{"submission_id":"669098","keywords":[{"keyword_id":"1007","keyword_name":"blood","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"10101"},{"keyword_id":"6569","keyword_name":"bloody","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"896"},{"keyword_id":"3793","keyword_name":"crocodile","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"3131"},{"keyword_id":"1440","keyword_name":"human","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"46903"},{"keyword_id":"1406","keyword_name":"injury","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"375"},{"keyword_id":"165","keyword_name":"male","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"639865"},{"keyword_id":"452","keyword_name":"rat","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"10829"},{"keyword_id":"1910","keyword_name":"sodomy","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"203"},{"keyword_id":"18653","keyword_name":"teenage mutant ninja turtles","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"4880"},{"keyword_id":"3440","keyword_name":"turtle","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"7065"}],"hidden":"t","scraps":"f","favorite":"f","favorites_count":"8","create_datetime":"2014-08-26 16:54:07.873792+02","create_datetime_usertime":"26 Aug 2014 16:54 CEST","last_file_update_datetime":"2014-08-26 16:51:43.292606+02","last_file_update_datetime_usertime":"26 Aug 2014 16:51 CEST","username":"Applepye","user_id":"167029","user_icon_file_name":"55685_Applepye_shime302.gif","user_icon_url_large":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/55/55685_Applepye_shime302.gif","user_icon_url_medium":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/55/55685_Applepye_shime302.gif","user_icon_url_small":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/55/55685_Applepye_shime302.gif","file_name":"885697_Applepye_63.rtf","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/885/885697_Applepye_63.rtf","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/885/885697_Applepye_63.rtf","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/885/885697_Applepye_63.rtf","files":[{"file_id":"885697","file_name":"885697_Applepye_63.rtf","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/885/885697_Applepye_63.rtf","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/885/885697_Applepye_63.rtf","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/885/885697_Applepye_63.rtf","mimetype":"text/rtf","submission_id":"669098","user_id":"167029","submission_file_order":"0","full_size_x":null,"full_size_y":null,"screen_size_x":null,"screen_size_y":null,"preview_size_x":null,"preview_size_y":null,"initial_file_md5":"8eaf3634bbaa313975d1be73288e5c65","full_file_md5":"8eaf3634bbaa313975d1be73288e5c65","large_file_md5":"","small_file_md5":"","thumbnail_md5":"","deleted":"f","create_datetime":"2014-08-26 16:51:43.292606+02","create_datetime_usertime":"26 Aug 2014 16:51 CEST"}],"pools":[{"pool_id":"24966","name":"TMNT 100 Theme","description":" This is the one that will eventually have female turtles in it. If you don’t like the guys to have relations with females then don’t start reading and just ignore this story. Follows Turtles Fore","count":"72","submission_right_submission_id":"672927","submission_right_file_name":"890982_Applepye_63.rtf","submission_right_thumbnail_url_huge":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/890/890982_Applepye_63.jpg","submission_right_thumbnail_url_large":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/890/890982_Applepye_63.jpg","submission_right_thumbnail_url_medium":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/890/890982_Applepye_63.jpg","submission_right_thumb_huge_x":"154","submission_right_thumb_huge_y":"200","submission_right_thumb_large_x":"154","submission_right_thumb_large_y":"200","submission_right_thumb_medium_x":"92","submission_right_thumb_medium_y":"120"}],"description":"","description_bbcode_parsed":"","writing":"Warning: Violence, near character death and details of injuries. \nPairing Leatherhead/Don\n\n**\n\nThey always fought. \n\nIt was a daily occurrence. Donny had learned to tune it out; he didn’t even know what they were fighting over. The end of the argument was signaled with the slam of a door as Raph left the lair. \n\nLeatherhead was lying curled up in the nest like bed that he shared with Donny while Don worked on one of his many projects. When they finally came out to the family, it was to unconditional love and support. Leatherhead and Don started to share a room and Donny loved waking up every morning wrapped in Leatherhead’s arms. Don had no idea how Leatherhead managed to get to sleep when Raph and Leo were yelling at each other. \n\nShutting off his computer, Don grabbed a book and curled up, leaning on Leatherhead to read. \n\nThe hours passed. It was nothing new. Raph had the habit of staying out well past midnight, returning only because Splinter had requested that he not stay out so late. \n\nIt was only a quarter past eleven when Donny’s shell-cell started to ring. He got up to answer his phone, thinking that it would be Raph telling him that he was staying at Casey’s for the night. “Yeah,” Don answered. \n\n“Help,” Raph’s voice come over the line in a whisper.