"It's just you and me now," Rahzar says. His grin is all bone and teeth, and I can't help but feel sick to my stomach. His new look makes him look ten times more intimidating than his old fury dog one. He's like a werewolf that has hard skeletal hands and feet. And his jaw is so menacing that it looks like it could shred me apart in one bite. Looking at the pure intensity of his features, I realize that I can't afford to make mistakes around him. Otherwise he'll turn me into turtle soup and eat me for breakfast.

"Guess that's good for you," I taunt in my usual fashion. No matter how much Rahzar's physical appearance has changed, his ability to ignore my teasing hasn't. "That way you won't be humiliated when I kick your butt!" My hands tighten around my chucks in preparation.

His orange eyes crinkle in anger, and within a few seconds, he opens his mouth and let's out a roar so loud that it sends shivers down my arms. My legs freeze from shock and I almost have trouble maneuvering out of the way when he charges straight at me. It's only from years of experience and reflexes that I manage to jump left and use the side of the building as a springboard. I push off towards him with the intention of hitting him in the back of the head with my chuck, but he surprises me and swings his arm at me as if swatting a fly. The spikes on his arm scrape against my plastron, and before I know it, I'm skidding across the top of the building. The concrete rips at my skin, but it's tough enough to take a little damage.

"That all you got?" I say, only to groan a second later. "My brother's pet turtle hits harder than that."

Rahzar growls in frustration, and I'm glad it's not nearly as loud as the roar he let out earlier. But then he's charging at me again and I feel dread and determination all at once. It's a struggle to get out of his way when he takes another swipe at me, but somehow I jump over his arm and land behind him. Almost on instinct, I bring out my chain and scythe. I quickly swing the chain to wrap around his ankles, and once he's tangled up, I pull back with all my might. And when he only wobbles a little and then regains his balance, I realize that I'm not strong enough to pull his massive weight down.

"You're stupider than I thought," Rahzar says. "It only makes me want to kill you even more." His torso twists and his claws scrape across my face before I have time to blink. I can't help but scream a little. His claws are razor sharp and they dig into my skin like scissors does paper. Pain flares up across my face instantly. It feels like it's on fire.

He has me in his massive hand a second later, and then, for the second time this night, I go completely air born. My shell kisses the concrete, leaving skid marks, and then I start to roll towards the edge of the building.

"Oh shell," I say just as I start to fall to the city below. My mind and heart are racing in unison at this point. It's only when I hear Leo's voice in my head saying "Mikey, think!" that I throw my scythe at the railing that circles the top of the building. My stomach feels like it's in my feet until the scythe catches on the top of the railing, and the chain goes taut. "Holy cow…" My throat is completely dry at this point. "Ah shell that was close."

"You're right," Rahzar appears suddenly. His grin is back and this time I feel cold fear wash over me. "That was close. But you're going to wish you hit the pavement after I'm done with you." And then he launches himself over the side of the building, and the bony claws on his feet are heading straight for me. There's no where for me to go.

So I do the only thing I can do in this situation. I call for my brother. "Leo!" My voice comes out high and strained. Adrenaline is starting to take complete control of me. I only manage to get out one more "Leo" before Rahzar's massive form collides with my plastron. We fall hard and fast. The only thing I can hear is the blood pounding in my ears, although, I'm pretty sure Rahzar is laughing, too.

His fangs come incredibly close to my face, and I think he's going to eat my face off, but before he does, I summon up my last line of defense: smoke bombs.

"Eat this you hunk of ugly!"

I manage to throw one in his eyes and the other in his mouth. Purple dust explodes in the air and Rahzar screams this time. And suddenly he's flailing so much that he rolls off of me, his weight no longer pressing down on my plastron. I hear him curse a few times and then there's the unmistakable sound of bone hitting concrete. And it hits me all of a sudden that I just might die from this. This could be the last time I see the sky and the city. The last time I see my family. The last time for everything.

I hope someone takes care of Ice Cream Kitty is the last thing I can think of. That and I bet Raph is gonna cry like a wuss when he finds out what happens. Poor dude.

Then the sky turns red and I scream. Instead of feeling hard concrete like I was just imagining, there's arms that scoop me out of the air, and they are way too big and hairy to belong to any of my brothers. I can just make out grunts and explosions above the sound of my heart pounding in my ears. They are two sounds that don't go together and it doesn't make any sense in my head. But then I finally open my eyes and look up. Two big brown eyes stare back at me.

I nearly have a heart attack until I take in the big canines and fuzzy brown fur. And then I'm smiling and crying all at once because I realize that out of anyone that could have saved me, it ends up being our monkey friend, Dr. Rockwell. I don't know where he came from or how he knew that I needed help, but he's here and he just saved my life.

