Obsidian Eyes

Summary: Having his brother's minds being controlled was bad enough – especially when he had to fight them. But the worst part was the eyes. Nothing was scarier than staring into someone's eye and not have them looking back at you. *Set directly after Parastitica*

The lair felt different, like it wasn't quite the home he'd been raised in. It was distorted, everything just slightly off – like the way the floor seemed to be tinted a murky green, and a light fog hung in the air listlessly, rolling and tumbling through every room like a sea of serpents. Shadows seemed to paint the walls, swallowing up dead ends and closed doors into nothingness. The air was chilled, a frost nipping at his skin with a certain callousness that seemed almost apathetically aggressive. It felt wrong.

"Leo?" Mikey called out instinctually, his head snapping around the room as if he'd spot his oldest brother just lounging about – he didn't. In fact, all he saw were murky outlines of what should have been the common room – but the television was silent, the practice dummy was abandoned, and the space was empty.

With small steps he made his way to the dojo, his hands gravitating towards his weapons, "Raph? Donnie?!" Mikey hollered, and he hated how small and high his voice sounded in the quiet of the hollow room. He hated how alone he was, how weak and fragile he felt – he felt his heart compress far too tightly, his chest narrowing as he heard something.

"Guys?" he asked hoarsely, this time straining his ears for when the sound would come again…his blood froze – buzzing. A soulless hum reverberating from somewhere in the room; he knew that noise. It was the distinct trill of wasp wings, and it was close. Mikey felt his teeth clench together, and his eyes flew about the room in a suppressed panic.

Hadn't they killed the hatchings? Yeah, he had. He totally had. Hadn't he? Hadn't he?!

His breath came to him in short, constricted breaths as he took out his nunchucks, grasping them tight as he could as he backed up, going until he felt the wall stop him.

The lair seemed darker now, the fog much more sinister and demented – even the silence seemed planned, everything still except the buzzing, which was getting louder and louder until it was all he could hear.

"Leo, Raph, Donnie! Please! Please, help!" His voice came out of his mouth like vomit, and his pleading glance was thrown about the room at random. He could feel panic setting in, and sweat was starting to bead up on his forehead. He could barely breathe, "Guys! Guys!"

The hum was getting louder, and he felt a genuine tear escape his eyes – he hadn't cried in years. He screwed his eyes shut to keep any more from falling, and he sank to the floor. A tremor ran through his spine, branching out through his body as he tried to suppress the shiver. He tried to calm himself with a few deep breaths, but the grip on his nunchucks remained firm.

Suddenly, a hand was on his left shoulder. His eyes flew open, his body tensing for attack – but relief flooded him when he saw a familiar hand wrapped around his shoulder.

"Leo!" Mikey's face twisted into a comforted grin as he sighed, accepting his brother's offered hand to pull himself up, "Bro, I thought for a second that-" his voice snagged in his throat, unable to finish the sentence when he finally made eye contact with his brother. His normally azure eyes were gone, instead replaced by shadowy black orbs.

"Gah!" Mikey screamed, jerking his hand back away from Leo – the back of his shell collided with another body, and he took his eyes from Leo's advancing form a moment to look up. Raph was standing behind him, his face free from expression and his eyes just as murky as Leo's. With a growl, he swiped at Mikey.

The youngest turtle's reflexes saved him, forcing him to grab Raph's arm and flip him over his shoulder. Raph smashed into Leonardo, and the two crumpled chaotically to the ground with an uproar of snarls.

Mikey stumbled to his feet, dashing out of the room before his brothers could untangle themselves from one another. But he could still hear them, screaming at him with voices that didn't belong to them.

"You can run, Michelangelo, but you can't hide!"

"That's super unoriginal!" he hollered back, practically tripping down the stairs to the common room. His sailed past the sitting area, instead diverting straight into Donnie's lab. He quickly smashed the door closed, heaving his body against it thankfully as he sank to his knees, his head resting against the door. He could hear Raph and Leo pounding against it already – he hadn't realized how close behind him they'd been.

"Uh, Mikey? What're you doing?"

Donatello pushed himself out from under the Shellraiser, his eyes staring at his brother curiously as he stood up and wiped his hands on his plastron.

Mikey practically tackled his taller brother, wrapping him up tightly in a monster bear-hug.

"Leo and Raph have been zombified by wasp poison again!" Mikey let a tone of liberation sink into his voice as he continued, "But you're okay!"

