Archive of Our Own

From the time he was a tot, Mikey’s always held a love for the seasons.

During the winter, he mostly watched Christmas movies with his family, building their Jupiter Jim snowman and snowball fights with April and Mayhem, and drinking his famous hot chocolate while bundled up in the warmest of blankets. Then when spring rolled around, Mikey and his brothers made a break for the parks where they could watch the flowers bloom, and the youngest took out his duffel bag of spray paint and tagged every corner of the city. There wasn’t a single alley that didn’t have some kind of art that he created. Not to mention his birthday, too. And when spring came to a close and welcomed in the hot days and cool nights of summer, Mikey was ready to be on the rooftops and watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July. 

However, of all the seasons, Mikey’s always been partial to fall. 

There’s just something about watching the leaves shift from bright summery green to the cooler reds, yellows, and his favorite, oranges. It brings out a different side to Mikey’s creativity and gave him all the inspiration he needed for his latest projects. He can spend hours inhaling the warm scent of freshly baked cinnamon rolls from that little Swedish bakery he’s always buying treats from and pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks. During this time, the weather’s still slightly warm enough where he didn’t need his heavier coat. A simple orange scarf will do just the trick to keep him warm. 

But the fall weather is often unpredictable, always changing. And it often never stays the same twice. Especially in New York. And on this night, a cold front makes its way into the city, causing the temperatures to drop as the sun sets and a full moon rises high in the night sky. 

They’re on patrol, and it’s nearly midnight when Leo notes the sudden drop in temperature. His body shudders as they cross another rooftop. A breeze blows by and causes them all to react. It doesn’t help that they’re also close to the docks. 

“Yeesh, who turned off the heat?” the blue-banded turtle says, blowing hot air into his cupped hands. “It’s only October! Why is it so cold?” He turned to his twin and glared at him, “What’d you do, Donnie?”

“What? You think I have something to do with this?” Donnie sputters. 

“Yup.”

Donnie rolls his eyes and shakes his head. 

“For your information, Leo, it shouldn’t be this cold,” the purple-banded turtle muses. He slows his pace and comes to a stop. He taps a few times on his wrist gauntlet and hums. “Ah, it appears that there is a cold front coming in from Canada. Well, that certainly explains the sudden drop in temperature.”

“I like it!” Mikey chirps. “Kinda wish we stopped off for snacks before patrol. I could go for some pizza right about now. Ooh, and garlic bread.” The orange-banded turtle shuffles closer to Donnie and Raph while Leo continues to warm up his hands and grumble under his breath. 

“We’re only 2 hours into patrol guys, we still got a lot of ground to cover,” Raph says. “C’mon, no time to be foolin’ around.”

“Perhaps we should head back to the lair before Leo whines even more,” Donnie murmurs, a smirk crossing his lips.

“I am not whining!” comes the indignant shout. Leo huffs and narrows his eyes. “I am a summer child! The cold and I are incompatible.”

Mikey snorts and turns his head toward the docks. He cocks his head to the side as an enormous shadow appears to dart in between some shipping containers. He walks towards the edge of the roof and squints. The shadowy figure appears again and ducks behind one of the shipping containers. Mikey frowns and turns towards his brothers. 

“Hey guys, something’s going on down there,” he says, pointing towards the docks. 

“What’cha see?” Raph asks. 

Mikey responds with a shrug. 

“Don’t know,” he says. “but something’s down there. Think we should go check it out?”

Raph ponders a second before glancing over to their genius brother. 

“Hey Dee, how much longer till the temp drops into the red zone for us?”

“Well, the current temperature is 60 degrees,” Donnie says. “Well, we need to add in the wind blowing in from the north at roughly 8-10 mph, thus causing the temperature to drop between 2-3 degrees every hour. And the red zone for us is between 40-50 degrees, so..."

“So to translate from Geek Speak, a quick peek won’t hurt us,” Leo says, striding up to kneel beside Mikey. 

His comment earns him a stern glare from Donnie who promptly rolls his eyes. 

Chuckling, Leo drops an arm around Mikey’s shoulder, who shrugs him off with a snort. “So, who’s up for a little competition? Last one to the docks has to do Splinter’s laundry for an entire month?”

“Make it two months and you got yourself a deal, Leon,” the orange-banded turtle grins. 

“No mystic powers, guys. We want a nice, clean race,” Raph says, crouching down into position. He cracks his neck, flashing his younger siblings a toothy smile. 

“Oh, you are so on, baby!” Mikey laughs. He punches Raph in the arm, but the snapping turtle barely reacts.  

“Shall we include that the one who loses also has to clean the bathroom for a month, too?” Donnie suggests. 

Three pairs of eyes turn onto him and all share similar frowns and looks of, “Really?” followed by Raph commenting, “You just really wanna get outta cleaning don’t ya, Dee?” 

The purple-clad turtle shakes his head and rolls his eyes. 

“Fine, fine, no added chores. Scoff, but the standard rules still apply. Therefore, we go on three, agreed?” he pipes up, coming up to kneel with his brothers. 

“Agreed!”

Leo bumps his shoulder against Mikey’s. “One.”

“Two,” Raph answers.

“Three!”

Mikey’s the first out of the gate, leaping to his feet and breaking into a sprint towards the next rooftop. 

The chase is on. The four brothers make their way towards the docks, leaping over rooftops, hopping down fire escapes before landing on the street across from the docks. Leo’s now in the lead, but Mikey is just seconds behind him with Donnie and Raph trailing. Finally, Leo makes it to the locked gates and starts doing his own little victory dance as his brothers fall in behind him. 

