"Come on, Raph, ya gotta eat somethin'," Casey tried to force-feed Raphael a bowl of lukewarm soup, which Raph refused to eat.

"Case, you put that up ta my face again, I'm gonna hurl," Raph said, snarling.

"You haven't had nothin' all day," Casey argued. "Come on, just eat the soup, man! It ain't that hard." Casey mourned, already believing Raph was a dead turtle.

Donnie had been holed up in his lab for the last three hours, while Leo and Raph were steadily going downhill.

Mikey approached Donnie's lab and beat on the door.

"Dude! You done in there?" Mikey called.

April paused from feeding Leo his soup to listen, but there was no answer.

Leo tried to swallow the soup, and unlike Raph, he actually wanted to eat, but his throat was almost closed.

He could barely breathe, much less eat soup.

Donnie emerged from his lab, with a portable high-powered electric microscope; one of the expensive ones that zoomed to cell-size. In his other hand, Donnie had the vial of antidote, and three other empty test tubes.

"I think I'm getting it," Donnie muttered, sitting down on the floor, plugging his microscope into the wall, and setting down his vials. "I just had to come in here, get a change in scenery..." Donnie yawned, covering his mouth, and almost falling asleep.

He leaned against the wall, closing his eyes for a second.

"No, Donnie!" Mikey yelled from across the room. "No sleeping 'till you get the antidote!"

Donnie jerked back up, yawning again. He leaned back over his microscope, putting slides of the antidote under the zoom and studying them. He continued to compare the original slides to those he had created.

"I ain't kiddin', Raph, eat the damn soup!" Casey brought his hand down on the arm of the sofa, where Raphael was sprawled out.

"And I ain't kiddin' when I say I ain't eatin' that, Case," Raph grumbled. "I'm tellin' ya, I'm 'bout ta hurl."

Leo gave Raph a jealous glance. He wished he could eat the soup. April was trying, but Leo kept throwing it up in the trashcan. The soup never even hit his stomach.

Suddenly, Raph's head fell to the side as he passed out.

He'd been doing that a lot in the last three hours. He'd wake up, then his headache would be too much for him, and he'd black out again.

"Has Raph been doing that all night?" Donnie inquired suddenly, perking up at the odd sight.

"Yeah," Mikey replied. "His headaches are too bad."

"That's not good," Donnie continued, looking cautious. "If he's passing out, that means he's probably not getting enough blood flow to his brain. That could be serious." Donnie looked back down at his work.

Leo spat out more soup, just not able to swallow anything.

Donnie looked at Leo, now curious as to his health.

Leonardo was wheezing, gasping.

"If Leo doesn't get enough oxygen soon, it could damage his brain, or his heart. He could suffer a heart attack or stroke." Donnie looked frightened, his eyes growing wide. He gulped. "I need to work faster." He bent over his microscope once again, changing the slides faster and faster.

After a few minutes, Raph woke up again, blinking, still not used to his blindness even though he'd been like that for two days.

As soon as the red turtle sat up, Casey put the spoon in front of his face.

"Soup."

Raph covered his mouth and shook his head, feeling nauseous.

"Well, what kinda soup do ya want, then?" Casey demanded.

Donnie didn't look up; he wanted to get done as soon as possible.

Before something irreversible happened to his brothers.

...

Two hours later, Donatello figured he was close to being done. But Raph and Leo had taken a turn for the worse.

"Hurry, Donnie!" Mikey cried from his brothers' bedsides. "I-I think Leo- I- I- he's not breathing-"

"What?!" Donnie yelled, looking over at Leo's body resting on the chair, since Raph had taken the couch. "Mikey, perform CPR and artificial respiration, pronto!"

"B-but-" Mikey panicked.

April sprung at the pale turtle, breathing air into his lungs, and pushing down on his plastron to make sure his heart was pumping.

"Breathe, Leo," April whispered, trying to blow air into his body.

