Michelangelo trudged through the knee deep snow. He didn't know how long he had been running, nor did he know how much time his brothers had left. He had lost the shell cell somewhere in his desperate retreat. A pang of guilt stabbed at his heart. Orders or not, he should have stayed and helped Leonardo. But, he couldn't just leave Raphael and Donatello to die. It was like a silent promise. None of them would die a senseless death.

Pushing back his feelings of guilt, Michelangelo continued his trek. The last time he had checked the count down, there were two hours left. He looked around the snow covered landscape. It was still dark and he could hardly see.

I haven't even met this kidnapper dude and I hate him already, the turtle thought bitterly.

He would've chosen Shredder and the Foot any day over whoever it was that took his brothers. Michelangelo waded through the snow, slowly inching forward. To keep his mind off the cold and to keep himself from falling into despair, he began singing his favorite songs. They were mostly theme songs from his favorite television shows. He violently shivered as the wind swept over him. Shaking his head and refocusing, Michelangelo kept walking.

"Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree," he sang. "Eating all the gum drops he can see." Another rush of wind, another violent shiver, one foot in front of the other. "Stop, Kookaburra! Stop, Kookaburra, leave some there for me."

The wind began to grow stronger and colder. It washed over the dunes and slapped the snow in Michelangelo's face. He ducked his head to keep his face from being pelted. He wished April or Casey was with him. He wished Leonardo was still beside him. Most of all, he wished he was sitting around the fire with all of his brothers, along with April and Casey, roasting marshmallows and telling funny stories. He wanted to hear Raphael yell at him for pulling another stupid prank. He wanted to hear Donatello chastise him for breaking his gaming system. Instead, all he heard was the roar of the wind in his hears.

"The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah. The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah. The ants go marching one by one, the little one stops to suck his thumb. And they all go marching down to the ground, to get out of the rain." Michelangelo bit back a frustrated scream. "Raph, Don. Raph, Don," he began repeating to himself.

As he said his brother's names he began to quicken his pace. His brothers needed him. Their names became a chant, fueling his steps, forcing him forward. He wouldn't leave them to die. He wouldn't leave them to freeze to death. Most of all, he wouldn't let them die alone. Too many times Michelangelo had to watch as one of his siblings hung on to life by a thread. He had made a promise to himself a long time ago that he wouldn't let one of his brothers die without him. If one turtle went down, they all went down. That was their vow to each other.

Michelangelo stumbled as the violent wind slammed against his body. His knees buckled, but he caught himself before he fell. He continued to chant Raphael's and Donatello's name in his mind. He had to find them and get them to safety. Then, he had to find and rescue Leonardo. Michelangelo pushed his bitterness towards the world to the back of his mind and repeated his chant. Hopefully, his blue masked brother would already be safe by the time they reunited.

The silence was broken by a rusty squeal. A door opened and two hooded figures stepped inside the small cell. They threw a struggling Leonardo into the room. The turtle stumbled forward before tripping up in his own feet and falling to the cold, stone floor. The figures left the room and closed and locked the door. Leonardo pushed himself up and shivered. He no longer wore the snow suit, and now he realised how much he missed it.

Leonardo pushed himself up and looked around. The room was dimly lit, so it was difficult to pick out any distinguishable features. The room was made of stone, that's all Leonardo could determine. He groaned and rubbed his right shoulder. His was unarmed and slightly injured; not a combination he liked. His legs throbbed and his neck was stiff, no doubt caused by the sudden drop through the snow. Regardless of his aching legs, Leonardo got to his feet and roamed around the room. As he neared the back of the cell, he hit his knee against another stone object. Biting his tongue to keep from cursing, Leonardo grasped his knee and looked down. His eyes widened and he gasped.

He had collided with a stone coffin. Though the discovery of the coffin made Leonardo's heart skip a beat, it was the amount of blood inside that made his heart plummet. Leonardo thought back to the phone call. Donatello had sounded fine, scared and shaken, but fine. Raphael on the other hand had sounded winded and in extreme pain. The blue masked turtle put a hand to his head. The blood belonged to Raphael. His hot-headed brother was buried alive and bleeding to death.

"What happened for Raph to lose this much blood?" Leonardo whispered.

The door opened again and someone came into the room. The turtle swung around and instantly got into a defensive position. A young man in his early twenties stepped into the light. He had light brown hair and light brown eyes. He wore a black sweater, dark blue jeans and a pair of snow boots.

"Who are you?" Leonardo demanded.

"You wanted to know what happened for Raphael to lose so much blood?" the man asked, ignoring the question.

The turtle stiffened. Something wasn't right with this guy. The human walked over and placed a hand on the edge of the coffin. He didn't look at all disturbed by the amount of blood inside.

"What happened was, Raphael fought back," the man replied casually. "I warned him of what would happen if he resisted. Sadly, he ignored my warning and ended up getting cut."

"Cut?" Leonardo spat. "You did more than just cut him."

The man straightened and put his hands behind his back. He looked towards the ceiling, his eyes thoughtful. "I wonder if the gash was as deep as it sounded over the microphone," he wondered out loud.

"You're sick and twisted," Leonardo shouted. "Where are my brothers?"

The human looked from the stone coffin to the turtle beside him. An evil grin crossed his young, handsome face. "Don't worry, Blue," he said as two hooded figures suddenly came out of nowhere and grabbed Leonardo's arms. "You'll soon find out."

Let me know what you think. Reviews are welcome, flames are not.