Until Dawn Breaks Chapter 11: Panic, a ninja turtles fanfic

A/N

Here, before you do anything, let me just say it for you: I suck.

Haha, but really, I'm so terribly sorry for no updates for the past couple of weeks (and even a month for Book of Memories D:).

I managed to post a few one-shots over the days and I hope that kinda held you over. Sorta. Maybe.

Yeah, okay, I need to shut up. Enjoy.

"I'm begging you Raph, please, leave me alone!"

The youngest's cries go unheard. An irritating stray tear is swiped away as Mikey hugs his knees tighter to his chest. He can practically feel the hot breath of his brother on the back of his exposed neck, and it makes his blurry vision focus heavily on the open book in front of him.

DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU.

DON'T LOOK AT HIM.

The crimson words are etched over and over again, written as if the author had been hurried. Mikey stares at them harder, pleading for an explanation.

But he receives none.

He only hears the ragged breathing of his brother behind him.

"Mikey, please, we need to go! Now!"

DON'T LOOK AT HIM.

"Stop!" Michelangelo sobs, burying his head into his knees. "You're not Raph! G-Go away!"

"Mikey –" A hand is put on the petrified turtle's shoulder and Mikey swiftly uncurls from his ball, pushing the book behind him as he crawls away with panic.

"Don't touch me!"

He hears the figure behind him move closer, and more tears stream down Mikey's cheeks.

More than anything, he wants to turn around and fall into his brother, knowing that as soon as he does, he's safe.

But he can't look. He can't look.

DON'T LOOK AT HIM.

"Stop doing this, Michelangelo! We need to go before they get back! I don't kno–!"

SHLSH.

Mikey's breath hitches as an unbearably strangled cry cuts off Raphael's sentence. It's followed by a heavily sputtering cough. A drop of red splatters next to him.

SHLSH.

He begins to turn around in sheer panic.

But something stops him.

The book. It's back in front of him.

DON'T LOOK AT HIM.

SHLSH.

o-o-o

"Raphael! Stop, now!"

Raph sees nothing but clouds. He hears his brother yelping underneath him, but he doesn't care. He can't find it in him to stop moving his fist, to stop digging his knees into the figure beneath him, to stop pummeling harder when a cry of pain reaches his ears. However, he does seem to quickly register the strong force attempting to pull him off his helpless target.

"Get your fuckin' hands offa me, Fearless, or I swear to God –!"

A grunt escapes him as the hothead is suddenly thrown backwards, landing hard on his shell. Red painting his vision, Raph is soon back up on his feet with his hands ready for another strike. He is not letting Donatello get away this time. He is not a helpless little kid on a school playground getting beat up by a bully. He is not letting Donatello walk away without a fight.

"Raph! Stop!" Leo barks again. Raphael doesn't lower his shaking fists as he glares back at the leader. Warily, Leo creates a barrier between the two turtles as he kneels next to his moaning brother, never taking his cautious eyes off the fuming hothead beside him. "Donnie, open your eyes. Look at me. Focus."

"Don't you dare fuckin' baby him, Leo!" Raph bitterly spits, stepping closer to the two brothers on the ground. "He's a goddamn asshole! You have no clue what the hell he's put me through!"

Donatello groggily blinks open his eyes and after a few moments, finds the ability to stare into Raph's.

"The hell?" he roughly parrots, wiping a drop of fresh blood from the corner of his mouth with a wince. Throwing his pain to the back of his mind, Don glares at Raph. "I only made you act like a rational brother for once – because God knows you can't feel any emotion other than anger – and you're saying that it was complete hell for you?!"

Raphael steps closer with a fire in his eyes, but Leo suddenly stands and meets him head-on. The two don't budge underneath one another, and soon enough, it's another infamous battle between the competitive brothers.

"We are done here, Raphael," the leader finally growls through clenched teeth. Raph's entire body goes rigid at the challenging tone. Leo is not going to win. Not this time.

"You don't get to pick n' choose when you want to become part of this family, Leo!" Raphael nearly shouts. "You wanna be so damn reclusive and refuse to talk to anyone? Fine – but don't expect to turn around and have everyone at your goddamn feet again!"

Silence.

Raphael smirks and wordlessly dares Leo to move closer, to fight back, to throw the first punch, to… to give an explanation why he has been acting like this…

Grabbing Donnie's arm, Leo unknowingly denies Raph's curiosity as he shakes his head in the heavy silence and slowly stands up as to not rush his injured brother. "Don, we're gonna get you some ice, okay?"

Donatello mutters a response Raph isn't able to catch, but it doesn't matter. He can't possibly hear anything over the boiling blood that's rushing through his ears. Nothing matters except for the fact that they are both leaving him alone with his terrifyingly unconscious baby brother. Something he can't explain pounds deep into his gut, and suddenly, he's breathless.

And before he knows it, Raphael is storming after them, ready to grab Leonardo by the shoulder and spin him back around to further debate his point –

– only to be stopped by the piercing tip of a blade directly between his eyes.

Raph screeches to a wide-eyed halt and shoots a bewildered look to his older brother over the glint of sharpened metal. Even Donnie momentarily stops wiping the blood from his mouth to look at the leader for an explanation.

Leo doesn't even blink. The only movement he makes is the ragged rising and falling of his chest as he breathes. The air of the room is far too heavy for four turtles' worth of breathing capability, yet Raphael seems to manage as well. Barely.

