Chapter Text
“Hey buddy, how’s it going?”
Donnie sighed and looked up at Raphael, he kept his goggles firmly in place.
“Progress would be faster, if you didn’t keep pestering me about it.”
Raph looked down at the parts spread out on Donnie’s workbench.
“Right sorry,” He said, rubbing the back of his neck, “I didn’t know your battleshell needed work.”
“You know,” Donnie said, shrugging. “You can always improve. It’s one of Ebbinghaus’s fundamental laws.”
Raph walked to the door. “Ok, just don’t forget about lunch. Mikey’s cooking.”
“I’ll come when he calls,” Donnie said. “Promise.”
Raph moved from Donnie’s lab to the kitchen. He leaned over and eyed the large pot Mikey had placed on the stove.
“How’s lunch coming, big man?”
Mikey shooed him away from the pot. “You know what they say. A watched pot never boils.”
“Right sorry. So what are you making?”
MIkey shrugged. “It’ll be what it will be, Raph.”
“Ohhh chief surprise,” Raph said, grinning. “My favorite.”
Mikey returned his smile. “I’ll give you a call when it’s done.”
Raph moved from the kitchen to the center of the lair. Leo sat alone on his skateboard at the bottom of the ramp.
“How’s it going champ?”
Leo looked up at him. He then sighed and laid back down on his skateboard.
“I want to go out,” he said.
Raph sighed. “Mikey’s making us lunch right now. It would be rude to leave.”
Leo didn’t look at him. “We need to leave.”
“And we can,” Raph said. “After lunch.”
Leo groaned.
“I’m tired of waiting for lunch.”
Raph moved from the center of the lair to Donnie’s Lab. Donnie sat at his work bench lit up by the light of his tools.
“So how’s the battle shell coming?”
“Progress would be faster, if you didn’t keep pestering me about it.” Donnie grumbled without looking up.
Raph grimaced. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to be a supportive brother but I guess I’m not.”
Donnie looked up at him and gave a slight grin. “You know, you can always improve. It’s one of Ebbinghaus’s fundamental laws.”
“Right,” Raph said. “Oh, and don’t forget that Mikey is cooking.”
Donnie nodded. “I’ll come when he calls, promise.”
Raph moved from Donnie’s lab to the kitchen. He leaned against the counter watching Mikey cook.
“So, when do you think lunch will be ready?”
Mikey glared at him. “You know what they say. A watched pot never boils.”
Raph shrugged. “Sorry I’m not trying to rush you. It’s just, Leo’s getting a bit impatient.”
“It’ll be what it will be, Raph.” Mikey said turning away and picking up ingredients.
“I’ll let him know.” Raph said, and Mikey smiled knowingly.
“I’ll give you a call when it’s done,” he said.
Raph moved from the kitchen to the center of the lair. Leo stood in front of the entrance to his room.
“I’m going out,” he said, not bothering to turn to face Raph, “with or without you.”
Leo stepped forward, grabbing the curtain of his bedroom. He flung the cloth aside, and then pulled his arm back curling around it.
Raph swore he saw three deep gashes from shoulder to elbow.
He blinked. Leo was still curled over his arm. But there was no blood.
There were no gashes.
“Are you alright?” Raph asked, putting an arm around his shell.
Leo flinched. He pulled away, twisting to look at Raph, with his eyes wide and breaths shallow.
He met Raph’s eyes, took a deep breath, and relaxed back into his brother.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just was a bit surprised. That’s all.” He said, gripping Raph’s hand. “I’m going to try again.”
Raph rubbed his shell. “Wait until after lunch.”
Leo dropped Raph’s hand.
Raph moved from the center of the lair to Donnie’s Lab. The battle shell sat off to one side and a section of the turtle tank sat in front of Donnie.
“New project?” Raph asked with a smile. “How’s it going?”
“Progress would be faster,” Donnie said tapping the metal in front of him. “If you didn’t keep pestering me about it.”
“Right, right,” Raph said. “So adding some more pizazz to the tank? I didn’t know it needed any more.”
“You know, you can always improve.” Donnie said with a flourish. “It’s one of Ebbinghaus’s fundamental laws.”
Raph shrugged. “Of course it is. Just don’t forget about lunch.”
“I’ll come when he calls, promise.” Donnie said, giving him a quick thumbs up.
Raph moved from Donnie’s lab to the kitchen. He watched as Mikey pulled out a pot and filled it with water.
“You mind if I watch you cook?” Raph asked.
“You know what they say.” Mikey launched, spinning the full pot before placing it on the stove. “A watched pot never boils.”
