A/N My second jump into this beautiful little fandom that I've come to enjoy so much. Set directly after The Invasion, on the trip to April's farmhouse and written because I honestly think that what happened to Leo probably shook Mikey a lot more then what we got to see on screen.

Summary: What was one to do when their idol and pillar of strength suddenly became just like the rest of them?

Brother Be Strong

It had never occurred to Mikey that Leonardo could be, for all intents and purposes, destroyed so completely as he was now.

It just wasn't supposed to be possible. The sky was blue, Raph was angry, pizza was the greatest thing to ever be invented... and Leonardo always won.

There were so few things that could cause his brother to lose his near perfect balance in life and when they did, it was never for long. He'd always taken everything in stride, adjusted the unexpected to his needs as they came at him, and came back ready to fight and defend and lead them all to safety once more.

But now he couldn't do that. Because this time Leonardo didn't just lose his balance - he'd been smacked down hard and none of them were sure if he would even be able to get back up again. He was hurt so badly - his injuries were critical... worse than any of them had ever had or seen before... and perhaps what was worse was that they were woefully unprepared to care for injuries that were this extreme in nature. It remained unsaid so far, but they all knew that if they didn't get Leo the care that he needed soon, there was a real possibility that his wounds could kill him... and if not kill him, then leave him crippled for the rest of his life.

It was a terrifying thought.

Despite everything though, Mikey had found a small sliver of peace in their situation. Because Donnie wouldn't let those things happen - he was Donnie. His genius of a brother could fix anything and he wouldn't fail on something as important as this. He would fix their brother, no matter what.

Exactly how long that would take though was an entirely different matter and was one that Mikey found he didn't want to think about.

So now, for the foreseeable future, it was up to them to protect Leonardo while he was down. And that was okay - Leonardo had saved his, Raph's and Donnie's lives a countless number of times... there was nothing... absolutely nothing... that would be able to stop Michelangelo from returning the favor.

But the fact that he had too... the fact that this had happened at all... had shaken him to his core. He'd fought mutants and monsters, aliens, robots, and the frighteningly powerful enemies of his father. He had looked death in the eye on more than one occasion, certain in some instances that it was the end... and still, Michelangelo didn't think anything had ever shaken him as deeply as the image of his courageous, broken older brother being thrown through that window, hurt and bleeding and having just endured what had to have been the most brutal beating man could offer.

He was scared. Scared for his brother and scared for the future.

Because out of all his brothers, Leonardo was supposed to be untouchable.

And if he could fall... if Leonardo could be defeated... what hope was there for the rest of them?

A/N I love Michelangelo and I really think he has a lot of love and respect for his older brother and I think he can sometimes view him as being indestructible, what with all the amazing things Leonardo has done and accomplished. I couldn't stop thinking about how frightening it must have been to have been shown, in the most brutal way possible, that that wasn't true.

Thanks for reading!

DragonflyonBreak