Role reversal

Raph easily caught up to his brother and together they fell into a ground covering trot perfected by years of training.

Countless nights on patrol made them intimately familiar with each others movements. And Raph could tell that Leo was off. He was slow, jumpy, and lacked his usual fluid grace.

Raph remained uncharacteristically silent, as he paced along, but he used the time to observe Leo, think through the evenings events and keep an eye on the strange little flame bobbing along with them. He regarded Sol with a mixture of wonder and suspicion.

It was a while before Leo broke the silence.

"You think I've lost it, don't you" he said, pausing so that Raph could run up beside him.

"No, I think ya are finally reacting normally. " Raph replied. "I knew one day, something would spur ya to trust your instincts and act without bothering to spend years planning. But I couldn't of imagined this" he said, waving at the incredible little creature floating along beside them.

"Your problem bro, is that ya try to cover every contingency ya'self and don't trust your brothers to help ya" Raph continued.

"And yours is striking without thinking things through," Leo snapped angrily.

"Know that," Raph replied, refusing to rise to the bait. "Been thinking about it a lot these past few months, since…" he trailed off, not sure whether or not he was ready to talk about this secret. "Well, ya know, since" he concluded lamely.

Leo knew. It had taken years, but he had finally come to understand what Raph really needed. More patience than a saint, an ear to vent to on a regular basis, and occasional proof that the world was not better off without him.

It was the last bit that Raph was referring to now.

Six months ago, they had been out on patrol, and it had been a terrible night. There had been a clash of wills, and an innocent had suffered. Leo hadn't realized how badly Raph had taken that incident until later that evening when he'd came across his brother poised on the edge of a 12 story rooftop with nowhere to go but down.

It had taken hours for Leo to talk Raph away from the edge.

They had grown closer after that, and Leo forced himself to find time each day to speak to Raph without the usual snide comments. Sure they still butted heads, but Leo found he actually liked having some private time with Raph. The hot-head was not nearly as unobservent as he seemed. Raph just didn't consider his own input worthy, so instead of offering his thoughts, he lashed out.

Raphael couldn't have been more wrong. Leo found these conversations considerably enlightening. Raph's perspective of any given situation was unconventional. Raph observed, deduced and pointed out details that Leo himself hardly noticed. Details which often turned out to be vitally important.

Because of these quiet conversations, Leo was finally beginning to trust in more than just Raph's fighting skills. Perhaps he could trust Raph with this as well.

"Raphael" Leo began quietly, "Thank you for coming with me. I do need your help. More than you know."

Raph was confused as he watched Leo slow, then deliberately drop the mask of competence he usually wore. Leo's face twisted in agony, and his words began to flow, fast and furious.

"What they were doing, what they did - to the girl- was monstrous Raph." Leo stuttered. "I don't know how Sol did it, but I could feel everything they did to her. Every. Single. Blow. She tried to fight, but they had us pinned."

"The leader backhanded us across the face and snapped our head against the wall. Blood was everywhere. I could feel it running down the back of our neck, from a cut on our mouth and from the gash over our eyes."

Raph grabbed Leo's arm and pulled him to a stop, terribly concerned. He didn't miss the fact that Leo flinched away from his hand, or that his description had gone from 'her' to 'us'.

"Two hard strikes directly to the stomach dropped us to the alleyway. Then they all kicked us, over and over." Leo felt all the blood drain out of his face, trapped in the memory.

"There are broken ribs. I can feel them, sharp and stabbing against our lungs. And they didn't just beat us, Raph." Leo had to stop and swallow convulsively, before he could go on.

"They… They violated us. " Leo panted in horror. "All of them, one after another. I could taste them in our mouth. I could smell them, feel the weight of them on our body. And the PAIN inside... "

Leo let out a sob, and turned to face the tunnel wall in shame.

"Raph," he whispered " I've never felt anything like it in my life. I couldn't do ANYTHING! Only watch and bear it with her. I've never felt so helpless."

Raph felt helpless too against this onslaught of pain. He had never been the one to offer comfort. Advice sometimes, but comfort was out of his league.

"I don't know how she got away. She shouldn't have been able to stand." Leo shuddered. "Then to have finally escaped, only to fall…"

Raph's eyes had widened so much, as he listened to his brother's lament, that the whites showed all around. He and his brothers had seen many horrific things in their lives. They had fought and even killed when necessary, but rape was one thing Raph would never understand. It was a dishonor so deep, it could only be punished by death. And now his brother had been raped too. At least psychically. Raph felt sick.

"And nobody tried to stop 'em? To help ya?" Raph raged aghast. "What about this thing?"

He jerked his thumb angrily at the little flame bobbing alongside. He couldn't stop the glare he sent toward Sol, though what he thought the creature could have done remained unclear. The little one shivered and drifted further away from him

Leo shook his head.

"I couldn't see Sol. God knows how it got a hold of the memory. I'm not even sure if it knows her, or just stumbled across her and decided to be a good samaritan."

"As agitated as he is?" Raph said, watching the little flame orbit his brother urgently.

"He knows her, and if he didn't do anything to help..." Raph trailed off menacingly. He clenched his fists and stepped towards Sol, his intent clear.

"It's an innocent Raph," Leo said sharply, "It knew she was being hurt, but I don't think it understood exactly what was going on. It's not like us."

Raph didn't have an answer to that, so he fell silent.

Leo was becoming more desperate as time past, there was no way to know how much of it the girl had left. He had to get ahold of himself, but he just kept shaking.

What if she was already gone? A burning pain slammed into the center of his chest at the thought. It couldn't be too late, and he couldn't just stand around. Shaking off his immobility, Leo took off again down the tunnel.

Raphael watched his brother clutch his chest and speed away down the tunnel. He moved to follow quickly. Leo was in no condition to fight if he did catch up to any of those guys. Besides, Raph had something he wanted to give those thugs too. A little something he called payback.

Despite what the others thought, despite all the verbal clashes, Raphael cared deeply for his older brother. Leonardo had always been protective, first of his siblings, then of those that he considered helpless and being forced to stand by unable to intervene while one of them was repeatedly tortured, was worse than enduring torture himself.

The fact that his brother had actually experienced the beating and violation too… Raph didn't even want to think about that. He suddenly began to fear what would happen to Leo if they did find the girl, and she was already gone.