Rating: T

Warnings: Overall story - Brief mentions of torture. Bit of language.

Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.

Summary: For months now, Mikey's been through hell with no one to count on but himself. He's finally been rescued but there are two major problems; he's still desperately missing his family and he has no way home. No OC's. 2k3/2k12 crossover.

Comments, thoughts and concrit are always welcome.

Thank you everyone for your support. It means so much to me :-)

AOtGO – Aftermath

Ch 10

Date: 22th Sept

Raph was on his feet and in Mikey's face in an instant, practically spitting in rage and despair. "How the hell can you think that, huh, Mike?" he demanded. "He's been missing for over a damn month, lost, alone and in trouble! And sure, Leo sensed him still alive a week ago but who the hell knows what's happened to him since!

"So I'm sorry, Mike, but I don't see how that makes him 'lucky'," Raphael air quoted viciously. "So why don't you explain that for us both!"

Donnie nodded wordlessly, still staring at Mikey, a world of hurt filling his eyes.

Every instinct made Mikey want to back away but he couldn't. "Because at least he has people he loves doing everything they can to find him..."

Taken aback, Raph stepped backwards, a myriad of emotions playing his face, and Donnie blinked once, twice, at Mikey before finally finding the ability to speak. "You know your family will be doing everything they can to find you too, right?"

Mikey shook his head, trying not to let the reality of what he'd known and now for the first time admitted aloud get the better of him. "That's just it though, they're not..." he muttered miserably, unable to keep from looking away.

"If this is because they hadn't found you... Mike, you're in the wrong dimension! Do you realise just how difficult it would be to find you? Assuming they even have access to the technology necessary?" Donnie cried out, exasperated by the assumption.

Raph shot his brother a betrayed look upon hearing the hopeless words from his mouth, as it drove home just how bad their own situation really was.

Mikey looked up again and opened his mouth to protest but Donnie wasn't finished.

"And that's all assuming they even know you wound up in another reality. You can't just assume they've given up and abandoned you."

Mikey felt a flash of anger at those words. "They didn't abandon me, dude! They'd never abandon me! Ever!" he spat. And he knew they hadn't but there had been numerous occasions during his long captivity where the terrifying thought had plagued his thoughts, especially near the end after... Mikey shook his head, trying to shake the worst of the memories from his mind.

"Then why..."

"Don't you get it?" Mikey suddenly cried out, unable to stop himself once again, "They think I'm dead!"

As Mikey sat there, breathing harshly and unable to look at his other-dimensional brothers, Raph and Donnie exchanged troubled looks.

Donnie stood and walked close, sitting nearby the distraught turtle. "What makes you think that?" Donnie carefully and gently asked when Mikey's breathing began to ease at last.

Mikey clenched his eyes and fists tightly closed, wishing he could just shut out the terrible sense of abandonment as easily as he could his sight. "I don't think it, I know it," he mumbled, refusing to look up again.

"But how can you know?" Donnie pressed, still keeping his tone as calm mild as he could.

"Did the Kraang tell you that?" Raph suddenly asked furiously. "You know you can't trust a thing those damn ugly pink blobs say, right? They enjoy hurting people and would say or do anything to get their jollies!"

Unable to help himself, Mikey glanced up at Raph, suddenly reminded of the other night when Donnie told him just how they knew that for themselves. "It wasn't them," he admitted finally, sniffling slightly. "They barely even spoke to me unless they were demanding me to do something," he explained hollowly. 'Or to mock me during some punishment...' he added to himself, not willing to voice the admission in front of them.

"They why on earth would you believe your family thinks you are dead?" Donnie asked gently.

Mikey sighed tiredly, wishing he'd never said anything in the first place. "The Astral Plane, dude... I tried and tried so many times to call out to them through it but... but I never quite managed... I... I know now that it never worked properly because I'm in the wrong dimension but..." he trailed off, looking away once more.

"But?" Donnie prompted carefully.

