A Brother's Intuition

The Golden Apple

"Raphael..."

The image of his brother faded and his eye-ridges furrowed. "No, Raph...don't leave! Don't leave me!" A sharp, ringing made him cringe with pain until, abruptly, all sensation ceased.

And then he was floating. It was like he was being carried away on a stream, lazily drifting down, down, down, down, down, down...

When his eyes opened again he was lying on his carapace. The muscles in his neck strained as he slowly tried to sit up. Strange bluish light flashed, making him blink and fall back to the ground. It was solid, and earthy. Smooth grayish-blue grasses surrounded him on all sides, filling his field of vision. Leonardo cautiously pulled himself up to a seating position, his eyes slowly adjusting to the odd radiance of his surroundings.

As the turtle pushed himself to his feet, he discovered that he was standing in the center of a meadow. Its borders were undefined, blurred like the contours in a painting.

There was no warmth in this place. The light was closely akin to that of a cloudy day, harsh, cloying frequencies that it hurt if one stared at them for too long. As eerily bright blue eyes dragged across the field of rippling grasses, Leonardo's posture straightened, his lips curling down into a frown. The chromaticity here was the main source of his discomfort. There truly was no warmth. No red, no yellow, no orange. There was only gray, with the occasional hint of blue.

Slowly, he glanced down at his hands and gasped. His skin was paler, drained to an opaque echo of his once forest-green complexion. But that wasn't what had shocked him. Leonardo had discovered that he was...undefined. He could no longer tell where his hand ended and his surroundings began. He was blurred, out-of-focus.

The sharp ringing returned, accompanied by a harsh flash of light. Leo held his arms up in front of his face, screwing his eyes shut and gritting his teeth. Then, as abruptly as it had arrived, it was gone. Leo slowly lowered his arms. He was still in the same empty field.

But it was no longer as empty as he thought.

"You aren't supposed to be here." A loud, rough voice said loudly, making Leo jump and whirl around.

He knew that voice. His eyes went wide as they beheld the thick, muscular form of his brother. "Raphael!" Leo exclaimed joyously as he rushed over to smother his sibling in a hug, but his joy was soon lost as Raphael staggered back and away from him. "Raph...?"

"You aren't supposed to be here." Raphael repeated, this time sounding pained and weary. He turned, taking a few brief paces away from Leo, before doubling back on his older sibling with anger in his eyes. "You're supposed to be protecting them! You're supposed to be keeping them safe!"

Leonardo bristled. "Don't you dare push all of that responsibility on me, Raph! I'm not the only one who's responsible for protecting this family and holding it together!" He retorted, wondering absently, not for the first time, how Raphael always managed to get him riled up at the worst times. All he had wanted was to pull his little brother into his arms and hold him close, and what does Raph do? He starts a fight! Of course he does!

Raphael growled. "Maybe not, but you're the damn leader! You should have known better!"

Leo's anger briefly lessened as it was outweighed by confusion. His eye-ridges furrowed. "What the shell are you talking about?"

"You, you goddamn motherfucker! I'm the one who fucked up, Leo! I was the one who should have paid the price! But you made a stupid decision and now you're all in danger!" He yelled, poking Leo's chest.

Leo's anger and confusion completely vanished. For the first time in his life, he could see straight through his brother's wall of anger to something deeper. He could scarcely believe what his senses were telling him. While Raphael's words conveyed one meaning, his face, tone, and inflection said something very different. Leo stared at his brother in shock. When he spoke his voice sounded hollow and absent. "Raphael, what are you saying?"