Disclaimer: Oh, why must you torture me so? ;-; I don't own them, never have, probably never will. ;-;

Please excuse the shortness of this chapter, and I know you're all gonna hate me for the cliffhanger, but the next chapter should be up pretty soon. And yes, this is the new story I told you on my profile that I'll be spending most of, if not all, my time on, other than "We Are All Just Built To Be Broken".

Please enjoy! =D

"Raphael!"

A panicked call could be heard above the sound of the river rushing swiftly and dangerously around the rocks and debris, carrying Raphael with it. The muscular turtle managed a curse as he struggled to stay afloat in the hazardously rapid waters. Which was becoming a chore-a chancy, possibly fatal chore-seeing how he was trying to dodge all these piercing boulder edges. Key word here was trying.

"Damnit!" He cursed in pain as a particularly sharp edge of a protracted rock cut into his unprotected side, between his plastron and shell. Now red streams mixed with the clear, blue water as he continued his hasty journey downstream. All the way he cursed. Cursed Michelangelo for his original, creative, stupid idea to go training and sparring far away from camp, from home. Cursed Donatello for seconding the idea for this original, creative, stupid idea as 'brotherly bonding time'. We already live in a den together, train and practice in a small clearing together, hell, we even sleep in one, giant nest together, he thought, how much closer does he think we can possibly get? And last but not least, cursed Leonardo for the acceptance of this original, creative, stupid idea to begin with. Did he mention this idea was stupid? Because, yeah sure, at first Raph was all for it, but the longer they were away from home, the more it seeming to become an increasingly unwise, senseless, rash, stupid idea. At least to Raphael.

Because it was him, not his brothers, in this icy, wild river. It was he, not his brothers, being smashed, rammed and all but plastered against these sharp rock edges, and it was him, not his brothers, overall freezing his tail off. So, as far as he was concerned, he have every right to feel this way and he made sure that everyone and everything in earshot knew it.

He knew his brothers were trying to find some way to get him back to them, but right now that seemed a little farfetched, if how he could barely manage to keep his head above the surface said anything. He also knew that Leo was probably having the mother of all heart attacks right now. Mikey was probably scared to death, maybe crying by this point and Donnie was sure to have gone into his full 'geek mode' by now as well, seeing that's how he deals with worry and stress. Raphael could imagine what was going on up there.

Leonardo most likely still had a visual of his struggle and the fear of his younger brother drowning right before his eyes while he could do nothing but watch helplessly from above helping fuel his running feet even faster along the cliff edge above. Donatello was not far behind, his little adopted kitsune perched on his shoulder, and he undoubtedly going over every single little detail of data in that giant brain of his to see if any of the information could help pull his brother to shore and to safety. Michelangelo was running not far behind, the panicked and fearful tears filling his eyes as he replayed how his brother got in the situation in the first place over and over in his head.

Personally, Raphael was fine with this situation. He much rather have himself in the face of danger and not have his brothers able to help as they watched his fight with nature than be in the position that his brothers are in. Which, sure may be a bit self-regarding and all, but hey, he was known to be an egotistic turtle. He was glad he was here, battling these currents instead of any of his brothers. He was glad that he'd seen the crumbling edge of the cliff seconds before Mikey boogied upon it in his trivial and thoughtless dancing that he called walking and pushed him, sending his baby brother flying over the dangerous portion of ground and sending himself directly on top of it.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a terrified cry from above and he tried to spot his brothers, apprehensive that they'd gotten themselves into trouble. But he only saw water as he went under again. Since he wasn't above the river, he settled for cursing in his head. As he fought his way up again for the thousandth time, he tried to find his family again. His eyes quickly found them, directly above him and Leo a little ahead if anything. They seemed to be panicking about something, you know, other than him being carried away. Looking ahead he saw the cliff edge drop away, only open sky up a little farther ahead. 'What the hell is that?' Popped into his head two seconds before his brain clicked and he heard Michelangelo's terrified shriek as his own sea blue gaze found what Raphael was now pretty sure he was heading towards. A waterfall. And not no small one by what he could gather from bobbling up and down in the river's waves.

"Shit!" He capably managed as he tried to find purchase on any rocks or extruding boulders in his way, but each effort proved to be in vain, as he'd just slip from it as the current dragged him on. He looked up, his brothers were now coming up on the edge of the cliff, which meant he didn't have long. So he stopped struggling and just let the water's flow take him, and as he came within meter of the fall, he looked up. His brothers' pale faces and petrified eyes met his and he gave them one last signature cocky smirks that said goodbye and that he loved them all on its own. And then he plummeted over the edge.

Once again, sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but please review! No flames though, please. Thanks and I wish you all a wonderful day! 3