Hey guys! Sorry, I had a bit of writers block. But today, after being inspired by some really nice reviews I actually sat down and wrote down all my ideas on a piece of paper. Boy did that help! So here's a longer chapter for you guys. Thank you for all the support, I'm glad people are enjoying it.

After this one, there should only be one more chapter before an epilogue :) Then I have plans for another story. This one involves Mikey...and puppies! XD

PLEASE BE AWARE THERE IS A LOT OF SPIRITUAL MIND BULLSHIT IN THIS CHAPTER PLEASE TRY TO NOT TAKE IT TO SERIOUSLY I HONESTLY DON'T REALLY HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT THANK YOU.

Chapter Seven

The three turtle brothers were silent as they sat in lotus position beside the couch their littlest was comatose on. Master Splinter concentrated hard on his sons and slowly guided them into a different plane of existence, one that would allow them into the mind of their youngest's, an action that was possible to do now that he was vulnerable because of whatever was attacking him.

It took them awhile to get all their concentration focused on exactly what their Master was telling them, but their determination to help their little brother allowed them to reach out to Mikey's mind.

Slowly it felt like their minds were pushing through a barrier of some sort. It was a tough battle, Mikey's mind putting up a fight before suddenly there was a woosh sound and release. The three turtle's mind avatars fell to the floor in surprise, not expecting the sudden action, their father standing calmly over them.

"Ugh, man who woulda thunk gettin' inta Mike's mind would be so difficult?" Raph asked rhetorically, scrambling to his feet.

Master Splinter chuckled slightly. "Our minds have natural defenses against such things Raphael, your brother is no different."

"Where…are we?" Leonardo asked, looking around. They stood in the middle of a void, it was mostly dark, except for the glowing giant wall in front of them.

"Whoa, how did we not notice that?" Donatello asked, stepping closer to inspect it.

"What is dat Masta?" Raphael questioned curiously.

"It is a mind block my sons." Their father answered. "When someone is experiencing a trauma, their minds try to block it out, isolate it so it will not hurt them. But it festers, like a wound and slowly becomes infected. It is not good to have such blocks, and it concerns me that Michelangelo has these."

"So how do we get to Mikey Master?" Leonardo asked.

"It seems to me like we cannot get to Michelangelo until we get through these walls." Master Splinter began, walking towards the glowing wall. "But we must be gentle, if we try to burst through the walls his mind will force us out. If that happens we'll be right back where we started, and by then…it might be too late."

"What do we do sensei?" Donatello asked, trotting up next to him, the other two following.

"Just do as I do my sons." Master Splinter told them before gently placing his hand onto the wall. The other three looked at each other for a second before copying the movement. The wall immediately heated on contact and rippled like water. They stood still, holding their breaths before the wall slowly began to pull them in.

"Do not fight it my sons." Master Splinter instructed when he saw Raphael about ready to rip his hand away. Obeying, they allowed themselves to be pulled into the first road block in their journey.

Ooooooo

Mikey groaned slightly as he slowly opened his eyes. Once again he took in the darkness that was his mind (apparently) and flopped down. "I just want to go home please!" He yelled out into the darkness.

"It's okay Mikey, just follow us." Mikey shot up in surprise and looked around. From the shadows emerged his brothers, staring at him silently.

"Guys!" He chirped, scrambling to his feet and trotting over to the turtles, standing in front of them happily.

"Follow us." Leonardo instructed turning and walking in a seemingly random direction. Slightly hurt at the brush off, Michelangelo walked behind them.

"Hey Raph, how did you guys get in here?" He asked his older brother in red. He was ignored. "Ookkkayyy…" he turned to Donnie. "Don?" Similar reaction, expect Don acknowledged him slightly with a glance before staring straight ahead again.

Pouting, Mikey crossed his arms and continued in silence. After what seemed like an eternity, Leonardo stopped. "Here we are." He announced.

Mikey stepped forward hesitantly, but immediately backed away when he saw the scary looking pit in front of him. "Oh no no no no no, if you expect me to go in there you're crazy."

"C'mon Mikey." Don said gently. "It's totally safe. Promise."

Mikey looked at him accusingly. "How do you know? Did you run a bunch of tests on it or something?"

Raphael glared at him slightly. "Just jump in, it'll be fine!"

