Everything was supposed to be fine. They had beaten the Kraang. They were all safe. They had made a new friend. There was no reason why anything should be wrong. Mikey had thought that everything was fine, and he'd been sure that his brothers had felt the same way. They all acted fine. Why would they do that if they didn't really feel it?
Now Mikey just felt like an idiot. His brothers had just been faking this whole time, and he hadn't even noticed. What kind of brother was he that he didn't even notice that Leo was self-conscious about being a leader, Donnie's shell was still bothering him, and Raph was half blind?
He may be the youngest, but they were still his brothers. He should still make sure they were okay, not dance around obliviously while they were hurting. Mikey needed to make things right, but how? He wasn't like his older brothers. He wasn't a healer, or somebody who could punch away problems.
That was okay though. Mikey had his own way of fixing problems. That's what Doctor Delicate Touch, Doctor Feelings, and Doctor Positive were for. He could motivate and encourage, and even offer tough love, to push someone to be the best they could be. He could probably do something about Leo. That was the easy part.
Leo may be a different kind of leader than Raph was, but he had a lot of potential. Even before he was put in charge Leo would frequently be the one to keep them on track when Raph couldn't. He just needed to lean into his skillset, maybe learn how to take criticism a little more, and they'd be set. Problem solved.
But that wasn't what Mikey was most worried about. There was also Donnie. Mikey had wondered why he hadn't been wearing his battle shell. He hadn't even considered that Donnie's shell was feeling sensitive. However, Mikey wondered if it really was his shell. Sometimes he would see Donnie shudder and shiver like he did when he was interacting with something with a gross, sticky texture, even though there wasn't anything touching him. Maybe Donnie's thing was just in his head too.
If that was the case, it was manageable, even if it wouldn't be as easy as Leo's thing.
What was throwing Mikey off was Raph. Doctor Feelings couldn't fix a messed up eye. None of Mikey's encouraging personas could. He didn't even know if a real, professional, human doctor could fix something like this. The only thing Mikey could think of that might help was magic. Mystic powers seemed to be able to do anything. If they could open pathways to other dimensions, and do time travel, why not heal blinding?
Mikey felt hope build in his chest as a crazy and wonderful idea came to his mind. That's it! Mystic healing could help Raph, which meant that there was something that Mikey could do after all. He was a mystic magic master, at least in the future. There was no reason why he shouldn't do this. He just needed to practice and figure out his magic so he could heal his brother. No problem.
Mikey never liked hearing his brothers fight, but especially not when he'd been so sure that everything was fine just a few minutes ago. While they shouted, Mikey snuck out of the room and towards the exit of the sewers. He needed space, privacy, and maybe just a little bit of air. He decided to see how April and Casey were doing. She was always very supportive and she might have some ideas on how to help his brothers.
As for Casey, he knew the Mikey from the future. He might have all kinds of ideas about how Mikey could tap into his powers.
Besides, after finding out that his brothers had just been putting on an act and pretending that they were okay, Mikey would appreciate some genuine positivity. Mikey could usually be positive enough for all of his brothers, but he had been caught off guard with this. Finding out that his brothers weren't okay had made Mikey's positive energy drain right out of him. He needed a recharge, and April was usually pretty good at providing that.
The sun wasn't out right now, which made things easier. Mikey probably would have tried sneaking out even in broad daylight, but this was much less risky.
Mikey shimmied to the rooftops and started down the very familiar path to April's place. As soon as he slipped into the building he stopped sneaking around. Everybody in this apartment building was used to seeing mutants and yokai walk in and out. They just thought that they were constantly cosplaying or something. The people may not see the truth, but Mikey liked that he didn't have to pretend at April's apartment. He could just be himself.
As Mikey went down the stairs towards April's floor he paused slightly on the floor above. Maybe he could slip in and say hi to Draxum. It had been too long since Mikey had seen his goat dad, let alone spent some quality time with him.
But Mikey tried so hard to only be cheerful and fun around Draxum. He wanted to show the yokai how great their family was. Besides, Draxum was always so serious and angry. He needed some happiness in his life. Mikey didn't want to add to his stress.
