Chapter Text
They’ve been fighting these Yōkai for what seemed like half an hour. They thought it would be easy, well Leo thought it would be easy. Raph considered a different approach regarding the size of two of the three Yōkai but of course Leo being Leo rushed in all full of himself, disregarding his own safety. Without a second thought the slider had pushed off from the roof of the building opposite the electronic store, which was currently being broken into by the Yōkai. Leo had came out of nowhere, the blue clad turtle's foot colliding with the side of the grizzly bear Yōkai’s head causing her to stagger to the side. Raph remembered freezing for an instant second, feeling a prick of frustration before a wave of worry hit him, he had launched off the roof instantly, Mikey and Donnie following close behind. They had landed behind the stag beetle and serpent-like Yōkai, blocking their chance of escape into the City.
So that’s how Raph ended up face to face with a pissed off stag beetle. Mikey was occupied with the serpent one while Leo and Donnie were zipping around the bear.
Fighting the stag beetle was tough, obviously, with his size and natural armour he put up quite the fight. Raph could feel beads of sweat travel down his skin as he brought up his arms, protecting his face from another one of the beetles attacks. The beetle brought down his hunting knife, sinking it into the turtle's right arm, his breath hitched at the flush of pain running up his arm and the liquid that seeped out the wound.
“Raph!” The name erupted from Mikey. Raph snapped his head towards his brother's direction, noticing the serpent Yōkai, panic filling him rapidly. Mikey seemed completely unaware and the serpent knew. They moved quickly, lunging their body forward revealing their glinting fangs. They sunk them into the box turtle's shoulder, a panicked scream escaped Mikey and the serpent recoiled back. The sound of their brother's scream caught Leo and Donnie off guard, giving the bear Yōkai the upper hand. She charged at the slider, bunching up her fist before swinging it at Leo. Her large fist collided with his face, sending him flying back and crashing into Donnie. The two met the store’s brick wall harshly, oxygen escaping the twins lungs at the force.
“That’s called karma” the bear Yōkai spat out, wiping away the blood from her nose with the back of her hand, a result of Leo bashing her snout with his sword hilt.
Raph’s eyes skipped to Leo and Donnie then to Mikey then the stag beetle who still kept his knife lodged in his arm. His heart pounding heavily as panic and adrenaline flowed through his system, numbing the pain in his arm. Raph couldn’t let his brothers get hurt again.
Raph yanked both of his arms away, the hunting knife slicing through the rest of his arm, his mind was fixated on his brothers, he wouldn’t forgive himself if they got hurt more. As he rushed over to Mikey the serpent Yōkai held their arm out to the side, a light turquoise glow fading in as they flexed their fingers, a similar glow formed on the ground. Raph's eyes widened as the serpent flicked their hand upwards and a manhole cover rose up. The Yōkai pulled back their arm, the manhole cover following their motion.
‘Ain’t no way they're gonna throw that’ Raph thought.
The Yōkai did in fact manage to throw it. It flew through the air, coming at Mikey with dangerous speed. Raph opened his mouth, the word ‘duck’ on the tip of his tongue, his vocal cords creaking. Without the word, Mikey popped into his shell, hitting the concrete floor while the manhole cover flew past and crashed into the wall at the end of the alley, the loud clattering of the metal ringing through everyone's ears. Raph dipped downwards, scooping up Mikey who was still hiding in the comfort of his shell. The snapping turtle kept his little brother close to his plastron, breathing heavily as he ran towards Leo and Donnie. The twins were struggling to catch their breath with Leo attempting to stand up. Raph shifted Mikey under his right arm rushing past the bear Yōkai and scooping up his remaining brothers. The bear Yōkai growled with frustration, swiping a clawed hand at the snapping turtle. Raph twisted himself, keeping his brothers shielded from having their skin sliced open, before pushing himself off to the side, landing awkwardly on his feet. The stag beetle came out from behind the bear, bringing his hunting knife down.
