Raphael blinked his eyes open weakly, then became fully aware of what was going on around him, once he remembered what he, April, and Master Splinter were doing. Super shredder. They were fighting that monster, and Raph had gotten knocked out for a few minutes, but the turtle knew he was severely injured. He saw April was lying next to him, and Raph was relieved to see she was breathing. Raph looked over at the pile of rubble Slash was unconscious under, he was worried, but he knew his friend was strong, he'd be okay. Raph also knew that Casey was alright, he'd heard him use his grappling hook after he fell off the roof. The red masked turtle lifted his head up from the asphalt rooftop, grimacing. He saw Splinter battling Super Shredder desperately, even though it was becoming almost impossible to wound the monstrous mutant. Raph glared at the Shredder as he almost slashed Splinter across the chest, thankfully Splinter dodged out of the way just in time, and began to attack Shredder with his small katana. Raph clenched his teeth, he had to do something, he had to help his father, but how? He was injured, he didn't even know if he could stand. Then, movement next to him caught Raph's eye.
"R-Raph…" April was conscious now, holding her arm tightly. Raph could tell it was probably broken. "We need to help." Raph nodded, frowning. They probably wouldn't be able to do much, but as long as they were able to do something to help, that's all that mattered. April shakily started to get to her feet, and wrapped an arm around Raph, helping him up from the asphalt.
"Thanks…" he breathed out, grimacing at the pounding in his head, and the aches in his limbs. Raph redirected his attention back to Splinter, and was surprised to see that Super Shredder was on his knees, his blades detached from his skin, and Splinter standing in front of him. Did Splinter win? Raph found a relieved smile spreading across his face. But, that only lasted for a split second. Suddenly, Super Shredder grew more blades from his skin and slashed upwards, punching Splinter into the air.
"Splinter!" April screamed, and Raph's eyes widened. Super shredder punched Splinter back down to the rooftop, then sent him flying into a wall. Shredder then charged towards the rat and slammed him farther into the wall. Raph's eyes were wide in horror, and he felt his breathing becoming erratic. They had to do something, they had to save Splinter! But, neither Raph nor April could get themselves to move. Super shredder pulled Splinter away from the wall and continued to punch him before throwing the rat into the stands of the water tower. Splinter groaned and fell to the ground.
"Is this how you choose to die, brother?" Super Shredder rumbled, stepping towards Splinter's form. "Lying on your belly like an animal?" Raph grit his teeth. He hated this guy, he couldn't wait for the monster to be destroyed. Splinter shakily got to his feet, and turned to face the super shredder.
"Come, Saki, end this madness." he said firmly. Shredder charged forward again, growling in fury, but Splinter just stood there. Raph stared at his father. Why wasn't he moving? Just as Shredder was about to slice splinter in two, the rat ducked under his arm, wrapping a wire from his cane around the monster's ankle. Super shredder fell to the ground, and slid across the rooftop. Raph grimaced at the sound of the metal scraping against the asphalt. Super shredder continued to slide, then flew over the edge of the roof, Raph's eyes widened. That was it? It was over now? They won? Splinter let out a long breath, then turned to Raph and April. Raphael smiled widely.
"You did it, Sensei!" he said happily, leaning on April rather heavily, but the human girl didn't seem to mind. Splinter smiled warmly, stepping closer to the two.
"My family…" he breathed out, clearly relieved they were okay. Raph couldn't believe it, they won! They finally defeated the Shredder!
"I can't wait to go home. Let's go, master splinter." he said softly. April and Splinter nodded in agreement.
"Yes, let us-" But, Splinter was cut off as a horrified scream came from below. Raph's eyes widened. Leo… April stiffened beside Raph.
"Oh no… Splinter!" she gasped, looking at the rat in terror. Splinter furrowed his brows, and turned to see that Super Shredder had appeared behind him again, and had his blades pulled back, ready to run Splinter through. Raph's eyes widened in horror, and time seemed to slow down in the next moment. One second, Raphael was beside April, then he was rushing towards his father at a speed he was sure wouldn't have been possible in his physical state, then Raphael was standing in front of his father and pushed him back, just as Super Shredder ran his blades forward. The sound of cracking entered Raph's ears, and pain spread throughout his body. The emerald eyed turtle froze and glanced down. Shredder's blades were pierced through his lower plastron, and blood was covering them.
"RAPHAEL!" Splinter screamed, but Raph hardly heard it. He didn't feel so good… Shredder growled in anger behind him.
