Disclaimer: I do not own Ninja Turtles; Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman and Mirage comics do…And whoever else.
The three brothers and Master Splinter were all seating in a circle, a single white candle in front of each of them. In the middle of their circle lay Mikey, still unresponsive.
Their eyes were closed, their breathing was slow and even, their minds were becoming more focused and aligned. Their bodies were relaxed. And their spirits were beginning to enter to Astral plain.
Together they left the Astral plain and entered a new domain – The mind of Michaelangelo Homato.
"What the Shell?" Raph said aloud when they flashed into Mikey's inner sanctum on his mind.
It was not as they expected – it was landscape, but it appeared to be quite literally in pieces: like there had been some kind of earthquake that tore the land into scattered puzzle pieces separated by cracks.
The 'puzzle piece' they currently were standing on appeared to be a sort of dojo: ones with paper-screen sliding doors, Kanji symbols in the walls and the Foot emblem printed on an overhead banner. The dojo had several training items; including punching bags, weapons, training dummies and balance beams ect.
"Let's get a move on, Raph" Leo said "We're here to find Mikey, not to go sight-seeing."
Raph grumbled as Master Splinter led the way to the next 'puzzle-piece', they hopped the black abyss that separated each of the puzzle-pieces.
This one appeared to be a bedroom: it wasn't very furnished with only a bed, a hope chest, a small closet and a bookshelf. The walls and floor of the room were white, but the furniture was all black which contrasted against the pale background.
"Is dis really Mikey's head?" Raph asked as he walked to the bookshelf and examined the books "Dese are Manga and Graphic novels, not comic books."
"You read the logs," Don told him with a shrug and looked around the room; he suddenly fished under one of the dark pillows and pulled something out "you know he into that Anime crap now. And I'm positive this is Mikey's head, look." He pointed at the item in his hand "This is a sketchpad."
"What logs?" Leo asked with a raised ridge but received no answer as Don plopped himself onto the bed and started flipping through the sketchpad.
"That's weird – this isn't Mikey's drawing style." Don said with a frown. Raph, Leo and Master Splinter came up to Don as he showed them the picture.
It was a pencil-shaded sketch of a staff with a strip of paper folding off of it into a cobra.
"Whata'ya mean Don?" Raph asked "It looks like he drew it."
"Yeah, but this one has no color." Don said "When Mikey draws he never puts this much detail into the shadows, and he always shades with colors."
"I'm not surprised." A new voice said, making them all almost jump. "Mikey didn't draw it, I did."
They turned and saw Mikey standing near the edge of the puzzle-piece: his eyes were narrow and slate-gray, the bottom lid of his eye was bright red. He was wearing a Foot uniform and black mask and even had the metal wrist bands on.
"Mikey!" Leo, Don and Raph said in unison. Master Splinter was silent.
The other turtle rolled his eyes "If you came here to look for your brother; you should probably try the other side of this mind."
"You're standing…Right in front of us." Raph said to him, confused.
"Man, you guys don't get it do you?" The gray-eyed other scoffed and crossed his arms "I'm Angelo. Remember the whole Multiple-Personality thing? Your 'Mikey' is on the other side of this mental sanctum, on his side of his personality."
"Wait…You didn't kill him or anything? But aren't you…?" Don trailed off.
"Evil? Well yeah, I am; I was designed that way." Angelo said with a shrug "But I was a personality created to protect his real personality, remember?"
"If you will," Master Splinter asked "would you take us to Michaelangelo?"
Angelo shrugged "Ah hell, why not? I mean, he's always dormant, someone might as well wake his ass up."
"Dormant?" Leo asked.
"Hm, how do I explain this to your stupid ass?" Angelo told him and thought "Okay; his spirit was wounded by him-" he pointed at Raph "then wounded even more by the Shredder; hence, I was created. But his personality had to lay dormant. The injuries have neither healed nor scarred, slowly the wounds just fester, and he fades while I grow stronger. He used to come out of 'sleep' anytime we were around Karai or Chaplin, but lately he has been so weak it's hard for him to regain control, especially with the 'personality shifts'. It really was a good thing you put him off those pills by the way; those things 'controlled' the personality shifts by slowly destroying one of us, which turned out to be him."
They stared at him dumb folded.
"But what about those times Mikey comes out in personality shifts?" Donnie asked.
"It's sort of complicated." Angelo said but explained anyways "We're not individual people; we are two alternate personalities of the same person. It's just my personality traits are more dominant; enough so I've manifested to almost be considered a 'person'. It's hard to explain, alright so I won't go any further than that."
