Rating: T for occasional language. Also see other warnings.
Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.
Summary: Bradford has always blamed Michelangelo for his misfortunes and especially for his mutation so when he manages to capture the young ninja, he's going to make sure he knows exactly what it's like. 2k12 AU.
Warning: Warnings for physical and mental torture in this story abound, as well as for implied and highly disturbing situations. Trigger warnings may apply for some chapters. There will not, however, be gruesome details. Some things are best left up to the imagination.
A/N: Well, I wasn't going to update any of my other stories until Halloween was over but *shrugs* here you go :-P
BlingThing: You're so right XD
Minnie1015, paige-in-a-spellbook and nerdycatisreading: Yeah, despite the fact that this story practically wrote itself, there was never any chance of them not coming for him. It was always just a matter of hen they'd finally find him.
How Much is that Turtle in the Window
ch 11
It was hours later before the others caught up to them and Donnie finally removed the leash in favour of Raph and Leo helping Spot to run on his hind legs again, not stopping until they came to a stream where Spot pleaded to stop to drink from.
"We're leaving a clear trail behind us," Leo pointed out worriedly, "we can't stop for long."
"Just a few minutes, Leo," Donnie promised, helping his brothers gently lower Spot to the ground.
Spot looked up at each of them, hesitant to just go help himself and Donnie sighed. "Go drink, Mikey." But Spot just stood there looking up at them desperately and Donnie reluctantly repeated in a commanding tone, [Go drink, Spot.]
Raph twitched as Spot sluggishly took a wobbling step to run and walk toward the stream. "What the hell was that, Donnie?"
"Japanese," Donnie replied drily. "I would think even you would be able to recognise that much, Raphael."
Raphael growled and Leo placed a calming hand on his brother which was immediately, violently, shrugged off. "I meant, calling him that name! Commanding him like he's just... just some dog!" he spat angrily. "What the actual fuck!"
Donnie hesitated, then wearily closed his eyes. "Didn't you see the way Dogpound spoke to him earlier? Mikey's been conditioned, trained to respond to the name 'Spot' and to commands in Japanese. Haven't you noticed his confusion whenever we've been speaking to him all this time? It's like he doesn't fully understand what we are even saying. Mikey probably hasn't heard English in a long time and who knows what they've done to drive it from him so it could take him some time to get used to it again in the face of his conditioning."
"That's no fucking excuse to talk to him like that!" Raphael yelled furiously. "He's our brother, not a fucking dog!"
"Raphael! Language!" Splinter snapped sharply, slamming his walking stick into the ground. Spot, already freaking out from the raised, angry voices behind him, couldn't help but jump and whirl around to watch the others warily in case they decided to come over and start hurting him just like his masters and Alpha so often would.
"But Master Splinter! Donnie..."
"Donatello has done what he had to do to help your brother," Splinter interjected, his eyes narrowing in displeasure. "Do not take the situation out on him. Save your anger for when we have another run-in with the Foot and make no mistake, we are sure to do so."
"Hai Sensei..." Raph muttered, clearly unhappy. Then his head shot up as he stared at Spot.
Spot, seeing the situation quickly calm and not liking being watched so closely, turned back to the stream, lapping up water from it quickly in case they changed their minds about letting him drink. However, he kept a careful ear on them, listening intently for them to turn on him too.
"But how do we fix this?" Raph asked plaintively, gesturing at their brother.
"One step at a time," Donnie replied softly, "but unfortunately, it's going to have to wait until we are safely out of range of the Foot. We don't have time to stop and deal with it now."
"There is one thing we can start with for now, however," Leo mused thoughtfully as he walked slowly over to Spot so as to not alarm him.
"Spot?" he called softly, planting a small smile on his face and trying to exude a calming presence.
Spot looked up at Leo from the stream, an anxious look in his baby blue eyes.
Leo's expression hardened as he realised Donnie was right, then he sighed. He wouldn't let this defeat them. [Your name is Mikey, not Spot,] he explained gently. [We're going to call you Mikey from now on and we want you to answer to that again. Like you used to.]
Spot began to tremble with desire. He liked the sound of that name so much more than his own. It was somehow familiar and had a warmth to it that made him desperate to claim it but his Alpha had spent so long drilling into him that his name was Spot and that he wasn't to respond to anything else but that or derogatory slurs that he wasn't sure he should or even could.
