Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bright light flooded his vision. One second Krang Prime was coming after him, and the next thing Leo knew, the roaring of the beast abruptly cut out and it felt like a heavy weight was pressing down on every inch of his body.

Leo lay on his back on some sort of warm, hard, flat surface; but it was too flat. Nothing at all like the jagged (cold) mess of floating islands in the Prison Dimension that Krang Prime threw him against time and time again.

Leo would have opened his eyes to find out what strange, new part of the Prison Dimension he was in, but his eyelids were far too heavy. All he wanted to do was sleep.

Never waking up again would be nice, too.

Even the air itself was different here. Heavy. Like the weight bearing him down; pinning his head, arms, legs, and shell to the ground beneath his body. Each breath he took in was just as labored as his breath out. Why was the air so warm and dense and . . . thick?

Yeah. Thick was the right word.

He forced his chest to rise as far as his stiff shell would allow, to fill his lungs with air. If not for the sensation that the air itself was heavy inside his lungs, Leo would’ve sworn Krang Prime was stomping down on his chest again. The air felt full and alive and thick. Not like the cold, thin, low oxygen air he breathed day in and day out in the Prison Dimension.

The air he breathed every day for seven long years.

How did he know it was seven years inside a dimension with no sun or moon, no stars, no day or night cycles? The Genius Build Apparel batteries in his wrist communicator lasted one full year before his com shut off, displaying the date and time whenever he tapped it with his fingers. During that time, he occupied his mind with the only menial task available to him in the void of the Prison Dimension, and taught himself how to read the floating islands in there. He learned how to tell the passage of time based on their orientation to one another, their orbits of each other.

Small, misshapen chunks of rocks orbited around the large masses that made up spherical floating islands, like miniature planets floating in the blackness of space.

When the rocks orbited closest to their respective planets, that marked the beginning of the earth year - January first.

Gradually, their proximity to the islands expanded, until they reached their furthest point. July one, on earth. Then they drifted closer to whichever island they were floating around, until the year was done and it started all over again.

What he came to view as a blessing at first became a curse. Halfway through the second year, Leo knew how to distinguish months, and by the end of that year, he could tell the difference between weeks. Finally, before the end of the third year, days. And the passage of time tormented him.

Another birthday for him and his unofficial twin.

Gone.

Another Christmas, another pizza week, another anniversary of when they first met April.

Gone.

Gone.

Gone.

During his time there, Leo wished he could stop looking, stop paying attention, stop his brain from studying the floating rock masses, but he couldn’t. They were the only things to look at. The only things to give his attention to.

Well, them and Krang Prime.

“Leo?”

Leo opened his eyes and looked toward his feet to see Mikey’s worried face gazing at him. ‘Wha?’

Breathe in.

. . .

Breathe out.

. . .

Mikey. Raph. Donnie. They were right here.

Right beside him.

Looking at him.

Leo would have believed this was nothing more than a dream if not for the fact his sleep for the past seven years had always been dreamless. Dreamless and unsatisfying, like a dark void.

Like floating in the Prison Dimension.

Breathe in.

. . .

Breathe out.

. . .

The next thing Leo saw was the huge, red sky above their heads. The sky littered with technodrome debris.

Breathe in.

. . .

Breathe out.

. . .

Next, Leo gazed around to get his bearings straight, and suddenly it all came rushing back.

They were in the same spot where he saw Raph land after he courageously caught his brothers, saving their lives.

It was the same day.

Practically the same time.

“Are we on Staten Island?”

“Aw, c’mere!”

Raph pulled Leo in a tight hug. One their two other brothers greedily got in on.

It felt wrong.

🔹🔹🔹

Leo blinked his heavy eyelids three or four times.

Was he sitting?

When did that happen?

Where was the grip and the softness and the warmth and the sensation of his brothers hug?

He wanted it.

He hated it.

He needed it.

“Earth to Nardo, are you with us yet?”

Donnie.

“Uh, yeah, ahhh . . . how did I get here?”

Leo gazed around at the once-familiar but now foreign med bay of their sewer lair. “You spaced out on the way home, but you didn't lose consciousness,” Donnie factually informed him. “Possible sign of a concussion, but what say you, medic?”

‘Medic?’

Leo rubbed the side of his head. Thinking.

Oh, right.

Medic.

Leo was the family’s medic.

“Yeah, it’s probably a concussion,” Leo agreed, before abruptly changing the subject when he said: “I’m starvin’, got any food?”

When was the last time he ate?

Oh, right. Seven years ago.

“Of course we have food, you helped me restock the kitchen yesterday, remember, Leo?” Mikey asked nervously.

Leo gave his little brother his very best fake crooked grin. “No, must be the concussion. But no worries bro, that’s normal, it’s not a bad one.” He put a reassuring hand on Mikey’s shoulder, to help ease his worry.

Don’t touch

Don’t touch

Pain!

No contact!

Leave me alone!

But I want a hug.

I want a hug so bad!

STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!

“I’ll be fine in a day or two,” Leo added. His cheery attitude, glowing grin, and words of reassurance touched Mikey’s heart; so that his tense body visibly softened under Leo’s touch, with all the nervousness melting away as he gave his older, blue-clad brother a happy grin in return.

Leo hopped off the med bay gurney, but the unexpected fast descent and heavy landing was completely unexpected and caught him off guard, so his left ankle buckled under his weight. Raph caught him before he had a chance to hit the floor, with a comforting: “Woah, Raph’s gotcha.”

Let go! Get off! Painpain! Warmth, tenderness. Put your arms around me, I want a hug STAY BACK!

“You ok, Leo?” Raph asked.

“Yeah, just a little dizzy from the concussion, I guess. Do we got any leftover pizza?”

“When do we not have leftover pizza!?” Mikey enthusiastically asked with a big smile.

"On pizza day when we buy more pizza," the brains of the family factually replied.

“Great, let’s head to the kitchen. I’ll check myself over in the med bay after we eat.”

“No need, Nardo, we already did that when you were out of it. Everything checked out fine," Donnie informed him.

“Cool cool, let’s eat, fam.”

Mikey walked by Leo’s side all the way to the kitchen, enthusiastically regaling him with the tale of his ‘mystic hands’ and portal that 'saved his life', with Donnie and Raph walking behind, discussing the day’s events and where to go from here; all of them famished after their long, eventful day, and none of them suspecting anything regarding the time Leo really spent alone in the Prison Dimension.

Alone with him.

'Good. Just the way I want it. The less they know, the less they’ll ask, and the less I’ll have to talk about it.'

“What was it like in there?” Mikey unexpectedly (innocently) inquired.

Leo stopped dead in his tracks.

Pain. Fear. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide! Krang Prime is coming, I can hear him! IcanseehimhesrightTHERE! Why is the Prison Dimension so SMALL!? Can’t get far . . . never far behind . . .

“Uhhh . . . I don’t remember,” the slider lied. “Probably the concussion.”

“Yes, the concussion you seem to have despite absolutely no evidence of sustaining any head trauma,” Donnie flatly commented.

Leo looked behind his back at Dee with a cheeky grin, and the ‘medic’ of the family dismissively replied (lied): “Minor concussions don’t always show up on brain scans, Dontron,” before turning around again while continuing to the kitchen.

“I wasn’t referring to internal damage,” Donnie muttered under his breath, too quiet for any of them to hear, and wondering why Leo didn't looked the least big banged up like them, considering they all fought Krang Prime together.

He was just as banged up as them less than an hour ago, wasn't he?

“Or maybe the different dimension messed with my head,” Leo casually commented as a possible alternative to keep his intelligent ‘twin’ off his back, by offering a plausible reason Don had no way to study or research - therefore no way to dispute.

“But everything checked out sooo nothing to worry about.”

Donnie’s hum in acknowledgement put the slider’s mind at ease.

'The less they ask, the less they’ll know. Less is better,’ Leo reiterated in his mind.

Already his memories from before flooded back with striking accuracy, as though he had been in this lair, talking to these people, mutant turtles, not Krang Prime his brothers, only a few hours ago. With the vivid memories of the Prison Dimension fading to the background like a dream. Just like this life felt like a dream in there.

Seven years.

‘Was it really seven years?’

Yes, it had been. It was real, and it had been seven years for him. Seven years where he didn’t age. Where his mind never dulled and his muscles never atrophied from disuse. Where he felt thirsty and hungry, but never dehydrated or starved. Where the color of his blue mask and black shorts and ninja wrappings never faded and the fabric material they were made out of as well as his black leather belt likewise never tattered, tore, or wore out.

Where he never sustained cuts and bruises, never bled, his bones never broke, and his shell never cracked.

Despite the number Krang Prime did to him over and over again.

Where he slept and woke, slept and woke. Where he let his mind drift away into nothing but static for hours and hours and hours and he watched the passage of time represented by the orbiting rocks around the floating islands. Time he thought represented days and weeks and months and years here on earth, but apparently didn’t.

Where Krang Prime sought him out and mercilessly beat him whenever it pleased him. Not sticking to any sort of routine or schedule Leo could predict; keeping him in a constant state of readiness. A constant state of dread.

A constant state of fear.

Day in and day out.

“You ruined EVERYTHING!”

Days he thought he missed his family’s special occasions; days he thought they missed him on their special occasions. But they didn’t.

He was there and they were here.

Seven years for him, mere minutes for them.

He was all alone in his sorrow.

He missed them every day for seven long, lonely, miserable years, thinking they were here, missing him. Wishing he was with them for their birthdays and celebrations and anniversaries, but they weren't. It was only him missing them.

And it showed in how they interacted with him.

Leo wished that revelation could bring him comfort, but it only brought grief to his heavy heart. And a twinge of guilt for not feeling comforted by the knowledge that they didn’t have to live for seven long years without him, in a world where they believed him to be dead. Like he had to live seven years without them in a dimension where he would never die.

The grief Leo felt at that revelation weighed more heavily on his heart than did the heavy weight of gravity pushing him down and pinning him to the ground. Grief from the realization that every time he missed them, every time he passed an anniversary or birthday or celebration, he was all alone in his emotional pain that he thought they shared with him - somehow uniting them across dimensions - because it had only been a few minutes for them.

“You guys better not have eaten the last of my super creepy supreme. I’ve been craving that for years,” Leo playfully commented.

“Years?” Donnie asked with one eyebrow raised.

Leo was quick on his toes and turned around to walk backwards with his arms out and a playful, crooked grin on his face. “It feels like years after the day we had. Plus it’s so good I can’t wait to have another bite! We all deserve a victory slice after today, am I right?”

Deflection.

A ninja's greatest weapon.

For Leo, anyway. Hope died out sometime after the battery in his wrist com did.

The battery was dead and he lived on, wishing he could take its place.

“You bet!” Mikey replied while fist bumping the air; but Leo’s smile fell when his eyes settled on the bandaged wound over Raph’s left shoulder. Along with the cracked shell. Raph and Donnie noticed and his big brother told him: “Don’t worry about it, we all got checked out in the med bay while you were out of it. Aside for a few scrapes and stuff we’re all good.”

“And dad and April and Casey?” Leo asked with concern.

‘They’re your family. You’re the medic. You should’ve asked these questions before now. Stupid, stupid, stupid…’

“You stupid little wretch! You pathetic, worthless pest!”

“They should be home any minute," Donnie informed him in a matter of fact tone of voice. "April and Casey were stopped by Earth Protection Force officers on their way out of the damage zone and detained for routine questioning before they were allowed to leave. Lucky for future boy their systems were down, so they had no way to confirm his back story wasn't true. And good news, Casey found both of your katanas. He gave them to Pops just before he ninjaed away so the humans wouldn’t see him, or confiscate your weapons.”

“Sounds good, Dontron, thanks for the update,” Leo calmly replied.

🔹🔹🔹

Their meal was uneventful. Leo did a good job of hiding how delicious the first bite of pizza was to his unused palate; like the flavors were exploding in his mouth.

‘Was food always this good?’

April went to her home to make sure Mayhem and her parents were ok (they were), and Splinter came home with ‘future boy’ Casey in tow, who didn't have anywhere else to live.

Casey handed over Leo’s katanas and they all exchanged some hugs that made Leo’s skin crawl at the same time he leaned into them and never wanted it to end. And once Splinter confirmed his sons were more or less unharmed, scolded Leo for his bold move - ordering him to ‘never do something like that again’ - he retired his ‘tired old rat bones’ to his living room chair, where he watched a game show and ate cake and milk for his celebratory meal, before promptly passing out for the night, with the tv playing all his favorite late night shows in the background.

None of Leo’s brothers gave him a hard time or told him what was really on their minds regarding the little ‘trick’ he pulled by trapping himself in the Prison Dimension with Krang Prime, deciding instead to give him time to shake off the concussion or whatever it was he had that made him routinely space out (whenever he thought no one was looking).

And late that night, when everyone was sound asleep after their adventure, Raph’s overprotective big brother sense was tingling, so he got out of bed and made his way down the hall in his red pyjamas, toward Leo’s room.

🔹🔹🔹

When Leo went to bed, he was sooo tired, but he didn’t put on his blue stripped pyjamas because he couldn’t bear the thought of anything more than his black shorts, mask, belt and ninja wrappings touching his skin and shell. Or the thought of those things not touching his skin and shell, so he left them on.

Along with his katanas, which were strapped to his back in their sheaths, giving him a needed sense of security that he hadn't felt for a very long time; making him feel like he had a way to protect himself now if he was attacked.

Here, in his bedroom, in their secret, underground sewer lair, on earth.

Not in the Prison Dimension.

The heavy weight of five Prison Dimension atmospheres pressed down on every bone and muscle in his body, tiring him out even when he wasn’t doing anything; and despite how droopy his eyelids were and how much his mind begged for sleep, he simply couldn’t get comfortable enough in his bed for sleep to come.

It didn’t matter if he was laying on his back or his side (but not his stomach, never his stomach; that was the most vulnerable position of all, and breathing was already hard enough as it was), the weight of gravity pushing down on his chest and the dense air filling his lungs with each oxygen rich breath he took in felt much more unbearable than when he was standing. And the soft mattress under his body that shifted every time he repositioned himself felt foreign and wrong.

So eventually Leo got out of bed and stood on his two feet that ached under his weight, along with the sore ankle from when he twisted it earlier. But even that sensation was better than feeling like Krang Prime was pressing his giant mech foot down on his chest, as was the case when he laid in bed.

And in the room that was dimly lit by his desk lamp matching the dim light source in the Prison Dimension, Leo absently sat in front of the darkest wall, with his nose only inches away from it - so he didn't have to see anything in the jumble of knickknacks, furniture, and other paraphernalia that was his brightly colored bedroom.

He stared ahead at nothing, letting his mind drift into the familiar emptiness he had grown accustom to.

Like he had done over and over again for hours and hours at a time in the dark, blackish Prison Dimension, until he gazed at the rocks and subconsciously calculated what he thought was the passage of time here on earth, or Krang Prime inevitably showed up for another one of what he dubbed, their ‘playtimes’.

🔹🔹🔹

Raph slowly pushed Leo’s door open so he didn’t wake his presumably sleeping brother, but his brows creased from worry when he saw that, not only was Leo not in his bed nor wearing his pyjamas, he was also wearing all of his ninja gear, including his katanas, and (stranger still) sitting back-on to him, directly in front of a bedroom wall, completely motionless.

“Leo, ah…” Raph stopped mid-sentence when Leo jumped up to whip around and stare at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

Like he was terrified his big brother was going to hurt him.

Like how he already hurt him when they fought aboard the technodrome and he held him up by his throat with his krangified hand, Raphael thought.

The big snapper chased that memory away, put on a forced, toothy grin and said in the sweetest voice he could muster: “Hey buuudy, are you ok?”

Leo straightened up and stared blankly at Raph’s snaggletooth. But in his mind he was looking at the sharp, jagged yellow teeth of Krang Prime’s disgusting grin.

"Heh heh heh. Had enough, pest, or shall we start over?"

“Yeah, I just got used to the dark and the quiet, is all,” Leo absent-mindedly replied, without taking his blank gaze off the sharp tooth. But he stuck a grin on his face and looked his big brother in the eyes when Raph blurted out a surprised: "What?”

Leo casually rested his hands on his hips and calmly replied: “You know, cuz of my insomnia. It’s always dark and quiet in the lair at night. Pfft, ‘cept Donnie’s lab," he added with a playful eye roll. "He’s always got the eighties music blasting at two am. Good thing he made his lab soundproofed, right?” he deflected.

Leo let out a chuckle and Raph pointed at the wall his brother had been sitting in front of and asked seriously: “Why were you staring at the wall?”

“Oh, that’s just a little trick I do at night when my insomnia keeps me wide awake, and I wanna think about stuff to clear my head. It blocks out distractions and it's suuuper boring, so it helps me sleep. Mikey taught me that little trick,” Leo replied, not realizing he used the word (Krang Prime's word) 'trick' twice.

Leo’s lie rolled off his tongue as easily and effortlessly as floating through the Prison Dimension. He knew if it was Donnie who came to check on him, he’d have to be quicker on his toes because the ‘scientist’ of the family would be sure to confirm his statement with their youngest brother; but Raph bought it hook, line, and sinker, and asked: “What were you thinking about?”

Leo once again sounded like his usual, causal self when he asked: “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Do you wanna talk?”

“Maybe later, after I decompress. It was a looong…” ‘Seven years.’ “day.”

“Yeah. How about a hug before I go?”

Yes, yes, wrap your warm arms around me, hold me tight let me cry on your chest and tell you everythingdon’ttouchme don’tTOUCHme leave me ALONE! Painpain, toomuchtoomuchits TOO MUCH!!!

"AAAAUGH!"

“You brought this on YOURSELF you WRETCHED VERMIN!”

“Sure.”

Leo’s skin and shell pricked with pins and needles under Raph’s hug, but at the same time the warm, just-right, not too tight and not at all painful pressure was inviting and comforting and nothing whatsoever like the cold, hard, metallic grip of Krang Prime’s mech claws painfully squeezing him much too tightly.

Then after Raph left, Leo forced himself to lay in his too-soft bed to try and get some sleep so he could be refreshed for tomorrow and not worry his family (thus prompting them to ask too many questions) when they saw the dark bags under his eyes.

But no matter how hard he tried, sleep fled him that night.

Breathe in.

. . .

Breathe out.

. . .

‘Was breathing always this difficult?’

Chapter Text

After his rough, restless night Leo headed to Donnie's lab, deciding it might be a good idea to open up and share what he had been through with his family, so he could lean on them for support - so they could comfort one another with heartfelt conversations and lots and lots of warm hugs.

But he decided to test them out first, to make sure they were ready to hear the horrible reality of what really happened to him in the Prison Dimension, and that they didn't first need a few days to decompress.

After all, the entire invasion from start to finish only happened the day before for everyone who wasn't Leo.

And unlike everybody else, Leo had seven very long years to process what had happened on that fateful day. But not time to process the horrible abuses he was only just freed from, that kept him awake most of the night with one panic attack after another.

Abuses he needed to get off his chest.

His only saving grace that stopped him from going completely insane was the odd fact that his memories of the past seven years when he was trapped away in a sort of living purgatory faded like it had been a dream, when it was, in fact, very real.

“Hey Dontron, whatcha doing?” Leo playfully asked from his position standing in Donnie’s open lab door.

Without turning around from his computer, Donnie flatly and factually replied: “Trying to make a program that will decode the unusual data from Mikey’s portal my wrist tech automatically scanned.”

“Oh, cool cool. Where’s Raph, he wasn't in his room?” Leo asked, not because he genuinely wanted to know where his big brother was, but rather, because not knowing where any of them were in relation to his location in the lair made him feel uneasy.

After all, it was always better to know where Krang Prime was compared to him in the prison dimension.

Because it was always so much worse when he didn’t see it coming.

Besides, Leo already tried talking to Raph, but the snapper was sound asleep, snoring loudly in his bed when the traumatized slider left his room at four am because he had to talk to someone.

Instead of trying to wake Raph, he chickened out and went back to his room to wait for morning when the snapper woke up; but that was when he managed to get a little bit of shut eye before yet another terrifying nightmare woke him after dozing off for only about forty-five minutes.

So, since Raph wasn't in bed anymore he decided to go talk to his unofficial 'twin' soft shelled brother, Donnie, who was already awake in his lab, thinking he would be a good second option.

The brother who had a habit of fiddling with whatever new state of the art tech he was creating while Leo rambled on and on about everything and nothing; nodding and humming in acknowledgement while showing through well placed, appropriate comments and fact-based questions that he was, indeed, listening.

Unlike Mikey, who was Leo's fourth choice, after April, because, although he was the tender, sentimental one in the family, he tended to try and draw Leo out with too many questions - some of which he didn't want to or wasn't ready to answer - and had a habit of abruptly changing the subject by excitedly blurting out random stuff unrelated to what Leo was talking about.

Their overall loving but often inattentive dad, Splinter, came in as a close fifth, with Casey not making the cut because he didn't really know 'future boy', and Draxum so far at the bottom of the totem pole Leo didn't even give thought to him as a valid option.

Especially considering he had an entire loving family to open up to, figuring once he tore off the band aid by letting one of them know, it would end with a cascade of hugs and affection from the entire family he loved and missed and longed to talk to and hold and be with for seven of the longest, torturous, most miserable years of his entire existence.

"You ruined EVERYTHING!!!"

Leo shivered from a chill that memory elicited but stuck a grin on his face just before Donnie spun his chair around to face him; raising on eyebrow in confusion when he saw his self-proclaimed 'twinsie' already wearing his belt with both katanas in their sheaths, as well as all his ninja gear.

At home.

In the safety of their lair.

Early in the morning.

"Where are you, pest!?"

But he didn’t say anything about it. Instead he told Leo: “He popped by on his way to the kitchen to say he wants us to resume our patrols this evening because,” he raised his hands to make air quotes as he said: “‘crime and looting is always worse after a disaster.’”

‘Patrol? Above ground? With an endless sky above our heads, lots of open space, and plenty of spots for Kr…uh enemies to hide?'

“Surprii-iiise!”

“Ah yeah, sounds good.”

Leo’s casual posture, chipper tone, and relaxed grin did a good job of hiding what he was really feeling on the inside as he took the necessary time to gauge Donnie; and the softshell bluntly asked: “How's the concussion?”

