Disclaimer: Fanfiction. I do not own tmnt

A/N: Thank you for reading.

Settled Dust

Part 2

...

Impatient

Hot-tempered

Outside, the storm was nowhere near slowing down. What time was it anyway? Two? Three in the morning? Hopefully it'd stop soon, the puddle on the floor by the windows was gradually becoming a lake.
Whatever, not that it mattered as much as the problem at hand. He wasn't going to let Leo get away with trying knocking the teeth out of him, that's for sure.

"Heh..." Raph spat blood into the dust. In the shadows it looked black as ink, spreading and making a mess on the tiles under his hand "Ain't this familiar?" Raph looked up, bloodied hand dropping from his face as he gave his brother a red smile. Leo's eyes widened.

"What's it gonna be?" Raph spat again and began to rise. "You lookin' for a rematch, brave and wise leader?"

Stricken, Leo opened and closed his mouth like a baffled three-year-old.

"No."

"No?" The younger turtle hooted.

Fearless shook his head, clearly disturbed by the other's smile. "Look, Raph," he sighed "I shouldn't have- Splinter didn't send me after you to-."

Sent?

SENT?

"OH HO! Splinter sent ya?" OH! Now Raph DID laugh. He laughed so hard he fell back on his ass again, letting Leo soak up the hysterics from his view above.

That was too rich! Good try, Splinter. Making him believe it had been Leo's idea to follow him here? Following because big brother cared about him? That Leo had truly been concerned? All that fake gentle and calm to get him back to the lair? He should've known. No wonder the jerk cracked so easily! He was still pissed about the fight! Leo didn't want to make up! But he'd be a good little junior and follow daddy's orders right up until the family rebel got in his face, NO! Couldn't stand for that! Raphael had a fuckin' PLACE, didn't he?

The emerald turtle continued to laugh.

"Stop it." Leo snapped. "Enough! What's wrong with you- "

RRRuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrkkkkkkkkkkshhhh

Raph's laughter died, his facing turning up towards the ceiling. Whatever that noise was, it didn't sound good. The walls behind him vibrated and howled in warning. No no no not good at all.

Just above their heads, a tiny crack had grown into a destructive line going from one side of the room to the other. The vibrations quickly added to the distress. Dust and debris broke free from the crevasse and coated the space. In the harsh stormy wind, the building wailed with a noise loud enough to deafen them both.

"Raph..." his brother whispered, crouching down and eyeing the walls.

"Yeah, I hear it."

"Give me your hand," Leo reached out to his younger brother only to be harshly slapped away.

"I don't need your damn help!" He shouted. Leo frowned and leaned back, the look on his face somewhere between guilt and irritation.

"Hurry, then. I don't think this place is gonna hold up much longer"

"Then leave."

His brother blinked, double-taking before hissing "This is serious, Raph."

"I said I don't need ya." Was his own pissy reply. He felt sick. Achy sick. PUKEY sick. Usually he could take a hit to the middle, but dammit! The older turtle had gotten him good. Always knew right where to hit him, it seemed.

"Please..." Over the noise, Leo's voice had reversed back to its previous gentle prodding. Not begging... never begging. Leo never begged.

The Sai wielding brother dropped his head and growled at the mess around him. Dizzy. He felt fucking dizzy and it didn't look like he had much of a choice...

Well Fine. Let Leo be the hero. Let him drag Raph home and once again be seen as the perfect sibling... perfect son! Their loving little savior.

Angrily, the younger brother reached out his hand, "Tfff whatever-" This wouldn't change anything. Just wait till Fearless got him home. He'd make the prick wish he'd never been bor- "SHIT!"

Before Raphael's hand could even touch Leo's fingertips, a large metal beam gave way and crashed thunderously down through the ceiling beside the turtle's body. The sound it made was absolutely horrifying, screaming metal and falling wood and plaster mixed with the rain and thunder. He instinctively scrambled back, but the beam broke through the floor with unimaginable force, dragging wires, plaster, and tile down with it.

"RAPH!"

The walls on either end of the room cracked as the beam continued its destructive journey to the floor below them, taking out another vertical beam on its way. Sparks and dust created a dark fog, making the already unlit room in the middle of the night pitch black.

"Raphael! Your hand!" His brother cried out from the darkness.

"No. NO!" Raph desperately clawed at the rubble. It was sucking him down like quicksand, catching one of his legs and nearly crushing it. A spark flashed in his face and something solid smashed hard into his side. It happened so fast... he didn't have the time to scream.

"RAPHAEL!"

He bit his already bleeding lip and continued to kick and claw, holding for dear life onto the leg of an old desk that had found itself pinned between the cracked floor and the dropped wires of the next ceiling. The pain was unbearable, his stomach lurched, his world swam, but suddenly arms were around him holding him in place. A hand clamped around the back of his neck shook him, sliding across his face and tapping his jaw.

"Raphael? Raph? Bro, can you hear me?..."

"...Raph?"

... His sai embedded itself into his older brothers left bicep. Dark blood pumped and bubbled up around the metal as Leo let out a howl that made Raphael freeze. His mind blanked and, for a couple of seconds, all Raph saw was the wound. He let go of the handle and stared, his face scrunching up in confusion. Had that really been him? Did he just...? But the building... When?

