Yay! I did it. I did it! *runs happily in circles* -cough- -cough- I think I'll stop now... lol It's been longer than I hoped, but I hope you all can forgive me for putting this off for so long. Don't know if it was writer's block, stress, or just plain laziness, but I've finally finished this chapter and hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it. So enough of that. Have fun and read it. : D

______________________________________________________________

Chapter 18

Raph lay in the deep black void. There was no pain. No worries. No family. No... Leo... Leo. Why didn't Leo remember who he was? Why did he have to get the blasted amnesia? And how could they help him remember who he was? Without being killed would be nice.

He could feel himself start to stir and with that a stinging pain in his shoulder. Why did his shoulder hurt? Had he run into the Foot or Purple Dragons and gotten into a fight? No. That didn't sound right. It was a fight though. A fight with... Leo! He practically growled. The idiot had stolen his sai from him. Again! Two or three times if he remembered right. Frustration immediately flooded him. If he wanted his brother back he would have to do it his own way. The way he had offered to do, but was shot down by Don. Though this time nothing was going to stop him from getting his brother back.

Pain coarse through his shoulder in waves, jerking him awake and into the land of the living. Raph looked around, hearing a strange sound. Leo was awake with his head turned away from him. He grit his teeth, rage blinding him to what the sound was. He only heard the pounding of his heart in his ears, The raging anger coursed through his blood. He would get his brother back. Right now!

Raph leaped off the cot he lay on, ignoring his pained shoulder, and strode over to Leo. He was about to pull his fist back to punch Leo in the head, but then froze, thinking better of it. He turned and stalked over to Don's desk, finding a solid glass bottle. This would be hard enough to bring some sense into that mixed up brain of Leonardo's. He snatched it up and returned to Leo, who still refused to acknowledge him. Good. It would be much easier then. He raised the bottle above his head. "It's for your own good," he muttered. His hand came down, seemingly in slow motion until it stopped, two inches from Leo's skull. He froze wondering why he had stopped. He wanted Leo to remember him so badly. He wanted the turtle to stop stealing his sai from him!

"Raphael! Are you out of your mind?!" Don yelled.

Raph slowly looked over at Don, who held his hand in a vice grip. The bottle was jerked from his hand. "I want him back Donatello! I want him to stop stealing my sai!" His voice lowered dangerously. "And I'll do anything to get him back!"

"Dang it Raph! He is back!" Don glared at him.

Raph scowled at him, surprised by Don's outburst. He crossed his arms across his chest and glared, calming a little. "What do you mean?" He wasn't buying this at all.

"Why don't you have a look my son," Splinter said softly, but firmly.

Raph sighed and looked over at where Leo lay, surprised to see both Splinter and Mikey on the other side of Leo's cot, both had sad expressions in their eyes. He gulped afraid to look at Leo. He quieted enough to finally hear the noise he had heard before, but was never able to make out. He listened to it and was shocked to hear that somebody was crying. He slowly looked down at Leo, who crying his eyes out, head turned to the wall, weakly pulling at the straps that still held him down. Raph swallowed and turned, running out of the lab, out of the lair, and into the sewer tunnels, ignoring the voices calling after him. He ran and ran, pushing himself to go further. He had given into his blind rage and almost hurt his brother. He could have killed him. All because he wasn't patient enough to wait for Leo to remember them on his own. Or forgive him from doing things he wouldn't normally do had he been his normal self. He had probably terrified Leo by his act. Scared him witless for no good reason.

He climbed up the ladder to the surface and bounded up the closest fire escape up to the rooftops, racing across them as if just going too slow would burn his feet. He couldn't escape the pounding of his heart, the shock he had felt when he had finally heard Leo's crying. It took a lot to break his older brother, a lot to just make him shed a single tear, but what Raph had just about done had probably burst the rest of the dam holding back all the tears, all the shock, all the hurt.

Just about ready to scream out his frustration, a lone clink echoes through the night air catching Raph before his next leap. He slid to a stop and listened, his heart pounding from all his frustration. More pounding reached his ears until a crash of shattering glass broke the stillness of the night. He ran over to the other edge of the rooftop and slowly peered over the edge, smirking at the sight. A band of seven Purple Dragons were just disappearing into a jewelry store. His smirk widened a little more. Just what he needed to take out his angry and helpless frustration. Slipping over the edge, he landed silently down on the fire escape, stealthily slipping down into the alley.