“And once again, Leon is victorious!” Leo proclaims. “You may all bow before me!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that!” Mikey shouts.

Grinning, the orange-banded makes a running head start, jumps the fences, somersaults in the air, before landing gracefully on the other side. He bows and leans up against one of the many shipping containers, sneering at his brothers on the other side of the fence.

“Show off!” Leo calls out to Mikey.

Mikey sticks out his tongue, jogging backward and laughing, “Just a little ole razzmatazz, Leon ! ‘Sides, you said the last one to the docks was the loser and I believe you only made it to the front gate while I however am on the other side and therefore the first one at the docks! HA!”

“Ah yes, defeated once again by a loophole,” Donnie remarks. He turns on the rotors to his battle-shell and hovers over the fence to land on the other side with Mikey. He knocks his fist into Mikey’s outstretched one and chuckles. "Next time, Leo, be a little more clear with your wording and you might win next time."

"He’s got ya there," Raph says, bumping his shoulder with Leo’s who is now gaping at his twin and baby brother in shock. 

The red-banded turtle hops the fence, nearly scraping his legs over the barbed wire to join the others, and thus leaving Leo on the other side. Leo’s eyes narrow. He grumbles under his breath and unsheathes one of his swords. He swings it around a few times before a familiar bluish-white portal appears and he jumps through it. He exits on the other side where his brothers have already started trekking ahead of him. 

“Wait for me!”

“So, what’d ya see come through here?” Raph asks as they pass a couple of shipping containers. 

“Some kind of shadow,” Mikey answers. “They ducked behind some containers before I could get a good look at them.”

“Oh, please tell me we’re not chasing ghosts again, Mikey,” Leo groans, having now caught up with the others. “The last time I followed you down that path, we nearly got our butts handed to us by a stock boy. A stock boy !”

“Hey, that doesn’t count!” Mikey retorts, wagging a finger. “That was just some kid with too much time on their hands and a crazy robot -- ”

“Who has now tried to expose us twice,” Donnie reminds them. 

“Hey, whatever happened to that kid, anyway?” Raph asks. 

“Juvenile detention last I heard.”

Mikey opens his mouth to speak, but a loud crash interrupts him. The four brothers immediately react, retrieving their weapons and preparing themselves for who or whatever is hiding in the shadows. Raph signals for Leo and Mikey to take the right and left while he and Donnie move in closer to investigate the sound. Mikey jumps onto a shipping container and tiptoes across the top of the container.

“See anything up top, you two?” Raph whispers.

“Nope,” Mikey responds. 

“Nada,” Leo answers. He drops onto another shipping container and sheaths both swords. He straightens his posture, propping his hands on his hips. 

“That was a pretty loud crash, so whatever it was couldn’t have gotten far,” Donnie says. 

Thump!

Mikey whirls his head around and a passing shadow ducks into some other shipping containers to his left. He whistles, alerting his brothers, and waves them towards him. Raph and Donnie join him on the shipping container and Leo follows suit. The four carefully make their way towards where Mikey last saw the shadow and when they turn the corner, they find nothing there. Only a dead-end. Raph shakes his head, disappointed and frustrated. 

“You sure you saw something, Mike?” he asks. 

Mikey scoffs and glares at Raph.

“I’m not making this up! I saw something duck into here!” the orange-banded turtle says. He gestures to the space in front of them. “They should be right here!”

“And how right you are, little turtle,” a voice purrs from the darkness. 

The four turtles all jump at the sound and watch in shock as something gracefully glides out of the shadows and tilts its head towards them. The shadowy figure is skinny and tall, wearing a black, hooded cloak. Slowly, they lift their head, revealing a pair of bright yellowish-gold eyes and a toothy smile. They can’t see what exactly is hiding under that hood. But all of them share the similar feeling of not wanting to see what was under the hood. 

“Is it too late to retract my statement earlier about ghosts?” Leo whispers.

“Not helping, Leo!” Donnie hisses. 

The shadowy mass chuckles and grins. Mikey gulps and shrinks back into his shell. Yellowish-gold eyes blink slowly at the four brothers before leaning forward and whispering, “Boo!” 

“Time to go!” Raph shouts. 

With several startling yelps and cries, the four stumble out of the crowded space and make a break for the gates. They hear the shadow person's laugh echo and footsteps closing in on them. Raph spins on his heel, twirling his sai and slashing at the figure, but his weapons go straight through the cloak like butter. He gulps and backpedals to flee, but the figure laughs and grabs Raph by the edge of his shell. Raph’s thrown to the side, colliding with a shipping container, and falls hard to the ground with a pained groan. 

“Raph!” Mikey cries. 

“One down, three to go,” the shadow-person giggles. “Now, which one to choose next? Blue, Orange, or Purple?”

“Hey! Over here!” Donnie whistles and the shadowy figure whirls around with a snarl. “Get Raph! I’ll distract our friend here!” The purple-banded turtle activates the rotors to his battle-shell and takes off like a rocket, leading the shadow-person on a chase while Leo and Mikey race to Raph’s aide. 

“Raph, you okay?” Leo asks, helping their brother to his feet. 

“Yeah, I’m good. Damn, that thing’s pretty strong,” he says. “And side note, definitely not a mutant. My sais went straight through it, didn’t even make a mark.” Raph rubs the side of his head and picks up his fallen sais. He stows them into his belt and cracks his neck. 

“So, what is that thing? A ghost? A demon? A spook?” Mikey asks, his voice only rising as they jog in the direction where Donnie and their unknown opponent disappeared to. 

“I don’t know, but it’s putting up one hell of a fight that’s for sure,” Raph answers.