Leo’s smile fell at his brother's curt tone, but he was quick to slap another fake grin on his face, and replied: "Fine, I feel better already. The headache's gone and all my memories are back in the ol' cranium, where they belong. Like I said, it wasn't a bad one."

"Good."

"You joinin' us for breaky?"

Nervous sweat began beading on Leo’s head when Donnie somewhat aggressively spun his chair back around to click at his keyboard, and said in a gruff tone that got angrier by the second:

“No. I'm having a hard time with my algorithm, and I have to hack into the necessary government sites to add ‘future boy’ as a New York citizen before he's stopped and questioned by another authority figure when he's out, because he wants to help with the cleanup. Not to mention I need space from our martyr of the family before I’m ready to share a few words with him. Do you have any idea how dumb-ugh. I have work to complete.”

“Do you have any. Idea. How long I waited to return to that filthy planet you call home, only to have my victory ripped away from me by the likes of a USELESS, PATHETIC lower lifeform as YOU!?”

“Do you really believe anybody misses you? Do you honestly think they want you back? Your kind are all the same. The world you came from may hail you as a hero, but your family will always HATE you for leaving them behind to mourn and grieve after you so willingly sacrificed yourself to the krang.”

“That was your hint to leave.”

“Uh, yeah.”

Leo walked away and for the first time since coming home, his numbed, panicking mind cleared enough for a deep, all-consuming sadness to break through, so that a tear escaped his eye.

He was quick to brush it away when it fell down his cheek, and he took a deep (heavy) breath in through his mouth, trying to get control of his emotions.

But instead his emotions got control of him, so he ended up slipping into the nearby med bay because he couldn’t stop the waterworks from soaking into his blue mask and wetting his face; as his mind plagued him with feelings of self-loathing and thoughts that he had been away for seven long, horrendous years, missing and longing to be with his family that he loved, only to finally, by some sort of miracle, be brought home for his beloved twin brother to not only be angry with him but also not to want him around.

All because of that little trick he pulled, because he was nothing more than a worthless, pathethic...

"...vermin! You filthy, wretched PEST!!! You thought your family loved you! YOU WERE WRONG!!! They HATED you! They DESPISED your very EXISTENCE and LOATHED you every BREATH just as I DO!!!"

"OOOOOWWW!!!"

"WHY WON'T YOU DIE YOU USELESS WASTE OF LIFE!!!"

"STOP IT, PLEEEASE!!!"

*BANG!*

AAAAUUUGHHHH!!!"

‘Krang was right. He hates me.’

Leo sat on the floor with his back against the closed door, and wept bitterly and profusely, while taking one deep, labored breath after another because his heart was pounding from the anxiety attack that caught him in its grips; feeling like it was squeezing all the air our of his lungs and slowly suffocating him, like the giant mech claws of Krang Prime.

Even though the air here was much richer in oxygen than the stale prison dimension air he grew accustomed to, Leo felt light headed as though he wasn't getting enough oxygen, because the air he breathed was heavy and thick inside his chest - like he was breathing in and out some sort of liquid. And that only made it feel like he couldn't take his breaths in fast enough to accommodate for his rapidly pounding heart, making his breathing quick and shallow, which was in turn fueling the severity of his panic attack.

🔹🔹🔹

~Just, Over Half an Hour Later~

“Hey, Don, you joinin’ us?” Raph asked from his spot eating at the kitchen table, with Mikey and Casey. “No, I came to refill my mug and then it’s back to work,” Donnie replied. As he poured his coffee, his big brother asked: “You know if Leo’s up yet? I wanna tell him we’re goin’ on patrol tonight.”

Donnie put the half empty coffee pot back and looked at Raph with one eyebrow raised: “Didn’t he come here? He said he was joining you for ‘breaky’,” he asked with air quotes.

“Nope, we haven’t seen him,” Mikey replied before shoveling a spoonful of food into his mouth.

Casey (who now lived with them) was much more reluctant to try his omelet, not being used to the strange new tastes and textures this thing called ‘egg’ brought to his mouth, and he casually asked (without looking up from his omelet-filled fork): “He didn’t have to pass the training room to get here, did he? Master Leonardo was always distracted by training.”

“He was?” Mikey asked in confusion.

“Yeah, isn’t he like that now?” Casey asked, before shoving the food into his mouth.

“No, it’s a lot of work just gettin’ him to show up for training. I usually have to hunt him down,” Raph replied with a hint of bitterness directed toward his brother who, just the day before, quickly and willingly sacrificed himself to the krang without giving them a chance to first discuss it as a team.

Without giving them a chance to discuss it as a family.

“I guess living in a world dominated by the krang changes a person,” Casey commented, before shoving more food into his mouth.

Donnie didn’t give the conversation another thought and he sipped on his coffee as he left the room. But on his way down the hall, Leo came out of the med bay, greeting his brother with a grin and a big wave.

(The angry softshell adamently refused to return either)

“Hey Dontron!”

Leo's (fake) smile remained as Donnie glared at him and curtly said: “If I was talking to you I’d ask what you were doing in the med bay when you said you were going to the kitchen.”

“Just scanning myself for a concussion again. Can’t be too careful, right bro?” Leo replied with his big grin, seeming completely unfazed by Donnie’s glare.

As much as he wanted to put a hand on his twinsie's shoulder or share a brotherly hug (while also dreading the thought of physical contact) on his way past, Leo restrained himself, and headed to the kitchen...

...where he unfortunately received a similar reception from his two other angry brothers before he was able to put two words together.

Donnie turned his head to watch him walk away with one eyebrow raised from his curious suspicion, and as soon as Leo disappeared into the kitchen, he whispered under his breath: “It only takes five minutes to scan for a concussion.”

He then slipped into the med bay and went straight over to the high tech five-in-one medical device he designed and created (at the medic, Leo's, request) that was used to scan the brain and - among other things - detect signs of a concussion. But when he put his hand on it, expecting it to be warm from recent use, he noticed it was cold to the touch - which meant it hadn’t been turned on for at least the past two hours.

“What are you hiding from us, Nardo?”

🔹🔹🔹

~One Month Later~

“Ok, we agree the invasion affected all of us, but Leo’s been especially acting weird,” April said. She was in Donnie’s soundproofed lab with the softshell, Raph, Mikey, and Casey, and the door firmly shut and locked, so no one (Leo) could listen in on their serious conversation.

“Read out the list again, Mikes, in case we missed anything,” Raph requested.

"Sure thing, big guy.”

‘Dr. Feelings’ aka Mikey, stood in front of a large whiteboard with notes written across it from their discusson, and he used a laser pointer for his family to follow along as he read aloud each point:

“He’s training every spare moment he’s home.

"He keeps disappearing for hours at a time without telling anyone where he going.

"He always wears all his ninja gear and his katanas."

“And he took off his subcutaneous tracker,” Donnie muttered under his breath as a side note. Mikey paused when Dee interrupted and then continued.

“He’s spooked way too easy, has nervous tics and panic attacks he keeps trying to hide, and he refuses to go on patrol with us and won't even go above ground…”

“But he comes to all the family therapy sessions,” Casey commented, which they didn't know was something Leo only did because they started each session with a group hug - something the affection starved slider thoroughly craved, even though any sort of physical contact still made his skin crawl

(Before inevitably abruptly ending the session with an argument centered around their 'martyr', who 'stubbornly' refused to admit that he pulled a dumb-dumb move - one which all of his resentful siblings never once acknowledged ended the potentially earth-shattering invasion the very same day it stared.

“Yeah, he hasn't missed a single one,” April said.

“Which is better than some turtle I know,” Mikey firmly added while glaring at Donnie.

“You know I don’t do good with ‘discussing my feelings’ and ‘opening up,’ I cope in other ways,” Donnie objected (with appropriate air quotes, of course).

“Lockin’ yourself in your lab for hours at a time is not a healthy way to cope,” Raph gruffly replied.

“Maybe not for you, but…” “You’re comin’ to the next ‘Dr. Feelings’ therapy session if Raph has to drag you there by your shell!” Raph snapped.

"What's the point? They all end the same way, with Leo refusing to listen to reason and stubbornly clinging to the belief he did 'the right thing'," Donnin replied with an angry scowl.

"Still, you're comin'. And maybe if all four of us talk to him together enough it'll finally get through that thick skull of his," Raph replied, sounding every bit as angry as he felt on the inside.

In reply, Donnie let out a frustrated sigh and said an unamused: "Fine, but don't expect me to participate in family hug time. I'm not hugging our martyr until he admits he's a dummy."

“Ok, now that we’ve dealt with that, let’s get back on track,” April kindly suggested. Donnie grumbled something under his breath while giving Raph a dirty look, before they all gave Mik-uh, Dr. Feelings - their undivided attention.

“He keeps spacing out with this blank look on his face whenever he thinks we don’t see him.

"He disappears in his room for hours.

"He wakes up screaming in a cold sweat at least once a week.”

“Is that everything?” April asked. Raph shook his head and answered: “The last time I checked on him at night, he was sleeping on the floor in the corner with his back against the wall. And he didn't even have a blanket! Write that down, Mikes.”

"Oh yeah, and don't forget the angry outbursts when he does anything in the slightest that goes wrong," April added.

"Was future Leo like that?" Donnie asked Casey, who replied with a simple: "No." And Mikey picked up a blue marker to add the newest notes. Then he stood back and they all mentally reviewed the ‘evidence’ they had complied about Leo’s odd new behavior.

“You know what all this means, don’t you," Casey commented.

"Yeah," Mikey agreed. "Krang Prime did something bad to him in the prison dimension, something worse than what we all went through in the invasion, and he remembers it.”

Four of them nodded their heads in agreement while Don rubbed his chin and commented: “That seems to be the most logical conclusion, but he came out of there without a single scratch or bruise.”

Everyone else had been so wrapped up in their own issues by the time they got home to the med bay that no one else noticed this small, yet important, detail until now.

“Wasn’t he banged up like the rest of us when he went in?” Raph asked.

“I don’t know, I was kinda too busy trying to kick Krang's butt to notice,” Mikey commented.

Everyone gazed around at one another, trying to remember how banged up Leo was when he went into the prison dimension, and then Donnie interrupted their shared thought when he requested: “Write that one down, too, Angelo.”

Donnie watched Mikey write down the new jot note and then said: “That brings us to another point. We know based on the audio of his last transmission Krang Prime hit him at least twice, so why didn't he have a single mark when I examined him?” 

The brains of the family looked up at his computer when a notification ding informed him the algorithm he finally finished was done decoding the unusual scans of Mikey’s portal, and when he sat at his computer, Raph stood up to leave, with everyone but Dee following his lead.

“Do you guys think maybe he’s been off because you three won’t stop giving him a hard time for what he did? Perhaps it’s time you lay off and give him some breathing space,” April suggested, before kindly adding: "Maybe, I don't know, listen to him once in a while without turning every conversation you have with him into an argument."

"I agree," Casey uncharacteristically pipped up. He normally tried not to butt into the affairs of his younger ninja turtle family because they barely knew him at all. Then he firmly added with conviction: "Leo did what needed to be done to stop the invasion before it got out of hand."

In reply, Mikey very dramatically threw his head back to groan out loud and then whinned: "Uuughhh, not you, toooo!"

Casey - who was silently dealing with his own traumatic experiences - closed his mouth, deciding not to offer any more on this subject (at least not until his much younger 'family' were willing to listen) and Donnie indicated he agreed with his little brother by shaking his head and saying: “He rushed into a suicide mission without giving us a chance to come up with another plan..." "and he still insists that was the right thing to do!" Mikey emphatically interrupted. Then Raph crossed his arms and replied with an angry scowl: "Raph’s gonna keep ridin' his shell until he agrees not to do something so dumb again. C’mon gang, it’s time to go on patrol. You comin’ Dee?”

“I’ll catch up, I have to finish with the final touches here and close out all my apps,” Donnie lied. He was really staring at the surprising results displaying on his screen from the scan of Mikey’s portal, flabbergasted at what it revealed and planning on confronting his ‘twin’ brother alone as soon as the rest of them left.

Raph nodded his head and led the way out of the lab, asking: “Where’s Leo? I’ll let him know we’re going on patrol. Not that he’ll join us."

“Where do you think he is?” Mikey sourly asked.

“Training,” they all said simultaneously.

Then, Casey commented: “For someone who trains so much, you’d think he’d come out on patrol with us at least once.”

"Yeah, tell me about it," Raphael grumbled in reply.

Chapter Text

When Raph, Mikey, Casey, and April got to the dojo, Leo’s entire body was shiny with sweat and he was clearly out of breath from having been training for who knows how many hours, perfecting his kenjutsu technique and showing no signs of giving up anytime soon.

“We’re going out on patrol and you’re joinin’ us this time,” Raph demanded as his curt 'greeting' for his 'stubborn, dumb-dumb' brother.

“Can’t,” Leo replied without looking at them or slowing down with what he was doing. “I’m heading out to Draxum’s after this. He agreed to train me one-on-one, after dad refused for the fifth time.”

“Draxum!” Raph, Mikey, and April blurted out in surprise, before April exclaimed: “I thought you never forgave him for throwing you off a building!"

“Draxum threw Leo off a building!?” Casey exclaimed in surprise, never having been told that little tidbit in his timeline; and knowing Draxum as a brilliant warrior scientist who frequently worked alongside his turtle mentors/family in their fight against the krang.

“There’s a lot worse things than bein’ thrown off a roof,” Leo blandly replied, while continuing on with his perfectly timed moves.

“Is that where you've been disappearing to? Goin' out with Barry instead of spending time with us?” Raph curtly asked demanded.

Leo ignored him to continue with his training.

“Leo?”

“Hi-ya!”

“Leo!”

“Hoo-wa!”

“LEO!!!”

Leo stopped, lowered his hands, and looked straight at Raph, who angrily said: “Didn't you ever think we could use your help out there keepin’ the peace?”

His 'stubborn' brother wiped the sweat off his brow with the ninja wrappings covering the back of his hand, and then flashed Raph his winning 'faceman' grin when he casually replied: “They’re nothing but a bunch of lowlife crooks, you can handle them yourselves, you don’t need me.”

“Typical,” Raph replied angrily with a scowl. “Actin’ like we don’t need you. Just like the day of the invasion. I suppose you figured we didn’t need you and that’s why you sacrificed yourself to the krang, leavin’ us behind to clean up your mess!”

Leo took an aggressive step ahead and clenched his katanas tightly while yelling: “Is that a dig at me for losing the key!? You said you put that behind you!”

“I did. Raph wasn’t talkin’ about the key, I was talkin’ about you leaving us behind without you, to clean up the mess from what we thought was your death!”

“You keep telling me how much it hurt to watch that portal close with me on the other side, so why don’t you ever act like you missed me!? I missed you, but yooou’re too busy yelling at me every time our eyes meet to make me believe you even cared I was gone!”

“Of course I cared, that’s why I keep riding your shell! Because I want to make sure you never do something so dumb ever again!”

“Oh, sure, sacrificing myself to save the whole world was dumb! You know what the alternative was, but if you forgot perhaps you should have a long chat with future boy over there and he’ll refresh your memory!” Leo yelled even louder than before, and aggressively pointing to Casey with the pommel of his sword.

(The 'future boy' who was the only one outside of Draxum and Leo who understood the dire consequences of what would have happened if Leo hadn't decisively and swiftly acted as he did.

The 'future boy' who came from an alternate, apocalyptic, krang-dominated timeline and therefore was trying his best to keep his head above water in the midst of a totally different world that was thrown at him by his sensei and adoptive dad - who literally threw him into Master Michelangelo's time portal, and whose tragic death Casey witnessed.

The 'future boy' who was barely known by this ninja turtle family so felt it was wrong to stick his nose into their personal family affairs, and often watched the drama unfold from the sidelines, silently suffering over his own very traumatic past and losses)

“There had to be another way and if you can’t see that then Raph’s gonna keep riding your shell until you do!” the angry snapper yelled in the third person.

In reply, Leo screamed: "YOU ACT LIKE IT WOULDA BEEN BETTER IF I NEVER CAME HOME!!!" saying something he felt for a while but didn't share before today. Then he lowered his voice and glared at Raph in anger when he added a contemptible: "But that’s no good cuz then who would you have to push around and yell at every waking moment?”

He took deep breaths through his scowling mouth as his heart beat hard in his chest, waiting for a reply. But when everyone stared at him in stunned silence he felt too uncomfortable to keep looking at them, so turned around and sheathed his katanas while walking over to the table where his water was.

When April gently put her hand on his big snapping turtle arm, Raph thought about her words, thinking maybe she was right that they should lay off giving Leo a hard time and give him some breathing space, and not realizing before now that his brother felt they didn't want him around because of the way they had been treating him ever since the invasion. So he lowered his voice and replied in a softer tone: “I never said that, Leo. We’re glad to have you home.”

Leo poured himself a glass of water from the jug he brought into the dojo, and without turning around he said in a cold, quiet, spiteful tone: “Oh yeah, you have a really good way of showing it.”

The angry slider downed the water in one mouthful and stayed back-on to his family when he cut off Raph, who softly said: “Leo, I…” “Don’t wait around for me when you get back. Draxum said I could spend the night at his place. I need some time to get away and think, to clear my head.”

“Leo, can we…” “You better head out," Leo said much softer this time. "It’s getting dark, the crooks won’t wait around for you to show up.”

There was a moment of awkward silence, during which time Leo poured himself another glass of water - not because he was still thirsty, but because he wanted an excuse not to turn around and face his family.

(He was used to being a little dehydrated, after all, and it provided a weird comfort zone for him after feeling that way for seven long years before being ripped out of one alien dimension into a totally different, foreign yet familiar one)

Raph let out a sad, quiet, apologetic-sounding: “Yeah, you’re right. We’ll talk tomorrow at breakfast, ok?”

“Sure.”

. . .

"Come on team, let’s get going.”

Leo breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he heard his family leave, Then he tipped up the glass to slowly drink the contents.

But before he finished putting his empty glass back on the table, he heard Donnie’s voice in the doorway say: “Got a minute?”

Leo turned around and unsheathed a katana to resume his practice, while gruffly saying: “You’re talking to me now?” He began his training with one sword instead of two, and continued without letup as Dee calmly told him: “I finished the scans on Mikey’s portal.”

When Donnie stood in the doorway, watching Leo practice, not saying anything and clearly not planning to leave until his brother responded, the angry slider replied with a blunt:

“And?”

“And I discovered it was an interdimensional and time portal.”

. . .

“What’s your point?” came the sour reply.

“My point is that you were there longer than we thought.”

“I wouldn’t know. Like I said, can’t remember.”

“Highly unlikely.”

“Ok, genius, why don’t you tell me what happened if you know so much.”

“You’re deflecting.”

“I'm busy. Come back when I'm done and we'll talk then.”

“Try again.”

Leo abruptly stopped his practicing to glare at Donnie, and yelled: “Tell me what you want and leave!” Then he resumed his training but continued glaring at his brother to say a quieter but angry: “It was better when you weren’t talking to me.”

Donnie walked all the way in the room now, and Leo continued his training while keeping an eye on Dee while he spoke.

“You don’t think we see the signs?”

“What signs?”

“How you keep spacing out, your nervous tics, the panic attacks and night terrors, how you're spooked so easily..." "You guys don't get enough of your frustrations out yelling at me, you gotta talk about me behind my back, too!?"

"The random bursts of anger over minor things, like when you spread peanut butter too close to the edge of your toast..." "I don't like gettin' it on my fingers!"

"How you train until your hands bleed and you're so exhausted you can barely move..." "It helps me sleep!"

"Yeah, on the floor."

"How do you know that!? Put a camera in my room after I took off that tracker!?"

Donnie once again ignored Leo's angry, defensive outburst to finish with: "How you refuse to go above ground, even when everyone else is heading to your favorite spots outside the damage zone. You were there, with Krang Prime, longer than two point zero three minutes, you and I both know that, just like we both know you remember it all.”

Leo abruptly stopped his training and threw his hands out while defensively yelling with an angry scowl: “Alright smart guy, you found me out! So I was there seven years, what of it!? That didn't affect YOU! I came home the same day, DIDN'T I!”

But judging by the look of shocked horror on Donnie’s face, he figured he shouldn’t have blurted that out.

Leo lowered his hands, straightened his fighter's stance, and stared Donnie in the eyes while quietly saying: “You didn’t know.”

Donnie stumbled over his words when he replied: “I . . . I thought it was fifteen, twenty minutes, maybe half an hour tops . . . but . . . but seven years! How is that possible!?”

“Don’t know, but it is.”

Leo turned around to walk back over to the table where his water was, but instead of pouring himself a glass he stared down at the jug and fidgeted with the hilt of the sword in his right hand. Which was only one of the many nervous tics he returned with.

“But you didn’t age a bit, and you remember everything from before you went in, right down to what you had for breakfast that day!”

Quietly and sadly, Leo told him: “Yeah. I know. I didn’t age in there and my clothes never wore out. And when I got home to the lair, everything that happened before was fresh in my mind and the prison dimension faded like a dream. Just like being there made this life feel like a dream. I was starting to believe it was all a dream, that you never existed ‘cept for my imagination. But Krang kept reminding me and then you blasted him in the face and Raph pulled me out through Mikey’s portal. But I thought none of that was real, until Mikey said my name, and I opened my eyes and you were all there, standing over me.”

“How do you know it was seven years?”

“The floating rocks orbit in a pattern," Leo bluntly and immediately replied, feeling like his insides were squirming around, wanting to get this part of the conversation over with as quickly as possible, and eager to open a portal and leave.

But now that one of his brothers was finally willing to listen without flying off the handle, he had a whooole lot to say.

"My wrist com lasted a year in there. That was one full orbit. Eventually I got good enough to tell apart the months and weeks, and even the days. There was nothing else to do," he added, before saying a quieter: "'Cept one thing."

*BAM!*

"AAAUGH!"

"DIE you worthless WRETCH!!!"

*BANG!*

"STOP IT!!! STOOOP IIIT!! OOOW!"

*BLAM!*

"AAAAAUUUGHHH!"

Leo took a deep breath to steady his shaky hands and continued in a quiet, sad, monotonous voice.

"I knew when it was our birthday, the night of our Jupiter Jim marathon, and our extreme skateboard brotherly bonding night. At least what I thought were those days here. But it was only two minutes for you, and I came back and nobody missed me. Because it was only two minutes.”

