Winded Lungs | TMNT Raph X OC Love Story

the scene of

The sounds of screaming had not quite registered by the time Crescent had come to. Her brain had not yet gone into focus, and sounds were difficult to pinpoint towards sources. After all, just a minute ago, she had been listening to immersive synthesized music on a very loud volume. Speaking of which, her brain temporarily thought of where her magenta headphones could be placed. That question did not linger in her mind for long, as the events of the accident were quickly ramping up with severity.

The van was toppling over by then.

In the grand scheme of things, the impact was instantaneous, but trauma can make the memory feel like hours. It was the slow timed version of reality, paired with the despairing feeling of helplessness. That was what Crescent was feeling.

She could now register her parents' bloodcurdling screams emanating from the car. Her stomach flipped as the car toppled over in a dizzying cycle. From the squints of her eyes, blood was flying through the air. Oddly enough, it was as if Crescent could see every detail, every exact particle and the minute color of red that flew by. Her parents had stopped making any sound. She had no time to start her grieving, as a large piece of the car's flotsam had hit itself against Crescent's head, registering her unconscious.

Mikey and the others were out of the tank, and a significant distance from the vehicle they crashed into. But even one with poor eyesight could see the disaster in front of them. Smoke began to rise from the burning gray minivan, and a carnivorous flame began to consume the driver's seat. Its cannibalistic tendencies became insatiable, and quickly spread to the passengers seat, up to the point where it was all burning. It was all up in flames.

The turtles and April stood in slack awe for a moment as the van quickly became consumed by the inside fire. The street was in a wrecked condition also, which meant that soon there would be dispatches of humans filling up. That meant that they had to leave the scene fast.

The grounded and terrifyingly vivid reality was gnawing away at Mikey's psyche. The superficial infection of fear has spread across the turtle's body firstly before his brothers. The weight dropping guilt flooded his stomach and feet. All but a quiveringly quiet exclamation of fear had left Michelangelo's lips.

Although, not all of his words had dried up. "Dudes. We just totally hit somebody!"

"I should go over and see if they're okay." April announced with a worried determination set on her face. She stepped forward, as if to start her journey across the street, but Leo's large hand had stuck out to draw April away.

"No, April. This is bad enough as it is. We need to get away from here. It'd be too suspicious and too dangerous for you to show up on the scene."

Leo's right, I just hate it. He's right in the way that's so annoying, Raphael thought. Although he was upset about this turn of events as much as anyone, his usual hungry flame of indignantly going about life was put out for the moment, sullenly resting inside of his fragile heart.

Like a tail between his legs, Raph began a shameful climb down into the sewers with his brothers. Flustered and slightly upset, April parted ways towards the surface side. Maybe she was going to hang out with Casey, or stick around to see what happens when the ambulances and car cops arrive on the scene.

The raw stagnant air of the sewers felt wrong as Raph walked down his familiar home environment. The feeling of blame clung to his shell like an inextricable mystery slime. He just needed to take a moment to clear his mind as he walked. He couldn't let his anger get the best of him. Yada yada yada. Raph thought broodingly.

He was observing his brothers. Notably Mikey, who seemed the most visibly shaken up by the whole thing. The youngest brother tended to be overly emotional like that. Sensing the distress, Raph brisked his pace and began to walk side by side with him.

"Just...take deep breaths little brother." Raph said quietly, attempting to soothe Mikey.

Amidst the happenings of the underground, the wet concrete on the surface side had been ruined with the stench and feel of flame. With her skin kissing the pavement, the dampness transferred over to her fingerprints. Crescent's hair became warm and sizzled as the ones along her nape singed. Where was she? The area smelled funny.

She quickly made a concentrated effort to adapt to her surroundings, trying to find a way out. A feeling of delusion flooded her, and the slow realization of her grief was put on hold. Her mind zoned in on something very particular. A manhole.

A little ways away from the crushed glass belonging to the decimated window, was a dark circular shape with the initials of the city engraved. The flipped car was heaving closer to the ground, reaching the probability that Crescent would soon be crushed by her family's vehicle. She had quickly put together a plan to jump down into the sewers in order to escape the jaws of death.

This was the only means of surviving, so she bared her teeth and attempted to lift the manhole cover from the concrete, all the while miniscule shards of glass slid effortlessly and lodged themselves across her pale arms. Nothing that pained sobs and burning tears did not already follow after. Her nostrils ached as the weight in her fingers felt a shift in the opposing direction. The circle parted leftwards to reveal the narrow hole into the sewers.

Through the sensations of pain and blood, a foul odor came with it, and the hole of salvation was bottomless. No stairs could be seen. Crescent reasoned she could fall in. This was risky, even life threatening. But her side hurt so badly. She was trembling from the ooze of boiling blood running down from inside her shirt. The car was leaning down even further. If Crescent stayed, she would die from this. Dumbly, Crescent leapt inside.

Harshly, she had fallen. Her palms sunk into a mix of the sewer water and blood. The ground felt patchy like a beard, and warm with red liquid. The original liquids were a sort of lukewarm to a colder temperature. Crescent's plump body sizzled with pain all over, but she was alive.