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The first thing Mikey registered was a dull pain across his chest. The moment he focused on it, it suddenly sharpened into something much more present. Mikey gasped in pain–
Well, he certainly tried to gasp.
His chest didn’t move. It tried to expand within a relentless iron grip that kept his plastron exactly where it was.
Only a trickle of air made it down his throat.
He tried to pry his eyes open, but nothing happened. It was so dark. So impossibly dark. He couldn’t open his eyes, couldn’t use his lungs.
Mikey couldn’t even wiggle his toes. At least, he was pretty sure he couldn’t wiggle his toes. He couldn’t exactly feel them. Same with his fingers. Or cheeks. In fact, the only parts of his limbs that he could feel were stinging with icy needles.
Mikey’s head throbbed. He didn’t know what was up or down, right or left, but either way it was wrong and it made Mikey’s head spin.
What… had happened? Where was he? Why was everything so wrong?
Darkness pressed in. This wasn’t the good kind, like when he retracted into his shell to block out the world, or the dimness of the woods stargazing with his brothers and Todd. This was darkness that wanted to swallow him alive. It was an empty, powerless Lair void of brothers. It was the shadows that snapped at his ankles in unfamiliar sewers. It was the eternal darkness of a grave.
No light, no air. Was he dead? No, he couldn’t be. It wouldn’t hurt so much if he was dead.
And yet–
Suffocating, immobile, wracked with ever-growing pain that clashed directly with spiking chills, Mikey got the sudden impression that he was in a coffin.
At that terrifying thought, he tried to flail his arms and legs. He might as well have been encased in frozen concrete for all the good it did. Sealed inside of stone forever.
Mikey’s shallow breathing quickened. His head spun and his plastron creaked. Any attempt to breathe was engulfed into the frozen darkness that encased him, keeping his lungs deflated.
Couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, cold cold cold cold– panic and despair washed over Mikey, seeping into him more thoroughly than the temperature had.
He was going to die.
If he was still alive in the first place.
Muffled, impossibly distant voices faded in and out along with all of the sensations surrounding Mikey. With no eyes to see, he didn’t know if he was losing consciousness or just losing feeling. He hoped it was the consciousness thing. Everything felt so awful that falling asleep sounded really good.
No Mikey! You . . . awake . . . we . . get to you!
It was too cold to think. Mikey’s stomach hurt. His whole chest hurt. He wished everything had gone numb and not .. . . . . . . He was going to throw up. . He . .would be shivering if there was any space to . Instead, frigid pressure squeezed against every inch of his body . . . from . everywhere .
. . . . . Voices . … . bouncing around his dizzy brain blurred together. Maybe they got too big for his brain and . that’s why he could hear them so very far . away, . . somewhere … . . . above him. . Below him?
Scraping, . digging, and . . . voices continued. It was in his head and in the ground. .. . . Ground. . . . . Buried alive. . . . Left to die . . . . So so so cold.
“…him! .. . .that’s . . . . boot!”
Movement.
Something had latched onto . Mikey’s foot. His boot. Snowboots. Why was he wearing snowboots again?
He couldn’t feel the foot, but he could feel around it. And there was a hand.
More scraping. . More voices. . Familiar. Voices. Questions. . …… Desperate . words . . Digging . noises like the static . . in his head . Pounding like the noise in his head. Pounding like his . heart .
Mikey’s feet could move. They could wiggle . .. . a tiny bit .
The more of him that was uncovered . the more Mikey . . . felt freed.
The next voice was one that filtered through both his ears and mind, dripping with blue desperation. “Mikey, if you can hear us, do something! We’re digging as fast as we can, we just need you to hold on. Okay? Hold on, Mikey! Focus!”
An image shot through Mikey’s mind like an arrow. Almost like a splitscreen, half of everything was as hopelessly black as it always had been, but the other was almost pure white. Snow. A shock of colors. A tiny bit of orange sticking out of the white. Purple and Red flickers digging in time with the scraping of all that was above him.
Mikey flailed his throbbing feet. The orange boot twitched.
The vision blinked away, plunging him back into nothingness. Understanding did not comfort Mikey in the slightest. Everything felt so much tighter and even more frigid now, somehow.
