Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT.

Warnings: Angst, torture and goodbye

Mindless Babble:

dojo- practice area for martial arts

Otóosan- Father

kata- form or shape- in this instance a type of meditation or discipline that moves from one stance to another in a flowing motion.

ki- life-force

kanji- Japanese writing

They picked up Donatello on their way up to the first floor. The purple masked turtle took one look at Leo's face and wisely decide to keep quiet. Thus far, they had met with little resistance and had hoped that it would last. Alas, it was not to be.

A single man stood blocking the only exit. The dull glow of the rising sun painted the shiny armor a pale orange. The material under the armor was as black as the man's soul; that was assuming he even had one. He stood with his arms akimbo, his feet planted so he was perfectly balanced.

"Get out of the way, Shredder. We don't have time for this," Leo growled.

"Oh, but I think you do," the tall human replied. "Your brother is not long for this world. If it is any consolation, he told me nothing."

"That's our Raphie!" Michelangelo whispered.

"Yes, a warrior to the end, even if he did cry out for his brothers after I…" Oroku Saki never got the chance to finish. Donnie and Mikey didn't let him.

For as long as they had been together, the three turtles could never understand the rage that fueled their hotheaded brother. At the dawn of this day, that innocence was lost. A ruby colored haze feel over each pair of eyes as pure, unbridled rage flowed into their veins. Donatello and Michelangelo attacked as one. The human was surprised to find that each blow that he barely blocked could have been a severely crippling, if not lethal, strike. It was when Leonardo laid his injured brother in a corner and joined the fight, that Saki decided that retreat was the better part of valor. He dropped a smoke bomb and disappeared.

Leo didn't even wait for the smoke to clear. He gently lifted Raphael and darted out the door, his brothers following in his wake.

"Mikey, can you drive? I need Donnie to check for tracers."

The turtle in question nodded. He knew he had to be strong, but he was the one who wore his emotions on his proverbial sleeves. He struggled to regain control, even as the Shredder's words rang in his mind.

Had Raph called for them only to have his pleas go unanswered?

"Master Splinter!"

The old rat raised his head. He heard the fear in his son's voice as well as the traces of guilt and sorrow. He knew in his heart that his worst fears were coming true.

"In here, Leonardo."

Three turtles burst into the small meditation room with Leo carrying the fourth member of the family. Splinter scrambled off the large pillow and motioned to it. Leo gently laid his brother down, handling him as if he were made of glass.

Splinter couldn't hold back the gasp of shock as he saw the injuries that had been inflicted on his son. Raphael was blanketed in his own blood and bruises. Leo had cut the collar off but the wounds from the spikes that had lined it were deep. Even now, the blood was seeping through the once white bandages that Donnie had used to stem the flow. Raph's chest barely rose and crimson liquid seeped from his mouth.

"Raph…" A choked sob forced Splinter to tear his eyes from the horror in front of him and focus on his youngest son. This was the first time Michelangelo and Donatello had seen the full extent of the damage that had been done to their brother and Mikey wasn't taking it well.

"Leonardo, please take Michelangelo out of here. Stay with him." Splinter turned to his remaining son. "Donatello, I need a bowl of water, towels and every medical supply we have."

A few minutes later, Leo found himself on the couch with his arms wrapped protectively around his younger brother. Mikey's body shook with barely restrained sobs. Leo tried to sooth him but, even to his own ears, he didn't sound convincing.

When Mikey finally fell asleep, Leo took a few moments to think back to a time when he had found himself in this same position. They were about six or seven…

the past…

"Leo! Leeeooo! There's a monster in my room!"

Little Mikey raced into his brother's room, tears streaming down his face. He jumped on Leo's bed and into waiting arms. Mikey sniffled as Leo tried to calm him.

"It's okay Mikey. Nothing going to hurt you," he said softly, hoping that the others hadn't woken up. Unfortunately, they had.

"Hey, Mikey. I'm sure what you saw was just in your head," Donnie said as he sat on the edge of Leo's bed.