Donnie skipped over the untrue 'nobody missed me' phrase to deal with later, so he could focus on the cold, hard facts at hand, and asked: “We know Krang Prime was there with you, he was reaching for us when we pulled you out! Didn’t he attack you in all that time?”

“More times than I can count.”

“But you came out completely unscathed! And what about food and water!? How did you survive in there for seven years!?”

Leo spun around, stared Donnie straight in the eyes with an emotionless gaze, and pointedly told him the simple but weighty phrase: “You can’t die in the prison dimension.”

"WHY can't I KILL you you wretched VERMIN!!?"

"I couldn't, anyway."

He fiddled with his sword hilt a little more, and as he continued, Donnie wondered how he could share all of this without tearing up.

But it was because his emotions had gone completely numb.

(He was used to shutting off after all, as a coping mechanism to help deal with everything he went through for the past seven years)

Then he continued in his emotionless, monotone voice:

“There’s no need for food or water. No bleeding, no cuts, no swelling, welts or bruises. No knocked out teeth, no broken bones, no cracked shell; but you feel it all the same. There’s only floating rocks and islands in a black abyss surrounded by an impenetrable border that looks like giant krang mech suits floating in the distance, crying out in pain. With nothing to do but sleep and count the days, and Krang pummeling me over and over again for the little ‘trick’ I pulled as the only reminder any of this ever happened.”

He gestured with both hands to the room while looking around before staring at Donnie, still with an eerily blank, emotionless gaze that sent a chill up his spine because of how very un-Leo-like it was.

Because of how it looked like a part of his brother had already died on the inside.

Did his eyes always look that way over the past month?

Donnie really didn't know, and that realization tightened the guilty knot in the pit of his stomach for giving his brother the cold shoulder all this time.

Leo continued.

“It was just me and Krang Prime in a small dimension, no bigger than two or three miles wide all the way around. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, he was never far away. And he never left me alone for long.”

Leo closed his eyes and put his head down when he quietly said the heartbreaking words in a barely audible whisper: "I gave up trying to run and hide after the first two years."

Next, he turned around to point the back of his shell at Donnie, and added: “That’s why I don’t join patrols or go topside with the rest of you. I look up at the sky, and it’s so big, never ending, I feel exposed. I look around, and all I see are hiding places for Krang. I know he’s not here but that doesn’t change how I feel.”

"You were there, suffering for seven years, and yet you'd do it again?" Donnie asked, dumbfounded, and repeating something Leo once told them when they were giving him a hard time, trying to convince him what he did was dumb and wrong.

"Yeah," Leo replied without hesitation. "It's not about me, remember?"

Leo began feeling antsy, wanting a quick way out in case this calm conversation suddenly turned sour (like most conversations with his family eventually did). He felt the soothing tingle of his ninpo as the markings on his face and body lit up, as well as the runes on the blade of his sword in his hand. Then a bright blue portal opened up beside him - just as effortlessly as if he hadn’t spent seven long, lonely, torturous years in a dimension where he couldn't once use his mystic powers.

“Leo, don’t go, stay, so we can talk,” Donnie pleaded, and Leo laughed to himself over the irony of Donnie of all people being the one to ask him to stay so they can 'talk' after spending a month giving him the cold shoulder. But he otherwise ignored him to say: “Krang Prime was right about you…”

“You useless, pathetic vermin. Do you think you're missed? Do you believe your family wants you back? Don't you understand yet you stupid pest, they HATE you for sacrificing yourself to the krang and leaving them behind to mourn."

“He was right about everything. He told me none of you missed me, and he was right. I missed you every day for seven years and I come home to find out it was only two minutes here, that you didn’t miss me, you didn't have time to miss me, and that you hate me for what I did.”

"We did miss you and we don’t hate you, Le…” “I suppose you should know, I told Raph I'll be spending the night at Draxum’s, but that's not the whole truth. All those times I disappeared, I went to his place. I told him what happened. I had to tell someone, and he was the only one not mad at me, the only one who understands. Well, Case was never mad at me, but I don't know if he understands why I did it, 'cept he took the key away, but not 'till after I begged him. I don't talk to him cuz I hardly know him at all. And I've been avoiding him because he reminds me of what could have happened all because I lost the key. And that I already failed once."

Leo took in a deep breath before continuing, and Donnie did what he realized he should have done a long time ago, by patiently waiting for his self-proclaimed 'twin' brother to continue pouring out his heart by telling him all the things he had been forced to keep inside until now; all while standing back-on to him and never once turning his head to look at his brother, or taking his blank gaze off the water jug.

And during the silence, Donnie realized for the first time that normally common for him word 'twin' or 'twinsie' never once left his mouth in the month since the invasion.

He wondered if it was because Leo was now seven years older than him, because they hadn't been talking, or perhaps because he didn't feel like they were twins anymore with the way Donnie had been treating him.

When he was ready to continue, Leo let out one sad, pathetic, bitter laugh and said:

"I told Pops two days after you guys brought me home. I told him when his show was on that I was there for seven years and Krang Prime kept beating on me, cuz I just couldn't hold it in anymore and every time I brought it up, to try and tell someone else, it always turned into an argument. But all he did was wave me away, say 'yes, that's nice,' and asked me to put on the kettle so he could have a cup of tea at the next commercial break. So I gave up trying to talk to him and left. That was when I went to Draxum's the first time. And when dad saw me later that day, we got into an argument cuz I didn't put his kettle on the stove and he missed part of his show waiting for it to boil, as if something like that even matters. He acts like the invasion never happened - like I don't need him - so I didn't bother him anymore after that. 'Cept to ask him to train me a few times. But he's too busy with his soap operas and game shows for that. And I suppose April backed off after the first couple of weeks, but there's still a tension I can feel, and I was already talking to Draxum by then.

"He got his place back by the way. The big one in the Hidden City, cuz of all the good he did helping fight the krang by keepin' those krang zombies outta there. Stuff he did that we didn't know about. And when I asked, he said I can stay with him as long as I need, to clear my head and get back on my feet. When he gets sick of me, like I know he will, I suppose I'll find some other place in the Hidden City to live. Or maybe somewhere else, somewhere far away, where we won't bump into each other, so I can't get under your shells anymore."

"Leo, please..." "Tell Raph I lied, I won’t be back for breakfast. It can’t make him more mad at me than he already is, not that I'll be around to hear it. Besides, this is better for everyone. Especially for all of you. And me? I'm done fighting. I fought long enough. I hung around today cuz it's the one month anniversary and I wanted to see if anything would change, to give it one last try. But Raph and the others left just before you showed up. He came here for no other reason than to boss me around and yell at me some more. Didn't even bother saying 'hi' first. He yelled and we argued and the others listened and, like usual, none of them stood up for me. Nothing ever changes, everything stays the same, like in the prison dimension. The same squabbles, the same bickering, the same cold shoulder, the same arguments playing on repeat, the same heartless blows. Except yours hurt worse than Krang's did, cuz all yours were aimed at my heart. Nothing ever changes, 'cept for me."

. . .

"Leo..." "I'm tired, Donnie. If the world needs me for another earth shattering disaster I'll be there, but I'm done playing the hero. All I want now is..." 'sleep.' "peace and quiet. And I'm used to being alone. I'll be fine. Not that any of you care."

"But we do care!"

"No you don't. You think you do, but you don't. Not anymore," Leo abruptly and flatly replied. Without closing the portal beside him, that was casting a blue glow on his green turtle frame, he sheathed his katana to put both hands on the table, stretched out to the sides, with his arms straight and his elbows locked, so he could lean his weight on his hands.

And for the first time since the invasion, Donnie finally noticed how very tired his 'twin' brother looked and sounded.

Even back-on to him, it looked like he was carrying a heavy burden - one too heavy for him to bear alone that he had been carrying for a very long time - ever since the day of the invasion when he first fought Krang Prime and went into the prison dimension.

Seven years ago for him, mere minutes for them.

The weight that was tiring him out and weighing him down, of coming back from fighting and defending himself day in and day out in there, only to have to do the same thing but in a different way out here; but with his family who was supposed to love him taking Krang Prime's place.

The same routine - the same fight - day in and day out.

Tired of constantly defending himself against his family, who should have been on his side, been wiling to listen; to show a little love and empathy and compassion that they didn't even show during family therapy sessions - the sessions that he never missed, despite the fact they always ended with the same heated debate over and over again every time.

Donnie wondered now if Leo only attended to get the mandatory group hug they started with. The hug he flat-out refused to participate in, because of his strong feelings towards their 'dumb-dumb' martyr brother.

The one hug Leo could get from his family every other day, before they went back to giving him the cold shoulder and tearing him down with their words.

Tearing him down like Krang Prime did to him in the prison dimension.

Tearing him down like they were his enemies.

Each of them so convinced of the rightness of their words and actions that not one of them realized what they were doing to their very own brother and how he looked so tired - moreso as the days stretched on - partly because he put on a brave face and coped with smiles and humor and bad puns and one-liners, and partly because they let their anger and fear of losing him again blind their minds to the truth staring them in the face.

'Did we really stop hugging him?' Donnie wondered to himself. 'Did none of us listen to him, not even once? Was he really trapped away all alone with that monster for seven years and he couldn't tell us, because we wouldn't let him? Because we were too busy venting our emotions to listen when he tried to share his?'

Despite how much that thought sickened him and even left him feeling a little bit dirty on the inside for some reason he couldn't explain, Donnie couldn't help but admit the answer to each and every one of his questions was a loud, firm, resounding 'YES!'

And the distraught softshell was beginning to wonder if his self-proclaimed twin brother was even a little tired of life itself as he continued in his flat, monotonous, emotionless voice, standing back-on to him, never once turning around to see his face, as though just looking at his brother was a source of grief for him; and leaning all his weight onto the table, as though just the effort of standing and . . . well . . . living was too much for his turtle soul to bear.

And sounding very much like he really was seven years older than them now. That he lived seven long, harsh, lonely years where he had plenty of time to contemplate the far reaching effects of his heroic, self-sacrificing actions, as well as the devastatingly bitter consequences if he had not acted when he did.

"You only care about yourselves now," Leo continued, never raising his voice, never breaking out of the bland, tired tone that was beginning to rip Donnie's normally scientific, factual heart apart.

"Because you're stuck in your bubbles, too busy yelling at me for how my little 'trick' affected you to see the big picture," Leo went on.

"What could we have done if Krang pulled the technodrome out of the portal, hmm? What if he closed the portal and put the key somewhere we could never get it, what then? Did any one of you ever think about that? No. You're too preoccupied with your own anger and resentment you put on me instead of putting it where it belongs, on the aliens who came here to destroy us all, to realize that even a five minute delay could have meant the difference between victory and destruction; between life and death for everybody. Because you're too afraid to see the truth of what the krang could've really done. All because you want to keep denying there could be another threat out there, somewhere. A threat as powerful as the krang. One that can't be stopped. It's easier to blame the guy right in front of your nose, who hurt you, than deal with your fears of what could have been or might still be. I know, I went through it too, I'm still going through it. I blame myself for losing the key instead of blaming the Foot for opening the portal or the krang for what they did.

"This is ALL YOUR FAULT!!!"

"I blame myself for a lotta stuff. But I never said any of those things before, what was the point? If a living, breathing person staring you in the face who had to be sent back from that timeline as a last resort wasn't enough to open your eyes, nothing that came out of my mouth would've mattered."

Leo paused in his speech and hung his head a little lower, with Donnie staring at the back of his head with his mouth open, as though he wanted to say something; but no words came out.

Not because his genius mind wasn't reeling from all of this, but because he was left totally speechless by Leo's heartfelt, brutally honest words that cut him to the core.

The silence stretched on until Leo scornfully laughed, and this time when he continued in his speech, although the quiet, bland tone remained, there was a clear hint of something his brother couldn't quite put his finger on, that lay somewhere in the range of bitterness, anger, resentment...

...or possibly even outright hatred.

"You all know Mikey sacrificed his life in the future to send Casey back to stop the krang, but none of you seem to think he did anything wrong. No. That didn't affect you, did it? Instead you keep praising him for how his 'mystic hands' brought Casey to us to help with the fight, and for how he used them to 'save the day' after your dumb-dumb brother got himself trapped with Krang Prime. A 'dumb' move none of you seem to realize ended the invasion the same day it started, instead of it stretching on for decades with hope dwindling away until it becomes nothing but a distant memory from times long gone."

Leo sighed deeply at the thought of how hope dwindled away and died like a distant, forgotten memory for him a long, long time ago.

Was this living?

No. He was just alive.

And then he continued.

"A 'dumb' move that saved your lives and the lives of the countless billions all over the earth. A move that saved everyone except for the millions who already died or got mutated after the krang were here for only three hours."

For the first time since this conversation started, Leo's voice began to rise from clear, undeniable anger. Anger mixed in with disgust, and Donnie didn't need to see his face to know he was speaking with an angry scowl when he said his final, hard-hitting words that stabbed through Dee's heart like a sword:

"But you don't have to worry about your dumb-dumb brother ruining your lives anymore. The lives you're only living because of me. The safe, petty lives you get to live because I was willing to sacrifice everything for you."

Donnie cried out: “No, wait!” and ran at Leo when he suddenly stepped through the portal without a second's hesitation, and without as much as turning around to give his brother one final passing glance 'goodbye'.

Before he even made it halfway across the room, the portal snapped shut behind his ‘twin’, who was actually seven years older now, and who believed with every fiber of his being his family really and truly hated him for doing what he knew from the beginning was the right thing to do:

be a hero by protecting innocent lives without hesitation. Even at great cost to one's self.

And standing there, alone, in the dimly lit, quiet dojo, Donnie knew Leo was right. Why didn't he see it before? Why did it take something so monumental to open his eyes? The entire invasion lasted no more than three hours from beginning to end, but it destroyed over half of New York and took millions of lives.

And Leo knew from the beginning. He was the only one of the four mutant ninja turtle brother 'heroes' who could look past their noses to see the cold, hard realities they were too afraid to let themselves see - Donnie was too afraid to let his fact-loving, empirical, data-collecting mind to see. Even one five minute delay could have cost the lives of millions more, and put the krang in a position where the technodrome wasn't vulnerably sitting in the precipice between two dimensions.

The otherwise indestructible technodrome that itself was so wickedly powerful it destroyed all the military advances in an instant and had the power to put the already mighty krang in the position where they could never be defeated - where they would annihilate every living thing on the entire planet that wasn't first mutated into their likeness.

Like what already happened in Casey's timeline.

The timeline where they failed.

In his mind, Donnie heard Casey's voice from the day of the invasion. The voice he heard before but didn't really hear until now.

The voice that told them - that warned them:

"Right now the krang are using that key to bring in something that will destroy the world."

But they were all caught up projecting their anger and fears and frustrations squarely on their brother's shoulders instead of against the deadly krang - who were stronger than them; who, despite being small in number were so powerful they couldn't be defeated in combat...

...who were gone and they couldn't see. Couldn't direct their anger and frustrations and fears onto from the trauma they were each experiencing as a result of one three hour, devestating alien invasion.

So instead they projected them all onto their brother, who was right in front of their faces and they could see; focusing on how his actions affected them; feeling the pain of being left behind to grieve their loss that really - to them - only lasted two minutes. So that they never once took a step back to see the big picture, and kept venting their frustrations (frustrations that should have been directed at the murderous krang) onto their brother, Leo, by trying to get him to stop being so 'stubborn' and agree with them never to do something so 'dumb' ever again.

By giving him the cold shoulder in between incessantly bringing up the events of that day, and giving him a hard time with frequent debates and lively arguments until he relented.

All while he suffered in silence with a grin on his face and a joke on his tongue in between aggressively defending himself, because he had to.

Because he was right.

But Leo was never going to relent, and now Donnie understood why. Despite how harshly he suffered for his quick, lifesaving act, their red-eared slider hero brother knew he did the right thing for the greater good; was so confident about the rightness of his decision that he would be willing to suffer all over again for them, when they weren't willing to bear the pain of losing him for what amounted to no more than two measly minutes.

Seven years versus two minutes.

Seven years of torturous agony to come home and continue suffering in silence while they loudly and persistently vented their anger and hurt and frustrations and everything in between over two minutes of heartache.

It hardly seemed fair.

It wasn't fair.

And now, they lost him, just like that he was gone, with the real possiblity he would never return to his sewer home to be with his family who allowed the anger and resentment they wouldn't let go of to weigh him down more than he already was, and push him away when he needed love and affection; all without seeing what they were doing to him.

Not until it was already too late.

Donnie stared blankly ahead at the empty spot where Leo's portal shut a few seconds ago, and raised his arm to click on his wrist com to reach out to Raph.

"Come home," was the only thing he sadly said.

"Donnie what's wrong, are you ok!?" came Raph's panicked reply.

Donnie's mouth went dry and he swallowed a lump before opening his mouth and saying in his bland, yet sad tone of voice:

"Leo's gone."

"What do you mean gone!?" Raph cried out.

"He left and he's not coming back. Come home."

And then, Donnie really got his big brother in a panic when he said four words he had never before uttered in his entire life.

"I need a hug."

Chapter Text

Everyone silently filed into the living room where Splinter was watching one of his soaps, with everything the despondent Donnie having told them amounting to two important things:

1. Leo was gone and he wasn't coming back, having moved in with Draxum; and

2. He was in the prison dimension a whole lot longer than they thought.

He decided to let Leo do the unpleasant task of telling them everything else they needed to hear via a video he recorded (because he recorded everything), and when he reached out to fiddle with Splinter's projector, their dad motioned to stand while yelling: “Purple! Don’t you…”

Splinter stopped mid-sentence when Raph put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from rising. And when he saw the somber look on his eldest son’s face he sat back down and then gave the likewise deflated Donnie his attention when he took a USB out of a slot on his tech shell that stored a hidden camera and said: “You’re going to want to see this.”

Donnie put the USB in and Splinter’s projector switched from his show to a video projection of Leo in the dojo, from Donnie’s perspective.

And the entire video played out from the beginning, all the way to the end, when Leo walked away without as much as a turning his head to look in Dee's direction, or saying good bye.

“Got a minute?”

“You’re talking to me now?”

. . .

“Alright smart guy, you found me out! So I was there seven years, what of it!?...”

More than one person in the room gasped and April let out a hushed: “Seven years?”

. . .

"...it was only two minutes for you, and I came back and nobody missed me. Because it was only two minutes.”

Raph recalled the argument he had with Leo earlier that very day, when his brother yelled: "...why don’t you ever act like you missed me!? I missed you, but yooou’re too busy yelling at me every time our eyes meet to make me believe you even cared I was gone!”

The recording continued…

“...Krang Prime…didn’t he attack you?”

“More times than I can count.”

“Oh Leo,” Mikey gasped. "Shh!” Splinter shushed.

. . .

“...just me and Krang Prime…Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide…never left me alone for long…gave up trying to run and hide after the first two years.”

Tears fell down Mikey and April’s cheeks as the recording continued. And they all listened to Leo’s sad, despondent voice telling them the things he had been wanting to tell them every day for a full month.

"Krang Prime was right about you…I come home to find out...you didn’t miss me, you didn't have time to miss me, and that you hate me for what I did.”

“No,” Raph gasped, standing up stiff and straight with his unblinking eyes glued to the screen; not knowing until now that Leo thought they hated him, and wondering what sort of cruel, twisted things that monster said (and did) to him during all those years, while simultaneously wishing he had done things differently.

. . .

“Draxum’s…I told him what really happened. I had to tell someone; and he was the only one not mad at me…”

Raph put his big arm around Mikey when his little brother sniffled, and the shorter box turtle leaned into his body. Then, it was Splinter’s turn to gasp, and tears filled the corners of his eyes when he heard his son Leonardo’s very tired voice (was it always that tired?) say:

“I told Pops…I told him when his show was on that I was there for seven years and Krang Prime kept beating on me, cuz I just couldn’t hold it in anymore and every time I…try to tell someone else, it always ended up turning into an argument. But all he did was wave me away…That was when I went to Draxum’s the first time.”

“That’s why he was goin’ there,” Raph thought out loud. “Cuz none of us would listen to him.”

April put a comforting hand on his arm, and the video continued playing.

“...And when dad saw me later that day, we got into an argument cuz I didn’t put his kettle on the stove and he missed part of his show waiting for it to boil, as if something like that even matters...”

“I remember that,” Splinter sadly commented as a whisper, not realizing until now that his son had tried to open up to him about something extremely important.

More tears fell down Mikey's cheeks and he decided to squeeze in beside his dad and curl up in his chair with him.

The conversation continued on, with Leo pouring out his heart and sharing what he had to keep bottled up for so long, and finally now their eyes were opened. They realized everything Leo said about them not wanting to see the truth and how serious the invasion was and how vitally important it was for him to act without hesitation when the moment presented itself was true and accurate. As well as how dumb they were for giving their 'dumb-dumb' brother a hard time instead of banding together as a family and putting their fears and aggressions and frustrations and everything in between where they should have, on the shoulders of the krang who caused this whole situation.

Now, finally, they understood because they listened, but it took Donnie finding out Leo was there longer than two minutes and them discovering he moved out before they were willing to hear out their traumatized, abused, and neglected brother even once.

Then, the recording finished with the honest words that pained them all to hear, and they knew pained Leo to say:

“...you don’t have to worry about your dumb-dumb brother ruining your lives anymore. The lives you’re only living because of me. The safe, petty lives you get to live because I was willing to sacrifice everything for you.”

Leo walked through his portal, it snapped shut, and Donnie took his USB out and the projector switched back to the soap Splinter had been watching.

And the room was completely still and quiet, save for the sound of the voices coming from Splinter’s soap opera.

“Johnny, why would you do this to me? I thought we had something special, something that would last a lifetime.”

“Because, Alice, I tried to tell you the truth of the matter many, many times before now, but you wouldn’t listen to me. And now, it’s too late for that.”

The scene ended with the human man walking away from the weeping woman, who was sitting on a bed, reaching out to him with tears streaming down her face; and then the only sound in the otherwise somber, quiet room, was the theme music playing as the end credits rolled.

🔹🔹🔹

~The Next Day~

Leo was standing in Draxum’s kitchen with a recipe book open on a stand on the counter, putting the final toppings on a homemade pizza he made for supper, when Draxum walked in.

At the sight, his goat alchemist 'dad' raised an eyebrow and calmly asked: “You cook now?”

