Well, I tried for some fluff, just a little. So sorry for the delay but crazy days lately for me. Enjoy!

-Lullaby for a Stormy Night

Raphael

Heavy snowflakes fell around him. Each could have been easily the size of quarters. They created another snowy layer on top of the already white covered roof top. Well it was February in the big apple, what else could I expect? The air was frigid to match the snow that was suspended around me. Spring was nowhere near close and I still had to wear a heavy black coat, Sherpa lined jeans, and boots that Casey and April were able to send my way from various thrift stores.

I knelt down with one foot up on the raised edge of the current rooftop I was on. I had actually travelled enough tonight that I could make out the East River not too far out in front of me. I mostly definitely could smell it. My masked eyes drifted around the unusually quiet buildings "Where are you?" I asked the steady wind, "Tell me anything. Please. I feel like I'm going crazy and running in circles and I need something. Why do you answer everyone but me. What did I do?"

No answer. For the past three months I spent as many nights as my family would allow going out and searching. I was looking for anything that could possibly tell me where she could be. Maybe it was stupid of me. The fact was she was most likely long gone from New York and out of my life forever. If she even is still alive.

But I had to do something to fight this phantom feeling that none of it ever happened. If it wasn't for the new scars on my skin, I would believe it was all a dream.

Serena had promised me though, and I was not about to let that oath fail. ACDC Highway to Hell suddenly sounded in my coat pocket. I fished out my old shell cell ready to answer my brother's call. My thumb pressed the side button causing the old phone to expand, not nearly as smooth as years past. Don really needs to upgrade these, it's been years. "Yeah?" was my only answer.

"Raph come on and get home. You've been out for five hours tonight. It's too cold." Leo's voice spoke on the other end of the line.

"I'm fine Leo, honest, I—"

"Please Raph, just listen to me. You can go again another night but the temp is dropping too much. I don't want to risk you getting stuck out in this weather." He pleaded over the phone.

I sighed, more irritated at myself than my overprotective brother, "Okay, okay. I'll be home in a couple of minutes."

"Alright bro. Another night and maybe we can—"

"No Leo," I interrupted him gruffly, "This is something I have to do on my own." With that, we silently exchanged goodbyes and I snapped the device shut. I groaned and shoved away from the edge. Snow mixed with dirt crunched beneath my worn out leather boots. I pulled at my collar as I shuffled back across the rectangular roof. So what if I was getting cold? The fact that I was cold blooded was a damn good excuse. The drain pipe I had used to climb up from the alley below was in my sights.

"Time to go, I guess. Take the back roads home, couple of detours, and I'll be back before they have too big of a hissy fit." I had finally reached the back corner of the building. My hand hooked around the top as I crouched down. Holding on, I hopped off and let my feet swing around to balance on the side of the brick wall. Looking down, it wasn't that big of a drop, but I couldn't risk a jump. One bad landing and I was done. A history of fights and beatings left me a little more fragile than what I should have been at eighteen.

Only eighteen. That was a weird thought. I always could think otherwise unless I really focused on the date. Age was such a petty thing. Yeah, if I was a human, I would officially be an adult. But really made me feel it was my memories.

As I scaled down the drainpipe, I reflected again on my life. Every new hand hold and movement pushed snapshots into my vision. I tried to push them away, but it wasn't working. "Not now, please." I grunted to myself. There was still about 15 feet till I reached a spot I could leap from. My clothes slowed me down too. I was getting worse too, it wasn't just visions anymore, but sounds wafted around me.

I twisted my head around and looked down into the alley below. I saw shadows and ghostly forms. The Shredder stood over the silhouettes of my brothers. Master Splinter was fiercely fighting a group of Foot. Everything I had seen before, and it was happening again. I shouted at them to run, confused how they could just stand there. Angry at why I was just holding myself so far away. Looking back around, I didn't see a brick wall anymore. The fist of a well built ninja went straight for my face. My only option was to let go.

I pushed myself off the wall and into the air. In a short time, I hit the ground. On my feet and still facing where I came from, I was in the middle of it all. All around bodies clashed and the familiar sounds of metal crashing and the grunts of struck ninja. The noise was deafening. I pressed my hands to either side of my head. I wanted to fight, to help my brothers, but I couldn't see straight. I stumbled and closed my eyes tight.

"Raph!" I heard Mikey call before his voice was cut off by a grotesque gurgling.

"No!" I screamed before falling backwards. I caught myself, just barely. My fingers snagged on some chain link behind me. The rattling was far too high and stood out against the rest of the chaos around me.

I opened my eyes slightly, panting heavily. I was in somewhere completely different. My wrists were bound again and a dark figure approached me. He got right up in my face and screamed, "You're nothing freak. She doesn't want you! She's one of us!"

I felt bruising return and cuts reopen although I couldn't see any of them. Aaron continued to scream in a voice I couldn't understand, but I caught a few words. Freak, monster, mistake… but her name most of all. He never touched me though, even if it would have been easier. A beating was so much easier than all of this. Enough was enough. I couldn't take much more. My knee began to buckle at the horror show I was trapped in. There was nothing left but this, and I didn't want anymore. They could kill me if they wanted. I just didn't care anymore.

At least, I thought I didn't. Then she appeared. She bolted straight up to me. Her body cut straight through Aaron, breaking him into clouds of sickly grey smoke. She stopped just short of me. "You came back."

"You have to stop this."

"I can't though you know this." I refused to look at her, exhausted and embarrassed.

She tilted my face up in her soft hands. Her eyes were a brighter green, but just as big and striking. "Yes you can. This isn't real… any of it… remember."

"But you're here, it has to be. I need you."

"Remember how to heal yourself. Remember what I told you." she began to pull away. The space around us began to calm and turn back to normal. It was just an alley, no warehouse, no wreckage from battles, just the alley where my bike was parked. Even she was beginning to be hard to see.

"Where are you though? I look for you as much as I can but—"

She cut me off with a powerful kiss on the mouth. My hands freed themselves and took her face into them. If she was just in my head, why did this feel so real? She was so warm, and she felt so real. Maybe I was going crazy. "Get it together tough guy. I need you to find me remember?"

I shut my eyes once more before reopening them. She was gone again, taking all the noise and pain with her. I had not cuts or bruises, just a limp from my sudden jump. "I remember," was all I replied into the cold night.

I sat heavily onto my bike and threw the throttle, letting my dark red Harley roar to life. It was time to go home and sleep for ten thousand years.

Michaelangelo

Donnie was locked away in his room. Raph was out hunting ghosts. Leo typed madly away at the family lap top. And me? Well all I had was a hacky sack and a nearly empty living room. But even repeatedly bouncing the small bean bag on my ankles and elbows began to bore me.

"Leo, wanna watch a movie or something?" I called over.

"Huh? What…" he grumbled from behind his glowing screen, "Yeah sure, just a sec Mike."

I tossed the hacky sack into the corner of the couch. "What are you doing anyway, fearless leader?"

"Don't worry about it." He caught on too quickly when I jogged over. He quickly closed the window he had open. He stood bumping my shoulder and grinning, abusing the height difference to look down at me. "Well come on, dork. If you're not careful, I'm turning on Sin City again."

"Don't you dare. I hate that movie." I shoved him to the side and rushed for the player, beating him there easily. He suspected nothing, but I had seen what he was researching online. Just a few words, a title of an article, but it was enough to make a knot in the pit of my stomach:

Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: How to Help Your Loved Ones