Raph, using his ninpō, released a replication of himself, it jabbed the beetle in the side, making him clutch the area, before dodging an attempted slash from the bear Yōkai. Raph swiftly placed his brothers on the concrete before manifesting a large construct of himself, using it to scoop up his brothers and place them safely on the roof of the building they saw the Yōkai from. He sighed in relief knowing that they would be away from any more harm.
The snapping turtle turned back to the Yōkai, freezing upon finding that the alleyway was now empty, frustration built up within him.
—
The Four brothers found themselves on a large, tall building, the moon shining down on each one of their shells and highlighting their intricate details. Raph’s arm would continue to bleed profusely as he placed his beloved brothers down on the cold rough roof. Donnie would scoop up his younger brother who continued to stay within his shell, rubbing it as he took his breath back from the cruel atmosphere as Leonardo stood up and dusted himself off since he noticed his older brother's injury as they were dragged out of the fight and up the tall building. Leo swiftly began to look the wound up and down, examining it thoroughly. Raph did not take this lightly as he still had adrenaline pumping through his system and rather than tending to his own wound, he took this opportunity to scold his younger, arrogant and irresponsible little brother.
“Leo, what were you doing out there? You could’ve gotten one of us killed with your immature and irrational actions, you don’t think about what you’re doing and just rush into the battle before even assessing the situation! We almost died there Leo, all because you couldn’t stop yourself from jumping into battle recklessly.” Raph would glare down at his brother, his words harsh but having meaning to them.
However, as expected, Leo was not paying a single drop of attention to the snapping turtle nor his words. All he knew was that his brother was injured and that he hadn’t said ‘hero’ so no pizza bite! Donnie was rubbing Micheals shell as he finally popped out his shell but wasn’t moving much and seemed to be injured as well.
“Micheal is wounded too, we should return back to the lair” Donnie interrupted the two, finding that it wasn’t the time for an argument or, well, one shouting at the other and Leo just ignoring his brother completely.
“You’re right, let me get mikey and then we can go.” Raph sighed, finding that they all should just get back to the lair to have their wounds treated, especially since he was growing worried about Michelangelo’s injuries. Leo would nod, flicking his mask tails as he turned to Donnie and Mikey.
“Right away hermanos! Me, the amazing medic will tend to Mikey and Raph’s injuries!” The turtle spoke as confidently as he usually did. They all agreed that they needed to get back to the lair to re-group, tend to their wounds and call April much like they did every other evening.
Raph would gently pick up Micheal and coddle him like a baby, loving him dearly, as Donnie fidgeted with the pop-its that Leo carried around with him, Leo would continue to annoy and examine each turtle with snarky and over-confident comments that would obviously be added onto them.
An hour later, the four turtles had returned to the lair and were now bandaged up to prevent any infections or worse, and it seemed that Mikey had sustained many wounds that needed to be treated since as it turned out, the serpent Yōkai’s ‘venom’ completely numbed the box turtles arm, with additional tingling and numbness in his neck.
However, Donnie had made sure that Mikey had gotten to bed as Raph and Leo went to clean Rapheal’s wounds as it was quite deep and had bled quite a lot. Leo would gently wash Raph’s wound with a cold antiseptic wipe as the red clad turtle kept his arm up and his eyes fixated towards the door of Mikey's room, he was extremely worried for him. Leo would continue to clean his wounds before accidentally wiping a bit too harshly, tripping over his chair slightly. Raph would take a sharp inhale of pain.
“Seems I have tripped over my own gorgeousness!” Leo attempted to joke half-heartedly as he laughed, finding himself funny. Raph let out a sigh, unfazed by the comment and finding himself unbothered by the accident. Instead, he wanted to know what the hell Leo was doing in that fight that would cause him to act so careless, finding this a good time to bring it up as Mikey had gone to bed. The snapping turtle cleared his throat and settled his attention on the red eared slider, his eyes completely focused on his little brother.
