Author's Note: Because, as a recent discussion prompted it, there is never enough fluff between Raph and Leo. Warning: more than a little crazy.

I did try to make it a oneshot, but it had this ridiculous notion that it should be three chapters long. I hope you all enjoy!

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Part One: Follow the Leader

Raph probed the edges of the hole, his eyes narrowed because of the blinding light of the two suns. It was a good thing that the Fugitoid had provided them with the best equipment at his disposal, or they would have burned. The planet's atmosphere had enough oxygen so they could breathe it, but the air was so hot that they preferred to keep their space helmets.

Raph stood up from his kneeling position and turned towards Leo, who was watching him with his arms crossed. They had found the hole by exploring their surroundings. As far as Raph could tell from the outside, it led to a small cave.

"It seems solid enough. I say we go down and see what's inside."

Leo made a face. "I don't know, Raph. I'm not sure it would be cautious."

Raph threw his arms up. "Come on, Leo! This whole planet is a rocky desert. No vegetation in sight. Barely any shade. Don't you want to explore this cave? It's bound to be cooler."

"I don't want to wander too far away from the ship." Leo waved at the spaceship in the distance. It was in need of repairs, and both the Fugitoid and Donnie had set about doing just that. Casey was lending them a hand - he had a gift for mechanics - while Mikey was busy helping April with her telepathic abilities. Raph and Leo, however, had decided to go for a walk.

"What if they finish the repairs while we're gone?"

Raph shrugged. "Then they'll wait for us. Besides, you've heard the Fugitoid just like me. It's going to take some time. And we have our transmitters to call them if needed. Seriously, Leo, what's the worst that could happen?"

Leo winced. "Can you not tempt the universe like that? I can picture all kind of things going wrong just by looking at that hole."

"You're worrying too much. I'll go first, if you're so afraid," Raph teased. He checked the hole's edges one last time before jumping inside it. The ground wasn't even seven feet below - in other words, almost nothing for him. He immediately felt the colder atmosphere, and smirked. "It's perfect in here. I think I'll just explore for a while. See you later, Leo!"

He wasn't surprised at all when Leo jumped down after him, muttering words their father certainly wouldn't have approved of. For a brief moment, Raph felt sad that Splinter wasn't there with them - but they were going to save him. They had to. Shrugging off the feeling, he turned to Leo. "You see? It wasn't so hard." He pointed at the shadows in front of them. "And it's going deeper. What do you say we have a look at it?"

"I say that I'm not sure my advice matters at all to you," Leo grumbled.

Raph could tell that he was intrigued, though. He smiled discreetly. His brother loved exploring unknown places.

Indeed, Leo didn't hesitate for long. He probed the walls and ceiling to make sure it wasn't going to collapse, then turned on his flashlight. "Alright. Let's have a quick look at it." Taking the lead, he went forward.

Raph grinned. "As you wish." Switching on his own flashlight, he followed his brother.

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The cave went way deeper than they had expected. At the beginning, it had been rather large - but it was becoming narrower and narrower, and the turtles had to almost double over to keep going. They had long lost sight of the hole and the light going through it, and were relying on their flashlights to see.

Neither the Fugitoid's equipment nor April's sharp senses had detected any living being on this planet, so they weren't worried to make a bad encounter. They were, however, very intrigued by the sound they were hearing - an unexpected sound on such an arid planet.

Water.

"I wonder if we could drink it," Leo mused.

"I wouldn't try it if I were you." Raph smirked. "Remember last time Casey and Mikey did that?"

Leo sighed. "They were sick for six days."

"Yep. It wasn't a pretty sight."

As Casey's best friend, Raph had volunteered to take care of him. In all honesty, April had volunteered too, and Raph had been tempted to let her - but one look at Donnie's miserable face had prompted him to decline. Leo had kept watch on Mikey, patiently bearing his nonsense talks whenever his fever went too high and trying to convince him that no pizza was attacking him.

It had been six very long days.

"I didn't mean we should try it. Besides, we have these pills the Fugitoid gave us to make water drinkable, if need be."

