Here's part two in the series! Raphie's turn! Enjoy x

Family Roles

Part 2

Raphael: Protector

Raphael was in a foul mood today. The brothers could tell by the way he scowled at everything in sight, he punched his cereal bowl off the table this morning in frustration after chasing the last frosted flake around the milk pool for a solid minute. He had then screamed at Mikey for laughing at him.

Leonardo had watched the behaviour throughout the day feeling guilty and worried. It had been a week since he lost his eye. A week since the Shredder had managed to capture him and attempted to mutate him. The mutagen had enhanced the healing and even worked as a painkiller for a little while but once it wore off, he had been floored! His body had ached all week and behind his sewn mask the empty eye socket felt as if it were on fire.

The family had panicked but Donatello assured him the pain would gradually fade, the mutagen mixed with the trauma he had experienced were to blame.

It was this that was driving Raphael up the wall.

He hated to see a brother weakened or in pain, it sent him on a mad rush for revenge. Leo's pinched expression and stiff movements pushed Raph's buttons but what hurt him most was the sewn-up eye hole in his ocean blue mask.

He could have prevented that.

He could have prevented all of this had he just been better.

Every time he looked into Leo's face his eyes would first go to the crystal blue eye, changed to match Mikey's by that damn mutagen, and inevitably would go to rest on the plain fabric.

He couldn't stand it.

He certainly couldn't stand Mikey's pirate jokes; he had even made his brother a stuffed parrot and a navy eye-patch. He was only trying to make Leo laugh but it angered Raph that his baby brother wasn't taking this seriously.

And that's what lead to this;

"I'M SORRY!" Mikey cried as he hid behind Donnie. The four brothers were about to go on patrol when Mikey had made yet another pirate joke only to be punched by Raph.

"STOP WITH THE STUPID JOKES THEN!" Raph screamed back, "THEY'RE NOT FUNNY ASSHOLE! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE A JOKE OF EVERYTHING!?"

"Raph" Leo tried to soothe but Mikey talked over him.

"LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE!"

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT MIKEY!" Raph snapped, he looked at Donnie. "SURELY YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THIS BRAINIAC!"

"I'm keeping out of it" Donnie sighed tiredly.

"FUCKING COWARD!"

"Raph." Donnie growled quietly making both Mikey and Leo step back. "You better stop yelling at me right now. You know I have access to a lot of drugs. Would be a shame if someone slipped a laxative into your cereal tomorrow."

Raph didn't take any notice of the tone but the words convinced him to lower his voice.

"How can you just watch Mikey make a fool of everything that's happened?" He demanded. "Leo's suffering and no one's done a damn thing to help him!"

"There's nothing anyone can do Raph. Mikey's just being Mikey, Leo doesn't mind" Donnie looks over at his big brother for back up.

"Seriously, I'm fine" Leo soothes. "I'm getting better. Mikey's jokes don't bother me, he's just trying to make me feel better. Besides, I've been doing a lot of mindfulness and meditation which has helped a lot"

"Wake up fearless! Mindfulness is just a big scam! All this sitting about is doing nothing for you and you know it!"

"It's not a scam!" Both Leo and Donnie insist.

"Raphael!" The brothers jump when their Father appears behind them.

"Father" Raph greets tersely.

"You have been in a terrible mood today my son" Splinter places a firm hand on Raph's shoulder. "Your anger will be a great hindrance to your patrol and as a result you will stay home. Your brothers will patrol without you"

"WHAT!?" Raph gapes. "BUT THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

"Do not shout at me Raphael" Splinter warns. "I have told you; you are not to go out tonight. Instead, you will work on controlling your temper and calm down."

The other three brothers cringe.

Raphael glares at his father before storming off into the dojo. The brothers bow to their sensei before quickly leaving.

The old rat sighs tiredly and looked over at the dojo, he needed to heal his son's spirit.

Raph paced back and forth in front of the old oak tree, mumbling about how unfair his life was. He ignored his father as he entered and sat before the tree.

"Kneel with me my child. I think we need to talk"

"I don't want to kneel!" Raph grumbled. "I wanna beat Shredder to a gross nasty pulp! I wanna kill him for everything he's done to us!"

The boy kneels and looks up at his father.

"I know why but I don't get how my other brothers don't feel the same way" He sighs.

"Because they are not you" Splinter smiles gently. "My son, your feelings are valid and noble, but you must learn to control them, or you could make a mistake"

"You're afraid I'll hurt my brothers?" Raph asked timidly, "Cause I know I am"

"No" Splinter frowns, Raph looks at him in shock. "You could never hurt your family. The reason you feel the way you do when your brothers are hurt is because you see yourself as the protector. You feel you and you alone should protect your brothers from harm and should take the hits. This worries myself and Leonardo greatly, but I believe that this is your role. You are Leonardo's second in command"

Raph bows his head in thought.

