Disclaimer: TMNT is the property of Mirage or Nick or whoever owns them these days. No copyright infringement is intended.

Warnings: Trigger warning for suicide. Implied death of main characters. Please read at your discretion.

Note: This was written as a prologue to a longer fic which is currently unfinished. Hopefully I'll have that done soon, but in the meantime, I liked this opening and there isn't nearly enough zombie fic in fandom, so I thought I'd go ahead and post.


Letting Go

Leo and Mikey had gone first. They'd left for patrol and never come back.

They hadn't even worried too much at first, since that was before the plague was getting a lot of newsreel. Raphael had gotten nervous, then twitchy, but it took another full day before full-blown worry set in. By then the news was all about the plague, about the sickness that was making people crazy and violent and hard to stop. There was nothing on the news about two giant turtles going on a rampage, but that just meant they had been killed before the infection took hold.

Splinter had gone next. They'd been out looking for Mike and Leo when the swarm of infected fell on them. In the fight, Splinter had been bitten. By then they knew what that meant.

"I would like a few minutes alone, my sons." Splinter smiled at them both, serene even in the face of this. "I wish to meditate."

"Father," Donatello said and he sounded so fucking lost that Raph knew they'd both figured out why Splinter wanted them to leave.

Raphael couldn't even find it in himself to argue. He didn't want to leave Splinter alone, but he didn't want to see this. And he'd be damned if he let Donnie watch. "All right," he said. "If you need us, we'll be right outside." He returned Splinter's hug, gripping his fur tightly before making himself let go.

"You have both made me so proud," Splinter murmured as he cupped Don's chin. "You have exceeded my greatest wishes for both of you. I only hope you are as proud of yourselves as I am of you."

There was a time when Raph would have said most of that praise was for Don, but today he didn't feel like hiding or playing games. "If we turned out all right, it's cause of you," he said.

Splinter closed his eyes briefly. "You two should rest. The last few days have been stressful."

Raph nodded, feeling jerky and rough in his own body as he turned and left his father in the privacy of his room, Donatello close on his heels. He pulled the door shut behind him, giving Splinter as much privacy as he needed, giving them one more layer of protection between what was happening.

They both stood there for a moment and Raphael stared at the closed door and wondered how long they should wait.


r&r always appreciated