Happy Valentines Day, friends!

Heads up: this is the last READY chapter that I have prepared. I'm outlining/ rough drafting the next couple of chapters, but I'd like to get a stockpile of chapters for you guys so you won't have to wait as long especially... BECAUSE I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW OUADN ENDS! It will still be some time away, but we now have a definite end!

That being said, I'll be going on a hiatus for a bit until I have that stockpile of chapters. I still want to have this done by the end of Summer, so hopefully the hiatus won't take too long.

Enough with all of the author notes! Here's the next chapter to hopefully ease the pain of the last chapter.

Enjoy!

May 6, 2013

The rays of the new dawn clothed the bobbing pods in a beautiful shade of orange. April squinted against blinding light as she looked around for her other brother.

"Donnie? Where's Mikey? It looks like you guys blew up the Technodrome… why are Raph and Leo crying…" The girl trailed off as her boyfriend wiped the new tears forming from his eyes.

"April…"

She shook her head. "No."

Donnie gently grasped her shoulders, trying to give her comfort while his own heart was shattered. "April. Mikey's gone."

"No!" She blinked away her own tears. "He… he can't be gone. He's… Mikey!" April looked out over the Long Island Sound. It was beginning to clear itself of pods as people paddled themselves to shore. "This is all my fault." She whispered. More to herself than anyone else, but Donnie still heard her.

"What?" He brought his hand to her cheek, returning her gaze to him. "How is this possibly your fault?"

The girl sniffed. "I-if I'd been stronger… Rahzar and Fishface wouldn't have taken me. Then you guys wouldn't have had to rescue me and Mikey-" April covered her mouth with her hand. Her stomach rolled. "Mikey would still be here…" A sob wrenched from her throat as Donnie fully embraced her, pulling her to his plastron.

"Don't go there. Please. Do you realize how much I blamed myself for you being kidnapped last year? I know exactly how you're feeling right now. This wasn't your fault, April. Trust me. Mikey did what he thought he needed to in order to get you to safety; to get ALL of us to safety. He did that… because he loves-" Donnie swallowed thickly. "-loved us. And knowing Mikey, he wouldn't want us living in regret."

Donnie pulled the leather strap of April's crystal up and over his head before setting it around her neck. He pressed his forehead to hers, basking in the return of their bond. I'm sorry Mikey… but thank you. Thank you for helping bring her back to me. I'm sorry…

The sobs from Leo and Raph had mostly subsided. Leo pulled away from their embrace to gulp the fresh morning air. Raph scrubbed his face.

"I-I can't believe he's gone…" Raph croaked. "I shouldn'tve given 'im such a hard time…" The boy broke into fresh sobs, but all his tears were already spent.

Leo wrapped his arms around his brother once more. "I know. I feel it too. We let our little brother down… I let him down." His eyes welled up as he pressed his face into Raph's shoulder. "It should've been me…" He whispered harshly.

Donnie took a deep breath. He patted his grief on the head then locked it away for the time being. Just because the Technodrome was down didn't mean that the fight was over. Someone had to take charge for the time being. He cleared his throat.

"We uh, we should probably head to shore. We need to see what help the others need rounding up the Kraang now that their trump card's out of commission. And…" He sighed. "...and we'll need to tell Dad… about what happened."

The water lapping against the edge of the pod was the only sound as the group contemplated telling Splinter about the fate of his youngest.

Donnie stuck his bo staff into the Sound, intending to use it as a paddle. His muscles strained against the tension of being the only one paddling. It quickly became easier as Leo and Raph each used one of Leo's katanas to help. April remained seated near Donnie, still struggling to come to terms with this new reality.

The turtles made quick work of cutting through the water now that their grief had a physical outlet. It wasn't long before they were in sight of one of the boat slip docks along the marina.

Donnie blinked, then squinted at something in the distance. "Did you guys see that?"

"See what?" April stood, wiping her face on the collar of the examination gown she still wore.

"I'm not sure…" The boy pointed at one of the closest docks. It was slanted so that cars could slip their boats straight into the water. "There was a bright flash of light just ahead. It looks like there's something there that wasn't there before."

Raph shielded his eyes from the sun as he tried to see where Donnie was pointing. "Nah…" He muttered. The boy snatched Leo's spyglass from his belt, ignoring his brother's protests. He had barely pressed it to his eye before he let loose a strangled yelp. Raph tossed Leo's spyglass over his shoulder before diving into the Sound.

"RAPHAEL!" April shouted after him. "Where're you going?!"

Leo scrambled to regain his spyglass. He grasped April's shoulder to steady himself. "It's impossible!" He whispered in awe. "Donnie! We gotta get to shore. NOW!"

Donnie grunted as he doubled his paddling efforts. "What's going on, Leo?"

The leader couldn't keep the smile off his face as he paddled like a madman. "A miracle."

xXx

It wasn't long after Raph dragged himself up onto the dock that Leo, Donnie, and April arrived. They looked upon the sight with shock and joy. A miracle indeed.

