Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
Something was bugging him. A continuous, annoying voice in his head that said something was happening. He didn't exactly know what, and at the moment he didn't really care. He was sleeping, and things rarely motivated him enough to wake up.
That being said, a soft touch to his arm seemed to do the trick. It took him a second to realize that the only one down here with him was Leo, so that meant Leo wanted something.
His emerald eyes opened slowly, and he turned to see what Fearless wanted. Leo was still leaning on him for the most part, but he looked better. At least, Raph thought so . . . that didn't really say much. And a bright light shone in Leo's face.
"Is that my T-Phone?" Raph asked, pushing himself further up. Apparently, he had been so far into la la land that he had managed to fall over onto his side. Whatever. He felt like it was a good nap.
As soon as he tried to move though, he felt the tension that the nap had brought. He felt stiff. Raph wasn't sure how long he had slept, but it was apparently enough to bring awareness to exactly how beat up he managed to get. His head especially . . .
He ignored it, at least as best as he could, going back to why Leo was holding up the busted T-Phone. He was actually surprised to see it. He hadn't exactly remembered grabbing it, which meant Leo must've.
Raph peeked over his brother's shoulder, completely expecting to see the blank screen he had seen back when he first checked for a signal. But, that wasn't it. His eyes lit up, a relieved smile popping up onto his face.
"It must be . . . because we moved to higher ground . . . or something." Leo said, reading the message that was taking up the entire screen. Messages to be more precise. From multiple people, too. Mikey, Don, April, and even Casey. They were all looking for them.
"Dude! Where are you?!" - Mikey
"Are you guys alright? April came and got us, we're on our way." - Donnie
"Raph, if you answer tell me the situation. Where you're at, how you guys are, you get what I mean" -Donnie
"Raph! Answer! Now! C'mon man." - Casey
We're all looking for you two. Splinter too. Just hang on, guys." - April
"We should probably try to contact them." Raph said, reaching for his phone. Leo didn't really put up much of a fight with giving it to Raph, but dropped his arm limply in his lap after the device was out of his hands.
"I already tried." Leo said quietly, staring at his feet, "It's like . . . the signal is only going . . . one way. We can't send . . . but we can receive . . . messages."
While Leo spoke, Raph kept trying to get the phone to work. Pressing random buttons after his first attempt to send something failed. It was a simple message. "Lost in sewers. Explosion. Leo's hurt. Is tracking working? We need help." but he was frustrated that he couldn't send it. Was something broken in the phone? Raph didn't exactly think that phones would just keep you from sending messages while still letting you receive them. That didn't make any sense!
Raph growled loudly, dropping the phone in front of him and rubbing his hands across his face. The two of them at in silence after that. The one who broke the silence was Leo, reaching across Raph to pick the phone up from off the ground. Raph peeked out from between his fingers, watching Leo with an passive gaze.
Phone in hand, Leo set a hand on his brother's shoulder, pushing off it in an attempt to stand. Raph moved immediately, "Wow, hold on."
Raph didn't want him moving quite yet. He had completely forgotten about how he had wanted to check out Leo's battered shell before they fell asleep. It was a priority, and he silently yelled at himself about how he could have forgotten such a thing.
"Um . . ." Raph mumbled uncomfortably, "can ya turn around for me . . ?"
Leo looked startled for a second, but his neutral expression returned almost immediately, and, though struggling with the action, rotated himself so that his back was facing his younger brother.
Raph swallowed thickly, taking the T-Phone from his brother and turning it back on. The light flashed him in the face, blinding him for a split second before he aimed the screen at his brother's shell.
Just as he had thought, there it was. A deep crack in Leo's shell. It ran only a short distance from the top edge of his shell to the center. Raph stared at it for a long second, not quite sure what to do now that he was certain. What did he think he could do? He's not Donnie. Donnie's the smart one! The one who knows exactly what to do when one of them's hurt. Heck, even Master Splinter could help Leo right now.
As much as it made his stomach churn, he had no idea what he was doing. He was just like Mikey in this situation: clueless.
Leo apparently caught onto Raph's silence and what the cause of it was, "It's cracked."
