The first December update is here! Me gasps!
A big shout out to all reviewers and guest readers, Emily and The Nerd Goddess, as well as to those who faved/followed my fic. You guys are awesome and inspiring!
悪事千厘をはしる - Bad News Runs a Thousand Li
The smell of metal, antiseptic and coffee greeted Mikey's nostrils the very second he woke up. With a groan, Mikey tilted his head to the side, blinking slowly to clear his swimming vision.
An assortment of tools, vials, chemistry sets and diagrams, Mikey recognized. Don's lab?
"M-Mikey?" Ah, speaking of the turtle.
"Donnie?" Mikey turned further to his left (which wasn't much; his neck hurt like shell for some reason). Right next to him, gap toothed smile and face so bright with relief it hurt, was his purple masked brother.
"Mikey, thank goodness you're awake!" The little turtle made a move to sit but Donnie gently pushed him back down. "Hey, relax, it's OK. You're safe now. You shouldn't move around too much or you could bust your stitches."
Oh so that's why his side hurts. Hold up, "Stitches?"
Don's smile fell slightly. "You got some nasty slashes across your plastron, some cracks on your shell and sprained your leg, little brother, not to mention the ridiculous amount of cuts and bruises you got during your fight with Rahzar."
Oh, right. He just survived a one on one with the giant dog of a jerk! Mikey mentally frowned when the memories of his fight came flying back. Man, that was too awfully close. Thank God for brothers! Mikey managed to get back into the conversation by the time Donnie asked. "So how are you feeling?"
Like I've been run over by a cheese grater. "Nah, dude, I'm good, well mostly. My side feels like it's on fire and my leg is all twitchy inside."
"I'll give you something for the pain, but for now, you'll have to stay in bed. You'll need your rest if you want to heal up faster." Donnie said as he got up. "I'll go get Sensei, Leo and Raph, OK?"
"Sure, D. Not like I can go anywhere."
Donnie's hand rubbed Mikey's head for a few seconds before walking away. Mikey grinned at the gesture of affection before it faded slightly while settling back on Donnie's dubbed "medical" table stuffed with pillows and blankets.
Mikey could tell his by the lines and dark circles under his older brother's eyes that Donnie had been quite stressed out. It made Mikey's insides squirm with guilt when his family was too worried that they didn't even bother to hide their concern for him. As much as Mikey loved attention, he hated it when it made his family upset.
And dark circles? How long had Mikey been out, anyway?
"Michelangelo?"
Mikey's eyes lifted to the door with a cheerful grin at the sight of his father and brothers. "Hey, dudes! 'Sup?"
"Idiot." Raph said gruffly but with underlying fondness and concern that Mikey easily picked up.
"Glad to see you up, Mikey." Leo greeted, a small smile on his face. "How are you feeling?"
"Other than my side acting up, I'll live." Mikey answered. "What about you guys?"
Raph raised a disbelieving eye ridge. "Way better than you, obviously. Damn, Rahzar really roughed you up, huh?"
"H-hey, it's not so bad! I'll be fine by the end of the week. You know me, Raph! You can't keep a good turtle out of his feet for too long!"
"Well, Doc Donnie recommended that you stay off your feet for the next few days." Leo interjected, humor touching his tone. "And so help me Michelangelo, if you're not going to cooperate, I'll chain you to your bed with you own chucks!"
"Woah, woah, relax bro! I'll be good!" Mikey sent his best innocent grin at his oldest brother. "So how long was I out?"
"Nearly a day actually." Donnie answered from somewhere to the right. "You missed lunch, by the way."
"What? Aww man!" Mikey cried dramatically, making his brothers roll their eyes. "You guys better not have eaten my share of the pizza!"
"Relax, Mikey, it's not like you can have any of it right now."
"Raphael is right, my son." Splinter said, laying a hand on Mikey's shoulder. "For now, you will be restricted to taking thick soup and teas until you fully recover."
Mikey pouted. He didn't really enjoy taking Sensei's medicinal teas that they were required to whenever they were sick. And no pizza?! These next few days are going to be terrible!
