Smack! April struck Raphael across the face for the third time. She was hitting as hard as she could, hoping that Raph's inherently violent nature would take care of the rest.

He was still non-responsive.

April hesitated. Who was she kidding? This wasn't the hardest she could hit. But the thought of beating Raph just because he wouldn't wake up was terrible. Besides, if he was going to respond to being smacked around, it would have been at least two slaps ago.

She glanced back at Mikey and Donnie. Her heart nearly stopped in relief or shock – she wasn't sure which. Donnie's lips were moving the tiniest bit, as if he were talking, and Mikey's eyes twitched beneath their lids, like he was in REM sleep.

They weren't awake, but they were showing signs that their brains were functioning. April ran to check their pulses. The beats were still too far apart, but faster than they had been a few minutes ago. "Good job, guys," she said. She planted a kiss on each one's forehead. "You can do it."

She hurried back over to Raph, confident that, if it wasn't waking them up, what she was doing was at least helping them. She placed her hands on Raph's temples and closed her eyes.

"Come on, you big green rage monster," April muttered. "You're not gonna go out like this..."

She drew a deep breath.

"…I won't let you, Raph."

Raphael was so tightly bound to the chair that he could feel the circulation in his arms and legs being cut off. The hot tingling in his extremities would soon become numbness. The ropes were strong. He'd broken out of ropes countless times during training exercises, but these were stronger than any he'd ever come across before.

He had stopped struggling a while ago. At first, he told himself that he was saving his strength for an opportune moment, just like Master Splinter had instructed him on multiple occasions. Then he realized, what was the point? His sensei was dead. His brothers were dead. What good had Raph's strength ever done him?

He always tried to be the strongest, the best, the most powerful. And he hadn't even come close to it.

Not once.

He was even powerless to look away from his dead brothers. No matter how much he wanted to close his eyes, to shut it out, he couldn't. He wished that he could be dead too – at least he could be reunited with them in whatever waited after death.

Death was fitting for him anyway – the only way he could be any more powerless was if he was dead. So, as the numbness crept up into his limbs, he started praying that it would take his whole body.

"Raph?"

It sounded like April's voice was coming from somewhere above him. He looked up, and saw nothing. When he looked back to where his brothers were, they were gone.

"You're sleeping. You have to wake up."

The ropes around him started to loosen ever-so-slightly.

"You can do this, Raph. I believe that you can. Wake up! I know that you can!"

Can.

The ropes loosened even more. Now, Raph had the tiniest bit of wiggle room, enough to work his way out of the bonds. In a few moments, he found the right combination of torque and angle to free one arm. He reached back to find the knot. Sweating, he managed to undo it.

The minute he was up out of the chair, a huge dark mass collided with him. He went flying.

"So, you managed to escape, did you?" the beaver growled, materializing in front of him.

Raph picked himself up from the ground. "Yeah, I did." He put up his fists. "And I'm starting to think that this might be a dream. I'm not so powerless after all!"

The beaver rolled its eyes. "Oh, bully for you! You figured out that you're dreaming! How fantastic! I'm curious as to how you feel that makes you any less powerless, though. After all, you're fast asleep, unable to wake up, while I slowly savor every ounce of your life force."

Chills shot down the back of Raph's neck. "So – "

" – You're still dying, yes. Not a thing you can do about it."

Fear was counteracted by anger. "What about my brothers?"

The beaver cracked a twisted grin. "Oh, I'm sure that they're enjoying their dreams as much as you are. You see, I have brothers too. Three, in fact. There is one of us for each of you. Your brothers are alive, though I doubt it's for much longer."

Raph's stomach twisted. He felt like he was going to vomit. It didn't matter that he had broken free; it was still the same situation as before. His brothers were dying, and he was absolutely powerless to help them. Numbness began to creep back into his limbs, like he was still tied.

"Please, Raph." April's voice reverberated in the empty space around them. "Don't give up!"

Don't give up. The numbness started to recede.

"You know what, I might be powerless to stop you," Raph bellowed. "I might be dying, even. But I sure as heck am not going to go down without a fight!"

"Delightful," the beaver said, cracking its knuckles. Abruptly, it wheeled around, striking Raph with its massive tail.

It seemed to Raph that he kept flying through the air; there was nothing around him anywhere, like he was suspended in a void. When he finally landed, it felt like he'd smashed into a metal grate.

Finally, a setting materialized around him. He was back at the place where Shredder had defeated Splinter.

The beaver stomped down the sewer tunnel toward him. "Run, little turtle. Run as if you can save yourself that way."

Raph leapt up from the ground and took a fighting stance. "If I'm gonna die, you better believe that it won't be running."

April opened her eyes. She checked Raph's pulse. It was still so weak – only about 14 beats per minute. But Donnie's had gone from 17 to 29, and Mikey's had leapt from 12 to 36. Both were still too low, but it was enough to keep them from flat-lining. With any luck, in a few minutes, Raph's would be up by at least another 10 beats per minute.

"Hang in there, buddy." She planted a quick kiss on Raph's head and then hurried over to Leo. She put her fingers at his throat.

Nothing.

She pressed her fingers deeper onto his carotid.

Still nothing.

"Leo?" Her heart started racing. Was she just not able to feel it? She grabbed his wrist and applied pressure there.

Nothing at all.