Authors Note: Was originally going to have Chapters 1 and 2 be only one chapter, but it seemed too long to me.
At the same time, I also believe it's better to have shorter chapters compared to longer ones. If I were a reader, I'd rather have more updates of shorter chapters than wait longer for long ones.
Some Wounds Never Heal
Chapter 2: Holding Out
Donnie looked up and over at Mikey. His brother was standing in the opposite corner, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Alright, alright." Don sighed, taking a wide stance, "Ready?"
Mikey mimicked his brother's stance and a smile spread across his face.
"I'm always ready, bro!"
Trying to be a formidable opponent, Donatello lunged forward wasting no time. Mikey smirked at his poor acting and waited for him to make the first move. Donnie met up to him and swiped with the blade. Eyeing his expected move, Mikey dodged it with ease by leaning back and shot down in a crouch for a leg sweep. Donnie quickly jumped over Mikey, landing behind him. Readjusting the knife in his hand, Donnie twisted around aiming for his back, but Mikey's quick reflexes thwarted his attack. Grinning at Don's shocked expression, Mikey grabbed his wrist and twisted it. The knife slipped out of his grasp and fell to the floor.
"Getting a little slow there, Donny-boy!" Mikey laughed while holding Donnie's wrist in an awkward position behind his shell.
Donatello grit his teeth, he tried to find an exit plan. With Mikey was distracted with his taunting, Don was able to maneuver his hand to grab Mikey's wrist.
"We'll see about that," Donnie smirked.
Spinning around to get Mikey's arm on to of his shoulder, Donnie used that momentum to throw him up and over. Mikey couldn't help but yelp in surprise as he was sent crashing to the ground. Don then ran over to retrieve his discarded blade and looked over at Mikey, smiling.
"Who's the slow one now?!"
Mikey grunted as he got back up. He may have underestimated Don a little, but the match wasn't done just yet.
On the sidelines, Raphael watched his brothers spar. As intense as it was watching them go back and forth at each other, his eyes began to droop. His eyelids felt like heavyweights threatening to drop. Raph blinked wildly in an attempt to stay awake. He couldn't help that his mind kept drifting off back to the nightmare. The dream felt so real. All the sensations he experienced were very convincing; yet, nothing about it made any sense.
That voice… Raph thought. He couldn't place the voice for the life of him, but the deep gravel of the man's voice sticks with him. He couldn't forget those chains. The weight of them felt so real. He could remember feeling the cold metal stinging his neck. Raph shook his head and tried to just blame the weird dreams from being sick. He snapped his attention back to the sparring mat to see Don sitting on top of Mikey's shell. Both breathing heavily as Donnie had him in a headlock.
"Ow! Ow!" Mikey cried, slapping his hand on the ground in defeat, "I give! I give!"
Donnie smiled and released his arm around him. Mikey rubbed his neck and looked at his brother. Don smiled and put out his hand.
"No hard feelings, bro." He said, helping Mikey to his feet.
"Good job, my sons." Splinter praised them from his spot on the sidelines, "You both may come and rest now."
Donnie turned to Mikey and put out his hand to shake.
"Good match, Mikey."
Mikey signed and accepted Don's handshake.
"You got lucky this time."
Donatello put the sheath back on the knife and handed it back to his Sensei. Splinter took the blade and gave them a moment to sit back down. On the other end, Raph side-eyed Leo who was sitting on the opposite side of Master Splinter. Leo smiled as Donnie sat next to him and complimented him on his match. Mikey then came and plopped down next to Raph.
Mikey pouted loudly.
"He just got lucky…"
"What you need is more training, Michelangelo." Splinter responded sternly, looking over at him, "Donatello was able to get the upper hand because you got too confident in your abilities. If you were up against a true opponent, you may have not gotten out so lucky."
"Yes, Sensei." Michelangelo apologized quietly, putting his head down in defeat.
