Four hours felt like a lifetime to Mikey; it felt like a second to Leo; and Raphael couldn't even process time at this point—had it been four hours? Or a day? Or a minute...

But after four hours something happened; a hatch opened from up above.

Mikey glanced up, wincing from the blinding ceiling lights and an object was dropped down to land in the middle of the small room.

The three of them looked to the center as the object clanged onto the tiled floor; there was no mistaking one of Raphael's sai.

Raphael felt a nostalgic emotion overtake him but it was quickly replaced with a more powerful thought and he looked from his weapon to his brothers.

At that moment, Mikey and Leo looked from the Sai to Raphael, meeting his eyes. They saw a dark look cloud Raph's eyes and their stomachs churned from it.

"Raph-" Leo said quickly before Raphael lunged forward toward the Sai.

Mikey and Leo jumped toward the weapon as well, causing Donnie to slump from his slumber against Leo's shoulder and hit the ground. "Wha-?" Donnie muttered, blinking his eyes open and glancing toward his brothers.

Raphael grabbed the weapon first, pulling back to his corner of the room while Leo and Mikey felt their chains tighten. Their chains were fed through small holes in the walls behind each of them, tightened and loosening to accommodate their captor's intentions.

Making a hiccuping sound, Mikey sat up straighter while Leo continued to reach out to Raphael who was staring down at his Sai.

This is it, Raphael thought, this is how it should be...

He then turned the Sai around and pointed the tip of the blade against his throat.

"Raph!" Mikey's voice was hoarse and he lunged forward again but the leash wouldn't let up and a volt went through his body.

"Stay with your brothers, Mikey." Raph muttered shifting further away and feeling the prick against his skin. He glanced over to them but wished he hadn't.

"You're my brother too..." Mikey whined, tugging at his chains. "I don't blame you! Please, I don't! We need to stay together!"

"Listen, Raph! Please." Leo added and Raphael looked to his older brother who was still reaching out. "You would never do this. The Raphael I know would never do this!"

"The Raphael you knew would never hurt you!" Raph shouted, feeling a painful grip on his heart. "But look what I did to you!"

Michelangelo hiccuped as tears fell and he tried his best to ignore the shocks, jerking his chain to get closer. "Stop it-Stop it! Stop it!" He yelled.

Donnie stayed back, crouching down and quietly watching. He couldn't see much from this distance—his glasses were smashed during the fight before they ended up here—but he knew what was going on. He felt constricted and he looked away to follow his chain with the tips of his fingers. He fingered one of the loops and closed his eyes, listening to them but afraid of contributing to the conversation. What would he say? Would he tell Raphael to stop or encourage him to continue? He was afraid to open his mouth and find out the answer.

Raphael was hesitating, that much was for sure. He didn't want to die. He really wanted to stay with his brothers—make sure they were safe and okay. But he was a weapon against them. Maybe protecting them meant ending himself.

"Don't you dare." Leo's voice was icy now. He could practically hear Raphael's thoughts screaming at him. "Think about what your doing. Do you think it's going to help anything?"

"I'm a monster—"

"Don't even say that!" Mikey shouted.

Leo kept his tone cold. "They'll leave your body here to rot with us." He said. "They'll find other ways to hurt us. You dying will not make this any easier on us—it'll make it worse. We can't lose you."

Raphael closed his eyes and he thought about how much pain he would experience from a sliced throat. He thought about how, when that pain ended, he would be set free from the images he is now forced to live with.

But Leo was right. They would be left alone without him. They would find other ways of torturing them.

Raphael lowered the weapon slightly...but he didn't want to get off that easy. He pulled the blade away from his throat and gave his thigh a deep gash before throwing his Sai to another corner of the room away from them.

It was quiet all for Mikey's hiccuping.

The gash in Raphael's thigh caused his blood to drip onto the floor where smears of dried blood from his brothers had collected. He caused them to bleed in the worst way imaginable. It seemed only right to cause himself to bleed as well. It burned just the way he deserved.

He was frozen for a moment, just staring at his wound, but then he moved after some inner battling and began to crawl over to his two brothers who were still reaching out to him. He could hear his chain cranking from the other side of the wall behind him and restraining him from embracing his brothers. He couldn't get close enough but he reached out his arm and was able to touch Leo's hand.

Mikey laid down to reach out further but he could only get as far as Leo's wrist so he whined and grabbed Leo's wrist, looking to Raph.

They knew that eventually their chains would slack and they would get the opportunity to hold each other again...but that wasn't a time they were exactly looking forward to.

Donnie curled up tighter into himself and blinked the tears from his eyes. The Raphael he knew...the Leo and Mikey he grew up with...His brothers...They weren't the same anymore. And he knew deep down in his gut that they would never be the same again. How could they possibly get over this? He was scared. He couldn't see a bright future ahead of him any more. It was bleak and depressing and filled with painful questions. He was glad Raphael tossed the Sai to the farthest corner from them. He wasn't sure what he would do if he knew he was in reach of it.