Here's another chapter. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks to Raph's No. 1 Girl for beta reading.
Before I go on, Simone Robinson on FF is having a contest on Deviant Art for her fic, Missing Fire. Please be sure and check it out! There is a link on her page.
"Suri?" Raph stuck his head into the girl's room. The bedside clock beside her gleamed with the red numbers, 2:05. "What are you still doing up?"
Suri glanced up, her eyes wide and her black hair swinging over her shoulders. "Raph," she put a hand to her chest. "You startled me there."
"Sorry." Raph limped into the room. Suri's eyes narrowed as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Where is your wheelchair, young man?" she scowled.
Raph shrugged his shoulders as he used the wall to support him. His leg was still tightly wrapped all in white. "I ditched it somewhere downstairs." He sat down on the bed and Suri placed herself next to him. "I had to talk to you." He admitted. "Alone."
Suri leaned against the bedpost, hugging a pillow to her chest. "What about?"
"How do you feel about New Jersey?" he asked with a tired smile.
She shrugged. "Why?"
Raph sighed as he held his head in his hands. "I need to leave…soon. This is all getting to me."
Suri reached over and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Why? What happened?"
Raph explained in a tired tone his conversations with Don and Mikey and how his little brother compared him to Shredder, their enemy. Suri sighed as she slowly shook her head.
"I really didn't want to tell you this…" she paused and lowered her eyes to the floor.
"What?" Raph sat up straighter and grabbed her shoulder. "What?"
"Your brothers…" she admitted sheepishly as she rubbed her head. "I wasn't supposed to hear any of it. I went upstairs 'cause I forgot my, uh, I mean to, uh, brush my teeth." She nodded. "Yeah, I forgot to brush my teeth." She blushed. "Anyway, I heard them all talking." Her voice lowered. "They want to…to…to turn you in to Shredder."
"What!" Raph reeled back as though he'd been slapped. First Mikey comparing him to Shredder, and now them talking about Shredder…
"It's true." She sniffed and nodded her head. "You're a hindrance to your family, a liability, and they say all they ever do for you is save your sorry butt. You're nothing but a problem and they say that now…since you're weak…" her voice trailed off as she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
Raph swallowed thickly as he embraced her in a hug. His brothers wanted to turn him into Shredder…since when? Since when did they start thinking of him like that? He was so confused.
Donnie had said he was sorry and that he wanted to be a better brother to him. Was it all a joke? A prank? A lie?
"So what do we do?" Suri asked through her tears.
Raph swallowed thickly. "Nothing – for now. We play it dumb and wait for the right moment. The condition I'm in, they won't let me out of their sights until I'm better, or at least until the leg is healed."
"What if they want to turn you in when you're still weak?" she asked. "If we wait it might be too late."
"I know, but we have no choice." Raph argued. "As much as I hate to admit it, I'm in no condition to travel. I want out of here as much as possible but I'd be no use to you if I can't walk."
Suri just sighed, lowering her eyes to the floor. "Okay Raph. We'll wait. But if anything happens, we won't have a choice."
"I know that." Raph said as his heart pounded painfully. "We'll just have to wait…and see what happens." He opened his arms and Suri gratefully crawled into his arms, enjoying the warmth his body gave and the feeling of muscular arms wrapped around her small frame. He was so perfect…strong. How could anyone so beautiful in heart be so…different, in body?
As her eyes fell closed, she remembered. She was the opposite of the turtle…beautiful in body, black in heart.
She had a job to do and nothing was going to stop her.
"Raphael?" Splinter gently knocked on the wooden door of the makeshift room that they'd made for Raphael, since he was in no condition to use stairs.
"Come in." a tired voice called from the other side.
Splinter turned the knob and let himself into the dark room, noting all the lights were out. His son's large form was on the bed, completely covered by a blanket. His red mask was lying on the small beside table.
"Are you alright, my son?" Splinter asked as he laid a furry hand where he thought his son's shell was, the surface hard and rounded.
"Yeah." Came the muffled reply, the blankets shifting.
Splinter sighed, and twitched his whiskers. Raphael was awfully quiet these last few days. He hadn't bothered bossing Michelangelo or Leonardo around, though they volunteered readily. It seemed he even shied away from quiet Donatello, though Splinter could tell he felt unusual anger towards his purple and orange clad sons.
"Raphael, I ask you to look at me."
There was more shifting blankets as tired red eyes poked out from the top.
Raph sighed as he looked at his sensei. "What?" He just wanted to sleep…to be left alone.
"Raphael, I've felt unusual anger towards your younger brothers." Splinter saw his amber eyes flare in recognition. "Do you want to share with me?"
"No." He ducked his head back under the blanket. Splinter sighed. "My son, I wish you would not shy away from us. We only wish to help you heal…physically and mentally."
"Whatever." Came the muffled reply.
Splinter felt a string on his heart tug as he settled himself beside the turtle's bed. "My son, if nothing else please listen." He removed his hand from his son's shell. "I am old and will not be around forever. Ever since you were little, I saw a burning heart in you."
Raph stiffened under the covers. Here we go again.
"But it was not just burning to give you rage, but passion towards your family." Splinter went on. "Ever since you were little, you had an obsession to keep everyone safe. You may not remember, but when you were little you and Don were playing alone in a part of the sewers I had forbidden any of you from going into. You were young, maybe five or six." He smiled. "I remember Donatello coming up to me when you were young and telling me how much he wanted to be like Raphie. Michelangelo was the same way…they looked up to you, you know."
"Anyway, you two were playing and you wanted a race. Donatello was never the fastest out of all of you, but he was determined. He agreed and in the middle of the race, he slipped and fell into the water. You dove in and saved him, Raphael." He saw the blankets stir under his words. "You carried his limp form all the way home and took care of him until he was better. I recall you hovering over him for the better part of a month to make sure he was okay. You panicked every time he wanted to go into the sewers." He shook his head with a smile.
"I honestly thought you two would be the closest, but then Don started to get mad at you hovering over him constantly and told you to go away. You were heartbroken…oh my son." Splinter started to rub Raph's shell again. "I remember clear as day what you told me two months later on the same day you brought him home. You said, 'The only thing I would change about that day was the tools I brought along to save Donnie.' He didn't mention the yelling, the accident, or him telling you to go away. You loved your brothers so much back then Raphael, what is stopping you from loving them that much now?"
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