Little Miracle

Twenty-Seven

¶This was a request from tmnp77. I have never done a Casey POV before, so I hope you like it. :-P ¶

\With Casey/

Casey's POV
===========

I sighed as I flipped open the manhole cover, closing it after I hopped down into the murky sewer water.

I heard from Raph that they had gotten Donnie and Mikey back a few days ago, and I decided that they needed ol' Casey Jones to drop in for a visit!

But from what he said, Donnie was fine. Mikey, on the other hand, not so much.

So I was gonna gave my orange banded man a wicked pep talk, just like April did. Except, of course, mine's gonna be better than Red's.

"Hey guys, Casey Jones is in the house!" I tried, jumping over the lair's entrance.

Raph, Leo, and Donnie all muttered their hi's from the kitchen table, and Mikey gave me a sad look.

I inwardly cringed at the sight of him; whip looking marks cross his body, hands baaaaaadly broken at his sides, elbow looking like its fractured or something, bruises littered across his body, something looked weird about his torso, he was super skinny, and he had a flipping huge bruise across his neck. When April had said he looked bad, she meant bad.

"Anyone want some... pizza?" I asked, not sure what to do or say. I mean, there had been some bad cases of injuries hanging out with the ninja dudes, but mostly just bumps and bruises. But this wasn't that... this was way worse.

All eyes instinctively landed on Mikey, who blinked back at us. "What? Oh, yeah... pizza..."

"Do you want any?" Donnie asked him, biting his lower lip. I don't like Donnie at all, but even he shouldn't have to deal with this. I could see he felt afraid for Mikey, and I could actually relate. You don't just put something like this behind you, man. Especially if its your family.

"Uhh... hmm... sure..." He shrugged, and to me he looked kinda zoned out. "What kind do you want?" Leo asked, glancing around at the rest of us worriedly.

"It doesn't matter... as long as its not brown mush..." Mikey said hoarsely, and I could see his brothers tense up.

I frowned, confused from both sides. Why would Mikey specifically not want a pizza with... brown mush... as a topping? I thought he liked pizza in every way. Even the not so cool ways...

But then again, why did the others seem so tense? Was this 'brown mush' something that had happened with Shred-Head? If so, how bad was it? The guys look super freaked out. Mikey seemed so spaced... maybe I should talk to him now.

"Uhh, yeah," I said, shifting my weight, "hey, how 'bout you guys go order a pizza. On me. I wanna talk to Mike."

Raph, Leo, and Donnie nodded slowly at me before leaving, Donnie giving me a suspiciously threatening glare as he passed.

"Hey Mikey," I began, placing a hand on his shoulder, "can we go talk? Like, in the dojo?" Mikey nodded, following me as I led him into the secluded area. I closed the door after us, shaking.

"Yeah?" Mikey asked quietly from behind me, already seated on the floor. I turned back to him, sitting down.

"I just wanna talk to you," I said. Mikey nodded slowly, and I could see anxiousness in his eyes.

"I know that you've been through a lot. I don't know exactly what you've been through, but I know it wasn't tea time and scones. And I know that you'll probably never get over this- heck, I know that all of us probably won't get over this... but I want to do anything I can to help you, man. You're my friend. My best friend's little brother. You're practically my little brother. I know that I can't just put a bandaid on you and say, 'There we go! All better!'. 'Cause I know that you'll heal from those scars, but your mind won't," I said, trying not to choke up.

Mikey looked at me, sadness painted on his face. Even though I'm not saying it aloud, that look was killing me.

The pizza dude is always so happy and cheerful and loud. But now... after what happened... he's so sad. And I'm not saying he's wrong to be. I'm just saying that I really would do anything just to see him grin again.

"You don't have to go through this alone. You don't have to keep this to yourself because you just don't wanna relive it... or maybe you just don't want us to know what happened because you think it would hurt us. And it would, too, but we still want to know. We want to help you get past what Shred-Head did. And we can't do that if you keep it hidden, bro," I continued, then noticed Mikey looking away.

"...Or maybe you just don't want to tell certain people..." I trailed, earning a look from Mikey. "Do you not want to tell me? Or is it April? I thought... I thought that you two connected a little the other day-"

"Its... my brothers..." Mikey said suddenly, shakily.

"Y- your brothers?" I repeated, shocked. "Why wouldn't you want to tell them?! They're your family. And what about Donnie? He was there with you."

"Exactly!" Mikey stressed, looking me straight in the eyes. "He was there! He was scared, dude! He went through every. single. thing!! He had to beat me with a pole, Casey. A pole! He hated himself for it, but he was given no choice! No choice whatsoever! And my brothers feel like its their fault that I was taken! That- that they could've done something! But they couldn't have! It was all my fault! It was my fault that Donnie got captured, too! They came after me because I got myself captured! And I got Donnie captured too! Leo and Raph don't even know what happened, but they still feel horrible!!! A- and if I tell them what all happened, think about how they would feel then! I can't put them through that, dude. I can't..."

I felt my chest constrict so tightly I thought it would implode.

"Mikey, they do feel horrible. They're your older brother, i- its in their nature to blame themselves if something happens to you. But they have to know what happened. If you don't tell them, then- then they'll feel even worse. They'll feel like, maybe, you also blame them for it. And I know you don't. Besides, it will help everyone if you talk to them. Or if you want, you can take it slowly and just tell a little bit at a time. I'm not forcing you to tell anyone anything, but it would mean so much to everybody. Including your brothers..." I said.

There was silence for a few seconds, both of us stuck in our own thoughts.

"Casey! Mikey! We got the pizza!" Leo called from outside the dojo, and both Mikey and I looked up.

"Come on, Mike," I said to him, grinning my somewhat toothless grin, "let's go get some pizza."

¶I'm leaving tomorrow to Florida with my family for a week, so I won't be able to write. I'm sorry for this delay, as this will be the last chapter until we get back. Sorry.¶