Doppelganger

            Doppelganger: A tangible double of a living person that typically represents evil.

                                     A ghostly double or counterpart of a living person.

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            After three days in the infirmary, Raphael came to the conclusion that what he had encountered was a doppelganger.

            The first twenty-four hours in the infirmary were long and painful because Raph refused to let Don sedate him.  The wounds on his wrists and ankles were cleaned and bandaged; an anal exam proved that he was undamaged except for a small cut from a very sharp blade.

            When that time passed with no sign of infection, Raph was told he needn’t stay in the infirmary any longer.

            Raph refused to leave Leo’s side.  Their beds were close together; close enough so that Raph could hear the tiniest groan from his brother.  Leo was recovering from his surgery, and Don was keeping him sedated until all signs of danger from the head wound had passed.

            They all knew that it wasn’t Leo who’d attacked Raph.  Don had gone half mad trying to understand how anyone could have waltzed into the lair past his security measures and then drifted back out again like the wind.

            Or like a ghost, Raph had mentally added as Don paced back and forth.

            The cameras had shown Raph leaving his room, walking to Leo’s and then the door to Leo’s room opening without being touched.  It closed behind Raph and that was the last thing the cameras showed.  Nothing ever came out.

            Raph’s family stopped looking at him as though he was completely insane after Raph told Don to take a cast of Leo’s teeth and compare it to the bite mark on Raph’s ankle.  It was a perfect match.

            After that, Raph had confiscated the laptop and begun to do some research.  Here is where he found all those late nights sitting up with Mikey watching old horror movies to be useful.  It gave Raph an idea of where his search should begin.

            The more he read about doppelgangers, the more he was sure that he’d encountered one.  There was even science showing experiments done with small electrical charges along the temporal lobe of the brain.  Some of these tests had produced visible ghostly manifestations.

            Leo’s brain injury was to the temporal lobe, but there was no electricity involved.  Unless one took into account the Y’Lyntian crystals dotted throughout the lair.

            The doppelganger had appeared at the moment when the swelling to Leo’s brain caused by the injury was at its worst.  That injury, the lair’s crystals – yeah, Raph was willing to stretch the boundaries of his imagination.  It was the only theory that explained everything that had happened to him.

            Coming to grips with that torture was easier the more he understood it.  Knowing that it wasn’t really Leo helped enormously.

            The doppelganger had said “I love you Raphael.”  Although his mind was a little hazy towards the last of the ordeal, from the time line as explained to him by Don; that was probably damn close to the moment Leo fought his way back from unconsciousness to send Raph some help.

            Raph glanced at his brother’s prone form.  He still felt guilty about causing the injury that had started this nightmare, even though Master Splinter had told him his action had saved Leo’s life.  In their way of life, injuries happened.  They’d all had their fair share.

            That doppelganger wasn’t Leonardo.  Sure, the energy that brought it to life was supplied by Leo’s brain and a bunch of damn crystals, but Raphael knew in his deepest heart his brother would never hurt him.

            That left only one possible conclusion, and as soon as Raph reached it, he knew he was correct.  He could feel that he was correct.

            The doppelganger was Raphael.

            Raphael and his own endless guilt, his painful temper; his wild passionate outbursts.  Raphael had used Leo’s energy and attacked himself with it.  He’d tortured himself, raped himself and almost killed himself in an attempt to rid himself of his most negative feelings.

            Somehow Leo had known.  In the depths of his mind, while bleeding and unconscious and being operated on, Leo had known.

            Leo had saved him.  Close to death himself, his oldest brother had used whatever strength he could muster to send help to Raphael.  To stop Raphael from killing himself.

            Raph reached over and grabbed Leo’s hand.  He felt an answering squeeze and smiled through the tears that were coursing down his cheeks.

            Fucking Don the genius had tried to tell him Leo couldn’t respond to his touch because of the sedatives.  The first time that Raph had reached over to verify for himself that his brother was still alive he’d felt Leo’s response, and nothing Don said was going to persuade him otherwise.

            ‘Cause there were some things Donatello wouldn’t be able to understand.  He sure couldn’t look inside Raph’s heart and see the hope building in there.

            He would be able to see the love though, because Raph was going to make sure his family knew how much he cared about them.  He was going to make sure Leo knew that he also cared about himself now too.

            Raph was determined that none of his family ever again be injured enough to feed the lair’s crystal’s with their energy.  He was equally as determined to never again bring that doppelganger to life.

THE END