A TMNT Fanfic

Genre: family/brotherhood, hurt/comfort, fantasy, exploration

Rating: T

Warning: talks of struggle and the idea of death (no actual death though)

Pairing: Raph & Leo (Not actually tcest, but if you want to view it as such, you can)

World Universe: TMNT 2012

Summary: After the Kraang invasion, the team stays at the farmhouse. Leo has not woken up for a long time and they fear he may not. During the nights when Raph stay with his unconscious brother, he begins to have weird dreams. Based slightly off the Nick TMNT game Dark Horizons if you guys have played it, and I mean just how things look in the fantasy parts, not the actual story.

Bring You Home

That dream, it's happening again. The last thing Raphael remembered was sitting in that tiny bathroom, praying Leonardo would miraculous wake up. Of course, that would not happen. It was like an instant replay of everyday. He would sit there, watch Leo, clean or change the water, go between opening and closing the window depending on the temperature and time of day. The sun had been down for a few hours at that point before he felt his eyes grow heavy. The hothead had thought of getting up to sleep elsewhere, but some part of him told him to stay, so he did as his eyes had fallen shut.

Now, he felt wind wrap around his body as he fell through what looked like pitch black. He could not see a thing, but he knew he had to falling. The wind grew stronger by the second and he felt no ground underneath his feet. He was actually lying on his back while falling, which he just realized. Raphael began to wonder if the fall would ever end, or what would happen if it did. How could he survive?

As if to answer his questions, his body suddenly impacted something cooler than himself that also wrapped itself around him. Water. He had fallen into a pool of water. The fall had not hurt as much as he had expected, or in fact, it had not hurt at all. He floated down some before getting a hold of himself and swimming to the surface.

Feet getting on solid ground and out of the water, he noticed his strange surroundings. The water he walked out of seemed to glow. The blue water shimmered beautifully and seemed to illuminate the area he stood in.

Looking up, pipes stuck out of the walls in almost unnatural ways. Cracks presented themselves along the pipes in a mixture of colors; red, blue, orange, and purple. Somehow, the color combination didn't surprise him. But all the colors glowed just enough so you could see the pipe, but besides the slight colors offered on the pipes and the glowing pool of blue water, the space was still dark. It was lit up enough though to give Raph an idea that he would be jumping up for a while to get out of the bottom.

"Raph…"

A soft whisper was suddenly heard. That voice, he knew it. The hothead whipped his head around in every direction to try to find the source. No bodies were present around him. He stood alone in the darkened what he assumed sewer cavern.

"Leo!" Raphael shouted. The large, empty space made his voice echo. "Leo! Where the shell are you man?"

"Raph…" He heard spoken softly again, "Help me…"

"Help you? Where are you and I will? Leo!"

"You have to search… the caverns…" His brother's voice sounded as if it was cutting out.

"Leo! Don't you dare leave me bro! Tell me where you are!"

"I am in, the place between worlds… between lives. I am on, on the verge of death… but am not dead."

"What?" Raph panicked, "Yer saying that yer dying?"

"Yes… and no," Classic Splinter line, Raph thought. "I am between the realms… I am stuck here… Can't leave. Please help…"

By the end when Leo said please, his voice really got quiet. Raphael felt fear run through him. "Don't leave Leo. Don't! Not again! Please..."

He pleaded, but his brother's voice no longer sounded through his hearing. Leo was gone, again. However, Raph planned to find his brother, at whatever cost.

As if this strange area heard his thoughts, the pipes that had barely glowed before then strengthen their light, if only by a little. Raphael then noticed a change also in himself. His wrappings, pads, his weapons, and even the outlines of his shell, both front and sides, and he assumed the back as well, all began to glow a deep red.

Surprise filled him, but his own glowing body also helped provide light so he could see a few steps in front of him. Deciding to check, he took off his mask briefly and it glowed as well. Placing it back, he suddenly felt ready for anything. Raph did not know what would be placed in his way, but he would not let that stop him.

Now was the time to be a true ninja. Readying himself, Raph then leapt lightly up the wide pipes. He made sure to be silent, though was not sure how much he could really hide when needed if his own body glowed. However, he was always ready for a fight. Playing the stealth card was never his forte anyway. He'd much rather go head first than hide, unlike Leo…

The past few months, Leo had been unconscious. They all worried about him, but Raph was with him the most. Though, most times he would never admit anything that would make him look weak, but he truly missed his brother. He missed the older brother who he argued on everything with and most times was proven wrong by him at the end of the day. Back when Raphael tried to play leader, he realized he couldn't handle it, that he wanted, and needed, Leo.

