far too slowly, the Piper released him.

Splinter’s legs shook violently, and he just managed to stumble back before his legs collapsed beneath him. Legs kicking wildly, he pushed himself as far from the mouth as he could, until his back hit a table filled with cages. Then he pulled his hood low and hid his face from the world.

The rats in the cages squealed.

Then stopped.

“Do you need a hand
(Do you need a hand?)”

The piper asked sweetly.

“Here,
(Here,)
Allow me.
(Allow me.)”

The Piper walked forward, and stood casually in the mouth. Behind him was a corridor that did not make sense, made of high wooden walls and a dirt floor. From here, Splinter could see many branching paths, and knew that maze of corridors would be impossible to navigate on his own without becoming irreversibly lost.

With the red mist that covered his vision gone, it may not have looked like a throat, but it still felt like one, and Splinter could not escape the feeling that if he walked through it, he would be devoured whole.

The Piper took a step forward and held out a hand.

There was a moment where the room became bathed in red, the lights that shone in the eyes of the rats chasing the shadows away, though Splinter could not hear the Piper’s song.

And he did not wait to. Instead he slipped into the shadows. He did not know where this place was and did not care where he ended up, as long as it was far away and safe.

---

The shadows spat him out on a roof several blocks away from the Piper’s Domain.

Once his feet hit solid ground, Splinter did not stop running. He’d mistakenly thought that once he was somewhere else he’d feel safe and could collect himself well enough to take stock of his surroundings. Instead the panic continued to build, growing stronger and stronger until the parts of him that were more than base instincts dissolved. Splinter dropped to all fours and galloped across rooftops, leaping between buildings and shadow walking where the gaps were too large for even him to make it across.

For once, he did not care if anyone saw him. It did not matter if New York knew he existed, if anyone saw a monstrous rat running through the city.

All that mattered was getting home getting home getting home.

He left the city behind, ran deep into the countryside, and did not stop until he found a scent that smelt familiar and followed it followed it followed it back to the Old House.

---

Raphael dropped another log onto the fire. Sparks flew, curling around the log and bursting out of the fireplace.

Splinter resisted the urge to move away from it, though he didn’t manage to hide how he flinched.

The boys noticed, because how could they not when he practically jumped to his feet? As Splinter lowered himself back to the floor, Leonardo’s eyes softened and Michelangelo pushed against his side, as if to remind Splinter that he was still there, still beside him.

A quite few minutes past as the brothers processed what Splinter had told them.

Whilst they thought, Splinter watched each of them. Leonardo’s face slowly turned into a frown as he turned the new information over in his mind. Beside him, Donatello fiddled with his fingers, whilst Rachael paced up and down.

After putting the last log on the fire, Raphael had been too wound up to sit down. For all the world, the boy looked like he very badly wanted to punch something. Splinter could relate to that, and for a moment considered suggesting training. It wasn’t really the time – there were more pressing matters than their ninjutsu training – but he reasoned that doing something physical might help keep their minds off the present situation.

Or, perhaps, he wanted something to take his mind off the days events, and was grasping at whatever straws were available to him.

Before Splinter had the chance to speak, Leonardo looked up, and his young face seemed so much older than it actually was. His eyes, a much darker blue than Michelangelo’s, had hardened into a stone.

“Could you find your way back?” Leonardo asked.

Splinter’s ears twitched and he reluctantly admitted, NO. I DID NOT PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO MY SURROUNDINGS ON THE RETURN TRIP.

Which was, frankly, ridiculous for a ninja master and Splinter couldn’t help but be ashamed at his own incompetence. Knowing where the Piper’s Domain was located was vital information, and in his panic he had thrown away the opportunity.

MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES. I SHOULD NOT HAVE RUN.

Leonardo’s frown temporarily left his face, “No, it’s okay. It’s more important that you got back safe,” he shrugged, “I was just wondering if you saw anything that could narrow it down.”

Splinter closed his eyes and tried to think, IT WAS A WAREHOUSE OF SOME KIND, AT LEAST I THINK THAT WAS WHAT THE BUILDING USED TO BE. IT DID NOT SEEM LIKE THE TYPE OF PLACE THAT WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED TO BE A LABORATORY.

“That’s good,” Leonardo said, “Means we’ve got an idea of what to look for.”

“An abandoned warehouse ain’t that unique.” Raphael said, “Barely narrows it down.”

“We can at least use it to discount places though.” Leonardo replied.

Donatello added, “If we know how big the Piper’s territory is, we can narrow it down to warehouses within that area.” he took out the city map and asked, “Is this…?”

THAT AREA IS THE PIPER’S TERRITORY, YES.

“It’s bigger than I was hoping.” Donnie said, voice disappointed.

Michelangelo scooched over and pointed to a little cross within the area, “And that’s Rockwell’s house? Could we look at places near there?”

Leonardo titled his head, “That’s far from our school,” to Splinter he asked, “If he’s haunting Rockwell, would his Domain have to be close to him?”

NOT NECESSARILY. IT COULD BE, I WOULD NOT DISCOUNT THAT POSSIBILITY OUTRIGHT, BUT HIS DOMAIN MIGHT ALSO BE LOCATED SOMEWHERE ELSE. FOR INSTANCE, Splinter gestured around him, I DID NOT FIND THIS HOUSE UNTIL AFTER I DIED. WHOEVER I ONCE WAS, IT HELD NO SIGNIFICANCE TO HIM. THE SAME COULD BE APPLIED TO THE PIPER – HIS CURRENT DOMAIN MAY SIMPLY BE A PLACE THAT HE FOUND AFTER DEATH AND DECIDED TO SET DOWN ROOTS AT. OR, Splinter’s tail swished from side to side, IT COULD HOLD SOME SIGNIFICANCE TO HIM. WE WOULD NEED TO KNOW MORE TO BE CERTAIN.

“So, ghosts don’t always haunt where they died?” Donatello asked.

SOME DO, OR THEY HAUNT SOMEWHERE THAT WAS IMPORTANT TO THEM FOR OTHER REASONS – FAMILY HOMES FOR INSTANCE. HE COULD HAVE ALSO BEEN BURIED THERE.

“If his body is there, could it be an anchor?” Michaelangelo asked, “Like, like it’s keeping him there because he wasn’t buried properly.”

THAT IS PLAUSIBLE… IT WOULD ALSO EXPLAIN THE SMELL.

“But then why attack the school? Why possess kids?” Raph hissed, “We’ve done nothing to him!”

Leo hummed and stretched out his leg, “He kept trying to lead people away, yeah? He tried it with me. It wasn’t as bad as Mikey or Splinter, but I wanted to follow him.”

Mikey said, “I think he wanted someone to notice us… and then Rockwell turned up!”

“So he’s led people away, and wants Rockwell to notice him. We already knew there was something going on between those two.” Leo paused, “I don’t want to make an assumption, and I don’t have evidence for this outside of Falco being dead and the Piper having a thing for Rockwell. But what are the chances that Rockwell killed him, and now Falco is trying to get back at him?”

“Why would he kill Falco?” Donnie asked.

“Maybe Falco was a creep before he died.” Raph said.

PERHAPS A DISAGREEMENT OVER WORK? DONATELLO, YOU SAID THAT FALCO WAS FIRED BEFORE HE DIED AND ROCKWELL’S CURRENT PROJECT HAS BEEN PUT ON PAUSE.

“Yeah?”

WERE YOU ABLE TO FIND OUT WHY FALCO WAS FIRED?

“No…” Donatello frowned, “I could use the computer back at the home? No on uses it, so it might be free.”

“One of us will sit with you.” Leo said, “I don’t want anyone looking over your shoulder and asking questions.”

“Why does it matter why Falco died?” Raph ground out, “Why should we even care about that? Let’s just find him and burn it.”

Splinter’s eyes flared with alarm, WHAT!?

“Burning people’s bodies is supposed to get rid of ghosts.” Mikey said, “It came up in some of the movies we watched.”

Splinter’s eyebrows rose, THEY LET YOU WATCH THOSE TYPES OF MOVIES IN THE CARE HOME?

“Er…” Michelangelo looked away, “Not. Exactly.”

… WHEN WERE YOU WATCHING THEM?

“Late.” was the response, made without looking in Splinter’s direction.

HOW LATE?

“…”

MICHELANGELO…

Instead of answering, Michelangelo said “So about burning Falco’s body.”

Splinter squinted, I TAKE IT YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN BED.

“We can talk about Mikey and Raph’s bed time later,” Leonardo said, drawing their attention back to him, “Would burning Falco’s body get rid of the Piper. If they’re the same person.”

Splinter’s ears twitched, HMM, PERHAPS? I AM NOT ACTUALLY SURE. I WOULD NEED TO ASK GARSON. I DO KNOW THAT TO TRULY BE RID OF THE PIPER, WE WOULD NEED TO DESTROY HIS CORE.

“What’s that and how do we break it?” Raphael half asked, half demanded.

IT IS… Splinter hummed and his ears twitched again. He had never needed to explain this before, and tried to remember how it had been explained to him, HOW DO HUMANS THINK AND EAT?

“We put food in our mouths, and our brain does stuff.” Raphael said.

Donnie added, “We have a digestive system that breaks down and processes food, and our brains put together information that they get from the rest of our body and sends out orders.”

AND HEARTS? THEY PUMP BLOOD YES? I AM REMEMBERING THAT CORRECTLY?

“Yes.” Donatello said.

CORES ARE THE HEART, BRAIN AND STOMACH OF A GHOST. THEY CREATE OUR BODIES, AND IF THEY ARE DESTROYED, SO ARE WE.

“So it’s your internal organs?” Leonardo asked.

PRETTY MUCH, YES. WE HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF THEM, AS I ASSUME THE LIVING MUST TAKE CARE OF THEIR ORGANS TO FUNCTION.

“Is it squishy?” Mikey asked, genuinely curious in a way that reminded Splinter of just how young his boy was, how young all these boys were.

I AM NOT SURE. Splinter replied with a small smile, I’VE NEVER HELD ONE BEFORE.

“But you’ve got one.” Mikey said, sounding confused.

Splinter titled his head to one side and asked, HAVE YOU EVER HELD A HUMAN HEART?

“No.”

BUT YOU HAVE ONE.

“… Oh, I get it.”

“How do you do that?” Leonardo asked, “Looking after a core, I mean, not the squish thing.”

DO NOT OVER-EXERT OURSELF, TEND TO OUR OBSESSIONS. Splinter glanced at Donatello, I CANNOT GIVE YOU MUCH INFORMATION ON OBSESSIONS – I DID NOT THINK TO ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT IT WHEN IT WAS FIRST EXPLAINED TO ME. AFTER THIS SITUATION IS OVER, I WILL ASK GARSON FOR MORE DETAILS AND REPORT BACK, IS THAT IS OKAY WITH YOU?

Donatello nodded enthusiastically, “Could you ask him if there’s any books he’d recommend on it?”

Micheleangleo’s eyes brightened, “We could ask Mrs Simms if she can borrow them for us!”

Splinter’s smile grew. It warmed his core both to see these children so excited about something, just as much as the idea of them asking their school librarian for niche esoteric tombs amused him.

I WILL DO MY BEST TO REMEMBER.

“Will he want anything in exchange?” Leo asked.

I DO NOT KNOW, Splinter said honestly, IF HE DOES, IT WILL MORE LIKELY THAN NOT BE A FAVOUR OR AN OFFERING OF SOME KIND.

“Okay, so,” Raph said, “We know what a core is, and how to look after one, but how do we get rid of it.”

Splinter raised a hand and stroked his chin, IF ENOUGH DAMAGE IS DONE, HIS CORE WILL DESTABILISE AND IT CAN BE SHATTERED. AFTER THAT POINT HE WILL, he scowled as he tried to remember the term Garson had used. Ah, yes, UNDERGO A SECOND DEATH. THERE IS NO WAY OF COMING BACK FROM THAT.

“And being consumed?” Leo asked, “is that the same thing? Or would you need to eat him?”

Splinter blinked and bit down to stop himself saying his immediate thoughts.

FUNCTIONALLY THEY ARE THE SAME THING – THE MAIN DIFFERENCE IS WHO DOES IT. IF, FOR INSTANCE, RAPHAEL SHATTERED THE PIPER’S CORE, IT WOULD BE DESTROYED. IF ANOTHER GHOST LIKE MYSELF DID IT, OUR CORE WOULD ABSORB HIS – WE CALL THIS BEING CONSUMED. ACTUALLY… EATING THE OTHER GHOST IS NOT NECESSARY, UNLESS I SUPPOSE THE AIM IS TO BE VINDICTIVE. REGARDLESS OF WHICH IS DONE, THE PIPER WOULD BE DEAD AND GONE.

“And it’ll be permanent?” Leonardo asked seriously.

Splinter nodded, YES.

“So why are we waiting around?” Raphael demanded.

“We still don’t know where the Domain is.” Leonardo pointed out.

Michaelangelo frowned and said, “But if he’s upset cause Rockwell killed him, maybe we can help him and he’ll calm down. Like what if we find proof and then Falco goes on his own?”

“Mikey,” Raphael said, voice suddenly soft, though not without irritation, “I don’t care why he’s doing this.”

“But we could help him!” Michelangelo argued back.

“I agree with Mikey.” Donatello said, “It sounds like destroying the core, that, that’ll be permanent. He’ll be gone and there’ll be no coming back from that. I don’t think we should jump to that without at least thinking about alternatives.”

Leonardo nodded to himself, “In that case I think we need more information on what happened between Rockwell and Falco, and where the Domain is.”

Raphael turned to his twin, “You gotta plan?”

“I think we should visit Rockwell’s house.”

“When? Tonight?”

“No,” Leo hummed to himself and thought it over quickly, “Tomorrow evening. We’ll get everything prepared tonight and tomorrow morning, then go once we’re ready,” to Splinter he said, “Do you think you’ll be up for that?”

Splinter frowned and said, YOU FOUR WILL NOT BE GOING

Their heads snapped to him.

In a low voice Leonardo said, “Why?”

YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT BREAKING INTO A POTENTIAL MURDERER’S HOUSE – THAT IS TOO DANGEROUS. I WILL GO, YOU WILL STAY HERE, WHERE IT IS SAFE.

“No. We’re going.” Leonardo argued, voice filled with steel. He sounded like he was a general leading his men off to war, and not an eleven year old child with three younger brothers who looked to him for guidance.

LEONARDO, THIS IS NOT A GAME. YOU COULD BE SERIOUSLY HURT. Splinter tried.

“I know.” Leonardo said, “But it’s worth the risk.”

THE RISK HERE IS NOT SIMPLY BEING CAUGHT – IF THIS GOES WRONG, YOU COULD DIE.

Leonardo asked. What the boy said next sent ice through Splinter’s core, “So what? I’ll just come back.”

Splinter’s fur ruffled, YOU SHOULD NOT BE SO QUICK TO THROW AWAY YOUR LIFE, OR THAT OF YOUR BROTHERS’.

Leonardo blinked, and Splinter could tell that whilst the boy was willing to sacrifice his own life, it had not fully occurred to him that his brothers might do the same, “I - I’m not.”

THEN STAY HOME AND LET THE DEAD MAN DO THIS FOR YOU.

Splinter felt a hand tugging on his robe. Looking down he found Michelangelo staring up at him with worry written across his young face.

“We should all go.” Michelangelo stated

MIKEY -

“He only goes after people when they’re alone.” Michaelangelo pointed out, “If we’re with you, he won’t take you again.”

Leonardo’s eyes sparked, “And if you’re with us, then we’ll be safer.”

NO. NO, Splinter said firmly, I AM NOT TAKING YOU FOUR.

Michelangelo wrapped his arms around Splinter, and then presssed his face into Splinter’s side.

“Please.” The little boy, his little boy, said softly, “I don’t want to lose you.”

YOU… YOU WOULD NOT. Splinter said and wrapped his arms around Michelangelo, I WOULD DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO RETURN.

“But what if the Piper finds you again and doesn’t let you go?”

I – Splinter sighed and cursed himself. IF I GO IN, YOU FOUR WILL WAIT OUTSIDE. IF WE HEAR THE PIPER, I WILL SHADOW WALK TO SAFETY, AND WE WILL COME STRAIGHT HOME, NO DETOURS. IS THAT AGREEABLE?

“Yeah, that’ll work.” Leonadro said, “That’ll work.” then he stood up and stretched, “I Think that’s everything. Anyone else have something they want to talk about.”

Raphael shook his head.

“I’m good.” Michelangelo replied, still curled up in Splinter’s arms.

“Not at the moment, but I’ll make a list if I think of anything.” Donatello said.

Suddenly Splinter remembered something, OH! ONE MOMENT. I ‘BORROWED’ THESE FROM YOUR HEADMISTRESS.

With that he reached into his robe with one hand, the other still gently cradling Michelangelo, and began dropping pens onto the floor.

Leonardo stared at the hoard that grew on the floor, his expression unreadable.

After Splinter finished taking a truly ludicrous amount of pens out of his robe, a moment past.

...

Then Leonardo burst out laughing.

Notes:

What Leo thought would happen when he met Splinter: We are going to get kidnapped and/or killed by a rat yokai

What’s ended up happening: The start of an emotional adoption, and Leo and his brothers immediately committing crimes. Like if you listen carefully this chapter, you can hear Leo taking out the adoption paperwork. Though tbh, it’s debatable who he sees as being the parent.

Chapter 14

Summary:

The boys and Splinter have a lovely night out breaking into a man’s apartment

Notes:

Gonna be honest, this fic has a lot more breaking and entering than I thought it would. Splinter in this universe is apparently a terrible influence

Also heads up for references to animal testing and animal death

Friday night came and went, bringing with it a new day and a cold air that bit straight through their thin coats.

Seeing Splinter at the Old House, and knowing that the Piper had not taken him again, reminded Mikey that he hadn’t asked his brothers how the previous day had been for them and if they had anything new to report. Apparently, if you discounted the hoard of possessed rats, school had been mostly uneventful for them.

None of them had encountered Falco, which was a relief to hear, though Mikey couldn’t help but worry. As it turned out, not knowing what the Piper had been up to the rest of Friday was somehow worse than knowing. The best way Mikey could think to describe the situation was that it was kinda like having a family of racoons living in your attic – it’s not very nice knowing they’re scurrying about up there, but it’s even worse when they suddenly go completely silent.

Actually, Mikey would prefer it if a family of racoons were living in the school’s ceiling. That’d be fun. Not to mention they probably wouldn’t have an army of rats at their beck and call, and wouldn’t try to turn Splinter into their own personal play thing.

Also, racoons were kinda like cats with opposable thumbs, and Mikey really liked cats. He’d never had one, and it had been a miracle that Raph was allowed to keep Spike, so Mikey knew the chances of him being allowed to get one were basically zero, but still.

… Would Splinter let him get a cat?

(No. The answer would be a very quick no, because rat demons as a general rule are not the biggest fans of anything even vaguely cat like, let alone the real deal.)

During lunch time, Raph met up with the rest of the hockey team and got caught up on everything he’d missed Thursday. Luckily there wasn’t much, they’d just played a few practice matches, but Raph still enjoyed catching up with others.

The team were in turn happy to see him, though their joy was somewhat dampened by his punishment. After all, they knew Raph had nothing to do with the fight in the library, and the knowledge that one of their friends and best players was being given detention for something he had no part in left a bitter taste in their mouths. Especially as the end of season match was next week, meaning that as far as they knew, Raph would be unable to join them.

Of course, that was no longer true thanks to Mr Silver, and coach was sure to have been informed by now. That fact made the cold stab of guilt in Mikey’s gut a little more bearable.

The match was against a school in Brooklyn, Mikey couldn’t remember the name, but he knew it was the one Raph’s favourite rival attended. It would be inaccurate to say that Raph disliked Casey Jones. Far from it, the two got on like a house on fire, even if they played for separate schools.

Admittedly, they didn’t get off to the best start, and within five minutes of being introduced got into a fist fight. According to Raph, he’d thought Casey was being too aggressive… so wracked the back of Casey’s leg with a hockey stick, and Casey responded by slugging him.

Mikey found tha t story funny. Leo didn’t, but Leo generally didn’t like it when they misbehaved.

These days, Raph and Casey got a lot better and would mostly goof off when they weren’t in a match. Which, coincidently, also involved hitting each other with hockey sticks and wrestling whilst shouting affectionate insults at each other.

...

Their teammates had been completely and utterly horrified by the realisation that there was two of them.

Donnie’s day didn’t feature any excitement, although he’d had science that day, so kept a careful eye on Rockwell. As usual, the man didn’t let anyone make a sound and seemed to be listening for something.

“He kept looking out the window.” Donnie explained, “Got really jumpy when he saw the rats.”

DID THE MUSIC PLAY AT ANY POINT? Splinter asked, as he carefully packed the biggest bag they could get their hands on in such short notice.

It was Raph’s sports bag, and wasn’t actually that big, but Splinter seemed to be getting a ludicrous amount of stuff in.

“No,” Donnie narrowed his eyes in thought, “He did shout at one point though. I didn’t see what startled him, but I’m assuming one of the rats did something. They were acting even stranger than usual yesterday.”

GOOD. WELL DONE, DONATELLO, Splinter looked at the rest of them, DID ANY OF YOU HEAR IT?

Leo shook his head. He’d kept an ear out and asked others if they’d noticed anything strange, but nothing had come up.

“Nope.” Mikey said, “Nico and Avi were pretty freaked out, so I didn’t ask them a lot of questions. People were talking about the break in at the offices though.”

WHAT DO THEY THINK HAPPENED? Splinter asked.

Mikey shrugged, “Nico doesn’t know, just that Avi’s mom saw the police outside school.”

Raph rolled his shoulders and scowled, “I heard something. It was after the bell for fourth period went off,” at the sight of their worried faces he spoke faster, “It wasn’t aimed at me! This other kid – what’s her name? Donnie, you know her. Purple hair, short, spiky bracelet? … hates everyone?”

“Irma?” Donnie suggested.

Raph snapped his fingers, “That’s it! Irma was just outside the sports hall. Think it was aimed at her. She seemed pretty freaked out.”

“The sport’s hall is nowhere near the science block.” Leo said and raised a hand to his chin.

“Maybe the Piper got bored.” Raph said.

“Was she okay?” Mikey asked.

“Yeah,” Raph shrugged, “Mouthed off at us, but Sasha walked her outside, so I’m assuming the Piper left her alone after that.”

Leo had been sat on the torn up sofa, but now he stood up and started walking around, deep in thought.

It was a lot warmer in the Old House compared to the previous day, so they’d taken their coats and scarves off and left them folded up on the back of the sofa. Even so, the cold weather outside didn’t agree with Leo’s bad leg, and the damaged joint had decided to lodge a strongly worded complaint. Walking in short bursts sometimes helped, and Mikey had noticed Leo doing it a lot.

Tonight they were going to visit Dr Rockwell’s apartment, and Leo didn’t want to be out of commission tonight. They needed to be ready for anything, including running if things went south quickly.

“If the Piper’s been attacking other ghosts, maybe he’s testing how strong he is,” Leo said, thinking aloud, “He doesn’t have to cart people in front of Rockwell to do that. And… maybe he doesn’t want Rockwell to know how strong he actually is?”

Donnie got a funny look on his face as he said, “So he tests out his powers on students, to figure out his limits... he’s treating us like we’re lab rats.”

Mikey watched as Donnie’s face dropped, and he glanced at Splinter.

“No offence.”

NONE TAKEN, Splinter said and then continued, THAT COULD BE THE CASE. HE MAY ALSO SIMPLY ENJOY WATCHING PEOPLE SQUIRM.

“Also an option.” Leo said, “We got everything?”

LOCK PICKS CURTSEY OF RAPHAEL, THE CITY MAP, FOUR FLASH LIGHTS, A PACKET OF FRESH BATTERIES, PAINKILLERS FOR LEONARDO, TWO BLANKETS, Splinter paused and added something else to the bag, AND SNACKS IN CASE YOU BOYS GET HUNGRY.

“It’s not a day at the zoo.” Raph said, but his scowl seemed more amused than anything else.

THEN YOU DO NOT WANT THE SNACKS?

“I never said that,” Raph said quickly, and then added, “Can we take a knife?”

NO.

“But a knife could come in handy.”

AT THIS POINT IN YOUR TRAINING, IT IS JUST AS LIKELY, IF NOT MORE SO, THAT THE PIPER WOULD USE ONE AGAINST YOU. ALSO, SHOULD I BE CONTROLLED AGAIN, I WOULD LIKE TO MINIMISE THE CHANCES OF SOMEONE BEING GRIEVOUSLY HARMED.

Raph grumbled beneath his breath, “Fine.”

---

A few hours later, the brothers were sat on a roof across the road from Rockwell’s apartment, watching it carefully. It was a fairly looking normal apartment from the outside, though it was more run down than Leo had been expecting from Rockwell. Based on how the man acted, the way he dressed, Leo had been expecting a brownstone or something similar – a nice apartment for a fussy man.

Leo tapped the wall with his fingers, and wondered how long Rockwell had lived here. Maybe the man had moved here after the Piper died in an attempt to avoid the malevolent ghost. Or, just as likely, Leo had severely overestimated how much a university professor made, and this was normal. Perhaps this was something to ask Donnie to look into?

Beside Leo, Splinter was crouched, eyeing the building up, his tail swishing from side to side. This close, he could see Splinter’s whiskers twitching as he examined entry and exit points.

He wondered why Splinter bothered, considering the ghost could just step into a shadow and then step out into the apartment. Maybe it was force of habit? Something Splinter had done whilst he was alive?

Leo shrugged to himself, and looked back at the building, “There’s the front door, a fire escape, and a back door to the car park. Don’t think you’ll need to use them though. If he comes back, what’re you going to do?”

I WILL HIDE IN THE SHADOWS. Splinter glanced at Leo, IT WILL BE EASY ENOUGH TO AVOID HIM IF I DO NOT HAVE WHAT WE CAME FOR.

Leo nodded, “We’ll stay here and keep an eye out for Rockwell. If he comes back, we’ll signal with the flash lights.”

Initially, Leo had been tempted to split them up into teams: him and Donnie on the roof, Raph and Mikey at the payphone. The plan, which Leo had thought of whilst they walked around the building, making notes of entrances and exits, or any places the someone could hide, was that if they saw Rockwell come back Mikey and Raph could call Rockwell’s apartment to let Splinter know he needed to hide. They knew his phone number, Leo reasoned, as Donnie had found it whilst working in the library the previous day.

Whilst climbing the fire escape to the roof they were now crouched on, Leo dismissed that plan as being overly complicated.

Besides, if Rockwell got back and found he’d had a missed call from the payphone right outside his apartment, he might assume the Piper was messing with him, which could put him on high alert and make Splinter’s job harder. Leo didn’t doubt Splinter would still be able to do his job – the man had, apparently, been a ninjutsu master in life – but Leo preferred to not make things unnecessarily difficult. The easier they could make this, the higher their chances of success were.

VERY GOOD. AND WILL THE FOUR OF YOU BE ALRIGHT OVER HERE?

“Don’t see why not,” Donnie said, “We’re not going to be alone up here.”

The new plan, the one they were going with, was that all four of them would wait on the roof. Together, the four would look out for Rockwell and the Piper. They’d listen for music, and if they heard anything would signal Splinter. If they did, they’d signal to Splinter with their torches. Two would mean Rockwell, all four the Piper.

If one of them flashed, that meant they’d had an idea and wanted to talk. That was Donnie’s idea, in case they thought of something Splinter could look for.

In the event that something went wrong, they’d picked a nearby park to meet at. It was a wide open space, with plenty of places they could hide should the Piper pursue them.

Leo wished they had walkie-talkies. An old phone would also have been nice to have. He didn’t like relying on ghost powers to communicate with Splinter, for the most part as he didn’t know how reliable they were when Splinter was under stress.

But, they didn’t have any other options. This would have to do. They’d make it do.

Perhaps he should ask for a walkie-talkie for Christmas. Cheap ones probably wouldn’t have much range, and may not be the most reliable, but he could always give them to Donnie as a project. He probably shouldn’t let Donnie mess around with electronics, but it was Donnie and he’d always been happiest when he had a project. Not to mention Donnie would want to test them afterwards, which meant it was potentially weeks of fun whilst Donnie did improvements, tested them, and made more improvements.

Mikey had suggested they use bird calls to communicate, and workshopped some during the journey to the apartment. Leo had smiled, and said he’d think about it, whilst Raph told him not to encourage Mikey.

“We’ll be fine,” Leo said.

Splinter nodded in acknowledgement and disappeared, swallowed by the shadows in an instant. It was less weird, Leo decided, to just blink and Splinter be gone, rather than watching the process of Splinter becoming a pitch black mass that sunk into the shadows around him. It made Leo’s head hurt, a slight pressure blooming behind his temple.

Leo took in a deep breath and got settled in. They were going to be here for a while.

---

Stakeouts, Mikey decided, were very, very, very, very boring. If they had to wait any longer, he was going to die.

He’d watched a few detective shows here and there. They weren’t really his things, and the staff at some of the care homes he’d been in were a bit reluctant to let a small child watch murder mysteries, ev en the really tame ones about little old ladies in seaside towns asking their neighbours fifty questions.

There’d only really been one time where Mikey had watched a lot of mysteries: when he and Leo had been in hospital after their last foster home. Despite their injuries being vastly different, they’d been allowed to share a room and though Mikey might not be the biggest fan of murder mysteries, Leo was.

Each and every day Mikey would flip through the TV channels until he found something he thought Leo would enjoy . His older brother might not have been conscious for most of it, but Mikey still liked to think that they’d watched them together. Back then, Mikey didn’t want to think of himself as alone, so together they’d watched a lot of Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Mrs Marple, and whatever else Mikey could find.

( No cop shows. Absolutely nothing with police. )

Those shows had made stakeouts and gathering information seem exciting.

Instead, Mikey had found that solving a mystery took a lot of time and research and, if tonight was any indication, sitting around whilst waiting for something to happen. So far, he didn’t feel like he’d accomplished anything more than watching someone else do stuff. Splinter was probably having a more exciting time going through Rockwell’s stuff.

To give the illusion that they were doing something other than sitting around eating sweets, Leo had told Raph and Mikey to sit on the opposite side of the roof. He’d said it was to make sure the Piper couldn’t surprise them, but Leo had always been an awful liar.

“We’ve got a bar of chocolate left,” Raph said, “Want to split it?”

Mikey nodded and tried to get comfy. Sitting on the concrete roof in the freezing cold wasn’t great, and they had to be quite unless they wanted to wake anyone up in the building below them, or alert any custodians who might want to know why four kids were sitting on their roof watching an apartment being broken into across the street. The bright side was that there was plenty of room to move about, and the blankets were some of Splinter’s, so were warm and cozy.

“Do you think Splinter’s found anything?” Mikey asked.

Raph shrugged and handed Mikey his half of the chocolate bar, “He better have. If not, he and Rockwell owe us the day back.”

Mikey smiled and bit into the chocolate.

Even though doing this was necessary, that didn’t mean Raph had to enjoy it. There were, in Raph’s opinion, a lot of better things they could be doing right now. Sleeping, for one.

But Raph was Raph, which meant that even if Raph didn’t want to be here, because his brothers were, there wasn’t a place in the world Raph would rather be. He’d follow his brothers to the ends of the earth, complaining the entire time.

There was also the fact that having stakeout snacks was funny. Here they were sitting in the cold and dark, looking out for a potential murderer and a monstrous ghost, eating snacks and sipping fizzy drinks. Instead he felt that one of them should have brought a packet of cigarettes and a lighter, so that they could take turns standing on street corners to smoke. If they’d thought of it ahead of time, they could have asked Kathy from the children’s home for some, though she’d have wanted something in return.

Mikey brought it up to Raph, who laughed and said, “Okay, goofball. And which one of us is gonna stand on the corner without the blanket?”

“You.”

Raph laughed again, “Why me?”

“You’re older than me and it’s cold.”

“So what? I’ve had my time?”

“Yep!” Mikey took another bite of chocolate, “Oh! Oh! You’d need a costume though!”

Raph frowned, mouth also full of chocolate, “A costume?”

“Like a big coat. A light brown one!”

“Okay, Columbo.” Raph shoved his playfully.

Mikey looked across the roof to Donnie and Leo, who were talking amongst themselves, though their main focus was on the apartment.

---

A nother hour passed.

Leo spent much of it watching Splinter carefully go over every last inch of a room, then moving onto the next, putting everything back where he’d found it as he went along. Occasionally, Splinter would paus e to sniff the air and Leo assumed Splinter wa s trying to locate something useful, or determine if any rats were nearby.

E very half hour, Leo would get up and walk around the roof. He didn’t want to – the blanket was warm and the temperature outside continued to drop, t he air becoming slightly misty and spark ling slightly. Tonight, or perhaps tomorrow, it was going to snow. Hopefully late tomorrow. As warm as the blanket was, Leo didn’t think it’d be able to help against snow.

B ut, if he didn’t, then he knew his leg would be worse tomorrow than it normally was.

As he walked around the roof, not too far away from Donnie so he could still keep an eye on him and Splinter, Leo glanced at Raph and Mikey. They were joking about something to do with trench coats. There was a brief pause in their conversation, followed by Mikey complaining about needing to pee.

Raph nodded and looked over to Leo, “We’re going to take a break.”

“Okay,” Leo said, “Don’t be long.”

“We won’t be.” Raph said and scowled.

Leo watched Raph and Mikey climb down the fire escape, then returned to Donnie.

“Any change?” he asked.

Donnie shook his head, “He’s still looking.”

“Any sign of Rockwell?”

“No.”

They’d planned for the possibility of Rockwell being at home when they arrived, and had also planned for if he returned whilst they were still looking. Part of the reason why Leo had agreed to Splinter searching the apartment on his own was that it’d be a lot easier for a ninja master to hide from someone, than it would be for all five of them. Leo and his brothers had experience of trying to stay unnoticed and sneaking around at night, especially Raph, but it was a small apartment and there were few hiding places. Not to mention Rockwell was already on edge for any weird sounds.

But, so far, that wouldn’t have been a problem and Leo was starting to wonder if sending in Splinter alone was a bad idea, if they could have finished up by now and been on their way back to the Children’s Home if all of them worked together to search.

Leo turned to Donnie and asked, “ Where do you think he is?”

Donnie drummed his fingers against the wall, “At work, maybe?”

“It’s Saturday.”

“Maybe he had to call into school for something?” Donnie shrugged, “Or maybe he’s out murdering someone? Who knows.”

Leo shook his head and turned his attention back to the apartment.

Splinter was riffling through Rockwell’s living room bin, and as Leo watched Splinter took out a piece of paper, glanced at it, and went to put it back in. Then he stopped, did a double take and examined it closely.

From this distance it was hard to see what it was, but Leo recognised it as the right shape and size to be a photograph.

Splinter looked up and waved it at Leo and Donnie.

Leo frowned. Splinter had evidently found something of interest, but they couldn’t look at -

Splinter’s hand pushed itself out of the shadows next to them.

Leo almost hit the hand away out of instinct, and Donnie slapped his own hands over his mouth to strangle the shriek that bubbled up his throat.

From the shadow a voice came, MY APOLOGIES! I WILL GIVE YOU MORE WARNING NEXT TIME.

“Why do you always do that!?” Donnie whispered angrily.

… DO WHAT?

“Jump out at people from the shadows!”

I AM A NINJA. IT IS PART OF THE JOB DESCRIPTION.

“Well you don’t have to do it all the time!” Donnie snapped.

Leo carefully reached out and grabbed the piece of paper, “I’ve got it. You can let go of it now.”

The clawed hand let go and retreated back into the shadows.

I WILL CONTINUE LOOKING, BUT IF YOU SPEAK I WILL BE ABLE TO HEAR YOU.

Whilst Leo turned the photograph over and began examining it, Donnie asked, “Why didn’t you do that earlier?”

The photograph had seen better days. Like the graduation picture from Rockwell’s bag, it was water damaged and badly crumpled. Leo laid it against the floor and smoothed it out as best he could.

MY CONTROL OVER MY ABILITIES IS SOMEWHAT LACKING. I WAS NOT SURE WHETHER OR NOT I WOULD BE ABLE TO DO IT AND FOCUS SUFFICIENTLY ON MY TASK.

Someone had scratched at Rockwell’s face, making it almost look like his eyes had been gouged out and throat torn.

“I thought you said you only had problems with fire.” Donnie’s tone was curious as oppose to accusing.

ALL OF MY ABILITIES ARE… NOT SO GOOD.

Rockwell was even younger in this photo, but it was hard to tell if this Tyler Rockwell simply hadn’t graduated from university yet, or if it had been taken even before then. He was sat in front of an old brown piano, his fingers resting on the keys, as if he were about to play. Leo could sort of make out the notes on the sheet music, but not well enough to figure out what it was.

Beside Rockwell, there was a young man with dark hair, and cold, cruel eyes. A nasty smirk. In his hands, there was a long wooden instrument with a flared bottom. It looked a bit like if you took an oboe and stripped its metal parts.

“Maybe when we get back you could practice.” Donnie suggested.

THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA, Splinter admitted, THOUGH I AM NOT SURE WHERE TO START.

“I could write a list.” Donnie said, “Oh! We could run some baseline tests! How long you can hold the fire for, how hot can you make it – not sure how we’d test that one, but if you give me a day I can figure it out – how far can you make it go? Oh, how far can you shadow walk? Do you know?”

Splinter’s voice was amused and he chuckled before saying, FOR A BLOCK OR SO I CAN SHADOW WALK TO WHERE I WISH. ANY FURTHER THAN THAT, ACCURACY BECOMES A SERIOUS ISSUE.

Before Donnie could get any more excited, Leo asked, “Splinter, is this what the Piper’s pipe looked like?”

YES.

“So, it’s definitely Falco.” Leo bit the inside of his mouth.

That wasn’t a surprise, and it was a relief to know that their own lead had some merit to it. But, that didn’t answer why the Piper was targeting Rockwell, or where the Piper’s Domain was.

“Donnie, what was the last project the Piper worked on?”

“Uh, wait, let me check...” Donnie began riffling through his bag, eventually pulling out his battered notebook, “Thought we might need to write something down.” He began flipping through, and when he found the right page, Donnie exclaimed, “Ah! Here it is.”

WHAT WAS IT? Splinter asked.

“Rockwell was experimenting with monkey DNA… I wrote it down here somewhere…”

Leo looked over Donnie’s shoulder and frowned at the chicken scratch on the page.

“Er… here! He was part of a team testing a new type of medication. They were hoping it could be used as a treatment for dementia, Alzheimers, stuff like that, and were testing it on DNA samples taken from a monkey’s brains to see if it worked at all.

Leo saw Splinter’s shadow bob as he nodded.

AND FALCO? WHAT WAS HE LOOKING INTO?

Donnie skimmed through his notes, “He was working on pest control. Something that could be administered to rats to make them easier to catch or lure them to a certain location. The reports coming from Rockwell’s experiment were promising, like they were seeing some regeneration, but I couldn’t really find anything on Falco’s. I’m thinking either the university deleted everything, or nothing came of it.”

Splinter hummed, YOU SAID THAT HE WAS FIRED. DOES ANYTHING SAY WHY?

Donnie flipped to another page, “The university hasn’t released an official statement yet – I think they’re either still investigating, are waiting to release a statement considering he’s missing, or they don’t want to draw attention to it. I checked some review websites, like in case he did something to a student, but there wasn’t anything in particular. Students complained about him being a jerk and most people didn’t finish his classes, but I don’t think that’d be enough for him to get fired.” Donnie glanced awkwardly at Leo, “I did manage to find some emails that suggest he stole something from Rockwell’s project and violated the animal welfare regulations Hamelin has.”

Leo scowled, “Donnie, where did you get those emails?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Before Leo could press his little brother, Splinter asked, WHAT WERE THE REGULATIONS HE BROKE?

“I think it’d be quicker to say what regulations he didn’t break. “Donnie said, “Mostly he didn’t take care of the rats. A lot of them were dying, and he wasn’t logging the deaths or why they happened, so they couldn’t be investigated. He had permission to spray mazes with this chemical he’d made, but not to inject it into them, and that seemed to be making the rats really sick. He was also using the stuff he’d stolen from Rockwell, I think it was samples of the medication, and mixing it with his own. It just made the rats sicker.”

“So he was playing mad scientist?” Leo asked.

“Pretty much. He was fired straight away, but they were investigating how he got access to it. There was also a lot of legal stuff, and by the time he went missing Hamelin was already talking to the police department” in a quieter voice, which lacked any enthusiasm, Donnie added, “A lot of the rats had to be euthanised, and the ones that weren’t are retired from testing.”

“Splinter, what’re you thinking?” Leo asked, hoping to draw Donnie’s mind to something else.

I AM WONDERING HOW ROCKWELL IS INVOLVED IN THIS. FALCO STOLE FROM HIM, BUT THAT WOULD NOT NECESSARILY RESULT IN FALCO BEING FIXATED ON HIM. WAS THERE ANY MENTION ANYWHERE OF, Splinter made an irritated hiss and muttered quietly to himself, WHAT IS THE WORD? Louder he said, THERE IS AN ENGLISH WORD, IT MEANS SOMEONE WHO HAS REVEALED IMPORTANT INFORMATION, USUALLY ABOUT ILLICIT DEEDS.

If Raph could hear them, he’d have said snitch. Mikey would say Narc.

Instead Leo said, “Informer?”

“Whistleblower?” Donnie suggested.

YES! THANK YOU DONATELLO, WAS THERE NO MENTION OF SOMEONE WHISTLEBLOWING? SOMEONE WHO ALSO WORKED ON FALCO’S PROJECT?

“No, why?”

In the window, Splinter straightened up, IS IT POSSIBLE THAT ROCKWELL NOTICED SOMETHING AMISS WITH HIS OWN RESEARCH – VAILS MISSING, SAMPLES NOT WHERE THEY SHOULD BE – AND REPORTED IT? WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE THAT SUCH AN INVESTIGATION WOULD RESULT IN FALCO’S EXPERIMENTS BEING UNCOVERED?

“You mean, did he get Falco fired?” Donnie hummed to himself, “Maybe – it could explain why Falco is targeting him?.”

“Have you found anything else? Something that could point to that?” Leo asked, “Also you can have this back.”

The hand emerged from the shadows again and withdrew once the photo was in its grip, SO FAR, NO. DOCTOR TYLER ROCKWELL LIVES A BACHELOR LIFESTYLE, HE HAS NO PETS, NO FAMILY TO SPEAK OF, THOUGH THERE ARE SEVERAL STACKS OF LETTERS FROM A DR KIRBY O’NEIL AND MR JACK KURTZMAN.

“What do they say?”

THE ONES THAT ARE OPEN MOSTLY ASK HOW HE IS DOING. THE LAST BATCH HAVE REMAINED UNOPENED – I ASSUME THEY ARE MORE OF THE SAME.

“Any there any possible weapons?”

THERE ARE SEVERAL LARGE KITCHEN KNIVES, BUT USING THEM WOULD REQUIRE GETTING UP CLOSE TO THE VICTIM. DOES THAT SOUND LIKE SOMETHING THE DOCTOR COULD STOMACH?

Leo didn’t answer immediately. Rockwell was a quiet man, and on reflection his desire for silence in his classrooms was less about being strict, and more to do with listening out for any sign of the Piper. He jumped at the slightest sounds, and was generally awkward with children, but not vindictive or cruel. Now that Leo thought about it, Rockwell reminded him of a cornered animal, frightened by the threat he knew was present at all times, but unable to think of a solution.

Maybe Rockwell could kill if pushed to the brink, but Leo couldn’t imagine Rockwell killing someone if he could see another way.

And then there were the photos – Rockwell had tried to get rid of them. Why then would he keep a hypothetical murder weapon in his home?

“I don’t think so.” Leo said, “But I could be wrong. I don’t actually know him, or what between him and the Piper. Maybe he was pushed into a corner and reacted?”

Splinter picked up one of the knives and examined it closely as he continued speaking, EXCLUDING KNIVES, WHICH HE DOES NOT CARE FOR PROPERLY -THIS ONE MIGHT AS WELL BE A PAPERWEIGHT FOR GOODNESS-

“Splinter.” Leo said, wanting to keep the ghost on track.

YES, RIGHT. THERE ARE NO OTHER CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS. HOWEVER, THERE ARE OPTIONS FOR IMPROVISED WEAPONS.

“Anything else on why the Piper might be haunting him?”

NO, BUT I HAVE NOT FINISHED YET.

Two lights began flashing.

Rockwell was coming home.

Splinter’s red eyes quickly scanned the room as checked that everything was as he’d left it. Then he looked out the window towards Leo and Donnie, nodded, and stepped back into the shadows.

Leo tried to track of where Splinter was, but trying to find something that had become part of the shadows themselves was impossible. Giving up on that, Leo leant over the wall and watched as Rockwell’s car turned the corner and pulled into the apartment’s car park, putting the doctor out of sight.

At the corner of his eye, Leo could see a light flashing on and off. It was Donnie flashing his torch at Raph and Mikey, who gave him a thumbs up in response.

Leo and Donnie both turned their attention back the apartment building, where they could see Rockwell climbing the stairs, bag in hand. After exiting the stairwell, they lost sight of him for about thirty seconds (Leo knew it was exactly thirty, because he counted beneath his breath). Then the front door opened, revealing Rockwell back lit by the hallway lights.

Rockwell took his coat off and mechanically hung it on the coat rack, then dropped his bag on the sofa and went straight to the kitchen. As he walked through the living room and into the kitchen, two shadows past over the wall: one human, the other a hooded creature. The second shadow followed Rockwell for a minute, then returned to the living room to continue his search.

Leo shook his head with a fondness that surprised him, and he couldn’t help but wonder if Splinter had always had a flair for theatrics. Was Splinter just a ghost being a ghost, or a grown up theatre kid who’d been given supernatural powers? No wonder Mikey was so fond of him.

Back in the kitchen, Leo watched Rockwell make a pot of coffee, and then carry it and a mug to the office. He sipped his coffee, eventually putting it down and returning to the living room, looking over his shoulder every step.

As he walked back, Splinter looked up, tilted his shadowy head, and moved to the bedroom. It was the last room to search, and if there were any clues as to the Domain’s location, it would be there. If not, Leo didn’t know how they’d find it before the Piper got too strong.

Rockwell returned to the office with papers he’d retrieved from his bag and sat at the desk. Soon he was engrossed in his work, but Leo knew they’d still have to be careful. Rockwell was so on edge that getting careless and assuming he wouldn’t notice them was guaranteed to blow their cover.

Donnie carefully picked up the torch and placed it on the floor of the roof by their feet, the metal and plastic clicking against the concrete, “Probably shouldn’t use this now.”

Leo nodded, but didn’t reply. He was trying to figure out how they could find the Domain. Would it be possible to retrace Splinter’s steps using landmarks? Would it be best to ask the other New York ghosts for help? Would they agree, or would the danger and their dislike of Splinter lead to a refusal?

“How long do you think it’ll be now?” Donnie asked.

“I don’t know.” Leo said, “A couple hours maybe? Depends on if Splinter finds anything else or not.”

“Should we tell Mikey and Raph?”

He glanced at his younger brother, then behind him. Raph and Mikey still hadn’t returned to the roof, and were instead stood on the pavement far below, watching something that Leo could not see.

“Is there a way we can?” he asked and tried again to see what his twin and youngest brother were doing, “Without shouting, I mean. I don’t want to risk Rockwell hearing us and wondering what’s going on.”

