~I won't be broken again
I've got to breathe, I can't keep going under~

It has been a few days since the dinner at April's house, and everyone noticed they were doing way better ever since. They walked around more, talk more about what happened, what they thought and how they experienced things. And everyone was prepared to listen. Tears were shed but they were always ready to help each other.

Mikey and Donnie quickly joined training for some basic kata's, being the least injured ones. Although Donnie still had to take it easy with the electricity he received. Even after all this time it could still cause some complications to his heart. But apart from that Mikey and Donnie weren't injured

Leo and Raph still weren't well enough to join training but they watched while Mikey and Donnie were starting with their training, and they did whatever they could. Leo's arm was still broken and it would take a long time before he could use it again so he trained the things he could train. He did regular exercises to train his legs, and also trained his non-broken arm.

Raph couldn't move around a lot just yet because of his plastron and that's why he too did some training with his legs. But they had all agreed it wasn't wise for him to walk around a lot so they trained his legs while he sat down. And especially Casey helped him a lot with regaining his strength.

Splinter had arranged a lot of mediation lessons, twice a day. Mostly his sons would complain about mediation lessons but now they were more than willingly to do so. So Splinter did the mediation lessons two times a day, and it helped them. They opened up more and they learned to cope with their experiences more and more.

April and Casey were constantly willing to help. Casey helped with training, especially Raph but he was also willing to help Leo, Donnie and Mikey. And April kept them happy by getting them supplies and taking them out regularly. She lately found an abandoned park where they could easily walk through without being seen.

So she took them to the park a lot, and they all enjoyed being out in the open, despite being slightly afraid of being topside, because they thought they would get captured again.

She also cooked for them every day and brought new supplies whenever they could. Of course they didn't want to ask a lot of her but she didn't mind buying the supplies for them and whenever they needed something she bought it for them.

Of course each one of them was afraid. And they weren't the same anymore. Leo was still trying to cope with his 'failure'. Although he had realized his brothers did not blame him, he still thought about it, and he still wanted to improve himself, which didn't work with his broken arm.

His brothers supported him a lot, listening to him whenever he ordered them something, but that wasn't very often. They took a lot of time talking with Leo, assuring him nobody blamed him, and telling him what they experienced.

Raph was more determined than ever. Everything he could do was done and he trained whenever Casey was around, and even after that. He spent a lot of time with his human friend and they shared a lot. After his experience Raph changed too. He was more open to the others and talked more about what happened, but he was still extremely stubborn.

He talked with Casey about his fears, even when he knew the woman was gone, and she could never hurt him again, he was still afraid of her. And he saw her everywhere he went. But he got used to it, and the more he talked about it, the more the woman vanished. But she would always stay with him. And would always hunt him.

He and Leo also spent a lot of time together. Mostly they were training together but it mostly ended up in them talking about what happened. Raph telling what his thoughts were and how it was with the woman. And Leo told him about what he had seen. How he was helpless to defend Raph while he was hurt.

Donnie was a lot quieter than he used to be. He was still very insecure about himself. The first day or two he still carried the blanket with him. Still folded around his body. It was his way of protecting himself, and more importantly his body.

But after these days April decided it was time he exposed of the blanket and together with Mikey they went to the park. April had bought a box to place the blanket in and Mikey even added his broken collar to it. And together they buried it in the ground.

Donnie didn't talk a lot about what happened, much to Splinter's concern but he spent a lot of time with Mikey, and shared his feelings with him. Also because Mikey already knew what Donnie had experienced but mostly because they had always been close with each other.

Mikey nowadays really had two sides. Ever since the dinner, and ever since he didn't have the collar anymore, he was truly happy again. He moved around more. He joked more and even pulled some pranks, none of them were very serious because his brothers were also healing, and he understood it wouldn't be a good idea to pull big pranks.

But he was still very distressed about what happened and whenever someone brought it up or he was thinking about it his mood would completely turn around. But just like any other, his brothers were fully prepared to help him.

Every one of them still had nightmares, and so far there wasn't any night that one wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night screaming and freaking out because of a nightmare. But again, everyone was fully prepared to help each other.

There would always be scars from the event, both physically and mentally. Leo's body and arm would eventually heal but mentally he would always be scarred. He would never be the same leader again, the event scarred him beyond repair. They made him fail his team, and that was something he could never forgive himself and he could never be the same leader again but with the help of his brothers he could be a leader again.

Raph suffered both physically and mentally, and his plastron would always be full of scars, and the skin beneath it would always be more sensitive than before. But the thing that concerned them most was his fear for Akuyami. Every time he would wake up screaming it was because he was dreaming about her again.

No matter how much his brothers tried to calm him down he kept seeing her. And that was something they knew would never go away.

Donnie was still coping with what happened and kept thinking about it, how he was electrocuted and raped. His tail kept carefully tugged between his legs and he would take multiple showers a day to get rid of the dirty feeling he constantly had. He didn't talk much about what happened but then again he spent a lot of time with Mikey.

And unlike his brothers he would never wake up screaming. He would only cry silently until he fell asleep again, and never talk about it again. But eventually Mikey figured this out to and decided to sleep in Donnie's room too. And ever since he would always calm his older brother down when he had a nightmare again.

Mikey was barely injured at all. All his damage was mentally. He still had the huge burn mark on his arm, and that was also never go away. He learned to accept it but every time he touched it or saw it, it reminded him of his captivity.

After Raph, Mikey was probably the one who had the most nightmares. And he also woke up several times screaming when he remembered what Thorn had done to him. The collar, the duct tape, the branding, everything. And ever since he slept with Donnie in one room, Donnie helped him too with his nightmares.

Just like Leo did after he had woken up after hearing Raph scream again, from a nightmare. It took him 10 whole minutes to calm him down and they fell asleep in each other's arms. Crying. And ever since they decided to stay together at night, as brothers.

They would heal in time, but just a like a broken mirror, you can fix it when it's broken, but you can still see the cracks in its reflection.

~Broken Spirits~

Well this is the end of the story *sniff sniff*

(And I've officially written 1444 words of crap :D)

Thank you all so much for all the reviews! I never thought this story would get so much attention :D This is also by far my longest story, 26 chapters woah! ^^

Again, thank you so much!