"This is too easy," one Purple Dragon boasted and laughed loudly.

Another hit the first guy over the head. "Don't jinx it stupid. You know those green freaks are often out here. I'd rather not see them tonight. So keep it down," he griped harshly.

"Ooooooh, you're scared of some stupid lizards," another cracked, laughing his head off.

"I am not!"

"Sure ya ain't," the fourth snorted.

"Shut up and finish!" a tall guy ordered, crossing his arms and glaring at all the Purple Dragons who had stopped to argue.

The four Purple Dragons ran into the store without a word, their leader following them as two came out caring boxes, smiling as if they had just won the jack pot.

"We did it! We really did it! We're in!" one gloated.

"Yeah. Honorary Purple Dragons! Told ya we could do it," the other agreed.

"And no turtles. No need to worry."

"Oh I wouldn't say that exactly," a deep voice said casually.

The two Purple Dragons froze, looking at the shadows as if it would jump out and kill them.

"Who... Who's there?" one piped up.

"Just yar worst night mare ya scaredy cat." Raph slipped out of the shadows, flinging a punch to the first Dragon's jaw and spinning to kick the other in the back of the knees. He watched them fall with satisfaction, but wished for his sai. He had been so horrified by seeing Leo back to normal and actually crying that he had forgotten to find his sai before running out. But looking at these pathetic Purple Dragon thugs, he didn't need them to take care of this tonight. He smirked, punching one fist into the other palm. "So... ya want ta run like a chicken or fight like a man?"

The two men looked up at him from the ground, their boxes laying haphazardly beside them. With round eyes they jumped up and sprinted down the alley.

Raph chuckled dryly. "Guess they're just a couple of chickens." He shook his head and snuck into the opening into the jewelry store, freezing as he stepped in.

"Well, well, well," a voice spoke up amused. "Looky what we found."

Raph looked at the four Dragons and their leader and stood straight, arms crossing in front of him. "I think I'd reverse that and say look what I found. 'Cuz I just see a few chickens just like your buddies outside. Or... they were outside." He snickered. "They run fast."

The leader growled. "You won't walk away from this," he snarled, pulling a lead pipe from the loop on his belt, hitting it into his open palm.

"Ya want ta bet?"

"With a lizard?"

"Turtle."

"Whatever! Get him!" the leader barked at the four Dragons.

The four lurched forward, two carrying pipes like their leader, the other two with only their fists.

Raph got into a defensive pose and ducked under one punch, lifting the guy up and throwing him into the wall closest to him. Seeing the guy slump, Raph turned to the next one, spinning to the right just in time to avoid getting his skull horribly dented by the long pipe. He spin kicked him into the third one, smirking at a satisfied crunch before the two lay still. He eyed the fourth. "You in the mood for any broken bones?"

The fourth looked more like a kid with his dark hair, possibly not more than fifteen years old.

"Kill him!" the Dragon leader roared.

The boy had eyes wide as saucers as he stared at Raph. He looked to the opening in the wall and took off to the hole like his life depended on it.

"Smart kid," Raph smirked, eying the leader.

The large guy scoffed and lunched forward, attempting to whack Raph in the stomach with his pipe, only to succeed in swiping at air.

Raph grew amused at the stunned look in the Dragon's eyes. This was just too easy. And fun. He snickered and kicked the guy in the back, slipping around and giving him a wicked left hook punch to the jaw.

The Dragon stumbled back, tripping over the unconscious bodies of two of his Purple Dragon buddies and fell backwards, slamming his head against a display case with a shattering crash.

Raph crossed his arms and stood straight, glaring at all four Dragons lying unconscious. "Serves them right," he muttered. Turning, he slipped out of the jewelry store just as sirens started blaring near him. He slipped up to the rooftops and just ran, wishing that fight could have just lasted forever, taking his focus off his near mistake to his brother and his blaring pain in his shoulder. He had been such in his element while fighting the Purple Dragons, he hadn't notice the pain. Thought now it blasted at him like it was on fire with no chance of being put out. By the time he stopped running, it had begun to pour. Standing on the edge of the rooftop, all he could do was just scream into the howling wind and rain, afraid to go back home. Afraid of the fact that Leonardo, his precious older brother, might be actually terrified of him now.