Here we are again! Already at 10 chapters, I can't believe it. Thank you to all who have continued to support this story, and many thanks to those who left a review, they really help me out.
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Chapter 10: You Call This Rest?
What's going on? It's completely dark in here. I can barely see my hands. Wait…what's going on now? Whoa! I'm…in the lair now? Wait, but this isn't where I was. And what about that blackness, the dark…oh, wait. Am I in the tank again? Is this meditation?
"Hey, guys? Are you here?" No answer. Maybe it isn't time for meditation for them. Well, Leo and Master Splinter meditate all the time, though. And after the first connection, one of them would always be searching for me again, right? Especially with how I left last time. But then where are they? Not in the living room…bedrooms…kitchen—man, I'm hungry. No, focus! Maybe the dojo? Nope, not here. Come on, dudes? Where are ya? Maybe they're topside? But if this is meditation, I don't think I could get out there…I guess I could try. No way of knowing otherwise, right?
Back to the living room—is it getting darker in here? Flickering lights…that's not creepy or anything. Make sure to tell Don about the—AAAAAAAAAAH!
"What the shell, dudes? Give a turtle a heart attack, why don'tcha. Jeeze. Where'd ya come from anyway?" They're just lookin' at me. The lights flicker again. "Uh…g-guys? What's goin' on? Are y'all okay? I mean, we just saw each other a while ago, so things can't have gone too bad, right? Hey?"
"It's been five years, Mikey," Don said.
"Wait, what?"
"Five years, shellbrains," Raph declared. "What, did ya think we'd keep lookin'? Yeah, right. Afta tha firs' year, we all knew ya weren't gonna escape, and we all know ya would'a if ya could'a, so what was the point? Ya clearly gave up on us."
"What? Why would you—"
"Did you really think you had a place here again?" Leo asked disapprovingly. "After so long of just hanging out there."
"Hanging out? Are you serious? And how could it have been—"
"What are you doing here?" A cold voice from behind. I turn, dreading who I know it is.
"Master Splinter?"
"You, who gave up on us, are no longer welcome here."
"Gave up? But, guys, I never gave up on you! I knew you would come to save me!"
"And that's the problem, isn't it, Mikey? You expected us to save you. Please. Save yourself once in a while. It's not like you're good at anything else, the least you could do is save us the trouble." Don called out snidely. Wait, what?
"Y-you all th-think I'm trouble?" I squeak.
"Oh, please! With tha teasin' and the tormentin' and the pranks! All the pranks! An' that's not even mentionin' the patrols! How we always had ta save yer shell because ya were too busy goofin' off ta see whateva comin'. Trouble doesn't even begin ta describe ya." I shook from Raph's words. I mean, I knew I caused some issues sometimes, but I had no idea they thought like that.
"G-guys, I'm sorry. I—"
"Sorry isn't enough, Michelangelo," Leo said. "You caused so many problems, at home and on patrol. You're so useless." I flinched at that. I knew that. I knew I was useless. I've always known. I clutched at my head, trying to block them out.
"You can't help me in the lab, you always break things. How many explosions have you caused? Well, I'd say we've had a nice five years. I haven't had a mishap in my lab once."
"An' I've never blown my top at any o' my bros, now that yer gone."
"And that has made my training and meditation improve beyond what it could ever have with you here."
"Face it, you have no place among us, Michelangelo. You are a disgrace to this team, a disgrace to this family, but no more. You are no longer a Hamato."
"No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! STOP IT!" I yell, running from the lair. I know that! I know all of that already! I keep running, their words following me as I run to the surface. I jump rooftops until I can't hear their voices anymore, several miles from the outskirts of where we usually patrol. I pant, not from the run, but from the desperate attempts to ignore their words.
"It's okay, it's okay. Th-they're just mad. At me. Again. As usual. It's okay. Nothin' new," I mutter to myself. Who am I trying to convince? I sob, tears streamed down my face like a river. I wail, I scream, I cry.
"I know that. I'm useless. I'm hopeless. I hurt them. I know that. I know. I know." Everything hurts. But I can't let that stop me. Whether they know it or not, my bros need me. They all looked so pale. It could have been the lighting, but they could be sick. Their voices come to me again.
"Useless! We don't need ya! We never wanted ya with us to begin with! Life is better without you! Why would we want to save you!" I groan. I need to block it out, or I'll never be able to make it back. No matter what, I've been doing this for years. The only difference is they are now saying it to my face. Nothing new. Calm down, deep breaths.
I walk. I walk for miles and miles. I don't stop. Hours later, I open my eyes, and see myself in front of the lair doors again. I take a deep breath.
"Now or never. They need you." I push open the door.
"What? You're back here again? What do I gotta do, huh? What do I gotta do ta get it through yer thick skull? We don't want'cha here! WE DON'T CARE ABOUT'CHA!"