Raph always needed him. Despite the fact that the hothead argued with their leader the most, he honestly felt closest to him. Leo was the one who seemed to understand and read Raph the most. Even if he didn't want it, Raph found himself appreciating that about his brother from time to time. They might not always see eye to eye, but Leonardo was his brother, and he would never forsake him.

The jumping continued, but no matter how far up he leapt, the top just never seemed to come. His feet came to a quick stop as he surveyed his surroundings.

"Seriously? Where do I go!?"

A door opened by the pipe he was on right then. Raph's eyes traveled behind himself to see the entrance that he had just heard open. This was a surprise.

"Well, if I knew it was that easy, I should have just asked this place to show me Leo. Heh, though I doubt that will happen."

Quietly, his feet took him through the entrance to see another surprise in store. This place was a combination of, well, orange and purple. The deep depths below showed scorching hot lava that he would have to be careful not to fall into. The walls way up high showed purple crystals that seemed to provide a light to the higher levels. Again, pipes jutted out from along the walls, but given the set up, he would be taking a different approach. While the other room provided ways to where he could just continuously jump straight up, this area, you could also jump up, but not straight. Raph would constantly be jumping in a diagonal while heading up. The area as a whole was also much more lit up, and it was obviously in a cylinder shape.

'I might be at this a while,' Raph thought to himself as he began to jump once more along the pipes.

As he traveled, he let his thoughts once more explore. When he first entered here, he remembered thinking to himself he was dreaming again. Every time he slept in a close proximity of Leo, he realized he was falling in darkness. This dream was different, however, as he finally reached the bottom. He briefly wondered if his brothers had this experience, but quickly pushed it aside. Raph was always with Leo for the most part. His brothers and friends came to check on Leo and spend time with Raph in the process. He doubted any of his brothers ever fell asleep in front of Leo. He was pretty confident of that.

As the turtle continued to head up, he noticed some of the pipes looked worn. They could possibly crumble if he was not careful. He might be a turtle, but he was still a ninja, and could be light on his feet, well, sometimes. Mikey and Donnie were better at it than he was, but he really didn't want to admit that to himself.

Landing on one pipe, it began to creak and shake. Slight panic was felt, but Raph stayed calm and jumped up to the next pipe. The one previously under his feet went spiraling down into the pool of lava while his hands held on the pipe he barely grasped due to the unstable metal. Climbing up, Raph let out a sigh of relief and continued to head upwards.

A few minutes passed in silence as he continued. It felt odd to the ninja to just keep traveling, not really sure of where he was being taken. All he knew was that Leo was there, somewhere. He had to find his brother at all costs. This place was strange and unpredictable, so he only hoped that finding his older brother would not too difficult.

Stepping on a smaller pipe than normal, he noticed a lever on the end by the wall. Green eyes narrowed briefly before walking towards the end of the pipe by the wall so he reached the lever. His gaze then looked up and saw that the top was nowhere in sight. If anything, it looked like the climbing would just be endless.

Usually, pulling random levers was a bad idea, but Raph honestly had no idea if this would be the case here or not. It could not hurt… he hoped. Pulling the lever, he suddenly heard creaks and sizzles. Looking down, the turtle saw that the lava was quickly disappearing. Holes appeared and the lava sank right through. The floor was probably still hot, but by the time Raph got there if he traveled down, it would have cooled off.

"Alright!" He exclaimed.

That excitement was short lived as the pipes also began to creak. The walls opened a bit around each pipe as they began to disappear into the walls, which meant that Raph would soon have nothing to stand on while being high up.

"Oh shit…"

Raph began to run down. He knew this was pointless, for there is no way he could beat the time that the pipes were disappearing, but he hoped that he could get down far enough that the fall would not…much. But even this was wishful thinking. At this rate, he would die from the long fall. He was simply just too far up.

While running, he then saw a doorway open along one of the pipes. That was not there before, but that might be his only chance at survival if he can make it down. The pipes were becoming short and time was running out. Regardless, he continued to run as fast as his feet would let him.

Barely any pipe room left, there was only one option now, to jump. He might just be able to make it. Readying himself, he ran faster before leaping off a nearby pipe. Fate seemed to be on his side as he fell right through the doorway.

As his dream had begun, he was again falling. This fall however was not met by a pool of water or by a hard ground, but rather, he landed in a tangle of vines. These vines caught his fall, and for that, he was grateful. What was strange about these vines is that they glowed, just like everything in this place seemed to. A dim and dark green light glowed off the vines.

