Raph and Leo had a huge fight, Leo is unconscious in my lab. Raph stormed out, I hope he comes back, I don't know if sensei could bear another of his sons leaving for good. Yeah, Mikey is gone. I hope raph doesn't leave as well.
Raph glared at Leo. "I hope you're happy." he muttered, not loud enough for his brother to hear, oops, he heard.
"About what?" Leo asked, turning, raph got to his feet. Staring at the small pile of Mikey's things, they'd lain there for two months, and Mikey still hadn't returned.
"Mikey is gone, and you don't even care!" he snarled at Leo, "you shouldn't be our leader!" Leo stared at him.
"You think I don't care?" he croaked, "of course I care! And it's not like I could have stopped him!"
"Yeah, you could!" raph shouted at his brother, "you could have left us alone!"
"Raph." Donnie said tentatively, "please don't."
"Don't what?" raph asked, rounding on him, "Speak my mind? Fat chance!" he glared at both of his brothers, "it's not my fault, I know that!" he said, "so it must be Leo's!"
"Listen to yourself raph." Leo said evenly, "you're just upset, calm down." raph glared at his older brother.
"Upset? You bet I'm upset!" he roared, "you didn't run after him! I did! He left because you said those horrible things about him!"
"I said?" Leo asked, firing up as well, "you said it was his own fault! You said that you didn't care about him! And we all ran after him, you were just faster! We searched and searched every inch of this stinking city! All we found was that he headed north, what do you want me to do? Go to the arctic looking for him?"
"I did not say I didn't care about him!" raph defended, "I said that if he gets a few bumps and bruises, he'll be fine!"
"Yeah, and then you jabbed his eye with your sai raph!" Leo yelled, "think about that!" raph froze, was it his fault? It couldn't be, he'd been trying to show Leo that Mikey could defend himself...right?
"Liar!" he yelled, "I, I never stabbed him!" he knew this was a lie, he'd hurt his younger brother..
"Raph." Donnie said, "we aren't mad at you." raph turned away, he couldn't do this.
"I'm going out." he grumbled, but Leo grabbed his arm.
"No, you are not." he said, "you are going to finish talking to me, instead of running away when I say something you don't like." raph's eyes widened.
"Did you just call me a coward?" he growled, spinning around to face him, Leo shrank back a bit.
"Uhm, yeah." he said, and stood taller, "you always just go off in your own little world whenever you're mad, you should talk to us."
"Seriously?" raph yelled, "you want me to talk to you?" he grabbed Leo's arm, "I don't want to talk to either of you, you know who I want to talk to?" Leo winced. "Mikey!" raph yelled, "i want to talk to him!"
"Let go of me raph." Leo said, raph gripped Leo tighter.
"No." he said, "because I don't care." Leo struggled in Raph's hand.
"Let go of him raph." Donnie said, "please," raph glared at his younger brother.
"Why?" he asked, "so he can say I was cowardly?"
"He didn't mean that." Donnie pleaded, "just stop fighting."
"I meant it." Leo snarled, "i meant every word I said." raph stared at his brothers, they were acting like he was a villain, but then he looked at his hand, he was clutching Leo so hard his knuckles were white. Raph let go. But Leo was still glaring at him.
"Are you even a part of this team?" he demanded, and raph frowned, what was that supposed to mean?
"What?" he asked, looking at Leo, but Leo was just getting started.
"I've had to deal with you for years!" he said, "but you just keep going down! You always think your ideas are better and I'm sick of it!"
"Leo!" Donnie pleaded, "stop!" raph pushed past the purple clad turtle and stabbed his finger into Leo's chest.
"Yeah? Well i'm sick of you acting like you have to tell us what to do all the time!" Leo jerked away and jabbed at his own chest,
"I am the leader raph! Not you!" raph grabbed his sai, he didn't believe this, Leo was acting like he was responsible for this, he wasn't, at least not entirely. Raph charged at Leo, and saw red.
Raph blinked, why was Leo lying on the floor, in a pool of red? And why was Donnie crouched beside him, glaring at raph, raph looked at his sais, they were streaked with red, and he was covered in his brother's blood.
"No." he choked out, but no one heard him, he stumbled backwards and ran out of the lair, he could never go back there. He'd run, just like Mikey and, they were better off without him anyway. When he got to the edge of town he looked at the horizon, west. Donnie had once said there was a huge system of caves in Arizona or something, that no one had explored all of it, that was where he should go. Wiping the sais off and putting them in his belt, raph jumped down, it would take a long time to get there, but he could never come home.
Donnie crouched over Leo's bleeding form, raph had fled, but Leo was hurt. He gently picked up his oldest brother and carried him to the cot in the lab. Laying him gently Donnie sobbed. How could their family be so broken?
"Donatello." Sensei said, Donnie turned.
"Master splinter." he gasped, "raph, he, he, he got mad at Leo, I don't think he realized what he was doing, but I need your help to get Leo healed, I don't know when raph will come home." Donnie knew in his heart that raph would be gone for a long long time.
hey guys, sorry this chapter was so short! I'll try to make the next one a little longer. thank you all so much for the encouraging reviews! and be sure to check out my one-shot 'green fingers'