Here's the next chapter for you! Thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed so far. Also, thanks to Mike11!

Please be sure and check out the contest Simone Robinson is holding for her fic, Missing Fire, on Deviant Art. There's a link to her account on her FF page. If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me or Simone.

Thanks!

"He was here you guys." Mikey insisted, crossing his arms across his chest. "He isn't dead."

Leo sighed, rubbing a hand over his bald head. "Mikey ..." He began. Mikey bolding announcing that Raph was alive had sent Don into a wild mess, ruining everything that Leo had managed to accomplish within a short time. "He's dead Mikey, I don't know how else to tell you that. There's no way he could have survived that blast."

"Then who made these marks?" Mikey demanded, waving the marked up board in the blue clad turtle's face. "No one else can draw a sai like Raph and this is exactly how he draws his R's."

"Maybe he drew those a long time ago?" Leo offered.

"We've never been here before." Mikey smirked.

"Maybe Raph has!" Leo shouted. "You know how he always goes off on his own and has secret little hiding places. This was probably one of them."

"These were freshly made." Mikey insisted, handing the board to his brother. At first he refused to take it, but when Mikey shoved it into his hand, Leo took it with a sigh. At a first glance, they did look pretty new. "See Leo?" said Mikey triumphantly. "Even you should be able to tell the difference between old cuts and new cuts."

Could Mikey be right? Leo thought as he stared at the marks. And the R underneath did look like Raph's. The circular part on the top of the R was way to large for the short stumpy and the part the extended out curved upwards, crossing through the whole letter and ending in a little swirl. It looked exactly like how Raph would draw them, but the evidence was staked to high against it.

Splinter had told them that Raph was strapped down, dead on a metal table. He had to many cuts and bruises and the blood that was pooled around the table was too deep... there was no way in shell Raph could have survived that much blood lost.

"I'm sorry Mikey." Leo handed the piece back. "It simply isn't possible." he looked away, unable to stand the teary blue eyes that stared at him.

"But Leo ..." Mikey protested.

"No Mikey." Leo yelled angrily. He whirled back to his youngest brother, unable to stand it anymore. "He's dead okay! He's dead! Stop playing this trick on yourself – stop believing in this fantasy! He's dead and won't come back okay!" he turned back around, ashamed that he had yelled at his youngest brother. He couldn't stop the tears that fell down his face, thankful he had his mask to hide them in. His heart broke some more when he heard sniffling behind him. "Mikey I ..." But the turtle was no longer there and Leo heard the sound of the front door slamming shut.

Mikey raced outside, the wood plank firm in his grasp. Leo was lying... Raph was was alive. Nothing else could explain the marks...

Or am I just making a fool of myself? He thought, ashamed. Leo was just trying to help and here I am, making a big deal over a few stupid marks. I made Don worse and here I am doing this...

He let out a pained sigh as he continued walking, kicking up poor rocks that just happened to be in his way, beating down dead branches that dangled in his bath, and thrashing his way through thick brushes. He wasn't sure where he was going or how long he was going to be there but all he did know was that he had to get away for a bit. It wasn't fair to the others that they had to suffer through his brief act of stupidity and he did feel really bad about Don.

Sorry bro... I won't make that mistake again... I promise...

And with that, he tossed the piece of wood, the wood that only a few minutes ago had held so much hope, and let it be inhaled by the brush. Then he turned and walked away, feeling like he'd left a part of Raph and his heart back there too.

I'm sorry Raph... so sorry...

"I don't know what you were trying to pull turtle," Alex said angrily as he looped the rope through the stall bars, separating each stall so the horses wouldn't bite each other. He left Raph with enough room in his rope to lay down but not to get out. With a grunt, he tied the sailors knot twice, making sure he wouldn't get out. "But you're not going to do it again."

Raph stood still, watching with a scowl on his face as the rope was knotted tightly. The rope around his wrists was digging deep into his skin, almost cutting off the blood flow. He glared at Alex, then at Lance, and held his gaze on the rope that bound him. Any other time, he would have laughed at the man's attempt to keep him tied up with mere rope, but he was still weak and he knew it would impossible to get through it now. He gave a brief tug to test the durability and immediately hissed in pain as the rope tightened painfully.