“We could use a flash light,” Donnie said and picked up the torch again, waving it for emphasis, “It’ll at least let them know something is up.”

“We’ll do that,” Leo said and, before Donnie could turn the light on, added, “but only in an emergency though.”

---

After alerting Leo and Donnie to Rockwell’s arrival, Raph and Mikey hid in a nearby phone booth until his car disappeared around the corner. They waited for another few seconds, just in case Rockwell drove back or walked through the front door. When it became clear that Rockwell wasn’t going to suddenly appear and immediately notice them, they stepped back out into the cold.

As they stood in the cold dark street, the not-quite full moon shinning down on them, it hit Mikey just how late it was. He hadn’t kept track of how many hours they’d been out here, though he knew Leo and Donnie would have, so he didn’t know what time it was.

He yawned and rubbed at his face. His eyes felt hot and dry, and his fingers were made clumsy by lack of sleep. Leo had decided against them doing this yesterday because he wanted them all to get some sleep before what would be a very long day, but that hadn’t really worked out in practice. Mikey couldn’t speak for his brothers, but knowing that they were going to be spending the day watching one of their teachers, whilst hoping that Falco didn’t appear and try to possess and/or kill them all, did not make for a good or particularly restful night’s sleep. Mikey spent most of the night tossing and turning, and eventually picked up a pad and paper and drew until he passed out.

Leo wouldn’t be happy if he knew, and neither would Splinter. He could practically hear them telling him in gentle voices that sleep was vital.

Today, however, neither had noticed and Mikey was thankful. That morning, Leo was busy making preparations and Splinter was present whilst they talked, but he wasn’t quite himself. Something had happened that night, not another possession by Falco, but something else that Mikey didn’t have enough of the puzzle pieces to even guess at. Mikey had been tempted to ask Splinter what was wrong, but decided against it, sensing that the matter was too private.

Maybe he’d ask later. When the possession wasn’t so fresh, the danger not so present, and whatever wound last night had caused not so fresh.

“You okay?” Raph asked.

“Yeah.” Mikey said, yawning again and blinked hard.

Hopefully it wouldn’t much longer now until Splinter was done in Rockwell’s apartment. Mikey wanted to go back home to the Old House so he could sit beside the fire.

As Mikey opened his eyes, he saw Raph stiffen. The soft smile that had played on Raph’s lips dropped and his face turned to stone.

Frowning, Mikey followed Raph’s gaze, finding them trained on a spot further down the street.

At the very edge of an alleyway, just outside of the light cast by the street lights, something sat. It was small, and its dark fur would have made it almost invisible, if not for the red glow of its eyes.

Mikey blinked and several more pairs of red eyes appeared.

“Raph, what do we do?” he whispered.

Raph swallowed thickly and glanced at the roof. One hand went into his jacket pocket, where he’d shoved his torch, but his eyes went to Rockwell’s apartment.

“I’ll signal Leo and-”

The rats ran across the road, a mass of brown and black and grey fur that seemed to move as one large creature. Once at the foot of the building, some stayed on the ground whilst others began clambering up the brickwork.

Raph began running towards the roof their brothers were sat on. Mikey followed him, trying to keep his eyes on the rats as he did so, least some peeled off from the rest and came for them. As he ran, the freezing cold air seemed to disappear, replaced by a growing panic that bubbled and boiled beneath his skin.

Before he or Raph reached the fire escape, there was a flash of light, first at them, then sweeping across the road up to the apartment. Raph pivoted and changed course, sprinting across the road to the apartment.

Luckily, the apartment building had a regular lock, not one of those electric locks that required a key card or code to work, so Raph dropped to his knees and started working with his picks. Mikey stood behind him and watched for the rats and the Piper.

“This’ll lock again when it shuts.” Raph shouted.

Mikey nodded and whilst Raph worked, pulled off his shoes.

The lock clicked open and they ran inside, Mikey jamming his shoes in the doorway along the way.

They hurried down the hallway, past the broken lift, and took the stairs two at a time.

Stepping into Rockwell’s floor, they were met with music.

Raph cursed and sprinted towards Rockwell’s apartment, tools still in hand. They couldn’t hear anything above the music, and that was so much worse than hearing the sounds of a fight.

“Come on, come on, come on – yes!” Raph all but kicked the door open when the lock clicked.

As they rushed inside, Mikey held his torch like a weapon. Just ahead of him, Raph held his lock pits between the fingers of his left hand, and snatched up a heavy book with the other.

His skin itched like maggots were eating their way through him, but he couldn’t feel himself being compelled in any way. It was as if his own possession had left scars he could not see, and the music had torn them open, reminding his body of what had happened the last time he’d heard this song.

Mikey bit the inside of his mouth, hard enough to taste coppery blood.

There was a part of Mikey that wished to leave, to run far, far away and hide. But he could not and would not do that. Yes, Rockwell was in danger, but Mikey was more worried about Splinter, about his friend doing something he’d forever regret.

Raph glanced down the hallway, trying to figure out where the music was coming from, then lunged towards the office. Mikey followed and tightened his grip on his torch.

As they ran down the corridor, the music grew louder. It was not just that they were getting closer, but because more instruments joined the orchestra. He tried to count them, but found he couldn’t – there were simply too many to keep track off.

Beneath the panic, Mikey wondered how many of those pipes were being played by what remained of the fifteen consumed ghosts.

Raph stopped in front of the office door, one hand gripping the door handle tightly. He turned to Mikey, as if asking for confirmation that Mikey was ready. Mikey, face determined and looking far older than his eight years, nodded.

Raph threw the door open and Mikey rushed inside.

Quickly, his eyes scanned the room, and he shouted, “Splinter! Put him down!”

Raph was right behind him, and launched the book at the back of Splinter’s head.

Splinter spun round and caught it with one hand.

For a horrible moment, Mikey did not see his friend before him. Those blazing red eyes held no love or softness, only a displayed fury and hatred that did not belong to Splinter. The clawed hand that was wrapped around Rockwell’s throat, threatening to crush the life out of the man, was not capable of gentleness, of trying to wipe tears away from the eyes of a crying child.

What stood in front of Mikey looked like Splinter, but was not him. This was the Piper, all but wearing Splinter’s skin.

The music stopped abruptly and Splinter’s hands opened jerkily, dropping Rockwell and the book roughly to the floor.

The man kicked his legs until his back hit the wall, but he did not scream. One hand helped pull him back, but the other clasped his neck as he breathed hard, swallowing lung fulls of air like he would suffocate otherwise.

Meanwhile, Splinter swayed, his hands hovering in the air in front of him, confused as to how he had gotten here. One of his hands disappeared into his hood a moment before his legs buckled beneath him.

Mikey and Raph lunged forward, trying to catch Splinter before he hit the floor. He wasn’t as heavy as Mikey expected him to be, but he was heavy enough to pull them to the floor, hitting their knees hard against the wooden panels.

Raph didn’t make a sound, but Mikey grunted in pain. In between them, Splinter made a sound like someone moments away from being violently sick, breathing almost as heavily as Rockwell, who gasped and shook.

The apartment’s front door slammed open, followed by the sound of running feet drawing closer and closer until Donnie burst into the office, holding an umbrella like a bat.

He skidded to a halt just before he would have hit his brothers and Splinter, and then spun to Rockwell, umbrella raised. Seeing no threat, only a man struggling to breath, Donnie lowered the umbrella, a sheepish look on his face.

“What,” Rockwell managed, his voice terribly hoarse and strained, “Is going on!?”

Notes:

I’m never not going to find it funny that in this AU, it takes a grand total of 8 days to go from Splinter meeting Mikey’s brothers, to the five of them breaking into a possible murderer’s house.

Also this fanfic now has a completed first draft, and the bulk of my dissertation is done, so hopefully there won’t be any more four month gaps between updates! There’s also a non-zero chance that I’ll get bored, and y’all will have to deal with me uploading a bunch, because if I’ve not got a project to work on I start climbing the walls and hissing at birds

Chapter 15

Summary:

The boys and Splinter get some answers

Notes:

Finally justifying having Rockwell in the character tags.

Heads up for implied/referenced animal abuse and death

The four of them eyed Rockwell wearily and did not answer.

Mikey couldn’t speak for his older brothers, but he wasn’t sure that answering honestly was a good idea and didn’t know what lie to go with. He could sense that Rockwell didn’t mean them any harm, but he was also both a frightened man who’d nearly had the life choked out of him by Splinter, and a potential murderer. Although Mikey was finding it harder and harder to find fault in the latter.

Not much was known about Splinter, so Mikey didn’t know how much dying had changed him from the man he’d once been to the one he was now, and as such Mikey could not determine if the Piper was that much different than Dr Victor Falco. For all Mikey knew, the man splinter used to be could have been a terrible human who deserved what happened to him, and after dying had become the kind man Mikey knew and cared for.

(That did not sound right. Mikey knew it in his bones that kindness was not something Splinter had learned after his heart stopped beating.)

Initially, Mikey had tried to give the Piper some grace, even if their first meeting had been upsetting to say the least. Back before they knew anything about Falco, Mikey had reasoned that the Piper could have just been someone trapped in a terrible situation, trying to get attention in the worst way possible. Mikey had met people like that already, other kids in the various care or foster homes he’d lived in who’d been through awful situations, and were willing to do whatever they had to in order to avoid returning to those dark times.

But now they knew more about Falco, and Donnie hadn’t told Mikey any of his findings from when he’d used the Care home’s geriatric computer to do more research , which was unusual. Normally when Donnie found some new information, he couldn’t wait to tell the rest of them, and he’d had no issue telling Mikey about how he’d narrowed down the suspect ed pipers down to Falco . Which meant that whatever Donnie had read about Falco , whatever he’d done to get fired, was bad.

And if Falco had been cruel before dying, and was more than happy to use people as glorified puppets after he’d died, then he hadn’t changed at all . Instead, a n already vile man had simply become crueller. Or, the monster that had lurked beneath flesh and bone now felt comfortable being its unapologetic self.

“What are you doing here?” Rockwell demanded, in a voice that only sounded angry to mask the fear beneath.

“What are we doing here? Why are you here?” Raph snapped.

“I live here!” Rockwell shot back.

Raph’s mouth opened and closed, his face turning bright red.

Mikey bit his mouth to stop himself from giggling – not the time. Definitely not the right time to laugh, even if he really wanted to, because laughing would at least relieve some of the tension pooling inside his stomach.

When Mikey tasted copper, he saw Rockwell blink hard and look at them closely, his eyebrows drawing together.

Eventually, the frown changed into an irritated scowl and Rockwell said, “Raphael Tortuga?” his eyes went to Mikey, over to Donnie, then narrowed, “Where is your older brother.”

The office door slammed open and Leo burst into the room, holding his cane like a sword.

“… Oh for,” Rockwell rolled his eyes and clambered to his feet, one hand still at his rapidly bruising throat, “oh for Pete’s sake.”

Leo glared at Rockwell and pushed his way to the front, placing himself between the man, his brothers and Splinter.

“What,” Rockwell repeated, “Are you doing here?”

As he spoke, Rockwell kept glancing at Splinter, who’s own breathing had levelled out, though he’d not made an attempt to stand. Through the fabric of his robe, Mikey could feel Splinter trembling.

Leo watched Rockwell carefully, shifting his weight onto his good leg and pushing his bad leg to the back. He repositioned his hands, holding the cane in such a way that he’d be able to swing it at Rockwell and then jump back if the man tried anything. Briefly, he looked over his shoulder, and Mikey felt Leo’s gaze land on him, before quickly flickering to Raph, then Donnie, and finally Splinter.

His oldest brother nodded to himself, then turned back to stare down Rockwell. In a voice that was cold and firm he said, “We know about Victor Falco.”

Whatever anger Rockwell had managed to muster in the last few minutes died immediately, “… How could you-”

“He’s been haunting our school.” Leo said narrowing his eyes, “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

“I don’t-”

“Splinter heard you talking to the Piper at school Thursday morning, so we know you two know each other. And rats don’t have glowing eyes – they’re possessed.” Leo nodded at the window, “By the way, you might want to close the curtains, please and thank you.”

The way Rockwell reacted reminded Mikey of a cartoon character, his whole body shaking terribly before he spun round and grabbed the curtains with both hands, violently pulling them closed to hide the red eyes on the window sill. His head sunk and shoulders rose, and he leaned against them as his breaths came in fits and bursts.

Leo waited until Rockwell’s breathing returned to normal before continuing, “The Piper wasn’t around before you were – you brought him with you. You’ve put everyone at our school in danger.”

“I didn’t know he’d go after anyone else.” Rockwell said, turning round.

“Maybe not at first, but you stayed after he started luring kids away.” Leo raised his cane and his voice, “And before you say anything, we know he hasn’t taken anyone alive, but that doesn’t matter. What he’s doing it still awful, and he wouldn’t be doing it if you weren’t around.”

Rockwell took in a deep breath and opened his mouth as if to say something in his own defence. All he could think to say was, “He let them all go as soon as I saw them.”

“Oh, well then that makes up for it!” Raph said sarcastically, “We have no reason to have any hard feelings!”

Splinter groaned. He’d stopped trembling, and made a move to stand. Raph let him go without complaint, but Mikey held onto Splinter until the ghost gave him a nod. Mikey smiled softly, and let go of his arm, allowing Splinter to climb to his feet.

Once back on his feet, Splinter took a few tentative steps forward until he was stood next to Leo.

WHAT DOES THE PIPER WANT?

At the sound of Splinter’s voice, Rockwell flinched.

“I don’t know. Attention maybe?” Rockwell said.

Splinter tilted his head, WHY WOULD HE WANT YOUR ATTENTION?

Rockwell began moving along the wall towards his desk, one hand groping behind him.

IF YOU ATTEMPT TO GRAB THAT LETTER OPENER, Splinter said, I WILL BREAK YOUR ARM.

Rockwell stopped moving. His eyes went to the kids, then back to Splinter, “What are you doing with those boys? What do you want from them?”

“We’re with him because we want to be,” Mikey said to Rockwell, “He’s not like Falco.” Mikey felt his brothers and Splinter glance his way and he added, “You don’t need to be scared of him.”

Rockwell swallowed and rubbed his throat, “I’ll have to disagree with you there.”

A complex series of emotions crossed Leo’s face. Mikey couldn’t see them, but he knew it was happening – he could feel the atmosphere in the room shift as their leader quickly thought through the current problem. They wanted answers, namely why Falco was targeting Rockwell, and where the Domain was. Splinter hadn’t been able to find any evidence in the apartment, so asking Rockwell directly was their best option. But, he probably wouldn’t be willing to answer those questions if he didn’t trust them.

Eventually, Leo said, voice calm and reassuring, “Splinter won’t hurt you without reason.” Rockwell opened his mouth to argue, but Leo continued before he could say anything, “The Piper can possess people, Splinter included. That’s why Splinter attacked you.”

Rockwell’s eyes narrowed, “The children Victor targeted only walked around until I saw them! This,” he gestured at Splinter, “thing tried to kill me! Those two things are not the same.”

“One: that won’t happen as long as we’re here to stop another possession. Two: the Piper didn’t order them to attack you, but he did order Splinter to do so. The only reason you’ve not been attacked by a nine year old is because the Piper hasn’t done it yet. And three: the Piper’s been attacking other ghosts, he’s been,” Leo looked at Splinter, “Consumed?”

Splinter nodded.

“Right,” Leo continued, “and the more ghosts he consumes, the stronger the Piper gets. He went after me a few days ago and all he could do was tempt me to walk down a hallway, now he can puppeteer people. How long do you think it’ll be before he orders an adult to attack you, or makes you hurt yourself?”

Rockwell paled, “Oh. How, how many has he-”

AT LEAST FIFTEEN OTHER GHOSTS HAVE DISAPPEARED. WE ARE HOPING THAT SOME OF THEM HAVE EITHER FOUND PEACE, OR ARE HIDING SOMEWHERE SAFE UNTIL THE PIPER IS GONE, BUT I DO NOT THINK THAT IS THE CASE.

Rockwell ran a hand through his hair, “The number of rats has grown throughout the week. It was only a few at first, now it’s a hoard. The headmistress – she’s decided to close the school next week until the rat catchers can find where they’re all coming from.”

“And it’s only going to get worse whilst the Piper is still at large.” Leo said.

Splinter folded his hands behind his back, NOW, I THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA IF WE SAT DOWN AND YOU ANSWERED SOME OF OUR QUESTIONS. IS THAT AGREEABLE?

“I- no, yes. Let’s,” Rockwell coughed, “Let’s talk about this in the living room. Does anyone want a drink?”

---

Rockwell made himself a cup of black tea and sat with it across from them. None of them had taken Rockwell up on the offer for a drink, politely (suspiciously) declining. Leo and his brothers were all in silent agreement that they didn’t want to drink anything prepared by Rockwell until they knew more about him.

Splinter wouldn’t have been effected by poison considering he no longer had a human digestive system, but he nevertheless seemed to agree with them on the not trusting Rockwell front. When they moved to the living room and sat on the old worn sofa, Splinter positioned himself beside it, standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest. The way he was stood, he almost looked like a body guard.

NOW, WHY IS THE PIPER AFTER YOU SPECIFICALLY?

Rockwell set his tea down, “He always wanted to be the centre of my attention. We knew each other since we were children – our parents were friends – and he never took it well if I hung out with other people.” Rockwell rubbed his neck, which had already turned a deep purple, “Although I can’t deny that revenge has something to do with it.”

Leo glanced at his brothers. They were all looking at him without looking, waiting to see what he’d do.

“Did you report him to Hamelin?”

Rockwell shook his head, “My team and I were working on creating a new medication for dementia and similar illnesses. I noticed some samples were missing – not enough for it to be immediately noticeable, but too many for them to have been misplaced. We reported the theft and most of the missing samples were found in Victor’s lab.”

“So what does he want revenge for?” Leo prompted.

Leo noticed Rockwell’s eyes widened, just slightly, and his fingers twitched.

“Did you kill him?” he already knew the answer to that, but he wanted Rockwell to say it.

Then, reluctantly, Rockwell admitted, “Not intentionally.”

“Why?” Leo asked, “What happened?”

Rockwell picked his cup back up, fiddled with it, “How much do you want to know?”

“Everything: what happened, where you were, and why.”

Rockwell took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

---

The car slowed to a stop on an empty street, its engine rumbling.

Rockwell glanced about, trying to find any signs of life, and then reached over to the front passenger seat and picked up the notebook he’d left open on it. Yes, this was definitely the address Victor gave him, but – Rockwell looked out the window again – it couldn’t be right.

This must have been some prank, and a very distasteful one at that. Victor should have known that this was not the time for jokes, and even if it were Rockwell was not in the mood for them anyway.

He was about to drive off and return to his apartment when he saw movement in one of the warehouses across the road. Someone was definitely inside – he could see a shadowy figure moving on the other side of the boarded up windows.

Rockwell sighed, turned his car engine off, and approached the building.

In truth, he didn’t really know why he’d come. Victor had asked, so he’d come despite his better judgement. Really, he should have been avoiding Victor like the plague – Victor’s own career was over, and Rockwell didn’t want his own to be dragged down due to associating with the other man.

Once, that thought would have sounded incredibly callous to Rockwell, especially considering how long they’d been friends, but Victor had no one to blame but himself and he’d managed to jeopardise year’s worth of work in the span of a few weeks.

Besides, and the thing which Rockwell’s mind kept going back to whenever he didn’t find something to preoccupy himself with, he’d seen the rats. There was a reason Rockwell had decided to test the medication on monkey DNA and not an actual monkey . An issue that his team had discussed since their work began was, if the medicine worked and prompted tissue regeneration, how they could ensure the resulting tissue was healthy and how best to control it. They were trying to help dementia patients, not torture them by forcing their brains to uncontrollably grow new tissue.

Seeing just how terrible the medication had effected those rats… Rockwell wasn’t even sure if they should continue experimenting with it. That was, if the project wasn’t dead in the water anyway. More likely than not, Hamelin wouldn’t want anything to do with it going forward.

Rockwell reached the front door and examined the building quickly. From the looks of things, this building had only been abandoned recently, although it was always possible that Falco had been here for a while. It wasn’t terribly filthy, though the exterior was run down, the cracks in the boards revealed glass that was still intact, if in need of a clean.

Shaking his head, Rockwell tried to draw his attention to why he was here.

Trying the door handle revealed that it wasn’t actually locked, and he stepped inside.

The first thing he noticed was the smell: bleach mixed with something rotten. Had Victor poured bleach all over the place in an attempt to clean it?

A half second later, he registered the shrieks, and saw that one wall was lined with many cages filled with rats. He took a step towards them, sensing that something here was amiss, but they screamed so loudly that he backed away until he felt something dig into the small of his back. Looking over his shoulder, he found another wall, this one lined completely with lab equipment.

“What did you do?” Leo asked.

“I couldn’t see Victor, so I took a closer look.”

There was a stack of paperwork to his right side, and vials of something to the left.

Out of curiosity (and a fear he could not quite explain) he skim read the top pages, finding them to be research notes. In the top corner of each page was Hamelin’s coat of arms, and at the bottom the usual information of when it was printed and so on. As best Rockwell could tell, it was a copy of the notes from Victor’s last research project.

Rockwell turned to the next page, skim read that, and then flipped through until he found a piece of note paper which detailed more experiments. If he hadn’t known what Victor had been up to before being fired, he might have thought that the study was going well, even if it wasn’t producing the results that Victor had previously boasted about.

The handwriting wasn’t as neat as the previous pages, and as he continued to flip through he noticed that the script became less and less legible, evolving into a harried chicken scratch that made only every fifth or sixth word readable.

He swallowed thickly, and his eyes flickered to all the lab equipment. How did Victor have all this? Had he been stealing equipment as well as chemicals?

Rockwell raised a hand to his chin. He’d been wondering what had happened to the medicine samples that weren’t recovered, and how the deaths of so many animals had gone unnoticed. Here and now, stood in this warehouse with screaming animals, he couldn’t help but question if they’d severely underestimated the number of actual deaths. Had Victor conducted the bulk of his experiments here to avoid scrutiny?

His eyes went to the rats in the cages. He couldn’t see them very well from this distance, but he didn’t want to get too close and risk startling them any more than he already had.

From here he could see that there were a mixture of fur colours, though he noticed that some cages contained rats with white fur and red eyes, whilst others were occupied by rats with dark fur and black eyes. Rockwell did not know much about rats, despite being friends with two men who worked heavily with them, but if he had to guess, the white rats were what Kirby called Wistar rats, and the darker ones were wild specimens.

“So Falco’s stuff worked?” Raph asked, “I mean he got all those rats, yeah?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t any more effective than the usual methods of rat catching.” Rockwell said.

“What’re those?”

“I’m not sure – it’s not my area of expertise.” Rockwell said.

I SUSPECT LEAVING OUT FOOD IS ONE METHOD – YOU CAN USUALLY ATTRACT WILDLIFE WITH THAT.

“Oh, like in cartoons?” Mikey asked.

Splinter tilted his head to one side and waited for Mikey to elaborate.

“They put bits of cheese onto a trap, and when the mouse takes the cheese, the trap springs.”

YES, Splinter said with a slight chuckle, IT IS LIKE IN THE CARTOONS.

Leo coughed, and the others stopped talking. That had not been his intention – being outside, breathing in frigid air for so long, had not been kind to his throat, and he was really starting to regret not taking Rockwell up on his offer for a warm drink.

“So, what did you do?” Leo asked hoarsely.

Rockwell felt sick. He hadn’t been told anything about the investigation, and he’d wondered if that was because someone suspect he’d been involved somehow, or if it was out of concern. It was known throughout the faculty that he had been life long friends with Dr Falco, and members of his own team had offered their condolences when they learned just who had stolen the samples. He didn’t know which was worse, to tell the truth. His career was everything to him and he didn’t know what he’d do without it – he had no family, few friends – but he hated being pitied.

He’d had more than enough pity for a life time.

Trying to remain focused and learn as much as he could, and whilst ignoring the nagging question of why Victor had invited him here only to not show up himself, he turned back to the table and looked for more information. The notes would be useful if he had the time to sit and go through them, but he did not know when Victor would turn up, so instead he looked at the rack of vials to his right.

Very carefully, he picked one of the vials up and held it to the light. It was clear, with a slight reddish tinge that reminded him a little of stained glass, albeit much weaker by comparison.

The medication he and his team were working on had been a brilliant crimson.

“Well, well, well, look who finally arrived!” said a jovial voice.

Rockwell jumped, having not noticed Victor standing on the other side of the room. Through the strange liquid, Victor’s skin was pink, but as the vial was lowered a deathly pallor was revealed. His hair, usually neatly combed and slicked back, was a tangled mess. He was stood in the doorway to what might have one been an office or a break room.

“I said I’d come,” Rockwell said and carefully placed the vial back, “What was it you wanted to talk about? If it’s to do with the investigation, I’m afraid I don’t know anything. I’ve been given a ‘sabbatical’ whilst it’s on going.”

For a very brief moment, something terrible crossed Victor’s face and Rockwell instinctively took a step back.

But then it past, and a smile spread across Victor’s face that showed all his teeth and gums.

“No, no, I wanted to show your my work.” he swept his arm across the room, “Considering it seems that no one will be seeing it for quite some time, I thought I’d share it with my longest friend.”

Falco grabbed Rockwell’s hand and pulled him along, gesturing proudly at the cages. Rockwell dug his heels in, having already guessed what he’d see in those cages.

But Victor grabbed his shoulders and pushed and pushed and pushed until the screams of the rats were so loud Rockwell could feel his heart beating in rhythm with them.

“So, he’d…” Leo glanced at Mikey, unsure of how to ask the question.

“Yes.” Rockwell said, “After that, my memory isn’t so clear. I tried to leave, we argued. I told him I’d call the police and tell them what I’d seen and he…”

Victor’s hand were clamped around his throat. Rockwell gasped for air and already his lungs were beginning to burn. He clawed desperately at Victor’s hands, trying to pry them off.

The other man was screaming and shouting, but Rockwell couldn’t hear it over the rats and the blood rushing in his ears.

Rockwell reached behind him, hoping to find something, anything he could use to get Victor off him. They weren’t in the lab any more – they were in the office at the back – and he felt his fingers graze something heavy and wooden.

Black spots filled his vision and he reached for the thing. It rolled away.

Stretching his fingers out as far as they could go, he managed to roll it towards him and – got it!

He could barely see anything as he raised the wooden object, and it was only when he smashed it into Victor’s face that he recognised the shawm.

Immediately the pressure on his throat eased.

Rockwell fell to his knees breathing hard, but refused to take his eyes off of Victor, who fell back. As he fell, relief flooded Rockwell…

… until the back of Victor’s neck smashed against a desk. He dropped to the floor. For a moment, a terrible moment that went on for years, Victor’s fingers twitched and he made a strange noise, before letting out a sharp sigh.

“V-Victor?” Rockwell chocked out, “Victor!?”

With great difficulty, he crawled over to the other man.

His chest wasn’t moving.

Rockwell sat there for some time, not knowing what to do.

“I didn’t do anything in the end.” Rockwell said, “I came straight back home and waited for something to happen. I was sure that within the hour the police would be at my door and I’d be arrested. When that didn’t happen, I filed a missing person’s report, and hoped the police wouldn’t figure out what I’d done.”

“How long was it until the Piper appeared?” Leo asked.

“That night. He tried playing his shawm – it’s a kind of pipe – and I… I was tempted to follow him, but decided against it. I knew he wanted me to follow him, but I didn’t have to – he didn’t have that power over me.”

Leo turned to Splinter, “So this is just a ghost getting revenge on someone they felt wronged them?”

YES, ALBEIT A GHOST WHO DID A GREAT DEAL OF WRONG IN LIFE, AND IS NOW VERY POSSESSIVE LACKS A SENSE OF BOUNDARIES.

Raph leaned back and folded his arms, “Did anyone else notice Falco disappeared?”

“No. He didn’t have anyone else to be honest – Victor could be quite charming during an initial meeting, but wasn’t an easy person to get along with long term. He tended to be very…” Rockwell gestured, trying to figure out how best to put it.

CONTROLLING.

“Intense.” Rockwell stressed, “I don’t think many people really knew him all that well.”

Donnie looked at his brothers and Splinter, “Their co-workers weren’t big fans of Falco.”

Rockwell raised an eyebrow, “How do you know that? Did you ask them about Victor?”

“… Sort of.”

Leo tried not to sigh. Okay, when they returned to the care home, he definitely needed to have to talk with Donnie about breaking into people’s private email accounts.

(Speaking of which, where had Donnie figured out how to do that!?)

“What about your friends? Jack and Kirby? Didn’t they notice he stopped answering messages and stuff?” Donnie asked.

Rockwell had been about to take a sip of his tea, but when he heard Donnie’s question he lowered the mug, “Have you been stalking me?”

Raph said, his tone casual, “We broke into your desk at school. Found a graduation photo.”

And Mikey added, “Then Donnie looked them up online!”

“… of course you did.” Rockwell said, sipped his tea and continued, “Kirby hasn’t spoken to Victor for about three years. Kirby had many issues with how Victor handled the rats they worked with, and Victor felt Kirby was being too sensitive. Nothing happened between Victor and Jack – they never got along well, and Jack did his best to spend as little time around Victor as he could.”

“Wonder why.” Raph muttered.

“Okay, so,” Leo said, “To sum up everything: some medicine was stolen, you reported it, and it turned out Falco did it. He got fired, and invited you to his secret lab. You argued, he attacked you, and you hit him. Falco died, and now he wants revenge, or something. We’re not really sure what he wants.”

Rockwell nodded.

THAT SEEMS TO BE EVERYTHING.

Leo sighed and scrubbed his face, feeling the bags forming around his eyes. According to his watch, it was getting close to midnight, and he was beyond exhausted.

Considering the time, they needed to leave now and start the return journey to the Children’s Home. Splinter could shadow walk them there, but he’d need to do it in stages to avoid teleporting them to New Jersey by accident, so it was going to take some time. Hopefully they’d be able to get back inside before Splinter would be forced to leave. If not, Raph would have to let them in, and that’d be fun to explain to the staff tomorrow.

He yawned and unsuccessfully tried to hide it behind his hand.

His brothers weren’t doing much better. Mikey was leaning heavily against Donnie, whose eyes kept stuttering closed and then flashing open. Raph seemed to be doing a better job at staying awake, but that could have just been because Raph’s neutral expression was a scowl, so what looked like simple annoyance may have instead been a valiant attempt to not fall asleep in a stranger’s home . As he watched his twin, Leo noticed Raph make a strange face and inhale deeply – he was trying to yawn whilst keeping his mouth closed.

Leo’s eyes went back to Splinter, who still stood beside the sofa, arms crossed, not showing any sign of fatigue. The angle of his hands made the claws, which were already long and sharp, seem all the more vicious. Splinter had told them that he could use those same claws to climb walls, and Leo found himself wondering how that worked, if Splinter’s claws were sharp enough to dig into concrete and find purchase, or if he did it some other way.

The thought that they were lucky the Piper had only ordered Splinter to strangle Rockwell and not rip his throat out occurred to Leo. He shuddered.

LEONARDO? ARE YOU ALRIGHT? Splinter asked, ARE YOU COLD? I CAN FETCH THE BLANKETS.

“No, it’s okay. I’m fine,” Leo glanced at his brothers again, “It’s just late.”

AH, I UNDERSTAND. IT IS WELL PAST YOUR BEDTIMES. Splinter uncrossed his arms and said to Rockwell, WE WILL BE CONTINUING THIS DISCUSSION TOMORROW.

“I take it I can’t say no?”

WE ARE AIMING TO DEAL WITH THE PIPER AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE – THE RISK IS BECOMING TOO GREAT AND HE SHOWS NO SIGN OF STOPPING HIS CURRENT COURSE.

Rockwell nodded, “I… agree. Let me write the address down before you go, just in case.”

After Rockwell handed him a piece of note paper, Splinter said, THANK YOU. As he tucked the paper into his robe be added, WE DO NOT TRUST YOU. AND I ASSUME YOU DO NOT TRUST ME, WHICH IS UNDERSTANDABLE. MY APOLOGIES FOR THROTTLING YOU.

“Thank you?” Rockwell said, a frown of pure puzzlement on his face, “Do you want to meet here or elsewhere.”

Leo didn’t know how he knew, but Splinter’s eyes flickered to the drawn curtains, NO, NOT HERE.

“How about the Old House?” Donnie suggested, “The Piper won’t know where that is.”

Leo nodded and said to Rockwell, “If you could get there as early as possible, that’d be great. I don’t think we should be going anywhere near the Domain at night.”

“Wait, you’re going there?” Rockwell asked in shock.

“Yeah, I thought that was obvious with us asking where he died.” Leo explained.

“You’re kids!”

“We have adult supervision.” Leo said dryly and gestured at Splinter.

“But,” Rockwell clasped the side of his head, fingers twisting in his dark hair, “What if something goes wrong? What if you get hurt and need someone to call a hospital?”

“We already know the emergency numbers,” Leo said, “And Donnie has a first aid kit with him.”

“I prepare for everything!” Donnie said proudly.

Rockwell pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, “I… damn it… I’m a teacher. I can’t in good conscious let you four -”

“Five.” Leo corrected.

“- five fight Victor on your own. I’m…” Rockwell leaned back and groaned, “I’ll meet you tomorrow and drive you to the lab. Then I’ll be going in with you,” very quietly he added, “Maybe I can talk some sense into Victor.”

Leo nodded. Maybe if he weren’t so exhausted, he’d have argued against Rockwell coming with them, or at least ask why a man who’d spent so much time avoiding a malevolent ghost would suddenly volunteer to join a mission to destroy said ghost, but it had been a long night and Leo was struggling to care right now about what Rockwell did or didn’t do. At least one extra person would mean more help if things went badly .

IS THAT EVERYTHING FOR NOW? Splinter asked.

“Yeah, we’re done here.” Leo said.

VERY GOOD. COME ON THEN, LET’S GET YOU FOUR HOME.

Throughout their conversation, Mikey had gone from leaning on Donnie, to laying across him. As gently as possible to avoid waking the boy, Splinter picked Mikey up, holding the little boy so that his head rested against Splinter’s chest. Donnie shook his head when Splinter offered to carry him as well, arguing that they needed more hands to carry their stuff back, though Leo noticed some hesitation. It was late, even for Donnie. And, Leo reminded himself, Donnie was only nine.

As they talked, Rockwell watched them, head titled to one side, a question forming. He didn’t get to ask it that night, as the five left soon after.

---

First, they stopped on the roof and gathered their things. It didn’t taken long and soon enough they began the process of shadow walking home.

Splinter didn’t take a break until after they left the city behind. When they found themselves on a quiet road, he took the opportunity to sit on the grass beside it, his head titled back slightly. Whilst he rested, Leo walked up and down the road. He wanted to sit down next to Splinter and relax himself, but he knew if he did he’d fall asleep and Splinter was already carrying Mikey.

Plus he’d noticed Splinter struggling more and more to stay mentally present the closer they got to the children’s home. Leo didn’t know if shadow walking five people to New York and back was simply just exhausting, or if it was related to the time. Two o’clock was fast approaching.

At 01:49 they made it back to the children’s home.

WHICH… WHICH ROOM IS YOURS? Splinter asked, looking up at the building.

Leo tugged Splinter’s cloak and quickly led him to the back of the building, hoping no one would see them. When they reached the back, he pointed to a window on the top floor and said, “That one.”

Leo blinked, and now they were stood in their bedroom. It was 01:52.

WHERE DOES – WHERE DOES – Splinter adjusted his hold on Mikey, WHERE DOES MICHELANGELO SLEEP?

“Bottom bunk to your left,” Raph said, “… your other left. There’s a cat teddy.”

Splinter nodded and briefly the red glow disappeared.

Slowly, either because he feared he’d drop the boy or was struggling to think clearly, Splinter pulled the covers back and laid Mikey on the bed. Leo watched as Splinter, whose hands were beginning to shake, untied Mikey’s laces and pulled off his shoes.

Donnie dropped his own shoes on the floor and asked, softly, “Are you okay?”

YES! YES I AM, I AM, I… Splinter squeezed his eyes shut, I AM FINE.

Leo carefully took off Mikey’s watch off his wrist and checked the time: 01:56.

“Do you need to go?” Leo asked gently.

NO T. YET. SOON THOUGH. IT IS GETTING HARD TO, HARD TO, HARD TO THINK CLEARLY. IT IS LIKE – EVERYTHING IS MADE OF FOG.

Splinter laid the covers over Mikey, gently tucking the little boy in, and ruffl ed his hair affectionately. For a moment, he stood next to the bed, head tilted to one side, and simply watched as Mikey wrapped his arms around Ice Cream Kitty and let out a deep contented sigh.

And in turn Leo watched Splinter, his mouth going dry and a painful lump forming in his throat. This scene was so familiar, and Leo had to stop himself looking at their bedroom door to see if mom was stood there, waiting for their dad to finish tucking Mikey in.

Beside Leo, Raph’s face turned red, and he turned around and glared at the opposite wall to hide his face.

When the moment ended, it almost felt like a spell had been broken. Splinter made a strange sound, almost like he was in pain, and his left hand clenched where his stomach would have been.

In a thin voice, the ghost said, YOU BOYS TRY, TRY TO… REST WELL.

Before they could say anything, Splinter disappeared.

It was 01:59.

Notes:

This is the chapter where I realised Rockwell’s perspective of the events of this fic is basically: accidentally kill his childhood friend, start working at a school so he has something to do other than thinking about how he committed murder, be stalked by said childhood friend who’s a ghost now, and then a group of kids he teaches break into his apartment with their own ghost and accuse him of murder. And that all happened within the span of a month, which means whilst Mikey and Splinter were having a nice time in Playing with Shadows, Rockwell was living in The Grudge.

Also the current crime count is: breaking into Rockwell’s desk, spying on him, breaking into his apartment, and Donnie hacking into the work emails of Hamelin’s faculty. It has been 8 days.

Chapter 16

Summary:

The Turtles and Splinter prepare to enter the Piper's Domain.

Leo couldn’t sleep.

After spending most of the night breathing in freezing cold air, followed by a mad dash down the fire escape, across the street and through the apartment building, his throat burned and his knee was lodging a very firm complaints to any nerve that would listen. It didn’t help that, outside of being in pain, he couldn’t stop thinking about tomorrow… or later today, depending on how you looked at it. Leo just knew it was going to be a long, hard day, and they’d be lucky if they could only describe this weakened as “eventful”.

He’d already decided that they needed to deal with the Piper as soon as possible, so waiting until he felt better wasn’t really an option. Not to mention there was no real way of knowing the exact number of ghosts the Piper had consumed. For all they knew, Garson could be wrong and the number was much higher than fifteen, or the Piper might have devoured more over the last few days. By now the number could be close to twenty or thirty, the Piper growing stronger with each victory, and their chances of winning growing increasingly slim.

That wasn’t even mentioning the Piper having already possessed Splinter twice. If possible, Leo wanted to avoid a third attempt.

His train of thought was interrupted by Raph’s voice coming from the bunk above him, “Leo? You up?”

“No,” Leo whispered back, “I’m just talking in my sleep.”

There was the sound of feet on the ladder, a quite creaking that seemed so loud in the dark room, “Very funny. Move over.”

Leo shuffled to the side, a slight smirk on his face, allowing Raph to clamber into the bed beside him.

Once Raph got comfortable, Leo asked, voice gravelly, “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just couldn’t sleep. You? You sound like crud.”

If it was Mikey or Donnie asking, Leo would have lied and said he sounded worse than he felt.

Although, come to think of it, the older they got, the less Donnie believed it and sometimes Leo cursed the fact he’d let his little brother become the medic. Not always, because even if Leo didn’t want to put responsibility onto Donnie’s shoulders, having someone who knew even a little bit about medicine was useful.

And, more importantly, having a purpose made Donnie happy, because there was something he could do to help.

Mikey was their heart, the sticky stuff that held them together, and cracked jokes that let the rest of them know they were going to be okay. Their littlest brother shone brighter than the sun, and they’d fight tooth and nail to protect him from the world. None of them wanted to give Mikey a reason to stop being the same happy kid he’d always been, because if their sun stopped shinning, then all that would be left would be unending darkness.

Their first few months at this care home, when those boys bullied Mikey, had been difficult. It wasn’t just the bullying, though that was awful enough on its own, but the fact that they were completely helpless to stop it. Leo had noticed that adults tended to make a big song and dance about being able to go to them for anything, and that bullying was wrong, but the moment when a child actually went to them for help the response was silence at best.

They’d talked to Mr Silver, and he’d talked to Mrs Mitchell, but that didn’t change anything. All that would happen was Mikey getting a lecture about getting along with others, sprinkled with how of course the teachers understood it was difficult to adjust to a new school. All four of them had come to the conclusion that teachers were useless in this regard, and their time would be better spent looking out for one another.

Their combined efforts hadn’t been enough to protect Mikey, and over time they’d watched as he retreated further and further into himself, becoming too quiet and far too nervous for their baby brother.

And then one day, Mikey was back to his old self again. Sure he disappeared for a few hours each day after school, but that hadn’t bothered Leo when Mikey explained he’d made a friend in the village. The bullying hadn’t stopped, but having a friend seemed to have made it easier to deal with.

Suddenly as their little sun shone brighter again, and the dark clouds retreated, it had started to feel as if here, in this place, they could be something approaching happy.

Mikey made joy seem possible.

By contrast, Raph protected them from physical danger. He’d always been like that, even before their parents died. Nothing had happened, there was no tragic backstory to his protectiveness, it was just a part of Raph, like his green eyes, dark brown hair, the scar on his chest. Raph had a fierce desire to protect woven into his bones.

Whenever they got into trouble, Raph would hang back whilst Leo got their baby brothers to safety. As a result, his twin had gotten into more than his fair share of scrapes, and his knuckles were calloused and scarred where the skin had broken and bled before they learned how to wrap them up properly, stopping the skin drying out so Raph’s hands could heal.

Leo himself had done his best to protect his brothers by keeping them out of trouble in the first place, especially after… especially considering his leg. He couldn’t run as fast as he used to, and Donnie and Mikey were growing so fast he couldn’t pick them up anymore. Donnie was already taller than him by a head, which Leo thought was extremely unfair considering Don was two years younger than him. Hopefully Mikey would grow slower – Leo did not want to be the shortest oldest brother.

Just let him be taller than at least one of them and he’d be happy.

So, as things stood, Leo, his twin and babiest brother had all unconsciously found their own niches within their small family. It had been effortless, like breathing.

Meanwhile Donnie had struggled. He wanted, Leo knew, to have something that was his thing, something that he uniquely brought to the table, and it made Leo’s heart ache knowing that Donnie hadn’t realised that he was enough.

Donnie didn’t need to do anything in order for them to love him, in order to convince them to stay. He was exceptional, the smartest person Leo knew, but even if Donnie didn’t have that powerful brain of his that absorbed information at a truly alarming rate, even if he didn’t have any special skills that benefited them, they’d have loved him all the same.

They loved Donnie for Donnie, not for a role he played in their lives or a skill he had. Donnie was enough because he was Donnie.

It was a reoccurring fear of Leo’s that he’d done something to convince Donnie otherwise. He’d tried to think of what it could be, and had brought it up to Raph in earlier nocturnal conversations. It hadn’t been at this care home, and to tell the truth Leo couldn’t remember which one it had been. They’d lived in so many that they all blended together, and by this point his memories of the other care homes were less of distinct places and more a simulacrum of all of them.

After Leo explained his concerns to Raph, his twin had said, “I don’t think it’s you.”

“Who else would it be?” Leo demanded, then cringed at how loud his voice had been.

Quickly he glanced to Donnie and sighed with relief upon finding him still fast asleep.

“Who’d you think?” Raph asked, voice seething with anger, “Don’s a smart kid, and all anyone ever sees is that,” he gestured to their younger brother, who was curled up beneath his blankets, leaving only his curly black hair visible, “But then they met him and suddenly, oh no, he’s an actual little kid who’s parents are dead! Who’d a thought it? And he’s got issues and needs help with stuff and suddenly it’s too much. And then, they find out he wants his brothers but they don’t want four kids, so now they don’t want him anymore.”

Leo nodded. All four of them had experience with prospective parents falling through. Whilst Leo was happy he’d gotten to stay with his brothers, because he knew so many kids who’d been put in the system and never seen their siblings again, he still felt guilty that staying with him may have stopped his brothers finding a home.

It happened a lot with Don. People saw a budding genius, and were then confronted with a child and didn’t know how to handle that.

“Yeah, I guess.” was all Leo had been able to say, because what was there to say that?

He hadn’t felt any better after that conversation. Leo had been sure Raph was wrong and Leo had, if not caused the problem, then contributed somehow.

Don being their family medic was a recent development, starting only after the four reunited, and it was one that Leo had a lot of mixed feelings over. At first, Leo had hated the idea of being looked after by someone else, especially one of the little brothers he was supposed to tend to. It was humiliating in a way Leo couldn’t put words to, because he didn’t have the life experience yet to find an appropriate comparison. At best he could say it felt like he’d failed in some way, and that Donnie had to pick up the slack when it should not have been Donnie’s job to do so.

But, Leo had to admit that having that job helped Donnie. When they were sent to this home after months separated, Donnie hadn’t said a word, because he couldn’t. Fussing over Leo, making sure he was taking his medication on time and checking his bandages, gave Donnie something to focus on. At first, the only time Donnie would speak would be when playing doctor.

The role has stuck even after Leo didn’t need as much help.

These days, Donnie was a lot better, though he stuttered when stressed. Despite Leo’s complicated feelings on the matter, having a way he could contribute made Donnie happy. It wasn’t right to say Donnie was pleased when someone got hurt – Donnie liked to show off his skills, but he was nowhere near that bad – so much as he was relieved there was something he could do.

And now if Leo didn’t find something Donnie could look into when his little brother didn’t have a project he was working on, Donnie would research first aid and use their brothers as practice dummies. Usually Raph, because Mikey’s visits to Splinter had left their little brother unavailable most days for the last few months. The care workers were okay with it... except for that one time Donnie wanted Raph to pretend he had a compound fracture so Donnie could practice binding a leg.

That time Don had duck tapped large sticks to Raph’s leg, to pretend they were broken bones jutting out from the skin, and poured red jam thinned with water onto his leg. Mikey, who didn’t visit Splinter until later that day, pointed out that if Raph had broken his leg, he’d probably be screaming. And so, for the sake of realism, whilst he laid on the ground Raph occasionally cried out.

It wasn’t long before Tracey came sprinting around the corner, nearly falling forward when she came to a sudden stop. She’d let out a panicked yelp before diving forward, thinking that she was seeing a child with a horrible wound.

Then she’d noticed the sticks, and realised the blood smelt less like copper and more like strawberries. A moment later she realised Raph, the child she’d initially thought had broken his leg, was calmly lying on his back whilst he flipped through a comic book.

Her eyes then snapped to Leo, who was trying to climb up a tree to get Mikey’s kite, and she went an interesting shade of green.

…

Tracey asked that in future, they try to avoid going for realism, and that Donnie give them a heads up when he was going to practice first aid again. She then climbed up the tree, retrieved the kite, then went to stand by the corner and stared at the forest.

“Leo?” Raph whispered, “Earth to Leo.”

Leo blinked tiredly. He really needed to get some sleep.

What was it Raph asked?

