11 Days Dead - Day 4
Dawn of the Fourth day
- 180 Hours Remain-
Raphael was... quiet.
Not that the snapper had ever been especially verbose - usually that title fell to Leo and Mikey, unstoppable chatterboxes at the best of times. But this quiet, it wasn't a thinking quiet, or a watching quiet, or even an amused quiet, the way Leo was so used to. It wasn't fond, or exasperated or any of the normal silences that Raph was skilled at putting to use.
This silence didn't communicate at all.
It was strange and empty, a reflection of the hollow way that Raph talked lately. He sounded like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and every time he spoke it sounded a little heavier.
Leo hated it.
To be fair, he hated a lot of things right now, but this was among the top of the list. Raph shouldn’t sound like he was made of ceramic, empty and echoing inside. Leo was determined to get something, anything, out of his brother. Anything to bring some spark of emotion back to his dull eyes.
So he was going to try and get Raph’s attention. He had a feeling Mikey wouldn’t belive him, even if he succeeded in his quest to get someone to notice him.
“Raaaph!” He called, right in his big brothers ear. Raph only shivered, glancing around for wherever the cold that blanketed his shoulder, which Leo was currently leaning on. “Raphie! Can you hear me?”
Leo knew the answer was no, even before Raph stayed silent. He sighed, rolling his eyes. “Of course not. Soo, I’m going to try and move your stuff. Please, watch and be amazed!”
He set his hand around the cup, focusing intently. He’d tried this too many times for him to count already, but he wouldn’t stop. He was going to succeed.
Raph reached for the glass, fully intended to take a drink, as he was unaware of Leo’s plan.
“No! You can’t move it when I’m trying to move it!” He shouted, panic and determination filling him, and he grabbed the glass, pulling it back and away from Raph’s hand. The glass slid over the wet, condensation coated wood smoothly, gliding with more speed than Leo had expected.
“Hah!” He shouted, and lost focus immediately. He shivered as the glass phased through his hand, and then arm, to land in his feet as it fell off of the table. Frost was forming on the shattered glass, ice floating and solidifying at the top of the puddle of water.
Raph startled, jumping back and staring. His eyes were wide, scared.
“What?”
“Come on,” Leo begged silently, desperately. “Please, you have to get it. Please, Raph.”
The snapping turtle stared at the half frozen mess on the floor, which Leo hated standing in, but was terrified of stepping out of. Ice didn’t form this fast, maybe if he stepped out, it would melt and Raph would think this was all just some weird accident.
Raph swallowed hard, studying the air around him, as if he was searching for something. He shook his head, closed his eyes. “It’s just an accident, Raph. Just a weird, weird accident. It don’t mean nothing.”
He stared miserably at the mess for another moment. “It’s worth checking, right?” He whispered. “Leo?”
The moment his name passed Raph’s lips Leo was moving, throwing himself. He’d intended to wrap his arms around his big brother, halfway convinced that Raph could actually see him, and he was so relieved that he’d done it, that he’d gotten his brother’s attention, that one of them knew he wasn’t dead, he was certain now that he’d be solid enough to actually land.
Instead, he phased through and ended up halfway through the floor behind them.
Raphael jumped, the sudden coldness that had seized up his body chilling him down to the core, and when Leo sat up, not so much pushing himself out of the ground as willing himself out, he noticed he was shaking.
“Leo?” Raph whispered, again, and this time Leo took a more careful approach, making sure he stopped just shy of phasing through his brother when he tried to hug him this time, incorporeal arms stretched around Raph as far as they could.
Raph’s hand phased through his head, landing on his own chest.
“Holy pizza supreme.” There was a moment of silence, and then Raph shifted, and Leo backed up to avoid any more phasing. “I have to tell the others.”
He was halfway across the room before he paused again, and then sighed deeply, shaking his head. “I should double check, just to safe. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.”
Raphael took the time to grab a candle, setting the flickering light in front of him while he settled on the floor to meditate. The training room here was empty, for the most part, and quiet. No one would visit unless they were looking for Raph specifically, and it made it the perfect place to meditate.
As the candle flickered to life, it cast a warm glow that cut through even the desaturated tones of the world, drawing Leo toward its heat. He couldn’t help but grin excitedly. This was happening, it was really happening, and he’d get to talk to his brothers.
He could see Raph’s ninpo coming to life, a crackling red energy that traced up and down his body in harmless waves, spreading out from his heart as he took a deep breath, in and out. Raphael’s brown was furrowed in frustration, and he took another purposeful breath, filling his lungs up until they wouldn’t hold any more, and then releasing the air in a steady exhale.