Leo picked up the tray their pizza was on to put it in the oven, and replied in an equally calm tone: “I spent seven years of my life not able to live, I wanna start now by trying new things.”

He put the timer on for the pizza and Draxum hummed in acknowledgement and told him (with air quotes): “Our ‘family' was here, asking for you. I told them you don’t want to see them, as you requested.”

“Thanks.”

Draxum watched as Leo began cleaning up his mess, and he asked: “Do you plan on ever talking to them?”

Without looking at surrogate dad or stopping his cleaning, Leo calmly replied: “Yeah. But I had to wait a month before any of them were willing to listen me, and that only happened cuz Dee found out on his own I was there longer than two minutes. I won’t avoid them if we bump into each other in the Hidden City, but they can wait a while until I’m good and ready. It’ll happen though. In time. They are just a bunch of dumb teens. Dumb and naive and too young to see or understand what’s not right in front of their faces.”

“Dumb teens?” Draxum calmly questioned. “Unlike you?”

Leo turned around to face Draxum with a crooked grin, and gestured to himself with both hands while playfully saying: “Hey, don’t get fooled by the package, I’m older than I look.”

“And I suppose you’ll be calling them ‘dumb’ because that’s what they erroneously called you?”

Leo’s cheeky grin grew and he mischievously replied: “Of course, I gotta rub their noses in it.”

“I see you never lost your sense of humor,” Draxum dryly commented, before asking: “How long do you plan on making them wait before you talk with them?”

Leo resumed wiping down the counter, and replied: “Don’t know. Like I said, I’ll do it when I’m ready.”

“Did you consider it might be advantageous for ‘family togetherness’ if you do so sooner rather than later? They are your brothers. And I suppose that rat is technically your father.”

Leo turned his head to glare at Draxum and said a sour-sounding: “This from the guy who scoffed at the idea of brotherly loyalty.” He turned around all the way to fully face him, and fidgeted with the wet dish cloth in his hands while giving his ‘dad’ a cocky grin and adding: “Right before you threw me off a building.”

“My only regret is that the landing didn’t stick,” Draxum replied as his form of a dry sense of humor. He walked up to the oven and bent down to look at the deliciously smelling pizza inside, as Leo sarcastically replied: “Funny. How about we leave the jokes to the professional?”

Draxum stood up straight and blandly said: “You must have had Krang Prime in stitches.”

“More like the other way around. If there were any cuts or . . . blood or stuff.”

His current guardian hummed in acknowledgement, and told him: “If all of the ‘new things’ you wish to try smell this delicious, I’m looking forward to them. What did you put on the pizza?”

“Not much, the usual sauce and cheese, pepperoni. Goat feta. I’m surprised you had that stuff laying around, goat man.”

“Being a goat yokai does not in any way connect me to the mindless, four-footed above ground creature known as a goat, beyond name, which is solely based on some minor physical characteristics. I have no qualms with consuming meat and products from that particular animal.”

“I know a lot about mindless creatures,” Leo muttered under his breath. Then a thought struck him and he dramatically pointed at Draxum and loudly blurted out: “Don’t go expecting me to eat any turtle!”

Draxum was unphased and (once again dryly) commented: “The fundamental difference between you and I is that I am a goat yokai, and you are a mutated turtle. I would never expect you to consume your own kind, however turtle is actually considered to be a delicacy among yokai living in the Hidden City. Where do you think I went to procure four baby turtles for myself?”

Leo looked at him suspiciously and asked: “The pet store?”

“Please. Those specimens are inbred and poor quality. But the turtles sold for consumption at the Hidden City Market are of the finest quality, and I required the absolute best specimens for my experiment.”

“You’re pulling my leg.”

“I guess you will find out tomorrow, when I send you to the market to pick up supplies.”

Leo wanted to feel useful after so many years feeling like a useless...

"...pathetic waste of life! You worthless PEST! You don't deserve to live! DIE you WRETCHED VERMIN!!!"

"AAAUGGGHH!"

which was why he told Draxum: “I guess I will, but it’ll have to be later in the day cuz I’ll be out looking for a job tomorrow morning.”

Leo threw the dish cloth in the sink and unsheathed his katanas to practice his ninjitsu while waiting for the pizza to finish cooking. While doing so he told Draxum: “I figure apprentice to a ninja instructor might be right up my alley. You know the old saying, ‘whoever can does, whoever can’t teaches.' I’d ask about working as an instructor, but I only aged on the inside, and who’s willing to hire a punk sixteen year old kid with no references and no resume as a sensei?”

Draxum raised one eyebrow and asked: “So you are determined never to resume your hero work?” He watched Leo’s perfectly timed practice moves, and the slider replied: “Not unless the world needs me. Like I said, I’m done fighting. All I want now is peace and quiet.”

“And yet you continue to practice your already practically perfect ninjitsu and request I further your training?”

“Practically?” Leo asked, incensed. But when Draxum didn’t say anything and looked like he was waiting for a reply from him, he said: “I already told you, I gotta be ready if the world needs me again,” as a lie. One the intelligent goat alchemist could see right through.

They both knew Leo was really training until his hands bled and he even, at times, came close to collapsing from exhaustion because practicing and staying on top of his game - always ready to defend himself - gave him a sense of control and security he never felt even once over the past seven years.

"Surpr-iise! I found you again my little pet!"

"NO! NOOO! LEAVE ME ALOOOONE!!!"

Draxum turned around to leave, and on his way out of the kitchen he calmly said: “Inform me when dinner is ready, I'll be in my lab. And I suggest you make yourself ‘ready to talk’ to your family by this Sunday, because they invited themselves over for a ‘housewarming meal,’ as they called it.”

“Don’t expect me to be here!” Leo snapped in anger.

“You will be here or you can find your own place to live,” was the only flat reply he was given in return.

The slider who was now seven years older stopped his practice to stare at the kitchen entrance Draxum just left through with his jaw dropped open, and then he called out: “You know I’m not a kid anymore, you can’t boss me around!”

. . .

“Did you hear me!?”

. . .

“Aw man! I’m startin’ to wish I did age in that prison dimension. I can’t get a place of my own until I’m eighteen!”

Chapter Text

Leo walked around the Hidden City Market with a paper list in one hand and a big basket in the other. His search for a job proved to be fruitless, with the exception of a part time volunteer job he was able to procure as a junior ninjitsu assistant, with the promise it could turn into a full-time paid job if he ‘proved’ himself long enough.

“Big surprise there. Who’s gonna believe ‘kicked butt as a vigilante’ and ‘sent Krang Prime to the Prison Dimension with his rad ninja skills’ counts as experience without proof,” Leo muttered. Then he quietly laughed to himself and rhetorically wondered: "I wonder if Big Mama would let me use her as a reference from all the times we kicked her butt?" The smile on his face fell when he said: "Something tells me no," before looking back down at the long list of supplies his new guardian sent him out to procure.

“Draxum has all those gadgets and high tech stuff in that lab of his and he sends me out with a paper list and a wicker basket to pick up supplies,” the slider grumbled under his breath. His brows furrowed at one of the yokai-specific items he had no idea how to even pronounce, and looked around for someone to ask.

When he saw an unoccupied female deer teller at a booth, Leo walked up to her, pointed to the strange yokai word on the list, and showed it to her to ask: “Do you know where I can find this?” She looked at the word and pointed her finger straight out while saying: “You need to go to the mystic booths on the other side of the market for that.”

“Thanks. And, uh, does anyone around here sell turtle?”

“You mean like a pet?”

“No, like, uh. . . . meat.”

The yokai looked Leo up and down and asked in a ‘judgy’ tone: "You want to eat turtle? Most yokai don’t eat their own ‘kind,’ if you know what I mean.”

Leo screwed up his nose in disgust and very emphatically replied: “No no ew, it’s not for that, I’m trying to settle a bet.”

“Mm hmm," the deer hummed in a very 'I don't believe you' tone.

Leo's face fell.

"No, really."

"Yeah sure kid, whatever you say..." "I don't wanna eat..." "No one I know here sells turtle meat, but you might find it down by the docks in the Dark Alley," the deer interrupted. "They sometimes sell strange human foods, but a piece of advice, don’t ask any questions or stick your nose in places it doesn’t belong, and you won’t get into trouble.”

“Thanks,” Leo replied in a sour tone, before throwing in an equally sour: "And I don't wanna eat turtle!"

The deer simply tended to some items on her booth and without looking up at him dismissively replied: "Do whatever you want, it's none of my business."

"No really... ugh, never mind."

Leo turned around with a grumpy look on his face and muttered under his breath: “I knew he was lying,” in reference to Draxum telling him he bought him and his three brothers as baby turtles that were being sold for meat in the market, but when he gazed toward the far side of the market where the mystic booths were, his eyes settled on a worried-looking pair of mutant snapping turtle eyes that were looking straight at him.

Raph was walking towards him, with Donnie and Mikey by his side.

“Leo!” his worried big brother called out.

“Uuugh! I shouldn’t have told Drax I won’t avoid them if they show up, I know he has something to do with this,” Leo moaned to himself.

The mentally exhausted slider didn’t have the energy to bother trying to put on his fake 'faceman' grin for the trio, and when they got close enough to hear him without having to yell, he put up his hands and said: “I don’t wanna argue and I’ll be outta your way in no time, I’m just here to…” but he stopped mid-sentence when his big brother unexpectedly pulled him close in what was the first voluntary (warm) hug he received in weeks.

Leo’s eyes widened from surprise at Raph wanting to hug him outside of their mandatory ‘hug time’ at the beginning of each family therapy session, and when Mikey and Donnie got in on the hug too, his hands dropped down and there was a *thump* from when he dropped Draxum’s large basket. He kept his hands down by his sides, but closed his eyes and leaned into the warm, tender, comforting embrace.

“Leo, I’m sorry we didn’t listen before,” Raph told him.

“We all are. We're sorry we didn't give you a chance to talk,” Mikey added.

“Affirmative,” came Donnie’s voice.

“Come home with us?” (Raph)

“Please?” (Mikey)

“No more arguing,” (Donnie)

“You can tell us anything.” (Mikey)

“And we won’t yell.” (Raph)

"Or interrupt." (Mikey)

“That goes for Pops, too.” (Raph)

“And April and Casey.” (Donnie)

“Just please come home with us?” (Mikey)

“That’s where you belong.” (Raph)

*nod, nod, nod* (Donnie)

Leo let himself give in to the feeling of warmth and safety, but he kept his hands down and didn’t in any way return their hug, besides keeping his eyes shut and cuddling into Raph’s plastron. And when he was ready to say something, he opened his mouth and softly told them: “I’m not ready for any of that, but . . . but this is nice.”

The four turtle brothers hugged like that for a few minutes, and then Raph softly asked Leo: “If you don’t wanna come home, how about we get together at Hueso’s after this, like old times?”

Leo absent-mindedly let out a long: “Mmmm,” in apparent agreement, but then his eyes popped open when Raph's words sunk in, and he abruptly planted both hands on the bigger turtle’s plastron to forcefully push out of the hug, with all the warm feelings of tenderness and safety suddenly replaced with a cold wave of suspicion and fear.

And he also put up the defensive shield he had to live behind for sooo long and blurted out an angry: “Oh, I get it! You came here to try and get me to let my guard down, so you can haul me off to Hueso’s for an intervention!”

“No!” Mikey cried out.

“I suppose Pops and April and Case are already there, hey? Waiting for me to show up and your job was to lead me there, to a public place where I’ll be trapped in a booth and won’t make a scene, so you can all lay into me and tell me how dumb and wrong I am!?”

Leo roughly grabbed the basket from off the ground and sternly said: “No thank you!”

“No, Leo, it’s not like that,” Raph sadly exclaimed.

The enraged slider refused to listen to another word and stormed away with his entire body tense and his knuckles white from his tight grip on the basket handle, and Mikey tenderly called out: “We’re going there now, ok Leo?”

“Yeah, just the three of us,” Raph told him.

Then Donnie added: “We’ll wait for you!”

Leo turned his head far enough to see them out of the corner of his eye, and he angrily yelled: “You’ll be waiting a LONG TIME!” while he continued storming away, toward the ‘mystic’ section of the market, to continue with his shopping.

Alone.

Like how he had lived every day for the past seven years.

. . .

"You ruined EVERYTHING!!!"

Mostly.

🔹🔹🔹

~Half an Hour Later~

Leo portalled into Draxum’s lab and set the full basket down on the table beside the busy goat alchemist.

“I got everything but the slime manifesto, they were out.”

“That’s fine, I’m fully stocked. I only sent you with a long list to ensure you were there an adequate amount of time for your brothers to find you.”

Leo gave Draxum a sour look and said in an equally sour tone: “Yeah. I figured.” Then he leaned his back against the table with one foot crossed in front of the other, and told him: “They asked me to go to Hueso's with them.”

Draxum poured a clear solution from one test tube into another containing a pink one, and asked: “Are you going?”

“Yeah. No. . . . Yes. Uuugh!” He dragged a hand down his face in frustration and exclaimed in a slightly whiny tone: “I don’t knooow!” Then he looked down at his fingers and picked at his fingernails as a nervous habit while saying: “I accused them of tryin’ to lead me to an intervention and stormed off. They probably don’t wanna see me after that. I bet if I go they won't even be there.”

Draxum calmly asked: “Are you sure about that?” while continuing with his work.

In an exasperated tone, Leo replied: “I don’t know. I don’t know what to expect from them anymore after the way they've been treating me. They're usually better at listening and being brotherly, but they've got all that anger and fear they're working through from the invasion, and I guess I became the easiest target. They haven’t really given me any reason to want to trust them since . . . that . . . whole situation. And maybe they were tryin’ to bait me and it is an intervention. Maybe they do still wanna change my mind. I left the lair before Donnie had a chance to say anything, and I’m sure he told them what I said; but I haven’t talked to any of them since, so I don’t know what they think.”

Leo let out a deep sigh and looked up at Draxum to sincerely say: “Maybe they hate me more after the stuff I said to Dee. Some of it was kinda brutal.”

“Brutal but honest.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I suppose. But I suppose there’s a way to be honest without the brutal part.”

“Brutal is the only life you’ve know for the past seven years. And one way or another, they needed to hear what you had to say.”

“Mm hmm, yeah, that’s true.”

When Leo stayed where he was, picking at his fingernails with his head down, not showing any indication he was going to leave and join his siblings, Draxum paused his work briefly to look at him and pointedly reminded him: “You have portalling abilities you can use to leave at any time if things get tense.”

Leo unsheathed a katana and stepped away from Draxum and his work table to aimlessly swing it around while agreeing: “Yeah. And speaking of that, I got a job using my portals as a delivery ‘yokai’ at one of those mystic booths in the market. The stuff they got can only be transported through mystic portals and most of it has to be at night, yadda yadda…” He stopped and looked at Draxum when the taller goat yokai pointed a glass stir stick at him and sternly said: “Don’t ‘yadda yadda’ this job. Make certain you know all of the requirements. Some of those sensitive mystic products become dangerous if not handled correctly.”

Leo huffed out a laugh and playfully said with a crooked grin: “Aw, you act like you care or something.”

Draxum returned to his work and dryly joked: “Yes well, you’re proving to be quite useful as a cook and an errand boy.”

“Love you too, dad,” Leo cheekily replied with a big, playful grin on his face.

“Don’t call me that,” Draxum bluntly replied.

“Anyway, I looked around for an apprentice job at the Hidden City dojos, but there’s not exactly a big demand for sixteen year old ninja apprentices with no verifiable credentials. I can’t exactly put ‘trained under Lou Jitsu who mysteriously vanished decades ago’ and ‘defeated Krang Prime with my rad skills when no one was looking’ on a resume, you know. But I did get a volunteer job that could lead into something more. Welp…”

Leo abruptly stopped swinging his katana around and his ninpo lit up on his body and sword as he said: “Guess I left them waiting long enough.”

A blue portal opened in front of the ninja turtle, he sheathed his sword, and Draxum asked: “I take it you’re going to the restaurant?”

“Yeah, and don’t wait up for me, my job starts tonight. If things are good at Hueso’s I’ll go to work from there, and if not, I’ll need some time alone to clear my head, so don’t expect me back until late...”

Leo stepped through the portal, leaned his head back with a big, mischievous grin, and cheekily finished with: “...daaad!”

And just before disappearing through, he snickered at the dirty look Draxum shot him, only having cracked that joke to ease the nervous tension he felt at the thought of not knowing what to expect when he came out of the other side of his portal.

Chapter Text

Leo fell through a portal to land on his bum inside a booth at Hueso’s, and immediately picked up a menu left there for him to hide his face from his brothers.

"Leo, you made it!” Mikey happily cried out in excitement.

The slider landed beside his little brother with Raph straight across from him and Donnie by the big snapper's side; and he ignored it when Mikey wrapped his arms around him in a hug. Instead he blandly asked: “What are we getting?”

Secretly, Leo wanted to lean in to the warm embrace, but he was afraid of letting his guard down for the second time that day (he was also surprised this wasn't a family intervention), and Donnie replied by telling him: “We ordered your favorite, the super creepy supreme.”

“Cool cool.” Leo replied. He lowered the menu because he no longer had an excuse to use it as a physical shield, but he also didn’t have the energy to hide behind his fake crooked ‘faceman’ grin, so his brothers felt a little uncomfortable with the very not ‘Leo-like’ blank, emotionless gaze he gave to them.

But he didn’t care. Everything was out in the open now and things like that didn’t seem to matter as much as they used to.

While waiting for their meal, Leo’s brothers tried their very best to make this a pleasant get-together by smiling and discussing happy, upbeat topics like their most recent annual ‘Lair Games’ and the last time they went skateboarding together - things they knew Leo enjoyed at the time in the hopes he would smile and contribute to the conversation.

But he kept his figurative back against the wall the entire time, waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop, while secretly pained from what should have been pleasant reminders of times long gone (for him), as his mind kept drifting into the usual static where he relived one memory after another from times he thought he was missing another special moment together with his family.

His family who didn't have time to miss him in return.

"Do you think they miss you? Do you believe you could EVER be ANYTHING more than a WORTHLESS LITTLE PEST!!?"

And the blank gaze he kept falling prey to over and over again worried his siblings, who were trying their very best to come back together again as a family without bringing up any of the traumatizing events Leo had gone through, to give him time to open up when he was ready, and so they didn't inadvertently push him away all over again when they were only at the beginning of trying to heal the rift they tore wide open between them.

So every time they smiled and chatted about things like Splinter’s latest bout of ‘Rat Flu’ or their Jupiter Jim all night pizza marathon or other stuff they did together as a family - things that were fresh in Leo’s mind but also felt sooo long ago - all the troubled slider could think about were the harrowing days, weeks, months, and years he spent locked away in the prison dimension; thinking he was missing all of these anniversaries and they were missing him while Krang Prime pummeled him over and over with extreme prejudice - not caring in the least whether or not his hapless victim was already mourning the loss of another missed birthday or celebration before he mercilessly attacked him for the little ‘trick’ he pulled trapping them both in there, all alone and together.

Just the two of them.

"You ruined EVERYTHING!!!"

No one noticed because they were all looking at pictures from happier times on Mikey's phone, but Leo shuddered from the memory of something Krang Prime screamed at him over and over again week after week, year after year, like a broken record stuck on repeat. Then as he gazed around at the happy, seemingly carefree faces of his much younger siblings - siblings who didn’t look younger on the outside - he was beginning to realize how very different he was from them now because of the injustices he had to suffer through for seven long, lonely, miserable years.

“Why was your portal a time portal?”

The chatty booth fell silent and everyone ignored the fresh, hot pizza that was served to stared at Leo's blank (tired) face with shocked looks on theirs.

“What?” Mikey asked, not because he didn’t hear what Leo asked, but because he needed time to process that very unexpected question (that he realized once it came out of his brother's mouth he should have been expecting to come up sooner or later, and mentally kicking himself for not being prepared).

The despondent slider maintained strict eye contact with his younger brother with his eyes looking dull and listless, and opened his mouth to very slowly repeat his question, verbatim, in the same bland monotonous voice but with no inflection or intonation this time.

“Why was your portal a time portal?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t know it was a time portal until Donnie showed us the video of what you told him,” Mikey replied.

Leo hummed in acknowledgement and turned his head to stare at the pizza in front of him, but with the way his body language and blank facial expression didn’t change in the slightest not one of them knew how he felt about that response, or even if he believed Mikey.

The silence stretched on, making everyone but Leo feel uncomfortable.

That was, until Raph tried to break the tension by grabbing the first slice of pizza and nervously smiling while also saying a nervous sounding: “Uh, this smells great! We better dig in while it’s still hot.”

The other two siblings each grabbed a slice while Leo blankly stared at it without taking any to put on his empty plate; and before anyone had a chance to take their first bite the troubled slider opened his mouth again to say another bland, monotonous: “All my portals open when and where I want them to. But yours opened seven years in the future, and you hauled me out of there, after seven years, to bring me home and yell at me for stuff that wasn't my fault.”

There was a brief pause, and then Leo shifted his gaze down onto his hands that were resting in his lap to pick at his fingernails (accidentally giving himself a hangnail in the process) so he could better get his big brother out of his peripheral.

Donnie - who (like the rest of them) was trying to reconnect with their loved one who moved out - felt nervous around Leo now that he was acting differently since he was no longer hiding behind a fake facade, and he really wasn't sure how to respond. So he picked one thing seemingly at random that was swirling around inside his head and went for the 'factual' route his scientific mind felt most comfortable with by reminding him: “Your portals didn’t always used to open when and where you wanted, remember Leo? It took time and practice.”

“Yeah, remember the time you portalled us all to Tahiti?” Mikey chimed in, glad that his older brother spoke up for him, because he had absolutely no clue of what to say next.

"Ah, Tahiti, I remember it well," Donnie commented airily with a smile.

But his smile fell and he got back into the present when Raph continued with words: “You didn’t know you did it, or where we were. And we're trying to fix our mistakes, right bro?”

“Yes we really are trying Nardo, and don't forget that was Mikey’s first portal,” Donnie added, not knowing that a flash of anger surged up in Leo's heart for just a second at hearing that nickname come out of the mouth of that turtle who had spent a month giving him the cold shoulder. “We all had to help because it was too much for him, he couldn’t do it on his own,” Don finished.