Angelo walked up and snatched the sketchpad from Don's hand "Oh and this is my side of the mind, so if you touch my stuff again I'll lob your god damn head off. Mikey may love you all and all that shit; but I'm his dark side, you fuckers can die for all I care."
Don took a fearful step back.
Angelo started walking to another puzzle piece "Follow me; I'll take you to Mikey's side of the mind."
He hopped to the next puzzle piece; the Homato family looked at each other uncertainly before they followed.
"Is this Mikey's side?" Don asked when Angelo finally stopped on a certain puzzle piece. This one was a bare field with colorless grass.
"No, look." Angelo told him and pointed at the puzzle piece which was actually pretty close; the crack that separated it and the piece they stood on was remarkably much thinner; they could walk over it. That puzzle piece was also a field; but a green one dotted by the occasional flower. "A couple landscapes ahead you'll find place that looks like your old lair; you'll find him there. Just know that you won't like what you see." Angelo turned to leave.
"Aren't you coming with us?" Leo called back as Angelo neared the edge away from them.
"No Leonardo." He said, his voice was still monotone "Once you bring Mikey out, I will be forced to go dormant, I'm disconnected from the body."
"So we're not gonna see you no more?" Raph asked, relieved.
Angelo shot him a cold, hate-filled glare "Just remember this," he hissed out slowly, his slate-colored eyes narrowed "I might go dormant; but I'll always still be around. I can be weakened but not destroyed, I'm a permanent side to Mikey now, the dark side; I'll linger in the dark corners like the shadows. You haven't seen the last of me; I'll come out again when times call for it." And he leapt away, disappearing in his colorless side of the mind.
"Is what he said true father?" Leo asked; would 'Angelo' truly never leave, would Mikey never be the same?
"I am afraid so, my son." The aged rat replied sadly "What has happened to your brother will always affect him; that side of him is enough truth, the events of the past year he will always remember." Seeing the anguish on his three sons faces, he added "But with time and the love of his family, his pain will be lessoned greatly."
Master Splinter stepped over the crack and his sons followed.
The grass they stood on was dull green, unruly and partly dead. If this was Mikey's world, wouldn't this field be more…Alive?
"Is this really Mikey's personal sanctum?" Don wondered aloud, he'd half-expected to see small animals running around or something.
"Only one way to know." Raph said and bent over to pick up a flower. His brothers and father looked in curiosity as Raph plucked it from the ground…The put the flower head into his mouth. There was a crunch as he bit down and chewed.
Seeing their curios stares, Raph, while still chewing, explained "It's made of candy; no doubt this is Mikey's world." Then swallowed the hardcandy-made flower.
"How did you-?" Leo began, but stopped when Raph shrugged. It only made sense if you thought about it.
"My sons, I believe we came here to find your brother." Master Splinter reminded them, a bit impatient.
"Right Master Splinter." All three of them said in unison and they ran to the next puzzle piece.
The next was a wooded area – but the ground was scorched and the tree's were war-torn, arrows struck out of the tree's and the ground and blood dripped from everywhere.
The next one seemed to be a street in New York – a post-apocalyptic one – with rusty abandoned cars, collapsing run-down buildings and the pavement was torn up, making it difficult for them to move.
Then they came to what appeared to be their current Lair. It was in better condition than the other places, but it appeared to be abandoned and slowly crumbing away from misuse.
"Hey, look." Don called over and held out something, it was a photo album. He skimmed through the pages just as Raph and Leo came to look.
A sad longing panged in the center of their chests when they saw each of the now dusty pictures. These weren't just pictures; these were 'shots' of Mikey's good memories.
One from when they were first mutated, each of them lying against Master Splinter for warmth. One with Mikey as a tot on Master Splinters shoulders. Another with them as tots; Don reading a book, Mikey doodling on a piece of paper, Leo playing with a teddy bear and Raph playing with a toy car.
One showed them all on the porch of Casey's grandma's farmhouse. One showed Leo holding back an angry Raph wearing a pink mask as Don and Mikey were laughing. Another showed Don typing away on a computer, oblivious to Mikey sprinkling salt into his coffee mug. One showed Leo looking annoyed through the shaving cream on his face and hand.
One picture showed Mikey and Raph bopping fists. Another showed Leo and Mikey sparring. Another showed Don and Mikey on the couch, Mikey was asleep and leaning his head on Don's shoulder.
Another of Master Splinter giving Mikey his fist pair of nunchaku. One with them fighting against the purple dragons on the streets. One with them fighting their dark clones from the future. Another with them training with Cody.
