The Shadow's Secret│TMNT

58 || Our Last Words

There was nothing I could do but accept my fate and brace myself as Shredder slammed into me. I screamed, swinging a bit before my arms slipped off the bar I grasped. The enraged samurai clung to me as we fell fast through the air, my entire right arm burning painfully. I kicked my legs, trying to shake him off, and held the mutagen above my head, far from his reach. One of the turtles might have shouted my name, but I could hardly hear over the wind racing past me and the blood pounding in my ears. What a shitty day.

A three-fingered hand closed around my left forearm and I could feel the sudden strain of stopping my fall travel down my left arm in sharp aches and pains. Suspended painfully in the air and being slowly hoisted back up, I looked up and into the bright green eyes of Raphael. The turtles must've formed a chain to save me. And for the second time in the last half an hour, I realized how much I loved those crazy, mutant brothers.

"Can I throw the mutagen?" I asked, raising my voice a bit to ensure he could hear me.

"I think so," he said.

Shredder must've heard us because he started trying to crawl up my body with renewed urgency to reach the canister. I gritted my teeth as he grabbed onto my useless, right arm, his metal fingers wrapping around my wrist and pressing on the deep wound where the tracker had been cut out. I lifted my legs and kicked, but it did nothing to deter him.

I released my grasp on the canister, letting it fall down through the air. Shredder let go of my wrist and reached a desperate hand out to catch the canister before it was too late. Using that split second during which his attention was elsewhere and he was only holding onto me with one hand, I grabbed a kunai from my belt with my now-free right hand, clenched my jaw against the protesting pain, and slammed it into a nook in his helmet. Taken by surprise, he backpedalled and grunted in annoyance, giving me the chance to kick with as much strength as I could muster. He lost his hold on me and fell, only to grab my ankle and once again strain my left arm painfully at the shoulder.

I cursed, slamming my other foot into his face once, twice, until finally, I knocked him off me and sent him falling to the street far below. The impact created a huge crater in the pavement and sent up a wave of dust. I couldn't see clearly from the distance, but I was almost positive the canister would have sustained damage from the fall. I hoped I was right.

"Nice one," Raph complimented, drawing my attention back to him.

"Thanks," I breathed. "And thanks for saving me."

"Hey!" I looked past Raphael to find the source of the voice. "We helped too!" Mikey added, clinging to the body of the spire beside Donnie while Leo hauled us the rest of the way up.

I managed a smile through the pain and amended my statement. "Thanks for saving me too, Mikey." He grinned widely at me, but when his gaze trailed down my body and took in my injuries, it faltered. Man, I must look pretty bad.

"Wow, you look like shit, Raiy," Leo commented, helping his brother up beside him.

Donnie elbowed the leader pointedly. "Where's the mutagen?" He asked.

"With Shredder," I muttered. Raphael grabbed the spire with one hand and dragged me up after him. I wrapped my one good arm around a thick pole within the framework, leaned back gratefully in an attempt to relax my tense body and released a huge breath of relief. At least all this shit's finally over.

The spire swayed suddenly, making the turtles stiffen and glance nervously at each other. Metal groaned and something snapped. The spire's weight had dragged it off the edge of the Sack's tower and the other one it was leaning on. Without a thought I crawled inside the frame, wrapping my arms and legs around a pole just as we began to fall. I really couldn't help the scream that escaped me, but the brothers were screaming as well so I hardly felt self-conscious. 

"I think this is it, guys!" Donnie yelled.

"Does anyone have anything they wanna say?" Leo shouted. A jolt travelled through the spire and my body when it landed momentarily on the roof of a building in its path.

"Donnie?" Leo prompted.

"I'm the one who licks the icing off the Pop-Tarts every morning and puts them back on the box!" The purple-clad brother cried before the spire rolled off the building and continued its fall to the ground, rolling uncontrollably through the air.

Mikey hardly needed urging to speak his last words. "Is so did not understand the ending of Lost!" 

"Me neither, Mikey!" I yelled, a smile ghosting my lips despite our predicament. "But I'm sure as hell glad I met you guys! It's been the best two weeks of my life!"

"Raph?" Leo asked.

Raphael hesitated. "I just, uh," he paused and I thought for a moment he wouldn't continue, but he did. "Uh, if this is our last moment together, I just want you guys to know I'm sorry!  I'm sorry I was so hard on you! Uh, every time I pushed you I...I threatened you, I yelled at you, I pushed you beyond your limits, it was because I believe in you! I believe in each one of you! I believe in your spirit, and y–your intelligence and your potential! And every time I talked about walking away it was because I was scared! I just didn't think I was good enough to stand next to you and call you brothers! And say to you...I love you! I love you guys so much!"

My heart clenched at his ardent words, and it made me wish so much that I'd had more time to know Raphael and his brothers, and that I had more time to tell him everything I wanted to. 

Another massive jolt travelled through me when we made contact with the pavement, sending up a massive cloud of dust that stung my eyes and tickled my throat.

"Raph?" Donnie asked tentatively. "We made it."

Mikey peered at his older brother through the dust hanging in the air. "Are you crying?" At that, I glanced up at the turtle. He was panting and his arms were shaking from the strain of keeping himself from flying out of the spire during the fall.

"No ding-dong," he protested weakly, turning his head from his brothers' curious gazes. "It's just a little dusty out here."

Well, Raph definitely wasn't wrong. But I knew better and I could see the unshed tears glistening in his watery eyes. His eyes met mine and I sent him a knowing look that said I know your secret, tough guy.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a lopsided smile. "Let's get outa here."

AN: Only two more chapters are left of TSS and tbh I might cry lol

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