Slash's Revenge

Chapter 6 - Tough Call

A half-growl, half-whine deflated out of the hotheaded turtle. He was presently sitting on the edge of his bed, staring down at the display of his T-phone, at a complete loss for what to do. If he were to call his genius brother up at this point, it would be a definite sign of weakness on his part. Even if the turtle in red didn't verbally admit to being wrong, calling Donnie's T-phone would be the nonverbal equivalent of doing so. As far as Raphael was concerned, phoning his missing brother would be like openly telling everyone he was a wimp.

Pfffttt!

Hamato Raphael was a lot of things, but a wimp was certainly not one of them!

The temperamental turtle wasn't about to let his little brother make him out to be some kind of wuss. After all, Donnie and his huge, pathetic, puppy dog eyes had already managed to make Raph look like a 'big jerk', as Mikey had so eloquently put it back in the lab.

Donnie was definitely playing this whole turtle in distress role to a T. The later he came home, the guiltier the hotheaded ninja felt. There was no doubt in Raphael's mind that his smartest brother was just dragging all of this out in order to make him to look bad and force him to cave under the pressure...

Nice try, Brainiac, but I'm not giving in.

Raph stayed immobile on the edge of his bed, glued down by his own stubbornness.

Another minute crept by, followed by several more.

Still, nothing.

Waiting had never been one of Raphael's strong suits and this particular time was no exception. The suspense was starting to tear him apart at the seams. Even worse was the remorse.

If anything had happened to Donnie because of him...

All of a sudden, Raph was struck by a memory of something he had said to Slash the night that monster had attacked all of them...

"Sorry, Slash... My brothers come first. No matter what."

Raphael wondered where that memory had been when he was placing all the blame on Donnie for what had happened to Spike.

How had that been putting Donnie first?

And how could Raph solely blame his brainiac brother for everything when he himself had been the one who had carelessly left Spike alone in his room with a container of mutagen?

If the temperamental turtle wouldn't have hastily taken that canister away from Donnie, Spike would still be Spike.

The more Raphael thought about the day of Spike's transformation, the more disgusted he became with himself. Even after he had been so cruel to Donnie that day, his little brother had still tried to protect him. Both of his little brothers had . . .

"Slash! You see? That's what real friends do! They stand up for each other! I'd rather be like my brothers than you any day."

Despite being badly injured by Slash's attack, Donnie and Mikey had had no qualms with risking their own lives to save Raph from Slash's onslaught. Yet, just three weeks after the incident, Raphael had repaid his second youngest brother by chewing him out and telling him that he was nothing but a screw-up and a walking disaster.

All without a shred of remorse...

And still, the last thing Donnie had said to Raph just before he had left the lair was that he was sorry.

Clutching his head in his hands, Raphael let out a growl.

What is wrong with me?

The hotheaded turtle couldn't take it anymore. The guilt was killing him.