The prompt for this one was reunion after a zombie apocalypse. I might add more to this AU down the road, but enjoy the snippets I have here in the meantime! Feel free to send me story ideas for this one and we'll see what I think fits into the storyline.

The old truck sputtered and no longer responded to Raphael's foot against the accelerator. He cursed loudly as momentum no longer carried the tires along the cracked pavement of the city. Stepping out and slamming the door behind him, Raph kicked the vehicle. April wouldn't be happy about the dent.

"'It'll be enough gas' Casey says. I swear, if I have to walk all the way back to the farmhouse, I'm going to…" Raph paused his tirade midway through at the sight of a manhole cover. He averted his eyes, reliving the moment he failed his brother.

The army had dumped them into the sewers to try to keep the populace of New York somewhat safer until everyone could evacuate. Zombies swarmed the lair, forcing everyone to make a run for it. Donnie fell behind, trying to keep them at bay with his bo staff so his family wouldn't get bitten. Raph was the last to climb the escape ladder. He reached down for Donnie, screaming for him to hurry up. Out of the masses, one managed to slip past Donnie's bo and bite his wrist. He panicked and they clawed at him, toppling the turtle flat on his shell.

Raph couldn't remember the moments afterwards. He only recalled screaming his throat raw, being held back by Leo, and throwing a punch at Master Splinter when he tried to calm his son down. Raph later woke up in the deathly silent Party Wagon, far outside the city limits. He never spoke of the incident since then.

Turning his gaze to the sky, Raph awakened to the reality that had recently passed. Some scientists from the Earth Protection Force had made a miraculous breakthrough in creating a vaccine to the virus. Once it was distributed, they enforced mandatory army recruitment, gathering any person who could aim a gun to fight the zombies. Sweeping across the nation took longer than they promised, but the world was slowly growing more steady and sane by the day.

Descending into the sewer, Raph held his breath expecting an assault of death. Surprisingly, no such smell came. There wasn't a body in sight, not even a limb floating in the sewage water.

"The EPF cleaning up the underground too?" Raph commented aloud. He trodded along, shoving his hands in the worn jacket he borrowed from the farmhouse attic. The walls almost closed in around him. Even though these tunnels were his home for so many years, he had grown used to the open space of Northampton. Too much time had passed.

Raph didn't even know his reason for coming back. His word to Casey was to see if the lair was safe to live in again. Casey knew there was more to his visit than that, but he said nothing on it. Maybe Raph wanted proof that Donnie was really gone. He never truly believed he was killed. His brother nearly blew himself up in his lab more times than he could count. Death by zombies just didn't seem right.

Finally approaching the lair, Raph sucked in a breath. A noise carried down the tunnel. Drawing his sai, he inched closer to the turnstiles. He could make out a voice giving a warning. Something about an alarm. Did the intruder figure out how to use the proximity alert?

It didn't matter. They were trespassing on his old home and they had no place there. Figuring that stealth was no longer an option, Raph sprinted, itching to butt heads with something other than a stumbling, groaning zombie.

With a roar, he leaped over the turnstiles and aimed his weapons at the person waiting at the edge of the pit. The woman's small sword clashed with his weapons before her golden eyes widened in recognition.

"Raphael?" she exhaled. Raph's eyes narrowed. Who was she? The woman pushed his weight away and sheathed her weapon. He straightened his back, seeing she would not fight, but held tight to his sai. She smirked.

"Long time no see." She placed a hand on her hip and called to the other room, "False alarm. It's for you."

That voice… Is it…

"Wait, Karai?" Raph realized before a familiar clatter interrupted his revelation. He turned to the noise and his world shifted.

There, standing in the doorway of the lab, was Donatello. Alive. His bo fallen to the floor, Donnie uneasily raised a hand, reaching for his brother as if trying to grasp his very presence.

"R-raph? Is it really you?" he asked quietly, afraid of shattering the moment. Raph took in the sight of his brother. Scars trailed up and down his body. Donnie's eyes mourned for the lost time between them. Part of his spirit had broken. Donnie hesitated in stepping forward, as if afraid of raising his hopes over a hallucination.

Without a word, Raph dropped his sai. He crossed the distance between them in a flash and slammed his fist into his brother's stomach. Donnie fell flat on his shell, a confused expression taking over after the initial pain subsided. Karai opened her mouth to tell Raph off, but stopped. His shoulders were shaking.

"Damn you! Do you have any idea what it's been like without you? Splinter nearly wasted away he ate hardly anything. April cried almost every night for months. Leo ran off to the woods for weeks. Casey can hardly fix anything without breaking something else over you not being there to help."

His voice caught in his throat.

"Mikey… he didn't smile for a long time…"

The tears stained his mask.

"Why didn't you come find us if you survived?"

Donnie watched Raph's expression grow vulnerable, the raw pain contorting him. He pushed himself off the floor, stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around his brother's shoulders. Raph's hands shot up to cling to his brother's shell, the grooves etching into the tips of his fingers. They held tightly to each other for a long, quiet moment, save for the stifled choking noises.

"All it took was a smoke bomb. After I didn't become a mindless zombie, I tried to sneak out of the city, but the EPF caught me. The only reason they didn't kill me was because I told them I was immune to the virus, probably because of the mutagen that created us. They locked me away for experiments, even after they found the vaccine. Karai overheard some soldiers talking about me and she broke me out. Once I was in better health, we tried to leave, but got swarmed and barely made it back here," Donnie explained, his voice hushed. He shut his eyes at the memories of the laboratory, devoid of any night sky or air that didn't reek of medicine. The lab coats hovered over him in brief periods of consciousness. He could feel Raph's fury brimming, wanting to track down the people that had kept them apart for so long.

"After that mishap, I figured one of you would get sentimental and come here sooner or later. Besides, cleaning up all the bodies wasn't the worst way to pass the time. It made this place feel more cozy than Shredder's old lair," Karai added casually, passing by the both of them to enter the dojo. "I'll be in here if you need me. Don't start a fight again or I'll finish it for you." Donnie sent a grateful smile her way. Karai patted his shoulder firmly.

They remained there for another several minutes. Raph was the first to loosen his grip, stepping back the slightest bit. He stared hard at his brother's face, relearning every detail he had ever forgotten. His regret remained, but it lessened slightly. He would work on that later.

"If you ever do that to me again I'll kill you," Raph hissed.

"I wouldn't blame you," Donnie chuckled.

"I love you brother."

"I love you too."