Leonardo felt the sudden change in the rope binding him but bit his tongue against the questions.
It had been deliberate, he knew that, but he couldn't understand why the strange turtle had done it.
Wasn't this the same turtle that had fought them only moments before? Who threatened to kill his baby brother and friend?
Why was he helping them now?
But of course he didn't ask any of this. Partly because he knew that it would have been a stupid move, and also because he was suddenly being shoved toward a raging wave and had to conserve his breath.
The moment he had hit the water, he was yanking his arms so forcefully that he thought he might pull his shoulders out of socket. The rope came away easily, falling slowly to the depths of the sea as Leo began to frantically swim toward his red banded brother.
Raphael was struggling violently against the too tight restraints on his wrist, desperate to break free but the turtle had known what he was doing.
When I find him, I'm gonna rip his shell off. Raph thought angrily. If he ever got out of these ropes, that is.
His throat was screaming for air, begging for the necessary element that he was so missing.
He felt tugging on his restraints, which cut into his wrists as a result, and suddenly he was free, and he was swimming toward Mikey with the remains of the cut rope still attached to his wrists.
Mikey was frighteningly still, hunched over with his head nearly touching his knees, floating unmovingly in the still water.
Raph's thoughts were in an incoherent blur as he grabbed Mikey's arm and yanked him to the surface of the water. When Mikey didn't respond to the sudden disappearance of the water around his head, Raph began to swim as fast as his body could carry them to the shore.
As soon as his feet touched land, he was carrying his youngest brother to the shore, begging whatever higher power there was in the world that his brother would jump up and start laughing in his face.
But as it was, his baby brother was still and cold as ice, his mouth hanging open slightly.
No, no, no, no, no, no. Raph begged, feeling his arms shake and his throat grow tight. Please, please wake up little brother.
Suddenly, Leo was beside him helping to pull their little brother onto the shore. They laid their brother on the ground and they both immediately knelt beside him.
Somewhere in his distraught mind, Raph realized that Casey had kneeled beside him, his wrists still tied together but be didn't even seem to realize it as he stared down at the fallen turtle.
Leo quickly turned Mikey on his side and cut his ties, moving his arms from behind his back as he positioned himself over his little brother's plastron.
Leo had his eyes scrunched together in concentration, trying to remember what their Sensei had taught them about CPR.
Leo cupped his hands together and placed them on his brother's plastron, shoving down with as much force as he could muster.
He did this to the same thought in his head as he followed the instructions their Sensei had given them.
Please, please, please.
Every word was followed by another forceful shove into his baby brother's unmoving plastron.
Leo didn't want to think about a life without his youngest brother. He didn't know if his family could go through the pain of losing another brother.
Please, please wake up Mikey.
Leo stopped the compressions and positioned himself above Mikey's head, catching sight of Casey's terrified expression and Raph's lost one as he did, and lowered his face to his brother's.
His face was in inch from Mikey's when the youngest turtle jumped up, gasping for breath.
"Oww, Mikey!" Leo muttered, rubbing his forehead where his little brother had just headbutted him.
Leo took several deep, calming breaths as he made his way to Casey, cutting through his binds with the shuriken he had used on Raph and Mikey.
"When I find Karai, I'm gonna gut her." Raph growled. "And I'm gonna rip that turtle's shell off too."
"And sense when was there other turtles?" Casey asked. "I thought you three were the only freaks in this city."
Leo heard the sound of Raph smacking Casey, followed by a breif struggle.
"What- what happened?" Mikey's startled voice rang out, staring around them like he didn't understand how he had gotten here.
"You took a short dirt nap, Mike." Raph grunted.
Mikey's eyes, impossibly, widened.
"I died?!" He demanded, his voice raising several octaves higher. "I really died? Am I a zombie?"
Mikey was nearly howling at this point as his eyes looked himself over.
The slap that followed was almost as loud as Mikey's voice had been.
Slap!
"You didn't die, Mike. And you're not a zombie neither." Raph snapped.
