Summary: Human AU: After Raphael is kidnapped at the age of five, his family was devastated. They never stopped searching for him, but after eleven years, they fall to the conclusion that he must truly be gone. But when the Hamato family receives a phone call early in the morning, they are overwhelmed to hear that Raphael is alive and well. But after such a large time gap, and a crude upbringing, is the Raphael they knew still inside this hardened shell of a teenager.

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT or its characters. All rights go to producers. I just put their characters into my story.

"Some lessons are best learned through pain. Sometimes, our visions clear only after our eyes are washed with tears. Sometimes, we have to be broken so we can be whole again. Remember: if God made the day perfect, He wouldn't have invented tomorrow." ~unknown

Chapter Six: Don't Let the Spark Die

Raph shivered under Angel's gentle touch, still shaken about the event that had just taken place. What in God's name had happened? What had that man done to him? Why did it hurt so much? Fresh tears replaced the ones he had spilt when the man had been violating him.
Angel had been there throughout the entire ordeal, but she had been unable to come to his aid since she herself was under the rule of another man. But once both of the bad men had left, she had crawled over to where he lay on the bed, naked and curled into a ball, and pulled him into her lap. At some point, Angel had helped Raph back into his clothes and the two had resumed their cuddling. The warmth of her body next to his felt comforting unlike the man that had previously forced himself upon Raph.

They sat huddled together on the bed, their backs pressed against the wall, in comfortable silence. He could sit like this forever. With Angel, he felt safe; it was as though she was his home away from home.

"Raphael," Angel whispered, drawing him away from his thoughts. "Don't let them break you."
"What does that mean," he whimpered, glancing up at her.

"It means, that no matter what they do to you, do not give up hope that you will one day be free, and do not let them think that you are theirs as long as you live. Let your spirit burn brightly and do not let the spark die." She smiled slightly and ran a hand through his hair.
"Did you let them break you," he asked gingerly.

"I'm afraid so," she whispered. She brushed her long, dark hair from her eyes. "And it has ruined me. I don't want the same for you." Raph stared at her and could see silent tears crawling down her face. Angel cried a lot, but she seemed to handle the "customers" well enough when they did whatever they wanted to her. She was strong, but even though Raph hadn't been in this place more than a month, he could see that she was fading. She was fighting a battle that she was destined to lose; their captors had made sure of that. He was young and he knew he had a bright spirit, as his father had told him once before. Angel was there for him, so he should be there for her.
"I'll be strong," he said, "For both of us."

Raph was still upset about what had happened earlier. He hadn't meant to yell at Donnie but he hadn't meant to give away all that information like he had. It wasn't something his brother needed to hear, but Raph felt lighter, like he had had a weight lifted off his chest. As Vern had told him before, talking about painful stuff to someone else was the best sort of relief; Raph was only just realizing that now. He would have to reconsider how much he kept private and how much he chose to share with his family, but yet, he didn't want to burden them with his personal life.

He spent the rest of the morning holed up in the library, reading and doing work sheets but had ultimately fallen asleep due to his constant waking during the night before. The lunch bell roused him from his sleep and Raph closed all his books and shoved them into his bag before heading down to the cafeteria.
None of the food looked particularly appetizing to him, so Raph decided he would go without. He spotted Mikey and Donnie in the sea of students and headed over to their table. At the table there was a perky looking red head seated at the table, lost in conversation with Donnie, and across from her was a dark haired boy who was busy pushing around his food.

"Hey, bro," Mikey exclaimed, sliding over to make room for him. "Haven't seen you all morning; I'd thought we share at least one class together." Raph felt eyes on him and glanced up to see Donnie eyeing him carefully. Raph nodded towards Don, a silent thank you for not blabbering about what happened in the hall to Mikey.
"So this is the famous Raphael that we've been hearing about all morning," the boy asked, pushing away his tray of food. "It's good to see that Mikey wasn't actually making you up."

"Geez, Casey, why do you have to be so insensitive sometimes," the red head snapped. She turned to Raph and smiled brightly. "I'm April. It's really great to meet you, Raphael."
"Casey," the boy said nonchalantly. "Nice to meet you, I guess."

Raph had gym class immediately after lunch and he was glad that he had decided not to eat because the gym teacher, Mr. Gerhard, made them run a gazillion laps before forcing them all into a game of basketball.
Raph had Casey for company, who he thought was rather humorous once you looked past the arrogant outer layer. Casey sort of reminded Raph of himself, and he hoped that he could find a friend in him; he hadn't really ever had any before, at least, none that were male.

He's always found it easier to be friends with girls; all the girls he knew seemed to think that he was a really great listener. He was, and maybe it was because he had spent seven years by Angel's side, but he could sympathize with girls more so then he could with guys.

At the end of class, everyone herded themselves into the locker rooms, where most of the boys headed towards the at the foster home, Raph had been self-conscious of being naked in front of other boys. It wasn't because of genitalia size or anything like that; he just didn't like people seeing his scars; people always asked where he had acquired them. He never answered and the other boys in the foster home seemed to have gotten the message that it was deeply personal; only foster kids could understand something so deeply scarring; something awful had probably happened to a lot of them.

Now, Raph felt the self-consciousness return as he walked through the locker room. The majority of boys had stripped down and had grabbed a towel, heading towards the showers. Reluctantly, Raph shirked off his shirt. He paused before sliding off his shoes, pants and underwear. He grabbed a towel and shoved his clothes into a locker and headed down to the showers.

The shower room was clouded with steam. Someone had perched a radio on one of the half walls and it was blaring some classic rock song. The voices of some of the boys echoed off the walls as they carried on a conversation while they showered.
Grabbing the nearest available stall, Raph found himself standing next to Casey. They stood next to each other in silence, letting the water wash over them. From out of his peripheral vision, Raph could see Casey give him side glances.

"What are you gawking at," he demanded, glaring harshly at Casey. He felt a spark of anger ignite within in him, preparing himself for any hassle that Casey might give him.
"Nothing," Casey muttered, "Just thought that those scars make you look kind of tough." Raph turned away, slightly confused. He had had people make comments on his scars before, but no one had ever mentioned that they made him look tough; that was the closest thing he had to a compliment in a long while. He smiled to himself, feeling proud of the scarred flesh on his body for the first time ever.

"Stop crying, you little bitch," the man growled. He drew back the whip and lashed out, striking Raph across his bare back. A stinging, heated pain radiated from the cut outwards, making him arch his back in pain. Raph could feel tears trailing down his cheeks and sweat lingering on his brow as his arms shook with fatigue. He didn't know how long the man had been at this, but Raphael could clearly see that this man was enjoying his pain and didn't intend to stop anytime soon.

He thought about what Angel had told him earlier; that he should not let himself be broken by these men. He remembered what she had said, that she was broken, and Raph understood that she didn't want him to hit rock bottom like she had.

Wrapping his hands around the chains that bound him and gripped them firmly, bracing himself for the next lash. Raph pursed his lips and bit down on his tongue as the whip came down again, harder than before. He would not let them break him. He would be strong, for himself and for Angel. Hell would have to freeze over before he bowed down to the likes of these men.

A/N: Okay, there is chapter six. Hope you all enjoyed. Let me know what you think; it is greatly appreciated. I will let you know now that there is going to be a Leo-Raph brotherly moment coming up as well as a Mikey-Raph brotherly moment and that Karai will probably be introduced soon.

~dendragon14