Memories

By

Hannio

Chapter One

Fire

Disclaimer – None of the characters mentioned in the below story below belong to me in any fashion. I'm merely using them for my own use.

Author Note – Here's another chapter story. I've had this on my laptop for a long time, as in this was actually the first TMNT story I wrote. I've been hesitant over putting it up because it's written in first person and normally I write in 3rd person but I figured what the hell. I've written Raph's portion in normal English because there Is no way I could write it to reflect the way he speaks so please bear that in mind while reading it. Also please bear in mine that Raph has lost his memory hence his confusion. So yeah please enjoy!

Jesus I hurt.

Every organ in my body hurt almost as though there was fire running through my vein instead of blood causing even the most lightest of movements to make me want to curse up a storm. It didn't help matters that my vision wasn't great either, blackness tingeing the edge of my sight making me feel as though I was stuck in a never ending tunnel which in turn made everything appear even more hectic and confusing.

I couldn't figure out where I was, what I was doing there and even more worrying who I actually was. Using my brain produced a feeling akin to having a sharp piece of glass stabbed repeatedly into the organ so I stopped trying to use it. It seemed the safer option at that time.

What I really wanted to do was to lie down and rest and at that one moment in time the floor, cool and solid beneath me, felt as good as any bed I've slept in. Even the sight of it looked as though it would promise me some form of comfort but I could almost hear a warning bell going off in my head and I knew that It was something I had to obey even if it made no sense. There was something which I needed to do before I could do anything. Something that was more important then my desire to sleep. It was a just a shame that I couldn't actually remember what that important thing was meant to be.

I looked down at my hands and felt my eyes widen at the sight of them. They were bloody though whether with my blood or someone else's I couldn't actually tell. Both of them were wrapped around weapons, or at least what I assumed were weapons if the blood dripping down them was any indication for what they had been used for. Whatever they were there was something about them that made my hands tightened on them rather then letting them go which had been my original plan.

I shook my head slightly, hissing at the pain that shot down my neck into my back making me unable to focus on anything other then my breathing as the blackness in my vision threatened to overwhelm me. After a few seconds the pain lessened and my vision returned allowing me to glance round the room. I could see a figure which appeared different from the rest. There was something about that figure which made my heart start to stutter and before I knew what I was doing I had forced myself to put the weapons away, stuffing them into my belt, before I began moving towards the figure.

The air was smoky forcing me to cough as shivers racked my body hindering the speed in which I could move forward. My legs didn't seem to be co-operating at all with the messages I was sure my brain was sending them. In fact none of my body seemed to be reacting. I felt as though someone else was in charge of it and I was a mere bystander watching the action as it happened.

I halted my movement trying to steady my breathing again which had turned erratic but the action forced me to cough more due to the smoke. There was the taint of something else to the air, something which I couldn't quite put my fingers on but which I knew shouldn't have been there. I ignored the thought as unimportant and began moving forward again towards the figure, sweat dripping off of me from the effort.

I couldn't remember anything about what had happened to me prior to waking up in pain, how had I ended up with a permanent scream lodged in my throat as every movement caused a shot of agony to race through me I wasn't sure. It felt as though there wasn't a single part of me left unaffected. Feeling like this couldn't have been normal could it? I grinded my teeth together as I continued pulling myself across the floor, ignoring the glass I could feel imbedding itself into my skin. A cry of triumph escaped me as my outstretched hand touched the arm of the person I had been heading for. I curled my fingers around it and used it to pull myself forward.

I pulled myself up into a sitting position and looked down into the face, a frown coming to my own. I didn't recognise him but I knew that I couldn't just leave him in here; he seemed to be in bad shape from what I could tell. I ran my eyes over him to see what injuries he had. From the angle of the leg it was pretty clear to anyone that it was broken and cuts littered his skin, some quite deep and nasty looking which would need to be looked at. My heart squeezed sharply at the sight of him looking like that.

"Hey" I said my voice rough sounding as I touched his shoulder giving him a light shake being careful not to do it too hard "Hey Buddy are you ok?" when there was no response I shook his slightly harder, breathing out a sigh of relief as he groaned and moved slightly. He opened his eyes and squinted up at me, confusion in his blue eyes which quickly changed to recognition and relief.

"Raph" he said, he sounded tired and in pain "Seriously dude, not one of our brightest ideas". I blinked as I forced myself to my knees, my lips clamped tightly together as I swallowed the scream of pain the simple action caused. Clearly this person knew me.

"I'm Raph?" I asked. There was a silence as the boy blinked at me, the relieved expression on his face falling into a frown at my question.