\n\n“Raph?” Donny felt a surge of panic and clicked on the tracker. “What’s going on?” He woke Leatherhead then rushed from his lab as he switched his phone to speaker, flagging Leo over as he did. \n\nMikey and Splinter saw the panic on Donny’s face and rushed over to see what was going on as Leatherhead made his way out of the lab. \n\n“I was attacked,” Raph’s raspy voice was barely loud enough for them to hear so they all leaned in close. “Hun and his Dragons managed to…. I’m so tired and I can’t hide because they can follow the trail of blood.”\n\n“Raph, whatever happens, keep your shell-cell on you so we can find you,” Donny instructed as they grabbed their gear and rushed from the lair. \n\n“I’m sorry,” Raph sobbed. It wasn’t often that they heard their brother cry and when he did it meant that he was under a lot of emotional stress. \n\n“Just keep moving,” Splinter said, keeping pace with his sons. \n\n“I can’t,” Raph said with a grunt. “I’m too hurt. I can hear them coming. I’m sorry, father. I’m sorry. I should have been a better son.”\n\n“Raph, we’re on our way,” Leo shouted. “Just hang on.”\n\n“They’re here,” Raph whispered then the line went dead. \n\n“Donatello?” Splinter pleaded. \n\n“I still have a signal,” Donny reassured them. “I just hope that he still has his cell.”\n\nAs they approached the signal they could hear Raph’s screams of pain followed by the laughter and cheers of men, long before they saw the building. They rushed in, without hesitation and the thugs scattered. Donny caught a glimpse of Hun, covered in blood, before he disappeared into the darkness. \n\nEver since he was mutated into a turtle by the mutagen from the alternate universe, Hun had upped his game. Without the Shredder to rein him in, he was more ruthless and violent than before. He sold drugs and weapons made from Triceraton technology and his numbers have swollen from absorbing the members from all the other gangs. The former leaders of those gangs have yet to be found. \n\nThere wasn’t much of a fight. The Purple Dragons fled so quickly that Donny was only able to get two hits in before he stood without an opponent. \n\n“Raphael!” Splinter gasped, dropping his stick and rushing to the middle of the room. \n\nDonny turned in time to see Mikey drop to his knees at the sight of their brother. Tears filled Leo’s eyes and Donny could see the anger behind them and the desire to hit someone. Leatherhead was next to Donny and placed his hand on Don’s carapace. Donny was afraid to look down; the wet sounds of his brother’s labored breathing making him fear the worst but at least, for the moment, he was alive. \n\nWhen he did look down, Donny couldn’t contain the cry that escaped him. Leatherhead pulled him close, fearing that he would collapse. \n\nRaph was in a pool of his own blood. His face was so swollen that his eyes could not be seen but it was apparent that the bridge of his beak was broken and that his jaw had been dislocated. Blood seeped from the left eye but Donny couldn't tell if it came from the eye socket or if there was a laceration on his face. \n\nBurns and cuts covered the bruised emerald skin. His shoulders looked out of socket and his fingers were broken. Two daggers were stuck on either side, just above the hip and piercing the bridge. He wasn’t sure if all of that happened before or after they had hobbled him by breaking his ankles. \n\nThe worst part was when Donny looked at Raph’s tail. They had stuck one of his sai through the tip of his tail, pinning it down and stuck a bat into his cloaca and left them there. \n\nSplinter soothed him, kneeling down next to his head and placing his hand gently on top. “You are safe now, my son. Your family is here.” Donny doubted Raph could hear him; he had to have been in shock. \n\nLeo pulled out his shell-cell and Donny pulled out of Leatherhead’s arms to rush to Mikey’s side. He could see the trauma in his little brother’s eyes at seeing the strongest in their group broken and defiled. \n\n“Karai?” Leo said into his phone. “I’m sorry to call you so late but you offered a truce and I don’t know anyone else to call. We need your help. Hun… he attacked Raph and now Raph….” He had to stop in order to regain control. He was quiet for a while as he listened to Karai. “Raph’s hurt bad. Can you track this signal?” He fell silent again then managed to choke out, “Thank you.”