Cold Fire Rising

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

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Raphael remembered everything.

Every single bit, and he hated himself for it.

He remembered knocking down reptilian fighters and how they kept getting back up. Shell to shell with Leonardo, who was yelling at the squid-people to run. Sweat pouring down his face. Teeth clenched. Hearing Donatello cracking bone with the bo, then cursing "How the fuck are they still moving?" He remembered Michelangelo doing one of his gymnast moves, or parkour moves, flying and tumbling and taking down three or four at a time.

And then the bizarre fight between Mikey and the... that guy, the Alchemist. Mikey taunting with his usual show. The Alchemist making weird statements, laughing.

Mikey screaming. Oh, he remembered Mikey screaming.

White rage filling his brain, but still he had to fight through bodies with weapons, and he didn't care how bruised or cut he was getting, because his baby brother was in trouble...

Mikey screaming again.

And that sound. He was too familiar with the sound of someone being stabbed. He howled. He shrieked. He roared.

His baby brother was being stabbed.

That laughter, the words, they just ran together, but he saw the reptile man drop a syringe, and Raphael lost his mind. Only Leonardo wrapping both arms around him stopped him from giving chase.

Donatello scooping up the syringe. Raphael remembered collapsing next to his little brother, and there was so much blood, so much blood, no no no, and Mikey was coughing up blood. Blood was spilling out of him. He was covered in blood. And he didn't even know what was happening, he kept wondering if they were all right. His bright baby blue eyes were dulling. He was reaching for Raph.

And then his muscles were twitching, and it was like his entire body was in one massive spasm. And he cried out and fell unconscious, but his body, it kept spasming, and Raph grabbed him in a hug to try to... and then Donatello told him not to, because Mikey was having a seizure. And Raphael stopped thinking. He scooped Michelangelo into his arms and began to run. His brothers yelling after him, running after him. The little pod they had used to land on the planet was That Way, and Raphael ran like he had never run in his life, because Mikey was barely breathing and he was bleeding everywhere and he had been stabbed, and it was MIKEY.

On the Ulixes, Raphael had been shoved aside and Mikey firmly taken from his arms, and he growled and snarled and snapped until someone was hugging him. April. It was April. She was telling him to stop, that it was okay. He could barely hear her. But he allowed himself to be led to a couch, where someone was telling him to take deep breaths. He looked at himself, covered in his brother's blood.

So much blood.

April, telling him he should take a shower. Casey, asking if he needed help.

"Mikey," was all he could say. White haze. White noise. Mikey.

Someone was crying.

Someone was pushing him into the showers, muttering about controls and water. He felt the pressure of hot water, sloughing off the blood and the dirt. He didn't bother adjusting the temperature. He was clean, somehow. Someone was leading him back to the couch. He protested. A voice told him that Honeycutt and Donatello were doing everything, literally everything. He was not allowed in there. He fidgeted and growled. Someone had taken away his weapons. He needed to punch something. Someone leading him to the simulation room, holodeck, whatever they were calling it. Finally, he focused. Leonardo had built a simulation of their dojo.