They were only stopping for five minutes, and even that was at Donnie's incessant pleading; it was a long shot, but he was holding out hope that some of Victor Frankenstein's synthetic blood could have survived the fire. Nobody really believed it, but the other option was accepting that they had no possible way of curing Raph, so Leo had relented. As his brothers ventured into the dying fire, swatting out whatever stray embers remained, Mikey glanced down at the brother he held in chains.

"Why do all the creepy things happen to you, dude?" he asked wearily, leaning against a tree.

Renet chuckled; for the briefest moment, he had forgotten that she was actually here, in person. "Does this kind of thing happen to him often?"

"You'd be surprised," Mikey laughed drily. Raph hissed in response, and he rolled his eyes. "Would you cut that out?"

Mikey sighed heavily, slouching more of his weight against the tree. He wished he didn't have a shell, just for a second, so he could feel the bark digging into his back and maybe try to ground himself a bit. He liked their weird adventures, he really did (seeing creatures from his comics in real life could be so cool... even if it was a little scary), but this was too much, even for him. A mummy, a werewolf, Dracula and Frankenstein's monster? Working with Savanti Romero? All trying to kill him and his brothers, while turning the world into a pit of monsters wreaking havoc on humanity? There was a lot riding on this one.

Maybe it wasn't as bad as going back in time to stop the Triceratons, and all the chasing around through space they'd done with the Fugitoid trying to gather the Black Hole Generator's pieces, but they were still carrying the fate of the world on their shoulders again. It seemed that was all they did, nowadays. What happened to guys like Snakeweed and Spider Bytez, who just wanted pathetic revenge on the team and could be taken out by one turtle? He missed those days, when the worst thing that could happen on a mission was staying out too late and waking Splinter up when they got home. He missed the days when they had a real home to come back to, because no matter how many loved ones they brought into the lair, it would never really be home again without Splinter there. He missed the days when being a ninja was fun.

"Mikey?" Renet's distant voice drew him from his thoughts. "You all good, Daddy-o?"

"I miss naming stuff," he blurted, before slapping his own forehead in frustration. "That was stupid, hang on, I can explain-"

"No, all the tales of the Turtle Warriors of Legend mention you as the master of naming things," Renet informed him. "Sorry that these guys all have names already."

He sighed. "It's cool, Renet. That's not it. I just... miss how things used to be."

"Nothing will ever be how it was ever again," declared Raph, snarling to display his new fangs. "Savanti Romero will revolutionise the world, and transform it into a place where monsters can roam, and humans will-"

Renet smacked him on the head with the Time Scepter and he hushed, a rather indignant look on his face. Careful not to disturb the garlic around his neck or the chains binding his body, Renet shifted Raph out of the way, stepping closer to Mikey. Even in his turbulent state of mind, he blushed; he wasn't used to being this physically close to her, despite how long they'd been a couple. She pulled down her hood and lay her hand on his shoulder, and his heart fluttered in his chest.

"We'll cure Raphael," she promised him. With a hesitant glance at the remains of Victor Frankenstein's laboratory, she added, "Somehow. It'll go back to normal, I promise."

In a moment of brashness, Mikey took her hand in his and laid it against his cheek, leaning into her touch. "It won't, though. Hopefully Raph will, and April and Casey, but our lives won't. Everything's getting more serious, Renet, we're growing up. Now, it feels like we're saving the world every other week, or at least fighting a dude that has the power to end it. We fought a literal demon a few months ago, one that could bring people back to life. It's... it's not as fun as I thought it was."

"At least you're succeeding, though," Renet offered. "Doesn't it feel good to know how many people you're helping?"

"Yeah, but..." Tears began to form in his eyes. "There's just so much riding on us winning, and sometimes we just don't. We got lucky when we went to space; if Fugi-dude hadn't given us a second chance, the whole world would've been shattered in the Black Hole Thingy, and it all would've been our fault."

"No, it wouldn't." There was something hard in Renet's voice, something sharp enough to cut through the haze clouding Mikey's mind. "It wouldn't be your fault because you weren't the ones that did it. You're fighting for good, to save people; it's the evil people who are to blame, the ones that can set out to kill someone and not even feel bad about it. You're incredible just for trying to stop them."