From what he’d seen in the mind meld, and the pounding, frizzy head and the . . dizziness, he was almost entirely upside down. Face down, upside down.
The voices became clearer, but he understood less and less. Darkness was giving way to the slightest of dawns, but Mikey still couldn’t breathe
Lights popped in the darkness, but it was Mikey’s . own mind . Gray light . . like the stone he was so certain . . . . . . . he’d been encased in .
Cold wind hit the back of his shell. Mikey gasped. Doing so, he inhaled partially-melted snow that his meager breath had softened. He tried to cough.
He tried to cough.
He tried to cough.
He tried to breathe.
Nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing NOTHING HAPPENED.
All semblance of light that had managed to shine through to him melted away. Darkness closed in on him once more. The words . . meaningless names . . . . . … commands . crying out . . faded too. . Plunging him back into
completely . hopeless,
. icy
isolation . .
Light burst into being.
Cold, crisp, sharp, glorious air hit his face.
The air practically slit his throat on the way to his lungs, but it didn’t matter. Mikey’s chest expanded just barely enough to hold a tiny bit of the incredible air inside of it.
In the smallest bit… in in
And out just enough
In…
Out…
In…
Out…
It took Mikey just a little too long to realize there was a voice guiding him through the breaths. There was still the static of snow sliding over snow moving around him. The weight on top of him shifted just enough to be felt through numbed limbs.
Mikey tried to open his stinging eyes, but nothing happened. His heavy eyelids only managed to flutter a little bit. There was snow caught between his mask and skin, bunched up in his eyelids. Too heavy to see.
Only a sliver of light made it though.
Sunlight bounced off of snow directly through his slitted eyes into the back of Mikey’s brain. He squeezed his eyes tight again. He hadn’t realized the beloved light would hurt so much. It made the pounding in his head so much worse.
The same voice that had been helping him breathe was speaking more sternly now. Telling him to breathe, to stay awake, to stay calm.
Mikey was still mostly upside down. A tunnel had been dug to expose his face, but he remained trapped.
Even more harsh light shone on Mikey’s face. He made a pained noise in the back of his tight throat. It took him a few minutes to realize that the pressure around every inch of him was gone.
Several pairs of hands were dragging him, lifting him, extracting him from his cold casket. He could hardly feel them through the numbness that coated his entire body, but he was grateful for them beyond words.
“ . . . y! .. . . . . ikey!”
Woolen hands grasped his cheeks, holding his head up– had it been tipping forward? There was powdery snow stuck to the wet wool gloves. It would have been cold if his face could feel anything.
“Mikey!”
The gloves were gone, replaced with chilly fingers that brushed the snow off of his eyes.
Mikey let his eyes slide open. Blue, green, red. White. So much white everywhere.
He tried to say his brother’s name, but doing that required breath. If he was free, then surely there would be no problem getting air now. Mikey parted lips like heavy and unfeeling pebbles.
He gasped.
Flattened lungs expanded!–
Pain suddenly slammed into him, no longer distant and detached. Frigid and piercing, like an icicle directly to the chest. Agony exploded through his abdomen.
Beautiful breath tangled and poisoned inside of him, strangling Mikey from the inside out.
He coughed. A weak, feeble effort.
He coughed again. It did nothing.
The hands on his face moved to his shoulders, and suddenly Mikey was propped up in an attempt at better airflow and oh no no no no he was so dizzy–
Coughing overtook him.
Hacking, wheezing, gasping the barbed wire air in– Coughing, spluttering, choking the razor air out. Wracking through him again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again again again again again again again again again again again again agai–
Something popped. He felt his ribcage shift.
Mikey’s next cough was wet and warm.
Red droplets splattered against the snow.
“MIKEY!”
With each dizzying, exhausting, agonizing cough, his chest only hurt more. With each horrible heaving attempt at breathing, blood continued to stain the snow, glittering like rubies fallen from a thief’s limp fingers.
Hands were moving all over him. Panicked voices roared around him, but they were soon swallowed by the hushed silence of snow.
Coughing, coughing, coughing, coughing until he couldn’t breathe all over again.
