Chapter Text
Raph barely breathes. Barely thinks.
Their mad dash back home is frantic, uncoordinated, borderline dangerous. Draxum drives the van (much to Donnie's protests, though they are in no condition to themself), and more than once, the vehicle jolts unpleasantly as they roll over piles of rubble.
Maybe it isn't just rubble.
Raph shudders.
"Be careful," Mikey begs for the third time that hour. "Please, he— Leo—" The box turtle breaks off in a pained whine and clutches his arms closer to his chest. It took a team of Donnie, April, Casey Junior, and Splinter to get Leo into a secure spot in the van, and it is taking that very same team to keep his unconscious brother from bouncing around the van like a ragdoll.
"I am being as careful as I can." Draxum grits out as the van swerves. "But we'll be lucky if one full road is completely clear."
Raph winces and cranes his neck to try and see out the window. From his position on the floor, he can only see the tips of the crumbled buildings, the barest sliver of the damage done to their city.
Are there any buildings left standing?
…Is anyone still alive?
Finally, after what feels like forever, the van screeches to a halt. Raph stumbles out, ankle throbbing with pain, and gets a good look at his ruined home for the first time.
He knew— from what they told him on the way there at least— that it had been bad, but he never thought—
His memories from the past few weeks have been hazy and blurred. But he remembers— some things. The relentless hunt for the Key, for one. Tearing apart something, looking frantically, relentlessly, he needed to find—
The Lair is destroyed.
Gone is the homey abandoned subway station, not even lived in for a year. The entryway is a pile of rubble, the train cars cast aside in a mad frenzy. Scraps of comics, papers, blankets, lay scattered across the open space like a snowstorm.
"Hurry, get him up, let's go," Draxum says from somewhere behind him, the scuffle of feet and quiet muttering. "Raphael! Michelangelo! Both of you to the medbay, now!"
Raph moves towards the remarkably intact medbay, but Mikey doesn't. The box turtle just stares, frozen at the doorway to the station holding their train cars. Raph can't see his expression.
"Michelangelo!" Draxum calls, leaning out of the medbay, right as Mikey leaps over a fallen arcade game and disappears down the hall.
"Mikey!" Raph looks back at the medbay, then to where his brother disappeared. He moves to follow him, only to stumble and almost fall as a stabbing pain shoots up his ankle.
"Go to the medbay." Draxum steps gingerly over scattered broken glass. "I'll find him."
"But—"
"Now, Raphael. You cannot walk." Draxum fixes him with a withering glare. "I will be right back."
Raph hesitates.
To his credit, (and as much as he hates to admit it), Draxum is right. Raph feels about ready to pass out and has to lean on the wall because his ankle and other arm make it so he can barely stand.
He’s exhausted. He knows the—
He knows They didn’t need to sleep or eat or anything like humans or mutants did. He doesn’t know how long he’s been on his feet.
He steels himself for what he might find when he enters the medbay and opens the door.
It’s so loud.
Reason being, probably, Leo.
Raph hadn’t heard the slider make a single sound since— God, since the comms cut off, since he lost him, since Raph almost killed him.
He hadn’t even said anything when the pulled him out of the Prison Dimension. He’d been floating in nothingness, the chill palpable even through the welcoming warmth of Mikey’s portal as Raph lunged to get Leo out. He’d just turned his broken, bloody, bruised face in the direction of the light, squinting, and—
Leo is screaming now. Thrashing in the medbay sheets as April, Junior, and an injured Splinter and Donnie try to get him to hold still. There’s so much blood, too much blood, they can’t do anything with him as stressed as he is.
Leo’s voice is a cracked, shuddering shriek of pure agony. Raph closes the door of the medbay and Leo wheezes, lungs rattling, having screamed himself hoarse.
“It’s ok, my baby blue,” Splinter whispers, stroking his forehead as Leo shudders. “I know, it hurts. You are safe here, my son.”
Donnie lurches away from the scene so quickly they bump into the wall. Raph lunges to catch them and they whine, burrowing their face into his plastron with a choked off sob. Raph’s arms instinctively wrap around them and he winces.
“Here, you guys can sit down here.” Junior ducks into view on the side Raph can actually see, dragging the cot away from the wall. “We’ll be there in a second. You ok?”
