Awakening Fear

     The two weeks ended and the four brothers returned to their sewer home, glad to be back.
     Michelangelo dumped his bag on the floor by the entrance and plopped himself onto the couch. "Sewer sweet sewer!"
     "I need a vacation from that vacation," Raphael grumbled, crossing straight through the living room to his own room, where he dropped his bag. He came back out, sat on the couch, and glared at Michelangelo, who didn't notice.
     "It was nice to get away," Donatello commented, optimistically.
     "But it's nice to return home," Leonardo said. "I'll let Mast Splinter know we're back, that is, if he doesn't know already." He left, headed down one of the tunnel-hallways.
     The room grew quiet and Raphael cast a glance over his remaining brothers, then down at the sling still adorning his left arm. "Okay, quit your staring before I--"
     "Raphael." The three turtles turned to find their brother and Sensei standing just beyond the couch. "Perhaps it would be best to get some rest after such lengthy traveling." Splinter watched as Michelangelo and Donatello passed him, following Leonardo.
     Raphael frowned as he followed, but was stopped. He sighed. "Master..."
     Splinter held up a hand to silence him. "I know of what happened, Raphael. I saw it in my meditation. I only wish I had seen it sooner. How are you now?"
     Raphael shrugged. "Fine. Just a little sore, is all."
     Splinter's whiskers twitched. "Get some rest, my son."

     The air holds a familiar mustiness about it. He can't see, nor can he move. He can feel a sharp pain n his left shoulder.
     He hears the *thump* of the little man hitting the floor. Then there's nothing.
     Suddenly, he finds himself in the little house on the beach. He can feel something being rubbed into his shoulder. It feels good and a contented sigh slips from him.
     The hand massaging his shoulder disappears. He sees the little man standing in front of him, looking dead atleast twice over.
     On the floor, he sees his friend. She who had helped him more than he'd ever care to admit. She didn't move. He feels furious, yet cannot move as the little man laughs.

     Raphael bolted upright, breathing heavily. He calmed his breathing and sat quiet for a moment, hoping his brothers were still asleep. He wanted to lay back down and try to go back to sleep, but the past week had proven that wouldn't work. He sighed, mentally, realizing in the time since what had happened, he'd only gotten a total of about ten hours sleep.
     He got up and silently headed toward the kitchen. Reaching the doorway, he was surprised to find their Sensei sitting at the table. A cup of tea sat in front of him, steam rising from it. A second mug sat across the table, steam rising also.
     "Heh." Raphael rubbed the back of his neck. "I should've expected you to be in here, Master."
     Splinter nodded. "Please join me, Raphael." He waited until the turtle in red took up a chair at the table. "Would you like to talk about it?"
     "Not really," Raphael replied, more to the tea.
     "You've been having trouble sleeping since it happened," Splinter surmised.
     Raphael half smirked. "Is it that obvious?" He lifted the mug and took a sip. "Mikey hit that guy something good. It should've killed him. But he walked out of there. I don't really believe that, though. Someone had to've come and got him." He took another sip. "I don't know why I'm letting this bother me so much. It isn't like I've never been injured before."
     "However, his intentions were to kill you." Splinter's bluntness caused Raphael's head to snap up and meet his Sensei's eyes. "It is possible that perhaps he was not alive to begin with."
     "I had a feeling you'd say that."
     Splinter finished his tea. "Remember, Raphael, that we are here for you. We have always been here. When you are ready to talk about it, I will be more than happy to listen and offer advice." He stood, took the mug to the sink, and walked over to Raphael. "For now, I suggest trying to get some sleep."
     Raphael looked up at him. "Thanks, Master." He looked down, again, at his mug. "Soon as I finish this."
     Splinter nodded. "Good night, Raphael." He went to the doorway and turned back. "I will be expecting you at practice in the morning." He left the doorway, headed for his room.
     "Crud," Raphael groaned.

