Alrighty! The jet lag is still killing me but your update is here.

But remember this as you're reading this: If you kill me for the way this chapter ends, I can't finish the story!!

Enjoy!

Chapter 37

Rising Panic

"AAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW!" squealed the girls and women.

"Did it really happen that way?" one of the younger girls whispered.

"Yup!" the storyteller assured them solemnly.

"Really?" demanded one of the smaller boys. "There was really a great battle?"

"Yup," she said again. "And then –"

Evelina of the Baldino clan had raised her granddaughter Julietta ever since her parents had died in a smallpox epidemic more than fifteen years ago. She and her husband had watched the toddler grow into a wild, barefooted child who fought anyone who challenged her and then into a fierce young woman who ran with horses more than she ran with humans.

She had seen her beat the living shit out of boys twice her size, weight, and age. She had seen her at her best and worst.

But Evelina had never seen Julietta like this.

And I never want to see her like this again, she thought as her granddaughter sprinted to the motionless creature's side, screaming the whole way.

************************************

Angela gasped as the light from the fire servants twisting through the air went out suddenly as the flaming entities darted away like fiery lightning. Her saber paused in its dance as she watched the blaze fly away into the darkness.

Karai also, thankfully, seemed thrown by the abrupt darkness.

Her momentary relief was not shared by Leo who, as soon as the lights dimmed, literally stopped his fight with the Shredder and howled. "RAPH!"

This, accompanied by a sudden outburst of terrible screaming, served to jolt her forcibly back to reality and she dove through the shadows to reengage Lady Karai in battle.

***********************************

Zoey had had no intention of getting herself loose from Mikey's pleasant embrace. After all, the others were competent fighters who could hold their own and Leo – the best warrior of any of them – was defending Master Splinter. But when the flames in the distance had darted away to gather in one spot Mikey had broken the kiss and stood so fast that he dumped her out of his lap.

"Ooof!"

His blue eyes settled on her, wide with panic. "Something's going on with Raph!"

He swooped down and threw her up into his arms and sprinted off towards the fire. Zoey yelped and grabbed onto his shoulders to steady herself.

"What do you mean? How can you tell?"

"I just know! And I also know that we've gotta hurry!"

**********************************

Casey Jones had never heard such a crazy story.

"So let me get this straight. Those turtles I saw are actually princes who were cursed by the Shredder? And when they were cursed, the rest of the… kingdom was cursed too?"

The girl who had introduced herself as April O'Neal nodded vigorously. "Yes!"

"That's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard! Why the hell would the Shredder want to curse them?" Casey had barely finished his exclamation when the girl immediately treated him to what felt like a broken kneecap.

"How dare you!! That monster cursed our princes!" The girl set her dainty, but stubborn chin. "And I'll prove it to you! C'mon! I'll show you the Prince Donatello!"

Casey didn't even have time to protest before April grabbed his arm and dragged him away into the dust, ignoring the fact that her prisoner was hopping painfully on only one foot.

**********************************

If Gwen had thought that stumbling around searching for the source of the groaning was bad before, she had not realized just how bad it could be. The lights had vanished as the fire streamed away. She wondered what that could be, but judging on Leo's sudden yelling, she didn't think it could be anything good.

But she would have to put off looking for the source of all the commotion later. After she found Donny and beat the living daylights out of him – he couldn't be doing well after being that close to such a big explosion.

Bumbling through the darkness like a blind man finally led her to the trunk of a great tree that had been blasted by the bomb so hard that it now leaned to the left. Setting her hands flush against the rough bark, Gwen recognized the feel of one the cherry trees that flanked the path to the gates. Turning so that her back was pressed against the wood, she cupped her hands around her mouth – this was where Donny had run to, wasn't it? – and called as loudly as she dared.

"Donny? Where are you? Are you alright?"

Her eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness. She could now make out the markings two very large explosives had cut deeply into the ground. One outline she recognized as one telltale to her and Donny's bombs, but the other looked like something that marked one of the walls of Donny's workshop where their prototype designed to make artificial light had exploded in their face four months ago. It looked like the blast area of a machine having gone wrong.

In the center was a hunk of what looked like the remains of a… metal man? Yes… if he had been missing a few things when he had been blown apart… There was a twisted leg… a flattened arm… and – her heart seemed to shrivel a bit in her breast – a huge splattering of blood around the metal torso and where the neck should have given way to the head.

There didn't seem to be anything around there… but she knew she had heard someone groan. And not just anyone. Donny.

"Donny?"

Another groan.

A sound of a body dragging through dirt.

Then –

"Gwennie?"

It was Donny.

It was him!!

She spun for a moment, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice. "Where are you?"

