Disclaimer: I do not own any incarnation of TMNT.
WARNING: Character death
I'm not into that mystic shit like Leo but when you fight together for as long as me and my brothers have been fightin'...Well, you get a sort of sense with them. Like if they're in trouble. You get that feelin' before they even call out to ya. Sometimes the danger hits them before anyone can realize it. That's what happened to Mikey. He was being a cocky little shit like he always was. Somehow, he always got away with it. I pretty much thought he always would. I don't know how it happened. I don't get how someone as fast as him didn't dodge it. Even when he's goofin' off, he never let it get too bad. One ninja's lucky break. The moment I heard him gurgle, my feet took me there. The one who did this to him was dead before I could see what he had done. My sai sank into his skull like a hot knife through butter. Quick. Easy. Done.
When I went to Mikey, he was bleeding pretty badly. Donnie and Leo were yellin' something but I couldn't hear 'em. I was starin' into Mikey's eyes, helpless to do a god damn thing. I could sense the panic in Donnie's voice as he knelt beside me. That's when I knew that he knew there's nothing that could be done. Our baby brother was done for. He could sense it, too. Fear was all over his eyes as he choked on the blood that poured from his neck wound. Even if it was too late, I still held a hand over his wound.
"R-raphie...?" He coughed out as the tears started coming. Leo was holding off the foot as best as he could. He called to me. I could hear the shake in his voice. His baby brother was dying and he had to force himself to push on for the rest of us. How did he do that? But I couldn't leave him.
"I'm here, Mikey." I answered him, my tongue feeling thick in my mouth.
"I'm cold." I started rubbing his arm with my free hand. Tried to warm him up. I knew it wasn't doing a thing but it made him smile. "I'm s-sorry. I m-messed up..."
"N-no, baby brother." I shook my head. His blood still oozing from between by fingers. "You did great. Just like the Nexus Champion should."
"Yeah..." He beamed, his eyes focusin' on nothing.
I heard Donnie screamin'. I let my attention leave Mikey to see why. At some point he left my side to continue the fight. One of the foot must've jumped him. He was pinned against the wall; a spear in his gut. How someone had the strength to push it through his plastron, I will never know. I looked back to Mikey, not knowing whether to go to Donnie or stay with him. He was already gone. A smile on his still face. His eyes glazed. I felt cold. He was gone. I pulled my hands away from him. He was gone. I got to my feet and stumbled backwards. He was gone. Then I felt it. The fire in my belly. The fire spread throughout my body. I charged. I charged at the offender who hurt my other brother...now the youngest. I didn't use sais. Fist and flesh collided. I don't know how many times I hit him. I only know that with each hit I felt less resistance in the bone and more mush beneath my knuckles.
"RAPHAEL!" Full name. Leo was callin' to me. I realized he had been doing this for a while. He had Donnie's arm over his shoulder. My genius brother's free hand was on the hole in his stomach. "We're going. NOW!"
"Mikey..."
"We have to leave him. I need your help with Donnie."
"We can't leave, Mikey!"
"He's gone!" I looked him in the eye. I wanted to smash him in the face. "Raph...Please..." The strain in his voice weakened my anger. "Donnie needs us." I nodded my head and we retreated. I took up the rear, coverin' them. There were so many of them.
"Leave me here!" Donnie shouted. He dropped his hand from his stomach.
"We're getting you out of here." Leo snapped.
"I'm done for. I'll bleed out before we get back to the lair. Get out of here!" He shoved our older brother away and stumbled into a run. Leo ran after him but he knocked him back with his bo. I ran to Leo's side to see if he was alright. Donnie ran into the fray, swingin' his weapon with all the heart of a true ninja. Leo was already on his feet, ready to join his brother and I followed our leader into battle. We knew Don was grateful we stayed. Who wants to die alone?
Metal met flesh. I could feel each body givin' way to my attacks. I ignored each pain that came from a lucky hit that sliced into my skin. I heard the dull sound of a wood bo staff hitting bone. The shrieks that came from the maimin' at the hands of a leader. Donnie stumbled and got back up. His swings were getting sloppy but he still managed to do some damage. Leo and I backed up to him. Shell to shell to shell. We fought on past the screaming pain in our muscles. I don't know how long we fought for. When the last ninja fell, our younger brother finally dropped to his knees. He wore a cheesy sort of grin.
"That was for you, Mikey." He rasped. We surrounded him.