Raph couldn't help it, he chuckled lightly, "That's pretty obvious, dude."
Leo hummed quietly, reaching around his head and untying his mask. It was covered in the grime that the sewers were festering with, but he didn't seem to care. The blue cloth dropped into his lap, and then he handed it to his brother.
"Here." he said, holding it out for his brother to take, "It's not much . . . but it might work . . .to be sure it doesn't get . . . any . . . worse."
Raph stared at it for a second before taking it. He hated how Leo could keep such a cool head in really any stressful situation. Yet, that quality seemed to be one of his greatest assets. He kind of wished he could do that, too, instead of freaking out about everything. Be it getting angry about their enemies, or not being able to focus on the task at hand during stressful situations . . . such as this.
Raph sighed, straightening out the filthy mask and pressing it against the cracked part of his brother's shell. He wrapped it around twice around the top of the shell, behind the base of Leo's neck. He tied it as tight as he could, trying to make sure it was pulled together enough.
He didn't quite feel confident in that, so he decided to untie his own mask, overlapping it on top of his brother's and tying it twice around as well.
After that, he felt like it might hold somewhat, and felt comforted with that.
"There." Raph said lightly, running a finger down the visible crack that wasn't covered by their masks. They were pressed together now, not broken apart like they were.
"Does it feel any different?" Raph decided to ask.
Leo hummed thoughtfully, "Can't . . . tell."
And without any sort of warning, he crouched on the ground, pushing off the ground and using the wall for some sort of support. Raph clenched his teeth, anger beginning to seeth at his brother's stubborn refusal to ask for any help in getting up.
"Just, hold on for a second, man!"
The red banded turtle shot up, grabbing hold of his brother's arm and lifting him up the way he had earlier, arm over his shoulder. Now standing, he looked around the cavern. The water had yet to catch up to them, if it was ever going to. That's good.
"We should . . . try to get to higher ground." Leo mumbled quietly, eyes sticking to a particular tunnel close by, but they moved to the other three, unsure. Four different tunnels lead away from the cavern they were in. They came in through one, and now they had to decide which one to leave through, "The signal . . . may come up . . . then. Send a . . . reply."
Raph waited a moment, thinking that his brother was trying to figure out which way was the best choice, but when no answer came, he began to doubt Leo even knew which way they came in through.
Leo sighed, a muffled, completely exhausted sound, "Which way do you think . . ."
And Raph wished he could say he was surprised. He wasn't. Deciding to go off of pure luck, he chose a random way, and began walking towards it, "This way."
They walked for a while after that. The tunnel they chose was colder. Raph thought that might be a good sign. It was winter, so that might mean they were closer to the surface or some type of drainage thing. But, no matter how long they walked, or how long they searched for that way out nothing came up.
What did come up, however, was a hard metal object seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Raph ran face first into the metal bars, stumbling, and taking care to catch Leo before he fell over.
Raph swung his arm out in front of him, trying to grab hold of the metal object he had run into without being able to actually see it, "What the He-"
"What was that?" Leo asked, holding out the T-Phone in front of him and turning it on. The light shone bright in the tunnel, making both brothers squint. Still, with the light turned on they were able to see exactly what Raph had run into.
"It's a ladder." Raph said dully, sort of hurting because he had managed to run into a flimsy, grounded object without even seeing it.
The ladder was covered in rust, going higher than what they could see in the limited light. Judging by the gunk and grime coating it in layers, the two of them guessed that it hadn't been used for a while.
"It's a way up." Leo said suddenly, running a shaky hand across a bar at his level. Raph, however, jumped at the remark.
He pulled Leo, given a little more roughly than he would have preferred, away from the ladder immediately upon getting the gist of what he was planning, "You aren't actually thinking about climbing that thing, are you?"
Leo peered a him with a dissatisfied frown, sweat building on his forehead already from their short trek, "Yes."
Raph blinked at the simple answer, forgetting his frustration for a second, but it returned quickly, "Are you crazy? There's no way you can make that climb!"
"I . . . have to, Raph."
"No, we can find another way out. Just a little more walking and it'll probably be there."
