So, here is my new chapter of "I Need You"
I hope you enjoy it more then my previous chapter!
I DON'T OWN TMNT!
Enjoy! :D
"People don't want the truth when they ask how you're doing after you lost your brother."
―Jolene Perry, My Heart for Yours
The two turtles glared each other. Both of them panting and sweating, barley noticing the three figures that knelt at the back of the room and observed. Raphael charged; his eyes narrowed. He quickly ducked the katana that was swung where his head was moments before and then plunged his sai towards Leonardo. The said turtle quickly twisted himself to avoid the attack but was caught in another one when he was suddenly swung over Raph's shoulder and onto the ground.
"Very good Raphael, but more energy." Splinter said as Raph helped Leo off of the ground with a smirk. "Leonardo, strike first before your opponent has a chance to strike you."
'I did strike first, he just dodged.' Leo thought. "Hai Sensei." He said with a bow.
"Michelangelo. Donatello." Splinter commanded. Then two turtles stood and walked to the middle of the room; pulling out their weapons and smirking at each other. "Begin."
Leo knelt down next to Splinter and was quickly greeted as Raphael knelt down next to him. "Sorry I had to whip your shell." Raph whispered as they observed their two brothers spin their weapons.
Leo stayed silent as he replayed their sparring match in his head. It had been off and on for over an hour. He would have the upper hand, then Raph would get the upper hand. What had he done wrong?
"It wasn't that hard to be honest with ya." Raph mocked; trying to get his brother mad and lose his cool and collectiveness in front of their father. Leo breathed through his nose as he paid attention to his two younger brothers in front of him, working at blocking out Raph. He was the oldest, the leader. Wasn't he supposed to be the strongest? How did Raph win?!
"I'm just way better." Raph said with a smirk. He watched Leo twitch slighty. Now he was getting somewhere. Raph blinked when Leo didn't say anything. He cringed inwardly. He was trying to get into a fight with Leo. He wanted Leo to yell at him. The two eldest hadn't been talking lately. Raph didn't know why, but he was pretty sure it had something to do with his temper. He would try to talk to Leo, start a conversation, but then Leo would just quickly end the talk and walk away. "It was a good match though." Raph mumbled, finally giving up.
"Shut up Raph." Leo hissed.
Raphael looked up at his brother and glared. "What?"
"You heard me. Shut up! You had your bragging rights, now shut up." Leo kept his voice quiet as he looked at Raph through the corner of his eye.
Raphael glared at him, not bothering to keep his voice quiet anymore. "Oh, is Leo just ticked that he lost?!"
Leonardo clamped his mouth shut and continued to watch Michelangelo and Donatello. Mikey did a backflip to avoid Donatello's bo staff. He laughed and begun to mock Donnie.
Raph narrowed his eyes. That's how all of their conversations were lately. He would start to raise his voice and Leo would clamp up like a clam; not opening up to anyone. "What's with you?!" Raph snapped. Leo looked over at him through the corner of his eye. "You don't talk anymore!"
"Maybe I just don't want to talk."
"You talk perfectly fine to Don and Mikey!"
"Probably because they don't start a fight with me every time I say 'hi'!"
Splinter turned his head slightly and eyed his sons. Their relationship as brothers had been growing thinner. The sparring match paused as Donnie and Mikey turned to see their two, now shouting, brothers.
"I don't-"
"Yes you do! Every time I walk into a room with you in it, I can just feel the hate radiating off of you! It's sick and unnerving! I just can't take it anymore!"
Raph glared at him. "You think I hate you!?"
"I think you hate everybody! You're always mad and snapping at somebody!" He stood up when Raph did. Raph's body was shaking with anger and Leo didn't help as he poked a finger at Raphael's plastron. "We can't do anything with you because you just turn into this huge baby and starting screaming!"
"If you guys weren't so-"
"Don't you dare turn this around on us! This is all on you!"
Raph shoved him. "You just don't get it!" He shot as he stormed his way out of the dojo.
"Oh yeah?! What don't I get?!" Leo shouted as he ran after him.
