Chapter 9

Leo and Warren had finally made it to the lair. Warren started to wring the water out of his hair and clothes just as Stephanie emerged from one of the rooms upstairs. "Oh thank goodness." she said when she saw her son. She ran up to him and hugged him tight. "I'm glad you're safe."

"Hey Steph, where's Don?"

"He already left to go get Leilani. He managed to get a hold of Mikey before leaving so he should be okay."

The lair doors opened again, letting in Jenna, Kayla and Jayden. Leo greeted them the same way Stephanie did to her own son. Jayden, who was now sporting a fully bruised cheek was then easily noticed by his father. "Jayden, what happened?" he asked examining purple, bulging skin under the eye.

Jayden gently swatted his hand away. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine."

"Jayden..."

The young teen sighed "I'll explain later. Just find Uncle Raph first. He's more important."

Leo wanted to worry about him, but he was right. Raph was still out there on his own and if he got caught by the Foot, Leo was sure that Raph wouldn't fight back.

"Okay, I'm gonna start looking. You guys stay inside, do not leave the lair." he ordered.

"Leo, just go." Stephanie said. "I'll take care of things here."

Leo nodded his thanks and moved to the weapons room to grab his trusted katana. He hasn't put these on since Raph first broke down. He never thought he would have to put them back on. He sighed and strapped them to his back as he made his way out of the lair. Pulling his phone out of his pocket he turned it over and pulled an ear piece out of the case. He placed it in his ear and called his remaining brothers. "Guys, I'm gonna start looking for Raph."

"What do you mean you're gonna look for Raph?" Donnie exclaimed.

"What happened to him?" Mikey asked.

"Listen, I don't know what happened." Leo tried staying as calm as possible despite everything that was happening. "But I'm not going to worry about it now. When you get everyone safely to the lair, start looking. I hate to say this right now, but we need to split up. We have a better chance at finding him that way."

"Right." Donnie agreed.

Before hanging up he had one last thing to say. "Guys, be careful, okay."

"You too." Mikey said. "And keep in touch."

"I will." Leo hung up and climbed the closest ladder and pushed the manhole cover out of the way. The rain had stopped by this point and the gray clouds started rolling away. He climbed out into a muck strewn alleyway and made his way up to a rooftop. "Alright Raph, where are you?" he said to himself before taking off.

XXX

Aiden continued following the stumbling figure through the alley as quietly as possible. When the figure stopped and slumped against a wall that's when Aiden made his move. Drawing his sword, he moved in. Aiden stood over the slumped form and got a good look at who decided to take a seat near his old home. He immediately recognized who it was when he saw his face. He was pale and sickly looking, he was way more emaciated then Aiden remembered.

"Hey Dad." the greeting was sarcastic and so full of venom when he saw his face. Raph looked up and stared, seeming dazed and confused. Like he wasn't really seeing him. He was soaked through and shivered uncontrollably against the cold breeze. "Look at you, is this what you've been doing all this time? Laying around in the dirt, feeling sorry for yourself." Raph looked back down at the ground and continued shivering. Aiden scoffed "I'll be doing you a favor when I put you out of your misery."

"Aiden, wait." Jonah had finally showed up. "You don't have to do this. "

"Yes, I do. That's the reason why we're here."

"But he's your father."

"He's no father of mine!" Aiden snapped. "Our father would have come looking for us, but he never did. Karai was right. He stopped caring about us."

"I don't believe he would just give up trying to look without a reason. Look at him, something has clearly devastated him."

Aiden looked down at his father again. "That doesn't matter to me."

"It should." Jonah argued. "Don't do something you'll regret later."

"I won't regret this." he raised his sword over his head and quickly swung down toward his father's body.

"No!" Jonah said suddenly blocking his brother's attack with his own sword. He kicked him away and quickly readied himself for another attack. "I won't let you do this." he stood protectively in front of Raph. "If you want to get to him then you'll have to go through me and we both know what will happen when you step up to me."

Aiden growled. "Fine, I won't do anything... not now anyway." he turned away from him. "Have fun explaining to Karai how he got away."

"She won't find out."

"Unless someone tells her." he tried his hardest to sound threatening, but his brother knew him too well.

"I know you won't do that." he dismissed that empty threat.

Aiden scoffed "Whatever, you're on your own." and with that he took off, finding another fire escape to climb.

Jonah shook his head and knelt down next to Raph. He had no idea what to say to him, he hasn't seen him in years and he looked different. The years haven't been easy on him. He looked... sick and weak. Before he could muster up courage to say anything, Raph spoke.

"Why did you save me?" his voice was soft and Jonah barely heard it.

"What?" Jonah hadn't really noticed that he was paying attention since he looked so out of it.

"Why did you save me from him? Why didn't you let him kill me?" Raph asked.

Jonah chuckled a bit in spite of what he was seeing. He couldn't help it, he last remembered his father being so strong and having a 'never quit' attitude. The father that he knew would do anything to protect his family. Seeing him like this just seemed unreal. "I couldn't let him do that."

