Rating: K+

Words: 506

Author's Note: I struggled with this prompt for a while, then I watched the end of 'Vengeance is Mine' again, and I came up with a 'What if?' scenario that I thought would be good to write a drabble about. Hope you all enjoy!

Raph opened his eyes, but all he could see were shades of black and gray, swimming together in a murky mural. He blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to orient himself, but his vision did not clear. What the hell was going on?

Hazy patches of memory reeled through his mind like an old movie across a projector. Karai mutating into a snake, intense pain in his face and eyes, then blissful darkness. That all made sense, but why did everything look like he was wearing smeared beer goggles?

"Hello?" He called out loudly, putting his hands out in front of him as he tried to find something to hold onto. "Is anybody there?"

He stumbled over something hard on the floor and he swore out loud. Dammit, that hurt… Fuzzy shapes moved before him and he reached out, trying to get a grip. Strong hands gripped his arms, firmly yet with care as they steadied him.

"Easy, Raph. Slow down." Donnie's voice instructed gruffly as he helped Raph back to his bed. He allowed his brother to guide him for a lack of better options.

"Thank God you're awake. You've been asleep for almost a week."

"What happened?"

Donnie was silent for a long time. His fuzzy silhouette sat there, his head bowed ominously. If Raph didn't see his outline, he would have thought his brother had left. Something was wrong…

"Donnie… What is it?" He insisted, foreboding rising like a tidal wave over him.

The shape sighed deeply, and Donnie's voice reached his ears, sad and hopeless.

"Karai spit her venom into your face when she escaped… It got into your eyes and burned your retinas."

The air chilled instantly as Raph grasped his full meaning. He was… blind? He shook his head, disbelieving.

"No… No, it can't be…" He stammered desperately. "Can't you do anything?"

The blurry form of Donnie slumped forward even more in obvious defeat.

"I'm sorry, the damage is permanent."

"There has to be something you can do! Fix this!" Raph demanded, grabbing at the fuzzy shape. His fingers clawed at thin air and he lunged forward, hoping to shake some sense into his brother. To make his eyes work again.

Donnie's hands wrapped around his wrists and pushed them down.

"I can't! I've tried everything, but nothing has helped!"

He couldn't breathe, nor could he think. This was the worse thing that could have happened to him. He groped blindly for something to hold onto and found Donnie's hand.

"What… What am I going to do?"

Tears poured from his ruined eyes and he rubbed at them, hoping that Donnie hadn't seen them but knowing that he had. A hand rubbed his shell comfortingly as his brother's voice came out to him from the gray void.

"You're going to be okay, Raph. We're going to help you through this."

Raph didn't want to live in a world full of darkness. He wanted his sight back, though he was sure that now, he would be trapped in this formless hell forever.