Originally the fight was going to be one chapter and then what Raph did after was going to be separate, but you, my lucky friends have earned the honor of both in one! Yay! Also there is a bit of a time skip between the two which I intend to cover later. But please tell me what you think of this chapter, I really appreciated the comments I received on the last one! Thank you so much!

Ch. 14-Fear, Fight, and Flight

The two eldest turtles stood about three feet apart facing each other, fists clenched.

"Raph I told you, this has got to stop. All of us are worried sick. You keep putting yourself in danger. Putting your life in danger."

When there was no response, Leonardo stepped towards his younger brother. His eyes flashed with worry but his dark blue gaze remained hard. The eldest gripped Raphael's face with both hands, forcing him to make eye contact, begrudgingly.

"You don't seem to mind that much." Leo said.

Raph said nothing, his normally neon green eyes were now dull, clouded and impassive. That only worried Leo even more.

"Why do you do this?" the eldest asked, hoping his brother would at least speak to him.

"Same reason I do everything else I do. Because I think it's the right thing to do. I'm going to help people Leo. It's what I do, what we do."

"Even if you run the risk of dying?"

Raph tried to turn his head away, but Leo wasn't having it and he only forced the red-masked gaze back to him. "Of course." Raph's eyes closed slightly as he stared at the floor. "In the long run, it doesn't seem to matter much."

The eldest's eyes widened, and he gripped his younger brother's shoulders tightly. Fear coiled around his heart, mercilessly squeezing the life out of him. My brother…my brother…Oh Raph, how could I have let it get this far? How we must have hurt you...for you to think so little of yourself…oh Raph. On the inside the turtle may have felt guilty, but on the outside his dark blue eyes were wide with shock and fear. Does Raph have a death-wish?

Raphael saw the expression on Leo's face and let out a dark half-hearted chuckle, "Oh, come on, Leo. I ain't suicidal. Geez, you'd think you of all turtles would know I'd never pull that kinda shit." Raph pushed Leo's hands off his shoulders and waved off his suspicions with a hand.

Leonardo sighed. "Then what did you mean by it?"

"By what?" the red one asked nonchalantly, obviously evading the question.

Leo's eyes glinted, "You know what. You're just stalling."

The red-banded turtle's eyes narrowed fractionally, "None of your damn business, that's what."

"It's my business if it involves the wellbeing of my family!" Leo yelled, his overwhelming emotions completely taking over and he was overcome. Next thing he knew he couldn't think, all he could feel was anger.

"Oh, so now they're your family, huh?!" Rage began to swell and both brothers tensed. The tension grew thicker with every passing moment.

The leader pointed an accusing finger at his brother. "That's not what I meant and you know it! This behavior of yours is putting our family in danger!"

"So what if that's not what you meant! It's what you said isn't it?!" Raphael growled, growing louder and louder by the minute, "I don't see why I put up with this shit, I could just leave and go it on my own, there's nothing keeping me here. I'm not tied to you, Fearless. So don't push me!"

"So you say, yet somehow you've always return!"

Raph bristled, his fists clenched, "Yeah, well I've just about had enough of you! Maybe this time I won't bother doing you the honor of coming back!"

"Oh, you'll be back! Whiny and angry as ever. The world spins round and everything remains the same!" Leo yelled, watching his fuming sibling gathering his stuff and preparing to storm out of the lair. The blue-clad turtle followed Raphael as he went down the hallway to his room, both of them yelling all the way.

Finally, after following the turtle back out of the hallway and seeing him to the door, the eldest growled bitterly, "I'll wait up for you."

The red-masked turtle's lips bared in a snarl, "Well then, you can save yourself the trouble cause I won't be back!" A muscular arm reached out and shoved the eldest turtle backwards, where he fell unceremoniously on his behind at the lair entrance.

"You'll be back!" Leo yelled after the hothead.

"No I won't Leo." The younger stated quietly, so much so that his brother could barely hear him.

He didn't like that crack in Raph's voice. Leonardo looked up, but it was far too late. A engine roaring away down the tunnel alerted him to the fact that his brother had taking the shell cycle with him. The emerald green turtle was already gone.

Leo pulled himself slowly to his feet. He'd gone too far. Way too far. Goodness knows he loved his little brother, no matter how frustratingly hotheaded and stubborn he may be. But Raph could push his buttons like no one else.

The eldest sighed. He headed straight back to Raph's room to see what he took with him. Raphael never took much with him when he went out, but Leo could usually figure out how long his immediate brother was going to stay out based on what he had left with. Of course, he hadn't really been able to note the turtle's inventory earlier because he'd been too busy yelling at him. Once in Raphael's room Leo made his way over to the weapon's cabinet and yanked open the double doors.

Well…looks like he took his sai. Big surprise. Smoke bombs, shuriken, manriki, extra wrappings, t-phone…Wait a minute…Manriki? Why on Earth would he bother taking manriki? Hmm…I wonder…

The blue-clad turtle sifted through the larger weapons at the bottom of the cabinet until his hand landed on a long wooden box. He lifted it out carefully and opened it up.

Oh no.

The box fell to the floor with a loud boom that echoed through the entire lair. But why would he take those with him? He's never taken those with him before, why would he do it now unless… The shiny wooden box lay open on the floor its contents missing. But the shape imbedded in the box's foam lining revealed exactly what the box had contained. It was the box Raphael used for his extra pair of sais.

