TW: Descriptions of the pov character being choked. This happens specifically in Mikey's nightmare which is a large block of italicized text. You can absolutely skip the nightmare and read the rest of the chapter just fine, so please do that if necessary!

Mikey woke up first, which wasn't a surprise. He never really slept well after a nightmare. Carefully, so as not to wake Leo up, Mikey sat up and grabbed his phone, opening up one of his many games. He stayed like that for an hour or so before Raph came into the room.

"Alright Mikey, your shift's over. Go get something to eat."

Mikey frowned. "And you're going to watch him?"

"For now, yeah."

"What happened to taking a break? I thought Dad was going to do it next." Mikey said, gearing up to break out his doctorates. (Was this a Dr. Delicate Touch situation, or was it more Dr. Feelings territory?)

"Well Dad said he needed to talk to Casey and April has a test today—"

"A test? Didn't we just go through the literal apocalypse?"

"I know, right? College professors scare me." Raph shook his head. "That's not the important thing here. I'm the only other one available to watch Leo. Plus, you need to eat." Raph looked at Mikey and gave him a soft, small smile.

Mikey glowered back, stomach growling at the prospect of food. "I hate that you have a point."

"I always do."

"Fine. But if you're still here once Dad frees up then I will drag you out myself."

"Noted, Michael." Raph rubbed Mikey's head.

There wasn't a lot in the kitchen, actually. They were supposed to go grocery shopping a while ago, but it kept getting pushed off. First, it was because Donnie had to hack into Splinter's bank account again since he forgot his pin, then it was training-turned-record-breaking, then it was the apocalypse. Maybe they should look into getting the groceries delivered. Mikey wrote that down on the grocery list before opening up the fridge. There were enough takeout boxes to feed a small army, a loaf of bread, eggs, yogurt, and a couple of other things small things, but nothing substantial.

"I swear if I wasn't here you guys wouldn't eat anything other than takeout," Mikey muttered under his breath. He loved his family, really, but none of them understood the importance of a balanced diet. Even Leo, for being the self-proclaimed "Team Medic", could barely explain what a healthy diet was.

Grabbing some bowls and pans, Mikey got started on breakfast. Eggs and toast would have to do today, though he added pancake supplies to the grocery list. They all deserved it after everything.

The eggs were almost finished when Donnie made an appearance. He trudged into the kitchen, two empty mugs in his hands.

"Good morning, Donald!" Mikey said while grabbing plates from the cabinet.

"Morning, Mikey," Donnie said with a yawn. He placed the mugs in the sink before grabbing another pair from the cabinets.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet, I wanted to finish—"

"It'll still be there when you get back Don."

"It will, but I'm so close to—"

"At least grab some toast for the road?" Mikey held out a platter with the entire bread loaf toasted and ready to eat. "C'mon, please Dee?"

"Sigh. I suppose I can spare a moment of my time." Donnie grabbed two slices from the platter and went to get a plate.

Mikey turned back to the stove and turned it off. The eggs were done, if a little drier than he would have liked. He grabbed a big spoon and hurriedly filled a plate with eggs.

"Donnie!" He called out to his older brother, who was just about to walk back to his room. "Take some eggs too? You need a protein!"

"If you insist."

"I do." Mikey handed the plate over with a smile. He watched Donnie walk back to his room, balancing the plates and coffee mugs, and made up his mind. He put three more plates of breakfast together and ran to give them to the rest of his brothers.

After that, he ran to his room and put together a tote bag of art supplies, and went back to the kitchen where he grabbed the last plate. He sent a quick text to Splinter, telling him that there was breakfast in the kitchen, and walked over to the subway car connected to Donnie's. Technically the lab was supposed to be a separate "room", but Donnie connected the two before anyone could stop him. Standing in front of the door, he knocked on it.

"Password?" A screen popped out of nowhere displaying a little pixelated avatar of Sheldon.

"Come on Sheldon, can't you just let me in?"

"No can do. Pops— Donnie is working." Sheldon said.

Mikey smirked a bit, he hadn't missed Sheldon slipping up. "Okay, but has he actually eaten his breakfast?"

"… he had half a slice of toast." Sheldon looked to the side, the screen tilting in the same direction.

"Exactly, Donnie always forgets to eat when he's working, even if he has the food with him. So, I want to go in and eat breakfast with him! That way I can hang out with him and he can actually eat something. It's a win-win!"