And another part of his reluctance, though Mikey felt ashamed of it, was that he didn't know if Draxum would be able to provide the emotional reassurance that he needed right now. Draxum was so used to only thinking about himself and not being close to people in his life. He didn't really know how to care about others. Mikey had been helping him to practice, and Draxum was getting better, but he felt like this would be just a bit too much for him.
Telling himself that he would talk to Draxum when everything was actually okay, Mikey continued down the stairs and went to April's apartment. He knocked on the door, calling out to her.
Mikey barely got through a single "April, it's me, open up!" before the door was opened. April was usually really happy to see them half the time, while the other half the time she was annoyed with their loud, demanding calls for attention. This time, April just looked relieved, the way that she had a lot these past few days when she saw them. It was like April wasn't sure when, or if, she would see them again.
Was April actually not okay either? And Mikey hadn't noticed? The thought that he was just as bad a friend as he was a brother made Mikey feel like crying. His devastation must have shown on his face, because April gave him a soft look.
"Hey, Mikey, what's up?" April asked. She opened the door wider and let him in. Casey was sitting on the ground in front of the tv, playing video games. He didn't have the chance to play a lot of them in the future. Casey was focused completely on the screen, but he glanced over to the door and gave Mikey a concerned look.
Mikey sat on April's couch and drew his legs inside of his shell to make himself small. April sat down next to him, and Mikey spilled.
"I thought that everything was fine after the Kraang, and I thought that my brothers thought the same thing, but I just found out that they're not fine at all." Mikey said very quickly. " Leo and Raph got into a fight about who should be the leader, because Leo doesn't think that he is good enough for it, and Raph can't do it because he can barely walk around the lair without running into a wall because he's apparently blind in one eye and I don't know how that happened. And then Donnie's shell is apparently bothering him, and I feel like I'm the worst brother in the world for not noticing any of this. And now I need to master mystic magic to heal my brothers, or else they'll keep hurting and it will be all my fault!"
"Okay, whoa, whoa, pump the brakes, Mikey." April put a hand on his shoulders. "You've gotta breathe. Let's just take this one thing at a time, okay?"
Mikey took a deep breath. He hadn't realized how much he was panicking until he had started laying it all out. "Okay."
"Okay. First off, you're not a bad brother. The whole deal with the Kraang was kinda huge, and everybody deals with that kinda trauma in a different way. Some people just want to move on and forget that anything bad ever happened. Some people feel like they're still stuck in the trauma. Neither way is right or wrong, they're just different. Feeling okay while your brothers don't doesn't make you a bad brother, okay?"
Mikey wasn't completely convinced, but he knew better than to argue with April. "Okay."
"Cool. Now, I would love to talk about this more, but I'm just a little distracted by something so we're going to put that on the backburner for a bit." April said. Immediately her calm expression fell to one of panic. "What do you mean Raph is blind?!"
"Just in one eye." Mikey muttered, even though it didn't make him feel any better. "He's been hiding it from us because he doesn't want us to worry."
"Sounds like something that runs in the family." April muttered. She looked stressed and Mikey felt bad for dragging her into their problems. He should be able to fix this on his own.
"That's why I need to work on my mystic magic." Mikey jumped to his feet so quickly that April was startled. "If I can figure this out then I can heal Raph, and everything will be fixed, and we really will be okay." Mikey held out his hands and reached down deep, trying to find that mystic magic that he'd been able to tap into before.
"Mikey, I…" April sighed. "I don't think that's how it works. You don't even know if your future self would have been able to heal this kind of thing, and he was a master."
"Oh, he could definitely do it." Casey said. April whipped around and glared at him. Casey seemed oblivious to her irritation. "Michelangelo could heal anything. If he can give Sensei a new arm after he lost his in a bad attack, then he can heal an eye."
"But Mikey's not Michelangelo." April shouted. She blinked. "I mean, he is, technically, but…gah, you know what I mean!" April looked at Mikey. "Just because you became a mystic master in the future doesn't mean that it's fair for you to expect yourself to do everything that he could."
