The sewer temperature drops and the tunnels howl in the dark, a sign that the clock has struck midnight. The brothers have already tucked themselves into bed and are fast asleep, all but one. Raph is sitting on his bed, tuning into his surroundings, attempting to identify each footstep and each snore heard in the lair.

He's been thinking, "What if I leave? Would they be happier?" He can't shake the feeling that they would be. It makes sense, right? They shouldn't waste their time and supplies on someone like him. There wouldn't be any fighting or rough practice. There won't be the 'Angry One' causing problems anymore. Just the three nice brothers and one happy dad. That's all Raphael ever wants for them.

So, the plan is to make sure everyone is asleep, sneak into the dojo to take his sais, and run. Simple enough, right? Well, to put it frankly, Raph is nervous. He isn't sure what he's more afraid of, running away from home or Master Splinter caught him running away. The talk between them will be absolutely dreadful for both of them. But he is willing to do this if it means keeping his brothers safe. Besides, he's a ninja; he's sure he can take care of himself.

When he is 100% sure everyone is asleep, he steps out of his bedroom and stealthily walks to the dojo. He slides the door open and scans the room for his sais. He finds them hanging in their display stand alongside his brothers' weapons. His eyes glaze over them, and he can't help but smile at the memory of when they first got their weapons.

He remembers how excited he was that day. He remembers how natural it felt to grip his sais with his small hands. He remembers that his brothers took months to get used to their weapons, while he only took a few weeks.

Well, yeah, maybe it's because he trains early in the morning before anyone else is awake, or maybe because when everyone's asleep, he sneaks out of the lair to train in the sewers. Or maybe even on rest days, he still trains until failure. Regardless, he was the first to master his weapons, and that's all that matters to him. He remembers how proud his sensei was of him. "Very well, Raphael. It seems this weapon has truly chosen you as its owner. You have learned how to use it far sooner than I expected. I am very proud of you," he said.

Raph remembers it word for word. How could he not? It was the first time he ever heard his sensei say those six words: "I am very proud of you." And he probably will never hear them again.

He sighs at that last thought, it hurts to know that you are the problem child in the family. He continues to reach for his sai and he then realizes that it was placed much higher than he expected. Usually Splinter would give it to him before practice which is why he never thought about the possibility that he would be out of reach, but he really didn't expect this to be the hardest part of his escape. He knows he's a short turtle, but he didn't expect to be this short!

He stretches his arm 'till his muscles strain and his toes arching fully 90 degrees with his heel off the ground. It's physically painful to stay in that position for a good while, but he manages to grab it by the duller sides of the blades and finally he can lower down his body. After successfully getting his weapons, he immediately runs out of the dojo as quietly as he can and dashes towards the sewers.

His heartbeat quickens as he runs further away from the lair. He has ever sneaked out before but never like this. He always comes back with those other times.

He's been blindly propelling himself forward with a surge of adrenaline. His breath quickens and his muscles strains, his movement fully driven by the fast pounding against his chest like a car engine going overdrive. He has been running in the dark, no idea where he is heading, with only sheer willpower and guts to lead him. I should've brought a flashlight…

He doesn't know how long he has been running until he has to catch his breath. He placed his hand on the wall to help him support his body weight as he collapsed on the wet floor. He didn't realize how much he had been shaking until now. He can't break now, not yet. Not when he's already so far from home. He couldn't tell, but he feels his eyes getting wet by the thought of 'home'. God… he can't miss them right now. He has to move on, keep pushing forward. Just don't break now… he tells himself

As he walks further into the sewers he finds a sparkle of light coming through the ceiling. He looks up to see a manhole above him. He has never gone uptop, his father always warns him and his brothers about the outside world being dangerous. But he has no one to tell him off anymore, doesn't he?

He climbs up the ladder and pushes the lid of the manhole to the side. He peaks his head out to check if he sees anyone around. When he's in the clear he fully comes out of the hole and that's when he starts to take in what is happening.

He is literally outside of the sewers, all by himself and is not sure what to do. He is OUTSIDE by HIMSELF with no one around. Oh shell–... he can't panic right now. Get a grip Raph!… There's no turning back now.

He looks around and sees an empty road ahead of him with only the moons and the street lamps to brighten the way— however he doesn't know what a street lamp is at this age.

He looks in awe as he moves his gaze up at the night sky, his eyes glazing over the twinkle sparkles in the dark. He sees so many of them. It's beautiful…

He has never seen anything so beautiful.

He knows he can't stay on the ground for long, even if it's in the middle of the night he knows humans can roam around at any moment. He takes his chance to climb a nearby building to settle at the roof. With a lot— like a lot— of struggle, he manages to land his feet on the top of the building. His eyes were in awe with how much closer he was to the stars. He can feel his whole body entrance by how the stars sparkles and how it compliments the moon. It's so bright and beautiful, he never knew the moon can shine, not like the sun but it fills up the darkness in the night.

