(Two days later...)

It was another bright and sunny day with a cool breeze. It was warm and Mikey liked it. So he was glad they were walking down the main road to… somewhere. To be honest, he didn't know where they were heading to, he just followed his big brother.

He didn't know where he was aside from the fact that they were several miles from New York city. Where was here anyway? Leo was the one who carried a map and didn't explain anything as he led Mikey to the main road, telling him to follow. They started walking and didn't stop for an hour, not that he was tired, but he was clueless about the destination.

At least today was a nice day to take a walk. For two days, they had prepared everything they needed to survive on the vacant road, including their garments. Mikey wore a red short-sleeved scotch shirt, a black fedora, and a sunglasses on his head. He was still looking for an underwear, though. All of his items were in a good condition, but none of them were matched, making him look ridiculous. Mikey claimed it was a new trend from New York anyway. He also added that they weren't used to sunlight and needed to protect his sensitive baby skin, which made Leo rolled his eyes.

He offered to help with Leo's fashion but his brother wisely turned down. Leo just collected the clean clothes and sewed a grayish long cloak similar to the one he had during their training in Northampton. He also made a new bow and arrows for hunting. The sheaths hanged on his side. So it was obvious that their styles clashed. Mikey didn't care much.

With the road full of trashes and abandoned cars, his brother's back was the most interesting sight compared to the surroundings. His eyes traced the floating bandana tails on his brother's back like a cat playing with a prey wand. But if they were going to find the Kraang, it would take a lot of time to reach their destination on foot. And he needed something to entertain himself other than watching the blue bandana tails.

Mikey started with a simple question.

"So, where are we going?"

Leo didn't stop or looked back at him. His gaze fixed on the empty road ahead with a map in his hand. "I heard that Fireflies and Kraang are in Colorado. We'll start at that place first."

"Colorado? How far is it?"

Leo finally showed him a mark on his map. Mikey stared at it, then looked at New York city on the map, and looked at the mark again as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Uh, you know that it'll take months to walk there, right?" He asked slowly.

"I'm afraid so. We don't have a vehicle," Leo huffed, pointing at the pile of cars on the side. "Unless you know how to fix one of them."

"Dude, I know I spend a lot of time around D, but I'm not going to take his reputation. Fixing things is Donnie's specialty."

"Why not? Last time you played in his lab, you created a super retro-mutagen."

"...Did you just encourage me?"

Leo shrugged. "There's nothing to lose here."

Mikey wasn't sure if Leo just made fun of him. He looked at the row of cars and tempted to do a miracle on them, but he realized without a tool he would waste their time. "Nah. I don't want it to explode in my face. Just look at them, they're all expired. It'll need ten Donnies to fix one car here."

There was a tiny smile on his brother's face, a rare one since they left the town.

"It'd be nice if he's here..." Leo mumbled and turned to face him. "Since we don't have a luxury, I think we have to go on foot only. We won't get lost if we follow the main road."

Mikey made a tired face. "Walking huh. Is that the only option? We'll grow old before we reach there."

Leo looked over his shoulder, quirking his eye ridge. "It's just a month if we make it quick. You said you want to practice a trip, so just think this is a good chance to do it then."

Mikey looked thoughtful for a bit. Suddenly, he beamed. "Leo, you're genius! That means I'll have a whole month with you and you alone! I'll have the privilege to snuggle you every night!"

"Yeah, and I'll have to stay with you 24/7." Leo rubbed his forehead, thinking about headaches he would get from his little brother. "I'll have gray hairs before we reach Colorado."

"You don't even have hair, Leo." Mikey snorted, taking the first privilege by draping his arm across Leo's shoulders. "Don't worry! You are with the right turtle! You'll never get bored!"

"Thanks. I feel so lucky."

They continued walking side by side. Mikey took a time to enjoy the trees and the sun. Not every day he could walk under the sun freely like this, and he probably had months to do so. This began to feel like the real vacation. But it was too quiet. He glanced at Leo who took a job checking the map with the serious face. If Mikey was going to turn this trip into the vacation, he had to loosen his brother up a bit. He broke the silence with a second question.

"Do you think Raph and Donnie will come after us? To this dimension?"

"I hope not. But if they do, I already left a message about where we are going."

"Oooh." That's why he's our leader, Mikey thought. He didn't think of that.