"Hmmm…" The avatar narrowed his eyes a bit "That's a really good idea." The screen tilted back to face Mikey. "Alright, I'll let you in as long as you don't tell Donnie that I did it."

"Deal!"

The door cracked open a bit and Mikey walked into the lab. It wasn't dark, but there was definitely a dimness in the room. Most of the light came from purple LED lights on the wall and a large lamp on the workbench Donnie was at.

"Hey, Donald!" Mikey said, walking up beside the soft shell. (Except he was wearing his battle shell, which was rare in the lab. Unless he was working with something potentially harmful.)

"Michael." Donnie greeted. "I thought I locked the door. What brings you here?"

"Well, I wanted to hang out with you! Eat breakfast, chat, you know." Mikey smiled even as Donnie shot him a bit of a glare.

"You don't think I ate breakfast."

"Nope, I do not."

Donnie sighed and dragged a hand over his face. "I guess this will have to wait."

A mechanical claw came out of the wall and dragged another chair over to the bench, while a panel opened to reveal the plates and another claw swapped the plates with the bunches of wire and metal that Donnie had been working on. Mikey took his seat and handed Donnie a fork.

"You forgot one of these."

"Ah." Donnie grabbed it and started putting the eggs on the toast.

"Sooo…. What're you working on Dee?"

"Sheldon's new body and the version fourteen update," Donnie said before taking a bite of food.

"You making good progress?"

"Better than I thought I would. I'm still surprised so much of him was salvageable even after he was… destroyed."

"Any new features you're adding? Or is it just a remake?"

"Remake? You offend me, sir." Donnie launched into a description of all the new features that S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. ver. 14.0 and his paired body would have. Mikey listened intently, pulling out his sketch pad once he finished eating and drawing what the lab wall looked like; a futuristic-cyberpunkesque subway car with papers tacked on haphazardly. Some had diagrams or math, others were his own drawings and photos of the family. It was sweet how Donnie kept little bits of his family in his workspace like that.

"—And finally he will have access to the trackers in all of you and also can be messages and chatted with through the corresponding app which can also patch him through phone calls and regular texting."

"Why not just get him a phone number and link him up with that?"

"That's not how it works Michael. Plus, this is cooler."

"It just seems more complicated." Mikey set down the sketch pad. "Do you need any help? I'd love to weld again, or I could—"

"I don't need any help at the moment, but thank you for the offer," Donnie said briskly.

"Oh, alright." Mikey's voice was smaller than he wanted. Donnie liked his alone time and it was understandable, especially when he was working on an important project. "Then I guess I'll head out. Have fun, Dee!" Mikey scooped his things back into his tote bag before Donnie could speak up.

"I didn't say you had to leave."

"You sure? Because I can totally go if—"

"I'm sure," Donnie said before turning back to the workbench. The claw came out again and swapped the plates and project again. After seeing it a second time, Mikey could make out that it was Sheldon a lot easier. He pulled out his multimedia sketchbook and flipped to an empty page. This would be a great environment to work on some metal painting, he could never get the reflections right.

The two brothers sat together in comfortable silence for a couple of hours. Mikey sketched some of the machines Donnie had out and about, and then painted how they looked with the purple LEDs reflecting off of them while Donnie finished the final touches on Sheldon's body. All that was left was the wiring and coding. After filling an entire page with the reflection practice, Mikey turned his attention back to the sketch of Donnie's wall. It was really good, so good that he decided to transfer the sketch onto the multimedia paper and start painting it. So that's what he did.

The painting was coming along beautifully when he dropped the paintbrush. He hadn't done anything, nothing had startled him and made him drop it, his hand just stopped holding it. It made a large, bright purple splatter on the painting.

"Mikey? You okay?" Donnie asked. Mikey looked up from the page to realize that his vision was swimming. He wasn't crying, but unshed tears filled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. It's nothing." Mikey rubbed at his eyes, clearing his vision.

"Mikey, why did you drop the paintbrush?"

"I—" Mikey swallowed a lump in his throat. "I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"My hand just… let go. It stopped working. I don't— I don't know what happened."

"Mikey…" Donnie's voice was quiet. "Would a hug help?" Mikey wasted no time in wrapping his arms around Donnie. Donnie hugged him back, a comforting weight.

