Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT. I wish I did, though. LOL! I can only dream to.
Warning: This fic may contain some harsh language and maybe some violence. Thank you all for reviewing my story, because it really means a lot to me. I hope you guys will like this chapter!
SILENCE
Chapter 8
By Raphangela
"Mikey!"
Raphael sees that his youngest brother has finally awakened and tries to fight the urge to strongly embrace him, but the feeling quickly dies down into a repulsive feeling when he captures his brother's eyes. Michelangelo had sat upward, looking directly at him with a look that is both fearsome and ferocious. Mike's eyes seem to glow in the dimness of the room, making him look all cat-like. Michelangelo's expression looks mysterious and devious, as if his mind is somewhere else, but he is there at the same time.
Raphael tries to study his brother's eyes more to find out if his brother has changed or not, but his brother quickly shuts his eyes and turns away from him to prevent Raph from looking intensively into his eyes more. Raphael looks at him strangely and reaches over to touch his brother on the shoulder. However, Michelangelo grunts and moves away from his brother's touch, not wanting to be touched by him.
Raphael bites his lower lip in confusion and then sighs when he realizes what the problem is. "Mike, about what happened that night… I didn't mean what I did…and nor did I mean what I had said."
Michelangelo swiftly turned his eyes toward Raphael's direction and glares at him from the side of his eye. 'Oh, did you?' He contemplates hatefully. 'Did you, dear brother of mine?' His glare then turns into an icy stare when he stares into the darker side of the infirmary.
Raphael shakes his head and then glares at his youngest brother. "Mike. Don't you dare make this harder for me, Mikey." He said sternly.
Michelangelo glances at him disgustfully, his upper lip curled and his eyes squinted. 'That good for nothing Bastard! How dare he force me to forgive him! After all he's done to me and after all I've done for him…that bastard has no right.' Michelangelo turns back to watching the darkest part of the room, hoping that his brother will leave him alone soon.
Raphael grumbles and then roles his eyes at him, "Fine. Be that way. See if I care!" Raphael quickly gets up and stomps out of the room and slams the door to the infirmary on his way out leaving Mikey all alone in the secluded, dark room.
Michelangelo shuts his eyes, remembering the fear he has of the dark. He feels like crying, but cannot find the tears to shed them. He feels for the first time of his life the feeling of being completely apathetic.
"He left me…" Michelangelo whispers to himself in the dark. "He left me all alone." Deep within himself, Mikey really didn't want his brother to leave him all alone in the room. He wanted his brother to stay, but then again, Raphael was never there for him to begin with for him. He was never there to support him and was never there for him period. So, what difference does it make? None, at least to Michelangelo it doesn't. He didn't want his brother to leave, that is at first he didn't, but now he is glad that his brother did leave. He is glad that he is all alone and he thinks to himself, 'Maybe this is what I wanted ever since the beginning… Silence.' And all at once, his fear of the darkness goes away as the darkness starts to consume the inside of him and grow.
----
Once outside of the infirmary, Raphael sighs bitterly to himself. He feels like pounding his younger brother in the face for acting the way he did. It annoys him greatly to see his brother to just give him the cold shoulder, just like he did in the infirmary. 'That little fucker will pay for not listening to me.' He thought distastefully. 'Remind me to never apologize to his ass ever again!'
Raphael quickly walks over to the coat rack and jerks an overcoat and a hat hastily off of it and puts them on at the same speed. He quickly darts for the lair's only exit, but stops midway and groans when he hears someone clear their throat.
"Where are you going, Raphael?"
Raphael rolls his eyes and retorts, "What's it look like, Leo." Raphael turns around to see his brother in blue looking at him crossly. "What? What is it now?" He growls.
"So, you finally decide to go out for a nightly stroll, eh Raph?" Leo states more than a question. He looks at his brother strictly and speaks with a matching tone, "You know Sensei had forbidden us from ever going out when our brother is still in an unconscious state back there. And about Michelangelo…Have you forgotten Mikey, Raph? Have you forgotten our own brother? Have you forgotten already about his health and well being? I thought you said you wanted to stay by him at all times? What? Has your self-centeredness already returned to you?"