"But we don't know if they can follow us to this dimension so we can't wait for them. We have to find the Kraang too. I want to know what are they up to."

It was a good plan, finding the way home and learned about the Kraang in this world. He could live with that. It just needed a little tweak to add some funs in the plan, like visiting tourist attractions on the way.

This time, Leo started the conversation.

"Mikey."

"Hmm?"

"Since we're going to have a lot of time to spend here, we should continue our routine."

"Huh? What routine?"

It was Leo's turn to beam. "Training, of course. And meditation."

Mikey groaned. Of course Leo insanely loved training. He should know there was nothing to stop his brother even if they were in another dimension. This time he would have to suffer. Alone.

This privilege sucks.

He tried to argue miserably. "How can we meditate? I thought we're in a hurry. We'll spend too much time sitting and not going anywhere."

Surprisingly, Leo seemed to ponder on what he said, which was rare because his brothers hardly listened to him. He tapped his finger to his chin and answered thoughtfully. "I've heard of kinhin, a walking meditation. We can do that instead of sitting."

"Kinhin? How to meditate when you're walking?"

Mikey seemed to interest about it so Leo happily elaborated. "It's easy. You have to allow your awareness to be with your body, focus on the sensation of breathing and keep attention on the rhythm of the walking. You don't have to close your eyes for the whole process."

"Wow. You've tried it before?"

"Yes. What we gain isn't the deep meditation, but we use the experience of walking as our focus. Walking back and forth to become aware of things outside of ourselves."

"Wow… That's nice." Mikey was impressed until he asked. "But if we keep going back and forth, how can we reach Colorado then?"

"..."

Leo opened his mouth to give an answer, but he sighed and let the subject drop. For now. At least he was certain he got Mikey's attention about the trip, not the incident that happened two days ago…


(Two days earlier...)

Leo could only shield his brother from the sight of Henry's body, holding him close to his chest, blocking the scene from his innocent mind. However, he couldn't tear his eyes from Sam who lied on his back, blood clogged on the side of his head. His skin turned brown as the fungus virus grew inside him. This was the first stage of infection, and it took less than a day to turn the child into the demon. Unconsciously, Leo tightened his embrace, seeking the comfort from his crying brother. Finally, he dragged his gaze away. With the smell of copper lingering in the room, he couldn't get rid of the image inside his head.

Henry's body was behind him, while Sam lied in front of him. He couldn't escape.

They were dead. Their friends were dead.

He couldn't believe this was real…


"NO!"

Leo jerked away from his thought and turned to his brother abruptly. "What happened!?"

"This is not true!"

Leo wasn't sure if it was one of Mikey's breakdown, but when he saw a comic book in his hands he sighed heavily. Mikey would give him a heart attack soon at this rate. He asked anyway.

"What is it?"

"THIS!" Mikey waved the comic up and down. "Can you believe this!? It said 'to be continued'! How can I find the next issue here!?"

"..."

Now he knew what Raph felt when he smacked his little brother's head. As much as he wanted to do it, Leo kept his hands to himself and tried to ignore him.

But Mikey shoved it into his face. "Look at him, Leo! Silver Sentry is super cool! We should have this comic at home. Can I keep it?"

He heaved a sigh, pushing it away. "As long as it doesn't take much space in your backpack."

Mikey squealed with joy. "I wonder if they have a cartoon about him. He's as cool as Crognard."

"No one is cooler than Captain Ryan," Leo said absently.

Mikey turned to him with wide eyes, before grinning mischievously.

"What did you just say, Da Vinci?"

"Keep reading and be quiet, Michelangelo."

He turned his attention to the road while Mikey laughed. He would let his little brother enjoy in his own world for now.

Mikey still got excited about the new comic he found. Eventually, Leo told him that he couldn't carry them all and need to throw some away. So Mikey only kept his favorite books and stuffed them in his backpack. Occasionally, he would check the rusted car near the traffic rails to find something to read and then throw away later.

Although Leo preferred a peaceful trip, the lack of his brother's voice started to unsettle him. He didn't realize there would be the day he wanted Mikey to talk because back in the lair he never stopped talking, but since there were only two of them here he had to keep an eye on him. Hearing his voice constantly would make him feel better.

"Wow..."