"You pathetic little pest!" he shouted. "You think sacrificing yourself will save your allies?" Super Shredder moved his blades that were still lodged into Raph's body, and Raph screamed in pain. "Well, you are wrong! And for your stupidity…" Shredder turned towards the edge of the rooftop. Splinter and April were screaming behind him, but Raph couldn't hear their words, he could only focus on the ground far below him, where he saw his three brothers staring up at him in horror. Leo was the only one screaming, Donnie and Mikey were frozen in shock. "YOU DIE!" Super shredder finished, then thrust Raph out of his hold. Raphael felt himself falling to the ground, and clamped his eyes shut. He didn't want to see the ground, he didn't want to see his family's terrified faces. He wanted to see them happy. He saw a very young Leonardo smirking at him as he won the video game. He saw his preteen, genius brother looking at him in confusion as he tried to teach Donatello a few katas that would improve his skills in training. He saw a fourteen year old Michelangelo standing in his doorway, clearly terrified after having a nightmare, and then smile brightly as he held his little brother while they slept. Raph felt himself smiling lightly, then he felt someone grab him, and Raph's eyes snapped open. Casey had a hold of his wrist, easing them both onto the ground with his grappling hook.
"I got 'im, Leo!" Casey announced, and then Raphael was in his older brother's arms.
"Raph! Raphael, it's going to be okay, alright!" Leo said frantically, untying his mask, and trying to somehow wrap it around Raph's wound. "Donnie! Get over here! I-I don't…. I-I don't know what to do!" Donnie was at Raph's other side a moment later, his eyes wide in shock. He had bandages in his hands, and began trying to use those to stop the bleeding. Raph blinked slowly, everything looked so fuzzy. All he could really see clearly was his brothers eyes. They were too wide to ignore.
"R-Raphie…" Mikey whimpered, and Raph felt his little brother clutching his hand. Raph glanced over at him, offering a very small, weak smile. Mikey's eyes widened even more. "L-Leo! H-his eyes are closing!"
"No, Raph, stay awake!" Leo ordered, and Raph thought about trying to roll his eyes, but decided against it. "Raphael, don't you dare close your eyes!" Raph blinked them open again, he didn't even remember closing them.
"We have to get him back to the lair." Donnie said shakily.
"Where's Papa?! We can't leave without him!" Mikey whimpered.
"He's still up there with-" Casey was cut off when there was a sudden, furious scream, and the ground beneath them shook. Super shredder was suddenly thrown off the roof by what was probably April's powers and fell to the ground with a thud. He tried to get up, but stopped, unable to move again when Splinter jumped off the roof and ran his katana through the monster's 'heart'. Shredder didn't move again. He was obviously dead, for good now.
"Raphael!" Splinter was by Raph's side immediately. "Raphael, my son, keep your eyes open. Do not fall asleep." Raph looked up at him, frowning.
"B-but…" he whispered hoarsely. "I-I'm… t-tired…" he sounded like a kid again, but whatever. All he wanted to do was sleep, he was so tired. He wanted to just go home and sleep for a week at least. Splinter shook his head firmly.
"No, Raphael, you cannot sleep right now. Leonardo, can you carry your brother to the shellraiser?" Leo nodded, and then Raph felt himself being lifted from the ground. He rested his head against Leo's plastron, grimacing as his body ached painfully.
"I d-don't… need… c-carried…" Raph muttered, but Leo ignored him. Raph groaned in both annoyance and pain, and tried his best to relax. He felt his eyes closing slowly again, and couldn't get himself to keep them open.
Raph heard whispers the whole time he was sleeping, and was confused. Why was everyone in his room? What was this, a convention?
"When do you think he'll wake up?" that was Mikey. He sounded so sad, and Raph wondered why.
"We're not sure, Mikey. He's been out for almost a week…" Donnie replied. Well, yeah, Raph made plans to sleep the week away, he was exhausted, sheesh. There was a moment of silence.
"...You guys should go get some sleep, I'll watch over him tonight." that was Leo's voice. Raph felt like rolling his eyes. He wasn't in a coma, he was sleeping. Why was his older brother so paranoid?
"Leo, you need sleep too. You haven't left the lab since we got back home…" Donnie pointed out.
"I'm fine, I'll rest later."
"You said that three laters ago." Mikey added.
"Guys, just go to bed, I'm telling you, I'm fine." Leo said, slight annoyance in his voice. There was another moment of silence, then Donnie sighed.
"Alright, come on, Mikey."
"But, I wanna stay with Raphie too." Mikey whined.
"Mikey…"
"Fine…" Mikey sighed. Raph heard his younger brothers leaved the room. Well, that was an odd conversation. He had a lot of questions. The main one; why the shell were they in his room? Could they not read the 'stop' sign hanging outside his door? Raph nearly jumped out of his shell when he felt a hand grasp his. Oh, right, Leo was still there. Honestly, why in the world was Leo being so paranoid right now? Raph was fine, he was just taking a nap for shelling sake!