"You weren't breathing for a minute, that's all." Leo explained in the most soothing voice he could manage. "I got you to breathe again. You're okay."
"Oh." Mikey said, than his face scrunched up like it always does when he tries to think something through.
It was a look that Leo had seen few times, and on Raph even less, and Leo knew the expression well.
Suddenly, Mikey's look of contemplation abruptly turned to one of horror.
"Wait!" He nearly shrieked, staring at Leo. "Did you kiss me?"
Leo let out something similar to a laugh as he helped his baby brother stand up.
"Let's go home, guys." Leo said.
"You didn't answer my question!" Mikey protested as they made their way, Raph limping, toward the nearest manhole cover. Leo leaned down and pried the metal away from the street and motioned for the others to jump in. Mikey stepped up first, then looked back at them.
"Who did it? Was it-"
But Mikey's question was cut short when Raph gave him a hard shove that sent the youngest turtle into the sewers.
Raph only shrugged at the glare he was recieving from his older brother before jumping in after.
Casey was hot on his brother's heels, jumping in only a moment after Raph.
Leo didn't waste any time in climbing in after them.
Leo helped Raph to untangle the rope from his wrists as Mikey continued his onslaught of questions.
"Was it you, Raph? Leo? Oh, please tell me it wasn't Casey! I don't want my first kiss to be with a human! Or you guys. Oh please tell me that no one kissed me. I think I'm gonna have to wash my mouth when we get to the Lair..."
"I'm gonna have to sew your mouth shut when we get back to the Lair if you don't stop with the questions, Mike." Raph threatened.
"If someone did that CKE thing or whatever it was, one of you kissed me!" Mikey pointed out, certain that he was right. "I'm pretty sure that's part of the steps!"
"Shut it, Mikey!" Raph yelled. "No one kissed you! Trust me, if someone did, I'm pretty sure they would have more right to be upset than you."
"And it's called CPR, Mikey." Leo informed him, reminding himself to plan more emergency response lessons in their future.
Mikey gave an angry, "huff!" and stomped in the direction of the Lair.
They walked toward the Lair in silence.
Leo was trying to staunch the blood flow from the gash in his shoulder and ended up having to use his wraps on his wrists to try and slow the bleeding.
By the time the four of them stepped into the Lair, Leo was barely holding his head up and Raph had to support most of his weight.
"Sensei!" Raph yelled. "We need help!"
Splinter was already racing toward them before Raph had even finished his plea.
"What happened?" Their Sensei asked in a calm tone as he led the way toward the room that they used for a little makeshift infirmary.
Splinter forced Leo on the ratty bed and quickly grabbed the remaining of their stitching supplies.
"What happened, my sons?" Splinter repeated, his tone slightly firmer than before, letting them know that he wanted an answer.
Leo cleared his throat and spoke before anyone else had the chance.
"We ran into some trouble with the convoy. They caught us off guard and they got us tied up." Leo couldn't bring himself to look his father in the eye as he told the half truth. "They threw us in the water and we almost drowned. I think we were just arrogant, like you said, Sensei."
Splinter's face hardened slightly, but his voice did not change.
"That is all that happened?"
Leo forced himself to look his father in the eye, refusing to be caught in the lie he was about to tell.
"Yes."
Their father didn't answer as he cleaned Leo's wounds and stitched them.
Leo tried to look over his father's shoulder to the others, trying to convey the need for them to remain silent.
Raph's eyes were narrowed but Leo knew that his immediate younger brother wouldn't talk.
Mikey looked confused, his head tilted to one side and his mouth slightly open like he wanted to ask a question but one glare from Raph and he snapped it closed.
Casey was leaning against the wall with a prominent frown on his face, watching them. Leo felt certain that he wouldn't tell, either.
Their father glanced between each of them, then surprisingly didn't push it further.
"You all need sleep." Splinter said, his voice gentle but firm with a hint of aggravation showing through.
They hadn't fooled him.