Raph blinks, slowly, and turns his gaze down to his younger brother. Donnie scoots over to the edge of the cot and brings their knees to their chest, staring at the other, busier side of the medbay.
“Leo—”
Just speaking his name makes Leo flinch, so violently he lets out a chirp of pain. Raph looks between him and Donnie, torn.
He sits down on the cot.
"Raphael." Splinter pats his hand. "Come, let's sit down and clean the blood off."
"Mm." Raph forces his vision to focus. The medbay has fallen quickly into an eerie quiet— Leo has collapsed, breathing labored, exhausted from the struggle. The others move about with only a few words shared between them. That— it was just chaos, a second ago. "I can— Raph can do it. 's fine."
"Hm.” Splinter raises an eyebrow. “I don’t think you should be getting up right now. Wait here, I will get you a cloth.”
“Ok.” Raph whispers. Donnie tries and fails to bandage up the bleeding punctures on their arms and legs which isn’t working very well considering they only have one working hand, but Raph barely notices. His mind is somewhere far away.
"Everything alright?" Junior looks up from where he's preparing the IV.
"Nothing— too bad." Raph turns his head, then turns it the other way when he remembers he can't see from that side.
“Raphael.” Splinter pats his knee. “I need to clean the blood off, ok? I will go gently around your eye.”
It takes a tremendous amount of effort to nod but he does. Splinter presses the wet cloth to the side of his face, mopping up the blood that's dried in stiff tracks down his face, stuck in the scutes and the spikes on his face. If the bathroom isn't a pile of rubble, Raph needs to take a long, hot shower.
That is, if he ever manages to scrub the blood away.
"Sit down." Draxum's voice makes him look up as the doors slide open again. "I want to look at your arms."
"Hey, Mikey." Raph tries to catch his little brother's eyes as the box turtle shuffles into the room. He doesn't look up. "You ok?"
"Mm." Mikey climbs onto the empty cot and Raph catches a glimpse of what he's holding. It's a tiny ball of flames somewhat resembling a tiny gecko. Raph tilts his head.
"It's the fire spirit Mikey rescued." Donnie mumbles. "From his old weapon."
"I don't know what to do with them." Mikey turns sparkling, tear-filled eyes up to him, looking at him for the first time that morning. "I don't know how to help."
"We will figure it out." Draxum pats him on the shoulder. "Find somewhere to put them for now."
The cool air stings his empty eye socket as Splinter wraps the area with gauze. Raph takes a shaky breath in and tries his best to smile, but it doesn’t end up going anywhere.
“Get some rest.” Splinter reaches up to press a kiss to Raph’s temple. “We will figure things out.”
“But—” Raph protests weakly. “Mikey— Leo— everyone—”
“Are in good hands.” Splinter reassures. “You should go rest. You can come back later once everyone has calmed down.”
“Ok.” Raph can barely manage anything above a whisper. Checking back one more time, he turns to go.
Raph slips out of the medbay and stares out into the dim, ruined living room.
With a sigh, he closes his left eye and the world slips into darkness. He's still not used to it. He bumped into so many things on the way back he wonders if he'll have permanent bruises come tomorrow.
The fact that half their home has been turned to piles of rubble doesn't help either. Honestly, it's a wonder the medbay is still intact with how—
You did this you helped you DESTROYED EVERYTHING YOU—
"Raph?"
Raph jumps, lands bad, and hisses in a breath at the pain that shoots up his foot. April winces in sympathy.
"You should probably be sitting down." She leans forward on her crutches, a quizzical look on her face. "Why aren't you in the medbay with the other guys?"
"Raph, um—" His voice breaks and he clears his throat. "Raph doesn't think it's a good idea for him to be in the medbay right now."
"Why not?" April asks as he makes his way to the couch. "You need to get your arms and your ankle checked out, don't you?"
"It's— chaos." He shakes his head with a wince. "Also— Leo…I don't think Leo would want me. In there."
"You're his older brother, of course he would!" April throws up her arms and then doubles over with a hiss of pain.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, just bruised my ribs like hell at the beginning. They're still off." She gives a thumbs up. "I like staring at the floor, actually. This is great."