[It's okay to answer to Mikey, it's your real name, remember?] Leo reassured softly, still with that small but warm smile on his face
Spot stared at him quizzically, then blinked twice and hung his head. No, he didn't remember. After so many sessions with Mai, his thoughts were fuzzy and his memory filled with holes that always took too long to fill; so long that he eventually stopped bothering to try as it always hurt too much to regain only to have them ripped away again mere days or weeks later.
Leonardo regarded him in confusion, then [I'll tell you what, I'll make you a deal, little brother. We're going to call you Mikey from now on and you're going to respond to that but if Dogpound catches up to us again before we can get somewhere safe, we'll call you Spot in front of him so you don't get into more trouble. Is that okay?]
Spot lifted his head again, studying Leo carefully. Something about him made him want to trust him and make him happy, something he'd felt from the moment he'd laid eyes on him, so reluctantly, despite his almost paralysing fear, he blinked once, wagging his tail half-heartedly.
If nothing else, he'd try.
For Leo.
-:-
The group continued travelling through the thick, overgrown woods for hours on end with no sign of pursuit and they eventually came across hard, rocky ground where it was far easier to hide their trail. After the sun went down, they left the rocks and moved back to the forest, working especially hard to hide signs of their passage in case any pursuit became lucky. After some time, they found a small stream where everyone drank eagerly from after Donnie determined it was safe. He hadn't been too thrilled with the idea of drinking without boiling it first but they couldn't risk lighting a fire and drawing attention they had fought so hard to lose. Still, Donnie had only let them drink a little before refilling their water bottles and mixing a little condies crystals into each to purify the water. Afterwards, they continued on for a couple more hours before settling down to rest, sure they were safe at last.
Spot, no, Mikey, he had to continually remind himself, crept close to Splinter. Since being rescued, he hadn't had much to do with the tall, furry stranger, given that he was mostly being half-carried by Leo and Raph the whole time but something about him drew him, making him want to, no, need to get close to him.
Splinter reached out to wrap a warm, cloth swathed arm around him, drawing him gently into his side and allowing Mikey to rest his tired head on his lap, all while rubbing soothingly at his shell. "My son, I feared greatly we would not find you alive again," he murmured. "You have no idea how gratified I am to have my fears proven wrong."
Mikey closed his eyes, enjoying the repetitive, gentle touch as he listened to words he only half understood. The language was somehow familiar like he'd heard it a lot a long time ago and the more he heard it, the more he understood but it was still difficult and right now he was far too tired to concentrate on what Splinter was actually saying.
"I am so, so sorry it took us so long to get to you, my son. I hope that one day you can forgive us," Splinter continued softly as his other sons gathered close around them, each of them reaching out to touch Mikey as if they couldn't quite believe he was really with them again, safe at last.
Mikey opened his eyes, allowing his gaze to drift lazily from one to the next to the next, a small smile etching itself onto his lips at the concerned warmth exuding from each of them. Each of his... brothers, he'd heard them referred to as. Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide and pushed himself up to really study them for the first time since he'd seen them from inside his run.
Brothers? Could they actually be? He didn't really remember having brothers or what it meant anymore but somehow it felt right. Really, really right.
Mikey reached out his left forepaw to touch Donnie with it. Frustration at not being able to feel his warmth through the cold metal wrapped around the flesh he knew was inside welled up, overwhelming him. He drew it away again, lips peeled back in a resentful but silent snarl as he glared down at the offending appendage. A moment later, Donnie reached over to take it instead. Mikey lifted his gaze again, looking fearfully into his brother's reddish eyes as Donnie ran a hand along the paw and up until reaching his arm and Mikey shivered at the touch. Donnie immediately shifted closer.
"I promise I'll get these off you as soon as I can, Mikey, but it's likely that it'll have to wait until we get home," he explained slowly, giving Mikey time for the words to sink in. "Okay?"
Mikey just stared at him as he concentrated on what Donnie had said, then he blinked once in agreement while pushing away the dangerous taste of hope that threatened to well within.
Disappointed, Donnie gently put his paw back on the ground. "Don't worry, Mikey, I'm sure it'll all come back to you soon," he misinterpreted as Mikey stared at him in confusion. "I'm... going to look around, see if I can find anything for us to eat around here."
And with that, Donnie shot to his feet and looking all around, took off into the trees, Leo close behind.
Upset at having somehow upset Donnie, Mikey sadly watched them leave before allowing Splinter's soothing touch coax him back to his lap where he closed his eyes and slowly drifted off.
