A/N: Thanks to Amonraphoenix and Darkunderworld for beta-ing for me, and for also doing a fantastic job on the ending of this chapter. You guys truly rock :)
Disclaimer: see chapter one
Raphael pulled up to the pond in Inwood Hill Park, and scrambled out of the van. Donatello and Michelangelo were right behind him. The brothers once again split up in search of any clue as to where Leonardo could be buried.
Raphael went up to the pond and searched the water to see if he could see the last glass coffin. When he failed to see anything, he looked around at the trees nearby. His heart dropped when he saw a note stuck to a tree at the pond's edge. Raphael made his way over to the tree, his heart hammering painfully in his chest as he ripped the paper off the tree. He unfolded the note and read the riddle.
I'm light as a feather, Yet the strongest man can't hold me for much more than a minute.
What am I?
Raphael felt his world shatter. There was no way...It wasn't possible. How could he have failed? Raphael was so in shock that he didn't notice Donatello and Michelangelo run up behind him. Donatello read the riddle and his eyes widened in horror. Michelangelo looked from Raphael to Donatello and then back to Raphael.
"What?" he asked. "What is it?"
Raphael held up the paper and Michelangelo took it. The youngest read the riddle and frowned. He looked up to his brothers for the answer.
"What's the answer?" he questioned.
"It's breath, Mikey," Donatello answered his voice shaking in disbelief and horror. He looked over at his little brother, his eyes swimming in tears. "We're too late," he whispered miserably.
Before Michelangelo could even process what his older brother had told him, Raphael dove into the pond and swam as fast as he could to the bottom. He found the last and final coffin lying on the weedy bottom. He could just make out the shadowy form of his brother, floating just behind the glass. He couldn't tell if he was still alive or not, but by the way his brother's body was suspended, Raphael feared he was just that much too late. A bubble was suddenly released from his brother's slack mouth and floated lazily up to the roof of the coffin. Panic ripped through Raphael's body as he slammed the glass breaker against the side of the cell. The glass shattered and Raphael reached in, grabbing Leonardo's limp, lifeless arm. With his arm around his brother's chest, Raphael swam to the surface as fast as he could.
Donatello and Michelangelo were waiting up above when Raphael broke to the surface. He handed Leonardo over to his brothers and they pulled him to shore. Donatello instantly went into doctor mode and checked Leonardo's vitals. As he had feared, he found no pulse and no breath coming from Leonardo's mouth or nose; his eldest brother's skin was a sickly shade of blue-green.
"Don't just sit there, Donny, do somethin'!" Raphael barked, pulling himself up to where his brothers were kneeling, looking down at Leonardo with helpless devastation.
Donatello turned to look at him, his eyes filling with tears, his voice full of anguish and frustration. "What do you want me to do, Raph? Leo's gone."
Raphael made his way over to where Donatello was kneeling and pushed him to the side. He linked his fingers together and began doing chest compressions.
"Raph, what are you doing?!" Donatello cried as he watched Raphael trying to revive their deceased older brother.
"Leo ain't dead," Raphael ground out through clenched teeth, his eyes full of pain and grief.
"Raph..." Donatello began softly, touching his brother's leg gently. Raphael flinched, but remained focused on his impossible task.
"He ain't DEAD, Donny," Raph grounded out between clenched teeth. "I ain't gonna let Alfredson win! I couldn't have been too late…I can't be." Raphael choked out as he knelt down and blew a puff of air into Leonardo's slack mouth.
Donatello nodded solemnly, knowing that Raphael had to try. His eyes strayed to his hand which was covered in blood. His eyes widened in shock as his eyes flew to his brother's leg, swathed in bloody bandages.
"Raph, what happened to your legs?" Donatello asked in alarm.
"Doesn't matter," Raphael grunted as he continued with the compressions.
He paused in the compressions and, to Donatello's distress, slammed his fist into Leonardo's chest hard.
"Raph, what are you doing?!" Donatello cried out in horror, when he heard the unmistakable cracking of ribs.
"Don't ya dare die, Leo!" Raphael yelled at his sword wielding sibling. "You still have to yell at me for startin' that fight and for hurting you." He continued to slam his fist into Leonardo's chest, against Donatello's protests for him to stop. "You're not going to let that Alfredson creep win, are ya? You'd better not, Leo."
