Her pulse raced as she struggled to control her breathing. Her legs felt like jelly as she tried to run in any direction, hoping futilely that she was going the right way. She could feel dread taking over her like a cloak of fear and hopelessness. Her worry caused her to sweat, hands clammy, mouth dry and a million thoughts forming in her mind.
"I can't do this anymore..." She thought aloud as she collapsed on the floor next to a wall near a dark alleyway. "I'm never going to get home, my parents must be so worried about me, I don't know where to go, it feels like I've been walking for hours..." Her thoughts continued to overflow and along with the tears falling down her face.
Her breath became jagged with every inhale. Her sobs became louder with every thought of her not getting back to her parents. She curled her body up into herself with her knees against her chest, holding them tight. She didn't know when she'd ever get back, if she'd ever get back.
Unbeknownst to Rachael, some certain heroes were on their way to look after her right then.
----
"How's it going, Don?" Leo said over the speaker of the T-phone. "Hmm... no sign of her here, how about you, Leo?" Donnie responded. "Nope, nothing. Try to get areas where it's lit, she may be scared so, I'm sure she'd be somewhere where there's light around."
Donnie hung up and that's when the guilt finally hit Leo. How could I leave a defenseless girl stranded in the middle of an abandoned city, and at NIGHT? He thought, beating himself up. What kind of a hero am I?
Mikey hummed the ringtone of his T-phone as it rang. "Whadup!" Mikey answered, dragging on his greeting as if this was a chill night out with the boys, and to him it was. "Mikey, find anything?" Leo said on the other line.
"No sir! Haven't seen a human in- Holy Chalupa!" Mikey exclaimed, startling Leo.
"What? You found her?!" He asked.
"No but I found a recipe book just sitting on this roof man, who would throw out such a thing?" Mikey said.
"Ugh Mikey, focus!" Leo demanded. He called Raph next, to see if he had any luck. "Raph?" He said as the dial tone stopped and Raphael answered the phone. "Hey Leo, ya find her?" Raph asked. "No," Leo began, "I was calling to see if you did."
The green eyed turtle sighed. "No, haven't seen a human walking or anything anywhere–wait, wait I see something." Raph crouched on the roof he was on and saw someone sitting across on the bottom of the other complex near an alleyway with minimal light. It was a girl, no, the girl . The one they rescued then left alone. Biggest mistake a hero could do.
The girl had her head down on her knees and as he looked closer he saw her shoulders heave up and down rapidly. They suddenly stopped moving so quickly and the girl raised her head slowly. Her face was wet and puffy, and it was obvious she had been crying but oh, to Raphael, she looked heavenly. Her skin that was bathed with her tears seemed to glow in the minimal light that surrounded her. Her eyes glistened as she blinked the tears away, seemingly trying to calm herself down. Her coffee colored hair rested on her shoulders so elegantly, it looked straight out of a conditioner commercial. He tried to get a closer look at her by leaning forward but just as he did, he lost balance and fell face first off the roof and onto the ground in a dimly lit area. The trash cans that cushioned his very intentional descent clanked loudly as they were crushed under his weight, echoing around the thin alley.
With a gasp, Rachael heard the crash and perked herself up startled. Jolting back in a panic, her eyes rapidly darted to search for the source of the noise.
"Raph, Raph! Can you hear me? What's going on? What happened?" Leo's voice called from the T-phone. Seems Raph hadn't hung up since he saw Rachael.
Raphael groaned from pain and soreness. "Hm...? Ugh, Leo?" He urged out trying to find the device around him being that he might have dropped it during the fall. Relieved, he could still hear Leo's voice so it didn't break in the crash.
Rachael couldn't see anything but could hear faint voices across from her. She slowly got up and was ready to run away until she heard the rustling again. She gasped softly and closed her fists and brought them close to her face right underneath her chin, elbows coming together slightly against her body to give a sense of defense.
"Ugh... Leo?" Raph said through the phone after he found it. He got up holding onto the right side of his torso. "Yeah, ugh, I found her. Can you ask Don if he can–"
Raph was cut off by three turtles jumping silently down in front of him where he crashed.
"Ugh, what took you guys so long?" Raph asked.
The rest of the brothers looked at each other in confusion. "What do you mean, 'so long'? As soon as you said you saw something, I tracked your location through the T-phone and was able to find you lickity-split!" Explained Donnie.
"Really?" began Raph, "It felt like eons to me." At this point he was collecting himself and regaining his composure. What happened barely registered to him though. He literally fell for a girl. He couldn't let the guys know that though, it's embarrassing enough that he fell entirely, but if the guys knew why, that would bring teasing to a whole other level and Raph wasn't about to put himself through that.
"So what happened?" Leo asked. He looked at Raphael with concern.
"Oh, there was a wire, yeah, an electrical wire and my foot got caught in it as I tried to jump off this roof to get a clearer look at the person to see if it was who we were looking for." Yes! They'll buy this for sure, I've got it all under control, Raph thought. He was so sure nothing sounded even the slightest bit suspicious but with how descriptive he was, it really did raise the suspicion.
The brothers looked at one another once more and Mikey shrugged at both of them moving on to the next subject. "So where is she?"
Raph pointed to the direction Rachael was still standing in. From their point of view, it looked like she was staring straight at them but in reality, she was trying to make out the four figures standing in the dark. That was enough for her and she thought to finally just make a run for it so whatever was in there wouldn't catch up to her but instead of running, she kept her eyes on the area and tip-toed backwards slowly so she didn't disturb whatever was going on in there.
The turtles looked at her, except for Raph and they all started to contemplate the same thing. Should they reveal themselves to her? Two things could happen if they did just that: The girl could run away screaming, or she could completely accept her heroes for what they were and thank them once again for saving her, allowing them to walk her home. Whichever it was, they needed to think quickly, since she was getting further away from the spot they found her in.
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Home is Where the Heart is (TMNT 2012 Raphael x Oc)
Fanfiction"The girl had her head down on her knees and as he looked closer he saw her shoulders heave up and down rapidly. They suddenly stopped moving so quickly and the girl raised her head slowly. Her face was wet and puffy, and it was obvious she had been...
