Chapter Text
Raph woke up feeling like something was missing. Or someone. He blinked his eyes open, wondering why he felt so sore.
He wasn’t in his room, and the living room ceiling was cracked. Something dangled from the ceiling, and someone was-
Leo!
Raph flinched fully awake, memories of the portal snapping shut and Leo’s voice cutting off slamming into place. Leo! Leo was-
Right beside him.
Raph stared down, his heart still galloping in panic. But Leo was on the mattress on the floor beside Raph, swaddled in bandages and blankets. An IV in his arm was connected to a bag held over him by a metal hook and little sensor pads were stuck to his arms. He breathed slow and heavy, deep in medicated sleep.
But alive and stable, Raph reminded himself as tears flooded his eyes. He rubbed his exposed eye, the other wrapped in a bandage to protect the cuts there. He looked for the others.
There was Mikey, curled in Raph’s arms, his bandaged arms pressed tight to his plastron and face distressed even in sleep. Donnie laid as close as he could without touching anyone, eyes half open as he scrolled through his tablet. A tent of heated blankets had been erected around him, soothing his aching shell and back with heat without touching it. Splinter laid beside him, dusty and fur matted around his eyes with tears. April laid on Leo’s other side, hugging her bat like a teddy bear.
Everyone but Donnie was sleeping. Safe. Covered in dirt, cuts, and bruises, but safe. So who was Raph missing?
Draxum?
Another jolt of alarm hit Raph before he remembered. Draxum was still in the Hidden City, safe and working on clearing a doorway so they could get Leo to a yokai hospital.
Okay, so… brothers and sister… check. Dad, check. Draxum, check. Other friends had checked in, safe in either the Hidden City or outside the destroyed zone. Except for Cassandra; she was fine even if she’d been in the zone.
Wait a second… Casey was missing! He’d been beside Leo last Raph knew, inspecting the IV and monitoring Leo’s vitals. He’d acted so natural at doctoring that Raph had left him to it.
But now he was missing. Raph looked around, but didn’t move. Maybe Casey was just getting more supplies from the office -the family’s nickname for the med bay.
Minutes ticked by with no sign of Casey. Raph began to worry about the boy. He felt like something was wrong… but maybe the feeling was just because his family was so hurt.
“Donnie,” Raph whispered.
Only Donnie’s eyes moved, rising to meet Raph’s.
“Do you know where Casey went?”
“No,” Donnie murmured, not sounding fully awake. “I dozed off, and he was gone.”
Raph hummed thoughtfully, uncertainly. He was hesitant to leave his family even briefly to look for the strange boy… oh, who was he kidding? Casey was as good as family.
Raph carefully laid Mikey beside Splinter. Mikey whimpered in his sleep until Splinter -also not waking- turned just enough to flop an arm over his shoulder.
Raph rose slowly, grimacing at the pull of strained muscles. Once they had Leo in a proper hospital, Raph was going to spend the next week in the hot tub.
Raph left the living room and shuffled to the office, just in case. No sign of Casey, so he moved onto each of their rooms, then the kitchen. Still no Casey. He checked the garage, training room, supply closets, Donnie’s lab -almost getting fried by a motion-activated laser- and every other room that still stood empty.
After checking the rooms a second time -and a few a third time- Raph was at a loss. Where else would Casey have gone? He’d been practically glued to their sides since finding them, so it was strange that he’d wander off.
Unless… Casey wasn’t just stuck to them, he was always watching, always ready. It was like he was constantly ready for something to jump out and attack them. From the little bit Raph knew of the world Casey had grown up in, he probably was . Casey probably hadn’t wandered off, then, he must have gone somewhere to… guard… something.
Raph stopped and put his hands on his hips, wondering where Casey could have gone to play guard. One of the entrances, but the lair had over a dozen. He was about to start searching when Casey’s voice came from his comm.
“Hey, Raph?”
Raph startled, then spoke into his comm, “Casey, where’d you go?”
