This chapter is struggling but oh well! I plan on finishing this story in like three more chapters! So yeah, I didn't really know how to make this chapter but this next one is planned out in my mind. I hope this is good. I can't tell! D:

They will protect me. They will. They have to! Help me. Help. I can't think. What's happening to me? I look around and notice I am in the lab, when did I get here? My chest hurts. My body hurts. My everything hurts!

I look from brother to brother, they are real and I smile. My legs are dangling and I start swinging them. My brothers keep watching me closely, they are all still shaken up and broken. Their eyes still have ghosts of sorrow and pain in them.

Eyes. Blue eyes, green eyes, brown eyes.

They are lucky, my eyes are failing me. My brain is failing me. Why?

Oh right! Poison. I have been poisoned. I hear a giggle release from my lips. I am dying! Maybe not physically, but mentally and spiritually. I can feel my sanity slipping away. It's inching farther and farther away from me. I am not scared about it, I'm not. I feel numb. Not even my brothers can protect me now. I don't even know if they are real.

I start to laugh

It's ironic. My body dies, but I am saved. My brain is what needs saving.

My brothers faces turn with confusion and worry as I laugh and laugh. I laugh so hard it hurts my gut.

"Mikey? Whats so funny?" I hear someone ask, I am not sure who.

"I am dying."

I look at Donnie who is the closest to me, his face twists with a mixture of determination and fear.

"No you aren't Mikey, we saved you."

I shake my head and my smile is from ear to ear.

"I am dying." I repeat again with a small giggle.

"That isn't funny!" Raph snaps angrily and takes a step towards me. I just laugh again, how cute. How cute that he thinks he can intimidate me. I faced terrors he can't imagine in the last couple of days. Right now, I am facing the fact that I am mentally unstable.

My mouth hurts from smiling but I can't stop. I feel Donnie grab onto my shoulders and look me in the eye.

"I am working on a cure! I promised you that I will find one."

I just shake my head,

"It's too late." I giggle.

"NO IT'S NOT!" Donnie screams into my face and shakes me. It just makes me laugh again. Why am I laughing? Laugh. Laugh. Laugh. Oh what fun! Who knew dying was this much fun!

"Donnie, Mikey is dying." I say. Donnie's breathing turns heavy and his face is angry and frustrated.

"Dying. Dying. Dying." I laugh. Donne picks up a beaker and chucks it at the wall. Glass shatters and falls everywhere. My brothers stare at him with shock on their faces. I just keep swinging my legs. He stands there still breathing heavy, then he breaks down. He falls to his kneels and starts crying. I stop laughing. Crying? Please don't cry brother. I feel myself resurface, the sane part of me. I get off the table and kneel in front of him.

"It's okay Donnie."

Don just shakes his head no, I don't even notice the other brothers around me I am so focused on the brother in front.

"Look at me." I say and he does.

"Look at me," I repeat, "I am going insane." Donnie just cries and cries. I never have seen him cry like this and hurts my heart.

"Before I go completely off the walls, I love you Don."

"Mikey, Please don't. I will cure you, trust me."

No he won't, he can't. He can't! I am already half gone. It's Too late.

No. He will! He is real, he can do this. Faith. I need to fight this. I need to fight my insanity. Focus on my brothers. I breath in deeply. Brothers. Safe. Protect. Real.

"I do trust you." I say and then I look around at all my brothers. Real. "But just in case, I love you all."

It's quiet for a moment, then Donnie wraps his arms around me and crushes me into him. I let him, he needs this. I need this, it is real. He is real.

Raph has tears forming in his eyes and he barges out of the room. Leo turns his head and sighs. He follows the broken brother out of the lab, probably going to talk to him.

I am dying. I try to suppress a laugh for Donnie's sake. But I struggle to do so. Why am I laughing?

I must fight.

Fight. Fight this poison. Fight this insanity. I must fight for my brothers, I know they will fight for me. I need to fight because I love them, because they need me. I need to fight because they are real. They will guide me out of this madness. They will save me. I have to ignore that part of my mind that is dark. That is threatening to take over. My inner turmoil is almost unbearable. How easy it would be to just be sucked into this madness. To let it take over. I already see parts of it coming out of me. No matter how hard this is, I can't let it win.

In this crazy reality of mine, the only things that is real are my brothers. They have been the entire time.