“So that’s a no then?”
Mikey shook his head. “It’ll be what it will be, Raph.”
“Alright, just give me a call if you need me.” Raph said.
Mikey narrowed his eyes at Raph.
“I’ll give you a call when it’s done,” he said.
Leo screamed.
Raph raced from the kitchen to the center of the lair.
Leo lay on the bottom of the skate ramp, breathing hard and covered in small bleeding pinpricks. They made small rectangular patterns spread randomly over his body.
Raph raced to his side. He pulled him into a sitting position and rubbed his shell.
“Are you ok?” Raph asked.
“I’m fine.” Leo said without looking at him. “I’m going to try again.”
“Wait,” Raph said, grabbing Leo’s arm. “Let’s have lunch first and then we can all go together.”
Leo yanked his arm from Raph’s grasp.
“We are never going to have lunch,” he hissed.
“Um, yes we are, Mikey’s cooking it now.”
Leo rubbed his face and sighed.
“It will never get done, Raph.”
Raph crossed his arms. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how time works, Leo.”
Leo stopped and looked him over.
“I know,” he said, grabbing both of Raph’s shoulders and leaning into his plastron. “But lunch will never come, Raph, it just won’t.”
“Ok,” Raph said. “Let me tell them, and then we’ll go together.”
Leo grabbed his hand and shook his head. But Raph gently pulled away.
“I’ll be right back,” He promised.
Raph moved from the center of the lair to Donnie’s Lab. Donnie walked around the section of turtle tank examining it.
“I’m going to be heading out with Leo, call me if you need anything.” Raph said.
Donnie nodded. “Progress would be faster, if you didn’t keep pestering me about it.”
Raph stepped closer. “I don’t think you heard me. I’ll be leaving the lair with Leo.”
“You know, you can always improve.” Donnie said, giving him a thumbs up. “It’s one of Ebbinghaus’s fundamental laws.”
“Right, well,” Raph said, raising his voice. “Give us a call if you need anything.”
“I’ll come when he calls,” Donnie said, turning back to his project. “Promise.”
Raph moved from Donnie’s lab to the kitchen. Mikey was stirring a large pot on the stove.
“Hey Mikey?” Raph said. “Leo and I are going to be leaving the lair. Give us a call if you need anything.”
Mike gave him a nod. “You know what they say. A watched pot never boils.”
“Um Mikey,” Raph said gently. “Are you feeling ok?”
Mikey waved him off. “It’ll be what it will be, Raph.”
Leo screamed.
Raph raced out of the kitchen. Mikey’s ‘I’ll give you a call when it’s done.’ fading into the background.
Leo was walking into his room again. With each step forward wounds opened up but didn’t bleed. Leo’s arm fell limp by his side. Leo’s leg dragged with each step. But he kept walking.
Then Raph saw them. Metallic snakes with glowing red eyes. They twisted and writhed in place of the room’s furniture, and in place of the room’s walls.
With each step that Leo took the snakes shot forward and latched their jaws onto him. They pulled him backwards and Raph could see Leo losing ground.
So he did what any brother would do in that situation. He leapt behind Leo and punched a snake.
Leo stumbled forward, catching himself with his only working arm. He looked back, over his shoulder, eyes meeting Raph’s, and smiled. Blood was running down his face from where a snake had latched on, but he was smiling and speaking words Raph couldn’t hear.
Raph punched more snakes.
Leo pushed himself forward and grabbed onto something Raph couldn’t see. His shoulders heaved from screaming words Raph couldn’t hear. His feet slipped across the ground struggling for purchase.
Raph punched more metallic snakes.
But for each snake he took down, even more took its place.
And Leo lost steam.
He pitched forward, falling limp as the snakes flung him out of his room.
Raph caught him. And he watched as the wounds covering Leo’s body faded. They didn’t close or scar over, they simply ceased to exist. The dots from the snake bites took the longest.
“Raph.” Leo breathed.
“Yeah?”
“That’s the farthest I’ve ever gotten.”
Raph let himself grin as Leo rested his head against his plastron.
“Punching the snakes seemed to help.” Raph said.
Leo nodded against him.
“So maybe if we get Donnie and Mikey’s help-”
“We can’t.”
“Why not?” Raph asked. “We just need to get them to wake up, like you got me to wake up.”
“Raph,” Leo said softly, pushing himself up to look him in the eye. “They aren’t here.”
“Yes they are. Don’s in his lab, and Mikey’s in the kitchen.”
“No they aren’t Raph. Those turtles up there aren’t real. They aren’t our brothers.”
Raph’s eyes narrowed. “Then where are our brothers?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“And where are we?”