“Throat and leg hurt.” Leo said, “Other than that I’m good.”

Raph pushed himself into a sitting position, “You’ve got some water left. Want me to pass it?”

“Please.”

The water was lukewarm, but it helped soothed his throat all the same.

Before he could even think about refilling it, Raph took the glass from him, and slipped out the room. Whilst he was gone, Leo riffled through the night stand until he found a cough sweet. He didn’t like them – they were too sweet and made his stomach hurt if he had too many – but they helped a little and if Raph wanted to talk, Leo preferred being to do so with minimal pain.

Soon Leo was holding another glass of water, this one cold enough to cover the glass in condensation and dampen his fingers, and slowly sipped at it.

“Better?” Raph asked.

“Yeah.” Leo said truthfully, “So, what’s up?”

Raph glared at the bunk across from them, “I think we should leave Don and Mikey here tomorrow.”

Leo took in a long deep breath.

“I know we’re not gonna do that,” Raph continued, “But I don’t like the idea of taking them somewhere we know is dangerous. They’re just kids.”

Leo nodded, “I don’t either, but I think we’re going to need as much help as we can get.”

Raph growled, but Leo could tell Raph wasn’t angry at him, so much as this entire situation in general.

“Last week our biggest problem was Mike getting bullied. Now,” he threw his arms up in the air, “We’re fighting ghosts and getting possessed.”

“A week!?” Leo whispered.

“Yeah. I figured that out and couldn’t sleep after.”

Leo ran a hand through his hair “Of course it’s been a week. We met Splinter last Friday.”

Leo wanted to scream. He couldn’t, not just because Donnie and Mikey were sleeping so soundly, but also because he genuinely couldn’t right now. That didn’t stop the temptation to. It had been a while since he’d had a good long frustrated scream. Maybe he’d treat himself after this and go out into the forest and shout until his voice gave out, which wouldn’t take long considering all the scar tissue.

To vent some frustration he grabbed his blankets and twisted it this way and that, pulling on it until he heard the fabric groan under the strain, but not tear. He dug his nails into it, and raked his fingers across the blanket until the frustration had vented itself.

Raph didn’t say anything. Instead he just waited until his twin had calmed down and was ready to talk again.

“Do you think,” Raph began, carefully, slowly, as though observing a new opponent, “that we’re safe with Splinter?”

Leo didn’t answer right away. He needed to think first.

It was true that weird stuff hadn’t started happening to them until after they met their ghostly neighbour, but blaming Splinter for this situation didn’t feel right. After all, Splinter hadn’t killed Victor Falco, so he hadn’t created the monster they were currently dealing with. Plus the Piper targeting children had nothing to do with Splinter. That was on the Piper and the Piper alone.

“I don’t think we can blame Splinter for this,” Leo said, “Like I heard the Piper before we started investigating, and he was only at our school because of Rockwell.”

“I’m not talking about that,” Raph said, brows furrowed, “I mean, the Piper’s taken control of him twice now. What’s to stop him doing it for a third time?”

Leo stared up at Raph’s bunk as he said, “He won’t be alone - We’ll be with him.”

“We were with him this time.”

“Maybe we actually need to be near him, not across the street?” Leo said, his expression matching Raph’s, “We’ll stick together, all of us, and if something happens where we need to split up, it’ll be in groups. No one goes alone.”

Raph hummed in response, “And what if it doesn’t matter that we’re with Splinter?”

Leo blinked and took in a deep breath, “Did something happen before me and Donnie got there?”

“Me and Mikey,” Raph began cautiously, “Splinter didn’t snap out of it straight away. It took a couple seconds, then he dropped Rockwell.”

Leo’s stomach twisted into a horrible anxious knot. But, he told himself, perhaps it just took a moment for Splinter to re-establish control. All the more reason to not leave Splinter alone, even for a second.

When Leo told Raph what he was thinking, his twin nodded and said, “I guess. But I think we need a plan or something. I don’t know what, like, I don’t hate the guy, but if something happens…”

“If Falco takes control, we’ll bring Splinter back.” Leo said confidently.

“Okay. Okay.” Raph said.

Raph didn’t sound convinced, but his voice sounded lighter than it had before, like sharing his concerns had taken some of the weight off his shoulders. That was properly the truth – these conversations usually left Leo feeling better than he had before, even if they didn’t solve the problem.

When they were kids, Leo and Raph hadn’t always gotten along as well as they did now. They’d argued frequently and viscously, both having different ideas how to protect their brothers. Raph had wanted to take a more aggressive approach, whereas Leo preferred to hang back and come up with a plan first. Running headlong into danger was a bad idea, and Leo would rather go into a fight with as many advantages as possible.

(Once, Leo had cared about the fight being fair, not so anymore.)

People had taken those same arguments as an indication that he and Raph hated each other, and that any adoption or foster situation would fall apart due to people being unable to handle them together. Or, more accurately, people had decided no one could handle Raph, and that his brothers’ chances of being adopted would be better if he was taken out of the equation.

No one had said it, but Leo had seen it on their faces, in the way they looked at Raph. It have been audible in how they talked to and about Raph, like he wasn’t a child doing his best to look out for his family, but instead a rabid dog that needed to be kept at bay.

No one had seen how Leo and Raph would make up afterwards, because they didn’t want to see. They didn’t bother to pay attention when Leo and Raph would go somewhere private so they could talk, how they’d apologise and then laugh at the stupid jokes they told each other. And when Leo punched another kid in the face for insulting Raph, no one believed Leo when he told them he was the one who’d done it. Instead, people had assumed Leo was trying to heroically take the blame for his troubled twin, as oppose to Leo deciding that anyone who insulted his brother was asking for a fight.

And so no one saw the slow and steady process of their relationship improving, as they learned how to work as a team for the sake of their younger brothers. They still argued from time to time, and those arguments could quickly get out of hand when their emotions were high, but their bond was at no risk of fracturing.

Leonardo and Raphael Tortuga were a team.

Which meant that when they were separated, Leo with Mikey, and Donnie and Raph on their own, it had been hard for Leo to find his balance. His right hand man was suddenly gone, and he’d known that he couldn’t rely on their foster ‘father’ for help.

Leo let out a tired sigh.

Minutes ticked by, and Leo drifted off into a fitful sleep.

---

The next morning, they assembled at the Old House. The air was cold, not as freezing as the previous night, but close, and seemed to sparkle. Pale clouds drifted above them, brining with them the promise of snow.

Their preparations didn’t take long. For the most part they just transferred everything to their school bags, making sure everyone had some food, water and anything else they thought would be useful. Apart from that, all that needed doing was restocking their first aid kit, which Donnie had done before leaving the Children’s home. They were going to leave the blankets, not thinking they’d need them, but Leo noticed Donnie putting cannisters of air freshener and bug spray into his bag, much to his older brother’s puzzlement.

“You know we’re fighting rat’s right?” Raph asked, hands on his hips as he watched Donnie shove the last cannister into his bag.

Donnie shrugged, “I want to be prepared for anything.”

Raph frowned, and said something Leo didn’t pay attention to.

Instead, Leo’s focus was on carefully watching Splinter. For the most part, Splinter appeared to be himself, though he was quieter than usual and Leo couldn’t help but be concerned. Admittedly, he hadn’t known the ghost for long, so he supposed that maybe this was what Splinter was normally like, and he had simply been uncharacteristically chatty the last few days.

Despite not knowing the ghost well, he knew that wasn’t right, because Mikey did and he kept shooting Splinter worried glances.

When Splinter emptied the fireplace, carrying the ash can outside, Mikey followed. Leo didn’t go with them, sensing that Mikey wanted to talk to Splinter in private about what was wrong, but as they went he heard the beginnings of their conversation.

“Are you feeling okay?” Mikey asked.

YES, Splinter said, sounding as exhausted as Leo felt, I DID NOT GET MUCH SLEEP.

Mikey looked up at the ghost with worried eyes.

Seeing the expression on the young boy’s face, Splinter said in a voice that sounded lighter, more lively, AND YOU? DID YOU SLEEP WELL LAST NIGHT?

Leo’s stomach twisted at the reminder of the previous night, of Splinter taking Mikey’s shoes off and tucking his little brother in bed, gently ruffling his hair. If Mikey asked, Leo wouldn’t be able to explain why it upset him so much. After all, how do you explain to a child that they’d missed out on so much? Mikey’s brothers had tried so hard to fill the empty spaces their mum and dad left behind, but had known that they could never replace them. As far as Mikey could remember, the closest he’d ever came to having a parent tuck him in at night was Raph reading to him before bed.

Now he did have a parent who could do that.

But that person wasn’t their parents, and Leo didn’t know how to feel about that. Didn’t know how to feel about Mikey having a dad when he couldn’t remember Leo’s.

Over the years, Leo had sort of come to terms with the fact that the four of them were never going to be adopted, and that it was up to him and Raph to be the best parents they could be to Donnie and Mikey. It wasn’t ideal, Leo and Raph knew that, but it wasn’t like there was another option. The plan that they’d come up with was that when he and Raph aged out, they’d take their younger brothers with them. They were still trying to iron out all the details, but the plan had been slowly but surely coming together.

It was fine, Leo had decided one night when he couldn’t sleep, no one wanted them and no one ever would - that was how they’d ended up in care homes in the first place. He’d do his best to fill all the gaps left by mom and dad, and hope it was enough.

But now it looked like someone else was taking that role. Mikey was happy, he could tell, and Splinter was treating the rest of them with kindness and not pushing anything on them.

And yet Leo couldn’t help the frustration that his carefully, reluctantly, made plans had all been thrown out the window.

There was a good chance, Leo told himself, that he was getting ahead of himself and was totally misreading Mikey and Splinter’s relationship. Perhaps Mikey saw Splinter more as an uncle, than a father, or had slotted Splinter into the same category as Mr Silver: a trusted adult, but not family.

Leo glanced out of one of the windows that faced the back of the house.

Splinter was sat on the porch stairs, long tail spread out behind him, and Mikey was sat next to him as he swung his legs back and forth. The ash can was at the bottom of the steps, empty. Even though Leo could not hear them, he knew that Mikey was doing an impression of someone because of how he theatrically moved his hands. When he was done, Mikey paused and waited for Splinter to react, and grinned when the ghost tilted his head back and let out a loud and booming laugh.

Moving away from the window, Leo went to the front of the house and gazed into the field.

It had surprised him how little the stalks and other plants in the field had rotted. By now, he’d been expecting the field to be little more than dark earth and brown slush. Instead the stalks still stood, albeit their colour was not as vibrant as in the summer. None of the animals seemed to mind though. Here and there, he could see birds scurrying through, pecking away at seeds and plants. Occasionally, a rabbit hopped into view, before disappearing back into the field. Somewhere nearby, Leo could hear birds chirping.

As he sat and waited for Rockwell to arrive, he watched the rabbits graze, making a game of how long he could keep track of them. He also saw a few (non-ghost) rats clamber up rocks and chew on whatever they could find.

Eventually, Raph and Donnie joined him at the front of the house, Donnie dragging Raph into the field so he could point at the animals and excitedly began telling Raph everything he knew about them.

---

To pass the time whilst they waited for Rockwell, they trained. It had been a few days since they’d done so, and Leo was surprised to find that he’d missed it. Due to lack of time – it would not be long now until Rockwell arrived – they didn’t cover any new ground, instead practising how to land properly when thrown and going over the blocks again.

Part way through, Leo’s knee began to burn, at which point Splinter ordered everyone to take a break. His younger brothers weren’t tired, and homework was the last thing on their minds right now, so they went into the field to play macro polo.

Leo had thought that Splinter would join them as he had the other day when they played hide and seek, but instead he elected to sit on the front porch beside Leo and watch them.

Doing his best to watch Splinter without looking at him, Leo noticed how Splinter’s whiskers twitched and the way the ghost occasionally clenched his bandaged hand. Donnie had checked it earlier, and been happy to say it was healing well, though the stitches needed to stay in for another few days.

HOW IS YOUR KNEE? Splinter asked, DO YOU NEED ANYTHING FOR IT?

“No. I just needed a break.” Leo replied, and added just in case Splinter said anything, “I’ll be fine tonight. And if Rockwell’s right, we won’t have school tomorrow, so I can rest my leg then.”

AND SCHOOL? IT IS GOING WELL? Splinter turned his head slightly, and Leo couldn’t tell if Splinter was looking at him or the field.

“My grades are good, if that’s what you mean.”

Leo’s eyes flickered to his brothers. It wasn’t hard to find Donnie or Raph, but try as he might he could not find Mikey.

Out of curiosity he asked, “Can you see where Mikey is?”

Splinter leaned over and whispered conspiratorially, HE IS TO RAPHAEL’S LEFT, NEAR THOSE THREE BLACK BIRDS.

“How can you even tell he’s there?” Leo asked, brows furrowed in concentration.

PRACTICE. AND IT HELPS THAT I CAN SMELL HIM, Splinter said.

“You can smell us?” Leo asked, trying not to sound alarmed.

YES – MICHELANGELO TELLS ME THAT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU FOUR CAN DO?

“No, it’s not.” Leo said. He paused for a moment, then asked, “How does that work? I kinda assumed you just sensed we were nearby, like a ghost sense.”

I DO NOT KNOW HOW IT WORKS EXACTLY, ONLY THAT MY SENSE OF SMELL IS MUCH STRONGER THAN YOURS, Splinter titled his head to one side, I CAN SENSE WHEN OTHER GHOSTS ARE NEARBY THOUGH.

“Can other ghosts do that?” Leo asked, watching as Raph made his way towards Donnie.

Splinter nodded, YES. IT IS ONE OF THE ABILITIES ALL GHOSTS POSSESS. OUR CORES ARE ABLE TO DETECT EACH OTHERS WITHIN A CERTAIN RANGE.

“So the Piper will know you’re there?”

REGRETTABLY YES, Splinter smiled at the squawk of indignation Donnie let out as Raph caught him, ALTHOUGH IF WE DID APPROACH HIS DOMAIN WITHOUT BEING DETECTED, ONCE WE STEP INSIDE HE WILL BE AWARE OF OUR PRESENCE. THAT IS HOW I KNEW THOSE BOYS AND MICHELANGELO WERE HERE THAT FIRST DAY.

Leo scowled, both at the mention of those three and this new information.

With a sigh he said, “Feels annoying that we’re learning ninjutsu and stealth isn’t an option here.”

Splinter let out a short chuckle and said, I UNDERSTAND, BUT I MUST SAY THAT IT IS STILL AN AVAILABLE OPTION. WHILST NOT KNOWING WE ARE THERE WOULD CERTAINLY MAKE THINGS MUCH SIMPLER, HE WILL NOT KNOW OUR EXACT LOCATION. IF WE STAY UNSEEN, HE WILL BE UNABLE TO LOCATE US.

“He’s got a hoard of rats he can see through,” Leo grumbled, “Maybe there’s something we do can to throw them off?”

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING OF? Splinter asked, genuinely curious.

“I don’t know yet. We can’t get a cat on such short notice, can we?” Leo said, titling his head to one side.

… I WOULD LIKE TO VOTE AGAINST A CAT. Splinter said, voice strained.

“A dog might be good too,” Leo said, not noticing Splinter’s discomfort, “Like a greyhound or the little ones they use for hunting rats?”

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO VOTE AGAINST TAKING A DOG.

“Why?” Leo turned to Splinter, and then cringed as he remembered what the ghost looked like, “… oh. Oh, yeah, no, never mind.”

Splinter cleared his throat, TAKING SOMETHING TO DISTRACT THEM COULD BE A LESS LETHAL OPTION.

“I’ll tell Rockwell to let us get some rat food on the way.” Leo said.

Splinter opened his mouth to reply.

He froze.

Something within his hood twitched.

The ghost’s head snapped towards the field. His tail swished from side to side, and his whiskers moved forward. Raising his head, he sniffed the air, taking in short, rapid breaths.

ROCKWELL IS HERE.

Leo blinked in surprise, and when he heard the sound of running feet he almost expected to see Rockwell himself. Instead, he saw Mikey, who skidded to a halt in front of the pair and said, “Rockwell’s car just pulled up!”

THANK YOU, MICHELANGELO, Splinter said warmly, as if he himself had not just told Leo of the man’s arrival, ARE YOU ALL READY?

“Yep!” Mikey said.

“Well,” Leo said, climbing to his feet and grabbing his cane, “Time to go.”

Splinter nodded and walked with the four through the grass.

On the side of the road, they found Rockwell sitting in his car, tapping away at the steering wheel nervously. When Splinter knocked on the window, Rockwell jumped high enough to smack his head against the underside of the car’s roof.

“Gah!” Rockwell threw open the door, “Would it have killed you to make more noise?”

…

Rockwell’s face paled, “Oh my – I – my deepest apologies.”

Behind him, Leo could hear Raph snickering.

I TOOK NO OFFENCE, Splinter said, HOW ARE YOU THIS MORNING?

Rockwell’s mouth formed a perfectly straight line, and after a moment he said, “I got very little sleep and have a sore throat.”

“We have some lozenges and painkillers.” Donnie said helpfully.

“I’ve already taken some,” Rockwell answered, “Now, if you don’t mind, I am very eager to not get killed by Falco, so I’d like to get going.”

OF COURSE, Splinter said.

They all clambered into car, Leo in the front passenger seat so he could stretch his leg out during the drive, with everyone else in the back. Splinter sat behind Rockwell, largely because it gave him the greatest amount of leg room, although watching him climb in still felt like watching someone trying to get into a clown car.

There was a moment of confusion about what to do with Splinter’s tail, and in the end he curled it around his leg. His face wasn’t visible with the hood pulled so low, but Leo could tell the ghost was uncomfortable.

Which made sense, Leo thought to himself as he watched Mikey get in next to Splinter. Sitting with his bad leg crossed tended to be painful for Leo, so he could imagine how uncomfortable it’d be for Splinter to have to coil one of his limbs at odd angels in order to make it take up as little space as possible.

Raph and Donnie climbed in afterwards, and Leo noticed how they both stared at the tail: Raph in mild revulsion, Donnie in interest. Splinter must have noticed too, as his body hunched in on itself, whilst his whiskers drooped and tail twisted about. It looked as if Splinter was trying to hide the tail in the folds of his robe, but all the squirming really accomplished was drawing more attention to the additional limb. Even Leo struggled not to stare.

The tail was pink, about as long as Splinter was tall, and as thick as Splinter’s wrists. There were little notches and thin silver lines along it, scars from fights that Leo could only guess the nature of.

“Is it scaley?” Don asked.

Splinter tensed up and Leo was halfway through telling Donnie off for being rude when Splinter said very quietly, or as quietly as he was capable, NO, IT JUST FEELS LIKE SKIN.

“It looks like it should be scaley.” Donnie said, sounding a little disappointed.

“Can you hang upside down with it?” Mikey asked.

Splinter laughed softly at that, I DO NOT KNOW. I HAVE NOT TRIED IT.

Sensing a gap in the conversation, and wanting to spare Splinter anymore embarrassment, Leo quickly went over the plan. It was simple: Rockwell would take them to the Piper’s Domain, and they’d all go in together to search for the Piper’s body. Once found, they’d burn it. Leo didn’t think it’d get rid of the Piper, but he was hoping it’d provide a good enough distraction so they could destroy his core.

Splinter didn’t say much as Leo went through the plan, but once he was finished the ghost asked, IF THE PIPER ATTEMPTS TO TAKE CONTROL OF ME AGAIN, IS THERE A CONTINGENCY PLAN?

“You’re not going anywhere alone.” Leo said, “Someone will be with you at all times, so that should keep Falco off your back.”

AND IF WE ARE SEPARATED?

“Once we find you, that’ll snap you out of it.” Leo said.

Splinter opened his mouth to say something, clearly not convinced, but Mikey smiled up at him, and said brightly, “Don’t worry – we’ve got your back.”

Splinter let out a weary sigh, and said, STILL, IF YOU CANNOT BRING ME BACK, PRIORITISE THE MISSION. DO WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO.

---

The city was shrouded in darkness when they arrived, heavy black clouds having chased away the light. It was not yet night, though that was never far away in late December, and did not make much difference. A hazy orange glow seeped from the street lamps, but was unable to break through the gloom.

On the way to the Piper’s Domain, Rockwell drove them past their school. Clambering up the walls, along drain pipes, and running through classrooms, Leo could see rats. Their school was filled with red light.

Leo swallowed thickly and couldn’t help but wonder if there’d even be a school to go to on Monday. Although if they failed tonight, it wouldn’t matter much to them any more.

A little while later Rockwell pulled up across the road from an abandoned warehouse.

“We’re here,” Rockwell said, voice filled with dread.

Without a word they clambered out and examined the building, nobody taking a step towards it.

“Splinter, does this look familiar?” Leo asked.

YES, Splinter sniffed the air, IT SMELLS LIKE THE RIGHT PLACE.

Leo didn’t take his eyes off the building as he asked, “How are you feeling?”

I AM FINE FOR NOW, Splinter said, eyes darting all around him in search of the Piper.

At that moment, Mikey took the ghost’s hand, and Leo couldn’t tell if it was to comfort Splinter or himself. Mikey was only a child - Leo would not have been surprised if he was afraid.

But then Mikey smiled up at Splinter, eyes filled with determination, and Leo decided it was the former.

“Let’s go.” Leo said.

Raph nodded grimly and took his lock picks out.

Together, the six approached the warehouse.

They opened the door.

Notes:

We are now officially 2/3 of the way through The Pied Piper of New York!

After this is done, there’ll be a fic that’s just a collection of one-shots set over the first winter the Turtles know Splinter, to give us all a little breather before the next main fic. That one is going to be Raph centric and go into the brothers’ past!

Chapter 17

Summary:

The boys, Splinter and Rockwell enter The Piper’s Domain

The room before them was filled with dim red lights, shinning weakly in the eyes of rats that were scattered about the place. As Raph pushed the doors open, they swivelled their heads towards the group.

Their clawed feet twitched.

Mikey took in a deep breath, and instantly regretted it.

The air was dense, and each breath took effort to swallow it down, bringing with it a fetid stench that sat uncomfortably in Mikey’s lungs. It smelt like rats, wet hay and filth, with an undercurrent of something Mikey could not identify. It reminded Mikey of fruit and meat that had been left to rot. Orange and red peaches turned green and grey, their soft fluff replaced by a fur like substance. Meat that oozed a foul smelling liquid. How could something smell so disgustingly sweet, and earthen at the same time?

Mikey squeezed Splinter’s hand, noting how the bandages felt against his skin. Splinter squeezed back, tighter than was comfortable, then slowly unclenched, as if remembering not to hurt Mikey’s hand. His grip did not relax fully though, and it felt very much like he was clinging to Mikey as if the boy were a lifeline.

Maybe he was.

Raph looked over his shoulder to Leo, waiting for his twin’s signal. Leo’s eyes glanced at Raph, then fixed themselves on the warehouse. He scanned everything, lightly tapping his cane against the pavement as he did so.

After a moment, Leo nodded to himself and stopped tapping his cane. He walked into the warehouse, eyes hard as forged steel. As he walked, Leo made a quick gesture with his hand, a short wave that ended with him almost pointing behind him.

Take up the rear.

Raph nodded. Message received.

Mikey looked up at Splinter, who titled his head to one side at Leo and Raph’s silent conversation, and tugged the ghost’s hand, encouraging the him to follow along. After a moment’s hesitation, Splinter took a step forward, then another and another, still holding Mikey’s hand.

Looking around, Mikey couldn’t blame Splinter for being nervous.

The atmosphere was somewhere between Frankenstein’s laboratory and a slaughter house, and the cages filled with writing masses of rats did not make things any better. Their claws scrapped against the bars, a grating noise that echoed throughout the room, and intermingled with the frightened shrieks of the rats.

A quick glance revealed that the cages were open, and Mikey didn’t know how to feel about that. Even so, he craned his neck to get a better look, though in truth he did not want to know what state the rats were in.

Seeing what Mikey was attempting to do, Splinter drew Mikey closer and used his body to block the boy’s view. Mikey scowled, but ultimately decided it was for the best.

For a moment, Mikey thought about what the rats might look like, and his mind conjured terrible images of small creatures entangled in webs of string, their limps twisted at impossible angles, like puppets whose stings had been cut and then tied together.

Pushing the thoughts away, Mikey squeezed Splinter’s hand again, only this time it was for his own comfort. Splinter seemed to understand, and squeezed back.

Behind them, Raph scanned the street a final time, and followed the rest of them into the room. After Donnie and Rockwell entered, Raph had hung back a few additional moments to make sure that nothing was following or watching them, and upon finding nothing had been satisfied enough to enter.

…

As soon as Raph was through, the door slammed behind him.

Raph spun round and pounded on the door, shaking it violently.

The door didn’t budge.

Next, Raph tried kicking it, but that was met with no response.

The Piper had locked them in.

Mikey’s mouth went dry, and he unconsciously moved closer to Splinter. Being closer to the ghost felt safer somehow, even if it didn’t change the fact they were trapped.

A hand rested on his shoulder, and Mikey’s body tensed. The hand was long and thin, but it only had four digits, and the realisation soothed him.

Ahead of them, Leo gestured for them to follow him.

This didn’t change anything for their fearless leader, and it didn’t really change anything for the rest of them either – they’d known coming here would be dangerous, and that the Piper would do whatever he could to stop them. Compared to everything they’d planned for, locking them in wasn’t even on the list of worst case scenarios.

And, if they succeeded, perhaps all the Piper had accomplished was locking himself in with them.

“Come on.” Leo whispered and approached the door at the far end.

Splinter had told them about the door and the corridors that lay beyond it, which seemed to twist on into eternity. It was closed, for now, but as Leo approached it the handle turned.

Left.

Then right.

Left again.

Someone knocked.

Leo stopped in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder towards Splinter, and if it were anyone else, Mikey would have thought he was nervous. But that was ridiculous, Leo was never nervous. Mikey had taken it as a fact of the universe that his oldest brothers were never afraid, so perhaps Leo was simply checking in on Splinter.

The knocking became more insistent, and the handle rattled violently. Heavy blows shook the door, but it did not open.

The banging continued for only a few seconds, but it felt more like hours.

As the seconds past, the banging became softer, as if the person on the other side was weakening.

There was a scrapping sound, like someone sliding down the door to the floor.

Nails on wood. Someone trying to claw their way out.

Silence.

…

Whispering now, coming through the door.

Leo took a step forward, straining to hear what was being said. Mikey was too far away to make out any words, but he could tell it was a man’s voice speaking in hushed tones.

The same could not be said for Splinter, who froze in place. A terrible heat began to radiatin from the ghost, accompanied by the crackling of fire, and the smell of smoke, although the heat did not burn Mikey’s hand.

The hand which had rested on Mikey’s shoulder went into Splinter’s hood, clenching the side of his head. His lips pulled back, revealing rows of sharp teeth, and he clenched them so hard Mikey could hear them creak.

“Splinter,” Mikey said softly, “It’s okay. I’m here.”

The ghost nodded and took in a stuttering breath, I CAN - HEAR HIM.

Mikey glanced towards the door. The whispering stopped for a moment, and the handle jostled violently again.

HE IS ASKING IF WE WANT TO GO INSIDE, Splinter’s voice sounded strained, as if talking required a great effort.

Mikey did not need to look at the others to know they were glancing at each other.

The answer was: no, absolutely not.

But they had to.

So far, no one had been killed, but that didn’t mean no one had been hurt.

And how long would that last for? As far as Mikey could tell, Falco just wanted to torment and torture, but for how much longer would that satisfy him? How long was it going to be until the novelty wore off and Falco was no longer content with simply possessing people?

Mikey did not know the vast majority of the people at his school, and didn’t even know most of the people in his year. Until recently, his interactions with his fellow students had been largely negative, leaving him feeling totally isolated even when in a crowded building, yearning for that isolation because if no one saw him, then that meant no one was hurting him.

But now he knew Nico and Avi, and the protectiveness he felt for them surprised him. He barely knew them, that was true, but he could tell they were good and kind, and he did not want them to have to experience what he had.

No one should.

Here and now, it didn’t matter that they didn’t want to enter the Domain.

Right now all that mattered was that they had to.

They’d already decided on this course of action, and now that Mikey thought about it, there was never another way this could have gone. He and his brothers had spent so much of their lives looking out for and protecting one another, that he didn’t find it difficult to extend that to others.

Besides, they were already here, and the escape route was locked.

Falco knew that too, and Mikey didn’t understand why he would ask if they wanted to enter. Did he know they were here to stop him, and was taunting them? Or did they need to enter of their own free will?

Mikey bit the inside of his mouth. He had entered Splinter’s Domain willingly, but two ghosts and two Domains wasn’t enough to make a pattern. Donnie would say the sample size was too small.

“Yes.” Leo said, voice not betraying any hesitation.

The hammering stopped.

The handle lay still.

A soft click, followed by the metallic sound of a latch being drawn.

The handle turned, creaking loudly.

Slowly, the door opened.

As it opened, the screaming rats were silenced.

From the corner of his eyes, Mikey saw them clamber out of the cages and down from rafters, gathering around the floor, so that he, his brothers, Splinter and Rockwell were stood in a narrow pathway. The rats stood to attention, and watched the doorway with bated breaths.

Splinter’s breathing stopped, and for all the world it looked like someone had hit pause on a remote and frozen him in place. For half a second, his hold on Mikey’s hand loosened, so Mikey held on tight, the tips of his hands turning red.

The moment passed, and Splinter slowly looked down at Mikey, the red glow of his eyes briefly shinning brighter. Mikey might have imagined it, but this close he thought he saw Splinter’s eyes take on an orange tinge.

Splinter nodded, and Mikey relaxed his grip, his fingers turning pale brown once more.

Cautiously, they walked towards the doorway.

Together they reached it, and Mikey couldn’t help but feel a little proud. Something about small victories echoing in the back of his mind.

---

Stepping over the threshold send an unpleasant sensation rolling over Mikey, like suddenly being surrounded by fetid, freezing cold water. His ears popped, and he fell back against Splinter as the air was temporally forced out of his lungs.

Splinter caught him, and gently rubbed his back whilst Mikey bent over.

JUST BREATH, Splinter said soothingly, IT WILL PASS.

Mikey nodded, but didn’t say anything in response. He couldn’t, not until his body adjusted to the pressure change.

“Okay,” Raph said, voice sounding strained from the shift in pressure, “Now what?”

Mikey took in a final deep breath, held it, let it go. Feeling a little better, he looked up and tried to make sense of the strange place he now found himself in.

On this side of the door was a corridor lined with many branching paths and high walls made of wooden planks. Craning his head back to see what was above them, he found that either the ceiling didn’t exist, or it was so far away that the shadows covered it completely. Here and there were pieces of rope, from which hung old fashioned lanterns.

As his eyes trailed downward, he saw the tip of something in the distance, a giant mound made of brown dirt.

“Now we get looking,” Leo turned to Splinter, “Can you smell anything?”

Splinter’s nose twitched and his glowing eyes dimmed for a moment – maybe he was closing his eyes in concentration? - and he walked further down the hallway, tail swishing from side to side, FIRST RIGHT. THE SMELL IS COMING FROM THERE – IF WE FOLLOW IT, I THINK IT SHOULD LEAD US TO HIS BODY.

Mikey smiled – if Splinter could sniff out where the Piper’s body was, that’d make this a lot easier!

Not to mention, Mikey felt a lot better having Splinter here.

Mikey was certain that with Splinter by their side, their chances of success were much higher. After all, Splinter was a ninja master with command over fire!

… Okay, maybe the word ‘command’ was a little misleading, in that it stretched the definition of the word so far it was basically taffy.

Splinter was a ninja master, and he could make a few sparks, but a little fire could go a long way! It was difficult to forget all those talks at school, the ones where they’d be taken out of class and made to sit in a large room whilst someone over-enthusiastically told them about the dangers of leaving naked flames unattended and why they should Never Play With Matches. Afterwards, the speaker would put on a depressing film about a young firefly who burned down the whole forest after playing with matches, and which ended with her wings burning off.

He’d never really understood why they had to have those talks every year, because surely if the message hadn’t sunk in by now, then it was never going to happen.

And then Mikey would return to the care home and look at Donnie, and he’d think to himself that perhaps some people did need to be periodically reminded that fire hurts real bad. And said people might need to be told that Leo was going to have a heart attack if Donnie tried to seal rubber with a makeshift flame thrower… again.

Raph had once said that Donnie was one radioactive accident away from becoming a mad scientist, and he wasn’t technically wrong. It was a misleading statement though, because, if anything, Donnie was already a mad scientist. All a mutagenic substances would do was offer Donnie a makeover.

Admittedly, Mikey had never done anything to stop his immediate older brother from running science experiments out of their bedroom. In fact, Mikey was usually his lab assistant and co-author of Donnie’s research. One of their most exciting lines of research had involved sneaking around the back of whichever children’s home they were living in, and testing what different chemicals did when applied to different types of plants or fungus.

Which now that Mikey thought about it, he needed to make sure Splinter never ever found out about, least Mikey be grounded. How that would work exactly, Mikey didn’t know, considering g rounding usually meant not being allowed to leave hi s room, but he had to leave to visit Splinter .

Splinter stopped abruptly. His head moved jerkily as he quickly glanced about, and something inside his hood twitched.

He squeezed Mikey’s hand.

A moment later, the sound of a pipe reached Mikey’s ears.

It was moving towards them.

Mikey bit the inside of his mouth, and held on tight to Splinter. Carefully, he tugged Splinter along until all six of them were stood next to the right corridor and began making their way down it.

This corridor was much like the first, with many branching paths and wooden walls. Mikey examined everything, trying to see if anything about this corridor was different than the first, and was left riddled with anxiety when he couldn’t find anything. From the looks of things, they were going to need to rely on their own sense of direction and Splinter’s nose to guide them.

Looking up at his ghost, Mikey watched as Splinter sniffed the air. His nose moved constantly, and Mikey could hear the familiar sound of Splinter’s tail swishing from side to side.

Titling his head to one side, Mikey glanced back at the corridor, and did his best to discreetly sniff around. He tried sticking his head down the corridors to see if the scent was stronger down one of them, but couldn’t discern a difference. At best, he just earned himself an amused look from Splinter.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

“Nothing.” Mikey said, trying not to sound embarrassed.

Splinter chuckled softly, and ran his thumb over the back of Mikey’s hand, WHAT ARE YOU FROWNING AT THEN?

Mikey glanced back at the passage way he’d just stuck his head down. It had no branching paths, and curved to the left. That was not in and off itself, but three feet before it was another passageway on the same side of the corridor. That earlier passageway was straight, stretching on for many feet, and there should have been an opening where the curving passage intersected with it.

There wasn’t.

“The hallways don’t make sense.” Mikey explained.

Mikey hadn’t been expecting Falco’s Domain to be like a normal building. Splinter’s description and Mikey’s own imagination had left him expecting some kind of house of horror, like the haunted houses people went into on Halloween. He’d not even been surprised to find it was bigger on the inside, so big it shouldn’t have been able to fit inside the warehouse.

But he didn’t like the idea that its layout was irregular with branching paths that should intersect, but didn’t. If they got separated from Splinter, how would they find their way to Falco’s body? Or find the exit again?

A sudden horrible feeling washed over Mikey, like a rabbit hearing a nearby twig snap, and he anxiously looked behind them. As he did so, Splinter grimaced, lips pulling back to reveal clenched teeth, and grabbed at something in his hood with his free hand.

The colour drained from Mikey’s face.

The corridor they had just walked down… was gone. There was no entrance, just a dead end into a solid wooden wall.

Mikey swallowed thickly, and turned to Splinter, who slowly looked down at him.

Raph, who was still at the back of their group, glanced between them, then over his shoulder to see what had startled Mikey so badly.

His eyes widened and he shouted, “Leo! The exit’s gone.”

“What?!” Leo shouted, voice shooting up several octaves.

“That shouldn’t be -” Donnie rushed over to the wall, followed by Rockwell, “But we just came by this way?”

LEONARDO.

Leo’s eyes flickered between the dead end and Splinter.

Splinter waited for Leo’s eyes to settle on him, and once they did he said in a deceptively calm voice, WE NEED TO KEEP MOVING.

Leo swallowed hard and nodded, smothering the alarm as he did so, “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Guys, c’mon.”

“But Leo-” Donnie protested, gesturing to wall.

“We keep moving and either find the exit or his body. We knew this was going to be dangerous.”

Raph slammed his hand on the wall, the wood rattling.

“Hey!” he shouted up into the ceiling, “You think this is gonna scare us off! Think again pal! Just you wait, when we find you I’m gonna-”

His fist hit the wood, which groaned and splintered, turning into dust as it fell.

If Raph had been hoping that knocking the wooden wall down would reveal the corridor they’d walked down, he was surely disappointed.

Instead, the Piper stood there, lips pulled back from his teeth into something that might have been a smile, but looked far too painful to be one. The skin was stretched so tight it looked close to splitting and the teeth hung from the gums, clacking together as the Piper spoke.

“You’ll do what?
(You’ll do what?)”

The Piper was not an especially tall man, but that didn’t stop him from being intimidating, especially considering the rats that carpeted the floor around him. One rat, its fur blindingly white, clambered up Falco and rested on his shoulder.

The rats stared at them, and when the Piper tilted his head, the rats copied him, craning their necks at angles so steep it made Mikey queasy.

Then the Piper flicked his wrist and in his formerly empty hand he held a pipe with an end like a trumpet.

Splinter let go of Mikey’s hand, and moved the boy behind him, keeping one hand on Mikey’s shoulder. A head of them, Rockwell had a similar idea, getting between Raph, Donnie and the Piper.

The Piper let out a low laugh, which was accompanied by the sound of many teeth click clacking together.

“I was not expecting so many guests.
(I was not expecting so many guests).”

To Rockwell the Piper said,

“I see you finally accepted my invitation,
(I see you finally accepted my invitation,)”

the Piper’s voice darkened, all the false geniality bleeding out of his voice as he spoke,

“Has your work been keeping you busy,
(Has your work been keeping you busy,)
so busy you could not visit, your oldest and dearest friend?
(so busy you could not visit, your oldest and dearest friend?)”

“What do you want?” Rockwell demanded.

“Hmm…
(Hmm…)
What do I want?
(What do I want?)”

The Piper waved the shawm around, and whistled. The sound was ear splitting, setting Mikey’s teeth on edge. Instinctively, he grabbed the hand that still rested on his shoulder. Splinter jumped slightly, then gently squeezed Mikey’s shoulder.

Still here, p – Splinter was still here.

“For a long time, all I wanted was your company.
(For a long time, all I wanted was your company.)
But you no longer interest me.
(But you no longer interest me.)”

At that the Piper looked to Splinter,

“And aren’t you a tantalising specimen.
(And aren’t you a tantalising specimen.)”

Mikey couldn’t see Splinter’s face, but he felt his ghost recoil.

Falco continued, either not noticing or caring about Splinter’s unease,

“It is so good that you accepted,
(It is so good that you accepted,)
my invitation.
(my invitation.)”

YOUR INVITATION?

“Yes.
(Yes.)
I opened the door for you,
(I opened the door for you,”

Falco waved his hand, gesturing at Splinter’s whole body,

“And here you are.
(And here you are.)
But...
(But...)”

and now Falco looked at rest of them, or at least the rats turned their heads from left to right, stopping briefly on each of them.

“I have no need for the rest of you.
(I have no need for the rest of you.)”

Suddenly Falco’s face broke into an even wider rictus grin,

“Oh! Tyler,
(Oh! Tyler,)
I do want something from you.
(I do want something from you.)
…
Pet food.
(Pet food.)”

The rats charged.

---

“Raph!” Leo shouted over the shrieks of the hoard, “Protect Donnie! I’ve got Mikey!”

Mikey didn’t catch Raph’s response. Leo grabbed his hand and ran down the hallway, whilst Raph dragged Donnie down the nearest passage. Donnie managed to grab Rockwell, pulling the man behind them as they disappeared from view.

“Splinter!?”

I AM WITH YOU, the ghost said, running alongside Leo and Mikey, DO NOT WORRY.

Behind them a tidal wave of screaming bodies followed, waves of black and brown fur rolling and contorting. When the three of them took a sharp left, Mikey watched as the rats rushed past the entrance. Realising their mistake, the rats began shrieking and frantically turning around, clambering over one other in their hurry to give chase once again.

The gap between them and the rats had increased, but if any of them fell the hoard would catch up and...

Better not think about that.

“Oh, no.” Leo said breathlessly.

Ahead of them, another hoard was racing towards them . It looked like an approaching storm. With the rats in the way, that only left one escape route: a passageway on the right side of this hallway .

Mikey picked up speed, running alongside Leo.

The hoard in front of them was closer to the empty hallway than they were, and if they didn’t do something and quick, they’d be trapped.

But what? What could they do? They had some food in their bags, but Mikey doubted it’d be enough to distract the hoards.

LEONARDO! TAKE THE RIGHT PATH!

“But it’s not clear!” Leo shouted, voice filled with doubt.

TRUST ME. AND WHATEVER YOU, DO NOT STOP RUNNING.

Splinter dropped to all fours and galloped ahead and reached the function before the storm, skidding to a halt.

He stared down hoard.

Splinter took in a deep breath breath and held it.

Time slowed.

Leo and Mikey ran without pause. Holding his cane like a sword, Leo swung it at any rats that got too close.

As they sprinted towards him, orange light began to bleed through Splinter’s eyes, the scars on his tail, the burns across his body.

“Splinter!?” Leo shouted, “What are you doing?”

Splinter did not answer. Instead the orange glow grew stronger and stronger, until his whole body was bathed in warm light.

The ghost breathed out.

A jet of fire shot out. Splinter turned his head quickly, back and forth, creating a wall of fire the rats could not breach.

Leo and Mikey reached the junction and hurried down it without stopping.

Over his shoulder, Mikey called out, “Splinter!”

KEEP – Splinter gagged and coughed, and on shaking limbs began to move away from the fire, KEEP GOING! I AM RIGHT BEHIND YOU!

Mikey hesitated and nearly fell forward when Leo didn’t slow down .

“Mikey, come one!” Leo pulled Mikey’s hand, urging him along.

“But-”

“There’s no time!”

Mikey did not look back again, not whilst he and Leo still sprinted through the endless corridors that twisted this way and that, which took them further and further away from the exit. Their lungs began to ache and muscles burn, but still they ran.

They did not stop until the thundering of thousands upon thousands of tiny feet drifting away from them and stopped completely.

Eventually, they found what looked like a clearing, a large circular room devoid of rats, though here and there were rodent skeletons , picked clean.

Leo breathed heavily and stumbled toward the edge of the room. His cane creaked and the light sen t strange patterns across it s surface , bright light and shadows dancing along teeth marks . He’d hit a good few rats with it whilst they r a n, not caring in the moment about what happened to them .

Later, Leo would start think ing about it, about small animals that had fallen under the Piper’s music, and had no choice about what they did.

Mikey was already thinking about it. He hadn’t forgotten what it was like to be under the Piper’s control, and he wondered, as he limped after Leo, if the rats that pursued them were just as afraid as he’d been back then. Did those rats cry out in terror as a force they could not understand wrapped itself around their limbs? Or was it more like Leo’s experience of being pulled towards a target, but still able to refuse?

He’d thought about that the last few nights. The Piper doing the same to Splinter had left Mikey with questions about why his and Splinter’s experiences had been so different from Leo’s. Leo had just been pulled, but they’d had their bodies wrenched from them, and in Splinter’s case his senses had also fallen under the Piper’s control.

The explanation that Mikey had been able to come up with was that devouring all those other ghosts had made Falco so much stronger than he once was, and that came with better control of his victims. That could explain the growing number of rats too, Falco being able to attract and keep more animals under his control.

The other explanation, the one Mikey hadn’t wanted to think about and so had dismissed outright, was that spending as much time as he had around Splinter had altered how Falco’s power affected him. Mikey didn’t know if that was possible, if being around Splinter could change him in such a way. What he did know for certain was that Splinter would have already told him already, if Splinter knew, that is. There was a chance Splinter hadn’t said anything because he simply didn’t know.

As Mikey tried to catch his breath, he realised that he wouldn’t mind it if being around Splinter changed him, because that was what people did to one another.

Admittedly that wasn’t always a good thing, and Mikey was reminded of that every time a chill breeze swept through and made his arm ache.

But other times the marks people left on each other weren’t scars or bruises, but soft threads woven between them, strings made from food shared and hands held. A patchwork of fabric that said yes, this person has loved and been loved in turn, and that love has changed them. Such threads connected him to his brothers, and another to a young girl, his not-quite sister, whose current life he could only speculate on. Two more were tied around the fingers of the parents who had loved him and left far too soon, and another this strange new person who had become part of his family.

If being around Splinter was going to change him, Mikey refused to see that as a bad thing.

He knew some would say he should, because being changed by experiences with others, and being changed into something else were two different things. But what did Mikey care about being something not quite human, when he knew that there were worse things than being a monster? He had a monster, and he loved him.

Besides, whichever explanation was the right one, it didn’t particularly change anything. Either way, Falco was a threat they needed to deal with as soon as possible.

Leo reached the edge of the room, and slid down the wall. His eyes were closed and a grimace spread across his face as his knee bent.

Mikey swung his backpack off his shoulder and set it down on t he floor. Donnie had made sure they each took some medical supplies, just in case they were separated, as well as a water bottle. Mikey past both to his brother without a word.

“That…” Leo’s voice was ragged and he paused to take in a deep breath, “That could have gone better.”

Mikey nodded, then remembered Leo wouldn’t see it and said, “Yeah.”

“We got away though. I didn’t know you could do that, Splinter.” Leo rubbed at his face and opened his eyes.

He frowned.

“Splinter?”

Mikey’s face fell and he spun round.

He’d been expecting to see Splinter stood somewhere near the entrance, tired like them, but still there. Still with them. Not lost on his own in a maze of corridors where possessed rats stalked.

Instead, all Mikey saw was an empty room.

Notes:

If anyone’s curious about the story of the firefly burning down the whole forest, it’s a reference to a PSA called Frances the Firefly

Chapter 18

Summary:

The Piper talks with Splinter.

Notes:

My dissertation is finished!

Splinter ran after Michelangelo and Leonardo, doing his best to keep them in his line of sight. They were far ahead of him, having made good use of the distraction, and took many sharp turns.

Behind him, the hoard shrieked and howled, snapping their teeth in the air.

One managed to grab hold of his tail and bit down. Whipping his tale around, Splinter slammed the rat against the floor with enough force to dislodge it, along with a chunk of his tail.

Leonardo dived down a passage on the left, disappearing from Splinter’s sight, and dragged Michelangelo after him.

It was a narrow passage, almost impossible to see unless you were right beside it, and Splinter galloped past it. Turning on his heels, he shot down the passageway after them.

They were already out of sight, and this particular corridor had many branching pathways, with no visible footprints in the dirt floor. Sniffing the air he caught their scent, or more accurately he recognised Michelangelo’s, his scent being far more familiar than Leonardo’s.

Splinter did his best to not slow down whilst keeping track of where his boy had gone, but it was difficult to do both at the same time. For one, Leonardo had not planned his route, so there was no way for Splinter to figure out how Leonardo had chosen which path to take, outside of the boy trusting his instincts. As Splinter ran, he had to pay close attention to when the scent trail would suddenly divert, which required a great deal of concentration.

For another, this place smelt of rotting meat and terrified rats, the latter of which pressed on his core, making it increasingly hard to think. It was a primal smell, and had the Piper not wrapped his music around New York’s rats like a web, it would have been enough to keep them far away.

