"She loves me..? She loves me!" Raph's grin was bigger than Mikey had ever seen it.

"Uh oh.. I know that look!" Mikey smiled as his big brother took out his sais. The turtle brothers followed Raph down the hill towards the large group of Dregg's insectoid minions. The ninjas continued to take down the insect henchmen alongside Mona, seeming to make good progress. With a yell, Raph proceeded to tear a minion apart while his brothers kept fighting around him. He looked over at Mona who was also successfully holding her own. She slashed a few more bugs with her sword then noticed her boyfriend looking at her. She was about to give him a smile before a giant scorpion mutant painfully stabbed her in the back with it's stinger. With a scream of pain, she collapsed to the ground, leaving everyone in shock.

"MONA!" Raph screamed for her, ignoring the rest of the goons and running over to her. "Mona.. are you okay?" He asked frantically, his heart breaking at her groan of pain when he lifted her onto his lap.

"Raphael.." She reached up and touched his face gently. Raph held her hand and tried to stay calm.

"You're gonna be okay, Mona Lisa. I promise, we'll get you some help-"

"No... Raphael.. it's too late..." Mona mumbled as tears began to roll down her face. Raph shook his head and quickly stole a glance at his concerned brothers and told them to get help before looking back down at his dying partner.

No, Mona! Don't talk like that, you're gonna be just fine.." He stammered as unshed tears welled up in his eyes. "Please, Mona, stay with me, okay? I-I need you!" He said desperately. Mona quieted him by placing her other hand on his cheek.

"Raphael.. I love you so much. Every m-moment I've spent with you has been absolutely wonderful.." She smiled tearfully at her trembling boyfriend. "I will never forget you, my love.."

"M-Mona..?"

"I l-love...you..." Her eyes slid shut as she trailed off and fell limp in Raphael's arms. The battlefield fell silent as Raph's heart shattered.

"Mona.." The tears stayed unshed as shock settled through the turtle's body. He barely heard his brothers approaching him, trying to comfort him. Someone gently lifted him off of the ground, along with Mona's body as they made their way back to Honeycut's ship. As he unconsciously walked along with his brothers, someone inside him snapped. Anger overtook the fresh grief in his body as Mona was separated from him. He was too overwhelmed to speak, to ask where they were taking her, why he couldn't be with her. But the anger left him silent, unable to form any words, or even any thought in his clouded mind. He heard Leo say something to him, but he couldn't make out the words before he went straight to his room and shut the door.

TIME SKIP

"You guys, I'm getting worried about Raph." Donnie spoke up suddenly, the tv show they were watching being unconsciously ignored as worry clouded their minds.

"Me too. He won't say anything to us, or even eat pizza." Mikey sighed, his voice uncharacteristically quiet.

"It's been three days since he went to his room, and we haven't seen him since. We need to do something." Donnie looked down at his hands.

"Like what? He's absolutely broken and won't listen to anybody, Donnie." Leo retorted.

"Maybe he'll listen to me?" A voice spoke up behind them. Everyone turned to see Casey standing there nervously. Leo sighed and looked down.

"I guess there's no harm in trying." His voice laced with worry.

Donnie nodded. "Go ahead, Case." He said softly. Casey nodded back and slowly headed for Raph's room. He stopped at the entrance and called to him. "Raph, you in there?"

"What do you want, Casey?" Ralph grumbled from inside his room. "If you're here to throw something at me, I swear-"

"I just wanna talk, man." Casey answered quickly. "Please."

Raph sighed and was silent for a moment. "...whatever."

Casey took that as an okay and slowly entered Raph's bedroom to see Raph sitting on the edge of his bed, head down. "Hey." The hockey player sat down beside Raph. "How're you holding up?"

The heartbroken turtle didn't look up as he spoke. "The love of my life died in my arms and she's never coming back, so I'm just great, Casey. Thanks for asking." He snapped. Casey ignored his harsh tone and kept talking.

"I-I'm so sorry, man. I.. I know how it feels." He looked down, sighing. "My mother... died when I was young. I know how much it hurts, Raph." He looked at Raphael. "But you can't keep this stuff bottled up. It's not healthy. Look, I know I make fun of you sometimes, but we would never make fun of you for this; for feeling what you need to feel. If you feel like you need to cry, scream, or even punch something, then you do it." He looked back down at his hands. "I wouldn't blame you." He slowly stood up. "No one even needs to know, as long as you're getting it out somehow." He put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I love you, man. Please feel better soon." Casey turned and headed for the door.

"Casey." Raph suddenly spoke quietly. Casey turned back around.

"Yeah, Raph?"

Raphael said nothing, but motioned for Jones to come back over. Casey walked back over and sat down beside his broken friend again. It was silent for a moment before Casey heard Raph's breathing pick up. Before he could get a word out, Raph flung himself onto his best friend, wrapping his arms around him and breaking down into his shoulder. Casey was quick to hug him back and hold him close.

"Hey hey hey, it's okay." He whispered, happy that Raph was finally beginning to heal. "Good, you're feeling what you need to feel. Just let it all out, man.." He hugged his friend tighter as Raph cried harder into his shoulder. "I'm right here with you.."

Although his heart was still broken, it had begun to heal the slightest bit with the help of Casey Jones.