Impossible Chapter 7
It's been a whole day since Raphael went to sleep and even though I knew he needed to rest I couldn't help but to feel worried. I knew as well as Mikey and Donnie that Raph haven't been eating enough and that made him low on energy and if you mix that up with the fact he haven't been sleep for who knows how long I just knew that the result wasn't good. Even if I tried to hide my worry I wasn't able to, both Mikey and Donnie knew how worried I was, it was easily shown during both practice and when we were out on patrol.
I know that I shouldn't be worried but I can't help it.
"Is he still not awake?" I heard April ask out loud to any of us and since both Donnie and Mikey avoided answering I was the only one left that had to answer.
"No he's still asleep but I'm sure he'll wake up at some point, he just needs some sleep that's all" I didn't want to reveal too much to her, I had told Donnie that Raph suffered from nightmares eventually because he refused to stop asking me if I knew.
I didn't know the full truth but when I had walked in on Raph the other day while he was still asleep, everything about him screamed that he had in fact a nightmare and even though I know Raph isn't the one to get nightmares easily I just knew that it must be something on his mind that is the reason behind him getting nightmares every night for so long. But since he never wants any of us to worry about him he never talks about them. What he doesn't know is that by not telling us he is making us worry about him even more, even when we were all tots he still never talked about his nightmares no matter how much we tried to get him to tell us. And when one of us had one he always tried to make us feel better, he even tried to make me feel better when I had one and if you knew about all the arguments we've been having lately you wouldn't believe that we were not just brothers as tots but also best friends.
We did almost everything together back then, sure our bonds between Donnie and Mikey was good as well but the bond me and Raph had was unbreakable. Then I started to take more responsibility mostly because I knew I was the oldest but also because I wanted to be the leader so bad. When Raph found out about it he stopped being around me for too long and we started to argue a lot, I never wanted it to turn out like the way it did but I can't really change anything either. I am the oldest brother and also the leader so I do have a big responsibility. I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the old Raph but at the same time I can't force him to become like his old self.
My eyes moved from looking forward at nothing to the clock that were hanging in the living room, at some point Donnie had put it there but I had no idea why but I'm glad it is because it makes it easier to keep track of time. The clock was exactly 1 am and I knew that it was pitch black outside by now which meant it was time for me and my brothers to go on our daily patrol, normally I would look forward to the patrol but doing it without Raphael felt so weird and not to mention that if we would get into a fight it would be harder to fight without him but if that happens I guess I'll just try and figure out something.
"Come on it's time for our patrol" I said out loud before I stood up from the couch, I knew that Mikey was looking at me from the beanbag but I avoided to look at him.
"Without Raph? Again?" Was the only answer I got from my youngest brother.
"Yes Mikey, you know he needs to sleep or do I have to get Master Splinter to tell you again?" I replayed and looked at Mikey, I didn't mean to sound angry but he was getting on my nerves. I know he cares about Raph but so do I but I can't wake him up just because Mikey, Donnie or me wants him to come along with us for our patrol.
I only heard a sigh come from Mikey before he stood up and he was heading to Donnie's lab to get Donnie and after a short while both of them walked out and then the three of us were off. We ran through the sewers and made our way up the sewers and after a while I saw a manhole cover but before I fully opened it to get out I lifted it up slightly to make sure no one was around. Like always the streets were empty and I quickly made my way out followed closely by Donnie and Mikey, the three of us quickly made our way up to the roof tops and avoided to stay too long on the same place.
We moved quickly from roof top to roof top, being careful so we weren't standing in any form of light and if there were any we moved quickly out of it. At the same time we checked every street, every alley and every store for any type of criminal activity but for hours we found nothing and just as I was about to call it a night the sound of a car speeding off caught my attention. I quickly moved to the edge of the roof top and looked down on the street and I saw the same white van I knew the kraang used every time they were transporting something or were on their way to get something.
"Where do you think that van is heading Donnie?" I asked him as I ran after the van on the roof top so I wouldn't lose it.
"Probably to one of the kraang's hideouts but I'm not sure" I heard I'm answering me we were running out of time as it was slowly getting lighter outside. It was summer time and that meant we couldn't stay above ground for too long.
I didn't like that about summer but I couldn't really do anything about that but the thing I hated the most had to be it was also at this time it was mating season for turtles and being a mutated turtle I could still feel it affect me but I tried my best to hide it and it seemed to work. One person that had it the hardest have to be Donnie, not only does he have a crush on April but he also spends a lot of time with her and I just know that the older he gets the harder it gets for him to control himself. As for Mikey I'm not so sure but I can tell from the look in his eyes that mating season is affecting him but he doesn't want to show it which could be why he is joking around a lot more as of right now with all of us, mostly Donnie for some reason. And lastly Raph and to be honest I have no idea when it comes to him, if he is hiding just like I do then he is doing a hell of a good job because none of us can see it. I will never forget that time Mikey asked me if I knew since I was the oldest but I had to disappoint him and say no.
