They said the true bonding between siblings is made through fights.

So maybe that was the reason their bonds were incredibly strong.

Mikey believed they did have a fight countless times, like when he pulled a prank and Raph came to pound him to the ground. Although it was often one-sided since Mikey usually dodged a punch and let him explode, waiting until his brother was tired and gave up.

Donnie scolded him whenever he broke his equipment in the lab, but they would get back on good terms after some time.

But he couldn't recall the time when he fought with Leo. It was nice having the older sibling around, especially when he was much cooler than you. Mikey knew he deserved some payback when he pulled a prank but Leo never held a grudge. The Leo he knew was kind and forgiving, so why did he never feel close to him? Maybe it was Leo's duty to forgive because he was little brother. Maybe they didn't open up enough. Maybe they tried to extend the gap so they couldn't hurt each other.

The gap was stretched like an elastic band, and in the end it flicked back to hurt them anyway.


They clung to each other for a long time. Leo kissed his forehead and rocked him back and forth slowly. Mikey was still crying and babbling strings of endless apologies for everything he did. Although Leo didn't catch most of them, he heard something like 'I'm sorry I didn't kick Raph.' He hoped he was wrong because it sounded irrelevant.

The sobs began to subside, still Mikey was near the edge of hysteria as his arms fumbled around and finally moved to wrap around his big brother's neck. Leo cupped his little brother's face with both hands, using his thumbs to rub tears trickling down the cheeks, effectively forcing Mikey to meet his eyes.

"Mikey..."

Leo didn't realize his voice was so shaky. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"Michelangelo."

Mikey stopped sobbing abruptly as if he was in trouble, Oh, the power of full name. Leo thought and quickly corrected him.

"You've done nothing wrong. It was me, I'm sorry I make you feel this way."

He caught a recognition in his little brother's eyes as though he just realized Leo was in front of him. Mikey sniffled, exhausted from non-stopped crying. His body finally gave in and just splayed his legs on the floor.

Mikey finally blurted out. "I wanna go home."

He always voices his heart out, Leo shut his eyes at that thought before open them again. Mikey looked so lost, scared, and weak. Leo swallowed a lump in his throat, feeling broken seeing his brother at this state, crumbled by his own hands.

Leo whispered back. "I'll take you home."


When Mikey stirred and opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the old couch. Rubbing his eyes, he turned his head and saw green and blue blurred color on the right side. Leo was sitting on the floor holding his knees up loosely, head leaning on the armrest with eyes closed. Mikey blinked and looked at the yellow shining sun started rising through the window. It was already morning.

"Leo?"

His brother woke up at his name, turning his head to see little brother with an unreadable expression. For a moment Mikey realized he didn't know to say.

Apparently, Leo cut straight to the point. He looked intently at Mikey and apologized before he had a chance to say anything.

"I'm not mad at you, Mikey. I-" Leo sighed momentarily to calm himself. "I'm sorry for all I said that hurt you."

It wasn't his apology that muted Mikey, he just used the time to recollect what happened last night. And then he remembered that Leo was… jealous?

He blinked when he realized Leo was still waiting for his answer.

"Is that what you feel when I'm with Donnie?" Mikey asked hesitatingly.

"No! It's just… perhaps I'm just disappointed in myself."

Leo trailed off and stared at the floor, not meeting his eyes. Guilt was going to kill his brother from the inside if he didn't say out loud.

"Forgiven," Mikey said, suddenly felt awkward. Usually, when his brother and he made up, it was done within half an hour top. Mikey couldn't stay angry at his older brothers for long. But this was the first time he fought with Leo. It was at least three hours that he felt he was all by himself. He guessed it made he felt little uncomfortable. "Just… don't do that again, walking away from me, not talking to me. I was so scared I would end up alone."

"I'm sorry, I won't do that again."

Leo still sat on the floor with his head down as if he waited for execution. He thought his big brother intended to let him decide a punishment for him. Mikey came up with an idea and grinned mischievously.

"You gotta buy me ice cream when we get home."

At least that earned a muffled chuckle from his big brother. "Deal."

But he was far from finished, Mikey grinned even wider and pretended to check his nails.

"But, dude, you break the top record."

Now Leo's head lifted up with slight confusion. "Record of what?"

"The longest time Mikey pouts at someone."

Leo winced, feeling guilty than before.

"It's not bad, I'll give you a reward."

"...Humor me."

"How about a trip to a beach in Florida?"

Leo blinked, not sure what his little brother meant. Mikey looked amused yet his request sounded honest. He replied back with monotone voice after he decided it was not a joke."Master Splinter won't let us go out of New York."

Mikey looked a bit thoughtful then asked again. "Wax museum?"

Leo tilted his head at the uncommon idea. "Why do you want to go on the trip anyway?"

Mikey pointed at Leo and then himself. "Because I want to have some fun with you! You and I need some bonding time. Today I think we both know that we have some serious issues and I want to fix it! And I really want to visit wax museum." He paused to take a breath then continued. "I was going to tell you after we finished the mission. But, umm, since we're kinda stuck here so I want to ask you first. And now I think it's a good time to bring it up 'cause you can't say no to me!"

