(2012 show)

Striction- "The frictional force which hinders an object from moving while in contact with another."

I'm going to be honest and say I have no idea what this is. Yay. With that established, I have returned with my need for angst that may or may not be well written.

This is going to be the first of three parts. The second part is done and I'll probably get that up either tomorrow or the day after (*ahem* or the day after that . . .), but the third part is still being written, so that might take a little longer, depending on how I feel writing it and if I like where it's going.

Okay, it's 2:30 in the morning, I am tired, soooooo . . . hope you enjoy it!

(Disclaimer: I definately do not own anything related to this, for I am poor, and I doubt the people who created these characters are poor.)

Sloshing water waving around his feet. Panting. And a sound similar to fingernails on a chalk board. All the while, swarming thoughts and a tightness in his movements.

Raphael hated feeling this way. Hated feeling like his world was crashing down around him, and it was going to try its damndest to crush him while doing it. A piece of cement fell a few feet to his right, as though it was trying to reinforce this. Raph, however, didn't even spare the falling stone a sideways glance. He was focused on other matters.

Bent over, dragging his brother through the freezing cold water growing in depth by the second. He really couldn't afford to panic right now; especially not about some falling debri. That didn't mean he didn't growl when pebbles rained down on him, forcing him to shake his head to get it off.

He stopped moving, trying to peer around the dark tunnels he was lost in. His breath came fast, white puffs blowing into the air in front of him, and he couldn't quite get the shaky feeling in his chest to go away. Did he have to go right? Left? Had he been going the wrong way this entire time? His heart began to sink ever more.

They had to get out of this section of sewers. He wasn't sure exactly how far they had fallen, but as soon as that explosion hit, the entire ground went tumbling down. He didn't know where Don or Mikey was. Not to mention April and Casey. Splinter was thankfully safe in the lair. And here Leo was. Out cold, being dragged through freezing cold water and gunk; and Raph had no way to know exactly how banged up he was

He took a deep breath, squinting in the dark. There was just enough light from random electronics and breaks in the ceiling, but other than that: pitch black. So, with that, he chose to follow a single shred of artificial light glittering a little ways in the distance. It was the only sort of sanctuary he could think of to go towards.

Raph hefted his brother a little higher, still being forced to drag him on the cement ground. He got a little banged up too, and it was preventing him from properly caring for his brother. Carrying him would hurt too much, and he was already forcing his aching arm to deal with what he was doing.

It took a while to wade through the now knee deep, icy water, but once Raph got over to the shred of light, he let out a long breath of air at the discovery of an incline. A steep one at that. Enough so that they were a few feet above the flooding water nearby (at least for a few minutes).

Light. Safety. And dry land. All he could ask for in these current conditions. He climbed up onto the inclined ground, lifting Leo up onto it after him and trying to ignore the way he grunted with every jostle. Reaching a hand forward, Raph leaned against the cement wall covered in faded yellow markings for support, dragging Leo the few more feet. Kneeling down, Raph propped him up against the wall, tender movements. He still didn't know how bad he was.

A soft grunt once Leo was propped up, followed by a series of worrisome hacking coughs and breaths. Raph held his hands up, not knowing what to do. He didn't know anything about this sort of thing! Donnie was the genius who took care of illness and what not. Not him!

"Oh, man." Raph muttered, deciding to simply lay a hand on his brother's plastron in what he hoped was a somewhat soothing manner. Getting an idea, Raph reached for where he kept his T-Phone. He could only hope that it remained unharmed throughout the entire fiasco earlier.

He got it in his free hand, keeping the other pressed lightly to Leo's plastron. He clicked it on, and it was like a shread of hope enveloped him. Light. Blinding, horrible, yet fantastic light flashed him in the face. He groaned, bending backwards in reaction to the sudden change in lighting.

After the initial surprise, Raph jumped into action, holding the phone up above Leo. And that was when his heart sank.

Scrapes. Cracks. Bruises. Blood . . .

"Oh, man", he muttered, louder this time, earning a slight twitch from his floored brother, "What did you do to yourself, Leo . . . "

He ran his finger lightly across a particularly large crack running halfway down the middle of his plastron. That was not good. He could only wonder what his shell looked like . . .

A sharp intake of breath forced Raph's eyes to find his brother's face. One blue eye blearily opened, trying to find something to focus on until he found Raph, turning his head in a weak attempt to get a better look at him.