The tunnel was becoming larger, and they were soon able to straighten up.

"Listen," Leo whispered. "I think we're entering an even larger cave than the first one."

Raph directed his flashlight towards the ceiling, which was quickly disappearing. The air was even cooler there, and the sound of water flowing was overwhelming. In front of him, Leo was kneeling down, a frown on his face.

"Leo, what's the matter?"

"Look at the ground. It's too levelled to be natural. I think people carved it."

"You mean that this planet was once inhabited?" Raph shook his head. "Who would want to live in there?"

"Maybe it wasn't always so arid." Leo stood up and began exploring, careful to stay within sight of the tunnel they had arrived by. The cave was huge.

Raph made a point to go further than Leo - making sure, it went without saying, to keep him within sight.

"Raph, wait!" Leo called, frustrated. "We should leave marks so we can find our way back."

"Sure, Leo, do that." Raph smirked as he wandered further and further from his brother. "It sounds like a great idea and… what the shell?"

Leo was at his side in two seconds. "What is it, what did you… Wow."

There were at the edge of a small cliff. A large underground river was flowing below. They couldn't see its other bank, but they could discern a small island in the distance. A carved statue of some kind had been erected on it.

"So there has been people on this planet," Leo whispered.

"Which is a little creepy, considering we know for sure there aren't anymore. I say we've seen enough for today. Loved the beautiful sight, time to go back to the ship!" Raph turned around, ready to depart.

Leo put his hands on his hips. "And in which direction is the entrance, hmm?"

Raph coughed, his expression sheepish. "I don't know, but I'm sure you do! Go ahead!"

Leo rolled his eyes. "As a matter of fact, I do. You see, I have taken the time to leave marks on the floor to make sure that…"

"Which is why I didn't need to do it." Raph rolled his own eyes.

"You're insufferable."

"And I'm proud of it. So, which way?"

"This way."

Raph nodded and began walking in the direction his brother had indicated.

He hadn't even walked ten feet when he heard rocks crumbling behind him. He turned around, his heart sinking, and was just quick enough to see Leo disappear in the river below.

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The water was ice cold, and his equipment was heavy. Leo could hold his breath longer than humans, though, and he managed to adjust the settings of his spacesuit so it would believe that the gravity was more important on the planet than it was - its overcompensation had the nice side effect to make Leo float. Unfortunately, he had lost his flashlight in the fall, and he had to rely on what was lighted by Raph's flashlight, who happened to be at a quickly growing distance from himself.

"Leo!" Raph shouted.

"I'm okay!" Leo replied. He tried to swim against the flow for a while, but it was really strong and he quickly decided that it wasn't worth it. It was leading him towards the island, where he could set foot and think about a solution. Both he and Raph had ropes, and if they managed to tie them together, they would certainly be long enough…

He landed brutally on the island and let out a cry of pain.

"Leo!" Raph sounded frantic.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Leo waved at his brother. Although he couldn't hear it from the distance, he could have sworn that Raph was sighing in deep relief.

He was at the limit of the range of Raph's flashlight, and he could only vaguely discern the edges of the statue they had seen earlier. He was unable to recognize the shape - something like a giant ant with wings. He probed it with curiosity. He was certain that Donnie would have given everything to be in his place right now.

To his utter dismay, the statue began glowing.

"Uh-oh."

"Leo, what's that?"

Leo considered for the briefest of seconds shouting back something like And how am I supposed to know! but he thought better of it. Instead, he decided that going back into the water and fighting the current was a good option after all.

Unfortunately, he couldn't go back into the water. He was dragged towards the light. It was warm and welcoming, and he didn't mind anymore…

"Leonardo!"

Leo snapped out of his trance. "Your rope!" he shouted, and Raph immediately understood. He took his own rope and tied it around his waist, before throwing it in Raph's direction with his grappling hook at its extremity - hoping that his brother would do the same, and that the hooks would meet, and -

The light behind him became so bright that he had to close his eyes. He felt the rope pull at him, proving that they had been successful and Raph got him, and -

And then he felt nothing.