My mind clicks all of a sudden and I remember that Dr. Rockwell can read people's emotions. He must have been somewhere in the area and felt me panicking. Even now, I can tell that he senses how scared and shaken up I am. His eyes are a little wide and his arms close around me as if he's trying to comfort me. I used to be pretty uneasy around him when I first met him, but right now he's the only thing keeping me from having a panic attack, and I gladly cling closer to him and bury my face in his fur.

"T-thanks, bro," I manage to say, even though it only comes out as a whisper.

Dr. Rockwell studies my face for a little while until his attention is caught by the flames and the smoke coming out of the building that blew up. I watch out of the corner of my eye and I feel scared and nervous all over again because my brothers were in that building, and I don't know if they made it out.

"You have to put me down," I say. I start pushing away from him, suddenly desperate to know that my brothers are alright. "I need to see if my bro's made it out."

Dr. Rockwell starts shrieking all of a sudden and he drops me on the ground. I know that my emotions are making him uncomfortable, so I don't hold it against him. He ends up looking between me and the fire before he decides to split. His eyes go wide and he tears away from the street like a bat out of hell. I watch him go until he becomes nothing more than a shadow in the night, and then I struggle to get back on my feet. Once I have that accomplished, I look up towards the surrounding buildings to see if I can make out any of my brothers forms. If they made it out then they're likely looking for me.

Despite feeling like a newborn foal trying to walk for the first time, I make my way towards the burning building, only to find Rahzar's unconscious body lying a few feet away. I stop and wonder if he's still alive, then decide I can't do anything for him anyway, so I move past his tangled form of limbs and start to run. The closer I get, the more I worry. Because if they didn't make it out of the explosion, then there's no way I'll be able to find them in all the wreckage.

I'm about to have a mental breakdown at the thought of them being dead, when all of a sudden I hear a gleeful chorus of "Mikey!" And then it's like some cheesy romance movie where my brothers are all there and they look just as relieved to see me as I am to see them. I already have my arms out because I need to cling onto somebody or else I may just fall over from my previous anxiety.

Raph gets to me first and he nearly barrels me into the grass when he gets a hold of me. Leo and Don are close behind, but they stop dead in their tracks when they see me. I don't understand why until I realize that they're staring at my face in horror. Oh yeah. I forgot that Rahzar left a print of his claw marks in my face. They still sting horribly, but the adrenaline is dulling most of the pain at the moment.

"Mikey, what happened to you?" Don asks immediately. He's already grabbing the undamaged part of my face and looking at it closely.

"Oh, that. Don't worry about it, bro. The real question is, what did you guys blow up? I was out here minding my own business, and suddenly, the whole sky is like a ball of fire."

Raph ignores my questions and seems to just notice that there's actually something wrong with me. Once he finally see's the marks on my face and plastron, his green eyes burn with rage and his hands are clenched tight. "Who did this to you?" he asks in a far more demanding tone than Donnie. "I swear, if it scars…" he growls, only to be cut off by a sharp look from Leo, who has looked nothing but worried and guilty up till this point.

Leo, always the observant one, looks past everyone until his blue eyes land on Rahzar's crumpled form a few feet back. There's a look of contemplation on his face as he starts to connect the dots. And when he finally understands, he immediately puts my arm around his shoulder and urges Raph to do the same thing.

"Donnie, get the Shell Raiser. We need to get out of here," Leo says.

"But what about-" Raph protests, only to be cut off by a glare from Leo.

"People are going to start showing up any second and we need to get Mikey back to the lair. We'll get answers later," Leo says, directing the last part towards me.

I try to smile it off, but no one buys it. "So does this mean we're not getting celebratory pizza?"

I can tell that Leo appreciates me trying to lighten up the mood. He smiles a little until he looks at my face. Then he looks disappointed in himself all over again.

"It's not your fault, you know," I say just as the Shell Shocker pulls up. "I just happened to get stuck with the freakishly large wolf man as an opponent."

Raph shakes his head roughly. "You shouldn't have had to fight him yourself. We should have realized that you were missing and we should have backed you up. I would've clobbered him after he did that to your face, Mikey. No one gets away with hitting you, except me."

I roll my eyes for show. "Wow, how very thoughtful of you, Raph."

We board the Shell Shocker and speed out of there as fast as we can. Don sits back with me and shines a flashlight over my cuts and in my eyes. "Looks like you might have a concussion," he says. "And we'll need to clean the cuts and bandage them to make sure they don't get infected. It doesn't look like they'll scar, but what worries me are the slashes under your eye. It looks like his claws went in deepest there."