At the movement, his face scrunched up, one non-swollen eye slamming close, and a gargled groan escaping his mouth. Raph exhaled thickly, eyes wide and concerned. He reset his comforting hand on Leo's plastron, and set the T-Phone down, face up so the light could still shine in the small area. The other hand found Leo' shoulder, giving it a tender squeeze.

"Just . . . chill for a sec, big bro." he said, uncertain of his words, but the stress began leaking from Leo's face and shoulders immediately after the words left his mouth. The bleary eye opened again, swollen one trying to do the same (inevitably failing), and it softened slightly. Raph tensed, awaiting for his brother to say something. Maybe give him some sort of instruction? Maybe?

Instead, the eye closed slowly, head lulling to the side. The harsh breaths calmed slightly, but they still echoed in the surrounding area. Raph bit his lip, looking around at the surrounding area once again, hoping to find a way to even higher ground. His eyes met the water that was beginning to gain on them. Only after the few minutes of breaking, and they were already going to have to move soon . . .

Raph sighed, patting his hand on his now unconscious brother's shoulder, "Just for a sec

. . ."

The Foot had made their way into the sewers. That was what had made the four of them decide to go in the first place. It would've been fine if they weren't so close to the lair. They were sure it would've only been a matter of time before the Foot figured out where they always disappeared to, but them finding the lair was a completely different issue.

April and Casey had urged Leo that they should go along too. More people to track down the foot. More teams.

"I think we should split into two groups." Leo said after a second of thinking, "We don't know how they're traveling down here, or how many of them there actually are."

Master Splinter volunteered to keep guard at the lair. If any Foot soldiers got passed the six of them, then he would have to keep the Foot from getting in.

"It's just in case an ambush happens." Leo explained further, putting a thoughtful finger to his chin and staring at the five faces watching him (one of which tapped his foot eagerly), "Raph, April, and I will get the North and East. Don, Mikey, and Casey, you get the South and West."

"Good!" Raph exclaimed with a roll of his eyes, "Now that that's taken care of, let's go kick some Foot butt!"

"Do foots have butts?" asked Mikey, causing his surrounding brothers to grimace.

"Feet." Don corrected, "And no, they do not."

"The Foot does, though. And I can't wait any longer, oh fearless leader o' mine! So, let's go!"

The red banded turtle spun on his heel, turning towards the North side of the lair and began leaving. April followed closely behind, not wanting to lose him. She looked behind her at Leo in an exasperated manner that said "hurry up!"

"Remember, if anything happens call us." Leo said to Donnie quickly before running after the other two who had already left the lair.

It had just rained. It didn't really matter- or wouldn't have really mattered if the circumstances had been different, but all of that excess water from the streets above began flowing into the sewers, flooding a lot of the canals. It made transportations difficult. Even if they were to walk on the walkways beside the canals, the stone was more slippery than normal, forcing them to be careful while walking.

"We should proceed with caution . . ." Leo muttered, gripping the hilt of his katana without pulling it from its sheath. His eyes darted every which way in anticipation.

Raph groaned, "Please, Leo." he turned behind him, "This is our territory. We have the upper hand!"

"That may be so . . ." April mumbled unsure. She was trying to see if she could sense anyone around them. That would be beneficial in the long run, but she was having no such luck, "but we aren't even sure how many are down here, or where they are, or if The Shredder is down here with them . . . shall I continue?"

"You're paranoid." Raph insisted, much to Leo's annoyance, but the older kept quiet, "There's no way Shredder would dirty his shiny boots just to come down here himself."

"Still." Leo said, and left it at that. Arguing with his brother seemed pointless at times, especially about such topics.

They walked for a while longer. Scanning nearly every inch of the underground. They never found a sign of The Foot being down there. Nobody was there, and there wasn't any leftover weapons, or footprints. Nothing.

"Well, maybe Casey imagined it?" April offered with a halfhearted smile, "I mean, it's dark down here, and you know how our brains can play tricks on us in the dark."

Leo smiled, "I really wouldn't be surpri-"

A flash of silver flew by Raph's face, startling him before hitting Leo from behind. He gasped in surprise, spinning around to see what had happened. With his back now turned to April, she spotted the flying object piercing out of Leo's shell. A ninja star.

She pulled it out, holding it up. The two turtles made eye contact with her and the star. The Foot were here.

Her eyes grew wide, "Um, guys?"