Mikey gagged–
“Uh oh, stand back!”
With a retch and heave, blood was no longer the only thing splattered across the snow.
Mikey couldn’t tell if this bright and shaking hell was worse than the dark immobile one. He couldn’t breathe in either one. Was still and silent death worse than actively dying from porcupines in his chest? He couldn’t think, couldn’t feel anything other than agony–
Cloth wiped his chin and lips. Hands were back on his cheeks. A forehead pressed against his. Splitscreen emotions of his own panic and someone else’s protective desperation.
Come on, let me in, Mikey. Let me mind meld. I’m trying to help you breathe, okay? We need to get you out of here, but we can’t move you like this. Do you understand?
Mikey let out a sobbing, ragged cough.
I know, bud, I know. You’ve been so brave. We need you to keep being brave for just a little longer.
Something settled in Mikey’s chest.
Feel that?
He did.
That’s our mind meld, and it’s helping you breathe. I’m breathing for you, just a little bit. Can you do it with me? Like that! Yes, exactly like that! You got this, Mikey! Keep doing it, okay? Keeeep doing that exactly. Yes, yes! Soft, slow, kinda shallow. I know you’re trying to catch your breath, but if you breathe too deeply you’re going to have another coughing fit. So keep it kind of shallow– there you go! You’re so great at this, bro.
Mikey’s eyes slid open. Everything was still too piercingly white, but he focused on the vivid colors in front of his face.
“Hey, Mike.” Leo’s voice was hoarse and his smile was strained.
Mikey wanted to throw his arms around Leo and never ever let go. But his limbs were too heavy. Instead, Mikey pitched forward to faceplant into his brother’s powder-covered coat.
Leo squeezed him in a hug.
Ow.
Now that Mikey’s breathing was less of a problem (his chest and now his throat and head still hurt, but he was no longer suffocating on himself), the bite of endless chill settled across Mikey. At last, he shivered.
Much too soon, Leo relinquished him. He was talking to Donnie and Raph over the top of Mikey’s head, but Mikey couldn’t make the words make sense again.
Mikey was pulled away from Leo as Raph tenderly scooped Mikey into his arms. The movement made him want to throw up again, but he managed to keep it down this time. Once settled, Mikey wanted to nuzzle against Raph’s soft coat, but it was soggy and unpleasant with melting snowflakes.
“Sorry Raph’s not warmer,” his oldest brother rumbled. “The snow’s from diggin’ you out. We’ll get you some new warm and dry clothes soon, okay?” As he spoke, Raph peeled Mikey’s soaked mask off of his face. Huh. He hadn’t realized how much the frozen fabric had added to his frigid experience. But now cold air was hitting his face directly. Mikey was simply doomed to be miserable.
Gentle rocking told Mikey they were moving. It did not help the wobbly world.
A blob that had to have been Donnie pulled a purple beanie over Mikey’s head. “Turning blue is Leo’s thing,” he said in a tight voice. “So stop it.”
“Ssssrrry,” Mikey slurred. He coughed with no real air behind it.
“That’s not a good sign,” Leo said. “Raph, keep him awake!”
It didn’t work. It didn’t matter how much anyone talked at him because exhaustion, cold, and the resounding pain kept dragging him down down down down . . down .. . . . . … . down . .
“…saw a cabin when we were trying to locate Mikey. It’s just down the mountain so we…”
He was so tired.
Every time Mikey closed his eyes, he half-dreamed that he was trapped in icy darkness again. He couldn’t breathe. Just when he thought he’d suffocate entirely, he jolted awake with a gasp. It always triggered more coughing. But at least he knew he was free. Still freezing, but free.
. As he tried to stay awake, Mikey . . focused on the crunching of snow beneath them, the huffing of . Raph’s chest, . . . . and the sound of wind whipping through . the trees . . . . .
. .
.
Dark branches blurred above him . Raph’s most concerned face with extra Raph Chasm peered down at him. . Leo’s hands on . his face . .. . Cold. . . . .
“Mikey!”
He was . .
. . so
. . .. tired . .
. … .
