*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
*Author's Notes: Chapter 19 of 'Slash's Revenge' is here and this one is a race against time.
Before jumping into the chapter, I want to take a quick moment to thank everyone who nominated and/or voted for my stories in the 2018 TMNT Universal Reader's Choice Awards. I'm so very grateful to each and every one of you. I truly, truly am. I also want to thank everyone who has favorited, followed, liked, reblogged, reviewed, and/or commented on 'Slash's Revenge.' I'm super excited this story just hit 100 favorites. Woo-hoo! That makes me all kinds of happy. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! *hugs* ヾ( ˆᴗˆ )ノ
Okay, just one more 'thank you' note, and then, we'll get on with the chapter...
Thank you ALL so much for reading. You're amazing! ;)
CJ
Chapter 19 – The Truth Hurts
Leaning his weary back against a damp, brick wall, Master Splinter let his aching bones rest for a bit while his oldest and youngest sons once again attempted to contact Raphael on their mobile devices. As the father silently watched on, he felt his heart grow heavy with sorrow.
It had been twenty-six hours since the three of them had left Slash's apartment, and still, they had found no trace of Donatello. They had searched nonstop through the night, then on through the day, and now, the night again.
Still, nothing.
The storm had let up some time ago, tapering down to a light drizzle. No longer enough to affect visibility, but still enough to make them cold and miserable.
Needless to say, morale was running low.
"Any luck, Mikey?"
"No. How 'bout you?"
In lieu of a verbal response, Leonardo simply shook his head. Without the rain to mask his tears, he had to work harder to keep his emotions under wraps.
"I'm gonna check with April, again. Maybe she's heard something." Before Mikey even finished his last sentence, he was already dialing the number and walking further down the alley for what Leo assumed was privacy.
Swallowing thickly, Leonardo turned towards his father and dipped his mouth down into a textbook frown. He only hoped he didn't look as bad as he felt.
"How are you holding up, my son?"
"You want an honest answer?" The question was followed by a mirthless laugh.
"Always."
"Well, two out of my three brothers have been missing for over twenty-four hours now, I'm totally exhausted, my T-phone battery is just about dead, I feel like I'm drenched to the bone, and my feet are killing me. Aside from all that, everything's just hunky-dory."
Now, it was Master Splinter's turn to laugh, but the sound he produced was somehow even grimmer than the sound his eldest son had made just seconds before.
Though his father was oftentimes extremely difficult to read, Leonardo could see plain as day that Master Splinter's thoughts were weighing heavily on his mind.
"Sensei, is there something you're not telling us? About Donnie, I mean? Did you sense something back at the apartment that I should know about?"
The wall behind him suddenly seemed to be the only thing holding Master Splinter upright. His dark gaze met Leonardo's sapphire one and the oldest turtle could see the intense fear residing in his father's glossy stare. It sent a chill up and down Leo's spine.
"What is it, Sensei?" Urgency hijacked what little voice the blue-masked turtle could muster. It took all his willpower not to scream at his father for continuing to keep the truth from him. It had been twenty-six hours now, and still, every time Leonardo asked his father if something was troubling him, the Ninjutsu master would manage to dodge the question. Now that Michelangelo was temporarily out of earshot, the blue-clad turtle was bound and determined to get to the bottom of things.
Master Splinter knew that resolute look on his oldest son's face all too well. Shifting his eyes towards the ground, Sensei let out a low growl before finally responding.
"Your brother is gravely ill, Leonardo. His scent back in the apartment indicated as much. He is suffering from a serious infection, and the longer that infection is left untreated, the more likely it will be fatal. Donatello is well-versed in medicine. He knows his condition is life-threatening, yet he has not tried to contact us or April at this point. I worry that he is either too sick to do so or he has chosen not to because he does not want to be found."
"So, you're basically telling me that Donnie's dying?" The anger in Leonardo's tone came as no surprise to Master Splinter, nor did the tears that tumbled down his oldest son's face. It was one of the main reasons why Splinter had held back the truth.
That and he didn't want to face it himself.
"It is a strong possibility. Yes." Though his emotions were running high on the inside, Master Splinter's outward appearance remained rather apathetic. Something that instantly got underneath Leonardo's skin.
