Chapter Text
Mikey woke up on a cold, tiled floor. The dirtiest, nastiest floor he ever saw - Even though he couldn’t see much as it was kinda dark.- and he lives in the sewers, so that’s saying something. On top of all of that, he had this pounding headache like if he just accidentally dropped a skyscraper onto himself. (Don’t ask how he knows what that feels like!)
Nothing made sense at the moment, but one thing was clear, he had no idea what this place was.
The orange kid sat up and tried to remember what happened. The cogs in his brain worked over time as he pieced the puzzle together.
“I remember being with Leo. We were…We were… Ah! At the Hidden City market. And then…then…umm… We were followed by Donnie and Raph? I think? And then… then… then… Nothing. I can’t remember what happened after that!”
The little turtle- well shark turtle, was getting scared. Did he get kidnapped? If he did then why is he not tied up? All of this was confusing and straight out a horror movie. Uneasiness settled in his stomach. He needed to calm down and figure out stuff, but who is he kidding?! He’s the emotional guy, not the one with crazy genius solutions, nor with devious, roundabout plans.
Now that he mentions devious plans, where is his all smoke and mirrors deceitful brother? They were literally walking side by side at the market. There is no way he’s not here!
The little one scanned the dimly lit room. It was full with debris and scraps, clearly abandoned.
Then he heard a faint noise, he turned his attention towards it and discovered a humanoid form. The form of his brother?
“Leo?” Mikey asked uncertainly.
—
Leo stirred awake, processing the cold, hard, tile floor and the sight of the room that was definitely not his own. Wait, what? He jumped at hearing his name, sitting up to look for where it came from. It was Mikey’s voice. And after not much looking around, he saw him.
“Mikey?”
Oh pizza supreme this better not be a nightmare.
“Angelo? Hermanito? You aren't haunting me in my dreams are you?” He said in a half- lost and scared voice and half covering it up by hoping and praying it was a joke- way. He began to scratch his hand harshly, hoping to wake himself up if it was a dream.
—--
“Haunting?” That was weird Mikey thought to himself. It made no sense. Why would his brother ask him that? He was a shark not a ghost. He hopes…
The little turtle quickly touched his arm and then legs. Nope. He was all real, no Hamato spirit business going on. But that begs the question: What did Leo mean by “haunting”?
Maybe it was a mistake? Maybe he meant hunting? It still didn't make too much sense, but more than the other one, given that Mikey did hunt his brother when they were in the water and Leo’s blood dripped into the fountain.
“ Did you mean hunting? Why would I? We are not in the water and I hope I wouldn’t do that on dry land. But are you alright? Did you hit your head? You’re acting weird.” The little turtle spoke with honest concern in his voice, as he heard once or twice Leo talk about the effect of a head injury and this sounded eerily similar to a concussion.
—--
What?
“... Okay.. first of all, that was definitely confusing enough to make me wake up if I was dreaming…” He stopped scratching his hand now.
“Second.. What do you mean about-? You don't - swim. Are you messing with me?” He looked around the area again and stood up.
“Also where are we? Have we been captured or something?” There didn't seem to be any locked doors in the immediate vicinity, and they weren't in a closed room. “I wouldn't suppose whoever would capture us would put us just somewhere in the hallway, so this might not have been as intentional, but you never know.” He fiddled with the sleeves of his hoodie.
—--
“ I… I don’t know where we are. The last thing I remember is that we were walking at the Hidden City market.” The little one stood up and dusted himself.
Man this place was dry and dusty as hell. Not a good place to be a very aquatic creature. Mikey has to make sure not to panic and let his gills open. He doubts there would be any available water if he starts to suffocate.
“ And me? Messing with you?! You’re messing with me! You talk like if we didn’t spend the last three days constantly in water, swimming. And… and if this is a prank then it’s not funny Leo!” The orange kid grasped his orange sleeves, something felt off.
