For a moment, he just felt kind of… empty. Like someone had scooped out all his insides. It was during those few seconds of dullness that he took the time to gently remove Donatello from his shoulder. Casey, his arm pressed firmly against Michelangelo's back, could feel the way his muscles bunched, as though they were tensing up for a fight, could feel the heat pouring off his skin, so only April wondered if maybe Michelangelo was taking the news better than they'd expected.

Once the shock wore off, Mikey's lungs surged with a huge gulp of air as he fought to tear himself from Casey's grasp. "Let go of me, Casey!" Something warm oozed down his plastron as he twisted his entire body in an attempt to throw himself off the bed. "I have to go find the mutagen! I must have dropped it on the way or something."

Casey wrapped his other arm around him and squeezed. "We already looked, Mikey! We searched all the way to the streets, but we'll look again, okay? We'll fix this. But you can't do this, man! You're gonna hu- Urk!" The only warning he got before his feet left the ground was the white blankness of Mikey's eyes as his head rolled back and his body arched, a strangled gurgling issuing from the turtle's mouth.

April screamed, rushing to try to break his fall as he slammed into her, knocking her over.

"You okay, Casey?"

"He threw me?!" The teenaged vigilante wasn't sure if he was more impressed or annoyed that his little buddy had just launched him across the room one-handed. Obviously, Mike wasn't thinking straight. Pushing his bangs away, Casey caught the apologetic frown on Michelangelo's face as he slid off the bed, torn between helping his friends and heading for the door.

Stuck in a moment of indecision, Michelangelo sagged against the bed, his eyes darting unhappily to his brothers as they pawed at the Saran wrap on his shell and cried for him to get back into the bed. Speaking of Saran wrap, he was going to have to ask his human friends about that later. Finally, he narrowed his eyes, set his jaw, and said, "I promised I would fix this."

April yanked a hand out from under the body on top of her, accidentally elbowing Casey in the face as she shouted, "And we will. But you don't have to do it alone, Mikey. Let me and Casey help you!"

After a small coughing fit, Mikey replied, "No. The last person I asked to help me died. And it was my fault! I never should have asked for help, I should have done this on my own, but I didn't! Because…" His blue eyes, unfocused and fever-bright, welled up until the tears overflowed, sliding down his cheeks as he tried to force out the words, " Because I mess up everything! Raph was right!" Behind his shell, a surprised squawk, filled with equal parts shock and dismay, issued from the red-banded turtle. Casey had a gut feeling that Raph really wished he could talk right then. Normally, Mikey would have caught onto his brother's distress himself and stopped, but it felt like a lid had been removed and everything in him that'd been suppressed and simmering was boiling over so fast he couldn't stop if he'd wanted to. "I'm just a dumb screw-up!" Breathing hard with the effort saying so many words had taken out of him, Mikey pulled his hand away from the bed, walked two steps towards the door, and stumbled.

Casey was on his feet in a blink, rushing forward to catch the turtle before he came crashing to the ground, wrapped his arms around his middle and gently lowered him to the floor, murmuring, "I meant what I said before, little bro. I've got you. So don't talk like you have to do this alone when me and April are your siblings, too."

He'd pretty much already adopted Mikey as his second younger sibling, so he knew he wasn't just trying to make his little buddy feel better when he said that. Sure, he wasn't a full-blown ninja yet and he could never replace Raph, but there were things only he could do. Like be the best big brother ever!

Casey felt Raph's eyes on him and mentally revised that last bit to 'second best big brother ever'. Another pair of eyes joined the first and he had to mentally revise his 'best big brother' ranking again, all the while seriously beginning to wonder if losing their mutagen had somehow made Mikey's brothers psychic.

A muffled sniffle drew his eyes back to the kid in his arms, and his heart ached to see that Mikey had thrown an arm over his eyes as he continued to cry, voice catching and stuttering as he shook. It was around that time that April kneeled beside him, gentling stroking his tears away. "It's okay, Mikey," she said quietly. "We'll fix this."

"Michelangelo?" Jumpy after hours of waiting for Mikey to wake up and ready to fight if they had to, Casey and April spun to face whatever new threat had the misfortune of picking that moment to threaten their friend, only to see Master Splinter standing in the doorway. His clothes and fur were soaked, his red eyes blazing as he took in the sight of his youngest son hurt and sobbing on the ground. "What has happened here?"

Three vials of glowing blue fluid caught April's eye and she shouted, "Master Splinter, you have the mutagen!" The shout made Mikey feel as though his head had been impaled with a spike and he whimpered, too tired to continue sobbing. April looked dowen regretfully, then pulled Master Splinter over so she could explain all that had happened since he and his sons were separated.

While she spoke, he placed a clawed hand on Mikey's forehead, frowning at the warmth he could feel radiating under his palm.

Mikey called out for him.

"Yes, my son?"

Mikey shifted, trying to find his sensei in the blur of colors and shapes his vision had become. Once he was certain that he was at least looking in the right general direction, he mumbled, "I'm sorry I'm not dead, sensei." Seeing the fall in Master Splinter's expression, Casey quickly cut in with, " Wait, hold up, I don't think he meant to say it like that, Master Splinter!" Scratching his head, he added, "I mean, there's probably a comma or a period missing somewhere. Plus, his brains all addled, so…"

Master Splinter chuckled. "You are correct, Casey. I believe I know what it is he speaks of, and you can be sure that we will be discussing his actions later but, for now," looking down at his son with a bottomless well of love and pride, Master Splinter tenderly closed his eyes, "go to sleep my son. You've done well."

"Thank you, sensei," Michelangelo murmured. And the darkness that overtook him this time wasn't cold or frightening. It wrapped himself around him like a pair of strong, comforting arms, and he sank into it gratefully, sure that everything was going to be alright.