The first thing he felt was the pain. Pain, pain, pain. Waves and waves of searing pain. He was in agony.

Every breath was a battle. Even the air was cold and unforgiving as every inhale burned his throat and set fire to his chest. His eyelids snapped open and he glanced dazedly around. What happ—oh yeah. Shredder had thrown him off the side of the building. It seemed like the impact had made a small crater in the sidewalk.

Leo grit his teeth. His fingers dug heavily into the cracks in the cement as he pushed himself up. His body ached and his head spun. He could hear his heartbeat thumping noisily in his ears. In fact, he heard very little else. Just a dull, ringing whine. He recoiled instinctively as a voice sudden cut through the white noise.

"You'll pay for what you did to Leo and Raph!"

Raph! Where was Raph? Leo thought, suddenly too frantic to think of anything other than his younger sibling. Despite his body's protest, he stood, straining his neck to look up at the roof above. He straightened and finally looked over at the alley directly across from him. A fire escape. Leo's bright blue eyes narrowed with renewed determination.

Once he was on the roof, he approached the battle from the side. A low cloud had rolled in and surrounded the building with a layer of fog. It was so thick that as Leo looked back over his shoulder, he could no longer see the ground below. The blue-masked turtle ducked over to the side and assessed the situation. His brothers and father were barely holding their own. They all bore dark bruises and angry wounds. From the looks of things, they wouldn't be able to last much longer.

Shredder flung Michelangelo backwards and the youngest landed with a thud. He stood, cradling his arm weakly, his eyes brimming with pain. Splinter and Donnie instinctively drew closer to shield Mikey as Shredder's blade flashed. Shredder laughed deeply, the guttural sound making all of them shudder. "Fools. You cannot defeat me!"

Leo slunk out of the shadows, scooping his katana up off the roof as he went. "Maybe not alone. But they aren't alone."

Shredder whirled around to face him and growled.

"Leo!" The others exclaimed with joy and relief.

Leo kept his attention fixed on Shredder. The leader of the Foot Clan glared at the turtle. "I'm finding you turtles very hard to dispose of."

"You'll never beat us, Shredder. As long as we're together," Leo shot a brief smile in his brothers' direction, "we can do anything." He gave the others a signal and they all charged at once, landing several good hits to Shredder's sides.

With a cry of indignation, Shredder held his ground. "You will all share your brother's fate!" He shouted as he threw them all back a couple of feet.

Something behind Shredder caught Leo's eye. Raph's body. Leo smirked as his sharp vision detected the way Raph's hand tightened around the sai that had been placed there earlier. He turned to his brothers and father. "Don't give up! One more time! Together!"

They all nodded and with a tremendous leap, simultaneously engaged the Shredder. "Donnie!" Leo shouted as he shielded his little brother from what would have been a deadly blow. He struggled as his katana locked with Shredder's gauntlet blades. Shredder pressed him back and down until he was practically on his knees.

"You cannot overpower me!"

Leo smiled as Shredder pushed him back even further, "I wasn't trying to."

Shredder's eyes went wide. The polished steel of Raph's sai, dripping red with blood, glinted ominously as the hothead yanked it out.

Donnie and Mikey didn't believe their eyes and were too shocked to do anything other than stand there with their mouths hanging open.

Leo sighed with relief at his brother's perfect timing, but his relief evaporated as Shredder struck out against Raphael. In a flurry of movement, Raphael and Shredder drew closer and closer to the edge. Leo shot forward, but by then it was too late. Raph grabbed hold of Shredder's arm and managed to throw the Foot leader off the building, accidentally losing his footing in the process. Raph tumbled over the edge as well and used his sai to catch himself before he fell very far. But his grip was starting to falter. He watched Shredder vanish in the sea of fog as the Foot leader plummeted down to his ultimate demise with a long, echoing cry of defeat. The rest of the Foot made a hasty retreat as they realized their leader had been lost.

Leo sprung forward and leaned down, offering his hand.

Raphael shook his head even though he knew he was slipping. "No Leo. I'll drag you down, too."

"Trust me." Leo pleaded, extending his hand further.

Raph hesitated, doubt flickering in his eyes.

The eldest turtle blinked back tears. "I already lost you once and I am not going to lose you again! So you better give me your fucking hand, or I'll jump down there and grab it!"

Raphael smiled and slowly lifted his hand towards Leo's, both of them straining to reach. Their fingers met, brushing together softly, but before Leonardo could reinforce his grip, a metal-clad gauntlet vaulted out of the foggy abyss, gripping Raphael's ankle tightly and yanking him down.

"Raph!" Leo exclaimed as his brother was pulled from his grasp.

"Leo!" Raph's scream echoed off the walls tauntingly as he fell.

