twelve drabbles, one each for the twelve days of Christmas (25th December - 5th January), set during the SAINW universe.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all, please remember that SAINW happened.
(tmnt = viacom)
Cadmus and the Dragon
part one: 25th December
At twenty-two hundred hours, Leo takes over the watch from Angel, arming up with his swords on his shell and the new, unfamiliar assault rifle strapped to his leg. The lair has come too close for comfort in the past few months. They're all on alert. One brother missing is already too many, so overnight, Raph and Casey take the outer tunnels, and Leo defends the homestead.
"C'mon, Mikey. It's late."
Christmas is Mikey's favourite day of the year (birthdays excepted) - goodwill infects him, and so every December he glows with the season and cheer and the eggnog April sneaks down with their groceries with a sly note and a wink when she drops by.
But this year...
Leo sighs.
The mask had cracked. On all of them, but especially Mikey.
Once he got off his watch (even armed to the teeth, he was still patrolling with a set of felt antlers on his head), Mikey flopped in front of the TV to do nothing except watch their old worn-out VHS of Die Hard with his face mushed into his left hand. "Hey," Leo says softly, and chucks Mikey's shoulder with a knuckle. "You in there?"
"Mm."
"You okay?"
"...yeah."
Mikey looks like he's grown up way too fast in the past three months.
In truth, they all have - they're supposed to be teenagers, but then, three years ago Leo wouldn't have expected them to have gone through the things they have done since they were first let out of the sewer. Hate follows them like a shade, creeping through the shadows they were supposed to own, and they'd risen above it all... until now.
Mikey looks tired, defeated, sad.
Because four are now three, and they don't know how long it's going to be before three become two, or worse.
The whole world has changed, their solid foundations have been shaken.
"I just," Mikey says, then trails off, his gaze drifting from the TV to the tree. Leo follows it; there are more gifts beneath it than there should be on Christmas Day night. "I thought we'd find him by now," he says eventually.
"Yeah," Leo says, tired. "I know."
on the first day of Christmas... A Mikey Sad His Brother's Missing...