Master Splinter's face softened. Looking at his youngest he knew the struggle of trying to prove himself to his older brothers. With both Mikey and Don have taken their seats at the side of the mat, Splinter stood up and wasted no time continuing their training. As much as he wants them to be practiced, he still has to remind himself that they are still children. Making sure to stay on track with their lessons allowed them to finish on time and give them the rest of the day to spend being teenagers. Still holding the knife in his hand, Splinter looked over at his two remaining sons that haven't sparred. Leo sat silently, eager and willing to take either position Splinter assigned him. Raph, on the other hand, just wanted to go back to bed and skip his turn.
"Raphael."
Raph responded to Splinter's voice. He was anxious of what's to come as he bit the inside of his cheek. Before he knew it, the knife was being presented to him.
"You will be the opponent today." Splinter continued as Raphael took the weapon from him, "Tomorrow, we will do the same thing but switch roles."
Leo switched spots with Splinter and gave him his seat as he took his place on the sparring mat. Raph muttered to himself and got to his feet slowly. Leo watched Raph sluggishness and rolled his eyes. He still assumed Raph was hungover and wasn't going to allow that to hold him back. It was obvious to him that Raph was trying to keep it on the down low. Raphael made it to his side of the mat and unsheathed the blade.
"You ready, Raph?" Leo smirked, poking fun at him a little.
"Don't you get all cocky too, Leo." Raph warned, "It's going to make ya look really stupid when I win."
Raph didn't waste any time and kicked off his back foot to give him a running start. His heart was already going a mile a minute; his lungs trying to keep up with them. As sick as he felt, Raph pushed past it. It didn't matter anymore -his goal was now to defeat Leo. There's no way he was going to let him win. He so badly wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. Lucky for him, unlike Donnie, the knife was more resembling to his sai than to Don's bo staff. It gave him an extra upper hand, as well as being the only one armed.
Leo stood his ground and let Raph come to him. Raph got face-to-face with him and tried to pull a slick move before Leo could notice. Leo swiftly blocked his attack with relative ease. Taking his change, Leo delivered a swift open palm to the center of Raph's chest. Much to Leo's surprise, the blow was fairly effective. The hit caused Raph to sputter and back up coughing. Leo took that moment of distraction to then spin his leg under Raph and hook his foot, causing him to be thrown off balance. Leo delivered another blow to his chest to send him crashing down. The knife slid out of Raph's grip as he tried to catch himself.
"Come 'on, Raph." Leo shook his head, disappointed, "You got to give me better than that!"
Raphael rolled back up onto his knees, still coughing. Sweat poured off of him as he tried to catch his breath.
"Yeah, dude! You gettin' out of shape or something?" Mikey teased from the sidelines.
Leo muttered under his breath -only loud enough for Raph to hear.
"Or maybe you've just been partying too much last night…"
While all this went on, Splinter and Donatello sat silently in their spots, watching intently.
Raphael growled at the comments and pushed himself back up.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Leo…" Raph sneered, "but this ain't over yet."
He charged back at Leo and was able to slip past him to retrieve the knife. They continued the match, each clashing against the other; both struggling to avoid each other blows. Their fight was a lot more intense and competitive as Don and Mikey's. Raph's attacks became more erratic and harder to predict. Leo stayed more on the defense until he could get a better shot. Concentrating on the knife, Leo didn't see Raph's other arm coming in and elbowing him in the stomach. It wasn't enough to hurt or stun him, but it got his attention.
I guess he's sobering up pretty fast at that comment. Leo thought.
Raphael started to tire out from his onslaught of attacks. His breath became more jagged and his vision blurred. Leo swung his arm around to block his next attack. Raph, dazed and light-headed, staggered forward in an attempt to not fall over. The arm Leo threw up to block Raph's attack ended up turning into a square punch to his jaw. An audible gasp can be heard from the sidelines. Raphael's' vision burst into stars, causing him to stumble backwards. Dropping the knife, he fell to one knee. Leo stood there shocked by Raph's sudden move, showing a little more concerned look on his face.
"R-Raph," Leo stammered, "I-I..wasn't expecting you to fall forward like that."
Not getting a response from Raph, he cautiously took a few steps forward. Raph stayed silent and slowly put his hand to his face. His fingers brushed past his lips; he felt something warm. Pulling his hand back, Raph could see blood smeared on his fingertips. The punch caused his lip to bust open.