Time to reflect was over as a powerful kick smashed into the younger turtle's rib cage. He was thrown back with the force of it, landing on his shell a good ten feet away from his bleeding brother. Raph wrapped his hand around his suit, feeling the dent that was now pressing into his side. Taking a few breaths to steady the pain, Raph lifted his head to where the blue-banded turtle was pushing himself up on his knees, his right hand pulling at the slick silver under his collar bone.

"You bastard" Leo gasped, still pulling. That was a new one. Leo never swore... never swore 'cause it wasn't something daddy would be proud of. "Y-You sickAHHH! ffff-Mmmrrr-You unimaginable-"

He couldn't bring himself to move, to speak, to help, to do anything but watch in horrifying silence as his older sibling yanked the sai from his chest and flicked his right hand out before him, spraying flecks of red across the rooftop.

"You'd kill me without a second thought." He hissed between clenched teeth. "Your own brother, Raphael?"

His mouth opened and closed like a drooling toddler. "No!" he wanted to protest. "Of course not!" He wanted to scream, but how could he defend himself? How could he possibly make what had just happened between them right again? He hurt Leo. He hurt his oldest brother. Not a slice or a punch or a concussion, no... He'd stabbed him. Stabbed Leo! The fuck had he been thinking? What had come over him? This couldn't be real!

Sure he'd been mad, but for an argument to get this out of hand wasn't something Raph could've thought up in his dizziest nightmares. He wanted to puke at the sight of the blood... that hole in Leo's body, the blood on the ground, the cold night air, the anger, the hate, the monster, the bad guy, the murderer, the psychopath, the- the... the-

"Raph. Please, open your eyes."

His world tilted. The scene in front of his eyes darkening around the edges and being blurred by black dots that slowly faded into the picture.

"Raphael," He heard, muffled under the sound of his own erratic breathing. "This was my fault. I shouldn't have- I can't call Donnie. I lost the cell. Please, wake up"

Yes, yes, he had stabbed his own brother. How could he? What had he done? What would his father think? What would his brothers say? Leo would never forgive him. What if he was as crazy as they all said? He was scared! He was dizzy! He was too warm and too cold and freaking the fuck out!

"Raph?" He heard his brother again, but didn't see him. He couldn't see anything. Just felt the world collapse under him, his legs giving out, and the sway of his stomach

"...RAPH!"

"Raph! Hey!" A heavy hand pushed on his plastron. Holding him down. His eyes snapped open, a world of blurry blobs coming into focus.

Leo.

"Hey hey, easy. You're alright." The older turtle soothed, squeezing his brother's shoulders so tightly Raph thought they'd break. "How are you feeling?"

"How do you THINK I'm feeling?!" He wanted to respond, but instead swallowed the bile rising up in his throat and shook his head. He was outside, obviously. The rain was still coming down pretty hard, soaking his mask and stinging his eyes. Above him, much to his slight relief, was a very healthy, non-stabbed, but worried looking Leonardo. The older turtle had him lying down, the top half of his shell settled neatly across Leo's lap.

"Ugh!" Raph sneered and pushed to sit himself up. "Like your damn damsel in distress," He coughed.

"Easy, tough guy'." His brother smirked and nodded to the red and blue lights below. "Busy night for them."

"Yeah? " Raph pushed and crawled away from his brother's arms, standing and leaning over the metal railing to watch the fire trucks create a barricade around the condemned building. He wanted so badly to puke... Anything to get rid of the twist in his gut and the ache in his side. Why couldn't the earth hold still for three seconds?! Figures. Nothing tonight had been going his way. Waking up in his brothers arms? Could this night get any worse? He'd passed out... Passed out like a little cowardly girl and it embarrassed him!

Leo must've found a way to get him out of there. They were seated on a fire escape, six or seven stories up, a few buildings over from the old collapsing office. Sirens blared and a small crowd gathered around the police cars below, curiosity getting the better of them as they stood out in the pouring rain to watch the fiasco.

Behind him, Fearless cleared his throat.

"They'll wake up the entire street. We'd better move out."

a moment later he pressed "Raph?"

"Yeaah, I heard ya, douchebag." Just because they lost their playground, didn't mean the fight was over.

Another few minutes ticked by before Fearless sighed and stood beside his brother, his eyes focused on the blue and red lights below. "I'm sorry... for what I did to you. There was no excuse for it."

Raph said nothing, glancing over at his brother's furrowed brow.

"I'd lost control." The master ninja let out a huff of air into the chilly rain. "I felt and I acted, but, I swear, whatever that was, whatever I thought I was achieving back there by attacking you, it was a mistake." Raph's eyes widened. "I don't want a rematch with the Nightwatcher. I don't want to even look back at that night with any thought other than a mistake. No apologies, no what ifs, no rematches and hostility... And you have been trying. You have been better about your anger... I know how hard it can be. Tonight's proof! I'm not perfect."

There was a pause, and Leo continued "I care about my brothers. I love every single one of you, even Mikey." There was supposed to be humor there, but it died, falling flat and doing nothing to cut the thick tension of the moment. Raph's fists clenched and unclenched, his jaw set like stone. Leo could talk all he wanted... it meant nothing. He knew the truth. He wouldn't be fooled ag-

"Raphael," Raph jumped at the touch on his upper arm, a light squeeze from his brother's hand . "I don't want this to come between us anymore... Brother."

He didn't believe him. He wanted to, but... There was too much between them now. They were on this never ending roller-coaster ride, the two of them. They'll never see completely eye to eye and they'll never stop trying to get at each other's throats.

But he could pretend, for another day at least,

"Me neither."

that everything between them would be ok.