I wish he was a better brother.
No one anticipated things to fall apart so quickly. One moment, they was a family, and the next, ...they were in shambles. It had all happen so fast that he couldn't do anything at all to stop it. He couldn't make the blow less painful nor did anyone have time to shelter him from the worst of it.
They had lost a brother.
They had always thought he would fall in battle.
Such a prediction was preventable.
Train harder.
Watch him closer.
Work together better.
No one anticipated he would simply slip peacefully away in his sleep. That it would be Donnie that was a guilty mess, while Leo was the inconsolable one. That it would be Master Splinter that broke. That …that he should be left with one path to follow. Mikey had to be the family's rock. The steady one, and for once, he got the idea of what his brothers had been going through with him. What a position he had put Raph in, but he will make it up to him ..to them.
He shall become their protector …like Raphael had been.
I wish he was a better brother.
What a foolish wish.
Mikey took a deep breath as he looks down at his fallen brother.
"I won't let them fall apart, Raphie. I promise."
(Chapter 1 finished)