He raised his fist to bring it down again, but Donatello's grabbed his wrist. "Raph, stop it! It's over. Leo's gone, there's nothing we can do," the bo wielder pleaded tearfully, his voice lowering with each word. "Let him go…We need to get you looked at. You're bleeding pretty bad," he insisted quietly.
Raphael shook his head in denial and jerked his wrist out of Donatello's grasp and went back to doing chest compressions. Michelangelo and Donatello looked at each other; both knowing that trying to tell Raphael that it was hopeless was just a waste of breath.
"I'll never forgive you if you die, Leo. You hear me?!" Raphael yelled as tears streamed silently down his face.
Leonardo's body suddenly jerked and he began to cough weakly. Before shock could set in, Donatello pushed Raphael to the side and pulled Leonardo into the recovery position. Water poured out of Leonardo's mouth as he continued to violently cough and gasp for air. After a few minutes, his harsh coughing began to subside and he took a few deep, wheezing breaths. Raphael took up a position at Leonardo's head as Donatello stayed by his side. Michelangelo rubbed Leonardo's shell soothingly. Leonardo opened his eyes and turned over slightly so that he was looking up at Raphael's tear stained face.
"Hey," Raphael said softly, his voice betraying his emotions.
"Hey," Leonardo whispered. "Glad you could make it."
Raphael smirked slightly. "You would do the same for me."
Leonardo noticed the bandages around his brother's legs. He frowned. "What happened to your legs?" he asked anxiously.
Raphael opened his mouth to speak, but there was the sharp crack of a gunshot. Raphael cried out in pain as something grazed the skin of his shoulder. The air rang with a gunshot. Raphael put a hand to the wound and swung around, golden eyes burning in anger and pain.
A seething Alfredson stood a few feet away with a gun pointed straight at Raphael's head.
Donatello moved to get between his brother and the lethally armed human, but Raphael pushed him back and shook his head firmly.
"Get Leo into the Battle Shell, you too Mikey," the red masked turtle instructed under his breath. "This is between me and him."
"You turtles have become the curse of my life," Alfredson sneered as he cocked the gun again. "You were never meant to get this far! Why won't you just die?!"
Raphael slowly got to his feet and stood between the Grim Reaper and his brothers, using his body as a shield. Donatello and Michelangelo lifted Leonardo up carefully and got him safely inside the Battle Shell then closed the doors.
Raphael pulled out his sais and spun them once before getting into a defensive position.
"We're the curse of many a scumbag human's life," the red masked turtle replied with a low growl. "You're no exception. Just one more scumbag that we gotta clean off the streets."
He threw himself to the ground when Alfredson fired off the gun again. The bullet grazed Raphael's carapace as it flew over his head. Inside the Battle Shell, it was all Michelangelo could do not to charge out and help his brother. He turned to see Donatello deliberately making himself busy so that he wouldn't go charging out into the fray, even though the sound of the gunshots was clearly wearing on his already frayed nerves.
"Raph...needs help," Leonardo panted, trying to push himself up off the floor of the van.
Donatello gently pushed him back to the floor. "You're not going anywhere, Leo. You were clinically dead for several minutes, you're not going anywhere. It's a miracle that you've recovered so much as is, and didn't suffer brain damage."
"But...Raph-" Leonardo started to argue.
"Can handle himself," Donatello cut in firmly.
"Besides, it's Raph," Michelangelo added, trying to make his words sound comforting and nonchalant. "He can take on Alfredson with one hand tied-"
Another whip-like crack of a gun tore through the grunts and snarls of physical combat outside, cutting Michelangelo off.
Michelangelo swallowed down his growing horror, of the now frighteningly quiet outside. He looked at Leonardo who was pale, and shivering with cold and pain, his breathing sounding more like strained wheezing than healthy breathing. Donatello also looked pale, and worried, his eyes hidden in shadow, but Michelangelo managed to catch the faint gleam of terror and fear in his eyes.
He looked back at the door, his shaking hand reaching out to slide it open. He just couldn't take the silence, the uncertainty that hung thick in the muggy air of the van any longer. The door handle slid from his grasp as it was suddenly wrenched quickly open.