Raphael grumbled, "Nice shot."
He reached over and slowly picked up the discarded weapon. Struggling to get to his feet, he used his other arm to push up off his knee. The room was eerily silent at Raph's odd behavior.
"Hey, Raph…" Donnie began to stand up. He held his hands up like he was trying to comfort a cornered animal.
"Why don't you sit down. You don't look so good."
Raph glared in Don's direction. He waved his arm at him haphazardly, gesturing him to sit back down.
"'m fine." Raph lied, "I'm not done yet, Donnie."
Sitting back down reluctantly, Don exchanged glances with Splinter. Raph turned his attention back to Leo and wiped the remaining blood on his face with his arm. He charged back at Leo with renewed energy. Leo, still guilty of what just happened, doesn't move. Raph comes within range to attack with the knife, but strong hands grab his wrists.
"I'm not going to fight you anymore, Raph." Leo said sternly, "What's wrong with you?"
Leo was certain now that Raph wasn't just dealing with a bad hangover -no, something was wrong. Raph ignored him and fought in his grasp. I didn't take long of fighting for Raph to slip to his knees, exhausted. As the knife fell out of Raph's hand, Leo released his grip on him. Raph arms came down and firmly planted on the floor. Leaning over, chest heaving, he tried to catch his breath. He could feel the blood pulsating in his ears and his vision blur. In the corner of his eye, he saw Splinter, Don, and Mikey running over to him. He groaned at the impending commotion coming towards him. A hand rested on the back of his shell.
"Raph?" Leo spoke quietly, hunched over next to his fallen brother, "Are you ok?"
Raph, still struggling to catch his breath, swallowed and slowly nodded in return. Leo said something else, but he couldn't hear him. Darkness crept into his vision, ultimately taking over. Concerned voices became hushed whispers; everything seemed so far away. Raph's limbs finally gave out but was caught by strong arms. He couldn't comprehend anything anymore as everything went dark.
Leo looked back at Don, holding his unconscious brother.
"I don't know what just happened?"
Donatello crouched down next to Leo as Splinter and Mikey stood behind. Raphael's whole body was coated in a sheen of sweat. Although unconscious, it was obvious he was still struggling to catch his breath. Donnie softly touched Raph's freshly bruised jaw, only to quickly recoil at his feverish skin. Master Splinter placed his hand on Don's shoulder and broke the silence.
"My son, what is it?"
Splinter's eyes filled with worry. He sensed something this morning was off about Raphael but brushed it aside. Now feeling guilty for making him participate in today's lesson, Splinter felt he should have pulled him aside to ask him if he is alright.
Donnie signed and turned to look at his father. If any of his brothers, Raph was the one that gave him the most grey hairs -figuratively. His constant hot-headed decisions get him into stupid situations on a regular basis. Just last week he came home late one night with a crudely wrapped gash in his arm from a gunshot wound. It took Splinter yelling at him to get Raph to allow him to look at it. Somethings he's surprised Raph's not dead.
"He's got a really bad fever, Sensei. Who knows how long he's had it…" Donnie replied, "We need to get him to my lab fast and get his fever down."
"I'll take him." Leo volunteered quickly.
He bundled Raph up in his arms and stood up. Raphael groaned slightly at being jostled. They quickly made their way to Donnie's lab. For necessity, Don had made a corner of his lab dedicated to a makeshift infirmary. He tried to keep it up to date as possible: a decent-sized hospital bed in the middle; large table with various bandages and other supplies; standing IV poles; and a few larger medical machines. As relieved as Donatello was to have all these things, he was also wracked with guilt. Many of these things were "borrowed" from places like large medical facilities and ambulances. No one in his family ever judged him for it; in fact, they were very thankful for his sacrifices. Having these things were vital to them to survive. Living on the constant edge of attack and battles, the infirmary was used regularly. Thankfully, Donatello has never had to use any of the more serious medical devices in his collection -that is, not yet.