"Raph, we need to get . . . to higher ground." Leo mumbled, snatching his arm away. Raph panicked for a second, thinking his brother was going to topple over without his support, but long and behold Leo stayed standing without any help, straightening his back in a way that dared for Raph to try and help. "When we get to higher ground, we may . . . be able to contact Don and Mikey."
Raph thought on that, looking back to the ladder. It looked rickety. Like it would snap if it was tapped. Raph knew that wasn't true. He had run right smack into it and it was still standing just as it had been before his face made contact, but still.
"Okay, let's say I let you make the climb." Leo raised an eye ridge at that, looking almost humored by his brother's stubbornness, not quite though, "How are you expecting to actually make that? You can barely hold yourself up, bro."
Leo's frown deepened, "I'll manage."
Raph snorted, turning away, "Right. Of course you will."
After a moment in the silence, and after having to force himself to even consider such a thing, Raph sighed, "Fine, but you're going first."
"No."
"What do you mean 'no'?"
"I mean . . ." Leo reached towards his brother, pulling at the grappling hook tied around his belt. They never really went anywhere without them. At least nowhere without any rope, yet Raph seemed to have forgotten the small thing completely, "No. I have another . . . idea."
It took a good five minutes before Raph was satisfied with the knots and everything else with the rope tied around his brother's plastron. By then, he was starting to wonder about his own problem. His arm. He still didn't know what was wrong with it, though he had already guessed. He just hoped that whatever it was, Don could fix it. But, that did introduce the problem. He was going to have to climb with a bum arm.
He tried to push the thought to the back of his head. If his brother who had practically been completely crushed by the fallen rubble could do it, then why couldn't he?
Raph took hold of the closest bar, testing the support of it before setting his foot on it. Before he knew it, he was completely on it, hanging from the tall metal death trap. He put one hand upward - his bad arm- and pulled.
He felt like his arm had been set on fire. Burning, bubbling. Horrible. He tried. Oh, he so tried, but despite his trying he cried out. A loud sound in the complete stillness of the underground. He could hear his brother inhale sharply, stilling in his own movements at the sound. No, he didn't want this. Now Leo was going to-
"Raph, what happened?" it was quick, and the most he had sounded like himself since they began trying to find a way out.
Great, Raph thought pressing his head into the bar in front of him, now Fearless is going to be worrying about me.
His arm now hung limply at his side. Raph was going to take a break for a sec, and he was hoping his brother wouldn't ask any questions until then.
"Raph" he said sternly, "what happened?"
Raph sighed. No way Leo was going to just let him say, "I'm perfectly fine! No reason to worry o' brother dear!" Nope. He was going to have to confess . . . -ish.
"Leo, don't worry about it. Just a little . . . sprain."
"A little . . . sprain?" Leo asked, his voice almost mocking even in its exhausted sound, "Don't lie, Raphael. You're . . . hurt. What happened?"
Oh, his full name, he rolled his eyes. Raph felt the metal ladder vibrate under his hand and feet. Leo had grabbed hold. For support? To assert his dominance or whatever? He didn't know. But he bowed his head in defeat, "I hurt it in the fall."
"What?" Leo's voice turned back into that "mother hen" sort of thing, "Is it broken?"
"No." Raph sighed again, hating this more than he realized he would, "Not broken. Maybe fractured, though. Something, but Don can take care of it when we see him."
"Can you-" he paused, and Raph knew exactly what his older brother was going to ask. He held back the need to smack Leo upside the head.
"Leo, if you insisted on climbing, then there's no way I can't climb, too."
Raph thought Leo might object in some way, but he didn't. He stayed quiet, and a few more trimmers of the ladder later, the two of them were climbing up. Slowly but surely.
It wasn't very long until the rope around Raph's plastron grew tight. He could feel himself supporting his brother for the most part, struggling to pull himself up to the next bar over and over again. Still, he felt more content knowing Leo wasn't forcing himself to do something he couldn't do. It was sort of ironic how Raph's struggle was more comforting than not having one.
Raph stopped, pausing in his ascent and wrapping a leg around the bar for support. He was tired. Exhausted. His arm was on fire.