He felt Don hug him back, comfortingly rubbing the back of his shell in a circular motion, and he had started to relax.

"I'm glad you're okay, Mikey," Donnie said lightly, "But two things, alright? Number one, wasps are venomous, not poisonous. And number two, you're far too easy to trap." His brother jeered in his ear.

Mikey reacted faster than he ever had before, adrenaline still pounding through his veins as he rammed a fist into the side of Donnie's face. A very un-Donatello-like hiss sent shivers down his spine, and he kicked the taller turtle away from him.

Don skirted across the ground on his shell, slamming his head against his work bench painfully. Mikey sucked in his breath when his older brother's eyes shot open. His intelligent brown eyes were veiled in an obsidian cloak – it was so wrong to see his brainy brother look so mindless…just as wrong as it was to see Raph appear so vacant, and Leo so out of control.

Mikey unintentionally choked out a hitch in his breath as he backed away, heading for the garage door before Donatello could stagger to his feet again. Luckily, he slipped out before Don had even made it to his feet, giving Mikey enough time to jimmy the garage door shut. A vicious snarl echoed from inside, but there was nothing Donnie could do to get the door open.

An inappropriate sense of victory washed over him, and Mikey stuck his tongue out to the door.

"Who's easy to trap now, Wasp Breath?" he called tauntingly, kicking the garage for good measure, and not even flinching when the metal hurt his foot.

"And who is it that you have trapped?"

Mikey turned on his heels, nunchucks at the ready – but he lowered his weapons when he saw Splinter standing before him, his father's eyebrows cocked in curiosity.

"Sensei!" Michelangelo ran up to the rat, allowing himself to be collected in Splinter's arms as if he were just a baby again.

"Michelangelo, what is it that has you like this? Where are your brothers?" The rat asked soothingly, making room for his young son to bury his head in his chest.

"They've all been infect by this wasp, and now they're in some kind of mind-control thing. Leo and Raph attacked me, and then Donnie pretended like he was okay, but he wasn't." Mikey felt himself start to babble on, "He tried to bite me, but a kicked him away from me and trapped him in the garage, but I don't know how longthat will hold and I'm so glad you're here because you can fix them, right?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course I can son…But first, I need you tell me something."

"Of course, Master Splinter."

"How foolish did I let you become?"

And before he could wrench away, sharp teeth buried themselves in his neck.

"-ikey! Mikey, wake up!" Someone was yelling at him, shaking his shoulder. Someone was touching him. A vision of Leo's hand snaking onto his shoulder crept into his mind, and Mikey wriggled away from the touch, sending a clumsy punch in the direction on his attacker.

"Whoa!" The hold on him tightened, and he felt another pair of arm restrain his arms, pushing them back down.

"No!" He screamed, his mind fuzzy and his vision blurred, "No, get away from me!"

"Calm down, would ya? You don't even hit the Foot that hard!"

The panic died down as he got ahold of himself, and he relaxed his tense muscles – as soon as he did, his were released and he brought a hand to rub at his eyes to clear them of…tears? He opened his eyes quickly, his breath catching when he saw Donnie sitting next to him on the couch, a dark bruise starting form under his jawline. Raph was sitting to his other side, and Mikey could piece together that it'd been Raph holding him still. Standing in front of him in a crouch, hands on latched onto Mikey's knees, was Leo. All three were looking him with concern.

"Wha-?" He started to mumble

"You were having a nightmare," Donnie murmured, putting a comforting hand on Mikey's shoulder, "Are you okay?" He noticed how Raph and Leo leaned in, examining him carefully as they waited for his answer.

"Uh, yeah…just a bad dream." Michelangelo shrugged, hoping his brothers wouldn't think he was being a baby, he didn't want to be coddled– dark eyes glaring down at him hungrily as Raph, void of any emotion, took a swing at him with his sais – "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You want to talk about it?" Leo asked, understanding flooding his expression like a dam of worry had just broken over him.

Master Splinter's teeth digging into his skin. Donnie's unnaturally vacant gaze narrowed at him as he mocked him. Leo's aggressively unoccupied glare fixed on him.

"Uh, no, not really." Mikey said, straightening himself back up into a sitting position on the couch. He frowned as he realized it was damp, and then realized it was slick with his own sweat. Gross.

