A/N: Yes, last chapter I said four turtles instead of three. No, I didn't mean to say that. You know what I meant, right?
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Leo and Don exchanged confused looks. "What? What was you?" Leo asked.
Raph shook his head, drawing his legs up. "You know how Master Splinter said that our other brother…Mikey…followed him for some reason when he died?" His brothers nodded. "It was me. I was being a jerk, and I chased him out."
"I thought his name was Michelangelo." Donnie said. Raph looked at him.
"We called him Mikey." He said firmly.
His brother shrugged. "How'd you know you did it? It could've been anything…"
"No." Raph cut him off. "It was me."
"But-"
"Don't worry about the how's, Donnie, I just know, and it was me!" Raph looked at the ground. "I can't believe I did it, I didn't know, I just…"
"Raph." Leo put a hand on his shoulder. "You might have made him upset, but it's not your fault he died. He slipped, remember?"
"If I hadn't been mean to him he woulda stayed…"
"You don't know that." Leo insisted. "Maybe it was just…you know…his time."
Raph sighed. His brothers wouldn't understand the wave of guilt that he was drowning in.
"Let's get outta here before Splinter comes back and we get in trouble again." Don suggested. Raph didn't say anything, but let his brothers guide him back to the lair.
"Wonder what Mikey wanted, since he made that huge noise earlier." Leo and Don exchanged glances, but said nothing. Better to not upset their brother further.
They made it back to the lair before Splinter, to their relief. The three turtles returned to their room, where they were supposed to have been the whole time.
Raph climbed onto his bed, isolating himself from his brothers. He pulled the picture he had taken from Splinter's room out of his belt and studied it. He smiled faintly at the younger image of himself trying to tear the ear off his tiger. His eyes rested on Mikey's image, and started. The image winked at him! Again! He looked at it again, hoping to catch the image in the act, but it had gone back to the normal smiling turtle.
Suddenly Raph heard the creak of the lair door – Splinter was back. And…muttering to himself? Raph pulled the door to their bedroom open just a crack, peeking out. He could see Splinter. His master's robe was soaking wet, and the rat made a large puddle anywhere he stood. His fur looked as if it had been doused with glue, it was hard and sticky-looking in places. In spite of himself, Raph had to suppress a grin. His mighty master just looked so…stupid!
"Curses….darnit….darn spirits….just because you…can't imagine why….troublemaker…" Splinter was muttering, but Raph only caught small snippets of what he was saying. The old rat suddenly changed direction and began walking towards the turtles' room.
Raph had barely hopped back onto his own bed before Splinter pushed the door open a bit further, but didn't come all the way in. "My sons, I have a very persistant headache. I am going to take a nap for a bit, and then I shall answer any more questions you may have regarding…what we talked about earlier. Alright?"
All three brothers nodded, and Splinter left. As soon as Splinter was gone, Raph hopped off of his bed. "I'm going to the bathroom!" he said, annoyed, as Leo opened his mouth to ask where he was going again.
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Finished with the bathroom, Raph put a hand on the doorknob to leave, and stopped. Something was holding him back.
"So, have ya finally caught on yet, stupid?" The voice was back. No, not the voice. Mikey.
Raph frowned. "I'm not stupid. And what did you do to Splinter, anyway?"
There was a giggle. "Who said it was me?"
"Right." Raph rolled his eyes. "He pushed himself in the water. You could've hurt him, you know."
"Nah." Mikey replied. "I only pushed him in the shallow part."
"Why'd you make that big noise?"
"To get Splinter away for a few minutes."
Raph raised an eyeridge. "And you wanted Splinter away…why?"
Mikey sounded annoyed now. "You are stupid! He was telling you about me, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, who could tell you about me better than me!"
"I thought you couldn't remember anything."
"Well…"
Raph was starting to get mad. "You lied to me? What did you need to lie to me for? You're dead!"
"Hey!" Mikey protested. "You had to find out for yourself, okay? That's just how it works!"
Raph was silent, deciding to let it go. "So? Why'd you push Splinter in the pool? And what was all sticky on his fur?"
"Well…he didn't really believe you heard me. I heard him talking to himself. I had to prove I was real somehow. The sticky stuff was glue."
"I thought when you move stuff it goes back to where it was."
"It does." Mikey said, "But I guess once glue is in fur, it stays there." Another giggle was heard. "He looks pretty funny, huh?"
Raph remembered the grin he had suppressed. "I guess." He said grudgingly.
"And anyway. I did that stuff to him because I needed to stall him. You needed to see what really happened back then, and that was the only way I could do it."
"By knocking me out and giving me a vision?" Raph was incredulous, "You're not very good at this, are you?"
"It's only my first time." Mikey said apologetically. "Don't you ever stop asking questions? I came in here to ask you a favor. Now shut up."
Raph growled, but otherwise fell silent. Mikey continued. "You know what happened. My other brothers know what happened. Now that you know, there's only one thing you need to do before I can go."
"Go where?" Raph asked.
An exasperated sigh was heard. "Pass on, silly."
"Oh!" Raph said, comprehension dawning. "Yeah…sorry."
"It's okay. Now. Here's what you need to do…"
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"Why are we doing this again?" Leo complained, as he and his brothers walked up into a less traveled area of the sewers.
Raph rolled his eyes. "We're gonna help Mikey pass on, okay? Jeez." They came to a junction, and Raph climbed onto a pipe, pulling himself up a little way, followed by his brothers.
Pulling a shuriken stolen from the dojo out of his belt, Raph began to crudely carve the letters of Mikey's name into the wall. Oddly, neither Leo nor Don had protested the theft of the shuriken. Raph had had trouble persuading them to come, but after a certain "visit" from their lost brother, they were more willing to go.
Raph finished carving his brother's name into the brick, then looked down at Don. "Pass it up!"
Don handed Raph Eugene the bear, who had been fixed up, complete with a new nose. Raph situated the bear under the carving of Michelangelo's name. "There." He said, then silenced Don and Leo. A smile graced his face as he heard a mutter in his ear. "Hey stupid, it wasn't really your fault you know."
"What do you mean by that?" Raph whispered.
"I wasn't actually going to see Splinter…he just turned around right as I fell. I just wanted to scare ya. Even though you were a mean poop, I forgive ya."
There was a small whooshing sound, and Eugene fell onto his side. Raph smiled as a whispered, "Thank you, stupid!" wrapped around him.
"Come on guys." He said, looking down on his remaining brothers. "It's over. Let's get outta here."
With that, the three turtles climbed down from the pipes and headed for home.
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Whew. Now we just have the epilogue, and we're done. Yay!