"But I have to." Mikey said. "I have to heal my brothers." He couldn't just sit here and let them suffer. Mikey closed his eyes. He didn't want to remember the pain that he'd been feeling when he had been able to open the portal into the Kraang's dimension, but that pain and desperation was exactly what he had needed to save his brother. Mikey needed to tap into his desperation to help Raph. He could do this. He had to.
Mikey strained and pushed himself. He just needed to get used to the feeling of his magic. The more he did it, the easier it would be. That was always how it went. Mikey pushed for a long time before he felt the familiar tingling in his fingers. He was feeling breathless and tired, but it was worth it. He could reach his mystic powers. He just needed to go a little more and grab onto that power.
He was so close. He was almost there. Just a little…more…
"Mikey, stop!" April practically tackled him. Mikey yelped as he fell to the ground, losing his concentration and grip on his magic.
"Ow, April, what?" Mikey tried to sit up, but she held him tight and didn't seem to want to let him go. She was shaking, and Mikey thought he could hear her sniffling. Mikey patted her back. "What's wrong?"
"D-don't you ever do that again." April finally pulled back, only to hit him. Mikey was alarmed to see tears in her eyes.
"What? What did I do?" Mikey had no idea what was going on.
"Your hands were glowing, and you wouldn't react when I tried to talk to you." April said shakily. "It was like you were in your own world. Casey said it was just normal mystic stuff, but it almost looked like your hands were starting to disintegrate, and if that's normal then I don't want you to do it."
"Disintegrate?" Mikey frowned and looked at his hands. They looked completely normal. They felt a little numb and tingly though, like they were asleep.
"It looked like it hurt." April said quietly. "And you just kept going."
"I didn't feel anything." Mikey said honestly.
"What if you were so out of it that you wouldn't have even noticed if you were hurt?" April pointed out. "Look, I don't like this."
"But I can do more." Mikey said. He felt like he was just barely tapping the surface. "I just need to push a little more."
"What if you push too much and get yourself hurt?" April crossed her arms. Mikey waved off her concern.
"That wouldn't happen." Mikey said. "My mystic magic couldn't hurt me."
Casey made a strange sound. Mikey and April both turned to look at him, and he pointedly avoided both of their gazes. April glared at Casey.
"Do you have anything you want to add, Jones?" April asked. Casey looked conflicted for a second, but he quickly shook his head.
"April, I have to practice my mystic magic." Mikey said desperately. "I need to help Raph." April gave him a sympathetic look. They stared at each other for a long time before she sighed.
"Okay, you know what? Here's what we're going to do." April took Mikey's hand and started to pull him towards the door. "You want to do mystic magic? Why don't we get some advice from a mystic magic expert? Barry will know if what you're doing is safe or not."
Mikey brightened. He always liked seeing Draxum, and April was right. The yokai could use his mystic magic with so much ease. He would have some advice for Mikey, and he'd be able to ease April's concerns.
"Come on, Jones." April said. "The rules that apply to the turtles applies to you too. No hanging at my place when I'm not around. I don't want you to trash the place."
Casey made an offended sound as he turned off the game, without saving or anything like that. "I wouldn't trash anything."
"Yeah, save it." April snapped impatiently. "I've heard that promise before, and I'm not falling for it again. You're coming with me."
"Come on, it'll be fun." Mikey said. "You'll love Draxum."
Casey faltered in his steps. "Draxum? As in Baron Draxum? Like, the Baron Draxum?"
"You know him?" Mikey couldn't help but be pleased. If Casey knew about Draxum, then the yokai would have had to be close to the family still in the future. Or maybe it was more of an infamous thing, but Mikey was leaning more for the family thing.
"Know him? The guy's a legend." Casey said. He sounded excited. That was a good sign. "I never met him personally, but everybody knows about the leader of the yokai. The one who single-handedly kept the Hidden City safe from the Kraang. The one who offered sanctuary to any human who came looking for it."
