Pairing : Raphael/Leonardo
Series : 2003 cartoon for the most part
Warnings : (Temporary) Character Death, hurt/comfort, angst, agressive!Raph.
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It doesn't hurt me.
You wanna feel how it feels?
You wanna know, know that it doesn't hurt me?
You wanna hear about the deal I'm making?
You be running up that hill,
You and me be running up that hill...
And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could...
You don't want to hurt me,
But see how deep the bullet lies.
Unaware that I'm tearing you asunder.
There is thunder in our hearts.
So much hate for the ones we love?
Tell me, we both matter, don't we?
You, be running up that hill
You and me, be running up that hill
You and me won't be unhappy.
If I only could...
C'mon, baby, c'mon, c'mon, darling,
Let me steal this moment from you now.
C'mon, angel, c'mon, c'mon, darling,
Let's exchange the experience...
- Placebo "Running Up That Hill" (Kate Bush cover)
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Chapter 1 : Sunset/The End
It was dusk. Brilliant reds and golds washed over the dirty city blocks, bathing them in a beautiful display of color and light. The city seemed peaceful from a distance, tranquil and lovely, with its inhabitants slowing down their activities ever so slightly before starting up again in a city that never slept. It was in this city, in the rundown streets of semi-abandoned warehouses near the docks, that a fight had just broken out.
Her men told her what was happening before she got there. A fight between the gang members formerly known as the Purple Dragons and the turtlemen responsible for the banishment of her father.
Then they said that there was a problem.
What problem? She had asked as she clipped her sword to her belt.
It was a problem of little concern of hers. The warehouse, months before had been home to the splintered remnants of the Foot Soldiers who had rejected her as their new leader when her father had gone. A spy had told them that those men had planted a bomb. The bomb had never gone off, but was left, and now had been tripped by the men fighting. If it went off it would collapse the roof on the hapless inhabitants.
She was torn between leaving the turtlemen and the gang members who had so often been a thorn in their side during her reign over the city. But then she thought better of it. If the demise of her enemies was to come about, she wished to be there in person to witness it.
She brought back up vehicles with her, unwilling to take risks of going in alone. Her and her men disembarked a couple blocks away as to not call any attention to themselves.
They scaled up to the rooftops and leapt across them to approach the location of the fight. She was only a building away when the sound of an explosion was heard. It was so powerful that the building she was standing on shook under her feet. She steadied herself and broke into a run.
"LEONARDO!" she cried out the name of her enemy, coming to a halt at the edge of the building and peering down into the street below. She was just in time to see gang members running out of the building, skittering for cover, among the rubble of the now wreaked warehouse.
None of the turtles emerged after them.
"Survey the rooftops, see if you can spot them!" She ordered a few of her men, motioning a few more to follow her. She leapt down from ledge to ledge to meet the roadside, frowning as she went. In a few short strides she was at the mouth of the gutted building, peering inside. Huge gaping holes in the building gave her the light she needed as she stepped into the building, the sunset painting the ground in red.
Her foot slid out beneath her as she stepped forwards, and she stepped back again. Her sharp eyes picked up the sight of gore, almost black in the dwindling light. She looked up again, following the path of destruction to its source.
It was the remains of a gang member, battered and broken and obviously dead, caught in the shrapnel of the building. She stood again and walked further in, searching. She spotted another human body, and one more, before she saw one that was definitely not human at all.
He was lying, broken, in a pool of blood near where several beams had collapsed. A brother lay near him, thrown clear of the rubble and she pointed to his brother, ordering her men to his side.
She then made her way to Leonardo.
"Alive," one called out to her, looking up from the side of the luckier one. "Broken arm, several cuts but he'll live."
She nodded as she looked down, an odd feeling of sadness washing over her. A hated enemy and once almost friend should not be destroyed so easy, she thought as she scanned his body. He was twisted out of shape, and one of his arms appeared to be nearly severed from his shoulder.
She thought he was dead until a groan told her he was not. She stood above him, watching as his eyes fluttered open and tried to focus on her.
"Karai," he said, so low she had to strain to hear it. He gasped wetly, dark blood coating his lips, and it was then she realized a lung must be punctured. He still forced himself to continue. "Did... Mike...?"
Obviously he was referring to his brother. "He will live," she replied, a bit sharply.
Relief crossed his face, before he frowned again. "I'm... dying," it was more of a statement of fact than a question. He could probably feel his body atrophying already, the organs that had disconnected or had been damaged shutting down, one by one, drawing closer to his brain which would be the last to go...
She nodded anyway. He shut his eyes and she assumed that was the end.
He surprised her by opening his eyes again and drawing in another wet gasp for air. "Karai... promise me..." he had to struggle for air, sheer will forcing him to continue. "That you'll let... my family live. I'm... the one... you want... not... them..."
Her eyes narrowed but she found herself unable to refuse. She granted the creature who had saved her life on many occasions, yet caused her so much pain as well, his final wish. "I will," she said. She knelt. "In exchange for your life," she added.
He didn't say anything more, but a hopeful smile crossed his face and he managed a slight nod before his eyes slid closed for the last time.
She stood. She looked down at him silently, her head bowed before one of her men approached her side. "The other two are trapped on the other side of that wall," he said quietly, making a hand gesture to a large chunk of fallen flooring from the second level that had blocked off the other half of the room. "They'll probably dig themselves out any second now."
She nodded and straightened, staring straight ahead before deciding. "Take him," she said, pointing to Leo. "And let's go."
They obeyed her without question. She watched as they stepped forwards and grasped his battered remains, pulling him up. It was only then she could see that his shell had been shattered, falling from his back in huge clumps as they lifted his body. Her men picked up what they could but still left pieces of him behind. She let them, knowing both that time was short and that his brothers would probably appreciate some of the remains.
"Good bye Leonardo," she said softly as she turned away and silently left the building with her men.
In the distance she could hear the wail of sirens, probably attracted by the sound of the blast. She reached her vehicles before they reached them and grimly ordered several of them to block the law enforcement, while the vehicle carrying his remains sped off towards her home.
A last gift for a fallen enemy. Blocking the police would give the last three brothers an opportunity to escape. She signaled to the men on the roof and waited. One of them signaled back that the turtles had left the warehouse just as the police bore down on them.
She smiled to herself as they sped away into the night to let the NYPD handle the rest. Let the police clean up the mess and, while they were at it, try to interpretate the meaning of pieces of turtle shell at their most deadliest crime scenes. The thought brought a grim smile to her face. She would not want to be a crime scene investigator in this city, that was for certain.
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