\n\nHe turned to face his family, “She’s on her way. She said that her medical team is preparing for him now.”\n\n“Can we trust her?” Donny asked, while he cradled Mikey in his lap. \n\n“Do we have a choice?” Leo said, fighting back his own tears. He pointed to Raph but spoke to Don, “Can you tend to injuries on this scale?”\n\nShaking his head, Donny choked out his answer, “No.”\n\nLeo then turned to Leatherhead, “Do you think you can?”\n\n“No,” Leatherhead answered. “I cannot.”\n\n“So we get our help from Karai,” Leo said with his eyes fixed on Raph. “That or we watch him die.”\n\n“Look what they did to him,” Mikey whimpered. “They stuck things in him. There’s so much blood.”\n\nMikey reached out for Raph but when Donny realized that he was reaching for the bat, he pulled Mikey’s hand back. “No, Mikey. Let the doctors remove it.”\n\n“I don’t want Karai to see him with that in him,” Mikey cried, trying to pull his hand free. “He wouldn’t want her to see him with that in him.”\n\n“You’ll cause more damage,” Donny said as he held tight to Mikey wrist. “If you pull it out, he’ll bleed more and he could die before he gets the help he needs.”\n\n“Let me at least pull out the sai,” Mikey pleaded. \n\n“Settle down, Michelangelo,” Splinter’s voice was both soft yet firm. “I know you want to try to save your brother humiliation but doing so will kill him. Please, do not touch anything.”\n\nMikey relented and just sat there, sobbing in Donny’s arms. \n\nSomehow, Splinter managed to get Raph to settle down and his breathing leveled out. Every time Raph took in a gurgling breath, Donny feared it would be his last. It’s amazing how time seems to slow down when the life of a loved one was on the line. However, Karai and her team arrived at their location within ten minutes. \n\nAs soon as she entered the building she stopped at stared at the horror in front of her. “Hun has truly become a monster,” her voice trembled as she spoke and she struggled to keep her composure. She looked at Leo, “We will do all that we can for him.”\n\nHer Foot soldiers, a few mutants included, rushed from a van, the sight of Raph staggered them all but they collected their composure quickly. They surrounded Raph and assessed his injuries, placing a brace around his neck just in case. Another injected Raph then looked up to see the concern on Splinter’s face. “It’s just morphine,” the soldier informed him. “A lot of it, to help with the pain.”\n\nIt took six soldiers to lift Raph onto the gurney and they strapped him down then rushed him over to the van. They allowed Splinter to ride with them but the others had to ride with Karai. \n\nAs they made their way to Foot headquarters, Leo called Casey and April. He kept his conversation with them short, leaving out the details but not sugar coating the truth either. He made sure that they prepared themselves for the worst. \n\nOnce at the Foot headquarters, they were led to a room where they could wait while Raph was rushed in to surgery. As Karai turned to leave the room, Leo called after her, “Please, save my brother.”\n\nShe turned to look at him and there was sadness in her eyes that Donny had never seen before. “Dr. Chaplin will do all that he can.” They all knew that she was not going to make any promises beyond that. \n\nCasey and April showed up and together they waited for news. April sat down to comfort Mikey; he had been in a state of shock since seeing Raph. Casey sat off by himself, looking wan from the shock and fear of losing his best friend as he stared off at nothing. Splinter sat in a chair and meditated while Leo paced the room. Donny could only stare at the clock while leaning against Leatherhead. \n\nAs the hours passed, Leo finally sat down and Mikey eventually fell asleep with his head on April’s lap. After about seven hours, Chaplin walked into the room carrying a thick file. “I brought you this, Donatello. I thought you would like a read out of all that we did.”\n\nApril woke Mikey up and they sat holding each other’s hands as they waited for the news. \n\n“How’s Raph,” Leo stood while Donny accepted the file. “Is he going to make it?”\n\n“He’s stable,” Chaplin answered then struggled to find his voice. “But critical. We had to… cut down his plastron and open him up to repair the internal damage and there was… a lot…. We had to… remove some of his lower intestine; it was just too damaged from the… b… bat. I can’t… believe…” \n\nChaplin stared off in shock for a moment. He was a scientist and a genius but, despite working for the foot, had probably seen nothing worse than a stab wound or broken bone. Even a dead body was easier to handle than seeing what was done to Raph. \n\nChaplin took a deep breath, and then continued. “His heart stopped twice while we were working but it didn’t take much to get it started again. The best news is that, despite the damage to his face, the loss of an eye, and a mild concussion, he suffered no brain damage and most of the breaks were all clean and easily set so there should be little lingering effects, maybe some arthritis down the road. He will need extra support but it shouldn’t cripple him, too much. We have him in a medically induced coma so he can heal without being in pain. His body has suffered a lot of trauma…. It’s all in the file.”\n\n“Thank you,” Splinter said as he reached out his hand. “Thank you for giving my son a fighting chance.”\n\n“He’s not out of the woods yet,” Chaplin choked out, taking Splinter’s hand. “He could still suffer organ failure, develop a blood clot, or hemorrhage. He is being monitored but, for the most part, we’ve done all we can do at this point.”\n\n“May I go sit with him,” Splinter pleaded. \n\n“Yeah,” Chaplin nodded. “I’ll take you to him. I warn you, it may be a bit overwhelming. He’s in a full body cast and his jaw is wired shut.”\n\n“I understand,” Splinter nodded and Chaplin led him away. \n\nDonny sat reading the file. He figured that the reason the Purple Dragons had avoided damaging Raph’s head too much was because they wanted him conscious while they tortured him. And they did torture him. Despite himself, he imagined what they must have done to him. \n\nThe injury that slowed him down and prevented him from being able to hide must have been one or both of the daggers in his sides. Once they found him they probably hit him in the face to knock him down then hobbled him to insure that he wouldn’t get away again but he couldn’t figure out why they chose to dislocate the joint as opposed to breaking them. Maybe they didn’t think about it and just did it. \n\nThe rest of it could have come in any order. The violation, though, had to have been the hardest for Raph to endure. He knew his brother was going to be a different turtle after all that was done to him. \n\nAfter a few hours, Mikey insisted that April take him to the store. He wanted to get Raph what he was planning on buying him for Christmas. He wanted to get it before Raph woke up so it would be one of the first things he saw.\n\nApril agreed, not wanting to point out that it would be a long time before Raph woke up. She was willing to do anything Mikey needed to get thought his trauma. An hour later Mikey came running in with his gift for Raph. “Can I go see Raph now?”\n\n“Sure,” Donny walked with Mikey and found someone to lead them to Raph’s room. When they entered the dimly lit room, Mikey broke down and cried for a moment before he was able to get himself back under control long enough to finish his task. \n\nHe pulled the box out of the store bag and Donny could then see that it was a Princess Belle doll from the Animators’ Collection. \n\nEver since they were kids, Raph had an affinity for princesses and in particular Belle from Beauty and the Beast because she was the one who had saved the prince from his curse. He believed, for a while, that they were princes cursed and that all they needed was for a princess, like Belle, to come and free them.\n\nHe collected things to give to her and learned all the things that a princess would like. He was determined to be the one to win her heart and break the curse. When Splinter told him the truth, Raph didn’t take it well. He never let go of the dream, even though he knew better. \n\nMikey made quick work of the box and had the doll out so quickly that Donny didn’t have the heart to tell him that Raph probably would have preferred that it stayed in the box. Mikey positioned the doll on the table to the right of Raph since he was missing his left eye. \n\nMonths passed and Raph’s body healed but he did not wake up. He lost the muscle that he had worked so hard to gain. Physical therapists came in to move his legs in order to prevent blood clots and to prevent the muscles from tightening. \n\nMikey kept the doll in pristine condition, brushing her hair and keeping her free of dust to insure that she was beautiful when Raph did wake up. “It’s gonna be his first new doll,” Mikey said as he tended to her. “Not one from the trash that he has to fix up but one that is brand new.”\n\nWhen Casey visited, he would turn the game on and watch it, sitting next to Raph. They hadn’t missed a game together in nearly two years, since the Turtles got back from the future, and Casey wasn’t about to break that record. \n\nDay in and day out they visited Raph, giving him comfort and encouragement. Then one day, while Donny was sitting next to the bed and reading to Raph, his eye opened. When he noticed, Donny felt so much joy that he started to cry. Raph still had a long way to go but he finally took the first step on the road to recovery. \n","writing_bbcode_parsed":"Warning: Violence, near character death and details of injuries.
Pairing Leatherhead/Don

