No Matter How Far I Fall

He stands alone, hovering his inches above his fallen siblings. Their weapons lay broken, littered against the drenched asphalt. The sky seems to cry, Everytime a battle is lost. No, this battle is not yet finished, for one brother stands above the rest. His mask is torn and bloodied, his limbs shake with effort to stand, but the defiance, the rage, and need- nearly animalistic runs bright in sapphire eyes.

No matter the cost, he will not lose.

"Foolish turtle!" The Shredder bellows closing his fist in victory, a victory he believes to have secured. "You stand here now? Fighting against my hundreds- if not thousands of Foot, my best Assassin's, and me myself, and look upon me with such hope?" He says it, almost as if taking it for insult.

Tigerclaw stands just behind him, partly lost in thought, but keeping a keen ear open. The young turtle in blue is honorable, courageous even in his final moments. Tigerclaw sees it flash briefly in the young leaders eyes, knowing defeat, but it vanishes as quickly as Shredders words leave his masked mouth, an almost glaze takes over. He will not accept his fate just yet, and that, is something Tigerclaw decides he will honour when burying the turtles and their Rat Sensei.

The Shredder circles closer, taking on a swift movement, almost shark like. Closing in on it's prey, never taking his eyes off him and him alone. This turtle in particular caused the Rat to escape, his daughter to become a reptile, and his plans to always fail. Until now. Dark orbs raking over the prone turtles laid to nothing on the ground, their wounds aren't deep, but their weak bodies can hardly handle a little bone breaking. Pathetic.

"You caused great pain to me turtle, your actions are impressive..." Trailing off, the Shredder gives pause, humming to himself as he gazes down on the blue turtle. Though he is silent, he is calculating, deciding, building an already failed plan. "Perhaps we can strike a deal."

Razar can't help but shudder at Shredder's words. He couldn't possibly be thinking of letting the turtles go? After all the time spent looking for them, plotting, planning? It would be foolish... Unless his plans run deeper than he let on to even his own. What is his gain here with Leonardo?

Tilting his head faintly, a signal of, I'm listening, The Shredder smiles, seeing the leader so desperate to do something in order to protect his brothers. Foolish. Family makes you weak.

"Join me. Aid me. And I will make sure your brothers and Father are protected and left alone," The words cause Leonardo's eyes to widen and immediately drop to Mikey curled between his legs, clutching what Leo can guess to be his cracked ribs. Raph lays on his stomach, head turned away, bruised and battered, but breathing. Donnie lays on his side, cuts litter his dim green face and stretch over his body, some will scar, but Leo prefers that over a stone in the ground.

How could he possibly leave them?

Betray them in such a way?

He thinks back to their lives as turtle-tots. Raph always asking to train and wrestle, the fun they would have and the bond that grew between them as they aged was shaken by life, but held together by love. After the invasion and the stop of the black hole, Leo and Raph had never been closer, fights were practically non-existent. How could be leave his baby brother to his own darkness again? A darkness only he knew of and helped him with?

Shifting his gaze to Donnie, oh Donnie... They argued when little only about a difference of opinion in science. But as they grew, they learned to simply change the subject to something they could both agree and hold a conversation for hours over. Donnie was always the brains, but they both secretly knew Leo was the next at smarts, making it easier for Leo to escape reality and follow his Bo-staff wielding brother into a new world where they understood the language. The argument leading to Leo's almost death during the invasion shook them briefly, but after coming to Donnie in the darkest of nights, they connected over the Kraang tech once more and talked like nothing ever happened. How could Leo vanish? Taking one end of the conversation with him and leaving Donnie to work alone? Keeping all his thoughts bottled because their younger brothers just couldn't keep up. Not like he could.