"Donnie- please-" Mikey said, suddenly looking over at Raph. "I think Raph-"

"Don't say it!" Donnie cut him off, fearing that if he heard that Raphael was dead as well, he might give in to his grief and be unable to finish his antidote.

"Raph!" Mikey said, pressing his head to his older brother's chest. "No, no, no. He doesn't have a heartbeat, Donnie! What- what do I do?"

"Put your hands on top of each other, and press down onto his chest, over and over. Then, check his pulse again," Donnie instructed, finally mixing the right ingredients and putting them on a Brunson burner to heat the antidotes.

Mikey did as requested, pushing down on Raph's chest over and over.

Suddenly, Leo coughed and started breathing on his own again.

"Leo!" April cried, helping him sit up to breathe better. "Leo's alive!"

The blue turtle gasped, holding his throat.

"Yeah!" Mikey exclaimed. "Raph's heartbeat- it's normal again. Hurry, Donnie-"

"I'm trying, I'm trying-" Donnie breathed, his hands shaking from tension as he turned the heat up on the burners. "They just have to boil..."

"Well, how long'll THAT take?!" Casey asked, throwing Raphael's soup in the trash.

"Shouldn't be long now-" Donnie mumbled, turning the heat up all the way impatiently. He gulped, wishing the boiling process would speed up a little.

Finally, Donatello saw the bubbles rising and he turned off the burners, hurriedly separating the liquid into two vials.

He quickly blew them to cool them off, and ran to his brothers.

"Are you done?" Mikey asked, hovering worriedly over Raph and Leo.

Donnie nodded briskly, propping Leo's head up, dumping a vial of antidote into his mouth. He tossed Casey the other test tube, and the New Yorker fed Raph his portion of the liquid.

"There," Donnie sighed, relieved. "The antidote should be taking effect. According to my calculations, they should be back to normal in a couple hours.

Casey, April, Mikey and Donnie all collapsed onto the floor, wondering if the homemade remedy would actually work.

...

In two hours, Leo and Raph woke up with a start, drenched in sweat.

Raphael looked around in amazement.

"Woah- I can see! Man, I can see again!" Raph put his head into his hands, feeling a whole new appreciation for the dirty old floor.

Leo grinned at Raph.

"Miss the sound of my voice?" Leo asked, chuckling. His voice sounded a bit raspy since it hadn't been used in two days.

"'Bout as much as I missed the sight a yer face," Raph replied sarcastically.

"It worked!" Mikey cried, hugging Raphael around the waist.

"Don't touch me," Raph grumbled, pushing him away. Mikey went to Leo.

"I missed the sound of your voice, Leo!" he laughed.

"Me, too," Leo replied, hugging his youngest brother back. "I thought I was a goner for a minute there."

"Doubting my mad scientist abilities?" Donnie asked, feigning hurt.

"I missed ya, man," Casey said, giving Raph their signature handshake.

"Can you imagine what Master Splinter would say to us if he heard about this?" Leo asked, seeming to be dreading the situation. "Something about us learning to be more flexible and indispensable. We probably shouldn't tell him about us almost dying, though. That part is probably better left unsaid."

"Yeah, probably," Mikey answered. "But what about Bishop? He's gonna find out we outsmarted him, and he'll be back."

"Let him," Leo said, narrowing his eyes. "We'll be here, waiting for him."

"I'll be waitin' for 'im alright," Raph added, punching the couch. "And that'll be the last time anyone ever sees HIM again."

The brothers all went up to their rooms, and slept, having fitful dreams of Bishop, and wondering how they could become more indispensable. Mikey wondered whether or not he was still the weak link of the team before he drifted off to sleep.

Donnie wondered if Bishop had actually taken any DNA from them all, and succumbed to his fatigue. Leonardo wondered if he was as good a leader as he seemed, and turned over, eyes closing.

And long after the turtles had fallen asleep, their doors opened as Raphael checked in on them.

Just as he always did.

When he was sure his brothers were all safe and sound, he returned to his room, falling into his blankets.

He smiled at the dark ceiling, thinking over his day.

Just as he always did.