"Look at this way, Mikey," Donnie reappeared in the youngest turtle's field of vision, holding a cup of water and a smaller one with a pill. "The faster you can get better and the earlier you can eat pizza again."
"Not like I have a choice anyway." Mikey drawled with a cheeky grin. "You guys better not burn the kitchen while I'm out of business."
"As long as we keep Leo away from anything in there, we should probably be safe."
"Donnie!" Leo spluttered, making the family laugh and, to Mikey's inner delight, lighten the tension on their shoulders.
Just wait, you guys! Mikey thought while swallowing the pain reliever Donnie handed him. I'll be better in no time!
It was the fifth day after the fight between the turtles and the Foot and the Kraang.
So far, despite his constant whining about being bored out of his shell, Mikey stayed in bed and was healing up nicely because of it. Donnie had deemed it all right to remove Mikey's stitches though the turtle's bad leg meant that he still wasn't allowed to walk too much around the lair.
Meanwhile, Leo, Raph and Don remained in the lair for the first two days of Mikey's recovery to keep an eye on their youngest until Mikey was strong enough to move around a little more. But even then, their patrols were relatively shorter, as none of them (specifically Leo) wanted to tempt fate when they were missing a turtle.
Mikey was bummed at having to miss their nightly prowls on the topside but took comfort in that he was getting better by the day. April and Casey also helped curb Mikey's boredom by staying over and keeping the turtle entertained with TV shows and playing games with him until the other three came back.
The team still had half an hour left before patrol. Currently, the youngest turtle was in his room resting, Splinter was meditating in the dojo, and April and Casey were still at topside. With the brothers were finished with their practice for the day, Leo was playing with his Space Heroes pinball machine, Raph with his punching bag and Donnie was watching TV, instead of in his lab for once.
Their minds were not on what they were supposed to be doing, though.
It was Leo who first broke the silence. "So when will Mikey be well enough to start patrolling again, Donnie?"
"Hmm, given the rate he is recovering and the fact that we do heal quite faster than normal, I'd say he'd be ready the day after tomorrow." Donnie replied after a pause. "If he doesn't try to walk without his crutch again, that is."
The news should have made the three of them happier but instead, a cold draft draped over the older turtles' shoulders at the thought. They knew the others felt it and they knew why.
"When I get my hands on that mutt…" Raph growled after sending a right hook to his punching bag. "Where the shell is he and Tiger Claw anyway, or the rest of the Foot even? It's been days since we last saw them and I've been itching to pound Rahzar's face in!"
Donnie tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I find it strange actually, how quiet the streets have been. After seeing the Kraang meeting up with the Foot again, I was expecting for us to deal with something potentially disastrous."
"If that were the case, then they're really taking their time. I can't say it's not a good thing, though." Leo bit his lip, his face betraying his inner turmoil before speaking again. "Guys, do really think we should let Mikey back to patrol with us again?"
Donnie and Raph heard the barely spoken question enough to snap their heads at their leader's direction.
"What the shell are you going on about, Leo?" Raph snapped both in irritation and disbelief. Wasn't it Mikey's job to ask the stupid questions?
Leo tore his eyes from the pinball machine to look at his brothers. "Hear me out first. I-It's not like I want Mikey off the team, but after what happened back at the warehouse with the Foot and the Kraang, then that fight with Rahzar, it really hit home for me that Mikey isn't ready for this yet."
"Leo, we've been doing this for years now—"
"Exactly, Don! Yet for some reason, Mikey hasn't found it in himself to be a real ninja. He gets too loud and careless, he attracts too much attention." Mikey's recent injuries, seeing him so still in Raph's arms, flashed before Leo's eyes. "What happens if his recklessness gets him into trouble we can't save him from?"
"That's not going to happen!" Raph growled the way he always would whenever anyone in their family was threatened, forming a huddle near the pinball machine with his other brothers. "What the hell's gotten into you, Fearless? You know none of us will let it come to that!"
