Leonardo was level-headed, cool and calm. He had to be when it came leading his younger brothers and it was one of Leo's fears to fail them. Donatello, the brains and genius. Donnie became flustered easily only when it came to being complimented and praised for his inventions and machines, especially by the red headed April he crushed on. Michelangelo was always in a bundle of positivity and purely innocent but very childish and immature, sometimes at the worst moments ever. Mikey was a bit empty headed at times as well. Raphael kept his emotions on his non-existent sleeve, he always did. As the brash, brawny, and hot-tempered brother it was strange to see him so quiet. His face was blank and void of any feelings.
"You know, Raph, you and Fishface actually made a pretty good team back there." Mikey chuckled quietly, it had been far too quiet for his liking and he didn't notice the way Raph's steady walk faltered when Mikey thoughtfully muttered aloud. Raph thought back to the few hours he was alone with Xever, and the two found it strange how alike they really were. Despite the hostility they looked out for each other, and deep down Raph sort of thought of the older mutant as a friend or ally, He scowled at himself, no. They weren't friends, they were only enemies and that was it. He schooled his expression and ignored the curious glances his brothers had sent him.
"Xever." Raph corrected, his voice lowly clipped, to his brothers the name sounded foreign and the way Raph spoke seemed like it was the most natural thing ever. Mikey stumbled on his own feet and was only saved from hitting the ground by Donnie who pulled him upright by his shoulders and set the youngest teen back onto his feet. Mikey gaped at Raph with wide eyes and Donnie blinked in surprise, Leo gave him an odd look and his eyes stared through him. Raph refused to acknowledge their stares and continued his pace.
"Xever?" Donnie asked, normally Raph would've said that Fishface wasn't to be trusted and they should always be wary around him yet Raph didn't. In fact Raph seemed familiar with Fishface, the three brothers knew that Raph held a mutual and begrudging respect with the older mutant. It was just weird and it brought up many questions as to what Fishface had said to earn that much respect from their brother.
"His name's Xever." Raph frowned and glared at his three brothers. "What?" He snapped. Donnie shook his head, shrugging his shoulders and glancing to Leo who shrugged as well, Mikey stuck his tongue out at Raph who raised a brow in question.
"Nothing, nothing," Donnie held his hands in a surrendering manner. "So anyway, what did you and Fi-Xever talk about while you were stuck together?" Raph opened his mouth to speak but Mikey beat him to it to Raph's slight amusement.
"Yeah! Did you guys like fight the whole time? Or were you guys both pouting like babies? Or-" Donnie clamped a hand over Mikey's mouth. Mikey narrowed his eyes annoyed and he licked Donnie's hand to the genius's dismay who pulled his hand away in an instant. He ended up smacking Leo across the cheek and the three brothers quickly argued who was to blame.
"Donnie!" Leo cried out irritated, Mikey snickered and Leo's attention snapped onto the youngest. Mikey stifled his laughter and gave a too innocent smile to Leo's bemusement. "Watch what you're doing!"
"Gah! Leo it was Mikey! And Mikey, that's disgusting, I can't believe you..." Raph tuned out Donnie's lecturing, he felt too exhausted to care. His muscles were aching, his body felt stiff and sore and getting home and sleeping sounded better with each passing second he wasn't sleeping. Raph was so zoned out he to the point where he didn't even notice his brother's bickering had ceased, that he had slowly fallen behind and he was soon all walking the dark abandoned street alleys alone slowly trudging home lost in thought.
Raph was very engrossed and musing he didn't notice that he was straying from the way home, not at least until he was a while away from the trail when he rubbed his eyes and yawned, then blinked in surprise from the silence and absence of his brothers, of course there was some distant barking and cars honking but that was it. Then he realized he was at a narrow dead end alley that he didn't recognize, cursing softly he reached for his T-Phone when he instantly became aware of the fact it was gone. He groaned in annoyance, all he wanted to do was go home and sleep but now he was lost.
Figuring he could get more of an idea of where he was at
With swift speed Raph kicked off the ground and jumped off the side of a brick sketchy apartment to the fire escapes building and continued to leap up until he made it to the rooftops. The moon, an orange waxing gibbous hung in the sky yet there were no stars from the large amounts of light in New York. There was the occasional thin, wispy cloud gently moving by.
Raph quickly scanned around, emerald green eyes were tiredly gazing hopelessly for any familiar streets or buildings but there was nothing. The apartment's parapet, the typically small stone wall surrounding the top of large buildings, the wall reached up above his knees give or take an inch or two. He couldn't resist the urge to sleep anymore so he sat down with his shell against the wall, his legs, arms, and abdomen were covered with dark purple bruises, he stretched his legs out and nearly cried out, he winced in pain from how achy and sore his limbs felt and he took a deep breath.
'I'll just rest for a bit, I can't keep going if I'm too exhausted.' Raph thought to himself. Slowly emerald eyes fluttered close and Raph nodded off into a light slumber. Unbeknownst to the teen, there were yellow eyes with black slits studying him curiously. A shadowed figure crept silently closer, their footsteps paused with hesitation when Raph shifted in his sleep. The figure disappeared back into the shadows after taking in one last glance, leaving the sleeping teen alone.
. . .
"My sons, welcome home." Master Splinter, their father and mentor greeted them warmly then he became stern, he rose from his seat in the kitchen with a steaming cup of tea cupped in his hands. "Please explain to me why you four are so late getting home, well past your curfew." Splinter looked each of his sons in the eyes and frowned. "Why aren't you all here? Where is your brother?"
"What do you mean Sensei? We're all here." Mikey yawned, his eyes were closed and he swayed in his spot as if he was going to fall asleep while standing. Donnie flicked him on the forehead.
"No you idiot. He's talking about Raph." Donnie scolded, Mikey whined but blinked his baby blue eyes open in surprise. "Wait where's Raph?" He asked, Donnie face palmed at Mikey's late realization.
"He was just here with us." Leo reflected back, "He didn't run off, did he?" Leo asked Donnie who shook his head, Donnie was wracking his brain, trying to remember when Raph had went quiet and strayed from the conversation.
"I remember we were top-side when I last heard him. We were just talking to him about Fishface and then we argued for nearly the rest of the time getting here." Donnie muttered aloud, "I don't think he ran off, do you think he got lost? Went off onto a wrong alleyway when we weren't paying attention?" Leo nodded thoughtfully.
"I'll call him," Leo said as he pulled out his T-Phone and went to dial their hot-headed brother. There was silence except for the ringing Leo's phone made. Their attention was caught by Raph's familiar ring tone coming from his phone on the couch in the living room..."He left his phone didn't he." Leo said blankly. Donnie walked over to the couch and shut off Raph's phone.
"Afraid it is Leo." Donnie confirmed.
"How can you forget your brother?" Splinter inquired. Leo sweat-dropped and stuttered. "Go out and bring him home." Three sets of eyes stared, Splinter raised a brow. "Now. Or I will double your training exercises." Each brother bowed their head and nearly sprinted out the lair also home with a cry of "Yes Sensei!" Splinter sighed and brought the tea to his lips, hoping that his absent son was well.
Rated T cause I'm paranoid. I liked writing this out, this is like a medium slow-burn fic for Raph and Xever cause a friend requested, (more like demanded me really) and I...
I really needed to write something down, anything. Some serious things happened recently in my life and the only thing I can do right now is type and I'm working on all of my stories so they should be updated later today.
Right now I could do with lots of reviews on my stories, I need the motivation and it's heartwarming for me to read. Hope you guys/gals/y'all stick with me on this one.
Until tomorrow.