"I don't need this shit now!" Raphael snaps at him. "Besides, that little shit is already awake anyway."
"He is?" Leo's eyes grew wide before they turned into a menacing glare. "And you never informed us?!"
Raphael glares back at him and replies, "Yeah, so? What's your point?"
"He's our brother, Raphael! Our brother!" Leo shouts, being pissed off on how inconsiderate his brother is.
Raphael sighs to himself. "What…ever." He says and then turns back around and continues to go toward the exit.
Leo grumbles and follows him. "So, you're just going to walk out, huh? Don't you even care?" He asks.
Once at the exit, Raphael turns around and glares at him. "I'm going out." He firmly states. "Whether you like it or not, Leo, I'm going out." And with that, Raphael leaves the lair and goes down the sewer tunnel.
Leo sighs and stands out at the exit, watching his angry brother walk away. He shakes his head and decides to hold his tongue on a remark he so urged to say. He turns around and reenters their home and hideout. Once inside, he sees his Master and his brother, Donatello, watching him come in as they have the look of bewilderment on their faces. Leo sighs and says; "Raph left to get some air." Hearing this, their bewilderment vanishes and is replaced with irritation.
Master Splinter shakes his head weakly and says; "When will he ever learn?"
"Well, you know Raph, Sensei; he always does what he pleases." Donatello says, trying to be optimistic, mainly for himself more than for the others. The others sigh and nod in agreement.
"Also," Leo informs them. "I just found out from Raph that Mikey has already awake from being unconscious." The others' eyes grew wide; Splinter's mouth went agape while Don's face shows contentment.
"Then let us visit him in the infirmary, then, shall we?" Splinter proposes and the others nod.
The three walk over to the infirmary and see that the door has been shut. Leonardo grumbles underneath his breath as the other two look at the door questioningly. Leo quickly goes to open the door. Once the door is open, they peer inside and see Mike sitting all alone on the cot in the dark, looking downward at his healed up wound on his leg with a void expression on his face. They look at him and then at each other and then back at him. They frown at him.
"Michelangelo?" Splinter asks to get his attention.
Quickly, Michelangelo snaps out of his blank expression and looks up at them with bereaving eyes. He blinks at them slowly, but doesn't speak.
Not liking his son's grief at all, he asks "Michelangelo, what is the matter?" But all he gets is quiet.
"Yeah," Don adds in, feeling the same as the others. "And why are you sitting all alone in the dark?" He smiles and then turns on the light. Donatello doesn't get an answer, either, but gets a gloomy stare. Don frowns sadly, not feeling comfortable with the way his younger brother is staring at him. "Ooookay."
"Mikey," Leo steps in and gives it a shot. "What's the matter? What's wrong with you? Are you okay there, brother?"
Michael looks at him and then nods. The others sigh with relief, knowing at least they got this far. Michelangelo puts on a small and weak smile for them and sighs. The others look at Leonardo to continue talking, since it was him that got the first response.
"So, how are you feeling?" Leo asks him encouragingly. Mikey shrugs at him, but still does not saying anything. Leo continues to ask him a couple more questions in concern, "You tired?" Mikey nods. "Are you hungry?" Mikey nods. "Okay, then, lets get you something to eat then." He offers his right hand to help him up, but Mikey refuses and weakly gets up by himself. "Okay…Let's go then, shall we?"
Michelangelo nods and as well as the others. They smile at the youngest turtle, still feeling worried and yet relieved that he's now awake. They walk him to the dinning area and sit him down at the table. Leonardo and Donatello rush into the kitchen, eagerly to fix their brother his favorite pizza with all of the toppings he likes. Splinter sits across from him and smiles sadly at him. His son looks up at him and puts on a fake smile.
"It's good to see that you are awake, my son."
To Be Continued
Does Master Splinter know something? And what has become of Michelangelo? And what's with Raphael's attitude? And why can't he be happy and be nice for once for his brother, I'll never know. You'll have to wait and see what happens next.