Chapter Text
The sky was bright with the aftermath of a giant explosion. Debris was falling from what's left of the technodrone, each piece burning in different colors as they almost lazily drifted towards the ground. The reflection of the fires on the city was almost beautiful-in a 'holy crap, we're still alive!' kind of way. Within minutes of the explosion, many people were already starting to celebrate their survival. Though, not everyone was celebrating.
Horrified. That's all Raphael could feel at the moment. His little brother had just disappeared through a portal with the Krang and they weren't going to get him back. It was a one way trip and they all knew it. It wasn't called the Prison Dimension for nothing.
Collapsing to his knees, Raphael tried not to cry at the loss. He felt like his heart was ripped from his chest. Like he was missing a very important part of him and glancing at his other brothers, he knew they felt the same way. They're all hurting so much. In every way they possibly could.
It was his fault. All of it. Even though he wasn't the leader any more, he was the oldest. It was his job to protect his brothers. If only he hadn't pushed Leo so hard about the leader thing, if he hadn't left his brother alone, if he hadn't--
Raph's thoughts were cut off when he heard Mikey straining. He quickly looked up, concerned about his youngest brother's possible injuries. Thankfully, Mikey wasn't on the ground in pain, but was instead standing firm. His feet were braced apart and his arms were extended in front of him. He was almost yelling with how loud he was straining himself.
"It's over, Mikey," he tried to keep his voice from trembling. It was hard and he wasn't sure he succeeded.
Mikey shot his oldest brother a quick glare from the corner of his eye, "Leo never gave up on us . I'm not giving up on him!"
Once those words left his mouth, Mikey's eyes sparked and bright, sunny orange lightning raced down his arms and formed a jagged portal. It was small, much smaller than Leo's, but it was enough to stun him.
After a second of shocked silence, Raph and Donnie both rushed to their youngest brother, hope shining in their teary eyes.
"Whatever you're doing, Mikey, don't stop! "
The momentary relief faded slightly at the sight of bright cracks slowly running up Mikey's arms. He could see his brother's pain filled flinch as the cracks ran higher up his arms. Without a second thought and in sync with Donnie, they placed a hand firmly on each of Mikey's shoulders. Mikey glanced at both of them and Raph gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze as the cracks started crawling up his fingers. With a final yell, Mikey ripped open a portal.
Unlike Leo's portals, they could see through the other side of this one. The prison dimension was dark and they could barely make out the outlines of destroyed buildings and rubble. They desperately searched through the portal, trying to catch a glimpse of their missing brother. Surely he couldn't have gone far, right? It's only been a few minutes at most.
It took a few seconds of restless searching before Raph was finally able to spot the slider. Leo was limply floating a good distance away and Raph could just make out the shine of one of his katanas. They all watched in horror as Leo weakly raised the weapon towards the Krang that rushed him from seemingly nowhere. He wasn't able to get a hit in before he was harshly knocked back.
"LEO!" All three of them shouted as he was sent careening through a large chunk of debris and towards Mikey's portal.
The slider slowly turned towards them, the eye that wasn't swollen shut widening in realization as a weak smile spread across his bruised face when he saw them.
"Took you guys long enough," he weakly reached a hand towards them.
Raph reached around Mikey with his other hand, desperately leaning as far as he could into the portal. And when he couldn't reach any more, he extended his reach by projecting his arm. Raph barely registered how injured his brother was, though in the back of his mind, he noted that Leo had a lot more injuries than when he saw him last.
He had just grabbed Leo's hand when a maniacal laugh caused him and Leo to share a horrified look. Behind Leo, Krang One was making its way towards the portal, quickly jumping from one piece of floating debris to another.
"I'm not letting you go that easily, Pest! If either of us is getting out of here, it's going to be me!"
Raph desperately tries to pull Leo in as fast as he could, but whatever weird gravity there is in the Prison Dimension is causing Leo to move at a slug's pace. The same can't be said for the Krang, though, as it quickly gains ground.