"He saved humans?" Mikey felt like he was going to cry tears of joy. He knew that Draxum didn't like humans, so to hear that he offered safety to them was an amazing relief. Mikey was so proud.
"Did you just say he was the leader of the yokai?" April raised an eyebrow as they went into the hall and started for the stairs.
"Well, yeah, of course he was." Casey said as though it was obvious. "The yokai nobility above him either ran at the first sign of trouble, or joined the fight against the Kraang. Draxum is the one that took the lead. He took control."
"I thought Barry was a fugitive." April looked at Mikey.
"Maybe when the Kraang came the yokai decided that they had bigger things to worry about." Mikey suggested. Casey nodded. "You know, I always knew that he cared."
They went to Draxum's door and Mikey knocked on it before just letting himself in. Draxum was family, and Mikey didn't really wait to be let in when he wanted to talk to his brothers or Splinter. Why should he be any different with Draxum?
"Barry!" Mikey launched himself at Draxum, not at all caring when the yokai didn't return the hug. He wasn't pushed away. It was a step in the right direction. They'd get there someday. "Can you give me mystic magic lessons?"
"You…you want to learn about mystic powers?" Draxum looked hopeful, but also cautious. "I thought I was forbidden from using mystic powers." He looked over Mikey's shoulder to see Casey. "And why did you bring a strange youth into my home?"
"Right, yeah, sorry." Mikey pulled away from Draxum. "Barry, this is Casey Jones. He's our new friend. Casey, Baron Draxum."
"I-it's a pleasure to finally meet you, my lord." Casey nodded his head, almost in a bow. April looked at him like he was nuts. Draxum looked surprised, but then very pleased with himself.
"Finally! A human who knows who he's in the presence of." Draxum stood up proud.
"Dude, why'd you call him that?" April nudged Casey. Now he looked at her as though she was the one who was crazy.
"That's the way to address a baron." Casey said.
"He's not actually a baron." April snorted. "That's just his name."
"Well, technically…" Draxum began to say. Mikey looked at the yokai with wide eyes.
"You're actually a real baron? Mikey felt in awe. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"I thought it was obvious." Draxum said. He sounded moody and disappointed, and Mikey felt bad. Had he disrespected Draxum? Mikey didn't know a lot about barons and nobility, let alone yokai nobility. He needed to drag Donnie into research. If this meant a lot to Draxum, then Mikey didn't want to just brush it under the rug.
"That's not important right now." Draxum said, though his tone implied that he thought it was actually very important. "You came to talk about mystic powers. What do you want to know?"
"I've been trying to use my mystic magic, but I can't quite get it." Mikey looked at his hands. I think I'm scaring April. Can you give me some pointers and maybe tell April that glowing and slight disintegration in the hands is completely normal?"
Draxum had looked intrigued and a little excited when Mikey had first started explaining things, but he suddenly looked alarmed and almost panicked.
"I'm sorry, did you just say disintegration?" Draxum said angrily and sternly. Mikey hunched his shoulders slightly. Alright, maybe this wasn't a completely normal thing after all. "Do you know anything about mystic powers? Why would you put so much of your life force into your magic? Do you have any idea what that could do to you?"
"So…it's not normal?" Mikey asked. Draxum seethed angrily and Mikey curled up on himself even more.
Draxum let out a long, slow sigh. He put his hands on Mikey's shoulders and for a second it felt oddly reassuring and comforting, but then Draxum pushed down, forcing Mikey to sit on the ground. It hadn't been a reassuring gesture after all.
Draxum sat on the ground in front of Mikey. "I'm very pleased to hear that you have mystic powers, but if you can't use them in a way that is both safe and respectful, then it would be better if you didn't do it at all."
"I knew it wasn't safe." April exclaimed. She sounded partially smug and partially horrified.
"Mystic powers can be the safest thing in the world, if done right." Draxum gave Mikey a stern look. "It's time to teach you how to do it right."
A/NI love the thought of Baron Draxum actually being yokai nobility. I don't know why. It just feels kinda funny.