Lost in the Fight

Bonus Chapter #2 - Casey's Confession

*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

*Author's Notes: Today marks the one-year anniversary of me posting the epilogue of 'Lost in the Fight.' In honor of the special occasion, I've returned with a new bonus chapter and this one is yet another tearjerker.

I had numerous requests for a Casey flashback scene and I have to admit I loved the excuse to add another chapter to 'LITF.' This installment takes place between chapter 20 ('Raph's Regrets') and chapter 21 ('Mikey's Mistakes'), so I guess that makes it chapter 20 ½.

Oodles and oodles of thanks to my amazing creative consultant, Captain Vegeta, and my equally amazing beta reader, Joanne N. Grey. Without these two girls' help, I wouldn't be posting.

I hope everyone likes this new part. Thank you for reading. ;) CJ

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Chapter 20 ½ – Casey's Confession ('LITF' Bonus Chapter #2)

The lab doors seemed heavier than normal.

Actually, the whole lair did...

From the moment Casey Jones had stepped foot through the turnstiles, he had felt this sinking feeling. Almost like someone had kicked gravity up a couple notches or secretly added weights to his pockets when he wasn't looking. Either way, things didn't feel right.

There had been no one around to greet him when he arrived. Normally, at least one of the brothers would be hanging out in the main living space of the lair, playing video games or watching TV, but the room was completely vacant. There were no sounds of sparring coming from the Dojo or chattering from the kitchen to indicate that anyone was close by. It was as though the place was completely empty, but Casey knew better.

The family hadn't left the lair for days now. Not since the night of the attack, or so Casey had been told. Everything he knew about the incident was based on hearsay at this point. He hadn't actually gone down into the sewers since it had happened. Not because he didn't want to be there for his friends. It was nothing like that at all. It was just that every time he thought he'd gotten up the guts to go see them, he wound up chickening out at last second and going back home with his hockey stick hung between his legs.

For reasons he didn't want to admit, he just couldn't bring himself to face his friends. At least, not until today, when he received word from April that there were finally some signs of improvement. This small bit of good news gave Casey just the boost of courage he needed to make an appearance.

Although, now that he was standing there, listening to the faint sound of a heart monitor drifting out from inside the laboratory, he wasn't so sure it was enough courage.

He knew this was going to be difficult...

Too many memories...

Doing his best to suck it up, Casey pried the lab doors open just far enough so he could slide his thin frame through. Once inside the lab, he found Raphael stooped over in a chair, resting his head on the edge of the cot his wounded brother was laid out on.

It was then that reality hit the lanky teenager like an extended cab pickup truck hauling a half-ton of bricks.

"Oh, man. Red told me it was bad, but – " The sentence was just left hanging for lack of words. Granted, Casey had a rather limited vocabulary in the first place, but even if he was some kind of scholarly-type whiz kid with a full grasp on the English language, Casey was fairly certain he still wouldn't be able to describe what he was seeing. It was way worse than he had pictured in his head, and he had seen some pretty gruesome stuff in his day.