-:-
Mikey twitched as soft, twin footfalls woke him. He raised his head, watching warily as Donnie and Leo came back into view.
"It's not much but Leo and I found a little for us to eat," Donnie said quietly as they returned to the makeshift campsite. "It'll probably be easier in the daylight to find more edible foliage but then again, we really shouldn't linger. We need to get back to the road and civilisation as soon as possible."
"I quite agree, my son," Splinter said firmly. "Although, I do suggest we keep an eye out for edibles as we move come morning."
Sitting down close by, Donnie looked up at Mikey and smiled softly, "Are you hungry, Mikey?"
Mikey eagerly blinked once as he quickly sat up. Considering he hadn't eaten since before they took him, he was starving!
"I get that it's hard for you to talk right now, bro, but you could at least answer Donnie by nodding or shaking your head," Raph grunted in annoyance as he reached out for the small handful of vegetation Leo offered him, completely missing the look of panic Mikey shot him as he blinked twice rapidly and then repeated.
Donnie studied Mikey with worry and curiosity, his head canted. "Mikey?" he ventured after a bit, "is that one blink for yes and two for no?"
Mikey drew in on himself as he turned back to Donnie fearfully. The only ones he could use that method of communication with before now were his Alpha and Mai. If he dared use them around anyone else and they realised what he was doing, he would've been punished. But... but these were his brothers, his family and they were nice to him. Surely they wouldn't hurt him for it since they seemed to genuinely want to know things, he convinced himself, so he blinked once again, very deliberately. He wasn't prepared for Donnie launching himself at him and throwing his arms around him ecstatically.
"Oh, thank god for that!" Donnie breathed happily, hugging him too tightly. "It's so good to know you're still in there, Mikey!"
Mikey struggled frantically to pull free; the pressure of his collar pressed into his neck against Donnie was too much and he began panting and wheezing as he fought desperately to regain his breath.
"I-I'm sorry, Mikey," Donnie apologised the moment he realised. He immediately released his brother. "I didn't mean to choke you. So, uh... do you... do you have a meaning for three blinks?" he asked once Mikey had recovered enough that he was no longer gasping for breath.
Mikey blinked twice.
"Then how about this, if you don't understand something, blink three times, okay? That way we'll know and can try again."
Mikey thought about it for a bit as he let the words sink into his mind, interpreting them, then he blinked once.
"That's a great start and I really don't want to get too complicated but we need to be able to communicate a little more than that at the very least, so how about, four blinks for if you're thirsty, five for hungry and six when you need to stop and relieve yourself. Is that okay?"
Mikey considered it a bit, then blinked three times and Donnie repeated it more slowly in Japanese. This time, smiling slightly thanks to his growing ability to communicate, at last, Mikey blinked yes before telling Donnie he was hungry.
-:-
There was a faint snap of a twig in the woods and Mikey's eyes flew open as he lifted his head from Splinter's lap to stare where the sound came from.
"You heard that also, Michelangelo?" Splinter breathed softly.
Mikey blinked once even as he cowered, trembling, to the ground. It was his Alpha and a group of his tormentors; they were coming from downwind and he could smell them! It was all he could do not to panic!
"Leonardo, wake your brothers and prepare to escape with Michelangelo. He must not fall into Chris Bradford's hands again, even for a minute."
"Hai, Sensei," Leonardo breathed back, already rising and creeping over to shake Donnie and Raph awake.
Suddenly Mikey heard the double click of 'Heel' and horrified, he rose to all fours and began walking in Dogpound's direction, quivering in fear with every step. The double click came again and Mikey sped up, even as someone grabbed his shell and Leo commanded, [Mikey... Spot, stop!]
Mikey stopped, torn between obeying the two commands, blinking his confusion and fear up at Leo for what to do. He felt like crying, too terrified to disobey his Alpha and wanting so desperately to stay with the nice people, his brothers.
His family.
Foot suddenly flooded from the darkness and Leo snapped, "Donnie, get him out of here!" and hating himself for it, Donnie nodded and took out the lead, clipping it to Mikey's collar again.
"I'm so sorry, Mikey," Donnie breathed, "please forgive me." [Heel, Spot!]
With the lead on, his confusion dissipated but the overwhelming fear remained. Never-the-less, Mikey dutifully followed Donnie as his brother led him away, only stopping to quickly deal with the few ninja that escaped past their brothers and father.