"... but there was a few times I sorta... kinda... reached Don," Mikey admitted, looking down again as he clenched his fists tightly in his lap. "I saw and felt him a few times but... but I don't think he heard me. He never seemed to notice... There was always this intense... sadness that I've never known him to have except for one time after..." he shook his head, brushing the reminder of when they'd been attacked and sent to various dimensions and worlds by Ultimate Draco aside. "The last time I did reach him a few days ago, I know he heard me that time 'cause he stiffened and then he deliberately turned away! From me! But he'd never do that to me! Shell, he wouldn't do that to any of us!" he burst out desperately. "It was like... like he'd had enough or something! Like he'd finally reached his breaking point!

"But... but it wasn't until I got my first look at you guys before I knew what it all meant," Mikey haltingly continued, devastated by the memory of his brother's reaction to him screaming desperately for help. "That's when I knew they were never even looking for me in the first place and that there could only be one reason for that..." he explained, continuing to shake and barely holding himself together.

"And even though you believe.."

"Know!"

"... know that," Donnie corrected himself to placate Mikey, "you still agreed to us not helping you to get home until after we find our brother?"

Mikey nodded miserably. "I was desperate and even now I still don't like it, but at least I'm fine now and safe. I'm okay," he reiterated, wrapping his arms protectively around himself. He wasn't, he knew that but half the battle was in convincing himself otherwise. If he could convince himself, then he had a chance at convincing the others too. "You guys don't know that for certain about your missing bro..."

"But your family don't know that about you either," Donnie pointed out gently.

"They already think I'm dead so how much worse can it get for them?" Mikey admitted with a miserable sigh. "I mean, of course I want them to know I'm okay but there's nothing I can do about that right now so there's no point in making a fuss about it, you know?"

Donnie and Raph exchanged uncomfortable looks again.

Then Mikey smiled, displaying some of the old Michelangelo cheekiness. "Even if making a fuss about things is what I've always been best at."

-:-

After their talk petered out, Raph walked off and started whaling away on the body shaped punching bag in the room. Mikey watched him for a while, painfully reminded of his own brother and how he'd so often do similar when he needed to work out emotion or tension and couldn't leave the lair.

It was about then that Donnie left for his lab, soon returning with his laptop in hand.

"That's a really funky looking computer, dude!" Mikey said lightly, glancing appreciatively at the mishmash of technology Donnie carried.

"I made it myself," Donnie replied proudly.

"No way! Really?" Mikey asked, wide-eyed with shock.

"Of course, I... right..." Donnie muttered in realisation, "you already knew that."

"Heh! Yeah, pretty much," Mikey grinned, already doing his best to forget about his emotional outburst earlier and how better to do that than with a light round of teasing.

As Donnie began typing away on his laptop, he glanced curiously up at Mikey. "Um, do you mind if I ask you something?" Upon seeing Mikey's immediate wariness, he quickly added, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to and I promise it's not about what happened as such. Well, not... not directly what happened anyway."

Mikey blinked a bit then snickered suddenly. "You're so cute!" he pronounced.

Donnie blushed furiously, not sure where that came from. "Wha-what?" he asked, flustered as Raph glanced their way, startled.

Mikey waved his left hand dismissively. "I mean the way you stumble over your words when you're nervous or agitated, dude."

Raph barked out a laugh, "If you think that's cute, you should see Dorkatello around April!"

"Shu-shut up, Raph!"

"Make me, little brother," Raph smirked evilly as he loosed another heavy punch at his bag.

"I..." Donnie started but quickly clammed up, looking away to the side. Then a few moments later, muttered, "You don't need to deflect, Mike. I already said you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"What did you want to ask, Don?" Mikey drawled, his light surfer accent strengthening a little more than usual.

Donnie looked up again to see Mikey watching him with an edge of nervousness, yet obviously trying hard to cover it up.

"I was just wondering why you tried contacting your Donatello in the Astral Plain instead of Leo or Master Splinter or are our worlds so different?" he asked curiously. "I mean here, Leo's the only one Master Splinter has taught more advanced techniques such as the Astral Plain to so far."