Leonardo lunged forward, propelling himself over the building's edge, Mikey and Donnie, their instincts true to form, shot forward and caught his legs just in time. Unfortunately, Leo's effort was futile. "Raph!" He called desperately as his brother disappeared through the veil of fog that blocked their view of the street below. They all flinched as a sickening thud could be heard through the still, early morning air.

As soon as Leo's feet were back on the rooftop he sprung into action. He sprinted across the roof to the other side of the building, where there was a drainage pipe leading down to the gutter. He swung off the building and gripped it tightly, sliding rapidly down to the street below. Unfortunately, drainage pipes aren't built to sustain the weight of a mutant turtle. It buckled when Leo was still about two stories up and the collapse sent him sprawling out on the pavement. He shook off the pain and ignored the fact that the pipe had peeled the skin off his palms. He jumped to his feet and vaguely thought he could hear his brothers calling to him from the roof above, but he paid them no heed. The only thing that mattered was Raph. He had to get to Raph.

Even as he sprinted around the building, he couldn't shake the terrible feeling that he was too late. Leo's feet slid as he swept around the corner and abruptly screeched to a halt. Raphael...no. He shook it off and rushed past Shredder's body to his brother's side. "Raphael!"

Raph lay on his side with his eyes closed, his skin pale, and his mouth slack. Leo's heart stopped. Ever so slowly, his fingers brushed Raphael's cheek, discovering that it was cool and clammy. "Raph, Raph, please!" He gripped the still form forcefully by the shoulders and shook him. "Raphael! Say something! Please, please! Speak to me!"

Leonardo's heart leapt as a low groan hit the air. Raph's lips pulled into a grimace and his nose wrinkled. His eyelids fluttered open slowly, his pupils dilating. A fleeting grin flashed across the corner of his lips, but vanished rapidly, alerting Leonardo that something was amiss. "Behind you!" He rasped.

The blue-masked turtle turned just in time, whipping out his katana and ramming it through Shredder's chest. Shredder fell onto his back, Leo's katana sticking out of him. His fingers twitched one last time and finally went limp.

Leo grit his teeth and said, "That's what happens when you mess with a turtle."

A weak chuckle made Leo smile at Raphael.

Raph grinned, though there was still pain in his eyes. "Looking sharp, big brother." Leo rolled his eyes and shook his head, the smile never leaving his face as he returned to Raph's side. Raph sighed and grumbled, "Not bad for wimp."

Leo glared good-naturedly. "Oh really? Then what would you have said, tough guy?"

Raph shrugged weakly and smirked. "From Hell's heart I stab at thee!"

Leonardo scoffed. "Hardly original." He paused and raised an eye-ridge, regarding his brother curiously. "I didn't realize you were that nerdy."

Raphael let out a deep wheezing breath and glared at his older brother. He shrugged again. "It was better than: I think he got the point."

Leo grinned and nodded, putting a hand on Raph's shoulder. "You okay?" Raphael was breathing heavily, as though he were having difficulty getting enough air.

"I'll live." Raph grunted. Just as he was about to push himself up, Donnie, Mikey, Splinter, April, and Casey came rushing around the corner.

"We're lucky this is an abandoned part of town otherwise two giant mutant turtles sitting in the middle of the street would be common knowledge by now." Casey said loudly.

They gasped as they saw Raphael and rushed over to his side.

Splinter peeled away from the group and padded softly over to Shredder's body. "If it were in my power, Oroku Saki, I would have prolonged your suffering to make you atone for the pain you have brought upon my sons. But now you are dead...and I am glad."

Leo looked down at Raph as he began to chuckle. Raph's eyes lit up a little. "Good one, Dad."

A light-hearted growl left Leo's lips as he rolled his eyes. "Oh, so even Sensei's comment is more badass than mine?"

With a sigh, Raphael muttered, "You just don't get it."

Rolling his eyes, Leo opened his mouth to speak, but Donatello cut him off. "Raph, listen to me, this is really important. Can you feel your legs?"

Raph slowly nodded. "Yeah. Can move my feet." He grunted, doing so.

"I need to assess the damage to your shell caused by the fall." Don answered calmly, moving around to crouch beyond Raph's line of vision. "It's bad, but thankfully not life threatening. The cracks will take about a month to heal completely, though." Suddenly, the brainiac was right in Raph's face. The patient tried to squirm away, but Leo held him down. Raph sent a green-eyed glare at his older sibling. Leo ignored it and simply watched Donatello thoughtfully. "Keep your eyes open." Donnie muttered. Raph was about to ask why when the tech-laden turtle turned on the lights in his goggles. Raph hissed, but did his best to keep his eyes from closing. "Raph, are you dizzy or nauseous? Does your head ache at all?"