More stars came flying at them, and Leo immediately turned his back to them, standing in front of April with his head down. They all either bounced or stuck in his shell. Raph took the opportunity to charge at them, wielding his sai and ducking to avoid being hit by a stray star. He found his target, and pounced.

One down and . . . he blinked in the darkness, staring ahead to see how many more there were. He couldn't see anything, and couldn't hear anything else except the water rushing in from the pipes around them. Thunder exploded above them where a manhole cover was.

And that was when they attacked, just as the flash went off, lighting up the small area only by a little, revealing their hiding places. The Foot jumped at Raph, swords and knives at the ready. Swinging at his head and legs.

Leo ran at them, trying to provide backup for his brother. Pulling his swords from his sheath, he sliced at the closer few attacking Raph. Sparks burst from where they were sliced in half, falling down into the water that raged on below. Raph took a deep breath, nodding in appreciation towards Leo.

Some Foot soldiers went for April, attacks with the same spirit they did for Leo and Raph. She held her own, however. Using her fan and other skills to knock them back, but as they kept coming, she began to realize something, "There's too many, Leo!"

Leo kicked a soldier out of the way, ignoring the splash that they made. April was right. They seemed to keep coming and coming. They needed Don's group here for backup. He tried reaching for his T-Phone, but just as he did so, a whack to the back of his shell sent him tumbling to the water rapids below.

The phone was toast, he knew this as soon as he hit the water. He needed April's, or Raph's. Swimming to the surface, he spluttered, trying to locate the two of them, and trying to find purchase on the walls. It was too slippery, and his swords . . .

He panicked, spinning in the water, feet kicking in an attempt to touch the bottom. He didn't have his swords. No protection. He needed to be able to help! He chose to use his grappling hook, swinging it over the side and hooking it on a pipe above him. That would hold him long enough for him to climb back up.

"Raph!" he called, and he realized now that his brother was already trying to get to the bank so he could help him up, but that's not what he was worried about now, "Get out of here, use your T-Phone and call Don for backup!"

Raph gave him an incredulous look, "What?!"

"There's too many, Raph!" April said, kicking a soldier away and stumbling over to Raph, putting her back to his shell and looking at the surrounding enemies, "We need their help!"

"So you just want us to leave you?!"

In the chaos, Leo saw something blinking in the distance. It tore his thoughts away from giving a response to his obviously upset brother. Red light, and if he listened really hard, he could hear beeping. What was . . .

He went stone cold.

"Leo!"

The rope broke, and the tide took him again, tumbling towards the machine. Bomb; Leo thought dimly, completely oblivious to Raph, who was yelling and running down the walkway towards him and the fact that he was getting closer to it. They had brought a bomb down here. That was their plan! FIgure out where they lived, and blow the entire place up.

Was it on a time already? If they escaped (referring to Raph and April) then the Foot could carry on this plan. And that bomb looked big. It was hanging off of the top of a bridge going across the waterway, and it was right in his sights. If he passed under the bridge, then he could . . .

He had an idea, but Raph wasn't going to like it.

Something suddenly wrapped around his forearm. Something wet, and muscular. He looked up to be met with two glaring green irises. It almost made him flinch away.

"Why are you always forcing me to save your butt!" he growled, hanging from his other arm with his sai stabbed into the wall. April was still above them, looking down at them in between taking out soldiers, or blocking attacks. She was being pushed farther away from the area by the sheer numbers of Foot soldiers.

Leo gripped Raph with his other hand, "Listen, I have a plan, but you and April need to hurry and get out of here. Call Don, Mikey, and Casey."

Raph immediately began shaking his head, gripping Leo tighter, "Like Hell. You're coming with us. Stop being like this, moron . . ."

"Listen," Leo snarled, "That's a bomb, I need to get it to wash down the water way so they can't get it back."

Raph gaped, "You're just going to go face to face with a bomb? Are you nuts?"

Leo smiled sheepishly, quickly twisting Raph's wrist which forced him to let go. He splashed back into the water, hearing Raph protests even when under. He rose to the surface again, spluttering and frantically looking above him for when that red flashing light would come into sight. There! He saw it. He fished for his ninja star, and prepared to throw it, but something hard and sharp hit him right as he threw it. Red cloth wrapped around the handle. His sword. They threw his sword at him.

He got dunked into the water at the shock of it, and watched as the bright light enveloped the everything.