Okay... so there goes that idea.

He let out a frustrated growl as Alex finished up. The man gave Raph a sharp glance,

"I don't need to gag you do I?"

Shaking his head no, Raph fell to the straw on his knees, knowing full well he wasn't going anywhere that night. He narrowed his eyes at Alex as the police officer gave him one last glance before stepping out of the stall, and locking it behind him. Raph waited until the lights had shut off and the barn door slid shut before he relaxed fully.

Using his bound hands, thankful that he had enough room, Raph started to gather the straw into a big pile for the night. Already a cool breeze was pouring in through the open window in the stall next to him and that was a big sign of a cold night. Finally satisfied the pile was big enough and deep enough, he made himself a nest before pulling the remainder of the straw over himself. With a sigh as the cool wind blew in, he found to his delight that the straw kept him warm. He barely felt the breeze as the warmth seeped into his bones, making him realize how tired he was.

Without another thought, he fell fast asleep.

"Have you seen Mikey, Don?" Leo asked later that night. The moon was full in the sky, a sharp contrast against the dark night sky.

Don looked up from his bed, his purple mask a darker color from his crying. "No..." he sounded generally confused. "Why?" Spinning up, he sat up on the bed from his reclining pose.

"He ran away after, well, the incident." Leo told him, stepping into the room. He sat down beside his brother. "Are you doing okay?"

"Leo, my brother's dead." Don told him in a steel tone. "I'm doing as okay as I can be. Now what happened to Mikey?"

Leo swallowed. "I kinda got mad and yelled at him after the incident in the dining room. He ran outside and that was almost three hours ago. It's dark out and I'm getting worried about him"

"Then lets go look for him." Don said, about to stand up.

"No need bros." A tired voice said from the bedroom doorway.

"Mikey!" Leo jumped up, embracing his brother. "I'm so sorry -"

Mikey just nodded sitting down beside Don. No words were past between the two brothers as they sat there, looking at each other eye to eye. Finally after a second of staring, Don made the first move, catching the youngest turtle in a hug.

"Are you okay Mike? I was so worried."

"I'm fine Don." Mikey swallowed thickly. "I'm sorry about what happened. I guess I'm still upset about it all."

"And you have every right to be." Leo told him, sitting down beside the group hug. "I want to apologize."

Mikey said nothing, only pulling his eldest brother into the hug. The three sat there, tightly hugging each other.

"Ya know, I don't think any of us are going to get any sleep tonight." Leo chuckled dryly as the other two nodded. "Do you wanna just camp out downstairs tonight? We could pop in a movie on the portable TV Don brought along."

"Sounds good bro. I'll go get the TV." Don hopped from the bed and raced down the stairs, taking them two at a time as they creaked under his weight. As he pulled reached the van, he pulled out his flashlight to find the right key. That's when his light picked up several tracks in the dirt.

Kneeling down, he traced his finger in the print of a man's shoe. It was a large shoe, maybe a size ten, and beside it was dog prints.

And turtle tracks.

Don eye's narrowed as he used his flashlight to track the prints to the edge of the property and until the vanished into the dark trees. Taking a step forward, his eyes narrowed a bit more and he swallowed when he saw blood tracing the turtle track. TV forgotten, he raced back to the house and up the stairs.

"Hey Don, where's the TV?" Mikey asked as Don burst back into the room. "Don?"

Don grabbed his younger brothers foot, and shoving him down on the bed, hoisted his feet high into the air. Besides being caked with mud, there was no sign of the crimson liquid. He set them down with a heavy frown.

"Don?" Leo asked, wondering if his brother had finally lost it.

"Leo, you're not going to believe this but Mikey may be right." Don said, his eyes wide.

"What?"

"You heard me Leo." Don met Leo's confused chocolate brown eyes. "Raph. He's alive."

Silence.

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