“What were you doing in that fight, Leo?” He asked calmly, starting off gently, he wasn’t angry yet and he wanted to keep quiet for Mikey's sake.
“I was being flashy! It almost worked too!” The slider spoke loudly, flicking his mask tails as he did so. Clearly, he’d forgotten that Mikey had retreated to bed
“Flashy? Almost Worked? Leo, we lost the fight and Mikey got hurt, Donnie is overwhelmed and is signing out of stress and you got slammed into Don!” He began to raise his voice out of aggravation from Leo's ignorance and growing concern for his brothers’ health and safety.
“We still got out and we could have won that fight!” Leo argued back to Raph, voice increasing in volume as he spoke back.
“We only got out because I got us out, we weren't going to win that fight and it was plain obvious! You need to think things through more carefully, you can’t keep putting yours and others lives at risk! That isn’t what heros do, Leo, that is the polar opposite of what they do! They don’t make rash decisions based on one small look at the situation.” Raph began to shout back, both turtles getting louder as their argument escalated..
“You got us out of there because you thought it was the best decision. Well, plot twist ‘Hero’, it wasn't the best course of action as Donnie and I were perfectly fine, we could’ve fended for ourselves! We could have won if you actually participated in the fight!” Leo snapped back, thoroughly believing his words.
“Also, you said Hero!” He said abruptly before Raph could even get a word in, grabbing the now cold pizza box and taking the last slice out of it before taking a bite in front of Raph's face.
Raph grumbled “You aren’t taking any of this seriously, are you? Are you even taking the team's safety- our brothers’ safety seriously? How can I know that you won’t get any of us killed one day?” He scolded, a burning frustration bubbling within.
A huff of annoyance escaped the blue clad turtle before he spoke up again, his tone sarcastic but oh so sour, “look around, alright? We’re fine, Mikey’s fine, Donnie’s fine, nothing bad really happened. Stop fawning over us like we’re tots, we don’t need you hovering over us 24/7 anymore so just back off a bit. You’re not our dad so stop trying to be one.” He finished, voice harsh and void of any humour that would indicate he was attempting a bad joke. The slider simply slumped himself into his chosen chair, taking a swift bite from his still very much cold pizza.
Raph sat there speechless, failing to gather up his words as a variety of different emotions bubbled up and festered inside him. He wanted to say so much but he just couldn’t find the words he needed.
“You’re overreacting hermano, we would have been fine and we didn’t need your ‘rescue’ oh, beloved hero” Leo brushed him off, continuing to eat his slice of pizza.
Raph clenched his hand into a fist, knuckles turning white as he sat there listening to Leo's constant arrogant comments of how Raph’s rescue wasn’t needed. The snapping turtle continued to grow more and more frustrated, fueled by the raw hurt he felt as the slider continued.
He eventually snapped, activating his ninpō and slamming his fist into the desk beside him. The wooden desk collapsed in on itself and every bit of medical equipment fell with it, making a huge noise that echoed throughout the lair, ricocheting off the walls before Raph got to his feet and stormed out, remaining silent the whole time.
Leaving Leo speechless as he walked out.
Raphael found himself walking in one of New York’s many dismal alleys, the cold air providing him with a small chill as he roamed around aimlessly. He’d forgotten one of his few jumpers back at the lair in his haste to leave, all he had on him was his equipment and phone. He’d be fine though, he always seemed to be a little warmer than his brothers, a benefit of his human DNA he supposed.
The snapping turtle let his thoughts roam free, too engrossed in them that the noise of passing cars and the silent chatter of distant citizens faded into a comfortable background noise, his guard completely down as he wandered around slowly. This however left him oblivious to the figures lurking about in the distant shadows and rooftops, eyes set solely on him.