The only response Leo gave was to give another hum in acknowledgement and shift his gaze off his hands onto his empty plate. But he looked up and made eye contact with Mikey when his little brother tenderly said: “And that’s why we’re here now, right? Because you're our brother. We love you and we feel bad for how we treated you, and we wanna be a family again. We really are sorry.”

Raph and Donnie echoed Mikey's sentiment in their own ways, and then Leo gave his little brother a small, crooked grin with none of them knowing whether it was real or fake (it was a little bit of both) and he said a little less blandly and a little more softly this time: “Yeah. That sounds good.”

But he still sounded oh so tired.

Next he looked in Raph and Donnie's direction when he added: “I don’t want to lose you guys again for another seven years.”

After that, everyone smiled at him when his eyes settled on the pizza and he finally took his hands off his lap to reach out for a slice while saying: “But we need to take things slow, ok?”

Leo felt a familiar - yet at the same time unfamiliar - warmth inside his heart when all three of them tenderly agreed to do just that, and after that he stuck his faceman smile on his face and did his very best to enjoy his time with his brothers despite the pain he felt at heart.

But now that they saw it, none of them could unsee the sad, tired look in his eyes or the way he carried himself, like he was bearing the weight of a burden that was much, much heavier than all of them combined.

A burden he couldn't carry on his own, which was why he went to Draxum for help - because his family wouldn't let him turn to them even though he tried many, many times.

A burden that they didn't know how they could have possibly missed for an entire month - especially considering how it seemed so obvious in the security footage taken since the invasion that Donnie complied of their red-eared slider brother and they watched together. Footage that started the morning of the invasion so they could compare the stark contrast between Leo's posture and body language before and after they brought him home from there.

A burden they wanted to do their very best to help him carry now, if he would let them.

But they really didn't know how.

🔹🔹🔹

Leo portalled home late at night in the kitchen and grabbed himself a drink of some sort of reddish yokai-type juice Draxum had in his fridge, after his late night of making time-sensitive mystic deliveries.

After he finished and put the glass in the sink he covered a yawned and made his way to his bedroom, but was surprised to see light spilling into the hallway from Draxum’s lab, so he went there first.

Leo casually leaned against the arched entryway to the lab with one foot crossed in front of the other, and looked at the goat alchemist, who was standing at a table back-on to him - and who intentionally waited until late to start a time-sensitive experiment so he would have an excuse to still be awake when his surrogate 'son' (who he either pridefully or stubbornly refused to admit he viewed as a son) came home.

“Wait up for me?” Leo asked.

Draxum turned around, looked at him with a pair of tired eyes, and replied: “This experiment is time sensitive but the chemical reaction is taking longer than anticipated,” instead of admitting that the answer was 'yes'.

“Ah. Yeah, that makes more sense.”

Leo walked into the room and Draxum resumed watching the clear solution in his beaker, waiting for the color to change that signaled it was time to add the buffer so he could finally go to bed after his long night (now that Leonardo was home).

But in his own 'Draxum' way he regularly showed that he cared, which was why he said: “You should sleep. A growing body requires more rest than an adult.”

“You know I’m not a kid anymore,” Leo curtly objected with a bit of attitude.

Draxum ignored his curt tone and replied: “Your mind may be that of a twenty three year old but your body is still sixteen, and as such it requires adequate rest.”

Leo lost the attitude when he simply replied with: “True.”

Then they both stood in silence for a while, staring at the beaker together. That was until Draxum figured there was a reason why Leo hadn’t left yet, so he opened his mouth to say: “I take it your ‘brotherly bonding’ time did not go well.”

Leo turned around to lean back against the table on his elbows, and repeatedly tapped his foot on the floor as a nervous habit, without realizing he was doing it.

“It went good at first, but then Mikey put a hand on my shoulder and I flinched and pulled away, but I was stuck in the corner in a booth and freaked out." He visibly cringed from a bad memory of one of the times Krang Prime forcibly (and painfully) grabbing his shoulder with those sharp claws on his mech suit, before continuing.

"He said something, I didn't hear him, maybe he was apologizing, but I didn't give him a chance cuz I yelled at him for touching me.” He stopped to sadly sigh and continued. “One thing lead to another and I ended up accusing him of leaving me there for seven years on purpose and I got the attention of everyone in the restaurant cuz of how loud I was. But Hueso was good about it and left us alone, and when Donnie tried to help me calm down with some sort of breathing exercises he learned I accused him of knowing I was there for seven years from the beginning and not telling anyone cuz he didn't care."

Leo let out a deep, heavy sigh, slumped his shoulders and hung his head a little as though the burden he was bearing suddenly became that much weightier. And he slowly continued sharing what was on his broken turtle heart; but speaking quieter and slower than before, with the sadness he felt at heart showing through in his posture and tone of voice.

"They're trying to be all brotherly and they're acting like nothing happened, like they can just pick up the pieces and pretend I didn't move out, pretend nothing bad happened between us, like the invasion wasn't real." He sighed again, hung his head a little more, and quietly added: "They act like they're trying to forget about everything and pretend nothing bad happened to me." Then he raised his voice in anger when he added: "Don't they know I wanna talk about it, I want to bring it out in the open!? Don't they know anything!?" He straightened up, his body tensed more, and he began gesturing vividly with his hands as he continued. Meanwhile Draxum (like always, since the first day Leo started coming to him) calmly and quietly listened to everything he had to say.

"I don't get them! How can they just move ahead like that!? It feels like..." He sighed again and abruptly switched back to his sad posture and tone of voice when he leaned his back against the table once more, put his head down to pick at a hangnail he mistakenly gave himself at the restaurant from this very same nervous habit, and said: "It feels like they're moving on without me. That they're leaving me behind."

Leo kept his head down when Draxum next looked at him and asked: "Do you think perhaps they were nervous and didn't know what to say?"

"No, it's not that," Leo disagreed in a somewhat sour tone, but he raised his head to look at Draxum when his goat yokai creator inquired: "Were you nervous when you joined them?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think that perhaps played a role in why you lashed out at them?"

"I dunno, I suppose," Leo muttered. He stopped tapping his foot he didn't realize he started tapping and looked back down at his hands to pick at the hangnail again, mulling over Draxum's words and coming to the realization that if his nervousness around his brothers prompted him to say things he didn't really mean, then perhaps Barry was right and they were nervous too and didn't know what to say.

Then Draxum drove in his point when he asked the question: "Was there anything they could have said that was right?"

Leo huffed out of his mouth from frustration, raised his head just enough to glare at Draxum from the corner of his eye, and indirectly agreed with his assessment that there was nothing his brothers could have said to him that wasn't 'wrong' in some way by snapping: "Why you gotta be so smart?"

The intelligent alchemist didn't reply, instead he turned his face and body to face the solution on his work table, and let the silence stretch on between them, while the distraught mutant turtle who continued nervously picking at his hangnail thought over Draxum's words before sharing some more of what was on his mind.

"They did apologize again for how they've been treating me, and I apologized to Donnie but when I looked at Mikes to apologize for yelling at him, I thought about his portal being..." he stopped picking at his fingernails to tense his body and clench his fists while raising his voice in anger when he said: "...a time portal and got filled up with all this rage so I..." he took a deep breath to calm his visibly tense body and put his elbows back on the table to lean against it again - but despite his faux calm appearance and tone of voice his thoughts and emotions were still spiraling around inside of him like a brewing storm.

"...yelled at him some more about it before portalling out of there at warp speed so I didn’t pull another one of my pathetic, stupid…”

"...worthless pest!"

“...Leo moves and stick my foot so far down my throat I choked on it. *Sigh* I guess I am still just a dumb-dumb.”

Draxum thought for a moment before calmly commenting: “Pathetic and stupid. Two words I haven’t heard uttered from either you or your family before the invasion, but also two words I have heard you say frequently since then. But only in reference to yourself.”

Leo resumed tapping his foot and calmly replied with a hint of anger: “I didn’t get those words from my family.”

“You stupid disgusting REPTILE! You ruined EVERYTHING you pathetic VERMIN!”

“Oof!”

“Everything you GET…”

“AAAHH!”

“...you DESERVE!”

Leo looked up at Draxum when he sensed the goat yokai gazing at him, and when he saw it looked like he was waiting for an answer to a question, he asked: “What?”

“Another flashback?” Draxum inquired.

“Yeah.”

“You're occasionally becoming unresponsive when they happen.”

Leo shot Draxum a dirty look. “I already know that, and so do you!" he snapped in anger, before unsheathing a katana to get out his antsy, nervous, angry energy with training. Draxum seemed unbothered, turned his head to continue calmly watching his beaker, and offered: “I’ll scan your brain again tomorrow to determine if there are any further changes from your time in the alternate dimension.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

They stayed together like that for a bit, with Leo training slowly and lightly (so he didn't have to shower again before bed) and Draxum waiting for the color change he needed. That was until the ninja turtle sheathed his katana and sarcastically said: “Guess it’s time to head to bed for another nightmare fueled ‘fun fest’.” But before he left the lab, Draxum bluntly asked: “Have you considered letting your guard down?”

Leo spun around and blurted out: “What?”

“The question I asked earlier. Have you considered letting your guard down around your family? It may prevent further angry outbursts.”

“I don’t know how to let my guard down anymore, but I will apologize to Mikey on Sunday.”

“You plan on staying?”

Leo gave Draxum his crooked 'faceman' grin and put his hands out while walking backwards toward the lab entrance.

“I gotta, remember? Either that or get a place of my own in the Hidden City, and I can’t move out until I’m eighteen. Not until my body's eighteen, anyway.” Then he gave Draxum a cheeky grin and mischievously added: "Unless someone wants to make me a fake ID and..." "No," came the quick, stern rebuttal.

"Alright, if you say so," Leo replied in an airy, unbothered tone of voice, before turning around to walk away with his hands casually resting on the back of his head, and hinting that he didn't have any plans on moving back in with his family anytime soon when he somewhat playfully added: “But it's your loss cuz that means you're stuck with me for the next two years.”

Draxum hinted that he was ok with Leo living with him when he replied with the surprising words:

"Or longer."

That got the slider's attention and he abruptly stopped walking to snap his head around and stared at him with a look of shock on his face; before smiling, softly agreeing: "Yeah. Or longer," and then turning around again to finish walking away.

Draxum - who was happy to have him - silently watched him leave, and then he turned around to continue the long, boring task of waiting for his latest experiment to change color, indicating the chemical reaction was complete, so he could add the buffer and go to bed (now that his ill 'son' was finally safe at home).

While he did that Leo brushed his teeth, changed into his pyjamas, went to bed, and subsequently lay awake for quite some time, thinking over the evening he had with his brothers and how he, once again, ruined everything.

Chapter Text

Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were all in the living room, watching a Lou Jitsu movie with their dad, who was snug and warm in his comfy living room chair.

Only no one was really paying any attention to the movie, with the volume turned way down as the three turtles discussed the day's events in quiet, hushed voices, as though they were afraid if they spoke too loudly Leo would suddenly appear in the lair, overhear them, and then turn his back on them forever for talking about him.

(And was it wrong they hoped he would suddenly portal into the room with his 'faceman' grin, a joke on his tongue, and reassure them all was forgive, everything would be ok, and he was moving back in?)

Although Splinter seemed to be paying attention to the movie, his mind was on his son, wondering if he did the right thing by staying home and leaving the four boys to reconnect at Run of the Mill earlier that day without him, or if it would have been better for Leo if he joined them.

In the end, the only reason he didn't join them was because when Mikey called and put him on speaker phone after they followed Draxum's advice and met Leo in the Hidden City Market, his youngest son told him Leo accused them of setting up an intervention, and his eldest informed him they told Leo it would just be the three of them waiting for him.

But did he make the right choice? He wanted to be there for his son; his son who needed him every day since the krang attack; his son who tried talking to him but couldn't because he wasn't listened to; because Splinter coped with the destructive invasion in an unhealthy way by drowning his sorrows in his shows and continuing on as though it never happened - just like he did after the death of their gram-gram Karai and the attack of the Shredder, when his family likewise needed him, but he isolated himself in his living room.

Instead of paying attention to the movie, the rat dad filled to the brim with guilt and regret took out his Genius Build cell phone that Purple made for him and gazed down on it in his hand, wondering if it would be the right thing to text Blue and see how he was doing.

Worry creased every inch of his face as he furrowed his furry eyebrows in concern, thinking.

Leonardo moved out because nobody would listen to him when he needed it, he had no one to open up to. Because his family had been yelling at him, projecting their anger and fears onto him.

But what did he need now?

Did he need his dad's attention, or did he need his space?

Would it be wrong to send him a little text, asking how he is doing?

Maybe that would make him angry, because he hadn't asked once in the month since the invasion.

Would it be wrong not to text him?

Splinter sighed and thought over how his sons told him Leo had been acting differently when they met him in the Hidden City and even moreso when they got together for pizza.

Eventually their rat dad quietly muttered: "I'm too tired for this," before putting his phone away, deciding to wait for a better time when he was more alert and thinking clearly to figure out what was the 'right' thing to do.

If there was such a thing.

And he shut his eyes, with sleep following not far behind.

Meanwhile, as Splinter lightly snored in his living room chair, Raph and the others continued engaging in a hushed, quiet conversation about their brother, with Donnie only half listening because he was drawing out the design on his tablet for a idea that came to him for a yet another new brilliant (if he did say so himself) piece of tech.

"I don't understand what he wants," Mikey quietly commented in reply to something Raph said - not speaking in anger but in concern, and with his brows furrowed just like his big brother.

"I don't think he knows what he wants," Raph replied in his own hushed voice, but with a hint of anger that stemmed from his worry about Leo being away from them instead of safe at home, with them, where Raph could keep a protective, parental-like big brother eye on him like he had all his life up until now.

The big snapper didn't like change on the best of days and he would never have agreed to something like this if he had been given the chance to speak up.

This new change in circumstances didn't settle right with him at all.

His arms were crossed and his body tense as he was sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the side of Splinter's chair beside Donnie, who was slumped back in his purple bean bag chair with Mikey laying on his stomach under a blanket on a pile of pillows in front of them.

Raph and Mikey both thought over the events of that day when Leo joined them at Hueso's, but each thinking about their own things. Then, still sounding angry, the snapper complained: "He said he wants us to come together as a family but then took off like he couldn't get out of there fast enough!"

"Noo, I said I want us to come together as a family," Mikey firmly objected.

"He agreed with you!" Raph defensively blurted out, before continuing on with his thought.

"He moved out because we were yelling at him, and that was wrong, we shouldn't have done that..." "We should have listened," Mikey interrupted. Raph slunk down a little and repositioned his arms before agreeing (but still in a grumpy tone): "Yeah, we should've listened but still, he moved out cuz we were yelling at him for stuff that wasn't his fault, and then he did the same thing! And he apologized to Don but took off without apologizing to you!"

"At least he showed up," Donnie chimed in, only hearing the last thing Raph said because of how he raised his voice.

Raph - who understood very little about PTSD beyond his own personal experiences - repositioned his arms and lowered his voice when he grumbled: "He's confused, his head's messed up from bein' in that prison dimension. He needs to come home with us so we can help him all together, not meet up with us who knows when so he can take off whenever he wants, and go back to that jerk who dropped him off a roof!"

That last comment got under Mikey's shell and his blanket fell off when he abruptly sat up to sternly complain: "Hey that jerk's our dad!"

Splinter snorted at the sound of Mikey’s loud voice, but ever the sound sleeper he continued snoring without waking up.

"And he's the only one who listened," Donnie factually reminded his big brother without taking his eyes off his tablet.

"Hmph," Raph grumped in reply, before complaining: "We're listening now and he's not here to talk. He needs to be with us so we can help him, to-ge-ther, and I'm gonna tell him that when we go over on Sunday."

Donnie put his tablet down and his eyes up on his big brother in surprise from that statement, but it was Mikey who jumped to his feet and very sternly demanded: "Ohhh no you're not! Leo said we need to take it slow, we all agreed and that's what we're doing Raphael! I'm not letting you push him away even more!" Then he thrust out a finger to aggressively point at him and threatened: "Don't make me go 'Doctor Delicate Touch' on your shell, because I will!"

Raph just rolled his eyes, pushed himself up off the floor, and left the room, saying nothing more than: "I'm going to bed."

Donnie and Mikey watched him walk away with frowns on their faces, and as Splinter continued snoring in the background, Don commented: "You know what he's like when he gets one of those stubborn ideas in his head."

Mikey crossed his arms and said in anger: "I'm not gonna let it happen this time. We told Leo we'll take it slow and that's what we're going to do, whether Raph likes it or not."

🔹🔹🔹

. . .

 

*Ba dump*

 

. . .

 

*Ba dump*

 

*CLANK*

 

*Ba-dump, ba-dump*

 

*CLANK*

 

"Where aaaaare you, pest?"

 

*CLANK*

 

*Badump-badump, badump-badump*

 

*CLANK*

 

"It's such a shame I can't assimilate you in this cursed place."

 

*CLANK*

 

*Badumpbadump-badumpbadadump-badumpbadump-badumpbadadump*

 

"Then again..."

 

*CLANK*

 

"It is sooo much fun to FIND YOU!"

 

"AAAHHH!"

"NOOO!"

Leo jolted awake in a cold sweat, sitting up in bed with a pounding heart and breathing heavily through his mouth with sweat pouring off his head and body in buckets.

Apparently he had been sweating in his sleep as well, long enough to saturate through, not only his pyjamas, but also his pillowcase, his sheets, and his blanket.

The drowsy - yet wide awake, adrenaline fueled - slider shut his eyes and shook his head to try and help with the dizzy, tired sensation from lack of sleep that left his vision blurry and made it feel as though the room was spinning around him. He swallowed down his saliva and then, without opening his eyes, reached out to fumble around for his Genius Build cellphone on the night stand.

When he grabbed it and brought it up to his face to see what time it was, as soon as he clicked it on the bright light stung his eyes, so he squinted and turned his head away before blinking away the blurriness from lack of sleep and trying again.

5:43am illuminated on his screen.

It was Saturday. His morning volunteer job at the dojo was Monday to Friday so he had no reason to get out of bed any time soon.

But there was no way he was going back to sleep after that nightmare, so he slapped his phone back down on the nightstand, rubbed his bleary eyes, and decided to do what he did practically every time he felt unsafe and afraid - something that gave him a much-needed sense of security:

Practice his kenjutsu moves, so he could reassure his mind he was prepared to defend himself.

But first he had to take care of the sopping wet sheets on his bed (the bed with a very firm mattress that didn't shift and move under him when he lay on it, unlike his other bed in his old room - which was why he claimed this room as his own when he first moved in and Draxum gave him free reign to pick whatever spare bedroom he wanted).

So he flicked the blanket aside, dragged himself over to sit on the edge, rubbed his eyes again with a yawn, and stood up to stretch before changing out of his sweaty pyjamas into his shorts; and planning on showering after his lengthy workout and ninja practice session.

Then he grabbed his mask from off his desk and tied it to his head so it would help keep the sweat out of his eyes during what was planned to be another lengthy practice session; and he finished by putting on his belt that held his katana sheaths.

After sheathing his two swords Leo grabbed everything off his bed, including his sweaty pyjamas, to throw in the washer before heading to Draxum's training/workout room; in the hopes he could have them washed, dried, and back on his bed before Draxum woke up, so he wouldn't know what happened.

Not that he really cared one way or the other if Draxum found out, but doing so more out of habit than anything, from when he lived with his family and routinely hid things from his overprotective big brother.

🔹🔹🔹

~A Short Time Later~

In Draxum's laundry room, Leo had just finished closing the lid to the washer after adding his bedding and laundry detergent. He was about to try and figure out how this yokai version of a washing machine worked, but that didn't happen because now he was standing still, staring off into space with his right pupil very slightly larger than the left one, caught up in the grips of another flashback.

"I miss you Donnie. I miss all of you. We're twenty-one today, remember we promised we'd buy each other our first drink?"

The slider was mourning the loss of yet another birthday for him and his twin that he missed because he was stuck in here.

As he was doing so and like he had done many, many times before, he gazed down on his hand as though he was still holding the cherished photo of all of them happy and smiling together, the one that came into the prison dimension with him.

The photo Krang Prime long ago ripped out of his grasp. But for some reason physics worked differently in here than in earth’s dimension, and just like how his mask, shorts, and ninja gear never tattered or tore, for reasons they didn't understand neither could Krang destroy the cherished photo, so he locked it away, permanently and forever out of reach and out of sight inside a compartment of his mech suit (Leo didn't know if that was better or worse).

The suit that must have been powered by some sort of advanced alien technology that never needed recharging, unlike Leo's Genius Build wrist com that died after the first year.

Tears dripped down his turtle cheeks, and as though his twin brother could actually hear him, he softly requested:

"Whatever you get *sniffle*, make it a double for me. Okay?"

But then he heard a sound.

He had been here long enough - had been forced through this routine enough times - for him to know exactly what that meant.

The prison dimension was always still and quiet, unless something was disturbed.

Unless someone was coming for him.

The lonely, distressed slider raised his eyes to see exactly what he was expecting to see: the looming form of Krang Prime inside his mech suit heading in his direction with a wicked grin on his face.

"Oh yah, and I didn't think my day could get any better," Leo lamented, not bothering to even attempt running or hiding.

There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide that Krang couldn't get him. He already learned his lesson the hard way that trying to do so only delayed the inevitable.

Besides, Krang Prime enjoyed the hunt.

So instead, like every other time over the past few years when Krang came after him to vent his anger and frustrations and rage out on his hapless victim - his 'pet' - the little mutant turtle just floated where he was and waited.

It wasn't like he had any other choice.

Leo shook his head when he came to and rested an arm on the washer for something to lean against, because he was feeling weak and tired like his strength had been drained right out of him. And as he gazed around getting his bearings straight he came to the realization that he must have blacked out - possibly for longer than usual this time considering the length of that particular flashback.

Suddenly the very thought of training was too much for him - all he wanted to do was go back to his room and sleep.

Perhaps never waking up again would be nice, too?

He was too exhausted to go down that train of thought, so he closed his eyes, slowly shook his drowsy, muddled head again, and then pushed off the washing machine that he didn't get around to turning on and headed out of the laundry room down the hall toward his bedroom that - like the laundry room - was on the first floor. The one that was conventiently located directly across from one of the two main floor bathrooms in Draxum's oversized mansion of a home.