Worry surged through him and Leo rushed around the room, noting everything that was missing. The last place he stopped was Raph's photo wall. There was one picture missing: the one right in the center. The one of Me, Don, and Mikey… Leo keened in pain as he fell to his knees and wept.

What have I done?

Jade and Raphael were out on patrol. The human teenager was desperately hoping that they wouldn't find any trouble tonight. Last time had been close enough, and right now the turtle was a nervous wreck. She wasn't even entirely sure he should be driving but he had brought his own vehicle tonight. He called it the shell-cycle, or something like that. It was dark grey and appeared to me made of strong durable material and the plates could be pulled up over the driver. At least it was sturdy…

The sound of shots ringing through the air brought Jade out of her thoughts. So much for hoping we wouldn't get in any trouble…three Foot bots riding motorcycles were now following them, shooting at them.

Where the Shell are the Foot getting all these guns? Raph wondered. Midori glanced at Raphael who yelled over to her, "Split up!"

She nodded and went down one alley, while he headed down a small street. Both took note that they were moving closer and closer to East River Park.

No matter how hard he tried, the red-masked turtle could not shake his pursuers. So Raphael took the turn into the park, hoping he could throw them off, but they stuck on his tail.

In the meantime the vigilante had hidden herself in a nearby alleyway. She had pulled in and turned the bike off, so as to have a view of the back street. When she heard the Foot's engines approaching she readied her jitte. As soon as they were within range she pounced and ran them through. Jade rolled their bikes off the side and headed back over to where she had last seen Raph. It wasn't hard for her to figure out where he'd gone. Heading for the park would have been her back-up plan too.

Across the large grassy area she could see her mutant friend riding fast on his motorcycle, Foot hot on his tail. Now that she could get a closer look she realized that there were actually two Foot bots, one driving, while the other took pot shots at Raphael.

No!

The semi-automatic machine gun opened fire, shots ringing through the air. Jade could only stare, horrified, as the boy-er-turtle she had come to regard as he best friend was being shot at. Anger surged within her and she gunned it, the Ninja's engine roaring intimidatingly.

Before Jade could even do anything, however, one of the shots struck the shell cycle's tire, another hitting the fuel tank. The Shell-cycle spun into a skid, and rammed the railing, throwing both bike and driver off the side, but not before exploding in a fiery inferno.

Midori's eyes went wide. No! She charged the Foot bots, using the skills Raph had helped her develop to skewer them right through the head with her jitte. Jade threw the kickstand down on her bike and jumped off, heading straight for the river and diving in without a second thought.

'Please, oh please, be alive,' repeated in her thoughts like a mantra. She saw a large, turtle-humanoid shaped body in the water and she swam straight over to him, dragging him up by his carapace. Midori headed for the nearest embankment, struggling to keep the turtle's head above the water and praying that she wasn't too late.

Once they reached the sandy bank, she dragged the heavy turtle out onto the shore, she yanked off his bright red helmet and collapsed beside him, her shoulders heaving with every breath.

Jade glanced over at him through her dark visor. He's not breathing…oh no. Midori yanked the helmet off, her long, wet, black hair sticking to pale, terrified face.

She put a hand just in front of his nose and mouth. Nothing. Then she felt for a pulse. After a few moments of nothing tears began to form in her eyes. No please no! The young human began desperate chest compressions. "Come on, Raph! Please don't give up on me now! You can do this, come on breathe, breathe!" She paused for a moment and felt again: no breath, no pulse. Midori resumed her efforts, "Please, Raphael don't do this to me! I need you! You're the best friend I've ever had and I can't bear to lose anyone else right now! Come on, Breathe!" Finally she began series of mouth to mouth, compressions, mouth to mouth, compressions, mouth to mouth. Minutes seemed like hours before she finally pulled away, broken and sobbing. She collapsed against the turtle's chest and wept.

…Until all at once there came a hacking cough and a wretch from the figure beneath her. Golden eyes shot up to the turtle's face, even more overjoyed to see his beautiful green orbs staring back. "Thank goodness!" she cried throwing her arms around his neck desperately. The tears now running down her face were those of pure joy. "Oh, Raph! I thought I'd lost you!"

The turtle's only reply came in the form of a pained sigh, before he straightened, weakly returning her embrace. "It's okay, I'm alive, at least." He stated, his voice raspy and filled with pain.

Midori's eyes filled with worry, "What's wrong? Where are you injured?"

"I think that explosion sent me shell first into a rock. I think it's cracked. If not knocked loose." He said, barely managing to get the words out.

Honey-colored eyes widened. Midori pressed her hands gently to the sides of the turtle's face, making him smile, "Don't you worry, this hunk a' turtle ain't leavin' ya alone anytime soon."

"Thank god for that." she whispered, "What do I do? I can't leave you here, and you need medical attention. I have basic first aid experience, but I know next to nothing about turtles."

Raph smiled bitterly, "Nice of me to get myself kicked out this morning wasn't it?"

"Raphael, I'm not kidding. You need help." She pushed herself shakily to her feet, before looking back down at him. "Can you stand?"

"Maybe with a little help."

Midori helped the turtle over to the motorcycle, not forgetting to grab their helmets on the way. He climbed on first, and she put his helmet back on his head before getting in front of him. When he leaned against her, resting some of his bodyweight on her, she felt assured beyond all doubt that she really had been lucky tonight. Lucky that Raphael, a mutant she'd come to appreciate more than anything else in the world, was alive. Weak, perhaps gravely injured, but alive and strong.

And she was determined from this moment on to cherish that fact.

Please tell me how it was!