"You will stay here, Raphael." Leonardo's voice is cold steel with no room for normality. Raphael has only heard this tone a handful of times. His Fearless Leader is livid. "And Splinter will be here to discuss your…" He looks Raph over, "… attitude."

Raph suddenly can't find the willpower to respond underneath his brother's threatening weapon, so he rather speaks with his eyes as he and Leo sink into a staring contest. Neither of them falter in their defensive stances, leaving the deadly sword planted directly between the red clad turtle's eyes. The two eldest hold that position until their bones creak with stiffness, afraid that if they are the one to move first, they will be submitting to their enemy.

That is something Raphael cannot afford. And it's also something Leonardo won't tolerate.

That is until Donatello breathes out a particularly ragged breath and nearly falls out of Leo's helping hand, making the deadly silent ninjas break their glare and return to their attention to the bigger problems at hand. Slowly, Leo sheathes his weapon and pulls his scientific brother upright. No longer having the urge to put his hotheaded brother back in his place, the leader centers all his attention to the genius turtle as he gently whispers commands and asks simple questions to keep Donatello conscious. They don't need two brothers lying lifeless on the ground while another is practically teetering off the edge of infuriated insanity.

And if Leo had one wish, it would be that Raphael would put his overwhelming fury away in the dusty corners of his mind and rather be the helpful brother Leonardo needs him to be. And that, he reluctantly decides, will not be happening soon.

But unknown to him, Raphael is watching the entire time. And had Leo found the courage to turn around, he would have seen the smallest mixture of realization and utter guilt consume Raph's eyes.

Instead, the room shudders as the door slams behind his two brothers, and Raphael is frozen to the ground.

o-o-o

SHLSH.

He flinches every time. He knows what that sound is.

SHLSH.

He's heard it far too many times throughout his life.

SHLSH.

"Get your fuckin' hands offa me, Fearless, or I swear to God –!"

SHLSH.

It's the sound of tearing, ripping, severing flesh.

SHLSH.

"Stop!"

SHLSH.

Crimson is pooling everywhere around him.

The agonizing screams are piercing his ears.

The echoes of metal fervently slitting through skin bounce off the walls.

DON'T TURN AROUND.

SHLSH.

He's crying – sobbing – and so is Raphael.

"Leo, s-stop! Why are you – ANNGN FUCK!"

SHLSH.

The pages of the book are turning again. He hardly notices.

He feels something warm splatter on his shell. A shriek accompanies it.

He hears someone laugh.

Leo.

SHLSH.

His foggy vision focuses.

They focus on the two deadly sharp throwing stars that lay in the center of the page.

There are crimson words above them.

He tries to look away, but he can't.

His body won't allow him.

He reads.

KILL THE KILLER

AND SAVE YOUR BROTHER.

SHLSH.

o-o-o

"RAPH!"

He nearly jumps out of his shell. Shaken from his self-pitying trance, Raphael rushes to his brother's side and squeezes Mikey's upper arm in a futile attempt to awake him. The youngest whimpers underneath the rough touch and it makes Raph frown heavily. Mikey is always a touchy-feely person. Why is he backing away now?

"Mikey, Mike, it's me right here," Raph pleads and he instantly grimaces. Why does he sound so desperate?

"Stop L-Leo, STOP!" Michelangelo abruptly screams, thrashing out of his brother's grasp and clutching at the pillow underneath his head as he hastily rolls onto his plastron. With widened eyes, Raph studies his petrified brother for a few seconds. Why is Mikey dreaming about Leo again?

Mikey suddenly spasms, and Raphael attempts to reach out again as his brotherly instincts come into play. Without warning, the orange-banded turtle squeezes into a tight, trembling ball, backing away from Raph's comforting hand without even cracking open his eyes. Being a ninja that is aware of his every surrounding (even in sleep) has it's perks, but in Raph's case, it only makes things more complicated.

"I can't! I w-won't!"

Raphael bends down to his knees, getting to eye level with his hysterically quaking (and from what he can tell, hyperventilating) baby brother. Craning his neck to peer at his baby brother's paling face, Raph feels a sudden emotion rush over him. He can't put his finger on it. He just knows it's there.

"Mike," he coarsely whispers through the other turtle's incessant whimpering, "Shhh. You gotta listen to me, okay? Do you hear me?"

The orange clad turtle writhes in unseen agony, clutching the pillow with white knuckles as his eyes squeeze impossibly tighter. "Pl-Please!"

Raphael slightly shakes his head in disapproval. There's that feeling again. "No, Mikey, you have to try. I can't make you wake up, and... I can't make you fall asleep either." He shakes his head again, but this time, mostly to himself. He lets out a long breath that is hinted with guilt. "It's all you. Give me somethin' – show me that you're trying."

"I'm sorry! I'm s-sorry, please!"

"Sorry for what?"

"L-Leo, please, please!"

"Mikey –"

"PLEA –!"

Then to Raph's great and utter horror, Mikey lies dead still. No groaning, no harsh breathing, no crying out – nothing.

And Raphael realizes that the emotion was panic. And it's stronger than he ever felt before.

He ignores the sound of his name as he desperately begins to shake his limp baby brother.

Panic.

A/N

I pinky swear on my life that I will update a whole lot sooner.

Reviews are welcomed(: