Alright, chapter 20 - who would have guessed that, huh? I want to thank all the ones, that has reviewed my story. I love you, guys! There will be a lot of things explained later on, but not in this chapter. You'll just have to wait... But enough of my babbling, let's get on with the story.

Enjoy...

The room was quiet. All that could be heard was the footsteps slowly approaching the shocked turtle. Donatello had his eyes closed, he could feel the panic starting to rush through his body, and yet, he couldn't make himself move or even look up to face his doom. And then something warm fell upon his shoulder. A hand, still warm and wet from the blood it was covered by.

'Donnie...'

He stirred. He was afraid, more than ever before. He wished that Leo was there. He would have been there to save them all. He would-

'Donnie.'

have saved Raph, and Mikey, and himself. Donnie was sure, that he would have saved the winged cat too.

"Donnie!"

The turtle shot his eyes open, looking into a pair of familiar eyes. It was even more shocking than the thought of looking into the eyes of the Shredder, or even death itself. Donnie's breathing had stopped, his throat was closed, sealed. He could only stare into the deep pools in the young face before him without as much as a whisper.

Finally, he threw himself at his brother, grabbing him around the neck to embrace himself in his arms, trying to get some comfort between all that had happened in the past hours. Leonardo grabbed him, though a bit stunned to know what was the right thing to do – but still, holding his brother in his arms helped on the mental stress he had been through. Donnie had actually come to save him – and Raph? Did Donnie know, had he maybe even found him somewhere in the building? The thought made Leo shiver. What had Shredder done to his brother afterwards? He couldn't help thinking about it. But then, where was Mikey? All he could see around him was fallen shadows, but who they all were, was hard to decide.

He pushed himself away from Donatello, looking worriedly at him.

"Don, where's Mikey?" he asked in a low voice. It was shaking a bit, revealing how nervous he actually was. Donnie looked down. He was so embarrassed that he had just been sitting there, doing nothing but to wait for the last blow.

"Right here..." a small cough came from not far away, as one of the shadows slowly got up to a sitting position. Don blinked, a small smile creeping onto his face.

"Mike, you're alright," the purple masked turtle grinned, feeling even more relieved than when he saw Leo. The shadow slowly got up and almost crawled over to them, getting close enough for the two brothers to see his face. Blood was still dripping from the bruise in his head, where Shredder had hit him, and it had brought him out of balance. Standing up was not an option. But he smiled weakly, showing that he wasn't hurt that bad. It brought comfort to the others, seeing as they were all three well.

"What about Raph?" Mikey pointed out, his voice still a bit week, "And the cat?"

"Raph's alive!" Leo widened his eyes in the dark, his heart skipping a beat, literally. It couldn't be true. He had believed him to be dead, al clues lead to the simple fact, that he had lost his brother, and now hope was showing its golden face again. Donnie and Mikey fell silent for a moment. They actually didn't know, what condition Raph was in. Mikey shot back, trying to see where his brother was at. He was there, somewhere. God, he simply had to be alive, Mikey needed his brother to still be alive. Michelangelo tried to stand up, but the dizziness quickly overwhelmed him, making him fall to his knees again. A throbbing pain yanked in his skull, making it almost too painful to stay awake, but he had to find Raph. If it wasn't impossible... The room was painted with bodies, most of them still alive. But he couldn't point out his brother in the dark. Why couldn't that blasted dark just go away? Suddenly, a shadow started moving, uneasy and shaking.

"Raph?" Mikey's voice was shaking violently. He wanted so much to hear his brother's voice, just a simple moan would be enough. Anything. Raph was even excused for insulting him, making fun of him – anything!

"Sorry," came a female reply. Mikey's heart dropped. Of course, it was good to know that the feline was alright too, but – he had so much wished for Raphael... Leo slowly got up and walked to the winged cat, making sure that he wasn't tripping over anything, or anyone. The Shredder was lying right next to her, his head lying in a funny angle on his body, lifeless. Or so he hoped, the villain had tricked them before. Leo sat down, helping her to sit up, not even noticing the blood sticking to her fur. He gently placed a hand on her chin, lifting her head upwards to check for wounds.

