Prologue to a TMNT fic
Jan. 15th, 2007 09:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onemuseleftThis is a story idea that popped into my head a long while ago and never got around to writing. I've been fussing at it lately and I think it's starting to come together.
This is how it ends.
Raphael staggers slightly as his shell hits the wall and his vision goes blurry for an instant. He rubs a hand across his face and blinks his eyes clear and when he looks up he sees his family, tense and wary – Leo's bleeding and Don's holding his jaw and Mike is staring at him like he's the monster in one of those crappy late night sci-fi marathons. Leo's katana is inches from his throat.
His older brother pauses and stares at him. "Raph?" he asks cautiously, as if he's expecting anything but.
"It's me." He considers the last few days and adds, "Really me. The real me, I mean." The whole thing gives him a headache.
"Explanation, Raph." Leo doesn't look like he's at all reassured. "Now."
He's not sure he has one they'll believe.
****
It also ends like this.
A series of explosions rock the building, sending shock waves rippling through the floors. Smoke is drifting out of the ventilation ducts and Donatello chokes on smoke and blood and smirks because sabotaging the air filters was a better idea than he'd thought.
The sharp clang of metal against metal echoes in the smoke-filled room and the occasional snarl or grunt tells him both his brothers are still alive – for now.
That will change soon enough. This fight has been years in the making and only one will walk away alive. Donatello spares a moment to calculate the odds that Raph and Leo will kill each other and save him the trouble of confronting the survivor (good odds, he decides, but not good enough to risk his life on) while he waits for the invaders to find them.
Karai should be long gone by now. She's human and she's smart – she'll blend into the world until the Utroms stop looking. She was never as bad as her father, or certain of her foster brothers, so they'll probably leave her be after she proves she's not going to turn around and conquer the world.
Mike's another story. Don wishes a hundred things where Mikey is concerned but mostly he wishes he knew whether the Utroms will keep their word.
The clang of metal ends with a ragged gasp and the sick, sucking sound of a blade being pulled free from a body.
Donatello waits to see which of his brothers he needs to kill.
****
The beginning is longer.
This is how it ends.
Raphael staggers slightly as his shell hits the wall and his vision goes blurry for an instant. He rubs a hand across his face and blinks his eyes clear and when he looks up he sees his family, tense and wary – Leo's bleeding and Don's holding his jaw and Mike is staring at him like he's the monster in one of those crappy late night sci-fi marathons. Leo's katana is inches from his throat.
His older brother pauses and stares at him. "Raph?" he asks cautiously, as if he's expecting anything but.
"It's me." He considers the last few days and adds, "Really me. The real me, I mean." The whole thing gives him a headache.
"Explanation, Raph." Leo doesn't look like he's at all reassured. "Now."
He's not sure he has one they'll believe.
****
It also ends like this.
A series of explosions rock the building, sending shock waves rippling through the floors. Smoke is drifting out of the ventilation ducts and Donatello chokes on smoke and blood and smirks because sabotaging the air filters was a better idea than he'd thought.
The sharp clang of metal against metal echoes in the smoke-filled room and the occasional snarl or grunt tells him both his brothers are still alive – for now.
That will change soon enough. This fight has been years in the making and only one will walk away alive. Donatello spares a moment to calculate the odds that Raph and Leo will kill each other and save him the trouble of confronting the survivor (good odds, he decides, but not good enough to risk his life on) while he waits for the invaders to find them.
Karai should be long gone by now. She's human and she's smart – she'll blend into the world until the Utroms stop looking. She was never as bad as her father, or certain of her foster brothers, so they'll probably leave her be after she proves she's not going to turn around and conquer the world.
Mike's another story. Don wishes a hundred things where Mikey is concerned but mostly he wishes he knew whether the Utroms will keep their word.
The clang of metal ends with a ragged gasp and the sick, sucking sound of a blade being pulled free from a body.
Donatello waits to see which of his brothers he needs to kill.
****
The beginning is longer.