He had wanted to somehow knock it off the bridge by hitting one of the pipes jutted out of it for carrying, but he missed, and hit it head on. Now, the thing was exploding directly above him. And all he could hope was that Raph had ran.

He was on the walkway by then. He saw the foot soldier, barely being held together by wires throw Leo's sword. He didn't have enough time to do anything before the white light blinded all of them. April was far away from him now, clear in a different tunnel, but he could hear her startled scream from where he was. The ground heaved under him, and before he knew it, he was in a freefall. Loose stone surrounded him, hitting him, annoying him even in the quick motion.

Ice cold water encased him, his head hit something hard, and he was out.

When he awoke he was beyond confused. Soft splashes at his feet, and a pounding headache. The taste of something putrid lingered in his mouth and he blinked away the dark spots dancing across his vision.

"Ugh", he moaned, watching a stone fall from the broken ceiling to land a few feet from him, "What happened?"

The ceiling was a cobbled mess of stone and stalactites threatening to fall any second. And it was so far away . . . so very far away . . .

Water suddenly splashed up onto Raph's face, going into his mouth and nose, sending him into a panic. He sat up, crying out when his arm didn't exactly go with him. When he looked, he saw a large boulder sitting atop it. He was a bit startled by the sight. He hadn't even been aware of it being there until now. How did it . . . ?

He noticed how most of the material below his arm was random gunk and mud. The cement having broke away upon impact of some other stone apparently. Raph silently thanked whatever made that happen, and began tugging at his arm. He held his breath, fighting against the pain he was experiencing, knowing that the longer he pulled, the shorter amount of time he'd be stuck underneath it.

The water around him was growing deeper, he realized. A waterfall type of thing was pouring heavily down from the broken ceiling. Again, he was surprised he hadn't noticed that until now.

He paused in his pulling, sliding his other hand under the boulder and lifting upwards with all of his might. He screamed, getting the large stone at least a few inches off the ground with sheer strength and successfully freeing his battered hand from beneath it.

Now free, he jumped to his feet, stumbling backwards and nearly falling again when his head offered him a dizzy spell. He must've hit his head. Some sort of concussion or something. Probably not too bad if he could think straight and stay upright.

As if on instinct, Raph reached for his sai. Everytime he felt defenseless like he was now, he would do this. The only difference this time was that they weren't there. Missing. He couldn't really think about it now, whether he wanted to or not. His head was spinning.

He tried thinking of why he felt like he was forgetting something. What had happened . . .

His eyes shot upward, fear now lurking in them as he stared around at the dimly lit surrounding area. This was because of that explosion. The fight with the Foot. Bomb.

Leo.

He went clambering through the water, all other thoughts forgotten. He no longer felt pain in his arm, or dizziness in his head. Nothing.

A large mountain of boulders sat in the middle, but all around it were more, and if Leo was right there when that explosion happened-

"Oh . . ." he mumbled, putting a hand to his head, trying not to imagine his big brother trapped and crushed beneath hundred pound boulders.

He went back to searching, calling out his brother's name repeatedly, digging through the piles of rocks, moving on if he couldn't lift one. He'd go back if he had to. He was going to find his brother.

The water continued to rise, inch by inch relentlessly. Time was of the essence, and Raph began feeling the panic rising all throughout his body.

Then he heard coughing. Loud, hacking, wet coughing, and it made him spin on his heel sending tidal waves of water splashing around him as he followed the sound.

"Leo!" he called, trying to locate it again. It had been over here. Near the center of the disaster area, and he was going to find him. He was.

"Leo, where are ya?!" again, he yelled as loud as he could.

No answer, but there didn't have to be one. Somehow, he didn't exactly know how, but he saw blue. The color shining in the darkness like a signal. And that was all he needed for him to go charging in the direction of the color. Eyes stayed locked on the color, the figure of his brother becoming more clear, as well as what had happened to him.

A large pile of boulders about the size of the one that was on Raph's arm laid around and ontop of Leo. His head and arm were the only body parts sticking out from the pile. Water leaked down from above, flowing over him in a continuous sheet. He was practically being crushed and drowned at the same time.

Raph immediately went to action, trying to release his big brother from the hold of the rocks. They were all just as heavy as the one from earlier, and that meant it was no easy task. And the growing water making everything slippery wasn't helping at all.

"Hey, Leo?" he asked, breathing hard after forcing one boulder to crash beside him, "You there?"

