Muted Soul

Silence Pays A Price

When Mikey woke up the next morning, he quickly realized his injury was getting worse. Way worse.

The pain was more intense now then it was a day ago. It throbbed endlessly and was sharp, like someone cracked his shell.

The area around his left side of the plasteron was dark blue, almost black in coloration.

This is so not good...what do I do?! Maybe I can fix it myself? Yeah! I'll fix it myself!

That's what I'll do...

Mikey snuck into Donnie's lab while the brainiac turtle went to grab a cup of coffee like normal. Mikey managed to grab some gauze bandages.

He winced as he attempted to wrap his injury, not really knowing what he was doing but he'd seen Donnie do it plenty of times before.

How hard could it be?

By now, he would have told Donnie since the pain was only getting worse and he was getting kind of scared.

He coughed suddenly, gasping in pain when his ribs ached. Breathing was starting to hurt, and Mikey found it difficult to even take a deep breath.

He just breathed shallowly, hoping the tightness in his lungs would eventually fade.

Mikey wished none of this had ever happened. He wished he'd never hurt himself on patrol that night. He wished he hadn't been such a chatterbox.

He wished the pain would stop.

Not just the physical pain.

Mental pain.

Ever since they went on patrol for the first time months ago, Mikey has been the mess up.

Whenever Raph was in a bad mood, who was his punching bag? Mikey.

When Leo was stressed out, who did he shout at before even thinking? Mikey.

When Donnie accidently broke one of his inventions, who was the one who was blamed? Mikey.

I'll never be good enough for them.

I'll always be a bother and a screw up.

I'll always be annoying.

I'll never be a good ninja.

Mikey just repeated those thoughts over and over in his head, struggling not to cry. Crying made his chest hurt.

Meanwhile, Leo was meditating in the dojo with Splinter, trying to ease his rattled nerves. He was worried about Mikey.

"Father, what can we do to help Mikey?" He asked absently. "It's been two days, and I really think something is wrong."

Splinter sighed and stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "Leonardo, can I discuss something with you?" He asked musingly.

Leo nodded, so the wise rat continued. "I have entered Michelangelo's inner mind, and I do not like what I see."

Leo was alarmed. "What's wrong?" He asked. Was Mikey sick? Was he dying? Was something horribly wrong?

"Michaelangelo is hiding something." Splinter said. "And what he is hiding is not good, in fact it is very dangerous."

"W-What is it?" Leo stammered. "Is he...ok?" Splinter thought a moment and shook his head.

"I cannot tell exactly what is wrong with Michaelangelo, but I do know that if he does not tell us soon, I fear the consequences will be dire."

Leo's eyes widened. "Can't we just force him to tell us? He need to talk eventually, doesn't he?"

"I'm afraid that using force will not suffice, Michaelangelo must tell you himself when he is ready, he is very afraid to."