Author's Note: This is a one-shot depicting the incident Raph mentioned in Chapter 10 of "Flash".
Grudge
Summary: Leo with a grudge is nothing short of terrifying.
It was too quiet for a full-moon night. Raph thought it but didn't say it, not wanting to sound wimpy or, worse, paranoid. That was Leo's job – being paranoid, not wimpy. Raph would never, ever call his eldest brother wimpy, not even to tease, because Leonardo was the definition of not wimpy. He was paranoid, though, which he proved by muttering, "It's too quiet for a full moon."
Yep. Paranoid Leo extraordinaire.
"Dude, you worry too much!" Mikey complained.
They had paused in their patrol atop an apartment in Hell's Kitchen, near the Hudson River Park. It was a little out of their usual patrol grounds but Raph knew his fearless leader had known about his restlessness all day. An extra-long patrol would tucker everyone out and put to bed the ants under the hothead's feet. He was grateful, sure, but he didn't say it because he was Raphael; he punched people more often than he hugged them!
It was getting on towards two in the morning and they'd only caught one car thief and one mugger. No Foot. No Purple Dragons. No other crime, organised or otherwise. It was downright disconcerting.
"I agree with Mikey, Leo," Don chipped in. "If you think it's quiet, maybe we should just head ho-"
A scream punctured the still night and Raph immediately pointed at his genius, elder brother. "Ha! I wasn't the one ta jinx us this time!" he crowed.
"Forget it, Raph!" snapped Leo as he disappeared over the ledge. "Come on!"
The scream was not the only noise: shouts and hollers issued from a sheltered corner of the park, several yards back from the waterfront and the sidewalk. Raph's trained senses picked up on two female voices and at least six male ones. Their quiet night had just gotten interesting.
It was a good night to be a mutant, ninja turtle and he unsheathed his sai before they were even on the scene.
"Carefully," their fearless leader warned in a low hiss as they drew near.
Raph rolled his eyes and growled, "Forget that, Fearless! Those ladies need help!"
"Raph!"
But Raphael didn't listen. He really should get better at that but right now all he could think of was those poor women being terrorised and for what? For some idiots' skewed sense of fun? Not on his watch. He entered the fray and fray it was. Nothing was a prettier sight for him to see than one where tables had unexpectedly turned. Two middle-aged women, as he'd suspected, fought savagely against their seven attackers who were armed with only small knives but the women had their keys in their hands and used everything from their feet to their teeth. A pair of the young-but-not-too-young hooligans was already down, clutching their manhood or retching from well-aimed kicks. As Raph dived at one of the larger scumbags sneaking up behind one of the ladies who might have weighed one-twenty soaking wet, he plunged his sai into the unimportant elbow.
"Let me help you stay down," he snarled into the man's ear, and he cuffed him hard across the head with the butt of his second weapon.
"Shannon!" the gal nearest him screamed to the other.
Raph looked up in time to see Leo come swooping in and neatly cutting down the man who had grabbed Shannon. He hauled her swiftly yet gently to her feet and he caught his hurried command of "Get out of here!"
Don and Mikey showed up then, announcing their arrival with unkind thwacks to the closest men's heads.
Raph watched to make sure the women got away safely and so he didn't notice when one of the previously-downed guys got to his knees and pulled out a revolver.
He did, however, out of the corner of his eye, notice Don move.
"Raph!" his big brother shouted.
"No!" screamed Leo.
There was a sound like a broom handle snapping in the same instant that Donnie tackled him. His head struck the hard ground but he fought the stars as he sat up. "Donnie, what the shell?" he demanded.
It was when he turned his head to glare at his brother that terror seized his heart at the sight of blood. He didn't know where it came from. He couldn't see a wound. All he could see was the blood and his brother's limp body, eyes closed.
His hands fell against his brother's cheeks, cradling the still face. "Donnie? Donnie! Donnie, open yer eyes! Donatello!"
"Leo, no!" Mikey's cry tore his attention away for a moment and he stared, horror and bile rising in his throat, at Leo advancing on Mr. Revolver. Both of his katana gleamed, naked and bright, in his hands, his navy eyes black with a death that he would deliver to the man who had shot their brother.
Then the swords fell to the grass with muffled thumps and the honourable ninja vanished as vengeance permeated the very air.
Holy shell, Leo was gonna kill the guy with his bare hands!
A low moan sounded from somewhere close by. Something between his hands shifted. Raph looked away from his eldest brother for only a second and looked down into soft, if slightly dazed, brown.
"Donnie?" he whispered, scarcely able to believe his eyes as his brother blinked and raised a hand to his head, trying to sit up at the same time.
"Graze," he mumbled.
And it was then that Raph saw where the blood came from: a thin line stretched across Don's temple, red and angry.
His muscles went weak, his bones watery, and he slumped against his brother's chest. "Never again," he rasped. "Don't ever do it again."
Gentle arms curled around him, wrapping him up, and Don said quietly, "You're welcome, little brother."
Raph squeezed his eyes against the hot tears there. "Thanks, bro," he barely managed to say.
"Leo, please! Leo, stop, please!" Mikey's shouts ripped through the air, jarring the two middle brothers out of their moment. He was begging. Why was he begging?
Oh, right. Leo was going to kill a guy for almost killing Donnie.
Raph helped the purple-masked turtle stand and turned back for Leo who had picked up and thrown Mr. Revolver bodily into a tree. By some miracle, the human still stood and he lifted his gun to fire – but Leo was suddenly there, breaking the man's wrist and then his nose in a move too fast to follow.
Leo was not silent as he attacked which was as rare as it was terrifying. His breaths clawed out of his mouth as if imprisoned for eons, his armoured chest heaving with what Raph knew were barely-held-back screams of rage, denial and grief.
Don, whose arm was draped across his shoulders so the genius didn't fall, suddenly shouted, startling Raph: "Hamato Leonardo, stop right there!"
The five words halted everything except maybe Raph's heart as it pounded against his ribs. Leo froze, his right hand curled in the man's shirt and his left pulled back to deliver another blow. Slowly, so slowly, Leo turned his head in their direction. It took a while but black eyes lightened to navy, and his hands visibly trembled as he released the human and stumbled back.
"Don." They all heard the whisper-quiet exclamation.
Raph stepped closer, bringing Donnie with him. Mikey came up alongside Leo, his nunchaku in his belt and Leo's katana in his hands.
But their fearless leader had no thought for his weapons. He closed distance with them as silently as a shadow and took Don's face gently between his hands, turning his head to examine the wound that could have been so much worse but wasn't.
Donnie leaned forward a bit to touch foreheads with Leo. "Can we go home now?" he asked.
Raph watched as Leo closed his eyes for a second or three before saying, "Yeah. I think we're done for tonight."
Releasing their purple-banded brother, he turned away to Mikey, gathered and sheathed his swords and led the way home without another word.
"I can walk okay, Raphie," Don said from beside him and he obediently albeit reluctantly let him go to stand on his own.
As Mikey fell in behind them, Raph glanced to the side where Mr. Revolver lay slumped, broken and bruised against his tree. There was no anger in him, he realised, as he took in the sad victim of his eldest brother's rage. All he could feel was gratitude and relief that four did not become three tonight.
Though, he thought, it might have become two. Their eldest would have been lost to them had he killed in cold blood.
He didn't say it but he thought it: he never wanted to see Leo with a grudge ever again.
End
-:-
Please review.