A while back my first ever post for rottmnt was about how Donnie died in the bad future so now what if I wrote about how Raph died
Some quick notes for context:
I hc Casey Jr. as trans. His given name was Arum (after the toxic flowers yes) so he’s still referred to as such during this.
I hc Raph as??? definitely not cis and Cassandra often uses she/her pronouns for Raph while Donnie often uses he/him
Added commentary in my tags if u want it uuuuu okay have fun????
Donatello could accept dying.
He’d come to terms with that ages ago, not long after they got thrown into this war. Despite all the measures he took for safety, defenses, he always kept it in the back of his mind that any number of things could kill him and that would just be that.
He couldn’t, however, accept that Cassandra and and his niece would die with him.
What a mess and a disaster. All it took was one Kraang hound following a squad to this base for the army to show up. They had an alert, at least, a heads up. Most everyone escaped.
But two year old Arum was harder to find. Donatello and Raph both stayed behind with Cassandra to find her, where she’d tucked herself away, while Leo and Mikey took care of setting up their backup base.
Donatello wouldn’t admit half his motive for staying was to, potentially, set off the self destruct sequence to put a dent in their numbers.
But so much for that. Cassandra’s leg got injured. She was against the wall behind Donatello, holding Arum in her arms.
And Donatello couldn’t move. He just stood there, staff out, his magic tech projecting a shield into the open hallway to stop the enemies from getting in. By now there were so many of them, too many. Kraang hounds, corrupted humans, and other flesh like monsters all pressed against the shield, adding to the pressure.
Donatello knew it wouldn’t hold forever. Knew if he tried to do anything else the shield would fail and they’d be overrun in seconds. How was he supposed to get them out of this?
Where was Raph? Already gone? That thought put a vice grip on his throat, almost squeezing out a sob.
Donatello wanted his big brother.
He didn’t know what to do.
The room shook. A sharp crack came from above. Donatello turned his gaze to see the concrete giving way. No no no. Were they going to bust in from there too? Donatello didn’t have time to make another shield.
Another crack. A huge slab fell from above. Dust exploded into the room but Donatello refused to drop his shield. Not yet. Not yet.
“Cass.” Raph’s voice rang out through the room. “Donnie!”
Donatello watched his big brother first run to check on his wife and daughter. His breath shook when he exhaled, so relieved to see him, but he kept his concentration on his magic as the kraang tried to put another dent in the shield.
“Cass, are you okay?” Raph spoke from behind.
“Fine. Had worse. Take Arum and get out of here.”
“You’re both getting out of here.” Raph insisted. “Donnie--”
“Take them and run.” Donatello interrupted. “I’ll keep buying you some time.”
“I’m not leaving you here either, Donnie.”
“You don’t have a choice.” He snapped. “The second I drop this shield we don’t have time to escape.”
He waited for some final words, or another argument. Instead there were some quiet whispers from Raph, probably speaking to Cassandra, then the sound of a gentle kiss.
Donatello glanced back at the shifting of rubble, seeing Raph approaching him.
“We have to get you out of here, Donnie.”
He glared at his big brother. “No you don’t. If you try then none of us are getting out. Just--”
“You have to get out of here.” Raph insisted. “Without you, your tech, the resistance is dead in the water. We need you, Donnie.”
“You will figure something else out.”
“No.” Raph hardened his tone. “There has to be a way out of this.” He glanced at the shield, at the wall of monsters just behind it. “Think you can make that thing just a bit smaller?”
“What do you mean?”
“Small enough to fit down the hall. Then I can punch it, send all of them back. At least long enough to give us a chance to run, right?”
That seemed stupid, insane. “Raph, it would insure your family’s survival far more if you just--”
“Donnie, trust me.” Raph held his shoulder. “We’ll get you out of this.”
Donatello didn’t want to listen. Why couldn’t Raph just take Cassandra and run?
“Fine.” He sighed. “Get ready.”
Raph’s ninpo already flashed around his fists, light trailing up his arms. It glowed bright, hot, like it often did these days when he wanted to increase the impact of his strikes.
Just as his big brother rushed toward the shield, Donatello let it shrink down. Pink tentacles and teeth tried to worm their way through the gaps, but a second later Raph hit the shield.
The impact sounded like an explosion. The entire thing rocketed down the hall, taking the monsters with them. The edges of it shredded some of them, smearing flesh and blood along the walls. Donatello held back the bile in his throat as he finally released his magic.
“Go help Cass up.” Raph told him, keeping an eye on the hallway where some of the creatures were already screaming as they approached once again.
Donatello rushed over to Cassandra. He hoped to see her relieved, or at least angry at this whole ordeal.
Instead she looked horrified.
“Donatello.” She shouted at him. “You idiot.”
What? What was she talking about? He followed her gaze, back over to Raph.
The devices seemed to fly toward him in slow motion. Two of his escape pods, the things he hadn’t brought with him because he’d given them to all the other people on base.
As soon as they got close enough they sprung open. Metal clicked as it shifted into place. The belts shot out, grabbing their target. One snatched Cassandra and Arum off the ground while the other aimed for Donatello.
He tried to weave out of the way, run around it toward his brother who had his back to him. But it wasn’t enough. The devices were meant to chase their target, on the off chance they got snatched by an enemy during launch.
He almost got close enough to grab Raph’s shoulder when the belts snapped around his chest. It jerked him backwards, into their.
“Raph!” He screamed. “Raph, what did you do?”
“Sorry.” Raphael finally looked at him, smiling, in spite of the onslaught of kraang reemerging from the hall. “Take care of them for me, okay D?”
“No.” Donatello screamed as the cover snapped down. He tried to pry the belt off, release the hatch, but it was too late for that. “No. Raph? Raph!”
The pod launched into the air, out of the hole Raph created earlier. Had he planned all this from the start?
Donatello kept staring at the old base, praying that Raph would somehow find another way out of it.
He could see the shock wave hit the ground before red light emerged from the ground. It twisted into the shape of his big brother, a bigger construct than he ever created before, almost glowing as bright as the sun.
It aimed a punch down, and as soon as the fist collided with the ground everything exploded.
Donatello flinched when the shock wave from that hit the escape pod. Thankfully it stayed intact, and on course. He tried to look back at the base but by now it was nothing more than a crater and a pillar of dust and flames.
“Ra... Raph...” He barely got the word out. Shock settled into his systems, rendering him silent as the base got farther and farther away.
while I haven't figured out amihan's final endgame (maybe I never will lol) i believe she NEEDED nate to come into her life
after rejection after rejection (her mother, lily, the Circle, morrigan, Alistair) I want her to finally know what it's like for someone to CHOOSE HER explicitly to say "I want you, I need you, I love you" to her face
not to say morrigan and alistair didn't love her, but Things were in the way
it's important for her to have someone who is undeniably into her even after knowing what she's like at her most raw
I KNOW your queue tag isn’t a reference to the worst twenty one pilots song in 2022
I've had that tag since 2016 and the entirety of Vessel is better than anything else that dumb fucking asshole Tyler has written since, don't send these terrible opinions to me
I have been prescribed an ADHD medication hello!! we are moving forward. it’s so funny she was like “yeah it seems you’ve got an attention deficit problem” LMAO