Get our head straight Leo you can't be thinking about this kind of stuff right now, you have to stop the kraang.
I mentally told myself to get the thoughts out of my head and when I saw the van turn and drive into a building I knew we must have found another kraang hideout. I quickly came to a stop and started to scan the outside of the building and luckily I didn't see that many of them, 4 the most.
"Okay it looks like there is 4 guards outside the building, we need to take them out and make our way inside and because we don't have Raph with us we'll have to try and be more stealthy" I told my two younger brothers who also seemed to scan the building.
"Mikey you'll take out the guard that is in front of the main entrance to the building, Donnie you take the one in the alley where the van had driven into and I'll take the two on the roof. Meet me up there once the guards have been taken care of." I told my brothers who gave me a nod before the three of us made our way to take out the guards.
When I was up on the roof top I took out my katanas as quietly as I could and watched my brothers, Mikey was on the roof opposite of this one with a bow and an explosive arrow in his hands, in the alley I saw Donnie in the shadows with his bow staff and he took out the hidden blade from it. As soon as Mikey had fired the arrow, making it go through the kraang robot and explode Donnie cut through the guard's robot chest and that was my signal. In a quick draw I cut through both the guards in front of me in half and both of them fell forward and as usual the alien-brain things crawled out of them while screaming. Not long before that me and Mikey were in the Alley were Donnie were waiting and I opened one of the windows as quietly as I could before the three of us jumped through the window.
The moment we were inside I couldn't help but feel that something was wrong I don't know why but a part of me just wanted to turn around and get back out, inside the building were more kraang robots way more than outside of course but something seemed odd. Normally they would talking to each other about what they were doing but this time none of them said a word, my suspicion only got worse when I saw a giant look tank filled with the mutogen. I looked back to my brothers who seemed to have noticed my suspicion.
"Okay I have no idea what they are doing in here but we have to stop them…" I whispered to them and I could see the worried look on Donnie's face.
I just ignored that for now and started to go over the plan, most of the robots were on the second floor of the building so I would take them out one by one while Mikey and Donnie took out those on the first floor. I hated to go alone but I knew that I could get out a fight like this easier then both Mikey and Donnie and with Raph at home I didn't have much of a choice. When we were all in position the three of us moved together and at first things went of smoothly but that soon got harder when out of nowhere more robots appeared and all of us had to re-group and fight our way to the tank that was filled with mutogen. But getting there was easier said and done the robots kept shooting their laser guns at us. I tried my best to stay clear of their shooting but one shot nearly missed me and I ended up with a small open wound on my arm, it hurt like hell but I just took a few deep breaths and pushed myself forward.
Finally after fighting for who knows how long we made it and Donnie worked on setting up the explosives, we didn't know what they were doing but we had to blow this place sky high. Who knows what they were going to do with this much mutogen.
"Hurry up Donnie!" I screamed at him as I tried my best to keep the robots busy with a little help from Mikey.
"I'm working as fast as I can!" I heard him yell back at me.
"Okay the explosives are set!" And boy was I glad he said that, both me and Mikey and been shot a few times and we needed to tend to our wounds.
"Then let's get out of here!" And with that said the three of us left the building through the same window and the moment we got down in the sewers a loud explosion was heard over our heads.
We didn't say a word to one another, we had been above ground for too long and we all knew that. Not only could we have been spotted by humans but I also got us all killed for not listening to my gut feeling like I should have, I just knew that something was off about that place and I didn't see that I had gotten us all into a trap? I felt so stupid right now.
It didn't take long before we got back to the lair and when we did the first thing I saw was a worried but still happy Splinter.
"You are finally back. I got worried for a moment, sit down and I'll get the first aid-kit" Splinter told all of us and we didn't disobey him, we all sat down on chairs and waited.
Once our wounds had been taken care of Mikey almost jumped to his feet and I saw him make his way over to Raph's room.
"Where are you going Mikey? He needs to sleep remember" I told him and stood up as well.
"I know but remember that I told you that I wouldn't stop sleeping in his bedroom until he wakes up" He told me as he turned around.
I just let out a sigh and followed him I did protest at first for doing this but a part of me and missed this so much. The four of us sleeping in Raph's bed because Mikey was scared that one of us would leave and this family would be broken. I tried to tell him that it would never happen but he refused to listen to me, so after a while I gave up and agreed to it and for those times it lasted I was really happy. But I knew we couldn't keep it up, we were all growing up and we have to stop acting like tots but Mikey never did grow up.