Raph's shout resonated through the entire cave.

"No!"

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Raph had seen his brother disappear in the light right before he had to close his eyes too. He was sure that he had managed to catch Leo's grappling hook with his own, and he didn't lose time in jumping backwards so the ropes would stay taut - or the grappling hooks wouldn't hold. He cursed their luck - why had he wanted to explore this cave already? and the extinct aliens - who trapped their caves like that, uh? as much as the Fugitoid's ship that had landed here, all at once. He began to pull the rope to him as fast as he could. The bright light had disappeared.

"Leo!" he kept shouting, but his brother wasn't answering. Raph began to panic. He must have dragged him into the water, what if he was unconscious and couldn't hold his breath? What had he been thinking? Oh right, he had been thinking that he wanted his brother safe and sound at his side. But what if he drowned him instead?

Cursing again, he kept pulling. How long was it? 300 feet at least, considering the lengths of their ropes… And he had put his flashlight on the ground to use both his hands, and it was happily lighting into the void, and he couldn't see where Leo was…

It felt like hours to him, but he finally saw the grappling hooks in front of him, which meant that he had done half the job. He quickly let go of his rope to grab Leo's, and pulled again.

And still, Leo wasn't answering.

Raph was trying hard not to imagine the worst, and he felt like bursting into relieved sobs when he finally distinguished a shape in the river below. Leo's equipment was floating for some reason, so there was a very fair chance that his brother hadn't drowned…

He kept it together through sheer stubbornness and hurried to pull the rope on the last feet, lifting Leo from the river's surface. He didn't dare to come too close in case the ground would collapse some more…

Leo was lighter than he remembered. He didn't dwell on this thought, eager to finally bring back his brother to safety… Please, let him be alright… Please…

Leo groaned as Raph pulled him on the shore, and Raph fell on his knees. He was alive. He was alive… With clumsy gestures, he grabbed his torchlight to light his brother more efficiently and make sure he was safe…

And he recoiled in utter surprise. His brother was breathing regularly, and he didn't seem injured - apart from the inevitable bruises and cuts, that was - but there was still a problem.

A tiny, tiny problem.

"What the shell?"

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Leo felt dizzy. He remembered the cave, the river, the island and the light… And then… He moaned and tried to open his eyes.

Raph's face was in his field of vision, only inches from his own face.

"Ha!" he exclaimed, closing his eyes again. His voice sounded too high-pitched to his own ears. He hoped that he hadn't caught a cold.

He certainly didn't feel warm, and he was soaked, no thanks to his little trip in the river. At least his brother was here. It meant that their ropes' trick had worked, right?

He flexed his fingers and feet, as much as his arms and legs - nothing broken, that was good - before carefully opening his eyes again. Raph's face had retreated to a safer distance, and his brother was looking at him with sheepish eyes.

As soon as he realized that Leo was looking at him, Raph straightened up and took a relaxed expression.

"Don't be afraid," he said very slowly, very soothingly, a trembling smile on his lips. "Everything is alright, Leo, I'm with you."

Leo gaped. Why was his brother talking to him like that?

"What's the matter, Raph? What was that light?" He took in his immediate surroundings, and realized that his equipment was lying on the ground. Why hadn't Raph let him keep it? "You sound like you're talking to a child."

Raph's expression immediately shifted to one of utter relief.

"Oh, you're still you! That's wonderful!" He noticed Leo's puzzled expression and coughed. "And, uh. Sorry to bring that up, but you're a child."

Leo immediately looked at his own body, and realized with horror that his brother was right. Small arms, small legs, small shell. He was, indeed, a child. Probably around 8 years old.

"No way," he whispered.

"My thoughts exactly." Raph sighed deeply before looking at his brother in expectation. "What do we do now, Leo?"

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Author's Note: Yep. I did that. Oooh, this is going to be so fun! At least to me. Maybe a little less to Raph and Leo… *cough*