. . and cold
“I’m sorry,” he tried to say as he slid into sleep again, but his brain was too frozen to form words anymore.
Wheezing.
That was the first thing Mikey noticed.
Uneven, obnoxious wheezing coming from somewhere close by.
Mikey tried to pry his eyes open to see what was making the sound, but they felt too heavy. The rest of his body felt kinda light, though.
Not… cold. But not warm. And not even there, really. Mikey simply knew that he had a body. That he may or may not have been connected to.
That wheezing was louder now. Much more annoying. He wanted it to stop.
It did!
Immediately, a pressure began to build up in his chest. A familiar, terrifying pressure–
“Aaand again. Okay, Miguel.”
Hand on his chest, another cradling his head–
The pressure was gone, and the wheezing returned.
Mikey coughed weakly. The action exacerbated the ache throughout his entire body. More wheezing. Slightly gurgly this time.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to stop breathing on purpose,” Leo huffed.
Finally recognizing his brother’s voice, Mikey managed to lift his eyelids. Ow. Bright. A blurry bathroom came into focus. Ohhh that’s why he was floaty. Mikey was almost completely submerged in the tub.
His shivering it sent tiny ripples across the water. Huh.
“It may feel cold, but it’s still technically warmer than you are, hermano. We couldn’t use warm water. You would have gone into shock. Well, more shock than you were in before, I guess. Yeahhh your eyes are open, but I’m still talking to myself, aren’t I?”
Mikey’s teeth chattered. It made it harder to hear the wheezing, at least.
“Yyyep, I figured. You know, Donnie said this works for turtles, but I’m worried about the human symptoms of hypothermia too. Putting you in water might have been a really bad idea.”
Don’t tell Donnie that. Mikey’s mind was glacial, but at least it formed thoughts now. His blinks were getting longer. Lethargic. Soft light filtered through his eyelids, so at least he wasn’t back in horrible horrible darkness.
Leo sighed. Mikey was immediately jealous at such a flippant use of air.
“I’m scared, Mike. When we lost you in that avalanche– You were buried for a while. You definitely have hypothermia and frostbite. You also have at least one broken rib and I’m really worried what internal damage it’s causing. Concussion, oxygen deprivation, hypothermia, none of this is good! And I don’t–” Leo made a pained noise in the back of his throat, “I’m not– I’m not even close to being an expert on this stuff. Brumation, yes. But this… whatever this is… I don’t know how to handle this.”
Real comforting stuff to hear while under your medical care. Why were Mikey’s thoughts so mean?
Leo’s voice continued on, echoing softly around the bathroom like ripples across tub water. Mikey only latched onto bits and pieces.
“…should move him out of the water. I’m seeing signs of more hypothermia than brumation. Time to pivot.”
Voices bouncing across tile–
“…trying, okay?! Excuse me for not thinking super clearly when our baby brother is actively freezing to death!”
He was? That sounded terrible. Whoever that was needed help. Freezing sounded so awful. It was awful. Mikey would know.
“…actually going to work?”
“…I hope so.”
Blankets.
Liquid burning his tongue.
“…heartbeat… too slow and weak…”
“…lose him?”
“NO!”
Arms around him.
Shivering again.
Sharp, jabbing pain.
Little pins and needles jabbing at the inside of his skin. His hands and feet were filled with a special kind of agony.
Mikey’s eyes cracked open to see what was causing such intense discomfort.
The first thing he saw was a blurry Donnie rubbing Mikey’s hands between his. Even through the haze, Donnie’s face was tight with concern. The second thing Mikey saw was a shadowy wooden ceiling; he was inside. But he wasn’t in the tub anymore.
So why was he still so cold?
Mikey’s head lolled forward to see why his toes hurt so much. Leo was there, rubbing his feet the same way Donnie was rubbing his hands. Leo said something about bloodflow, friction, and frostbite. Huh… usually it was Donnie who spoke confusing words, but Mikey couldn’t make heads or tails of any of Leo’s lingo.
He let out the weakest cough yet. It still made everything inside of him hurt.
