Learning To Move On (Book Two)

What if?

TW: Angst, Death

Third Person P.O.V.

Mikey slowly blinked open his eyes. He rubbed has face with a hand, groaning. He was still tired, but he knew that he needed to get up and make food, no matter how much effort it took to pull himself out of bed. He tossed open his bedroom door, yawning, and made his way towards the kitchen. It was eerily quiet for nine in the morning, he realized. He had even slept in, but no else seemed to be up. He hesitated and turned to get his brothers. It wasn't like them to sleep in so late, especially Leo. 

He stood in front of Leo's door and knocked quietly. No answer. He put his ear to door, and pulled back at a soft sobbing noise coming from the other side. 

Alarmed, he called out "It's Mikey. I'm comin' in bro," and pushed the door open. At first glance, the room seemed empty, but as he stepped into the room he noticed Leo sitting in a corner of the dark room, head buried in his knees. 

"Leo? Leo, what's wrong?" With no answer, he hurried to his brothers side. "Leo, please, are you okay?"

"Why?" He muttered. 

"Why what, bro? What's going on?" He put an arm on Leo's shoulder, but he didn't even react. 

"Why, Mikey... why did I let this happen?" 

Mikey was getting more and more concerned as his brother kept mumbling and crying. He eventually decided that he needed to get up and go get Donnie, so he stood up,  gently saying that he would be right back. Then he paused in the doorway as Leo muttered another sentence that shot panic through Mikey's whole body. 

"Why did you have to leave us, Mikey.... it's all my fault... this was all my fault. I should have been there. Why couldn't I have been there?!" 

Mikey felt his blood run cold as he slowly made his way back to Leo and sunk to his knees. 

"Dude... what are talking about? I'm right here. Look." No response. "Look at me, look, I'm here!" 

He shot to his feet, Leo still not responding, and ran out of the room breathlessly. He looked around frantically, his eyes landing on the lab after a few seconds. He dashed the doors, throwing them open. Donnie was at his desk, as usual, typing away at the keyboard to his computer.

"Donnie, you have to help, something's wrong with Leo!" There was no response. "Donnie?!" 

Mikey walked over to the desk slowly, standing in front of him. That's when he noticed the state that Donnie was in. He looked... terrible. He was clearly exhausted, and there were dark circles under his eyes. Empty coffee cups were scattered everywhere, along with hundreds of pieces of metal and equipment from unfinished projects. 

"D-Donnie? Are you... what's going-" 

Donnie's phone rang through the silence. He barely even glanced at April's bright contact picture buzzing on the device. Mikey's mouth dropped as he just turned away and let it go to voicemail. She called a few more times, and on the fourth, he sat back in his chair with a loud sigh, dragging his hand down his face before picking up the phone and answering the call. 

"Hey, Donnie... How are you doing?" 

"Fine." He answered shortly. "Just working on this project that I'm trying to finish up." 

"Oh...." There was silence for a few seconds before began again. "You know... you're allowed to not be okay... Losing him like that... it was terrible... you need to take care of yourself." 

"I'm fine, April. I just have to finish this." 

"...When was the las time you slept?" 

He sighed loudly, hesitating. "I don't know, a couple days, maybe. Maybe yesterday." He mumbled. "It's fine. I just need to finish this project." 

More silence. "How are the others doing?" This made Donnie pause his typing for a few seconds. He set his hands on the desk. 

"Not great... Leo just stays in his room all day. He blames himself for what happened. So does Raph, though. Raph trains all day, and spends all night out on the rooftops. No idea what even does up there." 

"Oh. Casey says that he hasn't heard from Raph in weeks, so... I guess that makes sense, though... Do you.... do you blame yourself for what happened?" 

"...." Donnie paused for a long time before answering, his hand curled into a fist on the desktop. "Yes." He hung up, burying his face in his hands for a few minutes. He scrubbed at his face and took a few deep breaths before returning to his project, looking even worse than he did before.

Mikey took a few steps back, he was shaking, and he shook his head to himself. He turned and ran out of the lab, closing the doors behind him. He had started hyperventilating halfway through the phone call, and he didn't know what to do. He ran to the dojo: empty, he ran to Raph's room: empty, he looked around, and frantically ran towards the turnstiles, stumbling over them as he headed topside. 

Mikey jumped from rooftop to rooftop, almost falling off the edge of one as he finally spotted Raph. He was on his knees punching the roof repeatedly. Mikey called out to him, but he could not hear. Raph pushed himself up, fist bruised and reddened from the punches. He threw his sais to the ground, and they bounced away, one falling off of the side of the building. Mikey was frozen in place.

"WHY COULDN'T I SAVE YOU?!"

Raph stood there for a minute, tears falling down his cheeks. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his belt, his hand wrapped tightly around it. He lifted his hands and unwrapped his mask, and he set it with the paper on ground next to his t-phone that he must have placed down earlier. 

He whispered, just loud enough for Mikey to hear. "I couldn't be strong enough... I'm not strong enough... I'm so sorry." His voice broke as he wiped his face and jumped.

"RAPH, NO!!" Time seemed to slow as Mikey raced after him without a second thought. He jumped after him, screaming after his brother. 

Mikey sat upright in bed. He was shaking horribly and tears were streaming down his face. He jumped from his bed and ran out of his room, knocking straight into Donnie, almost pushing them both over. Before Donnie could get a word out, he noticed Mikey's shakiness. He gripped Mikey's shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Mikey? Mikey, what's wrong are you okay?"

"Yes, n-no, can you see me? Is everything okay?" 

"What are you talking about, yes, I can see you, what's going on??" 

"Raph, I've gotta see him, where is he?" 

Donnie tried to calm him down, but he only could tell him to go to the dojo before Mikey pulled out of his grip and ran off. He tumbled into the dojo, spotting Raph and rushing towards him.

"Raph!" He hugged his brother tightly, shocking the other turtle. 

"What the shell.... what are you doing?!" After a second, he hugged back. Until Mikey felt himself being pulled away. He turned to see Donnie pulling him gently out of the dojo, leaving a bewildered Raphael staring after them. 

"What is going on, Mikey... Are you okay?" He fumbled over words, still partially sobbing and shaking, breathing hard. "C'mon, here, I'll make you some tea or something, okay? Go back to your room, sit down, and try to breathe, okay?" Mikey nodded and headed back to his room. 

/

/

/

/

Thank you for reading, everyone!! <3

(1,270 Words)