**

They always fought.

It was a daily occurrence. Donny had learned to tune it out; he didn’t even know what they were fighting over. The end of the argument was signaled with the slam of a door as Raph left the lair.

Leatherhead was lying curled up in the nest like bed that he shared with Donny while Don worked on one of his many projects. When they finally came out to the family, it was to unconditional love and support. Leatherhead and Don started to share a room and Donny loved waking up every morning wrapped in Leatherhead’s arms. Don had no idea how Leatherhead managed to get to sleep when Raph and Leo were yelling at each other.  

Shutting off his computer, Don grabbed a book and curled up, leaning on Leatherhead to read.

The hours passed. It was nothing new. Raph had the habit of staying out well past midnight, returning only because Splinter had requested that he not stay out so late.

It was only a quarter past eleven when Donny’s shell-cell started to ring. He got up to answer his phone, thinking that it would be Raph telling him that he was staying at Casey’s for the night. “Yeah,” Don answered.

“Help,” Raph’s voice come over the line in a whisper.

“Raph?” Donny felt a surge of panic and clicked on the tracker. “What’s going on?” He woke Leatherhead then rushed from his lab as he switched his phone to speaker, flagging Leo over as he did.

Mikey and Splinter saw the panic on Donny’s face and rushed over to see what was going on as Leatherhead made his way out of the lab.

“I was attacked,” Raph’s raspy voice was barely loud enough for them to hear so they all leaned in close. “Hun and his Dragons managed to…. I’m so tired and I can’t hide because they can follow the trail of blood.”

“Raph, whatever happens, keep your shell-cell on you so we can find you,” Donny instructed as they grabbed their gear and rushed from the lair.

“I’m sorry,” Raph sobbed. It wasn’t often that they heard their brother cry and when he did it meant that he was under a lot of emotional stress.  

“Just keep moving,” Splinter said, keeping pace with his sons.

“I can’t,” Raph said with a grunt. “I’m too hurt. I can hear them coming. I’m sorry, father. I’m sorry. I should have been a better son.”

“Raph, we’re on our way,” Leo shouted. “Just hang on.”

“They’re here,” Raph whispered then the line went dead.

“Donatello?” Splinter pleaded.

“I still have a signal,” Donny reassured them. “I just hope that he still has his cell.”

As they approached the signal they could hear Raph’s screams of pain followed by the laughter and cheers of men, long before they saw the building. They rushed in, without hesitation and the thugs scattered. Donny caught a glimpse of Hun, covered in blood, before he disappeared into the darkness.

Ever since he was mutated into a turtle by the mutagen from the alternate universe, Hun had upped his game. Without the Shredder to rein him in, he was more ruthless and violent than before. He sold drugs and weapons made from Triceraton technology and his numbers have swollen from absorbing the members from all the other gangs. The former leaders of those gangs have yet to be found.

There wasn’t much of a fight. The Purple Dragons fled so quickly that Donny was only able to get two hits in before he stood without an opponent.

“Raphael!” Splinter gasped, dropping his stick and rushing to the middle of the room.

Donny turned in time to see Mikey drop to his knees at the sight of their brother. Tears filled Leo’s eyes and Donny could see the anger behind them and the desire to hit someone. Leatherhead was next to Donny and placed his hand on Don’s carapace. Donny was afraid to look down; the wet sounds of his brother’s labored breathing making him fear the worst but at least, for the moment, he was alive.

When he did look down, Donny couldn’t contain the cry that escaped him. Leatherhead pulled him close, fearing that he would collapse.

Raph was in a pool of his own blood. His face was so swollen that his eyes could not be seen but it was apparent that the bridge of his beak was broken and that his jaw had been dislocated. Blood seeped from the left eye but Donny couldn't tell if it came from the eye socket or if there was a laceration on his face.

Burns and cuts covered the bruised emerald skin. His shoulders looked out of socket and his fingers were broken. Two daggers were stuck on either side, just above the hip and piercing the bridge. He wasn’t sure if all of that happened before or after they had hobbled him by breaking his ankles.

The worst part was when Donny looked at Raph’s tail. They had stuck one of his sai through the tip of his tail, pinning it down and stuck a bat into his cloaca and left them there.

Splinter soothed him, kneeling down next to his head and placing his hand gently on top. “You are safe now, my son. Your family is here.” Donny doubted Raph could hear him; he had to have been in shock.

Leo pulled out his shell-cell and Donny pulled out of Leatherhead’s arms to rush to Mikey’s side. He could see the trauma in his little brother’s eyes at seeing the strongest in their group broken and defiled.

“Karai?” Leo said into his phone. “I’m sorry to call you so late but you offered a truce and I don’t know anyone else to call. We need your help. Hun… he attacked Raph and now Raph….” He had to stop in order to regain control. He was quiet for a while as he listened to Karai. “Raph’s hurt bad. Can you track this signal?” He fell silent again then managed to choke out, “Thank you.”