It was a smell that promised pain and blood, claws and teeth.

Splinter was not sure if he’d ever been human, but he knew that if or when he had been, this smell would not have gone unnoticed. It was far older than humanity, and something deep inside of the man he’d once been would have recognised this, and remembered what it was like to be a small mammal that cowered in the darkest of places, praying for salvation to come.

Not for the first time, he worried how setting foot in this Domain would effect the boys.

Shaking himself slightly, Splinter forcibly returned his thoughts to the task at hand, and attempted to listen out for any signs of the children. If they were lucky, he’d catch up with Michelangelo and Leonardo, and along the way they’d find Donatello and Raphael.

He was sure that Raphael would keep Donatello as safe as could be achieved in this place. The boy was not particularly fond of Splinter, but he could tell that Raphael would do whatever he had to in order to protect his brothers. No price was too high to pay in exchange for their safety, and Splinter felt, though he would not voice it here, that Raphael would sacrifice his very spirit for them.

But, that would not be necessary.

It would never be necessary if Splinter had a thing to say about it.

Raphael was old beyond his years, and Splinter could not guess at what had transpired to force Raphael to become his brothers’ shield, but he was still a child. Soon, yes, he would be a man, but that was still years away.

By contrast, Splinter was an adult, and so it was his duty to ensure Raphael returned home safely. He owed that to Raphael, and refused to allow a child to carry the burden of adults.

Speaking of which, hopefully Rockwell was still with them. That being said, Splinter was unsure of how much protection the man could provide them. He lacked training, and had put off dealing with the present issue until they came knocking on his door.

Perhaps that was being too harsh. After all, within the space of a few weeks, Rockwell dealt with killing a friend, followed by said friend returning as a ghost to literally haunt him. He may not have known how to resolve the situation, so instead sought to avoid it.

Michaelangelo’s scent suddenly grew stronger, and Splinter galloped faster. He could not hear the sound of running feet or ragged breathing, which might mean they’d found somewhere safe to hide, or had slowed down to preserve energy.

OR, a nasty little voice in the back of his head said, THEY ARE DEAD.

Splinter picked up speed, as if to banish the thought, and was thankful that his body did not tire the way a human’s did. It was one of the rare occasions that he was actively appreciative of this form.

He ran on, taking sharp turns, the smell growing stronger.

For a brief, foolish moment, he allowed himself to be hopeful, to think that he had caught up with them.

The scent stopped.

Splinter frowned, cursed, and spun round, thinking he’d made a mistake and ran down the wrong hallway.

Behind him was a long, narrow corridor with no offshoots, and rats hurtling towards him with alarming speed from in front of him and to either side.

The hoard crashed into him, biting, tearing.

He threw them off, launching several away from him and back over the walls. Others climbed onto his back, more and more until the seer weight of them forced him to the floor.

Trapped beneath them he couldn’t breath, couldn’t move, couldn’t -

The ceiling caved in.

Rubble rained down, and he raised his arms over his head to shield himself.

He coughed, choking on dust and ash. Tasted blood on his tongue.

----- tried to move his legs, to gage how bad the situation was. If he was lucky, and that was in short supply at present, he was not so badly buried that he wouldn’t be able to crawl out.

At best he could only twist his legs a few millimetres this way and that.

Instead he tried to clear the rubble off himself.

Pressing his hands above him, he grunted with exertion and grit his teeth.

Nothing.

He was too weak to move them even an inch.

----- let out a

strained whine and clawed at his face.

Not now!

Please don’t let him remember that now!

Splinter tried to focus on himself, on his core, on the fire that burned and burned inside of him and could never go out.

Though the memory of it sent panic coursing through him, only a few minutes ago he had managed to breath a jet of fire. Surely there was something he could do to banish the rats.

Slowly, the heat began to build, and he hoped that he would be able to burn the hoard off him, to rid himself of this crushing weight.

All around him was the crackling of fire. It was so loud he could hardly hear his own haggard breathing, or the coughing fits that brought up more blood.

He could stop fighting, he knew, just give up and commit himself to laying in an ever growing pool of his own blood.

He should just wait for rescue and hope someone, anyone was coming.

But no one was coming. The clan, it – that was no more.

Father was dead.

Uncle had died months ago.

The only person he had left who could help was Shen.

But… no.

No.

Not her, please not her.

Please don’t let her step foot into this building.

Please let her be safe and well and not die here as well.

Not his wife.

For her and Miwa’s sake, not her.

----- reached once again to the blades in his stomach, the three pronged tekko-kagi, and pulled. The handle was smeared in blood already, making it slippery and useless, and in his panic he reached into his own ruined stomach and grabbed the blades.

The rats stilled as music began to play.

Splinter could barley hear it over his own panic and the onslaught of a memory he did. Not. Want.

He could remember screaming, out of frustration and pain in equal measure. The tekko-kagi had not budged an inch, and all he’d accomplished was nearly severing his fingers.

Shen had always said she didn’t know how he still had all of them.

Then and now, he couldn’t have lay still for long, trying to draw panicked breaths. Here, in tried to remain calm, but back then he’d sobbed like a frightened child.

Cautiously, he opened his eyes. He could not move his neck, and the rats blocked much of his vision, but he could still see the Piper walking through a sea of rats that parted for him, until he knelt down in front of Splinter.

The Piper stared at Splinter for a long time, his head cocked to one side, and that same grin plastered across his face.

Then he waved his hand, and the rats around Splinter’s head moved, giving both him and the Piper a good look at the other.

Splinter’s hackles rose, and the Piper laughed, reaching out with a boney hand to stroke the demons’ face.

When the Piper’s hand was within range, Splinter lunged.

The Piper flinched, snatching his hand back just in time, and the rats coiled around Splinter’s body, pressing down harder. With no small amount of amusement he said,

“Well,
(Well,)
aren’t you a feisty one?
(aren’t you a feisty one?)”

Splinter hissed and snapped his jaws.

The Piper simply laughed, reached down and cupped Splinter’s face in one hand. The fur along Splinter’s body stood on end, and he could finally feel his body beginning to burn. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to set himself alight and burn that awful hand and the body that belonged to it.

Instead, the fire built and built, but could do nothing to escape him whilst the music still played.

Gently, the Piper titled Splinter’s face left and right, up and down, looking closely at his face as if he were a particularly interesting specimen.

“I wonder,
(I wonder,)

the Piper said,

“who put these strings on you.
(who put these strings on you.)
I must thank them.
(I must thank them.)
They turned you into a wonderful puppet.
(They turned you into a wonderful puppet.)”

When he was satisfied with his inspection, the Piper ran his fingers along Splinter’s jaw, around an ear and down the back of his head. Like he was petting a dog.

A snarl rose in Splinter’s throat.

He was not a thing to be owned.

With great effort, he twisted his head and Bit. Down. Hard.

The outer layer of the Piper’s arm crumbled, sharp teeth slicing through it with ease, and Splinter twisted his head the other way, tearing a great chunk out of the Piper’s arm.

Black blood rushed down his throat, making him gag and nausea rise, but that not stop him trying again, spit and black fluid dripping out of his mouth, down his jaw and onto the floor.

The Piper screamed and swung the shawm. It’s wooden surface cracked against Splinter’s skull, flooding his vision with dark spots.

“You insolent rat!
(You insolent rat!)”

Splinter managed a smirk and spat ectoplasm onto the ground.

Underneath the crushing mass of rats he asked, DID… NO ONE TELL YOU… EVEN A CORNERED RAT... WILL BITE A CAT? He managed a soft chuckle of his own, WHAT DID YOU… EXPECT?

The Piper hissed at him,

“Oh, so you think this is funny?
(Oh, so you think this is funny?)”

he shook his hand for emphasis.

“We are the same,
(We are the same,)
you and I.
(you and I.)”

Splinter glared up at him, and said calmly, NO, WE ARE NOT.

“We have both been abandoned, cast aside.
(We have both been abandoned, cast aside.)
Left to rot in the dark.
(Left to rot in the dark.)”

Splinter thought of a little boy, all smiles and sunshine, who brought a strange ghost chocolate as thanks. He thought about that same child returning day after day to offer his companionship.

He remembered how proud he had been when Mikey returned, announcing his victory against those three bullies.

I AM NOT ALONE, Splinter spat, AND I HAVE NOT BEEN LEFT TO ROT. ONLY YOU HAVE. PERHAPS IF YOU WERE LESS ODIOUS SOMEONE WOULD HAVE CARED WHEN YOU DIED.

The Piper brought the shawm down hard,

“Silence!
(Silence!)
You know nothing!
(You know nothing!)”

I KNOW THAT YOU MUST FORCE OTHERS TO SUFFER YOUR COMPANY, Splinter said, I KNOW THAT YOU HAD TO LURE US HERE, AND ALL OTHERS WHO MET YOU IN LIFE FOUND YOU REPULSIVE. AND THEN, Splinter glared up at Falco, YOU DEVOURED OUR KIND TO BOLSTER YOUR STRENGTH. YOU TOOK THEIR CORES BECAUSE YOU COULD, BECAUSE IN DEATH AS IN LIFE YOU WERE A COWARD WHO PREYED UPON THOSE YOU SAW AS WEAKER THAN YOURSELF, WHETHER THAT BE YOUR FRIENDS OR LAB RATS.

The Piper raised his arm high above his head.

I KNOW YOUR KIND. YOU ARE NOTHING SPECIAL.

The shawm smashed against his face and Splinter clenched his jaw to stop himself crying out in pain.

Splinter coughed, YOU CLING ONTO CONTROL OF OTHERS, BECAUSE YOU FEAR NO ONE WILL STAY WITH YOU WILLINGLY. YOU DIG YOUR CLAWS INTO THEM, BECAUSE YOU ARE AFRAID THEY WILL LEAVE. AND THEY WILL, FOR WHO WOULD WANT TO STAY WITH YOU.

Again and again, the Piper hammered it into Splinter’s face, until the shawn came away coated in ectoplasm.

DEATH DOES NOT CHANGE WHO WE ARE. YOU WERE A MONSTER LONG BEFORE YOU DIED.

The Piper’s smile had disappeared, his cracked lips forming a grim line.

“You think you are so clever.
(You think you are so clever.)
But tell me,
(But tell me,)
What do you think will happen,
(What do you think will happen,)
if you defeat me?
(if you defeat me?)

Will you return home with those children?
(Will you return home with those children?)
Will you act as though you’re one of them?
(Will you act as though you’re one of them?)

Will you make a family with them?
(Will you make a family with them?)
Pretend you are their uncle?
(Pretend you are their uncle?)
Or perhaps their father?
(Or perhaps their father?)
Will you pretend you are wanted?
(Will you pretend you are wanted?)"

Falco slammed his foot onto Splinter’s torso, roughly where his core was.

“Or do you wish to be their pet?
(Or do you wish to be their pet?)
A glorified dog,
(A glorified dog,)
Eating their dinner scraps.
(Eating their dinner scraps.)

Because you’ve saved them,
(Because you’ve saved them,)
and they’ll have to keep the brave dog,
(and they’ll have to keep the brave dog,)
who got them out a well.
(who got them out a well.)”

He grabbed Splinter’s jaw, digging his nails in.

Splinter glared back at him. The music was growing louder and louder, eating its into his body. As it did so, his body relaxed, and his hackles lay flat.

“One day they will remember,
(One day they will remember,)
that you are a rat.
(that you are a rat.)
And like they did me,
(And like they did me,)
they will leave.
(they will leave.)

You must know that.
(You mused know that.)
How could you not?
(How could you not?)
Why would anyone want you?
(Why would anyone want you?)

But here, with your brothers,
(But here, with your brothers,)”

The Piper motioned with his free hand at the rats at his feet. Splinter looked at them as best he could, and felt noting but pity for the creatures.

“You could belong.
(You could belong.)
All you need to do is let go.
(All you need to do is let go.)”

Splinter snarled and did his best to block out the sound, but it had buried itself bone deep, and was twisting into his core, forcing it to thrum in time with the music.

Everything was bathed in red.

As the music drowned out all other sound, the Piper demanded,

“Let go.
(Let go.)”

Realising he could not ignore it, and what would surely follow, Splinter turned his thoughts to the brothers. Those four boys were relying on him, and he would not, could not, fail them by giving into the creature.

If the Piper was going to take him, it would not be willingly. The Piper was going to have to drag him mile by mile, inch by bloody inch, and Splinter would make every moment a trial.

------ ----- had been stubborn as a mule, and Splinter was no different.

Even if he could not recall his life, he was still that man.

Ectoplasm began trickling from a cut above Splinter’s eye, muddying his vision further, and he could feel his remaining control of his body evaporating.

The Piper smiled grimly and wiped the shawm clean on his robe. Then he gestured with it, and Splinter’s body climbed to its feet.

“Come with me,
(come with me,)
My puppet.
(My puppet.)”

---

“Where is he?” Mikey asked.

“I don’t know.” Leo said, “I thought he was right behind us!”

Mikey rushed back to the corridor they’d come from and stared down it, “Maybe he fell behind?”

“Are the rats gone?” Leo asked, slowly getting to his feet and limping towards him.

“For now,” Mikey said sullenly. In a quieter voice he said, “Leo, what do we do?”

His brother frowned.

Should they go back they way they’d come and try to find Splinter, or continue down one of the other corridors? Their other brothers and Rockwell were still missing, and they needed to find Falco’s body and burn it.

Admittedly, both groups had the necessary supplies to destroy the body, but neither Leo or Mikey enjoyed the idea of not knowing how their other brothers were.

Plus how were they going to know if Raph or Donnie found the body? For all they knew, Raph and Donnie had already done it, and now they were going to keep wandering around this labyrinth without knowing the mission was already accomplished.

Glancing at Leo, Mikey couldn’t help but worry.

Leo walked unsteadily, his face tight and pale, as if all the blood had been leached from him.

The doctors had said that whilst his knee would never fully recover, the damage being so severe, it would improve with time and physical therapy. As long as, the doctor insisted, Leo took it easy. It was part of the reason why Leo hadn’t joined the school’s little league team, despite being eager – he needed rest and to not push himself, least he hurt himself and damage the knee again.

Sprinting through the lair of a hostile ghost probably did not count as ‘taking it easy.’

Mikey watched as Leo took in a deep breath, held it, and then blew it out. As the air left him, his face relaxed, though his skin remained worryingly pale.

A moment later, Leo forced a smile on his face, turned to Mikey, and held out his hand.

“Come on, let’s go find the others.”

---

They did not walk back down the corridor in search of Splinter. Instead they slowly made their way down a different corridor, reasoning that if Falco could chance the layout of this place, the passages they’d just run down may not even exist any more. Which meant it was unlikely, if not impossible, that they’d be able to Splinter down that way.

Plus, Leo had pointed out, if Splinter’s sense of smell was as good as the ghost claimed, then Splinter would be able to find them a lot easier than they him. Not to mention, he knew Mikey by scent alone, meaning he was extra likely to find them!

As they made their way through the Domain, it was difficult to tell where they were in relation to the entrance, or even the corridors they’d just walked down. They’d take a left, then another left, and a third, and find themselves in in a corridor where there wasn’t a left, even though they hadn’t gone up or down and so couldn’t logically be on a new level. Or they’d go right and creep along a path with no incline, and find themselves on a platform that overlooked the maze below, then take another right and find themselves below the platform.

Currently, they were stood on a walk way, and had been there for several minutes, due to Leo wanting to figure out a route they could take straight to the dirt mound.

As they watched, Leo muttering to himself under his breath, they saw corridors melt into each other in the blink of an eye, new passage ways form, and openings carving their way through pre-existing hallways to join them with their neighbour.

Mikey looked at the edges of the room, eventually finding the doorway into the… Mikey supposed Splinter would call it the Land of the Living. There, the changes were less frequent.

Then he turned to the mound, which was a full of activity.

When he pointed it out to Leo, his brother’s eyes widened, and he held his chin the same way Captain Ryan did, “Maybe the Domain is changing to keep us away from his body. So the closer we get, the more it’ll change… has Splinter’s Domain ever done that?”

Mikey blinked, “You mean the Old House? No, it’s pretty much stays the same. Splinter’s fixed it up a bit.”

“Like… with ghost magic?”

“With a hammer.” Mikey mimed hitting a nail with a hammer.

“So… not all Domains are like this?”

“Splinter’s isn’t.” Mikey said, because he’d only been in two Domains, so couldn’t tell if either of them were particularly strange by Domain standards.

Leo looked back at the maze, “Hmm. I wonder if the Piper is changing the corridors intentionally. If the Piper is doing it,” Leo said slowly, “you’d think the corridors would be changing more purposefully, but outside of being close to the dirt mound, it looks like the corridors are changing randomly.”

“Maybe,” Mikey said innocently, “he’s just really stupid.”

Leo snorted into his hand, his cheeks puffing out as he tried not to laugh, “Maybe.”

Mikey was about to say another joke, but something caught his eye in the maze below. He leaned forward, as if it’d help him see things clearer. It took him a couple seconds to find what he was looking for – they were near the heart of the maze, maybe ten feet from the dirt mound as the crow flies, so the corridors changed frequently behind them, making it difficult to concentrate.

“Leo! Look!” Mikey raised his hand and pointed, hoping Leo would be able to spot them.

Leo’s brow furrowed in concentration, but then his eyes widened and as a smile spread across his face, some colour returned to his features, like the sight of them had breathed a bit of life back into his body.

Raph and Donnie were okay!

From here, it was clear that the three had been roughed up by the rats, their clothes in disarray, but they were all in one piece, and that was the main thing.

They making their way through the corridors with purpose, following something that neither Leo or Mikey could make out. Rockwell was at the back of their group, and occasionally checked around them.

Mikey grinned up at Leo, and climbed to his feet.

They wouldn’t be able to follow the others, not with how the corridors were changing, but they could still attempt to make their way to the mound and meet up with them. If they were lucky, they’d find Splinter along the way, though Mikey hadn’t seen him in the labyrinth.

As if on cue, Leo’s eyes and smile widened.

“Splinter? It’s good to see you!” Leo called, voice genuinely relieved at the sight of their ghost.

Mikey spun around, smiling so wide it hurt, “Splinter?”

Splinter stood down the corridor, swaying slightly, arms hanging limb at his side.

Here and there, his robe was stained black by ectoplasm, which seeped from unseen wounds. The bandage around his already injured hand, the one which only days ago Donnie had stitched closed, was completely black and ectoplasm dripped from it and onto the floor, where a cluster of rats sat silently.

The fingers of that had twitched, moving as if they wanted to close but where being violently snapped open again.

Instinctively, Mikey took a step forward. It looked painful, and he wanted to help, to check the wounds beneath even if he didn’t know anything about medicine.

But then Leo grabbed his shoulder and pulled Mikey back.

“Mikey,” Leo said, all warmth gone from his voice, “We need to go.”

Mikey snapped his head towards Leo, an argument already on the tip of his tongue. It died in his throat at the petrified expression on Leo’s face, which was so bloodless Leo looked white as a sheet.

Slowly, his chest aching with anxiety, Mikey’s eyes shifted over to Splinter.

Splinter’s muzzle was coated in ectoplasm, the fur matted and dripping.

It wasn’t all coming from his mouth though, there was a cut above one eye from which ectoplasm poured, seeping into his eye. Splinter didn’t blink or even raise a hand to wipe it away, as if it didn’t cause any discomfort.

And above his eye, his ears were ragged and torn, a notch missing from each. Mikey couldn’t tell if they were from a previous battle with a different ghost, or if the rats had simply eaten deeper at those points.

…

His hood was down.

Why was his hood down!?

“… Splinter?”

Splinter lurched forward with a hiss.

Before Mikey could blink, Leo was stood in front of him, the cane raised in warning.

“Splinter,” Mikey said again, trying to keep his voice calm and gentle, the way Leo and Raph would after he’d had a nightmare, “It’s me.”

The rat ghost cocked his head to one side. It wasn’t the slight tilting that Splinter normally did, which had always reminded Mikey of a cat, but a sudden snapping motion that left Splinter’s head at such a steep angle that Mikey’s own neck ached in sympathy.

Splinter’s body took an awkward step forward, as if he was attempting to move through something incredibly thick. As he walked, the rats moved with him, snapping their jaws.

Leo glanced at them, and then at Splinter, trying to figure out which threat he should prepare to encounter first. Was it better to deal with the smaller rats first and then Splinter? Or were they a distraction to be ignored, with Splinter being the real threat?

“Splinter,” Leo said, “We’re here. It’s us.”

Splinter’s legs stopped moving suddenly, almost tripping him over, and the hissing cut off. His hands shakily clenched into fists, and ectoplasm poured out of the soaked bandages.

A horrible strangled sound made its way out of Splinter’s throat, and he twisted his body in awful ways, like something that was stuck in a trap and desperately trying to wiggle its way out.

The writhing stopped.

The glowing red eyes turned to them.

When Mikey first met Splinter, it was hard to tell what Splinter was thinking or feeling, or even where he was looking, based on his eyes. It wasn’t just because of the hood the ghost wore at all times, though that helped, casting his face in stark shadows that made the red glow of his eyes appear all the brighter.

The glow prevented any sort of emotion from bleeding through his eyes, and most of the time Mikey had no idea if Splinter was looking him in the eye or somewhere else. The latter didn’t really bother Mikey to be honest – he hated looking into people’s eyes, and not being made to do it at the Old House was nice – and the former wasn’t a problem either. Splinter’s voice and body language were expressive enough on their own.

Whenever Splinter was thinking over something, his tail would swish from side to side. If excited he’d bounce his hands, the tip of his tail hammering the floor, and would then abruptly shove his hands behind his back when he remembered Mikey was present. Contentment came with a low grinding sound, bruxing. Annoyance tended to come whenever the deer did, and was accompanied by a low hiss, and his lips pulling back from his teeth.

Mikey had imagined for a while now that Splinter’s ears would have been another major tell, judging by how often they twitched inside the hood.

Here and now, Mikey still couldn’t tell where Splinter was looking, or read his expression. His face was blank, despite the hissing.

It didn’t matter though.

Splinter’s body dropped to all fours.

Mikey had never been afraid of Splinter before.

Even when they first met, after the initial fear left him, Mikey hadn’t been scared of the strange ghost in the attic. He’d been more curious, if anything, and the decision to go back and see Splinter again had been easy. Any fear that may have lingered deep down inside of him after that first night was well and truly put to rest whilst they sat on the porch and ate chocolate together.

Mikey had never been afraid of Splinter.

But he had been terrified of Falco.

Once, seemingly a long time ago now, Splinter had dropped to all fours and chased Mikey through the Old House. And Mikey had laughed and laughed as he ran, until he was eventually scooped up in strong arms and held gently.

Splinter had asked in that echoing voice that sounded like rolling thunder, NOT BAD FOR AN OLD TIMER?

And Mikey had replied, “I’ve seen better.”

That was different to this.

Back then, the tone had been playful, like a cat chasing its kitten. And Mikey had known, despite not knowing Splinter well at the time, that if he asked Splinter to stop or if being chased truly did frighten him, Splinter would have stopped.

This though? Splinter’s body was hunched, coiled like a snake preparing to strike, and for the first time since Mikey had meet him, he became aware of just how viscous those claws were, how they curved slightly at the end, excellent for clambering up walls and slicing meet. Splinter was always so careful with them, and had never once got them caught in something or accidentally slashed Mikey’s face whilst sparing.

And as Splinter opened his mouth, dripping ectoplasm and spit, Mikey realised just how sharp those teeth were.

Mikey remembered how easily those jaws had crunched through bone and meat. Knowing it was usually only small animals that fell victim to them brought little comfort, because Mikey knew Splinter could knaw through metal as well, and Mikey was made of stuff far more fragile than steal.

The tail whipped behind Splinter, cracking against the floor like a whip.

If Splinter hit one of them with it, how badly would it hurt?

“Splinter,” the young boy said softly, “Splinter it’s me. It’s Mikey.”

The ghost stopped hissing again, his body relaxing for a moment. His mouth closed, hiding the wicked teeth, and the claws, though sharp as ever, did not seem quite so terrible. Those red eyes flared, and the tail swished from side to side in the way that had become so familiar to Mikey.

But then Splinter made a terrible choking sound, and his neck twisted painfully.

Splinter lunged at them.

Leo swung his cane, smashing it against the side of Splinter’s face with a strength that left Mikey shocked. It drove Splinter to the side, and he landed on all fours, off balance and dazed.

The rats rushed towards them and Leo swung his cane again, catching several of them and hurling them backwards. Mikey kicked at them, and when one jumped on Leo’s hand, teeth ready to sink into flesh, Mikey grabbed it and launched it away. Before it left his hand, the rat dug its claws in, leaving deep gashes from which red blood poured.

By the time their attention was back on Splinter, he’d reorientated himself and was stalking around them, staying just out of range of Leo’s cane.

Leo bent his knees and held the cane in both hands, one around the handle, and the other a little further down the shaft.

Splinter lunged again, and Leo brought the cane down, aiming for Splinter’s head.

The end of the cane smacked against dirt. The ghost was nowhere to be seen. It had been a trick.

Leo and Mikey glanced about them, desperately trying to find where Splinter had gone.

Suddenly he appeared beside Leo, and grabbed the older child before either of them could react. Hoisting Leo up by the front of his shirt with one hand, Splinter grabbed Leo’s arm with the other and twisted until Leo cried out in pain and his hand snapped open.

The cane clattered to the floor and rats swarmed it, a writhing mass of fur and teeth, blazing red eyes.

And behind them, someone was laughing.

When had the music started playing?

Falco stepped out of the gloom, lowering the shawm from his corpse pale lips.

As he casually walked over, he touched Splinter’s shoulder, and Mikey couldn’t help but notice, even as he stomped at rats and tried to reach the cane, that Splinter shuddered and his ears pressed against his skull.

“Hello again,
(Hello again,)

Falco said,

“how do you like,
(how do you like,)
my newest puppet?
(my newest puppet?)”

The rats temporally stopped biting at Mikey’s feet, though Splinter didn’t put Leo down.

Mikey glanced between his brother, Splinter and Falco.

“He doesn’t belong to you.” Mikey spat.

Falco laughed, and ran a hand through Splinter’s fur,

“Oh?
(Oh?)
Then who’s is he?
(Then who’s is he?)
Yours?
(Yours?)”

Falco laughed again.

Mikey clenched his hands and seethed.

People don’t own people, Mikey knew that in his bones. A group of people could decide that they belonged together, could come to the conclusion that their lives would be made worse by the others absence, but that wasn’t the same thing.

Saying you belong with someone was a world away from that person deciding you belong to them.

Falco didn’t seen to understand that though.

He did not understand the nature of possession either. Splinter was not there by choice.

Falco roared with laughter, and did not notice the way Splinter’s eyes turned a fiery orange for half a second. Removing his hand from the back of Splinter’s neck, he began walking towards Mikey, who took a step forward.

Something about that amused Falco, his lips peeling back from his teeth.

“I wonder,
(I wonder,)
What role does he play, in this ‘family’ of yours?
(What role does he play, in this ‘family’ of yours?)
The family pet?
(The family pet?)
Surely you’d prefer a puppy?
(Surely you’d prefer a puppy?)”

Mikey titled his head to one side like a cat, “Is that what your parents thought about you? That they should have got a dog instead?”

The smile widened, but all the humour bleed out of it,

“Oh,
(Oh,)
so we have another comedian.
(so we have another comedian.)”

Falco took another few steps forward.

Mikey shrugged and glared back, eyes burning with contempt, “You make it too easy.”

Then he dropped down, and plunged his hand into the mass of rats squirming atop Leo’s cane until he touched cool metal. Closing his fingers around it, his grip made slippery by blood, he pulled it out and in a single fluid motion swung it into Falco’s torso.

The force of it split open the surface of Falco’s body, spraying ectoplasm over them both, but the momentum of Mikey’s swing kept the cane going until it hit something solid.

Instinctively, Falco slapped him, jagged fingers racking across Mikey’s face.

Blood dripped down Mikey’s chin, but when Falco tried to strike him again, Mikey blocked it with one arm and pushed the cane deeper into the solid mass with the other.

“Get him off!
(Get him off!)”

Behind them, Mikey heard Leo fall to the floor and a second later long spidery fingers were grabbing his shoulders, pulling him away from Falco.

Mikey held onto the cane with both hands, refusing to lose it to Falco, and when those hands flung Mikey down the corridor, the cane was torn free of Falco’s body.

Rolling to his feet, Mikey held the cane like Leo, ready to attack again.

He’d been thrown some distance, and now Leo was stood between himself and Splinter, with Falco just behind Splinter.

Glancing about, Mikey found Leo between himself and Splinter, and Splinter between Leo and Falco.

“You little brat!
(You little brat!)”

Falco screamed again, clutching his torso. It looked like his body was … glitching? Black ectoplasm gushed out of the wound and patches of his body temporarily turned black, distorted, and lost their shape, like ink in a glass of water, before solidifying again.

Then he hissed and demanded,

“Now what?
(Now what?)
...
(...)
Where?
(Where?)”

He looked across the walkway, down to where Mikey had last seen his remaining brothers and Rockwell.

Mikey risked a glance, but could not see them – they had reached the earth mound.

Good.

“Stop them,
(Stop them,)
do not let them reach it.
(do not let them reach it.)”

Falco ordered, and the rats scurried away, racing towards the mound.

To Splinter he added,

“There is something that requires my attention,
(There is something that requires my attention).
Deal with these two.
(Deal with these two.)

Falco glared down at Mikey.

The fingers that clenched his torso tightened, the nails digging into the ruined flesh that was still trying to mend itself.

In a voice that seethed with rage, Falco ordered,

“Take his arm.
(Take his arm.)
Bring it to me.
(Bring it to me)."

Notes:

Splinter, realising he’s about to get possessed for the third time in the same week: THIS IS THE PERFECT MOMENT TO RUN MY MOUTH

Chapter 19

Summary:

“All the world will be your enemy, prince with a thousand enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you.

But first, they must catch you.”

Hide and seek (part 2)

Notes:

The chapter summary is a quote from Watership Down

Hope you’re all okay out there. I know considering the *gestures vaguely* everything, a lot of us aren’t doing great, but I hope you’re as okay as you can be. Posting this chapter right now very much feels like I’m offering you all an egg in this trying time, but working on it helped take my mind off of current events, so maybe it’ll help some of you too.

Staring down the rat demon, Leo couldn’t help but feel like a rabbit trapped in a cage with a rabid dog that would tear his brother apart if given the chance.

They needed to get away. They needed to grab Raph and Donnie and Rockwell and run as fast as they could.

From somewhere behind him, Leo could hear Mikey pleading with Splinter, his voice soft and gentle despite the fear in the child’s voice, “Splinter, it’s me. It’s Mikey, you don’t have to do what he says.”

Splinter hissed and snapped his jaws, gnashing his teeth together. Leo felt a chill run down his spine as he remembered that this ghost could bite through metal.

The skin and muscle and bone of his baby brother’s arm was so much more fragile than metal.

Slowly, fearing that too quick a movement would prompt Splinter to attack, would break whatever spell was keeping him at bay and not rushing towards Mikey to tear him apart, Leo backed up.

He wanted to tell Mikey to run as fast as he could, but the words kept getting stuck in his throat. He could barely breath around those words, could hardly think of what he needed to do.

But this wasn’t the first time Leo had been in a bad situation, and it was not the first time he’d stood between his baby brother and a monster that wished to do him harm.

Keep him safe, a voice whispered.

It was little comfort that Splinter did not want this either.

Keep him safe, repeated the voice.

I t seemed to take forever for Leo to sense Mikey behind him, to slowly take hold of his little brother’s hand and squeeze it gently to tell Mikey that his big brother had everything under control and knew what to do. Leo looked at Mikey through the corner of his eye and waited until Mikey noticed, then allowed a small smile to spread across his lips.

Mikey’s eyes brightened.

Keep him safe.

Splinter, hackles raised, stalked towards them.

As he drew closer to them, Mikey continued to talk.

“I know you don’t want to do this.”

“Please, it’s me.”

“Splinter can you hear me? We’re here!”

Leo took in several deep breaths and tugged Mikey towards the edge of the walkway. Beneath them were corridors they could hide in. Once (if) they lost Splinter, they could run towards the mound and regroup with the others. It’d be a lot easier to protect Mikey with their help, and perhaps they could come up with a new plan for dealing with the Piper.

The drop was steep, but not impossible to land, especially not with the admittedly little training they’d had. Leo hadn’t expected he’d ever be thankful that Splinter had taught them how to land properly when thrown. His leg would complicated things, but it was already burning and Leo couldn’t see how the drop could make it any worse.

Tugging Mikey’s hand more forcefully, Leo pulled him towards the edge. Mikey glanced at Leo, then the corridors below, and started running.

Together, they raced toward the edge and leaped.

Together, they landed and sprinted towards the mound.

Behind them, Leo heard Splinter snarl and begin galloping after them, clawed hands and feet barely making a sound as they touched the floor and propelled the possessed creature onward.

Once again, Leo remembered monstrous dogs and a rabbit general being torn apart.

And he was reminded of the very beginning of that book, which he’d read by torch light beneath his quilt:

“All the world will be your enemy, prince with a thousand enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you.

But first, they must catch you.”

---

Leo considered taking random turns to throw Splinter off, but dismissed the thought as soon as it came. The plan was to reunite with Raph and Donnie, and taking turns with no thought as where they were going was liable to take them further away from their brothers at best, get them terribly lost at worst. Keeping Mikey safe and regrouping with the others were not different aims in Leo’s mind – in order to do one, he had to do the other as well.

So, instead Leo tried to keep an eye on where the dirt mound was and took Mikey down corridors he hoped would lead them closer to it. And as they ran, he hoped that their brothers and Rockwell would be able to burn the Piper’s body.

It was true that burning the body would not kill the Piper – if what Splinter had told them was accurate, they needed to destroy his core to accomplish that feat - but Leo was convinced it’d do something.

“Now what?
(Now what?)”

The Piper had said. He was reacted to something else, not just Mikey. And then he’d demanded to know where it was coming from before disappearing.

Leo suspected the others had reached the mound, and started causing trouble. The fact the Piper had left so quickly meant he didn’t want them there, and Leo was willing to bet the mound housed something the Piper didn’t want them to get to.

There was a snarl from behind them and Mikey sharply pulled on Leo’s hand, forcing him into a crouch, and led his older brother a few feet down a nearby passageway.

Seconds later, Splinter ran across the opposing wall.

Leo edged towards the corner and peaked around it. Splinter was further down the passage way, and had evidently realised he’d lost their scent and was trying to figure out where they’d gone, his nose high as he sniffed the air.

Leo moved away from the corner and began herding Mikey as far away from Splinter as he could. As they went, still crouched, they tried to make as little sound as possible, in case moving too loudly would draw Splinter to them. Still, they moved quickly, with little doubt in their mind that Splinter would soon realise they were but a corridor away.

Leo doubted they’d be lucky enough that the labyrinth would change to their advantage, and block Splinter’s way to them.

Craning his neck, Leo could see the mound, closer than it was merely minutes ago on the platform. It was east of their current position, and it was a small relief to know they had made some progress.

But Falco would already be there by now, either due to knowing the route better than they did, or perhaps from simply making a more direct one only he could travel. Regardless of how he’d done it, Leo knew where the ghost was.

He also knew that, for a short time, Raph and Donnie would be able to handle the Piper. No idea about Rockwell though, and Leo did not, generally speaking, put much faith into adults. Hopefully, he’d do all that he could to protect them, but Leo did not know the man well enough to risk putting any faith in him.

Adults, Leo had learnt over the past few years, were not there to help.

At least, most adults weren’t.

Which meant he and Mikey needed to get to the mound sooner rather than later. It was very possible that they were going to be the cavalry Raph and Donnie were in desperate need of, even if they were bringing a blood thirsty demonic rat with them.

Speaking of which…

He couldn’t hear any movement, but that meant very little when it came to a ninja master. In all honesty, he’d find it far stranger if he could hear Splinter moving.

Leo risked a glance down the corridor.

Nothing.

A four fingered hand clamped on the corner, the claws digging deep gouges in the wall. The hand shook slightly, clenching and unclenching, making the wood creak loudly.

The demon rounded the corner.

Splinter stood there for a moment, hunched over slightly. His hands were coated in dark earth, making it impossible to tell if his hands had stopped bleeding. The hand that had dug itself into the wall stayed there, and jerked when Splinter stepped forward.

It looked as if Splinter was desperately holding onto the wall, and Leo noticed how the claws dug deeper.

Then he hissed, drawing Leo’s attention to his face.

The muzzle black with ectoplasm.

The terrible maw.

Splinter tore his hand out of the wall, slicing the wood clean in half in one fluid movement.

Leo and Mikey were already on their feet and running before the wood hit the floor, landing as loud as a toppling tombstone. As they ran, Leo searched for something, anything, that they could use. If they lost Splinter, he could just find Mikey’s scent and then continue hunting them down these corridors.

That meant their best bet was to keep ahead of him, but he was faster than them and once he caught their scent he’d be sure to close the distance between them soon enough.

That left them with three options.

Number One: plant something that smelt of Mikey in one of these corridors and hope that it distracted Splinter long enough for them to find Donnie and Raph.

Number Two: Disguise their scent. They no bug spray or air freshener, only Donnie did, and Leo cursed himself for not taking at least one. All he had in his bag were medicine, a water bottle, and a small bag of rat treats they’d bought on the way.

Option Three: try to reach Splinter and hope their presence was enough to snap him out of it.

Three wasn’t working so far… which left one and two.

Leo was thinking both, both was good.

Stopping for any amount of time would be risky, and it might only work once before Splinter would catch on. If that happened, Splinter would just search for their altered scents and then follow that, or hunt them down using their footprints and other signs they left behind. After all, Splinter was an experienced enough hunter to track down and kill rabbits.

Leo grit his teeth, from frustration more than pain, though he was experiencing plenty of the latter.

If they dropped something, it’d need to be big, Leo thought, big enough that Splinter could confuse it for Mikey and be drawn away to investigate. A bag, or a coat, perhaps? They couldn’t afford to lose either of those in the long run, and they’d need an explanation for where they’d gone.

Which would be easier to explain?

None of Mikey’s school supplies were in the bag, but that could just raise more questions about where he’d lost it and it contained supplies they needed now.

What about a coat? Neither of them had anything important in their pockets, but it was the middle of December.

Which was more important: being able to carry more things now vs warmth and comfort later?

Then again, maybe Leo was getting a head of himself. After all, if they all died here, in this Domain filled with possessed rats and ghosts, the cold and other people’s questions wouldn’t be their problem anymore.

First, they needed to survive.

“Mikey,” Leo said as they ran, “I’ve got an idea. We’re going to dump your coat.”

Mikey let go of Leo’s hand and shrugged off his coat without argument.

“When we get a chance,” Leo explained, “we’ll drop this and run as fast as we -”

Just as they burst into another large room, much like the one where they’d first noticed Splinter’s absence, the ghost leaped. He sailed over their heads, and landed in front of them, claws leaving deep furrows in the earth.

The brothers dived, Leo right, Mikey left, and ducked behind piles of stray furniture.

Mikey moved with barely a sound, but Leo’s footfalls were loud and clumsy. Even so, the ghost turned left.

L eo cursed underneath his breath, a string of foul swears that would have delighted Raph.

His leg crunched as his jumped back to his feet, and he bit down on his lip. Later, he’d deal with the pain and consequences later, when his baby brother wasn’t about to get mauled.

B efore he could react, Mikey sprinted past, moving faster than Leo thought a human could, almost a blur flitting from one shadow to the next.

Only a few feet behind him, Splinter galloped on all fours.

“Mikey!” Leo shouted, “Drop it! I’ll be right behind you!”

Mikey’s eyes caught Leo’s only for a moment, a split second acknowledgement that Mikey had heard him and understood. In the dim light of the Piper’s Domain, Mikey’s eyes seemed to burn like blue fire.

A nd then Mikey was gone.

Leaning heavily on his cane , Leo stood in front of the corridor Mikey had just run down. Splinter was barrelling towards him, and there wasn’t a ceiling here, which meant he’d be able to jump right over Leo if given the chance.

So Leo didn’t give him one.

In the split second before crashing into Splinter, Leo saw Splinter pause, confused by why the child was rushing at rather than away from him. That confusion might have been the reason why Leo managed to knock them both off balance, Leo landing heavily on the floor whilst Splinter came up in a roll.

From the floor, Leo smirked at the ghost and said, “Weren’t expecting that where you?”

Shakily, Leo pushed himself up into a sitting position and watched as Splinter’s head twisted at an awful angle, and something from within his body creaked under the strain.

“Splinter,” he said, “Can you hear me?”

The ghost stopped squirming.

“Can you do something? So I know it’s you?”

The clawed hands dug deeper into the dirt, rooting Splinter in place.

His tail swished from side to side, as it always did when Splinter was thinking something through.

Leo smiled and said, “We need your help. You can’t. You can’t hurt Mikey.”

A soft whine made its way out of Splinter’ throat.

“I know you don’t, want to.” Leo said and clambered to his feet, “You have to try to. Try to fight it though. Fight him.”

“Shut up.
(SHUT UP.)”

Leo resisted the urge to bit his mouth again. His cheek and tongue were sore, and his mouth was filled with the coppery tang of blood. At some point, either upon ramming into Splinter or falling to the floor, he’d bit his tongue.

It wasn’t a surprise that Splinter could not speak freely, but all the same the Piper’s intrusion was unwanted. So, he decided to do the one thing he knew was sure to infuriate a controlling adult.

Leo ignored him.

“I know you can do it.” Leo continued as if the Piper hadn’t spoken at all, “You did it at Rockwell’s apartment. He tried to make you kill him, but you didn’t.”

Splinter’s shoulder’s tensed, and Leo couldn’t tell if he was preparing to strike or pouring everything he had into preventing his body attacking Leo or continuing to hunt Mikey.

“And you’re a ninja master. We couldn’t beat you at a single game of hide and seek! Not even when all four of us worked together! We had to give you a time limit to make it fair. And you’ve not managed to catch just me and Mikey.”

“Whatever you are attempting to do,
(WHATEVER YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO DO,)
it isn’t going to work.
(IT ISN’T GOING TO WORK.)”

“Back on the walkway, when he told you to stop Mikey, you could have done a lot worse than just throw Mikey. You taught Mikey how to land properly, you taught all of us how to do that. You knew Mikey could land that, didn’t you?”

S plinter’s mouth closed, hiding the sharp teeth, and he took in a deep, shaky, breath. At first, Leo found that strange, but perhaps taking in deep breaths was soothing, even for ghosts and demons and things not quite one or the other. Habits do tend to bring their own form of comfort after all .

The ghost squeezed his eyes shut, and clenched his hands into fists, smearing more wet earth between his fingers in the process. Then a strange smell appeared which Leo could not describe, and he watched as the mud which caked Splinter’s arms and hands dried. The dirt began to crack and flake off, and through the fissures a brilliant orange light glimmered.

When Splinter opened his eyes, a pinprick of orange light sat within the centre. Rapidly, it spread, until the red was completely replaced.

The red looked somehow sickly by comparison.

RUN, the ghost begged, TAKE YOUR BROTHERS AND LEAVE.

“No. Not without you.” Leo said, voice leaving no room for argument.

It was true that Splinter was still very much a stranger to Leo, but he was important to Mikey, and Leo would not leave someone Mikey loved behind.

Besides, he’d been put in this situation, in the path of a monster, by his own attempts to help Leo and his brothers. That counted for a lot. Leo and his family had been left on their own with so much, and disappointed by so many people, that someone going out of their way to help them was a novelty. Splinter didn’t have to fight the Piper, he could have left them to deal with this alone, but he hadn’t. As such, abandoning him in this place, whilst under the Piper’s control, left a bad taste in Leo’s mouth.

Once, only a few days ago, he’d wondered what it was like for the rabbits Splinter hunted and fed upon. He’d wondered what it would be like to be hunted down by such a monstrous creature that could move from shadow to shadow.

Now, he knew exactly what it felt like. He no longer had to speculate about the terror of being hunted.

And yet, he found himself worrying about that same monster, and trying to figure out how he could get it back.

It was true, Leo mused, that a monster wasn’t so monstrous once you knew it and began to care for it. Now, he felt less like a rabbit staring down a snarling dog, and more like a rabbit who had just found one of its fellows with a snare around his neck, slowly cutting into his throat and staining his fur red, chocking him to death.

Leo wanted to undo the snare, not abandon this rabbit.

But Splinter had spoke, not the Piper, but Splinter, so perhaps the snare was already loosening.

And deep inside, a voice whispered, Keep them safe. Keep them both safe.

The orange light in Splinter’s eyes receded, swallowed up the red, and the glow faded into nothing. As the light died, the fur along Splinter’s body rose, and his mouth was pried open to allow a viscous snarl to force its way out of his throat.

When the ghost leapt, Leo was already on the other end of the corridor, twisting around the corner and bolting down it.

As he ran, he glanced down hallways, searching for Mikey. It had only been a few minutes since he last saw Mikey, but he had no way of knowing which corridors Mikey had gone down, or even if those same corridors still existed. For all Leo knew, the moving corridors had cut him and Mikey off from each other, leaving them to traverse this Domain alone.

Luckily, Mikey had already thought about that problem, and hadn’t gone far. Leo ‘found’ him when he ran past a corridor and felt someone grab the back of his jacket and pull him down it. If not for the fact that Leo’s throat was raw, he’d have screamed, but instead all that came out was a stifled croak, like a frog that had been run over and didn’t have enough air in its lungs to cry.

Seeing his older brother’s distress, Mikey let go and stepped back, allowing Leo some space to process who he was with and calm down.

Leaning against the wall to catch his breath, Leo frowned at Mikey. His youngest brother’s coat was nowhere to be seen, and mud was smeared across his face, arms, and clothes. It looked like Mikey had found a puddle and rolled around in it. Mikey grinned up at him, evidently pleased with his handiwork.

“How?” Leo croaked.

Mikey rifled through his bag and pulled out an empty water bottle, then pointed towards a puddle three feet away from them.

Leo nodded, and limped over to the puddle.

He dropped his coat next to the puddle and rubbed as much mud as he could onto his face and hands, whilst Mikey grabbed handfuls of dirt and rubbed them onto the back of his shirt.

Afterwards, Leo shoved his coat into the remaining puddle and handed it to Mikey, who shrugged it on.

The texture was unpleasant, and Leo wasn’t a fan of the smell, but it’d hopefully make it harder for Splinter to track them.

“Okay,” Leo’s voice was thin and gravelly, and he could taste copper, “Okay, I think we’ve bought some time. Now-” his throat constricted painfully, and he coughed heavily into his arm, hacking up phlegm.

His knee wasn’t feeling much better, the joint swollen and burning. Too much running, too much running around in a blind panic and trying to get away and fight back and not die.

Something cool touched his arm, and Leo opened his watering eyes to see Mikey holding out a bottle of water. Leo took it, along with the painkillers Mikey pressed into his other hand.

“We’ll go slow,” Leo continued, “Keep a look out for-” another cough ripped through his throat.

“Look out for Splinter and Falco, got it.” Mikey whispered.

Leo nodded.

“We need to follow the rats.” Mikey added.

Leo’s frown deepened, so Mikey continued, “The rats are all going to the mound. We can follow them.”

His eyes widened and his brows rose, “Okay. Good.”

Time for another game of hide and seek.