"Sorry . . ." came a mumbled whisper from below him, and Raph immediately knew that tone of voice. It was the type of voice Leo got whenever Sensei scolded him for something. When he knew Splinter was disappointed in him, except now Splinter's point of view was passed to Raph.
The red banded turtle sighed heavily, pressing his forehead to the disgusting bars, "For what?" he was only partially interested. Leo was like this, he'd beat himself up over the smallest of things even though everyone else couldn't care less.
"I . . . said I could . . . handle this." Leo said, voice raspy, and when Raph looked down passed the space between his knees he could see his older brother, hand wrapped around the bar, still trying to support him, "Apparently . . . I can't. Now you . . . have to carry . . . me."
"Naw, Leo." Raph objected, not hesitating for a second, "Don't worry 'bout it."
Raph only needed a short breather, something to alleviate the ache in his arm and the tension in his limbs. After a moment he began climbing again, and not long after that he saw the glimmer of a light above them. At first, he wasn't too sure what it was. Some sort of faint red glowing, but as he continued to ascend he saw that it was indeed a construction light. Something that would be for workers in case something went wrong in the sewers.
Man, they're going to have their work cut out for them now.
"Hey, Leo." Raph called down, smile bright on his face at the sign of this torturous venture being over. The tunnels around their home were filled with lights like these. It wasn't a sure thing that they were home, but it was a possibility they were getting closer, "we're almost there."
Leo didn't say anything, and Rap swallowed the lump that built in his throat. Stop it, Raph, he told himself, the guy's exhausted and probably just wants to be quiet. He's Leo after all.
They were almost to the top. A few more bars and they'd be there. At the top. No more bars. The top. Raph kept telling himself that, but, as luck would have it, that's when the sound went off. Feet. Running passed the opening in the ladder.
Raph ducked down instinctively, even though he was well out of the sight of whoever they were. He knew it wasn't Don or Mikey. The two of them would be trying to be twice as stealthy as usual. Heck, even Mikey might. Raph could admit that when the situation called for it, his two younger brothers wouldn't disappoint. He'd been shown that plenty since they first came to the surface. Plus, those feet couldn't possibly be them. Too many sounds of splashing coming from completely different directions. There was a whole hoard of . . . things running above them.
Raph's face drew into a scowl, his hands tightening onto the bars, a jolt of pain going up his injured arm. That could only be the Foot. Some soldiers who got cut off from the main group? Or maybe they survived the fall and found another way up, and since they didn't have any means to slow them down, them not exactly being human, they got up much faster than Leo or Raph could've possibly hoped to.
Great Raph thought, reaching out for the next bar, just when I thought our situation was looking better.
The red banded turtle was sure he couldn't hear anymore foot stomps above before crawling up through the hole in the ground, and finishing his ascent up the ladder. He crawled on his hands and knees, being sure he was far from the hole before collapsing onto the filthy, wet ground. He was exhausted. He never thought a ladder would make him this tired, but here he was, feeling like his arm was ripping from his body, and everything else feeling like wet noodles. Ugh.
The rope around his waist began to slacken, and Raph didn't quite notice it until a loud grunt from behind him echoed in the small tunnel. The scraping on fingers against wet concrete, and Raph was already halfway up on his knees, turning around back to the hole in the ground.
"Here, Leo." he mumbled absently, grabbing under his big brother's arm and taking his other hand, "Let me help."
Leo didn't say anything, actually allowing for Raph to assist him to safety, and Raph was thankful Fearless wasn't trying to put up his "I'm fine" shirade. Once Leo was completely off the ladder and into the tunnel, he was reaching for the T-Phone. Raph watched, trying not to get his hopes up, as Leo held the phone in his hand, the glowing light illuminating the small area, nearly blinding the two turtles.
Leo's face was scrunched up, looking dead tired and yet had the focused look in his eyes. Raph tried not to stare, but when his big brother's face loosed, a small relieved smile appearing he couldn't stop.
"You gotta be kiddin'!" he accidentally yelled, forcing Leo to jump in surprise. Raph ripped the phone from his brother's hands. He had completely forgotten about everything else except sending that S.O.S. message to his other two brothers and friends.
