Slash's Revenge

Chapter 15 - Out There

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

*Author's Notes: Chapter 15 of 'Slash's Revenge' is here and it's got a little bit of everything – drama, humor, angst, Raph rage, and even a side of brotherly fluff.

A giant thanks to my readers, followers, and friends. I'm so very grateful to all of you. 8)

CJ

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Chapter 15 – Out There

The sun had gone down several hours ago, making Raphael's search efforts slightly easier, but no less frustrating. He'd been scouring the city nonstop since storming out of the lair just before noon and had yet to turn up a single clue.

He shouldn't have been the least bit surprised...

It was the same thing, day after day, night after night.

Ever since Donatello's disappearance, the Hamato family had broken into literally hundreds of abandoned buildings in hopes of locating the missing turtle, only to find nothing.

The city was so huge, it was essentially like hunting for a needle in millions and millions of haystacks. Raph wasn't even sure where to search anymore. Everything started to look the same after a while, but still, he pushed on. Driven by his dark thoughts of Donnie lying in some cage, scared and alone.

The words from the hotheaded turtle's earlier nightmare continued to relentlessly mock him...

"You did this to me, Raph!"

"You left me to die!"

Once again, just hearing his little brother's voice made Raphael sick to his stomach.

"You sent me off to my death!"

It may have only been a dream, but everything Donatello said had been frighteningly accurate...

"You just don't want to admit that you're the reason I'll never be able to come home! You're the reason I'll never see our family again! This is all your fault, Raph!"

It was true.

"Slash isn't the monster! YOU are!"

Every last word of it.

Raph was the monster.

All of a sudden, the turtle in red felt his legs wobbling underneath him, like they were made of gelatin. His momentum soon came to a screeching halt and he carefully lowered himself into a sitting position before he fell down, allowing himself a much-needed chance to rest. All the while, his missing brother's voice continued to taunt him...

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

Wrapping his arms around his shins and pinning his legs against his chest, Raph buried his face into his knee pads. He wanted nothing more than to keep searching for Donatello, but he needed a moment to gather his wits about him.

Progress was going far slower than Raphael had hoped. Perhaps his decision to go off on his own had been a little rash, but it just didn't feel right, being back at the lair doing nothing anymore. If his little brother was out there suffering, twenty-four-seven, on account of him, shouldn't Raphael be as well?

After a few more minutes of stewing, it finally occurred to Raph that sitting around on the rooftop feeling sorry for himself was no more productive than sitting around the lair. Neither one was going to bring his little brother back.