*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

*Author's Notes: I'm back with a new chapter of 'Slash's Revenge.' This one is a bit of a tearjerker. Well, at least it is for me. I cried every time I edited it.

Tremendous thanks go out to my immensely talented friend, DonnysGirl87 (aka donniesgirl87), for creating the incredible artwork for this chapter. If you haven't seen it yet, I suggest checking it out on my Tumblr site. She did such an amazing job capturing the emotions in the chapter. I just love it and her. Thank you so much, my dear friend. You are a true blessing.

Okay, let's get on with the chapter, shall we?

Thank you all very, very much for reading!

CJ

Chapter 35 – I'm Here

Hamato Michelangelo woke up in a cold sweat, immediately trying to get his rapid breathing back to normal. He had been having that same messed up dream again. The one where he was a super rad human being chased by a horde of brain-eating zombie teenagers on skateboards. Those zombie punks were just about to nab him when his eyes shot wide open to set sights on his pillowcase.

He was in his room.

No walking dead to be seen. Well, unless you counted his life-size Chris Bradford cardboard cutout. That dude was a total deadbeat, not to mention a major jerk.

Mikey rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before pushing himself up into a crooked sitting position. Still tuckered out from a prolonged lack of rest, he let loose a big yawn and stretched his arms towards the ceiling. He was sure he could snooze another ten hours or more, but his parched throat said otherwise. He was in desperate need of a glass of cold water and maybe a little midnight snack or two. As if to agree, his stomach grumbled super loud. Not loud enough to wake his family, of course, but plenty loud enough to voice its strong opinion to Mikey.

Giving his noisy belly a soothing pat, Mikey sprung to his feet and headed for his bedroom door. Once out in the hallway, he forgot all about being thirsty when he heard the distinct sound of someone whimpering.

It was a voice he'd recognize anywhere.

"Donnie?" Quietly poking his head inside his smartest brother's room so as not to spook him, Mikey saw Donatello tossing and turning in his restless sleep. The wounded turtle was gasping for air while trying to beg for mercy from an attacker Mikey couldn't see, but he knew all too well who it was.

That horrible monster was still tormenting Mikey's big brother, even in his dreams.

"N – No. P – Please. D – Don't. P – Please."

Mikey approached Donatello's bed on silent feet, afraid of startling his already distraught brother. When he made it to the genius turtle's side, he reached out and ever so gently touched Donatello's less injured shoulder. "Donnie. It's okay, bro. It's me. Mikey."

Screwing his eyelids shut, Donatello thrashed his head from side to side, still trapped in his dream state.

"It h – hurts. S – Stop. S – Stop!"

Mikey cupped a hand over Donnie's shoulder and gave it a little shake, trying to rouse him. "Wake up, D. It's just a nightmare."

Donatello whined at this and began to thrash harder in Mikey's loose hold on him.

"N – No, S – Slash. N – No!"

Panic starting to rise, Mikey tightened his grip around Donatello's shoulder and gave it a firm shake.

"It's just a nightmare, Donnie. Wake up, bro. Wake! Up!"

Finally, Mikey got through. Sort of…

Donatello nearly choked on his next breath as his eyes flew open. He gaped up at Mikey as though he was terrified of him, but realization soon washed over his ashen face.

"M – Mikey?"

"Yeah, it's me, D." Wanting to ease his brother's troubled mind, Michelangelo rubbed the wounded turtle's arm reassuringly. Much to Mikey's dismay, Donnie shied away from the physical contact, almost as if it had hurt him.

"I – I thought you… I thought y – you were… " Donnie couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, too frightened to say the last word. Even with a sling on, he wrapped his arms around his mid-section, as tightly as he could, trying in vain to comfort himself. His heart was racing about a million miles a minute and each breath seemed harder than the previous one, to the point he started to wheeze.

Mikey continued to rub Donnie's arm in hopes of calming him down. He could feel his older brother start to shiver with what Mikey could only assume was fear.

"I know, D."

Suddenly oblivious to his younger brother's presence, Donatello kept repeating the words "just a nightmare," as though trying to convince himself the line was true.

"That's right, Donnie. It's all good."

"Just a nightmare. Just a nightmare."