He typed as fast as he could, hoping that the signal for them wouldn't just disappear randomly mid-message. As soon as he was finished, he pressed that send button and a huge, momentous weight was lifted from his shoulders. He made contact. They could track them now that they had a signal. They were going to find them. They were going to get home!
Raph read that message over and over and over: "im here with Leo. hes hurt. can u find us?"
Please say yes, he thought, nearly crushing the phone in his hand with the amount of force he was grasping it with. He felt like the world was suddenly going in slow motion, as he waited for a response. He could only wonder what it was like for everyone looking for them to not get a response immediately, especially without knowing if they were alive or not.
They were probably all freaking out. Mikey, Donnie, April, Casey, Splinter . . .
The phone flashed, a new box appearing with Don's name. He had only sent it to him, not wasting time with sending it to the others. If just one person got it, that was plenty. And it really was. Raph exhaled long. Very, very long and he could've collapsed right there.
"Raph! We have a signal. Just hang tight where you are. I'll tell the others. We're going to find you two. Just hang on."
"Hey, Leo." Raph said, voice quiet, but his relief was evident, "Don got our message. We're going to be home soon, okay?" he paused, waiting for a response.
He turned his head to where the rope around his waist led, "Leo . . . ?"
Raph hadn't even noticed, but Leo had dragged himself all the way to the wall, and there he sat, leaning heavily against it, completely passed out. Raph bit his lip, watching his big brother look so drained. He didn't like it.
So, Raph just sat there in the silence. Listening to his brother's heavy, whistling breathing and looking around him absently. Don had told them to wait where they were, so he was going to do that, but he wasn't going to like it.
So, Raph had known he was tired. He had definitely felt it in his bones and muscles when he got inside the tunnel, but he didn't know he was this tired. Waking up laying splayed on the tunnel floor, not even knowing he had fallen asleep. It was pretty trippy.
A hand was immediately pressed against his forehead. His headache was only getting worse. Obviously sleep wasn't helping the fact that it felt like his head was being ripped apart internally.
Still, rolling over onto his side, he saw Leo lazily slouching against the wall he was leaning against before Raph fell asleep.
With a low rumble from the back of his throat, Raph got up onto his knees and stood in the small tunnel. Donnie said for them to not go anywhere, or something along those lines. Even after spending probably a few hours dozing off, they still weren't here? What was keeping them?
He scratched his arm dazedly, looking at the two directions the tunnel went. Maybe they should try to find somewhere more open? But, Leo was sleeping . . .
Raph stood there for a long second, trying to figure out what their next move should be. He checked the phone. No new messages, but he did see something concerning in the top right-hand corner. Battery. Low.
"No." Raph mumbled quietly, grasping at the phone like a lifeline, "Damnit . . . not yet!"
And that was when it happened. The quiet, small tunnel suddenly exploded. Not literally, but it may as well have. Shuriken came flying at him like a fog. Raph barely had enough time to duck down in the hopes that his shell would protect him. He reached behind him, blindly groping for something of his brother so he could pull him to safety in front of him. So he could shield him. But, the shuriken stopped before he got the chance.
Raph spun around, knee-pad scraping against the concrete tunnel. Foot soldiers. He had guessed it earlier, and here they were.
"Leo!" He yelled, eyes wide. He had to run this time, he didn't have a choice. Raph grabbed his brother by his hand, tugging for him to stand, but nothing. Leo didn't wake up. Raph lost his breath, glancing at his sleeping brother.
"Leo, bro. We have to run!" he didn't have time for this. Not caring for Leo's "boundaries" or whatever, and the fact that his arm was going to hate him after this, Raph swept him up, one arm supporting his upper body, the other his legs. He tried to ignore the pounding in his head and arm as he rushed out of the tunnel, more shuriken being thrown at him and the sound of quick feet splashing down the tunnel right at him. He lunged off of the small descent into a wider area that was completely flooded.
They were still coming. They were gaining on him. Gaining. Closer. Closer. RIght behind him!
Then he tripped, or fell rather. He hadn't even seen the quick fall in front of him, then again it was extremely dark in there.
