Six.

"Are you sure about this?"

Leo blew out a breath and offered a shaky grin. "I've got to do it at some point," he reasoned.

Karai wasn't swayed - if anything, her frown deepened. "If you're not ready, I can tell him no."

"It's not directly his fault. Raph was stopping him from speaking to me-"

"How? By holding a gun to his head? By taping his mouth shut? If he wasn't holding a hand over Michelangelo's mouth, he wasn't keeping him from talking to you." The kunoichi hated to be this blunt, but Leo needed a dose of realism. Particularly since he was actively considering going through with this. "I'm concerned, Leo. What if something else comes up? What if Mikey says something stupid, and you try to-" She cut her words short but the unspoken syllables still hung in the air between them.

Leonardo winced. His attempted suicide was a painful topic - even though it had been nearly a month since that awful night, the memories were still fresh.

"I'm sorry," Karai said again, lamely, but her friend offered a weak smile.

"Don't worry about it. It's alright."

It's not, she wanted to protest, but she bit her tongue. "Just be careful. And if anything happens, I'm pulling you out."

"Aw, you do care."

The corner of her lips twitched and she slugged him in the arm. "Baka."

And now Leo did grin - fully and brightly - for the first time in weeks. "Love you too."

The sun was shining, and birds were chirping, and Michelangelo was absolutely miserable.

First, he'd snuck out of the Lair to meet up with Leo and Karai after Raphael had expressly forbidden him to do so. Second, it had been three and a half weeks since any of them had laid eyes on their big brother, and their home was in complete disarray. Donnie was constantly working in his lab, staying up late, and chugging copious amounts of black coffee. Raph stomped around the Lair, grumbling as he went. It wasn't hard to see that the brawler was feeling guilty about something (but whether it was his decision to evict Leo or the fact that Leo actually tried to kill himself Raph didn't say, and Mikey wasn't about to ask).

And as for Mikey, he clammed up. His smiles were a thing of the past - after all, his world had been flipped on its head. What was there to smile about? His big brother almost died - no, he almost took his own life. And it would've been their fault.

They had blood on their hands.

The youngest turtle squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to picture how utterly alone Leo must've felt to have tried something so drastic as suicide.

My fault, my fault, my-

"Mike?"

Mikey flinched and glanced up, shaken from his reverie.

And there he was, looking pale and tired and thinner than before, but still very much alive. The freckled terrapin promptly burst into tears and rushed into his sibling's arms, much like he had when they were younger and the world wasn't quite so messed up.

And now it was Leo's turn to flinch as one hundred and fifty pounds of muscle and shell slammed into him and latched on tight. "Shhh, little brother. It's all right."

But it wasn't. It wasn't alright and "How can you say that?" Mikey demanded. "Nothing is alright, absolutely nothing, and it's our fault, we did this to you, we-we-I-"

Pain and panic flashed across the older turtle's face and Karai stepped forward with a hand on her sword and thunder in her eyes. Reality hit Michelangelo like a freight train. She was going to take Leo away, hide him somewhere that they couldn't find him or see him or talk to him and-

"I'm sorry," he blurted out, and the world froze.

"What?" the kunoichi said, voice low and almost dangerous.

"I said I'm sorry, for having this breakdown and for causing you pain, Leo, and I love you and I just want you to forgive me, and I know that things can't go back to the way they were before, but I want to be better, for you, because you're my brother and dammit if that's not worth more to me than anything else in this world."

Behind Leo's back, Karai was stock-still, and Mikey didn't even dare to breathe as Leo turned to face her. And nodded.

Hope and joy and warmth made Mikey's heart so full it could burst. He'd been given another chance. Karai glared at him and shook her head once, daring him to mess up again. Leo might've forgiven his brother, but it would be a cold day in hell before she did the same.

Mikey spent that night attached to Leonardo's side, and there wasn't a force on earth that could've torn him away. The trio had headed back to the airbnb Karai was renting shortly after the youngest mutant's outburst and apology, and there they stayed, despite numerous missed calls and messages from Raph and Donnie.

It was nearing four AM when Karai finally nudged him and suggested he go home. "After all, they're going to be worried sick."

The orange-banded turtle frowned and glanced at Leo's face - peaceful, for once, the lines of exhaustion finally smoothed out. "But he-"

"Will still be here," she replied, and then decided to let him off the hook just a little bit. "When you come back, I mean."

It looked like Christmas in Michelangelo's eyes, there was so much hope. "I can come back?"

"Not tomorrow, but maybe in a couple days, sure. He's going to need time to adjust. I'll let you know when he's ready."

And when Mikey's arms locked around her and he held on like he'd never let go, Karai might've gotten just the tiniest bit misty-eyed. She cleared her throat and stepped backwards, plastering on the semblance of a glare. "Now get going, shell-for-brains."

"Yes ma'am." Mike snapped a crisp salute and winked, squeezed Leo's hand one last time, and ducked out the window into the growing grey light of dawn.

"That went well."

Karai glanced down at Leo with annoyance. "If he tells the others about our location, I'll kill him."

"Mikey's word is good," the emerald turtle said firmly. "Even after everything else, I know that I can trust his promises."

She looked skeptical, crossing her arms as she turned her gaze to the window again. "We'll see. Get some rest. You look like Thanatos paid you a visit."

One thing was for certain: Karai wasn't going to let Leonardo's family hurt him again. She'd go to any lengths to protect him - even from his own brothers.