He turned to face his family, “She’s on her way. She said that her medical team is preparing for him now.”

“Can we trust her?” Donny asked, while he cradled Mikey in his lap.

“Do we have a choice?” Leo said, fighting back his own tears. He pointed to Raph but spoke to Don, “Can you tend to injuries on this scale?”

Shaking his head, Donny choked out his answer, “No.”

Leo then turned to Leatherhead, “Do you think you can?”

“No,” Leatherhead answered. “I cannot.”

“So we get our help from Karai,” Leo said with his eyes fixed on Raph. “That or we watch him die.”

“Look what they did to him,” Mikey whimpered. “They stuck things in him. There’s so much blood.”

Mikey reached out for Raph but when Donny realized that he was reaching for the bat, he pulled Mikey’s hand back. “No, Mikey. Let the doctors remove it.”

“I don’t want Karai to see him with that in him,” Mikey cried, trying to pull his hand free. “He wouldn’t want her to see him with that in him.”

“You’ll cause more damage,” Donny said as he held tight to Mikey wrist. “If you pull it out, he’ll bleed more and he could die before he gets the help he needs.”

“Let me at least pull out the sai,” Mikey pleaded.

“Settle down, Michelangelo,” Splinter’s voice was both soft yet firm. “I know you want to try to save your brother humiliation but doing so will kill him. Please, do not touch anything.”

Mikey relented and just sat there, sobbing in Donny’s arms.

Somehow, Splinter managed to get Raph to settle down and his breathing leveled out. Every time Raph took in a gurgling breath, Donny feared it would be his last. It’s amazing how time seems to slow down when the life of a loved one was on the line. However, Karai and her team arrived at their location within ten minutes.

As soon as she entered the building she stopped at stared at the horror in front of her. “Hun has truly become a monster,” her voice trembled as she spoke and she struggled to keep her composure. She looked at Leo, “We will do all that we can for him.”

Her Foot soldiers, a few mutants included, rushed from a van, the sight of Raph staggered them all but they collected their composure quickly. They surrounded Raph and assessed his injuries, placing a brace around his neck just in case. Another injected Raph then looked up to see the concern on Splinter’s face. “It’s just morphine,” the soldier informed him. “A lot of it, to help with the pain.”

It took six soldiers to lift Raph onto the gurney and they strapped him down then rushed him over to the van. They allowed Splinter to ride with them but the others had to ride with Karai.

As they made their way to Foot headquarters, Leo called Casey and April. He kept his conversation with them short, leaving out the details but not sugar coating the truth either. He made sure that they prepared themselves for the worst.

Once at the Foot headquarters, they were led to a room where they could wait while Raph was rushed in to surgery. As Karai turned to leave the room, Leo called after her, “Please, save my brother.”

She turned to look at him and there was sadness in her eyes that Donny had never seen before. “Dr. Chaplin will do all that he can.” They all knew that she was not going to make any promises beyond that.

Casey and April showed up and together they waited for news. April sat down to comfort Mikey; he had been in a state of shock since seeing Raph. Casey sat off by himself, looking wan from the shock and fear of losing his best friend as he stared off at nothing. Splinter sat in a chair and meditated while Leo paced the room. Donny could only stare at the clock while leaning against Leatherhead.

As the hours passed, Leo finally sat down and Mikey eventually fell asleep with his head on April’s lap. After about seven hours, Chaplin walked into the room carrying a thick file. “I brought you this, Donatello. I thought you would like a read out of all that we did.”

April woke Mikey up and they sat holding each other’s hands as they waited for the news.

“How’s Raph,” Leo stood while Donny accepted the file. “Is he going to make it?”

“He’s stable,” Chaplin answered then struggled to find his voice. “But critical. We had to… cut down his plastron and open him up to repair the internal damage and there was… a lot…. We had to… remove some of his lower intestine; it was just too damaged from the… b… bat. I can’t… believe…”

Chaplin stared off in shock for a moment. He was a scientist and a genius but, despite working for the foot, had probably seen nothing worse than a stab wound or broken bone. Even a dead body was easier to handle than seeing what was done to Raph.

