Disclaimer: TMNT does not belong to me, though I do have some of their merchandise and I love them to bits... er they don't belong to me. This was written for fun and amusement.

Warnings: M for Mature - Death, lots of it, and angst, and very dark things... this isn't a happy place folks I warn you now. Also some turtlecest if you squint, have yet to decide if it will be a reoccurring theme in this story BUT don't be suprised if it is.

Things in Italics between lines are flash backs... otherwise it's Japanese.

Thanks go out to Vuravuru for reading, faving and leaving a comment!

Part One

Ol' One Eye

The late evening lights of the High City glowed like a beacon of prosperity and hope in the distance from what was once Lower Manhattan. Years of conflict between the Gangs of New York left portions of the city in ruins, while other parts prospered. After the earthquake though, along an ancient fault line everyone was sure wasn't going anywhere, the city was split in two… High city, where most of the corporations still did their business and many of the people lived in high rise buildings and sprawling platformed streets raised above the ruins… and Lower City, separated by high walls and a trench filled with angry sea water. Few lived out here in the Lower City, too dangerous; too unpredictable… it was a battle field, a no man's land that showed no one mercy.

Which suited him just fine… he wasn't a man, by human's standards anyway.

Lightning cracked over the boiling skies, highlighting the bombed out buildings, the shattered side walks and rivers of glass and debris. The tide would be coming in soon, and everything below three stories on this side of the island would be inundated once again by the sea. He had learned to live by its rhythms – day and night, high and low. He wouldn't admit it to anyone (not that there was anyone to talk to besides the errant rat or sea gull) but he loved the sea. He loved its smell, its moods, and its power. This love was tempered by the events of a few weeks back; at least he thought it was a few weeks, time blurred often for him.

The early morning sun turned the sea water to a sheet of undulating gray silk, the clouds were ribbons of gold and pink across the sky. His hands shook as they reached down to pick her up, white as porcelain hair the color of copper. In her hands she had tied Casey's mask, so she wouldn't loose it. Her wedding dress was slick to her skin, he thought briefly of Ophelia, how lovely she looked even in death. He knew he should have checked on her sooner, should have seen the signs that April was giving into despair… but what else could either of them feel, they were all the other had left?

Apparently he wasn't enough for her…

His vision blurred, he thought he'd forgotten how to cry, maybe he never really stopped. He found an old billboard, used it as a raft and lay her still body across its surface, sent it out with the tide. He said a prayer, far too familiar on his lips these days, and with a single gesture set the raft ablaze. He watched it as long as he dared, knowing the Foot would see it even in the blaze of the morning light… but he had to at least bid her fair well properly.


From one crumbling roof top to wall to street lamp he leapt and swung, moving through the city a phantom. Behind him the sound of rotors, hover craft moving through the streets in hot pursuit urged him on. The rain started, harsh and fast and he knew he would have to find shelter now or risk once again fighting and fleeing in the rain. His safe houses were running low, supplies and allies all but spent. He knew it would happen, one day; inevitably… time would come for him.

Leaping across another ally he paused on a roof, a wide expanse of a store house. Thunder rumbled, shaking his bones… and turning to look up at the sky he closed his eye to let the fat downpour wash over him. It would be the last, he figured. At nearly thirty years old he was the last, the survivor, the runner… today it would end, and he would go out like he came into the life of the Shredder and his cohorts.

Fighting

The sounds of battle were loud in his ears, fire burning all around them. His sai cut deep, his rage as hot as the fire around him. He would not give in; he wouldn't forget what the Foot had done to his kin, his family, and his world. There was a shout, a cry from behind him and he spun to see what it was.

Shredder held his master, his father, by the throat up above the edge of the tower they had stormed together as a family. He could hear Leo's shout, Mikey's pained wail of despair, all of them calling out to their master. Shredder wasted no words, simply plunged his free hand, with his long savage claws, into Splinter's gut, ripping down, spilling his insides across his boots and his building.

He would never forget the scream of his master as he was thrown from the side of the sky scraper onto the cold streets below…

He grabbed Don by the arm, pulling the shell shocked scienturtle from the scene as they tried to make their escape… vengeance would have to wait, they had to protect what they had left.