Mikey crossed his arms and turned his head. "Nope! Nuh uh!"

Leonardo growled. "Michelangelo, do what I say and jump!"

The orange turtle sniffed. "Well if you're gonna be like that…nope!"

They all tensed angrily. "Goddammit Michelangelo, why do you have to be so much trouble!" Leonardo yelled.

Mikey wilted slightly at the words. "W-What?"

"You'd be doing us a favor, jumping in there." Donatello told him coldly.

"Maybe we'd finally get some peace." Raphael growled.

"Y-you guys…?" It was then that Mikey realized that these definitely weren't his brothers. At least…he hoped they weren't.

He stepped back further from the pit. "I am not jumping in there and that's final!" He yelled. The turtle doppelgangers began to yell at him, spewing hurtful words and rather scary promises. Mikey whimpered slightly and curled up on the floor, pressing his hands against his eardrums to try and block out the noise as the three turtles (when did they start to look so tall and scary looking) began to step closer to him.

Michelangelo felt tears well up behind his eyes; he wasn't sure how long he could keep this up.

Oooooo

After a bright flashing light, the three turtles and one rat found themselves suspended high above a hazy looking memory. "These must be sources of Mikey's fears." Donatello concluded.

"Let us watch, and hopefully learn." Master Splinter said.

Donatello and Michelangelo were sitting in the den of their old lair, looking to be around seven or so years. Mikey was happily playing with a beat up old action figure, one that they remembered making their little brother so happy when Master Splinter came brandishing it one day. Donnie was a little ways away, looking to be fixing an old looking radio, screwing in bolts carefully, obviously trying to make it work. They all smiled a bit at the scene.

Then for some reason, Mikey went to get up. He was distracted, still playing with the doll and began to walk out of their little living area. However, because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, he tripped over a haphazard piece of cloth that laid on the floor and was sent flying and landed heavily right onto the little radio Donnie was working on.

There was silent for a minute before Donatello got up angrily. "Mikey!" He cried.

The orange masked turtle scrambled up. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, honest!"

"I've been working on that for days Mikey! Days!" The purple masked turtle cried, angry tears running down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry Don really!" Mikey cried, feeling his own tears beginning to well up.

"Why do you hafta be so, so, useless!" Donatello finally yelled, before he took off running, obviously to go to Master Splinter. Mikey stood behind, positively radiating misery as he stared at the pieces of the broken radio…and the now broken action figure lying on the floor.

Donatello winced slightly at the memory, but didn't have time to dwell on it before they were suddenly transported to a new memory.

This time they were in the sewers, a now familiar area, but back then was uncharted territory. They were walking along on the paths, chatting amongst themselves.

"We really shouldn't go too far." An eight year old Leonardo advised, pointing his flashlight this way and that.

"Yeah yeah, whateva Leo." Raph said, flapping his hand nonchalantly. "We'll be back before Masta Splinta wakes from his meditation session."

"Besides, this way we won't bug him while he's doing it." Donatello laughed.

Mikey giggled slightly, enjoying looking around. They got a few more feet until Mikey spotted something in the sewer water. Curious, he stopped and tried to get a closer look. "It…it kind a looks like…" he wilted suddenly. "Aw, it's just a jar."

He pouted and went to jog after his brothers. The little light green turtle however, did not notice the puddle of water that was by the edge and slipped. Squealing in fright, he fell in the water.

His brothers heard the splash and turned quickly. "Mikey!" Leonardo yelled, running over to him. Luckily the flow wasn't too strong, and it was shallow. Donnie grabbed a coughing Mikey's hand and pulled him out.

Mikey grinned at them sheepishly, still coughing slightly. "S-Sorry…"

Donatello sighed slightly. "Great, I think you swallowed some water, and you're completely wet. We better head back."

Raphael cried out in protest." Whaaat! Seriously? C'mon, I'm sure he fine! Right Mike?"

Mike was about to answer, but a sneeze did instead.

"Yeah, let's go." Leonardo said sternly, wrapping an arm around his shivering younger brother and pulled him along, Donatello following.

Scowling angrily, Raphael walked after them.

When they got back, Donatello went and grabbed Master Splinter to look at their possibly sick brother. They were forced to tell their Master what they were doing, and he was most displeased, especially since their escapade gave their youngest a small cold. The three oldest were punished with no dinner and sent right to bed (Splinter decided being sick was a good enough punishment for Mikey). The turtles groaned unhappily and glared at Mikey slightly as they went to bed. The youngest slept with his father that night so he could keep an eye on his son.

