This one-shot is for PopcornWolf10, who requested a story with Mikey and Tang Shen meeting…
I was inspired by a scene from the movie What Dreams May Come.
"Bye, guys. I love..."
What came next was pain. Excruciating, unbearable pain.
Shredder kept slashing and stabbing him...
...right in front of his family.
Despite the intense ringing in his ears, he could hear his brothers scream at him.
Guys, I'm sorry...I'm so sorry you had to see this...
Leo...
Raph...
Donnie...
Karai...
Dad...
All of a sudden the pain stopped, as well as the ringing. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a familiar face standing next to the bound, kneeling Splinter.
Tang Shen?
She knelt down to his level and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, though he didn't seem to feel it. In fact, he never noticed her at all. He just kept his head bowed and his eyes closed, refusing to watch the death of his youngest baby. Shen leaned in close to his face and kissed his cheek, then she looked up at Mikey, giving him a warm smile.
She got up and walked to where he lay. Kneeling down, she offered him her hand. Raising his arm, Mikey noticed that the chains were gone. There were no scars on his body. No blood. No pain.
"Come, Michelangelo," she said in a gentle voice. "Let's go home now."
Focusing only on her kind, beautiful face, Mikey took her hand and got back on his feet. The room transformed into a dark tunnel, and she led him to a bright warm light at the end of it.
Uncertain and concerned for his family, Mikey started to turn his head...
"Don't look back," she said in a stern but soft voice.
He obeyed and continued to follow her...
He woke up in his bedroom, looking up at the ceiling.
Wait, so it was all a dream? I didn't really die?
Letting out a sigh of relief, he pulled off the covers and ran into the hallway.
"Guys! You won't believe the horrible nightmare that I...!"
Nobody was in the living room. Not even the T.V. was on.
"Hello? Guys? Master Splinter?"
Feeling worried, he went to look in the kitchen, but nobody was at the table. He opened the door to the freezer. Even his beloved cat wasn't there to greet him with a friendly mew.
"Wha...where is everyone?" Mikey whimpered.
"They're not here, Michelangelo."
The freckled turtle turned to find Shen standing at the entrance to the kitchen, looking at him with kind but sad eyes. "We are the only ones here."
Mikey felt his heart sink as he came to the realization that he was, indeed, dead. "So I really did die," he whispered. "Is this Heaven or something?" She nodded at him. "But I thought Heaven was supposed to be this humongous castle in the clouds?"
Shen giggled. "No, not really. Heaven is a place of peace, joy, and warmth. Nobody sees it from the same exact perspective. It is different for each and every person. Tell me, Micheangelo, on Earth, where did you feel the most peaceful?"
"Uh," Mikey thought for a moment. "The lair, I guess."
"Well, there you have it," Shem smiled widely and gestured around her.
"How do you see Heaven?" Mikey asked her.
She gently took his hand. "Come with me and I'll show you."
They were now walking through a beautiful forest, sunlight peeking through the leaves of the trees and the songs of birds filling the air.
"Whenever I felt troubled," Shen said, "I'd take a walk through these woods. Sometimes I'd even take a long nap under a tree."
"Where's your house?" Mikey asked as he watched a blue butterfly go by.
"Don't you see, Mikey? The forest is my home."
"Well, what about a bed? Or a kitchen?"
"In Heaven you don't need any of those things, because you never grow tired or hungry."
"Oh, right." Mikey then noticed something pink on top of a hill in the distance. "Hey, what's that over there?" he pointed at it.
"Why don't we find out?" Shen gestured for him to follow.
"Wow...it's so pretty," Mikey stared up in awe at the beautiful cherry blossom tree, its pink petals dancing in the air as the wind blew gently. Shen stood next to him and smiled fondly at the tree, her long black hair flowing behind her.
"I had a painting of this tree once," she said, cupping a few petals in the palm of her hand. "It belonged to my mother. A few days after Grandmother's funeral, she bought a canvas and started painting. She poured all of her emotions into it, and the result was this." She then turned to Mikey and smiled gently at him. "Do you know what the cherry blossoms symbolize, my son?"
Mikey shook his head.
"They remind us of the fragility and beauty of life," she released the petals in her hand and watched as they joined the others in the air. "They start to fall only a few weeks after they bloom."
"But they're so beautiful," Mikey somberly looked down at the petals at his feet.
"Yes, life is full of beauty," Shen said with a sigh. "But it is also tragically short. We must learn to accept that and cherish every moment."
Mikey looked back up at the flowers on the branches. "So Grandma painted this tree as a way of coping with her mother's death," he said quietly. "Did it help?"
Shen nodded. "Yes, and on the night she passed away, she told me to look at this tree whenever I'd miss her. Just looking at its magnificent colors gave me comfort"
"Whatever happened to the painting?"
She lowered her eyes and a sorrowful expression was on her face. "It burned along with our house on the night Saki...attacked Yoshi."
Oh, yeah...that night. How could he forget?
Mikey felt anger build up within him as he thought about the Shredder. Why couldn't he just leave him and his family alone? How many more had to suffer and die under his hand? "Do you hate him?" he asked her.
"No," Shen said almost immediately.
Mikey looked at her in shock. "What? How could you not hate after everything's he done? I mean, he...he killed you!"