"Tell us what to do, Donnie." Leo ordered. "We'll get you home."
"Too...tired." He started to fall back. I caught him and lowered him to the ground.
"You can't give out on us, Donnie!" I cried, desperate to save my brother.
"'S fine..."
"Raph! We need to get him home now! We need to-" He stopped when Donnie grabbed him by the hand. He was still wearing that cheesy grin.
"Thank you…" He struggled out. "Don't...blame yourselves...We always...ran the...risk...of going...this...way. That's the...way of the...ninja." He grimaced in pain.
"Stop yer yappin'" I could feel my voice breaking. "You can't go like this. Use that brain of yours. There's gotta be somethin' we can do."
"Was over...the moment...I felt it...Liver...bleeds out...fast." He grabbed Leo's hand. "Father?"
"W-we'll take care of him." Somehow he knew what Donnie was askin'
"L-love...you...g-guys." Then he was gone. I didn't know I was yellin' until I heard the echoes. Leo just sat there with his head lowered while I beat the ground. Needed to rough somethin' up. He waited until I wore myself out.
"We need to bring them home."
Carryin' a dead turtle ain't no easy feat. Luckily for us, Fearless was in mission mode. He had the sense to come up with a plan that way. We took the capes of some of the ninja elite we managed to pulverize and put them under our brothers. We tied the end at their feet like they were in a cocoon and dragged them. We had to stop a couple of times to rest; they were so damn heavy. Took us a couple of hours to get home. Bringin' them down the ladder was hell. Only time we talked was when it was trying to figure out how to maneuver them. We said nothin' else to each other. What could we say? The closer we got home, the more tense Leo seemed to get. I knew why. Havin' to face our master like this wasn't gonna be easy.
Our father met us at the entrance. He sensed somethin' was wrong. We laid them out in the middle of the floor. He went to Donnie first and place his hand on his head. Leo and I gave him space. My older brother stood with his head down, shakin' under the weight of his failure. There were tears in our father's eyes as he kissed Don's head. When he went to Mikey, he just about lost it. I have never heard our sensei cry until that moment. My knees gave out and I lowered myself on all fours; tryin' to fight back my own tears. Leo kept standing as if he wasn't allowed to let go. After our old man gave Mikey a kiss on the forehead, he stood and approached us. His hand found my head and I looked up.
"My sons." He reached a hand out to Leo who took it. "I am grateful that you have returned to me. We will find a resting place for your brothers. Leave me to clean them. I must ask you to do one more difficult task. Please inform April and Casey so that they may come to visit your brothers one last time."
We didn't have the energy to argue. To be honest, I was glad to walk away from their bodies. I couldn't stand to see them any more. We didn't need to talk about who I was gonna call so Leo took it upon himself to call April. Fearless to the end. That was probably more frightenin' then fighting a whole army of foot ninjas. As I called Casey, I found myself distracted by Leo's attempts to calm April over the phone. Casey asked a million questions and I somehow answered them. They were going to come by and I wanted nothin' more than to close my eyes and pretend this was all a dream. I don't know how Master Splinter managed to clean up our brothers so quickly but they were lying side by side with clean masks on lookin' as if they were sleepin'.
The next hour played out like a blur as Casey and April rushed in. They took a look at the bodies and April was in tears. Casey swore up a storm, threatenin' everything under the sun when he realized their killers were already dead. Somehow we were able to quiet down as we each found each other in a group hug. We didn't go to bed until four. Later that day, we buried 'em.
After, father went straight to his room to meditate. April and Casey hung around a for a bit but there was nothin' to say. I sat on the couch after they left. Focused on a speck of dust for an hour. When I finally decided to get up, I found myself headed for Leo in the dojo; trainin' like always. I stepped in. We didn't need to speak. We fought with our fists. We weren't mad...just had to let off some steam. I've never seen him fight so sloppy. I didn't do any better. We sparred for hours until we were a sweatin' mess on the floor; huffin' and puffin'.
"It was just supposed to be a patrol." He finally said.
I said nothin'. Just stared at the ceilin' knowing damn well that it never was just a patrol and it never was goin' to be just a patrol. That's just what happens when you're a ninja turtle.
Author's Note: Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! Been suffering from the winter blues which, in turn, put a major delay in my updates. Then this story dragged me by the hair to be written. All the emo feels. I had difficulty with how I was going to end this and I am contemplating a second chapter for the aftermath. We'll see.