Chin resting on Donnie's shoulder, Mikey whispered. "I'm scared, Dee."

"I know."

"I don't know what's happening, and my hands keep hurting, and— and—"

"I know Mikey, I know." Donnie held him, rubbing the back of his shell. Mikey buried his head on Donnie's shoulder. They stayed like that a while longer, comforting d

Red and black confetti was scattered around the floor and Mikey tumbled out of his escape pod. The rest of his family was on the floor as well, except for two.

Leo and Raph.

Mikey stood up and looked around the chilling silence. The lair was pitch black, and the light hanging over their heads was tinged a sickly green. Everyone was still as stone, standing in front of their open escape pods like corpses next to their coffins. Mikey stared at the spot the other two escape pods should be in, and watched as they floated into place. Leo's was empty, and Raph's held Leo. Except it was wrong, all wrong. Leo was bruised and bloodied, limbs at odd angles, and chest not moving. Mikey ran to his side, sitting in the pool of blood surrounding him, but felt only stiff skin hours past life.

"Leo? Leo!" Mikey screamed. He looked at his other family members, but they didn't even look at them. They just stood there, staring. "Help him! Please."

"They won't do that, child." Mikey's blood ran cold. Out of the shadows came the Krang in his tall armor. Glistening metal shone, reflecting the blood coating the ground.

"What did you do to them?" Mikey's voice was low, filled with rage.

"Nothing I haven't done before. Soon they'll be joining your brother, the red one."

"Where is he!" Mikey screamed. His hands moved to grab at his nunchucks but found nothing.

"Right here, ready for the family reunion." The Krang gestured to the shadows, and a hulking figure emerged from them.

It was Raph, infected by the Krang. Eyes purple and red with thick goo coating him. He let out an animalistic roar and stood by the Krang's side.

"No…" Mikey barely recognized his own voice. "Let him go!" His throat was raw from yelling.

"I don't think so." The Krang turned towards Raph. "Dispose of him, he won't be useful anyways."

Mikey barely processed the words before Raph was holding him up by the neck. He clawed at the thick goo that had replaced his brother's hands, desperately trying to ease the pressure on his throat. He shut his eyes and tried to keep breathing, but it was getting harder and harder.

Mikey woke up with the floor in his face. Looking at the wildly swinging hammock, it was obvious he had fallen out. One of the few downsides to sleeping in a hammock. Mikey sat up for a moment before wrapping his blanket around himself.

The cold air of the lair and darkness seeping in.

Stop.

The looks on everyone's faces as they stood there.

It was a dream.

Blood spilling out of the escape pod.

They're safe.

Leo, broken on the floor. Not a single sign of life.

Dad is with him.

Raph standing there, back under the Krang's control.

Stop.

Mikey felt the tears before he realized he was crying and hyperventilating. He went into his shell, desperately trying to ride out the storm.

Eventually, Mikey shakily rejoined the world. He wrapped the blanket back around himself and wiped his face with the soft fabric. He wanted his family, he wanted his brothers. But Leo had already comforted him last night, and Donnie had done so as well today. He didn't want to be a burden, especially when they were both already dealing with so much themselves. That left one other option. Mikey stood up on shaking legs, still carrying the blanket with him, and went to Raph's room.

Mikey knocked on the door quietly at first, but the knocks steadily grew louder each time. Soon enough, Raph opened the door. He was in his favorite onesie but wasn't wearing his headgear.

"Mikey? What's going on?"

"What happened to your headgear?" They spoke at the same time.

"I knew I forgot something!" Raph said, scowling. "Dang it. Sorry, focus. What's happening."

Mikey held the edges of the blanket tighter. "Nightmare." He looked up at Raph, whose face had softened.

"You want to talk about it?"

"No, just— Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Of course, bud, come on in." Raph waved him in.

They sat together on Raph's bed, Mikey leaning into Raph's side as he put his arm around him.

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Mikey nodded. "Alright."

"Can you just, talk about something?" Mikey said. "I just want a distraction."

"Well, you won't believe what Casey did while you and Donnie were in the lab. He comes back with Dad, right?" Raph spun his tale as Mikey listened, snuggling closer to his older brother throughout it. After that story, Raph moved on to another, and then yet another after that. Mikey felt his eyes droop as he started to nod off, falling asleep to the sound of his brother's voice.