The next morning Mikey woke up to his father gone. Getting up, and feeling much better, he wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and made his way to the kitchen.

"Man, I'm starving!" He heard Raphael yell. Smiling slightly, Mike was about to walk in when he heard Donnie say something.

"It's too bad; we probably wouldn't have been caught if Mike hadn't fallen in the water." Donatello put in between mouthfuls of cereal.

"C'mon guys, it was an accident." Leonardo tried to defend.

"Yeah, but seriously…why does Mike hafta be so…useless?" Rphael snarled, bitterly taking a bite from his spoon.

Mikey drooped slightly at the words, and instead of walking into the kitchen went over to the living room and laid down on the couch, staring silently at the turned off television.

It was Raph's turn to look sheepish this time, but before they knew it they were in another setting.

They were in the dojo of their oldest lair, still looking to be around eight years old. They were sparing, Raph against Don and Leo against Mikey. As usual, Leonardo was putting his all into the training, taking ever blow and every attack seriously. However, Michelangelo's mind was elsewhere, thinking of a picture he wanted to draw. After Mikey threw another halfhearted blow at his older brother, Leo got frustrated and grabbed the arm, flipping his littlest over his shoulder.

Yelping, Mikey landed on the mat and stared up at his looming big brother innocently. "What?" he asked.

"Darnit Mikey, why won't you take this seriously? How are you, and me, supposed to learn if you don't even try!" Leonardo lectured.

Mikey looked slightly chastened. "Sorry Leo, I just have this really awesome picture…"

Leo interrupted. "I don't really care Mikey, just try harder alright! Man!" He mumbled under his breath. "Why does he have to be so useless…?"

Unfortunately, he wasn't quiet enough, and Mikey heard it the mumbled words. Sniffing slightly, he sat up just in time for Master Spinter to call them all over to him. He was glad for the distraction.

He never did get that picture drawn.

Suddenly the three turtles and their sensei felt themselves grabbed and pulled. There was another blinding flash, and they all landed on a dark ground. Looking around they noticed they were on the other side of the wall.

"Man…" Raph began. "…Oops?"

Leonardo frowned at him. "Raph, it's not something we can dismiss with an "oops". Our…words really hurt Mike."

Donatello sighed slightly. "But we were kids, it's a universal rule that kids are horrible."

Master Splinter shook his head quietly. "That does not mean their words hurt any less my son."

Donatello nodded before indicating to another wall that was in front of them. "Shall we continue? Who knows what's happening to our Mike right now…"

They all nodded and touched the wall, once again there was a flash of light and they were suspended over another memory.

This one was more familiar to them, considering it only happened about a year ago. They were in the Underground City, the first time, and they had all been trapped by the Great Sage's magic, except for Mikey. After the orange turtle brilliantly defeated the deceitful Magician, he helped his oldest brother up. "Thanks Mikey, you really stepped up." Leonardo said.

Mikey smiled at him, but the three turtles and rat observing suddenly had an insight to what he was thinking. "Do they think I wouldn't have? Of course I'd do anything to help them if something like this happened! Do they really have such low expectations of me…?"

His thoughts were cut off though as they came to where Quarry rested in the crystal pod.

The turtles looked at each other and tried not to flinch as they were transported to another memory.

They were outside the battle nexus arena, just exiting the ceremony that took place after Michelangelo won the Battle Nexus championship. The four could feel Michelangelo's glowing as he talked animatedly about his win.

"This is it!" They heard Mikey think. "I showed them what I could do! Master Splinter surely is proud of me! I'm so happy, I feel like I finally proved myself to them!"

"Ugh!" Raphael suddenly screamed. "Mikey, if you say one more thing about you being the Battle Nexus champion I'm going to scream!"

Mikey felt his heart drop but he kept his good humor up. "But you just did scream."

And suddenly he was tackled. Squealing slightly he wrestled with his older brother, trying to ignore the disappointment that Raph didn't seem too proud of him.

A few days passed and Mikey was still beaming over his win. He kept bringing it up, hoping to hear something from his brothers about his skill, about them being proud of him. Little did he know that they just thought he was bragging.

