Chosen Family (Rottmnt)

Is it really him?

(Mikey's Pov)

Me and my brothers were just sitting at Run of the Mill Pizza, eating and talking like usual. More specifically we were talking about the moon rover we stole from that bug man a couple months ago. Raph was kind of upset we stole it, but it was cool to ride around in! Especially with all the weapons! But I noticed Leo was just looking down at his pizza, not talking much.

"Hey Leo? Are you alright?" I asked, nudging his shoulder. "You're barely touching your pizza!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine..." He muttered, snapping out of his little trance. "Just thinking..."

"That's dangerous." I joked, laughing a bit trying to lighten the mood. But it didn't seem to work, he was still frowning.

"What're you thinkin about?" Raph asked, leaning on the table.

"Just... yknow... Donnie..." Leo muttered, sighing and crossing his arms. The mood of our table dropped. "I just- I thought by becoming ninjas we would be able to find and save him... but we haven't seen any trace of him! He's just... gone..."

I sighed and pat the back of his shell. "Leo, we don't know he's gone for sure. But we shouldn't keep chasing false hope. For all we know he's happy somewhere else, with a new loving family. Let's just imagine that!"

"He has a point." Raph nodded, putting his pizza down to talk. "We all want to find him, Leo. But we might have to admit... he isn't coming home-"

Raph was interrupted when we heard Senor Hueso go to greet a guest. He was laughing loudly and smiling, but we could barely see the customer through the crowd. All I could make out was a tattered purple hoodie. Well, until Hueso went to seat them, with them removing the hoodie and tying it around their waist. The table wasn't too far from ours, so I took that time to observe them. They were green, with some purple marks on their arms and a scar across their snout. Their torso was covered mostly by the tank top, and had black baggy pants that had way too many pockets. I noticed under the tank top they had a shell though, but the back of it was covered in some sort of purple shield or something. Like a fake shell. They had bronze goggles that had blue and red lenses, but it looked like they could be swapped. Like those tools optometrists use. But what stood out to me was an old purple bandana on their head.

Could it-? Nah, that timing would be too convenient- I thought to myself, shaking my head and going back to my food. But my doubts left when I heard Hueso talking to them.

"It's nice to see you back here Donatello!" The skeleton greeted, smiling widely. "Is it just you this time?"

"Nah, my dad is coming soon. He just has last-minute work to do." The other turtle responded, smiling widely. "But for now could I just get some flavourless juice?"

"Of course! It'll be out soon." Hueso wrote that down on a notepad and left after that.

The three of us were silent for a minute, all eyes on the turtle.

"Is it really him..?" Raph asked quietly, looking in disbelief.

"It is... it really is..." Leo responded, starting to smile. "IT REALLY IS-!"

I quickly slapped my hand over his mouth, stopping him mid-shout. "Leo! We don't want to scare him away!" I scolded, looking back over. Donnie was looking at us wide eyed. We all averted our gazes.

We all started whispering to each other, both excited and scared. He's HERE. Our brother, who has been missing for years, is HERE. But who knows if he remembers us?! What if whoever took him made him evil?! WHAT IF-

We were interrupted by someone clearing their throat. We turned and saw Senor Hueso glaring at us. "Turtles, why pray tell are you staring at and whispering about one of my customers?"

"Hueso, buddy, remember when we told you about our missing brother..? That got kidnapped...?" Leo asked awkwardly, sweating a bit.

"No. I thought it was only you three." He gave us a pitying look, frown worsening. "When did this happen?"

"When we were kids- But uh, we think your customer over there is him!" Raph explained, pointing to the purple-clad turtle. Or where he was. "Wait- where did he-?!"

"He got a call from his father, who needed his help back home." The skeleton said, pointing a thumb to the entrance of the restaurant.

"Wait- He has another dad?!" I yelled, freaking out a bit. "What if they brainwashed him?! What if he can't remember us?! WHAT IF HE-"

"Michaelangelo, RELAX!" Hueso hit my head, effectively shutting me up. "I know both him and his father well. Apparently he was found rummaging around in a junkyard, so his now-father took him in. Most likely, with the theory he was kidnapped, the captors found him useless and left him somewhere, or perhaps he escaped, but he couldn't find his way home."

"Uh- speaking of home, do you know where he lives so we can find him..?" Leo asked hesitantly, a desperate expression strewn across his face.

"Unfortunately not, but I will inform you if I ever learn." Hueso offered, giving us a comforting smile.

"Thanks Senor, we'll see you later..." I said, paying him for the food and walking out with my brothers.

We hopped from rooftop to rooftop in silence, frowns on all our faces. I can't believe he's been in the city the whole time, probably right under our noses! I thought in disbelief, pausing the journey and looking down off the building we were on. I just sat on the edge, kicking my feet and sighing. I soon heard Leo and Raph join beside me.

"I can't believe he's been here this whole time..." Raph muttered, looking up at the sky.

"Yeah. Maybe we should tell pops, he'll be so happy!" Leo said, a small smile growing. But he then pointed something out on the streets below. A purple hooded figure.