“You’re scaring me....” Mikey added with his voice scared and so quiet, it was barely audible.
—--
“What??”
This was super confusing. And now Mikey was scared-! Just seeing him like that tore his heart out instantly! But.. How does he comfort him?
“I.. I don't remember going with you to the Hidden City market-”
“Last thing I remember was making sure the antidote was working on you and monitoring your recovery.”
“...You remember that whole thing, right?” He should at least be able to confirm that, right? It was definitely a significant memory to Leo, at least.
“Wait, when did you get those clothes? I haven’t seen you wear those sleeves before..?”
He reached for them, wanting to get a better look in the dark.
—--
“Antidote? Recovery? I don’t remember any of those happening. And you’re saying you don’t remember coming with me to the market?!” The orange kid asked confused to the point where it was scary.
“And what do you mean you haven't seen my sleeves? We bought them together like a day ago. Matching outfits for the two of us.”
Mikey stepped closer to his older brother wanting to see if he had any sign of a head injury, because - no offense but- he was talking crazy.
Now, that the box turtle was closer to his brother it hit him all at once. He didn’t seem hurt which was a relief, but Leo didn’t wear the outfit he had moments ago and that was creepy.
“That hoodie…. When did you… Wait, do you think some mystic stuff could be behind this? Like did we get cursed by witches or something and that’s messing with our memories?”
Suddenly a loud thud echoed through the building followed by something that was in between a fearsome predator's roar and the shriek of a creature not from this word.
Then the unbearable sound died down and all that was left was this crawling noise. One that reverberated in the near empty building making it impossible to measure the distance or to pinpoint where it came from. It sounded as if it came from every direction at the same time. It felt like it came from the walls or if it didn't even astound you but in your head.
Million insects feet moving in perfect sync, stridulation, the rattling of the chitin exoskeleton. It was either an army of bugs or one that was way bigger than it was supposed to be.
One thing was sure. They were not alone in this building.
“Whatever makes that sound I don’t wanna be here when it gets here!” The orange kid said in a trembling voice.
Sure, Mikey liked bugs a normal amount. Especially when they had pretty wings like butterflies or a neat pattern like ladybugs, but creepy crawlies? Nope, nope, Nope! He’s out of here!
—--
Leo’s wings buzzed harshly at the terrifying sounds, making him clench the fabric on the back of his hoodie in attempt to muffle the noise. He was left with a lingering shiver as his nerves failed to calm from the reaction.
“Eurgh.. Yeah, whatever that was, I do not ever want to hear it again.”
He looked down the hallway. It seemed there were waiting rooms that way.
“Come on, let's hide in one of those.” He reached to grab Mikey’s hand, but hesitated, not wanting to stick, but decided to grab him by the sleeve and took him into the nearest room.
—--
Mikey heard a faint buzzing noise. It was much closer than the other one, but it clearly originated from an insect. Shell, this place was infested!
But before he could think twice Leo grabbed his sleeve and pulled him towards a room. Which was completely fine by Mikey. He wasn’t the plan maker here and very much appreciated the sense of normalcy that seeing Leo taking up his own leader position gave him.
The two of them hid in a room that looked very unsettlingly similar to a doctor’s office. Long abandoned of course.
The little turtle squished himself as close to his brother as he could, shaking like a leaf. Then the thing reached the place they were minutes ago.
The orange kid closed his eyes, placed one (the other one was held hostage by Leo who grasped the little one’s sleeve a bit too strongly.) with his hand at his mouth to keep quiet and prayed to Pizza Supreme to not let the creature find them.
After a minute of what felt like an eternity the thing let out another shriek and crawled away.
They were safe for now, but who knows what that thing was and wanted from them.
The little turtle looked at the slider who also seemed quite disturbed by the creature.
“Do you think we are safe now?” The box turtle asked in a hushed voice.
—--
He hesitated to respond verbally. He had no idea if the creature would hear them or not- he had no idea about anything relating to this thing!
