A/N: I know I left you all with an evil cliffhanger. So I'm updating now. :) You're lucky I had a snow day today.
WARNING: Character death in this chapter. Sorry guys.
Leonardo and Raphael looked at each other, their eyes wide with terror. Leo was at the hole in the wall in a millisecond.
"DONNIE!" He yelled, "GET OUT OF THERE!"
"I'm trying, Leo," Don yelled back.
"Alright, that's it," Raph said. He quickly slid into the hole and helped Don support Mikey.
"Hurry," Don said, the sound of water getting louder, "We only have about ten seconds!"
"I'm trying!" Raph grunted, shifting Mikey so his weight was off his leg.
10
"GUYS!" Leo yelled, on the other side of the wall, "HURRY UP!"
9
"WE'RE TRYING!" Don and Raph's voices yelled back.
8
Looking around quickly, Leo spotted a manhole right above his head. "Yes!"
7
Hurrying back to the wall, Leo began pushing and pulling at the wall with his katana again to make the hole bigger.
6
A good chunk of the wall gave way, and Don and Raph climbed out, Mikey between them.
5
"There's a manhole up there!" Leo said, pointing. "Come on!"
4
"What about being seen?"
"Screw it!"
3
Raph rushed up the ladder first, helping pull Mikey to the surface.
2
Don scrambled up after Raph, Leo following, slightly slower having to climb with one hand, but fast enough.
1
Leo quickly replaced the manhole cover, just as the load roar of water became so loud, they couldn't hear each other. It was over in a minute.
"Is….is everyone okay?" Leo asked, breathing heavily.
"We're fine, Leo," Don said, shakily standing up. "Well, except for Mikey."
Leo looked around. They were lucky enough to have emerged in an alley, instead of popping up in the middle of a street or something. "We need to get back to the lair."
"So let's go." Raph said, one of Mikey's arms over his shoulder.
"Wait, Raph. We need to find a way to get Mikey back to the lair without hurting his leg further," Don spoke up.
As if on cue, a loud groan escaped Mikey, startling everyone else. "Ugh…what happened…how did I get up here…OW! Why does my leg hurt so much?"
Leo couldn't help a small smile at his brother's delayed reaction. "Here, Don." He said, gesturing to a spot behind a dumpster.
Leo helped Raph get Mikey behind the dumpster, and Don helped Mike sit down without putting any pressure on his leg.
"Can someone please tell me how in the world we went from the sewers to an alley? And did anyone find out what caused the explosion? Are Splinter and April okay? Did-"
"You're babbling again, Mikey." Don said simply. "Shut up for a minute so I can splint your leg."
Mikey fell silent, an annoyed look on his face. Leo squatted down next to him, while Raph went to go look for the best place to re-enter the sewers.
"We don't know anything, yet, Mikey." Leo explained. "We were concentrating more on getting you out of there, considering half the tunnels are under water now."
Mikey's eyes widened in surprise, and then even wider in pain as Don set his leg. "OW! Ow ow ow ow! Donnie! You're supposed to fix my leg, not break it again! OW!"
Don rolled his eyes. "I didn't break it again. I set it. You don't want it to heal crookedly, do you?"
"…No."
"That's what I thought."
"Um…Mike?" Leo asked, looking down. "Can I have my hand back?"
Mikey looked at Leo in surprise, then understood as he looked down as well. When Don had set his leg, Mikey had unconsciously grabbed Leo's hand and squeezed extremely hard.
"Uh…sorry…" Mikey said, grinning sheepishly, letting go.
"You're forgiven." Leo said, chuckling in spite of himself, waving his hand to get feeling back in it. Leave it to Mikey to lighten things up without even meaning to.
"There," Don said, leaning back, having splinted Mikey's leg well enough to get him at least back to the lair where he could treat him properly.
"Hey guys," Raph said, returning to the alley. "I found a manhole that leads almost directly to the lair."
"What about the flood?" Leo asked.
Raph shrugged. "It must have emptied off into the drainage junction before it got to the lair. There were only the regular puddles."
"Well, we better get going." Don said, standing up and heaving Mikey to his feet as well. "If you just stay off that leg," Don told him, "You should be okay."
Mikey nodded. Usually he would have milked this for all it was worth, but there was more important things to worry about right now. He put one of his arms around Don's shoulder, and the other one around Raph's.