I must fight.

Fight.

"Raph?" Leo asks as he steps forward. Raph turns his head, he doesn't want Leo to see the tears. He just can't handle this. Within a course of a day, the youngest turtle died, went basaltic and now is slipping into madness. It was too much. How are any of them functioning right now? Just dealing with a dead Mikey was a low blow. He felt a piece of him break when he saw the lifeless form, even after Mikey woke up, it didn't mend. They have all been hurt before or have had close experiences with death. But Mikey's pulse was actually gone. Gone! He wasn't breathing. It hurt, and it makes him want to puke. Raph gasps as he goes over the entire scene in his mind.

Then Mikey woke up and Raph was relieved and happy, that was until Mikey went crazy. He still is going crazy.

That laugh was ringing in his ears. That was not his brother.

"Raph." Leo says and sits down on the ground next to him. Leo sighs and then does something unexpected, he lays his head on Raph's shoulder. Raph looked over at Leo, Leo's face twists and he tries to hold back tears, but then they burst out of him. Raph stares for a second then he turns and hugs him. They both cry together for a good minute, when the tears slow down, Leo pulls away.

"I honestly don't know how I still have tears left!" Leo says as he wipes his cheek with the back of his hand,"I don't think I have ever cried this much in my entire life!"

Raph chuckles a little, "Leave it up to Mikey to make Fearless leader blubber like a baby." Leo doesn't look offended.

"Or to make the big strong badass fall apart." Leo says with a small smile. They sit in silence until Leo asks, "Raph..why do you call me Fearless?"

The question surprises Raph, and makes him think. Originally, Raph meant it as a negative comment, said sarcastically when Leo got on his nerves. The only thing is, there is so much truth to it. When Raph thinks of Leo, he thinks of controlled, focused, and fearless. He admires his brother a lot for it, but he never told him that. He has always looked up to Leo, and still does. Raph shrugs,

"Because it's true."

"No it's not. I can tell you, right now, I am very afraid."

Raph sighs and looks at Leo,

"Of course you are, but you are the bravest of us all. I know I like to think I am the strongest, and maybe physically that's true." Raph looks down at the ground and feels a small blush heat his cheeks.

"But you are the strongest. You have fear, but you use it to fuel you, not break you."

Leo scoffed.

"Well when Mikey was dying, all I could do was just stand there, frozen! It was pathetic."

"Hey, that's not fair. What just happened was almost world shattering." His voice got quiet, "What will happen will be world shattering."

"Mikey is still there you know." Leo says.

"But for how long?" Raph asks, "He's already half gone. What do we do Leo? What happens when his mind breaks completely?"

Leo shakes his head, "I don't honestly know what to do. All I know is that right now, we are the only thing that seems to be keeping Mikey grounded. He needs us."

"It's poison Leo, it will eventually take him completely, at least that's what Donnie says. What then?"

"Then we pray and hope that Don finds a cure, and if he doesn't, then we will love our little brother, crazy or not. No matter what, he is still our brother."

Raph made a face. How? How could they love something that isn't Mikey anymore? Just because he looks like their brother doesn't mean he is. What makes him him is starting to fade away, replaced with a monster.

"I just want my little brother." Raph says, "I want Mikey. Annoying, mischievous, and loving." Leo throws an arm around him.

"Me too."

They stay silent for a while and just think. It felt good to talk to Leo. Even though they fight a lot, and get on each others nerves. They have a special connection. Maybe it's being the two oldest, or maybe it's because they were almost complete opposites. They needed each other to be balanced. Raph will always need his leader, and Leo will always need his warrior.

Leo stands up, and holds out his hand to help Raph. They need to be with Mikey and watch over him while Donnie works. Raph sighs and looks at the brother in blue.

"Hey Leo.."

"Yeah?"

"I don't know what I would do without you." He grabbed Leo's hand and lets himself get pulled up. They stand in front of each other, Leo's face turns into a wide smile.

"You would get in a lot more trouble."

Raph lets out a deep chuckle and shoves Leo playfully. They make their way towards the lab again, this time feeling more put together.

At least they had each other, at least they had someone to understand what they felt.

Unlike the poor orange turtle, sitting on the table. Dealing with the fact that he was halfway to crazy town.

It's about to get crazier!

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