-:-
No matter what they did, no matter how they tried to disguise their trail over the next day and night, whether it was walking along rocks, through water or along the road, Bradford and the Foot kept catching up to them, five whole times before Raph exploded once they put some distance between them again.
"How the hell do they keep finding us! They don't have any dogs with them so they can't be tracking us by scent and surely it's too dark to follow our trail!"
"Actually, Chris Bradford himself is a giant dog. They could be following his nose," Leo pointed out as Mikey blinked twice repeatedly but running as they were in the middle of the night, his forelegs slung around Raph and Leo's shoulders, no one was looking at him or paying any attention to him.
"Well, that's gotta be it, then!" Raph snapped in frustration. "So what do we do about it?"
"Actually, that's unlikely since we washed off in a stream and disguised our scents with mud and other things earlier," Donnie pointed out, deciding it was far better not to elaborate on what they used to disguise their scent with as they continued to run, lest Raph lose his temper yet again. "It's far more likely that Mikey has a tracker of some kind on him but I wasn't able to see anything earlier and if it is part of that collar or those shackles, there isn't much I can do about it at this point since I don't have the equipment necessary to deal with it on me."
"So we should have taken the time to get them off at the Foot Compound then?" Raph hissed in furious disbelief.
"If we did, we would have been discovered far sooner," Leo disagreed with a quick shake of his head, "and being on the Foot's home ground, they would have had the numbers to make sure we couldn't make it out again."
Frustrated, Mikey tried tapping Leo's arm to get his attention again but Leo obviously thought it was just his paw bouncing against him as they ran and ignored it.
"Leonardo is correct," Splinter spoke up. "It was far too dangerous to linger in that place."
"Course he is, golden child can't do anything wrong," Raph muttered bitterly in Mikey's ear. Mikey glanced at Raph, frowning at the tone as he wondered what he'd meant.
"Donatello, are you able to build something to detect or perhaps block such emissions?"
"Y-yeah, of course I could, Master Splinter," Donnie replied, flabbergasted that anyone would even question such a thing. "However, not without parts. Maybe, I could program an app in the t-phone but I'd still need to find which frequency to block and either way, it would take time I don't have while we're actively running."
Mikey grit his teeth. He'd only half-understood all that but he'd picked up enough to work it out. Feeling a horrible sense of deja vu over not being listened to, he threw a foot out in front of Raph, causing him to stumble and the three of them to fall.
"What the hell? Why'd you trip me up, Mikey?" Raph all but yelled as he fought to untangle himself.
Mikey did his best to ignore him despite the rising fear at his anger and instead blinked repeatedly up at Donnie, hoping his brother would realise and start asking him the right questions so he could answer and 'tell them'.
"It would seem Michelangelo has something to tell us," Splinter observed calmly.
"Ugh! We don't have time for this!" Raph snapped. He picked himself up then reached down, lifting Mikey up and flinging his left foreleg around his shoulder once more. Mikey struggled to fight him off.
"If it was important enough for Mikey to trip you to get our attention, it must be important enough to make time for," Leo said softly.
Mikey blinked once, slowly, at Leo before pulling free of Raph and turning back to look up at Donnie as he fell back to the ground, the heavy weight of his paws pulling him down hard.
"Do you know something about how they're tracking us?" Donnie ventured, crouching down in front of Mikey.
Mikey blinked quickly. Almost too quickly, and Donnie blinked back.
[Is it some sort of tracking device?] he asked worriedly.
'Yes!' Mikey blinked.
[Do you know where it is?]
'Yes!'
Donnie thought a little. Then, [Is it part of your collar?]
'No!'
[Your... uh... manacles?] Donnie asked, clearly trying to avoid calling them what they were designed to emulate.
'No!' Mikey blinked again, a little more desperately.
[Oh god... it's in your body somewhere,] Donnie realised, his heart sinking, [isn't it?]
Mikey hung his head in shame but not before answering yes.
[Do you know whereabouts, Mikey?]
Mikey sighed and looking back up at his brother, blinked yes again. Then before Donnie could start trying to narrow it down, he stepped forward and struggled to reach up with one cold metal paw to touch Donnie on the back of his thigh, just below his shell; damn but he was tall and hard to reach. Then he laid down on his plastron, head in the crook of his foreleg, waiting for Donnie to check for himself.
