Chapter Text
The rain came down hard.
Raph grunted as put more pressure on the wound in his side. It hurt like a bitch and wouldn't stop bleeding. He was covered in scratches and cuts, courtesy of the shrapnel that exploded outward when the Krang's whatchamacallit started spitting metal and screaming. Everywhere felt tender and raw, it wouldn't surprise him if he'd already started bruising purples and yellows. His ears hadn't stopped ringing and every flash of light felt like an ice pick to his skull. Bits and chunks in his brain, like a lobotomy or whatever the fuckers were called.
He didn't even know where he was. The Krang's thing had sucked him up and puked him out in some grimy, rain soaked alley. He might've landed on a soiled diaper but honestly it was hard to tell because he'd scrambled up right so quickly, only double over as everything hit him at once. Painful shit. Head knocking, teeth grinding shit. He wanted to punch Leo.
Raph squeezed his eyes shut and thanked Mary and Joseph it was night where ever he was. The rain wasn't helping but at least it was washing the blood away. Like maybe it was good thing. He couldn't tell, everything was getting fuzzy.
Raph groaned and shuddered, cold, wet, and wanting to chug a bottle of aspirin like a peach La'Croix. His liver be damned.
He stumbled his way over to whatever wall was closest and leaned heavy, head pounding, world spinning and sides refusing to shut the hell up. Maybe he had metal in his guts, he couldn't tell. He was too busy trying to not vomit so hard his stomach lining came with it.
It really could not be over stated how much everything hurt. But in the back of his mind, a constant voice chattered and made his insides twist with more then just vertigo hell.
Where were his brothers? What had happened to them? Were they safe? Were they still with the krang? Had they gotten away? Were their guts full of metal too?
He stumbled and peered out of the alley, he cursed loudly when the light of a taxi came and went. The nausea in his revolting stomach doubled and Raph took a couple steps back only to trip and then twist over to puke his lunch out. He coughed, the pain in his sides and head and everything decided to punch him square through the jaw. Thanks. He thought sarcastically. Really appreciated that one.
He grunted as he pushed himself away from the pile chunky gut soup and feeling shit out of luck and sorts. God this horrible. He hoped his brothers were fairing better. (He hoped they hadn't got sucked up at all.)
—||—
Somewhere, in another universe, the dust cleared. And with coughing and waving of hands, Krang wriggling and unconscious at their feet, three brothers looked around and the smallest said:
"...where'd Raph go?"
Only for him to be nowhere to be seen.
—||—
But Raph didn't know that and he didn't know he was in another universe either, so he just tried and failed to struggle to his feet.
Damnit. The turtle thought. God fucking damnit, get your shit together Raphael. He thought it harshly and attempted to push himself to his feet again. This time he was slightly more successful. He clumsily made his way to what he was hopefully was a fire escape. His eyes squinted in the rain and he ground his teeth so hard he heard a pop. Okay. He was going to have to jump to get to the ladder. Fine. Whatever. He'd make it work.
The pain in his everything disagreed but Raphael jumped anyway. He managed to grabbed the ladder, it shook and unlatched and Raph yelped as it shot down with his weight. The rain made it slippery but he, somehow with fucking Jesus smiling down at him, kept his grip on the ladder. He began to the climb, his head swimming more and more as time passed. His sides ached. Blood ran down his leg and every time he blinked the rain out from his eyes, his brain pulsed with definite hatred.
But after he finally hauled himself up on top of the roof of whatever building the fire escape belonged to, he realized: ...oh. Fuck me.
He'd climbed to the roof of building and not down into the sewers where it was definitely safer. God he was stupid.
But Raph was in a lot of pain. God he wanted to pull his teeth out one by one and line 'em up in a row. That would feel better then this. He wanted to puke again. Twist his own arm and puke. But he couldn't puke. He had to climb down the ladder and find the nearest manhole.
But he didn't get the chance to. Because halfway putting his foot down off the ledge to climb down, a loud, harsh voice scared the goddamn piss out of him.
"Hey! You! What'dya think you're doing?!"
Raph, the master of ninjitsu and composure that he was, didn't scream but he did slip. And he did fall and all he could think was. Oh. Shit. As everything exploded in agony and he blacked out.
He hoped he didn't snap his neck. He wasn't sure Donnie would be able to fix something like that.