"So, you've just been—" Raph blinks. "Walking? Running? Fighting with bruised-maybe-broken ribs for a month?"
"Oh, don't redirect the conversation," April's smile is genuine but her eyes are stern. "You could barely walk when we got here! You still can't. Shouldn’t, actually, as a commander in The Future I command you to sit down."
Raph can’t stop himself from snorting. "Which I am doing right now.”
“Of course.”
“Raph's. Managing."
"Uh huh. How long have you been walking around with an injured ankle, hmm?"
Raph smiles, but it wavers and doesn't last for long. He looks away.
"A while.”
He can practically feel April’s gaze boring into his head.
“When Raph was…" He swallows. "During…that time. I was barely aware of anything. I could barely think for myself. All I could think about was—"
Kill him.
Strength always prevails.
KILL HIM
"…I hurt him."
"Huh?"
"I hurt all of them." Raph says in a choked-up whisper. "I hurt you."
"Raph that wasn't you—"
"But it was!" He bursts out, turning his head far too quickly, neck aching. He winces. "I di— fuck, Leo has the bruises to prove it! And I— Raph fought him and he— if I hadn't—"
"Hadn't what?" April glares at him. "Hadn't saved his life? Raph, you saved Leo twice! If you hadn’t, he would have died."
Raph chokes back a wounded noise.
"He hates me."
"He doesn't." April shoots back."
"He can't look at me." Raph whispers. "April, you saw him. He couldn't—"
"He was scared." April says simply. "We all were. Raph— Raph look at me. He doesn't hate you. He just needs…rest. Time."
Raph can still hear his little brother screaming. The sound wormed its way into the back of his skull and stays there, a reminder. Of what he did.
"…How was he?" Raph's voice barely raises above a whisper. "When— After I was—" He swallows. "What happened?"
"We…" April hunches her shoulders. "They— well, you can see for yourself. The sister came after Splints and I to look for the key." She grins, but there's no humor behind it. "She kind of fucked the place up. In case you couldn't tell."
Raph's mouth twists in the vague attempt of a wry smile. "And he didn't take it well."
She knows the 'he' Raph is talking about. "No. We had to go to Barry's."
"Bet he loved that."
"He complained the whole way." April scoffs. Her face drops. "He kept talking about you."
"About—" Raph's eye widens slightly. "Me?"
"Raph, he was frantic." April emphasizes. "He thought— He thought he had gotten you killed. He barely slept. Donnie was seconds away from tranquilizing him for like…a good week or two straight until we made him."
"He slept?"
"He slept." April nods. "We made sure of that. Though— the week leading up to…the plan, that was hard. For all of us. I don't think he slept much at all."
"Neither—" Raph hesitates. Did he sleep at all? How much did the Kraang worm into his head to where he no longer had to sleep, eat, think? Did they make him like them in more ways than one?
How much of him is left?
They sit in awkward silence for a few moments before Raph inhales sharply. April looks up.
"I— I never thought—" Raph blinks rapidly. "I never thought he would do something like that."
"Who— Leo?"
"He just—" Raph attempts to bury his face in his hands but his right arm, you know, doesn't really work right. And his left arm burns so he just gives up and leans back on the dusty couch. "He just threw himself in there. I don't— If I hadn't pushed him—"
"Raph, this isn't your fault." Donnie's voice distracts him from the literally-about-to-cry feeling and he looks towards the noise. The softshell slides the medbay door closed and stands, silhouetted, in the light from the door. Their entire arm from hand to shoulder is wrapped in a cast and they move with unsteady, halting movements.
"Donatello." Draxum leans out of the medbay. "What did I. Just tell you."
Donnie freezes in the act of escape.
"…'Sit there and don't move a muscle until I can see to Mikey?'"
The yokai sighs.
"And what are you doing?"
"Going to see my siblings?"
"Wrong." Draxum points at them. "Stop. Moving. Come back inside."
Donnie looks at Raph, then rolls their eyes in the direction of the medbay. Raph thinks he tries to smile but the muscles of his face aren't quite working well enough. Their expression shifts, just slightly.
"Pick a side." Donnie grumbles, limping back into the medbay. "Stay put or move?"
"Raphael."
Raph jumps.