     "You know, dudes, those stone weapons were awesome, but," Michelangelo said, then picked up his 'chuks, "these are my favorite!"
     "We'll see, Mikey," Donatello said, picking up a bo. He spun it in one hand, then switched to the other and advanced on Michelangelo.
     Leonardo and Splinter watched from the far wall. "Master, how much longer do you wish to give Raph?"
     "Let Donatello and Michelangelo finish sparring," Splinter answered, simply.
     In his room, Raphael sat cross-legged on his bed, inspecting his shoulder. He'd pulled off the former-curtain-made-sling and tried some simple movements. As he continued, a frown deepened on his face.
     "Haaaaaaii yaaaaaahhhhh... whoooooaaah!"
     Raphael's head jerked up at the sound of Michelangelo's yell, which was followed up with a crash. He smirked, knowing their youngest brother had most likely just been tossed into one of the weights racks. He shook his head, glanced at the light scar on his shoulder, and sighed. He got up, grabbed his belt, pads, and badanna, then left the room, headed toward the training room. He was nearly at the door when Leonardo stepped out.
     "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to join us."
     "Well, Leo, you know it just wouldn't feel right if I didn't decide to grace you with my presence." Raphael smirked and tied on his bandanna. "You ready?"
     "Always." Leonardo turned and walked back into the training room, closely followed by Raphael.
     Donatello gave him a surprised look, seeing that he'd removed the sling. "Hey, Raph, I don't think it's such a good idea to not keep that sling on."
     "Donnie, if I keep that thing on, I can't use my arm at all. It's already weaker and I don't like that... but for you, I'll take it easy," Raphael said, clapped Donatello's shoulder, and headed toward one of the weapons racks.
     Leonardo unsheathed one katana and watched Raphael pick up a pair of sai. "You're going to be sorry, Raph."
     "Yeah, yeah, we'll see." He spun the sai he held in his right hand and noted Leonardo watching it. Seeing the opening, he went to throw the other, but his shoulder gave out and the sai slipped from his hand. "Shi-!"
     "Heads up!" Michelangelo called out, ducking unnecessarily for cover.
     Donatello stepped in and batted the flying sai to the floor with his bo. "Wild pitch."
     Splinter stepped forward from his vantage spot against the wall. "No more weapons."
     Leonardo immediately sheathed his lone katana and watched Donatello and Michelangelo give up their weapons. To him, Raphael looked undecided. His eyes were trained on the sai lying on the floor, while keeping a tight grip on the one in his hand. "Raph?"
     He looked up abruptly, as though he'd just come out of a trance, then at his remaining sai. "Fine." Grudgingly, he picked up the sai from the floor and placed the pair back on the rack.
     "Leonardo and Raphael," Splinter said. They came towards the center of the room, bowed to him, then each other. He turned to Raphael. "If at any point you wish to stop..."
     "No, it'll be okay. Just have to loosen up first," Raphael replied, determination crossing his face.
     "As you wish, Raphael," Splinter said, then nodded to Leonardo, an unspoken instruction passing easily.
     They immediately took up their fighting stances and began with Leonardo offering some easily deflected kicks and punches.
     Raphael groaned, then complained, "Come on, Leo, put some oomph in it, will ya?"
     Leonardo backed off momentarily to shrug. "Remember, you told me to." He came back at Raphael with twice the speed and strength.
     Raphael had all he could do with blocking using mainly his right arm. Unfortunately, one well-placed kick got through and hit him square in the left shoulder. "Yooow!" Involuntarily, he dropped to his knees, right hand over his shoulder. "You did that on purpose!"
     "I did not. You had already blocked about three of that exact same kick." Leonardo offered a hand to help his brother up, but Raphael just glared at it. "Okay, you don't need my help." He crossed his arms over his plastron.
     "That's right," Raphael said, standing. "I'm going for a walk." He practically stomped out of the training room and exited the den.
     Leonardo sighed. "One guess at where he's going."

     Raphael kicked up his skateboard at the edge of the drainage pipe and tucked it carefully under his left arm. He stepped out of the pipe and onto the beach. Fortunately, it was still early in the morning and the sun hadn't come up yet. He shivered a bit and mentally kicked himself for not grabbing a coat. He sighed and began a jog across the beach to the little house.
     He reached the door and knocked on the frame, thinking if he knocked on the door itself it'd probably come off its hinges. It was opened quickly.
     "Raph! What a nice surprise!" Galatea greeted. "Come on in." She closed the door behind him and took the skateboard.
     "Thanks, Gal," Raphael said. "I didn't wake you, did I?"
     "Of course not!" Galatea said, quickly, then waved it off. "Woody woke me up." She reached down and picked up the cat. "Didn't you?" She paused. "See?" She put Driftwood down again. "So where have you and your brothers been? It's been a couple of weeks."
     Raphael took a seat as she began milling about. "Well, we went to Australia."
     "Beautiful land. Gorgeous," Galatea commented.
     "Yeah..."
     She turned to him and offered him some of her orangum tea, which he accepted. "You don't sound awfully enthusiastic about it."
     He shrugged. "It was nice to start with, but we sorta ran into a little problem... heh, I ran into a little problem."
     Galatea took up a seat on the floor in front of the chair. "What happened?"
     Raphael paused a moment. "Well... I... uh, I was pretty nearly killed."
     "What?" she said, surprised. "How?"
     He set the tea down and leaned forward, pointing at the scar still adorning his shoulder. "Here's my souvenir."
     "Oh, Raph, that looks awful!" Galatea said, then paused. "You know, I think I have just the thing for that." She got up and went into her bedroom. She came back out carrying a bottle. "Vitamin E lotion. Might just make that disappear completely."
     "Okay," Raphael agreed, but sounded unsure. Galatea put some lotion in her hand, then rubbed it on his shoulder. "Uh... do you still wanna know what happened?"
     "Let me finish with this first, then you can tell me everything.