"SHUT YER TRAP, YA GOOD-FER-NOTHIN' NO-GOOD COPY-CAT!" Another voice. No, the same. But it's different. Why do I care? Same voice, same tune. I look up, then blink in confusion. Two Raphaels?
"YA THINK WE DON'T CARE ABOUT HIM? MIKEY'S THE HEART OF OUR FAMILY, AND THERE IS NO WAY, IMMA LET'CHA MAKE HIM THINK DIFFERENTLY!" He charged the other Raph, tackling him behind the couch.
"Oh, please. Like you think differently," Leo's voice. "We all know you don't like him either. He's loud, he's obnoxious, and is always igniting that nasty temper of yours. Without him around, things are much nicer."
"Indeed. You know it's true. Everyone in the family is better off without that menace.
"Hardly," a cold voice. I turn to the entrance of the dojo, and there is another Leo and another Donnie, their faces livid. "He's no more a menace to us than Donnie is in his lab."
"I'll say. Plenty of those explosions were my fault anyway, and several would have happened even if he didn't come in. Just the wrong chemical." I blink, confused. Two sets of brothers, all saying completely different things. What is going on?
"What do you know?" Pale Raph demanded from his wrestling move on the floor, pinning the other Raph in an armbar. "You ain't had him gone fer five years. Ya don't know how relaxing it is when he ain't around."
"Wrong, moron!" The other Raph kicked his feet up and twisted, somehow getting out of the armbar. "We've had him missin' fer long enough! An' we know exactly what it's like without him! It's awful, and we want him back! Now!" The three pale versions smirked but seemed to be fading out. They looked at each other knowingly before they all turned their eyes to me.
"But we know the truth," they hissed together, and were gone. I trembled. I knew the truth too. Of course I did. I'm useless. I'm trouble. I'm a nobody. My shivering continues until I feel gentle arms around me. I struggle against them, but I'm drained, physically and emotionally.
"Mikey," a voice soothed. "Mikey, brother, it's alright. We're here. It's okay. Your spirit called out to Master Splinter. He called us home. We got here as soon as we could."
"Heh, yeah, ya shoulda seen Fearless, here. He actually had a hard time meditatin'. He was so worried about'cha. Yer spirit was so troubled, Mikey, so dark, it actually took a bit fer us ta find ya. But we found ya brother."
"And none of what they were saying was true, Mikey. Please, please understand that. They were illusions, made to make you think we've given up on you." I look up at them, all vibrant colors and worried faces (or scowls, in Raph's case). I smiled up at them.
"It doesn't matter, bros. Either way, I'll always be here. Always got yer backs, bro. No matter how you think of me, I'll always be there for you, bros."
"No!" Leo shook my shoulders, hard. "Listen to me, Mikey! None of what they said was true! None of it! We love you, we care about you!" Raph ripped me from Leo's grasp.
"Ya listen ta me, an' ya listen good, Mikey," he growled, clearly fed up with what's going on. "Ya ain't useless. Ya ain't a problem. Yer our baby brutha, and we care fer ya. Ya hear me? We love ya, ya chucklehead. We miss ya. We want ya home with us. We are still lookin' fer ya, even now. Ya hear me?"
"Even after five years? That's a stretch. Even I know you all would go on with your lives. I'm not that important." I felt myself starting to fade out, like the pale versions a little while ago.
"Not that import—no! Mikey! You're our world! We need you!" Don cried. All of them had tears in their eyes. I shook my head.
"Don't worry, guys. I understand. I'm nobody." I was fading out more.
"Nobody…that's it! Mikey! Be Nobody!" Leo tried to grab me again, but I guess my shoulders weren't that grabbable at the moment.
"What—" Raph tried to growl, but Leo put his hand over his mouth.
"Mikey! Remember Nobody? Even when all the world is against him, even when no one will believe in him, he still believes in them, in the good in them. Right, Mikey?" I struggled to see what he was going for but remembered our black-clad super friend. "Mikey, I need you to be like Nobody. Have faith in us, in your brothers. Even if the world itself is telling you we aren't to be trusted, trust in us like Nobody trusts in the people. Mikey, promise!" I look at him, not understanding why it was so important to him, but it wasn't a hard promise for me to keep.
"Bro, I've never had to make that promise. I'll always believe in my bros. Even if they don't believe in me…" and they were gone, and it was dark once more.
Ouch! Man, this chapter hit me right in the heart, let me tell ya. What the heck is Bishop's plan here? *wink, wink* Not tellin'. HAHAHA!
Anyway, what did you think? As always, if you notice something that's not quite right, either grammar, spelling, or even character behavior, let me know. I would love to know how you would do differently, or any other kinds of ideas you have.
Thank you for reading!