"Raphael, will you please escort Mr. Jones home?" Splinter asked.
"Hai, Sensei." Raphael said.
Raph wanted to wait for Leo to be done in the infirmary so he could ask him why they had lied to Sensei, but he and Casey were being beckoned out of the infirmary and he had no choice but to escort Casey home like he had promised to.
He and Casey struck up a pointless conversation, both of them avoiding the obvious questions and problems that resulted from the events of the night.
When they got to the correct manhole, Casey pushed the metal aside and quickly slipped into his apartment.
Raph made sure that the manhole cover was securely in it's place before jumping onto the nearest rooftop and through the window that Casey always left open for them.
"Shouldn't you be getting back?" Casey asked him.
Raph sighed heavily. "Should. Case, you saw the turtle, didn't you?"
"Saw him?" Casey repeated. "Dude, he almost killed me!"
Raph looked away, back toward the buildings rooftops.
"Case, did we ever-" but Raph's hesitant question was cut off when he saw a shadow dance across a rooftop a few yards away.
A flash of green skin but no mask that he could see. He caught a glimpse of something long on his back.
Every reasonable thought forgotten, Raph jumped from the window seal he had been perched on and onto the nearest rooftop. He was running toward the figure even as he realized that he had no weapon, not a care in the world. Mikey's face, mouth open, plastron flat and unmoving, filled his every thought. The thought of another dead brother fueled his every furious stride toward the figure he had seen.
The turtle was faster than he was, but Raph had strength on his side and he used it generously.
Raph used his strength to his advantage when jumping onto the next rooftop, using his legs to propell him farther than the other turtle had a chance to.
Raph was nearly on him when the turtle did a one eighty and kicked him in the side of the head, temporarily dazing him.
This gave the turtle the chance to pull out his weapon and put some much needed distance between them as Raph tried to fight off the surprise attack.
Ignoring the pounding in his head, Raph turned toward the turtle, who stood in a battle ready stance, prepared for an attack.
"Walk away." The turtle advised through clenched teeth, gripping his hold on the weapon.
"Walk away?" Raph repeated. Walk away? Like shell! "No chance. You almost got Mikey killed!"
The change in the turtle's expression was almost imperceptible, but Raph thought that he seemed almost relieved at his words. But the expression became stoic once again and Raph had to question whether or not he had imagined the change.
"Who do you think has the advantage here?" The turtle asked in a critical voice, like he was a teacher that was getting fed up with an ignorant student. "I have weapons you can and cannot see. You have nothing, you're weakened from your little swim- I can tell because you're shivering- and you're angry and irrational."
Raph was breifly reminded of a professor from one of those old TV shows.
But the mental image disappeared when he was reminded that this was a Foot ninja, not a professor.
"Who are you?" Raph spat out, wanting a name to blame on their brother's visit to death's door.
But the turtle didn't reply, only glared back at him.
"Walk away, this is the last time I'm going to tell you." The turtle warned again.
"You almost killed my brother." Raph hissed venomously. "I don't forget that."
It was then that Casey jumped onto the roof as well, one of the many hockey sticks that he keeps around the house in hand.
Raph had hoped that the added presence would make the turtle apprehensive, but his face and body language remained the same, unchanged, indifferent expression as before.
In fact, he seemed more resigned than anything.
The turtle raised his weapon and took a defensive stance, eyes narrowed with concentration at his two opponents.
Just as the turtle took a step forward, a voice that Raph knew all too well rang out.
"What are you doing?" Karai demanded, glaring at the turtle. "Come!"
The turtle glanced at her but didn't dare lower his weapon or turn his back to his attackers.
"Donatello! That's an order! Come, now!"
That one word made Raphael's world stop, if only for a moment.
There was a time, years before, when Raph had been too distracted by an earlier argument that he had completely missed the rooftop he had been aiming for and fell several feet to an alley below. He had cracked his shell and it had felt like he couldn't breathe for so long that he had worried that he had somehow done something to his lungs. He hadn't, of course, but it had felt like it.
