-Redemption-
Summary: Takes place during the 2007 CGI movie. Leo finds out who the Night Watcher is in a completely different way...
Disclaimer: I do not own the turtles. *Imagines what it would be like if I did and grins evilly*
A/n: Warning: This chapter may contain scenes that are disturbing to some. You have been warned.
I also had to change a few of the chapters I had already written around so the story could flow better. But now, I have them in a good, working order :3
Warnings for swearing and blood and violence.
April heaved violently, hot acidic bile burning the back of her throat. She spit out the rest of the burning bile, before dry heaving, her stomach now empty and having nothing left to bring up. Tears burned in the corners of April's eyes and rolled down he cheeks. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and her breathing was coming out in short, painful gasps. Her vision swam and her head ached. Images of what she had done only moments before sprang unbidden to April's mind, causing her to dry heave again.
Raphael…oh God Raph... April thought in horror, the sounds of his pained-filled screams echoing around her mind.
"April! April!"
Casey's frantic calling snapped April out of her daze and she stumbled to her feet on shaking legs and raced back over to the car. The frigid night air felt like pin-pricks across her clammy skin, and sent sharp pains straight to her lungs every time she breathed in. The moon was starting to set, and what little light that was left was blocked behind a thickening layer of dense, foreboding clouds, casting the rest of the world in flickering, solid shadows.
April stumbled and only just managed to regain her footing in time to stop herself from falling to the hard, unforgiving ground.
"Casey, Casey what's happening?" She shouted, stumbling to the car and leaning in the doorway to try and catch her breath.
Casey was still crouched on the floor beside the backseat, desperately trying to hold a squirming Raphael down without hurting him further and provoking his injuries.
"Help me," Casey panted, his arms straining as Raphael's struggles started to become more violent.
April quickly hopped into the car and crouched down beside Casey, her hands moving to rest on Raphael's arms. His skin was hot to the touch, and sleek with a layer of sweat.
"We have to stop him moving," Casey gasped, as Raphael tried to struggle out of his grip.
April looked around for something to use when her eyes rested on the two branches that had been knocked to the floor in the struggle. Her eyes snapped down to his un-splinted leg. Quickly groping around the floor for the first aid kit, April snatched up a bandage roll and shuffled over to the fallen branches.
"Keep his leg still," April ordered Casey, as she began to align the branches on either side of his injured leg.
Casey shifted his position, so one hand rested on Raph's lower plastron, and the other rested lightly on his bad thigh. Raphael squirmed at the touch and groaned in pain, trying to shift away from Casey's hands.
"Hold still Raph," Casey whispered to his friend, rubbing soothing circles over his skin. "You have to hold still man."
April unrolled the bandage and, as carefully as she could, began to splint his injured leg.
Raphael's brows furrowed and his teeth mashed together in pain. He tried to kick out, to dislodge the hands that were causing him so much pain. He jostled his bad leg in his attempts to get free. As a result, he threw his head back and screamed, a fiery pain shooting through his leg and consuming him, leaving him breathless from the intensity.
"Raph! Hold on buddy, hold on!" Casey grasped Raph's hand in his own and gripped it tightly, repeating those words over and over again like a mantra.
April finished binding the splints to his leg and moved to rest her hand on his forehead. Raphael continued to thrash, screams and groans escaping his lips as he tried to fight the pain that had become his body.
"April? Casey? Pick up guys, pick up!"
The voice was muffled and sudden that it made April jump. Searching around in the darkness, April's eyes landed on her cell phone, forgotten on the floor when she had made her quick exit out of the car earlier.
"Leo?" April asked with relief, holding the phone in a shaking hand up to her ear. "Where are you guys? Raph…"
"Calm down April," Leo's voice sounded like he was fighting to control his own panic. "What's happening? How's Raphael?"
Before April could answer however, Raphael started heaving. Snapping her attention to the injured turtle, April watched in horror as Raph's chest moved at an alarming rate. His mouth was open wide as he desperately fought for air.
"Raph? Raph buddy!" Casey shouted, panic shining in his eyes as he gently slid Raph's head onto his lap.
"Raph!" April gasped, forgetting the phone in her hand as she rushed over.
That's when Raphael started coughing. The coughs started out soft at first, but quickly grew in intensity until he couldn't breathe.
"Oh God, Raph!" April shouted, moving over to him quickly, resting her hands on his heaving chest.
The coughs grew in intensity until Raph was struggling to sit up, the force of each cough jarring his body, sending pain flaring over every inch of him.
"Casey, what's happening?" April shouted desperately as she stared down in horror at Raphael, her mind going numb, not knowing what to do.
"I don't know!" Casey shouted back, his eyes filled with panic as he gripped tightly on to Raphael.
There was a choking sound and suddenly Raphael heaved upwards, leaning forward as he vomited onto his chest. April stared in horror as bile and blood slid down his chest. He's coughing up blood. Oh God, oh God…
Raphael continued to cough, big jarring coughs that rattled his bones as he coughed up more and more blood. Blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth and his eyes were rolled back in his head as his body started to spasm and twitch in Casey's hands.
"April? April what's happening?" Leo's voice was yelling from the forgotten device in April's frozen hand.
"Leo, you guys have to get here, now!" April screamed into the phone, panic making her heart beat wildly against her ribcage. "Something's happening!"
What? What's happening?" Leo demanded, his voice filled with the authority of a leader.
"Leo!" April shouted desperately, sobs wracking her body as Raphael continued to cough and spasm in Casey's hands. To her horror, April heard static from the other end of the line, which was drowning out Leo's voice. They were losing signal.
"April, tell me what's happening!" Leo yelled over the phone, but his voice was merely a whisper, drowned out by the buzzing of the rising static.
"Something's happening to Raph," April yelled, her voice filled with panic. She could tell they were breaking up, and it wouldn't be long before the line went dead. "He's coughing up blood! It's everywhere…I don't know what to do!"
"April? April!"
"Leo?" April asked frantically. The sound of buzzing was the only sound coming from the phone.
"No. No, no, no!" April whispered in a cracked voice, feeling the tears roll down her cheeks as a feeling of pure helplessness overtook her body. Dropping the phone, she turned her attention back to Raphael and Casey.
Casey was frantically trying to clear the blood away from Raph's mouth in an attempt to clear his airways.
"No, don't do this to me man. Come on!" Casey yelled in panic, his trembling hands stained with Raphael's dark blood.
Raphael wasn't coughing anymore. His skin was pale, the blood that was dribbling down his chin dark against his skin. His head rolled lifelessly in Casey's arms, and his body remained limp as a ragdoll.
"Raph?" April whispered, leaning forward with a growing sense of horror. April would have preferred Raphael to be screaming, and coughing up blood. It was a terrible thought, she knew, but it was better than seeing him silent and limp like this, like he were dead. At least if he was coughing or screaming, April would know that he was still alive.
Casey suddenly made a choking sound in the back of his throat, which made April snap her eyes up to look at her boyfriend. His eyes were wide and leaking tears, his face pale, almost as pale as Raphael's, and he was staring down at Raph's chest.
Following his gaze, April slid her eyes down and froze when she saw what Casey was seeing. Her eyes became fixated on Raphael's chest, which moments ago had been moving up and down rapidly as he fought for breath. Horror flood through April as she stared with incomprehension down at his chest, waiting…waiting…
His chest was completely and utterly still.
Raphael wasn't breathing.