Where Are You?
Mikey picked April up on her rooftop. The two of them would look for Mikey's brothers in the streets closest to the lair, while the Mutanimals investigated other parts of the city.
Casey hadn't answered his phone. Maybe he was busy with some thugs, or maybe he was sleeping blissfully in his comfy bed. Something Mikey wasn't going to do any time soon.
"Mikey!" April ran to him as soon as she noticed his presence. "Are you okay? You sounded really anxious on the phone."
Mikey hadn't wanted to sound anxious, but he was, thank you very much. So it wasn't impossible that April would have caught it, especially as she was very good in the emotional department–unlike Raph, for example. Raph was terrible at this, except when he comforted Mikey after Mikey had lost a friend who wasn't a friend.
Mikey really missed Raph right now, and Donnie and Leo. Donnie would either have found an explanation about the pink genie, or freaked out about them, and both would have been fun to watch. Leo would have made a plan to keep them all together and in one piece. Raph would have been Raph, which was what Mikey loved the most about him.
"So why are Donnie, Raph and Leo missing?" April asked. "You mentioned a genie, but I'm afraid I missed how exactly they're involved."
"I messed up," Mikey stated sadly.
He wasn't trying to move her to pity, so he didn't use his trademark puppy dog eyes, but there must have been something in his face because April immediately wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"It's okay, Mikey. Whatever it is, I'll help you fix it."
"Thanks, April." Mikey smiled at her with gratitude.
"So what happened?"
Mikey told her the whole story again. He tried to keep the details to a minimum so April wouldn't get lost. It was easier than on the phone, because he could see on her face when she stopped following.
April's face looked really pale when Mikey was done, but the kunoichi didn't reproach Mikey anything. She only hugged him tighter.
Mikey thought he might not have his brothers right now, but he still had awesome friends, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
After a while, April took a few steps aside and pressed her fingers against her temples. "Let me see what I can do."
Mikey knew what she was doing. She was using her powers to track his brothers' spiritual energy.
"Can you sense them?" he couldn't help asking, even if he managed not to grab her by the shoulders. He didn't want to break her concentration.
April didn't answer immediately. After a few seconds, she let her arms fall to her sides. "No. Maybe they're too far away."
She was trying to sound reassuring, but Mikey could feel her growing anxiety. He swallowed hard. He had hoped that April's amazing kraangy powers would make his task easier, but obviously they would have to do this the hard way.
Mikey remembered how Master Splinter kept saying that hard work always paid off. Mikey was going to work so hard on finding his brothers, the universe would have no choice but to surrender them.
"Where was the shop?" April asked. "I might be able to track them better from here."
Mikey immediately perked up. Maybe hard work wouldn't be required after all. "I can show you. Let's go!"
He started running towards the place where the Halloween shop had stood. When he looked back to see if April was following, though, he realized that he had left her in the dust. In his worry, he had forgotten that she couldn't run as fast as he did.
He slowed down so she could catch up.
"So," April said, panting. "What…have you guys…been doing?"
"Before an evil genie took my brothers away?" Mikey asked. "We were patrolling, but it was very quiet. Raph was complaining because he wanted a fight, so Leo suggested a training exercise instead, so Raph complained even more."
Mikey smiled as he remembered the scene.
"Donnie and I started complaining too, so Leo said we could go to Murakami's next and he would give his portion of pizza gyōza to the winner. It was cheating, because even Raph and Donnie can't resist that food. Pizza gyōza is so good."
Mikey didn't mention that he admired Leo for being willing to sacrifice his portion of such marvelous cooking. Mikey himself would never have offered that kind of bargain.
April smiled as she ran. "And what…was the exercise…about?"
"It was a race. The first on the top of a nearby building won." Mikey shook his head. "At first it looked like Raph was going to win, then Donnie tripped him, then I trapped Donnie, and I thought I was the first up but Leo was already here."
And somehow Leo had found pizza, regular pizza in its square box that he had offered to Mikey with a grin. Mikey had stopped pouting to eat as much slices as he could before Donnie and Raph arrived. He would have managed to eat the entire pizza if Leo hadn't stopped him.
"Then we went to Murakami's, and I tried to steal one of Donnie's pizza gyōzas, but he wouldn't let me, even after I begged him."