Lights came up from the perusing hovercraft, illuminating the figure of the crouching turtle from three sides. His long duster coat fluttered in the breeze, his red bandanna tails snapping to and fro. In one hand, one of his sai, clutched as if it were a part of him, not a weapon but an extension of his hand. In the other, wound in a bandage from a previous injury; was a single katana with tails of blue cloth trailing from the end of the hilt. Troops surrounded him, arming themselves with blasters and melee weapons but none approached. Hate burned in his gaze as he looked around at his enemies, and despite the fact it was there no longer, his eye muscles tried to squint, stopped by the pull of scar tissue over his left side, most hidden by the solid red mask.

The turtle turned his head at the heavy tromp of familiar foot steps, looking over to see Hun leave one of the hovercraft. The big man was more machine now than flesh, taking the upgrades offered by Stockman so he could be the Dragon among Dragons. So he could lay waste to his foes. He'd been put in charge of finding and eradicating the last of the Turtle Menace… and it had taken him nearly eight months to flush him out of every hiding spot he had.

He stood at a window of an old apartment building, just high enough away from the waterline to be safe, just far enough from Foot Patrols to be left alone. It was raining… he wondered if the rain would ever stop. A cough behind him called his attention, turning slowly to look down at his brother beside him. Mikey looked terrible, skin almost blanched of all color save the blush of fever. He was thin, frail, and the slightest movement took almost all the energy he had. April was in the next room, preparing dinner.

"Still rainin bro?" Mikey asked him as he sat back down on the mattress he'd managed to scavenge, taking Mikey's hand. The sickness had lasted months so far, nothing could be done. He'd tried to get into the High city to get some of the antidotes, managed two, the third broken in his pocket… Mikey made April promise that Raph got one. It hadn't been soon enough for Casey though, and Raph knew April resented him for it.

"Yeah, still rainin." He replied. Mikey gave him a weak little smile and it broke his damn heart. "You hang in there Mikey…" he said with a glare, earning a little laugh.

"Don't think... there's much to hang on to." He rasped, coughing again, crimson staining the back of his hand. "I'll tell the guys… ta save a spot for you…" he trailed off, breathe going still.

April came into the room with three bowls of soup to find Raph holding his brother's still and cold body, rocking back and fourth, crying hard enough to rival the rain outside.


"Hello Ol' One Eye." The man-mech said, grinning behind the face mask. None risked being in the rain openly any more, too high a chance of it's acidity to eat through the skin of something as soft as human flesh. "Can you hang around to play?" Hun flicked a wrist, a long blade extending from his forearm, clutched in his steel grip.

His single burning amber eye glared a hate so potent it should set lesser beings aflame. His grin though, wreathed in scarred lips, was like it was in the old days. He didn't speak, merely twirled his katana in one hand and waited. Hun chuckled… then began to laugh, until it was as loud as thunder. Around him he was aware of the nervous foot ninja, of the terrified mercs and Dragons…they'd seen what he could do, some of them lucky enough to know to run… but they'd also seen Hun.

The fight began with the first man to twitch and pull the trigger of his gun, the bullet whizzing towards its target only to be sliced in half by tempered steel and fast reflexes, the two shards continuing on to embed themselves into the flesh of his own comrades. That was all it took and the grand fight began.

Bullets whizzed past his ear as he dove for cover, hiding behind several crated in a Foot warehouse. He looked over to see his brothers, Leo and Mikey, taking similar action. He was still learning to fight with his vision impaired, tended to guard his left and move right a lot. He had to turn almost fully around to spot Don over by the controls of the computer they'd come in to hack, working as fast as he could. He knew he called out a warning, yelling for Don to take cover and got the 'one minute' finger.

There was a laugh, sick and twisted with glee that came from his left. Raph screamed as Hun, looking like some twisted mating of Metal and Man, came sailing over his cover to land between him and Don. Metallic fingers picked up the scienturtle, and squeezed…

That night Don's cries for help, the crunch of his breaking shell rang loud in his ears as he tried to help his brother's tend to their various injuries. He wasn't as good as Don, the guilt already choking his voice. Mikey's fingers took the gauze from his hands and finished the patch job on Leo's leg, Raph's hands shaking far too much to be of any use. They all slept in the lab that night.


Hun surged forward, his massive blade clashing with the sword. Despite the endless battles, the dozens of times he was sure they killed the one eyed bastard, he still moved with a speed and strength that defied the technology Hun had sold his soul to. The blade isn't sharp enough to cut through his exoskeleton but it is all that's needed to cut through the limbs and bodies of his subordinates. The rain made the pebbled surface of the battleground slick and the blood and body parts, the abandoned weapons and bodies made for a lot of obstacles. The stench of death was all around and between swings, taunts and curses; Hun could see the turtle is flagging.

