Gonna have at least one more chapter after this. Might need two to wrap it up nicely.
Ch. 7-Twisted Shadows
Leo knew his brothers backwards and forwards. He knew them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He prided himself on being able to distinguish them through only silence and meditative focus. If it weren't for that—he wouldn't believe that the thing standing in front of him had ever been or could ever be his brother.
Instinctual self-preservation was telling him to retreat or recoil, but he couldn't do that. This—this thing—this twisted mass of shadow and smoke…was his brother. The mass of darkness swirled and curled, forming a vague shape. It was the shape of a horrific monster. With a giant head and a gaping maw it snapped it's feral jaws. Its eyes and mouth were the same color as Goolem's: that bright, smoldering glow, harsh and brighter than any jack-o-lantern that had ever been.
Emotion surged inside of Leonardo. He shot forward, towards his brother. Raph was dying. Raph was being absorbed by this monster! There had to be something he could do to. He had to reach his brother.
He had moved too fast. Feeling the action was a threat to his master, Goolem screamed like a banshee.
The Goolem's screeching howl made Leo throw his arms over his head, covering his ears. It shook the entire room. Leo's vision began to blurr.
"Enough," Raph's voice ordered breathily.
The inhuman wail ceased. Goolem retreated obediently to the door. Leo toppled to his knees, still clutching his head. A cold current of air swept around him. He looked up and reached out to grab his brother. His hand went straight through the shadowy substance. He gasped, standing slowly.
Vanishing briefly as he stepped into the shadows, 'Raphael' reappeared, his shadowy shape a rather fluxing echo of the one he had in life.
Leo veered closer, more slowly, this time. The Shadow of his brother did not resist him. Again, he tried to touch Raph, expecting his hand to pass through. His breath caught when it actually landed upon a shadowy shoulder. His blue eyes fixed on the position, watching the way the eerie dark substance seemed to billow around and even through his fingers.
Raph's facial features were obscure, indistinguishable in this form, apart form his eyes and mouth, but despite the lack of eye-ridges, Leo could still perceive that his brother was glaring harshly at him.
"Shouldn't be here, Fearless."
"Where is 'here'?"
Raph shrugged.
Leo's hand lost contact and slid through the shadow. Already, the blue-masked turtle missed the contact, but he kept that to himself for now.
"Not sure."
"Why are you—um—?"
"A monster?"
"That's not what I was going to—"
Raph scoffed. "Like it's that much more of a monster than I already was."
Leo's hand shot up to grab Raph's elbow, but—to his frustration—it went straight through yet again. "You're not a—"
"Don't you know what a monster is, Fearless?"
"Just because we don't look like humans and we're misunderstood doesn't make us—"
"Not what I meant."
Leo's face crinkled in confusion.
The shadowy form of Raphael twisted into something else. Leo slid back, horror-struck.
"Stop it," he ordered.
Raphael chuckled bitterly in response. "Is it that hard to envision Leo? Let's face it, you've always been afraid of it. It's why Master Splinter is always so hard on me, it's why Mikey and Donnie are afraid of me, it's why you're always putting me in my place. You all know where my anger is leading. You all know what I am. What I could become."
"Stop," Leo pleaded.
"Whatsamatta, Fearless? Is it too much for you? Can't take seeing me for what I am—what I've always been?!"
"Stop it! That's not what you are! Never! You'll never be that! You'll never be him!" Leo shouted, small tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.
This couldn't be…couldn't be the way that Raph saw himself. He wouldn't—couldn't—accept it. There is no way. No way. Raphael would never be…
Never. Raphael was better than that. So much better. He'd never be anything like that—that—that Monster!
Sick laughter bounced off the walls. It was a grotesque imitation of Raphael's voice. It wasn't Raph's voice, it was his: this thing, this monster, this shadow in his brother's mind.
Leo grit his teeth and clenched his fists. "You're not my brother."
The towering figure of a dark Shredder twisted back into a stocky mutant turtle. The burning yellow eyes narrowed and the mouth swept up into a smile.
"How would you know?" It asked bitterly.
The blue-masked turtle shook his head. "You're not my brother," He repeated.
Goolem stepped back, shooting confused glances at the Master.
The creature only grinned wider and played along. "Oh no? What am I?"
"You're the thing that's been preying on my brother's mind. You want him to die. You're the only monster here." Leo growled, his eyes narrowed and gleaming dimly.
With a wicked laugh, the Shadow rose off the ground. Leo braced himself.
"So you think. What do you propose to do?"
"The only thing I can do," Leo slid into a ready stance, "I'm going to vanquish you!"