“Leo?” This time when he asked Leo’s name, his voice was calmer and steadier. He was calling on their family ties, the Hamato ninpo that connected all their spirits. Leo could see their family symbol manifesting over Raph’s heart too, glowing faintly. He wasn’t sure if this was a spirit thing or not, because he couldn’t remember it ever looking like that when they meditated.
“I’m here.” Leo assured, folding his knees under him as he knelt in front of Raph. “I’m right here. Can you hear me?”
“Leo?” This time it was a little more desperate, and little more urgent.
“I’m right here. I’m right here!” Leo didn’t want to yell, hated yelling at his brothers in any form but the words still weren’t making noise and he was so, so close. This couldn’t be happening.
“Leo… if you’re here-”
“I’m right here!”
“-please, you gotta tell me.” Raph’s voice was breaking, and Leo wanted to cry, thought he could feel trembling in limbs that still felt numb and static and not there, when he tried to reach for his brother.
“I’m here, I swear I’m still here, why-” Leo would think he was hyperventilating, except he couldn’t feel air rushing past his throat, drying his mouth out with the too fast rise and fall.
Why wasn’t this working? Why?
As he watched, he noticed someone standing in the shadows, glowing a faint ghostly green. He stood, looking again, noticing more and more of the hooded figures surrounding them and filling up the room, one after the other. Leo could hear hushed whispers and murmurs, like an echoing rustle from every direction, but after a moment the voices ceased.
Karai was the last one to arrive, appearing out of smoke and magic. She looked… sad. Like she was preparing herself to break bad news. Gently, she set her hand over Raph’s.
“Leo?” Raph whispered, his eyes shooting open, before he realized who it was. “Gram-Gram!”
“Gram-Gram?” Leo echoed, and she looked up at him, her eyes searching over the area he was standing in. A few of the spirits next to him were staring at him, he thought. At least, they had stopped watching Raph and were looking towards him.
Before he could say anything else, Raph was leaping up in joy, and Karai was staring in confusion at Leo. Then she looked away, back to Raph, who had tears in his eyes and a desperate, hopeful look.
“Gram-Gram! You’re here! Have you seen Leo? He… we… lost him. I thought he might be… with you.” Raph trailed off, looking away. Karai smiled, a sad and painful thing, and reached a ghostly green hand out to rest on his cheek.
“I have seen your battles with the Krang.” She said. “But Leonardo is not with our ancestors.”
Raph’s whole body slumped, and Leo felt numb. He watched as Raph’s head dropped, trying to hide the tears welling there. Leo wasn’t sure if he could see the crowd of spirits, how they moved and shifted restlessly the same way he did at the sight of his brother’s grief.
“Fuck.” Raph breathed softly, the first time Leo’d ever heard him cuss, and Leo didn’t care that he was going to phase through his brother, he still tried to hug him anyway.
“I’m sorry.” Karai offered, reaching out to him as well, but Raph flinched away.
“I’m sorry.” He repeated, standing and passing right through Leo, his restless feet pacing. “I can’t- He’s not? He’s really gone?”
Karai didn’t say anything, her eyes flicking to where Leo had been when he’d said her name. So, she couldn’t see him, not really. The host of their ancestors probably couldn’t either, then. The thought stung, and Leo turned away, eyes following Raph’s back and forth steps. .
“He’s really gone.” Raph whispered. “I gotta go lay down. I’m sorry Gram-Gram.”
“It’s okay, Raphael.”
When Raph turned to leave, the ancestors disappeared quickly, vanishing into smoke until it was just Karai, lingering in the room. She was staring at where Leo had been again, but sighed and turned away beginning to vanish into smoke.
“Wait! Gram-Gram!”
She turned, eyes widening as she finally saw him, and he swore he felt the familiar spark of ninpo reaching out to him, before she was gone again and the warmth with her.
He stared, shaking, for a long moment before he scrunched his eyes closed tightly.
When he opened them again, he looked down at the faint outline of his hands, flexing his fingers carefully.
“She heard me.” He reassured himself. “She heard me. I moved that cup. I’m not powerless. I will find a way back. I will get back to them.”
Leo stared at where Karai had been; at the still lit, but low burning candle still resting on the ground, a beacon of warmth and light even for him. He came to a decision, and settled himself in front of the candle, taking up the same pose his brother had just a few minutes ago.
Deep breath.
He focused his mind, trying to call on the connection that’s become so second nature to him. He loved his family, and they were an unbreakable team, even now.
Deep breath.
He wasn’t going to give up, not on them or himself. He was going to find a way. They had done so much, come so far. Mikey hadn’t given up, and neither would Leonardo.
Deep breath.
Outside a train car several rooms over, blue electricity crackled and sparked up the blade of a lone katana.
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