To Death and Back...

[Ch.6]: Blue Eyes

~

The sensation of pain numbly droned into his body.

Groaning, Mikey slowly came to consciousness without opening his eyes. For a moment, he just laid there, letting his senses fuzzily come back to him, one by one. As he rested, he noticed a breather was connected to his mouth, and he could hear the steady rhythm of an electronic heartbeat in the background.

Suddenly, the events that had happened and the fact that he was still alive hit him like a smack to the face, and he opened his eyes with a shocked gasp.

He was back in the lair, staring up at the ceiling. Seeing the breather, he followed the tube to the right until he saw the air tank, and the computers hooked up to him beside that. A patch was connected to his forehead and his chest over his heart, with wires that ran up to the computers. Surprised at the sight of them, he slowly looked back, he could tell he was wrapped up from his injuries - his left elbow, right forearm and right calve had big casts on them, and he had bandages and patches and medical wrap all over him from his burns and battle injuries. His mid-section was wrapped up and hurt really bad - he probably cracked some ribs. They must have been feeding him liquid food while he was unconscious - but he was insanely thirsty, and his throat felt like it was on fire. His banging scalp reminded him that he had the worst headache, too.

The fact that he was in the lair meant his brother brought him back.....worry and nervous guilt crept into his mind now. He wondered if they were alright.....did they find out what happened with Karai? How mad were they gonna be, whether they did or not? Groaning, he irritably yanked his mouth away from the breather, making it fall and roll on the floor by the air tank, which automatically switched off. He closed his eyes and laid his head to the side, wishing he could wake up and realise this was all just a really bad dream.

Hearing somebody walking towards him, he opened his eyes again.

Donnie was walking to Mikey's bed, carrying a clean towel and a bowl of water. Deep in his thoughts, he stared at the ground. It had been a full month and a half since they brought Mikey back. Master Splinter, Leatherhead and Mr. Murakami had gone out again to get groceries and restock on medical supplies, so he and his brothers were left in the lair to look after Mikey. Sighing, he looked up to see Mikey looking back at him, with tired, uncharacteristically dull blue eyes.

His stomach leapt into his throat and he almost yelped. He stopped walking and froze, and for a moment, his mind went totally and completely blank. Unable to register what he was seeing, and Mikey surprised to see Donnie, they just stared at each other.

Looking at Donnie, Mikey made a tired, small smile, and then smiled bigger, warmly and somehow apologetically.

The towel Donnie was carrying hit the floor, and the bowl of water came after it, splashing water everywhere.

"Mikey!!"

Next thing he knew, he was being squeezed tightly, wrapped up in Donnie's arms in a warm hug, making the blankets fall down. Mikey cringed, pain shooting through his ribcage and arms, but he didn't care. "Mikey, we were so worried - boy, you have no idea - I can't believe you're awake! We were so scared, I swear - you're finally.....you have no idea....." He rambled, finally choking up and snuggling him happily. Mikey felt tears drip down onto his head. He couldn't move his body at all, so he snuggled his head against Donnie's chest to comfort him a little, smiling.

Laughing, Donnie loosened the hug a little and rubbed his eyes. "Do you feel ok? What's hurting?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but it only came out as a dry, almost inaudible rasp - and it made his throat flare up with pain, making him cringe.