Leo tilted his head. Mikey found a new book and kept making a weird sound like that for past five minutes.

"What are you reading?"

When Mikey didn't answer him, he turned to his little brother. When he saw what he was reading, he snatched it out of his hands and blushed madly.

"Hey!" Mikey frowned at him, but he didn't care at the moment. Leo took a quick look on the magazine, still blushing.

"Where did you get this?"

"In a pick-up we passed five minutes ago." Mikey crossed his arms, not amused. "That's rude, you know. If you want to read just ask. I'll gladly give it to you."

"I-I don't want to read it! We shouldn't read this kind of book!" Leo spluttered.

"Why? Is it because they have creepy pose in it? It looks uncomfortable with her tiny clothes and all-"

"MIKEY!"

"Umm, sorry?"

Honestly, Mikey felt like he did something wrong but he didn't know what it was. He bet if it was Raph he would be more than happy to read with him. Leo still didn't throw it away, but the way he touched it like it burned his skin made him curious.

"Do you know why there're only girls in that magazine?"

"NO."

Mikey blinked, stepping back and held his palms up. "Chillax, dude. I take a look at it because I missed her."

"Who?"

"My beautiful angel, of course." Mikey clasped his hands together and made a sound like a purring of a cat. "Ah, I wanna see her again. I miss her so much."

Leo stared at him for a moment before replying with a flat tone. "Playboy reminds you of Renet. Right."

"But she's so cute! The girls in the magazine are cute too, except their weird poses. But after a few pages I think Renet is prettier than them. I mean, her big round eyes shine every time I look at her. But in the magazine the girls make dreamy eyes like they're tired and wanted to go to sleep."

Leo thanked heaven when he heard that Mikey was interested in their eyes more than other parts of their body.

"I think they want to go to bed but for different reason." Leo deadpanned.

"What do you mean?"

His big brother sighed. "Let's… talk about something else."

Since Leo wasn't going to give it back to him soon, and he was kinda bored of it already, Mikey decided to start talking with a new topic.

"How come you never talk about girls with me?"

Leo made a not-so-dignified sound. "What?"

"Even Donnie asks me for advice sometimes. You never talk about Miwa with me. You didn't even tell D and me until we met her."

"T-There's nothing to talk about!"

"But I know you talked to Raph about her and vice versa." Mikey leaned closer and nudged him. "Come on, don't leave me out of the loop!"

"I-I just comfort him because it'll be a while until we see Mona Lisa again."

"Did he tell you why he likes her?"

Leo gave him a side-eye look. "Even if he did, I won't tell you."

"Whyyy? I told you why I like Renet. You should tell me too!"

"Mikey! That's enough!"

"Come on! You gotta tell me something!"

"I have nothing to tell you, okay?"

Mikey huffed. "Why? Because Raph is not here?"

Leo chose to stay silent, biting his bottom lip. Somehow the silence irked Mikey. He lashed out at Leo before he could stop himself.

"You always talk to Raph about, I don't know, everything! Is this one of only-grown-ups thing? Keeping me in the dark? Because you push me out of the loop all the time."

"It's not like that. I..."

"Nevermind," Mikey cut him off. "I'm sorry... I won't ask again."

Mikey felt like they were back to the night where they had the argument about stupid jealousy. He had to stop because he didn't want to see that icy stare again.

The rest of the trip was awkward. Leo kept walking in silence, while he flipped a page on a car magazine he found, tailing after his brother.


Leo was the one who buried them.

Mikey found a shovel in the closet and dug two deep graves under the tree near the tower, but he didn't stay when Leo buried them. His little brother's hands were shaking when he saw Leo dragging the corpses, leaving a red trail on the green grass. Suddenly Mikey had an urge to run away from here. He wanted to run and not coming back, but he couldn't. He ran back to the tower and waited for Leo at the door, not taking his eyes off his big brother but not coming closer.

Slowly, Leo put them into the grave, gripping the shovel and scooping the dirt to cover them. When the task was done, he felt his mind went blank. He couldn't move for a minute, wondering why he was here. And then he remembered he just buried his human friends. Leo turned around to meet his little brother, took a deep breath and tried to stop his own hands from shaking too much.

Mikey waited until he walked back, and clung on his arm to get into the radio tower together.