Splinter's eyes narrowed as he calmly followed them. He wanted his sons to talk, to vent out. But he would intervene if needed.
"EVERYTHING! You just don't understand! And you never will because you don't care!"
"I do care! I have to care! If I didn't you would be dead a thousand times over! And right now, that doesn't sound half that bad!"
"Leonardo!" Splinter shot; it was time to intervene. Leo didn't seem to hear him though as he got closer to Raphael.
"And you know what else!"
"Shut up Leo!" Raph snarled. Leo grabbed Raph's arm and threw Raph towards the wall. Raph cried out in pain as he hit the wall and fell to the ground. He immediately grabbed for his shoulder. He quickly got to his feet and lunged at Leo.
"ENOUGH!" Splinter yelled over the chaos. The two eldest froze and looked towards their enraged father. "Both of you will apologize and then go to your rooms."
Leo let out an irritated huff and then turned to Raph. "I'm sorry for everything I said and did."
"No you're not." Raph replied.
Leo narrowed his eyes. "What?!"
"You meant every single word and you know it." Raph grumbled as he returned a glare.
"Maybe I did!" Leo shot.
"Boys!" Splinter's whiskers twitched as he grew more irritated with his bickering sons. "I said enough!"
The blue and red banded turtles continued to stare each other down; neither willing to back down first. "All we ever do is try and help you-"
"All you ever do is see me as the bad guy!" Raph cut him off. "I'm not always the one to blame but that doesn't stop you from doin it!"
"Maybe if you weren't so hotheaded and stupid I wouldn't always blame you!" Leo snapped. "Maybe if YOU actually cared about anyone around here then things would be different!"
Donatello leaned over to Mikey. "This is going to get physical soon…" He whispered; worry filling his eyes.
"Hasn't already." Mikey whispered back; he sunk slightly into his shell as he watched his brothers become snapping turtles and yell.
Splinter eyed them before turning back and walking up so he stood over his sons. They pulled away from each other. Leonardo immediately looked guilty at Splinters intense gaze and Raphael only softened his glare slightly. "There has been conflict between you two for a long time now. It stops now." He said sternly.
"But, Sensei, Raph… he was just-"
"I do not want-" Splinter started before being cut off himself.
"No Sensei." Raph mumbled as he turned a deepened glare towards the floor. "Leo's right."
Splinter furrowed his eyebrows while Leonardo turned and gave Raph a confused glare.
Raph just shook his head and laughed. "Sometimes I don't even understand myself."
"Raph, what are you talking about?" Leo said venomously.
Raph looked at Leo and gave a small smirk. "Thanks for talkin ta me." Still grasping his shoulder, he shrugged; he turned back to his Sensei and gave a swift nod. He took a deep breath and then sprinted out of the lair.
"Raphael!" Splinter yelled as his son jumped over the turnstiles and disappeared into the sewers. Splinter turned his glare back to Leonardo.
Leo froze. "I… uh… Sensei…"
"Do you recall the fight you and your brother just had?" Splinter asked calmly; he folded his arms behind his back and rose an eyebrow.
Leo gave a confused expression. "Of course, we just had it…" He looked down at his feet as he realized what he had shared with his brother. Leo's thoughts raced as he replayed the words that were yelled. Some harsher then he would usually us. His face contorted in guilt as he recalled the vicious things he had snapped at his immediate younger brother. He hadn't been thinking during their loud outburst; just defending himself. Saying the most hurtful thing that came to his mind before even realizing what he had thought. He wanted to win. He wanted to be the one with the last say. Not his brother. He looked up back at his father. "Sensei I-"
"I do not want you apologizing to me, but to your brother." Splinter explained. "Now go find Raphael. And come back with both of you unharmed."
"To late for that." Mikey murmured to Donatello as the recalled the hotheaded turtles shoulder.
Leo nodded. "Hai Sensei." He said with a bow before sprinting off after his brother.