He didn't answer, but eventually the realization struck him that he was still holding onto Mikey's sleeve, his hand definitely still sticking to it. Dang it!
Despite the situation, he was still not enthused by the idea of revealing the mutation to Mikey by this point, but he couldn't calm his nerves enough to relax the adhesive hairs! He just stood still, paralyzed by this dilemma.
Wait.. if he couldn't see the creature in the dark or hear it that well at this point..
He gingerly lifted his hood from his head slightly, allowing his antennae to get a clearer reading of the area. He flinched at the smells flooding his senses, but focused as best as he could on what he could identify. Scented candle, spray paint, and.. salt water? Definitely Mikey, but now Leo was more curious about what he meant about swimming and hunting and all-
Lingering scent of dirt.. blood.. the slightest bit of some kind of cream? (Oh how he craved something sweet still) .. was that his own deodorant smell? He knew it had to be not from himself, since he was wearing the hoodie. Now he had even more questions about this thing. But he could tell that the scents not belonging to Mikey were definitely not close anymore, so that was a good sign. But why did it smell just the slightest bit like himself?
—--
The orange kid didn’t get any answer. Ok, cool, perhaps that was for the better. Maybe the thing was still close. After all, his older brother still seemed nervous. But on second thought, how would his brother know if the creature was still close by? As much as Mikey loves and looks up to Leo he was still just a regular mutant turtle. He didn’t have any ability that could sense the creepy crawly. Maybe he should try? Sharks have a strong sense of smell. Well at least under water. But hey, trying could never hurt.
The youngling sniffed the air. As expected his senses were rather dull on dry land, but he was still able to pick up one way to familiar scent. Blood. And not just a little like a paper cut. No. This must have been something like a severed limb at least given the strength of it.
As upsetting as that was, the little one felt relieved. The source of the bloody smell was getting further and further by the minute. But he could tell from the lingering iron scent that whatever was that thing it must have left a trail of blood behind itself. That will be fun to witness once they leave the room.
Anyways, he should let his big brother know that the danger has passed.
“ I think it’s gone.” Mikey said voice only tad above a whisper.
He looked down to his hand to see his brother still not let go of his sleeve. It was comforting in a way and the little one didn’t mind it much, but again, Leo did a lot for him lately and he didn’t want the slider to feel obligated to comfort him even when it wasn’t necessary.
“ Hey, thanks but you can let go of me now. I’m ok.” The box turtle smiled then gently tried to pull away his sleeved hand only to see as the blue turtle’s hand followed.
Ok, that was weird. The orange kid gently grabbed his older brother’s hand, trying to pry it away from his cloth. But with no luck.
“ What the… It’s stuck?! Did you touch super glue or something?” The box turtle asked, confused.
—--
“Yeah, I figured. Its smell is pretty faint now.” He responded first to Mikey just above a whisper like he did. He hoped that wasn't a weird comment to make.
His hand was still stuck to Mikey’s sleeve.
“Ah! Sorry! Uhh-!”
He tried his best to pull away, only lifting up the sleeve as he tried. He continued to panic, apologizing more than he should have and making the sleeve slip somewhat off Mikey’s arm. He let out a huff and paused. He realized a this point that panicking wasn't working and calmed his nerves as best as he could. He could feel the adhesives begin to retract, but as he did, he noticed something off about Mikey’s arm that was covered by the sleeve before. He couldn't tell what he was looking at, but once his hand was free, he couldn't get it out of his mind.
“...Hey, did.. something happen with your arm?”
—--
“The smell?” Mikey wondered to himself. That was strange. His brother certainly didn’t have the good enough sense of smell to tell where the creature was. Well, just another thing to add to the strange occurrences today or tonight ( The little one had no idea what time it was.) pile.
He watched as Leo tried to unstuck his hand from his sleeve. It was a battle the slider was seemingly losing.