---

Inching along the corridors, peeking around corners to check for Splinter, whilst following a hoard of possessed rats towards the dirt mound was as nerve wracking as it sounded. All around them were the sounds of many scurrying feet, and the closer they got to the nest, the more rats they saw until they could barely move faster than a crawl.

Leo was pretty sure he’d aged twenty years in the last hour.

Strangely enough though, the rats didn’t pay them any mind. He’d have liked to think it was because Mikey’s plan worked and the rats didn’t recognise them as enemies, or that what Mikey had said about the red mist meant the rats could barely see them. He wasn’t so sure though. The rats were moving with purpose towards the mound, as if the Piper was pulling them there to protect his body.

(Or, the rats knew that Mikey had already been marked for slaughter, and so saw neither him or Leo as an active threat to their master.)

(Leo tried not to think too hard about that one.)

Glancing down the corridor, Leo was relieved to see that Splinter had yet to catch up to them. The diversion had worked.

But that didn’t mean they could afford to stop and have a look around, or take the scenic route. It just meant they had time to do what they needed to and if they were lucky, Splinter wouldn’t catch up until the Piper was already defeated.

Leo’s eyes were pulled downwards to Mikey.

The little boy’s eyes had darkened, no longer that vibrant blue that spoke of clear skies and the most wonderful sunshine, but instead a coming storm that was sure to tear everything to its foundations, uprooting trees and dashing bodies against rocks. It was the look of someone who usually smiled brighter than the sun itself, but who had now been given reason to retract that gentle warmth, and replaced it with an inferno that burned and burned until not even ash remained.

For the first time, Leo couldn’t help but think of Mikey as both a lighthouse and an ocean. This lighthouse was positioned above craggy cliffs beside an immense ocean, and its light would guide Michelangelo’s brothers safely to the harbour, avoiding the jagged rocks that threatened to rip them asunder.

But here and now, that same light was shinning directly on the Piper. Not to guide him home, but to blind him, so that by the time the light moved on, his ship would already be upon the rocks, and his life forfeit alongside his ship.

Mom had been like that. She was always loving and gentle with them, all smiling eyes and deep laughs, but Leo could remember times when someone angered her, and it had felt like watching the kraken burst out of its cafe and tear Athens apart stone by stone, broken body by broken body.

Although it had to be said that in this analogy, Leo had been a baby kraken, completely safe from his mother’s wrath because she would never hurt him.

The metaphor fell apart a little when dad was factored in, largely because he didn’t stop the kraken by showing her Medusa’s head and turning her to stone, so much as he cheered her on and held their sons aloft so they could see their mama chew someone up and spit them out.

Donnie looked a lot like her, except for his curls. He’d inherited her temper too, as had Raph.

Leo was pretty sure he’d inherited his obsession with Space Heroes from her, though admittedly dad had loved the show too. Back in their room in the Children’s Home, they had a family photo album. Within it were some photos taken several years before they were born, at a Comic Con their parents attended dressed as Captain Ryan (mom) and Dr Mindstrong (dad).

The memory of those photos brought a small smile to Leo’s lips, and settled the churning anxiety that had wormed its way into his heart.

Mikey and Leo reached a junction, and peered around the corner, just in case Splinter had gotten ahead of them and was waiting.

He wasn’t, so they carefully made their way down it, trying to step on as few rats as possible.

As they went, Leo tried to listen out for any signs of a disturbance ahead of them. He couldn’t hear anything. Even the rats were silent. Hopefully as they drew closer to the mound, they’d hear the sounds of fighting. Or better yet, a fire.

Halfway down the corridor they found a table and Mikey clambered on top of it and peered over the top.

“I think we’re close.” Mikey said, “the walls aren’t wood over there.”

“What do they-” Leo’s voice was so low and gravely, he had to stop talking. He tried clearing his throat, but it made little difference.

Mikey cringed in sympathy and said, “They’re made of dirt. Over there,” he pointed, “they turn into tunnels.”

“Any- thing else?” Leo asked.

Mikey shook his head, “There’s not even rats. I think they’re all on this side.” He scanned the other passage again, just in case he’d missed something.

From the other side, muffled by wood and distance, Leo heard bare feet.

Very carefully, very quietly, Mikey ducked down and began climbing off the table.

“We gotta go,” he whispered.

“Did he see you?” Leo asked.

From other the wall came a horrible ear splitting shriek.

Nevermind!

They took off running once again. Soon the wooden walls in their own passage were replaced with a gapping tunnel made of mud.

They dived down it without a second thought, and didn’t stop moving until they reached a large room littered with trash and flung themselves behind a table. From there they crawled deeper into the pile, until the garbage completely hid them from view.

Moments later, Splinter entered the room.

They could hear him walking around and sniffing the air. He snarled and hissed, but it was difficult to tell where exactly the sound was coming from.

Mikey peeked over the top of the garbage, then ducked back down.

“Where?” Leo mouthed to Mikey.

Mikey pointed over the garbage and mouthed back, “Close.”

Leo nodded and gently prodded Mikey to keep crawling. They’d done the first part of his hastily made plan: they’d reached the mound. Donnie and Raph couldn’t be far away, and if he and Mikey lost Splinter again, they might be able to find them before he caught them. How they were going to do that was another matter entirely, but Leo was pleased with their progress so far.

He could still hear Splinter sniffing, so Leo assumed Splinter hadn’t caught Mikey’s scent again, at least not fully. Maybe Mikey hadn’t ducked in time and Splinter had seen him, or had been able to pick up on scraps of smells they’d left behind. Or perhaps Splinter hadn’t noticed them at all, and instead the Piper himself had called Splinter to the mound when his own attempts to thwart Donnie and Raph didn’t go as well as he’d hoped.

Either way, Splinter did not yet know where exactly Leo and Mikey were hiding.

That was good, and Leo wanted to keep things that way. Only hours ago, Splinter had said that stealth would still be possible whilst in the Piper’s Domain, and Leo hoped he could prove their ghost right.

Besides, Leo could tell that running was no longer an option for him. Even as they crawled, his bad leg lagged behind, and it was a struggle to keep up with Mikey even as the younger boy moved at a snail’s pace.

Speaking of which, Mikey hadn’t said anything, but he wasn’t in great shape either.

For starters, his arms were a mess. Thankfully he’d not been bitten, but the rats had tore into his arms when he retrieved Leo’s cane from beneath the writhing mass of them, leaving deep lacerations. And then there were bruises forming beneath his eyes, the swelling around his nose, and the blood which was dripping down his face. It mingled with the ectoplasm that had sprayed him when he attacked the Piper, making the blood which stained the front of his t-shirt appear almost black.

When Mikey did that, when he grabbed Leo’s cane and attacked the Piper, Leo had been so afraid.

And so, so proud. His heart had felt like it was about to burst, because here was the little boy he’d taken care of these five long years attacking a monster to protect his family. Mikey would always be his baby brother, but he wasn’t a baby anymore. He was growing up.

That didn’t mean he hadn’t wanted to scold Mikey though, or to demand to know why Mikey had taken such a risk. It was simply that Leo had chosen to focus on the pride.

Mikey raised a red arm, stopping Leo from going any further. Just ahead of them was a gap in the garbage heap, and Mikey gestured for Leo to scoot back a bit.

Once he was satisfied that Leo was completely out of sight, Mikey walked forward in a crouch and scanned the area. Before returning to Leo, Mikey grabbed a brick.

Leo pointed at the opening and tilted his head.

Mikey pulled the hood of Leo’s coat down low, covering his face, then gestured to the right – Splinter was nearby and would see them if they tried to move. Then Mikey waved the brick and mined throwing it. He wanted to use it to create a distraction so they could move to the next trash heap and then keep going towards the exit.

He took the hood off and stared at Leo inquisitively – he wanted to know if Leo thought it was a good plan.

Leo smiled and nodded, then held out his hand. Mikey passed him the brick and prepared to move.

Throwing the brick whilst crouched like this wouldn’t get it as far compared to if he stood up and pitched it properly, but he couldn’t risk Splinter seeing them. If that happened, it wouldn’t matter how far away the brick landed, the distraction wouldn’t work. Still, he needed to make sure he threw it a fair distance to make sure he didn’t simply draw Splinter straight to them.

Leo stretched his right arm behind him, and using his left help keep balance, threw the brick as hard as he could. It shot out of their garbage pile, and sailed over another, disappearing out of sight.

A few seconds later it smashed into the floor and shattered, sending out quieter clacking sounds that immediately followed the first explosion.

Closer, far closer than Leo had anticipated, Splinter snarled and gave chase.

Leo held his breath, and let it out slowly when Splinter’s footfalls moved away from them, towards where the brick had landed.

As they crept to the next pile, Leo thought about the fact they could hear Splinter at all.

Earlier, he’d managed to reach him. Only temporarily admittedly, but that was proof enough for Leo that Splinter was still conscious in there. The ghost might not have been able to break free of the Piper, but he had just enough residual control of himself to tip the scales slightly in their favour.

They reached the next pile and managed to crawl into just as Splinter rounded the corner again, searching for where the brick had come from.

They crawled underneath the remains of an old desk, past a collection of broken lab equipment, and around what looked like research paperwork until they reached the next gap.

This time what lay ahead of them was not another large pile, but instead several small islands of trash, each large enough to only hide one person at a time.

Leo bit his lip and thought over who to send first. If he went first, he could scout ahead to see if it was safe, but the chances of him alerting Splinter were higher. If he sent Mikey first, that could place his little brother out of danger faster, but if Splinter spotted them, Leo might not be able to each them in time.

Actually, that last point applied either way.

Beside him, Mikey bounced quietly.

Leo took in a deep breath, then checked where Splinter was.

He could not see the rat ghost anywhere near them, and on top of that the only movement he could hear was coming from the other end of the room. It sounded like Splinter was checking all the piles, and was doing so with little care as to how loud it was. Which hopefully meant he wouldn’t hear them if they accidentally made a sound.

Just in case Leo was wrong and Splinter was close by, he went first.

He crawled on his hands on knees, timing his movements with Splinter’s by only advancing when he could hear Splinter rooting through trash, so as to hid any noises he might make. Occasionally, he’d hear sniffing, and would duck behind the closest island and hold his breath until the sounds of garbage being moved began again.

Slowly, inch by inch, he made his way from small island to small island, until eventually he came upon another large mound of trash. Over here, his view of the room was a lot better, and he carefully looked around for Splinter. When the coast seemed clear, Leo gestured for Mikey to follow.

As Mikey made his way over, Leo looked towards the exit. It was clear for the most part, and a steady stream of rats were hurrying through it. More important than that though, were the sounds of shouting coming from the other side. The source of the shouting was too far away to make out any distinct words, but he recognised Raph’s angry roars and a high pitched yelp that had to be Donnie.

Leo’s stomach twisted into knots.

The Piper was with them, and it worried him that he couldn’t hear an adult man’s voice. Either Rockwell was dead, or he was out of commission in some other way. Of course it was also possible he’d left, in which case, should Leo survive the night, he was going to set the man’s car on fire.

Occasionally, he heard what sounded like the Piper, and Leo supposed it would literally kill that particular ghost to shut up.

Turning his attention back to the room he was actually in, Leo tried to locate Splinter again. The sounds of trash being disturbed had stopped, which might mean Splinter had gone somewhere else to search for them, or was in the process of moving from one trash pile to the next.

Checking on Mikey, Leo found that he was halfway across the archipelago of garbage.

When Mikey reached the next island, he looked up and offered Leo a small smile. Then the younger boy looked over his shoulder, and peered around the island, searching for Splinter.

Based upon his expression, one part worry, one part puzzlement, Mikey didn’t find their ghost either.

Where was he?

Leo couldn’t get up and look around without risking Splinter spotting him, so he settled for listening out for any signs of movement.

Silence.

Even the hissing had stopped.

Leo inched towards the edge of the pile he was hiding behind, and poked his head around the corners.

Still nothing.

Splinter was gone.

Had he snapped out of it on his own?

Or had the Piper called him? It was possible, if the Piper was having trouble with Raph and Donnie, that he’d decided to call in reinforcements.

Reluctantly, Leo rose to his feet to get a better view of their surroundings. As he stood up, he shoved one hand into his mouth and bit down, to stifle his own pained cries.

Keeping close to the walls of the trash pile, and hoping that the dirt which still covered him would offer enough camouflage to avoid detection, he scanned the room again.

Still nothing.

Where-

A small shower of dirt rained down, hitting the back of Mikey’s head.

…

Slowly, ever so slowly, Leo looked up and up and up.

On the ceiling, hanging off it from his claws, a giant rat demon with glowing red eyes stared back at him.

The demon dropped down, landing right behind Mikey.

Leo rushed forward, but did not reach them in time before Splinter grabbed one of Mikey’s legs and dragged him back.

Mikey screamed. He managed to twist his body around and kicked at Splinter’s hand. One kick missed and instead smashed into Splinter’s snout, and the ghost snapped his jaws at Mikey, narrowly missing his foot.

As Leo ran to them, his knee crunched, and he crashed to the floor, his hands striking the floor with enough force to send pain reverberating up his arms. His teeth clamped together, and blood filed his mouth again. His cane skittered across the ground.

Desperately he tried to climb to his feet, but his knee buckled again, and he slammed against the floor again. Instead of trying again, he dragged himself across the ground, hand over hand, whilst his little brother screamed and screamed.

I’m not going to make it! Leo thought to himself and resisted the urge to sob, I’m not going to make it and Mikey will – no. NO. Where’s my cane?

He spotted it only a few feet away from him, but here and now it seemed so far away.

“Mikey! Mikey hold on!” He shouted.

Leo threw his hands out in front of him and pushing his body forward with his good leg. He fell upon the cane, but before he could celebrate this small victory he threw it at Mikey.

“Grab this!”

Mikey’s desperately he reached out, his fingers grazing the cane’s surface and pushing it away, almost out of reached.

Splinter pulled Mikey back again and opened his maw.

Keep them safe.

Leo grabbed a rock.

Keep them safe.

He threw it with all his strength.

Keep them safe.

It smashed against Splinter’s face, sending out a spray of ectoplasm. One of Splinter’s hands let go of Mikey and wiped at his face, trying to stem to flow of ectoplasm as the newly reopened wound above his eye poured and poured, covering Splinter’s eyes and snout.

Mikey took the opportunity to kick at Splinter’s other hand, which loosened, and then surged forward and wrapped his fingers around the cane.

Splinter snarled and lunged.

Mikey turned, the cane raised in both hands.

Splinter’s teeth clamped down on the metal, but did not break through it. Instead the cane held him back, and he snapped his jaws around it.

Ectoplasm poured from his eye, down his snout, and onto Mikey’s face.

Leo let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and struggled along the floor. His breath came out in painful wheezes, and the air he sucked in burned his throat and lungs .

Keep them safe keep them safe keep them safe.

The wounds on Mikey’s hands made his grip on the cane slippery. Already, Leo could see Mikey’s arms shaking from the strain of keeping the cane far enough away from his face that Splinter couldn’t bite him.

They were lucky, so ridiculously lucky, that Splinter had enough control to dig his hands into the dirt and hold them there. If not, he might have just ripped the cane out of Mikey’s hand s by now.

Or simply broken the cane with his teeth.

Leo opened his mouth and tried to call out, but the words died in his throat.

And all the while, he could hear his baby brother begging.

“Splinter, it’s me, it’s Mikey!”

Finally, painfully, Leo managed to clamber to his hands and knees.

“You taught me ninjutsu! And sewing! We fixed the mattresses at the Old House!”

Leo took a stumbling step forward, his bad leg trailing behind him.

Keep them safe.

“You helped me with my homework! When we train, we put the radio on! You like really old jazz!”

It didn’t have to be Mikey’s arm, Leo told himself.

Mikey was sobbing now, “When we meet, you helped me!”

The Piper never said whose arm it had to be. I can manage without an arm, he reassured himself, not Mikey, please not Mikey! Please!

Mikey’s voice broke, shattered, splintered into a thousand pieces as he cried out “Papa please!”

The cane snapped.

Mikey’s petrified gasp and the silence that followed was a terrible thing.

None of them moved. Perhaps they were too petrified to move, or perhaps they hoped that staying still would somehow undo what had just happened.

A faint orange glow, weak and barely there, seeped out of Splinter’s wounds, new and old, and Leo allowed himself a little hope.

…

Splinter’s body trembled as his mouth was forced open.

He lunged.

And all Leo could do was scream as those teeth and jaws snapped shut on an arm.

Chapter 20

Summary:

Raph, Donnie and Rockwell face the Piper.

Leo and Mikey try to save Splinter.

After getting separated from their Leo, Mikey, Splinter, the three of them had been chased through endless corridors by the hoard of rats, eventually loosing them by climbing over several high walls and double backing the way they’d come to confuse the rats. Along the way, in case any rats were still following them, they dropped some rat treats on the ground and then threw others several feet away, hoping the promise of food would provide a powerful distraction.

And when they were sure they weren’t being followed? They dumped their water bottles and covered themselves in dirt, Raph rubbing as much mud and filth into Donnie’s face and curls and possible, then making his brother turn round so he could plaster it onto Donnie’s back. Once he was done, Donnie insisted on helping Raph by doing the same. Rockwell for his part was hurriedly rubbing dirt onto their bags, thoroughly coating everything.

Later, (if they survived this) they were going to need to explain the state of their clothes and bags, Raph knew. Perhaps they could lie and say they’d all fallen down a well? Or maybe they’d just need to sneak around the care home, wash their clothes themselves and shower, then pretend they’d dropped their bags somewhere fifthly by accident.

By Raph’s estimation, it was about 50/50 that they’d be asked about what they’d be doing. They’d made a habit of not causing trouble or raising alarm at their current care home, and a convenient child was an invisible child, but Raph had a rap sheet the length of his arm and that brought unwanted attention depending on the adult.

Raphael Tortuga was a problem child, not to be trusted.

But Leonardo Tortuga was a middle aged single mother of three in the body of a pre-teen boy, so people tended to assume Leo would keep his wayward twin in line, and Raph knew his current streak of good behaviour was being attributed to his saint of an older brother, rather than Raph working hard to be a Good Kid for once.

Which was stupid. Leo was only an hour older than him! Raph didn’t have to do what Leo told him!

The hoard didn’t find them again. Raph didn’t know if the particular group that was hunting them had simply failed to find them, perhaps having gone in the completely wrong direction in search of them, or if the Piper had called them away for some other reason. Although Raph supposed it was also a possibility that they’d lost interest in the two scrawny kids and tooth pick adult, and had instead gone back to whatever it was they were doing before the brothers arrived, or had realised there were suddenly treats strewn around and were taking the chance to eat whilst they could.

Passing up food was a stupid idea, Raph had learned. You never knew if the adults around you were going to give you more, so you better eat while you can. And, if you were really clever, take extra and hide it, so that way when the adults decided you shouldn’t eat tonight because you were a Bad Kid you had snacks to keep you going in the mean time. That was why Leo and Raph had a stash of food underneath their bunk, which only Donnie and Mikey knew about. It was also the reason why they refused to let anyone else into their room to clean, which Raph knew had been interpreted as him being overly territorial.

The three of them wandered for a while, trying to find their way back to the others so they could regroup and come up with a new plan. That was, until Donnie noticed the rats congregated in greater numbers down certain corridors. Curious, they followed, Donnie at the front and Raph towards the back in case something snuck up on them and someone needed to stay back to buy time.

By this point, Raph cared less about finishing the mission than he did finding and keeping his brothers safe, but even he had to admit that leaving someone like the Piper at large would put everyone in danger, his brothers included. Generally speaking, Raph struggled to care about strangers, because no one had ever cared about his brothers. If they had, Leo wouldn’t need a cane and Mikey wouldn’t know what it was like to have a broken arm and Donnie wouldn’t have lost his voice for months – someone must have known what was happening to his brothers, but NO ONE did a damn thing about it.

No, Raph only cared about his brothers. Everyone else could choke.

But the Piper was a threat to his brothers, and had already possessed Leo and Mikey. So, with great reluctance and no small amount of complaining, Raph journeyed down dark and damp corridors, deeper and deeper into the Piper’s Domain.

They reached the mound with surprisingly little trouble, which honestly just made Raph more nervous than anything, and he reached out and pulled Donnie closer to him just in case something suddenly leapt out at them.

Once inside the mound, Raph was surprised to find that it wasn’t as dark as he’d anticipated. Everything was bathed in a red glow, lit by the red eyes of the many rats that the Piper held captive here. It made his skin crawl, but he pushed it down and focused on the fact that this place being well lit just meant they’d have an easier time finding the Piper’s body.

Raph smiled to himself grimly, and quickly scanned the room. There was nothing of importance in this first room, only dirt floors and rats scurrying through tunnels even deeper in the mound, and he signalled for Rockwell and Donnie to follow him.

Now Rockwell brought up the rear, and when Raph occasionally glanced behind him, he’d sometimes see Rockwell looking all around them and waving his torch like a weapon, as if to scare off whatever monsters his mind had conjured up.

It was strange. Raph had never thought adults did that – made up things to be scared off, that is. He’d always thought it was a thing little kids Mikey’s age did, kids too young to know that the real world held more horrors than the imagination could conjure. Raph thought that was why Mikey was afraid of ghosts, or at least it was the reason Mikey used to be scared of them. That fear had disappeared, evaporated into the aether and Raph couldn’t put his finger on when exactly it had happened, only that Splinter was the cause.

Raph had done everything in his power to shield his little brother from the worst parts of the world, and he liked to think in his unusually optimistic moments that he’d managed that. The rest of the time, which was tinged in what others called pessimism and he realism, he knew he’d done as best as he could and still fallen short. Especially after they’d all been separated, and Mikey came back to him with a broken arm and Leo…

He took in a deep breath and did what Mr Silver had told him to, all those months ago in that hospital room, as his twin brother languished in a deep and dreamless sleep.

The corridor was cold and white, the only pops of colour coming from Raph’s own clothes and the signs on the walls telling people to wash their hands. He’d wanted to sit in the room with Mikey and Leo, and when the doctors and nurses asked him to leave, his hackles had risen and he’d prepared himself for another fight.

He was NOT LEAVING his brothers alone, not after what had happened when he wasn’t there to protect them. Mikey hadn’t wanted him to leave either, and held onto Raph with his good hand. Leo… he wasn’t in any condition to make a statement about his wants or desires, which meant Raph had to try his best to guess and do that.

But before Raph could really lose his temper, a tall man walked in, and the tension left the room.

The medical staff explained what was happening, and the man listened and nodded, before saying to Raph, “You’re Mikey and Leo’s brother, right?”

“Who wants to know?” Raph hissed, and moved so that the man couldn’t see Mikey.

“Ah, yes, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself,” the man held out his hand and said, “Samson Silver. I’m Donnie’s new case worker,” Raph bristled, and Mr Silver dropped his hand, “Would you mind coming outside to talk? The nurses need to check how your brothers are doing, and I’ve got some questions I need to ask you.”

“What questions?” Raph hissed.

“How you got here, and what you know about what happened to your brothers.” Mr Silver’s eyes from from Raph, to his brothers, the medical staff, and then back to Raph, “They’re not going to hurt your brothers, I promise. How about we get some chairs and sit outside? That way if something does happen, you’ll be able to hear it.”

Raph eyed him suspiciously, “How’s Donnie?”

There was a short pause, and Mr Silver’s face turned grave, “Not good. He’s fine physically, but being away from you three hasn’t done him any favours.”

“And you want my help?”

“In a way, yes. I think some mistakes were made that need fixing, but I need to know more about you four and what’s been going on first.”

So now Raph was sat on a blue plastic chair, just outside Leo and Mikey’s room, half listening to Mr Silver, half listening to the doctors and nurses. He answered the questions Mr Silver had, and asked his own, namely what was going to happen now and what else he could say about Donnie.

“So you walked all the way here?”

“Yeah.”

“And no one noticed?” Mr Silver asked, voice neutral.

Raph shrugged, “You noticed. Apparently.”

Mr Silver’s mouth formed a thin line, “How did you get out?” when Raph hesitated he added, “You won’t be in any trouble. I’m just trying to figure out how a whole kid went missing and it’s only just being reported now.”

Raph shifted awkwardly, “Lock pick.”

Mr Silver nodded to himself, and Raph wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

“Okay, I think that just about covers everything.” Mr Silver said, putting his notebook away, “I’m sorry to say that you’re going to be asked these questions a lot by a lot of different people in the next few weeks.”

Raph glanced at the hospital room’s door. He could hear Mikey answering questions of his own, and from the sounds of things a nurse was asking him if he felt any better.

“What happens now?” Raph blurted out, “They can’t go back.”

“I can’t say for sure. There’s going to be an investigation into how this happened, and you and your brothers will need to go to new homes. I’m afraid I can’t make any promises on what exactly will happen next, but I’ll do whatever I can to make sure things get better.”

“So, what, we just wait around for you lot to do something?” Raph crossed his arms, “No thanks. And what are we supposed to do while we wait? Take up knitting?”

Mr Silver let out a tired laugh and for the first time Raph saw the dark circles around his eyes, “That might actually be a good idea, but I get what you mean. If you want my honest answer, pick something you can do and work on that in the meantime. It doesn’t have to be anything ground breaking, just as long as it’s something that takes up your time,” in a much more serious voice Mr Silver added, “And remember that what happened tonight wasn’t your fault.”

“When did I say it was!? Raph snapped, because he didn’t want to admit that he’d been thinking about it and didn’t want to worry about how Mr Silver knew that.

And he didn’t want to tell Mr Silver how wrong he was. Raph was supposed to protect his brothers, and tonight he’d failed spectacularly. He’d failed to arrive in time, and now…

and now Leo was hurt badly. He lay so still in his bed, only his chest moving as it rose and fell.

Raph stared down at his hands, rough and calloused already from so many fights, so many beatings, “I can, I can look after Mikey until Leo wakes up.”

Mr Silver nodded, “I bet he’ll sleep a lot easier, knowing they’ve got you looking out for Mikey.”

And that’s exactly what Raph did. He tucked Mikey into bed at night, and when they woke up in the morning he helped Mikey eat his breakfast, cut his dinner up into small pieces the way mom and dad used to when they were sick.

After they were reunited with Donnie, Raph looked after him too, making sure both his little brothers ate plenty and slept well, and double checked they did their homework because that’s what Leo would do. And when Mikey couldn’t sleep, Raph would climb into bed with him and hold him close, running his fingers through the younger boy’s hair and whispering soothing words until Mikey drifted off. And he’d sit with Donnie, neither of them speaking, because Raph never knew what to say, and Donnie because back then he couldn’t.

So, that was what he decided to do now – focus on what he could do. He did not know where Mikey and Leo were, so he was going to focus on keeping Donnie safe and finding the Piper’s body, then burning it to a crisp. Maybe move the bits around to make sure everything got nice and cremated, ensuring he left nothing in a big enough piece for the Piper could latch onto it like the parasitic little worm he was.

They trudged down more tunnels, following the rats, until they reached a large room. It was shaped like a rough circle, a bit like a deflated car tire, with spokes coming off where tunnels opened up and led out of the nest. Detritus covered patches of the floor, with clear spaces forming little walk ways. As they walked down the paths, Raph spied rats covering in the piles of garbage.

Where has all this stuff come from? Had the Piper stolen it all? Or had it just formed here, growing out of nothing?

“I, hmm,” Donnie said with a deep frown, and then glanced over his shoulder to Rockwell, “How did the lab look the last time you saw him?”

“Victor was usually fastidious with his work.” Rockwell said, “The makeshift lab wasn’t as tidy as he normally kept them, but it was surprisingly clean considering the circumstances.”

Raph’s eyes scanned the room again, and he couldn’t help but wish Leo was here. Raph was certain he was missing a lot of detail Leo would pick up on, clues as to where hidden threats were, useful items and so on.

Donnie turned off the path and quickly riffled through the nearest trash pile, “It looks like these are just filled with tables, chairs, lab equipment, bricks, and other junk. There’s also bits of old… fur, I think, and torn fabric.”

Rockwell peered into the pile, “It looks like a rats nest.”

“Do you think the rats could have carried it in?” Donnie asked.

“I don’t think so.” Rockwell said and looked closer, “The lab equipment… it’s hard to tell because of the condition it’s in, but it looks like it’s from the university.”

“How did he get it?” Raph asked and tugged on Donnie’s arm, drawing his attention away from the pile.

“At first, I assumed he took it from the university.” Rockwell said and looked at nothing in particular as he followed them, a hand on his chin, “But he couldn’t have taken this much. One centrifuge going missing would have been noticed, but this many is ridiculous,” he pointed at a trash pile several feet to their right, “I can see at least five in that pile.”

Raph clambered up a pile and looked towards the centre of the room, where a crowd of rats were gathered. They were larger than the other rats they’d seen, who were delicate and thin, made so by lack of food and proper rest. The big rats were gathered around something, a large lump that was leaking a yellowish fluid, and the stench that came off it was sickly sweet.

He climbed back down, grabbing bricks as he went. He pressed them into Donnie and Rockwell’s hands, “Big rats over there.”

“This is a Domain,” Donnie said, almost to himself, “Those corridors move around and this can’t,” he looked up at the ceiling, “This can’t fit in the warehouse. Maybe this isn’t real, or it is but it’s not like…” he tapped his foot against the floor, “I don’t know, like it’s real but not real real?”

“Or we’re not in the warehouse any more.” Raph suggested.

“That might explain some things.” Rockwell muttered, “Your, er, Splinter, was that what you called him?”

“Yeah?” Raph said.

“What is his… Domain? Like?”

Raph shrugged, “It just looks like an old house in the middle of a field. There’s nothing special about it.”

“The sky looks different at night,” Donnie said, “Have you seen photos by the Hubble telescope.”

“Yes, Kirby O’Neil, a good friend of mine, was very excited when the first photographs were released.”

“He works with rats too, doesn’t he?” Donnie asked.

“Yes, he does. I’m going to assume you investigated him as well.”

“Yeah, I was trying to figure out who the Piper was. Did he get along with Falco?”

Rockwell laughed quietly, “No, they had… very different attitudes towards rats.”

“He was always too soft,
(He was always too soft,)”

said a voice from behind them.

Raph threw the brick he was holding, rocketing it in the direction of the voice. It sailed over the Piper’s shoulder and smashed into a centrifuge, sending out a shower of broken glass.

“Victor,” Rockwell said slowly.

“Tyler,
(Tyler,)”

The Piper glanced at Raph and Donnie,

“I see you’ve brought some of your students.
(I see you’ve brought some of your students.)
What are you trying to teach them?
(What are you trying to teach them?)
How to treat old friends?
(How to treat old friends?)
How to die?
(How to die?)”

From behind them, came a sound like an avalanche, a dull roar that was rapidly drawing closer. It started in just one tunnel behind them, but then Raph could hear it from their left and right and up ahead and oh no. No, no, no!

Instinctively, Raph grabbed Donnie’s hand and pulled him closer. Raph’s eyes darted all around them, desperately searching for a means of escape or fighting back. His eyes landed on a nearby trash pile, and even though his mind shouted at him about broken glass and infections and tetanus, he pulled Donnie toward it and pushed his little brother up, giving him a boost. He clambered up after and shouted for Rockwell to follow them, but instead the man stood in front of the Piper.

“These boys didn’t do anything to you. Leave them out of this!” Rockwell shouted, and Raph didn’t know what to make of an adult sounding scared on their behalf.

“They came here with you,
(They came here with you,)

to burn my body!
(to burn my body!)
They’ve done enough.
(They’ve done enough.)”

“You possessed one of them! You’ve gone after children. What would you have them do? Just sit around and let you play with them like puppets?”

A smile spread across the Piper’s lips until it was so wide Raph feared the skin would split and tear, then be peeled off and reveal something even worse beneath the jaundiced skin.

“What?
(What?)
Would I have them,
(Would I have them,)
do?
(do?)”

The piper repeated, and took a step towards Rockwell, who’s body tensed.

“I – Would – Like,
(I - Would – Like,”

the Piper continued,

“for them to watch,
(for them to watch)
as you,
(as you,)”

He lunged forward, and those spidery hands clamped around Rockwell’s throat. The momentum of the attack carried them forward, and the Piper, Rockwell’s throat still in hand, slammed the man’s back into the floor, forcing the air out of Rockwell’s lungs.

“Die
(Die).”

---

Splinter’s jaws snapped shut and cleaved easily through skin and muscle. There was a wet sound that reminded Mikey far too much of loud chewing, followed by a noise more akin to running water as black ectoplasm ran in rivulets from Splinter’s mouth and down his own arm. The ghost’s legs gave out beneath him, and the arm that wasn’t currently shoved into his mouth was clamped around his jaw, trying to hold them closed.

If he wanted to, Mikey could have scurried away to safety, but instead he sat there, breathless and too shocked to move. He was so close to Splinter, easily within touching distance, and if Splinter’s jaws opened again, all he’d need to do was lunge forward and he’d reach Mikey in less than a second.

There was a shuffling sound behind Mikey as Leo struggled to make his way over to them, and when he did, he fell to his knees beside Mikey, his knee making the same sound tires do over gravel.

The two boys sat there and stared at Splinter, unsure of what exactly to do, as they watched Splinter do his best to tear his own right arm off.

And then slowly, hesitantly, Mikey shuffled forward.

That orange glow hadn’t faded all the way yet, it still burned within the centre of Splinter’s eyes, like a very small flame. As Mikey drew closer, the orange light followed him, giving the impression that Splinter was cautiously watching the boy.

Tentatively, as if Splinter was made of glass, Mikey placed a hand on his knee.

The ghost flinched and whined softly, and Mikey couldn’t tell if it was from shock or the strain of keeping his mouth firmly clamped around his arm. The fingers of Splinter’s left hand tightened, the claws digging into his face, ectoplasm welling around his claws.

Mikey pulled his hand away as burned, and began fiddling with his fingers nervously. He reached out again, but stopped at the wet crushing sound that emitted from Splinter’s jaws.

Instead Mikey lowered his hand and said softly, “I’m here. It’s, it’s okay. I’m okay.”

This wasn’t okay. This was far from okay.

There was another wet crunch and Splinter’s teeth dug deeper. How long would it be until he bit right through it?

“I-” Mikey turned to older brother, “Leo, I don’t know what to do.”

Leo’s eyes flickered between Mikey and Splinter, who’d started making a terrible gagging sound, ectoplasm and spit bubbling out of his mouth. There was a pensive expression on Leo’s face, one Mikey recognised it as a sign Leo was coming up with a plan. Mikey hadn’t doubted for a second that Leo could find a solution – that was what Leo did, formulating plans so they could survive another day, see another sunrise. The possibility that Leo couldn’t figure it out wasn’t just unthinkable, it was ridiculous, like saying ducks weren’t birds or people liked Falco for his sparkling personality.

Finally, Leo’s eyes hardened, a quiet determination turning them to steal, and he said in that voice of his that was at once harsh and gentle, “Splinter, can you hear me?”

The orange glow that burned amid all that red slowly turned to Leo. It was weaker than only a few moments prior, as if the red was eating away at it, maggots in an infected wound and they didn’t have the tools to take them all out and bath the wound, to clean out all the puss and filth.

And yet, somehow, the orange was still brilliant compared to the red, and the idea occurred to Mikey that perhaps the maggots in this wound weren’t new. Maybe the parasites had been there for a lot longer than Mikey first thought, and Falco had just added to the infestation.

But if that were true and Falco wasn’t the true cause, then who was?

Splinter let out a shuddering, pained breath.

“Okay, that’s good. I’m going to ask you to do something for me, is that alright?” Leo asked.

The orange glow stayed on Leo, only straying when Mikey patted Splinter’s knee, and both boys saw it flare brighter. It made Mikey think of a dying fire, surrounded by ash and red embers, struggling to return to life.

“Can you name three things you can see?”

The orange light flared brighter again, and Splinter titled his head to one side. If not for the glow, Mikey might have feared that the Falco was pulling Splinter back under. But it was there, so instead, he wondered if Splinter was able to answer and was trying to figure out a way around Falco’s influence, or if their ghost was simply thinking about his answer. It must have been especially difficult with an arm shoved in his mouth.

Leo took in a breath that burned his throat, “It’s okay. Take your time.”

The hand that held Splinter’s mouth closed twitched, alternating between digging deeper or flicking open. Eventually, Splinter let go, just long enough to point first at the broken cane laying beside Mikey, to one of the garbage piles, and finally to a rock some distance away that was partially covered by a black splatter. The second he was finished, his hand wrapped around his face again.

“That’s good! Can you tell me three things you can hear?”

The glow grew stronger. It was a slow process, and if Mikey weren’t carefully examining Splinter for any sign that this was working, he wouldn’t have noticed it.

Jerkily, Splinter let go of his face again and his hand moved to hold Mikey’s in a loose grip, and those ears, large and tipped with white tufts of fur, moved this way and that. It reminded Mikey of a cat, the way Splinter’s ears swivelled about.

Splinter let go of Mikey’s hand and pointed at the foot of a garbage pile, specifically at a rat that was scurrying towards an exit, and then at the puddles of ectoplasm that still dripped from his arm, drenching his bandages and clothes.

Suddenly, Splinter sat straighter, and Mikey felt Leo’s hand on his shoulder, preparing to fling him back just in case.

But instead of opening his jaws and mauling them, Splinter pointed at the exit behind them, rather insistently, and the glow flickered from it, to Leo, and back. He pointed again.

“I know,” Leo said, “I know. We’re going to help them, but first we need to help you.”

Splinter’s hand returned to his knee and Mikey held it gently. Mikey’s hands were coated in his own blood, the sleeves of his shirt stained a vile red, and Splinter’s were blackened with ectoplasm. Both their hands shook slightly, and Mikey fought to keep the grimace off his face, but he knew he’d not succeeded entirely based on the way Leo eyed him sympathetically.

Leo breathed in deeply again, the air catching in his throat and making a raspy noise, and laid his hand on Splinter’s arm, “This is the last thing I’m going to ask: can you tell me three things you can feel?”

Splinter squeezed Mikey’s hand and ran a long thin thumb across the back of it, like he was trying to sooth the child.

Then his tail swished from side to side, before curling around Splinter’s body. It too was blackened by the many bites of rats, and Mikey could see a large furrow, where it looked as if a great chunk had been torn out.

“One more.” Leo said encouragingly, “One more thing.”

Mikey squeezed Splinter’s hand, “You can do it.”

Splinter closed his eyes tightly and made a choking sound. His lips twitched, and then slowly, tortuously so, began to open. As his jaws unclenched and teeth freed themselves from the meat of his arm, there was a wet noise, a sort of muffled squelch followed by a pained moan and a brief spray of ectoplasm.

His right arm shook terribly, the fingers twitching, as he pulled it out of his mouth and let it hang limply beside him.

THAT, he said, panting and gasping in pain, DOES NOT FEEL GOOD.

Before either Splinter or Leo had a chance to say anything, Mikey flung himself at Splinter.

And Leo watched as Splinter raised his left arm, unsure of what to do, whilst Mikey pressed his face against Splinter’s chest and half-whispered half-sobbed, “I knew we’d get you back, but when it broke, I… I thought I’d lost you.”

The ghost quickly wrapped his left arm around Mikey and embraced Mikey as warmly as he could with one arm so mangled, NO, NO, YOU DID NOT, blackened fingers combed through soft hair, YOU WILL NEVER LOSE ME.

And then Mikey said that word again. He said it so quietly, and yet it filled the room and hushed all other sounds, as if to say, this word, this one word was more important than all else, and for the next few moments, the world needed to be just a little quieter so that this word could hang on the air and crystallize:

“Papa.”

Leo swallowed thickly and felt a dampness around his eyes.

He’d always known deep down that someday something like this could happen, that a person could come along and fill the void that he and Raph had tried so, so hard to fill. Their dad had never intended to leave behind an empty space, neither he or their mother had known that they’d been taken whilst their children were still so young. But that didn’t change the fact that they’d both died and been separated from their children when Mikey was too young to even remember them. Sp Leo had figured out years ago that there was a chance someone would meet Mikey, and Mikey would begin to love them in the same way Leo still loved their dad.

After five years being bounced between care homes, with the occasional foster home thrown in, Leo had started to doubt it would ever happen, and had been filled with a crushing guilt when he realised he was pleased with that.

No one would ever replace dad, he’d told himself, and yet someone had, right under Leo’s nose.

And worst of all, Leo was happy. Happy that Mikey was so loved, even if it meant remembering that their dad should have been there and wasn’t.

What would dad think? Leo wondered.

And from deep inside a voice that remembered his dad more than any other part of him, that remembered being small and sick and cradled gently whilst Space Heroes played on TV , that remembered soft songs and visits to aquariums, that remembered a laugh so much like Raph’s, said He’d be happy that you are loved.

Because death had not erased the fact that Bruce and Tokiko Tortuga loved their sons. Death could not change the fact that Leo and his brothers were loved.

Mikey’s shoulder shook, and Splinter pressed his snout against the top of Mikey’s head and softly nuzzled him, OH, MY SWEET BOY. SHH, IT IS ALRIGHT. I AM HERE, I AM HERE.

Splinter’s stopped nuzzling Mikey and rested his head on top of Mikey’s, cradling the child close to him, holding him like Mikey was the most precious being in all of time. Sluggishly, his right arm moved to join the hug. His right hand rested on Mikey’s back and began moving in jerky circles, the best he could manage right now with the state his arm was in.

And then his eyes went to Leo and he asked, LEONARDO, ARE YOU ALRIGHT? HOW IS YOUR LEG?

Leo tried to discreetly wipe his eyes as he said, “It’s been worse.”

Splinter’s titled his head slightly to one side and reached out with his left hand. Leo wasn’t sure what Splinter was doing at first, not until Splinter’s hand cupped Leo’s cheek and very carefully wiped the tears away, and Leo wanted to laugh because he really had done a bad job at hiding it, hadn’t he?

CAN YOU STAND?

“I,” Leo got to his feet, and clenched his teeth together, “Yeah.”

Splinter climbed to his feet, still holding Mikey close as he did so, I SUSPECT YOU WILL BE FEELING IT TOMORROW.

“I think I’m feeling it right now.” Leo experimentally bent his knee and immediately regretted it.

AH, Splinter glanced between the two boys, then down the long corridor where the sounds of shouting still came from, WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO STAY HERE WITH MICHELANGELO?

“We’re not splitting up,” Mikey said firmly before Leo could say the same thing, “We should all go.”

Splinter smiled fondly at the small boy, ALRIGHT. COME ALONG THEN, THEY NEED OUR HELP.

Leo nodded and Splinter very carefully set Mikey down, who picked up the broken pieces of Leo’s cane and scowled.

Seeing that, Splinter said, MICHELANGELO, CAN YOU PASS THEM TO ME. THANK YOU.

Splinter frowned, his white eyebrows knitting together as he glared down at the pieces of metal in his hands. It had been bitten into three unequal pieces, each end slightly flattened. Splinter turned the pieces around in his hands, inspecting them carefully.

I THINK I MAY BE ABLE TO REPAIR THIS, BUT I WOULD RECOMMEND GETTING A NEW ONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Leo groaned. That was going to be a fun conversation for sure.

“What are you going to do?” Mikey asked as Splinter knelt down and fit the pieces back together on the floor.

I MIGHT BE ABLE TO MAKE A FIRE HOT ENOUGH TO STICK THESE BACK TOGETHER. BOTH OF YOU, TURN AROUND AND CLOSE YOUR EYES, THIS MIGHT GET VERY BRIGHT, AND I DO NOT HAVE THE PROPER SAFETY EQUIPMENT FOR YOU.

They did so, and as Splinter carefully melted the cane back together, they kept their backs to him and put their hands over their eyes just to be safe, though not without reluctance. They really wanted to watch, but Splinter was frustratingly adamant about not doing dangerous things like looking at really bright lights whilst in the home of a ghost who wanted to rip Mikey’s arm off.

It wasn’t long before Splinter tapped Leo’s shoulder and handed the cane back to him, whole once more, albeit with two notable patches were the metal had been melted. He could see Splinter’s hand prints seared into its surface, a strange four fingered hand with long claws.

ARE WE READY? Splinter asked, hands folded behind his back.

“Yeah.” Leo said, and looked down at Mikey, who offered a broad grin, “How about you?”

“Let’s kick Falco’s butt!”

Notes:

Just gonna note down here that so far in this fic Splinter has been: possessed 3 times, impaled his hand with glass, been beaten over the head multiple times, had a rock smashed into his face, been bitten by rats, and nearly ripped his own arm off. Rat dad is having a great time!

Tokiko, the brother’s mum, is named after the Japanese voice actress for Gina in Porco Rosso. Their dad was named after the Great White shark in Finding Nemo.

Chapter 21

Summary:

Time to pay the Piper

Raph stomped on another rat and another and another.

They kept coming, biting and scratching, and he couldn’t help but be relieved that he’d worn his best jeans, the one that were really thick and sturdy, so that none of them could bite his ankles or legs. Several had tried, their teeth getting caught in the fabric, their teeth turning his jeans into scraps of cloth, but they hadn’t broken through to his skin yet.

A rat leapt at his face, and Raph smashed a brick into it, sending the creature careening backwards. Its body disappeared into the hoard, and Raph could neither see or cared to check if it got back up. When dealing with a legion, he saw little point in focusing on individuals.

Beside him, Donnie was doing his best to stay on his feet, least he fall and be devoured. He’d managed to grab a chunk of wood from one of the piles before the hoard hit, and swung it with both hands like a staff. A rat jumped at him from a nearby table, and before Raph had the chance to shout a warning, Donnie spun round and batted the rat away.

Something caught Donnie’s eye, and he lunged, bringing the board down on a rat that had clambered onto Raph shoulder.

Raph shouted a thanks and stole a glance at Rockwell, who’s fingers grasped and pried at the Piper’s hands, trying to loosen the grip around his throat even a little. From here, Raph could see the man’s movements becoming sluggish as what little air remained in his body was used up.

They needed to find some way to get to Rockwell and help him.

But how?

A sea of rats separated them from Rockwell and the Piper, waves upon waves of rats, and Raph knew his jeans would be a ruin before they got even halfway there. No, they needed something else, a distraction perhaps, something that’d get the Piper’s attention on them and not Rockwell. What could they…

Judging by the smell, the Piper’s body was close. And what difference did fighting several large rats make when you were already battling an army?

“Donnie!” Raph shouted struggling to be heard over the mass of squeaks and shrieks “Rockwell isn’t looking so good. We need to burn the body NOW!”

“Er, let me think, do we have – oh shell!”

Raph heard the board slam against something, “Donnie!?”

“I- I’m – I’m okay, I’m okay,” Donnie said, “I have an idea. Cover me!”

Raph nodded and took the board off Donnie and got to work hammering away at as many rats as he could.

Meanwhile, Donnie dug through his own bag, quick clever fingers finding what he was after. There was the sound of a container being shaken, followed by something wooden being quickly raked across metal.

“What’s that?” Raph asked, a strange mixture of excitement and dread building within him.

“I told you,” Donnie said with a cackle an evil scientist would be proud of, “That this’d come in handy!”

The world was cast in harsh light and shadows as an intense heat rose behind Raph. Startled, he spun around and found the world behind him bathed in fire. It shot out of a can of bug spray, and just before its nozzle Donnie held a match. In the firelight, his eyes were crimson.

The rats backed away, squealing in panic as their instincts told them to run and the Piper ordered them to keep pressing on. For some, Raph noticed, their instincts were stronger, and they turned and ran the other way, sprinting out of the nest as fast as their legs could carry them.