     Galatea was stunned. "It's no wonder you're having such nightmares."
     Raphael shook his head. "I just can't believe... first, I nearly get blown up, then nearly chopped up!" He paused. "If I'd stayed here with you after almost being blown to bits, that wouldn't have happened..."
     "But you didn't know that would happen. Besides, you belong with you brothers and Sensei."
     "Yeah, I know." He paused to yawn. "It actually kinda felt good to get all that out."
     Galatea stood. "Why don't you try and get some rest? I need to check the waters, make sure there aren't any injured animals. Maybe a change of scenery will help."
     Raphael yawned again. "Think I will."

     He feels the pain ripping through his shoulder. He can hear the laughter of the little man, but he refuses to cry out.
     He hears the *thump* and the little man is down. He nearly passes out.
     Suddenly, he's in the little house. He can feel the lotion being rubbed on his shoulder.
     The hand disappears and he sees her slump to the floor. He looks up and can smell the mustiness. He turns and finds the little man behind him, a maniacal grin on his face.

     "...Not again..."
     "Raphael!" Galatea said and shook him. "Wake up!"
     "...No!..." His eyes opened, a frantic look in them.
     "It's okay, Raph," she said.
     He ran a hand over his face. "How long was I asleep?"
     "About an hour," Galatea replied.
     Raphael groaned. "That's a little more sleep." He paused. "I need to go back to the den. Leo's probably having a fit..." He broke off in another yawn.
     "You know I can help you, Raph," she said.
     He stood and picked up his skateboard. "I know. I'll be back later, Gal. Thanks." He gave her a tired smile and left.
     Galatea sighed and sat in the chair Raphael had just vacated. "Poor fella."

     "Okay, Mike, now, you're really overdoing it." Leonardo looked around at hundreds of Christmas lights.
     "But they're so cheerful!" Michelangelo argued. "'Sides, they brighten this place up alot, too!"
     Donatello came out of his lab, headed for the kitchen, jokingly shielding his eyes. "So cheerful, in fact, they could lighten the mood of the grumpiest being on Earth!"
     "If that was a shot at me, Donnie, that was really low." The three turned and found Raphael standing in the doorway, holding his skateboard. "You've outdone yourself this time, Mikey. I think I'm blind now."
     Michelangelo grinned widely. "See?! Raph likes 'em!"
     "Yeah," Raphael said, then rolled his eyes. He propped the skateboard in the corner and plopped himself on the couch, wincing slightly.
     Leonardo walked over to the couch and leaned on the back of it. "Geez, Raph, you look worse now than a few days ago. Didn't you go see Galatea?"
     "I saw her, talked to her." Raphael paused. "I'm just tired."
     Splinter entered the room. "Ah, Raphael, I heard you come in. I would like to speak with you a moment."
     "Uh," Raphael automatically wondered what he did this time, "sure." He got up and follow their Sensei into his room.
     Donatello walked over next to Leonardo. "Something's really bothering him. He wasn't even this bad when we found him."
     "Hm," Leonardo pondered the thought. "I believe it still has something to do with that 'incident', though."
     "Yeah," Donatello paused, thinking. "Now, that I think about it, he just looks tired and has been very lethargic."
     "Hey!?" Michelangelo called out from his spot on the step ladder.
     "Lazy, Mike," Leonardo supplied.
     "Anyway," Donatello continued, "he apparently isn't sleeping well..."
     "Nightmares, you think?" Leonardo suggested.
     "Most likely. Of course, if that is indeed the problem, he won't tell us. However, Splinter, I'm sure, already knows."
     Raphael came back down the hallway and turned into his room, sparing a glance into the living room first.
     "But I wonder if Splinter would tell us," Leonardo said, noting Raphael's glance. "Don, I know you might think of this as a suicide mission, but would you mind trying to talk to Raph about it?"
     "I can try. The worst he could do is..." Donatello paused, "I'll be really careful." He headed for their rooms and walked over to Raphael's. "Hey, Raph?"
     "Tryin' to sleep, Donnie. What do ya want?"
     "Can I come in?" Donatello asked.
     A pause. "Door's open."
     Donatello went in and found his brother staring up at the ceiling. "Um..." Raphael gave him a dull glare. "Right. Anyway, we're worried about you, Raph. I realize with everything that happened that it would bother anyone and..."
     Raphael sighed. "Are you asking if I'm having nightmares about it and if that's why I'm dead tired, but can't sleep?"
     "Yeah..."
     "Well, since Leo and Mike are probably listening at the door, anyway, you can tell them," Raphael said, then sat up. "Not like I can really hide this. I'm just worn out, drained." He paused, then resumed quietly, "That little jerk nearly killed me. If you guys had gotten there any later, I wouldn't be here. Don, that scares me. You said he walked out of them himself, so he's still out there." He looked down. "I'm afraid of a little dead man who, besides his gruesome looks, actually looks about as harmless as a roll of toilet paper."
     "I... don't know what to say, Raph," Donatello said.
     Raphael shrugged. "Then don't say anything. I've said enough already." He paused. "You can go share with Mike and Leo, it'll save me the trouble of having to go through that again."
     Donatello nodded. "Okay, I'll tell them." He left, closing the door after him.
     "Man..." Raphael pulled off his bandanna and ran both hands over his face.

End