One of the men dressed in a black suit was nestled on a rooftop, accompanied by other men dressed similar if not the same. After a moment of silent observation, he walked off to a farther part of the roof whilst reaching for the radio on his belt. He stood still as he held the radio close to his face, static being emitted before he spoke into it,
“We’ve located the specimen, awaiting further instructions.” The man said with a monotonous voice, listening to the crackle of the radio’s static once more as he waited patiently for the other end to reach back.
“Capture and bring the specimen back to the facility.” Another man spoke up from the other end of the connection, just as monotonous yet holding more authority. Without waiting further, the man placed the radio back into its designated spot and nodded to the other men lingering nearby, signalling it was time.
Raph sighed, turning his back to one of the building's walls, slumping down onto the floor, slotting himself between a stack of various boxes and an old worn down fridge. He crossed his legs before dropping his head into his hands. What Leo said hurt, his words cut deeper than the knife from earlier. Raph was just scared of feeling that same sense of dread back with the Krang, not being able to save his little brother as he was almost pulverised, thinking he would never see him again. He never wanted to feel that again.
The snapping turtle sat there in the dark alley for a long moment, inhaling and exhaling deeply.
‘ Everyone’s fine now Raph, everyone’s safe’ he repeated it to himself, feeling himself relax slowly.
The sudden quietened sound of clinking glass caught his attention, snapping his head up to see nothing, well in front of him at least. Almost immediately after, there were sounds of metal sliding against each other, they were quieter but Raph still took notice. He couldn’t see who it was with the fridge and boxes obstructing his view, he took his tonfā’s from his belt, gripping them firmly. He shifted into a crouched position, ready for any potential attacks. It was probably unlikely, was he just being paranoid? Maybe.
The snapping turtle leaned forward, holding his weight with his left arm, his good arm. He turned his head to the left, nothing but darkness covering the end of the alley, then to the right, the glow of the city’s bright lights spilling into the alley. Nothing dangerous but there was this feeling, down in his gut, telling him something was wrong. Slowly, Raph rose, cautiously stepping out from between the boxes and fridge. He took two small steps before stopping, tonfā’s held tightly as he looked around again. Every muscle in his body tensed, the feeling of unease growing stronger the longer he stood there. Noises emerged from the darkest part of the alley, more shifting of metal. Raph stood firm, bringing up his tonfā’s, staring dead ahead into the abyss, awaiting the possible danger to spring out at him.
Raph felt his heart stop as a large rat emerged from the little void, it stopped to look up at the snapping turtle while twitching its little nose. Raph felt his whole self release, gaining some comfort in knowing it was nothing dangerous, just a rat, an adorable one too with its little nose.
Raph bent down, resting his arms on his legs, giving the calm rat a smile.
“Hey there little buddy, you lost?” he said, putting on his ‘at one with the animals’ cutesy voice. The rat's ears turned, it rose onto its hind legs seeming to be on sudden high alert. It looked around, making Raph feel uneasy again.
“What’s wro-” The snapping turtle was abruptly cut off, as a sharp pain shot from his neck and around his body. Raph fell to the floor, dropping his tonfā’s and hitting his face on the stone while his muscles cramped painfully and a small burning feeling remained on his neck . His arms were shaking uncontrollably at his side, his vocal cords straining. He told himself to move but it wasn’t working, his heart once again was beating fast, not being able to move when in danger scared him. Suddenly, his whole body released, the painful cramp replaced with an ache.
‘What was that?’
Soon after, there was a prick in his upper arm and he felt liquid rush into it, making Raph instinctively shove away the danger. His forearm made contact with something, fabric pressing against his skin then leaving again as he pushed it back. He picked himself up sluggishly from the ground, his whole body still ached with sharp pain frequently shooting through his muscles. He quickly turned himself, his vision consequently blurring making him incapable of seeing the danger. His whole head fogged up, his legs failing to keep the snapping turtle upright. Raph could feel his eyelids begin to drop, blocking his blurred vision until they closed for a final time and his mind shut off.