This time, he couldn't hold back the tears. "But what if we can't stop them? What if the bad guys win because we weren't good enough? We're like, responsible now, for the world. I don't wanna be responsible for the world, dudette."

"Nobody does," she murmured sadly, "but somebody has to be. You and your brothers have the skills to do it, so fate has made it so. It's not cold, but... we can't change it."

"I know..."

Feeling too heavy for his own feet, Mikey slumped forwards, allowing Renet to throw her arms around him. It felt good to hold her, to be in the embrace of someone who was wholeheartedly willing to listen to his plight, who didn't have the same weight thrust upon her shoulders but was willing to take what she could anyway. It was also a pleasant to change to hold someone warm and soft and human; Karai wasn't big on hugs, and hugging Casey was just kind of odd. Shinigami didn't usually mind, but she wasn't around often, and even April wasn't in a hugging mood as frequently as she used to be. His go-to for shell-less hugs had always been Master Splinter, but now that wasn't an option, either. Renet would never understand how much the embrace meant to him, but he squeezed her extra-hard to try and show her.

"When it all gets too much," she was saying, "just let me know. I might not be able to come visit - Lord Simultaneous is really getting strict on my usage of the Scepter, and this is totally not going to help - but I might be able to talk it through with you."

"Yeah, okay." He tilted his head to look up at her. "It's just that we spend so little time actually talking, I don't want to waste any of it with bad vibes."

"Relationships include bad vibes," Renet reminded him calmly. "Part of my job is to help you deal with them, even if I'm not right next to you all the time."

He gave her a watery smile. "Okay. And you'll share your bad vibes too?"

She laughed. "Gladly. I'll have a lot of them once Simultaneous finds out how badly this went."

"Nah, we'll fix it." Mikey pulled back from the hug just long enough to peck her on the cheek. Even in his vampire state, Raph gagged. Ignoring him, Mikey promised, "Everything will work out, right?"

Renet smiled, and the night seemed a little brighter again. "Of course it will."

Leo and Donnie emerged then, layered with ash from the fire and with fierce disappointment painting their faces, but Mikey didn't let the panic rise in his chest this time. Okay, so there was no synthetic blood left, which meant they were back to square one with Raph's cure. Victor Frankenstein had also most definitely not survived, which was a major bummer, since he wasn't so bad when he wasn't calling his creation an abomination. All in all, this trip hadn't been a win for the team either, but it could be worse; at least they had Raph back now, and since the Time Scepter had been charged, they could get home and hopefully fix this mess for good. The universe was giving them another chance. Maybe he needed to have more faith that it would do that.

"Are you guys okay?" Leo questioned, probably noticing the tears still dripping down Mikey's cheeks.

He wiped them away, and was relieved when no more came. "Yeah, dude. We're ready to kick Savanti's butt."

His brother grinned. "Sounds good to me. Renet, lead the way!"

Right on cue, Renet hoisted the Time Scepter into the air, and a large square of pure light formed before them. "Okay, Turtle Warriors, this is our last chance."

"So let's make it count," replied Donnie firmly, forcing a struggling Raph to his feet. Mikey moved to take the chains from him; he preferred having Raph near, despite the whole vampire thing. Paying him back for all the years he had kept Mikey safe by protecting him in return.

Positively beaming, Renet nodded. "It's gonna be totally tubular! Let's go!"

Leo and Donnie jumped through the portal, crying triumphantly as they did so. Mikey hesitated a moment, and Renet glanced back at him. She kissed him on the cheek and he gave her a goofy smile, leaning in for a real kiss.

Raph groaned. "Enough!"

They broke apart quickly, both blushing. She gestured for him to go first, so he dragged Raph closer, then swung him towards the portal and leaped. He heard Renet cheer behind him as she followed, then everything melted into a swirling void of time.

Disclaimer: This is entirely for fun, I don't own TMNT and make no monetary gain from this.

RenetxMikey was already a ship I liked, but now that I'm actually in a long distance relationship myself (granted, not one across actual time), I really appreciate their interaction a lot more. Very pleased to see her back in the Monsters arc. I thought this scene was needed, and I think it could slot in quite nicely. I feel like Mikey would be the best at hiding it, but all the seriousness must be taking its toll on him, too.