Their panic spread with the fire, and as the first group fled, another chased after them, their red eyes turning black.

Raph paused for a moment, simply staring as his little brother created a wall of flame.

Then there came an acrid scent, burning rubber, and Raph shot a quick glance at his feet, where the garbage heap was starting to smoke and crackle. Without a second thought, he grabbed Donnie and pulled him off the mound, just in time for it to burst into flames behind them.

As they ran, the rats scurried in the opposite direction, leaving a small circle free of biting clawing creatures for them to stand in.

Wordlessly, they made their way to the Piper’s body, Raph swinging the board and batting away any rats brave enough to attack, whilst Donnie moved the spray can in a wide arc, keeping the hoard at a distance. Together, they carved out a path, occasionally swapping places when Donnie needed to replace the match, and then swapping back again. All the while, the smell of rot grew stronger, until Raph could taste it, feel it on his skin.

The Piper didn’t notice, or didn’t care enough to notice, so focused was he on choking the life out of Rockwell. The man was making a horrible sound as his windpipe was crushed, and though his legs still kicked and his hands clawed, his movements grew weaker by the second, his finger pale and face red.

Raph’s foot brushed against something. His shoes squelched.

“We’re here!” he shouted.

“Want to swap places?” Donnie asked, looking over his shoulder.

Raph nodded.

And Donnie poured fire over the corpse of Doctor Victor Falco. The fire ate voraciously, and completely blanketed the body in seconds.

The Piper shrieked, letting go of Rockwell’s throat as if the man’s skin had burned him. Quickly, he rushed to his body, the rats parting to allow him through.

Before he could reach them, Raph pressed the board back into Donnie’s hand and started running, barrelling into the Piper with enough force to knock the ghost off his feet.

“You little-
(You little-)”

Raph punched the Piper as hard as he could. The ectoplasm on the surface broke apart, and his momentum was great enough that first his hand and then his whole arm plunged into the murk. When his arm slowed down, having finally met with resistance, he opened his hand, attempting to reach the core so that he could grab it and tear it out.

His fingers brushed against something, and a strange tingling sensation shot up his arm, energy coursing through him.

In retaliation, the Piper back handed him, sending bloody spraying out of his nose and splitting his lip.

Raph managed to stay on his feet, and took in a haggard breath though his mouth. Then he looked up at the Piper and smiled grimly, his teeth red with his own blood.

The Piper pulled back his hand, preparing to strike Raph again, but this wasn’t the first time someone had hit Raph, and he ducked beneath the attack and plunged his hand deeper. The tingling sensation turned into a numbness, his fingers growing cold and-

Raph blinked.

He registered the pain before he processed what happened, and blinked with confusion when he realised he was laying on the floor, broken glass biting into his hands. One hand, the one he’d pushed into the Piper’s torso, was covered in black goo, and the fingers twitching stiffly, blue at the tips. Raph let out another unsteady breath, sending out a cloud of cold air.

The Piper hissed. One hand clenched a rapidly closing fissure in his torso, whilst the other hung limply at his side, the knuckles bloody.

Donnie stood between them, holding the wooden board the way Leo did his cane when in a fight . By Donnie’s foot was the now empty spray can, rolling back and forth.

Raph rolled onto his knees, spat, and continued clambering to his feet. Once back up, he pressed a thumb against one side of his nose and blew, shooting out a glob of blood.

He’d had worse.

Time for Round Two.

Ignoring the glass that dug into his hands, and paying no mind to the pain radiating from his face, Raph advanced.

Donnie was keeping the Piper preoccupied, narrowly dodging the ghost’s attacks by keeping just out of reach and lunging with the board, trying to smash it against arms, legs, the Piper’s torso and back. Donnie didn’t have much experience in fights, but he had enough to know his own limitations – Donnie’s hand were quick and clever, but the rest of him was slow, so he took his time, waiting for an opportunity and then striking.

And, Raph thought with pride, Donnie was vindictive. His baby brother loved deeply, and did whatever he could for those he cared about, would fight tooth and nail for his friends, but… Raph had never met anyone who could be half as vicious as an angry Donatello. Which meant Donnie had no trouble taking cheap shots.

E ven so, rarely did the board met its mark, the Piper somehow knowing when the boy was about to attack even when Donnie was behind him.

Maybe Donnie just needed a helping hand.

Good thing Raph played to fight dirty .

He dove in.

Raph made openings for Donnie and distracted the ghost. Whenever Donnie lunged and smashed the board into the Piper, Raph would follow after, not giving the Piper the chance to recover. And then Donnie would try to strike again.

The idea was to give the Piper no time to think, to stop him taking advantage of any openings they left, whilst also not giving him a second of peace. Their progress was slow, the Piper still evading their attacks and healing when they did catch him, but he wasn’t landing any hits in return.

And soon the others would come, and then the two… the three of them would join the fight.

It still felt strange to Raph that there was another person in their little group (not family, Splinter was not family) but here and now it was good to know that there was someone else was on their way to help.

But Raph didn’t allow the relief to sink in too deep, to reach the marrow of his bones.

Good people were few and far between, rarer than diamonds in Raph’s experience. The few times he’d encountered truly good people, kind people, people he could imagine loving as much as he did his brothers, they never stuck around, because they couldn’t. Their parents died, and Venus was sent far away at the same time he and brothers had been separated.

And then there was Slash.

Raph’s heart twisted at the thought of the other boy.

The name on his birth certificate was not actually Slash, but Raph had discarded that name and forgotten it, because it wasn’t the name Slash wanted. Slash was like him, a ‘problem child’ who people said did nothing but cause problems and throw temper tantrums. Slash was a little older than Raph, built like a brick wall, and knew how to intimidate even adults. People always acted as if he threw his weight around for no reason, partly because it was easier to call him temperamental than it was to actually listen, and partly because adults never wanted to actually admit when they’d failed to protect a child. No one had ever looked out for Slash, so he’d learned how to protect himself.

No on except Raph.

And then Raph left and was reunited with his other brothers, but was forced to leave one behind.

Raph wished Slash could have moved with him. It would have been an adjustment for the other boy, to go from having no one, to Raph, to three more brothers, but Raph knew it would have done Slash good. After all, having his brothers near had always helped Raph.

But that hadn’t happened.

Good people didn’t stay. They never got a choice.

Bad people… Raph would make sure they didn’t stick around.

He didn’t quite yet know how to categorise Splinter – Raph didn’t think he was a bad person, even if he wasn’t really sure if he’d personally call Splinter a person. Monster was more like it, but this was a monster that Mikey had decided to adopt. Like a ridiculously big stray cat… a mangy stray cat... that needed a bath.

Still, just because Splinter seemed okay and Mikey was definitely fond of him, that didn’t mean Raph was going to let his guard down. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to allow himself to rely on Splinter’s help, even if the thought of it brought some comfort.

If Raph had learned anything over the last five years, it was that the only people he could rely on and trust were his brothers.

The Piper raised his hand and brought it down, aiming for Donnie’s face, and Raph leapt between them with his arms raised. The hand slammed into his arms, rough nails tearing through his jacket and raking across his skin, leaving weeping fissures behind.

But it gave Donnie the chance to retreat to safety. That was what was important.

The Piper cried out in pain and surprise as Donnie drove the board into the ghost’s side, angled downward into his stomach.

There was a spray of black ectoplasm, and the board sunk in deeper, but the body around it reformed quickly and began pushing against it, trying to drive the board back out. When Donnie tried to push it further in, the board stayed put, dark tendrils wrapping around it. Attempting to pull it back out, least Donnie lose his weapon, had no effect.

The rats shrieked in a chorus, and this time Raph wasn’t fast enough. The Piper’s fist made contact with Donnie’s face, and the younger boy fell back, one hand clenching his face. Through his fingers, blood trickled.

A red mist descended on Raphael.

This was not the mist Mikey had described. It did not come from the Piper.

It came from within Raphael, from the pit where his anger lived. His rage roared at the sight of his injured brother, demanding blood for blood.

NO ONE was allowed to hurt his family, the anger shouted.

He flung himself at the Piper.

The problem with listening to your own anger, however, is that it so rarely thinks things through before demanding them. As Raph came into range, fists raised, a wave of rats crashed into him, knocking him off balance, and then he felt the Piper’s hand grabbing his shirt and dragging him high into the air.

Raph writhed, and tried to kick the Piper as hard as he could, but the Piper just held him away from his body. The boy twisted his head this way and that, looking for an escape, and screamed in rage when he found none.

He couldn’t see Donnie, but could hear his little brother moaning and trying to stand. And from somewhere behind Raph came the sound of many feet, not the thousands from only a few minutes ago (so many rats had already fled), but still more than enough to rend and tear until all that was left of them would be bloody heaps.

Raph needed to break the Piper’s grip and get to Donnie before the Piper decided to do just that. A wave of his hand, that’s all it would take. Barely nothing, and then Raph’s little brother would be gone.

It was true that Donnie might just come back as a ghost, but Raph didn’t want to risk that, not here, not now. Even as he struggled to break free and tried to bite the Piper’s arm, as he clawed at the Piper’s hands, kicked out wildly, Raph couldn’t help but think about what could be lost if one of them died here.

If Splinter was telling the truth about having lost so many memories, Raph would not be able to bear Donnie looking at him and not knowing who he was.

Or would Donnie be like the Piper? Maintaining all his memories, but loosing his humanity, though admittedly Raph didn’t think Falco had much of that when he was alive. Donnie himself could be vindictive and cruel, that was true, but he also had a big heart. Without that compassion, he wouldn’t be Donatello.

And what if his memories and compassion remained, but something else just as fundamental was lost?

Even if death didn’t change him, Donnie would still lose out on so much, all the possibilities and opportunities life offered. Donnie was only a child – he’d barely had the time to experience what it was to be alive.

The Piper smiled and slowly reached towards Raph’s face with one hand. Raph snapped his jaws at it, daring the Piper to just try it, which just prompted a laugh from the ghost.

“You’re a spirited little whelp aren’t you?
(You’re a spirited little whelp aren’t you?”)

he said and withdrew his hand. Then the Piper called over his shoulder with a firm voice,

“Put that down,
(put that down,)
or…
(or…)”

The Piper waved his free hand and pulled the remaining rats to his side. He held Raph above them, and as the boy lifted his legs out of their reach, he felt the rats pawing at the soles of his shoes.

“Donnie, don’t-”

The Piper lowered Raph, silencing him as he attempted to keep his legs above the rats.

“What will it be?
(What will it be?)”

Raph could only see Donnie in the corner of his eye – he refused to look away from the Piper, even if that meant not being able to look at his little brother – but he could make out Donnie’s conflicted expression as he glanced between his brother, the rats, and the Piper. Something shinned in his hands: another can of bug spray.

Some distance away from them, Raph could hear something that sounded like rustling, but he paid it no mind. It was probably just more rats coming to answer their master’s call, jostling bits and pieces of garbage along the way.

Still, Raph’s eyes searched for help and instead fell upon the Piper’s still burning body. Black smoke billowed from it in great plums that floated up to the ceiling and then crawled along it, creating the impression that a dark cloud hung above them. With the clouds, came a scent that was at once familiar and strange, something sickly sweet mixed with cooked pork.

Donnie dropped the can. The sound it made against the floor was impossibly loud, a clattering that went on forever as it hit the floor, bounced, and then spun in place before slowly coming to a stop.

The Piper made a shooing gesture with his hand, and Donnie kicked it away. As soon as it landed, rats swarmed it, preventing the boy from simply grabbing the can again.

“Good boy.
(Good boy.)”

the Piper said with a wide grin.

“You’re – you’re going – you’re go – going to let him go now?” Donnie asked, the hope evident in his voice.

The Piper lowered his arm over the rats.

“You said-!” Donnie cried out.

“What?
(What?)”

the Piper crowed,

“I said I would let him go.
(I said I would let him go.)”

Immediately, Raph grabbed hold of the Piper’s wrist with both hands and held on for dear life. The Piper made a sound that might have been amusement, or frustration, and lowered his arm, bring Raph closer and closer to the rats.

“Raph!” Donnie shouted and ran forward, but a wave of rats rushed in front of him, forcing Donnie to back up.

Panicked, Donnie glanced all around, looking for a new weapon or something, anything, that could help. He went to Rockwell, and shook the man, pleading with him to get up, to help. The man weakly forced himself to his hands and knees, but before he could even attempt to stand, he fell back down onto his stomach, and wheezed painfully.

Raph felt a rat grab onto the bottom of his shoe and pull itself up. With his other leg, he tried to kick it off, but it simply hopped from one leg to the other. Finding itself on a patch of his leg where his jeans had been torn open, it bit down.

Raph shouted in pain and reached for the rat. Too late he realised his mistake – he’d let go! - and he fell down towards the rat’s hungry open mouths. He curled up and covered his head with his arms, and they swarmed over him, blocking out the light.

The last thing he saw before shadows consumed him was the Piper’s rictus grin.

…

---

…

And then he fell back into the light and landed in strong arms.

RAPHAEL, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?

Raph blinked and looked up, speechless, at the giant rat holding him. He was… he was alive?

Splinter set Raph down on the floor, and Leo rushed over, patting Raph down, looking for signs of injury. He had a few additional bites, but everything was where it should be and all Raph could think about was how nice it felt to still be breathing.

He looked at Splinter, Leo and Mikey, making note of all their wounds and exhaustion. Despite how beat up they looked, the relief Raph felt was palpable, replacing all the aches and pains that radiated through his body. They were here. They were okay. Which meant everything was going to be alright, because when the four of them were together, there was nothing they couldn’t do.

He tried to look at Donnie, but noticed that his immediate younger brother was nowhere to be seen, and before his brain finished processing everything that had just happened he blurted out, “Don- Donnie! Donnie’s in trouble.”

WE KNOW, Splinter said softly, WHERE IS HE? WAS HE WITH YOU?

Raph nodded and quickly examined his surroundings, trying to figure out where exactly he was. Not far, he realised, which meant Donnie was still close by. So was the Piper, but he tried not to think about that too hard and pointed in the direction he thought he’d just been.

“Over there. Rockwell’s there too, but he’s not moving.”

“Is he alive?” Leo asked hurriedly.

“Yeah. I think so.” Raph nodded, “The Pipers there too though.”

Leo’s eyes hardened and to Splinter he shouted, “Go help Donnie! We’re right behind you!”

The rat ghost nodded, crouched, and then leaped forward, clearing the nearest mound of trash with ease. As Raph and his brothers rounded it, he saw Splinter running on all fours, clearing distances in seconds no living thing should be able to.

Splinter was fast, Raph realised, moving as quickly as a retreating shadow in a room suddenly filled with light.

By the time the Piper realised Splinter was present, Splinter was already on him, grabbing the arm that mere seconds ago had held Raph aloft. Splinter rammed his elbow into the arm, and had there been bones and flesh there, it would have shattered beneath the seer force of it. As it was, the arm burst apart, completely taking the Piper’s attention away from Donnie. The rats that surrounded the boy dispersed, some rushing to the Piper’s aid, others fleeing. It gave Donnie enough time to scoop up the discarded an of bug spray and burn any rats that tried to come near him.

And as they fought their way over, Leo used his cane like a sword, slamming rats away, and Mikey and Raph threw whatever they could get their hands on.

It worked better than Raph would have dared to hope.

Splinter’s attack drew away many rats, the Piper presumably calling them for aid, and the ones that remained either turned tail and ran, or were easily dispersed by the brothers. Raph noticed several, upon being smacked away, shaking their saggy heads and then scurrying away, their red eyes once again black, filled with only the light of being alive.

They were no longer pawns to the will of a creature they could not fathom.

The three brothers reached Donnie far faster than expected, and Leo began the process of patting Donnie down, looking for any injuries and asking if he was alright, whilst Mikey and Raph covered them.

“I’m, I’m fine, I’m fine.” Donnie sobbed with relief. Then he sprinted forward, shouting, “Raph!?”

Donnie, like Leo, wasn’t much of a hugger, so it was a surprise when he leapt at Raph, wrapping his thin arms around his immediate older brother and holding on like a limpet.

“I’m okay.” Raph wheezed, “Don, Donnie, Donatello… I can’t breath.”

The arms released him, “Oh! Sorry!”

“It’s okay,” Raph took in a deep breath, but made sure to shoot Donnie a fond smile, so the other boy would know he wasn’t mad.

Donnie smiled self-consciously, then something over Raph’s shoulder drew his attention away. Fearing the worst, Raph turned to see what it was, and then simply stood there, mouth agape, at the battle raging on a head of them.

---

Splinter lunged at Falco.

The other ghost narrowly dodged out of the way, and laughed, as if they were playing a game. Perhaps that was all this was to the Piper, his confidence in his power over Splinter leading him to believe that his victory in this battle was assured.

Splinter’s ears twitched in irritation, and he spun, slamming the side of his leg against Falco’s body. Before the other ghost had time to react, he jabbed his fingers against Falco’s chest, knocking him off balance and away from him.

Taking a step back, Splinter began circling the other ghost.

Off to the side, he could see and hear the boys. Donatello was one his own against the remaining hoard, but his brothers were rapidly making their way towards him, fighting as a unit with whatever they had on hand. He could not see where Rockwell was, but he could smell the man, and he was close by. Still alive, based upon the occasional sound of haggard breathing.

There had been a time, not all that long ago, where the sharpness of his senses had disquieted Splinter. It was something else that marked him as inhuman, and made it impossible to argue that he was anything other than the monster that he did not want to be. Until recently, he hadn’t been able to think of anything else he could be.

He was just a monster.

Not a husband. Not a father. Not even a teacher.

Just a monster.

That had changed.

He had been changed.

Sensitive hearing was a means by which he could monitor the safety of his child and said child’s brothers when he was not able to look. A powerful sense of smell alerted him to coming rats, allowing him to deal with them before they became a problem. Claws and teeth were weapon with which to defend those he cared about.

He was still a monster, but for the first time in his afterlife, he was more than that.

Splinter kicked a rat away and reminded himself that now was not the time to think about such things. Thoughts on the future could wait.

Right now, he needed to fight for the present, so that the future could become real.

Even so, he listened out for the brothers, using the sounds of their voices and their nearby presence as a life preserver. Let Falco try to drag him down again – they would keep Splinter’s head above water.

Focusing once more on the fight, Splinter became aware that Falco was talking.

“What do you think will happen if you win?
(What do you think will happen if you win?”

he asked,

“Will you go back home with them?
(Will you go back home with them?)
Become their favourite pet?
(Become their favourite pet?)
Here, you could be so much more.
(Here, you could be so much more.)”

Splinter did not dignify that with a response. How was being the Piper’s lap dog better than returning home with his son?

Instead he slipped into the shadows and came out behind Falco, smashed his finger tips along Falco’s back, then ducked back into the shadows to land a kick on Falco’s shin.

If they were both human, Falco would not be standing by now, and Splinter cursed the fact this odious pest was already dead.

Splinter knew in that hazy way all his memories and knowledge of being alive existed, that he’d once been a formidable opponent. Once, a very long time ago when he was a child, he had been built like a baby bird, small and fragile. Back then, he had not been able to rely on physical strength to win sparing matches, so he’d been forced to focus on his opponent’s weaknesses, aiming for pressure points and old injuries, exploiting what he could find and tilting the scales in his favour.

At some point, he’d shot up, put on weight and muscle, but kept the trickiness. He was a ninja, after all. He could almost remember Uncle saying something about it, his voice warm and soft, delighted by his nephew’s progress, even if he wasn’t happy that his student now towered over him.

“Your balance was a little off,” Master Gyogi said, watching through vision so blurred his nephew looked like a black and maroon smear in a sea of faded colours,“But I believe you were aware of that.”

----- nodded and prepared to repeat the kata. This time, he kept his centre of gravity lower, and stared down at his feet before starting, trying to get them into a better position than last time.

As he ran through the kata again, there was a roughness to his movements and he cringed. He wasn’t used to being this tall – he’d grown so much so quickly these last few weeks, and had found himself constantly adjusting his stance to accommodate for limbs that seemed far too long for the rest of his body.

When he was done, ----- looked to Sensei, who nodded and said, “You almost have it. Try to relax… do not make that face at me.”

He didn’t even think about questioning how Sensei knew he was pulling a face – being blind had absolutely no affect on the fact Gyogi knew him well.

“Sorry sensei.”

Master Gyogi raised a hand to his chin and began stroking his beard, “You are frustrated, yes?”

“Yes, Sensei.” ----- said and stared at the floor.

“What is it that frustrates you, my boy?”

-----’s shoulders relaxed and he dropped into a more casual stance. In this moment, Gyogi was his uncle first, sensei second.

“I keep messing up,” the boy explained, “this kata is not even that hard, but I keep failing.”

“First of all,” Gyogi said, his voice somewhere between gentle and amused, his attempt at stopping what he was about to say from sounding like a lecture, “making mistakes is how we learn, and you are, may I remind you, my student. Second, your balance not being perfect does not mean you have failed, only that there is room for improvement.”

The boy continued to stare at the floor. Father said Saki never made mistakes, that his older brother’s ninjutsu was utterly flawless, and ----- should aim to be more like his brother.

“Also, do you think that,” Gyogi hummed to himself, attempting to remember something, “Donatello became a master without making mistakes?”

He shook his head, and resisted the urge to tell his uncle what he knew about Donato di Niccolò Betto Bardi’s early life. It wasn’t relevant to what uncle was talking about it (even if uncle was talking about Donatello), and doing so could be seen as trying to change the subject, which was rude, and Saki was never rude to his teachers.

Uncle continued, “Is it possible that those mistakes he made, and the lessons he learned from it, helped him when he painted the Sistine Chapel?”

----- frowned, “You are thinking of Michelangelo, uncle.”

Gyogi’s eyes widened, “Ah, so I made a mistake?”

----- bit his lip and resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he said, “I see what you are doing.”

“Really? I cannot!” and then uncle laughed at his own joke, whilst his nephew tried not to find it funny.

Brother had told him he was developing Uncle’s sense of humour, and -----, horrified, had denied it. Now he feared his older brother was right and Uncle’s humour was catching.

When uncle stopped laughing, he said, “But see-”

----- groaned.

“- I have learned something new! I made a mistake, but now I know that Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel!”

“I understand your point,” ----- said carefully, least he give uncle another opportunity for a joke. He paused for a moment, and then said, “Can I try the kata again?”

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, thank you uncle.”

Gyogi gestured, and ----- tried again, loosening his shoulders. He moved like water, flowing from one movement to the next with such grace an onlooker may have believed he had been made for this.

When he was finished, Uncle said, delighted, “Well done, ----- that was perfect!”

Splinter swept Falco’s legs out from underneath him, then kicked Falco’s back to send the ghost into the air, and rammed the side of his hand into Falco’s stomach, slamming the other ghost into the floor. Falco landed with a wet crunch.

One pale hand grabbed Splinter’s ankle and pulled, and though he did no topple over, it did momentarily take his attention away from the rats that scurried towards them.

Splinter tensed, unsure of what needed his attention the most, but that question was answered by Raphael, who leaped between the rats and Splinter and cut them off them with a wall of fire. Soon Raphael was joined by his brothers, and Splinter couldn’t help the smile on his face or the pride in his core.

“We’ve got this!” Leonardo shouted above the cries of the rodents.

Turning his full attention back to Falco, Splinter found the other ghost gone. His ears twitched and he listened intently.

Falco was nearby, that much Splinter knew, but where the other ghost had retreated to was unclear. Splinter sniffed the air, but found the smell of burning meat and rats overpowered everything else.

To his left, there was movement -

Splinter ducked beneath swiping claws. Before straightening, he grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at Falco’s face, covering the bandages over his eyes with filth.

Falco continued attacking him, as if the dirt covering his eyes had not made a difference at all...

Splinter narrowed his eyes. He allowed his body to move on instinct, flowing like water, fighting without thinking, whilst his mind focused on the problem at hand.

He observed Falco, how he moved, what he did and did not react to. Between that and the fact Falco hadn’t even attempting to take the bandages off to clear his vision, Splinter came to one conclusion: Falco could not see. Or, more accurately, he could not see through his own eyes, and so had to rely upon his victims.

And yet, Falco still knew when Splinter advanced upon him, when Splinter retreated. He knew when Splinter attacked from the right that he should dodge left. How was that? Uncle had always seemed to know where Splinter was coming from, but Uncle was a ninjutsu master with decades of experience, and he’d known his nephew well, neither of which applied to Falco.

Splinter knew very little about other ghosts, so it was possible that Falco’s core worked differently than his own and was able to accurately tell him where Splinter was, but that did not sound right. As far as he could tell, the other ghosts of New York could sense his own presence, but never knew which direction he was coming from, hence their habit of turning and walking the other way as soon as they saw him.

It was unlikely that sound was the key. There were so many noises, from the rats, from the brothers, which all blurred together into one hellish cacophony that even Splinter had trouble picking apart.

Did that mean hearing was out? Or did Falco, who could see through the eyes of many rats and not become overwhelmed by their many different perspectives, also posses the ability to not be overstimulated by many different sounds? Possibly, and, should he hear and see through the eyes of rats then…

Splinter’s eyes scanned the area.

Most of the rats had peeled away, either to fight the brothers or flee whilst Falco was distracted. The latter, Splinter ignored as they were evidently no longer under Falco’s command. Instead he quickly inspected the former, and found that their attention was firmly on the brothers and the wall of the fire the brothers had created to hold them back.

So, if Splinter was correct, the rats Falco was watching him through were somewhere else. Considering how large the hoard had become, Splinter did not think it was stretch to think that Falco could have positioned a rat somewhere nearby, to watch as the fight unfolded. Which left another question: where was that rat?

Splinter ducked around a swipe of Falco’s claws, and counter attacked by flipping Falco over his shoulder.

Somewhere close enough to see, but further enough away and high enough to have a good view of the room. One of the mounds perhaps?

Quickly glancing around, Splinter counted three mounds that offered a decent vantage point of the whole room, including a pile near the boys. An unlikely place for the rat to be, considering the danger of it being caught in a crossfire between the boys and the hoard, not to mention the fact it was on fire. Which made two mounds.

The rat could be hidden within the piles, there being plenty of hiding places, and Splinter did not have the time to simultaneously fight Falco and search through them for a small animal, not when the boys were doing their best to hold back the hoard. Those four were already exhausted, pushed past their limits, and still they fought on and on.

Perhaps this wasn’t the first time they’d faced insurmountable odds. Splinter had never asked Michelangelo how he and his brothers ended up in a children’s home, and had never thought it polite to ask why Leonardo used a cane and a leg brace. It was, to put it bluntly, not Splinter’s business and he did not like prying into sensitive matters. Michelangelo had not pried into Splinter’s background, so it was only right for Splinter to return the favour.

Despite that, he had made some educated guesses based upon how the boys acted. His little boy always seemed to assume that he was annoying everyone around him, and at a moment’s notice an enthusiastic conversation about superhero comics or horror movies could be abruptly cut off by an apology for being annoying and weird. When happy, Michelangelo would bounce his hands up and down and make the most boisterous laugh Splinter had ever heard, but then Michelangelo would stop, and tuck his hands beneath his legs, keeping them still.

Those times were happening less and less, Splinter had noticed, and it was taking less encouragement from Michelangelo to feel comfortable enough to continue discussing his interests. Splinter was also pleased to note that even his (worst) puns were able to get his boy laughing, although it was 50/50 if Mikey would make a pun of his own in retaliation, or groan loudly and critique the pun’s quality.

But Splinter had not forgotten Michelangelo’s initial reaction. Something terrible had happened to those boys. It did not have to be one single awful event, the type guaranteed to leave scars on the body and mind. For all Splinter knew, it may have been a series of small but upsetting events that built up over time into something just as horrible. The difference between being impaled and death through a thousand cuts. Although, many people have the added misfortune of having to endure and manage both, a plate spinning competition made in hell.

He hoped the boys had not endured such a thing.

Whatever had happened to them, Splinter needed to do everything he could to ensure they did not suffer any more than they already had.

Splinter took a deep breath. The fire burned beneath the surface of his skin as it always did, and he carefully, slowly, drew it out.

Until today, he had never thrown a fire ball, and avoided using his abilities as much as possible. With them came the smell of burning flesh, of acrid smoke that filled his lungs with toxic gas and left him utterly, hopelessly, breathless. And then the oppressive feeling of something pressing down on his body would come, preventing him from moving. The latter sensation sometimes came at night, pinning him to the attic floor until the sensation finally left him.

Here and now, as he pooled fire into his left hand, the smell and the pressure came, and his breathing quickened.

He hoped as he raised his arm, that the trembling of his hands wouldn’t throw his aim off.

When he raised his arm, Falco froze and tendrils dug into Splinter’s mind, trying to stay his hand.

Splinter hissed and thought of his boy, of his child’s brothers, of Uncle and Shen and his daughter. Miwa and Michelangelo might never have the opportunity to meet one another, but Splinter would do whatever he could to protect his son and then, maybe one day, his children would get that chance. If not in this life, then perhaps in the next.

And if that never happened, then at the very least he could secure a long and happy life for his youngest child. Michelangelo deserved that. He deserved the world.

His brothers deserved that too. And even if they were not Splinter’s children, he was going to make sure nothing hurt them ever again.

Falco’s face twisted in terror as Splinter threw the ball of fire into the furthest of the two piles, igniting it instantly.

The brothers shouted in alarm, Raphael grabbing Donatello and pulling him closer on instinct.

Falco screamed,

“Aristotle!
(Aristotle!)”

In that instant, the tendrils that tried to worm their way through Splinter withdrew, leaving a deep ache behind.

Falco tried to rush forward, one hand outstretched with the fingers splayed, whilst the other arm trailed just behind him.

Splinter stalked after him.

He seized the trailing arm and hissed, ALLOW ME TO GIVE YOU A HAND.

He dug his claws into the arm, tearing through the thin upper layer of ectoplasm. It burst open, revealing a sea of darkness beneath, and as his claws parted the sea, the ectoplasm bit his hand and chewed its way through his skin. He could feel it, writhing like worms in his hand and arm.

All the while, Falco screamed and tried to escape.

All the while, Splinter pulled on Falco’s arm.

Slowly, the ectoplasmic sea began to recede until only long thick strings with of ectoplasm connecting Falco’s arm to the rest of his body.

The stings began to tear, breaking one by one.

Splinter snarled

And

Finally

Pulled

Falco’s

Arm

Off.

Pooling fire into his hand, Splinter set the arm alight, YOU SAID TO BRING YOU AN ARM. HERE, JUST AS YOU ASKED! And swung it into Falco’s face.

Falco fell to the floor and desperately back-pedalled away from Splinter, his remaining hand gripping his temple as he tried to call more rats towards him.

But they had left this particular sinking ship. There was only one rat left in this place of rot, and he was hissing and snarling as he advanced on Falco.

For the first time, Falco was completely alone.

“No...
(No...)
Stop!
(Stop!)”

S plinter ignored him.

He dropped the arm, letting it burn to nothing on the ground.

Falco continued backing away. Now knowing no reinforcements were coming, he’d stopped grasping his temple, and instead his remaining hand had clutched the stump of his arm. Ectoplasm dripped between his fingers.

“You think killing me will save you,
(You think killing me will save you,)
that it’ll do any good.
(that it’ll do any good.)
It wont.
(It won’t.)
It won’t!
(It won’t!)”

In this, Falco was right. Killing this ghost would not fix whatever was broken inside of him.

But this was not about Splinter or his well being.

It was about the fifteen ghosts who were truly dead and gone.

It was about the children Falco had possessed.

It was about Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. Their safety, their happiness, their lives.

Splinter lunged, teeth bared.

---

Falco raised his remaining arm to defend himself. Splinter’s jaws ripped through it like tissue paper.

Mikey watched in a mixture of horror and relief as the Piper was torn apart.

A hand touched his shoulder, and he flinched, until he realised it was just Raph. His older brother’s face was deathly pale, except for deep purple bruises around his hard eyes.

Raph’s eyes flickered down to Mikey, temporarily softening as they did so, then went back to Splinter as a wet tearing sound echoed throughout the room, like someone tearing strips of fabric.

It was followed by a sharp crackling.

Mikey’s eyes were also drawn back to the two ghosts. On Splinter’s face there were fresh wounds, deep gouges where Falco had clawed at him desperately. The ectoplasm from those wounds mixed with the ectoplasm that already coated Splinter’s fur and jaws.

Splinter’s hand was halfway out of Falco’s torso, and within it he held a dark red glowing orb. Its centre was brighter than the outer edges, and Mikey was reminded of diagrams of the earth from geography lessons. Strings of black ectoplasm still connected it to Falco, and even from here Mikey could see the tension within them, as if the orb was trying to push itself back into Falco, or pull Falco towards it.

Falco’s core. It was Falco’s core.

As the realisation of what this strange glowing thing was hit Mikey, Splinter crushed it between his hands. For a moment, the core resisted, cracks opening across its surface. But the cracks soon turned into fissures and the core shattered.

A wave of dark red light exploded outward from the core, rapidly reaching the edges of the room and then rushing down the tunnels into the rest of Falco’s Domain. Several much smaller waves followed the first, bringing with them an intense chill and a hum of energy which ebbed and flowed. It reminded Mikey of the TV back in the Children’s Home. Whenever no one else was sat in the common room, which was not often, Donnie liked to sit directly in front of it and move his arm back and forth across the screen, watching the hair along his arm rise and fall with the static.

A second later, the core began to retract, and the room grew darker than before. With the darkness, came a sense of comfort – shadows were not something for Mikey to fear.

Mikey watched as the wave was pulled further and further back. For a moment, he thought that Falco was pulling it back into himself, reforming his core, and a horrible dread grew and grew inside of Mikey and it didn’t stop growing until the core passed over Falco and instead sunk into Splinter.

A s the dark red light touched Splinter’s body, it turned a warm orange, flecked here and there with reds, yellows and the occasional blue where the heat was most intense .

“You think you’ve won,
(You think you’ve won,)”

Falco managed to say as his body began to change, the outer extremities breaking down and transforming into soft red light. His skin began to dissolve, and then the layers beneath it, slowly at first, but as Mikey watched the destruction became quicker and quicker. Soon there would be nothing left of Falco.

“You think you can go home now?
(You think you can go home now?)
You think you’ve saved the day?
(You think you’ve saved the day?)”

Splinter climbed to his feet, and stared down at Falco, not saying a word.

Falco laughed, and as his face turned into light he said,

“I am not the one,
(I am not the one,)
who made you,
(who made you,)
into a puppet.
(into a puppet.)”

And with that Doctor Victor Falco was gone, leaving not a claw or tooth or clump of fur behind.

Mikey breathed softly, so softly he wasn’t even sure if he actually was breathing or holding his breath.

Splinter knelt down and ran his fingers through the dirt where Falco had lay. Afterwards he raised his fingers to his face to inspect them. Finding no trace of their enemy, Splinter lowered his hand to the ground.

Splinter dropped to all fours and roared, his fur catching fire. The roa r was a primal sound, utterly inhuman, and something within Mikey that itself was not human, because it had existed for far longer than humans, recognised it. That piece of him remembered what it was like to be a small creature from millennia ago that had just heard this same roar. It remembered shrinking away into the undergrowth whilst the source of the noise, a creature both larger and far more powerful than it, stomped past, a fresh corpse in its mouth.

And yet Mikey was not afraid.

His father’s eyes drifted towards him, and the roar changed, growing quieter and softer, turning into a call to come over because the danger had past. And Mikey reminded that ancient piece of himself of something important: he was not a small animal hiding in the brush form a huge beast, but the beast’s own cub who’d been hiding whilst his parent dealt with a rival. Less a zebra foal , and more the lion’s own cub. Something to treasure and to love to love to love.

Slowly, Splinter padded towards them, walking on all fours, his tail swishing behind him. His claws clicked against the ground, smearing black against it. And the fire that covered his body grew weaker, and turned back into fur.

M ikey took a step forward .

An explosion rocked the room.

Clouds of smoke seemingly appeared out of nowhere, filling the air with the scent of smoke and snuffing out the light.

Mikey could hear a soft crackling.

He felt heat.

Falco’s Domain was burning.

Notes:

It was during the writing of this chapter that I realised people having their arms ripped off is a reoccurring theme in my writing. Also cannibalism. Unsure what to make of that.

In other news, there’s going to be a third anniversary fic for DDMG. It’s called Clytemnestra, and it’s first draft is already done. After this is posted, I’m going to start work on draft 2. Additionally, the oneshot collection set after this fic has a completed first draft, and is now called Ready Set, Not Yet.

Oh! And Parasite (the Raph centric main fic set after this one) has a completed overview! Which effectively means that now this fic is almost done, I’m starting to obsess over that one AND brainstorm the Donnie centric fic (Working title: Ready Now), as well as next year’s anniversary fic which is going to Venus centric!!! … If I don’t have at least seven projects on the go at I start chewing the furniture!

Chapter 22

Summary:

With Falco dead and gone, his Domain begins to collapse

A crimson column of fire burst from the floor. It climbed higher and higher, devouring the nearby walls as it went, and then began feasting on the ceiling.

More fires erupted, the ground bulging and cracking open to reveal a sea of fire beneath.

Great plums of smoke filled the room, bringing with them so much soot Mikey could barely see, barely breath. He’d always thought that a burning building would be hellishly bright, the fire chasing away all the shadows until there was so much light you could not see.

He was wrong.

He hadn’t anticipated the darkness.

Mikey coughed into his hand, a rough hacking that stung his throat. His eyes hurt, and water streamed out of them, making what little he could see even blurrier.

Someone grabbed his hand and began pulling him towards the general direction of the exit. When not on fire, the path was winding with many twists and turns, as if the rats and Falco had added constantly to the mounds, so that they grew and grew until they took up almost all available space on the floor. In the current state of things, with the mounds bursting into flames, sending out dark smoke that smelt of plastic and made Mikey’s head hurt, the path looked like a labyrinth made in hell.

The hand holding onto his own tugged him forward, leading him into a small area where the smoke was thinner, thin enough that Mikey could look around him and search for the rest of their party.

Rockwell was making his way towards them, guided by Donnie, who was shouting over the roar of the flames and waving his hands. Raph stood next to Donnie, eyeing the burning mounds warily, and doing his best to move Donnie away from the worst of the flames.

Next to Mikey, holding his hand, was Leo. Mikey squeezed Leo’s hand, then went back to scanning their surroundings. There was one person still missing from their group, and Mikey refused to take another step without locating him first.

Mikey found Splinter where they had last seen him, body low to the floor, ears pressed against his skull and whiskers bunched together.

“Splinter!” Mikey shouted, “We’re over here!”

There was no response.

Instead Splinter continued to stare ahead of him, not moving an inch. He might as well have turned to stone, for all the difference it would have made.

Even with his hood down, it was impossible to say for certain what Splinter was looking at, especially as the orange glow had left his eyes, leaving only a sea of red behind.

“Splinter!” Mikey called again, and gagged on the smoke that filled his mouth and lungs, “Splinter!”

“Splinter, come on!” Leo shouted, “There’s no time!”

Mikey followed Splinter’s gaze, trying to find whatever had captured Splinter’s attention so thoroughly.

All Mikey found was fire.

It was everywhere, eating whatever it came into contact with, and sending out clouds of smoke that hid the few places it hadn’t yet reached and –

Splinter’s arms were covered in burn scars.

…

Oh no.

Mikey tried to lung forward, but was stopped in his tracks by Leo’s grip on his hand.

“Mikey!? What are you-?”

“He needs help!” Mikey explained, and pulled against Leo’s hand, trying to bridge the gap between himself and Splinter.

Leo’s eyes went to Splinter, and Mikey could see the confusion growing.

“He’s not following us.” It wasn’t an order, or a demand, or even a rejection, just a simple stating of fact.

“He’s scared.” Mikey said, because reminding Leo about the burns and how nervous Splinter got around open flames would take too long.

In the end he didn’t need to. Perhaps Leo remembered the scars that snaked around Splinter’s arms himself, or perhaps he simply trusted his little brother.

Leo’s face hardened.

“Help him.” he said, “I’ll be right behind you.”

He let go.

Mikey ran as fast as he could, darting around the mounds and jumping over places were they’d collapsed and fallen into the way of the path.

It took very little time for him to reach Splinter, and when he was several feet away, he slowed from a full sprint to a run.

The first thing he noticed about Splinter was that he was covered in ectoplasm, the dark fluid staining his brown fur and old robe black. The second was that Splinter was making a high keening noise.

As he drew closer, Mikey slowed from a run to a jog.

He didn’t really have a plan on how to help Splinter. All he’d knew was that had to do something.

He was trying to come up with a plan when, only a few feet away from Splinter, another column of fire erupted. Splinter dropped to the floor and curled up around himself, letting a noise that was somehow one part human cry of fear and one part an animal shrieking.

Mikey paused.

He’d never asked how Splinter died.

He hadn’t ever wanted to know.

In the books he’d read and movies he’d watched whilst researching ghosts, he’d learned that knowing how a ghost died was important. ‘Bad deaths’ could result in a restless spirit, but so could a person dying with a powerful grudge, some kind of unfinished business, that would need to be resolved before they could let go of the living world.

Even so, the idea of going up to Splinter and asking what had happened to him felt… wrong. Like Mikey would be overstepping some invisible line that he knew was there, even if he couldn’t see it, because so many people had been more than happy to trample over his own boundaries.

Whenever anyone found out Mikey was an orphan, they always wanted to know why, wanted to know about one of the most traumatic days in his and his brothers’ lives, because apparently that’s what you do when you met someone for the first time and find out both their parents are dead: ask them about their Top Ten Traumas.

And then those same people would want to know why no one else wanted them. Why their mom and dad’s families hadn’t taken them in and raised them instead, and why no new people had decided to bring them into their home.

It never felt like simple curiosity to Mikey. He tended to find that in other kids living in care homes, but telling them what happened to mom and dad always felt more like sharing war stories with a fellow soldier.

With the people that pried and demanded to know, it felt like not having parents somehow made him not a person. Just a thing to be gawked at and then ignored afterwards.

Admittedly, he didn’t know if Splinter felt the same about his own death. For all Mikey knew, Splinter was perfectly fine with questions, and hadn’t brought it up simply because Mikey never did.

Of course, even though he never asked and Splinter never provided answers unprompted, Mikey had figured out Splinter’s burn scars has something to do with whatever happened to him. However, that didn’t mean Mikey wanted the specifics. The where, the why, the when and the who.

Right now, he felt as if he should have asked some questions, so if a situation such as this arose, he’d know what to do.

Maybe when they got home, he’d ask. Not how Splinter died, but how to help him deal with it.

When Mikey reached Splinter, who’d started shaking terribly but not moving, he knelt down and reached out to grab Splinter’s hands.

The ghost had pulled his hood back up, his hands holding it over his face. Once Mikey touched them, Splinter flinched and hissed, snapping his head around and champed his teeth. The fur along his face stood on end, the tips turned red and began to smoke.

It should have been frightening.

It should have sent ice through Mikey’s heart and sent him running back into Leo’s arms, and from there to the nearest exit, because what was crouched in front of him was not human anymore, if it ever had been.

What was before him now was a monster of the most literal kind.

A monster who would move along walls and ceilings as easily as walking across the floor. Who could jump between shadows and breath fire.

A monster who was covered in the life blood of another one of his kind, that only minutes ago he had rent and tore down to nothing, and shattered the closet thing his species had to a heart. And now he housed the strength of that dead and gone creature, and all those Falco had consumed.

A monster who, after killing another, let out a roar of triumph.

What kind of creature would take such grim satisfaction in the end of someone else’s existence?

Mikey should have been terrified.

And, perhaps, if the monster wasn’t Splinter, he would have been.

But it was Splinter, so he wasn’t afraid. Not even a little.

From the very beginning, he’d known that Splinter wasn’t human. True, once upon a time, he’d struggled to remember that fact, but the knowledge had lodged itself firmly into place the day he found Splinter eating in the attic, the day when the old floorboards gave way and Mikey fell through them. Humans don’t stalk other animals on all fours, eat them raw, and then lick themselves clean afterwards. They also can’t teleport from shadow to shadow.

At the time, it had disturbed Mikey, and he knew if Splinter was human it would have taken him a lot longer to come to terms with it.

But, he’d told himself later, when the image of all that red no longer preyed on his mind, expecting Splinter to behave exactly like a human was a bit like expecting a fish to figure out how to ride – it was well outside of the fish’s wheelhouse to know how to do that, so even if he understood the theory, actually doing it was impossible.

Besides, Splinter was his monster, his…

Mikey swallowed thickly.

He’d called Splinter papa.

And… he’d meant it.

Saying it had felt like casting a spell, or making a bargain, one Mikey understood completely without needing to read the terms, because he and Splinter had written them together over the course of the months they’d known each other. They hadn’t even known they were doing it at the time – they just did what came naturally, and somehow built something together.

Mikey took a step back, and said softly, “It’s me.”

The hissing didn’t stop immediately, instead it slowly turned into a gentle trilling. It was a curious sound, and not for the first time Mikey found himself comparing Splinter to a very large cat.

“Papa,” Mikey said, hoping the spell still worked, “We need to go.”

The trilling sound grew louder, and Splinter leaned forward, pressing the side of his snout against Mikey’s face and nuzzling the boy affectionately.

WHERE ARE YOUR BROTHERS? Mikey’s father asked.

“Over there!” Mikey pointed back the way he’d came.

AND ROCKWELL?

“Er…” Mikey could not see Rockwell from here, but he could see Donnie, who from the looks of things was still directing the man to safety. Following the direction of Donnie’s gaze, he pointed, “That way?”

Wasting no time, Splinter picked Mikey up and ducked into a shadow.

They exited next to Leo, who gave Splinter a quick once over and then nodded at the ghost.

LEONARDO, GET YOUR BROTHERS OUT OF HERE. I WILL HANDLE ROCKWELL.

Leo turned and shouted, “Raph, Donnie, follow me! Splinter’s got Rockwell.”

As they ran out of the room, carefully avoiding new columns of fire and pockets of chocking smoke, Mikey looked over his shoulder. Splinter reached Rockwell quickly, and slung the other man over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing. Rockwell squeaked in indignation, but didn’t put up a fight, allowing Splinter to carry him. Then the ghost disappeared into the shadows, and reappeared next to Mikey.

The child grabbed his father’s hand and held on tight.

---

If visibility was poor in the room where Falco was destroyed, it was even worse in the tunnel that connected it to the room that preceded it. The smaller space left no room for pockets of light or clearer air, leaving nowhere they could get their bearings.

They linked hands, least they lose one another in the dark. The downside was it made walking awkward and slow, things which they could not afford to be.

And just as they were about to leave the tunnel and enter the previous room, there was a horrible crashing sound, metal tumbling down and smashing into the floor, wood splintering and glass shattering. Mikey couldn’t see what happened, but he felt hot dust pepper his face and Splinter’s hand tighten like a vice.

Maybe it was just Mikey’s imagination, or him mishearing the fires around them, but Mikey was sure Splinter was breathing strangely.

Admittedly a ghost breathing at all was strange, but this was Splinter, and Mikey was used to his regular eccentricities. Splinter was breathing in that horrible stuttering way that Mikey had learned meant one of his brothers was racing towards a breakdown, but was clinging onto awareness of their surroundings in hopes that they could stave it off until they were somewhere safe. It was the sound of someone who was in the space between knowing everything had gone horribly wrong and being suffocated by the seer terror of that realisation.