He ran out of magazines to read. He already finished 'Silver Sentry' five times. They kept quiet since their last talk, or maybe Leo was avoiding him. Fine. But he couldn't do it forever. Mikey didn't want to start the conversation this time, but he was bored. He wanted someone to talk to. So when his hand brushed on T-phone in his belt he wasted no time to pick it up and make a call.

Apparently, it didn't work, so Mikey shook it a few times.

"What are you doing this time?" Leo's voice came from the front.

"I'm trying to call Donnie, but T-phone doesn't work."

Leo slowed down to walk beside him. "Of course it doesn't work. Put it back. We need to keep the batteries."

"Don't worry. We can recharge it with solar function. Just press here."

Mikey pressed the screen. The top panel of the phone moved, revealing the small solar cell. Leo blinked.

"When did he install that function?"

"Last week, bro. He told me he got an idea from Professor Honeycutt to recharge the battery. So we can continue using the phone if we're out of the lair for a long time."

Leo took his phone and pressed the screen to activate the function. "I see. This recharge function will come in handy."

"But why I can't call him? I can't even call you even if you're three steps away from me."

Leo saved some troubles of explaining about mobile network by giving a simple answer. "Because Donnie's not here?"

"Oh man. This sucks." Mikey whined, already forgot why he wanted to use the phone in the first place. Then he found the game icon on the screen. "Hey, T-phone isn't entirely useless. See? I can still play games."

Leo smiled tiredly. "That's good. Please keep yourself busy until we reach the next town."

Their argument was long forgotten. Mikey realized that he was talking to Leo again like nothing happened.

Right. When there's only two of us left, it's possible to tick each other off, Mikey thought. And it's possible to have fun together too.

"Leo, Leo, Leo!"

Mikey tackled him from behind, making him sway a little. Leo raised his eye ridge, apparently not fully comprehended about why his little brother acted like six years old. "What is it?"

"I'm really sorry." His voice muffled by the fabric on Leo's back.

"Huh? About what?"

"I won't ask you about your love life again."

Leo flushed. "Mikey, I don't have a love life."

"Yeah, I won't ask about that either."

Leo shook his head with a chuckle. Mikey still planted his face in his neck and held his grip firmly. So he raised his hand and touched his little brother's cheek affectionately. "But… if you ask about something else, I'll tell you, okay? I won't… keep you in the dark anymore."

Mikey perked up, leaning towards so he could look at Leo's ocean blue eyes. They were calm and kind like the first day he remembered. "So we're good?"

"For now."

Mikey stuck his tongue out and bleh! at him. He felt Leo's chest rumbled with a laugh. "You know, if you keep this up you're going to beat Raph's record soon."

"No way. You two fight so many times. Even our genius brother gave up counting a long time ago."

"Yes, but you apologized to me more than he did."

Mikey giggled when the image of Raph saying sorry aggressively popped up in his head before he confessed softly. "Leo, I miss home."

He felt Leo's hand rubbed his arm. "We will go home together, I promise."

Nodding slowly, he released his big brother and took T-phone out of his belt.

"Let's take a selfie before we go home! Come on, we must have a proof we've been here when we're back home."

The background wasn't pleasant, full of rusted cars and the trees. The sky was clear and the sun was warm. Anyone who looked at the picture afterward would think they were on the vacation, exploring the countryside. Mikey was grinning like a fool, moving around to find the right angle for both of them, squeezing Leo to get in the frame together. Leo looked him with concern, but he no longer found the fear in those bright blue eyes.

Mikey was oblivious to his worries and called him to looked at the camera.

So Leo smiled.


Mikey sobbed.

Deciding the tower couldn't be a shelter for them anymore, they prepared to go as soon as possible. Mikey kneeled in front of their graves, holding flowers he collected from the field before putting them on the dirt. Leo stood tall beside him, clenching his hands the whole time.

His little brother took something from the backpack. The plastic football from yesterday. He placed it near the flowers. His once sky blue eyes dimmed as he continued crying.

"Why…?"

"Mikey..."

"Yesterday I wanted to play with him but he didn't want to. I thought he didn't like me. I thought he was in the bad mood so I left him and hope he'll play with me in the morning, but..." Mikey sobbed, bowing his head. "Why...?"

Leo didn't have an answer for that question. He just stood like a stone statue, unable to do anything.