"Mikey, c'mon! Aren't you tired of rubbing it in our faces yet?" Donnie yelled.

"But…I'm not trying to…I'm just trying to get some acknowledgment! I finally did something awesome, all by myself…" Mikey thought, but put on a goofy smile.

"You're just jealous that I'm THE BATTLE NEXUS-OW!" Mikey squeaked, rubbing the back of his head where Leo hit him. He looked up at him with large, puppy dog eyes. "Leo?"

"That's enough for today Mikey." Leonardo told him sternly. Sighing quietly, Mikey retreated to the living room to watch TV, bittersweet satisfaction coming over him whenever he looked at his trophy that was placed on top of the televisions.

Then, finally, the four were shifted to when they were infiltrating the Tricerton ship. Mikey was professionally touching down their much smaller ship onto the cargo ship. Once they landed, Mikey leaned back with satisfaction, beaming happily at his victory.

He heard Raph lean over to Leo and whisper to him. "I don' believe this; Mikey's actually pulling it off!"

Leonardo mock whispered back. "See, he's not completely useless."

Mikey felt his heart drop at his least favorite word, but he jokingly responded with "I heard that."

Once again, a brilliant flash of light signified the end of that memory session and the turtles and their sensei landed more gently onto the black void floor then before.

"I can' believe dis." Raph yelled, starting to pace. "I can't believe that all that teasin' got to 'em so bad…Man, I just wanna punch maself in da face."

Leonardo placed a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up too hard, Raph. We didn't know…"

"But we should have…" Don moaned, placing his head in his hand.

"My sons," Splinter said gently, resting a hand on Donnie's arm. "We must keep going. Now that you know your brother's feelings, you can make it right, but we can only do that if we rescue him from whatever has him trapped."

The brothers nodded and turned to the next wall. This one was throbbing and glowing a dark red.

"Man, I almost don't wanna know what's going on in there." Raph muttered.

"Well…maybe you'll like it. I mean, it is red." Donnie tried to joke. His older brother just glared.

"Come on guys." Leonardo directed, walking up the wall and touching it gently.

Instead of a memory they found themselves in a white room. A few seconds went by before they started to hear a voice, Mikey's voice.

"I don't know what to do." Mikey said, or thought, as the case may be. "I'm so scared. I'm scared of my brothers finding me too annoying. But I don't want to change myself, I want to be happy. I really do. But I'm scared that they'll grow tired of me, if they aren't already starting. I'm scared of them leaving me behind. I don't want to be alone, I love my brothers, I want to be with them forever. I'd do anything for them, even if I don't show it all the time. I know they care for me…at least they do for now. Whenever I'm in trouble they come and save me…but what if I get into a trouble that only one of us can escape from? What if one of my brother's actually die trying to save me? It'd be all my fault! All because I wasn't strong enough to protect myself…maybe I really am useless, maybe it'd be better if I was gone. But I'm scared, I don't want to die. But I'd do anything for my family…anything…"

There was one, final, flash of light before the family opened their eyes and found themselves in a cluttered looking area.

"Where…are we Master?" Leonardo asked, still slightly breathless from the thoughts they just heard. He was determined that as soon as they got their baby brother back all those doubts would be laid to rest. But first they had to get Mike back.

"It seems we made it to Michelangelo's mind my son." The rat responded, looking around with a strange fondness at the room. It looks like Mikey's room from the old, old lair. There were comics, action figures, and superheros floating around. Moving pictures of memories laid around the floor as well, and multiple Klunks were tromping around, one even rubbed against Raphael's leg. The three turtles couldn't help but smile softly at their baby brother's mind room.

But in the corner of the room there was a spot of blackness.

"That must be where Mike is!" Donnie cried, looking at their father for assurance. The rat nodded gravely.

"Let us go, my sons. I fear we do not have much time left." He told them.

Raphael punched his left hand threateningly. "I'm gonna kill whateva did this to Mike, nobody but me can mess with Mike!" He yelled, glaring at his brothers as if they'd disagree. They grinned at him slightly.

"Then, let's go!" Leonardo yelled, running towards the portal before jumping in, the others quickly followed. Master Splinter took one last look at his son's soul room, before jumping in after his sons.

Feedback inspires me to write more, so any words you'd like to give me are very much appreciated :)