“Somewhere else.” Leo gently held Raph’s shoulder. “What do you remember?”
An alleyway. The Dark Armor. Leo.
Raph breath caught.
“I hurt you.”
“No,” Leo said firmly, “Shredder did.”
“But-”
“Shredder did.”
Raph looked at his younger brother. He looked tired and scared. But he set his jaw and squared his shoulders, daring Raph to argue with him on this. Raph didn’t argue. He just pulled his brother into a hug and held him. He didn’t say anything when he felt hot tears on his plastron. He just held Leo and rubbed his shell.
“I’m so glad to have you back.” Leo whispered.
“Yeah, but now we have to get out of here.”
“No,” Leo said firmly, pushing back to look at Raph. “you have to get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“I’m not asking you to.” Leo looked around. “I think we mind melded. And because you are trapped in the armor, we both are.”
“So if I can get the armor off. It’ll free us both?”
“That’s my assumption.”
Raph deflated. “We already tried that. It didn’t work so well.”
“Then we try again.” Leo said, forcing a smile and pulling his odachi out of thin air. “Besides this time I’ve got your back against Shreddy.”
Leo held out a hand. “Trust me?”
“Always.” Raph said taking it.
Raph stood, pounded his fists together once, and marched straight towards the room Leo was just thrown out of. He entered it. And was surrounded by Leo’s posters and action figures.
“Hey buddy,” Leo called, “You probably want to enter your own room.”
Raph laughed and backed out of Leo’s room. “Right that makes sense.”
“More sense than my room randomly being the lair exit.”
“Alright,” Raph pounded his fists together again. “Let’s do this.”
Raph raced towards his room. Leo followed behind him, odachi gleaming.
“Hot Soup!”
Raph rushed into what should have been his room. It should have housed his bed and all of his teddy bears. Instead it was a whirlwind of metallic snakes. The second he entered they lunged for him, clinging to his arm, his shell, trying desperately to drag him backwards. And for a second he felt his foot slip.
Leo’s blade sung.
Raph stumbled forward. He spared a glance back at Leo and was pleased to see that his wounds had not reappeared and that the snakes were not attacking him.
“Go!”
Raph nodded and turned back towards the snakes. It was slow going, but he never lost ground.
“Snakes,” He heard Leo quote behind him, “why did it ha-”
Raph wasn’t in the lair anymore. He wasn’t surrounded by the snakes anymore, although he could still feel their teeth in his skin pulling him backwards. It was painful just to exist.
But he knew Leo was behind him, granting him the freedom that he currently had. He couldn’t waste it.
It was dark in the room where he was, and it was dark outside of it as well. Slowly, both out of ninja caution, and due to the fact it felt like he was trying to move through mud Raph grabbed the right gauntlet in his left hand and pulled.
The snakes coiled around him, fighting with a vengeance. But each bite only pulled for a second before going slack.
Leo had his back. And Raph had his right hand freed.
One free hand made it easier to have a second free hand.
A second free hand made it easier to rip off a section of the armor from his waist.
And a hole in the armor there made it easier to grab his tonfa and activate his mystic power.
Raph took off running at full speed and full height. He used both astral hands to rip the armor from his body and fling it across New York city. He didn’t care where it went, where he went as long as they were to different places. He didn’t stop until he had removed the last piece, the helmet, from his head.
He didn’t throw that piece. The foot put his city, his brothers, in danger, they wouldn’t get their hands on the completed armor so easily. He’d get Leo to portal it across the world, or into space, when he saw him again. But for now he needed to return to the lair and regroup.
Raph entered the sewers with ease. He could hear comoation in the city above him. That chaos should hide his trail, at least he hoped so.
When Raph entered the lair he became aware of two things. The first was they he didn’t, and hadn’t for a while, felt the pull of the snakes. The second was that the lair was still.
It wasn’t quiet. The splash screen of a dvd played on loop. Some invention of Donnie’s constantly buzzed. Water dripped from a faucet.
But nothing in the lair moved. It was completely abandoned.
Raph fished out his cellphone from his belt. Thankful his capture and escape hadn’t destroyed it.
He called the number of a voice he desperately wanted to hear.
The phone on the other line rang. Once. Twice.
Raph held his breath just waiting.
“Sup, this is Neon Leon. Or well, this is his phone-”
Raph hung up and called again. And again only voicemail answered.
He called again.
“Raph?” The voice that answered sounded worn, but they seemed to be holding their breath hopefully.
And while he was relieved to hear the voice of one of his brothers. That voice belonged to Donatello, and not Leonardo.