Raph was chained to a wall. When did that happen?
Oh yeah. He was put to sleep again and now he was here.
Where was 'here'?
He was in a large gray room, one side of which was attached to a glass dome. If he looked closely, he could see his brothers on the other side. Scratch that, he could see Mikey and Leo. He couldn't see Donnie anywhere. Mikey was awake, and running on some weird spinny thing. Leo was still out.
"Boo!" said a voice.
"Ahh!" Raph jumped. A man stepped into his line of sight. He was skinny, and wore a black long-sleeved shirt, pants, shoes, and a black demon mask that covered most of his face; there was a half circle cut out to show his mouth and chin. His hair was shortish and messy and was a light-brown-blond color.
"I'm Ozul, it means shadow, nice to meet you!"
Wait, what?
"I'm an intern here, and I was given the assignment of torturing you!" said Ozul cheerfully. "Isn't that fun?"
This guy seemed like either a nice person, or a psychopath. One or the other.
"I… I'm Raph," he said.
"That's nice. What's it short for?" said Ozul. Really, he was too cheerful for a guy who was about to torture him.
"...Raphael," he said off-mindedly. "What are you going to do to me?"
"Torture you, of course!" Ozul said, smiling. If he wasn't the bad guy, Raph would've thought it was cute.
"Torture me how?" he asked. Might as well get as much information from this guy as possible. He seemed nice enough to give him some answers.
"Your real torture starts tomorrow. For today, you're going to be chained here." Ozul smiled and held up a taser. "I'm gonna have to taze you a bit too."
"Oh…" Raph marveled at how cheerful and nice Ozul was. What is WRONG with this guy? "Why are you doing this, Ozul? I mean, you seem like a good guy. Why is torture your career choice? Who is making you do this?"
A dark look passed across Ozul's face. "Don't ask about the Master, Raphael." Then he suddenly smiled again. "And anyway, I like torture!" His smile was suddenly less friendly and more menacing. "It's fun."
Ozul reached over and tased his arm. For a second his arm was numb and tingly, and the place where the taser touched his arm was on fire. All his muscles contracted and locked up, and it was extremely painful. Raph yelled. But then Ozul let go, and all that was left was a small burn on his arm.
Yeah. Ozul was definitely insane.
Who was that…? Was that Donnie?!
Yes, it was! Donnie was thrown onto the floor.
"That's normal glass. You could break it if you were strong enough."
Raph was strong enough! Raph could break that glass! If he could get to it…
He strained as hard as he could on the chains. He needed to break the chains, so he could go and help Donnie! Raph could see his face as he hit the glass with all his might. He looked so scared. So desperate. That was his little brother! He needed to protect him!
Ozul tased him, but he didn't care. Pulling against the chains hurt his arms, but he didn't care. He just needed to get to his brother.
"Fight me, squirt!" said the man. He hit Donnie. He HIT DONNIE! NO! NOBODY HITS HIS BROTHER!
"I said, FIGHT ME!" yelled the man, punching Donnie in the chest. Raph could see his shell hit the glass. It was scraped and bloody; what did they do to him?! Nonononono, who did this to him?! They deserved to DIE!
Donnie got hit over and over by the big man, and each time made him more and more furious. That was his little brother in there! He needed to get in there, to protect him! Why couldn't he break the chains?!
Ozul kept shocking him, but Raph barely felt it as rage flowed through his veins. He needed to get in there! He kept pulling and pulling but he could not break the chains.
Donnie was knocked out and taken away. Raph stopped pulling.
Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he began to feel the pain. His shoulders and wrists were sore from all that pulling; he had several burns on his limbs from Ozul continuously tasing him. He wanted to cry. He failed. Donnie needed him. And he failed. He failed to protect his little brother.
Why couldn't he do anything right?!
Ozul leaned against the wall. "So," he said, "that happened."
Raph was not in the mood for Ozul and his stupid cheerfulness. "Shut up, Ozul."
Ozul tased him. "Don't talk to me like that!" he said. "Anyway, you went a little crazy back there. Wanna talk about it?"
What the frick? Was this guy for real?! "Uh, what?"
"Wanna talk about it?" Ozul repeated. "I can listen. I'm bored anyway. There's nothing else scheduled for today."
Raph exhaled. He supposed talking to Ozul wouldn't hurt…
"Well," he began, "I guess I was in a frenzy to get to Donnie. I needed to protect him, and I didn't! I couldn't. I failed."
Ozul looked thoughtful. "So, you feel protective over this Donnie, and since you couldn't protect him when he was in danger, you feel like you failed. But failed him, or failed yourself?"
Raph stopped. "I… don't really know."
"Hmm…," said Ozul, nodding. "That sucks. You just feel like a failure, with no real source. Or something like that." He motioned toward himself. "I get it, dude. I have a sibling too. A twin, actually." He looked towards space. "They were great. They always knew what to say, and they were so smart…"
"They were? What happened?" Raph asked.
"They died a long time ago. In a fire." he shook his head. "We were sixteen. They were so young." Ozul buried his face in his hands. "I was there. I could have saved them. I failed…"
Raph wanted to pull Ozul into a hug, but held back. This guy was the BAD GUY. The one TORTURING him. But he couldn't help but feel bad for the guy.
"What was their name?" Raph asked quietly.
"Kiran." Ozul sniffed. Tears were falling from behind his mask. "It means light."
Raph thought about what Ozul had told him. His sibling, Kiran… they had died in a fire. And Ozul had been there.
This was Raphs very fear. That he would lose his brothers, and it would be his fault because he didn't save them.
Ozul lived this nightmare.
Ozul was still leaning against the wall next to him. He was crying quietly. Raph felt bad for him.
He still felt bad about what happened to Donnie. He was there; he could've done something. But he didn't.
But could he have?
When he thought about it, no. He was chained to the wall. He couldn't do anything. But that didn't change that he failed.
Failed him, or failed yourself? Raph thought about the question. He supposed… It was himself. He failed himself.
What did it matter anyway? It was still a failure.
Ozul was suddenly smiling again. While Raph wasn't looking he had wiped away his tears. "Raphael, it's food and sleep time!" he said cheerfully. He walked over to a shadowy part of the room and pulled out a tray with gray mush on it.
Raph realized how hungry he was. Ozul brought the tray over, and Raph gobbled down the mush. It had no taste, but it was better than nothing.
"Did you like the food?" Ozul asked cheerfully.
Raph didn't answer. His mouth was too full.
Ozul laughed. "I'll take that as a yes."
Raph swallowed. "Ozul, how old are you?"
"Well, that's a random question, but I'm 23. Why?" said Ozul.
"Well…" Raph hesitated. "I wanted to know how long Kiran has been dead."
Ozul froze for a second, before returning to his cheerful self. "Okay, that's nice. Anyway, it's lights out now." He snapped his fingers, and the lights were out. "Night-night, Raphael."
Raph layed down on the ground. The chains barely let him, but he managed.
When did he get this tired?
Raph slowly drifted to sleep. He wondered what would happen tomorrow.
A/N: This is probably my favorite chapter so far. I really like Ozul for some reason. Also Kiran and their they/them pronouns.
About the next chapter, um, I have news. I'm starting school on September 9th, so after that I'll have less time to write. But chapter 6 will most likely be finished before then, so you don't need to worry about that quite yet.