Chapter Text
Leo sighed, reaching the top of the building he had chosen to scale.
Why couldn’t Raph just leave him alone? It’s not like he chose to be the leader. And there was no way he was going to stop having fun just because Raph wanted him to be the perfect responsible hero.
Hero. Leo huffed, staring down at the pedestrians walking on the sidewalk below him. Yeah, right. Heroes only existed in fiction. It was fun to pretend that they could reach those heights, but his brothers couldn’t expect him to be so selfless he didn’t have his own individual shine anymore.
Well, he supposed they were already doing that. With the whole amazing leader thing.
Leo leaned back, staring at the night sky, illuminated with the glow of advertisements and the lights through skyrise windows.
It wasn’t like him losing that weird artifact was the end of the world, anyway. He and his brothers would stop the Foot Clan, just like they always did. He was sure that whatever they were planning wasn’t worse than Shredder, anyways.
He swung his legs, observing the nightlife of New York. The city was quieter at night than during the day, but it was still filled with noise. It was still peaceful though. The contrasting lights against the dark sky with the dulling effect the night seemed to give made the hours around midnight calming.
It was such a nice night, and all thoughts of returning to the lair to face the fire faded. He smiled softly. The darkness took away his worries, even if it was only for the moment.
Then the serenity of the evening disappeared in an instant as the entire city seemed to shake.
Leo looked up from watching people go by on the streets below, alarmed at the sudden disturbance. He looked around from where he was sitting, trying to pinpoint where it had come from, his eyes landing on the center of the city.
Was that…?
He stood from the ledge, starting to run across the rooftops towards the tall building in the distance.
Leo’s breath quickened as he ran, both from adrenalin and from the strange sense of fear that only grew as he neared Metro Tower.
He slowed as he got a clearer view of the chaos surrounding Metro Tower.
The pink vines covering the entrance drew his attention first. Whatever was happening was definitely mystic related. Those vines were not natural. The strange sheen of light reflecting off of them begged him to get closer, but his advance was halted when he heard an ear-splitting screech echo through the streets below.
There were things lumbering around covered in the weird pink vines, seemingly aimless in a goal. Were those people…? What was going on?
He continued to watch one of the vine-covered people, trying to figure out what was happening. He saw a police officer get closer to the entrance of the tower, and Leo’s confusion quickly turned into horror as he got consumed by the vines from the nearest vine monster, their pained screams turning into the monstrous screeches that echoed through the streets.
Leo ducked behind the ledge, trying to hide himself from something that didn’t even know he was there on instinct. He covered his mouth with his hands, trying not to make a sound. He had no idea what was going on, but it sent chills down his spine as the screeching of the vine monsters started to grow louder than the screams of terrified people.
He needed to get back to the lair. His brothers would know what to do. He stood up, limbs shaking as the noise started to make his ears ring. His brothers would fix this.
Then a light pierced the darkness, a pink pillar reaching up through the night. Pink. Pink. Everything was pink.
Was this some sort of fucked up dream? Nightmare?
Leo stared in horror as the sky opened up above him, and something unnatural started to reach down from the gaping hole.
He took a step back as it got closer to the earth. What was happening?
He needed to get back to the lair.
A hiss behind him caused him to freeze.
Whipping around, he saw one of the vine monsters perched on the other end of the roof.
“You want a fight with me? You know, I’m the pizza stacking champion, you won’t stand a chance.” Leo said, hiding his fear behind a joke on reflex, reaching behind him to grab his swords.
His hand grasped empty air.
The monster got closer, and Leo’s smile grew tight.
“I don’t need my weapons to defeat you. I’ve faced an actual demon, a mindless monster is just another Tuesday for me.”
The vine monster moved before he could blink, and he was only able to dodge in time because of his enhanced reflexes.
Leo scrambled back as the monster lumbered closer. It could move fast, was it taunting him? He stared at the person underneath the vines, their face twisted into an expression of pain.
He felt something pierced his plastron before he could react, and he choked on a gasp as he was left staring at the pink saturating the sky, the monster looming above him.
Vision blurring, he could only stare up at the bright night, the horrified screams of the city echoing around his head like a pounding headache.
The taste of iron filled his mouth as he tried to take a breath. He could only stare as the noise turned into ringing in his ears and darkness overtook his gaze.
Leo gasped, sitting up on his bed, blinking away the visions of pink.
He clutched at his plastron, trying to claw away the not vines not vines definitely not vines that he had felt stab through his natural armor, gasping for the breath that had been choked out by blood.
The sight of his room came into focus as he got his breath back, and his breath evened out as he rested his hands calmly on his chest, trying to catch his bearings.
His mind ran a mile-a-minute as he tried to decipher what just happened.
Based on the fact that he was in his room, unharmed, and was underneath his covers comfortably, it was probably just a nightmare.
