Their first stop was Splinter's room.

Ten minutes had passed since their meeting and everyone had agreed to split up. After drawing lots, it was decided that Raph, Donnie, and Casey will investigate Splinter's room (much to Leonardo's annoyance) while the rest would go to Mikey's.

Yet five minutes after they went in, Raph was on the verge of giving up.

"We're never going to find anything!"he groaned before kicking the wall. Donnie gritted his teeth. "Raph, this is our father's room! You can't just inflict damage to it!"

"Well, we technically are invading it and kind of damaging it too,"Casey muttered. Donnie couldn't argue with his logic. Clothes and other belongings have been thrown to the floor while the futon has been messed up.

"You're right,"

Donnie looked at Raph, whose head was down. "Let's just continue this. For Mikey."

"For Mikey."And they went back to searching. Raph had decided to check the lower cabinets before he finally discovered something.

"Guys, I found an envelope!"

Their heads perked up before going to the eldest in the room. Casey squinted his eyes. "Look at the date,"he said.

Raph read the date that was imprinted on the fold.

His eyes widened.

"This was written on the day before he...,"Raph gulped. Donnie rubbed his shell.

"Easy, Raph. Not now."

And Raph nodded before he finally opened the envelope. He pulled out a paper which was folded neatly.

"It's probably his last will, dude,"Casey commented. Donnie went into his thinking pose. "Now that I think about it, Leo did say that sensei predicted his own death."

"And the goof suggested that we should invite sensei to the Mutanimals' party. He wouldn't normally say that sensei should come!"Raph exclaimed.

"Do you think your bro has...future predicting powers and possibly told everything to Splinter?"Casey asked.

"I don't want to jump to conclusions,"Donnie started as Raph gave the letter to him. He unfolded it and stared at the words. "But I think this letter has some answers. Let me read it."He cleared his throat and began.

My sons,

By the time you are reading this, I have passed on. I know all of you are deeply grieving over such tragedy. But do not worry for whatever may come, I will always be here with you.

With that, I must apologize. I have kept a secret with your brother over the years and, until now, am still regretting our decision to not say one word about it. Despite our different reasons, we had one common generalization and defense to our choice: we were afraid that you three would be in danger because we knew that many more people would be interested in a mutant with telekenesis than a mutant without any supernatural powers.

But now that I am gone, I wish to finally tell the truth.

Your brother, Michelangelo, has supernatural powers. And yes. He does have telekinesis. It means that he can acquire control of anything using his mind. In short, he has similar powers as to that of April's. But unlike hers, his own abilities are entirely based on his emotional state. With that, I have been secretly training your brother to strengthen his mental shields and control his gifts. But it seems that I have not taught him everything.

I do wish that I had more time. But just a few minutes ago, Michelangelo has received a vision from the future. It had something to do with my upcoming death.

Now please do not blame your brother for this. Even he has asked me if we could prevent it. But I simply replied, "No." And you will learn one day why I said such.

I love you all so much. Please remember that. And I apologize if I have ever done anything wrong to you. You will always be my children in my heart. And I will watch and guide you in the sidelines.

Love,

Your father

Donnie dropped the letter, buried his hands into his face, and sobbed. Raph, despite the urge to cry, let the tears flow but at the same time, hugged Donnie and rubbed his shell. Even Casey, who barely knew him, wiped away his own tears.

They already lost their father. And they aren't ready to lose their youngest either.

And they made a silent promise to each other to protect Mikey at all costs once they get him out.

But for now, all they could do was to pour out their sadness over the losses they've experienced.

Please hold on, little bro. Just a little bit longer, Raph thought.

"If you're a sheep, then what am I?"

Ten year old Mikey and Raph had just finished playing a video game when they started talking about what character they can be.

Mikey smiled. "Then you're the bear!"

Raph's eyes widened, anger and shock in his face. "But that would make me evil!"

"No, dude! I didn't mean it that way. I mean, the bear was only trying to protect his family, right?"

The red clad turtle looked down. Mikey looked at him. A part of him felt guilty for saying such words. But the other knew that expressing it all out would be the right thing to do. So he continued.

"I know what he did was bad but think about it, Raphie. His brother was kidnapped and he had no other way to get him back. If I were the bear, I'd do the same."

"S-So, what are you saying?"

Mikey smiled. "You keep us safe from harm. And you love us, deny it or not. And you'd even put our lives first before yours. That's like...not selfish."

From then on, Raph started feeling better about himself.

Meanwhile, Donnie was too caught up in his own thoughts to even regain composure. He could just imagine what the kidnappers might do to his own little brother.

Please don't go yet, Mikey. You're my only little brother and I need you. I need you so much. Please wait for us...

"Donnie, do you think I'm weird?"

Eleven year old Donatello's head perked up to see his little brother, who sat next to him on the couch, looking more down than usual. For some reason, his brothers felt that Mikey was not okay. But all of them decided that they would let Mikey take his time to approach one of them. A nd it was not a surprise that the first person he'd go to is Donnie.

The older of the two closed his book. "W-Why would you say that, Mikey?"

Mikey bit his lip, hugging his teddy bear. It was the only present Splinter has ever given him in his life. And Donnie knew how much his little brother treasured it.

"W-Well...I've been watching shows...and I see people who are just like you...and Leo...but none of them are like me..."

"And?" It was a natural trait of Donnie's to be soft and patient to his little brother. Normally, he was one to easily snap at everyone else and he'd be able to stay mad at them for days. But despite everything Mikey's done to him, he can never have the heart to actually get pissed at him. That's why, out of all brothers, comforting their youngest was Donnie's specialty.

"Does...that make me...weird...?"

Donnie's eyes widened. "O-Of course not! You know what that means?"

Mikey tilted his head. Donnie smiled and hugged his little brother. How long has it been since he last hugged him?

"It means you're special. And nobody will ever replace you."

Somehow, he felt the freckled turtle smile. "Thanks, D."

"Anytime, little bro. Anytime."