Mikey still helping out his family. Focus on the now rather then the future I like that.

Oh good. I'm glad the brothers found out about Mikey self-injuries. I wouldn't be happy if they didn't.

woa, that is beautiful. I know you haven't updated this fic for a while, but I just wanted you to know how amazed I am with your words. It is amazing. And it has everything too ! confrontation with Splinter and his shitty ways, recognition of Mikey and his amzingness, really, I like it from start to finish. You are an excellent writter. Keep going !
Saluz

Poor Mikey but things are getting better. :)

Sorry for the delay in posting a review here, FFNet wasn't working for me last night (thankfully AO3 was).

Thanks for the shoutout, it was a pleasure to contribute to this!

Ah, I love it!

The way you explore the burden of Leonardo's role as leader, his gentle nudging for Splinter to consider talking with The Ancient One or Usagi about it, and his ackowledgement that it wasn't entirely Splinter's fault while still holding him accountable for it was great.

Those little details you do with emotional moments always impress me!

Then, when you shifted to Mikey's mental observations of what was going on before he finally went into the room. His angrier thoughts on how Splinter had hurt him clashing with his heartfelt desire to belive that it wasn't all his father's fault.

That moment with Splinter pouring his heart out to Mikey. That pharagraph about Mikey's intimacy with words, and how they impact him now with his new abilites, and basically doing a psychic lie-detector test on his father and believing that Splinter was truly sorry and wanted to fix everything for him was great too!

I liked that Mikey held back on the hug though. He's still burned by the experience, and I think he needs to see Splinter act on his words too instead of just hearing them.

Oh, and of course, there was this lineIf anything destroys us it’ll be me, alone, because I’d rather blow the whole damn thing to pieces than lose any of you.”

That was just chillingly brilliant!

Fab new chapter, I can't wait to see what you've got in store for us in Chapter 5!

Oh! Tears! Tears!
That was so heartbreaking I could see Splinter sagging under the weight of his choices.
Mikey and Leo clinging to each other, such dear sweet boys.
Mikey still helping Leo and everyone, even though he could run and hide.
When the Ancient One appears he's going to have a united front to face and it wont be pretty.

Awwwww, Splinter finally shows just how much he loves Mikey. :)

...about time, Splinter. :(

Wow... just, wow. This turned out way different then what I thought was gonna happen, but in a good way. I seriously thought that Mikey was going to go full on ‘Carrie’ on Splinter *just minus the pigs blood and killing*

I’m glad to see that Splinter realizes the horrible mistakes that he’s made in regarding Mikey. How do you justify wanting your children to do their best and be the best that they can be when you're deliberately restraining one’s true potential, scolding them for not applying themselves enough and constantly comparing them to their brothers? It’s total hypocrisy.

I’m so happy that Leo stood up for Mikey. I also loved the brotherly moment between the two of them.:’)

‘Oh Ancient One. You got some ‘splaining to dooooo.’ I can’t wait to see the fat little man explain his reasons to the turtles.

Well done man, very well done.

Yay another chapter is uploaded.

Man I have to say that I got teary eyed while reading this chapter. The anger and guilt that Donnie expressed while talking to Splinter was just intense and heartbreaking. As for Splinter... honestly I don’t know what to think. I know that as a parent that he was only trying to protect Mikey but on the other hand I don’t like the method he chose. Especially when he was taking advantage of his youngest son.

I wonder what Leo and Splinter were discussing in their little conversation?

Oh no... How much of that did Mikey hear? Probably everything. I have a bad feeling about what’s to come next and what Mikey will do now.

Well done as usual. Please keep up the great work my friend.

I'm forever in awe of your writing, BrightLotus!

This right here? This not only punched me in the gut, but honestly unsettled me when I got to the part about the contrast between Mikey doing things in the trance that he enjoyed doing, and then doing things that were ordered by Splinter.

I'd love to know what Leo and Splinter were talking about that caused such a reaction from Splinter! Looking forward to reading what the golden child had to say to his sensei!

Even though Splinter was clearly in the wrong, I don't blame him for being upset by Donnie's statement. No parent wants to be told when they made a bad call as a parent. He seems to be letting what Donnie had to say sink in though, so I'm curious to see how he'll absorb the knowledge and adjust in a future chapter (if he does at all).

Great job with this!

Go Donnie!
This pulled at my heartstrings...

Well, at least Splinter was finally called out on his behavior, but time will tell if he is willing to change. At least Mike's got his brothers behind him.

Very good point you made there about the tiny bit of instinct being in charge in some ways when it comes to behavior. Made a lot of sense, I thought.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
I'm really rather speechless about this, there is just too much.

It was a little strange to catch the story, it started strangely and was a little hard to get the pace. But after re-reading chapter one, I got back in the swing of things. But still its a lot for Mikey process. Being the most talented of the group but to have been stunted all this time has got to be galling. I do have to say that Master Splinter's inability to be a "great patent" had everything you do with the fact that he's a rat first. Everything was learning as he goes that includes patenting. It's not a great excuse but its an honest one.

I take it, based on their reactions, that Leo and Raph weren't present for the filmed experiments? I'm very curious to see how far Splinter took it.

At least they finally realize how wrong it was for them to do what they did.

I'm looking forward to the talk Donnie's going to have with Splinter in the next chapter!