Raph growled and slumped down on a small rooftop shed. He grasped his shoulder tightly before slowly removing his hand and taking a gander at it. It was swollen and had turned slightly purple. He glared at it. His shoulder shouldn't look this bad from being chucked at a wall! He quickly grabbed it with his hand again and held on tight; trying to ease the throbbing pain. He blinked at the rising sun; his vision suddenly becoming blurry and groggy. He blinked a couple more times before his eyes finally stayed shut and he soaked in the warmth of the sun. He began to doze off when suddenly a small noise snapped his eyes open again. It was such a small noise, like a step taken slightly out of place.
He clenched his teeth as he stood up and grabbed his sai's; shaking off the small amount of sleep, he glared at the edge of the roof. "Leo, if that's you, I highly advice you to leave." He ground out.
Suddenly a single foot ninja jumped onto the rooftop. Raph stared at it; a mask of confusion soon filled his face. "Only one?" He asked it; a smirk replacing his confused frown.
The ninja blinked at him and then made a weird movement sign with its hand. About sixty more jumped up alongside him.
Raphael's smile grew. "Ah, I see, now that's better." He lunged along with the first ten brave ninja; taking them out with a single swipe to the head. He grunted when a lucky kick roughly hit his shoulder making him stumble. He grabbed his shoulder and glared up at the ninja. The foot ninja took this opportunity quickly and began lunging at the wounded warrior. Raph clenched his teeth and forced himself to let go of his shoulder and continuing fighting. He stumbled as another snuck up behind him and kicked at his knee; making it collapse underneath him. Raph pushed himself off of the ground and did a round-house kick to the attacker; sending him off the roof. Raphael turned and growled as he watch twenty more took its place.
This was going to be a long day.
Leo quickly put his T-phone away. Raph had obviously left his at home since he hadn't answered any of Leo's many calls. He looked at the sun that was now gleaming through the buildings of New York. He crossed his fingers that Raph wasn't drawing attention to himself in the middle of the day.
Leonardo climbed the nearest fire-escape and began running towards one of his brothers hiding places. Raphael had a specific building he would always like to run to when he was trying to get away and not be found. But, what kind of big brother would Leo be if he didn't know where this hiding place was. He stopped abruptly when he heard the sounds of clashing metal. His teeth clenched and he prayed that his brother wasn't involved. The sounds got louder as he quickly drew closer. Leo's eyes widened when he suddenly heard a grunted scream.
A scream that was supposed to be louder but was held back by the wounded victim. A scream that belonged to his brother.
Leo's quick sprint grew faster as he ran to the roof he knew the fight was on. He jumped onto the roof and glared at the foolish ninja that had dared hurt his brother.
His brother.
The one that struggled to get off of the ground. A puddle of blood slowly spreading underneath him as it mostly gushed out of his newly sliced leg. The same brother that now held fresh cuts and bruises. The brother that Leo had hurt; verbally and physically. Leo quickly unsheathed his swords and charged at the ninja that was about to blow a fatal strike on Raphael. "DON'T YOU DARE HURT MY BROTHER!" Leo felt himself shout as his quickly descended upon the surprised black clothed ninjas.
He swung his swords professionally and preformed fatal strikes perfectly. But the only thought in his mind was on his brother. Was he going to be ok?
Leo dodged another sword before striking with his own. He leapt and did a split kick on two close ranged ninja. He quickly disarmed and defeated most of the foot before the rest fled.
Leonardo breathed heavily as he quickly scanned the roof for anymore attacking warriors before turning and racing to his struggling brother's aid. Raph was shaking and had obviously already lost a lot of blood by how pale and clammy his skin was. Leo grabbed his arm and began helping Raph up before he was roughly shoved.
Leo stumbled back and blinked at his grunting brother. "Don't… don't t-touch me." Raph growled.
Leonardo didn't listen and immediately went back to Raph. "You're hurt and need help."
"Get off!" Raph snapped through clenched teeth. "I don't n-need you!" He struggled to his feet; his eyes staying venomously on Leo.
"I just want to help!" Leo shot back as he quickly grabbed the hotheaded turtles arm when he began to collapse.
"As if! You j-just want to drag me b-back to M-Master S-Splinter so he can lecture my shell off!" Raph ripped his arm out of Leo's grasp and automatically fell back onto his shell. He bit his lip from crying out. He put his pain filled gaze back onto Leo. "You said it yourself Leo. You want me dead."
