Thank you for waiting!
~Comatose: of or in a state of deep unconsciousness for a prolonged or indefinite period, especially as a result of severe injury or illness.~
"No...no, you're lying…" Raph shook his head in denial. He pushed his way past Donnie and Kiki. What he saw stopped him in his tracks.
"...No…shell...no, not my brother..." Raph whispered. His baby brother looked so broken just lying still there on the table. Mike was covered in a blanket in order to keep him warm. But Raph could see the bandages that were seeping through the blanket. Mikey's head and arms were wrapped in bandages that made him look like a mummy. Mikey had multiple IV's inserted into his hand and elbow on both of his arms. The tube sticking out of Mike's mouth was Raph's undoing. Raph fell into the chair that was conveniently by the bedside.
"He can't breathe on his own...the tube is to help him…" Donnie said hesitantly, entering the room. Leo fell to his knees, ignoring the pain shooting up his leg. The pain growing in his heart and soul was so much more. Casey and April stayed outside of the lab, they were devastated by the news...but this was something that the brothers had to do. They could wait.
"How...how do we know that he isn't just unconscious?" asked Cassie hesitantly.
"His brain waves show that they are in the delta stage. It means that his brain waves are at 4 frequency. If it drops even further…" Donnie shivered at that thought. He couldn't imagine what would happen…
"What will happen?" asked Raph through the very rare tears.
"His brain will shut down…and...we...we will lose...lose our Mikey," Donnie choked out loudly. Raph reached for Mikey's hand and squeezed it, being mindful of the IV's.
"Wake up Mikey...wake up and tell us something...yell, scream, laugh, talk, squeal...please just say something!" Raph yelled out before completely breaking down.
"Raph...stop...we...need to stay strong for Mikey now. He needs us all...now more than ever." Leo put a trembling hand on his shoulder.
Leo looked over to see Donnie holding Mikey's battered and bloodied once orange mask to his heart. Rocking himself back and forth, whispering incoherent things.
Raph and Leo wrapped their arms around Donnie's shaking frame.
"What did we do?" asked Leo as he put his arms around his little brothers."What have we done?"
Kiki exited the lab with a sluggish Donnie. Kiki had been asked to fetch said scientist by Raph for lunch. It had been about three days since their baby had been in a deep sleep. Things around the house had been...out of balance.
Raph was constantly hovering by the door of the lab, looking over Mikey from a distance. Afraid to enter. He felt he wasn't allowed to...not after what he did. Leo was trying his best to reach Mikey in the spiritual realm...but no matter how hard nor long he meditated, he couldn't find the little ball of energy that would come off of Mikey in waves when he was so happy. Donnie was burying himself in books and scholastic articles online about comas, and trying to figure out what was in the liquid fired at him. Donnie almost had an emotional breakdown when he was forced to insert a feeding tube down one of Mikey's nostrils. He hated all of the machines that were coming out of Mikey. It made him look smaller than he already was.
Cassie was helping around the house with whatever she could. She, along with Casey and April, just finished clearing the house of that horrible knock out gas smell. April excused herself to leave the room while Cassie and Casey talked.
"Casey...I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to answer me honestly. Do you like April? I mean actually have feelings for her. You don't have say yes just because you want to belittle Donnie, ok? He's going through too much right now."
"Honestly...I'm still trying to figure that out," Casey said, looking at the floor.
"Well I'm glad you can be honest with me, but please don't go chasing after every girl that looks your way, ok? It makes you look like a womanizer. If you really want to get a girlfriend then you need to stop flirting and putting your arm around every girl that bats her eyes in your direction. And for goodness sakes, please do not act so ignorant. While we're being honest, why do you always pick on Donnie? You make him feel so sad. Do you get a joy out of picking on other people?" Cassie folded her hands.
"N...NO! Not at all...I...I honestly don't know why I do it...maybe it's because I was jealous that he could always talk to April and I couldn't."
"You're going to have to do better than that. And, when you figure it out, you owe Donnie a serious apology. It's the least you can do for him...especially now." Cassie made her point and left the room, leaving Casey to his own thoughts.
Everyone was gathered in the kitchen in order to eat something. Even though none of them had an appetite. Leo said that they wouldn't be able to help Mikey if they couldn't even help themselves. Cassie served them cream of chicken and rice soup with sandwiches on the side. Everyone forced themselves to eat, they weren't hungry, but they had to.