"We can look at your arm now."
Donnie gestures with a jerky wave to the open medbay door. Raph awkwardly stands up, trying to only use one limb, and finds that that isn't really possible. April and Draxum both end up helping him towards the empty cot in the medbay.
Immediately, his gaze snaps to Leo.
The slider looks so tiny. Surrounded by beeping medical equipment, so wrapped in bandages he looks like a mummy. And he's so thin, which shouldn't be possible because he was only there for a few minutes. He's on his side, his plastron and carapace are so cracked to hell and back that they can't—
"—phael. Red." A clawed hand comes to rest on his knee. "My son, can you hear me?"
Nodding is painful but he does it anyway. With directions from Junior, Splinter holds up a finger and tells Raph to follow it.
"His eye looks ok." Draxum remarks, glancing over. "Are you experiencing any blurriness? Or general vision issues?"
"Um—" Raph blinks slowly. "No. No, I don't— think so. I'm just really tired— having trouble keeping my eye open."
"That is to be expected." Draxum nods. "Your remaining eye is trying to compensate for the loss.
Movement at his side makes him flinch but it's only Mikey, looking up at him, then at the cot. His arms are wrapped tightly with bandages, spots of rusty red peeking through. Raph moves, and pats the cot, and Mikey climbs up and presses himself silently against Raph's side, clutching his arms to his chest like dinosaur arms.
He's staring, unblinking, at Leo. Shoulders hunched to his ears, arms shaking. Raph watches him as Splinter cleans the blood from his arm, his shoulder, and his shell. Watches as he talks with Draxum about Raph's other arm, the mess of mottled bruises spanning all the way from his shoulder down to just past his elbow. How he can't really move it without feeling like he's about to black out.
He listens in to their talk about Leo too. How they can't fit him for an oxygen mask because his jaw might be broken, and they have to assess the damage. They talk about needing X-rays for both Raph and Leo, and Raph brushes them off. Figure out Leo first. He can wait, he has to.
Has to what?
He has to see how bad his brother is hurt. What he did.
There's a ring of bruises on Leo's throat, the mottled, discolored scales stark against the pale green from where he fucking strangled him—
Raph looks away.
"He needs surgery," Draxum is saying when Raph starts paying attention again. "Donatello needs surgery. Everyone needs surgery— well, save for Michelangelo— and we can't do that here."
"Well what do you expect us to do?" Splinter shoots back. "We cannot go to a human hospital, and even if we could they are probably overrun. We cannot go to a yokai hospital because the Hidden City is shut down. What about our sons?"
"…Why does Dee need surgery?" Raph mumbles. There's a headache worming its way into his skull and he has to fight to keep his eye open.
"Suspected damage to his skull and spine." Draxum lists off on his fingers. "Damage to his wrist, hand, and forearm, possibly on both arms from what he tells me. Possible broken jaw. An X-ray or CT scan would be best to determine what to do for his skull and how damaged his spine is."
"Well, we can't do that, so what—"
"I think Sens— Leo's jaw is broken." Junior confirms from his spot next to Leo's cot. "His knee also looks messed up, but I don't know how. It could just be blood."
"Which is why we need the X-ray, and need to clean the wound." Draxum grumbles. "Michelangelo, Yoshi, out."
Mikey doesn't meet Raph's gaze as he slides off the cot and rushes out of the medbay. Splinter pats Raph's hand and follows him.
"Leonardo first," Draxum orders, as the door slides open and Donnie limps in. Their movements are slow and awkward, eyes heavy-lidded as they sit down on Mikey's empty cot.
"I can do it."
"What."
"You need an X-Ray. We don't have a machine. My mystics can do it." Donnie deadpans. "I can do it."
"Absolutely not." Draxum bites out. "You. Sit."
He pauses. "Lay down. Or whatever, just don't move. Rest or so help me Titan—" he subsides into mutterings.
"Um—" Raph starts as Casey Junior takes a step back. He looks up at him. "In your time— I mean— when people got i–infected by the Kraang. Did—"
"You want to know if you're still infected." Donnie answers in a flat tone. Raph winces.
"No." Junior answers almost immediately. "No— I don't think so. Or— I know so. You ripped the Kraang out, right?"