Three days… three days since they'd found his last safe place to hide, since he was shot, since he slept. Three days they'd pushed the last of the turtles, like they had pushed him for years…he remembered the fights way back when there were four, five if you counted Jones, six and seven if you counted the rat and the girl.

He knew he shouldn't be following Leo against his orders, since the Quake he was supposed to be keeping an eye on Mikey who couldn't shake the cold he seemed to have picked up. But, he mused to himself, when did he ever listen to Leo? He hid in the shadows of an old water tower, watching as Leo stood alone among a circle of Foot elite, the Shredder standing directly in front of him. He was too far away to hear the words, but he didn't miss a moment.

Leo knelt down, offering Shredder his swords, he was asking for something, pleading. Shredder's shoulders shook with mirth as he moved forward to take the blades, held them in his hands. He said something; Leo's head snapped up… before Shredder used his own swords to take it clean off his shoulders. It bounced like a deflated basketball across the roof, the body slumping over, crimson pooling everywhere. Shredder stabbed one of the blades in through Leo's shell and motioned for his foot to leave, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Raph's hands didn't shake as he picked up Leo's head and dislodged the sword from his body, taking it all back to the park where they had built a small cemetery for the family. He used his hands to dig the grave in the dirt beside Don and Splinter's markers. He kept the sword, winding Leo's bandanna around the hilt, said a prayer.

"I never told you… I never told you how much… how much you meant to me… anger got in the way." He muttered in the darkness before pushing the dirt back over the body, carving out on a piece of wood Leo's name before turning for what served as home to break the news to April and Mikey.


All that was left was him…was Raphael.

Savage, angry, and stubborn as hell Raphael Hamato – the last of his kind. Leo's recovered blade fit in his hand as well as his sai did these days and inflicted death upon any who drew too close. In his coat Mikey's nunchaku and bandana pressed to his side, should he be disarmed bones would shatter beneath them. The technology he used, his bombs, his tracker, his wrecked bike three blocks back – remnants of Don's influence. What worried Hun, even as he and the others pressed the attack, was what the damn savage carried from his father…

"Hold still already!" Don's voice urged, even as he thrashed against them. It hurt! He couldn't see right and it hurt to holy hell. "Leo, Mikey hold him down!"

It took them both to keep him still as Don worked on the stitches, sewing his eye lid shut. There was nothing they could do for his eye; the Shredder's blows to their brother's face had ripped it apart, leaving terrible gashes across the left side. They had no medicine to stop the pain as Don was forced to remove the organ before it became infected, nothing to dull the ache as he replaced the space with something to fill the void so it wouldn't be come infected. There was nothing they could do to stop the pain running Raphael's voice raw as they tended to the injury and held him down.

Days later, after having to be rendered unconscious, he woke not in the little infirmary they had or his room… but in Splinter's inner sanctum. He couldn't stop himself from blinking, even if it caused an ache across is face. The room was filled with incense smoke, and his master was… writing with it in the air. His one eye went wide as he watched the words become solid, a strip of paper with delicate writing across its surface, before dropping slowly to the table in front of his master.

"How are you feeling, my son?" The wizened rat asked, turning to look at his boy, trying hard not to wince. Half of his head was wound in bandages, the expression in that one eye making him look terribly young.

"How… how'd ya do that?" his voice was thick from days being asleep and healing. He saw a gentle smile cross his master's lips.

"I will show you."


Above them the storm churned and writhed, lighting was more frequent and thunder came so soon after the flash his foes were trying to lower their profile on the roof, to not be hit. Green lips pulled into a thin smile; he felt the cool press of wet paper on the inside of his wrist. His breath was a whisper, only Hun's sensitive audio's picked it up. The words were in Japanese, but his on board computer was kind enough to translate for him.

"Raphael the One Eyed Dragon asks this seal… answer me… who are you?"

"Get him before it…!" Hun cried, knowing what those words meant. Dragons rushed in too late. A blue flame flickered from the inside of the wrist holding the sai and Raphael spun in a tight circle letting the weapon go. Electric light curled around the prongs as it sunk deep into Hun's metallic skin, the smell of Ozone overpowering. Above lightning danced in the clouds and came crashing down, hitting the pommel of the weapon and filling Hun with light. Raph watched even as he fought, and mused idly he'd never seen someone glow from the inside before. With a flick of his wrist he called his weapon back to him, it faded from where it had been stuck in the now stinking metal armor and baked flesh to his hand in time to deflect and disarm a sword toting ninja. One down, dozens more to go.