“So, how do we stop it?” 

“Anybody got any holy water?” Leo jokes. 

Raph opens his mouth to scold his younger brother, but the sound of Donnie’s panicked shouting stops him.

“OUT OF THE WAY! OUT OF THE WAY! INCOMING!”

The three stand in silence and awe as Donnie comes zipping around another corner with the shadow-person hot on his heels. And they look furious. Their black-grey cloak is stained with bright purple paint (courtesy of one of Donnie’s new inventions, no doubt). Leo and Raph are quick to dodge left and take cover. Mikey tumbles backward, nearly colliding with his brother. Donnie ducks and rolls onto the ground, sliding shell-first into a shipping container. He shakily gets up to his feet, only to stumble and fall back down with a grunt. The shadow-person skids to a halt, baring their teeth, and whirls on Mikey with a twisted smile. 

“Come here, little orange one,” the shadow-person giggles. 

“Oh boy,” he yelps. 

Mikey jumps to his feet and breaks into a run, heading straight for one of the many shipping cranes on the docks. He hears the shadow-person laugh from somewhere behind him and he quickly ducks behind another shipping container. He presses his shell against the metal container and shuts his eyes.

Then he hears it.

“Peek-a-boo!”

“WAHH!” 

Mikey feels an icy hand wrap around his wrist and drags him out of his hiding spot. He twists his body, slamming his elbow down on the shadow person's wrist, causing them to cry out and let go. Mikey flips and heads straight for the harbor with the shadow-person still chasing after him. He leaps over a pile of some wooden crates and spins around with his nunchucks at the ready. But to his surprise, the shadow-person is nowhere to be found — which only frightens him more. He tightens his grip on his nunchucks and hears something fall to his right. He throws one of his chucks out and grins when it wraps around the shadow person's wrist. He tugs them towards him and lands a solid kick to their chest, knocking them to the ground with a heavy thud.

“Ha! That’ll teach ya to sneak up on people!” Mikey laughs. 

The shadow-person wipes the back of their hand across their mouth and growls.

“You really shouldn’t have done that little turtle,” the shadow-person chuckles.

Still on the ground, the shadow person's cloak moves and shifts, as if it is alive. The edges of the cloak sharpen and start stretching out towards him. Gulping, Mikey backs away, but something from under their cloak flies out and snatches him by the throat. He gasps as he’s picked off the ground and then slammed back down. He drops his chucks and lets out a pained cry, alerting his brothers.

“MIKEY!”

Head spinning, Mikey’s not sure who yelled his name — maybe, Raph, he guesses? He gasps again as the hand? Or claw? around his throat squeezes tighter. He claws at the thing holding him, pushing and shoving. His captor slowly rises off the ground, almost floating in mid-air, and while still holding onto Mikey, lifts him off the ground again. He doesn’t fully understand what’s going on, only that he’s moving and he can hear his brothers shouting and calling out to him. He opens his eyes and looks down, only to see water.

Oh boy. 

His eyes flick up and fear washes over him. Up this close, he’s practically nose to nose with the shadow-person and he could honestly say that they were the stuff of nightmares. Even horror legends like Steven King and Guillermo del Toro would be jealous of this monster. Yellow eyes sunken deep into their eye sockets. Freakishly pale, almost translucent, gaunt-looking skin with jutted-out cheekbones. And sharp, yellow-stained teeth and a black forked-tongue. Mikey lets out a whimper as the shadow-person leans forward and laughs in his face. And their breath smells exactly as Mikey pictures it, like a rotting corpse.  

“Have a pleasant swim, little turtle!” they snicker.

Mikey’s eyes widen.

“NO!”

Then, he feels weightless. 

He’s falling.

And falling.

And then —

His body hits the water with a loud splash and his vision flashes white.

With a strangled cry, he notes how frigid the water is as his body sinks further and further down. It sends painful goosebumps shooting up his arms and his body shivers at the sudden burst of cold on his skin. He holds his breath as he twists his body around to swim towards the surface. He swims harder, kicking his legs out and propelling himself forward. 

Oh, he was gonna rip that shadow-thing a new one for tossing him into the harbor.

Finally, he breaks the surface, gasping and coughing. He shivers and makes for the docks. 

“Mikey!” Leo.

The ringing is still there, fogging up his brain as he pushes ahead. 

“Donnie! Anytime now!” Raph. 

He can hear shouting on the docks, someone’s laughing (which oddly enough sounds a lot like Donnie’s own maniacal laughter), and then something loud explodes in front of him. 

“HIT THE DECK FELLAS!” Donnie. Definitely Donnie. 

His brain barely has any time to register what’s going on until something heavy and metal slams into his plastron, sending him back under with a strangled cry. 

Mikey barely makes it in time to clamp his mouth shut before he swallows up the harbor. His eyes widen in fear and panic as the broken piece of what looks to be part of a crane continues to push him further and further into the dark, freezing water. He shoves hard on the metal debris, but it’s too heavy for him alone. He feels something cold and metal snag onto his ankle and in the struggle, his feet get tangled up in what appears to be some kind of chain. He reaches for his chucks but they are missing from his belt.

Nonono!

Mikey’s nostrils sting from the cold inhale of water and he nearly chokes at the flood in his lungs. His shell hits the sandy bottom, and that’s when the pain begins to settle in his veins. Everything hurts like he’s being stabbed with thousands of tiny little knives. He slams a fist against the metal debris. And again. And again. He can feel his lungs burning as he kicks his legs out in an attempt to wriggle himself free of the debris.

But it’s no use. 

He’s stuck. 

