Chapter 01: Misfortune

Raphael knew a few things about fights. They were all different, each and every one of them, but roughly, they could be separated into three groups. There were the ones where everything went according to plan, the smooth ones. Then there were the ones that made them struggle a bit because something unexpected popped up, the struggling ones. And then there were the ones where absolutely anything went totally, one-hundred-fifty percent wrong, where they were lucky to get out of there alive and – mostly – in one piece. He called these the catastrophic ones.

And today's fight was one of those.

"Casey, look out!" Raph cried out as he rushed over to his friend when parts of the warehouse-ceiling came crumbling down, some rocks large enough to flatten them, after the Kraang had hit the ceiling with their new plasma-canon.

"Wh…," was all Casey managed to say before Raph tackled him out of the danger zone as far as possible, dragging him to the ground. The next second Raph was over him, shielding him with his body.

Raph felt small pieces of debris hitting his shell, the thudding noise they made ringing in his ears.

But then there was this sudden pang in his left leg, so strong and unexpected, it cut off his breath, turning his vision red with pain. He would have cried out if he had left any air left in his lungs.

But then there was only silence – and darkness.


"Owwwww," Raph moaned as he finally gained consciousness again.

His eyelids felt like they weighed tons, but he tried to crack his eyes open with all his strength as he moved one hand to his aching temples. "What hit me?"

And then he felt it, the dull, pulsating pain in his left foot. Heck, it felt like there was a second heart pounding down there, except every beat hurt more and more.

"A warehouse-ceiling," came the reply from Donnie. "Well, a part of it. And it didn't hit all of you, just your left foot."

Raph finally managed to open his eyes and looked around. He was in Donnie's lab, lying on the cot. He tried to move, but hissed as this made a rush of pain shooting through his left foot.

"Don't move!" Donnie protested.

"A little late for that!" Raph replied, but obeyed and kept still.

Donnie looked at him sympathetically. "You need any more painkillers?"

"Heck, yes!"

Donnie walked away for a moment to fill a syringe. When he gave him the shot, Raph didn't even flinch, a sign how bad he must be feeling. He usually protested, going on about how much he hated needles for hours after he got a shot, but this time, the little pain the needle made as it pierced his upper arm felt rather welcome compared to the pain in his foot.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"You're welcome."

Raph just lay there for a few moments, feeling how the pain in his left foot ceased a bit, before some flashbacks of this night's events came back to him.

"Casey!" he burst out as his eyes shot wide open and he tried to get up again.

"Easy there, Raph!" Donnie said, placing his hands on Raph's shoulders and pushing him down again. "I said, no moving! Or the next shot you'll get will be some tranquilizer!"

"But…," Raph protested, but gave up on struggling rather quickly because it made the pain that had just reached a bearable level flare up again.

"Casey is fine!" Donnie assured him. "He's in the living room. I had to kick him out of here because he kept getting in my way when I tried to look at you."

Raph sighed. "What exactly happened?"

"You prevented Casey from getting flattened. Again. But you were a little unlucky this time. One bigger piece of debris hit your left foot quite badly. It took Leo some time to get it off of you, and then we brought you back to the lair. Turned out your left ankle is broken, but it could be worse. Regarding to the size of that rock, it's a miracle that it just broke your ankle and didn't crush your foot completely. So you still were quite lucky under the circumstances."

Raph twisted his mouth. "I would leap for joy if it wasn't for my luckily broken ankle."

Donnie acted as if he hadn't heard, and another moment of silence passed.

"How long till I'm back on both my feet?" Raph asked.

"Depends on the healing process, but approximately six to eight weeks."

"WHAT!?"

But before Raph could say anymore, the door of the lab was cautiously opened.

"Sorry, Donnie, I know you said I should stay out of here, until you come to get me, but I think I heard Raph's voice."

Raph and Donnie looked over to the door where an anxious looking Casey had popped his head in.

Raph wondered what could have caused Casey to act this…un-Casey, but then he remembered that Donnie had mentioned that he had had to kick him out of the lab. And knowing Donnie and his short temper when it came to people keeping him from doing his work, he guessed that the kicking-out had been meant literally.

"Yes, Casey, Raph's awake," Donnie said. "You can come in now."

"O-okay," Casey said as he entered, but he kept eyeing Donnie suspiciously, and when Donnie went over to the door to leave Raph and Casey alone for a moment, Casey flinched a little when Donnie walked past him.

When he had left and Casey had safely reached the cot, Raph could hear his friend let out a little sigh of relief.

But then Casey looked down at him and his forehead wrinkled with concern.

"How ya doin', man?" he asked.

"Well, I was told that I was lucky to only break my ankle and not totally smash my foot," Raph replied, "but aside from that, not so good. I feel like I was hit by a bus, no, hit by the entire fleet of buses in New York."

Casey bit his bottom lip. "I'm sorry, man."

Raph blinked in confusion. "You're sorry? What for? It wasn't your fault. It was the Kraang who made half the ceiling come down."

"But if I hadn't stood in the way, you'd be fine!"

"You weren't standing in the way, Casey, you were in the middle of a fight. Could have happened to any of us."

Casey lowered his eyes to the floor, pressing his lips into a thin line.

"Besides, I have rescued you from getting flattened before. Where comes all this guilt from all of a sudden?" Raph continued.

"Well, it's a total different thing if you rescue me without getting hurt or you nearly get killed."

"I'm fine, Casey," Raph said which made Casey look at him again with a raised brow. "Well, the greater part of me is. And the rest will be soon. So, everything's okay." He mustered Casey, looking for any bruises, but couldn't find any. "You okay?"

Casey nodded. "Thanks to you."

"Well, then I'd say we're good now, right?" He held up his hand for Casey, but his friend hesitated a little before he took it. And his handshake missed the usual force, like he was afraid to hurt Raph. This made Raph a little angry. He was injured, not suddenly turned into porcelain! So he squeezed Casey's hand rather firmly, making him flinch. Seeing how Casey bit down his tongue to not yelp in pain, reconciled Raph with the fact that his friend was treating him as if he wasn't the rough guy he used to know, but some wimpy little brat.

When Raph let go, Casey quickly pulled back his hand.

"Okay, man, I better let you rest now, before Doctor Tooth Gap gets angry again."

"See you, Casey!"

"Bye, Raph!"

When Casey was walking for the door, Raph saw how he shook his hand and moved his fingers to check if they were all still working properly.

This made Raph smirk.

There you go!, he thought. I'm still Raph, the tough guy, no porcelain doll!

But something in the way Casey had looked at him, rubbed him the wrong way. He closed his eyes.

Six weeks…

He sighed.

This is going to be hard.