“ It has to be such a strong glue.” The orange kid wondered, till something struck him. He couldn’t smell the scent of glue or anything chemical that could’ve made them stuck. And they were awfully close for him to not catch the smell if it was present. All he could get a whiff of was scents that were pretty much representing Leo and this flowery smell. Was that a new deodorant? He didn’t know.
Either way he could tell nothing was on his older brother’s hand, yet it stayed glued to his sleeve. Something was gravely off about Leo.
And then his older brother asked about his hands. It immediately made the box turtle’s blood run cold.
“ Wh- what?You were there Leo! You don’t remember what happened?! No, that can’t be! No,no,no,no,nonononono!” The orange kid panicked.
If his brother forgot about his mutation, what is he going to do?! He can’t do this alone! He can’t keep it a secret without the slider’s help! If the older doesn’t remember then does he have to lie to the slider too? How would he keep it from Leo? Or could he explain it to him? He doesn’t think he has the guts to do it. What if he reacts differently this time? What if he’s going to hate him?
The dark thoughts quickly overtook the little one’s mind. His breaths were coming in shorter and shorter.
He knew it was bad. If he panics and Leo doesn’t remember what happens if he panics he can easily suffocate to death. He wanted to avoid that but he couldn’t seem to get his mind right. He was sinking in quicksand. Alone and scared.
All he wanted was his brother to comfort him. But how does he expect that when the slider doesn’t remember?! And he knows he’s being irrational, according to his older brother he himself didn’t remember stuff either. He was just being selfish, but he couldn’t help it. He was lost.
—--
He saw as Mikey’s composure broke, spiraling into panic at the question. It felt so unnatural for Leo to see him like this- not too long ago he was scared of him finding out about his mutation, but here he was, scared out of his mind about something Leo is supposed to know.
“Hey, hey-! What's going on?” He wanted so badly to comfort Mikey, but he was deathly afraid of the adhesives acting up again. It broke his heart to see Mikey like this without knowing what to do.
Feelings were typically Mikey’s job, but that made him realize- if that was the case, who would comfort Mikey?
At the same time, another realization struck him. The change in Mikey's arm, the new clothes that covered up certain parts, the strange talk of hunting and swimming- All these things weren't exactly peculiar enough on their own, but he couldn't help but think-
“Hold on.. I don't know if I’m getting the right idea here- but.. did you, like, ..c-come in contact with Draxum's ooze and like.. get.. double.. mutated??” Of course he had to say it so suspiciously- he can never do anything right. He still hoped his guess was correct, because otherwise that would be really embarrassing.
—--
The little turtle’s tear filled eyes went wide in horror. He got caught so off guard by his brother’s question that even his tears stopped falling for a hard second.
“Ho- how? [SOB] Do… do… y- you [SOB] remember? O- or…[SOB]” Mikey’s words died down, drowning in heart breaking cries.
He knew that it was unlikely his brother remembered anything. He just had keen eyes and the orange kid was a bad liar.
He desperately wanted to see Leo’s expression. He wanted to know if his brother felt different about the mutation than before.
But he was too scared to lift his eyes up from the ground where he was staring a hole into the ground. Shame and self hatred burned him like scorching flames. He… He was this.. This creature. Dangerous and vile. He shouldn’t even be here hiding. He’s just like that thing outside.
The hurtful thoughts swarmed like insects inside his brain. So far only Leo’s unconditional love - what he didn’t deserve- kept him afloat.
And now who knows… who knows if his older brother will look at him with disgust? He wouldn’t survive that.
“I…I…[SOB] s-s-[SOB] sor- sorr- [SOB] ry!” The little one apologized.
Who knows why? He himself had no idea why he was apologizing all he knew that he had to.
Maybe for messing up and mutating. Maybe for being the creature he is. Or maybe plainly just for existing.
—--
He.. he was right. He guessed right!
Oh.
Ohhh shit, he guessed right.