"Are you Raph?" he repeated "What do you mean are you Raph?" he demanded "Come on even I know that now is not the time to be playing games, did you get a humour bypass or something or hit your head" I blinked at his angry tone.

"I can't exactly remember" I answered blandly. I hesitated for a moment before I asked the next question that had been plaguing me since I had seen him. "Do I actually know you?"" he opened his mouth to say something before he closed it as his eyes took in the expression in mine. I watched the anger in them fade to be replaced by worry as they widened.

"Do you know me?" he repeated again, clearly repeating questions was his style "Of course you know me Raph; come on this seriously isn't funny. Its me Mikey, you know Michelangelo" he must have seen the lack or recognition I was feeling reflected in my face because he continued "I'm your brother?" Brother, something in my mind clicked at the word. This boy lying in front of me was my brother. I glanced to the side of me before looking back at him. I could try and figure this all out later.

"Can you stand Michelangelo? We've got to get out of here right now." I couldn't remember why I had to get him out of there all I knew was that keeping him safe was the most important thing to me.

"Don't call me Michelangelo you know I hate it Raph, It always means I've got in trouble over something yet again." I remained silent as I watched him attempt to sit up by himself. He got a small distance before lowering his body with a cry of pain, his fists coming to his eyes and covering them for a moment as he shook. I wanted to gather him up in a hug and comfort him but I didn't, I got the impression that he wouldn't have appreciated the action.

"No I can't" he answered, his voice faint as he lowered his hands and looked at me "Raph you should probably go on without me, you know get out of here before the others come, this whole mess is my fault anyway and now you…" he stopped mid sentence, turning his head away so he was looking at the side instead of at me. I snorted through my nose as I bent down wrapping my arm round his shoulder. I tried to be as gentle as I could but he still flinched at the contact with a muffled cry. I swallowed at the sound and closed my own eyes wishing that everything was less confusing and that it made sense to me.

Forcing my eyes open I spoke in a gruff tone.

"Spare me the dramatic self sacrificing speeches, they don't suit you and they bore me." I wasn't sure how I knew that but as I said the words I knew they were true. "This is really going to hurt Mikey" I commented placing my other hand under his legs being careful not to joist the broken leg "As in really hurt, try and stay with me if you can, I'm going to need you but if you can't then you can't." Mikey nodded at me, a determined look coming to his eyes.

"Alright let's do it" he stated, there was a brief silence after he had spoken. I was trying to brace myself for the pain I knew was about to hit me like a tidal wave. I wanted to rest but I had to get Mikey away from here "Look Raph I'm really sorry about everything this is my fault" I rolled my eyes well aware that he could see me since his eyes were glued to my face.

"Seriously enough of the mind-numbing speeches, if you say one more thing like that then I'll knock you out myself. You aren't…" my voice trailed off as the name I wanted to say escaped me. I knew someone who normally did those sorts of speeches, someone who really pissed me off when he did. I tried to follow the train of thought but swiftly gave up as the pain grew too much.

"As…" he prompted softly, I shook my head and spoke my voice tinged with the frustration I was feeling inside.

"I don't remember" I replied, he made a sound but I ignored it instead looking around me cautiously. I had been so intent on getting to my brother, to make sure he was still alive that I had ignored my surroundings completely. From the look of it we were in some kind of warehouse, boxes were piled high, most wrecked, some still intact, some splattered with blood. There were bodies of all different sizes everywhere and I realised now the taint of the air I had smelt earlier was the smell of blood. We had clearly been in one hell of a fight which would indicate why we were both so injured.

I listened but I couldn't hear any sound over our own breathing and yet I knew instinctively that it didn't mean that there was no one in there with us. It was easy to mask the sound of breathing and movement if you had been trained to do so.

"Let's go" I remarked, I sucked in a deep breath as I stood. The pain that lanced up my leg was enough to wipe out all other thoughts from my head other then the thought that the pain would kill me before I got Mikey to safety. I locked the joint into place almost screaming from the effort it took to keep us both upright, clearly some damage had occurred to my leg but I wasn't sure what exactly. Whatever it was hurt like a bitch though.

I had to get us some help; there was somewhere we could go, some vague memory taunting me with knowledge that was just out of reach. There was someone who would help us and knew about healing. He would look at Mikey first I would make sure of it and then once I knew he was ok I could finally rest.

"Raphie there's a… a sewer over there, I saw it earlier during the fight" I glanced down at him and saw that he was pointing at something, his arm shaking from the effort of keeping it upright.

"I see it" I replied. He dropped his arm in relief. I took one more glance around me before I began to move towards it. Every step seemed to take forever, trying to walk with the added weight was making me lightheaded and nauseous but I had to keep going. I was the only one who could help Mikey.