But it was far too vivid, too real to be a nightmare. And the details burned deeper into his mind the longer he stayed on his bed, instead of fading into the background like dreams and nightmares were supposed to.
There was no way that was a nightmare.
He stood shakily from his bed, rubbing his hands down his arms to settle himself. He could figure it out later. Mikey was probably making breakfast by then, and he was eager to know what his younger brother was making.
Trudging out of his room, trying his mask expertly around his face, he was greeted by the sight of Michelangelo making pancakes in the kitchen.
“Angelo! You done yet?” Leo grinned, jumping up to sit on the corner of the counter, watching his bro pour batter into identical circles.
“One, off of my counters. Two, the finished stack is right in front of you.” Mikey said without turning around.
“Yeah, yeah.” He hopped down, grabbing a plate from one of the cupboards. “Thanks for breakfast!” He took a good portion of the stack of pancakes, pouring syrup onto them. And to spite Donnie saying that he always uses an excessive amount, he let the container pour for an extra second.
Leo ate his food on the couch, all but shoving the stack into his mouth. As the morning played out, he got a strange sense of deja-vu. He assumed it was because mornings were almost always the same. He and his family had fallen into an easy routine, and the similarity of the mornings were like a comforting blanket.
“Leo!” Mikey bounced into the room. “Give me your plate, we have a big day ahead of us!”
“Hm?” He looked up, shoveling the last of his breakfast into his mouth, giving Mikey a thumbs up as he took the plate.
“You’ve been bragging to Donnie about how you’re going to beat his pizza-stacking record for the past week! I’m on your side, even though Donnie says you’re being overconfident.”
He was confused for a second, didn’t he already break the record? Oh, wait, that was also a part of his dream, wasn’t it.
Well, dreams sometimes predicted the future! He shook off the thoughts about the horrors of the rest of his dream at the thought. He’ll ace the challenge no problem, and that’ll be all the excitement of the day.
Record-breaking sure was fun. Leo was taunting Raph about the whole hero thing while having pizza, what could be better?
Then Donnie’s tech wristband-thingy went off. His mind went staticky for a second as Donnie listed off a series of numbers.
It was just a dream. Just because some events were happening the same way at the same times as he had dreamed it doesn’t make it true.
He ignored the buzzing in his head as they got to the scene of the crime. Worm-guy and Hypno. This would be a piece of cake.
Leo made confident quips as he rushed in, ignoring Raph’s urging that they had to work together.
The buzzing in his head grew louder as the scene continued. He felt like he was going through a practiced part of a play, words not registering in his mind as he said them.
Raph was reaching out for the artifact. He made a portal. The artifact was picked up by the foot clan.
Leo couldn’t hear. He felt himself making jokes all the same, but he felt like he was lagging behind his body.
He was back at the lair. Raph was yelling at him. He ignored him.
And now he was on top of the building again.
Leo took a shuddering breath, suddenly in his body again. He turned, panicked. He knew what was going to happen, and he didn’t want to face it again.
He fumbled with his phone, tears of panic filling his eyes as the city shook.
“Donnie,” he said frantically.
“Leo?” He collapsed at the sound of his brother's voice. “You’re on the surface, do you know what that shake was?”
A light shot into the sky, and the gaping hole took its place in the night. The same pink that had haunted him for the entire day filled his sight as the infection spread out from Metro Tower.
“Donnie-” he gasped for air, panic overriding his thoughts. He dropped his phone, the clattering sending him onto his knees as he heard the distant echo of monstrous screams.
“Hold on, I’m on my way.” Donnie said on the other end of the call.
Leo struggled to get up, but he pushed himself to stand. He watched the pink grow nearer, and the screeches of the possessed grew louder.
He went to draw his swords but once again his hands grasped on empty air.
Stupid. You knew this was going to happen and you still forgot to bring your swords.
“Leo? What’s happening?” Donnie’s voice came from behind him.
“Donnie,” Leo spun around, relieved to see his brother. “We need to-”
A nearby trill caused him to freeze. His eyes locked onto a monster, vines not vines not vines writhing on its crouched form on the building over.
“Nardo? Are you alright?” Donnie asked, oblivious to the danger.
The monster leaped forward, and Leo moved at the same time, tackling Donnie to the ground and the monster stabbed the spot his brother had been a moment earlier.
Leo ignored the pink that had stabbed through him, scanning Donnie to make sure he was uninjured.
“Leo!” Donnie’s scream seemed to be miles away.
“You’re safe.” Leo collapsed onto his brother attempting to hug him in relief, blood spilling out of his mouth.
He was staring up at the pink-stained sky. Where was Donnie? He vaguely heard his brother’s screams of rage, and he relaxed into the darkness. His brother was alive, and that’s all that mattered.
Leo jerked awake, falling off his bed.
What?