Talking did him good. Maybe April had known that, and that was why she had kept asking even though talking was difficult while she was running. It helped Mikey not to think about the fact his brothers might be in trouble right now. Maybe they were being eaten alive by Squirrelanoids. Maybe to the Squirrelanoids, teenage mutant ninja turtles were as delicious as pizza gyōza to Mikey and his brothers.
Mikey shivered. He didn't want to think about this, he didn't. With great effort, he managed to kick the thought out of his head.
And don't come back! he yelled at it.
The Squirrellanoids squeaked in dismay, but he ignored them.
April and Mikey were arriving above the alleyway where Mikey had found the Halloween shop not even two hours ago. Now he wished he never had, even though its contents had been awesome.
"It's here." Mikey pointed at the empty place. "The shop was right here, and then it vanished."
"Let me see."
April started climbing down, and Mikey followed her. Once on the ground, she closed her eyes, extending her arms in all directions. Mikey thought she looked like a robot, which was rather cool.
April opened her eyes. "I felt something," she said. "A fleeting presence. It vanished when I tried to focus on it."
"And my brothers?" Mikey wrapped his arms around himself. He didn't care about presences that weren't Donnie, Leo or Raph.
April bit her lip. "I couldn't locate them, but I have a feeling that they've been separated."
"What?" Mikey hadn't considered this possibility. "This is terrible!"
"Maybe not," April tried to soothe him. "Maybe they'll hide better that way."
Mikey could tell that she wasn't convinced, but he appreciated her efforts to cheer him up.
"Let's keep looking," he said.
They didn't have any time to lose, especially if they were looking for three poor lonesome turtles instead of a bunch of three amnisa.. anmesi… brothers having lost their memories.
Mikey thought that if Donnie had been here, he would have known the word Mikey was trying to remember and helpfully provided it. Donnie was always so eager to help Mikey with words and stuff. He would have helped Mikey find him if he could have, but of course things didn't work that way.
Mikey and April combed each nearby street, and then the streets after these. Mikey stayed focused, not thinking too much about the pigeons who reminded him of Pigeon Pete and the way he had just vanished one day–maybe it was a conspiracy? Maybe it had been the pink genie too? But when he shared this theory with April, she just shook her head, as if she knew something about Pigeon Pete that Mikey didn't.
He also tried not to stop in front of the new Halloween movie posters, even though they were freaking awesome, and he was sure he could have convinced Leo to go to the movie theater. He would have had to insist, of course, but he was certain he would have won in the end, because Leo couldn't refuse him anything he really wanted.
And when they passed by a new pet shop, he just made a mental note to go look at it later, when things would have settled down. He knew there was a very real chance that said note would become lost in the maze of his amazing brain, but he was willing to take the risk. He needed to focus on finding his brothers.
The pet shop made him think about his own pet, Ice Cream Kitty. He still hadn't told her about his brothers' disappearance. Ice Cream Kitty was very good at comforting Mikey, almost as good as Raph.
Mikey had lost track of time, but when the first sunbeams appeared at the horizon, he realized that the night was ending and he had to go back to the sewers.
His shoulders sagged. They had failed to find Raph, Leo and Donnie. The Mutanimals didn't have more luck, and Mikey tried very hard to ignore the giant lump in his throat when he hung up with Slash.
April watched him with her most determined expression, the one that reminded him of Leo. "I'll keep looking. I'll go to Casey's place and drag him out of bed, and we'll scout the city. Go back to the lair and try to get some sleep."
"Okay," Mikey said, sadly.
After a last hug, he made for the closest manhole cover and disappeared in the sewers.
Alone.
Mikey dragged his feet the whole distance between the manhole cover and the lair. He didn't want to come back and tell Splinter that he had failed. He didn't want to see his father's shoulders sag, he didn't want to read the worry creasing his face. Splinter thought Mikey didn't notice such things, but Mikey did.
He felt terrible. He had lost his brothers for a few hours only, but he already felt like the last survivor of a grand disaster.
But there was only so much feet-dragging you could do, and Mikey finally arrived at the lair.
As he had expected it, Splinter was waiting for him. "Any luck, my son?"
Mikey shook his head, letting his face do the talking for him.
Splinter sighed. "I was unlucky as well. Try to get some sleep, my son, you're going to need all your energy for the task ahead of us."
"Hai, Sensei," Mikey said sadly.
Before going to bed, though, he made a detour to the kitchen. He opened the freezer and took Ice Cream Kitty in his arms.