"No! I would never-"
"Oh shut up! I know everyone was thinking it to! You just had the guts to finally say it!" Raph shot as he worked his way up the wall.
Leo's shoulders dropped. "Raph… Oh Raphael I am so, so sorry!" He took a step forward and gently grasped his brothers arm. "No one wants you dead. It would destroy us if you died. Especially me. I just said what would win me the fight and…" Leo bit his lip. "I really hope I lost that fight."
Raph stared at him for a minute before smirking. "I do that a lot too."
Leo let out sigh as he smiled. "I love you Ototo." He said as he brought the injured terrapin closer to him.
"Y-yeah, yeah." Raph shook his head. "Whatever." He tried to take on most of the weight but Leo wouldn't allow it as he held one of Raph's arms around his shoulders and wrapped his other arm around Raph's waist. They took a single step and Raphael's leg immediately collapsed underneath him. Leo quickly took Raphael's weight and lowered them slowly both to the ground.
Raph's breath grew quick and his eyes clenched shut as he tried to recompose himself.
Leo rubbed Raph's uninjured shoulder. "I'll have to carry you." The blue-banded turtle said mostly to himself.
"Typical." The sound of concrete smashing made Leo's gaze quickly swerve over and glare at the being that had just roughly landed on the roof. "Give a turtle a paper cut and he's down for the count." Fishface chuckled darkly.
"You wanna bet!" Raph shot as he moved to stand and then lunge at the new threat. Leo held firm to his shoulders and pushed him back down before standing up himself.
"I would leave now if I were you." Leo narrowed his eyes as he unsheathed a single sword and held it with both hands.
"Good thing you're not me then." Xever flashed his teeth with a massive grin. Leo spread his legs apart and dug his feet into the rooftop, preparing for battle.
The mutant fishes metal legs grinded as he charged at the sword wielding turtle. He kicked out swiftly. Leo barley shifted to the right to avoid the bone crushing kick. The blue-banded turtle quickly flipped to avoid another kick before thrusting out with his sword and-
"ENOUGH!" The voice boomed. The fish flinched and immediately moved away from Leonardo; growling slightly to himself as he knelt down on one leg. Leo looked at the sun before turning his gaze to the new figure on the building. His eyes widened slightly when he saw The Shredder. His glare turned into a scowl.
He unsheathed his other sword.
"Shredder." He hissed.
The said being chuckled darkly to himself. "I was gathering some weaponry at the docks," He explained nonchalantly, "when my soldiers tell me they've found a turtle. One that's been a thorn in my side for far too long."
Leo felt himself tense as his thoughts raced to his defenseless brother behind him. Leo's stomach dropped; it was his fault his brother had fled the lair and gotten injured. His fault that The Shredder was here to kill him.
"Then, another one of Hamato Yoshi's disciples comes along," Though the wicked man wore a mask, Leonardo could tell he was smirking venomously underneath the armor. "You could say that today was just my lucky day."
Leo took a slight step sideways so he stood protectively in front of his younger brother. Raphael grunted disapprovingly but didn't have time to argue when Leo charged; his swords held out as he gave a battle cry. Weapons clashed as both warriors knew there would be no holding back.
Leo barely had time to dodge Shredders metal claws before flipping over and trying his own attack with his swords.
Raphael could do nothing be watch helplessly. His brother was fighting The Shredder! Alone! They had all barely survived the last encounter they had with the Shredder, and that was with all four of them working their hardest as a team.
Leo is all alone.
Raphael scrambled up on his feet; clutching the wall, he breathed heavily. "Leo!" He rasped.
Leo jumped back. His right arm already had two large gashes in it and was bleeding heavily. Leo never took his shaking gaze off of the Shredder when he answered. "Stay down Raph!"
"Your T-phone!" The two simple words had Leo rushing to his belt. He yanked out his phone and quickly chucked it at Raph. The Shredder's fist collided with Leo's jaw and sent him sprawling onto the roof.