Leo blinked dumbly. Last night he rehearsed his apology hoping Mikey would forgive him. Somehow the situation turned into a trip to the beach. But he cannot argue back because for once Mikey spoke the truth. They had some issues to work on. He sighed.

"I'll remember to ask sensei for permission."

Mikey beamed. "So, is that a yes?"

Leo laughed with good nature, the weight out of his chest was already gone.

"Definitely."


Tonight they would try to cross the bridge again. Yesterday they gathered enough supplies to last for four days so now they were just exploring the city during daytime. The old newspapers they found were not useful as they didn't say anything about Kraang or infected people.

They sat on the top of the building looking at the bridge. Leo held the newspaper in his hand. "It seems that twenty years ago the fungus broke out, but there's no information after that." He flipped to next page. "They said something about quarantine zone, but as we can see they might be already destroyed."

Mikey, who tried his best to sound serious, asked. "Do you think Kraang did this? I mean, it doesn't seem like something they would do. This is not close to Dimension X, even creepier."

Leo looked down before he answered."We need to ask someone about Kraang and some information about this world. At least we have to know how to avoid getting infected."

"Umm, if I may," Mikey scratched his head. "How can we ask someone? If you haven't noticed, they all carry guns. I'm used to people screaming when they see me. But here I think they will scream and shoot me at the same time."

"Ask, or interrogate, if it's needed."

Oh, I think he tried to sound like Raph to make me feel less homesick.

Speaking of Raph...

"Can I ask you something?" Mikey bit his lower lip. "If it's possible, do you want Raph to come too?"

Leo didn't say anything and glanced over the buildings. Mikey thought he tried to turn away so he couldn't see his expression. The silence drenched between them for a long time. In the end he replied firmly. "No."

He wasn't sure how to reply back. He thought Leo was going to say 'Yes, so he can help me look after you,' 'No, I don't want him to suffer like us,' 'No. I think Donnie is a better choice. We could find a way home in ten minutes,' or something because that was what the leader often said to the followers. He waited, waited for more explanation. Because just a 'no' wasn't satisfied enough. But Leo didn't even look at him, just glancing aimlessly to the city below. Leo didn't elaborate and the conversation just ended like that. Mikey stared at the crack on the floor, thinking if Raph was here Leo would tell him everything.

He shook his head as if to scare that thought away. If they were stuck here long enough he was certain Leo would be more likely to open up to him since there was no one else he can talk to. Hah! That was his plan anyway.

"They must be worried,"

Mikey startled because he didn't expect his big brother to speak. Leo clenched his hands, his eyes tense as if he was angry again. But this time anger aimed at himself.

"It's like we just finished one adventure and then suddenly we start a new one. We never get a chance to stay home. And we have a thousand of things to do back home but we're stuck here. This is a waste of time." His voice was full of emotion Mikey couldn't describe, it was something close to disappointed, sad, and self-blame.

Well, yesterday I learned one of his secret thoughts, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine to go.

Mikey tried to do what he did best: he talked.

"I hate this dimension, but it's not entirely bad. It gives us a chance to clear our mind."

Leo perked up. "How so?"

"You leave everything in your head back on Earth and focus on one task: find a way to go back home. Don't think of anything else. Brains are squishy and incredibly fragile, bro. It cannot keep all stress in your life. We have to let some of them go."

Now Leo looked at him with new emotion. Mikey wasn't sure but it was something close to… proud? Before he could analyze it Leo patted his head and gave him a tiny smile. "Since when did you become my voice of reason?"

He smirked. "In the different dimension, Mikey always rules."

The sun was going down. The shadows began to cross the city. It was time. Mikey felt a need to speak it before they start the mission.

"You know, D and I are best buddies," Mikey saw Leo's body went rigid. They avoided this topic because they didn't want to recall the fight again. But Mikey thought it was important, at least to him, to let Leo know how he felt. "So we still have a lot to catch up. Our start may not be so smooth but we can work this out. I mean, if we don't want to be mushie's dinner then we have to trust each other, right? We're two turtles short but still a team. You got my back, I got yours. I don't know why you don't want Raph here, but it's okay I understand. I wouldn't want Ice cream kitty here too. She would melt… Umm, what I want to say is, I'm not as good as Raph but you can count on me."

He thought he made sense. He should. Because he just said everything he wanted to say and he couldn't even remember what he said. Mikey quickly made his way to the stairs. He was embarrassed for no reason. He didn't look back, afraid of what may come.

A soft voice echoed from the top, it was from his big brother.

"You're good enough, Mikey."

A warm feeling bloomed inside his chest. Mikey couldn't help but smile. It was a small step, but he was sure everything would be okay as long as he had Leo.


It wasn't difficult at all. The gang expected the intruders to walk on the bridge, so they went under it using grappling hook gun. He loved being ninja so much. They went through the first building near the bridge. This side of the city was illuminated with the dim lights from the buildings. On the ground, there were few armed men with a running truck.