No answer, and he bit his lip nervously. Thoughts loomed over him, but he shook his head, clearing them all and continued to move the rocks. Finally, after about a dozen boulders, he successfully had his brother freed. Without another thought, he wrapped his arms around Leo's shell and plastron and pulled him off the pile underneath him.

The water splashed on them, and he gazed around frantically for a way to go. A place he could head to get away from the water, and the boulders, everything. He needed somewhere to rest, and check things over.

Seeing a slight opening in a far corner, raph took his chances and began dragging Leo with him, failing at trying to carry him any other way. Hopefully there would be somewhere somewhat safe there.

No signal. Don could make practically anything, but his phone failed to connect if it got a little wet and got too far down in the ground. Peachy.

Raph sighed, leaning his head back against the cement wall behind him to ease the pounding headache beating behind his eyes. It started awhile ago, but he hadn't actually had time to think about the pain in his head until now. Until his thoughts decided to calm down a bit, that is.

At least it still gives us some light, he decided, turning the phone off and taking to sit in the dark.

The water seemed to have slowed down, if not stop completely, and Raph really couldn't be more thankful for that. Leo hadn't stirred since, what Raph assumed to be, about an hour. Apparently the guy needed the rest. Raph couldn't see how he wouldn't need rest. How banged up he was . . .

It almost looked as bad as that one time he went flying through April's window . . . given, he hadn't had a chance to look at his brother's shell. If that was cracked, things would be a whole lot worse than they were now. Just like-

No, Raph thought, he spent months out after that. No way he's going to do that now, right?

His eyes slowly turned to the sleeping form of Leo, lying down, chin to his chest, having slid down the wall a little since Raph had perched him up. Whatever suits him, Raph had thought.

He swallowed, shaking the thought of that fateful day out of his mind. He was sure Leo hadn't enjoyed his time just as much as Raph didn't. Just as much as everyone didn't.

He decided to stay sitting there for at least a little longer, massaging his sore arm. He was sure it was fractured or something. Maybe not broken, but there was definitely more to it than a simple sprain or bruise. He could still use it. He could hold things, move things, pick things up. It just seriously hurt when he did.

Soon they were going to have to move on, and he was going to have to suck it up in order to help out Leo.

As if on cue, to his right Raph heard the clearing of a throat. Hoarse and obviously filled with discomfort, but it still made Raph perk up significantly. The red banded turtle flailed onto his knees, hustling over to Leo whose face was creased in . . . something. Pain? Gosh, Raph hoped not, but he didn't exactly doubt it either.

"Yo, Leo?" he mumbled quietly after a second or two. Raph watched him, eyes gleaming in the darkness waiting impatiently for his brother to respond somehow. And he did. Leo reacted immediately, in fact. One usable eye blinking open, and Raph was sure to turn the phone back on in order to ensure Leo could see fine. He blinked slowly, studying Raph for a moment. Then he sighed, closing his eye with another clearing of his throat.

"Are you . . . alright?"

First words, and of course they're something like that. Raph couldn't help it, his temper flared a little, "Really Leo?! Have you looked at yourself yet?!"

That bleary eye opened again, and, god how Raph's heart jumped at this, he smiled lopsidedly, "I'll take that . . . as a yes, then."

Raph didn't quite know what to say to that so he sat there silently, rubbing the fingers on his right hand together anxiously. Leo seemed to feel content with the silence, keeping his eye open, but just sort of staring off into the space ahead of him. What's going on his his head, Raph wondered briefly.

After a moment, Raph found his words, "What were you thinking?"

Leo rose an eye ridge at him, obviously confused to his brother's question. Raph resisted the urge to grow annoyed at Leo's ignorance, and instead clarified himself.

"That bomb. You blew yourself up, man. What were you thinking?"

Leo frowned this time, and somewhere in Raph he felt like he shouldn't have said anything, but he knew that question had been eating him up the entire time he sat in those dead silent tunnels.

"I . . . had to do . . . something."

Raph tried his hardest to ignore how feeble the forced pauses in Leo's speech were, and instead decided to continue the discussion. Leo probably wouldn't appreciate him babying him anyways, "No, you really didn't. At least not like that."

"What would . . . you have done then . . , Raph?"

Good question. Raph thought for a moment, and then gave up because he wasn't really into coming up with plans like that, "I don't know exactly, but we could have taken care of it together. You don't always have to do that sort of stuff alone, y'know."