Raph nods.
"And his ninpo took care of the rest…I think." Donnie frowns.
"Yeah." Junior nods. "One— um. We managed to only ever cure one mutant from a— a Kraang infection." He swallows. "We had to burn it out with Master Michelangelo's ninpo, but it worked."
"But—" Raph still isn't convinced. "but the Kraang—"
"—is a parasite." Junior cuts him off. "With the exception of…some higher ranked Kraang, most of what we saw in the invasion can't survive without a host. If you were still infected the Kraang would have taken over by now."
"If it makes you feel better, we can do a scan." Draxum says, moving from Leo to Donnie. "At some point. In the future."
"That's reassuring." Donnie mumbles, tugging at the strings of their hoodie. "Draxum, can I just do it? Seriously. If you pace any longer the floor is going to give way."
Draxum throws his hands up, and so Donnie slides off the cot with a grimace and moves over to Leo. His constructs span out and beam a ray of purple light across the slider's entire body, casting the room in a purple glow. Information starts popping up on the screen next to them— pictures, closeups, image after image of Leo's injuries. A few more minutes and then the light disappears, and Donnie approaches Raph for his turn.
Raph continues to watch Leo as the information comes to a stop. Junior sucks in a breath, staring at the results.
"Oh," he whispers. "Oh no…"
"What is it?" Donnie whirls, tail smacking into Raph's side and causing him to hiss. "What's wrong with— Leo—"
Raph feels sick to his stomach.
"Broken ribs." Junior lists out with the tone of someone who has seen worse, who has given this report tens, maybe hundreds of times. "Depressed skull fracture on his right side. Broken ankle, broken jaw, broken femur—"
"Fuck." Donnie chokes out.
"Some of them are old." Junior frowns. "From the beginning of the invasion? But some of them are newer, just partially healed. Or…No— rebroken?"
Junior's entire face goes pale.
"What?" Donnie hisses. "What is it, what—"
"We need to run blood tests." Junior whirls around to rummage frantically in the drawers of the medbay. "Where are the needles? And the— the stuff, the things?"
Donnie slides off the cot and limps over to direct him to the correct spot.
"What is it?" Raph leans forward, trying to see what he is seeing. "What's wrong with Leo?"
Junior swears under his breath, over and over, pacing back and forth and jotting notes down on his clipboard. He's limping, ever so slightly, but Raph is too worried to notice. Donnie leans over to read what Junior is writing.
"You don't think—?"
"I hope not." Junior responds grimly, moving one of Leo's arms to swab it down, rummaging around with his other hand for a needle. "But we can't rule it out. His tail, his shell, his claws—"
"What is it?" Raph begs, hands trembling. Leo's carapace looks normal at first glance— well, save for the spiderwebbing of cracks— but upon further inspection, the shell looks…wrong. The edges curl up, looks almost…soft in places. His tail is slightly bent— or crooked? Raph tries to get a look at his nails, usually curled into points, now cracked, dirty, broken. One of his nails is missing all together.
"Papa?" Donnie calls, a hint of panic in their voice. There's the pattering of feet against tile before Splinter throws the medbay door open, (Draxum lets out some very colorful swears), and April follows close behind with Mikey.
"Purple!" Splinter rushes over. "What is it? What is wrong? Is it Blue?"
Donnie brings him over to see Leo's x-rays where he begins talking rapidly under his breath, hands flapping at his sides even though the movement makes him wince with pain. Periodically his voice cracks or his breath hitches and he has to stop. Pause. Breathe in. With every word, Splinter's ears pin further and further back, his shoulders sag.
"What's wrong?" Mikey whispers, terror making his voice hitch and stick in his throat. "Dad? Papa?"
“It’s—” Splinter chokes out. Raph’s stomach drops to his feet. “We were too late.”
"What?" Mikey's entire composure slides to the floor and shatters. “For wh— what, we got him out didn’t we? We were— he—”
"Months." Donnie whispers. "Months, he was in there for months. It might have been a year, or years, it—"
"It can't have been years." Junior shakes his head furiously. "He doesn't look much older, his markings are the same and everything. It was months then. It lines up with— with what I thought—"
"But why months?" Mikey's voice reaches a shriller pitch, tears brimming in the corners of his eyes. "We saved him, why— what?"