"And you waited until just now to tell me this?" Tossing his arms up in the air in obvious frustration, the oldest turtle's chest heaved with each inhale and exhale. Under normal circumstances, Leonardo wouldn't dare question his father the way he just had, but the eldest turtle could feel himself starting to crack under the pressure.
Master Splinter recognized this and drew in a deep, cleansing breath so as not to fall victim to the same fate. He knew that his son was only lashing out because of the gravity of the situation. The burden was becoming more than Leonardo could carry, just at it had with Raphael.
"I did not wish to upset you and your brothers any further than you already were. Knowing this information would not help us find Donatello any sooner. I chose to hide the truth to protect you." Although Master Splinter finally demonstrated the first external signs of guilt, Leonardo clung to his hostility like a weapon.
"Yeah, well how does it protect Donnie? Maybe if you would've said something right away, Raph wouldn't have run off! He'd still be – "
The sound of Michelangelo approaching cut Leonardo's bitter sentence short.
Despite the fact that the youngest turtle was not always the most perceptive member of the family, he immediately noticed the tension between his father and oldest brother. Mikey had clearly interrupted something, and from the look of it, it wasn't pleasant.
"Whoa. What'd I miss?"
"Nothing." The deceit in his own response made Leonardo cringe. It seemed somewhat hypocritical to keep his father's revelation a secret from Mikey considering what had just transpired, but Leo didn't want to traumatize his little brother with the heartbreaking news. The oldest turtle suddenly realized that he should probably cut his father a little slack. Master Splinter had only been doing what he thought was best for them.
Just like he always did...
When Leonardo looked over at his father, there was a knowing expression on Splinter's face that told the eldest turtle that all was forgiven between them.
After the brief eye contact with Leonardo, Master Splinter turned his attention towards his youngest child, who was starting to get a bit antsy.
"What did April say, Michelangelo?"
"She said she hasn't heard anything from Donnie and that she's still at the lair, in case he comes home. Oh, and she said that Casey's been out looking for Raph, but he hasn't turned up anything yet."
Master Splinter would have been lying if he had said he wasn't disappointed by the update, but it was not unexpected. He nodded his head to show appreciation of the information his youngest child had just provided. Though Michelangelo had not actually uncovered anything they were not already aware of, he still needed to be acknowledged for his efforts. The youngest brother craved approval whenever he completed a task, no matter how menial.
"So, what now, Sensei?"
This was a good question. One that Master Splinter was not sure how to answer at this point. The three of them had been combing alleyways, dumpsters, rooftops, parking lots, and abandoned buildings for over a day now and hadn't turned up a single clue. If Donatello didn't have any intention of being found, he had the know-how to disappear without a trace. That would make their chances of finding him slim to none.
But those unfavorable odds weren't about to stop Master Splinter from looking for his child.
"We continue our search."
Though both physically exhausted, Leo and Mikey didn't hesitate to follow their father, assuming there would be plenty of time to rest once they found their missing brothers.
He didn't get it.
How hard could it be to track down a huge, unwieldy, mutant turtle? Seriously?
And yet, here you are, still searching…
Apparently, Slash was a heck of a lot stealthier than Raphael had given him credit for. Hence, the reason why Raph hadn't found him yet. And, hence the reason why Slash had been able to keep Donnie prisoner for ten days.
The thought of his missing brother made Raphael's heart sink like a stone. He could still see the blood all over that apartment.
Could still smell the putrid scent of it hanging in the air…
If Raph managed to find Slash, he was going to personally disembowel him for what he had done to Donnie.
The sensation of his T-phone vibrating against his hip distracted the hotheaded turtle from his increasingly violent thoughts. Temporarily stopping his momentum, Raphael tilted his head down and watched the lights on his phone start flashing for about the seventieth time over the past few hours.
His brothers were persistent. He had to give them that.
Looking at the time, Raphael saw that it was now nearing the thirty-hour mark since he had last spoken with anyone. In other words, he had been officially ignoring his family's calls for over a day now. Not because he didn't want to talk to them, but because he didn't deserve to talk to them.
And what was he even supposed to say?
Sorry for what happened?
