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"Sometimes," Mikey says, lowly, just for Leo as they wave goodbyes to the departing scout team, "I think I must be your least favorite brother."
Leo doesn't flinch, but the groan of metal from his artificial fist is deafening as it tightens. "That's not fair."
"No. It's not. Neither is asking me to lie like this." Not many people know how Mikey's mystic powers work. Draxum, for sure, and obviously Leo. It means looking people in the face-- people who look up to him, relying on him-- and being believed. Because they don't know any better.
But Mikey does.
"Don't you trust me?"
It's heartbreaking. It's soul-befouling. Neither are uncommon situations to find oneself in these days, but Mikey never thought he'd choose the path willingly, or have Leo coax him along it.
"Leon. The reason I do it is because I trust you. With my life. I just don't know how much I can trust you with theirs."
"That's not fair," Leo says again, softer.
"Truth is ugly these days." Mikey rubs a hand back over his scalp and tries to get a feel for his temporal limits. The gears of time are wound too tightly inside him. Leo made the right call. He knows, but that doesn't soothe the ache of Mikey's heart as much as it helps the dwindling endurance of his body. His ability to shift time is approaching its end, fast. Too fast to save more than essential personnel until he can rest.
Except, there is no time left for rest.
"Where are we at, chance-wise?"
Mikey thinks for only a second. "I'll need to sit on that for a bit."
"That bad, huh."
"The Krang have received more supplies from off-world. The pushes are relentless." Mikey puts a hand in front of his face, palm facing away, and squints to see the pulsing warning lines of magic just under the surface.
If he's not careful he's going to be torn apart sooner rather than later. He can squint at the situation and see how he hadn't lied completely. He really couldn't pull time back to before their most recent loss, even if he could have saved all those lives with a guiding hand. Not when he'd barely be considered alive on arrival. No matter how many people it would save Leo won't let him take that risk. It's an unspoken fact between them that Mikey's life is penultimate to Leo, the same way the resistance sees Leo's life above all their own. Mikey gets that. At his most selfish he even understands it.
As he lays down to rest Mikey's biggest solace is that Leo is still alive, and so is he. Donnie is keeping Raph company, which makes it important Mikey doesn't leave early. He can't abandon Leo, so here he stays . Until the last hurrah.