"Ready?" Leo asked. "Let's go."
Somehow the four got to the manhole unseen. "Okay," Leo said. "Don, you go first and help Mikey down. Raph, you go after him."
His brothers nodded, and Don climbed down the ladder, then Mikey carefully lowered himself in, trying not to put any pressure on his leg whatsoever.
"Leo," Raph whispered in a lowered voice before he climbed in, "D'ya think-"
"Go, Raph." Leo interrupted. "We're in bright daylight." Raph frowned, but said nothing else, lowering himself into the sewers.
Leo hesitated before going in. Climbing up a ladder one handed when you're about to die is one thing. Going down is harder. Leo sighed and put his feet on the first rung. He had to learn to do this sooner or later. Leo finally got safely down the ladder, and turned to face his brothers. What he was feeling was reflected in all their eyes.
Fear.
'Okay,' Leo thought to himself as the door to his home came into view, blocked by large pieces of concrete and debris. 'Nothing's wrong, you're being paranoid. The explosion was probably just some workers. Splinter and April will be in there watching TV, totally fine…' Deep down, Leo knew none of this was true.
Leo reached out to open the door, but a small voice called out to him before he got the chance.
"Leo?"
Leo looked around, not seeing the source of the voice. He knew who it belonged to though. "April?"
"Leo, look!" Don said, pointing. A small sneaker was lying at the base of a large pile of rocks.
"Get Mikey inside." Leo ordered. "Then come help me."
By the time Raph and Don came back, Leo had managed to remove two large stones. Together, the three of them made a dent large enough for April to crawl out, seemingly unharmed. She fell sobbing into Raphael's arms. Raph looked surprised, then confused. "Uh…it's okay…"
"Are you alright?" Don asked.
Still sobbing, April nodded. Don and Leo looked at each other. She was not hurt, so what the shell was she crying about? It was them whose home had been damaged.
"Come on," Raph said unusually softly, gently pushing April off him and putting his arm around her shoulders. "Let's go in and you can calm down."
Raph led April into the lair, and into the kitchen where he had her sit down. "Now April, what-" Leo started, but was interrupted by a scream from Mikey.
Leo, Don and Raph looked at each other, eyes wide, and ran to the living room where Don and Raph had left him. Mikey wasn't there.
"Search everywhere!" Leo said.
They spread out, but he was nowhere to be found. Finally Leo came to the one place they hadn't checked. Splinter's room.
Just as he was about to slide the door open to see if Mikey was inside, April caught his arm, tears still running down her face, but considerably more calm than before. "Leo, wait, I need to tell you-"
"Not now, April, I have to make sure Mikey's okay." Leo said, pulling away.
"But Leo-"
Nothing could have prepared Leo for what he saw as he slid the door open.
Splinter was lying on his bed, his head bent to one side. A bullet hole was visible just below his ear, blood still trickling from it.
Mikey was on his knees next to Splinter's bed, curled up, his arms over his head. Leo could hear faint crying coming from him.
Leo stared. He was vaguely aware of footsteps coming up behind him. His brothers. He wanted to turn, to comfort them, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from his lifeless parent on the bed.
Leo blinked slowly, then just as slowly, turned around. Both his brothers were in the frozen state he had just been in. April stood in front of them, looking morose.
"I tried….I tried to tell you…" she said, silent tears coming down her face.
Leo swallowed. "April…what…what happened?"
April shuddered. "There was an explosion…Foot soldiers must have planted the bomb, because as soon as it went off, they all came in here…" April stopped for a minute to compose herself. "Splinter told me to hide…so I did…there was a shot…and then they were gone. When I came out, he was dead." April breathed deeply. "I ran out to find you guys, but then all that debris blocked me…"
Don continued to look shell shocked. Mikey had abandoned his curled up position on the floor, and was leaning against the wall, his good leg drawn up, his head resting on it, tears sliding down his cheeks and dripping onto the floor. "I...I just wanted to see him..." he whispered.
Raph let out a large growl and stormed off. A few seconds later they could hear the stuffing being beat out of something.
Leo sank to his knees in front of his Master's bed and put his arms around Mikey. He wasn't sure what to do now, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.
A/N: Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! But you can't say I didn't warn you.