Raph breathed a sigh of relief. "That was too close."

Shifting his body, Raph tried to sit as well as he could on a bed of hanging vines before looking around. Light blue lights lit up the darkened space and he could see more green vines hanging around his surroundings. Rather than climbing this time, it looked like Raph would be swinging his way around. Looking up, this time he could make out a ceiling. It looked like he would be heading down this time rather than up like previously.

He smiled slightly at the thought of swinging around. Mikey popped into his head, most likely making a jungle joke and Don countering it with facts of some kind. He had wished his brothers were here partially, but was glad they weren't on the other hand. Some of these situation, all of them may have not made it out, like that last scenario with the lava.

Grabbing hold of a vine, he pushed off the other vines as much as he could so he could begin swinging and heading down. He was able to feel the wind rush right by him as he traveled through the air. The environment was beautiful and seemed even more so as he swung. Having blue lights around him as he traveled along the vines was a scene he knew he would never see again, and honestly, it reminded him of Leonardo. This helped to motivate him once more to get to the ground at a quicker rate.

As Raphael traveled, it did not take him long to reach the bottom. Eyes searching, he instantly noticed a bundle of vines tightly weaved into what looked like a giant ball. Feeling anxious, the ninja took a few steps towards the ball, unsure of what to think of it. These vines looked different from the other as their glowing would twinkle in and out rather than stay glowing, like the rest of the vines around him.

"Raph…"

He heard his brother's faint voice once more.

"Leo!"

"Raphael… Help."

That voice. It was coming from that ball of vines. He knew what to do. Taking out a sai, Raph began to work on cutting through the thick vines. He wanted to get rid of the plants quickly, but knew better and worked more at a careful, but still, fast pace, in case Leo was indeed trapped in those vines. The thick vines were not so easy to cut through; however, as they were much thicker than the other vines he had previously swung on.

His predictions and hearing proving right, Raph got to the center of the vines mess to find Leo tangled in them. His eyes were shut and he was stripped of all his equipment. Raph noticed Leo glowed a very dim blue around the outlines of his shell and his mask. Raph briefly wondered why Leo's light was so small while Raph's was much stronger. A thought quickly raced through his head. Life force. Perhaps Leo was on the brink of death. He had to get him out of here.

"Leo, bro. Can you hear me?"

A grunt came from his older brother but his eyes remained shut. This concerned Raph but he continued to cut through the vines hanging tightly to Leo's body. Once they were all cut away, the second-oldest carefully pulled him out of the vines mess. Leo now was lying on the ground. Green eyes searched over his brother's body to make sure there was no injury, but none were visible to him. Mainly, parts were just slightly swollen from the tight holdings from the vines.

"Leo, say somethin'. Please…"

This earned another grunt in response before Leo's eyes slowly opened. His eyes looked black like the rest of him that wasn't glowing and Raph briefly wondered if he looked like that too. It really didn't matter to him much as happiness filled his chest.

"Leo! You're okay!"

Raph gave his brother a tight hug which caused a hitch of breath to leave the other in surprise. Leo smiled as he then returned the hug.

He replied meekly, "Thanks for coming Raph."

Raph grinned as he pulled away from the hug and looked into his brother's eyes. "Anytime bro."

Raph then helped Leo to stand. His brother was extremely frail and weak. It almost surprised the hothead, but Leo had been asleep for around three months now, so of course he wouldn't be himself. Raphael wondered where to go next. It would not be easy to climb up with his brother like this. Perhaps some on ground travel would provide a much needed doorway, as had seemed to be a pattern for him. When Leo was up and ready, leaning on Raph, they trekked sluggish steps.

"So, what is this place?" Raph asked, half wondering, half wanting to just hear Leo's voice again and make sure he was really there. He had noticed Leo sounded a bit different from before and wondered if it had to do with the vines or with what happened in New York.

"This place is a realm between worlds, or dimensions," Leo explained, "Master Splinter told me once about them when I was younger. I had thought nothing at the time about it, but now wish I would have paid more attention. I may have been able to get out that way."

"You, not pay attention to Masta' Splinter? I'm shocked," Raphael joked which earned him a half-hearted glare from Leo. Raph became serious again. "How did ya get here Leo?"

"Most people come here when they are in a coma but never remember when they wake up," Leo continued, "After the fight in New York, I had fallen into a coma and came here. It's such a strange place though."

"What do ya mean?"

"What is present here and what happens is based on what the person here is. The vines and blue lights were based on me somehow."

