Even though I consider the Apocalyptic arc as an alternate reality instead of the real ending, I wanted to explore it in this fic. This chapter is for guest Brofluff, who requested a one-shot about Mikey getting a "boo-boo" and Raph comforting him. So I expanded it by including the future episodes.
NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.
Six-year-old Mikey looked down at his bleeding knee. The sight of the blood running down his leg and the pain he felt made him want to cry. Before he could open his mouth, though, Raph came running into his bedroom, his eyes full of worry.
"Mikey?! You okay?!"
Mikey looked up at him with confused teary eyes. "Raph? How'd you know I got hurt?"
Raph shrugged his shoulders and knelt down on the floor in front of him. "I dunno. I just knew. Let me take a look at that." He inspected his brother's injury and looked back up at his brother with a warm smile and eyes full of love. "You'll be okay, Mikey. Big Bro is here for ya."
Sniffling, Mikey smiled gratefully at him.
Since childhood, whenever Mikey stubbed his toe or sprained his ankle or got a boo-boo, Raph would get this feeling in his gut that his little brother was hurt. It was a special connection they shared from the moment they hatched in the pet store.
Even now after fifty years of being separated from each other, they still had that strong bond. And lately Raph had this feeling that Mikey was slowly slipping away.
The others never noticed it, but Raph did. And he knew that Mikey would want for him to keep that to himself so that Leo and Donnie wouldn't feel distraught. After all, they've already been through so much in the last fifty years, with Donnie losing his original body, as well as April, and Leo mutating into a hideous monster.
Every day he felt his brother withering away even further. Perhaps it was because he ate nothing but rotten preserved pizzas in that abandoned restaurant for years. That stuff couldn't possibly be healthy to eat after all. Or perhaps it was because he was just tired. Mikey was always the most optimistic and energetic one of the group, but he wasn't the strongest, and he always took the loss of a loved one the hardest. He lost all his friends after the M bomb dropped and wiped out New York. Living all alone with the nothing but the memories of his lost friends and family for years must've been slowly killing him, both physically and mentally.
Whatever the cause, the time for Mikey's departure was at hand. And Raph wasn't prepared to say goodbye.
Mikey of course would try to hide his suffering with a smile every day, cracking jokes and swimming around in the watering hole, doing backflips and even belly-flops. He could fool the others, but not Raph.
One night, as the entire family sat around a campfire roasting deer meat from their hunt, Raph noticed that Mikey was having a particularly hard time staying awake, dozing off and leaning his cheek against his staff.
He nudged his brother's shoulder, waking him up. "Hey, you okay, Mikey?"
As expected, the mystic smiled tiredly at him and nodded. "Sure, Big Bro. I'm perfectly, positively K-O."
At that response, the others looked at him weird.
"Um, don't you mean, OK, Mikey?" Donnie asked, tilting his metal head a bit.
Mikey slowly blinked. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I meant to say that."
"Holy Chalupa," Mira looked at him with concern, "you haven't been yourself lately. Are you ill?"
"Of course not, young dudette," Mikey said. "I'm fit as a fish bone!"
Raph raised an eye ridge at him. "A fish bone? Oh, yeah, that sounds reassuring."
Mikey snorted and picked up his meat on a stick. "You guys worry too much. I'm fine!" But then his hands started to shake as he brought the stick up to his teeth.
Leo, who sat next to him on their log, reached over and held the tiny stick still with his massive disfigured hand, allowing Mikey to take a bite. But the smaller Turtle didn't even have the strength to bite down on the meat. He just sat there with his mouth open, barely moving his jaw up and down.
"Maybe you should rest for a while, Mikey," Leo softly told him, gently patting his shell.
Mikey shook his head, the smile still plastered on his wrinkled face. "Nah, bro. I don't need to sleep."
"Yes, you do," Raph stood up and offered his hand to Mikey. "Come on, Mikey. Let's get you back to the hut."
Mikey began to protest. "Raph, I don't need to-" He stopped short when he saw the sad, understanding look in Raph's green eyes, the same look he always had whenever he sensed his little brother was hurting.
Raph knew. They both knew.
With a heavy sigh, Mikey nodded and took Raph's hand. "Okay, Raph. Take me back."
Very gently, Raph picked him up bridal style, and Mikey looked over at the rest of his family. "See you guys in the morning."
As Raph carried him away, Mikey watched with tears in his eyes as his brothers and Mira continued to laugh and converse with each other at the campfire.
"They'll be okay, Mikey," Raph whispered to him. "I promise."
Mikey closed his eyes and nuzzled his beak against Raph's neck. "I know." He smiled to himself as he felt bits of hair touching his face. "You're starting to grow your beard again."
They didn't return to the hut that night. Instead, Raph took him to an open field from which he could get the best close-up of the mountains and the best view of the stars above them.
Raph gently laid Mikey down and the mystic sighed in content as he rested his head on the cool soft grass. Several daisies tickled his face and it made him chuckle. The view above him was absolutely stunning. He could even see the Milky Way, a sight he certainly could not see in New York years before.
"Beautiful," he murmured, before turning to Raph and patting on the spot next to him. Raph sat down with grunt and looked up at the stars with him.
