I don't own TMNT or UY.

Xxxxx

I felt good.

Weird.

I mean... I wasn't suppose to was I? Doesn't really make much sense if you think about it.

There'd been a burst of light and I could remember pain shooting through me. It'd only lasted a second but man, did it hurt!

Even so though, I felt good. No. I felt better than good. I felt great.

The world was dark and quiet. But it felt warm and safe.

I felt great. I'd done something good. Something very good and I knew it.

I'd saved Jotaro. Usagi had trusted me with his safety, and when it mattered the most, when the worst kind of danger lashed out at him, I was able to protect him. Oh yeah sure I saved him from his containment tube thing... but this was different.

Jotaro would've been killed for sure if that bolt of energy hit him, but I was able to stop him from getting hurt. All by myself. Without any-one needing to tell me to save him or to push him out of the way or to do the right thing. I didn't even need to think about it. I didn't need to stop and decide what would be the right thing to do. Not one thought crossed my mind when I grabbed the boy and threw him out of the way. I simply just reacted.

Somewhere, in the very back of my mind, I knew I was leaving myself an open target for the bolt. That, in focusing on the boy's safety and not my own, I was probably gonna get badly hurt myself. I was totally aware of this, of what it would mean to me, to my safety, and yet.... not once did it matter to me.

'Save the kid.' Something inside me had said. He was such a sweet boy, and he meant so much to Usagi.

Usagi loves him. He loves him so much.

Jotaro was so important. He wasn't my son, or brother or anything else to me. I hadn't even known him long enough to call him a friend. But I accepted whatever fate threw at me with open arms... as long as he was unhurt.

Why?

But then... that's the beauty of it. It didn't matter why. It didn't matter at all. All that mattered was that I knew I did the right thing. On my own. Without thinking or worrying or choosing to. Just something inside me knew what I had to do... and if the price for the boy's life was my own then hey! I'm cool with that.

Haha! Suck it Tibalt! You were wrong.

You were so wrong.

I am not a big, super-intelligent animal pretending to be something I'm not. I had more than my natural instincts to rely on. My morals were not taught to me, nor do I think they even can be taught.

Nothing you had said was true.

I have morals.

I have morals, and thoughts, and feelings. They're not something I built to change who I am. They are who I am.

I'm me.

I may not always have been me. But here I am now.

I'm me.

Your lies were just empty illusions, and they can't hurt me any more.

Your spell is broken.

The animal in me is dead. It died... a very long time ago... You tricked me into thinking it was still there, waiting to be unleashed but... that's not true. It's not true at all.

I'm no animal.

I'm me.

...

It's dark and quiet here.

But I feel good.

It's warm, and I feel safe.

.....

Mikey!

My name.

That's weird. There's no-one else here. Who's calling me?

Mikey!! Oh God NO!

Was something wrong?

But it's so calm and peaceful here. How can anything be wrong?

Michelangelo please!!

I felt myself become concerned. I knew that voice. I knew that voice very well. Some-one was in trouble.

What's wrong? How can I help? Where are you?

Mikey please breathe!! Please you CAN'T LEAVE US!!

I don't want to.

No.

No! No I don't want to!

Leo? Leo where are you?!

Breathe!!

Breathe.

Breathe Mikey breathe.

....

It hurt.

Xxxxx

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