The door of April's apartment was sturdy enough. Leo told him that they had to make sure all entrances and exits were strong enough to protect them from intruders while they rested at night. Mikey nodded, walking around to check the windows and find some foods. He found many cans of freeze dried blueberries but no water. When he told Leo he said he would find water and first aid kit, so now Mikey sat on the torn couch, waiting for him.
There was nothing for him to do, No TV, no cartoons, and no comic books. He found some pictures on the shelf. This room was definitely not April's. It was belong to a woman he had never seen before. After finished surveying, Mikey found himself looking back to the door too often. He was anxious about his big brother. Suddenly he felt lonely in this large, familiar, yet unfamiliar room.
The city outside was pitch black due to the lack of electricity. It was too quiet he could hear his own breaths. Mikey didn't like this, it made the sound in his head grew louder.
I want to go home.
How?
I need to find that liquid portal again!
How can you find it here?
Well, I remember... its color?
...Very helpful. So you're going to jump into every purple pool?
Mikey was going to say 'yes' but then changed his mind. Mainly because he knew Leo wouldn't let him jump into those pools.
Okay, that was dumb, I know. Then all I have to do is to find the Kraang!
How?
Back to the original question. Grrr. He remembered Donnie asked questions like this yet he still sounded smart. Guess it is Donnie's professional field, not mine.
The door creaked, and Mikey let out a girly scream before he could stop himself.
His big brother sighed heavily. "You have to quit that habit, little brother."
"Leo!"
Mikey didn't care about his injury for a moment and ran towards Leo to hug him. His left leg was throbbing but it was worth it.
"Careful." And for the first time since they came here, he saw a tiny smile on Leo's lips. "Here, I got some water for you."
Clean water was surely valuable here so he didn't waste a single drop. Leo gave him more foods, mostly canned products. But foods were foods and he was happy to have some, he was beyond hungry.
"I think they invaded supermarkets many years ago. There's nothing left. I found some foods when I broke into the houses, though."
"You stole from them?" Mikey grinned, knowing his brother's honor wouldn't let him do illegal actions.
"I left some money for them," was a meek reply.
"You think money's still working in the place like this?"
Leo sounded defeated, "I don't have other choices."
"Nah, chill dude, I was just messing with you," Mikey smirked, offering a blueberry to Leo. "Second rule for surviving: It's okay to steal if you run out of foods. You know the owner won't mind if he or she's already dead."
Leo laughed, accepting it. "You just made it up."
"Hey come on, I'm the survivor expert. Remember Dimension X?"
Leo smiled and patted his head before bringing more items out of the bag. Old newspapers. And first aid kit.
"Alright, I need some light." He fished a small flashlight and turned it on, looking at his bandaged ankle. "Don't move, Mikey."
Mikey swallowed and bravely sat still, allowing Leo to unwrap bandage. Leo cleaned his wound while he hissed in pain but still held his leg. Although when Leo prepared the needle, he did the opposite. He moved his leg instinctively to get away from his brother.
"Mikey..." Leo warned.
He knew he was making Leo's job difficult, but he couldn't help it. He tried not to look at my wound but he could feel it anyway.
"Mikey." Leo tried to grab his leg again.
He squeezed his eyes shut. If he didn't see the needle, it didn't exist. This trick worked when he was five, though.
"Mikey, look at me," Finally Leo put down the needle, shook his shoulder softly. "I want you to put your arms around my shoulders."
He sneaked one eye open. "What? Why? But I would get in your way."
"And moving your leg doesn't." Leo puffed, putting his patience he had been practiced all years just to use on him. "I know if you don't hold onto something you'd start shaking and moving again. Just hold me and be still. I promise I'll do it as fast as I can."
There, he promised, so it's gonna be okay. He complied. So whenever he felt a sharp pain, he held Leo tightly instead. It would soon reach to the point where Leo would be suffocated, but his big brother didn't mind. Leo concentrated on sewing and let Mikey held him like they did when they were young. It was nice to know big brother always know how to comfort him.
By the time they finished, Mikey was awfully tired. The whole new dimension with zombie situations had drained out his energy. He didn't want to move at all, simply lying on the couch. Mikey glanced at his brother who was cleaning the first aid kit. Sometimes he didn't know how Leo stayed up all night and was still upbeat in the morning. Mikey's eyes began to droop when he heard the door opened.
"Where are you going?" Mikey asked, his voice was a pitch higher than usual.
"I think I saw the light near Brooklyn bridge on my way back. Don't worry, I'll just get on the rooftop to confirm it."