The childlike way Donatello whimpered out the same three words over and over again made the littlest turtle want to cry. His wounded brother sounded so frail and tragic. It took every ounce of Mikey's being to keep himself from scooping Donnie up into a fierce hug. He instead had to settle for simply touching Donnie's arm.

"Everything's okay, buddy. I'm here to protect you now. You can close your eyes and go back to sleep."

Shaking his head from side to side, Donatello made it abundantly clear that sleep was not an option, even though the droopy bags under his eyes suggested otherwise. Mikey had to wonder just how much actual sleep his brother had gotten the past two weeks. Had the nightmares kept him awake all night long, or worse yet, had Slash spent his evenings beating the crap out of Donnie just for fun? Poor Donatello had certainly looked as though that was the case and Mikey wouldn't put it past Slash. That dude was pure evil.

"That's cool, bro. You don't have to go to sleep if you don't wanna. I'll stay up with you, if that's all right."

Donnie nodded almost imperceptibly and curled up on his side, facing his little brother, but he kept his gaze fixed on his pillow. Even in the scant lighting of Donatello's room, Mikey could see the tears shimmering in his older brother's eyes. It was yet another reason for Mikey to hate Slash.

Like he needed anymore…

A hush fell over the room as Mikey waited for Donnie to say something, but the wounded turtle chose to remain silent. This came as no great surprise to Mikey. Ever since they had brought Donnie back to the lair, the genius turtle had barely spoken. Granted, Donatello had always been the quietest brother, but this was different. This wasn't Donnie just being socially awkward. This was Donnie being mentally tortured and Mikey didn't like it one little bit. Instead of hiding inside his lab like he always did before, it was as if Donnie was now hiding inside his own head and even Mikey realized that Donnie's noggin was not a safe place to be in right now.

"You know, they always say talking about stuff makes you feel better."

Donatello visibly flinched at the suggestion; the thought of opening up about what had happened was enough to make him cringe inside his shell. He didn't want to relive those memories out loud. Especially not in front of his impressionable baby brother.

"I'm serious, bruh. If bad stuff happened to me, you'd make me talk about it 'til I felt better. Why's this any different?"

A slight shrug of his good shoulder was Donatello's only response.

"I know Slash said a lot of really bad stuff to hurt you." The mere mention of the name 'Slash' had Donatello struggling for air once again. Hearing the audible hitch in his brother's breathing, Mikey paused for a moment before continuing in his gentlest tone. "But I promise that none of that stuff was true. We all love you, D. When you were missing, we were all going out of our minds. We searched everywhere trying to find you."

The gravelly voice inside Donatello's brain was back, all too eager to contradict what Mikey had just said…

"Pathetic. You always have been. That's why your brothers haven't come for you yet. They know you're weak and useless, so they stopped searching. I mean, why bother, right?"

"You think if I would've taken the almighty, fearless leader, your dear old rat dad wouldn't have found him by now? He would've combed every inch of this city to find his precious Leonardo, but not you, Donnie boy. No, not you. He doesn't care a thing about you. No one does. That's the real reason why your family hasn't found you yet."

Donatello sealed his eyes shut, trying to block out the sound of his captor, but it was no use…

"How's it feel to know your family thinks so little of you, they've left you for dead?"

"Your family – they don't want you back. I can't blame 'em. You're pretty much useless."

I'm useless.

Useless!

"Donnie? Are you okay?" It was a stupid question; Mikey knew it as soon as the words fell from his lips. Of course Donnie wasn't 'okay.' Nothing about this situation was 'okay.'

Pressing his maskless face deep into his pillow, Donatello let out another melancholy whimper. Though the sound was muffled, it was still plenty loud enough to break Mikey's heart. Before he even realized it, Mikey was enveloping his brother into that hug he had been trying so hard to resist.

Panic instantly superseded all of Donatello's other senses and he shoved his younger brother away with every ounce of strength he could muster. Mikey stumbled backwards several steps, somewhat taken aback by his wounded brother's rather violent reaction. In the meantime, Donnie had already pushed himself half against the wall and half against the headboard of his bed, attempting to scramble as far away from Mikey as possible. The genius turtle's trembling hands were held out in front of him, clearly intended to protect himself from any further form of contact. His eyes remained sealed shut as he braced himself for what Mikey could only assume was a beating.

