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The four turtles were on a rooftop, surveying a group of purple dragons that were loitering down the block. Mikey was bouncing around, swaying on his feet and eager to hop into battle. Leo glanced at him, her features turning into a gentle frown.
“Are you alright over there?” Leo murmured softly, glancing at the crowd and then back at Mikey.
“This is taking so long! I just wanna go bust some heads dude!” Mikey groaned, remembering to be quiet after it was too late. Several heads in the crowd of people snapped to the rooftop they were on, and Mikey cheered.
“Aw yeah, let's go bust some skulls!” Mikey whooped, doing a flip off the rooftop and rolling to a stop in the street, immediately rushing into the group of dragons, his nunchucks swinging.
“What the fuck.” Raph said, slightly stunned.
Leo winced as Mikey flipped off the building, grabbing her katanas and nodding her head at the others. The turtles moved at once, carefully climbing down the fire escape on the building, joining Mikey in the battle. Raph yelled, instantly tackling several people off of Mikey, who was vastly outnumbered.
“Mikey! What were you thinking?” Donnie yelled, glancing back at Mikey as he knocked someone out who was trying to sneak up behind them.
“What do you mean, bruh? Just tryna have some fun!” Mikey grinned, his nunchucks spinning rapidly as he jumped back into the fray.
Leo was quiet, watching the interactions as she cut through the crowd, spinning around and clearing out a large chunk of them. Mikey whooped when he saw her, cheering and slamming the butt of his weapon into a gang member’s head, the guy crumpling instantly.
Once every gang member was either incapacitated or unconscious, Leo sheathed her katanas, storming over to Mikey and grabbing him by the mask tails, tugging on them and making Mikey look at her.
“Mikey. We need to talk.” Raph and Donnie winced. They knew what was coming, and they both had noticed Mikey's recklessness, but they didn't think that it would go this far. Raph scoffed, putting his sais away and trudging towards the lair, nodding his head at Donnie, who followed him.
“Best to leave them alone for now I suppose..” Donnie rubbed the back of his neck, looking back at the pair of turtles briefly.
“Leo’ll get it sorted out. She better, at least.” They ducked into the manhole, leaving Mikey and Leo alone in the street.
Mikey seemed to be in a state of shock, like he wasn’t quite sure what was happening.
“So.. Uh. What did you need?” Mikey shook his head, snapping out of it and grinning, pulling away from the hold that Leo had on his mask.
“Don’t play stupid, Mikey. You know what’s been happening, and it needs to stop. You can’t be throwing yourself into unnecessary danger like this! What if you get hurt one day, and I can’t save you?” Leo practically growled, glaring at the orange masked turtle.
“Dude, chill. It ain't that serious.” Mikey rolled his eyes, frustrated and kicking a gang member, who groaned miserably.
“Yes, Mikey. It is. Look, I know you're trying to help, and maybe you don’t understand the danger you're putting yourself in, but you can't keep doing this. You mean the world to us, Mikey, and I can’t lose you.” The words weren’t said, but Mikey heard them loud and clear.
‘I can’t lose you like I lost Master Splinter.’
Mikey’s eyes watered, and he sagged, stumbling over to Leo and pulling her into a hug.
“M’ sorry.” Mikey mumbled as Leo pulled Mikey closer, wrapping her arms around the shorter turtle.
Leo hummed, gently rubbing Mikey’s shell, comforting him.
“It’s just that sometimes.. I feel like it's not enough. What I do for the team. Like I'm not as strong or as brave or as smart as you guys, so I have to make up for it somehow.” Mikey sniffled, burying his face in Leo’s neck.
Leo was still silent, thinking over her next words as Mikey sniffled again, not yet crying but very close to tears.
“You’re enough, Mikey. You’re more than enough, even. You’re the heart of the team, the one that keeps us all glued together. We need you here, safe and with us. I don’t know what I would do without you, and neither do Raph and Don. Can you just- can you promise to try and be more careful in the future, please? For us?” Leo spoke softly, still rubbing soothing circles in Mikey’s shell.
Mikey nodded, tears running down his cheeks as he held Leo tighter, enjoying the comfort from his elder sister.
Despite Mikey promising Leo to be more careful, Leo couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen, and he knew that Raph and Donnie could tell too. They started being more cautious on their patrols, looking around corners and being sure to keep a close eye on Mikey. No one knew if Mikey would keep his promise, and they wanted to make sure that they could stop him if Mikey tried anything.
Mikey pretended not to notice.
One day, the turtles found themselves facing the Krang, who had just launched a massive attack on the city. The battle was intense, with the turtles fighting tooth and nail to protect their home and family.
Mikey was in the thick of it, dodging blasts from the Krang’s weapons and taking on multiple enemies at once. He was outnumbered, and his brothers could see that he was starting to tire.
“Mikey, you need to fall back! Now, before they get closer.” Leo shouted, slicing through a group of Krang soldiers and leading Raph and Donnie away from the battle.
Mikey ignored her, his nunchucks spinning as he kept fighting, ignoring his brother’s shouts and screams for him to get out of there. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Raph running for him, Leo and Donnie close behind.
“Mikey! Watch out!” Raph screamed as a blast from one of the Krangs' weapons slammed into Mikey, hitting him in the middle of his plastron, burning a hole right through it.
Mikey went flying backwards, slamming into Raph, who grunted and fell over, catching Mikey and instantly panicking. Leo watched in horror as Donnie tried desperately to keep Mikey from bleeding out.
“No, no no no no- God fucking damn it Mikey,” Donnie muttered, blood oozing from underneath his hands.
“Oh god.. Mikey..” Leo whispered, collapsing to her knees next to Raph and holding Mikey’s hand. Raph was watching in horror as Mikey’s breathing slowed, his eyes fluttering shut.
“Mikey! No, no, Mikey, dude you gotta stay awake, okay?” Raph shouted, gently shaking Mikey, who weakly grinned.
“Dude, I'm so tired, though..” Mikey’s words slurred, his head going limp against Raph as Leo gasped.
Donnie cursed, his three fingered hands covered in blood as he shook Mikey again, tears springing to the corners of his eyes.
“Mikey..?”