And leave me alone in the dark room? What if mushie comes!?
"I'll go with you!"
Leo paused, "I thought you want to take a rest."
Not without you in the room, of course! "Not anymore! I want to, err, walk around a bit, you know, stretching muscle and all that stuff."
"Your ankle hurts," Leo reminded him. As if he had alzheimer's and needed to be reminded of the obvious matter.
"I don't care!"
"You're such a baby. It'll only take five minutes, Mikey. I'm not going anywhere."
And he knew wholeheartedly that Leo meant it, he would come back within five minutes without doubt. But five minutes alone in the dark place where real monsters exist? NO WAY. Mikey used his secondary ultimate weapon. He pouted. He could use his super ultra ultimate weapon which was called 'scream' too. But those mushies attracted to loud noises so he didn't dare to risk it.
Leo sighed.
"Alright, I'll carry you."
Mikey held his fist triumphantly, then he blinked. "Huh? But I can walk."
"And I don't want you to. You might hurt yourself again. Come on."
So basically five minutes walk turned into thirty because Leo had to give him a piggyback ride and stepped on the stairs carefully, avoiding to drop him accidentally in the dark. He guessed Leo might have a thought of dropping just for a revenge. But then again this is Leo, not Raph. He knew Leo wouldn't do that.
The breeze at night felt good. Leo pointed towards the other side of the city. He saw a distant light at the end of Brooklyn bridge and his heart fluttered.
"That's… a light! It's really on the Brooklyn's side."
"Yeah..."
"We're going to check it tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah..."
Mikey was excited to be able to get close to civilization again. But then he realized his brother became too quiet.
"Not in a mood, Leo?"
"That's not it. You're just heavy." Leo teased.
Mikey playfully hit Leo's shoulder. "Pfff. I'm not that heavy."
"Oh really? You sneak out to the kitchen every night."
"Then put me down. I told you I'm fine. See? Stubby's fine too."
"Michelangelo, get your foot out of my face."
"Umm, sorry."
They shared a serene moment together. He felt Leo's shoulder raised and dropped syncing with his breaths. For a moment they forgot about terrible stuff that happened in this alternate dimension. Apart from the ruined city, the sky above was clear, allowing the stars to shine. Whenever he was in the city, the ground usually illuminated with lights from the streets and tall buildings. Never thought there would be the day the night sky was actually brighter than the ground.
"Look, stars," Mikey mumbled, poking his brother. "We've never seen them in New York."
"Yeah, it's beautiful..."
"Look at the big one on the right!" Mikey cheerfully pointed to the sky, causing Leo to sway a bit. "I bet if Donnie is here he would tell me their names."
Suddenly Leo stiffened, his expression becoming blue. Mikey failed to notice it as he was too busy looking at the stars.
"Hey, I can name them, right? Since this is abandoned city, so they must be abandoned stars too. Right? Leo? Right?"
"Do as you wish," Leo said coldly. "We're going back inside."
Mikey felt a sudden change of mood and decided to stay silent during the trip back to the room. He scratched his head and wasn't sure why Leo sounded mad at him.
Fresh morning. A new start.
Mikey rubbed his eyes and walked to the windows to see outside. His heart leaped when he saw a few men walking on the streets and was happy for a moment that he now woke up from the nightmares. Then he saw them carrying guns, of course. He bowed his head.
I wanna go home.
Leo, on the other hand, was sitting on the floor with blueberry cans, water bottles, and newspaper. He was eating while reading old news, trying to get information of this dimension as much as he could. Leo scribbled on the newspaper, making a plan for today. Mikey joined him and bent over to see the text. He tried to be useful by thinking about what happened yesterday.
"Hey, now I remember… I saw Raph kicked the Kraang droid into this dimension. We should find him and make him open the portal again!"
Leo's hand froze in the mid-air, then he glared at him. "And you just tell me now? You should have told me about it since yesterday."
Okay, now he sounds really mad at me.
"I-I just remember, bro. I'm sorry."
"Right." Leo snapped and continue writing. "We're going back to that rooftop to find that Kraang. I'm packing our foods right now. We'll take a backpack and bring everything we need in case we cannot come back to the apartment." Leo paused as if he remember something, his voice softened. "What about your ankle?"
Mikey checked his left leg. "I might not be able to jump across the rooftop, but I can take the stairs."
"Alright then. Let's move."
Mikey nodded tacitly, hopefully he won't mess anything up today. Leo seemed to be mad at someone, and it was likely to be him since there was only one Michelangelo here.
