Element Turtles

Finally

Raph leans on the ledge of the rooftop, panting heavily. He has a busted lip, black eye and cuts and bruises all over his arms and legs, and his entire body is sore. One of his Sais lays on the ground, broken, while the other is locked in his hand. He and Iro have been fighting for hours, and he almost feels like giving up. But then he looks at her, and he remembers why he can't. Because he would hate himself if he did, and she would hate him even more.

-I will save you or die trying..- He repeats in his head, taking deep breaths before charging Iro again, the flames on his body flickering and low, showing his exhaustion.

Iro looks up at him wearily and prepares for his attack, bruises and a few cuts scattered across her arms. Her entire body is sore and weak, and she is extremely tired from using her powers so much. Her breathing is heavy and uneven as her heart pounds against her ribcage.

-How is he still standing?!- She thinks as he keeps running at her.
With heavy arms, Iro forms a shield of gray, groaning in pain as each stab and punch to her shield feels like a powerful punch to the gut. Finally, she faints, and Raph stumbles forward as the shield disentergrates. She opens her eyes slowly, the last speck of color in Iro's eyes is so faint and soft amoung the black, grey and white. She barely breathes as Raph picks her up, his flames disappear almost immediately.

Iro stares up into his green eyes as her tears begin to fall, and Raph looks down at her sadly.

"I-I'm sorry R-Raph... I-I didn't w-wanna h-hurt you.." she chokes out, finally sounding like Y/n. She raises a shaky hand and lightly touches a cut on his jaw, making him flinch slightly.

"I-I'm s-so sorry.." she whispers.

Raph holds her close and leans into the soft, warm touch of her hand, sighing deeply.
"I forgive you. Hang in there sweetheart, we're going home." He says before running back to where the others are, before it's too late for her. She curls up in his arms, the speck of color in her eyes nearly gone as her heart beats faintly.

~°~

Donnie barely breathes as he watches Dōbutsu prowl around below him, still in the form of a panther as she slinks about, finding it hard to sniff him out. Donnie grew vines around the sewers that give off his scent, making it almost impossible for her to track him down.

"Where are you~" she growls softly, her bright e/c eyes darting around.

"Getting fruatrated?" Donnie teases with a smirk, his voice low and unable to pinpoint as it echoes. Dōbu growls again, her tail flicking wildly back and forth.

"Of course not~ I just thought I'd be playing around with you by now~" she answers with a soft purr. Donnie sighs softly. After two hours, that tone gets kinda old.

"Why are you doing this?" He asks while moving to a new spot. She snaps her head to his movement, and walks towards his old hiding spot.

"Because~ Shredder wants you for his army, and I want you as a toy~"

At this, Donnie can't help blushing as he shakes his head of bad thoughts.
"Not gonna happen."

"Well then, how will you get out of this~?" Dōbutsu's smirk can be seen in the dark as she prowls around the sewers. "I know you can't hurt me~ your poor, weak heart still beats for me, and your oh-so-clever brain is too sad and confused to tell whether I'm worth saving or not~~"

Donnie looks down at her as she stands with her back to him, gripping a syringe in one hand as he prepares to jump.
"I know you're worth saving, Y/n."
Just as her head turns to the sound of his voice, vines wrap around her feet while Donatello jumps down on top of her. He quickly injects a tranquilizer into her neck that he had prepared days before, then scrambles off of her. Dōbu growls and snarls before fainting, falling on her side and slowly changing. Donnie watches and cringes at the horrific cracks and pops as her bones shrink, expand and move around. Finally, her slick black fur falls off, and a familiar figure lays on the sewer ground.