But his arms and legs, his shell, his head - everything - felt so heavy and walking felt like such a burden, so he dragged his feet on the floor, was slow going in his pace, and even leaned against the wall for support to keep himself upright and moving.

Eventually, about halfway down the long hallway, Leo stopped to close his eyes and to give himself a little break before continuing on, never having felt this drained after one of those flashbacks before.

It must've been because he hardly slept a wink all night, he told himself.

Meanwhile, it was around this time Draxum rose because it was time to add the final mystic touches to a mutagenic arthritis solution he had a supplier picking up today, to be sold at one of the vendors in the mystic side of the Hidden City Market. But when he came downstairs he was surprised to see Leo already awake, just standing there back-on to him, leaning against the wall for support.

"Leonardo, are you ok?" came the concerned alchemist's voice from behind him.

Leo stirred a little, and Draxum was greeted by a drowsy: "Hmm?" before the slider slowly turned his head and opened his clearly very heavy eyelids halfway to sleepily look at him and mumble out in reply: "I wuz jus' goin' backta bed."

Leo closed his eyes again and despite what he said, he stayed right where he was, propped up against the wall for support.

The sound of goat yokai hooves clip clopped on the floor as the warrior alchemist's picked up the pace walking toward the drowsy turtle, with his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

The first thing Draxum did when he got by Leo's side was tell him: "I'm going to check for a fever," as a way to respectfully let the previously tortured slider know he was about to touch his forehead.

Leo gave a barely audible, sleepy hum in reply and after confirming he didn't feel hot to the touch, Draxum asked the important question: "Did you have another flashback?"

"Yeah," came the mumbled reply, before Leo slowly raised a hand to cover a big yawn. "I'm goin' back to bed," he repeated, forgetting he had already said that.

"No, you are coming with me, I must scan your brain again right away."

The sleepy slider tried to open his eyes to look up at Barry, but he only got them open halfway before they shut again, and then he asked in another mumbled, quiet voice: "Can I *yaaawn* sleep in there?"

"No, you have to sit up and stay awake."

Through yet another yawn, Leo told him: "I don't tink I c'n stay awake dat long."

"You must try."

. . .

"M'kay."

. . .

When Leo didn't motion to go either to his room or to the med bay, Draxum kindly offered: "Would you like me to help you there?"

. . .

No reply.

He gently grasped Leo's shoulder to lightly shake it, being careful not to startle him (if that was possible with the state he was in).

"Leonardo?"

Leo roused a little and asked: "Hmm? Wha?" but then, Draxum watched as his knees slowly bent and he slid down the wall to sit on the floor, still leaning against it for support.

Draxum slowly shook his head from disappointment (not at Leo but at this situation) when he realized that whatever happened to his 'son', it left him so drained he wouldn't possibly be able to stay awake for the fifteen minutes it took to scan his brain for unusual chemical-neural activity, so he would have no choice but to wait until after he woke up.

With a disgruntled sigh, the goat alchemist decided to unsheathe Leo's katanas and lay them aside so he could bend down and scoop the slider up into his arms. But instead of bringing him to the med bay he carried him down the hallway toward his bedroom.

Leo was already half asleep in his arms before they made it to his room, but once they got there Barry saw that there were no sheets or blankets on his bed for some reason.

With another sigh, he turned around and brought him to another spare room down the hall - the one that was closest to his lab.

This time while they were still halfway down the hallway, Leo fell sound asleep in his big goat arms, and was laid in a different bed inside a different bedroom where he could peacefully sleep off whatever just happened to him - and where Draxum would know right away as soon as he woke up.

And he hoped that Leonardo wouldn't panic when he eventually did wake up in a different room because he didn't know where he was, like his first night here.

(But unfortunately that was exactly what happened) 

Preview for Chapter 8: Mystic Attack

I can't believe he didn't show up!"

Chapter Text

~Sunday Afternoon~

Donnie was in his lab, working on a new project, trying to figure out why he was having trouble syncing this particular piece of tech to his systems, with his cell phone on the work table beside him.

He had decided to try sending a text to Leo to see what would happen, and what better way to reach out to their pun-loving red-eared slider brother than with a (lame) turtle joke? So he simply typed out the question:

'what do turtles use to communicate?'

After he hit send he laid his phone face down, keeping it close beside him at all times as he worked around in different spots in his lab in case 'Nardo' texted back, but not really expecting a reply.

Which was why he was surprised when, just under twenty five minutes later he heard the personalized chime he setup that indicated it was Leo who just texted him.

Immediately Donnie stopped in the middle of fusing two wires together, put down his soldering gun, picked up his phone to click on the screen, and saw the simple text that was nothing more than:

'?'

indicating the slider was asking 'what?' to his joke.

The corner of Donnie's mouth curled up into a small grin at the sight, and he typed out the answer:

'a shell-phone'

After sending his text, Dee kept his phone in his hand, looking down on it and hoping for an immediate reply.

When one didn't come he sighed - wondering what this 'new' version of Leo (who was really his brother he knew all his life but still so different) thought of his little joke - laid it down on his table again, and picked up the sodering tool to finish what he had been doing.

But no more than two minutes later there was another ding on his phone and he once again stopped in the middle of his work to pick it up and see that Leo had texted back this:

'😆'

So the techy turtle did the only natural thing by taking a picture of the partly completed new shell he was working on to send to Leo, hoping to keep this line of communication open.

This time when he put his cell phone down and got back to work a considerable length of time passed before he got another reply - almost two hours. But he was pleased when - while sitting at his computer, looking over the software he was programming for his new tech shell - another chime sounded on his phone and he picked it up off his computer desk to see the question Leo sent:

'What is it?'

This time a full-on smile broke out on his face, and he was feeling quite pleased with himself for pushing through his worry and sending the first text - even though it made him uncomfortable that he couldn't currently predict Leo's responses considering everything that happened to him and how he had been acting much differently than the predictable 'Nardo' the data-collecting, facts-and-logic softshell knew.

In fact he was so happy over this reply that the nervousness he had been feeling over the thought of reaching out to his 'twinsie' (as Leo sometimes used to call them) washed away. So in typical Donnie fashion he eagerly replied with a lengthy paragraph explaining the details of his new sleek, hydro-shell that he was creating for use when swimming that, when completed, was designed to come with a compliment of underwater weaponry.

As expected, Leo mustn't have read far past the first words 'hydro shell' because he replied almost right away before he could have possibly had time to read all that 'sciency jargon' he often complained that he didn't understand. But Donnie didn't care in the least, he was just happy Leo was responding to him at all, and looked down on the words:

'Cool, gtg wuz called into work see u later today'

The curious softshell skimmed over the words informing him that Leo had a new job to focus on the more important 'see u later today', indicating he was planning on joining them when they showed up that evening for Draxum's 'housewarming' meal - which was really a blatantly obvious excuse to get together with Leo.

And for the rest of the day Donnie was looking forward to their get-together later that evening, so much so that it didn't even bother him when he kept encountering one snag and setback after another with both the software and the hardware for his new hydro shell (after all it was the first time he ever attempted to create and program underwater weaponry).

🔹🔹🔹

~Early That Night~

"I can't believe he didn't show up!" Raph loudly complained to his family (not for the first time) once they arrived home from Draxum's 'housewarming meal'.

The one the goat yokai informed them Leo said he was going to attend - and Leo himself informed Donnie he would attend (but nobody knew that because Dee never once thought to mention anything about their text conversation, thinking there was no need because he assumed his other two brothers were doing the same thing).

On the way home, before they even left the Hidden City, Donnie reached out to his brother in his own 'Donnie' way by sending an electronic drawing of the stylish back cover he was planning to make for his hydro shell as a way to keep things light without making Leo feel pressured to reply. Then he promptly smothered his emotions over this unexpected and very disappointing evening by figuratively drowning himself in the schematics for his new underwater tech that he uploaded to his portable wrist computer.

But Leo never replied first or last.

All of them had gone to the 'housewarming' meal, including Splinter, April, and Casey, who didn't contribute much to the conversation on the way home, and said his 'good nights' to his turtle/rat family before going to his abandoned train car bedroom for some alone time.

After all, he was just as disappointed as the rest of them that he didn't get to see Leo, and when he felt this way he had developed a habit of withdrawing in on himself (like how Donnie did the same thing but in a different way by locking himself in his lab for hours - or on the rare occasion days - at a time).

His future ninja turtle family who knew him well was aware of this habit and were loving and encouraging when he was going through something, but this younger family who were dealing with their own issues fresh from the deadly krang invasion - that destroyed half the city, left them with lasting emotional scars, and in many ways took their brother away from them - only knew him for a little over a month, so they let him go with nothing more than a few 'good nights' in return and not suspecting that anything was wrong.

A few 'good nights' from everyone except the angry, overprotective snapper who felt uncomfortable not having Leo here, at home with them, where he 'belonged'.

After all they almost lost him once! How was he supposed to keep a watchful eye over him and protect him from danger if he was living in a different home - in a different city nonetheless!?

Before retiring to the living room to watch some game shows, Splinter gently rested a hand on 'Red's' arm and looked up at him with a pair of sad, yet loving eyes, to tell him: "I am just as disappointed as you are that he didn't show, but we must be patient with Blue."

"Yeah, he needs his space Raph. He's hurtin' bad," Mikey commented, but really hoping Leo wouldn't need his 'space' for too long, and also hoping his brother who was trapped away with that monster for seven years could one day bring himself to forgive him for his portal that was somehow mistakenly a time portal.

Donnie didn't contribute to the conversation, he had been only partly listening all the way home because his mind was focused on the schematics he was analyzing, figuring since Leo was currently behaving in a way he couldn't attempt to predict without more data points that there was some 'Leo' reason why he chose not to show; and trying to figure out where he went wrong with the safety feature for the underwater missile launcher that was randomly clicking off.

But Raphael dug his figurative heels in and curtly replied: "All the more reason for him to come home here with us, so we can help him with whatever's going on in his head!"

"That is not what Leonardo wants," Splinter kindly but firmly objected, not for the first time, and in a tone that told his eldest son there was no arguing with him on this.

Raph simply looked down on him with a frown without replying, because he adamantly disagreed with their dad but knew there was no point of expressing that to him or getting caught up in that debate (for the second time). So Splinter patted his arm and shuffled away to the living room, saying something about needing to rest his old rat bones into his living room chair along the way.

Raph and Mikey watched his dad go with Donnie keeping his eyes glued to his wrist tech, not paying attention to the conversation at all anymore because he completely checked out like usual after Raph started on one of his long-winded 'Leo' rants that they were all accustomed to over the years.

After Splinter was gone and out of hearing range, the overprotective big brother of the family crossed his big muscular arms in front of his chest, furrowed his brows from a mixture of worry and anger, and complained: "After everything we've been doing to try and make things right, he wouldn't even show his face."

In reply, Mikey fiddled with his fingers and tentatively asked something he had been asking ever since Leo abruptly and unexpectedly portalled out of the restaurant on Friday:

"Do you think he's still mad at me cuz of what happened with my portal?"

"I don't know, but one way or another Raph's talkin' to him. If we're gonna come back together like he says he wants then he has to meet us halfway. Right?"

"It'd be nice if he'd tell me if he's still mad at me or not," Mikey sadly replied in a tiny mouse-like voice, talking more to himself than Raph and so lost in his own mind the snapper's words didn't quite settle in.

Raph meanwhile glared at his preoccupied middle brother and complained: "Don are you even listening?"

"Mm hmm, yeah that'd be nice," Donnie replied dismissively, without knowing what he was agreeing to beyond having just heard his soft-hearted little brother's voice say something-or-other but really only honing in on the word 'nice'.

Naturally Raphael thought both Mikey and Donnie's replies meant they agreed with him about Leo meeting them halfway, and he opened his mouth to continue his thought but was interrupted when Dee muttered to himself: "Maybe if I do this..."

He clicked at his portable wrist computer that was remotely connected to his new tech, but shot his head up because whatever he did was immediately followed by the sound of a minor explosion coming from his lab.

"No, not my lab!" he griped, before taking off to find out what he did wrong, as smoke began seeping out the door.

Raph watched him leave still with his arms crossed in anger, and Mikey was standing a little slumped with his eyes down on his hands as he continued fiddling with his fingers, lost in his mind and thinking over the things Leo aggressively said to him and accused him off when they got together at Hueso's. So his big brother rested a hand on his shoulder and reassured him with a smile: "Don't worry, Leo'll be back to himself soon enough."

Mikey raised his head to gaze into his big brother's eyes with two teary ones of his own and gingerly asked: "You really think so?"

The big snapper's smile grew when he gently squeezed Mikey's shoulder and replied with confidence: "I know so. You know him, he's the first one to bounce back from any problems. He'll be back home throwing out the jokes before we know it!"

"Yeah," Mikey agreed, but in a softer tone of voice that told the overprotective big brother of the family that he didn't fully believe what he said.

Despite that, instead of continuing this conversation the two of them shared a smile and then Mikey said something about painting in his bedroom - which was what he often did to calm his mind - and they parted ways, with Raph likewise going to his room.

Once there, the angry mutant snapping turtle closed his red curtain door and began pacing back and forth, with his fists clenched and trying to figure out a fix - a solution - to this new problem thrown at their once close-knit brotherly bond.

Wanting them to all be together again - one big happy mutant family.

"Leo needs to get his head on straight and come back home," he thought out loud.

"Being in that . . . place with that...aargh..." he growled in frustration instead of saying the name 'krang', "...messed with his head. He's not thinking right, the Leo I know would've apologized to Mikes by now. He knows how tender Mikey is! And he wouldn't be avoiding us and trapsing around in the Hidden City with that yokai who dropped him off a roof. Raph saved his life and he's off living with the guy who tried to kill him! Does he think I can't help him now!? I know I didn't listen before, but that was different, Raph didn't know! And I apologized for that, we all did! Raph's gonna tell him, he's going to say 'Leo, we want to work this out together but you need to do your part, meet us halfway, and apologize to Mikey. We can get through this bro, together, I promise. Yeah, that always works, the ol' pep talk, he'll be comin' home with a smile on his face before the end of the week!"

Raph stopped his pacing with a smile on his face, thinking he had a great 'big brother' idea to bring their family back together again, and not knowing the real reason why Leo missed out on their 'housewarming' meal.

🔹🔹🔹

~Some Time Later~

Leo stumbled over his own feet in the darkness of night as he tried his best to keep on the move, walking far enough away from a human highway that no one could see his mutant turtle figure hunched over when their headlights shone on the road, but close enough that he knew he was going in the right direction as opposed to wandering aimlessly in the dark wilderness surrounding him.

The agonized slider stopped walking to take a breather, with his right arm wrapped around his shell, covering a grotesque wound; and he cast his eyes up when a semi-truck’s headlights shone on a sign above the road.

'New York 375 miles'

“Eugh boi.”

Leo grunted and resumed his very slow but steady pace, until he tripped on a rock in the darkness because he didn’t raise his foot high enough, and fell to his knees.

“Aaugh!”

The mutant turtle who was in a considerable amount of pain squeezed his eyes shut, tightened his grip on his shell, and stayed there hunched over on his knees.

“Get up. . . . Get. Up,” he ordered himself over and over again without moving from his spot on the ground. Then his eyes shot up when he heard what sounded like someone calling his name in the distance.

So he listened carefully.

. . .

“LEO-NARRR-DOOO!”

Leo huffed out a single laugh and a small, crooked grin came on his face from the wave of relief that washed over him at the sound of Draxum’s voice.

“OVER HERE!”

A second later a very welcomed familiar magenta portal opened up long enough for a tall goat yokai to walk out and subsequently kneel in front of him.

“Took you long enough, old man,” Leo complained in a somewhat gruff but joking tone of voice that conveyed the fondness he felt for his surrogate dad, and the relief he felt for finally being found.

"How badly are you hurt?" Draxum asked, not able to see much of anything but Leo's silhouette cutting through the darkness, but knowing something must have been seriously wrong with the way he was hunched over on his knees.

"Pretty bad, whatever I got hit with keeps eating away my shell."

“We'll get you home where I can better assess your injuries.”

"You don't have to tell me twice."

A portal opened up beside them and Draxum helped Leo get to his feet so they could go home, straight to the med bay. When they got there, the injured slider promptly hoisted himself up on an exam table and lowered his arm to reveal nothing but his perfectly formed shell.

Well, that was what Draxum saw, anyway.

“How bad is it, doc?”

“Not as bad as you think. Here.”

Leo accepted a water bottle from Barry’s hand and greedily devoured the entire contents in five seconds flat, while the goat alchemist better assessed the damage by using his natural yokai power that let him see mystic energy (an ability he hardly ever used because of the overwhelming influx of mystical energy signals practically everywhere in his home and in the Hidden City in general).

When he was done his assessment, Draxum informed him: “The attack is an illusion, your shell is not damaged.”

Leo looked down at what appeared to be a gruesome sight, and asked: “You mean it’s not real?”

“To everyone else, yes, although I am quite certain it feels very real to you.”

“You could say that again,” Leo emphatically agreed.

Next, Draxum pointed to a shower in the corner of the room and told Leo: “That is a mystic chemical rinse. Stand under there for two minutes and it will wash away the mystic energy clinging to your shell.”

“Thanks.”

Leo slowly and gingerly got down off the gurney, hissing through his teeth from the pain as he did so; and as he dragged his tired, sore feet over to the mystic shower he asked the question: "Seriously, what took you so long?"

“We all assumed you changed your mind and was avoiding the family ‘housewarming’ meal," Draxum replied as Leo got under the shower to wash off the mystic substance stuck to his shell.

When the pink something poured over his body from the shower head directly above him all the mystic gunk stuck to his shell washed away, taking the apparent wound with it, and Draxum continued on with what he was saying.

"When you didn't show up or respond to my messages after they left, I visited your employer to find out what could have happened. He brought me to the warehouse and the crates you were supposed to deliver were still there, but when he opened one we saw the items inside were emitting a faint glow, indicating they had been through a portal recently. I searched for you for over an hour and was about to request our family's assist when I heard your voice. Now, what happened?"

After washing off in the pink stuff, the rinse was itself rinsed away with warm water before automatically shutting off, and Leo told him: “I got ambushed on the delivery." Then he looked down at the smooth surface of his uninjured shell that felt much better now, grabbed a towel hanging on a rack beside the shower to dry off, and continued: "I had time to portal the supplies back to Mr. Kirasuma’s warehouse like he told me to do if that happened, but then I was hit with a mystic attack before I had a chance to do anything else. They were a bunch of cowards, they took off the second I hauled out my swords, but it shorted out my cell phone and my portals, and I thought left a nasty wound in my shell where they hit me. Boi it sure felt real."

Incidentally, Leo didn't mention anything about his wrist com because, despite fully charging it after he returned home from there, he intentionally left that behind in his old bedroom when he moved out. After all, he was not interested in having 'long distance' arguments with his family through their coms.

Draxum told him: “Your portals were working, but they were invisible to you. If you had opened one beneath your feet you would have fallen through.”

“Good to know if this happens again,” Leo replied, but really hoping something like that wouldn't happen again.

He draped the towel over his shoulders and took off his blue mask to wring it out while Draxum flatly informed him: “You did the right thing by sending the supplies back first. Those crates contain rare and powerful mystical gems essential for memory wiping serums radical yokai groups use to attack and kidnap humans. They sell them overseas in the underground yokai slave trade and there were enough items in that crate to wipe the minds of dozens of people.”

“Hm, so I guess I did a hero move,” Leo muttered under his breath - talking more to himself than to Draxum - before stepping out of the shower, feeling exceptionally tired, with a heavy fog of exhaustion settling firmly in his mind and pulling down on his eyelids now that he was no longer in pain and (more importantly) safe at home.

The worn out slider covered a big yawn and asked his current guardian: “Can I use your phone? I gotta let Donnie know mine shorted out so he can fix it,” correctly figuring since his cell phone was a Genius Build phone that was made by his intelligent, techy twin he would be the best one to repair it (or make a new one if it couldn't be fixed).

“Here.”

Draxum held out his cell phone and when Leo took it he tried to send a text at first, but was so utterly exhausted from everything that happened to him that day his vision was blurry and he was seeing double. So he mumbled to himself: “Screw it,” and called his twin instead.

His brother uncharacteristically answered on the first ring and Leo asked through a yawn: “Hey Don-Tron, can you hook me up with a new cell phone?”

He was so tired as he left the room he didn’t think about the fact he was taking Draxum’s phone to his bedroom with him; but the goat man let him do so, silently watching him leave and relieved beyond measure that his very unwell 'son' was safe and home.

“What happened?" he heard his surrogate son say from the hallway. Then Draxum smiled when he heard a hint of excitement coming through the sleepy tone to Leo's voice (because he was thinking over his 'hero' move) when he said to Donnie: "Wait ‘till you get a load of this.”

Preview for Chapter 9: Apologies, Apologies, Apologies

Yeah, but, uh, it's really not . . . what I'm trying to say is . . . I didn't mean. . .

Raph's sorry..."

Chapter Text

~The Next Day~

Leo portalled into the lair’s rec room with the intent of meeting up with his unofficial twin, who had an old backup 'Genius Build' phone for him to use while he waited for his busted tech to get fixed - only having suggested they meet in the lair because he wanted to do the important task of apologizing for aggressively hurling his baseless accusations at Mikey during what was supposed to be their Friday night brotherly bonding time at Run of the Mill.

The only other person in the room at the moment was Raphael; and at the sight of his younger brother he stood up from his red ‘Raph sized’ beanbag chair with a big smile and asked: "Leo you're here! Do you wanna hang out?"

Despite the pleasant greeting, Leo immediately felt a tension in the air and decided against his original plan of staying for a bit. So he gave his big brother his fake crooked grin in return, and in an overtly casual tone he lied:

“Can’t stay bro, gotta get to work. But here.” He took some cash out of his belt pouch and said: “I got paid cash for a side job and wanted to throw in my share for the pizza.”

Raphael nervously scratched the back of his head and said: “Uh, you don't need to do that bud. And, ah, you got a job? What is it?”

Instead of answering his question, Leo held up the cash for his bro to see, put it on top of a big stack of comics, and asked: “Is Mikey around?” because he could sense the tension rising and wanted to get his much-needed apology over and done with with so he could vamoose post-haste.