"But can't you make some cream or something to make it go away?" I ask. "I don't want to look like Shred Head."

The car jolts to a stop all of a sudden and Don grabs my shoulders to keep me from lurching forward. I'm wondering what the shell is going on when I see Leo looking back at us with a serious expression, his blue eyes like steel.

"Don't ever," he says slowly, "compare yourself to Shredder. You're nothing like him, Mikey. Okay?"

Raph and Donnie are both shocked into silence by the statement. Their eyes are wide and it reminds me of Dr. Rockwell. I don't really know what to make of it. I just look at him and say, "Okay, Leo."

He stares at me for a little longer, trying to decipher if I mean it.

"Uh…" Raph coughs awkwardly. "Can we get back to moving, please? Master Splinter is probably getting worried about us."

Leo nods but doesn't look in his direction. I smile at him reassuringly and he finally turns back around and starts driving again. Donnie and I both look at each other out of the corner of our eyes before we both just shrug and categorize the moment as a weird Leo thing.

The rest of the ride is driven in a strange sort of silence. It makes me really uncomfortable because my brother's are never this quiet. Shell, I'm never this quiet. It's too weird for me to even comprehend. I'm relieved when we finally get underground and park the van outside of our lair. Master Splinter is already waiting for us inside.

He's alert as soon as his eyes settle on me and he comes over immediately. I let him prod at my form while I fidget. He keeps touching the cuts on my face and it makes me wonder if it reminds him of Shredder. Probably does.

"Donatello will take care of your face and then I want you in bed right after, understand?" Splinter says. I can tell he's worried about my concussion.

"Hai, Sensei," I bow as low as I can without hurting myself.

He nods in approval and rubs my head in a soothing manner. "Rest well, my son."

"Don't worry, I'll probably sleep like a rock," I grin. "Hey Raph bring me some food while I'm getting cleaned up, will ya?"

Raph crosses his arms and snorts. "What do I look like? Your fairy godmother?"

I laugh at the image of Raph in a pink dress and holding a glittery wand. "I wish."

He shakes his head and calls me an idiot, but tells me he'll get me something since I'm "deformed."

After that I go with Don to his lab and he cleans and tapes up my face. The whole time he asks me questions about what happened. I keep it vague as possible, not wanting him to know how close to death I was. He doesn't seem to believe all of it, or keep prodding for more, but I keep with the short little spiel I give him, and soon enough he accepts it. Then when he's done making me look like a mummy, he tells me to go on up to bed without him because he's going to work on something for a little bit. I tell him goodnight and leave after that. What I don't expect if for Leo to be sitting outside of the room when I come out. His blue eyes lock on mine and we stare at each other for a few awkward seconds.

"I want the full story tomorrow," he says seriously.

"Dude, how did you-"

"You're missing both of your chucks," he points out. "And you're acting strange. So don't try and tell me some made up story like you told Don. I want to know how the entire fight went down."

I look down at my belt and feel a deep sadness when I realize that I really have lost my chucks. They were both left on the building, and now they're nothing more than ash. I feel like I might cry again, but Leo hugs me out of no where and it's the best hug I've gotten all night. I hug him back just as hard because Leo's hugs always make feel safe.

It kind of hits me then that Leo is looking for reassurance just as much as I am. He wants to make sure that he hasn't failed as a leader and a brother, and that he hasn't lost someone important to him. I don't want him to think that he failed to keep me safe. Because I failed to keep myself safe.

I grab onto his shell a little tighter and ask, "Would you mind if I slept with you tonight?" I clear my throat a little. "I, just ah, nightmares, you know?"

He pulls back and smiles fondly. "Sure, Mikey. I'll bring your blankets and pillows into my room."

"Thanks dude."

Leo turns to carry out his task and then stops mid step. He looks over his shoulder and grins. "You want me to bring your kitty stuffed animal, too?"

I can feel my cheeks burn red. "Duuuuude!"

"So is that a yes…?" Leo grins like the Cheshire cat.

I cross my arms and grumble out a small, "Yes…"

Despite my embarrassment, Leo's laugh makes me feel like things are normal again, and I can't thank him more for that. So this time when I smile back at him, it's a 100% genuine Mikey smile, and it feels good.

A/N - I guess this takes place in the 2k12 world. I'm more of a 2k3 kind of person, but I needed certain things from the new series to make this story work, so I guess either will work depending on what you prefer.

Sorry if the portrayal of Raph, Donnie, and Leo aren't top notch. I got around to writing their scene around one in the morning and it's sloppy because I'm tired.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed. If it feels a little rushed then I apologize for that. I just wrote this on a whim. So let me know what you think in the review box. Thanks.