Raph looked away, feeling a strange feeling in his stomach. Guilt? Why? Where did that come from? He forced it away, and when he looked back he saw Leo staring at him, a serious look on his face, corroded away in part from the exhaustion in his eyes.

"Raph . . . listen, I-" he stopped mid sentence, something spiking in his one visible eye, and Raph was about to question what the problem was when Leo suddenly began attempting to sit up. That wasn't good. Raph craned forward, dropping the T-Phone and setting his hands on his plastron.

"Dude, what are you doing?", but Leo ignored him, instead grabbing hold of one of his arms, and pulling himself the rest of the way up. Raph watched warily not really knowing what to do.

After a moment of staring off into the distance of the cavern-like tunnel, Leo finally said something, "The tunnel's flooding."

Raph understood now, but he didn't get how his brother discovered that all of a sudden, "Um, yeah. How do you-"

"There's water . . . coming up here."

Raph reacted in an instant. Standing, and looking at Leo's feet which were starting to be surrounded by the freezing water. Raph cursed under his breath, looking around at the two tunnels on either side of them. They were going to have to get moving before the water got too deep, but he didn't know which way they should go. Which way was right, and above that, he didn't know if it was actually a good thing to move Leo.

"Yo, Leo." he said, bending down next to his brother, who was trying to move away from the water by himself, "I'm going see which way we need to go, okay?"

His older brother, through clenched teeth, held his hand up, "Yeah, help . . . me up."

Raph didn't take his hand though, and eventually Leo looked up to see what the problem was, and when he did he saw Raph standing above him again, looking down with a frown tugging at his face, "Sorry, bro. I'll be back."

Leo panicked, "Wait!" his voice cracked, and Raph ran off before he had the chance to say anything more, "Raph . . . s-stop!"

But he didn't. Raph wanted to be sure that the tunnel he was going down would be the right one. Moving Leo more than he had to wasn't exactly up for a debate. And even though he could hear his brother yelling after him, he still knew he wasn't going to go back for him just yet.

Long and behold, his choice paid off. If he wasn't paying attention to the space in front of him, then Raph would have run right smack into a mountain of rubble. He skidded to a stop, teeth gritting together as he slipped and fell hard on his shell.

Muttering a string of curse, Raph rolled over, standing and running a hand along the blockade. Obviously, they wouldn't be able to go this way. It seemed like the explosion rattled things up in the infrastructure of the underground in more than just that one area. They had to be far enough away from where the explosion happened by now, but still, the damage was obvious.

He growled at the waste of time, spinning on his heel and rushing back to his brother's side. He found that that might actually be for the best, having one of their options not be an option any more. Then they won't have to think of the "what if they went the other way" because they wouldn't have even been able to anyways.

When he got back to their rest stop, the water had already risen significantly. It was up to his knees by then, and he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. Leo was over where he was before Raph left, struggling to try and stand. At the sight, Raph rushed over.

Leo offered him a sideways glance, and hissed through clenched teeth, "Help me . . . up."

Raph obliged without a word, wrapping one of his brother's arms around his shoulder, and putting one of his own around Leo's shell. When he hefted him up, Leo cried out and Raph stopped immediately after hearing it.

Then he felt it. A jagged edge dig into the hand supporting Leo's back. It was a deep crevice where there shouldn't be one, and Raph's body went cold. Cracked. Raph immediately panicked, trying to see in the dark, not knowing where the T-Phone was.

How bad was it?

His neck was craned in an odd position, trying to see his brother's shell. He couldn't though, it was too dark.

Leo was saying something. He couldn't hear a thing, though.

But, the water. Their time was running out. He had to do something, but . . . should he move Leo? Was he alright. What should he do? What should he do?

He should set Leo down, he decided. Figure out what to do for his shell before they move one. He didn't care if they had enough time. He didn't want to risk Leo's well-being by moving him when he shouldn't. Raph moved to set Leo down.

"Don't . . ." Leo started, huffing air into his lungs like he had just run a mile or something, Raph watched him with weary eyes, halting in setting him back on the cement ground. Leo was pushing back with what little strength remained, his legs refusing to let Raph seat him, "Don't stop, just . . . help me."

Raph hesitated for only a moment, but seeing the water that was now to mid-thigh, he did as his older brother told him. Leo was the leader, not him. No matter how often the two of them fought over that fact, it remained as so. And even in a situation like this where he could make his choice a reality despite what Leo would say, he decided to just let Leo do what he did best.