They went tumbling down before cold water encased him. The red-banded turtle spluttered under the water, grasping out for his brother again. Leo! he yelled in his mind, Swim damnit!
He got his brother by something . . . his belt, he realized, and dragged him to the surface. It was a rough circumstance. He couldn't seem to get up to the surface of the water, and he knew the footbots were still up there, looking for them.
Finally. Finally, Raph's head broke the surface, and he sucked air into his lungs violently. Leo was pulled up immediately after he had his wits about him, and then he was looking up. Above in the tunnel stood dozens of foot soldiers staring down at them. Raph grimaced, turning away and began swimming for the tunnel on the opposite side of the watery death-hole.
Raph lobbed his arm up onto the cement ground of the other tunnel, pushing Leo up into it before he could get himself up. He rolled a few times, trying to get himself far enough onto the tunnel's concrete before assessing where their enemies were again.
Raph reached for his sai, feeling defenseless. Then he remembered: they weren't there. He lost them in the fall.
That left his earlier decision to be the final one: he had to run away.
Teeth clenched and every instinct in him going against his decision, Raph turned back to his brother, grabbing him under his arms like he had before and began dragging him down the tunnel at as fast of a pace as he dared.
This place was even more dark than the lower parts of the sewers. No electricity ran through here like they had somewhat in the lower parts. Something wrong with the circuitry maybe. He thought there would be at least some emergency lighting, but there wasn't even that.
Pitch black.
He couldn't see. He couldn't figure out where to go. He couldn't really think!
Raph growled, letting go of Leo with one of his hands and punching the cement wall to his left. He drew back again, seething as he did so, and punched the cement again. Frustration was eating at him. Fear was eating at him.
With a slow sigh, the red banded turtle turned his shell to the punched wall, and slid down until he was sitting on the cold ground. He sat his brother up against his shoulder tentatively and rubbed his own temples in thought.
They were probably far enough away from the footbots now. Even if they somehow got around the water, it would still take a while until they caught up with them. That meant he could just sit and rest for a couple seconds. Minutes . . . minutes probably.
The T-Phone. Raph pulled it out from the pouch at his belt. He tried turning it on, but . . . nothing. Not a flicker of the screen. No sound, no light. Dead. Broken. Whatever.
Raph bared his teeth, "No, no, no, no, you gotta be kiddin' me . . ."
He tried some more, pressing every button on the device, but nothing worked. Not even banging it on the stone floor . . . surprisingly.
Out of a fit of rage, Raph squeezed the phone in his hand, chucking it at the far side of the tunnel. It collided, crashing sound echoing down the tunnel, then it fell to the ground, screen cracked and pieces broken off of it. If it wasn't broken before, it probably was now.
Raph stared at it for a long second, mix of satisfaction, horror, and regret. Even so, he turned away from it, rubbing his hands across his face in exhaustion.
And that was when he heard it.
"What . . . was that?"
Raph's head shot up, face turning at the still form of Leo beside him. A blue eye he was somehow able to see in the blackness stared back at him, other still swollen shut. No matter, Raph's face split in two with a giant smile.
" 'Bout time you decided to come back to the living!"
Leo gave him a lopsided look of confusion, blue eye moving away from him and taking to looking at his surroundings, "What was . . . that?" he asked again, picking his head up from his brother's shoulder, and sitting up.
Raph watched nervously, glancing back at the area the broken T-Phone would be a little ways away. Oh, geez.
"Just, uh . . ." Raph thought about it, how he should word it, "the . . . T-Phone is, uh, broken . . ."
Raph didn't quite know how he expected Leo to react. He did know, had it been a normal day where he broke something, Leo would chastise him. Lecture him about his "temper" and what not. Stuff that made him really just want to bash his brother's face in. But, the patient, defeated sigh that came from Leo instead was even worse in Raph's opinion. The red banded turtle sunk back, head ducking ever so slightly. Since when did Leo's contentment or lack thereof matter to Raph?
He knew it wasn't really his fault it was broken, but he felt like it was all the same. He hadn't broken it first, but he did end up chucking it at a wall, no doubt finishing the job.
"We're in a different place . . ." Leo mumbled quietly, blue eye electric in the pitch blackness.