Raph caught the phone and quickly opened it. His vision suddenly blurred as the metal leg rammed into his shoulder; sending the phone flying across the roof before shattering as it slammed into the brick wall. Raphael growled and shook his head as he tried to regain his sight. Another kick was flown into his stomach making him gasp and fall to his hands and knees.
"Trying to call for help?" Xever smiled darkly at the winded turtle.
Raphael sputtered and looked up at the mutant fish; sending him a disoriented glare. "Why you little-"
A kick in the jaw.
The red-banded turtle spat blood and growled. His muscles started to shake but that didn't stop him from rolling away, dodging a third kick.
Fishface flashed his pearly razor sharp teeth. "This was fun, but I'm afraid it ends now." He charged for Raph, who snarled and braced himself for a bone-crushing blow.
Leo charged. He wouldn't allow it. He rammed his body full force into the mutant fish; sending it flying over the side of the building. Xever's scream was cut short as a heavy thud hit the ground.
"LEO LOOK OUT!" Raphael screamed. He could have sworn time went slower as Leonardo tried his best to move out of the way, but wasn't quick enough. Shredder's blades imbedded themselves into Leo's side before ripping themselves out.
Leo screamed.
Raph wanted to close his eyes. He wanted to look away and avoid watching Shredder give the fatal blow to his older brother.
"Father." Raph spun his head to see the slim body of Karai. Her hand was placed on a popped hip. Her gaze wandered over Raphael and then turned to Leonardo where her eyes lingered a bit longer. She observed his wounds, and Raph could have sworn he saw a glint of sorrow flash in her eyes, but as soon as the flash came, it left, refilling with the same over confident and evil scowl it always had.
Shredder growled and turned to face Karai. He looked ready to strike his daughter. But he wouldn't hurt her… right? Raphael didn't know, but he forced himself to ignore the thought and the black dots that swarmed in his vision as he watched.
"The weapons are all fake." Karai stated. "The men who were supposed to deliver them have disappeared."
"What?!" Shredder hissed.
Raphael felt himself suddenly being helped off of the ground. He looked up and Leo hushed him. Leonardo was working at trying to hide his gaspy pants; a regular man wouldn't have been able to do it so well, but Leo and Raph had been taught to fight through the pain and continue the battle.
Or fight through the pain and get a stealthy get away.
"We believe we also have a traitor." Karai continued; forcing herself to continue and gaze into the red eyes of her father and ignore Leonardo and his brother.
The evil man's eyes narrowed in thought and anger. "Who!?" He hissed.
"Baxter Stockmen. He disappeared with the other men." She said.
Shredder's fist clenched. He quickly turned around and raised his gauntlet, prepared to kill the turtle and watch its eyes die of life. He growled a string of strong curses. They were gone. Vanished.
No matter. He would destroy them one day. He knew he would, no one ever defied Oroku Saki and lived to tell the tale! And right now, he had… other, matters to deal with.
Leonardo made sure to take up most of Raph's weight. The younger turtle tried to stand on his injured leg and help Leo out, but the sword wielder had his arm wrapped tightly around Raph's torso, not allowing him to hurt himself further.
A couple blocks later, they finally collapsed into a small pile in an alley. Raph quickly scrambled to his knees and ripped off his mask. He immediately began putting pressure onto Leo's injured side. "Ouch! Raph, stop! Do that on your leg!"
"No!" Raph growled as he pressed harder. His vision was blurry and his hearing was disoriented. He was pretty sure his speech was slurred too, but didn't care, his mind was too foggy anyways.
Leo was in about the same predicament. Except twenty times worse. His head lolled back as he tried to keep consciousness. He could still feel the blood rush out of his side and soon felt his mask being removed too before being pressed right next to Raph's. "Raph…"
"NO!" Raph yelled drowsily. He wasn't going to listen. His brother needed this! He was going to bleed to death! Raphael wasn't going to allow it. "Just shut up! Don and Mikey will come… The T-phone broke. Don says if they break then it will send a distress signal… Their coming…"
Leo felt his world sway and go dark again. He blinked; focusing on his younger brother's face.