“Yeah I’ll get him, but first, uh, can we talk?”

‘Here we go again.’

Leo didn't give away how he was feeling on the inside with the way he rested his hands on his hips and casually replied: "Sure," with what appeared to be a relaxed grin.

“It’s just that, uh, after what happened on Friday, we were really hoping to see you yesterday, you know, to reconnect. And Mikes feels terrible about what happened with his portal, it's the only thing he talks about. He really didn’t know it, ahhh...”

Raph nervously scratched the back of his head again and his cheeks blushed red from the embarrassment of bring up something that was likely a very bad memory for the red-eared slider.

But he also was eager to reunite his family in his own 'big brother' way, thinking that open, honest communication like this might be a good way to encourage Leo to move back in with them where he 'belonged'.

(Because, quite frankly, the big brother of the family was having a hard time with one of their own not being under his parental-like, watchful care, where he felt he was in a better position to protect his younger brothers, like he had been doing all their lives)

“Was a time portal?” Leo finished for him when his big brother clearly wasn't going to finish his thought. He kept his fake grin on his face and appeared calm even as Raph’s nervous stink filled his nose.

“Yeah, and we were kinda hoping you’d be there to, you know . . . maybe . . . apologize. Like you did with Donnie.”

“And?” Leo asked, knowing there was more on Raph’s mind and really not wanting to have this uncomfortable conversation, so doing what he could to get it over with as quickly as possible.

“And, uh, we were talking and we maybe think, uhhh…”

Raph began having second thoughts of saying the next thing he had practiced in his head over and over to get just right, considering even he could feel the tension was hanging thickly in the air now, despite the way Leo seemed calm and relaxed.

And his words were not coming out right at all!

He was starting to think perhaps he shouldn't have opened his big dumb mouth in the first place, but it was too late for take backsies now.

If Leo wasn't so busy trying to focus on keeping that relaxed-looking but very fake grin on his face, he would have scrunched up his nose from the overwhelming surge of nervous ‘Raph stink’ filling the air.

Against his better judgement, the nervous snapper decided to continue - like there was some sort of out of control mouse taking over his mind that was stuck in place running around inside a wheel, making him continue on the same train of thought he started with.

“Well, it’s just that . . . we all made a big mistake with how we were treating you, and Raph's sorry - we all are - but, we’re trying to move on from that, right? Together?”

“You got that right mi hermano,” Leo agreed in an upbeat tone with his fake grin that was starting to make his cheeks hurt.

(that was starting to feel like it weighed a hundred pounds. After all, he hadn’t had a reason to smile once for seven long, lonely, painful years)

"You ruined EVERYTHING!!!"

“So we were kinda hoping you’d do your part to move past that whole situation by meeting us halfway..."

Raph's voice cracked at the end and he visibly cringed from his own words at the same time Leo's 'faceman' smile fell.

Now that he was actually saying this to his estranged brother the snapper realized he really, reeeally should not have spoken those words aloud.

But his dumb-dumb brain was stuck on auto pilot and he continued on with his well-rehearsed lines when he nervously tapped the tips of his index fingers together, shot his his eyes down to the floor to take it off Leo's face, and nervously asked: "Whaddaya say, buddy?”

“Does Donnie feel that way?” came the flat, disappointed tone of Leo's voice in reply.

Raph continued on yet again, as though he was speaking to himself in front of the mirror, but his voice came out very quiet and sounding timid.

“Yeah, we all talked about it. I mean the three of us, me Mike and Don. So, uh, whadoyou say? Does that sound good to you?”

“You all talked?” Leo tensely asked, for clarification.

The nervous tension was suddenly so thick he felt he’d have to cut through it with his katana if he didn't leave, and soon.

Nervous sweat beaded on Raph's head and he went back to rubbing the back of his neck; but despite taking his eyes off the floor they darted around the room, looking at anything and everything that wasn't his brother.

And why-oh-why was he so nervous every time he saw Leo since they found out what really happened to him in that other dimension!? Sure he was acting differently now, but he was his brother who he loved!

All Raph wanted was what (he thought) was best for everybody.

"Yeah, the three of us, but, uh, it's really nothing. Maybe Raph shouldn't...”

“And after you talked, you all agreed it’d be ‘nice’ if I meet you halfway?” Leo firmly interrupted.

“Yeah, that’s what I said, but I didn't mean....”

“After you talked? The three of you?” Leo once again interjected, sounding very serious.

“Uhhh, yeeeah."

“And Donnie still feels that way? Today?”

"Listen Leo, I'm sorry. That didn't come out right, Raph shouldn't have..."

"Does Donnie feel that way?" Leo firmly interrupted, sounding a little bit angry, but doing a good job overall at hiding his volatile emotions around this whole enraging situation that left him feeling absolutely furious on the inside.

But he wasn't letting Raph know that! The last thing he needed was to say something that could potentially provoke his big brother into yet another one of their frequent arguments; he was sooo done with that drama in his life, all he wanted to do was leave it behind him for good.

(Was it a bad thing that meant he would withdraw from his family even more if they started up with the arguing again?

Although Leo still loved them dearly and there was a part of him that told him 'yes, it is a bad thing', an even bigger part was telling him 'no, it's not')

"No one could ever love a disgusting creature like YOU!!!"

Leo shivered from a chill at that unpleasant memory, but Raph didn't see it with the way he hung his head from a mixture of sadness and shame at the same time his arms dropped down to his sides, before he sadly fumbled over his own words when he said:

“Yeah, but, uh, it's really not . . . what I'm trying to say is . . . I didn't mean..."

The big dumb snapper let out a deep, heavy sigh, his cheeks blushed a bright red from embarrassment, and he did his best to try and salvage whatever he could from what was supposed to be an upbuilding, encouraging conversation that would bring their family back together again, by saying: "Raph's sorry, I didn't mean it the way it came out, it sounded better in Raph's head. And uh, you know we're here for you if you wanna talk, or just hang out, right?"

(Everything he said seemed so right in his mind, and he even had imagined them sharing a heartfelt embrace with Leo promising to move back in and resume family therapy with them! Why did real life had to be so difficult!?)

"Yeeeaaah," Leo very slowly and blandly replied, never taking his blank gaze off Raph's blushing face.

"Do you think you're missed? Do you think they loved you? Do you think if you returned home today they would welcome you with open arms? YOU WILL NEVER BE ANYTHING MORE THAN A WORTHLESS..."

"AAAUGH!"

"...WRETCHED..."

"OOOOWW!!!"

"PEST!!!"

"STOP IT, PLEEEASE!!!"

Krang Prime's word 'pest' echoed in Leo's ears as though he was right here in the room with them, and the tension in the air tripled in relation to his beating heart, prompting Raph to nervously scratch the back of his head, with his dumb-dumb brain once again going on auto pilot, prompting him to blurt out the question:

“Uh, but what do you think about it?”

He grimaced for letting those words slip out, berated himself in his head for being such a dummy and for being so nervous talking to the brother he knew and chatted with every day of his life (until he moved out). He swallowed nervously, waiting for a reply and wanting to apologize again - to take back every word he had just spoken - but keeping his mouth slammed shut so he didn't say something else to make everything so much worse than he already did.

If that was possible.

Leo switched his gaze to blankly stare at the floor while absent-mindedly replying: “Ah, yeah, cool cool.”

The guilt-ridden snapper was about to apologize again, but his red-eared slider brother had years of experience hiding behind humor and a facade of happiness, and he was most definitely not interested in sharing his true feelings or sticking around long enough to get caught up in an argument with his big brother. So he caught himself, slapped another fake smile on his face, tipped his hip to the side to casually rest his hand on it, and looked up at his big bro with a huge, very genuine-looking grin and a pleasant, upbeat tone to his voice when he 'cheerfully' agreed:

“I one hundred percent agree with you mi hermano. We all meet in the middle, that’s a great plan.” ‘If only you’d take your own advice,’ he grumbled in his mind, without giving away any tells with his facial expression or body language that he was anything but one hundred percent on board.

(Although the dull, tiredness in his eyes still showed through, along with the way he carried himself, like he was holding up a heavy weight on his shoulders.

Like how he always looked ever since that day)

Raph's face lit up and he breathed a sigh of relief that he, perhaps, didn't spoil everything they had been working so hard at rebuilding with their blue-clad brother.

Maybe he would move back in,

maybe he would resume family therapy sessions,

maybe he would finally get the help (Raph thought) he needed from his family so he could move ahead from the horrible injustices he suffered and go back to being the fun-loving jokster he always was until all of this happened!

So he returned Leo's grin with a big one of his own, thinking this talk turned out for the best and went far better than it really did.

Thinking that they were on the right road to mending things - both for Leo and between Leo and the rest of them.

But his smile fell again when Leo raised his arm to point behind his back with his thumb at nothing in particular while letting out a somewhat nervous: “Alright, I can’t stay, like I said, work. But, uh, catch you…” “Leo!”

Mikey happened to come to the rec room at that moment and he bounded up to Leo with a huge grin plastered across his face and his arms out wide. He was so excited to see his brother that the fact Leo had yelled at him at Hueso's for touching his shoulder temporarily slipped his mind, and he eagerly wrapped his arms around his brother to pull him close in a warm embrace.

Leo, for his part, kept his hands out, not returning Mikey’s hug, with a surprised look on his face considering how things went the last time they spoke. But in the end the warmth of the familiar embrace won out and he squeezed his little bro back as tightly as he could.

And for a few brief, fleeting seconds his reeling mind quieted.

After all, a hug was a hug.

Raph smiled and his residual nervousness melted away when Leo next expressed his heartfelt apology for his aggressive accusations about his little brother’s time portal (one which the box turtle was eager to forgive); thinking things were going great, that Leo apologized because of his suggestion, and picturing their brother happily moving back in with them and rejoining their family therapy sessions that very night!

Yelp, everything was going in the right direction!

But his smile turned to a frown once more after he joyfully said: “Aw, c’mere!” and stepped ahead to join in on the hug, only to have Leo abruptly pull away from Mikey and reach a hand up to grasp the handle of one of the katanas strapped to his back.

A portal opened behind their red-eared slider brother and he didn’t do a very good job this time of hiding his nervousness as he backed up to his blue portal while looking up at the snapper to say: “Uh, yeah, next time. Rain check, ok? Gotta get to work remember. Don’t wanna be late, it’s aaaa new job, right? Catch ya later. Sometime.”

Leo stepped through, and in his eagerness to get out of there he forgot to wait for Donnie to show up with his backup phone, or to leave his busted high-tech Genius Build phone behind for Dee to fix.

Less than a minute after the portal shut Donnie walked into the room with his and Leo's cell phones in his hands.

Raph wiped the surprised look off his face and turned to Donnie to grumpily say: “Look who finally joined us after spending all day locked away in his lab.”

In a sour tone of voice Mikey agreed: “Yeah, Dee, we haven’t seen you since yesterday."

“Have no fear, my brethren, I was locked away for good reason this time,” Donnie reassured them. He plopped down on his purple beanbag chair, laid Leo's backup phone in his lap, and immediately began mindlessly scrolling through videos on his phone.

“Leo called last night…” “He called you?” Mikey blurted out from surprise, interrupting Donatello.

Donnie kept his face pointed down but looked up with his eyes when he said an unamused: “Yes. We’ve been texting.”

“He’s texting you, too!?” Mikey exclaimed in a clearly surprised and disappointed tone.

“Is there an echo in here?” Donnie rudely asked.

The youngest of the family pouted and complained: “Aw, I wish he’d text me.”

“Yeah, me too,” Raph agreed, with a crevice forming between his brows from the way he furrowed them in worry at Leo's abrupt departure.

“Have either one of you considering texting him first, like moi?”

“Uh, no,” Raph replied, realizing now that through all the clutter of worry, anger, and fears floating around inside his head from both their traumatizing experiences with the krang invasion and this new problem with their brother the thought of sending a text first instead of talking to Leo face-to-face or waiting for him to reach out in that manner hadn’t crossed his mind. Mikey exchanged a look with him that told him his little brother felt the same way, then the box turtle took out his phone with a big smile and enthusiastically said: “I’m gonna text him right now!”

“No point, Miguel, he won’t get it.”

Mikey’s smile fell and he looked up from his phone to ask Donnie: “Why not?”

“As I was saying…” Donnie resumed his scrolling and said: “I spent all day upgrading his old cell phone so it's compatible with my new systems. It's still inferior to our current models, but his shorted out yesterday. He’ll be by any minute to drop it off and do a tradeskie.”

Raph's body tensed from worry and he asked: “Wait, why did his tech short out?”

“He was ambushed on a delivery and hit with a mystic attack that shorted it out and his portals,” Donnie replied casually without taking his eyes off his phone, as thought what he just said wasn’t a big deal at all. That was, until he heard the loud: “What!?” coming from both his brothers.

"He got a job!?" Mikey next asked in confusion, at the same time Raph hit a fist into his hand and complained: "I knew he shouldn't have moved out, this wouldn't have happened if Raph was there to protect him! Why'd he even get a job in the first place!? I bet that . . . goat made him do it!"

But the conversation was steered back on track when Donnie dryly reassured: “He’s fine. He told me about it last night when Draxum found him and brought him home.”

“What do you mean Draxum found him?” Raph asked crossly, just before tensing crossing his arms from anxiety that came out looking like anger.

“Yeah Don, spill it, tell us everything,” Mikey demanded in just as cross of a tone as Raph.

Donnie let out a deep sigh as though they were annoying him with their valid questions and laid his phone down to look up at them and factually inform them: “Yesterday when he made a delivery he was ambushed and hit with a mystic attack that shorted out his cell phone, took out his portals, and left him with a shell injury. Or, at least it appeared to have taken out his portals and injured him, but it was really an illusion.”

Dee sat up a little and switched over to his ‘speech mode’ voice as he said with a hint of excitement: “It was quite an ingenious mystic weapon by the way, you see…” “Donnie, not helping,” Raph sternly said. “Right, right.” He laid back in his purple beanbag chair again, picked up his phone, and casually gestured with his hands as he calmly continued.

“So, Leo was in an underground yokai warehouse just under four hundred miles north of the city, when he got hit. He chased off the crooks no problemo but the only portal he could find led above ground, so he ended up following the highway to New York until Draxum found him and portalled them home."

"That's not Leo's home this is! And he's coming back here where he belongs when he gets his head on straight!" Raph defensively snapped in anger. Donnie seemed unbothered (after all it was only one of many times their big brother loudly insisted it would be best for everybody if Leo was still living with them). Then Mikey exclaimed: "Ohmigosh! Is he ok!? Why didn't he say anything!?"

The tense snapper, who started thinking back over his disastrous conversation with their estranged brother, asked:

"So that's why he missed our family meal? Cuz he got ambushed?"

Donnie looked up from a video he had resumed watching on his phone to ask: "Huh what? Oh yeah yeah that's why he missed the meal," before sticking his eyes back on the screen.

"Are you sure he's ok!?" Mikey asked in concern.

“You’ll see for yourselves when he gets here," came the reply. "I offered to bring the old phone to Draxum’s, but he said he wants to come here to apologize to you, and maybe hang out for a bit, since he missed out on yesterday.”

Raph’s face paled a little from the unexpected confirmation that Leo did not apologize to Mikey because of his suggestion, but none of them noticed; and Mikey enthusiastically told Donnie: “He was already here, you just missed him! And I got a hug,” he added in a cocky tone and with a smug little grin that he shot Raph's way.

Donnie gazed around the room and asked: “He said he's going to switch out his busted tech. Where’s his phone?”

“Uh, I think he forgot to leave it, he said something about needing to get to work right away,” Raph told him, while resisting the urge to scratch the back of his head, because he knew that would give away how nervous he was right now.

“Sigh, he must’ve been called in short notice. I guess that means I will be taking a trip to Draxum’s.”

Donnie motioned to stand, but Raph stopped him when he eagerly (nervously) said: “No Don, that’s fine, Raph'll do it.”

“Fine by me, I've got a backlog of tech to upgrade.”

Donnie handed over Leo’s temporary cell phone and when Mikey enthusiastically offered to go with Raph, his big brother was quick to object; reminding him Leo wasn’t there anyway since he said he’d be at work, but not sharing with them that he was planning on staying at Draxum’s until Leo got off work because he was the one who needed to apologize. Again.

And the entire way to Draxum’s house, Raph went over his conversation with Leo in his mind. Especially the part where his traumatized younger (but not really younger anymore) brother repeatedly wanted confirmation that Donnie agreed with what he said about him meeting them ‘halfway’.

And he also kept muttering to himself about how much of a dummy he was for not shutting his yap, and how much he hoped Leo would be willing to at least hear him out for jumping to conclusions without listening first. Again.

'I hope this doesn't become a habit,' the guilt-ridden snapper repeatedly thought to himself all along the way.

🔹🔹🔹

~A Short Time Later~

Leo walked through one of his blue portals into Draxum’s lab looking very tired after his discouraging conversation with Raphael, and told him: “I’m heading to bed.”

Draxum turned around to ask: “Bed? It’s not even nine pm.” But when he saw how worn out Leo looked, he asked: “Did you have another one of your flashback seizures?”

“Ummm, no? I don’t think so?” Leo replied, sounding more like he was asking questions rather than answering one.

The exhausted slider gave consideration to Draxum's question by thinking back over the short time he spent sitting atop a random rooftop high above the Hidden City, watching yokai of all sizes and shapes and colors go about their day as a distraction for his thoughts that kept tormenting him - and feeling more comfortable in the underground city than in New York because the walls and ceiling of the gigantic cavern it was located in gave him a sense of comfort and security.

There was no black expanse, no endless sky, no unexpected bursts of wind blowing against his turtle skin and shell or shifts in the weather, just an incredible structure made of solid rock between him and whatever was outside the cavern. Protecting him.

Then he looked up at Draxum again when the goat yokai’s words fully sunk into his tired mind, and asked: “Wait, you know for sure they're seizures?”

“Yes, and I’m working on a mutagenic-based medication to help. I regret to inform you I am unable to create a cure, but it will ease the intensity and frequency once I get it right.”

Leo gave his goat ‘dad’ a cheeky smile and said in a playful tone: “Aw, you do care!”

Draxum rolled his eyes and huffed out through his nose instead of replying, and then turned back around to give his attention to the medication he was working on.

Leo meanwhile yawned and walked away, feeling mentally and emotionally drained from Raph’s comment about ‘meeting them halfway’ after (he thought) they knew why he missed supper, and he grumbled in his mind about this whole situation on his way out (with a few colorful words thrown in the mix that he rarely ever spoke aloud).

“If anyone shows up for me, tell them I’m...” he let out a big yawn and said: "I dunno, out or sumthing," he requested just before leaving the room. But he stopped when Draxum asked: “Should I be expecting someone?”

Leo gazed down on his belt pouch that held his busted cell phone, considering the matter, but then replied with an uncertain: “Uhhhh, no?” that, once again, sounded more like a question than an answer, before leaving to go to bed.

And a few minutes later, the doorbell rang.

Draxum answered the door to see Raphael standing there, holding a cell phone - and Leo's wrist com that the slider left behind in his old bedroom on purpose.

“What time does Leo get off work?” he asked. “I wanna be here when he gets back, so I can give these to him and we can talk.”

“Leonardo is not at work, he is asleep. I can give them to him if you like.”

“Oh, ah. Asleep.”

Raph stared at the tech in his hands, realizing Leo was so eager to get away from him that he lied about work. But that thought abruptly switched to wondering why Leo would be asleep so early, wondering if he was dealing with the aftereffects of the mystic attack, considering that maybe their conversation wore him out, and hoping he hadn’t ripped the rift between them wide open again because of his hasty assumptions.

“Yeah, here.” Raph handed the tech over to Draxum, and looked up at him to request: “Can you let him know I was here to apologize, and that I’ll, ah, text him tomorrow?”

“I take it things did not go well when he showed up at your home?”

“No, but it wasn't his fault, it was Raph's fault. I’ll pop by tomorrow to see how he’s doing.”

“I’ll let him know to expect you.”

“Uh, thanks.”

Raph left and Draxum shut the door behind him and returned to his lab to continue his work on the medication Leonardo required that none of his family outside of the two of them knew he was in desperate need of.

🔹🔹🔹

~Three Days Later~

A very angry mutant softshelled turtle stormed in the kitchen where Raph, Mikey, and Casey were eating their lunch, and he aggressively slapped his phone down on the table.

“Leo stopped responding to my texts and he has yet to drop off his busted phone for me to fix. One of you dummies knows something, I want to know who, and what happened! Now!”

Casey and Mikey exchanged a confused glance but Donnie ignored them to look straight across the table, glaring at Raphael, who was blushing from embarrassment.

Through a clenched jaw and gritted teeth Donnie aggressively demanded: “What did you do!?”

Three sets of eyes snapped on Raph's face, and sweat beaded on his head as the big brother of the group nervous laughed and told them: “Ok, I might have had a chat with Leo when he popped by, that, uh . . .” he lowered his voice, put his head down, and quickly mumbled: “It’d have been nice if he showed up for dinner on Sunday and apologized to Mikey, and maybe he could meet us halfway.”

Mikey flopped back in his chair and groaned: “Aw man!” at the same time Casey said: “Good going,” in a sour tone; and Donnie pointed an accusing finger at his big brother and sternly said: “We told you not to say anything!”

“Yeah, Raph, you know he needs time! And we agreed to take things slow!” Mikey added in a half angry, half whiny tone of voice.

Then Donnie raised one eyebrow and asked in all seriousness: “You didn’t tell him I agreed with you, did you?”

Raph’s nervous stink was enough of an answer, and Donnie threw his hands out in frustration and complained: “I didn't agree to that!”

"Yes you did! You said 'yeah that'd be nice'!" Raph defensively snapped.

"Were my eyes on my tech!?" Donnie asked in annoyance.

"Yeah, why does that matter!?" Raph once again snapped in reply, still in a defensive tone.

"You know I only hear half of what you say when I'm working on a project!" Donnie whined. Then he groaned while dragging a hand down his face, and added: “Now I know why he’s ghosting me.”

“Raph goes twice every day to apologize, but he’s never home, even when Draxum says he is!” Raphael defended, giving away how anxious he was by talking in the third person.

Mikey glared at him and angrily said: “Yeah, that’s probably cuz he portals away so he doesn’t have to deal with you!”

