Chapter Text
The red turtle's breaths were heavy and panicked.
Stumbling and tripping, the mutant ran as quick as he could. Everything was blurry, and his ears were ringing. Did he hear shouting? Or was he alone? The turtle did not know. His red scarf whipped in the wind as he ran through rubble. Soon enough, Raph fell to the hard, solid ground suddenly and skidded to a stop, grazing his legs.
But that didn't matter at all. For what he saw was far more horrible.
"No.. no.." The snapping turtle began to sob. He couldn't believe it. He hadn't seen correctly, had he? Tears filled his eyes. Raph's sight was already blurry, but his tears made it worse.
In front of him were the three scarred bodies of his brothers. Leo, Mikey, and Donnie. There was no denying it. These turtles were them. Blood pooled beneath the bruised, mutant bodies and nearly reached Raph's legs. The snapping turtle let out a loud wail, grasping onto each of his brother's arms and pulling them close into a hug. Raph didn't let go. This had to be a bad nightmare. A terrible, horrible nightmare. His brothers couldn't be dead, they couldn't be.
Mikey was too young to die!
Leo was too young to die!
Donnie was too young to die!
They all were! How could he let this happen? He was the oldest, yet he failed to protect them. The snapping turtle's tears hit the cracked, dry concrete.
Raph knew not to dare look up. Not even if he was dying to know. Because his brothers needed him.. or at least he thought so. But in reality, he needed them. Raph also knew that if he looked up, he'd see a destroyed New York City. And he wasn't ready for that. Not yet. He could barely process the fact his brothers were most probably.. dead. But he refused to believe such.. such nonsense.
"Stop joking, guys.."
Raph continued to sob for a long time, pulling his brothers together. The mutant brothers were now in a limp pile, and Raph hugged it tightly. But as he pulled Donnie in closer, something felt off. Raph flinched, beginning to panic. What was that? Raph didn't know, which made him start to bite his nails - a bad habit he's always had. Raph quickly, through his tears and panic, noticed something.
Donnie's chest, it was still rising and falling. He was breathing.
It was small, but it was happening! Raph quickly stood up, his eyes filled with worry and panic. What could he do?! The lair was too far from here!
Raph wiped away his tears, sniffling loudly. The old lair! The old lair! It wasn't too far from here! He could save his brother. Raph took a breath in and picked up Mikey and Leo. Raph tried to hold back tears, letting them get through as he hid the two corpses under rubble to find later. The snapping turtle exhaled, and with a strong heart, turned away, lifting Donnie into his arms. He had to get to the old lair quickly. So he wasted no time at all, sprinting off as fast as he could. Raph's eyes were still full of tears, and his ears were ringing loudly, but he didn't care.
He had a chance to save his brother.
Raph ran through the destroyed streets, only occasionally glancing up to see where he was going. When he did look up, however, he had to hold in a scream. Th entire city was practically destroyed. Skyscrapers had fell and some streets were cracked and parts of them were raised off the ground. Raph didn't dare look close at the horror scene in front of himself. He knew if he did, he'd only be more horrified by the bloodied bodies in front of him.
How did this happen? I can't even remember..
Raph leaped down a raised street and landed on the destroyed concrete ground, running around the corner into an alleyway. It was hard to see, and he couldn't go far, but he saw the old sewer manhole and lifted it. He began to climb down, and he found that he could JUST fit through.
Raph hit the ground of the sewer and quickly began running down the sewer. The floor was very destroyed. Raph jumped over several chunks of concrete, landing on the other side. The snapping turtle bolted quickly as soon as he started recognizing the area.
The large mutant ran through the sewers and violently threw himself around the corners as he turned.
Eventually, Raph suddenly came to a fast stop as he felt a sudden stabbing pain in his foot. Raph held his breath as he bent down to look at his foot. Glass shards. Raph didn't know what to do!
Donnie and Leo were the medics! The tears in his eyes worsened and fell down his face. It was painful. "Calm down.. Raph.. breathe.." Raph coughed out, beginning to sob. Raph almost fell to the ground but couldn't. Raph couldn't drop Donnie.
The big turtle took a deep breath in, then out. He sat down on the floor and put Donnie down next to him. Raph inhaled as he grasped some of the glass shards in his foot, and exhaled as he carefully pulled them out. Blood oozed out of the wound and he winced. It was painful, but he had to stay strong. Raph carefully pulled out all of the glass as quickly but carefully as he could, and then took off his red scarf. He smiled as he held it. Mikey had made it. His younger brother had made all of the brothers scarves. Raph smiled, applying pressure for a good few minutes before wrapping the scarf tightly around his foot. His foot stung but he stood up and ignored the pain.
Raph slowly and carefully lifted his brother's body up from the ground and cradled him. The turtle smiled at his brother and pulled Donnie's scarf up to his face.
Raph quickly turned around and began running off again, leaping over all the fallen concrete. Raph almost slipped several times as he skidded around the corner, running through the arch into the old lair.
The turtle stared at his old home. It was still destroyed, and there was junk EVERYWHERE.. but he still loved his old home. As the turtle looked around, he realized he could still see the faint purple glow from Donnie's lab.. smell the faint, delicious scent of Mikey's freshly made.. AGH! All the memories of his home here came flooding back and had frozen Raph in the past!
With a sniffle, he tried holding back the tears from his eyes, but he just couldn't.
He had missed this place.