“Keepin’ watch.”
Not very good watch, Raph guessed. Casey sounded half asleep.
“Yeah, good job,” Raph said. “Where at?”
“Entrance.”
“Okay, which entrance?”
There was a pause, then Casey’s mildly confused voice. “Where we came in?”
“Oh. Well, stay there,” Raph said. “I’ll be right there.”
Raph went to the sewer entrance. It was the first clear entrance they’d found after the fight, and a little out of their usual way. Raph paused at the end of the hall, looking across the little room.
Casey was sitting on a box beside the ladder and leaning against the wall. His mask was down, the green eyes glowing brightly. He had his saw braced between his knees and his hands wrapped around the handle. Casey turned his head slightly.
“What’re you doing?” Raph asked.
“Sitting guard,” Casey said, his voice slow and almost drowsy. “Sorry, but I’m gettin’ tired.”
“Well, it’s no wonder,” Raph said, shaking his head. “You were fighting just as hard as the rest of us. Harder even. When did you sleep last?”
“Um…”
“Thought so.” Raph shuffled toward Casey. “Come on. Donnie’s got the lair on lockdown so nobody has to guard the doors.”
“Oh.” Casey tapped his fingers on his saw. “Yeah. I guess… the Kraang being gone… what am I looking for?”
“Sleep is all you need to find,” Raph said. He put out a hand. “Come on, Casey.”
Casey stared at Raph’s hand for a minute, long enough for Raph to wonder if he’d dozed off right there. But then Casey slowly lifted his head.
“Raph, I’m… feeling pretty tired. I’m, uh… not sure I’m up to walking right… uh, now. You… you go on back to the others.”
Raph crouched, eye ridges creasing in concern. The poor kid sounded asleep already.
“That’s fine,” Raph said. “You don’t have to walk. How about I carry you?”
Casey hummed softly. “That sounds… good.”
Raph went to Casey and carefully slid a hand behind Casey’s shoulder and the wall. He moved the hand down while he started to put his other hand under Casey’s knees, but paused when he felt something wet on Casey’s back.
“Are you laying on a drippy pipe or something?” Raph asked.
“Hm?” Casey mumbled.
“It’s just that your back-” Raph leaned Casey forward and froze, his voice breaking off with a choke.
He’d seen his own hand first, covered with red. Then the wall behind Casey streaked with the same red, running down behind the box Casey was sitting on. Last was Casey’s cape, soaked red and glistening.
“Casey,” Raph said in a ragged whisper, “Where did the blood come from?”
Casey hummed softly, then said in the same calm, slow manner, “Got cut real bad… before I came here. Stapled it up, but… staple fell out…”
“And you didn’t say anything?” Raph demanded, quickly lifting Casey’s cape.
“Stitched it back up,” Casey monotoned. “It’s fine now.”
“It is not-”
Casey’s shirt and armor were soaked with blood, too, but Raph couldn’t find any damage in the clothing. Half frantic, he yanked up Casey’s shirt and finally found it: a messily stapled and stitched wound on his side under his rib cage that was swollen and oozing blood from half a dozen places.
“Casey!”
“I’s fine,” Casey said, his voice taking on more of a slur. “Jus’ fine.”
“No, you- Casey! Casey, look at me!”
Raph pulled off Casey’s mask. Underneath, the boy’s face was white, his eyes cloudy. He didn’t react to Raph taking off his cape, though he twitched when the rough fabric was pressed to the wound. He weakly tried to push Raph’s arm away.
“Just hold still,” Raph said.
Surprisingly, Casey did. He didn’t move while Raph hastily wrapped the cape around Casey’s middle and tucked in the end.
“C’n I move now?” Casey mumbled.
“No, wait.”
Steadying Casey’s back with one hand, Raph put the other under Casey’s legs and scooped him up. Casey moaned while Raph hastily repositioned him so he could cradle Casey in one arm. Casey’s eyes rolled back.