"I miss the old Mikey." Don said sadly as he closed the album; nostalgia coming in waves.
Leo put a comforting hand on Donnie's shoulder "That's what we're here for Donnie; to find him and bring him back to us."
Raph didn't say anything; self-hatred, anger and pain evident in his amber eyes. Everyone could guess what was going through his head; this was all his fault.
Don put the album back where he got it and they jumped to the next puzzle piece.
This one resembled the room they'd first come to when they entered Mikey's mind; except this one wasn't as… well, dark or creepy. And it seemed more messy and lived-in.
Leo gazed at a picture frame on the nightstand; it showed Mikey, Karai and Chaplin. Mikey was looking withdrawn; he looked sadly to the floor, even with Karai's hand on his shoulder.
This must have been a memory from before the Shredder came back and put him through the training.
Finally they came to a puzzle piece that appeared to be their old Lair (A/N; The first one, the one they were forced out of because of Stockman's mousers) this one appeared to be used more, but it had a somewhat gloomy atmosphere.
"Michaelangelo is here; let us search." Master Splinter said and headed to the old dojo. Leo and Donnie headed towards the living room. Raph, however, stood there and glanced around to see if the other turtle had left a clue to where he was.
Ah hah – The door to Mikey's room was open a crack.
Raph headed to the door and, very slowly, pushed it and entered.
The room was dark, very dark, so dark even Raph a trained ninja could only see the inky outlines of the things in there; the room was cluttered, but Mikey wasn't lying on his bed. He was lying on the floor, almost as if he hadn't had the strength to make it to his bed. He was lying in a beam of light, a 'spotlight of shame' it seemed, that came from somewhere on the ceiling. The orange-masked turtle was lying on his side, his shell facing Raph.
Quietly Raph crept the unconscious turtle; when he was closer he saw Mikey was coated in blood and littered with several unhealed injuries. Unscarred versions of the scars he had in reality; even the gouge in his shell. Raph flinched when he saw a trail of blood running down Mikey's legs leading down from under his shell and mixed with another fluid. Raph knew what that 'injury' was.
"Mikey?" The red-masked turtle called gently, but the unconscious other did not even stir. Raph knelt down and put his hand on Mikey's shoulder and shook him "Bro, wake, please."
Slowly, dulled blue eyes opened a crack and gazed at Raph only to shut again.
"No Mikey – Don't go back to sleep! You need to wake up." Raph said more firmly and shook his younger brother more. "We're here to bring you back, bro, please get up."
Mikey's dull eyes opened again, after several moments of Raph shaking him he finally said "But I don't wanna…its warm here, I'm tired…" his eyes closed again and he curled into a ball.
Raph thought for a moment "Mikey, if you get up and come back with us, I promise you can sleep whenever you want; shell, even during training! Just wake up." He bargained.
"Why should I go back?" The half-unconscious turtle snapped, "To be hurt more? To suffer as everyone around me suffers? I'm tired of it all, Raph! I'm so tired… Everything hurts…"
"You can't sleep your problems away Mikey." Raph urged and lifted the younger turtle up a bit. "Please, we'll help you; we'll help make the pain go away."
"…Promise?" Mikey asked hopefully and gazed at Raph.
"I promise bro, now get up." Raph told him and lifted the other turtle to his feet. Seeing Mikey limp as they walked out, the red-masked hothead put Mikey's arm over his shoulder and supported him out.
"Hey Raph?"
"Yeah?"
"I never told you… I…I love you, Raphael. Even after all this, I still do. Is that wrong?"
"I don't know Mikey…I just don't know. I love you too, ya know."
"I know. Can we ever...?"
"I wish Mikey, I really wish we could."
They snapped back to their bodies.
"Did it work?" Leo asked aloud.
As if to answer, there was the sound of groaning. The family gathered around the youngest member as he slowly came too.
His eyes opened – they were groggy, tired and dull – but the dark shades of gray that had earlier clouded his eyes was swirling out of his iris and disappearing behind his pupil. The clouds of the storm were gone, his eyes were blue again.
Leo, Don and Raph couldn't help but grin.
"Who are you guys?" Mikey asked them confused, his voice was still gruff – that was probably permanent from smoking – but it was a slightly higher pitch and held a surfers accent.
His family looked at him in shock; amnesia? ! Ah…Shell!
Seeing their shocked and horrified faces, a half-hearted mischievous grin filled out Mikey's features.
"Got you!" He said and stared laughing "Ah man! You guys totally fell for it!"
Yup, Mikey was definitely back, well as 'back' as he can be.
Don't think this is the end!