"You forget that Saki was my dear friend," she gently told him. "I just couldn't bring myself to hate him. I still can't. I only pity him because he is so lost and angry. He blames everyone but himself for his own failures. And I fear for his soul."
Mikey remained silent as he watched the petals continue to fall. One landed on his toe, and he reached down to pick it up. It felt so soft and fragile in between his thumb and finger.
"He's caused so much grief for my family," he said with bitterness in his voice. "And now because of him..."
"Michelangelo," Shen placed a hand under his chin and gently forced him to look into her brown eyes. "There is no room for hatred here. Don't let it into your heart. It is like a poison that can destroy you from inside."
"But...still..!"
"Saki is still human. It was the jealousy and bitterness in his heart that caused his downfall. Everyone is vulnerable to those negative feelings, no matter how strong they may think they are. We must have a compassion for those who have given in to their inner demons and forgive them for their transgressions."
"Even if they kill someone close to you or separate you from your family?" Mikey eyes glistened with tears.
"It is extremely hard," Shen rubbed a thumb over his freckles, "but yes, we must."
Mikey bit his lower lip and closed his eyes. "But I...I miss them, Mom...!" He buried his face in her chest as she wrapped her arms around him.
"I know, my son," she whispered to him. "And I miss my beloved husband and daughter. But don't worry, we still have each other, and we will see all of them again one day. And now thanks to you, Miwa has a chance to live her life with her father. I am truly grateful to you, Michelangelo."
The two held onto each other as the petals continued to snow down upon them.
Raph sat on the edge of the bathtub, staring at the sai in his hand. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he pointed the tip of his weapon at his left cheek...
Mikey sat on his bed and gingerly held his limited edition Unicorn Man figure, smiling down at it. "Well, I'm glad you're here, Unicorn..."
He gasped loudly as he felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest. Instinctively, he placed his hands over his plastron. "What...what's going on...AHH!" He fell to his knees as the pain worsened, breathing heavily. Am...am I having a heart attack? Can you even get heart attacks in Heaven?! "Tang...Tang Shen!" Mikey stumbled out his bedroom, crying out for his adoptive mother. "Shen! Mom! HELP ME!"
Breathing heavily and bleeding from his arms and left eye, Raph climbed out of the window and dropped onto the ground below. Because he was feeling rather weak, he landed clumsily, face-first in the dirt. Groaning and ignoring the pain, he slowly got up and dragged himself to the spot where the pyre used to lay.
"I...I can't...breathe," Mikey gasped as he continued down the path he had taken with Shen in the woods. He eventually reached the hill where the cherry blossom tree was, and with all the strength he had left, he climbed to the top.
He felt hot tears run down his cheeks and began to sob. "Wh-why am I feeling like this?! Wh-why can't I stop...?!"
Dark clouds hovered over him and the wind began to blow harder and harder. He heard a clap of thunder, but not a single drop of rain hit his shaking body.
He fell to his knees in the ashes of his lost little brother. A tear dropped out of his right eye while blood continued to leak out from the other. His body shivered as a gust of wind hit him. Lifting his head to the black, starless night sky, he let out a sob.
Mikey wailed as the petals of the cherry blossoms swarmed down upon him.
Exhausted, Raph collasped upon the ashes and curled up in a fetal position, still sobbing.
Overwhelmed with grief, Mikey laid himself down on the pink blanket and continued to cry. The once beautiful tree was now left bare.
"Michelangelo?"
Mikey heard Shen call out to him as she ran up the hill. She knelt down to the sobbing Turtle, running a soothing hand over the dome of his head. "Shhh, it's okay."
"I-I thought," he hiccuped, "you aren't supposed to feel any sadness here."
"Yes, that is correct," she softly said.
"Then why am I crying?" he whimpered. "I don't understand."
"You are feeling someone else's pain. It seems that you have a soulmate back on Earth."
"A...soulmate?" Mikey sniffled and sat up.
"Yes. Someone with whom you share a deep, eternal bond. A connection that goes beyond even death. Your soulmate can be your lover, father, mother, sibling, anybody."
"But who is my soulmate?" All of a sudden, Mikey grunted and winced as he felt the pain in his chest again. "Not this again."
"RAPH! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Mikey's blue eyes widened. "Raph...?"
"Don't bother."
His felt the tears coming again.
"I don't even feel it. The only pain I feel right now is in here."
"No..."
"And I can't make it go away...no matter what I do!"
Mikey buried his face in his hands. "Please make it stop," he said in a muffled voice. "I can't take it."
"I'm afraid I can't make it go away, my son," Shen rubbed his shell in comfort. "Soulmates feel each other's pain and anguish, even after they are physically separated."
Mikey removed his hands, revealing his tear-stained face. "I always hated to see Raph cry. But to feel his pain...and I can't do anything about it?"
"You can try to reach out to him. He might refuse to listen, but it's worth a try."
Taking a deep breath, Mikey stood up and lifted his eyes to the now clear blue sky, the darks clouds finally dissipated. "Well, if he doesn't listen the first time, then I'll keep trying." He then noticed that all of the cherry blossoms had lost their petals. "Aw, man," he mumbled. "The tree is ruined."
"Not to worry," Shen gave him a reassuring smile. "They'll grow back. They always do." She then pointed to a branch. "Look up there."
Mikey looked in the direction of her finger, and sure enough, there was already a bud, waiting to bloom.