He’s trapped. 

And he’s probably going to die down here.

The orange-banded turtle frantically looks around for anything, anything, to help him get free, but everything’s cold and dark. He looks up — he can see blurry shadows lurking above him. Three of them — his brothers and his heart hurts only more. He feels tears stinging at the corners of his eyes. 

He opens his mouth and screams — but the sound is garbled, and only bubbles come out and travel up towards the surface. Tears in his eyes, he snaps his mouth shut and shakes his head. 

Everything is so, so cold. 

And he doesn’t want these to be his last moments, but it’s looking to be that way. 

Mikey’s eyes flutter as his body grows weaker and his lungs feel like they’re about to burst. He doesn’t have much time. He weakly lifts his head and accepts his fate. He closes his eyes and allows the cold and watery embrace of the depths to take him. 

--

Topside, the smoke clears from Donnie’s unexpected (and brilliant) explosion, and the wreckage is a sight to see. The shipping crane to which Donnie threw his new “turtle shell bomb” to finally stop the shadow is now in pieces and laying fully collapsed onto the dock. Shipping containers have chunks of metal sticking out of them. But the shadow-person is long gone and nowhere to be seen. 

They just vanished.

“Everyone good?” Raph coughs, wafting the smoke from his face. 

“I think so!” Leo calls out. He coughs and glares over at Donnie, who looks way too pleased with himself. “A warning would be nice, Dee!”

“I’ll add that to my to-do list next time we go toe-to-toe with an unknown mystic being!” Donnie sneers. 

“Quit bickering you two,” Raph snaps. 

“Think that’s the last time we see that thing?” 

“I sure hope so.”

Raph rubs the side of his head and looks around the wreckage. But he fails to find Mikey anywhere. “Hey, anybody got eyes on Mikey?”

Leo and Donnie immediately look up at Raph and then their eyes go straight to the edge of the docks where they last saw their baby brother. Mikey was just right there. They heard him. They saw him go in the water. They saw him break the surface. They saw him just off the docks and — oh no. 

"Did you see him get out of the water?" Leo asks Donnie. 

"No, did you?” the purple-banded turtle responds. 

“No, but he was right there! At the docks — I saw him! And he — "

“Mikey!” Raph shouts. He cups his hands over his mouth and calls out again. “Mikey! Can ya hear me? Mikey!” 

The three brothers sprint to the edge of the docks and find no sign of Mikey or the shadow-person they’d just encountered. Raph’s own heart pounds wildly in his plastron as he frantically searches for the orange-banded turtle, calling out his name a few more times. 

“Mikey! MIKEY!”

“But we saw him! He has to be here!” Donnie says. 

Leo’s eyes flicker over to the water and he looks up at where the shipping crane used to be; fear settles in his veins. No… he couldn’t be —

“I don’t think he made it out of the water,” he murmurs gravely. He quickly shucks off his belt, sending both his swords clattering to the ground. 

“Nardo, what are you — ” Donnie tries to say.

“Stay here, I’ll be back!”

“Leo, stop!” 

Raph reaches out to grab Leo’s arm but his brother’s already made up his mind. The blue-banded turtle snatches up one of his swords and dives headfirst into the icy water. He takes a second to allow his eyes to adjust to the water and swims down when he sees it. 

Their baby brother’s pinned by a piece of the bright orange shipping crane — and he’s not moving. 

Just floating — as if he was asleep and dreaming. 

Leo swims towards Mikey and shakes him by the shoulders but he doesn’t move. His head barely bobs in the water. He reaches over to touch Mikey's cheek and then turns his attention to the broken-off piece of the crane. He pushes hard on the debris but it doesn’t budge. Leo takes one of his swords and swipes at the metal debris, but it barely makes a scratch. His eyes catch the sight of Mikey’s ankles tangled up in the chain and he quickly frees Mikey’s feet first. The chain falls free and sinks to the bottom.

I am not losing you today, Mikey!

Leo bares his teeth and swims back up towards the metal debris pinning his baby brother. He doesn’t even realize the colored stripes along his body are starting to glow when he swings his sword down at the metal debris, slicing in two. He winces as he shoves away the halved shipping crane, slicing his palm open on the jagged metal, and to his relief, Mikey’s unconscious body slips out from under the debris. Leo grabs hold of Mikey’s waist and starts swimming up towards the surface where he knows Donnie and Raph are waiting for them. Leo breaks the surface first, coughing and hacking. Mikey’s head rolls to the side, falling onto his shoulder. 

“Little help, please!” he calls out. He hauls Mikey towards the docks where Raph pulls Mikey up first and Donnie’s right there to help Leo up. Leo flops onto his shell, panting, and drops an arm over his eyes.  

“Nardo, your arms,” Donnie says.

The blue-banded turtle opens his eyes and glances down at his arms and sure enough, he’s glowing. Like actually glowing. Just like when Raph took that leap of faith. He looks up at his brothers and then back down at Mikey who is still unconscious. Grunting, Leo rolls onto his plastron and crawls over to him, and taps Mikey’s cheek.

“Miguel, don’t be going asleep on us, wake up!” he says. 

“Mikey, Mikey, c’mon man, wake up, wake up!” Raph cries. He shakes Mikey violently by the shoulders but Mikey doesn’t stir. His head rolls to the side and Raph chokes on a sob. He shoves his fist into his mouth to fight off the scream from clawing at his throat. 

Donnie promptly shoves Raph to the side, knocking him back, and leans down to listen for any signs of life. A whisper. A gasp. But there’s nothing. Fear settles in his veins. His eyes widen and he looks over to Leo who’s still coming around from his late-night dive. His markings have stopped glowing but he still looks exhausted. 