Breaking down here would be a death sentence, and so Mikey pushed Splinter forward. He felt his father stumble, then follow him.

WR- WRAP YOUR SCARVES AROUND YOUR NOSES AND MOUTHS! Splinter shouted over the roar of the fire.

“SPLINTER, CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING? ANOTHER WAY OUT?” Leo shouted back.

NO, BUT, Mikey felt Splinter take a nother step forward, I MAY BE ABLE TO SHADOW WALK US TO THE NEXT TUNNEL. IF THE FIRE HAS SPREAD FAR ENOUGH, IT SHOULD BE AS DARK AS THIS ONE.

“DO IT!”

A relieved gasp left Mikey’s mouth as they stepped into the shadows. Even if it was only for a moment, they left the smoke and heat behind, entering a place that was neither hot nor cold.

The relief did not last, could not last, however, and a second later they stepped back into the inferno. The heat welcome them back eagerly, and the smoke wrapped around them once more.

---

Outside the mound wasn’t much better.

As they stepped out of the tunnel, they found the fire raging just as fiercely outside. All the walls and walkways were gone, leaving little more than ankle high obstacles to step over, and yet that hadn’t stopped the fire, which was now digging deeper and deeper holes into the ground and ceiling.

The bright side was that it gave them a clear view of the exit. It was far away from them, but not so far that it seemed unreachable, and for a brief moment Leo felt confident that they’d make it out of this Domain alive.

Here was the way out, right in front of them, they just had to get to it!

The thing about learning to always pay attention to every little detail happening around you, is that it is an extremely difficult habit to break.

There had been times when Leo would very much have liked to ignore the evidence that something was wrong, so that he could pretend for a little while that things were okay. That wasn’t a privilege he could afford though – ignoring the signs that something was wrong could easily result in ruin for himself or his brothers, and he refused to allow his own negligence to endanger them. So, with no small amount of weary resignation, he realised something was wrong.

Where there had once been windows that stared into an endless night, now there was… nothing. Just an empty void flecked here and there with many different colours.

On the ground, where the fire was shovelling fistfuls of dirt into its mouth, deep craters had been created, at the bottom of which were puddles of that same nothingness. As the fire gorged itself, the liquid began to spread faster and faster, until it was the fire that was being eaten alive.

Leo couldn’t help but think of a bubble in the middle of the ocean. The bubble had started to collapse and now all the salt water was beginning to force its way in.

Behind Leo came the sound of rushing water.

…

Leo looked over his shoulder.

In the shadows, he could see movement. It was not a writhing mass of thousands of rats, running in the darkness in an attempt to escape the place that had been their prison for so long, or even the Piper somehow returned from annihilation to trap them here.

It was something much, much worse.

Its surface was iridescent. Shimmering blues, reds, purples, oranges, yellows and greens, so bright amid a sea of blackness that made them seem all the more vibrant. They glowed in the dim light and folded into one another, as if caught in an eternal dance.

Whatever it was, it flowed like water. There, in the tunnels, was an ocean.

If it wasn’t for the fact it was rapidly approaching, Leo might have found it beautiful.

“Run.” he said in a low voice.

Raph straightened and looked behind him, trying to find what had frightened his twin so badly, “What? What’s coming?”

“Run!” Leo ordered, “RUN! NOW!”

The sea howled as it burst out of the mound, sending out a spray of rubble and dark liquid. The fires closest to the mound died, drowned by the sea, but the sea had not quenched its thirst for destruction.

It chased them, faster and faster, swallowing the ground behind them.

Adrenaline, Leo thought to himself in a voice that was shockingly calm considering the situation, was a hell of a drug. Under its influence, he could barely feel his knee burning.

Tomorrow was sure to be one of pain. He’d be lucky if he could walk. Not walk without pain, just walk.

That was, if tomorrow ever came.

Only a few days ago, Leo had not feared death, because he was certain that he’d simply come back. After all, keeping his brothers safe and making sure they were properly cared for was his job, his duty as the oldest, and he would not be able to rest peacefully if that task went unfulfilled. If he saw a white tunnel leading Somewhere Else, he would simply refuse to step foot in it until he knew that a long and happy life was secured for his younger brothers.

Death had not felt like an end, so much as another beginning. Level 2.

Here and now, running as fast as he could from an ocean of ectoplasm that screamed and screamed as it chased them, Leo realised that he did want to die.

He didn’t want to know what would happen if he died here. If Splinter was also running, Leo assumed that meant this was not a safe place for a ghost to be either, but that was only a small part of Leo’s fear.

Leo did not simply not want to die.

Leo Tortuga wanted to live.

Ahead of them, cracks formed in the ground. They radiated outwards before splitting open as a giant pillar of ectoplasm punched it way through, and grew and grew and grew until it slammed into the ceiling.

Leo covered his face and adjusted course to run around it. From high above, so loud it drowned out the fire, came a gurgling and the pillar rippled.

The ground rumbled and to their left another pillar smashed its way out of the ground and collided with the ceiling.

The sea still chased after them, snuffing out the remaining fires and filling the space behind them with ectoplasm. Leo assumed it was the Land of the Dead retaking the place the Piper had carved out for himself, but he couldn’t understand what the pillars were doing. What were they -

Rain began to fall.

Iridescent, black rain. Thick like ink.

It felt like TV static against his skin.

At first, the rain was light and thin, what adults called spitting.

Within moments it became heavier, small droplets growing larger and larger until even the smallest coated his hair, his face, his clothes in black fluid. The feeling of TV static was replaced with something else – now he could feel the energy that pulsed within, could feel that this ectoplasm, whilst not sapient, was alive.

Leo looked to the ceiling, trying to see where it was coming from.

His heart stuttered.

The ceiling was much lower now, low enough that he could see it and everything that lay beyond it. Across its surface, he could see swollen spots like black boils, which burst apart and released more rain.

And shifting in that undead ocean, where lights of many different colours. When he thought no one else was around, Raph liked to read books about the ocean, about creatures that lived so deep the light of the sun would never reach them, so they made their own light. He’d shown Leo pictures of angler fish and jelly fish, of creatures so strange Leo could hardly believe they came from the same planet.

Did that mean they were at the bottom of something?

Those shifting lights caught something, and Leo spied movement within the vast ocean.

The thing was so massive Leo could hardy fathom how big it truly was. It had many limbs, which moved like a squid’s tentacles, and blue-green lights covered its body. The lights blinked in and out slowly, and several of them turned to Leo and…

They were eyes.

It. Could. See. Him.

Leo’s attention snapped back to his surroundings when Raph grabbed his arm and shoved him out of the way of a pillar, which burst forth where Leo had been running only seconds ago. Like the others, it drove into the ceiling.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mikey stumble and quickly regain his footing. The rain had made the ground slippery, and the more they ran the harder it became to stay standing.

But Mikey was only a few feet away from the exit, and he slid to a stop beside it, turning around as he did so to shout “Come on!”

Splinter reached the exit next and set Rockwell down carefully. The shorter man’s breaths were coming in fits and bursts, each inhale and exhale sounding terribly painful. Meanwhile, Splinter was glancing all around them, checking to see where everyone was. His whiskers twitches as he did so, his ears swivelling about madly.

Briefly, his and Leo’s eyes meet.

Whatever the rat demon saw as he looked at the boy seemed to satisfy him, and his eyes moved on.

Splinter’s fur stood on end. Without a word, he dropped to all fours and leaped forward, sailing over Leo and Raph, and then galloped away from the exit.

Leo slowed to a jog. The entrance was so close, only three feet away, but he needed to know what had prompted that reaction from Splinter.

Behind him, he could see Raph, and far away was Splinter, racing towards the sea. And Donnie was…

“Donnie!” Leo shouted, “Donnie! DONNIE!”

At the sound of Leo’s frantic screaming, Raph began scanning the area, his eyes feverishly searching for his immediate younger brother.

What happened!? Where was he!? Only moments ago Donnie had been with them!

Leo’s eyes snapped back to Splinter, who weaved between the pillars of ectoplasm. The rain was a torrential downpour now, leaving the floor coated in darkness which clung to Splinter’s hands and feet, so that with every step he had to snatch his limbs away from the dark liquid. Even so, he moved with purpose towards a destination that Leo could not identify.

And all the while, the ocean hurried to meet him.

“Donnie!” Raph screamed, “Donnie, where are you? DONNIE!”

Reaching one of the deep craters, Splinter clambered down its side and began searching for something hidden beneath the ectoplasm.

Around him, the pillars began to tremble and the ground shook. Both grew in intensity and Leo could not tell which was the cause and which the effect, or if they were both symptoms of something much worse.

Finally, Splinter pulled something out of the ectoplasm and hefted it into his arms, something purple and black which wrapped its arms around the ghost like he was a life line. Looking up, Splinter saw the pillars shaking. Then he tilted his head back to the ceiling, and threw a quick glance to the ocean that was quickly gaining on him.

Splinter moved Donnie to his back, and Leo was sure he could see Splinter’s mouth moving -

(DONATELLO, HOLD ON TIGHT.

“Okay,” Donnie relied sluggishly.)

- before the ghost was back on all fours and shot off again. Meanwhile, Donnie clung on for dear life, his head buried in the fur at the back of Splinter’s neck.

Donnie was a lanky kid, build like a beanpole with long limps that had more joints that they should have, which gave the impression that Donnie’s body was not fully under his control. Even so, his added weight and bulk made manoeuvring around the pillars more difficult, especially as the storm overhead meant Splinter was having to contend with ectoplasm up to his knees and elbows

Deciding to take a different approach, Splinter scrambled up on off the pillars and kicked off it, landing on another with more grace than Leo thought possible in a place as wet as this.

From there he jumped from pillar to pillar, clearing more ground faster than he could have otherwise.

A pillar ten feet to Splinter’s right burst.

And then the pillars around it erupted in a shower of ectoplasm.

The ceiling began to collapse.

Raph grabbed Leo’s shoulder and pulled him towards the door. Rockwell was waiting there for them with Mikey, who was bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet. In the warehouse behind them, Leo could see another inferno, but no ectoplasm.

On the threshold, Leo hesitated.

Was there anything in the makeshift lab they could use to help? Or was the only thing they’d find there more fire and cloying smoke?

He looked to Raph, to Mikey.

Should he wait for Splinter and Donnie, or get his other brothers and Rockwell to safety? It was his duty to keep them all safe, but would saving two mean dooming the last? Or would waiting for the last kill them all?

A voice shouted from behind, firm and reassuring all at once, LEONARDO! GET YOUR BROTHERS OUT OF THERE!

Should he leave Donnie’s life in Splinter’s hands?

Could he do that?

WE WILL BE FINE, Splinter scrambled around another pillar, jumping off it as it collapsed, WE ARE RIGHT BEHIND YOU.

Leo glanced at the mass on Splinter’s back.

Donnie was nine years old.

Next year he would be ten.

Next year, he will be ten.

“Okay,” Leo whispered almost to himself. In a louder voice he said, “Okay. Raph get Rockwell, I’ll handle Mikey.”

Raph’s eyes flickered between Leo and Splinter – he was still unsure of Splinter, and never liked doing what strangers told him to, even when he agreed with them.

But Leo was a different matter. They were brothers, twins, and even if Raph did not trust Splinter, his faith in Leo could cleave stone.

Raph nodded.

And with that, he grabbed Rockwell and half-dragged, half-carried the man to the warehouse doors.

“Mikey,” Leo said and held his hand out to Mikey, who was staring into the Piper’s Domain, “Mikey, Splinter and Donnie are going to be okay, but we need to get out of here first.”

“But-” Mikey’s voice cracked.

“We’ll wait for them. I promise we’ll wait for them, but not here. We can’t.”

“Guys!” Raph shouted, “Building. On. FIRE.”

Mikey took hold of Leo’s hand and managed a small smile.

As they hurried through the warehouse, bits of wood and plaster rained down on them, and Leo did his best to cover Mikey’s head with his arms. Without a coat on, much of his arms were bare, and every piece of wood or metal that rained down on them hurt.

By the time they reached the opposite side, Leo was covered in sweet, his skin bright red and mouth impossibly dry. Breathing was hard too, each breath coming out in ragged, clawing bursts and going down much the same.

He just hoped that the door was open.

Raph rammed his foot into the doors, hard enough to splinter wood and dent metal.

He did it again and Leo heard something within the door break.

On the third kick the doors flung open and the four of them poured outside.

---

New York was freezing cold.

Ice crystals hung in the air, and light snow was falling and settling on the ground. Contrasted with the inferno behind them, the cold air was soothing and Leo hadn’t ever imagined he’d be happy to be cold. He breathed in deeply, savouring how it felt as the air entered his still burning lungs.

Yet this was no time to relax, and he led his brothers and Rockwell across the street, back to where Rockwell had parked the car only a few hours ago. Rockwell, opened one of the doors and sank down into the seat. Then the man leant back and closed his eyes, having decided to focus on just breathing.

Neither Leo or his brothers joined him in the car, instead electing to stand around it as casually as three people covered in soot and ectoplasm and blood could.

Together, they waited.

None of them spoke.

None of them moved.

Mikey held Leo’s hand tightly and stared into the fire.

Raph watched the perimeter, looking to see if Splinter and Donnie came out another way.

Thick clouds of black smoke billowed from the building, hurrying out the front door, scrambling out of open windows and squirming between cracks in the window sills. Glass cracked, wood creaked, and stone crackled.

The fire climbed higher and higher, traversing up the front of the building until it reached the roof. Up there, the fire danced, swaying in the draft caused by the smoke.

And yet, no fire trucks appeared. Did no one live here? Was that why Victor Falco had chosen this place to conduct his experiments, and why no one realised a hoard comprising thousands of rats lived there?

The rest of the street was rundown, filled with boarded up buildings, ‘FOR SALE’ signs scattered about. The ideal place, so it seemed, for Falco’s desires.

Which also made it the ideal place to quietly destroy him and then get away unnoticed.

Movement from within the fire.

A shape stumbled out the front door.

Tall for a human, but the proportions were all wrong. The chest was too broad, the neck too long and thick, the face stretched out into a muzzle. Eyes the same colour as the fire around it.

There was something black and purple in the figures arms.

Upon seeing Leo, the creature – Splinter – ran towards him, leaving the burning warehouse on the other side of the road.

A second later the ceiling caved in.

The sound of the crash jostled the boy in Splinter’s arms, and he pulled away from the ghost just enough to turn his head and take a look at the world around him.

Leo held his breath.

He wanted to cry.

The purple boy blinked owlishly, as if he wasn’t quite sure what to make of this much colder world. Perhaps he wasn’t – he’d been in the burning building and the Piper’s Domain much longer than the rest of them, so it was possible the change in temperature was jarring.

Also, he’d breathed in a lot of smoke and Splinter had to fish him out of a puddle of ectoplasm, which Leo doubted was doing him any good.

Eventually, the boy’s eyes landed on Leo.

“Leo?” the boy said in a smoke chocked voice, “Leo!”

Well, that did it. Leo was definitely crying now.

Tears rolled down his face as Splinter gently set Donnie down, and before the younger boy had the chance to do anything else, Leo threw his arms around Donnie and brought him into the tightest hug he could. Neither he or Donnie were particularly keen on physical affection, it was something they’d always had in common, but Donnie returned the hug just as fiercely.

And, as Donnie buried his face into Leo’s neck and trembled violently, Raph and Mikey swooped in and made sure there wasn’t an inch of Donnie that wasn’t being covered by a warm embrace.

For a while, they stood there, curled up around each other. Leo heard the telltale ragged hiccups that meant Raph was trying very hard not to cry, and he tried to move his head so that it was resting on Raph’s shoulder. Seemingly sensing what Leo was trying to do, Mikey held them tighter.

Eventually, they separated, and as they moved away Leo heard something crinkle in Donnie’s hands. With a frown, Leo looked at Donnie’s hands, and his eyebrows rose in surprise.

Donnie has holding Mikey’s coat.

Shifting awkwardly, Donnie said in a voice that suggested he thought he was about to be told off, “I – I, um, I thought – I thought it’d be… I thought we shouldn’t – I shouldn’t – shouldn’t leave this. Cause it’s Mike – Mikey’s and he’d have to get, have to get, have to get a new one and – and -” Donnie voice broke.

Splinter, who’d taken a step back during the hug to allow the boys to welcome their brother back to the Land of the Living, stepped forward and crouched down so that he and Donnie were eye level with one another.

In a soft voice Leo had thought was only reserved for Mikey, Splinter said, THAT WAS VERY THOUGHTFUL OF YOU.

Donnie stared down at the coat in his hands and refused to look up, “I should – should – shouldn’t have done – done it?”

IT WAS NOT ADVISABLE, Splinter admitted, BUT I BELIEVE YOU KNOW THAT ALREADY.

Splinter paused and Donnie looked up from the coat, waiting for the rest of what Splinter had to say.

The ghost titled his head to one side and continued, YOU WANTED TO LOOK AFTER YOUR BROTHERS, YES? IT IS VERY COLD, AND LEONARDO DOES NOT HAVE HIS COAT.

“Mikey has – has it.” Donnie explained, “And, and if we came back without it, they – they’d ask ques – questions.”

Splinter nodded, AND WE DO NOT HAVE A SATISFACTORY ANSWER FOR THAT. OR, AT LEAST, WE DO NOT HAVE ONE THAT YOU COULD TELL THEM. SO THEY WOULD THINK THAT MICHELANGELO HAD LOST HIS COAT, AND THAT YOU FOUR WERE HIDING WHY. WOULD THAT LEAD TO AN ASSUMPTION THAT YOU HAD DONE SOMETHING YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE?

Donnie nodded, “Mr Silver visited this week – I think he knows we didn’t tell him everything and it’s going to be bad enough when we get back covered in blood and stuff.” Donnie frowned, more to himself than anyone else, “And it’s cold. Leo hates the cold.”

Splinter made a strange trilling sound, and his tail swished from side to side.

YOU ARE A KIND CHILD, Splinter said and raised a hand. He hesitated before touching Donnie’s shoulder, but when the boy didn’t recoil, he laid his hand there and gently squeezed, AND A VERY THOUGHTFUL BROTHER.

There was another pause as Splinter gave the words time to settle in Donnie’s mind, BUT YOU SHOULD TAKE GREATER CARE OF YOURSELF. IT WOULD BE MUCH MORE TERRIBLE TO LOSE YOU, THAN A COAT.

Donnie nodded seriously, “Next time I’ll just run for the exit.”

Splinter smiled, GOOD. ALTHOUGH, PREFERABLY, THIS WILL BE A UNIQUE OCCURRENCE.

Leo let out a tired sigh, “Yeah, I’m not, I’m not eager to go through that again.”

Splinter gave Donnie’s shoulder a final squeeze and rose to his feet. He folded his hands behind his back, and began to say, SHOULD WE DE- OH DEAR.

Leo’s body tensed and he spun round.

What was it!?

…

Oh, yeah. That’d do it, Leo thougt.

Behind them, on the pavement, up the walls, along the roofs and windows, were all the Piper’s rats. Their eyes were mostly black, but here and there he could see white rats with pale red eyes.

The rats didn’t attack. Instead they sat perfectly still and watched the six of them.

“Do they… want something?” Donnie asked.

“We used up all our rat food.” Raph said, “Do you guys have any?”

Mikey opened his bag and riffled through, “Yeah. We didn’t use ours. I, er, don’t think it’ll be enough for all of them though.”

“Can’t hurt to try.” Leo said.

Mikey put the food bag on the floor and slid it over to the rats.

A few rats, tiny ones who still had their baby fur, scurried over and started tearing into the bag, then stopped and stared… at Splinter?

Splinter shifted uncomfortably under their gaze. He looked at Leo, as if Leo was going to have an idea about what he should do.

Leo shrugged.

Splinter straightened and said in a tone of voice not unlike a general addressing his soldiers, YOU ARE EXCUSED.

With that, the rats left. Back to their burrows, Leo assumed, or where ever they called home. A few adult rats went to the food bag and began dragged it away, the rat pups following them and eating any stray bits of rat food that fell out along the way.

After the last of the rats disappeared, Splinter asked, in a natural tone of voice that suggested he did not know what to make of what just happened, SHALL WE PREPARE TO DEPART?

The laugh that left Leo’s mouth was thin and gravelly. Under normal circumstances he’d have cringed at the sound, but right now he was so happy to be alive and so tired from the days’ events that he could not bring himself to care about how rough he sounded.

“Yeah,” Leo said, “Let’s go.”

They were going… well, they weren’t going home. That hadn’t existed for a long time. They were going back to the Children’s Home. Probably after taking a detour to drop Rockwell back at his apartment, or the emergency room, based on his strained breathing.

It’d be a long drive in a cold car either way. At some point they’d need to find food – Leo didn’t know about everyone else, but he was starving. Painkillers were going to a must too, for all of them, based upon the state everyone was in.

And yet, despite everything, or perhaps because of everything, for the first time in a very, very long time, Leo felt… optimistic.

Today, they had fought a malevolent ghost… and won.

They’d won.

They were alive.

They were safe.

He’d kept them safe.

They’d kept everyone safe.

Leo stepped back and watched his family whilst they readied themselves for the drive. His (mostly) alive family.

Raph was leaning against the car door, face red and swollen where the Piper had slapped him. The fingers of his right had were bright red as if burned, and he kept clenching and unclenching his hands. He was staring straight ahead, at the building that still burned.

Nothing else had come out, and nothing else would.

Donnie was busy being fussed over by Splinter, who seemed to be checking that the boy hadn’t been hurt during their hasty escape.

Once their ghost was satisfied that Donnie was alright, he moved onto Mikey, who groaned and complained that he was fine, because he wasn’t a baby.

YOUR NOSE IS SWOLLEN AND BLEEDING, I AM MAKING SURE IT IS NOT BROKEN BEFORE WE LEAVE.

“His nose is broken!?” Donnie rushed forward and started probing Mikey’s face.

“Donnie! Not you too!” Mikey snapped.

Splinter moved Donnie’s hands away, CAREFUL. IF IT IS BROKEN, YOU WILL NEED TO BE GENTLE.

It was, so Mikey was asked to sit down whilst Splinter figured out how bad it was. During that time, Donnie asked as many questions as he could think of, and would Splinter answer them, explaining each step and why they needed to do it.

When it came time to make sure Mikey’s nose was properly aligned, Splinter asked Donnie to sit back.

THIS WILL HURT QUITE A BIT, Splinter told Mikey seriously, ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT ME TO DO IT NOW? WE COULD WAIT UNTIL WE ARRIVE BACK AT THE CHILDREN’S HOME AND DO IT THERE.

“Yeah, here’s good.” Mikey said, like he was being asked if he wanted ice cream after dinner, and not if he wanted Splinter to realign his nose.

VERY WELL. COULD YOU COUNT DOWN FROM THREE FOR ME? I WILL DO IT ON ONE.

Mikey let out a sharp cry as the bone was put back in its proper place. He squeezed his eyes shut, water streaming from them, and clenched his hands.

Donnie put a hand on his shoulder, “Mikey?”

“I’m okay,” Mikey said and wiped his eyes, blinking hard, “Is it okay now?”

Splinter gently touched his fingers against Mikey’s nose, checking that he’d done it right, AS IT CAN BE. THE SWELLING SHOULD START TO GO DOWN WITHIN THE NEXT THREE DAYS, BUT IT WILL TAKE AROUND THREE TO FULLY HEAL. UNTIL THEN, AVOID BLOWING YOUR NOSE AND TRY TO SLEEP SAT UP. WHEN WE GET BACK TO THE CHILDREN’S HOME, WE WILL GET YOU AN ICE PACK AND SOME PAIN KILLERS. I WILL WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN IN CASE YOU FORGET.

Mikey nodded and climbed to his feet. He blinked hard again and said, “My nose feels weird.”

THAT IS NORMAL. IF IT CHANGES SHAPE, OR THE SWELLING DOES NOT GO DOWN, TELL THE STAFF AT THE CARE HOME, Splinter titled his head and added, THEY SHOULD ALSO BE INFORMED IF YOU DEVELOP A HIGH TEMPERATURE OR REGULAR NOSE BLEEDS.

“Okay.”

Mikey stood there for a moment, swinging his arms back and forth. He wanted to do something, Leo could tell, and was trying to figure out if he should or not.

Eventually, Mikey made his decision and threw his arms around Splinter’s neck.

“I was worried about you.” Mikey whispered, so quietly Leo almost didn’t hear.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Splinter wrapped his arms around Mikey. Splinter hugged – and Leo’s heart soften at the thought, though the ache of loss still lingered – his little boy.

I KNOW, Splinter murmured back into his child’s hair, MY APOLOGIES FOR FRIGHTENING YOU.

Raph came to stand beside Leo, sending quick glances between Leo’s soft smile and the scene in front of them. A deep frown carved its way into Raph’s face, and his hands clenched into fists by his sides.

“So,” Raph said, and Leo didn’t fail to notice the anger brewing in Raph’s voice, “are we going or what?”

For now, Leo decided he’d focus on how good it felt to be out here, rather than on his twin’s anger. Picking apart the cause of Raph’s anger would take time and, even though Leo had a pretty good idea what it was about, Leo did not have the energy for that. Tomorrow perhaps, or the day after that. Just not today.

“Yeah,” Leo said, and laughed as their little brothers decided it was their turn to make a fuss of Splinter, “Let’s go home.”

Notes:

The rats of New York, who have been living in their own version of a cosmic horror story for the entirety of this fic, and were freed from the Piper’s control by a giant rat creature: “You could make a religion out of this!”

Only two more chapters to go and this fic is finished!

Chapter 23

Summary:

Raph and his brothers return to the children's home with Splinter

Raph flung open one of the back doors and asked, “Who’s driving? Don’t think,” he gestured at Rockwell, “he can do it.”

Rockwell didn’t argue. Already deep purple bruises were forming around his throat, and the sounds he was making increasingly sounded like an impression of Kayako

I, Splinter paused, WILL.

“Do... you,” Rockewell began, but the words were cut off by a terrible cough, “Even know how to drive?”

YES! Splinter said a little too quickly.

Raph glared suspiciously, but no one else seemed to mind the idea of Splinter driving. Actually, they probably didn’t. After all, who else was going to drive them home? Leo was in no condition to drive, and Raph was willing to admit neither he or his younger brothers should be trusted behind the wheel.

Rockwell held the car keys out to Splinter and the rest of them clambered in without argument. Not even Leo. Instead when his twin spoke, it was to organise how they were all going to fit onto the back seat.

Whilst they organised themselves, Splinter set the seat back, him being considerably taller than Rockwell, and pulled his hood down. According to the clock in the car, it was early evening, about the time Raph and his brothers would be on their way back to the children’s home after detention, which meant there were still people out. Maybe no one would notice or care if they saw a giant rat driving a car – this was New York after all, people had properly seen weirder – but that didn’t mean Splinter should advertise the fact he wasn’t human.

After his hood was firmly in place, Splinter stared at the dashboard, and Raph wondered if Splinter was remembering how to drive a car, or if he was figuring out how to pretend he knew.

WHERE IS THE – AH, HERE IT IS, Splinter muttered to himself and inserted the key into the ignition.

The second the key slid in, the engine turned on, and Splinter made a pleased trilling sound. Then he moved the gear stick, and the car, slowly, began moving.

It was a little hard to watch Splinter whilst sat behind him – outside of Mikey, Raph needed the least leg room – but what he could see seemed to indicate that Splinter knew what he was doing, but simply hadn’t needed to do this in a long time.

WHAT IS OUR DESTINATION? Splinter asked.

Raph watched Leo, who was sat behind Rockwell, begin tapping a finger against his cane, “I think either the emergency room or a friend for Rockwell.”

“Dr O’Neil doesn’t live in New York.” Donnie said, “And Falco is dead-”

“Dead dead.” Mikey clarified.

“Dead dead,” Donnie continued, “so that doesn’t leave a lot of options. What about Jack Kurtzman?”

Despite the strain in his voice, Rockwell sounded scandalised as he said, “I have… other friends.”

“Well, where do they live?” Donnie asked.

“I’m sur-prised that you don’t… have their addresses already.”

“I thought about it, but they weren’t dead, so couldn’t be the Piper. Also I didn’t think they were relevant to the case.”

Rockwell stared straight ahead and scowled.

“Jack lives the closest. Take a left.”

Rockwell gave directions as best he could, but after a coughing fit started that never seemed to end, he wrote the address down and Mikey poured over a city map and shouted directions to Splinter from the back seat. A couple times they went the wrong way, Splinter not being as familiar with the roads of New York as he was the rooftops, but they got to Kurtzman’s apartment building with little trouble.

Once there, Splinter placed a hand on Rockwell’s shoulder and shadow walked them to the front door, and rang the buzzer.

“Hello?”

Splinter stepped back as Rockwell said, “Jack… it’s Tyler.”

“Tyler! Are you alright? Wait, don’t answer that – I’m coming down right now.”

The buzzer crackled.

WILL YOU BE ALRIGHT IF WE LEAVE YOU NOW? Splinter asked.

Rockwell nodded and managed to say, “Take - my car. There’s money in the,” he paused to breath in deeply, “get something to eat… on the way back.”

THANK YOU, Splinter said, I WILL ASK THE BOYS TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT RETURNING IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

With that, Splinter shadow walked back to the car, though they didn’t leave until they saw the door to the apartment building open. A man with grey hair, who Raph recognised as the same man from the photos in Rockwell’s bag, grabbed Rockwell by the shoulders and cried out with alarm at the state of his friend.

---

“So what now?” Raph asked whilst Leo climbed into the front seat.

They’d driven away from Kurtzman’s apartment before swapping seats, not wanting to risk Kurtzman seeing them on his way to driving Rockwell to the emergency room.

Splinter looked out the window, where the snow was still falling, coming down thicker by the minute. The car’s heater was on, but it wasn’t doing much, so Splinter was trying to raise the temperature as high as he could without risking damaging the car around him.

The ghost turned away from the window towards the other car seats, and Raph couldn’t help but follow his gaze. They were all covered in cuts and bruises, their clothes stained with blood and ectoplasm. Despite that, there were smiles on their faces, and Raph’s little brothers were joking around and laughing, like they’d just been on a normal trip to the city, and not been in a fight for their lives.

Slowly, Raph dragged his gaze back to Splinter. The expression on the ghost’s face could best be described as tender.

It made Raph bristle.

I THINK, Splinter began, and Raph was ready to argue, YOU BOYS NEED SOMETHING TO EAT. ANY RECOMMENDATIONS?

Raph was no longer ready to argue.

“Pizza!” the four boys shouted, their voices overlapping.

Splinter paused, then let out a small chuckle, PIZZA IT IS.

They drove around for a little while, looking for a pizza place, eventually finding one across from an empty alleyway. Leo and Raph went to get it, them being covered in less filth and blood than anyone else (Donnie looked like he’d fallen into an ink pot, and Mikey as if he’d been in a boxing match. Splinter was Splinter), though Leo had to leave his coat behind in the car.

Rockwell had left enough in his wallet for them to get a few large pizzas, some sides and drinks. Raph was aware that they’d probably ordered more than they should have, but they two hungry eleven year olds who’d been given a wallet of money and zero adult supervision.

When they returned to the car, the pizzas were hot enough that the car started to fill with condensation, and Splinter tilted the fans so he could still see through the windows. Then he turned the engine back on and started driving out the city, guided by Mikey who once against shouted directions, albeit around mouthfuls of pizza.

“Do you want any?” Leo asked after finishing a slice.

NO THANK YOU – EAT YOUR FILL. I WILL CATCH SOMETHING WHEN WE RETURN TO THE OLD HOUSE.

“There’s more than enough for you to have some.” Leo reassured.

“Do you not like pizza?” Donnie asked, ignoring the incredulous look that appeared on Mikey’s face, “There’s fries, mozzarella sticks, some wings.”

I AM UNSURE. I HAVE ONLY EATEN IT OUT OF… Splinter trailed off.

“It’s really good.” Mikey said.

Leo looked at the pizza boxes, and the rest of the food they’d ordered, “We really did get too much.”

“This one has four different cheeses on.” Mikey said and passed a slice from the back seat.

Leo took it and held it whilst Splinter switched lanes. Reluctantly, Splinter took it from him and sniffed it.

Biting into it, the tip of Splinter’s tail tapped against the bottom of the car. A rapid tap tap tap that was just audible over the whirring of the fans and crinkling of paper.

IT IS GOOD? He sounded surprised, and Raph wondered where Splinter had been getting his pizza that pizza being not terrible was a surprise.

On second thoughts, Raph didn’t want to know. It might put him off.

“I told you it would be!”

“How can you taste it? Do you have taste buds?” Donnie asked.

Splinter shrugged and shoved the rest of the slice into his mouth.

A curious glint filled Donnie’s eyes and he started to say, “Can I-”

“Donatello,” Leo said around a mouthful of food, “We are not stopping the car so you can shove your hand back in his mouth to check.”

“I wasn’t going to – I was just – it… Fine.” Donnie said and crossed his arm, “You have absolutely no scientific curiosity.”

Raph snorted, “He could taste the motor oil on your fingers the other day. Didn’t it click then?”

Donnie’s face lit up and his head snapped back to Splinter, “What did that taste like?”

Splinter, who was on his second slice, replied, LIKE MOTOR OIL.

Raph rolled his eyes affectionately as Donnie shouted that that wasn’t a real answer. Donnie’s insistence on a real answer only seemed to convince Splinter to give even more vague answers, which had Mikey laughing and Leo sighing heavily.

---

As their journey continued, the sun set, briefly blanketing the world in oranges and purples. Raph watched it darken into a deep blue, his chin propped up by his arm, which was resting on the car door.

Mikey had fallen asleep, and was leaning heavily against Raph, his arms wrapped around Raph’s other arm. As such, Donnie took over occasionally calling out directions. Leo was sort of awake, sort of not. He’d taken more painkillers, and was trying to pretend he wasn’t about to pass out – he kept doing that thing where he’d jolt upright, shake himself, and then lean back down into his seat, eyelids drooping.

Raph shifted in his seat and glanced down at Mikey. The younger boy was pressing his face against Raph’s side, and his breathing was deep and regular. He yawned in his sleep, his legs kicking out for a moment and then falling still again.

Shaking his head fondly, Raph turned back to the window. By now, the blue had been replaced with black, and the stars were beginning to peak out.

Around them, the car rumbled, slightly jostling them as it moved along the road. Raph knew they were far from Casper – the dying village where the children’s home was – because the roads weren’t made up of gaping pot holes and tarmac so chewed up it was basically large black peddles covering the dirt below. The bus drivers always complained about dropping the kids from Casper off, even those not from the care home, muttering about awful roads and rowdy kids.

In Casper, whilst taking Mikey to the local library for what in hindsight was ghost research for Splinter, the librarian had started talking to Raph about what Casper used to be like. Apparently, there’d been a lot of small business once, and a small theatre where the village’s young people would congregate on weekends to watch the latest releases. Sports matches in the fields around town, and the market used to be a lot bigger too. Two churches for different denominations, though now only one remind, the other church having been deconsecrated and turned into flats, due to there being too few parishioners to justify keeping both open.

The children’s home itself used to be a school, the old man had explained, but that closed down when there were so few families and not enough money to justify keeping it open. Money was the primary issue, because of course it was. After a few years laying forgotten and gathering dust, the school was renovated and converted into a care home, but here and there were signs of its former occupation.

Listening to what Casper used to be, Raph thought that it made sense they’d build a children’s home there. Some kids called it a ‘dumping ground’, a place where all the kids no one wanted where shuttled off to so the adults could forget they ever existed and focus on the kids who were likely to be adopted. Here was Casper, a village no one cared about, and here where these kids that people cared about even less. Why not dump them in the middle of nowhere? Like attracts like and all that.

Mikey made a little disgruntled sound and squeezed Raph’s arm.

Well, maybe Raph wasn’t without people who cared about him. But Mikey was a good kid, and he cared about everyone, even weird ghosts he meet in a dark attic and problem child older brothers.

Even though Raph couldn’t bring himself to trust Splinter, he didn’t begrudge Mikey doing so. He didn’t think Mikey’s trusting nature was advisable, but he appreciated the fact Mikey still had faith to put in people, despite everything. In spite of everything.

“There should be another right coming up,” Donnie said, “Take it, and follow the road until you reach a crossroads.”

DONATELLO, COULD YOU GIVE ME A ROUGH ESTIMATE OF HOW MUCH LONGER OUR JOURNEY WILL BE?

“About forty-five minutes.”

THANK YOU. IS THIS RIGHT HERE CORRECT?

“Yep.”

Forty-five minutes?

Raph glanced at Mikey again. Perhaps his little brother and Leo both had the right idea (Leo had lost the fight to stay aware, and his mouth hung open now, soft snores emanating from it).

Raph shifted slightly, getting comfy in his seat, and closed his eyes.

---

RAPHAEL?

“What?” Raph sat up sluggishly and rubbed his eyes.

WE HAVE ARRIVED, Splinter said.

“Okay,” he grumbled and unbuckled his seat belt.

Somehow, he felt even more tired after his nap. That shouldn’t have been possible or allowed, to sleep and feel worse after waking up.

“Do we have a plan?” Donnie asked Leo as Raph sluggishly climbed out.

“We’ll say we asked Mikey to show us the stuff he used on Liam, Kyle and David, and it went about as well as can be expected. We fell in the mud and that’s why we look so bad.”

“What about the-?” Mikey waved his arms, drawing attention to the various cuts along them.

“It’s Casper.” Raph grumbled and did the dance of someone who’s legs had fallen asleep in the car, “There was probably broken glass in the grass and we didn’t see it.”

THERE IS A PAY PHONE OVER THERE. IF IT WORKS, I COULD CALL AND EXPLAIN THINGS.

Leo made the noise that meant he was going to say no, and was figuring out how to put it, “I’d rather keep you out of it. If they think you’re involved, they might want to talk to you about it later. Or worse, Mr Silver will decide he has to talk to you, and I don’t know how we’d get out of that one.”

“We could flee to Mexico.” Donnie suggested, “Or Canada.”

“You think that’d stop him?” Mikey asked in disbelief.

Raph added, “Also, wait to go making him think absolutely nothing weird is going off.”

“Okay,” Donnie conceded, “So making a new life as Juan, Esteban, Ernesto and Hector is plan b.”

WHY DO YOU HAVE NAMES PICKED OUT? Splinter asked, an amused frown on his face.

Donnie stared at Splinter like he’d lost his mind, “We broke into a man’s house this week! Why wouldn’t I make a contingency plan?”

“Technically, Splinter broke into someone’s house and we watched.” Leo pointed out.

“We still helped!” Donnie hissed.

Leo snorted and said, “Well, with that being settled, let’s go.” To Splinter Leo said, “Can you wait in our room? We shouldn’t be long.”

Splinter blinked slowly, WHY?

It was Raph’s turn to stare at Splinter. His ears were mangled, there was a cut above one of his eyes that still oozed, and his right arm wasn’t looking any better. Raph felt nauseous just looking at it – he could see the darkness that lay beneath Splinter’s skin and fur. It looked… it didn’t look like liquid moving beneath a hard outer shell, as Raph had anticipated. After all, that was what the Piper had looked like when any of them attacked him.

Instead, the great fissures in Splinter skin were… meaty. Like if a human had been attacked by a dog, but bled black instead of red. Raph’s eyes went to the lacerations on Mikey’s hands where rats had clawed at him, and sure enough, the texture was the same.

Unlike the Piper, who’s bodily structure wasn’t too dissimilar from a water balloon filled with ink, Splinter had an actual internal structure. Perhaps, instead of Splinter’s muscles being made of protein and his bones calcium, they were formed out of ectoplasm.

Could this by why Splinter was on his own before meeting Mikey? Did other ghosts find him unsettling because he was like them, but not? Was he just as monstrous to other ghosts as he was Raph?

“You’re pretty beat up, and I want Donnie to have a look at you.” Leo explained.

AH, THAT MAKES SENSE, Splinter quickly examined them all, making a quick list of what they need, DONATELLO, DO YOU HAVE A SEWING NEEDLE?

“No. They,” Donnie gestured at the care home, “won’t let me have one in my first aid kit. Apparently it’s “a safety issue”.”

I WILL WAIT IN YOUR ROOM AS REQUESTED, BUT FIRST, I WILL COLLECT THE NEEDLE FROM THE OLD HOUSE.

With that Splinter disappeared and they entered the care home.

---

Thankfully, Tracey wasn’t in today, which meant the staff present had a lot less questions than they’d been prepared for. As it turned out, saying they’d been play fighting was explanation enough, and they were asked to shower immediately and wait in their room whilst they took turns.

Raph could tell Leo was a little disappointed they didn’t get to use the full explanation, but whatever got Raph into clean clothes faster was fine by him.

Besides, Tracey would be in tomorrow, and she’d no doubt have a thousand and one questions, so Leo could perform the whole script then. Like, yeah, they’re all fine and Mikey is okay, no need to worry too much! Just worry enough to get them vaccines and antibiotics if they needed it!

When they reached their room, Raph had been intending to check in with his brothers to make sure they were as okay as they were presenting themselves as being, but after they shut the door behind them Splinter stepped out of the shadows and asked, ARE YOU BOYS FEELING ALRIGHT? SOME TIME HAS PAST, AND A CHECK IN SEEMED IN ORDER?

Raph narrowed his eyes.

After his brothers answered (all good, but Leo needed to sit down now) Raph ground out an “I’m fine.”

Then he stomped over to Spike and checked to see how the little turtle was doing. He’d made sure to feed Spike and fill up his water bowl before leaving, just in case they didn’t come back and no one checked in on Spike for a few days, so his little turtle didn’t actually need anything, but it was a good distraction.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE, Splinter said, I CAN MEND YOUR TROUSERS.

“Do whatever you want.” Raph said and reached down to gently pet Spike’s head.

He could feel his brothers staring at him, could feel their eyes on his back.

He was used to it. People always stared at him. At least with his brothers, it wasn’t because they thought he was a bomb waiting to go off.

---

They took turns showering, Mikey and Donnie going first, followed by Leo and then finally Raph.

Whilst Raph showered, Splinter fixed his trousers, carefully pulling the shredded fabric back together again.

It wasn’t perfect, Raph noted when he returned from the bathroom, but they’d survive being washed and he could wear them again.

With permission, Splinter had cut patches out of a pair of trousers Raph didn’t wear anymore, but also didn’t want to give up so had hid beneath his and Leo’s beds. Splinter had then sewn the patches into the ripped pair, in the places were the tears were so severe there was nothing for him to stitch back together. The pairs of jeans had been slightly different shades of blue, making the repair stand out slightly. Most people wouldn’t notice, and it could be brushed off as a patch job done some time ago, but there was still a chance that someone at the Care Home would notice. After all, the staff did the laundry.

It was good that his best pair of jeans were fixed, and Raph was grateful for that, but the loss of the other pair still stung. Admittedly, he’d stopped wearing them because they were so worn he knew they’d been thrown out, rather than given to another kid, and Splinter had salvaged the best parts, but he’d liked having them just in case.

Then again, maybe this was the Just In Case scenario he’d saved them for.

There was also a very real possibility that Raph was just looking for reasons to nitpick Splinter’s work. If Splinter hadn’t done it, then both pairs would need to be thrown out. Plus, the care home housed a lot of kids, which made for a lot of laundry – who in their right mind was going to care that one specific kid had a good pair of trousers that looked slightly off? Especially when the child in question hadn’t raised a fuss about it.

And Raph had to (very begrudgingly, never out loud) admit that the stitch work itself was neat and tidy, blending into the fabric around it. Running his finger over the surface, he could barely feel the stitches

Whoever Splinter had once been, that man had known how to sew and could do so well.

Not for the first time, Raph couldn’t help but wonder who this creature used to be.

Mikey was convinced that Splinter had nothing to do with the guy mentioned in the book he got from the library, the one who murdered a child and transformed himself into a monster.

Raph wasn’t so sure.

For one, even Mikey had only known Splinter for a few months, time short enough that Splinter could still be keeping his own dark secrets, which would only be revealed when he had them exactly where he wanted them. Whether or not Splinter could keep up the act for another few months was a different matter. In Raph’s experience, sooner or later, people revealed what they truly were, but some could hide it for a very long time.

And, Raph thought as he put his dirty clothes in a pile on the floor, even if Splinter and that guy weren’t one and the same, that didn’t rule out Splinter being rotten. After all, he must have done something to warrant him being transformed into a creature known for child murder.

(Was that another reason Splinter was alone? Had he taken the life of a child? Or, did his resemblance to one who had create the impression he was guilty of such a crime?)

Admittedly, there were differences. For starters, Splinter’s skin wasn’t made of stone, and his teeth weren’t metal.

Even so, Raph wasn’t going to trust someone he’d only known for a week with his brothers’ safety.

And what a week it had been. In the space of eight days, they’d met a ghost, become targets of another ghost, stalked a man, broke into said man’s house, and then destroyed the aforementioned malevolent ghost. It had been the most exhilarating week of Raph’s life.

But that didn’t mean he’d had fun! Who’d have fun nearly getting killed and being in fights where the odds were stacked against them!? Not him! Definitely not Raph!

Especially not when they’d nearly lost Donnie, Leo could barely move without hissing in pain, and Mikey nearly got his arm ripped off. What kind of brother would Raph be if he’d enjoyed any of this?

There was a part of Raph that insisted none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for Splinter, that if they’d never met him, Mikey never would have landed on the Piper’s radar, and Donnie wouldn’t have almost drowned in ectoplasm.

That was without getting into the possibility that Splinter had only helped them stop the Piper because the Piper was as much a threat to him as he was them. The enemy of my enemy is my friend only really works whilst you still had a common enemy, if it ever worked at all. Often times, the enemy of your enemy was just another person you had to deal with.

Still, it made sense as a possible motivation for Splinter. What other reasons could he have had? In Raph’s experience, when people did help, it was only when they had something to gain from the situation. Even Mr Silver, who Raph would admit to trusting with a little arm twisting, was only looking after them because it was his job, and nothing more. It was something Leo and Raph had agreed upon months ago, when they’d discussed their initial thoughts on the man and decided to tentatively trust him. So far that trust had been well spent, but Raph was struggling to see the same potential in Splinter.

Yet, something deep inside of Raph twisted and disagreed with his own assessment of Splinter. The Piper arrived at their school when Rockwell did, and Mikey had known Splinter for months without anything bad happening – them encountering the Piper was plain bad luck. Not to say that he and his brothers had any other kind of luck.

And he had to admit that Splinter’s fondness for Mikey seemed genuine.

It was also with reluctance that Raph would admit that if they hadn’t gone through what they had, they never would have decided to face the Piper. And if that happened, there’d have only been more victims: children possessed and ghost devoured. Considering Rockwell’s reluctance to deal with his former friend, Raph wondered how many more kids would have been taken on joy rides against their will, and how long it would have taken before the Piper was no longer satisfied with simply taking control of Raph’s fellow students.

Not my problem, Raph thought.

His one and only job, his duty, was to keep his brother safe and support Leo. No one had ever stood up for them, so why should he stand up for others? What was the point in helping people if people never helped them?

(Mr Silver and Splinter helped them, but, again, it was Mr Silver’s job, and Raph didn’t want to think about what it could mean if Splinter was helping them because they needed it. What it would mean if he helped them not because he too was threatened by the Piper, but because Raph and his brothers were in danger, and it was the right thing to do.