He is terrified as the Krang latches onto one of Leo's legs. He gives a quiet, pain-filled whine as he tries to shake the Krang off. Raph still tries to pull him in as Leo grimaces in pain. He puts a weak grin on his face and Raph almost cries at the defeated look in his brother's eye.
An enraged cry has Raph looking to his left, where Donnie is pulling his free arm back as far as he could. His bo staff materializes in his hand with an almost comically large drill attached to the top. Donnie gives another cry as he thrusts the bo staff forwards-hitting the Krang square in the face. Sparks fly as the weapon drills into the alien's face, and with a scowl, it finally lets go of Leo's ankle. With the Krang occupied with being drilled in the face, Raph is able to focus on pulling his brother in with all his might. Thankfully, Donnie's attack gives them the time they need to pull their brother out.
However, just as Leo made it through the portal, there was a sharp crackle and with a loud pop, the portal changed from Mikey's warm, sunny yellow to a bright pink and white. They couldn't see the other side of the portal anymore, which was both a relief because the Krang was gone and terrifying because he didn't know where this portal came from or where it led to. He felt a strange force that was pulling him towards the new portal and he braced himself as Leo swayed limply in his grip from the gravity.
He saw Donnie slip from the corner of his eye and get dragged into the new portal. Mikey tried to grab him but the strong pull sucked him in too. Leo looked at Raph with one wide worried eye before he let go and followed their brothers.
"Guys!" Raph looked at the shrinking portal in horror. With a deep breath and strangled cry, he followed his brothers in, "We're not being separated again!"
When Raph opens his eyes, he is in pain and feeling nauseous. The portal was definitely different from any others he was familiar with. Leo's portals always felt cool and light-like a breeze on a hot day-but this one felt hot and heavy. Like someone was forcing him to hold his hand on a still too hot burner.
His vision is fuzzy in his ears feel full of cotton, but Raph can just make out the sounds of a battle dying down. He can't see any of his brothers, which causes his anxiety to spike dangerously. He harshly digs his sharp nails into his arm to ground himself. It's hard to register the pain, as his whole body is aching, but it's just enough of a distraction that he can push the anxiety away.
Once he manages to somewhat calm himself down, he forces himself to his feet. The sudden silence told him that whatever fight that was going on was over now. The only evidence of it was the scattered debris and cracked pillars. He stumbles towards the nearest wall and braces himself against it as he looks for any signs of his brothers. He spots a familiar, but weak light flickering and he slowly makes his way towards it. His blood runs cold when he finally reaches the pillar the flickering was coming from.
Not only is Leo badly hurt-he knew he was already, but it looks so much worse now-but his brother was surrounded by strangers. Any other time Raph would be excited to meet other turtles, but not today. Everything has gone wrong today and to Raph, strangers mean danger. Strangers lead to him being separated from his brothers; to his brothers being separated from each other. Strangers led to him being unable to protect them. To him and his family being hurt. To his little brother essentially killing himself to save them.
"No." Raph snarls to himself. And, ignoring his injured body's protests, he desperately lunges forward.
He catches the other turtles off guard-the one in front is harshly shoved back as he yells, "BACK OFF! "
Raph towers over the other turtles and he easily shields his brother from their line of sight. The three in the back stand in a defensive pose while the one in the front holds their hands up placatingly. All four of the strangers are wearing color-coded masks. It itches something in the back of his mind, seeing the masks and weapons these turtles have, but he wasn't going to scratch that itch right now. He just wanted to take his brothers home .
As the moment dragged on, Raph grew more nervous. The other turtles made no move to attack-the other three even put away their weapons-but they made no move to leave like he wanted them to. Raph needed to check on his brother, but he couldn't risk taking his eye off the strangers. And to make matters worse, he still hasn't seen any signs of Donnie or Mikey.
Where were they?