And the light returned, making them all flinch, as their eyes had just recently gotten used to the dark. Only a few light bulbs were still intact after the small explosion, but it was enough. When Leo opened his eyes, he could see the cat's yellowish fur stained in the red blood, two deep marks running below her throat still bleeding furiously. Leonardo gasped. He had thought, that he had stroked Shredder – and he had. The katana was still laying on the floor after his attack, and there was no blood on them. Shredder had gotten the cat before he could react.

"Raph!" Donnie almost cried, finally seeing where his last brother was at. He got to his knees, almost throwing himself in the direction of the unconscious turtle. Raph didn't move, except for his chest moving slightly by each breath. He was still alive, thank heavens!

"We gotta do something," Don called out to the others, "He's badly injured." Mikey crawled up to them, quickly followed by Leo, who was holding the feline in his arms. Leonardo's eyes couldn't move away from his brother's body, though he still somehow managed to put the cat down and get closer to Raph. He could feel and see himself place his hand on the injured ninja's shoulder, but - he wasn't aware of it. It was all like seeing a movie. He couldn't believe it, it couldn't be real. But one thing burned in his mind - there wasn't time to get him back home. They were talking minutes, maybe even seconds. He was speechless, he had no clue on what to do. What a nemesis. In the biggest crisis ever in his life, the 'fearless leader' was out of ideas.

The feline blinked at the sight. What had these turtles done to be target of her master's rage? She didn't know. The Shredder had never spoken directly to her in any matter, she had only overheard fragments of information. Information about...

"M-may I?" she tried, reaching her arm out to touch Raphael. Mikey wasn't slow to react, as he quickly moved to the side. He wasn't paying much attention to the surroundings, he could only respond on what to do, like a machine. His breathing ad almost stopped. Raph had been the one to let them know, that there was still a small light in the horizon.

The cat moved closer to sit right beside him. Her body was shaking lightly. Somehow, she wasn't sure, if she was ready for this. What if it went wrong, that she just used valuable time or maybe even did it all worse? But again, didn't she owe it to the others to try? She did, and she knew it. Placing both of her hands on Raphael's shoulder, she could feel the semi cold skin under them. The bangs of long fur from her lower arms spread on the turtle's body like waves of brown water, and her fur was standing on end. She closed her eyes. Now was the time, she only had one shot.

"What the-?" Donnie mumbled, watching a white light surround his brother. There was no logical explanation to this - in fact, he had no idea on what the heck the winged cat was doing. But she looked, concentrated, sweat was starting to drip down from her face, her abdomen was sinking inwards, her muscles working on full speed. All three turtles sat in ave. What was this, some kind of trick? It couldn't be... The cat let go of their brother, like she had gotten an electric shot. She was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted. But the turtles were still in doubt of what had just happened. Nothing had changed. If she had performed some kind of miracle, shouldn't he be sitting up now? Donnie slowly let his hand run over a bleeding wound - though finding it closed. It was nothing but a scar now, as he wiped the blood away with his finger.

"It's," the feline panted, "It's all... I could do," She folded her arms around her body, freezing slightly. Her eyes were focused on the floor.

"You...?" Mikey starred at her. There was so many words trying to push it's way through his throat, but even if he had tried to let them out, he would have stopped immediately again.

A small mourn came from Raph, as he stirred in his state of unconsciousness.

"Raph?" Leo tried, lifting his brother's head up in a comforting way. His breathing was steady, getting stronger for every second e was holding him. Leo turned his head to the cat, "How can we thank you for this?" His eyes were watering now. He had thought it was over, that they had lost him. Raph moved slightly again, still not awake.

The feline looked around at them all. The warmth was coming back to her body gradually, she was starting to feel good again. And now these creatures wanted to thank her in some way?

"Well," she hesitated, a small smile creeping upon her face, "You could get me out of here..."