Before I knew it I found myself standing in Raph's room with Mikey on my left and Donnie on my right but my eyes was still fixed on Raph. It had been so long since I've last seen him sleep and I guess this is the only time I'll ever see him so calm. And before I could do anything else Mikey pushed me over to the bed as a sign that I should lay down first, I wanted to protest but that was already too late. I'm here after all and if I turned back now who knows what Mikey would think? So I just went with it and laid down beside the oldest of my three little brothers, it felt weird yet I had to fight the urge to wrap my arms around him. And within minutes Donnie laid down beside me and Mikey laid down on top of Donnie, it didn't look to comfortable but none of them seemed to care.
"G'night bros" I heard Mikey say and I just couldn't help but to smile.
"Good night Mikey, good night Donnie" I told both of them before I let out a yawn.
"Night Leo, night Mikey" I heard Donnie say and just like that all of us had fallen asleep.
I wasn't normally the one to sleep long but after that fight I felt so tired that my body didn't listen when I tried to wake up early, or at least I thought it was early.
"Dude! You're finally awake!" I heard Mikey scream and I had to hold back myself from flying out of the bed to slap Mikey across his face while screaming at him for waking me up.
"Yeah I'm up, guess I just needed the long sleep" When I heard Raphael replay to Mikey I quickly turned my head to look at him and for the first time in weeks he looked a lot better.
"We know" I just had to say something and with that I stood up and Donnie was soon up as well.
"I'm going to let Splinter know!" I heard Mikey scream and the look on Raph's face told me that he was relieved that Mikey finally let go off him.
"So what's been going on while I was out?" I heard Raph ask one of us but since I could tell that Donnie didn't want to tell him I knew I had to.
"Not much really, just a fight against kraang and it was a hard to fight against them without you. I guess Master Splinter was right, we are stronger when the four of us are together" I responded and found myself slightly rub my arm but luckily Raph didn't seem to have noticed.
"Well at least I'm finally awake and I feel a lot better" I heard Raph say before he walked out through the door.
"I can tell" I heard Donnie say and when Raph looked at him Donnie just smiled.
I saw the smile Raph gave him and just couldn't help but to smile as well, Raph was finally awake and now we could all go back to the way it used to be.
But do I really want that?
Do I really just want to go back to being the older brother to Raph?
A small part of me says yes….. A bigger part says no….. Why?
Those thoughts went around my head for some reason and at the same time I thought this Splinter walked out from his room with Mikey beside him but since I was too deep in my own thoughts I couldn't make out what he was saying.
And before I knew it I had both eaten breakfast and gotten through our morning training, all with still just half listening. And when I heard Raph say that he wanted to continue his training I had agreed to keep an eye on him so he wouldn't over work himself but I found myself failing to do that as well.
When I heard the sound of something or someone hit the floor hard I quickly turned my head and saw Raph on his knees with both his hands on the floor in front of him and he was panting like crazy.
"Raph! Are you okay?" I asked him as I got over to him and put one of his arms around my neck and helped him up on his feet.
"Yeah I'm fine, just pushed myself too hard I guess" I heard him replay and before I could react he had moved away from me and that made me realize that he hadn't just been ignoring to talk to me he had been avoiding me completely, it broke my heart when I realized that but I tried to hide it as much as possible.
"If you say so" I said after a few seconds and I saw a hint in his eyes that he was relieved.
I didn't say much after that, I just looked at him while trying to figure out the reason behind him avoiding me.
"But tell me one thing Raph. Why have you been so distanced from me lately?" I asked and I wanted to know the real truth not just another lie.
"Don't know, guess it's because I know how much you and I argue and I guess I don't want to argue so much with you. Don't tell me you can't see how it makes both Donnie and Mikey worried" After I had heard his answer something in me shifted, it was another one of his lies and I was tired of them I just want to know the truth. Was that too much to ask for?
"Yes I am aware of that but pushing me away from you won't make it better" I stated and I could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew that I was right.
"And why were you so worried about our bond as brothers anyway?" I said out of the blue maybe if I asked in a different way he would tell me or at least give me a hint on why.
After I had said that I saw how his body froze, he didn't move heck I even think he stopped breathing for a moment there. I also saw how he tried to find the right words to say but he was still unable to. His mouth opened but nothing came out so he was forced to close his mouth again.
Come on Raph please tell me….. Nothing will change between us and you know that…..
I mentally tried to encourage him and just hope that it would work.