"But what if it does, Raph?!" Leo snapped so harshly that Raph actually took a step back. "That stunt with Rahzar proved that we can't always be there to watch Mikey's back. What if that sort of thing happens again and, God forbid, it's something we can't fix?!"
Donnie looked between his brothers worriedly. "Leo—"
"…Oook, I admit, the bonehead can get way too reckless for his own good and I also think he needs to get his act together," Raph said with a scowl. "But that's no reason to kick him off the team!"
"Weren't you listening? It's not that I want him out! I just think it's the best course of action for everyone that Mikey stays behind and learn what it takes to be a real ninja before he can join us again!" Leo said, his voice lowering with each sentence. "I want him with us as much as you guys do, I swear. But I'd rather have him off the team than not have him at all because of a mistake he's made and we're not around to help him out of it!"
The two younger brothers shared an uneasy glance before Leo's pleading eyes. Donnie cleared his throat. "I—I can see your point, Leo. I'd be lying if I said the thought had not crossed my mind, especially now after what happened with the Foot back at the warehouse."
The purple masked turtle swallowed, but the pain never left his face. "Our enemies see him as our weakest link, and in some way, they are right. I want Mikey with us too, but if he can't handle himself better during missions, it may be for the best that he…stays here for a while."
"That bonehead gets into more trouble during missions than all three of us combined!" Raph siged, rubbing a hand to his face. "I don't like this at all, but I gotta admit you guys also make sense. He needs to take being a ninja more seriously or it could get all of us in real trouble one day."
Leo let out a breath. Raph and Donnie agreed with him, but it still didn't make him feel any lighter. Besides, they still have tell sensei and they still need to figure out what to do with Mikey without breaking the youngest turtle's heart beyond repair.
Despite always keeping a light air around him, Mikey's brothers knew how sensitive he was. The Chris Bradford disaster told them that much.
"We could tell him that he needs to train a little more, work on his focus and such," Donnie suggested. "I know Mikey's capable. He just needs a little more guidance and I could probably help on that front."
"Maybe we should just tell him as it is. It'll give him something to think over, at least," Raph gave Leo a sidelong glance. "But we really should leave that part to Leo, though. If it'll be up to me, I don't think it'll go very well."
That, and the fact that Raph's the one most easily flustered when it came to handling a distressed Mikey. Not that all three of them are any real good when it came to that, really.
If there's one thing all three of them could never, ever stand, it was seeing Mikey hurt and upset, especially because of something they did.
Leo bit his lip before looking at the time. Five minutes to patrol. "Look, we can talk more about this later. It's time to go topside."
Raph and Donnie nodded before following Leo to the dojo.
But a few seconds after they left, a door creaked open, and peeking behind the crack, shiny and quivering, were a pair of tearful baby blue eyes.
Chuchi's Cultural Corner!
厘: Read as Li (Chinese) or Rin (Japanese). Also known as the Chinese mile, it is the traditional Chinese unit of measure for distance equivalent to 500 meters. The character is read in Chinese because the Japanese meaning denotes a specific number (one hundreth of something) instead.
Still, most of the quote is read in Japanese, as the chapter title in the directory will show.
Headcanons and Other Extras:
-In my head, Mikey may be an attention seeker but watching the 2012 series, I don't see him as someone who will milk his injuries for some extra loving. Call me weird, but I see Mikey as the turtle who'd like to pretend that he's all fine and dandy as much as he can and hates being sick because it meant staying put in bed which is a challenge for the little guy.
-One thing that bothers me with some of the fanfics I've read is that some writers tend to make it as if Mikey's three older brothers can and will easily boot the little orange out of the team because they've had enough of Mikey's foolhardy ways. Despite the fact that the little orange can get to everyone's nerves one way or another, Leo, Raph and Don still love the heck out of him and it would probably take a deeply traumatic experience (ala SAINW) to prompt them to leave Mikey behind.
Even then, I'd like to think that it would be a difficult and ultimately painful decision, as it should be.
But enough about that rant! ;)
Thanks again for sticking with me thus far and hope to see ya'll next chapter!