They was an uneasy silence in the house. None of them knew how to approach each other, they were lost without Mikey. It was like Leo all over again, except this time it was much worse. It was bad when Leo was out of commission, but at least they had Mikey to lighten the atmosphere when times were tough. But now the sunshine was gone, and all that was left are the stormy clouds.
"Was he happy?" Donnie broke the uneasy silence. Everyone look up. Confused at whom he was addressing. He was looking at Cassie and Kiki who sat at the end of the table.
"What?"
"...was Mikey happy the three days when he was away with you girls?" asked Donnie, trying to blink back the tears.
"From the looks of it yes. But he missed his family a lot, before...this whole thing." replied Kiki sadly.
"Please tell us everything," said Raph in a despondent voice.
"I'd be easier if I showed you." Cassie got up from the table and began to walk towards the lab. They stopped when they heard a groan from the kitchen. Leo was on the ground, holding his leg.
"Leo! Are you ok?" asked Donnie going into doctor mode. Cassie made her way over to them and squatted down. Leo looked up to Donnie.
"It's just my leg. Don't worry, I'm fine," Leo said trying to mask the hurt.
"Don't bother lying, Leonardo. Mikey told me what happened." Cassie said. Leo was confused when Cassie grabbed his legs and stretched them out. Leo tried to suppress a groan but failed. Cassie closed her eyes in concentration. Leo felt a stinging pain all over his body and he failed to suppress a scream.
"Stop! You're hurting him!" Raph was able to charge at Cassie until he hit an invisible wall. Kiki was blocking him with a force field. Cassie was hovering her hands slowly over Leo's body. The light in her hands died down.
"There you go." Cassie smiled as she continued towards the lab. Kiki followed her after Kiki took down her force field. It took a moment for Donnie and Raph to move to Leo, who was still on the floor. Donnie immediately began to look over Leo.
"What happened? How do you feel? What did she do to you?" asked April and Casey, snapping out of their trance.
"I still can't believe that you would think that she would do something bad," came a voice from the door. They turned their heads to the door. Kiki was leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed.
"Mikey loves you all so much. We could never do anything to those he loves. He trusts us not to hurt any of you and vice versa. Cassie and I love Mikey too much to hurt him. Mikey told us about what happened with Leo and Shredder. And how he hates hearing that Leo is in pain. So Cassie did something about it. She kept her promise." Kiki smiled and turned back into the lab. The turtles and two humans were still in shock about what they heard.
"Guys...I don't feel any pain. Nothing hurts anymore!" Leo jumped up and cheered. Everyone was happy! Their oldest brother was all better again. Everyone started to laugh. Raph was about to hug Leo until he remembered. Raph turned around but was stopped by Casey.
"Raph where are you going? Aren't you happy that Leo is all better?"
Raph lets out a short sad laugh. "That's how it goes huh? Leo comes out of his coma gets better but Mikey is still in his?" He was hurting. Raph turned into the lab again.
I'm glad fearless is better again...but...oh little brother...why did it have to be you? This is all my fault...please come back to us Mikey. We miss you so much, our family isn't the same without you.
Raphael walked up to Cassie and Kiki. The girls were repeating the motions made on Leo to Mikey, while they whispered things to him.
"If you can heal Leo like that, then why can't you do the same with Mikey?" Raph demanded.
Cassie turned to him. "The person I heal has to have full movement of their body. It can't work if their brain is basically shut off. I heal all of the wounds but no matter what I do, I can't bring him out of his coma. The best that I can do is heal his external wounds." Cassie sighed before turning back and humming a sound.
"What are you humming?" asked Donnie coming up next to Kiki.
"It's a song that Mikey heard me singing and he loves it now."
"Everyone ready?" asked Cassie.
"What exactly are we doing?" asked Donnie, taking a seat on the floor of the lab.
"You want to know what happened when Mikey was gone? I'll show you." Cassie put her hand on Mikey's head, mindful of the bandages. She closes her eyes in concentration then put two fingers to her forehead.
"Now close your eyes and concentrate on the memories before you." They did as they were told and they were greeted by a memory of Mikey facing Cassie and Kiki in a dining room table.
So sorry for the long wait! The next chapter will be delayed a little bit because I have finals this week. Be on the lookout!
Thanks again to Brightlotusmoon