“There is a condition,” Splinter rubs his eyes. “That…that we believe he may have. It’s—”
"Secondary nutritional hyperparathyroidism." Donnie mumbles, without looking at either of them. Raph's stomach sinks.
He remembers, a long time ago, when he was…probably five, or six, back when Donnie still was just starting to talk, back when they lived in their old sewer lair still. He had heard Splinter, out of the way so the twins or Mikey wouldn't hear him, quietly sobbing in one of the back rooms.
He had tried to see what was wrong, but his father had come out with only slightly red eyes and a wave of his hand, giving Raph a pat on the head and disappearing to find the others.
Little Raph couldn't read yet, but he noticed the letters and the words they formed. He didn't know then, but he would later found out that Splinter had just found out about the disease and was terrified. He thought he was killing them by having them live in the sewers, away from the sunlight, away from what they would need to stay healthy.
Raph suspects this was why he let them go to the surface— if not far from the main city— during the day, where his memories of basking in a turtle pile in the sun came from, why Splinter tried his best to get them the best meals he could when he was able to get out of bed. Maybe it was why Mikey even started cooking in the first place.
And now—
Mikey lets out a pained, choked sound as he stares at his older brother. April's hand goes to cover her mouth.
"Can you— can you fix it?" Raph hopes, desperately, that the answer is 'yes'. Leo can't die. His cheerful, witty, energetic younger brother can't die, not after everything, not before Raph gets the opportunity to wrap his arms around him, not before he says "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry", he can't. He can't lose his brothers. He can't.
"I…" Splinter shakes his head with an air of helplessness. "I do not know."
"No." Donnie mumbles. All heads turn to look at them. "Once you have it, the symptoms don't go away easily. Maybe even not at all."
Your fault. Your fault. YOUR FAULT.
"Alright, Raphael, you are done." Draxum says gruffly, patting him on the back. "It is going to get very crowded in here, so I suggest anyone who is not currently being seen, move out. Donatello, you stay."
Donnie whines and tugs their hood over their head. Nobody else moves. Draxum rolls his eyes and sets to work making a splint for Raph's ankle while he stares ahead. In fact, it takes several moments before he realizes Junior is saying his name.
"Huh?" Raph rasps, blinking his eye as the room comes back into focus.
On the cot in front of him, Leo whines.
It's a small, pained thing— in fact, it is barely even a noise. Mainly just the slider pushing air out of his ruined lungs. But the sound makes the entire world stop, all attention focused on him, on their brother, who is awake.
Leo's bruised, broken, bloodied hands twitch. His eyes are open but half-lidded and unfocused. All Raph's pain disappears in an instant.
"Oh, my baby blue," Splinter murmurs, a choked whisper that makes Raph's throat constrict. Scared and in pain and probably high on whatever pain meds they could find, Leo lets out a strangled chirp, unable to find the words.
He's trying to sign.
Junior hurries over, the laminated sheet of letters they had made so long ago in hand, and offers it to the slider so he doesn't have to move too much. Everyone watches with bated breath, as if one exhale will cause the world to light on fire.
At a pace rivaling even a snails, Leo manages to spell out a word. They are able to piece together what it is he wants to say. And it's—
"…Mummy?"
Leo's mouth curls up in an attempt at a grin, or a grimace, or maybe both. Donnie lets out a slightly hysterical giggle and the rest of the room follows suit, but the tension does not leave. Five (Six?) traumatized teens, two adults, and more injuries then they can count.
Leo's hand moves again. Everyone stops to look.
'Hurts'
Raph feels his heart shatter.
"Oh, my son, I know." Splinter sits on the side of his cot and takes Leo's hand in his, as gently as if he was picking up a glass ornament. "Draxum, Junior, is it safe for him to have painkillers? I do not want him to suffer."
"I…" Junior frowns. "It would be good when assessing his injuries further if he could tell us more where things hurt. But—"
"He can't." Donnie finishes. Junior nods.
"I think…if that's so…we could?" He looks at Draxum as if for approval. The yokai nods.
"I will try to get in touch with the hospital. See if they can send someone."
"Thank you."