It was hard. Hearing his brother cry out again, but he got him up to his feet successfully this time. It was painstaking for both of them, but he sighed deeply afterwards.

"Where . . . do we need . . . to go?" Leo asked in between heavy breaths.

Raph took a half step to his left, slowly so Leo knew which way they were going, "Here. The other way is blocked by rubble. No way around it."

Leo made a sound acknowledgment, and began walking beside his brother. The water made the trek even more difficult. Raph knew Leo was depending on him for the most part, and so he tried to make the experience as easy as possible, which meant no slipping, and no rough pulls away or anything of the sort.

And he succeeded for the most part. Only once did he almost fall over, and he didn't hear any sound of discomfort from his brother, though that might have been on purpose on his brother's part. He was a stubborn guy after all. After that, though, they were perfectly fine (ish).

They made it through the tunnel, which was thankfully unblocked, and found another wide open cavern type of thing. Running right through the middle of it looked to be train tracks of some sort. They weren't train tracks though. No trains ran through here . . . at least as far as he knew.

Raph chose to ignore it. No water was in the cavern at all, and that meant this was even better than their last place.

"We should stay here." Raph said, walking over to a wall on the far side, furthest away from the tunnel they came in from. That way, if the water did decide to flow even more to the point that it began coming into the cavern they were in, they'd still be far away from it.

Just as he was about to let Leo down, his brother tensed, pushed against Raph's movements, and stayed standing. Raph looked at Leo questionably, one eye ridge arched high and his mouth parted slightly. He didn't get it.

"No." Leo said simply. And Raph continued his lost gaze.

"What do ya mean, 'No'?" Raph asked, a little annoyed. Why couldn't he just sit down? They both knew he was in bad shape, and Leo needed to just rest while Don and Mikey came to find them. April had no doubt gone and gotten them, so it would only be a matter of time . . . right?

"I'm up." Leo said simply, straightening up and taking more of his weight off of Raph's shoulders to prove his point, "We should keep . . . moving. At least for as . . . long as I can manage"

Raph shook his head, "We need to wait here for Donnie and Mikey. If we move they won't be able to find us."

"They won't . . . anyways."

Raph growled, and Leo straightened even more, "Why the Hell won't they?"

"The cavern . . . we fell in is flooded." Leo reminded, "as well as the tunnels coming . . . to here. They wouldn't . . . risk coming through . . . all of that. They'd try to find another way around." he coughed harshly, and Raph considered forcing him to sit down anyways, "Because . . . they know we'd . . . try moving on."

Raph shook his head, "You can't, Leo."

"I will, Raph." He countered, and then his blue eyes met Raph's in the dim light, both ignited like fire despite his obvious exhaustion, "So, let's keep moving."

Raph could argue all day with Leo, and sometimes he would win the argument, or even the fight if it was a physical dispute. Leo and him were about even when it came to this. But, something in his brother's eyes made him wither, and he decided to give in. With another slow half-step, he and Leo began walking towards the next set of tunnels, choosing the one that seemed to look the most right and going that way.

They walked for what felt like hours, but really Raph couldn't tell how long it was. All he knew was that, about halfway through their walking, Leo began sagging into him more than he had throughout the beginning of their journey. Whether Leo like it or not, they were going to have to stop soon, and Raph knew it.

After that, Raph allowed for them to go until they found another cavern. This cavern was better than the others he'd seen. Less . . . trashy he guessed. More working lights there, and that was a decent sign. Maybe they were getting closer to somewhere familiar. If only he knew which way was home . . .

He got to a corner, one close to another tunnel just in case something happened. Their luck had been bad so far, so he wasn't going to doubt anything yet.

"Down you go, bro." He mumbled quietly as he began settling Leo against the two conjoined walls. Leo said nothing, but he felt Leo tense slightly, trying to help out in getting to the ground. Once settled, Raph slid down the wall beside his brother. He sighed deeply at finally being able to rest.

"I guess that we'll continue tomorrow, eh Leo?" he asked, crossing his arms as a draft from somewhere brought a chill up his spine.

Leo grunted, eye ridges drawn together with look of discomfort. Raph watched him for a second, then with a heavy sigh he wrapped one arm around his brother's shoulders and pulled him into his side carefully.

That was all it took. Moments later, he felt the even breaths of sleep from Leo, and then soon after that him too. He melted into sleep. Nothingness.