—||—
Another Raphael, this one several years the other's senior and decked out in full Nightwatcher gear, swore so colorfully it'd made a sailor blush hot pink as he watched the figure tilt and fall. Off the building.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit—" Raph scrambled off the side and leaped. He swung wide and managed to catch the person, but not before some serious whiplashing and colliding—the figure first—into a wall. He got his footing back and landed safely—
And he almost dropped them because what he caught was not human.
Raph had to forcefully calm his breathing, as he blinked furiously under the helmet. Green scales, freckles, bright red mask, a body carved from fighting, blood. Wait.
Raph pushed away his confusion and settled the body—mutant turtle?— onto the rain soaked ground and took off his helmet to get a better look. His eyes went over the details and yup, mutant turtle. And blood. The kid was bleeding.
(Because it was a kid. There was no way it wasn't.)
Question swirled in his mind. How? When? What? Where? How? How? How? How?
...and the red mask. Raph pushed his feelings down and checked for injuries. Cuts everywhere, bruises, a few pieces of shrapnel metal imbedded under the scales, a big cut straight through the plastron. (Though Raph figured the blood might've been making it look worse then it was. It was still bad though. Any injury like that was fucking terrible.)
Raph checked the eyes—bright green—and yup. That's a conciousion.
There was a war in his guts. Who was this? What happened to 'em? Where did them come from? Was this some kind of evil plot from villians they'd smashed into the ground years and years ago? Or was this legit? What's with the red mask? Was someone trying to copy him? It was a mutant turtle. There were no other mutant turtles? Where had this mutant turtle come from?
And so on and so forth until he wanted to puke from all the questions. But he didn't puke. He was better then that.
But...
(Raph didn't know what came over him. Maybe it's cause the guy was small. Maybe it's cause he was a turtle and turtles were supposed to stick together, even when their stupid sensei's told them to fuck off to Peru. Maybe it's cause Raph was tired of punching people and never making a difference and always coming back to a broken hope. Maybe Raph just wanted to help. Maybe he just wanted to stop avoiding his problems.)
(Maybe some part of him told him that if he held this guy it'd be the same as helping Leo somehow.)
(Even if he knew that last part wasn't true.)
So Raph took a deep breath and decided he was gonna help. Even if it was a trap. It was turning out to be a pretty shit one.
—||—
Donnie sorta yelled at him, had to call in saying he wasn't going to work today because of a 'family emergency'. That's what he told his boss anyway. Donnie helped anyway, because he was the only one that know how all the medical shit worked anyway.
When Donnie yelled, Raph yelled back, they screamed for a bit. It didn't take long for Mikey to wake up with all the shouting.
It was a real surprise the kid turtle didn't wake up too.
—||—
"So..." Raph leaned against the countertop, gaze forward. Donnie had stress circles but he wasn't all that unique in that department. "...how uh...is he."
Donnie sighed, rubbed between his eyes. "Well he's lost half his blood and he's full of metal but otherwise he's fine." Donnie snarked, expression flat.
Raph's lip curled and he pushed off the countertop to leave. "Never mind, forget I asked."
Raph turned to leave but stopped when he heard Donnie talk again.
"...I think he's you."
Raph blinked, stunned. He turned, expression absolutely fucking bewildered. "What hell are you talking about egghead?"
But Donnie wasn't looking at him. He was looking down at the table, expression grim. "...I think he's Raphael, or...at least a version of him, you."
Raph blinked. Hard. "The fuck are you talking about?" Raph thought back to the freckles and red mask and bright green eyes. "Just cause he's a mutant turtle and has a red mask doesn't mean he's me. Do you hear yourself?"
Donnie sighed again, and he sounded too old to be Raph's younger brother.
"There's more then that Raphael, there's the red mask sure but there's also his sai."
"Wh-his sai?" The kid had sai?
Donnie nodded. "Yeah and this," He pulled out a shuriken that had an eerily familiar symbol on it. A lotus.. The symbol of their family, of their art.
"Coincidence," Raph ground out. Because sure he could believe another mutant turtle had popped up from somewhere but he drew the line at comic book crap.
Donnie looked at him for a long time. Just looking tired and so done with everything.
After around ten seconds or so, Donnie sighed and broke his gaze.
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see." He sounded tired. Fuck, his little brother sounded so tired.
Raph was put out. He didn't know how to feel. Angry sure, but regret? He didn't know what to do about that one. Honestly he didn't know how deal with anything. He was just so angry all the time, mad and upset and scared—
Raph didn't want to yell. Not really. Not anymore. Not when Donnie sounded like that.
So Raph just bit his tongue and hm'd. He left shortly after .
Because what else was there to say.
It's not like he could fix anything in the first place.