"So the pipes and glowing lights I experienced…"

"Were based on you," the eldest answered, "I did not have pipes here. Your mind made the area around you, I'm assuming, like the sewers, but other things present when you traveled to get me could mean anything based on you and your personality or thoughts."

'I dun wanna know where the lava comes from then,' Raph thought to himself.

"Ya know how to get out of here?"

"The door will open when it is time," Leo responded. Normally, those kinds of answers would have made the hothead angry, but honestly, he couldn't really say anything to that. A door always appeared to him when he needed one, so perhaps it would be the same in Leo's domain.

"How will we know?" Raph asked.

"Perhaps we are meant to do something first, or say something. I am not sure Raph. This place has a mind of its own."

"Ya got that right!"

Leo smiled humorously as they continued to walk.

"How did ya get me here?" Raph asked, "And why me instead a Donnie or Mikey, or all three of us?"

"I knew you would hear me," Leo answered. "I knew you would hear my voice and be able to find me. This place is not made for multiple people, so I did not want to call all three of you. Mikey would not have been able to make it through the obstacles because he would not understand the true objective for being there, that being I do not think he would be able to hear my voice either. Donnie would not hear my voice, or if he did, would let logic cloud his judgment. The traveler must have some sense of why they are going through the trials of their mind but be able to know this place is not made on complete sense."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that response."

Leo laughed lightly. "It wasn't an insult. What I said was true, but also, you were the easiest one to reach out to."

Raph raised a brow. "What do ya mean?"

"Like you were around me the most. I could basically feel your presence over everyone else's."

"That's cause I watched over ya the most," Raph confessed.

This answer made Leo smile warmly. "Thanks Raph."

"No problem Leo," Raph grinned, "And hey, when we wake up, I'll be sure to get you back on your feet and training in no time."

Leo frowned, "How long have I been out?"

"Three months."

"Oh," Leo responded lamely. "I guess it doesn't matter if I know the answer or not. We won't remember any of this."

"What?" Raph stared in disbelief.

"Earlier, I said people come here when in comas but wake up without any memory of it. The same will happen to us."

"Hmm…" Raph hummed, unsure of what to think of that. "Well, though I won't remember anyway, but how did ya pull me here?"

Leo grinned. "Thanks to the extra trainings I have with Master Splinter, I have developed a stronger spiritual side. Due to that, I was able to manipulate this area slightly; just enough to bring you here so you could help me out."

"Fair enough. Now, let's get the shell outta here."

Just then a white light blared in front of the two turtles. A white portal opened so they could walk through and return to the real world, they hoped.

"I told you this place has a mind of its own," Leo replied happily.

"Yeah yeah. Let's just get outta here."

Leo nodded before being helped through the portal by his brother. Whiteness blinded them and all thoughts seemed gone in an instant.

Green eyes blinked slowly. Adjusting to his surroundings, Raph realized he fell asleep in his chair, again. The sky was darkened outside to show the night was about to begin. He scanned over the bathtub to see Leo's eyes still closed. Hmm, somehow, Raph felt like he was forgetting something. Just then, a grunt was heard and blue eyes suddenly made themselves known. Raph felt his heart soar as he kneeled besides the bathtub.

"Leo!" Raph exclaimed before yelling out the door. "Guys! Come here! Quick!"

Footsteps shuffled as the two brothers and two humans came rushing in to see a now awake Leo. Everyone was excited, and that included Mikey almost hurting Leo from that excitement. The eldest then spoke and everyone realized his voice was different, and what Donnie assumed, was from the fight with Shredder.

That voice seemed to strike a chord with Raph. It sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. As everyone chattered in joy, Leo's and Raph's eyes briefly met. Something seemed to click in the hothead's mind. They had met while Leo slept, in another place at another time. He couldn't remember the details, but Raph knew something like that happened, and judging by the expression held in those blue eyes of Leo's, he knew of it as well.

Perhaps this was a discussion for another place and time, if they decided to have it. For now though, it was time to celebrate the coming back of his eldest brother Leonardo.

*Hey guys! So, I had this idea for a little bit now. I thought it might be cool to write a short story on Raphael looking for Leonardo somehow. It was then the idea came up to happen in sleep with Leo was unconscious. After playing some of TMNT Dark Horizons, I knew I wanted it to kind of look like that and the story was off. Doing a multiple chapter for this would have been cool, but I think I like it better as a one-shot where it goes into a bit of fantasy while exploring how far Raph is willing to search to bring his brother home. Let me know what you think guys! Thanks for reading!