“Guys, he’s — he’s not breathing,” Donnie whispers. He touches Mikey’s cheek and flinches. “And he’s getting cold.”

“Shit, nonono,” Leo gasps. He forces himself to maintain composure and assume his responsibility as the medic of the team. He crawls over to Mikey and places his baby brother’s head in his lap. He sniffs, tears stinging his eyes. He nearly lost one brother and he’s not planning on losing another one. 

Eyes wide and panicked, he looks over to Raph who looks like he’s seconds away from a full-blown meltdown. “We gotta start CPR or Mikey’s not gonna make it.”

“This is all my fault!” the oldest turtle cries. He frantically shakes his head and digs his nails into the top of his thighs. “I should’ve paid attention more. I should’ve — ”

“Raph, hey buddy, look I know you blame yourself but this wasn’t your fault. Look, Mikey doesn’t have much time, so we gotta work fast! You’ve got the strongest lungs out of all of us,” Leo says. He grabs hold of Mikey’s face and tilts his head back. “I’m gonna start chest compressions. When I count to 30, breathe twice into his mouth, okay?”

Raph slowly nods, stiffly wiping the tears from his eyes. He gets down on his knees and watches as Leo interlocks his fingers together and begins the chest compressions. He starts the count and with each compression, Mikey still doesn’t stir. When Leo shouts “30! Now Raph!”, the red-banded turtle quickly takes hold of Mikey’s chin, tilts his head back, and blows air into his baby brother’s mouth once, and then twice. He pulls away and Leo returns to the chest compressions. 

“C’mon Mikey, can’t have ya dying on us today, little brother,” Raph says. 

Another round of 30 compressions and Raph’s rescue breaths, but still no signs of life from Mikey. 

Then the third round comes and goes. 

Still nothing.

By the fourth round of chest compressions and Raph’s rescue breaths, Leo feels some kind of vibration under his fingers. He doesn’t stop pressing down onto Mikey’s plastron until he hears the sound of choking. Then he knows for sure that Mikey’s coming too. He lifts off Mikey’s plastron, stumbling back, and watches in relief as the orange-banded turtle’s body convulses, lifting off the ground, and his eyes fly open. He starts coughing, turning his head to the side, and promptly vomits water onto the docks. Mikey’s body gives a final shudder and he blinks slowly, his eyes adjusting to his new surroundings. 

“Miguel, hey, hey, you still with us?” Leo asks. His eyes catch sight of his bloody palm print on his baby brother’s plastron and it makes him sick to his stomach. He swallows back the bile in his throat and lets out a shaky breath.

Mikey moans and coughs. He jerkily nods his head. 

“‘eo?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here, Mikey.” He lays his uninjured palm on Mikey’s cheek and brushes away some sand and other debris from his face. “We’re all here. Welcome back to the land of the living, little bro.”

“On’t ‘all me ‘at,” Mikey slurs, his brow furrowing.

Raph can’t help but let out a laugh.

“How ya feelin’?”

“‘m cold ‘nd ‘ired.”

Raph lowers his head and shakes it. He heaves a sigh of relief. He sniffs and nods, says, “I know, I know. We’re gonna get you someplace safe and warm, okay? Think warm thoughts for us. Like pizza ovens, uhm, bricks imported from Italy. Those sound good?”

Mikey whimpers and shuts his eyes. His body shudders and his shoulders slump. He carefully lifts a hand, as if trying to reach for something, but it falls limp. 

“‘chucks?” 

Raph looks up at Leo, who quickly gets to his feet and starts searching for Mikey’s nunchucks. He digs through some of the wreckage and finds the bright orange nunchucks under some rubble. He grabs them tightly in his uninjured hand and kneels back down beside Mikey and Raph.

“I got ‘em bro, don’t worry. Now, let’s get you someplace safe and warm, okay?” Leo says. He pats Mikey gently on the shoulder. He grabs his belt, slips it back on, and tucks the nunchucks into the safety of his belt. 

Mikey’s small body starts to shiver and curls further into himself. His teeth begin chattering and Donnie lays a hand on his shoulder. Mikey lets out a pained whimper and moans. Donnie’s hand jerks away from how icy cold Mikey’s skin is. He taps away at his gauntlet, pulling up a digital scanner, and runs it over Mikey’s trembling form. Raph carefully takes Mikey into his arms and cradles him to his plastron. 

“His body temperature is 46 degrees and dropping fast. We need to get him home or — ” Donnie doesn’t get the chance to finish before Raph interrupts him.

“Home’s too far and Mikey doesn’t have that kind of time,” the snapping turtle says. He gets to his feet, careful not to jostle Mikey in his arms. Mikey lets out a whimper and presses his face harder into Raph’s plastron, still shaking like a leaf. “Look, April's place is like a couple of blocks from here. Leo, can you call her? Tell her we’re comin'?” 

“Already texted her and she’s getting hold of Pops and Draxum,” Leo says. He pockets his phone into his pouch and gets up from the ground. He grabs onto one of his swords and swings it down. A familiar bluish-white portal opens and he jerks his head towards the portal. “C’mon, mis hermanos, vamanos!” 

Donnie goes in first, then Raph and Mikey, and finally Leo, jumping in last and sealing up the portal behind them. They all tumble out of the other side and find themselves in the alley next to April’s apartment building. And there standing at the backdoor to the building is April and Mayhem. She’s dressed in her pajamas and has her hair in a bright green headwrap. Mayhem is at her feet and whining. She motions for them to follow her inside. 