"I guess that makes sense… but shouldn't we all want to protect our family?"

"Yes, and your brothers do but in their own ways and not as fiercely as you. Why do you think Donatello works so hard in that lab of his? Or why Michelangelo tries so hard to make you all smile? There are many way to protect your family Raphael" Splinter smiles at Raphael's wide eyes.

"I guess" He sighs, "But why am I the problem one? Why do I get so angry and blind?"

"That is just who you are, but it can be a powerful trait if you learn to channel it correctly" Splinter then smirks, "You are certainly not the only one who causes problems, each of your brothers try us in different ways."

Raph smirks a little in return.

"What do you mean channel it correctly?"

"Instead of letting it burst out of you wildly at little inconveniences around the home you use it in battle. You use that anger to make your hits more powerful while keeping calm enough to be accurate. This would make you a deadly force, one that Shredder would never see coming" The old rat watches his son think about that.

"You're right… I've been acting so childishly" Raph blushes.

"You cannot help that my son, we all lose control sometimes" Splinter nods. The two remember how Splinter had lost his temper with Leonardo causing him to lash out without thinking. The conversation doesn't get to continue as Splinter's ears twitch.

Raph stares at him, usually this sort of behaviour was a bad sign. A warning of some sort.

"Your brothers are in trouble" Splinter frowns. "I'm not sure what that trouble is however…"

"I'll try calling them" Raph nods as he pulls out his T-phone, he rings Leonardo.

He picks up after a few rings.

"Raph? Really not the time bro!" He sounds strained.

"What's happening?"

"We ran into some of the human mutations… ugh! We tried to shut them into an old warehouse so we knew where they are once we can cure them. Turns out they have a way to call all the others to their location. We're outnumbered by a lot"

"MIKEY! LOOK OUT!" Donnie yells in the background.

"Send me your location, I'm on my way" Raph demands.

"We'll still be outnumbered!"

"I'm not just gonna sit here, I'm coming to help!"

"More the merrier dude!" Mikey chimes in from nearby Leo, Raph breathes a sigh of relief.

"Fine, we're not far"

Raph hangs up as the location pings on his phone, he bows to his father before hightailing it out of the lair.

His brothers are only a few blocks away, so he arrives on the scene in perfect time, he pauses to survey the situation.

Leonardo is knelt on the ground, he looks winded. Probably wasn't a good idea to fight hundreds of mutants while he was still recovering.

Mikey was standing just in front of Leo holding his chest, Raph guessed his youngest brother had a few cracked ribs. He also seemed to be favouring his right leg.

"Donnie! We need to fall back!" He was calling in worry.

Donatello was standing in front of both brothers; he was fighting off the entire hoard of mutants on his own. He looked pretty bust up. Raph felt pride swell within him but saw his genius brother was getting tired and sloppy.

"W-We can't!" Donnie gasps. "There's too many! W-We'd never outrun them!"

Raph is about to join them but instead is forced to watch in horror as the hoard overpowered his little brother. Donnie let out a panicked yell as he disappeared under the grotesque bodies.

"DONNIE!" Mikey screams and limps forward only to fall to his knees. Leonardo looks over and tries to force himself to his feet.

Raphael sees red as he throws himself in front of Mikey, he forces himself to calm down as his father had said.

"You two stay back!" He commands, "Let me handle this!"

The brothers share a look but know they have no leg to stand on.

Raphael charges forward using all his built-up anger to down the hoard, he soon sees a flash of green and grabs it. He hoists Donatello by the arm out of the pile.

Don is scratched up, bruised and bleeding from his beak and lip. He looks exhausted but he's standing again.

"Thanks, Raph" He pants, he's lost his Bo staff.

"I was a dummy to call you a coward!" Raph praises, "You did good bro!"

Donnie grins.

"Go take a break and look after Mike and Leo just in case any stragglers get passed me" Raph nods, Donnie hesitates but backs off.

"You ok?" He hears Leo ask from behind. He begins to storm forward, spinning his Sai.

"Ok uglies" He squares his shoulders, "You want my brothers? You gotta go through me first"

A small portion of the hoard panics and runs leaving the rest behind. The hoard leapt over their unconscious comrades; the brothers knew they couldn't kill innocent humans just because they'd been turned into monsters.

Raphael used his Sai hilts to pound in the other mutants' heads, he made sure to use enough force to knock them out for a while. He didn't need repeats.

He heard Donnie fighting behind him, he looked round to check but smirked when he saw only 2 mutants had gotten passed him. He turned back to his fight.

Mikey struggled to his feet and helped Donnie dispatch the mutants.