“Woah, Casey!” Raph said as he hurried down the hall. “Look at me!”
Casey’s drooping eyes inched up. He focused on Raph with obvious effort. Raph took Casey’s limp hands and put it over the cape-covered wound.
“Can you press on that?” Raph asked, skidding around the corner.
Casey stared blankly at him.
Remembering how Casey had reacted to straight orders, Raph tried in a firmer tone, “Push down, Casey.”
Casey did with a slurred, “Y’sir.”
“Save your breath, Casey,” Raph said as he opened the door to the lair. “Keep pushing down, but don’t talk.”
Casey gave a low hum. Raph hurried to the office and put Casey on the bed. He briefly lifted Casey’s hands -causing the boy to give a low whine- to check the cape. No more blood, but Casey needed stitches.
Raph’s hands were too big and clumsy for stitches, though. After giving Casey an order to not move again, Raph hurried to the living room.
Everyone was right where Raph had left them. The scene was deceptively peaceful, even with the cracks in the walls and shriveled vines piled in one corner.
But Raph hesitated for a moment too long. Donnie looked up, then his half-asleep eyes shot wide open and he rose to his elbows.
“Raph, your hands-”
“It’s not mine,” Raph interrupted, wincing at his bloody hands.
“What isn’t…?” April sat halfway up, rubbing her eyes. “What’s wrong? Is it Leo?”
“Leo’s still stable,” Donnie said, eyes darting away from Raph’s hands. He’d gone pale. “But Raph, who-”
“I need your help, April,” Raph interrupted again. “It’s Casey. He didn’t tell us, but he’s hurt… bad.”
“How bad?” April asked, untangling herself from the blanket.
“I d-don’t know. Bad,” Raph said. Their voices were starting to rouse Mikey and Splinter. “J-just come on!”
Casey hadn’t moved from his spot when Raph returned with April right behind him. Casey groaned when Raph shifted him to remove the cape, so Raph gave up and grabbed fabric scissors to cut the cloth away. April gasped when she saw the wound.
“How- when?” April asked. She shook her head and went to the cabinet to dig for supplies.
“It was under his shirt and armor,” Raph said, going to the sink to fill it with water. “He got it before he… came back.”
April shoved a little metal table over. “And he didn’t say anything? How was he even fighting?”
“Painkillers.” Raph and April looked over at Casey’s mumble. “Was fine… but staple fell out… running.”
“Had to have been when the Technodrome half crashed,” April guessed. She accepted a wet cloth from Raph and wiped the blood from around the wound. “He had to run to get out from under it.”
Casey hummed what sounded like confirmation.
“That and if he’d been bleeding during the fight, he’d have passed out sooner, I don’t care how normal this apparently is for you,” April said, directing the last bit at Casey.
How anyone could see the wound as normal was beyond Raph, but Casey hadn’t batted an eye when Raph had carried Leo’s battered body back to the lair. He’d simply taken charge in getting Leo stable and everyone’s wounds patched. And he’d somehow gotten his own wound restitched without anyone noticing.
April sprayed something over Casey’s wound, slowing the blood. “Okay, okay… Raph, we’re going to have to move him.”
“Where?” Raph asked. “The Hidden City-”
“Is for yokai, anyway,” April interrupted. “Look, I can stitch this up -maybe, it’s so messed up- but he’s lost a lot of blood. Emergency crews have already set up medical tents outside. We get him to a tent, they’ll get him to a real hospital with real doctors.”
Raph nodded quickly in relief.
“I’ll wrap him up, then you carry him outside,” April said, bending back to work.
Raph started toward the door. Raph was always wary of people seeing him and his brothers without disguises, and people would probably be even more jumpy if they saw a huge creature wandering around just then.
Donnie was standing in the doorway, looking ill but determined to be there. Raph almost guided him out of the way, but stopped himself. Shortly after their return, Donnie had made some very creative threats about what he’d do to any hands that touched his shoulders or shell.