I sighed in relief as I reached it and allowed myself to unlock my knee, almost instantly I fell to the floor only just managing to keep Mikey from smacking the ground. I took a quick second to gather myself before forcing myself up, my eyes automatically finding the manhole cover that Mikey had pointed out. If moving hadn't been so much of an effort I would have kissed it. I knew that if we got down there we would be safe.

"How are you holding up?" I asked Mikey, turning to look at him. He was sweating and looked exhausted. A feeling of guilt blossomed in my stomach; I should have taken better care of him.

"Meh so, so" he replied "What about you Raphie-boy can you… can you remember much?" he asked, his voice turning quiet. I shrugged without thinking and instantly regretted the action as my muscles burned.

"No" I replied shortly bringing a hand up to my forehead. I didn't want him to know the extent of my injuries so I brushed off his concern. "My head is far too hard to crack though" I remarked. It was clearly the right thing to say as he snorted and rolled his eyes at me. I took a deep breath and reached down, grasping the sides of the cover and pulled. I grunted in pain as my body protested but I continued regardless and was rewarded by the popping sound it made as it came free. I pushed it out the way and took in a few more deep breaths as I fought to stay awake.

"Mikey" I said, my voice sounding faint to my own ears "You need to hold on to me, you know in a…" words failed me for a moment as I struggled to think before a sudden memory of laughter filled my head. I basked in it for a second. There were 4 of us and we were laughing and jumping on each others back. The memory faded but the name remained "In a shell back"

"Shell back" Michelangelo repeated with a slight disbelieving laugh. "Come on Raphael, you can barely stand as it is and your memory is gone" his voice trailed off and I heard him swallow deeply before he continued speaking "Raph you haven't" his voice faltered for a moment "Shell backed me since we were 11" I frowned at him

"Well then you should stop moaning and count yourself special then because you're getting one now whether you want to or not. We need to climb down there and I'm going to need both my hands for it. Are you going to be able to hold on to me?" there was a slight silence as he considered my question.

"I can hold on, I'm not that badly injured" he said stubbornly acting as if his leg wasn't broken. I found myself chuckling at that for some reason before I stopped shaking my head instead. I had more important things to focus on.

"Course not" I replied "Give me your arms then" I reached out my hands and grasped the ones he held out to me, making sure I was gentle. I turned myself so I was facing the man hole, hissing slightly at the movement. I used one hand to wrap his arms round my neck and used the other one to help get him into position "Hold tightly and don't let go" I could hear Mikey shuffle forward, wincing as I heard his muffled sound of pain as he did.

Was this my fault? Was I the reason for his injuries? I felt a shot of self loathing directed at myself. Why couldn't I remember anything? I was useless in this state.

"Oi Raphie-boy I'm ready, let's get the hell out of here, I've things to do" I realised that he was in position, his arms and one good leg wrapped tightly around me as if he was never going to let go.

"Not so tight that I can't breathe knucklehead" I responded. I felt him sigh

"Moan, moan, moan, moan, moan" I heard him mutter to himself even as his grip around my neck lessened allowing me to breathe slightly easier.

"I can hear you, you know. There's nothing wrong with my hearing" I commented as I shuffled forward. I took a hold of the cool metal ladder and twisted myself around before I had time to think. The one action took my breathe away and I felt myself sway for a moment before I controlled myself. I looked around the warehouse one more time to make sure we were safe before forcing myself to climb down.

God it hurt so much to move, even gripping the rungs seemed to be too much effort. Everything felt heavy and unreal to me, like I was stuck in a nightmare that I was unable to wake up from.

"Where… where are we Mikey?" I eventually managed to get our, my voice sounding weak and breathless. I could feel him react to my voice, a slight shifting as he tried to ease the pressure on me as much as he could. I needed him to talk to me, to distract me from the pain. My thoughts and body were turning slow and sluggish.

"You really don't remember anything at all?" he demanded, a tone of panic to his voice.

"I'm not playing a game here Mikey" I snapped. I didn't like admitting any sort of weakness to anyone. He was silent for a moment before he spoke.

"We're about 2 miles away from our home Raph" he replied "I'll explain everything to you there. I can walk, you can let me down" I shook my head as I began walking in the direction he had indicated to me.

"Not in this life time" I stated "I need you to guide me home. I can't remember the exact route" I heard him breathe in sharply and his arms tightened briefly but other then that he remained silent. I sighed, this was going to be a long trek home.

Author Note – So there's chapter one, this story is done in first person and the next chapter belongs to Leo. Please review! Many Thanks.