Like that even began to make amends for all the damage he had caused.
Nevertheless, Raph didn't know how much longer he could take the suspense. As ashamed as he was of himself, he needed answers. Answers he wasn't ever going to get unless he picked up his phone.
Anxiety finally won out over stubbornness.
"Did you guys find him, yet, Leo?"
"Raph! Where are you?! And why haven't you been answering any of our calls?"
The words immediately made the temperamental turtle wince, as he was reminded of the harsh way he had greeted his genius brother the night he was kidnapped...
"Donnie, where the shell are you? Why haven't you been answering your phone? You're late for patrol and Mikey and Leo are freaking out!"
If only Raph had known…
The warrior in red had to lean the majority of his weight against a rooftop billboard sign for fear of falling down.
"So, I'll take that as a no."
The disappointment in Raphael's voice made Leo soften his tone. Getting angry wasn't going to solve anything. Besides, the oldest turtle was just grateful to hear the sound of his hotheaded brother's voice at this point. It was one less thing to stress out over.
"No one's seen or heard anything, and we've been literally searching all day and night. April's at the lair and Casey's out looking for you."
"That's good. I mean, not that you didn't find him... But that Casey and April are helping out. How's Mikey holding up?"
"About as well as can be expected. He and Sensei are checking out an abandoned factory right now. I stayed outside to try your T-phone, again."
"Sounds like you guys have everything under control." The impassive way Raphael was speaking told Leo that his immediate younger brother's thoughts were elsewhere. He was just talking for the sake of keeping the conversation going, almost like it was a prerecorded message.
"Are you okay, Raph?"
A gruff snort followed the question before Raphael groaned out his reply.
"Yeah. Just peachy."
"That's not a real answer, Raphael."
Another snort sounded out. This one far more bitter than the last, forewarning Leo that his brother's response wasn't going to be all that friendly. Not that that came as much of a surprise.
"It's not any more bogus than you pretending you're not mad at me."
Biting back a growl, the oldest turtle opted to instead roll his eyes. Sometimes, his temperamental brother was just plain infuriating. Leonardo had to wonder what he had done in some former life to deserve this. It must have been something pretty bad.
"Even if I am mad at you, that doesn't mean I can't be concerned. You're my brother."
"Don't worry about me, Leo. Just focus on finding Donnie."
"I can't help but worry about you, too, Raph. Especially when you don't bother answering us for over a day." The slight hint of snark that came from Leonardo's end of the connection made the younger of the two turtles clear his throat uneasily, embarrassed that his big brother had called him out on his poor communication skills.
"Sorry about that. But I... I need to do this on my own."
While it wasn't uncommon for Raph to sometimes want to go off and do things by himself, Leo did not feel this situation demanded a solo effort.
"No! You don't, Raph! We're a family. We should be doing this together. You should be here, helping us find Donnie. Forget about Slash."
"I can't just forget about Slash! You saw all the blood in that apartment and how small that cage was! And I know you saw that damn muzzle! He tortured Donnie, Leo! For ten days, he tortured him! I want that monster's head on a stake! You can't tell me you don't want the same thing!"
Always the more rational of the two oldest brothers, Leo tried to talk some sense into his orneriest sibling. "That very well may be, but finding Donnie is my top priority right now. Everything else can wait."
Not all that shockingly, it had been a monumental waste of Leonardo's breath. Hamato Raphael was as pigheaded as the day was long.
"I'm not just gonna let Slash get away with this!" Anger made the hotheaded turtle's whole body shake, but he didn't let it faze him.
Once again, Leonardo tried to be the voice of reason to no avail.
"I don't expect you to. But now is not the time for revenge, Raph."
"Why the shell not?! Slash needs to go down for what he did! So why wouldn't you want me to go after him?"
One thing was for sure: Raphael never had a problem pushing Leonardo's buttons, even on a normal day.
The leader had been doing his best to remain calm, but his nerves were already on edge. He finally snapped out his response.
"Because Donnie might be dying, Raph! That's why!"
"Wh – What?" The anger in Raph's voice was stripped away, replaced by fear.