"A little. Why?"

"Mild concussion." Donnie glanced at the dirty, bloody wounds on Raph's sides and he sighed. "Raph, do you feel cold?"

The turtle in question was breathing heavily. Don bent down to press his fingers to his brother's pulse point. Weak pulse. Incredibly weak.

"We need to get him home, stat. He's going into shock." Don looked at Leo's hands and battered shell, "Leo's in no condition to drive," his eyes fell on Casey Jones, "Can you drive?"

"Can I drive? Yur talking to Casey Jones, champion of the toughest drag races in town!"

Donnie and Splinter lifted Raphael up and Don pressed the remote on his belt. The turtle van's lights came on and they all scurried over and piled inside. April sat next to Casey up in front giving him directions as they sped across town towards the lair. In the back, Donnie was shouting orders. He'd hooked Raph up to all kinds of monitors. Mikey was running around getting whatever Donnie needed, while Leo, who Don was too busy to treat right now, could do nothing but watch with growing anxiety.

"Mikey give me those pillows, we've got to elevate his feet!" Don looked down at Raph's pale face. "Dammit he needs blood." The brainiac began preparing the necessary equipment, about to use it on himself, but he was stopped by a furry hand.

"I will do it Donatello. You will need your strength."

Donnie nodded gratefully at his father, but before he could get the transfusion underway, the heart monitor began to screech. "Shit!" He flew to the back wall of the van. Shell, he was glad he'd made sure this van was fully equipped for situations like this.

Leo couldn't take it any more, he loomed over Donatello's shoulder. "What's happening?!"

"Myocardial Infarction."

"What?" Leo asked, completely lost.

"He's having a heart attack." Don answered calmly, too calmly for Leo's taste, as he pressed the highly charged plates to his brother's plastron once again. Raph's body jolted and twisted, but still no response. "Come on Raph, fight it, you bastard!" Don yelled, losing his cool as he tried on more time.

The steady beep of the monitor returned and Don relaxed. "He's still with us. Master Splinter, he needs blood now."

Splinter nodded solemnly. After Donatello was finished inserting the equipment, the old rat watched as blood went from him to his son through the clear tubing. His other hand stroked Raphael's eye-ridge lovingly.

Leo joined his father at Raph's side. He stared distractedly at Raphael, not even realizing Donnie was wrapping his hands until the brainiac was almost done. He tried to pull away from Don's grip, but his younger brother wouldn't allow it. "Donnie...focus on Raph."

"I've done all I can for now. He'll be okay."

Leonardo sent Don an incredulous look. "You mean that?"

The smart turtle nodded and patted Leo's shoulder. "He's got a long way to go, but he'll be fine. Knowing him he'll be up and running by the end of the week." Leo still looked worried. Don sighed. "As soon as we get back to the lair, which should be in about two and a half minutes from now, judging by our current rate of travel, I'll get you and Raph all taken care of."

"Do Raph first." Leo insisted, staring straight into Donnie's eyes.

Don sighed again. "I will. Splinter will take care of Mikey's arm and I'll clean and disinfect the wounds on Raph's sides. Both of you need to have your shells wrapped tightly for at least the next week or so to make sure they heal properly and don't get infected."

Leo nodded but he was focused on Raph's face.

Finally Donatello voiced the question he'd been wanting to ask since Raph and Leo had miraculously returned from the dead. "Have you two reconciled?"

"Yes, but there's still a lot we need to talk about." The look in Leo's eyes promised it.

----------------------

One month later, Casey Jones was awakened in the middle of the night by a horrible ringing, which he slowly recognized as that of his doorbell. Who the shell could be coming here at two in the morning? He growled and rolled out of bed. Stomping loudly and fussily over to the front door, he flung it open as a demonstration of his anger. His heart stopped and his eyes widened. He would have collapsed, had the figure in the doorway not jumped forward and caught him. His hands latched onto her shoulders in a vice-grip, proving that she wasn't an apparition. His fingers stroked the side of her face, brushing some stray hairs aside. "Jill...?" He asked, his voice airy and filled with wonder. Tears burned his eyes. "Jillian!" Casey Jones pulled his little sister into his arms, hugging her desperately.

She returned the hug just as fiercely, tears wetting her cheeks. "I missed you too, big brother."

Casey held her close, both of them murmuring words of apology and reveling in the other's presence.

They didn't see the large, emerald-green figure lurking outside the window. He smiled at the tender scene. His work here was done. Now, he had a city to protect. The thick, bulky figure climbed up to the roof and began making his way across the city. A smile spread across his lips as he felt his brothers join him, matching him stride for stride, their strange forms outlined dimly against the dark sky.

FIN