Chapter Text
It had all started off as a normal Friday evening, little did the small family in the sewers know that this Friday would forever change their lives for the worse.
The boys had just gotten back from patrol, and the air was tense. They had found a Kraang operation underway, and had been scouting for details. A crash had alerted the Kranng to the turtle’s whereabouts, courtesy of Mikey.
They’d managed to escape, but the travel home was filled with silence and anger. The older three were all pissed at Mikey for giving away their position. Mikey knew they were mad, so in a rare act of self-control, stayed silent.
It wasn’t until they got back to the lair did Raph snap.
“YOU’RE SUCH AN IDIOT MIKEY! IF YOU HADNT BEEN SO STUPID THEN WE WOULD’VE FOUND OUT WHAT THEY WERE DOING!!!” This outburst was accompanied by a slap to the head.
Mikey winced as the hand connected, leaving a decent red mark behind.
Leo doesn’t explode in anger like Raph, he is the definition of ‘I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.’ He’s proves this by simply sighing and saying, “Go to bed Mike.”
Don’s anger is the most ill fitting of the three. He does get angry, but he’s silent in rage. He’s silent until too much bottles up and he can’t hold it anymore, then he explodes.
Donnie doesn’t even look Mikey’s way, just storms off to his lab, slamming the door. Mikey winces at that too. He probably won’t be out till morning.
Mikey doesn’t say anything, because he’s angry too, but he’s the calm one, the fun one, the never upset one. He’s their sunshine. So he just shoves his anger into that ever growing dark part of his mind. It’s been growing more and more rapidly since Splinters death.
So as to not upset his brothers further, he sends them an apologetic look, then walks off to his room. The door shuts, and his look slides off like water, being replaced by a deep scowl. The dark thing in his mind slips out of its corner. Thoughts enter his head, unwanted thoughts.
They don’t want you.
You should leave.
They don’t care about you.
It’s all your fault.
No one does or will ever love you.
That last thought brings tears to his eyes, and he has to put a hand over his mouth to keep from crying out. He doesn’t want these thoughts, he doesn’t like them. So Mikey shoves them all back into that dark, unsalvageable part of his mind. That part will always doubt, but he can’t let his whole mind doubt too.
So he does the only logical thing he can think of.
He decides to leave.
He decides to run away.
His mind was right, his brothers don’t love him, they don’t care about him, hell they don’t even want him. It would be better for them and himself if he ran.
So, he packed a bag with all the necessities. He didn’t know where he’d run to, but suddenly it hits him. The farmhouse! The farmhouse was his favorite place in the world and they’d never think to look there. With his location decided, and bag packed, the only thing left to do was write a note.
He didn’t want to leave his brothers in the dark. He’d simply tell them that he left, and it’d be better for both of them.
So he quickly scribbled out a note, and left it on his pillow. The note read:
Dear Leo, Raph, and Donnie,
If you’re reading this, I’m long gone. I’ve decided to run away. Don’t bother to look for me, it’s better for both you and me this way. I’m sorry for not being good enough for you three, even though I tried. I know you guys never loved me in the first place, but I always loved you, and I still do.
Love from your little brother, Mikey.
He left the note on his pillow, untied his bright orange mask, and laid it on top along with his nunchucks. He took one last look at his room, grabbed his bag, closed the door, and walked down the hall.
He was mere feet from the exit and freedom, when a voice stopped him in his tracks.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Mikey slowly turns around and is met with a still pissed Raphael.
“Topside.” Is all Mikey responds with.
“Mhm of course, without your mask or nunchucks.”
“Leave me alone Raph.”
“Not until you tell me actually what’s going on.”
Mikey’s now pissed. He just wanted to leave without anyone noticing, but his idiot of an older brother won’t leave.
Suddenly, an idea comes to him, one that Karai used on Leo many years ago.
But first, he’s going to get a little revenge.
Raph’s voice filters back into his brain, “——wer me dammit!” Lifting his hand to slap Mikey across the head again.
This time however, he’s prepared. He catches Raph’s wrist midair, earning him a look of surprise, Mikey twists his arm, relishing in hearing it pop.
Raph’s terrified at what his normally pacifistic little brother just did. He’d dislocated his shoulder! It hurt like fire, but Mikey wasn’t done. He pulled out one of his blinding powder bombs (Karai taught him how to make them), crushed it in his hand, then blew the powder into Raph’s face.
Raph coughed and choked, before falling to the floor and barely being able to keep his eyes open.
Mike puts a foot on his chest, pushing him down, before saying with disgust “Good night Raphie, and good riddance.”
Raph’s eyes shut, and Mikey ran. Fearing their spat would haven woken Leo or alerted Donnie, he wanted to get as far away from the lair as possible.
He said goodbye to the only home he’d ever known, and ran to the shellraiser, then it dawned on him that he didn’t know to how to drive it. Then he remembers the stealth bike. He pulls open the hatch, drops down into the bike, hits the gas and speeds off.
He finds the hatch to the surface, presses the button in the cycle, and speeds through the opening, then closes the shell on the cycle while opening the maps on his T-phone Donnie had put on them in case they got separated. It hits him . They could find him as long as he had his T-Phone! As soon as he got to the farmhouse, he’d dismantle it, take out the necessary components for tracking, then put it back together.
The whole time he’s driving, Raph’s last words to him are still echoing in his mind. Along with the nagging worry that he might be tracked down before he can get to the farmhouse.
He decided he didn’t need his T-Phone that badly. If necessary, he’d steal a phone while upstate. He opens the shell over the bike, then throws the phone in front of the cycle. He hears the tires crunch over it, then looks back and sees a destroyed mess where it lay. There’s that problem solved. He closes the shell, and uses his memory to guide himself through the streets.
Unbeknownst to him, every second he drives farther and farther away from his home, the dark part of his mind grows and grows.