"Sensei... He said that Donnie's really sick. Like 'could kill him' sick. If we don't find him soon... " The sentence was left hanging like a noose for Raph to strangle himself with. Though it may not have been Leonardo's intention to place blame, the hotheaded turtle took it as such.
"He'll die and it'll be all my fault."
The bleak response took Leo somewhat by surprise. So much so, he practically squealed out his next words, shifting into damage control mode purely out of instinct.
"No! It'll be Slash's fault!"
Yet another disgusted snort followed Leo's response, clearly demonstrating Raphael's exasperation.
"The only reason Slash got a hold of him in the first place is because of me! Admit it!"
"That's not what I was trying to get at, Raph! This isn't about who's to blame! This is about finding our brother!" Leonardo made one last desperate attempt to reason with his temperamental sibling, but it was already too late. "Raph? RAPH!"
As he switched off his T-phone, cutting his older brother off mid-'Raph,' the red-clad turtle watched a lone tear slowly trickle down the display of the device in his trembling hand. The last conversation he and Donnie had had was replaying in his head…
"Has he hurt you?"
"Y – Yes."
"How bad, Donnie?"
"R – Raph… you d – don't – "
"How bad, Donatello?!"
"'B – Bleeding p – prof – fusely b – bad."
Raphael wasn't a medical expert by any stretch of the imagination, but he didn't need to be to know exactly what 'bleeding profusely' meant. The words alone sickened him, but coupled with the memory of what they had found inside that apartment, it was a wonder the temperamental ninja hadn't totally lost it. The unmistakable smell and sight of blood inside that place had been overpowering. Even worse was the stench of decay.
The thought of what could've possibly been decaying made the red-masked turtle's own flesh crawl.
"Donnie might be dying, Raph!"
"Sensei... He said that Donnie's really sick. Like 'could kill him' sick. If we don't find him soon... "
Karma was definitely coming back to bite Raph in the shell for what he had done. There could be no other explanation for why they had finally managed to find the location where Donnie had been held prisoner all that time only to discover they had just missed him.
Cursing himself under his quivering breath, Raphael swept away the gathering tears with the back of his left hand. If only the agony he was feeling inside could be so easily wiped away. But the fact of the matter was, he deserved the pain.
Every last bit of it!
He should've been the one out there suffering, not his genius brother. Donatello was just an innocent victim in all of this. An innocent victim that was dying because of what Raphael had done.
Dying…
He's dying because of me…
The turtle in red cast his misty gaze over the hundreds of rooftops spanning out all around him, knowing there were thousands of buildings that stretched out far beyond what his eyes could see. More buildings than he could ever possibly search.
"If we don't find him soon... "
Time was ticking away and there was nothing Raphael could do about it.
I'm sorry, Donnie.
I'm so, so sorry... for everything.
Just as he was about to get overwhelmed by the hopelessness of the situation, Raphael spotted something lurking along the rooftops, several buildings away from where he currently stood. Taking cover behind the large, wooden sign he had just been leaning against, the red-masked turtle gulped down several mouthfuls of air before poking his head out from the billboard to survey the scene.
Something was out there, all right. Or rather someone.
The next round of tears readying to fall was clouding Raphael's vision so much that he had to blink at least a dozen times before he could really trust his eyesight. And even then, he was still having a tough time believing what he was seeing.
It was him!
After all this nonstop searching, Raphael had finally found him!
With his heart racing right along with his feet, the turtle in red rushed towards the familiar green figure like a shot out of a canon. His intense green eyes remained fixed dead ahead, not about to let the turtle he was fast approaching out of his sight.
He'd be shelled before he lost him again.
To be continued…
*More Author's Notes: So, who does everyone think Raphael found?
I will warn all of you ahead of time… The next chapter is a super dramatic one. I'm looking forward to sharing it with everybody.
As always, if you're enjoying this story, please take a moment to favorite, follow, like, reblog, review, and/or comment to let me know. I love hearing from all of you and appreciate your positive feedback more than words can type.
Thank you so much for reading. I truly hope you liked the chapter.
CJ
**Special Notes: Thank you oodles and oodles to everyone who checked out 'Colors,' my latest 'TMNT Shell Shot.' I'm glad so many readers liked it. \(๑ں๑)/