Chapter Two:

Colors of Day

Leo groaned as he opened his eyes, his mind reeling with memories of why he was lying flat on the hard ground of the sewers. Glimpses of memory, his brothers, Raph, the foot, and the rocket being launched came back to him. A trap… of course it had been a trap.

Groaning louder, he crawled to his knees, attempting to stand as his body protested. He should have known it was a trap. He was the leader. It was his job to protect his brothers and he had failed. Now he didn't even know whether they were alive or not.

"Raph…" he whispered, grimacing. What if Raph died thinking Leo truly hated him?! God, he was so stupid. Why had he said those things!

Pulling himself from such thoughts, he knew now was not the time to regret his actions. Now, he needed to find his brothers and he would believe…he had to believe…they were alive. He couldn't handle the thought that they weren't.

"Raph! Don! Mikey! Can anyone hear me?!" he called as he made his way through the dusty sewers, being careful not to trip over debris as his leg protested movement with every step. The same leg that healed only a few months ago after he had broken it! "What a pain", he grumbled as he staggered along.

A deep groan seemed to echo around Leo and he stopped, freezing in place as he search for the source of the sound.

"Whose there?" he called.

"Leo?" came the weak voice.

"Raph!" Leo shouted, recognizing the gruff voice of his brother as relief flooded through his system, "Are you okay? Where are you?!"

"I don't… argh! I don't know" came the pained response.

"Keep talking, I am coming" Leo called as he started towards where he thought his brother's voice was the loudest and clearest.

"Talk about w-what?"

"I don't know. Pick something", Leo huffed out, still straining to listen.

"D-Do you…" Raph paused before seeming to change his mind, "I like the c-color Red. Could you t-tell?"

Leo snorted, shaking his head.

"Yeah Raph, I could tell. What do you like about it?"

Raph was silent for a moment.

"Reminds me of… blood."

Leo paused in his walking. "That's why you like it?"

"N-No", came the scratchy voice, a little louder this time near Leo's right, "That's what I hate about it."

"Then what makes you like it?" Leo asked, now really curious where his brother was going with this.

"S-Sunset", he replied, "reminds me of…when I saw my…first sunset."

Leo frowned, trying to remember his first one, but nothing came to mind. Raphael seemed to read his mind as he laughed.

"I'm a sucker…for the sun", he replied.

Leo smiled. Of course, that was the reason it meant so much to Raphael. He dreamed…longed of being on the surface with the humans during the day. The sun meant a lot to Raph and that fact the sunset, his first one ever had been blood red, meant even more to him.

"Sunset suits you", Leo whispered as he thought back to the words he had told his brother before, about hating him. Now he truly regretted saying such a thing. "You know why I like blue?" he asked.

Silence met him for a few moments, before a scratchy voice once again hit his ears.

"Water?" it asked.

Leo smiled, but shook his head until he realized Raph probably couldn't see him.

"No", he replied, "kind of the same thing as yours I guess. I like it because of the sky."

Raphael, from where he laid, smiled.

"Sounds about right", he whispered, "Sun and the Sky. No wonder…we don't get along. You're so…large. Larger than life."

Leo smiled.

"And you, your hot headed with a flair for dramatics", laughed Leo, "but I wouldn't change anything about you."

Raphael frowned, staying silent. Leo noticed.

"Raph, about what I said…"

"You don't gotta explain", Raph whispered.

"I do need to explain", Leo stated, interrupting his brother, "You mean so much to me and I love you, very much. I let anger cloud my vision and because of it, you got hurt saving me, when I should have been on top of my game. I won't let that happen again."

"Don't say promises you can't keep bro", Raph laughed, but he felt better and so did Leo.

"So, what do you say…" Leo huffed as he pushed aside some fallen debris, popping out beside his brother, "we get out of here?"

Raph stared up at him, amused before shaking his head and clutching his brother's hand with his own.

"Thought you would never ask, fearless. Lead the way."

Leo smiled and the two brothers set out to find their way back home, together.

AUTHORS NOTE*

I really am very sorry about this fanfic. I meant this to be better and longer, but I almost immediately lacked motivation for it after the first chapter. I sincerely apologize.

I might one day come back and re-write it, but it won't be any time soon. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it at least a little. Thanks!