Double mutant Mikey (2012 AU)

Chapter 10 - Almost well done

A few days after Michelangelo was partially healed, the guys were still trying to realize just how much did his condition improved, physically, he was a lot better, his green skin was already showing signs of almost a full recovery if it wasn't for the large chuncks of his skin that were still covered by bright white scales, his eating habits began coming back, he was eating more food than before, perhaps his insides were going back to normal and so were his previous body functions like his appetite and taste for food, it felt like he was acting more like his old self, Mikey started to gain more control over his form, not shape-shifting as much as before, but he still struggles with keeping his height in check,

There are times when he shrinks a bit without even realizing it, it kind of became normal for his brothers to just be walking around the Lair normally and suddenly walking pass a child-sized Michelangelo, or walking into Mikey's room and suddenly see a giant snuggling in it's bed, probably with his limbs hanging off of it and laying on the floor since they barelly fit in the tiny bed, it takes a while for Mikey to realize he became smaller or bigger, specially if no one's around to tell him or for him to use as measurements for his own size, but he usually realizes it as as soon as he hits his head on the ceiling or when he has a hard time reaching doorknobs or cabinets that are usually within his reach, it never gets old to see him just confusely looking around while trying to understand what's wrong, the others try not to laugh to not make him feel bad about it, but sometimes they just can't help themselves.

Mikey's senses have been getting better, the eye sight in his blue eye had been fully recovered, just a little bit of myopia but nothing serious or concerning, there was no lasting damage in his eyeball so there was nothing to really worry about, as for his pink eye, it's mostly blind still, the sight on that eye it's designed for Dimension X, so it's basically useless back on Earth, thankfully, the eyeball is also not injured in any way, his skin has got more sensible, maybe a bit more than he'd like to, the scales are still as hard and nerveless as before, but his skin gained a bit more sense of touch, he can feel things better, but the green chunks of his skin also grew more fragile and a bit thin, so he became more prone to get bruises and cuts from what before would have been harmless bumps, he has to be cautious about where he walks to avoid getting hurt.

Mikey's hearing also got less intense, he can't hear as well as he did before the mutation though, he had a minor hearing loss during his second mutation, but now it seemed to have gotten worse, it comes and goes out of the blue, sometimes, he's hearing everything just fine, and in other times, it's hard for him to hear at all, it bothers him very much, he can't watch movies properly anymore, as if the blurry vision wasn't enough to tease him, now his ears can just suddenly muffle any sound and make it almost impossible to make out what it's going on, it's very inconvenient for everyone really, Donnie found himself using sign language even more often than before in order to communicate with Mikey and that makes Michelangelo feel horrible and guilty.

He feels like he did things worse for himself and everyone around him, now that he had the time to stop and think things through, he realized he could have saved April in a less reckless way, maybe pushing or pulling her away from that experimental medicine instead of jumping on top of her like a heavy blanket, if he had just done things right, his family wouldn't have to be dealing with another failed mutation of his, they weren't even fully used with his previous form and needs, now they'll have to try all over again and possibly get irritated by it, Mikey feels like he's been an inconvenience for his family, his mistakes are not hurting himself but it's hurting other people too, people he cares about, he would gladly feel all sorts of pain and suffering imaginable if it meant his family and friends would be ok, as long as they're happy and unharmed, he's satisfied, but things are not as easy as that, but he wished they were.

Mikey remembers experiencing death before, near death experiences too, they were like a spectrum between "long" and "painful", it was hell, Mikey remembers them almost vividly, the memories still sit in his mind and torment him anytime he's down, his animalistic state was not only induced by the mutation, but it was also a cooping mechanism made to sooth the pain he had repressed for so long, his wild mind felt the lingering trauma in it's mind and tried to shake it off by making the brain less rational and emotive, it seemed to work, Mikey was too distracted by his blank mind and impulsive instincts to thinks about or focus on anything other than the present and whatever he was currently doing, but now, his mind is a bit more clear now, the bigger picture is showing and it's not getting any prettier, if anything, it gets worse and more messy each time Michelangelo looks at it for long, maybe if he ignores it it'll go away? Probably not, but he's too overwhelmed and out of options to do anything else so... he should as well try... I guess.