Journey to the Center of Mikey's Mind - Alternate Story

The Healed Harm

Mikey shook the memory from his mind and instead peered curiously at his surroundings. His vision was limited by his lying position on the bed but he still recognised the room as the medical bay of the 'Ulixes'. When the turtles and their friends had first arrived on the ship, Fugitoid had given them the grand tour, showing them every inch of the ship and boasting smugly at their admiration. It wasn't a huge ship by all accounts, so they had gotten to know the layout fairly quickly, although Mikey always wondered why there was only one bathroom; it just seemed silly for a ship with so many bedrooms.

The aching in Mikey's head and arm brought him back to the present. He winced as he carefully lifted his head and looked over to his left. His arm had been completely wrapped, neat squares of gauze visible as bumps under the pristine white bandages. He dropped his head back onto the pillow and considered this with confusion. That was when Donnie returned. He remarked that he was just going to adjust the bed so Mikey could sit up. Mikey mumbled a "mmhmm" and the older brother noted his pensive tone and faraway expression as he clicked it into place.

Donnie handed over a couple of pills to Mikey, and then a glass of water. The young turtle took them gratefully and swallowed both, one after the other. Donnie asked Mikey what he had been thinking about.

"Oh, nothing dude, just that... it's on the wrong side." Donnie flashed Mikey a quizzical look, prompting him to continue.

"I thought it was my other arm that got sliced, wasn't it?" Donnie's eyes widened.

"So you remember that, huh?"

"Well, yeah, it's pretty hard to forget something like your brothers' deaths, Don. I don't understand it, but that doesn't make it not real." He stopped for a second then smiled rather grimly. "Just like all your sciencey stuff, huh?"

"Oh... yeah." replied Donnie sadly, looking away for a second. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. The genius looked back at his brother and asked: "What do you remember before all that though? Before the um... darkness?" He visualised the contorting blackness that they had all been surrounded by and luckily, Mikey seemed to understand what he was getting at.

"I remember all of us arguing, and then going to the holodeck room, and then there was this huge boom sound! And the lights went all flickery! The room was like a total wreck, dude!" Mikey paused for a second and shot his brother a defensive look. "I promise, it wasn't me bro, I didn't break it!" Donnie raised a hand and stopped him. He was kind of hurt that Mikey thought he would just assume it was his fault.

"I know Mikey, it was a meteoroid." Mikey's face lit up.

"What, like one of those flying space rocks?! Cool!" Donnie's brow creased in disapproval.

"No Mikey, not cool. It seriously damaged the ship, not to mention you got seriously hurt. In fact it could have been a lot worse!" Mikey shrunk away a little and Donnie's expression softened. He sighed and began to explain what had happened, although he left out the parts about the voices and the memories; he didn't want to get into that right now, at least not without discussing it with Raph and Leo first.

"... and that's when we brought you back here." he finished. Mikey had been uncharacteristically quiet throughout the telling of the story, but that was because he had been trying to connect the pieces between his brother's version and his own. He all of a sudden remembered all of the little details he had forgotten, like trying to open the door and getting electrocuted, and seeing the squirrelanoids and the Shredder suddenly dissolve in front of him as they were defeated. All these things made sense now.

"So, all that stuff happened inside my head? That's crazy!"

"Yes, well, it's over now. The professor managed to fix up the room quite easily once the connection broke so we shouldn't be having any more problems like that. Now do me a favour and stay still while I re-wrap your burns." Mikey smiled fully.