Dagger From the Mirror (ROTTMNT/TMNT 2012 Crossover Fic)

Regrets and Consequences

Why did it have to be Dimension X?

That was Leonardo's biggest thought as he walked across the crystalized pink floating island. Of all the places for his little brother to run off to, this was by far the worst. Why couldn't he have just been normal and run away to stay at April's house for the night? Or even have run off to play vigilante alone for a bit? That would be dangerous and Leo would have hated it, obviously, but it was still nothing in comparison to the danger that Mikey was willingly putting himself and his younger counterpart into by traveling to an entirely new dimension alone, and the fact that it happened to be the Kraang's home dimension didn't make it any better. Michelangelo knew that the Kraang were after both of them and he'd seen firsthand the consequences of what would happen if they did manage to take them, so why would he chance that? Was this mission to prove himself really worth that risk?

Leonardo just didn't understand. Surely, being sidelined for just a single mission wasn't that bad. The Mikeys had to be overreacting; that was all.

Right?

"You good there, chief?"

Leo blinked, pulled away from his thoughts by his brother Raphael's voice. He looked at him strangely, and Leo realized he must have zoned out sometime in the last couple of minutes, distracted by his own thoughts. He groaned and pressed a hand to his forehead.

"I'm good," He promised, "Just got distracted by my thoughts there for a second."

Raph hummed in acknowledgment. "About the Mikeys?"

"About the Mikeys," Leo replied softly. Raphael frowned, and Leo could feel his scrutinizing gaze on him, peering right into his soul, and Leo wanted nothing more than to change the conversation right then and there. Raph had always been good at reading him, and Leo knew that he couldn't hide anything from his brothers for very long (nothing of this magnitude, anyway). Raphael sighed, stopped, and leaned against one of the larger rocks. Donnie and New Raph had stopped to talk, so he figured he had the chance to do the same. Leo didn't object.

"We're gonna find them, Leo," Raph said. "They couldn't have gone too far. 'sides, they're smart enough to keep themselves from getting captured but also dumb enough to get in enough trouble and have to run back to us. That's the perfect combo needed to get them back, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. We're going to find them."

"That wasn't what I was talking about," Leo said, shaking his head. Raphael frowned.

"Well, what were you thinking about?"

Leo hesitated, trying to figure out how to articulate his thoughts that even he didn't understand. While he was worried they'd never find the Mikeys, that hadn't been what he was thinking about. That honor would go to what caused the Mikeys to run off.

Namely, him.

"Do you think it was our fault?" Leo asked, turning to face Raphael. "That they ran off. It was because we had to sideline them. So do you think that-"

"It ain't our fault Mikey goofs off," Raphael interrupted. "Running off like this just proves that."

Leo hesitated, a thousand worries and thoughts running through his mind all at once. Yes, Mikey goofed off and yes, he messed up plenty... but didn't they all? Raph had put them in just as much danger by his impulsive anger, as had Donnie with some of his more risky inventions—hell, even Leo made some mistakes that had nearly cost them all their lives. He tried his hardest to keep his brothers out of danger, but he knew as well as the rest of them that his trust in Karai and his tendency to run off on his own had hurt his brothers time and time again. Why was he treating Mikey so differently for his failures?