"You always were a dork," it said. More laughter followed, and the searing, searchlight eyes seemed to bore holes in Leo's face. The leader didn't even tense. Instead, he made an ultimatum.
"Let my brother go or I will end you."
"I don't see any weapons," it smiled.
"I don't need them."
"Bold words, Fearless."
Leo growled and raised a fist, "Don't call me that."
It just smiled at him. Their gazes locked. They were silent a moment. Goolem looked nervously from one to the other. When they leapt, the twisted creature made no move to stop them.
Charging silently, Leo swept down to avoid the shadow that shot out at his face. He crept nearer and back-flipped, trying to kick it in the face, but his feet slid straight through the intangible matter. Shadow pinched him in its grip. He grunted and tried to break free, but he couldn't figure out where to strike. There were no weak points, Leo couldn't see where it one arm ended and the other began, all he knew was that he was trapped.
But the arms were tangible. They were keeping him in an uncomfortable headlock, blocking the air from his lungs. Can't breathe…gotta act fast. The arms were tangible. If he could just…
Leo grabbed onto the arms around his neck, threw all his bodyweight forward and jerked back at the last second, sending the shadow flying into the ground. He recoiled, putting space between them, bracing himself for the next attack.
None came.
He canted his head.
The shadow reverted to turtle form, writhing and reeling on its carapace. Leo's eye-ridges furrowed. He felt something coming up behind him and tensed, but Goolem made no sudden moves.
The Goolem was staring blankly over Leo's shoulder. "He is weak. Soon he will be gone."
"What?" Leo blinked. "But I barely even hit him!"
"Claim the light."
"What light?"
Goolem threw back his head. A blinding light shone from his mouth and Leo was forced to cover his eyes.
When he lowered his arm, Leo saw the dark green Goolem holding a brilliant ball of light. Leo took it gently from the gnarled hands. Goolem's eyes were dark. The goo he was made of had hardened, any trace of life had gone. Staring into Goolem's hollow face, Leo understood. There were only two creatures here. Two beings: dark and similar in form. One good, the other spiteful: two halves of one whole. Two parts of his brother.
"What a fool," snarled a weak voice, coughing raucously.
Leo glared and turned on him, cradling the glowing sphere in his hands.
The shadow grimaced when Leo came closer with the light, but grinned a little at the look on Leo's face. He laughed, weakly. "You don't even know how to use it."
"Wanna bet?" asked Leo, lifting the sphere over his head and letting it hover over the shadow's chest.
Groaning in pain, the shadow tried unsuccessfully to avoid the light. It's eyes widened in fright. "Does murder sit well in your conscience?"
Leo lowered the sphere. "What?"
"I am part of your brother. Vanquish me if you wish, though you murder your sibling as well."
"I don't believe you."
It's voice lowered back to Raph's traditional timbre, "Please, Leo…don't…"
Leo screwed his eyes shut and shook his head.
"You're not my brother," he said flatly, shoving the bright sphere deep into the shadow of the creature's chest.
The effect was immediate, light poured from the creature's chest. It screamed. Leo was surrounded by light, he shut his eyes tightly and turned his face away.
Dr. Rockwell looked up from Donatello's laptop and dropped from his floating lotus position onto his feet.
"Donatello," he called urgently, showing the other genius particular pages from Stockman's research.
Donnie leaned over and read it. His face paled.
"What is it, my son?" Master Splinter asked softly. Since tending to Leonardo's injuries, the old rat had kept a solemn vigil with his eldest child.
Swallowing heavily, Don turned to his father. "It's a tag along to Stickman's original research, investigating the effects of the derived venom. According to Baxton, the venom induces a death-like status for an estimated period of 72 hours."
Splinter's ears tilted forward and his eyes shot over to the lab table against the wall, where a young body lay under a thin, white sheet.
"You mean…" His voice sounded tired, his heart not quite daring to hope…
Don nodded and went over to lab table, pulling back the sheet. The bruises were still there, and the corpse looked as pale as it had when Raph had first—but that would be expected if the venom had slowed his metabolism and heart-rate. But it left a plethora of unanswered questions: was he getting enough oxygen? If he wasn't, would there be brain damage? What kind of repercussions could this have on Raph's health?
The brainiac was certain that if they restored his brother, only for Raph to die of health problems shortly after, his family would be torn apart with grief. But…if there was a chance…
"There isn't much time." Rockwell said.
His voice crashed through Donnie's thoughts and the purple-masked turtle glanced over at him.
Splinter frowned.
"It has been roughly sixty-six hours since Raphael was injected with the venom. We can ask Slash to help confirm that."