Donnie reached into his bag, pulling out a torch as he searched Mikey's thigh for any sign of the tracking chip as Leo crouched down in front of Mikey.
"You knew this all along?" he asked softly.
Mikey lifted his head and blinked up at Leo.
"Is that why you didn't want to come with us at first and why you tried to leave us the first opportunity you had?"
Mikey wasn't sure how to answer that. It was far more complicated than just yes or no. Yes, he remembered the tracking chip and that was a big part of why he'd been so afraid to go with them. It was how he'd known his Alpha could always find him and punish him for running away and then there was the fact that he didn't remember them at first. He still didn't fully but he was starting to. Mikey felt so ashamed that he'd blocked his family and his life from his memory but everything had been so hard and he'd discovered it was just easier to stop thinking about them especially knowing there was no chance of them coming for him halfway across the world.
But he'd never meant to actually really forget... He'd just wanted to survive without losing his mind... but he'd lost it anyway...
Even now that they were here and he was with them and beginning to remember, he was still terrified of being found and forced to go back and he knew without them here to keep such a tight hold of him, he'd have no choice but to return with his Alpha. A couple of days of being on the run with people that actually cared for him didn't fix everything.
Or anything at all, for that matter.
Mikey blinked yes, then no and Leo mistook it for confusion and without any way to clarify things, Mikey didn't bother to try to correct him. He just buried his face back into the crook of his elbow, trying to block out the crawly feeling of Donnie running his hand along his upper leg lest he begin to shudder and pull away and have to face more questions he couldn't and wouldn't ever answer.
Leo sighed miserably and placed a gentle hand on Mikey's head, rubbing comfortingly with his thumb. "Is there any chance you can at least try to talk?" he asked softly. "The shock collar is gone now so there's no reason for you to stay silent any longer, little brother."
The tears prickled at the edge of Mikey's eyes and he just buried his face deeper.
"Just one word? A sound even?" Leonardo pleaded desperately. "It's been so long since we've heard you speak and we miss your voice so much, Mikey."
Not as much as him... Tensing up all over, Mikey hunched his shoulders in on himself as he fought not to shake.
"Don't push him, Leo. He doesn't need that right now," Donnie reprimanded softly, looking up to fix Leo with a look that brooked no argument.
Leo's mouth dropped open in shock, "But... I... right, I'm sorry, Mikey. Just..." he sighed softly, hoping Mikey wouldn't notice. He did. "Just talk again in your own time, okay? We'll all be waiting for you when you're ready."
And that's when Mikey began to shake as his frustration and fear of knowing he'd never be able to speak again overwhelmed him. Worse was the fact that no one could understand because they didn't know and he had no way to tell them since he was completely unable to talk or even use his hands!
"I-I found it!" Donnie suddenly exclaimed, startling him from his mini-breakdown. "At least, I found the scar from an old incision site. Right up against the edge of your carapace, Mikey! Is that the right place or was that from something else?"
Mikey lifted his head and turned too-bright eyes to face Donnie, blinking once, clearly.
For a moment, Donnie was elated, then he paled as he realised. "I'm sorry, Mikey, but I'll have to cut it out or they'll just keep finding us."
Mikey just blinked once again. It was okay, he wanted it out anyway for his own reasons and wished he could also get Donnie to remove the ID chip he'd also been injected with at the time but that one hadn't even left a scar. Sometimes, he imagined he could still feel it sitting in his flesh but when he was being honest with himself, he knew he couldn't. Hadn't been able to since a few days after being tagged and considering the fact that he'd been doped up on a muscle relaxant that fogged his mind at the time, he couldn't even be sure which leg it was even injected into anymore. He stared at Donnie pleadingly, silently begging him to just hurry up and get it out already.
Donnie took a deep breath, then held out a hand to Leo. "Tanto," he requested, already digging in his bag with his other hand for the lighter he knew was in there.
"You're using a tanto to cut it out with?" Leo asked in disbelief.
"I don't have much choice. It's not like I could bring the infirmary with us!" Donnie snapped, snatching at the small bladed weapon impatiently. He lit the lighter and ran it over the blade for a good minute. "Someone hold the torch for me." Then switching to Japanese to be certain Mikey understood the first time, he added, [Mikey, I need you to kneel. It'll make it easier for me to access the site. Also, try to keep still, the last thing I want is to cut you any more than I absolutely have to.]