"I'm sorry, D! I didn't mean to scare you. I'm really sorry."

A full minute passed before Donatello finally pried his eyelids apart to see Mikey hovering over him. Concern drenched the younger turtle's facial features. The genuineness in Michelangelo's expression was impossible to deny, but Slash's malicious words were just as convincing…

"Even that little brat, Michelangelo, told me how much he despised you."

"He did not! Mikey would never say that!"

"I wouldn't be so sure, Donatello. Your precious baby brother used to bring me in his room sometimes when Raph wasn't around. You should've heard the things he had to say about you. About how boring you are and how you were such a drag to be around. He was always going on and on about how much better brothers Raphael and Leonardo were than you."

"That's not true!"

"Heh! He once told me he'd trade you for a slice pizza, hands down."

"Wh – What?"

"Yeah, that was right after he called you a sorry excuse for a ninja. Said you could never hold your own in a fight and went on and on about always having to save your shell, like you were some sort of damsel in distress."

"No! He wouldn't say that stuff!"

"Oh, but he did, Donnie boy. Your little brother is ashamed of you. And who the hell wouldn't be? You're a hopeless loser. Just look at you! Sniveling in your cage like a coward. You're pathetic and weak, just like Michelangelo said you were!"

"N – No." All Donatello could manage was a tremulous whisper as he stared up at Mikey. Big, reddish-brown eyes begged for the awful words not to be true while bright, blue eyes peered back. Eyes that were filled with such affection and adoration there was no questioning Mikey's sincerity.

Just like that, Donatello's head was suddenly filled with the memory of a conversation he and Mikey had had several months ago. And just like that, Mikey's kinder words began to push out some of Slash's hurtful ones…

"Donnie? Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

"What's the matter, D? Why'd you run out of the Dojo like that?"

"It's nothing, Mikey. I just have a lot of work to do."

"That's not why, bro. You always have a lot of work to do. You looked sad."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. I can see it in your eyes. You're still upset. Is it because you couldn't get those katas right?"

"How can I not get something so fundamentally simple?"

"Hey, your timing was just a little off. It happens."

"Easy for you to say. I didn't hear Sensei calling you out on your sloppy techniques. Why's it always me who's off?"

"Dude, don't worry about it. You just need to practice."

"None of you guys need to practice. Why couldn't I figure it out? I'm supposed to be the smart one…"

"You are the smart one, bro! This has nothing to do with brains."

"No, it just has to do with me sucking at being a ninja."

"Whoa, dude! That's not true! Not at all! It was just a couple of katas, D. You'll get 'em right eventually."

"I'm just tired of being the one who doesn't get things."

"Ex-squeeze me. Shouldn't that be my line?"

"You know what I meant, Mikey."

"No, I don't know what you meant. You get a lot more things than any of us ever will, Donnie. I mean, yeah, maybe sometimes it takes you a little longer to get some of the ninja moves down, but you always get them after a while."

"Not helping, Mikey."

"The thing is, you have specials skills that none of us can even hold a candle to. Think about all the other stuff that you do. The smart, sciency stuff. No matter how hard I ever practiced, I could never get that stuff the way that you do. None of us could."

"That's different. Those aren't ninja skills."

"Sure they are, bro! They help us on our missions, don't they?"

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"Well, then that totally makes them ninja skills. And they're awesome skills that nobody but you have, dude. In my book, that makes you the greatest ninja on our team."

"Really?"

"Absolutely! I'd take the Shellraiser over some silly katas any day."

"Thanks, Mikey."

"Anytime, bro. Anytime."

Eyes quivering with gathering tears, Donatello stared up at the orange-clad prankster standing over him and was soon struck by another memory. More specifically, he remembered something Mikey had said to him not long before Spike/Slash's transformation…

"You're the best big brother a turtle could ever ask for."

That single line contradicted every negative thing Slash had said about Michelangelo. Donatello remembered the moment so clearly, like it had happened only yesterday.

Then, as if Mikey was thinking back to that very same moment in time, he repeated the exact words from that fateful day…

"I love you, D."

