Trapped Within

{Chapter 15}

"Hey! Why didn't you wait for me, Centi-", looking up at the time, Mikey turned around and grabbed the bowl off the table, chugging his food down as he turned away from the two other mutants. They were talking, peeking through the corner of his eyes he watched the two as they chatted about something, what they spoke of Mikey didn't care, and placed the bowl down, freshly barren over any sustenances. Mikey walked over to the chart and stared up at the time, 7:59, and the day was next to it, glowing it's shining white, December 21, 2013...

Michelangelo stared at the clock, glaring at the date until he realized something, 'I missed my birthday...I'm...16?', Michelangelo was frozen, 'How did I...', Mikey was stuck in a trance, hours of working and bonding with his kids, he never gave himself some me time, 'What has happened to me...', he thought, his face stared at the screen, yet his eyes zoned out, staring into the air and yet staring at nothing.

"Mikey...are you okay?", Mikey heard Dannie's voice, but he was frozen, his body-, his mind turned into this animalistic being only caring about nothing else than it's young, how did it come to this. "Pequenito?"

I     F O R G O T     M Y     B I R T H D A Y

Michaelangelo's back faced the two mutants as he tapped his plastron, tapping his elongated nail on his shell, "What? Mikey, what do you mean-"

M Y     B I R T H D A Y     W A S     T H R E E     M O N T H S     A G O

Slowly turning back, his face was just shocked as he stared at the two, their faces holding a real depressing expression. Neither mutant spoke, staring down at the ground, Mikey wanted Dannie to be honest, to tell him the truth for once.

D A N N I E

W H Y     A M     I     L I K E     T H I S

"Mikey...I-", turning towards the camera, Dannie seemed hesitant, "I...don't know...but we need to start our tasks, Mikey let's check on the nursery since we only have days, maybe weeks until 001 and 005 hatch, so come on. Bye Centi! See you later!", Dannie walked over to the side as he grabbed the tools and grabbed Mikey's hand, yanking him towards the nursery. There was a reason he took them towards the nursery, the small room was sound proof and also, there were no cameras. Closing the door, Dannie completely walked over to the lamps, checking on their condition.

H E     W A S N T     W A T C H I N G

Dannie stopped looking over the lamps, and Mikey knew something was up, he knew that Dannie knew something, but he couldn't tell what it was. "Mikey...Bishop did something and...", Dannie never turned back to Mikey as he leaned forward against the table in front of him, "I want to let you know, that I told Bishop that it was a bad idea to do this, but whatever I tell him to do, telling him that it was a bad idea-", Dannie just continued to ramble, desperately telling Mikey that he tried to persuade Bishop to not go through with it, his rambling turned to mumble, and not once had he ever looks at Mikey.

D A N N I E     W H A T     D I D     H E     D O

Dannie's jumbled mumbling stopped, his body tensed up and yet he still had not looked at Mikey, switching his gaze from the lamp to the door, never meeting the turtle's eyes, "I...can't tell you...".

Mikey's eyes fell from the back of Dannie's head, down to the bat's arms and legs, even his wings. Honestly, it was hard to see, but if Mikey squinted real hard, you could see them, cuts and bruises littered his skin and wings, and Mikey knew exactly why, ever since Mikey begged-, asked him to never talk about Mikey's personal life, Dannie respected that, and never told Bishop even if he asked him, but as their once broken friendship began to rebuild itself, this promise...only hurt Dannie in ways. There would be days, when Dannie came back to the cell or even work, with bruised cheeks and puffy eyes...Dannie was never in training, all these bruises appeared after every single meeting he had with Bishop. Dannie never told him where he got them no matter how much Mikey asked, but Mikey knew why he had them, and decided to leave the conversation there.