Thank You

Raphael of TMNT

Short Story

Like dominoes, everything falls down after the first one trips.

Twenty years ago, Splinter died.

And everything began to tumble down from there.

First, Donatello began to work on his inventions furiously. It was his way of handling Splinter's death. He locked himself up in his room for hours on end. He didn't come out to eat, or for personal hygiene (at least no one saw him). Everyday was a new invention. Without any use at the lair, he sent them to big-name companies and kept his personal favorites in his laboratory.

Next, Michelangelo had left the lair to stay with Casey and April. He got sick and tired of his game system (which wasn't fun anymore), and the way Don was distancing himself from the rest of the brothers. He also couldn't stand the atmosphere in the lair without Splinter. So he left to a more comfortable environment. There, he would start his career as an author, a dream long deferred.

Then Leonardo left the lair. He left for Japan to train harder and get stronger. That was the place he had always wanted to live at. He even said that he would stay in Japan for the rest of his life, and it would become his homeland and his final resting place. With him were Splinter's remains. Leo knew that Splinter would've wanted Japan to be his final resting place too. So, the leader left, and that was the end of that.

About a year ago, Donatello had moved his lab because he felt that he was being limited in space. So, he packed and moved to an abandoned dump.

As for Raphael, he stayed in the lair by himself. He found it comforting to be in his home environment rather than in a dump, at Casey's, or in Japan. What was even better was that he had the place to himself. No one else but himself. Of course, sometimes Michelangelo or Donatello paid him a visit, but they only stayed for five minutes.

It was his job to continue protecting the city he so loved. It was the same routine and the same routes. The only difference was in number. Instead of four protectors, the city now had one. Only Raphael protected the city now while everyone else had a new life. Everyone else but him.

Sometimes, Raph thought that everyone had grown up except him. Everyone else had moved on to something bigger while he stayed at the lair. He wished that he could get away from being the protector of the city. But he knew that there was no one else to protect the city. So, for the sake of the place he loved and called home, he stayed.

When everything is gone, how could one carry on?

He looked out into the rain with half-closed eyes. His vision about to fade into blackness, darkness. He felt the sky water mix with his blood, and saw the ugly red color stain the graffiti-painted alley. He wanted to close his eyes for a while, just for a little while, and maybe he'll see his father again.

No, he thought stubbornly. I can't die right now. So he forced himself to get up. No matter how much pain it caused his body, his mind told him to continue. He would have to be quick if he wanted to live. Don's so-called laboratory was five miles away.

He tried to move his legs, and only managed a small walk. With an annoyed groan, Raph tried to run, but found it too painful. An injured turtle could only take so much suffering.

He fell down again, just when he was almost out of the alley. Just when...

Footsteps. The sound of splashes in the puddle caught his full attention. He waited in horror of the inevitable. The sound of screams, the sound of fear. In a desperate attempt, he tried to move back into the alley and hoped the person or persons didn't see him.

"What's that?"

Too late. Might as well try to play dead.

"I don't know. Is it dead?"

"I don't think so."

"What do you think it is?"

One of the persons got down and intently gazed at him. Raph didn't see it, but he knew it from the shivers going down his body. A sudden pain surged through his arm and leg, and he realized that the other persons were stabbing him with his/her hands, an attempt to get a reaction.

"He's dead, man."

"How do you know it's a he? It might be a she."

"It's a he."

"No, it's a she."

"He."

"She."

Will you just shut up and leave? And of course I'm a "he"! Raph mentally shouted. His ears were hurting now from their bickering. He felt another surge of shivers travel down his body.

"It's still alive," a feminine voice said.

"How do you know, oh great teacher of medicine?"

The girl touched him on his upper lip, feeling the air he was silently breathing out. "He's still breathing."

Oh, shell! Time for Plan B.

With as much effort as possible, Raph made moaning sounds, low and frightening. Sure enough, he heard the persons gasped. Then they were screaming and yelling like little girls (well, one of them was a girl) down the street. Raph chuckled a little. That plan never failed to amuse him.

His attention turned to the bigger task at hand. Getting to Don's so that he could help patch him up. He didn't try to get up again. He might end up fall in the street this time. He could just imagine what chaos that would cause. But if he didn't get up, he just might die there in the alley. He sure wasn't going to let an alley be his last resting place. He prepared to stand up no matter how much pain his body would have to endure.

Then he heard footsteps again. Coming from the direction of where the persons had ran off screaming like girls. Was this a different person? With the rain, it was hard to tell. He couldn't smell scents in the rain.

"You're still alive," she said softly as she kneeled down beside him.

Yep, it was the girl from before.

There was no point in using a plan. There was no plan for this kind of situation.

Raph turned to her, on his right, and watched her eyes as she ran her fingers over the huge cut on his upper arm. Never once did she look at him in the eye. Maybe she was too occupied with his injury.

Maybe she didn't want to look at him at all.

"This is no good. We gotta get you somewhere dry. But if I try to bring you anywhere, someone is bound to notice." She bit her lower lip in frustration as she looked around for help or to confirm that no one else was around. She looked back at the cut. "I didn't go through all these years of schooling for nothing."