Chaplin took a deep breath, and then continued. “His heart stopped twice while we were working but it didn’t take much to get it started again. The best news is that, despite the damage to his face, the loss of an eye, and a mild concussion, he suffered no brain damage and most of the breaks were all clean and easily set so there should be little lingering effects, maybe some arthritis down the road. He will need extra support but it shouldn’t cripple him, too much. We have him in a medically induced coma so he can heal without being in pain. His body has suffered a lot of trauma…. It’s all in the file.”

“Thank you,” Splinter said as he reached out his hand. “Thank you for giving my son a fighting chance.”

“He’s not out of the woods yet,” Chaplin choked out, taking Splinter’s hand. “He could still suffer organ failure, develop a blood clot, or hemorrhage. He is being monitored but, for the most part, we’ve done all we can do at this point.”

“May I go sit with him,” Splinter pleaded.

“Yeah,” Chaplin nodded. “I’ll take you to him. I warn you, it may be a bit overwhelming. He’s in a full body cast and his jaw is wired shut.”

“I understand,” Splinter nodded and Chaplin led him away.

Donny sat reading the file. He figured that the reason the Purple Dragons had avoided damaging Raph’s head too much was because they wanted him conscious while they tortured him. And they did torture him. Despite himself, he imagined what they must have done to him.

The injury that slowed him down and prevented him from being able to hide must have been one or both of the daggers in his sides. Once they found him they probably hit him in the face to knock him down then hobbled him to insure that he wouldn’t get away again but he couldn’t figure out why they chose to dislocate the joint as opposed to breaking them. Maybe they didn’t think about it and just did it.

The rest of it could have come in any order. The violation, though, had to have been the hardest for Raph to endure. He knew his brother was going to be a different turtle after all that was done to him.  

After a few hours, Mikey insisted that April take him to the store. He wanted to get Raph what he was planning on buying him for Christmas. He wanted to get it before Raph woke up so it would be one of the first things he saw.

April agreed, not wanting to point out that it would be a long time before Raph woke up. She was willing to do anything Mikey needed to get thought his trauma. An hour later Mikey came running in with his gift for Raph. “Can I go see Raph now?”

“Sure,” Donny walked with Mikey and found someone to lead them to Raph’s room. When they entered the dimly lit room, Mikey broke down and cried for a moment before he was able to get himself back under control long enough to finish his task.

He pulled the box out of the store bag and Donny could then see that it was a Princess Belle doll from the Animators’ Collection.

Ever since they were kids, Raph had an affinity for princesses and in particular Belle from Beauty and the Beast because she was the one who had saved the prince from his curse. He believed, for a while, that they were princes cursed and that all they needed was for a princess, like Belle, to come and free them.

He collected things to give to her and learned all the things that a princess would like. He was determined to be the one to win her heart and break the curse. When Splinter told him the truth, Raph didn’t take it well. He never let go of the dream, even though he knew better.

Mikey made quick work of the box and had the doll out so quickly that Donny didn’t have the heart to tell him that Raph probably would have preferred that it stayed in the box. Mikey positioned the doll on the table to the right of Raph since he was missing his left eye.

Months passed and Raph’s body healed but he did not wake up. He lost the muscle that he had worked so hard to gain. Physical therapists came in to move his legs in order to prevent blood clots and to prevent the muscles from tightening.

Mikey kept the doll in pristine condition, brushing her hair and keeping her free of dust to insure that she was beautiful when Raph did wake up. “It’s gonna be his first new doll,” Mikey said as he tended to her. “Not one from the trash that he has to fix up but one that is brand new.”

When Casey visited, he would turn the game on and watch it, sitting next to Raph. They hadn’t missed a game together in nearly two years, since the Turtles got back from the future, and Casey wasn’t about to break that record.

Day in and day out they visited Raph, giving him comfort and encouragement. Then one day, while Donny was sitting next to the bed and reading to Raph, his eye opened. When he noticed, Donny felt so much joy that he started to cry. Raph still had a long way to go but he finally took the first step on the road to recovery.
","pools_count":1,"title":"TMNT 100 Theme #2 Bloody","deleted":"f","public":"t","mimetype":"text/rtf","pagecount":"1","rating_id":"2","rating_name":"Adult","ratings":[{"content_tag_id":"5","name":"Strong Violence","description":"Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death","rating_id":"2"}],"submission_type_id":"12","type_name":"Writing - Document","guest_block":"t","friends_only":"f","comments_count":"5","views":"133","sales_description":null,"forsale":"f","digitalsales":"f","printsales":"f","digital_price":""}