“C’mon, my parents are gone for a business conference. So, we got the place to ourselves,” she says. She leads them up the stairs to her apartment and shuts the door once they are safe inside her apartment. 

Leo leads Raph and Mikey over to the couch, setting them both down and peeling away Mikey’s water-logged gear. He starts with his brother’s mask, careful not to jostle him too much in Raph’s much larger and warmer body. Then he moves to remove Mikey’s belt and deposits them onto the floor along with his nunchucks. Raph looks down at Mikey and notes that his eyes are half-lidded. His breathing is shallow and shaky, and his skin has lost its usual vibrant color. He taps Mikey on the cheek and his eyes start to slide shut. 

“Mikey, hey, hey, no fallin’ asleep on me, alright?” Raph says. Mikey lets out a mumble and whimpers again. “We gotta keep you awake.” 

“Wanna ‘leep,” Mikey grumbles. 

Leo reaches up and thumps Mikey on the cheek. 

“Yo, no sleeping, dude. You can sleep in a sec,” the blue-banded turtle says.

Mikey grumbles something under his breath, too quiet for any of his brothers to hear. Mayhem lets out a curious purr, bumps Mikey’s wrist, and laps at some of the water dripping onto the carpet. April and Donnie disappear down the hallway and return with several towels and a large comforter in their arms. Donnie walks over to his brothers and starts carefully drying off Mikey. The youngest turtle winces at the sensation of the scratchy towel on his skin and whines. 

“S-stop, h-hurts,” he moans, teeth chattering. 

“I know Michael, I know it hurts but we need to get you dry or your body will go into shock, and we can’t let that happen, okay?” Donnie says. He hands another towel to Leo who gets to work on drying Mikey’s quivering thighs and legs. He looks down at Mikey’s ankles and notices faint bruising around them. He nudges Leo in the shoulder and points to the bruising. Leo catches his brother’s gaze and winces. 

“Chain was wrapped around his ankles, so he couldn’t swim up before the crane pinned him down,” Leo answers. He carefully runs the towel around Mikey’s calf and nearly takes a foot to the plastron when Mikey kicks his foot out in reaction with a pained cry. 

Raph immediately focuses his attention on calming their youngest brother, muttering something only Mikey can hear, and eventually, he calms down and settles. Donnie looks down at Leo’s injured palm and frowns. 

“Leo, you’re bleeding,” he says.

“It’s not that bad,” Leo responds, not even tearing his eyes away from his task. “Let’s just focus on Mikey and then you can worry about me.” 

Donnie hums and continues to dry off Mikey. Once they manage to get Mikey as dry as humanly possible, April is right there with the comforter and waiting. She slowly helps Leo and Donnie bundle Mikey in the fluffy blanket and lay him back down in Raph’s outstretched arms. The snapping turtle carefully shifts his weight on the couch to better accommodate Mikey’s lithe form and props his head to rest on his shoulder. Mikey lets out a yawn and curls closer into Raph’s chest, burying his face into the crook of his neck. 

Donnie bumps Leo in the shoulder and the two rise to their feet. They dump the damp towels in a pile next to Mikey’s gear. Donnie walks into the kitchen to retrieve the first aid kit from under the sink and points to the empty loveseat in April’s living room. Leo looks at the first aid kit and then frowns. 

“Dee, I’m fine.” 

“You cut your hand,” Donnie deadpans. “Now, sit. I need to clean and bandage it or it’ll get infected. And we don’t want that, now do we?”

Leo’s brow furrow. He looks down at his palm and sighs. He knows that Donnie’s right — and he hates the fact that his brother is right. 

“Fine.” 

The blue-banded turtle plops down onto the loveseat and reluctantly holds out his palm. He props his chin on his uninjured hand and huffs. Donnie kneels and pops the first aid kit open. He takes out a fresh roll of gauze and starts to work on cleaning away the blood from Leo’s palm. 

“Hey, did ya get an ETA on Pops and Draxum?” Raph whispers to April, careful not to jostle Mikey. 

“Nope,” she says with a shake of her head. She pats her chest and Mayhem jumps into her waiting arms. Mayhem bumps her chin and purrs. She scratches his chin and asks, “Hey, you guys want some cocoa?”

“It would be good for Mikey for him to drink something and bring up his body temperature,” Donnie says, not even looking up from applying a bandage around Leo’s palm. He pulls on the bandage to tighten it, causing Leo to hiss and shout, “Hey! Not so tight!” He swats away Donnie’s hand and glares at him. 

The purple-clad turtle rolls his eyes and scolds, “Oh quit being such a baby, Leo.”

Leo frowns and tests the bandage now wrapped around his palm. He flexes his fingers and then gets off the loveseat and joins April in the kitchen to make the drinks. Donnie closes the first aid kit and shoves it to the side. He rises to his feet, stretching his arms over his head and cracking his back. He looks over to Raph and Mikey. And to his relief, Mikey is still awake. 

“How do you feel, big guy?” Donnie sighs, walking over to them. He taps his wrist gauntlet and runs a quick scan over Mikey’s comforter-wrapped body. 

“I’m alright,” Raph says with a shrug. He jerks his head towards Donnie’s wrist. “Everythin’ okay?” 

“Well, the good news is that his body temperature is about 3 degrees higher than before. But we’ll need to keep him warm and give him fluids so he can heal faster,” Donnie answers. He lowers his wrist and claps a hand on Raph’s free shoulder. “C’mon, let’s move Mikey to the couch so he can rest up and give you a break.” 