Mikey.

The boy was lying on his back, breathing. Alive.

"M-mikey?" Raph dared whisper. He knelt down to shake his brother, but briefly recoiled at the surprise static shock.

Vivid blue lightning crackled around the orange turtle's body. Once it faded, Raph tried again.

"Mikey! Speak to me, bro! You still with us?"

Mikey scrunched his face, like it was an insult to wake him up so early. He groaned and covered his face at the sight of the bright sunrise. "Aw man! I wanted to spend more time with the pretty angel lady… she took me out for pizza…" He smiled, drooling a little.

Leo looked at Donnie, concern etched across his face. "Did he hit his head in the crash? And how'd he end up here? He's bone dry… " He trailed off as his brother squeezed his shoulder.

"Bro - we're mutants. We've seen some pretty strange things that we can't exactly explain. Are you gonna look a gift horse in the mouth?"

New tears pricked Raph's eyes as he helped pull a still groggy Mikey into a sitting position. "I'm sure the 'pretty angel' knew how much we still needed our little brother." He pulled the boy into a hug.

Leo patted Mikey on the head. "You did good, Mikey. Just…" Leo blinked away fresh tears. "...please don't ever do that again." He choked out.

Mikey chuckled. "Deal."

Leo, Donnie, and April joined in on the group hug. They took a moment to simply sit and enjoy their family being whole once more.

The group broke apart when Raph reached for his ringing phone. He grumbled for a second before brightening at the sight of the Caller ID.

"Hey Mona! Did ya see? We took down the Technodrome!"

"That's fantastic, Raphael!"

"Where are you? We rendezvous somewhere to plan on how to take out the rest of the Kraang." Raph glanced at Leo. He nodded, agreeing with Raph's idea.

"We do not have to worry about taking care of the remaining Kraang, Raphael. The stragglers are being rounded up as we speak."

"By who?" Raph gripped his Tphone. "The humans?"

"No…"

April scrunched her face before turning back to the heart of the city.

Donnie tapped her elbow to get her attention. "What's up, April?"

"I-I don't know…" She held a hand to her head as she got a faraway look in her eye. "There's still Kraang in the city, but… most of them feel different…"

"By the Utrom."

xXx

10:00am, Mayor's Office

Mike Bloomberg massaged his forehead as he glanced around at the motley crew waiting in the Mayor's Press Room with him. The events of the past several hours still didn't seem real.

It had been close to midnight when the Utrom arrived. The Utrom High Council had detected a large psychic signal with Kraang origins coming from Earth. They sent a delegation led by the Utrom Bishop to investigate. When they discovered the Kraang's invasion of Earth, they jumped into action immediately. By the time the turtles had taken down the Technodrome, Bishop's Utrom forces had sent the majority of the Kraang back to Dimension X. Bloomberg extended an invitation to Bishop to join Big Mama, Splinter, and himself to discuss terms for locating any stray Kraang. Splinter's family and the rest of the mutant-yokai-alien allies arrived not long after 8:00.

Now, after everyone had had a chance to clean themselves up, everyone stood behind Mayor Bloomberg as he faced an empty Press Room. The only other person there was the man working the live feed broadcasting to the entire city. The cameraman zoomed in on Bloomberg's face.

"My fellow New Yorkers," He sighed. "Today, we faced a threat that no man has ever faced before. An invasion. An invasion that no one was prepared for. Our people were taken; many have been lost to us forever whether by defending our city or simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time. As a city, we grieve those losses.

"However - the worst is now behind us. The creatures, the Kraang, have been returned to their place of origin to stand trial for their many crimes. I'd first like to thank the brave men and women of our first responders teams. You held your own against a threat you were never trained for. The city of New York thanks you. I thank you. I would also like to extend our thanks to an unexpected ally in this: The Utrom species and their representative, Bishop."

The camera zoomed out enough to have just Mayor Bloomberg and Bishop in frame. Bishop removed his ever present sunglasses to incline his head towards the camera. Mayor Bloomberg continued.

"The Utrom are here to aid in the extraction of any remaining Kraang forces. We will be establishing a hotline number over the next several days for Kraang sightings. Now that the majority of their forces have been disbanded, any stray Kraang will lie low. Bishop will lead this taskforce. Once the last of the Kraang have been removed from Earth, Bishop will remain amongst mankind as an ambassador from the stars.

"However," Mayor Bloomberg raised a finger. "New York truly owes this victory to an unlikely group of heroes. May I present - The Heroes of New York!"

The camera continued to zoom out until the turtles, April, Karai, Mona Lisa, Takeshi, Big Mama, and Splinter were all in frame standing across the back wall of the stage behind the podium. Once they realized they had been introduced, everyone stood a little straighter.

Bloomberg gestured to the beings behind him. "Tomorrow we will hold a press conference at 1PP with all of our Heroes to discuss the future of New York, humanity, and the creatures that live among us. Until then, gather yourselves for this new dawn, my fellow New Yorkers."