"Really?" Mikey asked, wide-eyed in surprise and a little jealousy. He'd always hated having to meditate and would have been more than happy to be able to skip those extra lessons and sessions. However, despite not being able to get through to anyone during his captivity, he'd actually found the skills helpful and comforting over the last few months and was grateful for having learnt them.

"Yes, really," Donnie nodded. "Raph, Mikey and I don't have the same aptitude for the meditative and spiritual arts as Leo does, though Master Splinter had started talking about teaching the rest of us once we turn sixteen."

Raph threw an especially heavy punch into the bag, making the other two look over at him.

"You're older than us, aren't you," Donnie observed, more statement than question.

Mikey stilled a moment before hesitantly nodding.

"Seriously?" Raph asked in astonishment, staring at the older version of his younger brother in disbelief.

"Yeah," Mikey admitted before turning back to Donnie and asking, awed, "How did you know?"

"I didn't know as such but I guessed by the markings on your scutes."

"Oh," Mikey blinked uncertainly.

"It's not truly an accurate way to determine a turtle's age and the signs of the growth spurts don't actually denote age but rather..." Donnie trailed off as he noticed the blank stares directed his way from both turtles in the room and changed the subject. "Is sixteen when you learnt the Astral arts?"

Shaking his head, Mikey answered, "Nuh, we were made to start learning it when we were like twelve or something. You're right though, Leo picked it up far faster than the rest of us, especially me and Raph."

"So why your Donatello?"

Mikey leant back thoughtfully, "Never really thought about it, dude, but I tried everyone not just Don. I did try him more often though, for a few reasons."

"Which were?" Donnie pressed curiously.

"Mostly because I've always been closest with him, I guess?" Mikey answered distantly. "You'd be amazed just how in tune we can be, especially when he's in a rare mischievous mood too. Our creativity kinda feeds off each other's," he chuckled, smiling faintly at fond memories of teaming up against Leo and Raph, especially when the latter two were in their moods with each other or of himself planting the seed of an idea and Donnie running off with it and creating something amazing.

"Then there's the fact that he's actually damned good at it. Leo might have picked up the Astral arts faster and taken to it like a turtle to pizza but once Donnie got it, well, let's just say he's as good as Leo, even though he doesn't use it as much."

"Seriously?" Donnie asked in surprise. "I mean, obviously I can't speak for your brother but for me, I just can't meditate easily. My mind just won't stop working on problems or projects."

"Heh, yeah, that's what held back my Donnie for so long, too," Mikey admitted with an amused snicker. "Where me, it just always put me to sleep or I'd get in trouble for fidgeting or scratching at sudden itches or whatever."

"Sounds like our Mikey," Donnie smiled sadly.

Mikey rubbed lightly at one eye. "Also, about a year before... before I ended up in this dimension, our Earth was attacked by the Triceratons. They'd followed the trail of a friend of ours to Earth and they wanted him for one of his inventions. They didn't know the Professor had left Earth soon after he arrived though so... so when they tried to find out where he was, they took Donnie prisoner and tried to extract the knowledge directly out of his brain... In Don's pain and fear, he managed to call Master Splinter across the Astral Plane." Mikey shrugged, trying to dismiss the memory from his brain. He'd heard about it after-the-fact of course but he'd seen how much that experience had haunted his brother and didn't like to think about what he'd endured. "No one can really say if it was just Don's latent ability or because Master Splinter was meditating at the time or even some combination of the two but ever since then, his skill increased hugely. I guess that was the main reason I kept trying him more often than anyone else."

"That makes sense," Donnie said softly.

"You know, I always hated meditation but I kinda liked the Astral Plane. Well, mostly, anyway. It'd even be kinda fun if Master Splinter ever let us play around in there," Mikey smiled, warmed by the memory of the place when surrounded by family. "There's just something really comforting about it, about being able to connect with your brothers and father, feeling what they feel, feeling their love. It's nice. Really, really nice."