Raph nodded, "Yeah."
"When did we . . ." his brother's tone seemed lost, confused, something completely unlike the leader, "When did we move?"
Raph swallowed thickly, "Ya were out of it, but a bunch of Foot showed up randomly, so we had to run for it."
Leo stayed silent, apparently displeased with this. Raph didn't really blame him. He knew that he was on the verge of panic. Leo's little "not waking up" thing was reminding him too much of when he went crashing through April's window.
The memory sent chills running up Raph's spine.
"So . . . how far are we . . . from our last location . . . then?"
"Not sure." Raph answered simply, "Just kinda ran, y'know."
A small exhale from Leo sounded off, and it took Raph a second to figure out what had happened. Leo had laughed at him . . . at him?
"To think . . ." Leo made the exhale sound again, "that I missed . . . the one time . . . you would run away . . . from footbots . . . voluntarily."
A small, tired sounding chuckle, and Raph felt relief melt into his heart. Relief? He didn't quite understand why that was the first feeling, considering his older brother was teasing him, but maybe it was just hearing Leo laugh down in the dark. After being battered to the extent he was, he still found the energy to tease and laugh at his little bro.
Raph smiled for a split second. This wasn't like April's apartment that fateful day. Leo was here. With him, completely conscious and alive.
Raph collected his thoughts, pretending to be angry, "Hey, it's not like I had much of a choice. I had ta drag your sorry butt outta there, didn't I?"
"Yeah," Leo responded, an out of place warmness clear in his voice, "you did."
They sat there in silence for a solid minute before Leo spoke again.
". . . Thanks . . ."
Raph turned his face towards him, eye ridge raised in confusion, "Heh?"
Leo cleared his throat, settling himself in a more comfortable position against the wall, "Thanks . . . for dealing with me . . . down here."
Raph stared into the blackness, eyes wide with surprise. Leo was thanking him? About helping him in such an obvious way?
" 'Course, Leo" he mumbled quietly, quickly adding to hide his slight embarrassment, "After all, I'm sure Master Splinter wouldn't have been happy if I got home with ya still stuck down here, right?"
Leo hummed thoughtfully, "Right."
"So," Raph tried continuing the conversation, he wanted to keep hearing his brother's voice, to know that he was in fact alright, "What's the, uh . . . what's the plan, o' fearless leader?"
Leo was silent for a second. Thinking no doubt, as he always did.
"Well, we have . . . a few options . . ." Leo said, and Raph waited for him to continue.
"Which are?"
Leo cleared his throat, "We could . . . stay here."
Raph did not like that option. He made a disatisfied sound with his throat of which Leo snorted at, "I'm guessing that's . . . not exactly . . . what you had in . . . mind?"
Raph pouted a little, puckering his lips in a dissatisfied way. On one hand, if they stayed Leo could rest, and maybe Don and Mikey would somehow track them there even with the broken T-Phone. It seemed dry enough there, also. And, even with the darkness, there didn't seem to be any threat at the moment. That being said, Raph didn't like the idea of the footbots still probably coming after them. They could be heading their way right that second, and they wouldn't even know it.
And he did not like that, "Not really."
Leo hummed uncaringly, "Okay, then . . . we could move on." the older turtle let out a wet cough, making Raph cringe at the idea, "Try to find our way further up. Since . . . we probably fell farther down . . . in your escape. Then, we won't . . . have to just . . . wait for Don and Mikey."
Raph's frown deepened, "Not sure I like that idea any more . . ."
He didn't like the idea of making Leo move at all. He hadn't liked that idea since they ended up down there, but he'd moved his brother plenty already, and he was beginning to wonder how much more Leo could take without getting a proper check up with Don.
"Then," Leo sighed, "we could wait here . . . and fight off the footbots."
Raph exhaled heavily, "Say what?"
In all honesty, Raph was pretty sure Leo didn't like the idea just as much as he didn't, but that didn't stop him from talking to his older brother as though he were completely crazy, "We . . . could wait here and-"
"I heard what you said, Leo." Raph snapped, cutting him off.
Leo remained silent, probably just staring at the wall in thought . . . or no thought. Who really knew?
