***
The Foot attacked mercilessly. There were only five in the room, excluding the two fallen guards, but they were the best the Foot had to offer. And more were stationed throughout the building.
Mike rolled to avoid a blow and took cover under the table. It was then that he saw the girls. He signaled Leo.
The turtle's leader threw a soldier out the door and exited. Donatello allowed himself a moment to wonder, but it cost him a hit. He staggered back and nearly tripped over the body of a small girl. Now he understood, Leo left to get the fighting away from the girl…girls, there were more than one, all unconscious.
Raphael gave a sidekick that sent a soldier flying into the center table, knocking it over. Mike pulled the punkish girl towards him before the table landed on her and shot a dirty look to Raphael. He just grinned until he saw the other girls.
"Indigo?" he stuttered. He fell to his knees beside the pale blonde and checked for a pulse. He couldn't find one. "Mike…"
Mike frowned at his brother's behavior and checked the girl over himself. No pulse. No breathing. "I'm sorry." He checked the other girls, feeling horrible for Raph but he knew there was nothing he could do. By now there were no more soldiers in the room and fighting could be heard in the corridor outside.
Raph panicked. He had never panicked before. He jumped to his feet. "Leo!" He ran from the room, and a moment later Leo came stumbling in like he had been shoved through the door.
"Mike?"
Mike pulled him over. "She's not breathing, and there's no pulse." Leo knelt down beside the girl to start CPR. "She's Raph's friend."
Leo looked up at Mike in surprise, then back at the girl. He thought back to his earlier comment and frowned. He shook away the guilt and began to breathe for her.
***
Raphael became a true berserker. He no longer felt the pain of the blows and cuts as his enemy attacked. He felt only the white anger that threatened to consume him.
She can't be dead…
If she is, all these bastards are going to join her.
Donatello was having less trouble now that Raphael was here, but he found little comfort in his brother's seeming insanity.
Soon, the last of the army fell and they were the only two standing in the hall. Raphael tensed his fingers around his sai, waiting. When at last he was satisfied that there were no more he stuck his sai in his belt and ran back into the room with Leo and Mike.
Mike sat trying to revive the pink-haired girl while Leo was helping the brunette to her feet. Raphael's gaze fell onto the figure lying on the floor. He turned to Leo with accusation in his eyes.
Leo bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Raph, I tried…"
"Bull."
Leo cringed. "There was nothing I could do."
Raph knelt beside Indigo again. "No…"
Donnie put a comforting hand on his shoulder just to have it shrugged off as Raphael picked up the body of his friend. Mike picked up Morgan and looked over at Raven, who was walking, but had to lean on Leo.
"Is she…?" Raven asked, or rather, tried to ask. She couldn't finish the sentence, she just couldn't.
Raphael looked down at Indigo's face. She looked like she was only sleeping; her whole body relaxed, but was heavier than he expected. He silently headed back up to the roof.
"Leo?"
Leo let Raven go with Mike up to the roof and went over to the upturned table with Donnie. "What is it? What happened here?"
Don pulled back the sheet to reveal the face of Oroku Saki, his eyes staring lifelessly at the ceiling. Leo drew his katana instinctively.
"He's dead," Don stated. "For real this time." He looked around the shattered room. "Looks like they tried bringing him back again. And failed."
Leo sheathed his sword. "Why couldn't they just let things be?"
Don turned to leave. "They were devoted. You can't blame them for trying, we'd do it for you."
Leo stood in the room for several more minutes before taking his sword and stabbing it through the heart of the corpse.
"Just to be sure," he told the dead air as he wiped the blade with the sheet before placing it back over his enemy.
***
By the time Leo reached the roof Morgan had awakened and Raven was crying openly, being comforted by Mike.
Raphael was nowhere to be seen.
Leo looked to Don, who just shrugged, as if to say 'he was gone when I got here'. He voiced the question to the others. "Where's Raph?"
Morgan ran her fingers through her neon hair. "Just vanished with Indigo. Great Gaia, what am I going to tell her mom?"
Leo looked at both girls, making sure he had their attention. "Go home. Don't tell anyone what happened here. We'll take care of this."
Morgan poked him in the plastron with a blue fingernail. "Look, Blue-boy, she was our friend, our leader, and we aren't just abandoning this."
Don pulled her back. "You don’t know what you're dealing with. The Foot are dangerous." He paused before adding, "How did you get involved in this anyway?"
Mike and Leo both looked at her expectantly. Morgan looked down at her army boots. "Raven's brother belongs to the group…the Foot, what a stupid name…and told us that they needed us to heal their master, who had been poisoned."
Leo frowned. "They lied." Morgan looked up in surprise and he continued, "They're a group of ninja thieves and we've fought them many times."
Raven looked up into Mike's brown eyes. "So, that makes you the good guys?"
"Yep," Mike grinned.
"Our last meeting with Shredder, their master, ended with his death," Leo explained.
"But he wasn't dead," Morgan argued. "I felt his life force."
Don leaned on his bo. "Well, he's dead now, no doubt. Maybe the mutagen kept him alive after the pier collapsed on him."
"What?" Raven and Morgan exclaimed at the same time.
Leo sighed. "Nevermind. Just go home."
"No!" Morgan yelled. "They did something to her. It wasn't a healing spell, it was something else."
"What?" Mike asked.
"I don't know. The man spoke in Japanese."
Leo grabbed her arm, probably a little harder than he intended. "Tell me. Tell me exactly what he said as well as you can remember."
***
Raphael bent down on one knee and set Indigo on the ground. When he'd started walking he hadn't known where he was going; he was just…going, staying in the shadows. He was only mildly surprised that he had ended up in a cemetery, although he had no plans to bury his friend. He wasn't sure which one he was in, but he really didn't care as long as it was dark, secluded, and deserted. It was all three due to a wooded area nearby.
For the longest time he just sat there, watching her motionless form, like if he tried hard enough he could see a spark of life.
Why was life so unfair? How could it hate him so much? He'd known her for less than a week, talked to her three times, but seeing her like this hurt so much. Maybe losing the possibility was what hurt. He'd felt a kinship with her the second she didn't run screaming. When she told him she was as much an outcast as he was. Now it had been taken. Perhaps his one chance at…
Raphael shook his head and shut his eyes against the tears. If he'd been looking he may have seen what he had been looking for.
***
Heat. Life. It was returning, again. He could feel it, the air in his lungs, the blood in his veins, the light behind his eyes. As the energy increased, he could feel a presence near him.
He opened his eyes and looked around the unfamiliar surroundings. Before any evaluations could be made he heard a noise and moved his head in that direction.
***