"Yeah," he softly said with a smirk. "It is beautiful. We truly are in Paradise. And we never would have made it here without you, Mikey. It's all thanks to you."
Mikey sighed and shook his head. "I only made the map, Bromeo. We found the Oasis together. We did it as a family."
They remained silent for a while, watching the stars and enjoying the view of the mountains. But all the while Raph could hear Mikey's raspy breathing. The sound broke his heart. Instinctively he reached for Mikey's hand and held it, soothingly rubbing his thumb over Mikey's.
"Raph?"
"Yeah, Little Brother?"
"Is it...okay if I go now?"
Raph couldn't help but choke back a sob. He tried to control his trembling and sucked in a deep, shaky breath. "Y-Yeah, if you-you want to, Mikey. If you're ready, then yeah."
Mikey turned his head and looked up at Raph with tired light blue eyes. "But...what about you? Is that what you want?"
Raph looked down at him with glassy emerald eyes and a sad but warm smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I want you to stay with us forever, Mikey. But I know you've been in a lot of pain lately, and I don't want you to suffer anymore. What I want is for you to be happy, Mikey." He squeezed Mikey's hand but not too tightly, being careful not to break his frail, skinny form. "It's okay to go to sleep now. I promise."
Mikey frowned and looked up at the sky above him. "I'm not sure if I can now. It's just...we've been separated from each other for over fifty years. It's not fair that we have to part ways again not long after we've finally found each other."
Raph released his hand and crawled over behind him, gently lifting his head and resting it on his lap. He began to rub Mikey's forehead with his thumb. "It's okay, Mikey. I understand. And so will Leo and Donnie. You were the one who led us to the Oasis. If anyone deserves a good long rest, it's you. Maybe I can help you go to sleep."
The mystic couldn't help but chuckle weakly. "What, you gonna sing me a lullaby or something?"
The warrior smirked. "I just might."
Mikey looked up at him in surprise before he smiled and closed his eyes, sighing softly. "Yeah, sure. I'd like that...even though you sound like a braying donkey when you sing."
Raph laughed tearfully and lightly patted Mikey's freckled cheek. "So...what do you want me to sing?"
Mikey thought about it for a moment. "Hmmm...how about...that song Master Splinter used to sing to us when we were little?"
Raph frowned. He was still recovering the memories that he had lost after the blast, including those of their father. But as he tried to remember, a familiar Japanese lullaby suddenly popped in his head, and he knew what to sing to his baby brother.
He looked up at the starry sky and began to sing softly.
Nennen korori yo, Okorori yo
Boya wa yoi ko da, Nennen shina
Boya no omori wa, Doko e itta?
Ano yama koete, Sato e itta
Sato no miyage ni, Nani morotta?
Denden taiko ni, Sho no fue
As he sang the lullaby over and over again well into the night, he slowly drifted off to sleep, still in kneeling position...
He woke up to a bright light that shined like the sun and he had to shield his eyes. In the distance, he could make out blurry figures. As his vision slowly cleared up, he was surprised to see all his old friends standing in one large group. The Mutanimals, Shinigami, Karai, Casey, April, and even Splinter, himself. They were all there, smiling and waving at him.
He was about to speak when he felt a warm hand touch his shoulder. He turned to his right and saw Mikey, who was a teenager again. He looked down at his own body and realized that he, too, had reverted back to his teenage years before the bomb exploded fifty years ago. "Mikey? What is this?"
Mikey smiled his usual bright smile and gave Raph a big, warm hug, affectionately nuzzling his shoulder with his beak. "I'll see you again in the next Paradise. Love you, Big Bro."
Before Raph could say something to him, Mikey pulled away and ran toward the group that awaited him. The bright light returned and Raph was blinded, but he could hear Mikey's voice calling out in the distance.
"Booyakasha!"
"Raph! Wake up!"
Raph awoke with a startle as he felt someone shake him. Kneeling in front of him were Donnie and Leo, and he realized that it was already morning. The sun peeked through the moutains and birds chirped merrily as they flew over their heads. "Guys? What...?"
"When we arrived at the hut, you two weren't there," Donnie said, his tone sounding a bit sad. "So we went looking for you."
"Raph," Leo spoke softly, his midnight blue eyes full of sadness, "why didn't you tell us that Mikey was sick?"
"Well, Mikey didn't want to-" His eyes widened as he suddenly remembered something. "Mikey!" He looked down and saw that Mikey was still asleep in his lap.
Only he wasn't sleeping.
At first Raph wanted to deny it, but the realization slowly sank in as he studied his brother's face. He looked so peaceful, like nothing could ever hurt him again. While he was relieved that his brother was no longer suffering, he was also greatly saddened by his departure.
His shoulders started to shake as he leaned down to press his forehead against Mikey's and wept. Donnie and Leo both wrapped his arms around him and mourned their little brother together.
As he nuzzled Mikey's face, with his tears dripping down onto the other Turtle's freckled cheeks, Raph whispered so that no one else could hear him.
"I love you, Little Brother. See you again in the next Paradise."
Again, NOT taking any more requests at the moment, but reviews are more than welcomed! :)
By the way, the lullaby that Raph sang to Mikey was the Edo Lullaby.