"Go sit down and rest" Donnie grabbed his little brother and forced him to sit beside Leo. "I'm ok, Raph's doing the brunt work"

"Donnie" Leo looks up at his little brother, "You're exhausted, let us help"

"And you guys are injured! Stay here and rest, Doctor's orders!" Don nodded before standing guard over the two.

The three brothers watched Raphael as he worked his way through the hoard, not stopping for a second. He had a few bruises and cuts but as a whole he was avoiding most of the blows with a smoothness the brothers had never seen from their brash brother.

"GO RAPHIE!" Mikey cheered.

There weren't many mutants left and Raph was getting tired. Donnie decided he would join his side and help him with the last few dregs.

"Want a hand?" Donnie smirked as he picked up his lost bo staff,

"Think you can handle it?" The turtle smirked back and together they fought.

But one mutant hid behind the storage shed nearby during the chaos, Donnie saw it out of the corner of his eyes as it headed towards the two downed brothers. He rushed over only for the mutant to grab him around the throat and lift him in the air.

Raphael knocked out the last mutant with a grin, he went to thank Don for his help only to find him missing. He turned around fully to see Donnie being lifted by the throat.

"DONNIE!" He yelled, he ran over and barged into the mutant with his full body. Donatello was quickly dropped; the mutant took one look at the protective brother and ran away.

Raph knelt next to the gasping Donatello.

"Hey, you ok?" He asked gently as he placed a hand on his brother's shell.

"Y-Yeah" Donnie smirked. "That was a quick reaction. Nicely done"

"Can't leave you three for two seconds, can I?" Raph announces as he helps Don to his feet.

"That was incredible Raph!" Leo praised. "I'm so proud of you!"

Raph waved him off with a blush before helping him to his feet. Donatello allowed Mikey to lean against him.

"You were so cool!" The youngest gushed, "You two were like a tag team!"

Raph grins as Donnie shakes his head.

"Let's go home" Raph smirks.

It's a slow journey with a few breaks but the boys eventually limp through the turnstiles, Splinter is by their side in seconds.

"My sons! Are you alright?" He asked worriedly as he helps them to the lab, "Tell me everything"

And so, the brothers tell their story to their father as he patches them up.

Once he is done, he turns to Raphael.

"So, you took my words to heart? That is very wise of you Raphael" He smiles. "Now you see the benefits of your anger and how, if controlled properly, it can be a powerful ally to you and our family"

"I do Sensei" Raph nods, "I don't think I'm completely there yet though"

"You are trying and that is a good start" Splinter nods as he smiles at each of his children. "I am glad you are all ok… these mutants are a problem that are not going away soon… We must recover from this in order to bring those poor creature back to their humanity"

"I'm working on a retromutagen" Donnie pipes up, "I'm not there yet but I'm working on it"

"I have faith in you my son" Splinter nods, "Now… You boys must rest up and allow yourselves to heal. I will see your four in the morning"

"Goodnight Sensei" The brothers call as their father leaves.

There's a moment of silence before Mikey speaks up.

"Raphie? I'm really sorry I made you angry with my jokes… I guess they really weren't a good idea" Mikey bows his head sadly. "I'll stop being silly"

"What? No! Mikey, I was overreacting! I shouldn't have yelled at you and none of us want you to stop joking" Raph insists.

"Besides" Leo smirks, "I thought they were pretty funny"

"You did!?" Mikey grins, "Because I have so many! I even researched them on the internet to find the best ones!"

"You put a lot of work into jokes" Donnie stares at his little brother, "And yet you flunked in our lessons… wow"

"Lessons weren't fun!" Mikey snaps before turning back to Leo. "So, I can still call you Captain Leo?"

"Sure Mikey" Leo laughs.

"And I can still say 'Aye Maties'?" He asked again.

"I mean-"

"What about Arrr? I really liked saying that!"

The brothers laugh at the youngest's antics.

"Shut up" Raph smirks playfully before turning to Donnie. "I'm sorry I called you a coward. I know you're not, I'm sorry you had to hold all those mutants back by yourself"

"Did you see him though!?" Mikey exclaims excitedly. "He held his own just like you would Raphie!"

"Yeah I saw! He was awesome!" Raph grins as Donne goes red.

"You did well Raph" Leo smiled trying to take the attention off his poor embarrassed brother. "I've never seen such a clean performance from you before!"

Raph joins Donnie in blushing. The brothers smirk.

"Anyway!" Raph waves them off. "You guys need to be going to sleep! You got hurt today, you need rest"

"What about you?" Mikey yawns as they all lie down.

"I'm gonna stay awake until you guys are asleep" Raph nodded. Donnie and Mikey had already nodded off.

"Like a true protector" Leo smirks before yawning.

"Damn right" Raph nods. He watches over his eldest brother as he slips off to sleep.

He nods before closing his own eyes, proud of himself for finally doing his role right.

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