His wounds hurt, his injured knee threatened to collapse beneath him. He was tired, hungry, sore… but too stubborn to lie down and die. He owed it to them to keep fighting to the end.

Reality slowed in degrees, as Hun's body fell backwards onto the roof, electricity still arching over the exoskeleton, the body burning and the scent of fuel filled the air… the crack of lightning and thump of thunder, the screams and cries and reports of guns around him…it all slowed, even the sound of his heart in his ears. He knew it, it was time. Something, in the next instant, would take his life and he could join his family in their corner of heaven… or watch them from the depths of Hell.

Light, brilliant and blinding but not born of lightning filled his vision and he closed his eyes, welcoming oblivion.

"So, knucklehead, you think we're ever gunna win this?" Casey asked as they sat on the roof of April's building, drinking beers and passing the time. Below the family was gathered to celebrate April's birthday.

"I think we can." Raph said with a smirk, taking another sip of his brew. Casey had already killed three, he was still nursing his first. "You gunna ask her?"

Casey rubbed the back of his head and for the fifth time in the last twenty minutes, pulled out the little velvet box he had in his pocket. Raph nudged him with his elbow. "The girl loves you; you love the girl… for cryin out loud ask her already!"

"Ask me what?" both flinched and turned to see the family gathered, Mikey snickering behind April, Leo leveling his 'what are you doing' look at Raph and the beer, Don rolling his eyes from behind Mikey. Both men on the edge of the roof stood up, Raph sheepishly hiding the bottle of beer behind his back, earning a worse glare and crossed arms from their leader.

"Well… ya see April…" Casey stammered, getting shoved closer by his best buddy. "I know we're involved with some fairly weird stuff an all… and I ain't exactly a perfect catch… but" he held out the box, getting down on one knee (not his bad one he was smarter than that) and offered it to her. "Would you marry me?"

Everyone was quiet as April reached out and took the box, opening it to marvel at the beautiful ring Casey had picked out. She smiled and slid it on her finger before tackling the hockey loving ape man squealing "Yes!" in his ear.

"Wooohoo!" Mikey cheered, throwing his hands in the air, letting all of them know it was ok to start cheering them on and breaking the silence, even as the newly engaged couple were in the middle of a lip lock. "I've never been to a wedding before! Hey April can I be in it… like… best man or something?"

"Already got that spot called Doufus." Raph said, smiling despite his words.

"Ok I'll be maid of honor then… I mean of all of us I do have the legs to pull a dress off." That earned a groan from all the brothers, "Well Leo's close second, I mean he could pull off heals at least, don'tcha think?"

"Mikey…" Leo rolled his eyes, smacking himself in the forehead.

"Why don't we save the wedding planning for later and leave the happy couple a roof top alone." Don said, tugging at the still ranting little brother. "And you can tell Sensei the news first." He added earning a cheer and being dragged along by the arm instead of the other way around.

The couple was in the middle of some serious tonsil hockey. Raph walked past them and nudged Leo in the shoulder.

"You in heals… I can see it." It earned him a smack upside the head and a laugh. All in all, a good night for the Hamato family.


The world tilted around him violently, his stomach clenched, his balance shot and he had no choice but to fall to his knees, hearing the bone crunch under the sudden weight of his body. He pitched forward, gasping for air, his weapons falling from his grasp. There was a ringing in his ears, it was hard to hear but wherever he was it was loud, smelled weird and he wasn't alone.

Water and blood dripped from his clothing and body onto the cold concrete floor beneath him, the difference in air pressure and temperature made him shudder and his ears pop. He coughed a few times, trying to hold back the urge to puke… he inhaled and wrinkled his beak… apparently if he wasn't alone someone else wasn't able to hold their lunch in. He looked up, blinking his remaining eye myopically as he tried to get used to the bright lights above.

Around him were high walls, a story or two at least, surrounding a large open space full of dozens of people. He blinked a few times; not believing his vision… not just people …they were all turtles.

Confused, weapon toting, mutant turtles of varying ages in red bandannas. Those on their feet were looking around angrily, those not were trying not to puke more then they already were.

"Oh shell…"