Donnie paused to squeeze Mikey’s hands. “It’s okay, Michael.” His voice was so quiet. “We’ve got you. Nothing is going to take you from us again. Not the avalanche, not brumation, not hypothermia, not frostbite, nothing. Go that?”
Well at least something was right again because Donnie was the one saying the confusing words. Everything was still nothing, but nothing was nothing nothing cold. Haha, now Mikey wasn’t making sense! Hahahahhahhhha! Hahahhhhhhhahhhhh! Hhhhhhh, hhhh…
“Is he… laughing?” Leo asked with concern written all over his face.
“I think his lungs are spasming,” Donnie said softly. His eyes widened. “Leo! Leo, I think his lungs–”
Leo was already on his feet. “Yeah, I heard you! Mikey!”
“Hhhhhhhh…” This was worse than wheezing. Worse than shivering. He was making a high keening sound. His chest hurt, collapsing like the snow had tumbled down the mountain to rise up up up up in a billowing tide over his head to swallow him whole.
The memory of it hit him almost as hard, and as it caused him to panic his attempts at breathing became faster and shallower.
And then Leo’s arms were around him and something opened up in his chest as Leo’s mind melded with his. It’s okay, Mikey… it’s okay. Take it slow.
Another body pressed close to his and purple joined the mix. If you could stop scaring us, that would be fantastic.
Mikey managed to focus enough to project a single thought to them. Sorry.
For some reason, that flooded the mind meld with a mess of complicated emotions. Most of them were sad and uncomfortable. He shrank away.
“No no no, stay with us, Mikey!” Leo spoke out loud that time, squeezing Mikey’s shoulders. Donnie rubbed Mikey’s hand again; he could barely feel it.
“Hhhhh…” The wheezing had returned. For some reason, relief swirled around their mind meld. That didn’t make any sense. The wheezing wasn’t good. Right?
It means you’re finally taking in and expelling oxygen, so it is good, actually.
Ah, that was Donnie.
Mikey’s eyes opened again and he watched the ceiling slide in and out of focus. The wooden beams were kind of dusty. There was a spiderweb between two of them. In his peripheral he saw antlers on the wall. Whose cabin was this?
Raph’s muffled voice rumbled from nearby. Mikey tried to lift his heavy head. He wanted to see him!
Luckily, he didn’t have to battle gravity because Raph’s head popped into his line of sight. Ugh. His face was pinched in that way it always was when he wanted to treat Mikey like a child.
“Hey, big man… How ya feelin’?”
“Please don’t try to talk, Mikey. We just got your airflow regulated again. Focus on breathing, not talking right now, okay?”
That was fine with Mikey. He wasn’t sure he could have formed his numb lips into words anyway.
Donnie turned back to Raph. “Not great. Leo says he’s still too cold.”
“There’s no thermometer to check with, but I think he is getting warmer,” Leo said. His voice was strained. He rested a blissfully warm hand on Mikey’s forehead, then moved it to his cheeks. “Donnie and I got his fingers and toes to a semi-normal color, so that’s… something.”
Leo was warm. So warm. Mikey nuzzled into the touch. He closed his eyes. The darkness made his stomach drop, but there was warmish light bleeding through his eyelids. That was good. That was safe. It meant he wasn’t buried in the snow again.
But if he wasn’t buried… why was he still . so cold ?
He couldn’t move.
His limbs were stuck to his sides. He was trapped, alone, terrified in an airtight icy tomb.
Except he wasn’t alone. Someone was talking nearby. Maybe they could help him! Free him!
“I mean I could portal him home but it’s pretty far. I’d have to break it up into a few jumps and I don’t want Mikey exposed to the storm. Besides, there’s nothing at home that would magically make Mikey feel better.”
“But Dad’s at home,” Raph said. It was only then that Mikey realized he was being held. “Dad kept us alive through a bunch of winters, maybe he could help.”
He could feel the vibrations from his cheek smushed against Raph’s plastron. He tried to move his limbs again. He wasn’t trapped, he was just swaddled! With lots and lots and lots of blankets, based on how heavy they were. Not comfy blankets either. They were kind of scratchy and kind of dusty and smelled kind of funny. But they were warm.
“Dad also taught me everything he knows. Really the only difference between our methods at this point is that he’s warm-blooded.”