She grabbed his arm, rather forcefully, and swung it over her shoulder. She almost fell from his weight. Despite her small stature, she was quite strong. She was able to drag him all the way to her little house on a big hill.

It took only one sun to melt the snow. It takes only one kind gesture to melt millions of frozen hearts.

Ain't you scared? Raph wanted to ask, but he was too weak to waste energy on talk. He had to rest so that when night fell, he could leave. Leave this foolish human and live in isolation again. He and she would never meet again.

His eyes were half-open and he was only half-conscious of the woman who was nursing him. After she had cleaned the wounds on his arm, she wrapped it in bandages. Never once did her attention digress from him, and never once did she look him oval in the eye. All she did was focus on his wounds. His physical ones anyway.

"There. Finished. Tomorrow, you'll be free to go," she said with relief. She grinned at him, finally looking at his half-conscious eyes. Then she quickly left.

"Thank you," Raph was barely able to make out when she was gone. He closed his eyes and allowed sleep to enchant him with her charms.

Since it is rare to meet a truly kindhearted person...

The next morning he was gone from her apartment as soon as he opened his eyes again. Without a word, he left the woman who had nursed him. But not without leaving a note behind telling her, "Thank You," and what not.

Raph was just glad to be off her chest.

He went back to the lair and watched the news, watching the daily crimes and the daily "Wanted" criminals carry on their shameless acts. How he hated those criminals.

When he was alone, he was left with a lot of time to think. So he soon came to realize that criminals did crimes either for attention, for the fun of bloodshed, personal gain, or simply because they wanted to for no reason whatsoever. He could forgive those petty criminals, but he hated those other ones who did things so unforgivable.

This made him content about being NYC's protector. Protecting the good, working folk of NYC. Like that woman who nursed him.

Her face came up behind his vision. He began to wonder again. i Why? /i was the question of the moment. The only answer he could come up with was that she was a goodhearted woman. But even the most goodhearted would shriek in his presence unless they got to know him. The nurse didn't even ask for his name or ask anything of him. All she did was her so-called duty. In fact, he didn't even know her name.

"Oh well," he said to himself, stretching and preparing to start his daily training.

Still, the question rang in his head. But in the end, it was useless to ask. The chances of meeting her again were like winning the lottery.

You should cherish the memory forever.

Two years passed.

No. I can't die now. I can't, Raph thought stubbornly through the pain in his chest. He winced and groaned, clenching the wound to help stop the blood from escaping. But he had lost so much blood already. He was sure he was going to die. No. I won't die like this. I WILL NOT die like this, all alone and miserable.

He leaned against a wall for support, but ended up falling on it. He slid down and sat, panting heavily. The smell of red filled his nostrils. He loathed that smell most of all, how dirty it smelled. Especially coming from him. At least it wasn't from some human he couldn't protect.

Raph closed his eyes and sensed the perimeter around him. He found nothing strange. After all, he was in an abandoned alley, the exact same one as two years prior. Just thinking about it made memories reappear.

He never did get to see that woman again. But he thought about her everyday. He didn't think of her as in a romantic way. She was younger than him, much younger. And he didn't believe in love at first sight. But he thought about her reactions and her reasons for those actions. He said to himself that he would meet her again someday and ask her, mutant to human.

Footsteps.

The saddest way to die is to die alone, wouldn't you agree?

He tensed, and hoped it wasn't one of the gang members again. He was not in the mood, or state, for another unfair battle.

No. This sounded like one person. And it was approaching him cautiously, softly, and slowly. Most likely it was someone else, maybe a person who liked to freak shows and circuses. Maybe it was a freak too.

But I'm a bigger freak, Raph thought with a small chuckle.

"So, it's you again."

Raph's eyes blinked open. He turned toward the voice and saw her. That woman from two years again. She was smiling sadly as she looked down on him. She kneeled down beside him, and they stayed in that silent state for a few years of a second.

"Two years ago," Raph started, "you saved me. Why?" He knew he was loosing grip of the sands of time in his hourglass.

"Because I'm a nurse. I couldn't just leave you like that, y'know? I had to help you. If I didn't, then I wasn't fulfilling my job as a nurse." She was so blunt and straightforward that it almost frightened him. Not many people like her existed. In fact, he didn't think they existed at all. "I don't know think I can save you now though."

He chuckled a bit, despite the cirsumstances. "Everything ends at one point, right?"

"Yes. It does. "

He was caught off guard. Sadness was clearly audible in her words. "Why are you here now?" His voice was already starting to fade.

"Because I know you wouldn't want to die alone," she said. "Dying alone is the worst way to die."

"You got that right." His vision was too. "Thank you."

"So, I guess you're about to leave?"

He was already gone.

"It was nice finally being able to talk to you."

She didn't leave immediately. She stayed for another ten minutes, as if she knew that his spirit hadn't left yet.

"You're welcome," she said when she got up to leave. She looked to the moon and stars, and knew that there was another one added to their ranks. "And thank you too."

Even though he knew that she was looking beyond him, he felt like she was looking at him too. He smiled gratefully. "You're welcome."

For all you have done, and all that you wanted do but time didn't allow you to, thank you.