Thanks so much for your guys' support... this is the last part! Woot!

And just to be clear - I do not do any Yaoi whatsoever - it's just mushy brotherly love...

Disclaimer: Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

A few hours later, Mikey slowly woke up. The room was dark. A blanket had been placed over him, and there was a pillow under his head. He could make out the shape of his crutches lying next to him. Other than that, the room appeared empty.

He sat up slowly. Light filtered in from a crack under a door. He threw the blanket off himself and grabbed his crutches. He slowly got to his feet and hobbled towards the door. He slid it open, and stepped into a torch-lit hallway. No one was in sight. He limped down the hall, quickly regaining the mastery of his crutches he had acquired after the Shredder had broken both of his legs in their last battle. He had hoped that he would never have to use them again. Oh, well, he thought. I don't think I'll need them as long this time.

He turned as a small figure stepped out of the shadows. It was the Daimyo's son. "Champion, I am glad to see you are doing okay. You will be okay, won't you?" he said in a small voice, walking towards him.

Mikey smiled and ruffled his hair gently. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Have you seen my brothers or my sensei around here?" he asked.

"Your sensei was visiting with my father. I saw Leonardo in the Pavilion of Past Champions. I haven't seen anyone else," the Daimyo's son replied. He stifled a yawn.

"Looks to me like you need to go to bed," Mikey said with a small smile. "Go on," he added, waving him away.

Just before he entered his room, the child turned and called, "I'm glad you're okay, Champion."

"Go to sleep," Mikey replied in a whisper. The door slid shut.

Mikey sighed and headed for the Pavilion. If Leo was there, it meant that he had seen the new statue. He had wanted to surprise his brothers with that. Oh, well.

He shuffled into the hall. Leo was sitting cross-legged in front of the statue, his eyes closed in deep thought. He turned as he heard Mikey moving towards him. "What are you doing up? You should be resting!" he exclaimed, getting to his feet.

Mikey shrugged. "I'll be fine. What do you think?" he asked, jerking his head towards the statue.

"What do I think? It's - it's - well, it's a shock, to be honest," Leo replied quietly. "I'm very touched. We all are."

Mikey shrugged and looked away. "It was nothing," he mumbled.

Leo put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah, like I'll believe that in a New York minute," he answered. "Why'd you do it?"

"I dunno. I guess… I thought…" He trailed off for a moment, searching for words. "I guess I just realized some things after the rematch, and I wanted to give credit where credit was due, so to speak. The only reason I was able to even have a chance to win was because of all of you guys," Mikey replied, looking up at Leo finally.

"I never asked… but, what happened? Out in the arena that day? I mean, you were kinda getting…"

"My shell shellacked?" Mikey finished with half a smirk. It quickly faded into a small, sad frown. "Kluh… he threatened you guys… and I remembered what you had said earlier… and something just kinda… snapped, I guess…"

Leo was shocked to see tears forming in the corners of Mikey's eyes. "Is that what happened against Drexen?" he asked softly.

"Yeah… no… I dunno! When I saw Drexen go after Raph… something snapped again… but then something else took over," Mikey replied after a moment.

"Something else?" Leo said, surprised.

"Like a force… or a person… or something. I'd kinda been feeling it for a little bit, but when I snapped… it took… control… and I kinda… let it," Mikey whispered, a tear trickling down his face. Seeing Leo's shocked look, he added, "I think I was supposed to then… I don't know… I - I was just so scared that I was gonna lose you guys and…"

Leo wrapped his little brother in a hug, the tears pricking at his own eyes now. He hated seeing his carefree brother so weighed down and saddened. "Shh, it's okay, now, bro. It's okay," he said soothingly, feeling Mikey's shoulders quivering. He clutched him tighter. "I was terrified that we were gonna lose you, too, bro. But it's okay now. It's gonna be okay." He could feel the wet spot on his shoulder getting bigger as Mikey silently cried, burying his face into his brother's shoulder, just as he had when they were little and Mikey had been scared of something. Leo squeezed his eyes shut, a few tears leaking out.

They stood there for several minutes. Gradually Mikey's shoulders relaxed and he hiccupped softly as he pulled away. "Th-thanks, Leo," he whispered.

"No problem, bro," Leo replied, squeezing his shoulder. He glanced back up at the statue. "Does this mean you're going to stop bragging once and for all?"

Mikey smirked, rubbing his eyes. "And let Raph forget that I beat him in a match? You've got to be joking," he said.