She immediately licked his face like the awesome ice cream cat she was.
"Kitty, I don't know where my brothers are," Mikey whined in her open ear. "I made a stupid wish that a stupid genie interpreted like they pleased, and now Leo, Donnie and Raph are lost somewhere in the city."
Dread suddenly filled Mikey's heart. Were his brothers truly in the city? For all he knew, the genie had sent them halfway through the world.
Mikey hid his entire head inside Ice Cream Kitty's body.
"I want them back," he whispered.
Ice Cream Kitty patted his head. They both remained silent for a while. Mikey would have slept like this if he could have, but Ice Cream Kitty was going to melt if she stayed out of the freezer for the entire day and Mikey had lost enough family members as it was.
So he put her back into the freezer and went to his room. He collapsed on his bed, holding his T-Phone against his plastron as if it were a teddy bear. His eyes closed of their own volition, and after a few minutes he was fast asleep.
The shop was filled with candy. Mikey was eating it, savoring each delicious piece, until suddenly there was no more candy. Mikey realized that his brothers had been eating it too, faster than Mikey.
"It's so delicious," Raph said.
"Good think you remembered where it was, Donnie," Leo said.
"You know I remember everything." Donnie smiled smugly.
Mikey frowned. "I wish you had forgotten about my candy, Donnie," he said.
Suddenly there was pink smoke in the room, and it tasted sweet like the candy. "Wish granted," the pink smoke said, and Mikey's brothers disappeared.
"They will never eat your candy again," the smoke said, turning black. Its voice was much more ominous now. "Because they'll never be with you again."
Mikey woke up with a start. The light in his room was still switched on, offering a life-saving contrast with the last part of his dream, and Mikey managed not to yell.
He still didn't want to go back to sleep, not when he was alone in his room, not after a nightmare.
Normally he would have chosen one of his brothers' doors and knocked, and slid inside the room and slid inside his brother's bed, and let himself be soothed and cuddled until it was safe to fall asleep again, but his brothers weren't here.
Mikey stood up, shivering. On light feet, he made a beeline for the dojo, switching on every light on his path. He stopped in front of the panels that delimited his father's private quarters.
"Dad?" he called softly.
"Michelangelo?"
His father's voice sounded perfectly awake. Maybe Mikey had yelled after all, and Splinter had heard him, or maybe Splinter hadn't been sleeping at all.
"I've had a nightmare," Mikey explained in a very small voice. "Can I stay with you tonight?"
It had been years since he had last asked for that. At some point his brothers had stopped coming to Splinter for nightmares, saying they were grown up enough, so Mikey had stopped too because he didn't want to be called a baby.
Tonight he didn't care.
Then he remembered that his brothers weren't going to know anyways, stupid of him to forget that, and he stifled a sob.
"Yes," Splinter said softly. "Come in, Michelangelo."
Splinter was sleeping on a futon, so Mikey curled up on the floor next to him. Then he realized that he had forgotten his T-Phone in his room. What if someone tried to call him to give him news of Donnie, Leo or Raph?
"I'll be right back!" Mikey said, jumping on his feet.
When he came back with his T-Phone, Splinter had lighted three candles and was sitting on his futon. The candlelight created ghostly shadows in the room, and Mikey hurried to hide his face against the fabric of Splinter's robe.
Splinter wrapped his strong arms around Mikey's shell and stroked his neck with soft back-and-forth moves.
"It's alright, my son," Splinter whispered. "You're safe."
"But Donnie, Raph and Leo aren't," Mikey sobbed. "And it's all my fault."
Splinter stroked the top of Mikey's head with his cheek. His whiskers were tickling Mikey, who sobbed even more.
"We're going to find them," Splinter whispered in Mikey's ear. "I know we will. You have to be patient."
Mikey knew that, of course, because nothing could keep him away from his brothers–well, at least not for long. But it was so very hard to wait. Mikey had always been terrible at the patience thing.
So he kept sobbing in his father's arms, his hands clutching the T-Phone that stayed desperately silent, until exhaustion got the better of him and he fell asleep nestled in his father's lap.
Author's Note: This chapter has 'Wanted' vibes, don't you think?
Something like
WANTED
Three brothers, having served a lot but still in very good condition, also turtles. If you find them, feed them pizza and drop them off into the sewers, they don't bite (at least two of them don't)
and also like
WANTED
A cheerful Mikey
Just saying.