When Mikey got up on his feet, Leo saw undoubtedly fear and sadness in his eyes. Mikey stared at him for a moment before wrapping his arms around him.

"It's not your fault."

"Mikey?"

"Raph is not here so I'll say that for him. I know you need a reminder not to take all the blame." Mikey looked up at him. "And you said it's nobody's fault..."

Leo whispered weakly. "You're strong, Mikey. Maybe even stronger than me."

"There's nothing you can do."

He rose his voice for no reason, no, he was angry, but he didn't know anymore why he had to be, he didn't care. "Really? Is there nothing I can do to prevent this? Do you think Sam wanted to get infected?"

"He didn't tell us he got bitten. I don't why but he chose not to." Mikey countered with a loud voice as if he wanted to emphasize his words, to make Leo believe him. "And Henry-He… he..."

He was going to argue, but Mikey was crying again. A fresh tear ran down his cheeks. Leo cupped his face with his hands, using his thumbs to dry his face. Mikey's clear blue eyes stared at him again. He must catch something inside of him because he tried to soothe him when he spoke again.

"Leo, please. I don't want you to lose yourself again. Last time you were so angry and disappointed and depressed then you did stupid act in space. I-I can't do this alone." Mikey's broken voice rang in his head. Alone.

His little brother was crying so hard he couldn't utter a word, and when he did it was like his heart bled those words for him. "I can't… There's nobody out there. If you're gone, I'd be all alone."

Alone.

Mikey was comforting him, begging him not to go.

Go where?

Maybe he saw something in his blank eyes. Maybe he saw that he was still crying silently, shutting him out. Maybe he saw that his big brother was leaving him again.

But he won't go anywhere. The word 'alone' pinned him, suffocated him, but he would stay this time.

"You're wrong." Leo nuzzled his little brother's cheek.

"Huh?"

"It's not the easy way out."

Mikey was confused for a moment before the realization kicked in. Leo buried his face in his neck. At least if he couldn't go anywhere he could hide his tears from the world.

Mikey's voice echoed in his head again and again.

"It's okay… Everything's gonna be okay."

To think Mikey had to comfort him, Leo wanted to laugh, but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything other than crying. His knees finally gave in and he almost collapsed if Mikey didn't hold him.

The scene when they were fighting on the street emerged. If only he came back faster, if only he ran to Sam faster, but then he remembered Henry would die on the spot if he didn't help kicking five clickers that were on the top of him. He began to believe Mikey that there was nothing he could do. He couldn't save both of them at the same time. He wanted to believe it, but the guilt flooded over him because in the end he couldn't save any of them.

He thought about how he killed humans yesterday. It wasn't pretty. It was the first time that he intended to kill someone. He felt sick, but he couldn't tell Mikey. Not yet. Mikey didn't have to suffer like him.

He hated the idea of killing. He hated the idea of getting used to killing. It was easy to rip the last breath out of someone. But if someone was the one who was close to him, could he still make it?

Even though he hesitated, he knew he would. If it was for Mikey, he would do it.

But Henry spared him by shooting Sam and committing suicide; he didn't have to kill them. However, the human siblings left a serious question to them.

'If the loved one was infected, could you do the right thing?'


Author's note: The last question is from Last of Us trailer.

'Silver Sentry' is just an easter egg. There's no other turtles in LoU.

I have fun writing this chapter. It's very difficult to write especially near the end of Henry and Sam's story... They are one of many reasons I want to write this AU. Last of Us still has some areas left to explore so I'll try my best to bring it out.

For those who has played the game, I can say that Winter is coming (no pun intended). But it could be Spring, Summer, or Fall in next chapter, I don't know, haven't decided yet.

Speaking about the game, you can skip this part. I'm just babbling lol.

I just found out Days Gone isn't Last of Us 2 /sad face… It's totally different world. Zombie in Days Gone is called a Freaker (wait waht?), that's all I know. I'll dig it as long as it has awesome storyline. And I was in the middle of finding inspiration in DA and Pixiv (I warn you, if you think DA is a maze, Pixiv is the abyss. You can get in but can't get out…) and found doujinshi about 2007 version. Wow, I didn't know Donnie is really cool, the coolest version ever. I like him! Gonna rewatch 2007 movie again for him.

Okay, I'm done. Thank you for reading!