Donnie’s eyes snapped to Raph. “What’s Casey’s blood type?”
“Huh?”
“Blood type. He’ll get medical attention faster if we know his blood type.”
“How should I know?” Raph asked. “Donnie, I have to get past…”
“Give me a sample,” Donnie said, not moving. “I’ll figure it out while you get him outside.”
“A sa-” Raph started.
“Here.” April leaned past Raph, holding a piece of blood-soaked scarf in a metal tray. “Will this work?”
“Might have some contaminants, but it’ll do,” Donnie mumbled. He took the tray, making as little contact with the metal as possible. “I’ll have it in one minute.”
Donnie finally left the doorway and Raph hurried to his room to throw on his outside clothes. When he returned to the office, April had Casey wrapped up again.
Raph carefully picked Casey back up. Casey tossed his head and mumbled, his voice barely audible.
“Did we… do it…?”
“We did it, Casey,” Raph assured him as he ran for the entrance. “You did great.”
Casey grunted. “Where… Sensei?”
“He’s not sounding so great,” April fretted.
“I know, I know,” Raph said.
Raph hurried up the ladder one-handed, into a trashed alley. Without waiting for April, Raph ran into the street.
“Which way?” Raph asked.
April looked around, then pointed at a crudely painted red cross on a building at the end of the street. An arrow pointed left, so Raph followed it down the street.
“Sensei…?”
“I’m not your sensei,” Raph said. “It’s Raph, Casey. Raph!”
“Sensei…?”
Oh, maybe future Raph had Casey call him “Sensei.”
“Sen-”
“I’ve got you, Case,” Raph said. “I’m here.”
Casey hummed softly, then began to speak. Raph had to lift Casey closer to him to hear the breathless mumble.
“When… this is… over… can we…”
“What?” Raph asked when Casey trailed off. “What do you want to do once you’re all better, Casey? Anything you want.”
“Grab a… slice…?” Casey mumbled, eyes drifting.
Where had that come from? But Raph just said, “As many slices as you want, just stay with me, got it?”
“An’ a… sunset,” Casey continued to mumble. “They sound… so… so…”
“Casey? Casey!”
Casey’s eyes fell fully shut, and no amount of ordering could get him to react. Raph held back tears and wished he could move faster.
Raph and April followed a few more painted signs before spotting a pair of Red Cross tents erected in the rubble. People in white suits darted amongst people laying and sitting on the ground. An army green vehicle with a big open back was idling nearby while stretchers were loaded inside. Just what Casey needed!
Raph took two steps toward the tents, then Donnie’s voice yelled, “Wait!”
Raph froze. Nobody had seen them yet. “What?”
“It’s Casey’s blood type,” Donnie said.
Raph shifted his feet. “What about it?”
“It isn’t human!”
“Wha- No, Donnie, you must’ve done the test wrong,” Raph said, starting forward.
“I’ve run the test twice and the computer ran it for me a third time,” Donnie said, talking fast. “Casey’s blood isn’t human.”
“Then what is it?” April asked. “Yokai?”
“Yes and no. He’s a hybrid. He’s got both.”
“That’s possible?” April asked.
“It shouldn't be, not with how long yokai and humans have been separated,” Donnie said.
Raph shook his head. “Maybe he still had Leo’s blood on him.”
“Our blood is different from yokai,” Donnie said.
“Okay…” Raph hurried back out of sight before someone noticed them. “So we need to bring him to the Hidden City hospital, right?”
The comm was chillingly silent.
Raph shook it. “Donnie, did you hear me? Call Draxum, tell him Casey needs help, too.”
“Raph.” Donnie’s voice was soft. “I already checked with Draxum. There’s no hybrids in the Hidden City.”
“So?” Raph asked through the lump in his throat, silently pleading with Donnie to disprove his rising fear.
“So the Hidden City hospitals won’t have the blood Casey needs, either.”