Draxum turns away. "If that is the case, then I think the rest of you should go. I want to do some further tests on Leonardo and Donatello. Raphael, do not move that arm until we have a solution. Actually, I want to put it in a splint—"
Raph mumbles a quiet agreement, sitting as still as a statue. Doesn't let his tail twitch or thump against the cot, Doesn't move his hands or feet, barely even blinks. He goes through the movements almost robotically as Junior wraps his arm.
"Raphael." Splinter whispers. Raph turns his head, then turns it the other way when he realizes he can't see his father. "Come outside. You should get some rest."
"Stay off that ankle," Draxum calls without looking up, frowning at Leo’s vitals.
"But—"
"My son, you need to take care of yourself too." Splinter rests a hand on Raph's cheek. And Raph flinches. Ducks away like the touch is on fire. And maybe it is, maybe he can’t even trust himself anymore.
"Ok." He mumbles. "Ok, I'll— I'm coming."
"Crutches by the door." Donnie points, as Junior sets to work cleaning the puncture wounds on their arms, legs, and the back of their neck. Raph nods, but they don't look up, eyes squeezed shut, as if trying to ward off a headache.
Splinter helps Raph stand up, balancing out the side where his arm is practically useless. His left arm stings when he wraps his fingers around the crutch, but it is at least manageable. Nothing like what Mikey experienced.
"You boys have all grown up so fast." Splinter smiles as they make their way out of the medbay. "And here I thought I would always be the tall one."
"Hate to break it to you pops, but Raph's pretty sure he outgrew you by the time he was eleven." Raph is so tired he almost forgets how to smile. Again. Is this going to be a problem?
"No, really?" Splinter raises an eyebrow. "I am sure I have some pictures somewhere…"
The living room is quiet and dimly lit by the scattered string lights and the morning light filtering through the cracks in the roof. The room is occupied only by April and Mikey. Mikey stares unseeing at the floor while April scrolls through her phone, probably trying to contact her parents. Both of them look up as Raph and Splinter enter and as he sits down, Mikey comes over to press up against Raph's side again. The fire spirit is curled up in a lantern, flickering dimly.
"Hey, big man." Raph whispers, nudging the box turtle. "How're you doing?"
"Mm." Mikey's head retracts ever so slightly into his shell. "I dunno."
“You holding up ok?”
Mikey seems to consider this for a moment, eyelids drooping. “…No.”
"Want a hug?"
"…Please."
"Want me to get you some water?" April sets down her phone. "You should rest while you're here, Mikey. You've been through a lot."
"But what if Leo wakes up again?" Mikey whispers, leaning against Raph’s plastron. "Or he gets worse? Or Donnie gets worse, or you, or—"
"Hey." Raph ducks his head. "Leo'll be ok. Donnie will be ok. And I know they will because they've got some awesome people looking after 'em. And you'll get better too, alright? We'll get through this."
"Can we all sleep here tonight?" Mikey's voice gets smaller. "I don't want to be alone."
"Of course, bud." Raph pats his shoulder. Splinter is already dozing as April gets up to find more pillows.
"Man, the lair is wrecked." April says, almost to herself as she drops the pillows at their sides. "At least Donnie's hidden entryway is intact. I think. One of them at least."
"Wrecked—" Mikey's eyes snap open. "Wait but— but what if—"
"If anything comes through, Donnie's defenses'll get it. They're durable, I think it'll be fine." April drapes a blue blanket over his shoulders. "And besides I shone my flashlight through there and saw nothing. You saw the city when we were driving back, remember? After Prime was gone, the matter sorta just. Shriveled up."
Raph shudders at the memory. The phantom sensation of tentacles behind his eye attempts to fight its way to the surface and he lifts a hand to rub the empty eye socket.
"You ok?" Mikey looks up, eyes wide and nervous. Raph smiles.
"Don't worry about me, big man. Go to sleep, and any of us'll wake you if something happens."
"Ok." Mikey mumbles, pressing his face into the pillows like he is trying to disappear. "You promise?"
Raph ruffles the imaginary head on Mikey's head and the box turtle squeals and ducks away, sticking his tongue out. He laughs.
"Yeah. I promise." He drags the blanket back over him. "Sleep well, Mikey."