"I'm so sorry, Raph…" Leo muttered sadly. What? Sorry for what? Being in Raph's room without permission? Shell yeah, he should be! "This is all my fault, I should have known that Mikey, Don, and I were walking into a trap at the amusement park… I should have been there sooner…" What. The heck. Was he talking about? What was Leo's fault? Been where sooner? Then, everything came flooding back to Raphael. The battle with super shredder. Splinter almost being killed. Raph pushing their father out of the way and taking the hit instead. Shell, Raph almost died! He wasn't just sleeping he was in a freaking coma! Wait, then how was he able to hear everything going on around him? Wasn't it, like, super rare to be able to hear or do anything when you were in a coma? Was he awake? He hadn't tried to move yet, maybe he should. Raph tried to sit up or something, but that was obviously not gonna happen. Okay, he'd try something small at first. Raph concentrated on the hand that Leo was holding and tried to move it, all he could manage was a small squeeze, but that seemed to be enough to get Leo's attention. The older turtle gasped.
"R-Raph? Are you…?" Raph squeezed his brother's hand again, "no way… Mikey, Donnie! He's awake!" Leo shouted, and Raph heard footsteps pounding down the hallway and the lab doors open.
"He is?! Raphie's awake?!" Mikey exclaimed.
"Yeah, he-he squeezed my hand!" Leo replied.
"Leo, are you sure?" Donnie asked, right next to Raph's head.
"I know what I felt Don! He squeezed my hand twice!" Leo said. Raph felt someone grasp his other hand.
"Raphie, squeeze my hand next!" Raph could tell Mikey was beaming in excitement. He squeezed his little brother's hand the best he could and Mikey gasped. "I felt it! He's awake! He's awake!" he squealed happily. "Raphie, can you open your eyes now?" Raph focused his energy to his eyes, he really did want to open them now. It took a few seconds, but Raphael finally manage to blink his eyes open blearily. Everything was blurry for a second or two, then cleared up. His brothers were looking down at him, and smiled wide when they saw his eyes. "Raphie!"
"You're finally awake!" Donnie said happily.
"Are you okay?" Leo asked. Raph blinked a few times.
"F-fine… J-just…. Sore…" he answered dryly. His brothers nodded.
"I'll go get you some water, and get Papa!" Mikey declared, taking off towards the kitchen. Raph chuckled a bit, wincing slightly. Donnie looked at him.
"You have a small concussion, is your head hurting?" he asked. Raph frowned.
"Tiny bit… I'll live…"
"You were really lucky Raph." Leo said, smiling lightly. "We almost… lost you. It took Don's medical skills, Sensei's healing mantra, and April telling you to stay awake telepathically to keep you alive…" Raph frowned, slowly getting into a sitting position.
"Sorry… didn't mean to worry you guys…."
"Raph, don't apologize." Leo said. "You don't need to be sorry for anything. You saved Master Splinter's life." Raph smiled softly.
"Raphael," the doors to the lab opened and Splinter and Mikey came in. splinter was immediately at Raph's side, inspecting him to make sure he was alright. Rah chuckled lightly.
"I'm fine, Sensei… I'm okay…" he reassured. Splinter nodded, sighing with relief, and wrapping Raph in a hug.
"I am glad you are alright, my son." he said softly. Raph rested his head against his father's chest, not caring how childish it looked. "And thank you for saving my life."
"You're welcome, father." Raph said softly before pulling out of the hug gently, and turning to Mikey, who gladly handed him a glass of water. Raph drank it slowly, it felt good going down his throat. "Ah, that's better… so, um… where are the other guys?"
"April and Casey have been staying for the week." Donnie answered. "The mutanimals stayed here for a few days to recover, then headed back to their place to fix it up. Karai and Shinigami are in the hospital. They'll be fine." Raph nodded, smiling. He was glad to hear his friends were okay. Splinter looked around at them.
"Why don't you three go wake up April and Casey, and get Raphael some food?" he suggested.
"I'm on it!" Mikey said, heading for the kitchen. Leo and Donnie nodded and headed out to the living room, Leo closing the lab doors behind them. Splinter looked down at Raph, who took another sip of his water before setting it down.
"My son, I am very proud of you, you proved to be a very honourable and selfless warrior the other night." the rat said. Raph flushed a bit, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "You were willing to sacrifice yourself for the sake of your loved ones, and that, my son, is a characteristic of a true warrior." Raph smiled somewhat shyly.
"Well, I did learn from the best." he said, Splinter smiled warmly.
"HE'S AWAKE?!" Casey's voice exclaimed from the living room. Raph laughed a bit, and smiled as his friends and brothers came into the room, asking him how he was doing, telling him how brave he'd been, all that jazz. Raph smiled to himself after a thought entered his mind. The shredder was really dead, gone for good. His family, his home, everyone was safe now. And sure, he'd almost died to make it that way, but if no one was going to get hurt by that monster again, it was worth it.
The End