Rockwell had also tried, but Raph blamed him for the Piper being in their school in the first place. As such, Rockwell’s help felt more like a debt being repaid.)

Raph bit his lip until blood welled and the taste of copper filled his mouth. The taste calmed him somewhat, and he sat on the edge of Leo’s bed.

Everyone except Splinter had washed themselves, and without ectoplasm staining their clothes and hair, they didn’t look that bad. It also helped that they were in clean clothes which hadn’t been bitten and torn by rats.

Of course, that meant Splinter looked even worse by comparison.

Speaking of which, the ghost was talking Donnie through sewing up the lacerations on Mikey’s arms. Initially, Splinter had wanted to do so, but Donnie insisted on being the one to do it.

“I’ve just showered,” Donnie explained, “And your arm is shaking.”

Splinter glanced at his right arm, which was indeed trembling. Raph hadn’t been around when Splinter fixed his trousers, so didn’t know how the ghost had kept his hand steady whilst sewing his trousers up. Perhaps, the same way some injuries don’t start hurting until long after they’ve been made, the true extent of the damage to his arm was only just being revealed.

Or Splinter had done a classic Leo move, and over worked his hand and arm by doing delicate stitches, and now it was lodging a complaint and going on strike.

VERY WELL, Splinter said, FIRST, WE WILL STERILISE THE NEEDLE.

And so, Donnie learned how to do another type of surgical sutures. Despite himself, Donnie was enjoying himself, but Donnie always enjoyed learning how to do something.

NOW PULL GENTLY AND THE WOUND SHOULD CLOSE… GOOD. VERY GOOD, DONATELLO. MICHELANGELO, HOW WAS THAT?

“It stung.” Mikey said tiredly.

“Sorry, Mikey.”

“It’s okay.” with his free hand, Mikey rubbed his eyes.

ARE YOU ALRIGHT FOR US TO DO THE NEXT ONE? I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS QUITE PAINFUL.

They had given Mikey painkillers, but Mikey refused any of the stronger ones – those were Leo’s, and with their oldest brother in his current state, Mikey wasn’t willing to take any on the off chance Leo would need them later.

“Are there many more to do?”

THIS IS THE LAST ONE, Splinter reassured, ONCE THIS IS DONE, WE WILL BANDAGE YOUR ARM AND YOU CAN RELAX. WE WILL NEED TO CHECK ON THEM TOMORROW THOUGH. IF WE FIND SIGNS OF INFECTION, ANTIBIOTICS WILL BE REQUIRED.

Mikey nodded, but Raph knew his baby brother didn’t really understand what Splinter was saying any more. It wasn’t that Mikey couldn’t understand, so much as him being so exhausted that the words were going in one ear and out the other with minimal input from his brain.

Splinter seemed to recognise that too and quickly explained, IF THAT IS THE CASE, YOU WILL NEED TO TAKE THEM ALL, EVEN IF YOU DO NOT FEEL ILL.

Mikey shifted as much as he could when Donnie was still holding one of his arms steady, “Okay.”

Splinter gently ruffled Mikey’s hair, GOOD LAD. NOW, DONATELLO, LET US FINISH THIS UP SO YOUR BROTHER MAY REST.

It didn’t take Donnie long – he’d gotten into the swing of things, and the last cut wasn’t as big as the others.

Soon enough Donnie said, “And done!”

EXCELLENT! NOW, SHOW ME HOW YOU APPLY BANDAGES. I WAS NOT PAYING MUCH ATTENTION WHEN YOU DID SO THE OTHER DAY.

Donnie nodded and began carefully binding Mikey’s arm.

Once he was done, Donnie looked to Splinter the same way he did Leo after completing a task, like he was silently asking Splinter if he’d done a good job.

THAT IS PERFECT.

Donnie beamed. Turning back to Mikey’s other arm, his face turned serious as he continued his work.

THERE, IT IS DONE. YOU WOULD MAKE A FINE DOCTOR, DONATELLO, Splinter said and squeezed Donnie’s shoulder with his left hand (his right was still trembling).

Donnie ducked his head down to hide his smile and scratched the back of his head, “It – erm – thank you.”

To Mikey, Splinter added, AND YOU WERE AN EXCELLENT PATIENT.

Mikey clenched his hands experimentally, “When can I take these off?”

HMM. THE STITCHES WILL NEED TO BE LEFT IN FOR TWO WEEKS. AS FOR THE BANDAGES, I AM UNSURE. WHEN WE CHANGE THEM, WE WILL CHECK HOW YOUR ARM IS DOING AND PLAY IT BY EAR. MY APOLOGIES FOR BEING UNABLE TO GIVE YOU A DEFINITIVE TIMELINE.

“That’s okay,” Mikey said brightly, “We match now!”

Splinter smiled affectionately at the boy.

IF YOU BEGIN TO FEEL ILL IN THE COMING DAYS, TELL THE STAFF IMMEDIATELY, then the ghost looked up and added, THAT GOES FOR ALL OF YOU.

Everyone looked pointedly at Leo, who stared back at them with an utterly scandalised expression on his face.

Turning away from them, Leo bent his leg, slowly pulling it back towards his body, and then pushing it out again. The movement was jerky, like a rusty hinge. He bit down on the inside of his mouth as he did so, and let out a long, pained hiss.

Raph knew that tomorrow, and maybe the day after, and the day after that, Leo was not going to be in a fit state to do much of anything. Something like this had happened before… well, not exactly like this, but in the early days after waking up from his coma, Leo had a bad habit of pushing himself too hard for too long. His knee would respond by setting itself on fire, which more or less forced Leo to stay in bed until it decided he could be trusted. Other days, his knee simply decided treachery was in order, and acted up for no discernible reason.

Occasionally, he still did that, which was part of why Raph did what he could to look after their little brothers. If Leo wasn’t alone taking care of them, it was Raph’s hope Leo would ease up a bit and take better care of himself.

(It was Raph’s fault Leo got hurt to begin with!

He should have been there!

He should have broken out sooner and then maybe he’d have reached them before things got so bad and-)

“Same goes for you.” Leo said to Splinter and rubbed his knee, “If you feel off, you’ll tell us, right?”

Splinter titled his head to one side, LEONARDO, I AM DEAD. RAT BITES WILL DO ME NO HARM.

“What about your arm?” Donnie pointed out.

Leo asked, “And have you ever eaten another ghost before? Do you know exactly what it’ll do to you?”

… I SEE YOUR POINT. BOTH OF THEM. I WILL TELL YOU IF ANYTHING IS AMISS.

Raph’s eyes narrowed. Ever since leaving the Piper’s Domain, he’d been watching Splinter for any signs that something was wrong, any ways Splinter was acting differently. So far, nothing, but that didn’t mean in the coming days and weeks something wouldn’t pop up.

“Shower’s free.” Raph said.

Splinter blinked, unsure of how that was relevant, and it felt weird being able to see it. Without the hood on, it looked less like the glowing eye lights of a monster dimming, and more like a living creature blinking.

“You’re gross.” Raph added.

“Raph-” Leo began.

But Splinter interrupted him by clearing his throat and saying, IT IS ALRIGHT. I WAS INTENDING ON BATHING AT THE OLD HOUSE LATER.

Now it was Donnie’s turn to frown at Splinter, “You should do it here – if I’m going to fix your arm, we need to clean it first. You said keeping wounds clean was important.”

I DID SAY THAT, DIDN’T I, Splinter said it quietly, more to himself than Donnie. In a louder voice he said, VERY WELL.

“Towels are in the cupboard next to the shower.” Leo mumbled.

Splinter stood up and opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if trying to figure out what to say. After a moment, he added, I WILL NOT BE LONG.

Raph blinked, and the ghost disappeared.

He hated it when Splinter did that. It made him feel as if Splinter was never far away, even when he wasn’t physically nearby. At the Old House, Raph couldn’t help but look over his shoulder and listen out for any signs of movement least Splinter walk out of a shadow right next to him.

Donnie hated it too, and always jumped a foot in the air when Splinter did it.

Before meeting the Piper, Raph hadn’t been sure if Splinter was doing it on purpose or not. And if it was intentional, he didn’t know whether it was just a prank or something more sinister, perhaps aimed at putting them on edge so they never felt safe at the Old House.

Considering the seer pleasure the Piper took from scaring Mikey half to death, Raph wondered if ghosts in general enjoyed frightening the living.

There was still so much they didn’t know about ghosts.

That was something else that left Raph feeling uneasy. He wanted to know more, but it wasn’t out of simple curiosity like Donnie, or an attempt to help a potentially malevolent creature like Mikey.

No, Raph wanted to know weaknesses.

He wanted to know how to get rid of a ghost without having to enter its Domain.

He wanted to know how best to keep his family safe.

Despite himself, Raph wanted to trust Splinter, he really did.

And that was part of the problem, really. He wanted to trust, but he couldn’t. The contradiction was frustrating him to no end.

Usually, he’d have simply asked Leo what he thought and followed his twin’s lead, Leo having always had better instincts for these things than Raph. However, right now, Leo actually appeared to be warming up to Splinter.

That reminded Raph of another thing that left him conflicted: some of the old Leo, the Leo who was Raph’s brother first and father figure second, had returned. Here and now, though Leo hissed and grimaced with pain and could barely move, his smile was wider and more genuine than it had been in months. Maybe it was the elation of a victory, or taking comfort in still being alive, but Leo had brightened back up.

If Mikey was a lighthouse that showed them the way home, Leo was the captain of their ship who used the north star to guide them across dark waters to their chosen destination.

Speak of the devil:

“Raph,” Leo said hoarsely, “you okay?”

Raph shook his head, “I’m just tired.”

Leo titled his head and hummed, and Raph could tell Leo knew that wasn’t the whole truth. Today though (for once), Leo didn’t press him on the matter. Instead, Leo turned to look at their little brothers, who were now engaged in an enthusiastic conversation whilst Donnie started the process of sewing Splinter’s arm up.

From the looks of things, it would take a while, the wound being so large. Raph was thankful his own injuries amounted to a busted lip, some rat bites, and a nose that was bleeding, but thankfully unbroken. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d had a broken nose, but he’d like to avoid a repeat of that experience if he could. Having to sleep sat up was a pain, as was not being allowed to box for two weeks. He did not envy Mikey.

“Is it true that Donnie made a flamethrower?” Leo asked.

Raph’s eyes widened and his face split into a wide grin, “You should have seen it! It was awesome!”

Leo laughed. And it was a laugh, though most people wouldn’t recognise it as one, it being a harsh rattling sound that reverberated around Leo’s throat, “Trust Donnie to think of that.”

They talked after that, filling each other in on what happened after they’d been separated. Raph’s heart swelled with pride as he recounted Donnie’s fight with the Piper, and then sank with dread as Leo recalled how Splinter, under the Piper’s influence, hunted them down with the aim of dismembering Mikey.

(It wasn’t his fault, a small part of Raph cried.)

(He could have killed Mikey, roared the rest.)

Hearing their conversation, Donnie and Mikey joined in, adding their own accounts of the day’s events whilst Donnie continued stitching Splinter’s arm.

With his fur clean, it was easier to see the true extend of the damage, how the fissures extended deep into the meat of his arm.

Unconsciously, Raph ran his fingers over his own arm, mapping the depth of Splinter’s wound against his own skin. If it were Raph’s arm (or Mikey’s), Splinter’s teeth would have reached the bone easily. If Raph were lucky, the teeth would become lodged in the bone, but it was much more likely the arm would have been severed completely, cut into two separate pieces.

That arm kept shaking, but Splinter didn’t flinch or even hiss in pain as Donnie worked, so Raph supposed it was just more of that same trembling they’d seen earlier. That, or Splinter was in enough pain already that the sensation of the needle going in and out of his skin didn’t make a deal of difference. Whilst Mikey shared his side of the story, he took hold of Splinter’s hand, keeping it steady for Donnie.

When the bite mark was seen to, Donnie took the time to check the cuts in Splinter’s hand made when he smashed a window to escape the Piper. Over the last few days, they had all closed up, even the big one in the side of his hand, leaving behind silvery lines and slightly raised skin. In time, the scars would fade, except for the one on the side. Whilst it would fade somewhat, it would never disappear completely. Years from now, Splinter would be able to run his hand over it and recall the night it was made.

All scars came with stories, and this one was no different.

The cut above his eye would also heal, but his fur would hide it. Those along his tail would be easy to see, strange patches of skin forming that were a dark shade than those around them.

The rest of them would also carry scars. A thin one would run along the bridge of Mikey’s nose, as well as silvery lines along his arms. Four just above Donnie’s right eye, which cut into his eyebrows. A bite mark in Raph’s leg, a cut in his lip. Leo’s were internal, an already badly damaged knee being worse than it would have otherwise.

These were not their first battle scars, and they would not be the last.

Finally Donnie applied bandages to Splinter’s arm. With that, his work was complete and Donnie leaned against the bottom of his and Mikey’s bunk bed.

From there, the conversation turned to other things: what they were going to do tomorrow, what they’d tell Mr Silver, and which of the Super Robo Mecha Force Five characters was the best and why.

Eventually, they could not keep the exhaustion at bay any longer and turned in early. Raph and Donnie both climbed up the ladders to their bunks, Leo imitated a corpse ready for burial (hands folded over his chest, legs straight, laying on his back). Splinter helped Mikey arrange his pillows so that the little boy could sleep sitting up until his nose healed, then pulled Mikey’s blankets over him.

Splinter bid them goodnight and rose to his feet, but before he could leave, Mikey grabbed his hand.

Raph didn’t hear what was said.

It sounded like “Please, stay”, but Raph couldn’t say for certain – when Mikey grabbed Splinter’s hand, Raph’s head was already on his pillow, his eyes closing.

He also could not see Splinter’s expression, but the ghost nodded. Splinter curling up on the floor beside Mikey’s bed was the last thing Raph saw before falling into a dreamless sleep.

It was the best sleep Raph had in weeks.

Notes:

According to a website ironically called Chef’s Resources, motor oil tastes bitter and slightly metallic, with a thick, greasy texture. This now leaves me with the question of why Splinter knew the taste well enough to identify it in Chapter 4. The answer is probably something stupid, and related to this man’s inability to go a month without nearly dying.

Chapter 24

Summary:

A father and a son sit upon a roof

Their bedroom was painted with inky blacks and deep blues. Here and there silvery blue light caught on wood and metal, the glass of Spike’s terrarium.

Tucked in bed beside him, something soft was tucked, propped up against the pillows beside him. A quick glance down revealed Ice Cream kitty, smiling up at him.

Mikey blinked hard and rubbed his eyes.

Then instantly regretted it and hissed in pain. The skin around his eyes and nose was swollen and painful, and he knew without even needing a mirror that he had two wonderful black eyes. “Shiners” Raph would call them if he were awake. Which Raph definitely wasn’t, if the fog horn snoring was anything to go by.

Leo was also dead to the world, so still that Mikey found himself staring pointedly at Leo for a few moments, waiting for the inevitable rise and fall of Leo’s chest. He was relieved when it came. No matter how silly Mikey knew it was, he always worried that one day he’d see Leo laying still and would assume everything was okay, when it really wasn’t.

As if to let Mikey know just how unwarranted his concerns were, Leo snorted, kicked his good leg and then wiggled his shoulders, getting comfortable once more.

He couldn’t see Donnie, but he could hear that scratch scratch scratching that meant Donnie’s hands were moving about in his sleep. People liked to say the Devil made work for idle hands, and that was true of Donnie in more ways than one. If he wasn’t working on something, his hands would start fiddling with anything within reach, no matter how dangerous it might be, or how asleep the rest of him was.

That left just one more person to check up on, and Mikey leaned over the edge of his bed to look at the floor. He’d been expecting (hoping) to find Splinter there, curled up on the floor with his tail almost touching the tip of his nose. Sometimes, Mikey forgot how tall Splinter was, not because it was a small detail (it wasn’t. Mikey didn’t think anyone would ever consider Splinter short), but more because he’d gotten used to it.

Instead the floor was empty, the carpet slightly ruffled where Splinter had lay, his tail twitching in his sleep.

Mikey looked at the bedside table, thinking that perhaps Splinter left a note before leaving.

There was something, tucked underneath the lamp, and Mikey missed it at first. Quietly, he slipped out of bed and reached for it. Then he grabbed one of their torches and flicked it on beneath his bed sheets.

It read, in messy handwriting, as if Splinter had to fight with his own hand to write it: Could not stay, 2am. Will be back soon. Do not worry.

Disappointment welled within him, despite Mikey’s best efforts to hold it down. It made sense that defeating Falco hadn’t fixed Splinter – Falco had been dead a few months at most, whereas Splinter had been dead for around twelve. Falco couldn’t be the reason Splinter was pulled towards New York every night.

Still, Mikey couldn’t help but feel upset, though in truth that word did not convey the depth and breath of his sadness. It wasn’t fair that after everything they’d gone through this week, there were still problems to be solved, mysteries yet to be solved, clues waiting to be uncovered. On TV, once the heroes returned home following their adventures everything returned to normal. Sure, depending on the show, the big bad would loom over them still, but the valiant band of heroes could relax for a little while.

Splinter still being taken over by a force none of them understood and forced to walk for miles every night felt like something they ought to worry about.

Admittedly, the ghost himself did not seem upset by it, but that didn’t mean it didn’t bother Splinter. Like Leo and Raph, he may simply be hiding it, not wanting to burden his family with his problems. Leo and Raph had each other, a king and his right hand man, a sword and its shield.

Who did Splinter have to talk to?

Mikey wanted to say himself, but he knew that wasn’t entirely true, because there were things he knew Splinter didn’t talk to him about. It wasn’t about lack of trust, Mikey knew that, so much as there are things a father does not want his son to know when said son was still only a child. Perhaps, when Mikey is older, Splinter will tell him everything, but for now Mikey is eight years old and Splinter’s darkest fears will remain as unspoken as his secrets.

Mikey put the note back on the night stand, so that his brothers could find it if they woke up too. Then he picked up his watch and shone the torch on it underneath his covers.

4:21 am.

By now, Splinter should be himself again, but where he was Mikey didn’t know. For all he knew, Splinter was still in New York, but it was also possible that he was one his way back and was trying to figure out which room was theirs.

With that thought in mind, Mikey parted the curtains and opened the window just a crack. He didn’t want to let the cold air in, though plenty squirmed in through the gap and wrapped around him, sending shivers through his small frame. Already, he could feel the cold air beginning to turn his fingers purple.

Briefly, he thought about closing the window and finding some other way to signal which was the correct room, but he couldn’t think of anything as tired as he was. At least they had blankets, and if things got too cold could lay their coats across their beds. They’d done that before.

As he set the latch on one of the little notches that stuck up out of the bottom of the window sill, he heard a scratching sound from outside. Something digging into the brick work and then pulling free. It was quiet, and if he hadn’t opened the window, he wouldn’t have heard it at all.

Mikey opened the window wider and stuck his head out. Below him, there was nothing. Above him, the tail end of something very big disappeared over the edge of the roof. Whatever it was, the moonlight revealed flashes of pink skin, turned almost purple in the light of the moon, with many segments.

Glancing back at his sleeping brothers, Mikey considered waking them up, but quickly decided against it. All three of them were sound asleep, and it was rest they had more than earned.

Besides, Mikey wanted to talk to Splinter privately, and that would be impossible with his older brothers around. Less embarrassing too, depending on how the conversation went.

Before climbing out of the window and clambering up the building, Mikey pulled on a jacket. It was thin, and wouldn’t keep him all that warm, but it was better than nothing and he knew Splinter wouldn’t let him freeze.

---

Halfway through his climb, Mikey realised that scaling a building with a broken nose was a mistake. Breathing sat up was difficult, breathing hard as he scrambled up a wall even more so.

He was debating what to do (climb back down, keep going, call for help) when the shadows around him changed texture. Mikey leaned into them, and sort of flopped onto the top of the roof, near the old chimney. It wasn’t very graceful, and he sort of rolled onto his back and then starfished, but at least he didn’t have to climb the rest of the way. And if there were any lingering doubts about who was on the roof, they’d been dispelled.

Speaking of which, Splinter was sat towards the back of the roof, his head tilted up, staring into the night sky. His hood was up.

Three days ago, there’d been a full moon. Though the moon had shrunk since then, it still cast enough light that Mikey could see what he was doing as he crossed the roof.

As Mikey carefully picked his way over, because the snow which continued to fall made it impossible to keep an eye out for loose tiles and other such hazards, he noticed that Splinter’s hood moved as the ears within twitched.

GOOD MORNING – OR EVENING – MICHELANGELO.

A frown creased Mikey’s brow. Splinter sounded more tired than Mikey had ever heard him, including those days when Splinter’s thoughts seemed to be thousands of miles away and the ghost simply wished to be on his own.

When Mikey reached Splinter, he leaned against him and felt warmth radiating off Splinter.

In a voice that was equally as exhausted as Splinter, Mikey said, “Hi.”

As he spoke, steam left his mouth in great clouds. Seeing this, Splinter wrapped an arm around Mikey and pulled him into a loose side hug. The heat that always radiated from Splinter spread slowly, soothing the aches and pains that had already began to form across Mikey’s body. Hugs, even small ones, from Splinter always felt a little bit like hugging a hot water bottle or thermal blanket, only without the risk of burning himself.

Mikey curled up against Splinter, and wrapped one of his arms around Splinter’s.

DID YOU HAVE TROUBLE SLEEPING?

Mikey shrugged, “A little. How was New York?”

IT WAS… FINE, I SUPPOSE. IT FELT GOOD TO KNOW I WOULD NOT RUN INTO FALCO AGAIN.

Mikey nodded. He’d only been possessed by Falco once, and he never wanted to go through that experience again. He couldn’t, and didn’t want to, imagine what it would be like to go through it three times within the same week.

“Did you tell the other ghosts Falco’s gone?” Mikey asked.

NO, I DID NOT RUN INTO ANYONE, AND TO TELL THE TRUTH DID NOT WANT TO SCOUR THE CITY LOOKING FOR SOMEONE. TOMORROW, I WILL LOOK FOR GARSON, Splinter looked down at Mikey as he said, I THINK HEARING THE NEWS FROM HIM WILL MAKE THE OTHERS FEEL MORE AT EASE.

“Why can’t you tell them?”

Splinter let out a humourless little laugh, I AM NOT PARTICULARLY POPULAR – I HAVE A TENDENCY TO UNINTENTIONALLY MAKE PEOPLE FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE.

Mikey frowned again, brows furrowing and his lips upturning, “You don’t make me feel weird.”

Splinter shrugged, I SUSPECT THAT THERE ARE CERTAIN RULES AND ETIQUETTE I AM NOT AWARE OF, AND HAVE CROSSED WITHOUT REALISING IT.

Oh, Mikey thought to himself.

He understood that feeling better than Splinter could even imagine. There had been many times in Mikey’s life (all his life, all the time) where he felt that there were hidden rules he didn’t understand, and which he only found about when he violated them. People always got angry when he did, patience being a rare commodity. Asking what he’d done wrong never seemed to work, in fact, it just made people angrier with him. And so, over the years, he’d started pre-emptively assuming he was going annoy everyone around him without meaning to.

It saved time, and made the inevitable rejection easier to handle, because he’d already prepared himself for it.

His brothers struggled with it too, each in their own way.

Raph hid behind his temper, and when he broke one of those secret rules, people just assumed Raphael Tortuga was being a temperamental asshole. Never mattered that he didn’t mean to, and it never mattered if other kids had riled him up on purpose because they found his outbursts and the subsequent punishments funny. Which just made his temper worse, to be honest.

Mikey didn’t blame Raph for that – this was another thing he understood more than anyone else knew.

Leo tended to overcompensate, acting more like a middle aged single mother of three than the eleven year old boy he was. Never once did he put a foot out of turn, at least not when anyone would notice. Other kids found him oddly formal, or a goody two shoes, whilst teachers praised him for his maturity and good behaviour. The only time Mikey could remember Leo getting detention was the previous week, other than that, teachers adored Leo.

Well, perhaps adored was not the right word. No, they liked the fact he was so well behaved they could ignore him. They adored the convenience of Leo’s existence.

Teachers tended not to realise that something was wrong when the struggling child in question never misbehaved. Mikey wondered if they knew about the fear that lay beneath the surface, or if they didn’t care, because a child so frightened they never misbehaved was more convenient than a child who misbehaved occasionally but was happy.

By comparisons, any quirks Donnie had were either ignored completely or had a search light shone down on them. If he struggled with people, that was alright because he was just so intelligence! What did a clever little boy like him need help for?

And yet, the second Donnie struggled with schoolwork, his intelligence became a double edged sword, because if he was so clever, then he should not be getting bad grades. Surely he couldn’t be struggling or have things in his personal life that made focusing difficult. No, it must be that he was not putting in enough effort.

Excellence was expected of Donnie, and anything else was an insult.

No one expected anything of Mikey. As far as most people were concerned, he was just kind of there at best, the class clown at worst. Enthusiastic and kind, but socially awkward and unable to read a room, always joking and incapable of taking anything seriously.

Sometimes, he suspected that people thought of them as the angry one, the mature one, the smart one, and the stupid one.

It hadn’t occurred to Mikey that adults could feel the same way, like they didn’t belong and everyone else was watching and waiting for them to inevitably mess up so they could point and cry “See! This is the problem!”

(“This is why no one wants you!”)

Mikey pressed himself against Splinter and asked, “Do you have to talk to them?”

In a soft voice, because Splinter had picked up on something being wrong, but wasn’t sure what, TO GARSON, YES, BUT THAT IS NO CHORE. HE IS A GOOD MAN… ALTHOUGH JOE CAN BE A LITTLE OFF PUTTING AT TIMES.

“Joe?” Mikey asked.

And Splinter said, as if it were completely normal, HIS TALKING EYEBALL.

“His talking what now!?”

Splinter paused, before saying, HIS EYE BALL, JOE, CAN TALK.

Mikey stared up at him, and then said, “Why does his eyeball have his own name!?”

Splinter laughed quietly, WHY DOES ANYONE HAVE A NAME?

“I-” Mikey threw his hands up, “I don’t know! They’re important!” Mikey lowered his hands, “I have one cause mom named me, you have one because I named you.”

Tokiko had loved art, so perhaps she thought it fitting to name the children she adored after figures from her favourite period in art history. Technically, she named them with Bruce, in that she made a list of names she liked and then they went through it together to find names that suited their children.

Mikey named Splinter for the state of the Old House, its disrepair and all the damaged parts that were on display for everyone to see.

Back then, he hadn’t loved the Old House. It wasn’t home back then, and Splinter hadn’t been family either.

But…

Now it was.

It was home.

He was home.

Tokiko named Mikey for something she already loved. He named Splinter for a place he came to love.

His throat constricted, and to stop himself from thinking too deeply, Mikey asked, “Does he just, does he just hang out with his eyeball?”

Splinter tilted his head to one side, and in that same soft voice said, AS FAR AS I KNOW, THEY ARE NEVER PART, then his lips curled into a smile and he said in a joking manner, YOU COULD SAY THEY ARE QUITE ATTACHED TO ONE ANOTHER.

Mikey groaned, the frog in his throat clearing, and tried not to smile, “I bet you’re so proud of yourself.”

Splinter’s laugh was loud and boisterous, echoing across the roof, I THOUGHT IT WAS QUITE GOOD! ARE WE NOT SEEING EYE TO EYE ON THIS?

Mikey couldn’t help the half hysterical laugh that bubbled out of his throat, “Oh noooo.”

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE SO EYE-RATE. Splinter said with another chuckle, which grew louder when Mikey attempted to push him off the roof, ANYWAY, GARSON IS NOT AN UNPLEASANT PERSON TO TALK TO, AND HE WILL BREAK THE NEWS GENTLY TO THEM.

Now that it appeared the awful jokes were finished, Mikey leaned against Splinter again, and asked, “And then what happens?”

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

“What happens next? Like, what happens to the Domains of the dead dead ghost? Does someone else move in?”

THEIR DOMAINS WILL FALL APART WITHOUT THEM. I SUSPECT MOST OF THEM ALREADY HAVE. WHEN SPRING COMES, THE PARASITICA WILL EAT WHATEVER REMAINS OF THEM, SO NO LIVING PERSON WILL BE AT RISK OF FALLING IN BY ACCIDENT, he turned to look across the field, back towards the Old House, IN TERMS OF WHAT HAPPENS NEXT FOR THE SURVIVORS, I AM UNSURE. I WILL HAVE TO REMEMBER TO ASK GARSON WHEN I SPEAK WITH HIM.

“Will there be a funeral?”

A FUNERAL?

“Cause they’re not coming back.”

When mom and dad died, there’d been a funeral, but Mikey couldn’t remember it. Leo said it was raining, a torrential downpour that hid their tears and masked the sounds of their sobs. Mikey wished he could remember that day, remember saying goodbye to mom and dad.

They deserved to be remembered.

I SUPPOSE… I MUST CONFESS I DO NOT KNOW WHAT USUALLY HAPPENS IN CIRCUMSTANCES SUCH AS THIS. IN THE YEARS I HAVE BEEN HERE, PEOPLE HAVE ONLY LEFT WHEN THEY COMPLETED THEIR OBSESSION AND DECIDED TO MOVE ON. ONE GHOST DEVOURING SO MANY IS UNUSUAL.

“Do you want to take a notebook with you? So you can write everything down!”

THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA. THERE IS MUCH TO TELL GARSON, AND MANY THING I SHOULD ASK.

Mikey nodded.

There was a long stretch of companionable silence as the two sat on the roof and watched the world go by.

The field that surrounded the Old house stretched out before them, its border coiling around the fence that surrounded the Children’s home. In that field of golden-brown stalks, dyed a dark purple by the moon, Mikey would occasionally spy movement. A stalk would sway here, a twig snap there, or the thick blanket of snow that lay at the foot of the stalks would crunch or crumple up, creating small hills and valleys.

Even in the dead of winter, small creatures had to hunt and eat and play. With the humans asleep and shut in doors, the animals and spectres had their own night lives to attend to.

He could just about make out the Old House, standing alone in the field. Usually it wasn’t visible from the children’s home, but that was when Mikey was stood inside the building, not on top of it.

Somehow, the Old House looked even more lonesome than normal. Maybe it was, without its ghost to occupy it. Mikey had not forgotten what the Old House was like a few days ago, how cold and dead it was when Splinter wasn’t there, as if whatever life Splinter brought with him evaporated the moment he wasn’t present.

A few feet away from the Old House was something Mikey hadn’t noticed before. Under normal circumstances it was hidden beneath the long grass, and standing on the porch of the Old House didn’t offer a good enough vantage point to see it, the porch and the shape being so close. However, on the roof of the children’s home, Mikey could make out an angular shape where the grass and snow rose slightly and then fell again. It looked like a shed had once stood there, but over the years it had rotten down, leaving a raised scar in the land, only a faint memory that it had ever existed at all.

And, even further away, walking through the field on long graceful legs, was a deer. The deer. Its fur shone brightly, as if lit from within, and the light of the full moon shimmered along its antlers, as if the keratin were holding the moonlight, cupping it along its twists and crests.

The deer stopped a few feet away from the house and looked around, inspecting it, then titled its head at a steep angle.

Beside him, Mikey felt Splinter’s fur stand on end, and a long hiss left his mouth.

As if it had heard Splinter, the deer turned towards the children’s home and continued tilting its head until it made a full rotation and kept going, twisting its neck into a spiral.

Mikey mouth hung open.

He knew the deer was watching him.

Splinter let out a louder hiss and the deer spun its neck back into a less nauseating position. Opening its mouth, it let out a loud rumbling sound that was somewhere between the angry buzzing of a bee and the squeaking of a floorboard.

Then it pranced in place, did a small jump, and trotted back into the forest without a care in the world.

Mikey stared at the spot where the deer had stood only moments before.

Splinter bent so that he could look into Mikey’s face as he asked, MICHELANGELO, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?

“It’s – the -” he gestured with both hands, flapping them in the general direction of the deer, “what!?”

I TOLD YOU THE DEER WAS IRRITATING.

“You didn’t say it wasn’t a deer!”

Splinter’s face was close enough that Mikey saw him blink and his white eyebrows rise, AH... DID I NEGLECT TO MENTION THAT?

“YES!” Mikey shouted, then clamped a hand over his mouth. They waited for a moment, and when no one opened a window or ran into the yard to shout at them to get down, Mikey continued in a whispered hiss, “You just said it kept walking near the house.”

OH, WELL, IT IS NOT A LIVING DEER. I SUSPECT IT DIED HERE SOMETIME AGO AND LINGERED. THAT FOREST IS IT’S DOMAIN.

“The whole thing?”

Splinter nodded, YES, ALTHOUGH WHAT WE CAN CURRENTLY SEE IS ONLY A FRACTION OF ITS FOREST. NOW WE ARE ON THE SUBJECT, I WOULD CAUTION AGAINST ENTERING THOSE WOODS ON YOUR OWN – THE DEER HAS A… STRANGE SENSE OF HUMOUR.

Mikey raised an eyebrow and titled his head, silently asking what that meant.

Something about the motion made Splinter chuckle softly, and his eyes briefly glowed brighter, I SUPPOSE YOU COULD SAY THAT IT IS CURIOUS ABOUT HUMANS AND LIKES TO FOLLOW THOSE WHO ENTER THE FOREST. SOMETIMES IT WILL MAKE THE FOREST EVEN LARGER SO THAT IT CAN FOLLOW PEOPLE FOR LONGER.

“Oh.” Mikey glanced at the forest. It was already pretty big, even without ghost deer magic. A realisation occurred and he glanced back at Splinter, “OH! Is that why you hate it?”

PARTLY, Splinter admitted, and gestured at the field and the Old House, IT ALSO HAS NO CONCEPT OF PERSONAL SPACE.

Mikey couldn’t stop himself from laughing, which prompted another smile from Splinter despite his continued annoyance towards the deer.

Splinter shook his head and titled it back up to the sky. The moon had travelled some distance during their conversation. It’d be a few hours before the run rose, and then Mikey would have school at attend.

Oh, wait! No he didn’t! He’d forgotten that school was going to be closed next week so the exterminators could do their work, and they’d have no way of knowing that the root of the problem, the ghost pulling all those rats into the school, had already been dealt with.

It would take at least a day, Mikey thought, until the rat catchers realised the rats were gone. Maybe more, he didn’t know how rat catchers worked.

And even if the rat catchers figured it out quickly, there was the snow to content with.

A few hours ago, only a few flakes fell from the sky, but now the snow came down in heaps. Already the roads out of Casper were blocked and the snow showed no signs of stopping. Soon enough, the early risers would wake up and would be forced to ask themselves how they were going to get to work.

The only place devoid of snow was the patch of roof around Mikey and Splinter, a small ring of dry roof where the heat of Splinter’s body had stopped any snow from setting. Everywhere was already covered, and Mikey could tell the snow clouds went on for miles and miles. New York was also covered in a dense blanket of snow.

Mikey shook his head and brushed his hands through his hair, trying to get rid of the white flakes that stuck to his hair, then pulled his own hood up.

COME HERE, the ghost said, and picked Mikey up and set him on his knee where no snow would fall on him.

Splinter wrapped both arms around Mikey and held the little boy close. As always, Splinter’s embrace was warm, like a mug of tea that had cooled enough to not burn your hands when you cupped it. The remaining flakes in Mikey’s hair melted, and he felt them roll down his hair and face, then turn to steam and drift into the cold air.

WE SHOULD GO BACK INSIDE, Splinter whispered into Mikey’s hair, but did not make a move to get up.

Neither did Mikey, who said, “Yeah.”

Another quite moment passed, this one far shorter than the previous one.

WHAT BROUGH YOU TO THE ROOF? Splinter asked, DO YOU USUALLY COME UP HERE WHEN YOU CANNOT SLEEP?

Mikey let out a nervous little laugh, “No. Leo and Raph would kill me. I just… woke up and you were gone, and then heard a weird noise and saw your tail.” Mikey looked up at Splinter, who’d tilted his head down to look at Mikey whilst he spoke, “What about you?”

WHEN I RETURNED FROM THE CITY, I NEEDED SOME TIME TO THINK.

“Are you okay?”

YES, YES, I AM… Splinter let out a long, tired sigh, THIS HAS BEEN A LONG WEEK. IF POSSIBLE, I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SKIP THE TREK TO NEW YORK THIS NIGHT.

Mikey nodded and started fiddling with his fingers, twisting the fingers of his left hand between those of his right.

AND HOW ARE YOU? IT HAS BEEN QUITE THE EVENTFUL WEEK FOR YOU AS WELL.

Mikey shrugged, “I’m glad it’s over. Like Falco’s gone, and you’re still here.”

AND YOUR ARMS? HOW ARE THEY?

“They kinda sting.” Mikey wiggled his fingers, feeling how the bandages brushed against one another, “How’s yours.”

Splinter turned his right arm, revealing the large black stain on the bandages, IT HAS STOPPED BLEEDING. THE HAND FEELS OFF THOUGH. I SUSPECT I DAMAGED SOMETHING.

“Will it get better?”

IF WE GIVE IT TIME, IT WILL HEAL. WHETHER OR NOT IT WILL RETURN TO NORMAL IS ANOTHER QUESTION, Splinter flecked his right hand, the movement jerky, like his arm was resisting, AT WORST IT WILL BE WEAKER THAN THE OTHER. BUT THAT IS A CONCERN FOR A DIFFERENT DAY. ON THAT NOTE, TRAINING WILL BE PAUSED FOR A FEW DAYS – YOU YOURSELF SHOULD AVOID STRENUOUS ACTIVITY FOR THE NEXT COUPLE WEEKS, UNTIL YOUR NOSE HAS HEALED FULLY.

“So… no more climbing buildings?”

NO MORE CLIMBING BUILDINGS. Splinter agreed.

“What about little buildings?”

MICHELANGELO.

“I’m joking!”

HMM.

Mikey looked back at the Old House. The snow was coming down so fast and thick that he couldn’t see it any more through the haze, and the moon itself was barely visible.

“Oh!” Mikey said, suddenly remembering something, “I’ve not got detention next week!”

WHAT HAPPENED? DID THAT WOMAN COME TO HER SENSES?

“Mr Silver convinced her to shorten it to a week!” Mikey explained, “The others are going to have detention, but Mrs Simms wouldn’t let them in her library.”

Splinter laughed, THAT IS GOOD TO HEAR. SO YOU WILL BE HOME EARLY?

“Yep!” Mikey said happily.

The ghost leaned down, pushed his snout into Mikey’s hair and began ruffling it. A second later, Splinter started bruxing.

Mikey did his best to imitate it, but the closet he got to bruxing was a sort of trilling that sounded more like a platypus than what Splinter was doing. Not that Splinter minded, considering he bruxed louder and Mikey could feel the vibrations as Splinter ground his back teeth together.

When Splinter stopped nuzzling him, he kept bruxing for a while longer, and held Mikey close whilst they watched the moon march further across the sky. Across the village, lights turned on as more and more people rose from their beds.

On the other end of the village, far enough away that on clear days Mikey could barely make it out, was the library. It was a surprisingly large building considering the size of the surrounding village, and it owed its size due to the fact it had been built when Casper was doing better, back in those golden years when it was in the process of transforming into a town.

Across the road from the library was a park, which right now was a vast expense of brown and yellow grass hidden beneath more than a foot of snow. If you stood on the library steps, on the far left corner of the park you’d be able to see a statue of a man holding a pickaxe, standing beside a strange contraption that Mikey didn’t know the name of, but which looked like a cousin of those little birds wearing top hats some people kept on their desks.

If you walked through the park, you’d find yourself on the other side of the village’s main street. There was a post office on that side, beside which stood a building that was used for many different things depending on which day of the week it was. One room housed a small gym Mikey had never visited, but he knew from the fliers all around the village that on Tusedays they did crossfit and Thursday yoga.

However, if you decided that you didn’t want to visit the park today, and instead kept walking past it and the library, you’d eventually find yourself on the edge of Casper, near an old stone building that used to be a church. It wasn’t a church any more, it had been deconsecrated and converted into flats long before Mikey and his brothers arrived. Tracey lived there with another young woman Mikey had seen occasionally around Casper, but didn’t know anything about outside of the fact her name was Tina.

Beside the church was a graveyard, which these days was the biggest part of the entire village, more a small township in its own right, and Mikey wondered what it was like to live beside the dead. Several months ago, before Donnie knew about Splinter, he’d said that at least Tracey was guaranteed to have quiet neighbours.

Glancing up at Splinter, Mikey wasn’t so sure. In his experience, the dead were not always quite and peaceful, and Splinter didn’t exactly have a quiet voice – even his whispers were in all caps.

Exploring the graveyard would eventually lead to the discovery of a dirt road which disappeared into the forest. If Mikey was remembering it correctly, it lead to a park ranger station.

He wondered what the deer thought of it. Maybe it was like free entertainment, watching the park ranger spend the night helping lost hikers or telling people off for starting fires in the forest.

Scattered all about were houses, some built on top of the few remaining shops and businesses, others just regular houses made only for people to live in.

It was a small tight knit community, which Mikey never felt like he belonged to. Once, not all that long ago, he’d not been expecting to live here for very long, but now he didn’t want to live anywhere else.

Through the snow, the dark blue sky began to turn a deep purple.

Mikey had heard about people feeling a presence in their homes after a relative or pet died, but he’d never really put much thought into it. Not because he’d never had a home at all – he was home whenever he was with his brothers – but because the concept a physical place could be home was an alien to him.

That wasn’t true any more. His brothers were still home, and always would be, but now there was a house where he felt safe and loved, and he had a-

…

Mikey frowned.

Did he have a papa?

He shuffled about awkwardly and started to pick at his bandages.

IS THERE SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND?

“Um… no?”

In that tone of voice Leo used when he knew something was up that his younger brothers weren’t telling him, Splinter asked, MIKEY?

“Er,” the roof tiles beneath them suddenly became utterly fascinating, “Do you remember when – back at Falco’s – when you, when I,” Mikey scratched his hair, “called you, um...”

OH… OH, Splinter’s hands clenched and unclenched, the right slower than the left, IT DID NOT UPSET ME, IF THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT?

“I – kinda?” Mikey took hold of one of Splinter’s hands and folded and unfolded the fingers for something to do.

The moon was not shinning as brightly now, it having disappeared behind the snow clouds, but Splinter’s eyes still glowed. Using their light, Mikey examined Splinter’s hand, how the skin twisted around the deep fissures that cut into his fingers and palm. The red light made the scars look bloody.

Mikey pulled Splinter’s hand closer, and tried to ignore that thought. At some point, he knew it had been true, but he didn’t like thinking about Splinter or the man Splinter used to be being hurt and in pain.

Splinter closed his hand so that it gently held Mikey’s much smaller one, I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT AS WELL. THAT IS WHY I CAME UP HERE.

“Hmm?”

WHEN I SAY IT DID NOT UPSET ME, I MEAN THAT IT MADE ME EXTREMELY HAPPY.

“Then why did you have to come up here?” Mikey tried to keep his voice level, but it didn’t work, and Splinter hugged Mikey tighter, resting his chin on the top of Mikey’s head.

I FEAR THAT I DO NOT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A FATHER. I NEVER COULD HAVE DREAMED OF HAVING A SECOND CHANCE… I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO.

Mikey squeezed Splinter’s hand, “Second chance?”

There was a smile in Splinter’s voice as he said, YOU HAVE A BIG SISTER.

Mikey’s head snapped up with such force his neck cracked.

“Really!?”

YES.

Mikey blinked. He had a sister! He had another sister!

“When did you remember her?”

Splinter nuzzled Mikey’s face affectionately again, I NEVER FORGOT HER.

The ghost raised the hand Mikey wasn’t holding and said, I REMEMBER WHEN SHE WAS BORN. SHEN, HER MOTHER, HAD TO CONVINCE ME TO PICK HER UP. SHE WAS SO SMALL, AND I WAS AFRAID THAT I WOULD BREAK HER SOMEHOW. SHE HELD MY FINGER IN HER HAND, AND I CAME APART.

Mikey stared up at Splinter with amazement. Already, there were a thousand and one questions he wanted to ask: how did he still remember her, who was Shen, how old was his daughter, was she still alive?

In the end, he decided on the one he felt most important.

“What’s her name?”

MIWA, Splinter said the name so softly. There was so much sadness in that single word, born of so many missed moments and dashed dreams, but that was not all there was to it. Woven through the heartache was love, tender and soft and still so strong.

SHE WAS MY LITTLE GIRL, THOUGH I IMAGINE SHE IS NOT SO LITTLE ANY MORE. THIS FEBRUARY WILL BE HER THIRTEEN BIRTHDAY.

So that was how Splinter knew he’d been dead for twelve years… but then that meant…

“You died when she was a baby.” It wasn’t a question.

Mikey’s heart twisted in sympathy for Miwa. He’d only been three when his mom and dad died, he knew what it was like to lose a parent young and to spend the rest of your life figuring out what they were like based upon the memories of other people.

And he couldn’t help but feel guilty that she was growing up without the same man he’d called papa.

The joy that had managed to seep into Splinter’s voice whilst he talked about his daughter receded, pulled back like the tides, and he said, SHE WAS NOT EVEN A YEAR OLD. THAT IS PART OF WHY I AM ANXIOUS – YOU COULD SAY I AM OUT OF PRACTICE BEING A PARENT, AND I HAVE NEVER HAD A SON BEFORE.

Mikey nodded to himself and squeezed Splinter’s hand again.

Splinter squeezed back.

“I used to have a dad,” Mikey said slowly, thinking through each word carefully, “but I’ve never had a papa before. I don't know how that works.” He grinned up at Splinter, “We’ll figure it out.”

Splinter held out his free hand, the smallest finger extended, TOGETHER THEN?

“Together.” Mikey said, finishing the pinky swear.

Afterwards, Splinter pressed his forehead against Mikey’s face and started nuzzling him again, prompting a laugh from the boy.

“That tickles!” he shouted, not caring if anyone heard him.

Splinter bruxed and Mikey felt the vibrations reverberate through his own skull.

COME, THE SUN IS RISING AND YOU SHOULD BE IN BED.

“I’m not-” Mikey began, but was cut off by a yawn.

What time was it? He’d left his watch in his bedroom. Too early for him to be up, that was certain.

Maybe going back to bed was a good idea.

Mikey yawned again, and burrowed into Splinter’s cloak. Once he stopped moving, Splinter slowly rose to his feet with Mikey cradled in his arms, and walked into the nearest shadow.

At first, Mikey thought they were in the shadows for a very long time, and he wondered if Splinter was so tired that he’d gotten lost. But then Mikey opened his eyes and found himself sat up in bed, propped up by his pillows, and Splinter tucking the blankets around him.

Splinter handed Mikey a cat made of mutli-coloured fabric, and Mikey hummed sleepily as he wrapped his arms around Ice Cream Kitty.

“Night, papa,” he managed to say before closing his eyes again.

As he drifted off into a deep sleep, he felt a large hand gently stroking his hair and a voice, overflowing with so much love he almost didn’t believe Splinter was talking to him, said, GOODNIGHT, MY SON.

Notes:

I almost can’t believe that this fic is finished. Writing it has been a hell of a lot of fun, in part thanks to everyone who read it! Hope you all had just as much fun with it as I did!

Next up will be Ready Set, Not Yet, and once that’s done the next main long fic in this series, Parasite. I’m a little under a quarter of the way through Parasite’s first draft, and currently think it’ll be about seventeen chapters long.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of Dead Doesn't Mean Gone