"You're gonna be ok." Raph said. He looked down at Leo's face. Leo was shaking like crazy, but that didn't seem to faze the blue-banded ninja at all. "You understand Leo?!" Raph half yelled. "You're gonna be just fine and you're gonna be yellin at me for being so stupid and getting my shell whipped by a bunch of stupid foot!" Raph breathed heavily and stared at his brother.
Leo smiled slightly; attempting a chuckle but only getting a slight wheeze. His eyes flickered closed and his world started to darken around him.
"Leo!" Raph snapped. His green eyes grew with concern. "Leo! Wake up bro!"
Leo's eyes snapped open.
Raph glared at him. "Stay awake!" He said as he put more pressure on the bleeding wound.
The wind started to nip at their skin making both of the turtles shiver in union. Leonardo took a deep breath. Don and Mikey still weren't here… and he's already lost so much blood…. "T-take… care of t-them." He rasped out; reaching up and cupping a hand on Raph's face. He watched as Raph's eyes grew wide. Leo stroked his thumb back and forth on Raphael's cheek. "For me… ok?"
Raph shook his head slowly. His look of fear quickly turned to a scowl. He forced himself to look back at Leo's wound and a new ounce of strength made him push even harder, making Leo wince. "No!"
Leo dropped his hand and gazed at Raph. "Raph-"
"No! I won't! You're coming back with me and-!"
"Please Raph." Leo coughed. He gazed at his brother's scowl with tired eyes. "Promise me, you'll take care of them… Mikey and Donnie…"
Raph shook his head furiously. "You can't make me! How dare you make me promise something like that!" He clenched his eyes tight and grinded his teeth. "You're gonna be fine, ya hear!"
Leo moved his hands and tried to push Raphael's hands away. Both masks were dark crimson and the blood that had already crusted was quickly being covered with new wet blood. Raphael shook his head again and pushed harder.
"Stop! You can't leave me!" Raph yelled at his brother.
Leo sighed and closed his eyes again. "Just… Take care of them."
He felt Raph tense next to him. A moment of silence passed before Raph whispered something that Leo almost missed. "I… won't be able to do it without you."
Leo blindly reached out and gripped onto one of Raph's strained hands. "You're… strong. You... love t-them." He whispered as strongly as he could. "I… B-lieve in y-you."
Raph shook his head again. "You might, but I can't. I can't!" Leo's hand gripped tighter when he felt his brother start to shake.
"Everything's g-going to be o-ok." Leo said.
"We… we can still fix ya, Leo." Raph's voice cracked slightly. "Just hang in there."
Leo's smile relaxed and his hand began to lose its grip. Raph pushed on the wound harder. "Leo… Leo no." He whimpered slightly as he pushed his brother slightly. "Come on man…"
No response.
Raph nudged his brother again. He swallowed and looked around the alley. They were still alone. His gaze went back to his brother's pale face. "You're not g-gonna die… You won't" Raph waited for his brother to respond but didn't get one. "Leo." His voice cracked again. "You gotta…. Leo, please…" Please. Raph never begged. He found it weak and venerable. But that's how he felt as a couple tears slid past his eyes and slowly down his face. He wanted to wipe them away. Get rid of them before someone saw, but didn't want to take his hands off of his bleeding brother. He couldn't move. He was frozen.
"Don't… D-don't die on me ok?" He pleaded; more tears streaming down his face.
No response.
Raph's breaths became heavier.
He screamed.
He clenched his eyes shut and hunched over slightly as the hurt scream raked his body. His fists clenched over the bloody bandanas and tears streamed down his cheeks. He screamed again; this time weaker. He breathed heavily and grinded his teeth. "Coward!" He shot. "Things get rough and you just give up! You're a freaking coward, Leo!" He started to sob. "I hate you!" He placed his head on Leo's plastron and sobbed. His body shook and the tears leaked down onto Leonardo. "You're so stupid! I can't go on without you… please."
The sobs shook him and tore harshly through his throat.
"Please…" He whispered hard. "Y-you're my only big brother…. Please…." He shook his head. Raphael's world began to sway and darken. He started to hear voices; so distant… far away…
"Leonardo." He whispered before everything faded away.