As they rushed to the lab, Mikey made a few comments of Raph's hard-headedness getting the best of him. Leo got Raph inside while Donnie followed close behind. Splinter stopped short of the doorway and looked back at Mikey trailing last.
"Michelangelo, I need you to get a bowl of ice water and some dish towels, quickly!"
Mikey nodded in response and turned around to head to the kitchen. Leo made his way the infirmary corner and gently set Raph down on the bed. Not wasting any time, Don went over to the desk and pulled open one of the drawers. He searched through the contents and pulled out a temporal thermometer.
"Alright Raph, let's see what you got yourself into." Donnie mutter as he walked back to the bed.
He pushed the button to turn on the thermometer and placed it touching Raph's temple. A minute went by and the device gave off a ring. Pulling it away, Don looked at its screen.
"104*F," he sighed, "That's not good. We need to get it down fast."
Right on cue, Mikey came running into the lab. Towels were thrown over his shoulder and the water sloshed wildly in the bowl. He handed the supplies over to Splinter who was sitting in a chair next to Raph. Splinter carefully wet one of the towels in the ice water, wrung it out, and placed it on Raph's forehead. He reacted slightly to its cool touch, but otherwise stayed unresponsive.
Donnie left Splinter and his brothers in charge of wetting towels to cool him off while he went back to the desk drawers. Shuffling around, he pulled out a stethoscope and walked back over. Don placed the earpiece on and placed the other end on Raph's side -in-between his plastron and shell. Out of experience, Donnie learned that placing the diaphragm (a stethoscopes metal, end piece) directly on the plastron, gave an unreliable reading. Their chest plate is far too thick to allow him to hear the lungs properly. Everyone stayed silent as Donnie listened intently for a moment, and then slowly pulled the instrument away.
"What's the verdict, Doc?" Mikey inquired.
Donatello took off the stethoscope and draped it around his neck. He pinched the bridge of his beak and drew in a frustrated breath.
"Classic Raph," Don threw up his hands, "The guy would rather pass out than just ask for help."
Donnie took a second contemplating something for continuing.
"If the high fever wasn't bad enough, his lungs don't sound good as well. I would say bronchitis, but I'm not ruling out pneumonia either. Who knows how long he's had it…"
"Probably out running around with Casey in the wintertime didn't help this situation," Leo added, his arms crossed over his chest.
Although Leo came across frustrated, he was seriously concerned for Raph's well-being. Looking over at him, he could see the bruise on his jaw growing a dark purple. Leo winched at the memory and looked away.
"Do not worry, my sons." Splinter spoke quietly while tending to Raph, "I will watch over Raphael. You may all continue with today's training and go over some katas."
The boys nodded reluctantly and headed out the door, except Donnie, who stayed to talk to Splinter.
"Just come and get me if his fever doesn't go down. I left the thermometer over on the counter. If it seems like he starts wheezing too much, I may need to start some oxygen. Pneumonia makes it hard to breathe sometimes, so I don't want to take any chances. I'll be back in a half-hour to check in."
Splinter smiled at his compassionate, knowledge son, "Thank you, Donatello. I will call you if we need anything."
Donnie exchanged a half smile and walked out of the lab. Splinter turned his attention back to his sleeping son. Using the cloth on Raph's forehead, he whipped the sweat beading on his face.
Why must you always cause so much trouble, my son? Splinted pondered to himself.
There's not a day that goes by where he's not worrying over his children -especially Raphael. He tried to get comfortable in the small chair; enough for him to meditate. Every so often he would stop to check his temperature and re-moisten the towels. Splinter tried his best to do it as gently as possible in not waking him and allow him to rest.
Unfortunately, no rest would come for Raphael this time.
Next Chapter
Chapter 3: The Dreams and Escape
Author's Note: Once again, I thought this chapter would be longer, but the last sentence seemed like a good stopping point. Hope you're enjoying; there's more to come.
Also, fuck punctuation! I spend hours looking up how to use the damn things. I got a folder on my computer full of examples and definitions: Semi-colons, hyphens, hell even Commas. I don't know how people do it? Maybe they're just bullshitting their way through it just like me?
Xo anonymityofaturtle