Don looked at his Sensei. It felt so wrong to suggest this, but with all the things that could go wrong, he felt he had to ask:
"Sensei," he called and his father turned to him, "Do you really think we should tell Mikey? I mean—I know that he has a right to know, but there are so many things that could go wrong, and with the time constraint…we may not be able to get Raph back. I don't want to—"
Splinter held up a four-fingered hand. "We cannot exclude Michelangelo from this, my son. I understand you wish only to save him hurt, but he loves your brother as well. He is part of our family. He will want to know."
Don bowed his head. "Hai Sensei."
Sensing that the turtle and fat needed a moment alone, Rockwell said, "I'll go and tell the others what we've discovered."
Splinter and Don nodded succinctly.
"Donatello, I am certain Dr. Rockwell is more than capable of preparing the antidote, if you are not comfortable."
Looking away from his sensei, Don sighed. "It isn't that I'm uncomfortable, Sensei. I just don't want anything to go wrong. Raphael means so much…to all of us. We thought we lost and now we have this amazing chance to get him back but—"
"But?" Splinter prodded.
A few tears dripped silently down Don's cheeks. He wiped them with the back of his hand. His face was stern. "But if something goes wrong, or if there are repercussions, he might not end up being the Raph we had before." He bit his lip, worried that his father would be angry at him.
Splinter wasn't angry. He stared calmly into Donnie's eyes. "But he would still be your brother. Would you care for him any less?"
"No, Sensei. He'd be my brother. We'll always be there for each other." His volume dropped, but heightened in intensity, "Always."
Nodding, Splinter said, "That is why we must take this chance. I would rather take a risk and possibly have your brother with us again than to lose him now without ever knowing for certain."
Don hugged his father tightly. "I promise, Father. I'll do everything I can."
Splinter smiled, though his ears flicked. He rubbed Donnie's shell gently. "I know you will, my son."
After Rockwell returned to the lab, Leatherhead, Pigeon Pete, Michelangelo, and Slash were all stupefied. There was a possibility that Raphael could still be alive. There was a chance, but there was also something else: a time constraint.
About two minutes of complete silence passed before Mikey broke it. "D-Do you think Donnie can do it in time?"
Leatherhead rumbled, "Mhm, if anyone can do it, it's Rockwell and Donatello."
Mikey grinned, "Thanks LH." He hugged the giant alligator.
Leatherhead smiled and patted Mikey's head.
Slash watched them with a stiff jaw. Raphael…alive… They just had to get that antidote done in time. If they didn't…and what about…
Slash's head was full of questions. He stood and wandered into the lab. Donatello and Rockwell were discussing chemical properties in hushed tones. He wouldn't dare slow them down by asking them to explain in detail. He veered over to Master Splinter's side, out of the way of the two geniuses. The old rat looked up at him.
Slash glanced down at Leo. "How is he?"
"I believe he shall be just fine. He seems to have gotten through the worst of it. Now it is just a matter of time."
Frowning, Slash glanced over at Donnie and Rockwell, who were standing in front the lab table, thankfully blocking his view of Raphael's body.
"For both of them."
Lowering his eyes, Splinter assented. "Indeed."
"I wanted to apologize."
Ears perking up Splinter tilted his head to one side.
"I failed yet again to protect one of your sons. I cannot apologize enough."
"You have no reason to apologize, Slash."
"But—"
"If it weren't for you, I might have lost another son to the Shredder. You have done me a wonderful service."
"He got hurt."
"But at least he was alive. You stopped him from charging in and getting himself killed."
Slash grinned slightly at the words. "Sounds more like something Raph would do."
Splinter hummed. "Indeed. My two eldest sons are much more alike than they seem."
Shifting awkwardly from foot to foot, Slash rubbed his neck. He didn't exactly know how to say this. After all, he should have told it to them on that first day. Raph had asked him to tell them…but he'd been so emotionally distraught, it had slipped his mind. Just another failure to add to the many lately.
He cleared his throat and Master Splinter glanced back at him.
"Raphael, when I was trying to get him down here before the venom fully took effect," Slash swallowed.
The old rat leaned forward.
"Raphael asked me to tell you all that he loved you."
A bitter-sweet smile spread across Splinter's face. "My sons and I were well aware of that."
Donatello and Rockwell began bickering a little more loudly. Slash and Splinter glanced over at them. Clenching his fists nervously, Slash wondered aloud, "Do you really think they can save Raphael?"
"They will do as much as they are able. That will have to be enough."
How was it?
Again, I'm taking a lot of creative freedom on the strange tomb-like place. I know it's still weird, but did you guys like it? Review Please!