“Warm blood would be pretty nice,” Donnie muttered. He was also close by.
“Yeah, well, I’ll let Draxum know that next time Mikey throws a dinnerparty.”
At the sound of his name, Mikey shifted and made a noise. It would have been soooo easy to go back to sleep now that he was finally cozy, but he opened his eyes anyway.
“He’s awake,” Raph said. Unhelpfully.
Mikey slowly looked around. He was indeed wrapped in an excessive amount of blankets and being held by Raph. They were on the floor, leaning against an unfamiliar couch. Donnie was perched on the couch and squeezing a pillow. Leo leaned against a far wall with his arms crossed, but stumbled over the moment Mikey’s eyes landed on him.
“Where… are we?” Mikey asked. His throat was scratchy. He coughed. Everyone froze. Mikey coughed again and his chest ached. His head spun with each additional cough. It felt like forever, but eventually the coughing died down. Mikey was left sore, panting, and dizzy. He groaned as he leaned his head back against Raph.
“You feelin’ okay? Don’t talk, just nod or shake your head.”
Mikey nodded. His eyes found Leo again. Leo stood in the center of the room, watching Mikey with a helpless expression. He lurched and closed the distance between them.
Kneeling next to them, Leo reached up to straighten Mikey’s beanie. Huh. He hadn’t even noticed he’d been wearing one.
Donnie remembered that Mikey had asked a question. “We’re in a cabin. We’re, ahem, borrowing it.”
Mikey raised his head to look at Raph with wide, disbelieving eyes. Raph huffed. “Yes, Mikey. Raph approved of breakin’ and enterin’ into a random cabin in the woods. Get over it.”
Mikey tried to smile, even though his face was sore. From the twinkle in Raph’s eye, he got the message.
“I mean with that pathetic security system the owners of this place are practically begging to be robbed. Not that we’re robbing them!” Donnie said quickly. “In fact, it’s a good thing that we were the ones to break in because we are noble heroes who definitely won’t rob them.”
Mikey made a noise that was kind of a chuckle, but mostly a cough.
Leo squished Mikey’s cheeks between his hands. “Good news bros, Mikey is almost warm again.” Donnie and Raph both exhaled in relief. Mikey scowled at them for casually showing off their fully operational lungs.
Up close, Mikey could see that Leo’s eyes were bloodshot and his jaw was tight. He looked exhausted.
“You look terrible,” Mikey croaked.
Leo’s smile was more of a grimace. “You too.”
“Well I don’t,” Donnie said. “It’s been, what, fifteen stressful hours of trying to keep Mikey from freezing to death? But look at me, I’m still going strong.”
“Lay down and prove it,” Raph said.
“...No.”
Mikey chose that moment to yawn. His jaw popped and his ribs protested at the deep breath, but he couldn’t help it.
“T-t-traitor!” Donnie said through his responding yawn.
“Well it’s good to see that he’s still our Mikey.” Leo’s smile was small, but it was real. “We might be here for a bit while you get your strength back. Don’t worry, there’s food and water and basic necessities to last us. In the meantime,” Leo poked his cheek, “you should get some more rest.”
“You look like you need it more,” Mikey said. He lapsed into another coughing fit.
“I’ll sleep when you do, hermano, and no sooner.”
“Guess I’d better get to it, then.” Mikey flopped his head back against Raph. “D’you wanna move to the couch?”
“Nah, it’s too small for Raph. But he can move you if you’d be more comfy there.”
Mikey snuggled closer. “I’m good.” Raph held him tighter.
Leo gently kissed Mikey’s forehead. “Yep, temperature is rising. You’re amazingly strong, Mikey. Thanks for pulling through.”
“I had a great doctor.”
“You really, really didn’t,” Leo winced.
“Two really’s!” Donnie’s head snapped up. “I was not dozing off!”
“Riiiight…” Leo rolled his eyes. He stretched and stifled a yawn of his own. “Go to sleep, fam. Wake us if you feel even a little bit cold, okay Mikey?”
“I will.”
Bundled in love and surrounded by the warmth of his family, Mikey drifted back to sleep.