He had a sudden burst of creativity, connecting the stars in the sky with his finger, like an imaginary pencil. As he pointed to each star and moved to the next, he traced out the shape of a heart, then a house, that one looks like the Hamato clan symbol! "Wow... I can draw in the sky!" he exclaimed, awe in his voice. The view had never looked more beautiful.

His brain starts to imagine millions of illustrations in the sky, he even thinks one of them looks like Donnie! It has his oval face shape and everything! It even has his missing tooth too! In that instant, his heart sank, as he remembered how he might never be able to see his smart brother again. and then he remembers, He'll probably never see his family again.

A sigh left his lips as he places his chin on the edge of the roof. He can't help feeling a little guilty for running away, he even forgot to write a note for them. He cusses at himself for that. Hopefully he doesn't cause too much trouble for them because of his stupidity.

He stares at the night sky for a long period of time until he hears a cry out of nowhere, "WAIT! WAIT! LET ME GO PLEASE!" He tilts his head down and sees 6 identical people; pale skin with a long face, with black eyes and hair who are also wearing suits, who are dragging a much older man into their track, which had a really weird purple hue coming from inside.

"Kraang cannot do what you say "let you go "; it defies what the Kraang has planned." one of the identical men speaks in a monotone robotic voice. It's really freaky. Hearing them speak sent a chill up Raph's spine. The old man struggles and cries in their grasp, "P-Please... Please I-I'll do anything! I-I won't tell anyone about you! I-I won't even call the police! JUST LET ME GO!"

What has planned? Raph guts clenches. He needs to save him. He needs to get him back to safety. He needs to do something. Anything! He knows that he isn't meant to intervene, he knows his father would yell at him if he made any sudden moves, and his brothers would completely freak out if they knew about this. But those people aren't with him anymore, he doesn't belong with them anymore. So who's to tell him what to do?

He tightens his grip on the sais, then leaps down, driving it into the metal skull causing sparks to spew out of it as the electricity crackles and dances around the impaled head. IT'S A ROBOT?!

Ok… that's a turn of events.

The broken robotic body collapses to the ground and a tiny pink brainy creature with tentacles pops out of it like it's a suit of armor. Ok- WHAT THE SHELL IS THAT?!

And Raph thought him and his family were freaks, but perhaps he has been proven wrong.

The human-like-robots turn to the red masked turtle's direction, face completely expressionless and eyes that send chills through Raph's nerves. "Kraang has been ambushed by a mutant turtle creature." Ok this all is unnerving to Raph. Frankly, he has no idea what to do, "Kraang must destroy the turtle." HUH?!

This has not gone to Raph's idea of his escape.

While swiftly avoiding laser-like bullets, Raph is trying to come up with a plan on how to get the man to safety. But what can he do? He clearly cannot reach for their head, they are much taller in height and much tougher in strength. They are clearly more experienced and Raph is a 10 year old turtletot who is 72 cm tall. Nothing much he can do!

He shifts his focus to the man, who stands paralyzed in a trance, teetering between confusion and sheer terror. He can see his pupils undilated and quivers in fear watching the scene unfolds. However, the young turtle notices that none of the Kraang was paying any mind to him and shifts all their attention to Raph. What is this guy doing?! This is his chance!

"SIR! ARE YOU STUPID?! THIS IS YOUR CHANCE! GET OUT OF HERE!" He screams, hoping to pull him back into reality. After realizing what is happening around him, he immediately starts running away, but the Kraang notices this and two of the five tries to stop him from escaping their grasp. Well, Raph did just shout at the top of his lungs so it's not a surprise that the enemy would turn around to catch him again but jeez... that damn old man… GOD! Can ANYTHING be easy just for once!?

Without much thought Raph threw both his sais towards the Kraang, managing to impale both robots at once giving the old man a chance to leave the scene. Raph gasps for air, taking in deep breaths after the rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins. Holy shit… He can't believe that he just saved someone… Holy shit this is incredible! He just saved someone's life! Oh my God Master Splinter would've been so proud of him! He should tell his brother's about this they would be!— oh… right…

"What is known as the turtle has fouled Kraang's plan." The piercing robotic voice made Raph flinch, as his eyes saw their steps getting closer toward him until the three robots surrounded him, trapping him in the process. "Kraang, what must we do with the turtle?" one said to the other, which was followed by a long pause, "Kraang, I think Kraang should bring the turtle back to the lab. Kraang wants to study and learn more about this turtle"

Oh shell…

The tight grip from their cold, metallic hands clutches his forearm, dragging him forcefully into the truck. Raph struggles in terror as he gets closer and closer to the vehicle. "No... NO, STOP PLEASE!" His movements are vigorous and random until he feels their hold loosening. However, his hope shrivels up when he feels arms wrap around his waist, hoisting his whole body into the air. At that moment, he realizes it's no use. There's nothing he can do now.