Michelangelo stared down into the smoking barrel of the revolver that was held mere inches away from his beak. He looked at the gun in horror, fear shooting a lightning blaze of adrenalin pumping through his body. His heartbeat pounded in his ears so loudly, that he almost missed Alfredson's silky, smug, gloating words.
Michelangelo stared at Alfredson with something akin to shock. Alfredson had a cut lip and was bleeding from a cut above his left eyebrow, a dark bruise forming on his left jaw. He smiled slowly; it was manic, gruesome and feral. His eyes burned with hatred, but also contained the self-satisfied satisfaction of victory.
"One brother down, only three to go. Though it doesn't really seem fair does it? It's rather like shooting fish in a barrel. Though I do enjoy playing with my victims and tormenting them, you have managed to survive one too many times, and so I will make this exception only once." He cocked the gun and Michelangelo processed the fact that Alfredson had killed Raphael and that in a moment, he and his brother's would be dead as well, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
The gun fired, a streak of red flashed before Michelangelo's eyes and it took a moment to realize that he hadn't been hit by the deadly bullet. Instead Raphael had launched himself at Alfredson, knocking him to the ground the bullet shot harmlessly into the air.
Leonardo pushed Donatello away, sitting up and dragging himself to the doorway. He could see Raphael and Alfedson rolling on the ground. Alfredson lay with Raphael positioned over his chest, hands wrapped around his neck. The gun lay nearby on the ground, either discarded or dropped. Raphael's sais also lay nearby, the two enemies fighting with their bare hands.
Alfredson drove his hands into Raphael's injured legs. Raphael roared in pain as Alfredson managed to kick Raphael off. Alfredson punched Raphael in the leg again. Leonardo moved forward, intent on helping their fighting brother who was just knocked to the ground. Michelangelo and Donatello both grabbed onto his shoulders, and in his weakened state, he couldn't pull out of their grips. Instead all three of them looked on silently. Alfredson scrambling to get the upper hand, punching Raphael in the face a few times as Alfredson's head whipped around from side to side in search of his gun.
Raphael roared in anger and twisted sending Alfredson rolling to the ground. Alfredson's hand lashed out, his fingers closing around the handle of his gun. Leonardo's heart clenched painfully in his chest. He called out Raphael's name in warning.
Raphael was already launching himself at Alfredson, tackling him before he was able to get off a shot. Alfredson's angry, burning gaze locked onto Raphael's golden ones, both freezing in a momentarily stunned tableau. Blood bubbled up from between Alfredson's lips as his shocked gaze met Raphael's, looking down as Raphael moved, his sai sticking out from between Alfredson's chest.
Alfredson's eyes slid closed as Raphael tore his sai from Alfredson's limp body. Raphael stumbled back nearly collapsing to the ground as he waved away their concerned voices, as he made his way slowly to the van.
Donatello leapt out; intent on helping Raphael into the van but Raphael just growled and said he didn't need any help.
Donatello bit his lip but nodded, climbing back into the van, quickly tearing open various packages of medical supplies. "Mikey, get up front we need to get out of here," he told his baby brother as he tore open the packaging for an IV tube.
Leonardo reached out a hand to help Raphael into the van as Donatello slid forward as well. One of Raph's feet was balanced on the edge of the bumper to step into the van when there was a movement behind Raphael.
"Hey, Red...Don't you know, the Grim Reaper...always...wins," Alfredson choked out as the roar of a gun shattered the stillness of the night.
Blood spatter hit Leonardo across his chest and the side of his face as Raphael's eyes widened in surprise and shock as bright crimson blossomed across Raphael's chest. Raphael's eyes slid closed as he fell limply into Donatello's arms.
Leonardo felt as if he was looking at the world through a long dark tunnel. He could hear Donatello and Michelangelo's frantic calls to Raphael, but they sounded far away. Leonardo reached up a shaking hand and wiped his brother's still warm blood away from his cheek. He stared at it in shock for a moment, his heart hammering painfully in his chest, his blood rushing through his ears, drowning out everything that was going on around him. He felt his eyes close on their own as his world went dark.
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