Leo tasted the blood, the ache, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as Don's eyes seething with hatred, the sudden blow, those tortured moments when Don glared down at him, fingers twitching in helpless coils as if he wanted to strangle Leo with his bare hands.

Leo would have welcomed it. And when Don had snarled and exited, it was all Leo could do to not beg him to come back and beat him until the guilt came out in every bruise, in every well-earned broken bone.

Leo winced as he s shook his head. The small trickle of scarlet itched as it smeared and dried down his cheek. Instinctively, he raised one wrist to dab away the mess, and was reminded yet again that he was tied down, as well. It would only take him working his teeth over the knot on his right wrist to get himself free. Splinter had tied the cloth deceptively loose. Hell, the sheet, rope, whatever it was, was almost sliding off of his wrist. Leo nearly yanked himself free, until his blood ran cold at the sick realization of what he had almost done.

Karai. The loose knot. Karai would surely notice how odd it would be for Splinter to both fear and hate Leo, and yet give him such a painfully obvious escape route. Splinter was no fool, and this was no error.

Leo swallowed back the tears. Even now, his father was trying to save him. Did Splinter somehow know? It didn't matter. It changed nothing, except give Leo a sliver of hope that he could be forgiven when all of this hell was over with, if he lived through it.

Splinter had shut the door with such an air of finality, Leo felt it as if he were slamming the door to his tomb. Each tear hurt worse than a stab wound, and it took every bit of Leo's crumbling resolve to keep still, keep silent, keep twitching his hands against the knots, keep dismantling his family, keep the erosion until there was nothing left to save.

This had to be what hell was like. Being alone and hated in a room that once felt like home with the ones he was slowly killing to save. It made his soul ache against his ribs as he lay his sweated head back in the soft lump of pillow somebody had stuffed beneath his skull. The sob rammed its way past his clenched teeth, rose high against his ragged breath, bolted like a wounded rabbit, and settled down into a groan.

He could keep his silence but not the tears. He blanched as he felt the wet trails slithering down his cheeks, escaping his clamped eyelids.

He felt his resolve fraying like a noose. All it would take a scream, an explanation, an apology. The words were just on his tongue, ready to be hurled, when he remembered that hideous scrape of Karai's katana against his throat, the brutal helplessness, the sickening promise she made. Would he be saving his family, or damning them?

Was Karai watching him fracture? He flinched at the thought and swallowed back a sob. He stared at the ceiling, searching desperately for some clue as to where the hell Karai's camera was. He could see nothing, but if she was bright enough to bug the Lair, she wouldn't be putting it in view where it could be tampered with. For all he knew, she could have rigged up an explosive to bomb them literally to hell.

That thought only brought him on the verge of tears. He hovered there, clamping his jaw and eyes shut until he could blink back the wet blur and not break down into hysterics.

A bomb. It was completely possible.

He trembled at the thought, warring with himself to stop the damn quaking and think straight. Going over every possibility of what she could do was pointless torture. Later, later, he might have the luxury and time to indulge in anguished contemplation, but for now, he had to figure out what the hell to do, and quickly.

Meanwhile…..

"Dude, the hole's right there. Exactly what is there to not be sure of?"

Mikey's snarl was ugly, and strange, and wrong. Raph recoiled, but Mikey either didn't notice or care to comment.

Raph's fingers twitched, as the doubt clawed at him. His brother had stood over him and stabbed him and nearly killed him. What else was there to say?

Plenty

Raphael growled as he eased himself over to the edge of the bed, and cautiously swung his legs downward. He grunted, and nearly flopped back into the sheets when the world tilted and the rush to his head nearly toppled him. Wincing, he swallowed back vomit and stilled until the horrible ache and dizziness faded. Holding out his good arm towards Mike, he curled his fingers towards him.

"Mikey. Help me up." Raph hated that pleading sound of his own voice.

Mikey stared, wide-eyed and rigid. "Raph, you need to take it easy, bro. You were just stabbed."

He regretted it when he saw the memory flicker in Raph's eyes, that sick, stunned terror of a trapped animal, before Raphael resumed his more familiar scowl.

"Damn it, Mikey, you think that I'll ever forget this?" Raphael narrowed his eyes, trembling.

Maybe Mikey could forget and go on with his merry ass life. Raph knew that he'd be dreaming about sais, hot and wet and dribbling scarlet with his own blood every time he closed his eyes, every time he saw Leo, every time he looked down at his scarred wrist and ran a finger over that big damn hole.

The hell with it. He was getting answers.

"You gonna help me, or am I going to crawl?"

Mikey gave the dojo door a glare, before he turned back to Raph. His eyes darkened as he bent his knees and gently slung Raph's good arm over his shoulders.

"I'm only doing this because I don't want to watch you crawl, Raph. And if you start hurting at all, you tell me. Got it?"

He waited until Raph finally gave him a glare and a nod. Sighing, Mikey shook his head. Stooping to help Raph balance, he waited until his brother hobbled to his feet, and shifted most of his weight to Mikey's shoulder.

Carefully, they lurched their way towards Splinter's room, Mikey carefully easing Raph to a standstill, and Raph's face paling with sweat.

Even the slow, quiet walk had cost Raph. He was gasping for air, and nearly slumping across Mikey's shell to keep upright.

Raph must have been hurting a lot more than he let on to look like that, Mikey thought dully, as he stared at Splinter's door, for answers that he knew wouldn't come.

"You okay?" Mikey asked worriedly, as Raphael shut his eyes and ground out through clenched teeth, "Mikey, never mind, just take me to Leo's room before I fall over."

"Raph, this is insane. You need to get back into bed and rest."

Cracking his eyes open into a squint, Raph only breathed out, "Mikey,I'll go to bed like a good boy and let you tuck me in. After I talk to Leo."

Mikey looked at Raph's withered face, the dull twitch of his fingers curled against Mikey's neck, that wrist wrapped up like a Christmas present.

"Raph, what can Leo say to possibly take any of this back?" His voice was frigid, fracturing like ice.

Raph shuddered at Mikey's weird, cold tone. "Mikey, it's not about Leo takin' anything back. I need answers. I can't just…." Pain flickered over Raph's face as he tensed and choked down the groan.

"Mikey, I don't want to have this scar on my wrist without a damn good reason. Maybe Leo's finally gone completely nuts. Maybe Leo's finally cracked, I don't know. But I can't just think that he'd up and hate us. I can't think that he'd do something like this-"

His eyes scraped his wound.

"Without a reason. This ain't Leo. It can't be."

Mikey's sigh escaped like a slow trickle from a rapidly crumbling dam.

"If it's not Leo, then who was it, Raph? Did anybody besides Leo happen to stab you?Or did you lose so much blood that it messed up your memory about what happened?"

Mikey bit back the sarcasm when he saw Raph's jaw tighten and that awful trembling reverberating through his frame. "I was there. "

The words were sharp as a whiplash as Raph softly snarled, "I was there, remember? I was there when he stabbed me, there when he laughed about it, there when I was bleeding and wondering if I was going to live. That ain't enough for you?"

"I was there, too!" Mikey nearly shrieked as he rounded on Raph, furiously. "And you wouldn't be if it weren't for me and Don and Splinter, Raph! Leo tried to kill you, and you're trying to excuse it? Why?"