We arrive safely at April's house. Well, mostly safe; my leg feels like it's been soaked in acid. Though Michelangelo and Leonardo practically carried me, it still hurts every time my left foot touches the ground.

I try to hide it, but I am grateful when I can rest. I push away from my brothers and take it upon myself to make it the few remaining steps to the couch, however painful it is. I lay down and prop my injured leg on the arm of the sofa. My head sinks into a throw pillow as I relax.

Now that I don't have smoke in my eyes, I seize the opportunity to find out what my burn looks like. It's in the form of an oval, stretching from my ankle and up to the middle of my leg. Tiny blisters decorate the middle of the light green scald. It doesn't look that bad, really, but the stinging sensation leaking from it is still enough to make me suspect otherwise.

Donatello's shadow casts over me. "Let me examine your wound," he says. When I don't argue, he leans close to it, his brown gaze darting up and down my burn.

"You're lucky," Donatello finally concludes. "It's only a second-degree burn. If you had gotten any closer to the fire, it would have torn your leg up, straight to the bone."

"Good to know," I grunt ungratefully. The look of the injury is already disgusting enough; I don't need to picture how much more worse it could have been.

"Here you go, Donnie." April appear into the room with a bucket of water. Elizabeth's follows her with an icepack in her hands.

"Thank you," Donatello replies with a grin at her. "Raph, soak your injury in this for about twenty minutes." He places the bucket gently at the foot of the couch. "It will make it stop stinging."

"And use this," Elizabetta adds as she lays the ice on my forehead. "You look like you're coming down with a fever, so don't take this off until Donnie says so."

"You can stop babying me now," I mutter as I sit up, holding the icepack in place. "I could have got this stuff myself."

"Yeah, while limping?" Donatello sighs sarcastically.

"I'm just saying that I don't want everyone treating me like I can't do anything," I snap irritably. I lower my leg down into the water. "Ow, ow, ow!" I groan in agony as the cold liquid covers my burn. The pain increases tenfold, then it slowly dissipates into a soothing sensation. I relaxes into the sofa again, glad most of the pain is over with.

I glance at Elizabetta as she exits the room. It's been a while since her memory was wiped, but it still amazes me how it almost didn't work. The moment she woke back up and remembered Leo, we thought we were all done for. We figured the demonic spirit inside of her memories couldn't be deterred.

We were wrong, however. Donatello's invention completely removed every memory of us from her mind. All except Leonardo, who she can remember in flashes for some reason. Her other possessed half is gone, though, and that's all we care about. Now we just have to make amends to our old friendships- not that she was ever much a friend to me anyway.

As I lay back, I hear Leonardo's voice drifting through the house. It slowly gets louder as he approaches the living room, and I hear Casey as well. They are discussing the fire.

"I just don't know who would have randomly lit an abandoned pizza shop on fire," Leonardo says thoughtfully. I can practically see him tapping his chin, even though my eyes are closed.

"It might have been some teenagers playing a prank," Casey suggests.

"And how might you know that?" Donatello steps into the conversation, dislike edging his voice. He and Casey rarely get along, even though they're on the same side.

I open my eyes to see Casey scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, uh... My buddies and I used to do the same kind of prank..."

"Casey!" April scolds him with a shocked look on her face. "Vandalizing property is illegal!"

"So is murder," Donatello points out.

"Did you see anyone get killed tonight?" Casey shoots back at Donatello. To April, he adds more gently, "We didn't catch important things on fire; normally just doormats. It was hilarious when the owners of the house came outside and saw it!"

April, however, doesn't look amused. "Ugh!" she shouts in frustration as she marches out of the room. "Boys!"

I hear softer, more well-balanced footsteps hurry after April. "April, calm down! They aren't as smart as girls, so they don't know any better..." Elizabetta calls, her voice fading as she disappears down a hallway.

"Anyway," Donatello brings the subject back on topic. "As far as we know, anyone could have initiated the fire. They didn't necessarily need a reason."