Reluctantly, Raph complies with Donnie’s request. He carefully eases Mikey out of his arms and into Donnie’s, gets off the couch, and then helps his brother lay Mikey back on the couch. Mikey lets out a mumble of some kind before yawning and burying himself further into the comforter. Raph takes a spot on the ground next to the couch, tucking both his knees to his chest. He leans back against the couch and stays put while Donnie wanders into the kitchen to check on Leo and April. 

Donnie crosses the threshold and pauses when he spots Leo leaning over the sink, hands gripping the counter, and April has an arm around his shoulders. His brows furrow. 

“Nardo?” he asks cautiously. 

Leo whirls his head around and hastily wipes his eyes. He clears his throat and wordlessly grabs three mugs of cocoa from the counter and goes back into the living room. Donnie blinks a few times and then looks to April for answers. 

“Leo told me what happened at the docks,” she says quietly. “About the thing that attacked you guys and the explosion?” 

Donnie’s face falls. 

“Oh.” 

“I know you’re not super big into affection but could ya humor a girl and let her give ya a hug?” April asks.

Donnie shuffles on his feet, unsure. Sighing, April makes the first move. She comes up to him and slowly wraps her arms around him. Donnie feels his body stiffen at the contact but eventually he welcomes the hug, looping his arms around April and allows the affection. They stand like that in the kitchen for a minute before Donnie breaks the hug, grabs his favorite purple mug from the counter, and returns to the living room where his brothers are waiting for him. April follows him out with Mayhem trailing behind her. 

“You guys are more than welcome to stay the night tonight,” April offers, sipping her cocoa. “My parents won’t be back till Monday.”

“Thanks, Apes,” Raph smiles. He reaches out and nudges her in the calf. 

Thunk thunk!

A knock sounds at the door. April quickly lays her mug on the coffee table, goes to the door, and opens it, revealing a frantic-looking Splinter and stone-faced Draxum. Splinter pushes his way into the apartment with Draxum at his heels. The rat stops about half-way to the couch to fully take in the scene before him. 

“What happened?” he asks. “Who did this? Why didn’t you boys call me? I was worried!”

“We were ambushed,” Donnie says at first. He takes a sip of his hot cocoa and then places it on the coffee table. He climbs onto the loveseat to sit next to Leo. The blue-banded turtle looks exhausted and his shoulders are sagging. After all, he was the one who took the dive and rescued Mikey from the harbor. 

“Ambushed?” Splinter sputters. “By who?” 

“I think it was more of a what, and not so much of a who,” Leo answers. He rubs his bandaged hand over his face and winces. 

“What do you mean?” Draxum asks. “Was it another mutant?”

“I don’t think so,” Raph supplies for them, meeting Draxum and their father’s gaze. “But it wasn’t human either. Whatever it was, it put up one hell of a fight. Nearly picked us all off one by one. The thing even tossed me into a shipping container.”

“Not to mention our weapons had no effect on it,” Donnie says. “Whatever it was, it was strong.”

“Don’t forget fast too,” Leo muses. “Wore all black, some kind of hooded cloak. Yellow eyes. Couldn’t really make out what was under that hood though.”

“I’ve heard of many creatures that match that description in the Hidden City,” Draxum mutters. “It will be difficult to narrow down what you four encountered but I will see what I can find out.” He pauses with a hum and then mumbles, “You four are lucky to be alive right now.”

Splinter jabs an elbow to Draxum’s ribs and glares at him. He slowly walks up to the couch where Raph and Mike are situated. He lays a paw on Mikey’s cheek, his expression softens and then closes his eyes. 

“And what happened to Michaelangelo?” their father murmurs. “April did not tell us over the phone.”

Leo drops his head onto Donnie’s shoulder and shuts his eyes. Flashes of Mikey being pinned under that shipping crane cross his mind and he flinches. He feels Donnie shift closer to him, pressing their thighs against each other. 

The room falls silent.

Donnie can’t bring himself to speak, and everyone in the room knows that Raph won’t say a word either. He only responds by holding his baby brother closer. So, the responsibility of telling their father what happened tonight falls onto Leo's shoulders. Sighing, the blue-banded turtle swallows, opens his eyes again, and turns his head towards Raph and Mikey.

“Mikey nearly drowned,” Leo says. The calmness in his voice is eerie and shocks them all. “The thing that ambushed us caught him and dropped him into the harbor… there was an explosion and — ”

“You forgot to mention that the explosion was my idea,” Donnie cuts in, his voice sharp as a tact. 

Leo’s jaw clenches. 

“Donnie,” he sighs. 

The purple-banded turtle scoffs, gets up to his feet, and looks over to Mikey who appears to be fast asleep in Raph’s arms. His breath hitches. He’s never noticed it before but now, he can see how small their baby brother truly is. 

And then the cold-hearted reality of the situation sinks into his stomach. 

He was the one who set off that bomb. 

He was the one who nearly got their brother killed. 

It was his fault.

“I did this,” he says. 

Splinter takes his paw off Mikey’s cheek. “Donatello, you could not have known — ” their father tries to say.

“But it is my fault, Dad! I used one of my shell-bomb prototypes and I nearly got our brother killed!” Donnie shouts. There are tears in his eyes and his whole body is trembling with anger and frustration. He chokes on a sob and clutches his head, digging his fingers into his skull. “I should’ve known that he wasn’t out of the water yet! I did this! I DID THIS TO MIKEY!” 

“You didn’t know,” a voice croaks. 

All eyes turn to look and there is Mikey. He’s awake, for the most part. He still looks awful, but the shivers have stopped and his color is slowly starting to return its normal shade of green. His eyes are still dull but there’s a tell-tale sign of a spark hiding somewhere in there. 