"No! I saw it!" Mikey started to tense up again. "It was big and had big teeth and a big mouth with big eyes and big…"

"It was big. We get it," Raph said from the door. "We all got dragged outta bed for this?"

"Raphael!" The turtle flinched at Splinter sharp reprimand.

"Sorry."

"Now then, Michelangelo, were you reading those comics I expressly forbade you to read?"

The trembling turtle shyly nodded. "But I know I saw something!"

"Fine, I'll take care of it!" Raphael said as he stormed out of the room. A few seconds later, the turtles and their sensei heard Raph's battle cry followed by a lot of thumping and a crashing sound. There were a few more minutes of banging and then silence. Finally they heard Raph yelling from their front door.

"Yeah, ya better run, 'cause if I ever see ya bothering my lil' bro again, you're gonna hafta answer ta me!"

Raph entered Leo's room with a smirk on his face. "Well, that's taken care of. Sorry, Mikey, I accidentally broke your nightlight but you can have mine."

Mikey grinned as his brother tossed him a small light that was shaped like a superhero. "Wow! Thanks Raph!" He gave Raph a hug before he disappeared back into his room.

"Now that the situation has been resolved, I think I'm going back to sleep," Donnie said. "Nice work, Bro."

"Yes, that was clever, my son," Splinter said with a smile. Then he followed Donnie out of the room.

Raph grinned and started back to his room when Leo's voice stopped him. "There wasn't really a monster, was there."

"Nope."

"So then, all that racket was you?"

"Yep."

"You also knew that he hated that nightlight Donnie had given him?"

"Yep."

"You're something else, Raph!"

"And don't you forget it!"

the present…

"I won't Bro," Leo whispered as a tear slipped past the blue mask.

Meanwhile Splinter and Donatello were having their own troubles. While Donnie tenderly washed the blood from his brother's body, the rat tried to staunch the flow of fresh blood from where the ropes had cut into the green flesh of his son's wrist. They had already reset both of Raphael's shoulders and had even managed to slow the blood from the wounds on his neck. Splinter was applying the ointment he had used on those wounds on the turtle's wrist when a sob made him look up.

"I'm sorry, Master Splinter." Donatello chocked out. "I was trying to keep track of the number of wounds but there… there's just too many!"

The graying rat placed a gnarled hand on his son's cheek and whipped away a tear that was slowly making its way down the young turtle's face. With all their skills and bravado, it was easy to forget that all of them were still children. Young children. To young to be experiencing suffering like this.

"Perhaps you should go be with your other brothers," Splinter said gently.

Donnie shook his head. "No, I need to stay here where I can at least …"

The turtle had laid a hand on his Raphael's leg, one of two spots that didn't seem to be injured. Eyes opened wide behind the purple mask. There were hundreds of tiny bumps on both of Raph's thighs.

"Sensei?"

Splinter's hand went to the spot that Donnie indicated. Indeed, there was something there that should not have been. The rat felt ill, knowing what lay under the skin.

"Please hand me the scalpel and a clamp."

Donnie reached into the well stocked med kit and grabbed the small knife and a scissor like tool that gripped instead of cut. He handed them to Splinter.

"Now, my son, I will need you to be ready to stitch the wound closed as soon as I am done." Elderly eyes met young ones. "What I am about to do will be very unpleasant, but I need you stay strong."

Donnie nodded. "For Raph."

Splinter smiled briefly before turning back to his patient. He carefully set the blade across one of the lumps and cut it open. He then took the clamp and slid it into the wound. A second later he withdrew the instrument with something clamped in its jaws. The object was so slick with blood; it took Donatello a moment to realize what it was.

"A needle!" he whispered, a horrified sickness settling in the pit of his stomach.

"Hundreds of them, driven into his legs so he could no longer stand," Splinter said as he held the wound closed so Donnie could stitch it closed. He dropped the needle into a bowl of water.

"And with both of his shoulders dislocated…" Donnie couldn't finish the thought. "How could anyone survive this?"

Splinter pulled his distraught son to him and held the mourning turtle. "Remember, this is Raphael. If anyone were stubborn enough to survive this, it would be him."

And so a father wept for his sons and a brother wept for his family.