They throw him in roughly and carelessly, not realizing his head hits the floor. Raph's vision becomes dizzy as he hears the van door slam shut and the engine turn on. "No... no, no, no, no, no!" He hurries to the door and bangs on the metal barrier that separates him from outside—from his family...

He isn't sure how long he was at it, but as the seconds pass, his strength starts to crumble. Before he knows it, his head meets the floor once again, and his eyes slowly shut as exhaustion envelops him.

The clock strikes 5 am as the fellow turtle flutter his eyes open. He gets out of bed and ties the blue mask around his head before heading to the kitchen. There, he sees the bustling, loud-mouthed figure of his familiar younger brother, whose energy has always resembled like the morning sun, and hears the groans and yawns of his purple second-youngest brother, who is the complete opposite of the bright and colorful Mikey when it comes to mornings. But he sees no sign of the red one.

"Yo Leo! Morning!" Mickey greets with a grin. "Morning, Mikey. Morning, Donnie," Leo replies. Donnie, stifling a yawn, adds, "Yeah… Hey, Leo."

Leo huffs out a sigh, God did he do his all nighters again? "Jeez Don, what time did you sleep last night?" he ask. Donnie moves his gaze to him,with dark sunken eye bags and droopy lips, calculating the amount of hours to minutes to seconds with how long he has stayed awake. "Eh, not sure. probably around 4 am." 4 AM?!

"Donnie! What the heck?! You know we have early practice today…" Don rolls eyes eyes as a response to his older brother's scolding. "Yeah Don, what did you even do anyway?" Mikey wonders.

His eyes beams like he made a major breakthrough, "Well you see, After watching that movie yesterday, I couldn't stop pondering the physics behind 'the force'—the ability to control the fabric of space itself. And it got me wondering how that works. Does the cosmological substance compress into different formations when being controlled by the user? Does it affect the surrounding area of the user when the fabric of space is getting bound? Or maybe it's gravity, but if it is, then why? And if it is, how does it alter the gravitational direction? Or perhaps it's not gravity at all, but something entirely different? Another consideration was air, but that wouldn't hold up, considering the vacuum of space lacks air altogether. So I scoured the internet and—"

"God Donnie, are you serious?! It's just a movie dude" Mikey interrupts his brother's ramble, "And it's called 'Star Wars: The New Hope'. It's a legendary movie that I WILL NOT allow you to ruin." The purple masked turtle glares at his brother while that certain brother sticks his tongue out of mockery. Maybe we shouldn't let Donnie watch movies anymore… Leo thought

After they put that conversation behind them, Master splinter enters the kitchen shortly after. "Good morning my sons." His eyes soften as his eyes meet his sons. However, he noticed the lack of presence of a certain turtle.

"Good morning Sensei!" Leo smiles following up with Mikey exclaiming "Morning to you too Sensei!"

"Oh hey…" a yawn interrupts Donnies sentence, "Morning Sensei."

Splinter's eyes move towards each son, internally counting in case his eyes missed one, before asking "Where is Raphael?"

They all shrug,"Dunno Sensei, he's probably still asleep." Mikey replies.

Splinter sighs, even if Donatello sleeps the least, Raph is a close competitor to his brother. Unlike Donnie, Raph doesn't have anything to do at night but yet he still struggles to sleep in a moderate time.

"I see… Leonardo, may you please call your brother for breakfast?" he ask, "Of course father"

The eldest brother leaves the kitchen and now stands in front of his younger brother's door. To say that waking up Raph is easy is an understatement. Raphael hates mornings. It's like navigating a warzone just to get him to open his eyes from his dream world. Leo takes a deep breath, mentally and physically preparing himself for the onslaught of his brother's moodiness.

knock knock

"Raph, you awake?"

Silence

Leo knocks again.

"Raph come on, we have practice soon and you have to eat." Silence once again.

"Come on Raph, don't be like that. It's too early for your temper right now." Leo knocks once again. Still nothing,

Ugh… fine… I guess we're doing it the hard way.

"Fine Raph, I'm coming in." He peels open the door only to meet an empty, crumpled bed. No Raphael in it. "Raph…?"

Maybe Leo is just imagining things. His brother has to be there. He has to be! He must be! His eyes must be playing tricks on him! No, his brother can't be gone!

He tore open the blanket to see nothing on the mattress. Just some pillows and… blood?

Leo's breath hitch before screaming, "SENSEI! RAPH IS GONE!"