“Can ya help me up, Raphie?” he asks. 

“Uh, sure thing, bud.” Raph hesitates a moment before stiffly nodding and getting off the floor. He helps Mikey to his feet and lays a hand on his blanket-covered shell to support him. “You good?”

Mikey nods in response.

“Mikey, you should be resting,” Splinter presses but Mikey ignores him. 

“Dee, you didn’t know,” the maskless-turtle repeats, taking another bold step towards Donnie. He pulls the comforter tighter around his body and flinches. His shoulders droop and his voice cracks. “I’m — I’m just sorry I wasn’t fast enough.”

The living room falls silent. 

“Mikey, I — ” Donnie starts, but then he stops. 

He can’t find the right words to say at the moment. In these kinds of situations, he’s never been the one for emotions; he does have a reputation to keep after all. However, Mikey has always been good with emotions. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, just like Raph. Swallowing, Donnie holds his tongue. 

This was more of a job for Dr. Feelings, not him. But he’ll just have to try. 

Donnie slowly shakes his head and slowly walks up to Mikey. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Michael,” he says. “And I’m — I’m just - I’m just glad you’re okay. And that I — ”

“I know, Dee. You don’t have to say it.”

Donnie feels a weight be lifted from his shoulders. He feels as if he can exhale now. Swallowing, he reaches out to touch Mikey’s shoulder and gingerly pulls him into a hug. Mikey’s body shudders and he clings to Donnie’s battle-shell. Leo shuffles off the loveseat and joins in on the embrace, one arm looping loosely around Donnie’s middle and the other snaking around Mikey’s shell. Then finally, Raph encircles all three of the younger turtles into an embrace and holds them there. And they stand there, just holding one another, unaware of their family looking at them. 

This was just a moment for the four of them.

Minutes tick by and eventually, the embrace ends and Raph helps move Mikey back onto the couch. Raph takes his spot on the ground, spiky shell pressed against the couch. Leo plops down on the opposite end of the couch by Mikey’s feet. But Donnie remains standing, rubbing at his shoulders. 

Smiling, Splinter lays a hand on April’s arm.

“Thank you, April, for taking care of the boys,” Splinter whispers. 

“Our boys,” Draxum interjects.

Splinter sighs and nods in agreement. “Yes, yes, our boys.”

“I’m just glad they’re okay,” April says with a small smile. “Look, I’ve already told the guys they could stay here and rest up until Mikey was okay enough to head home. And that invitation also extends to you two as well.”

“Oooh! Sleepover!” Mikey pipes up, eyes lighting up. 

Despite being an insomniac, Leo yawns and leans further back into the couch. “Count me in,” he responds. “I need to catch up on my beauty sleep anyway.”

“Well, it’s like 2 a.m., so I am not opposed to staying the night,” Donnie says. 

“I second that motion,” Raph mutters, eyelids already drooping. He yawns, stretching an arm over his head and cracks his shoulder. He hums and pushes the coffee table out of his way to make room for his large frame. 

“Sleep well, guys. Holler if ya need anything,” April says. She walks over to Mikey and presses a gentle kiss to the top of his head. She pats him on the head and then disappears down the hall with Mayhem on her heels. 

“Get some rest my boys,” Splinter murmurs. “Draxum and I will be upstairs.” He walks over to each of them to give them all a proper goodnight hug before stopping at Mikey and holding him just a little longer than his brothers. The pair leave the apartment and the boys decide to turn in for the night.

Donnie carefully removes his battle-shell, placing it beside the T.V. He curls back up onto the loveseat, pulling a throw blanket over himself, and buries himself in the soft fabric for the night. He lets out a yawn and shuts his eyes. Not far behind him is Raph. The snapping turtle flops onto his plastron, folding his arms and resting his head on them. Leo tucks his feet under the comforter and leans back, folding his arms over his plastron. He shuts his eyes but isn’t quite ready to fall asleep. Within minutes, both the softshell and snapping turtle are fast asleep… leaving the red-eared slider and box-turtle awake. 

“Hey, Leo?” Mikey whispers. 

Leo cracks open an eye. “Yeah, Miguel?”

“Was anyone else hurt?”

Leo holds up his bandaged palm and then drops it back down on his thigh.

“Cut my hand, but it’s nothing serious. Should heal up in about a week, but at least that means I can skip out on training,” Leo responds with a grin. 

A beat of silence passes between them. Mikey draws the comforter tighter around his body and hums. 

“Promise me you’ll be here when I wake up?” Mikey asks. 

Leo feels the edges of his lips quirk up. He nods and answers with, “Promise.”

The box-turtle’s lips curl up into a smile and his eyes slowly slip shut. Leo follows suit, his eyes slipping shut. He tilts his head back and feels himself drifting. As for Mikey, he opens his eyes a final time to look at his surroundings and smiles to himself. 

He’s safe. His family is safe and they’re going to be okay. 

Mikey glances up at the window and for a split second, he sees something black on the rooftop across from the apartment. Yellow eyes stare at him, piercing his soul and turning the blood in his veins to ice. His heart thuds wildly in his chest and he flinches. Mikey blinks and then the shadow is gone.

“Mikey?” Raph mumbles from below. He lifts a hand and drops it onto his brother’s calf. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just thought I saw something. It’s fine, go back to sleep Raphie,” Mikey whispers. 

Shakily, the young turtle sinks further into the couch. He shuts his eyes, and wills himself to sleep, unaware of the dark presence watching him and his brothers. But he can certainly feel their cold eyes on him — even through the window. 

Oh, this was certainly not the last time they’d see this shadow-person.