It was in that instant Donatello realized his little brother could never have been so callous or unkind as Slash had painted him out to be. Not in a million years.

Michelangelo was not capable of such cruelty.

The destructive words that had been bouncing around inside of Donatello's brain started to sound more and more ridiculous as the genius gazed into his brother's innocent blue eyes. The eyes of a turtle that could never truly despise anyone.

"I love you, too, Mikey."

Face instantly lighting up with a grin that seemed to span from ear slit to ear slit, Mikey clasped his hands in front of himself with pure joy. Donatello had fallen so quiet, Mikey hadn't known what to expect, but to hear his big brother reciprocate his affections had him on cloud nine.

"You kind of zoned out on me there, bro." Lines of worry suddenly made Mikey appear older than before. His once Cheshire grin faded into the likes of a grimace. One that pained Donatello to see, for he had put it there. He never liked to see his little brother sad.

"Yeah. Sorry."

"No need to apologize."

"It wasn't real." Donatello spoke in a shaky voice riddled with ache, but there was certainty in his tone as well. Almost as though he was stating a fact. This time, he wasn't trying to convince himself that 'it' wasn't real. It was more like he was trying to convince Mikey instead.

"No, it wasn't. You wanna talk about it?" Inching closer and closer to the edge of his big brother's bed, Mikey patiently waited for his brother's response, not wanting to push him into anything he didn't want to do.

When Donnie didn't say anything in return, Mikey made sure to clarify that his offer was still out there.

"I'm a really good listener."

Then, it finally happened. For the first time in two weeks, Donatello's sarcastic side reared its beautiful head.

"Since when?"

Much to Mikey's delight, a slight smirk grew across Donatello's face. It was barely visible to the naked eye, but it was enough to make Mikey tear up. He felt like hadn't seen that look in what seemed like forever.

It was glorious!

Twelve full seconds passed before Mikey at long last realized that his brother had just insulted him.

"Hey!"

Donnie's smirk transformed into a small smile that made Mikey forget all about being offended. Seeing an actual upbeat expression on his big brother's face immediately teleported Mikey to his happy place. It took everything in his power not to throw his arms around his brother, again. Until Donnie was feeling better, Mikey knew he would need permission for such things. This would take a little getting used to, but Mikey was sure he could do it. Especially if it made his wounded big brother feel safe.

Baby steps, Mikey. Baby steps.

"Please, Donnie. Would it be all right if I give you a hug? I think you could really use one."

A long, awkward pause followed the question. Long enough that Mikey found himself shifting his weight from leg to leg as he eagerly awaited his brother's reply. Eventually, Donnie did answer with a simple nod of his head indicating 'yes.'

That was all the affirmation Mikey needed. He leaned forward and embraced his brother, carefully pulling him near and holding him in his arms as though he never wanted to let go. Donnie wrapped his good arm around Mikey and clung tightly, burying his face into the crook of his younger brother's neck. All the while, the genius turtle choked on a sob that he refused to let out.

Mikey pressed his lips to his brother's slightly feverish temple, feather soft, before timidly asking, "Is it okay if I stay here with you tonight? In case you have another nightmare…"

Pulling out of his brother's gentle grip, Donnie peered up at Mikey and nodded his consent before lying down on his side and bundling himself up like he was making a cocoon. Mikey couldn't stop another grin from forming as he climbed on top of the covers and curled up next to his brother just like when they were kids. Only this time, Mikey didn't care that Donnie was hogging all the blankets, so long as he was comfortable and content.

To be continued…

*More Author's Notes: This chapter absolutely breaks my heart, but at the same time, it fills me with such hope. Mikey is too pure for this world. I love him! What did all of you think of the tender moment between the two youngest turtles? I sure hope you liked it…

For those of you who haven't heard yet, I completed this story a couple of weeks ago. A fact I'm pretty darn proud of. I can't wait to share the remaining chapters of the story with all of you.

As always, if you are enjoying this story and want to see more, please take a moment to favorite, follow, like, reblog, review and/or comment on it. I would love to hear from each and every one of you. The FanFiction numbers for this story were way down last chapter and I'm really hoping there are more than just thirteen people still reading at this point. *fingers crossed*

Thanks so much for reading, everyone. Take care and stay safe.

CJ