"They're not from the military," Leo breathed, looking through the stained window. "But they sure have loads of weapons."

"So they're bad guys?" Mikey remembered his New York, it was easy to tell which one was good and bad. Footbots and Purple Dragons were bad. If new mutants attacked him, they were bad. The problem was they didn't know which side was a good guy. They could be good ones and still attacked him anyway.

"I think so. Don't let them see you. There are more people than the other side so we must be careful."

"I don't know. More living people means fewer mushies so it's a good thing?"

Leo frowned, and Mikey knew he thought about the group that killed the poor man on the first day. "People in this world feel… different. I think they're more dangerous than those zombies."

Mikey was going to correct the term 'zombie' for him when he stepped into the living room. It was like walking into the crime scene. Three corpses in the room, one near the wall, another two scattered on the floor, in pieces.

Mikey again did what he best at: he screamed.

It was logical actually. If Donnie was here, he would say something like it was a way to deal with momentarily overloaded stress. Suddenly a hand clasped over his mouth and dragged him to the windows ready to escape.

"Mikey, quiet!" Leo hissed.

He tried. But his voice didn't seem to cooperate with him.

"Mikey, you said we must look after each other's back. But if you're going to make noise every time we ran into dead bodies then I have to leave you behind."

His wide eyes looked at Leo. No, no, don't leave me! You can't leave me, bro!

Leo realized it was a bad choice of word so he cupped Mikey's face and looked straight at him. "Just calm down and look at me."

Mikey clamped his mouth shut and nodded.

"Good. Okay?"

Mikey nodded again. Oh hey, look, someone knows how to do when Mikey freaking out beside Donnie. Thank you for not slapping me.

Leo checked the room but he didn't hear any sound, maybe human hadn't heard them. He sighed.

"This is brutal. At this rate I'll have to cover my mouth for the rest of mission." Mikey tried to speak again with a low voice.

Leo deadpanned. "That's a good idea. Please do it."

That made him earn a glare from Mikey but he ignored it. His focus was on a pistol that was lying near the first corpse. He tentatively picked it up. Leo read about it in the past but he never saw a real one, guns he used so far were Kraang's or space laser gun.

Mikey whispered. "What are you doing? I thought you don't like guns?"

"No, I don't like them. I just want to learn how to use it, long-range weapons are quite effective to stop zombies."

"Mushies, dude."

"Fine. Mushies."

Leo tried to put his index through trigger guard but failed, then he had an idea "Our fingers are too big... But if we use the tip of finger..."

BANG!

Thankfully, this time Mikey didn't scream. He just jumped to the corner of the room and ducked his head. Leo's body stiffened as the bullet ran harmlessly through the wall near the corpse's head. Nobody got hurt.

Mikey craned his head to look at Leo, keeping his distance. "Dude, you're way louder than me."

"I-I think I should work on safety first." Leo's hands fumbled over pistol again. As mush as Mikey loved his brother, he chose to stay far behind him, didn't want to accidentally get in the range.

"Huh. Well, at least we can use it if we want. Fingertip?"

"Let's stick to our weapons then." Leo gave up and put it down on the floor.

They went into next room to collect more supplies. Mikey found two hoodies for them, they were going to use it if they planned to ask someone about Kraang. He was in the middle of finding a functional TV (he was desperate!) when Leo materialized beside him. Mikey was going to ask but the hand signal from his brother told him that someone was coming.

They heard a voice outside the room and quickly went to the window.

"Found a thief there?"

"Not yet." Another footstep. "I heard a gunshot, he must be on this floor. Alert the others that we have company."

Mikey gave him a smug look at that comment. Leo slapped his arm.

"Is he a tourist with a kid we met last week?"

"Dunno. We chased them out of our area already. He must be foolish enough to come back again."

Before those men came in the room, both brothers already made their way up to the rooftop. They jumped from rooftop to rooftop. This side of the city had more supplies, but they had to be extra careful since human patrol became more active after their unintentional gunshot. And if they went too deep in the building, a strange fog welcomed them with sounds of clicking they heard in the sewers last time. 'Mushies', as Mikey called, were practically everywhere in the basements. This wasn't quite a safe place for them. After few hours they went back to the bridge, Leo looked around for the last time to make sure he didn't miss any suspicious activities on the ground.

Still, no sight of Kraang.

"So, what now?"

Leo thought for a moment and gave an answer.

"Let's head back to the apartment. Tomorrow we'll find someone and ask about Kraang."

Mikey looked troubled, after seeing corpses he didn't think he would have a good sleep tonight. And to think tomorrow they would meet a living one which might as well shot them on the first sight. He shuddered.


Author's note: This chapter is long. Usually I'll cut it and put it to next chapter but this one is important for the flow of story so I didn't cut anything. I'll try to update every Friday (GMT+7), which is probably Thursday night or morning in US... Thanks for reading!

I saw "Broken foot" and it's quite good. I was secretly hoping Leo would go dark side lol but this was okay, I can find Dark!Leo in IDW. Aaand he's still on one-man mission. I hope Raph knocks a sense to him, literally.