Mikey gave a minuscule shrug to show it was alright, then pushed himself up. Moments later, he felt the sharp slice of the tanto as Donnie sliced into the old scar before carefully digging around inside as he searched. A minute later, Mikey winced slightly as he felt the chip shift under his skin as it was pried out and tossed aside. Donnie then pulled out the small first aid kit and quickly sewed the wound closed again.
"All over," Donnie smiled calmly as he covered the small wound with a band-aid.
Mikey turned to smile gratefully at his brother when Splinter picked up the discarded tracking chip.
"The four of you must depart now," Splinter suddenly commanded firmly. Mikey frowned up at Splinter as panic quickly began to build within him again.
Was his father actually leaving them?
"I am counting on the three of you to get your brother to safety."
No! Splinter couldn't leave them! Mikey's face began to crumple as fear twisted at his gut again. They'd only just reunited! He was only just beginning to remember what having a family, people who actually cared about him was like! Splinter couldn't leave him now!
"The Foot are close by again," Splinter explained, his ears twitching in the direction they'd come from. "I will lead them away."
Mikey blinked 'no' rapidly. 'Please don't leave me!' he thought desperately, stepping forward on wobbly limbs as he stared beseechingly up at his father.
"Just destroy the chip so they can't track us anymore!" Raph protested and Mikey frantically blinked in agreement as he tried not to hyperventilate with his rapidly escalating fear.
Splinter smiled down sadly at Mikey, though he addressed Raphael. "You know that is not a valid option, Raphael. If they lose sight of their target, they will simply fan out and surround the area, making it far more difficult for you four to flee. No, I must lead them away. You know I am right." Then he crouched down in front of Mikey, cupping his face fondly.
"I will see you again soon, my son, I promise."
Mikey closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, trying to wordlessly communicate how much he wanted that and how much he wished Splinter would stay.
"I will meet you all at the rendezvous point," Splinter assured firmly. "If for some reason I am waylaid, do not wait for me. You must take your first chance to get back to New York. I will catch up with you there, if necessary."
Leonardo bowed his head respectfully, "Hai, Master Splinter."
Mikey and Raph both shot Leo looks of disbelief that he was just agreeing to Splinter's insane plan, while Donnie simply looked resigned.
"Keep your brother safe," Splinter said softly before turning his head to look into Mikey's eyes once more.
[Michelangelo, allow your brothers to help you,] he commanded as Mikey stared up at him, still shaking terribly at the thought of Splinter leaving them so soon. [You must stay strong and remain by their sides, no matter what happens. Do not give in to your fear or conditioning at the hands of the Foot if they should come close again. Can you do that, my son?]
Mikey hesitated, unsure, but then steeled himself and blinked once, determinedly.
Splinter smiled warmly and stood straight, looking around in the direction Mikey could now also hear the muffled crunch of light steps through the thick forest from. The pounding of his heart sped up once more.
"I will see you all again soon, my sons," Splinter assured quietly before taking off at an angle away from them into the predawn darkness.
"Hide," Leonardo commanded sotto voce once Splinter was out of view.
Raphael immediately picked up a startled Mikey and carried him to hide amongst a cluster of bushes where he settled beside him, putting a finger to his lips to warn Mikey to keep quiet. Mikey glared in disbelief and hurt but Raph didn't seem to notice, staring out looking for threats as he was.
Upset, Mikey lowered himself to the ground and tried not to sniffle as old hurts and memories flooded into his mind, memories of other times his brothers had no faith in him. He was ninja too! Or, he had been before all... this... and even without this enforced silence, he could be quiet when it really counted. So why was it when they all knew he couldn't speak, even if they didn't know the reason why, that Raph still felt the need to remind him to be quiet?
Suddenly, Mikey stiffened as he heard the double click command of 'Heel' just at the edge of his hearing. He couldn't help it but he rose, taking a step forward out of the natural shelter, all the while screaming at himself to stop! To stay with his brothers where he would be safe!
Then he felt Raph's warm, familiar hand on his shoulder and froze mid-step. Startled, Mikey turned his head, meeting his brother's fierce, yet protective, bright green gaze and suddenly he had control over his own actions again. He carefully, quietly stepped back and hunkered down again, leaning into Raph for comfort and security and closed his eyes while they waited for the Foot to move on.
-:-
* If you ever see my stories posted anywhere other than under the name Zelgadis55 at Deviant Art, FFNet, AO3 or Live Journal, then they have been stolen. Please report them.