"Why?" he sounded like he was begging him. "You should've let me die."

"I can't let that happen, Dad." Jonah then realized that Raph was never really paying attention to the conversation he had with his brother, but he did manage to see the fight between the two.

Raph looked up at his masked face not knowing that he was looking right at his own son. "What?"

Jonah reached up to the back of his head and untied his mask. He pulled it off his head revealing tanned skin, short, brown hair that was now flat against his head because of the rain and those same bright, amber eyes. "Dad, it's me, Jonah."

Raph looked up at the black clad ninja and furrowed his brows in confusion. He then shook his head and turned away. "No." he whispered. "You're not."

Jonah placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Dad, I..."

Raph swatted his hand away. "Get away from me. You're not real. I don't have any kids."

"Yeah, you do, don't you remember?"

"Go away." he demanded, his voice rising. He covered his ears trying to block out the voice. "Leave me alone. You're not real."

"Dad, I am real." Jonah tried to reach out for him again, but stopped when he sensed someone. He quickly looked up and brought his sword up to block an attack. He quickly backed away from the new attacker and held his sword up, blocking the flurry of attacks. Jonah barely blocked one strong strike that knocked him to the ground and knocked his own katana a few feet away from him. In a panic, he held out his hands in front of him and yelled. "Wait!" to his surprise the attacks did stop. "I'm not here to fight anyone."

"Lies. I know exactly why you're here." he moved back a bit so he stood in front of Raph. "I won't let you hurt him." he kept his sword pointed at the teen. He clearly wasn't in a good mood. "You've taken enough from him."

Jonah realized who was talking to him. He wasn't sure before, the way he attacked with his swords was so fluid that he thought it might have been him. The voice is what really got him. It was soothing yet stern at the same time. "Uncle Leo, it's me." he saw the adult's stance falter a bit, but only a bit. "It's Jonah." hopefully he would get a better reaction from him.

He seemed to think about what he just heard, but he kept his guard up. He shook his head defiantly. "No, you're not."

"But, Uncle Leo..."

"Stop calling me that. My nephews-" he paused and looked back to Raph who was still curled up against the wall. His shoulders drooped slightly at the condition his younger brother was in. "-his sons died years ago." he glared at him. "And we have you to thank for that."

That was news to Jonah, he had no idea what he was going on about. "What are you talking about? I'm alive."

"Just stop, you're not fooling anyone. I saw the bodies."

This new information was definitely unnerving, but it would explain why his own father refused to acknowledge him. "I swear I'm not trying to fool anybody. I don't know how I can prove it, but I'm telling you I am Jonah and I'm alive." he slowly stood up, his hands still up as a sign of peace. He thought of any way he could possibly prove to him that he wasn't dead. "Maybe..." he rolled up his sleeve, revealing the slim heart shaped birthmark on his bicep. "Maybe this will help."

That seemed to do it. Leo slowly brought his sword back to his side. He seemed to be warring with himself. The thought of what he had already seen and what he was seeing right now in front of him, it scared him. The silence between them was starting to get uncomfortable. "Uncle Leo... say something."

"I want to believe you."

"So why can't you?"

"Because it's just too crazy to believe. There's still so many questions. Where's your brother?""

"I understand and I'll answer all of them. Right now," his eyes moved to the shivering mass still sitting behind Leo. "You need to take care of Dad."

Leo turned to look back at Raph. "What about you?"

"If you really want your questions answered then meet me here in our house, tomorrow. It's safer if we meet in the morning. Say 10 o'clock. It'll give me time to get away from Foot Headquarters."

Leo sighed, still not knowing if this was the right decision. "Fine, I'll see you there tomorrow morning."

Jonah gave a curt nod and turned away from them. "I'm sorry for whatever it is that happened to him." and with that he was gone.

Leo ran a hand through his wet black hair and exhaled heavily. This whole ordeal has left him both mentally and physically drained and it wasn't even over yet. "Come on, Raph." he gently helped his brother to his feet and began to make his way back to the lair. "Let's get you outta here and get you warmed up, okay."

"L-Leo, I..."

"I'm here, bud. You're okay now."

"I'm sorry" Raph whispered.

"It's okay." Leo assured, assuming that he was talking about him running away.

"Is Jayden okay?"

"He's fine. Don't worry."

"I'm sorry." he repeated. "I'm so sorry."

Leo sighed sadly. "I know, I know." He called his younger brothers back. "Guys, head back to the lair. I found him."

Two sighs of relief came through from the other end. "Alright we'll see you soon." Don responded first.

"And guys, I've got news that you might want to hear when I get back." he really hoped that this meeting tomorrow didn't turn sour, but if it could bring the old Raph back he would take that chance.

XXX

Enjoy, all feedback is welcome

Hopefully, I will be able to get these out a lot faster.