Leo laughed. "That's the Mikey I know." When Mikey tried to stifle a yawn, he added seriously, "You should go back to sleep. You need to rest."

"No. Not here. Not anymore. I want to go home," Mikey replied firmly. "It's a nice place and all, but I've been away from home too long and… oh, man, I need to feed Klunk!"

"Don't worry. I'm sure the Daimyo took care of him," Leo said.

"I did," a voice called from their left. They turned to see the Daimyo and Master Splinter standing at the end of the pavilion. And in the Daimyo's arms…

"Klunk!" Mikey exclaimed. Klunk jumped out of the Daimyo's arms and ran towards Mikey and Leo, meowing. Mikey picked him up. "Yeah, I missed you, too, buddy," he said as Klunk eagerly rubbed his head against Mikey's plastron. He put his cat on his shoulder so he could use his crutches. Klunk purred contentedly.

"He didn't want to be left alone again," the Daimyo explained as he and Splinter walked towards them. "I think he missed his friend."

Leo scratched behind one of Klunk's ears. "So is the lair fixed up yet?" he asked finally.

Splinter nodded. "Thanks to the Daimyo and his servants, our home is inhabitable again," he said quietly. "We can go home as soon as we find Raphael and Donatello."

"Where did those two get to?" Mikey asked. Leo shrugged.

"Hey, guys!" Raph called suddenly as he and Don rounded the corner in the hall. They each had their hands behind their back, and they looked smug. "We've got a little present," Raph added as they joined them.

"What's going on?" Leo asked suspiciously.

Raph and Don looked at each other and grinned. "Shall we?" Raph asked.

"Of course," Don replied. They looked at Mikey. "Ta da!" they said in unison, pulling their hands out from behind their backs. They each held a newly repaired nunchuck. They handed them to a stunned Mikey.

"They're - they're as good as new!" he breathed, gazing at them. "Thanks, guys. But… what's this?" he asked, holding up the nunchuck Raph had given him by a new cloth loop.

Raph smirked. "That'll help you hold on to it, Butterfingers - I don't want any repeats of the first time we got our weapons."

"Ooh, if I had two good legs," Mikey threatened, hobbling towards his brother with a good-natured grin on his face. Raph ran down the hall, slowly at first, but he quickly gained speed as he realized that Mikey could move faster than he thought. The others laughed as Klunk mewed in complaint. Mikey stopped, pulled the loop off, and tucked his newly repaired nunchucks into his belt.

"I believe it is time to return home," Master Splinter said. The turtles all nodded, and Klunk meowed.

"Then stand together," the Daimyo ordered. They all gathered in a group in front of their statue. Don put a hand on Mikey's shoulder as he gazed at it again. Mikey smiled faintly. They all looked at the Daimyo. "Farewell, my friends. It has been good to see you, despite the circumstances," he said, raising his staff.

The Daimyo's son suddenly came running to his side. "Goodbye, my friends!" he called timidly. They all smiled and waved goodbye. A portal suddenly closed around them.

They blinked and looked around the lair. Klunk leapt off Mikey's shoulder and headed for the kitchen. "Wow!" Leo said, impressed. "This is the cleanest I've ever seen it!"

"Yes, my sons, it would be nice if it were kept this way for more than a few hours," Splinter said with a twinkle in his eye as he headed for the dojo to meditate.

"Man, it's good to be home again," Mikey sighed, easing his way over to the couch.

"You want to play a videogame?" Raph asked.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I've got about two weeks of lost sleep to catch up on," Mikey replied quietly, resting his head back and letting his eyes drift shut. The others glanced at each other, smiling as they heard Mikey breathe deeply.

"I'm thinking that Mikey's got the right idea," Don said through a yawn. He flopped down on the couch next to Mikey and almost immediately drifted off to sleep.

Wordlessly Raph and Leo made their way to the couch. Raph sat down on Mikey's other side, and Leo sat in the chair next to the couch. As Leo's eyes slid shut, he smiled at the sight of his sleeping brothers. He thought, It really is true - there's no place like home.

And, lo, it is done! Thanks so much for all your reviews - please let me know what you think of this last part!

And rest assured... there's a sequel in the works... so keep an eye out for that! I'm hoping it won't be too long before I can post it...

Thanks so much once again! You guys made this a very successful first fanfic! And I'd like to also thank the academy for -oops, sorry, never mind...

moogsthewriter