"Jus'…follow m'voice…"

Gwen winced. His voice was slurring. That couldn't be good.

But his voice was coming from somewhere on her left. Feeling her way through the semi-darkness, she found herself amazed – all that ninjitsu training was paying off! She wasn't tripping at all!

Pride goeth before the fall, she scolded herself even as she caught sight of a shadowy figure struggling to prop himself up on the trunk of a cherry tree across the path.

"Donny!" She rushed forward a few steps before the full impact of what she was seeing hit her.

A young man was leaning back against the tree, looking straight at her.

Gwen fervently wished she had her arrows. As it was, she gripped her bow firmly and cautiously approached. All the while she examined this stranger.

He was very slender with slick muscle rounding out his lean body. His clothes – a purple shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and brown trousers – were very worn and torn and his boots were so scuffed it was hard to tell what their original color had been. He seemed to have light brown hair pushed out of his face and pale brown eyes. Blood was making its way steadily down the middle of his forehead and around his nose to drip off his chin.

A feeling of familiarity crashed over her so powerfully that she halted abruptly.

They looked at each other silently for a moment before the boy spoke. "Gwen? It's me."

Was this some kind of a trick? Was he just trying to lure her closer?

But… he sounded just like Donny and those eyes…

Her feet carried her closer and she found herself kneeling beside the stranger.

A familiar staff lay sideways across his lap but he made no attempt to raise it and attack. His pale brown eyes smiled at her. "Hi, Gwennie."

Heart beating very fast, she released one of her hands' firm grip on her bow and reached out to touch his cheek. "Donny?"

He looked back at her quietly. "Gwen."

She said nothing else as she stared at him. The light brown hair, the fair skin, the purple bandana hanging around his neck, the staff, and the eyes.

Hazel met pale brown.

"It is you!" she gasped, sitting back hard. "How –? I thought…?"

He smiled at her and stretched out his own hand to stroke her cheek. That gesture alone settled her doubts, the gentleness and that smile… it could be no one else.

"Donny!" She dove forward and threw her arms around his neck.

"Owowowowowowowow!" he yelped.

Gwen drew back in horror. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"

Donny gave her a weak smile and drew out a glass ball from one of his pockets. It was cracked but nevertheless gave off a steady glow. He held it up to his face and she gasped.

There was quite a lot of blood in his hair, and his pupils were disturbingly enlarged. "Can't b'sure," he slurred. "But… think I have a co'cussion." He waved the light in the direction of his abdomen. "Pretty sure… I have some broken… um… what's the word?"

"Ribs?"

He nodded slowly and winced. "Yeah."

Before he could say anything else, Gwen had ripped a sizable piece of her skirt and used one part to dab carefully at his head injury. As soon as the blood began seeping into the cloth she began to babble.

"Are you alright? Of course you aren't. Are there any other wounds? Is there any other pain? Damn it, why didn't I think of bringing my healing instruments? Donny, are you –"

A soft touch halted her words. Donny grinned at her. "You've got to be alright if you're babbling."

She moved away from the fingers on her lips and he shrugged helplessly. "It hurts to move too much. Otherwise, I'd have kissed you already."

Gwen's tongue ran over her lips unconsciously and she leaned in. "It doesn't hurt too much for me."

"Gently," he teased, even as his hand slid around to the back of neck to pull her in. "I'm an invalid."

Well, was her last coherent thought, he certainly wasn't kissing like one.

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Ugh.

What the hell had happened?

It felt like that one time when Demonio and Dancer had trampled over him. If they had had knives in place of hooves.

And try as he might, he couldn't open his eyes. And it wasn't because he wanted to keep them closed. There was a goddamn war going on around him – so why the hell was he freakin' laying here like a corpse?

He could hear, as though from a great distance away, someone talking to him desperately. Begging him to open his eyes. Normally he would've been keeping his eyes closed just to spite this whoever it was – but he knew he knew this voice.

This voice… it was important to him…

Julietta…?

He pictured her thick dark curls tied up in a red bandana, her flashing black eyes, and her wicked smile. How she had looked in that dress…

Beautiful.

Even as he thought about her, a strange and terrible realization slipped to the front of his mind.

Was that right?

Well, if it was – and he knew that it was – he had to open his eyes and talk to the girl leaning over him.

He had to tell her that…

With the greatest effort he could ever remember exerting, Raph opened his eyes.

He sure as hell wasn't going to die without telling that bitch – that annoying, pain in the ass, powerful, beautiful, funny, intelligent bitch – that he loved her.

And yes, the first and last part of that sentence was entirely correct.

And now:

DON'T KILL ME! YOU'VE GOTTA UNDERSTAND! SOMEONE HAD TO DIE!!!

Ahem, now please review so you can complain about Raph's impending death.