The path they used were on the rooftop as always. They didn't have to hide most of the time because only a few men on the street, plus they had plenty of shadows to hide. Most of the buildings were empty so they could walk through easily. And they could use shuko spikes and grappling hook to hide on the side of the building. Leo let him lead and tailed after him to watch out for both of them.
The trip to the rooftop near the portal turned out to be fruitless. Leo found the remains of the Kraang droid in the alley, it seemed that Kraang was unlucky when it fell into this dimension. His big brother disassembled the robot to find some useful parts while Mikey buried the Kraang's body, or brain, whatever.
It felt oddly sad to bury their own enemy but he wanted to do it anyway. Leo didn't comment so he thought it was okay to do so.
They couldn't find the pocket portal in the robot. Mikey suggested they should keep Kraang's robot head so they can ask if anyone had seen it before. The idea seemed stupid. But again, Leo didn't comment. He gave a short answer most of the time as if he didn't want to talk.
Mikey began to think Leo was exceptionally angry at him.
He swore he didn't do anything wrong, well, except he screamed too much yesterday, but he couldn't help it.
Plus, he was a good follower. He never questioned order and gladly do it in a heartbeat. He never confronted his own brothers too, and if they did, he was always the one who willingly backed away. So he didn't know why Leo acted like this, Leo should be happy because Mikey has actually behaved for once in a while.
The last stop was Brooklyn Bridge. They founded that Brooklyn's side was controlled by a group of armed men. Since the bridge was the only way to get across, they decided to wait until nighttime where it had fewer guards.
He felt miserable and restless. He knew Leo felt the same. After all, they still didn't know how to get home.
Mikey thought about the vacation plan that had been ignored for some time. Come to think of it, it was odd opportunity that Leo and he had spent a time together just like he wished. Aside from being stuck here, he guessed it wasn't too bad.
But first, he needed to figure out why Leo was angry.
He attempted to lift up the mood even if Leo ignored him. He talked by himself most of the time and only receive clipped responses from Leo. However, when he stayed behind checking the old shop Leo would look back to make sure he was okay, so he thought maybe Leo wasn't too angry to ignore him forever.
"Lots of cars, lots of chips, sadly not edible ones," Mikey picked rusty microchip from the ancient computer shop and threw it carelessly behind his back. "Donnie would love this place. Look, everywhere is a junkyard for him and only him. He could finish all of his projects with all piles of junk here."
Leo froze, and suddenly he was standing in front of his little brother. Mikey didn't notice him at first and almost ran into his plaston.
"Umm, dude?"
"You keep asking for Donnie."
"Huh?" Mikey tilted his head, not sure how to answer. I did? It wasn't even a question but he thought Leo needed an answer. "Because he would love the science thingy in this dimension?"
"So," The calm yet deadly wind named Leonardo narrowed his eyes. "You prefer to get stuck here with him, not me."
Okay, what is this all about?!
Mikey felt the conversation was going to push them right off the cliff.
"Well, yeah, but no! I mean no! But yeah, I just want him to take us home, that's it!" Mikey said harshly, then he tried to cool down. "Leo, what is it? I just want to get home. You know you want Donnie here too."
Leo grounded his teeth. "I would rather no one stuck here."
Mikey gulped. He did not want to fight his own brother. Not this time. Not like this. Sometimes he was curious how can Leo stand face to face with Raph, now he experienced it offhandedly. "Leo... Please, bro. I said that because Donnie can help us with his brain. It doesn't mean I don't want you here, I just-"
"I am not good enough for anyone anyway."
Leo didn't shout, but his rage seeping on his words like acid. Then he turned and walked away from him.
Mikey was too shocked to follow him. His legs rooted there, staring at the view of his brother's shell that began to fade away in the twilight.
That night they didn't cross the bridge as planned. They were back at the not-so-April's apartment and were trapped inside their heads. Two brothers thought about what made them so lost, broken, and downright devastated.
Author's note: Here's risky territory I'm treading on...
This is my last buffer chapter so please wait until I finish the next one. As you may notice, I tend to use simple words/structures because I have limited vocabulary. I'm still learning. I don't have beta so I use grammar check add-on before posting. So this is my excuse if I write slowly lol... Thank you everyone for reading/fav/follow!
Reply to Comment: Guest - Another fan of TLOU yay! Thank you! I'll try my best. I'm going to alter some storyline so it will be additional scene from the game. Please look forward to it.
I replied the rest of comment via pm :).