Raph sighed thickly, "Do ya really think that's a good idea?"
Leo remained silent for a while, but once he realized Raph was waiting for a response, he said the only reasonable thing he could think of, "We have to pick . . . an option, Raph."
"Well," Raph was beginning to get irritated, "what other options are there?"
The silence that overtook his brother was different than what had become normal in the dark depths of the sewers. This one was . . . ominous. Raph shivered, though he didn't know why.
After a moment, Raph quietly went, "Leo?"
His older brother responded immediately, "You could . . . leave me . . ." Raph froze, hand clenching into a fist, "go and find . . . Don . . . Mikey . . . April and Casey . . . and Master Splinter . . ." slowly, the red clad turtle rose to his feet, "bring someone back here . . . to help. That way . . . I wouldn't slow . . . you down-"
"Like Hell, Leonardo!" Raph burst out, fist colliding with the concrete wall again.
Raph didn't have to be able to see Leo to know what his older brother's face looked like. Startled, confused, maybe even irritated. All these expressions in their own Leo esc way. He could only see the outline of Leo's face, and maybe where his eye was, but other than that, pure imagination.
Leo was very quiet in his response, "That way . . . you could get to safety . . . faster."
"I don't care about speed, Leo. I care about both of us getting home, no matta how long it takes."
Leo growled, and Raph was a bit surprised by the feat, "What . . . do you want me to do, then?"
"Come up with another option!"
"There . . . are no other options, Raph."
"There's always another option!"
Raph heard Leo's shell scrape against the concrete wall, him shifting, "I said . . . all our options, Raph. Leave, stay, fight, or . . . leave me. Whether you like it . . . or not, the last . . . option might work . . . the best. I'm slow Raffael." Him saying that seemed to hurt him, his voice quivering slightly at the admission, and Raph tried butting in to stop his brother, but Leo would not give, " I have to . . . get you home before dehydration, . . . infection of your wounds, or . . . even exhaustion get to . . . you. That's my job." Again Raph tried saying something, no longer angry, but simply trying to calm his angered older brother down, but Leo's voice overpowered his, "I don't know how much longer I . . . can go trudging . . . with you through . . . these sewers, Raph! Every moment I'm awake . . . I feel myself getting . . . weaker! Eventually . . . I'm just going to fall down and-"
And dry, hacking, body rattling cough hit him. Gasps of breath, and a low whine echoed in Raph's ears, and soon the younger was kneeling in front of his brother, hand finding his shoulder and holding a steady grip on it.
Nearly an entire minute went by until the racking coughs passed, that was when the gag happened. Raph had half a sense to get away from Leo's front, and move to his side, completely away from the area that was soon the victim of Leo losing his . . . whatever his last meal was.
It all passed, leaving the older turtle to sit there, sucking air into his lungs greedily. Raph chose to say nothing, remembering what his older brother had said.
"Every moment I'm awake . . . I feel myself getting . . . weaker! Eventually . . . I'm just going to fall down and-"
Raph closed his eyes sadly -and not be able to get back up.
Leo's breathing evened out slowly, and he stayed put. Probably feeling really horrible (as if he wasn't before), so he allowed for Raph to stay there, hand steadying him.
Raph grimaced as he felt how hot his brother's skin had become under his hand. How could he have not noticed until now? Fever? He wasn't really surprised, actually. His mind hadn't exactly thought about it, but with how much they had been wading through disgusting water, and all the wounds on his brother, what else did he expect? Raph wasn't exactly great with the whole medical thing; that was Donnie's area of specialty, but he knew what a fever was and what could cause it. Infection, plus whatever else was wrong with him . . .
It was definitely not good.
After a moment, Raph decided. He decided very easily, actually. After his brother's outburst, and the stench of what he had hacked up began filling their area of tunnel, it became clear what Raph was going to do.
"Well, bro." Raph sighed, one hand going to support his brother's arm, while the other went around Leo's waist, "guess I made my decision."
With slow movements, he managed to get Leo up onto his feet beside him, and a second later, they were walking down the tunnel, Leo following his brother without a word of refusal.
"No way I'm leavin' ya in this place."