"Wait! You mean you read each other's minds in there?" Raph burst out in horror, staring from where he still stood by the punching bag, watching them.

"Nuh," Mikey laughed, shaking his head. "I mean, maybe you could if you wanted to and the trust was there and if the other person allowed it but that's not what we did and not what I mean. It's a feeling, like being wrapped in the warmth of your favourite fluffy blanket but you know who that fluffy blanket is with you, surrounding you. You can feel them without seeing or hearing them and its so comforting, a reminder that you're not alone. It's kinda hard to explain really. You'd only know by really experiencing it for yourself."

"I know what you mean."

Mikey, Raph and Donnie spun where they sat or stood to see Leo almost upon them.

"You're right, Mike, it's a great feeling being in the Astral Plain with someone you care about. You get to know them in ways you'd never otherwise imagine. Yet it's so natural, like you'd always known, seen, felt but were previously blind to."

Mikey nodded. "It's a great way to get closer to each other and strengthen your bond with everyone."

"Do you go into the Astral Plain often?" Leo asked curiously, coming down to join the others in the pit.

"Back home?" Mikey laughed. "Nuh, not a lot. Probably every couple of months or so," he shrugged. "Master Splinter doesn't really think some of us are 'disciplined' well enough in meditation to do it more often."

Leo smirked, glancing over at Donnie and Raph, his gaze lingering on the latter. "Yes, that's certainly an issue for some."

"Shut up!" Raph scowled, letting loose with another sudden flurry of punches. When he stopped, he turned and smirked at Leo, "So how badly did you get reamed, oh fearless leader?" he mocked.

The amusement disappeared from Leo's face immediately. "Extra chores."

"That's it?" Raph spluttered indignantly. "If it was anyone else who snuck out after curfew alone, we'd have had our shells handed to us and given hours of extra training! Not to mention being grounded!"

"Being grounded is hardly an option for us right now," Donnie interjected dryly. "As for extra training, for you or I it would be a punishment but for Leo, it would be a reward."

"True..." Raph grumbled, turning back to his bag sullenly.

Mikey grinned, "It's nice to see some things are the same between our worlds," he snickered.

"We also talked about you, Mike."

The grin froze and then fell off of Mikey's face as he stared warily at Leo.

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad," Leo quickly reassured with a gentle smile. "Master Splinter wants Donnie to go through your rehabilitation exercises with all of us so we can help or at least supervise."

"I can handle it myself," Mikey retorted stiffly.

"Have you done anything yet today?" Leo immediately countered, "or even since you've been here?"

"Not yet..." Mikey muttered, looking away.

"That's Master Splinter's point." Leo turned to face his purple banded brother. "Would I be right in assuming they should be done twice a day?"

"Yes."

Leo nodded, then turned back to Mikey. "Then, considering the relative lateness of the day, we can start off with one session today, then continue with two from tomorrow. During training, while we are paired off for sparring, the one left out with be working with you, Mike. We'll do this for at least the next week. After that, both Master Splinter and Donnie will assess you to see if you're ready to begin sparring with us or not.

"Also, Master Splinter expressed concern about how little you've been eating." Panicked, Mikey opened his mouth to protest but Leo held up a hand, shushing him. "I told him what you said yesterday and he understood. Therefore, he said that if you can't handle larger meals right now, then you are to eat smaller amounts more frequently."

"But that's worse!" Mikey blurted out, horrified at the thought of being reminded of that taste more often.

"Worse in what way?" Donnie asked in confusion, his concerned gaze upon him.

Mikey stilled, eyes darting back and forth between Leo and Donnie in panic, not sure how to answer the question.

"Mike?" Leo prompted gently. "We can't help you if you don't talk to us."

"I... I ca..."

"Hey, guys!" April's voice rang out as she lightly jumped the turnstiles.

As the three native turtles turned to greet her, Mikey took his chance to take off.

-:-

to be continued.

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