Brotherly Blunders

Don't Go

Leonardo suddenly found himself in dark and eerily still surroundings. Belatedly, he discovered the figures of his two youngest brothers on the ground. They were still, too still. He bent down and felt Donatello's neck for a pulse and let out a sigh of relief as he felt the steady beat beneath his fingers. Michelangelo was much the same.

Suddenly, he heard a soft choking noise from behind him to the right. When he turned around, he found Shredder and Raph. Saki was holding Raphael by the throat, choking him. Before Leonardo could so much as take a step, Shredder released a blade and stabbed the red-masked turtle right in the center of his upper plastron. Raphael's eyes were wide and he made another choking sound, followed by a loud, shaky inhale. He let out a pained sigh as Shredder removed the blade with one strong stroke. Leo's eyes were wide with horror as he watched his immediate younger brother fall to the ground with a thud. Raph's skin was pale, his eyes dull and half-lidded. Leonardo rushed to his immediate younger brother's side.

Shredder vanished into the darkness and it was just Leo and his younger brother. Leonardo could feel torrents of tears running down his cheeks unhindered. He sobbed uncontrollably as he held Raph's face in his hands.

Raphael looked up at him and smiled. "Leo...Leo..." He called as he stared into his older brother's desperate eyes.

"Shh." Leo said. "Don't talk, hang in there, you're gonna be okay."

Raphael smiled again. Leonardo wished he could wipe that smile of his brother's face. It was a melancholy, knowing smile that pitied Leo for not being able to accept the truth.

Leo looked around frantically for something to help stop the bleeding and was going to make do as best he could when Raph reached up and stilled his hands. "Don't Leo, it's not worth it."

A fresh wave of tears began to cascade down the eldest turtle's beak. "No, no please no." Leonardo pulled his immediate younger brother close and pressed his forehead to Raph's, his heart dreading that these might be their final moments together. The tears that were running down his face rained down onto his brother's.

Raph smiled once more, only this time his eyes were also filled with tears. "Don't worry, big brother. I'll be waiting for ya in that big fishpond in the sky. I promise."

Leo's face filled with despair and he sobbed even harder.

Raphael frowned a little, "Hey, don't look so sad. Everything's gonna be okay, Leo. Everything's gonna be okay."

When he spoke, the eldest turtle's voice was rough and broken. "How am I supposed to believe that?" He asked disbelievingly, his voice cracking halfway through the sentence. "You're dying..."

"Shh." Raph murmured, his voice so weak and quiet that only Leonardo was able to hear him. "We all have to go sometime, Leo."

"But not you! Not before me! You weren't supposed to..."

"There is no way of knowing what is supposed to be. You just have to take it as it comes." There was a short moment of silence. "...You know I love you guys." Raph stated, seeking confirmation.

The tears that had been slowly building up in Leo's eyes spilled over. "Of course I do. So do they." That seemed to calm Raph and he relaxed a little.

Raph motioned Leo to come closer and he put his head right next to Raph's, so that the red-masked turtle could speak directly into his ear. "You take good care of them for me."

Leonardo nodded, more tears beginning to form in his eyes. "You know I will."

The second-eldest nodded with a soft smile on his face. His breaths became steadily more shallow. His eyelids began to droop. But he reached up, weakly, with one hand, as though seeking his older brother's had.