This was worse.
It felt as though every part of him were frozen solid, unable to move. He was certain that if a tornado were to materialize beside him, that not even the fiercest winds could shift him right now.
He could no longer take in air, could no longer speak or think beyond that one word that was playing on repeat like a broken record in his head.
Donatello.
He watched, as if an outsider to his own body, as the turtle backed up slowly, then back flipped onto the rooftop that Karai was waiting for him on.
Donatello.
And there Raph stood, staring like a shell- shocked idiot on the rooftop. In his defense, he was verifiabley shell- shocked.
Together, they jumped across the rooftops effortlessly until they were but mere dots in the distance, and then nothing at all.
Donatello...
Donnie...
He should have followed them. He should have tracked them down, seen where they went. But as it was, his limbs simply refused to move, to do anything.
The shock was running in his veins, keeping him frozen in place as it swept through his system.
Casey was in front of him, his mouth moving in dramatic ways, but no sound reached his ears, drowned out by the frantic pounding of his racing heart.
And then, so abruptly it was nearly violent, he came crashing back to himself. His legs gave out from under him and he dully felt the bitter cold of concrete on his knees.
He felt Casey's grip on his arm, so tight it was nearly cutting off his circulation, trying to pull it up.
Donatello.
Raph wanted to believe that it had been some cruel way to get into his head, that it had been planned just to catch him off guard. But he knew that it wasn't. It made too much sense for it to be a trick. Deep inside him, he knew that it had to be Donatello.
He knew.
Don't ask him how, he couldn't explain it even if he wanted to. It was just this feeling of right that couldn't be described.
Donatello.
Brother...
"Raph! Man, answer me!" Casey yelled, hoping to elicit some kind of response from the red banded turtle.
But his wide eyes were still fixed strait ahead where Karai and the turtle had been moments before, the only change was that he had fallen to his knees and didn't seem entirely aware of the fact.
Should he call Leo?
Casey debated on it.
Five minutes, he decided. He would give Raph five minutes then if he still hadn't changed, he would call Leo.
"Raph, come on man!" Casey pleaded to deaf ears. "It's almost sunrise! Come on, let me at least get you to the apartmen, then you can call your bros and tell them that you're okay."
This finally seemed to wake Raph out of his stupor.
"Brothers." He mumbled, then in a motion so quick that he would have missed it had he blinked, Raph stood up. "I gotta tell the others."
"Tell the others?" Casey repeated. What had he missed?
"I gotta tell Sensei." Raph said in a firm voice, then jumped from the side of the building and into the alley, wasting no time in prying the manhole cover off and jumping through.
Casey was shook, as much as he didn't want to admit it. Casey could count on one hand the number of times that Raph had acted anything like this, and none of those times scared him as much as this.
He wasn't really aware of exactly how he got back to the Lair. His mind had taken a backseat and he allowed his memory to lead him home.
His body dragged him through the doors of the Lair, and forced him to a stop in front of the figure before him.
"Raphael, where have you been?" His father demanded, letting a hint of anger come through. "You were asked to escort Mr. Jones home, but you have been gone for-"
It was then that the old father saw the tears shining on his his least emotionally expressive son, stopping the words in his throat.
"Raphael?" Splinter's tone turned gentle, concerned. "Raphael, what is it?"
"Sensei," the word came out choked and dry as cement. "Sensei-"
Raph didn't know how to say what needed to be said. He didn't know how to tell his father, who still mourns to this day, that he had been wrong, that his son was alive.
His tongue was stuck in his mouth, rebelling against the words that needed to come out, that had to be spoken.
"Raphael, my son, please tell me what bothers you."
My son.
Those two words were all it took to release his frozen tongue and he looked back at his father, not caring for once about the wetness on his cheeks.
"Donatello." The word was a whisper suited for the name of a ghost. "I think I saw Donatello."
I'm going to try and update regularly but I don't know if I'm going to be able to because I don't have regular access to wifi.