I decide to get in on the debate. "I'll tell you who it was: the Foot."

"Hold on a minute, Raph," Leonardo interrupts me. "Don't jump to conclusions. The Foot don't know where our hideout is. It was most likely just an accident."

"Are you serious?" I can't believe what I'm hearing. "That fire almost killed us all, and you're just writing it off as an accident?!"

"The fire almost killed you, because you're the one that went back inside," Leonardo replies calmly. "The rest of us were fine."

I stand up and instantly regret it as a jolt of pain climbs my leg. I grunt softly, but I don't sit back down. Instead, I fix Leonardo with a hard stare.

   "In case you didn't notice, I was saving Donnie's retro-mutagen!" I spit.

   Leonardo narrows his dark blue eyes. "It was poor judgment risking your life for a vile that can be replaced," he responds smoothly with no sign of anger.

   "You even sound like him!" I snort and throw my hands up in annoyance.

   "Like who?" Leonardo only looks slightly puzzled, giving the impression that he knows what I mean.

   "Master Splinter!" I step out of the bucket and move closer to the blue-clad turtle, until I'm only a few inches away. "You think we don't notice you spending all of your time with him?! You think we don't realize he's your favorite?!"

   And I know I'm right. Ever since Leonardo started spending every second at Master Splinter's side, things have changed. Our Sensei only shows interest in him. He will pull Leonardo away for hours at time, and once it's over they treat it like a huge secret meeting. We're always left to wonder what they have been discussing.

   To make things worse, Leonardo has begun looking down on us all. He seems to be relying on his own confidence for everything. He hardly listens to our ideas anymore. Once he makes a decision, it's final. And Master Splinter never stops him.

   "Raph," Donatello suddenly breaks in, placing a hand on my shoulder.

   I shrug it off. "He's told you everything that's bugging him, I bet!" I go on, as if there hadn't been an interruption. "I bet you guys are working on a plan right now to fix this whole Shredder-takeover, and you aren't even going to tell us!"

   "No!" Leonardo protests, his eyes wide with surprise.

   "You think you're so great, just because you're the leader!" I shake with rage. "You're just going to finish your training and go fight evil all by yourself, right?! Right?!" I jab him in the plastron with a finger.

   "No, Raph! I'm not!" Leonardo disagrees, looking even more surprised.

   "Yeah, right! You really expect me to believe that?"

   I felt a hand lightly separate me from Leonardo. It's Casey.

   "Cool it, Raph," he says slowly. He has a nervous tone to his voice, like he's afraid of me. "You just need to take some time to chill out and heal."

   "Agreed," Donatello speaks up. "We all need to get some sleep. We had a rough night."

   I refuse to look away from Leonardo. To my displeasure, his eyes are suddenly full of concern.

   "Are you ok?" he asks me.

    "I'm fine!" I snap.

   His gaze hardens slightly. He turns his attention to Casey and Donatello. "Like you said, we all need to rest. Goodnight." He disappears from the room, his movements stiff and ungraceful.

   "You sure you're feeling ok, Raph?" Casey questions me carefully. "Those were some serious accusations."

   "Yeah." I suddenly feel weak. I fall back onto the sofa and prop my injured leg up. "I'm just tired."

   "Whatever you say." Casey shakes his head and leaves the room.

  Donatello gives me a grim smile, bids me a 'night', and disappears as well.  The lights in the house turn off, and I am left alone with my horrifying thoughts.

   I feel guilty. I can't explain to myself why I lashed out at Leonardo like that. Or can I?

   I guess I'm just sick of him being the favorite son. Master Splinter tries to hide it, but it's too obvious. Donatello and Michelangelo might be blind to it, but I'm not a fool. I know favoritism when I see it.

   It hurts beyond words to know that I'm not good enough in Master Splinter's eyes. It makes my heart ache with regret and loneliness. Maybe if I was more like Leonardo... No, I can never be like him. He's too level-headed, and I'm just a temperamental grenade.

   That's all I'll ever be.