All of his brothers gave him a knowing look, but tucked it away. They all knew Mikey hated to be reminded that he was the youngest, and he probably felt a bit self-conscious about having a nightmare in front of his three older brothers. If it bothered him too badly, he'd tell one of them about it later.

"Well, if you're sure," Leo resolved before checking the clock on the wall – it was 11:57, and they had early morning practice, "Okay then, I think we should call it a night."

Raph nodded, stretching as he stood up, "We have spar at five, right?" He glanced at Donny and smirked impishly, "Are you going to give me the stick this time?"

"It's a Bo staff, not a stick," Donnie replied easily, "And no."

"Fine with me," Raph shrugged, "Night, losers." He concluded almost affectionately, waving as he walked towards his room.

Leo rolled his eyes before turning to Don and Mikey and smiling, "Night guys. See you tomorrow. Good job today, Mikey. With the wasp. That was actually really impressive." Their leader sent one last look at his youngest brother before turning around, following behind Raph.

Donnie was about to take his leave too, but Mikey grabbed his hand.

"Uh, not that it's bothering me or anything, but if you're curious about it, I could tell you my dream…if that's okay?"

Mikey had always loved how Donnie seemed to grab onto things, and he appreciated the warm smile that crossed his face as he nodded and sat down, "What's on your mind?"

"Well, it was kind of about the wasps. Well, not the wasp wasps, but you guys…when you were, you know. Not you."

Donnie frowned – he knew what Mikey meant. He'd seen Raph and Leo when they weren't themselves, and it wasn't pleasant. At least he'd had Mikey still with him…his little brother faced that alone.

"Right." Donnie said, rubbing the back of neck as he glanced away, "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be," Mikey replied, "It's not like anyone did it on purpose. I'm not mad at anyone – it's just. It was the eyes, Donnie."

"The eyes?" Donnie asked, not quite understanding.

Mikey bobbed his head, "Like, I would look at you, and it wasn't you that stared back at me. You know?"

"Kind of," Donnie nodded – he'd noticed Leo's eyes had been blacked out, but he hadn't really equated that to anything other than a symptom of infection.

"Yeah – like, when Raph was trying to bite me, I couldn't see him in there. It was like he'd checked out, and I don't know…Then there was you, and I watched you slip away. One second you were there, and then you were gone, looking at me with those eyes…" Mikey trailed off, his mind slipping back into the nightmare for a second before shaking himself and returning his focus back on Donnie, "It's just, that's the closest to losing you guys that I've ever come." He finished quietly.

Donnie wasn't used to this from Mikey. His younger brother always seemed to support a perpetual smile, and he'd thought that the one constant on the team was the guarantee that Mikey had found the silver lining. After years of endless pranks, jokes, and laughs, Donatello had forgotten that his little brother was capable of the deep uncertainty and dread in his face. Guilt snipped at him, and he drew the smaller turtle into a hug.

"But you saved us," Donnie reminded him gently, "And look, we're all perfectly fine – the antidote you made was perfect, and we couldn't be more proud of you." He tried to show off his best smile when Mikey looked up at him. Some of the anxiety had left his face, and a small grin had managed to work its way up enough to tilt his freckles.

"Yeah, I guess." The smaller turtle breathed, seeming to consider this before shooting back at his brother, "But what happens the next time, Donnie? What if I ever actually lose you guys?"

Don's throat ran dry – this was getting a little out of his depth. But he couldn't leave Mikey hanging, not when he'd just coaxed an almost-smile out of him. He swallowed hard.

"Well, I guess you'd have to save us again." Donnie tried, but the flattened expression on Mikey's face told him that wasn't good enough, "Er, well, okay. The thing is Mikey, I can't promise that bad things won't happen. Statistically speaking, it's impossible. Even the chaos theory would admit to that, especially with the Shredder, Purple Dragons, and the Kraang running around."

Mikey slumped, too disappointed to ask what a chaos theory was. Donatello caught the look and continued, "However, I can promise you that there isn't a force on this earth more determined than Leo or as stubborn as Raph, and they would take on anyone who tried to hurt our family. So, I can't say that you won't ever lose us, but I can tell you that there isn't a thing on this planet that will stop us from coming back. Okay?" He asked.

Mikey nodded, a genuine smile on his face as he gave his brother one last hug, "Thanks, Donnie." He mumbled into his plastron before silently adding, "And if I have any more nightmares…"

"Feel free to wake me up."