Then in a softer and more tender tone than his turtle brothers, Casey agreed: “He’s hurtin’ bad, he needs time to heal.”

Mikey slapped his hands on his hips, glared in anger at his 'dumb-dumb' big brother, and exclaimed: "Leo needs more time than the rest of us! I was hoping I could talk to him about joinin' our family therapy sessions again, but I guess that's a bust!" Then he crossed his arms in anger and angrily said: "Thanks a lot, Raph."

Raph let out a deep sigh and put his head down while agreeing: “You’re right. I was missin' him and tryin' to figure out a way to get him home. But Raph didn't think. I screwed up.”

“Big time,” Donnie agreed.

Then Raph looked up when Mikey thrust a finger at him and in an angry tone that was dangerously close to unleashing his 'Dr. Delicate Touch' persona, he ordered: “You’re going to Draxum’s and you’re not leaving until you’ve had a heart-to-heart with our brother!”

“I concur,” Donnie flatly agreed.

“Yeah, Raph'll go now,” the snapper sadly acquiesced, as he got up from the table.

“And don’t come back until Leo forgives me!” Donnie snapped at him.

"You mean us," Mikey corrected.

Their very grumpy purple-clad brother plopped down to slump in a chair, crossed his arms in anger, and bluntly replied: "You heard what I said."

On the way out of the kitchen, Casey kindly offered: “Do you want me to go with you?” But Raphael looked behind his back at their human friend to say: “No, this is something Raph has to do himself,” and hung his head as he left the lair to go smooth things over with Leo, with the angry Mikey yelling after him: "You better not show your face around here until after he forgives us! I'm WARNING you!"

Chapter 10: Family Brunch

"When do you plan on informing your family...?"

Chapter Text

Leo portalled into Draxum’s lab from the Hidden City comic book and games shop he went to, to kick back and relax after his volunteer job at the dojo. He was holding a stack of five yokai-centric comics he bought (with Jupiter Jim one thrown into the mix), and asked Draxum: “Any luck on that new medicine?”

“Not as of yet, I’ll keep you notified if there are any changes. Have you had one today?”

“No, not yet."

"Let me know if that changes."

"Mm hmm. I’m gonna drop these off and then I'll be in the workout room, training.”

“You should be aware Raphael is here…” “Catch ya later!”

Instantly, at the sound of his big brother’s name a bright blue portal opened up in the room, but Leo only got one foot through before Draxum stopped him with: “He’s in your room and he says he’s not leaving until you hear him out.”

“Aw man!”

Leo took his foot out of the portal and sadly watched it shrink and disappear in front of his face. Then he turned around, tightened his grip on the comics in his right hand, and clenched his left fist on his way to his bedroom to get this unpleasant task over with.

“He says he wants to apologize,” Draxum calmly reminded him, not for the first time because they had this conversation before.

“Yeah. Sure. Apologize,” Leo sarcastically grumbled in reply, not believing a word of it.

When he got to his room, the angry slider thrust his hand out to grab his doorknob and took a deep breath, really hoping they wouldn't get into one of their frequent arguments (and planning on portalling away and not returning until Raph left if that happened because he was so done with that part of his life). Then he stuck a genuine-looking fake grin on his face and opened his door with a relaxed, pleasant: “Hey Raph, what’s up?”

Raph stood up from his spot sitting back on Leo’s bed and gave his brother a big, toothy nervous grin.

Leo's smile fell and he stared blankly at the sharp snaggletooth that reminded him of a time Krang Prime had him pinned to the ground and leaned his grotesque face in way too close for comfort, mocking his misery. That was until he caught himself and blinked a few times before sticking on his 'faceman' grin and looking the snapper in the eyes as he was in the middle of saying:

“Hey lil bro, I’ve been trying to see you, did Drax let you know I’ve been by a whole lot?”

Leo carelessly tossed his comics on his bed and replied with: “Um, yeah. But I’m busy with my jobs so I’m not here all that much," which was a lie.

Sure, his volunteer job took him away five days a week, but only for two to three hours each morning, and his mystic delivery job paid well but he only worked there when he was needed; which usually turned out to be two or three times a week - not including the odd side job for his boss’s customers, who had family in other countries and sometimes asked him to do out-of-country non-mystic deliveries for them when they found out he could open a portal anywhere in the world (which was a rarity among yokai).

And considering he used his portals, his deliveries usually didn’t take him more than ten or twenty minutes from start to finish.

“Oh, yeah yeah, you have a delivery job right?” Raph asked nervously, but trying to sound calm.

“Mm hmm,” Leo replied with a nod of his head. He walked into his room to fidget with his open kenjutsu book on his desk, and Raph asked him: “Uh, but you said jobs? Uhhh, What’s the other one?”

"Nothing much, it doesn’t pay well,” Leo replied, not wanting to entice his brother into asking more questions by telling him it was a volunteer job.

“Oh, okay. Uh, are you ok? After that mystic attack?”

Leo glanced up at Raph's nervous grin before giving his attention back to the book he was randomly flipping pages in. Both of them could feel that the tension hung thick in the air, and it carried through in their tone of voice when they spoke.

"Oh, you know about that?" he asked casually as though it didn't matter to him whether Raph knew or not (it did).

"Uh, yeah I know now, but I didn't at first."

“Mm hmm, yeah I'm ok. Draxum said it was only an illusion. As soon as his mystic shower washed it off, everything went back to normal, ‘cept my phone.”

“Ah, yeah, I can grab that to give to Donnie while I’m here.”

“Yeah, sure, it’s right there.”

Leo snapped his fingers and pointed to his nightstand behind Raphael, where his shorted-out cell phone lay. Raph put his hand down as though he was going to pick it up, but instead he rested his fingertips on the phone and asked: “Is Don's backup phone I gave ya working?”

“Mmm hmm, yeah, it's working fine.”

“So you’ve been getting my texts?”

“Oh, you’ve been texting me?”

Leo shut his book and looked up at Raph with his fake grin, but the nervous tension continued carrying through in their conversation with his tone of voice when he told him: “I’ve been busy. Keep my phone on silent most of the time, and I, ah, turned off notifications. By the time I get home from my second job I’m too tired to check my phone,” not bothering to mention the reason he wasn't checking his messages was because he wanted to find out if his brothers were willing to go out of their way to set things right or if they expected him to do most of the footwork.

Or that he was exhausted at the end of the day because of his ‘flashback seizures’ as Draxum labelled them, which were happening once or twice practically every day now (among other minor health issues he was dealing with and currently kept secret from his family he had a falling out with).

Although the seizures hadn't affected his volunteer job yet, he did have to do the embarrassing task of informing his boss at the high security mystic delivery service where he worked what was happening, when he had a seizure there the day prior. But he wasn’t fired because Leo really wanted to feel useful so he insisted he could still perform his duties accurately if given time to rest if he had another seizure at work. And his (greedy) boss viewed his new employee's powerful portalling abilities as far too valuable to give up for a health problem they could easily work around.

“Ah yeah, we’ve all been texting you.”

“Oh, I’ll . . . look at them tonight,” Leo said, before hastily adding: “If I’m not called into work,” so he could use that as an excuse if he really didn’t look through his messages.

(Because he wasn't going to)

Raph decided it was time to push his nervousness aside and said in a more confident, straightforward way: “Listen Leo, I’ve been tryin’ to apologize to you for three days. I didn’t know what happened, that you were attacked and stranded outside the city when we talked. Donnie locked himself away in his lab all that day, working on updates for your backup phone, and he didn’t tell us anything until after you came to the lair. I’m sorry, I really am, I shouldn't have said anything. It all sounded so right in my head, but when I got it out..." His shoulders slumped, he hung his head, and said in a quieter, sad tone: "I screwed everything up. And we shouldn't have been talking about you, we should've talked to you. Mikes and Don asked me to apologize for them, too. Do you, uh, think you can forgive us? Can you give us a chance to try again?”

"I will give you one chance to escape, my little pet. If you can make it to that island before I reach you, then we won't have our playtime today. I'll even give you a head start.

Three...

Leo blinked his eyes a few times and shook his head, trying to chase away that flashback that popped up in his mind.

"Two..."

Then, to detract from that swirling tornado of a bad memory raging inside of him, he casually leaned back against his desk and gave Raph his winning smile while cheerfully saying: “Thanks, bro, all’s forgiven, it’s water off a turtle’s shell.”

"One..."

“Are you sure? Because I feel like there’s still tension between us.”

*bang*

"Oof!"

"My little pet was too slow this time. Now what game shall we play today?"

Leo didn't in any way respond, he just stood there, staring blankly at the bigger turtle's chest.

“Leo? Are you still listening bud?”

. . .

No reply.

Raph stepped ahead and reached a hand out to shake Leo’s shoulder, but his younger brother was frightening him with the way he kept staring off into space, completely unresponsive.

“Leo!? Leee-o!”

He crouched lower to look his brother directly in the eyes and that was when he noticed Leo's right pupil was slightly larger than his left.

The snapper's worry morphed into outright panic and he ran to the open bedroom doorway, calling out down the hall as loudly as he could: “DRAXUM! DRAXUMGETINHERE!!! DRAAAAX…” “I’m here.”

The frantically panicking snapper turned around to see Draxum standing in front of Leo, bent down sufficiently to get eye-to-eye with him, after having come through his portal to get there quicker, and being careful not to touch him so he didn't frighten him when he finally came to.

“How long has he been like this?” he calmly asked, acting as though he wasn’t surprised at all by what he saw (because he wasn't).

“Only just now, I called out to you right away,” Raph responded. “What’s happening to him?”

“He’s having anoth…”

Draxum stopped when Leo slowly blinked his eyes independent of each other twice, before closing them and putting a hand on the side of his head, looking totally drained, almost like he was ready to collapse onto the floor.

Raph thought he would fall on the floor if he wasn't leaning back against his desk.

“Leonardo, open your eyes, I need to ensure your pupils have returned to normal,” Draxum firmly but kindly requested.

Raph watched the interaction from the sidelines as Leo opened his heavy eyelids halfway to look up at Draxum with two bleary and very tired eyes, and the goat scientist nodded in approval at seeing his pupils weren’t dilated two different sizes anymore; instead they looked normal again.

Raphael continued silently watching with concern as Draxum asked Leo: “How do you feel?” and Leo gently rested a hand on the side of his forehead and responded: “Same as last time.”

"Last time!" his nervous big brother couldn't help but blurt out. In response, Leo simply glanced at him, looking sooo tired and not really registering it was his brother who was standing there in the room looking at him with a pair of wide eyes. Then Draxum kindly offered: “I'll help you into bed."

Leo nodded his head in agreement and put his hand out to let Draxum assist him.

Raph watched with his jaw hung open from shock as his little brother was so utterly exhausted after what his big bro didn't yet know was a seizure that he didn't in any way object to Draxum helping him walk the few feet to his bed - a short distance Raph saw he clearly needed help with because of the way his younger brother dragged his feet, stumbled, and relied heavily on leaning on the bigger yokai for support all along the way.

When Barry flipped the blanket aside Leo crawled into bed, laid on his side facing the wall, closed his eyes, and Draxum covered him with his blanket as he promptly drifted off into a very sound sleep.

Raphael waited anxiously as Draxum stood over Leo’s bed, inputting the new data from his ‘son’s' recent seizure into his custom wrist com that he designed (that was created with Donatello's help and intentionally made to be compatible with his tech).

When he walked away Raph went to the nightstand to pick up Leo’s busted phone before giving his sleeping brother one last sad look, and following behind.

Not that he wanted to leave Leo alone like this, but he needed to find out from Draxum what was going on, because his brother was in no shape to answer any questions right now.

As soon as the bedroom door was quietly closed, Raph looked up at Draxum to ask: “What happened to Leo?”

“He had another flashback seizure," came the bland reply, as though the answer was obvious.

“Seizure!?” Raph blurted out. He walked alongside Draxum down the hall, and the goat scientist looked down on the mutant turtle from the corner of his eye and calmly questioned: “I take it he never informed you?”

“No!” Raph exclaimed, before furrowing his brows and asking in a very concerned tone of voice: “What do you mean 'flashback' seizure? What’s wrong? Why is this happening to Leo?”

But the big snapper's worry only mounted when Draxum was suddenly not willing to volunteer any further information, and instead, while briskly walking down the long hallway he calmly but firmly reply: “It is not my place to divulge any further private information pertaining to Leonardo’s health. You will have to ask him yourself.”

“I would, but he keeps avoiding us. And Raph's afraid to ask something that might push him away even more.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed he’s been avoiding you when you show up, but I wasn’t aware he was avoiding our entire family.”

“Yeah, he is,” Raph confirmed in a sad tone of voice.

“Hm, unusual. Every time we discuss his relationship with all of you, he informs me he’s doing his part to meet you halfway. Although now that I think about it, his comments have always been vague.”

“Oh,” was the only quiet reply the snapper gave to him.

Draxum then surprised Raphael by walking him all the way to the front door and opening it with the expectation that he was to leave.

But there was no way he was leaving his younger brother alone like this!

What if he needed him when he woke up!?

Raph was always the one who sat with him when they were younger and he was sick, after all!

Raph was the big brother; Leo needed him, even if he didn't know it himself!

So he glared up at Barry in anger and hinted at his nervous anxiety with the way he spoke in the third person when he very firmly told him: "Raph's not goin' anywhere! He's staying right here and waitin' in Leo's room for him to wake up!"

"You will do no such thing!" came the instant, firm, somewhat angry reply.

Quite frankly, the immediate, no-nonsense, authoritative response he got in return combined with Draxum's serious facial expression as he stared down on him shocked the snapper, so-much-so that he stared up at the taller yokai with his jaw hung open from his surprise.

But Draxum wasn't done and he very clearly made known there was absolutely no arguing this matter when he continued in his firm, authoritative tone of voice with the words:

"As you are already aware, Leonardo is dealing with trauma from the injustices he suffered at the hands of the krang and I will not allow you to risk frightening him with your presence when he awakens in his room expecting to be alone. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

Raph shut his mouth - feeling very much like he was a little turtle tot being lectured by his dad, Splinter - swallowed a lump in his throat, and shyly replied: "Uh, yeah, but can Raph stay? I wanna be around when he wakes up."

In response Draxum rolled his eyes up into his head from frustration with a groan, but offered the compromise when he said in a calmer yet annoyed tone:

“Have everyone come here tomorrow for brunch. I won’t inform Leonardo in advance so he doesn’t have a chance to portal away first.”

Then he made it abundantly clear that the snapper was not to stay by reaching a hand out to literally push Raphael out the door so he could get back to the mutagenic medication he was working on.

Raph let him do so without objecting further, but he sounded sad when he softly said nothing more than: “Yeah, thanks."

Without a word in reply Draxum shut the door behind him and Raph looked at it for a moment, muttering in complaint: "Krang don't have hands," (thinking more about the squishy alien with tentacles and not the powerful mech suit) before turning around to drag his feet home; worried more than ever about their separated brother, and feeling irked by the way Draxum ushered him out like he was nothing more than some delivery boy who showed up at his door and not Leo's protective older brother who (in Raph's eyes) he needed for support.

But he had to admit, Draxum did have a point about Leo's flashbacks and the injustices he suffered at the 'hands' of the krang. Something the big, worried snapper realized he needed to give more thought to then he currently had been before his next interaction with the brother he hoped really did forgive him and really, really hoped was ok.

~The Next Day at Brunch~

Leo closed his eyes while letting out a big yawn as he stepped through the entrance to the dining room, saying through the yawn: “Why’d you message me to meet you now? You know I was…oh.”

The disgruntled slider shot Draxum a dirty look before sticking a smile on his face for his family.

Everyone was there, even Splinter, April, and Casey; and he felt super creeped out by all the sets of eyes on him, as though he was under Krang Prime’s gaze once more.

“Hey mi familia, good to see you!” Leo greeted with his smile; the smile no one but him knew was real or fake (it was fake).

“Leo! Come sit by me!” Mikey enthusiastically offered after the round of greetings, gesturing to the empty chair beside him.

Leo couldn’t help but smile fondly at his little brother’s genuine, enthusiastic grin, and he took his seat in front of a plate of scrambled eggs, sausages, and hashbrowns that someone already dished up for him; along with a glass of oj. But not coffee, because Draxum strictly forbade him from consuming caffeine; for reasons Leo didn't understand when he asked 'why' because he was greeted with the same kind of sciency 'speech mode' jargon Donnie often got lost in.

Leo's loved ones (minis Draxum) all exchanged a round of pleasantries with him, which ended with Donnie, who was sitting across from him and looking down on his plate while he cut one of his sausages into smaller pieces, flatly telling him: “Raphael informed you his error in judgement occurred before he was enlightened regarding your mystic attack, correct?”

Raph, who was sitting beside Dee, gritted his teeth and leaned in to whisper to him through a clenched jaw: “I already told you that, Donnie.”

“I want to hear it from Leo, Raphael,” Donnie curtly replied.

“Yeah, he . . . told me,” Leo informed them, wanting to break up this tense moment and not wanting to get into yet another disagreement with his brothers (or have to listen to one of their arguments). But also feeling really irked that they even talked about him ‘not meeting them halfway’ in the first place.

. . .

Ok. Maybe he was outright angry about it.

“Did he also inform you Mikey and I told him to respect your request to take things slowly and not to say anything dumb?" Donnie asked factually, before putting a piece of sausage in his mouth.

Leo kept his eyes on his eggs and played with them by fidgeting with his fork, while calmly saying: “Are you talking about the conversation you had where you said you want me to do my part to meet you halfway? The one you had after I started one argument and missed one meal? The meal you didn’t take the time to find out why I missed before talking about me behind my back?”

Leo paused fidgeting with his eggs to look up at Donnie, waiting for a response. And his eyes looked bleary and...

So, so tired.

Even moreso than when they saw him last.

“Uh, yes, that conversation,” Donnie nervously agreed. Leo shot his eyes down to look at the eggs he resumed fidgeting with, and continued in his calm, quiet voice, but with a tone that hinted to an underlying layer of anger.

“Let me see, my two to your...no wait, you can hardly blame me for what happened on Sunday. It's not my fault I was ambushed, or that you three jumped to conclusions, is it?" "Uhhh..."

Before any one of them had a chance to properly respond, Leo continued in his calm, tired voice that carried an undertone of annoyance.

"I have to ask because I’d like to think you can't find any new way to blame me for stuff that's not my fault, but you three have ways of surprising me, don’t you? So, let's see, my one to yooour . . .” Everyone noticed Leo began raising his voice in anger as he continued, but he kept his eyes glued to his plate and his body language seemed calm - as though he simply didn't have enough energy to deal with this (and he didn't).

“How many days were you yelling at me, day in and day out, every. Single. Day, refusing to listen to a word I had to say?” He calmed his voice and continued. “Thirty days, wasn’t it? Ok, so my one to yooour thirty and you three talked about wanting me to meet you halfway?” He snapped his eyes up to look straight at Raph, who was sitting across the table from him, beside Donnie, and he calmly said with a cocky (but tired-looking) crooked smile: “Fine by me. See you in twenty nine days.”

Leo abruptly stood up to leave, and the rest of his family also stood, begging him to stay (with the exception of Draxum, who continued calmly eating his meal as though none of this family drama was happening right in front of him). Leo ignored them all, but stopped and looked down at his hand when Mikey reached out to grasp it in his own. Then he looked up from the hand to Mikey’s face, only to see a set of teary, pleading eyes gazing back at him.

“Leo, you’re right, we should’ve talked to you first, we didn’t think. Please don’t leave. I’m sorry, we all are.”

“Yeah, we’re sorry Leo. It won’t happen again, we promise,” Raph spoke for all of them.

Leo raised his eyes to look around at all his family, who were gazing at him in return, nodding their heads with the occasional: “Please stay,” thrown in; but when their eyes met, it was his dad, Splinter's, sad, guilt-ridden gaze that won out in the end. So he sat down again, but decided it wasn't worth the bother to put any energy into maintaining a fake smile or pretending like everything was ok.

“Fine, I’ll stay,” Leo grumbled in a quiet, half whisper. He stuck his elbow on the table to rest his head on his hand, and picked at his eggs some more without eating anything. That was, until Draxum flatly told him: “Leonardo, you need your strength.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” he reluctantly agreed; but he didn’t have much of an appetite right now, so he decided to start by drinking his orange juice.

During most of the remainder of the meal their family tried to keep the conversation light and upbeat, but Leo kept his head down and sat slouched in his chair, in a way that seemed - to them - like he was still carrying the same heavy weight on his shoulders that he had been carrying ever since the day of the invasion.

And he didn’t look up from his plate at all or contribute to the conversation beyond giving simple, one-word answers or humms of acknowledgement to any comments or questions that were thrown his way, while playing with his food but eating very little of it.

On the inside, Leo was feeling like his family was trying to sweep everything under the rug and move on without addressing any of their serious issues he would be willing to talk about if they showed any indication they were willing to do the same (like the open, honest communication he shared with Draxum).

That was until his very worried big brother decided to bite the bullet and asked about his seizures.

When he did so Leo abruptly shot his eyes up to look straight at him - having forgotten until now that Raph was even there when it happened because of how drained he was at the time - and asked in a tense, almost panic-stricken voice: “What do you know?”

Raph met Leo’s eyes with his own, and he sat up tensely in his chair before saying: “Uh, just that you’ve been having something Draxum said are called flashback seizures. And I saw it really wore you out when it happened yesterday.”

Leo’s body visibly relaxed, he looked down on the eggs he was swirling around with his fork, and responded: “Oh, yeah. Some of the flashbacks are triggering seizures, or something like that, I never understand Drax when he goes off in that sciency jargon. He said human and yokai medicine won't work with our mutant bodies, but he’s working on a mutagen medicine for it.”

Leo briefly raised his eyes to flash a look Draxum's way, in a way that they both knew told him not to contribute to this particular subject, and then he looked back down at his plate and raised a forkful of egg to his mouth. But he froze in his tracks when (as was usual for the three turtles) Splinter indicated his eldest son hadn't shared that information with him when he said: “I wasn’t aware you were having seizures, or flashbacks Blue.”

"Of course he's having flashbacks, he was there for seven years," Draxum dryly snapped at Leo's rat dad, but speaking in a bland tone without raising his voice.

Splinter glared at Barry, who didn't even glance in his direction and continued calmly eating his meal, but the slider didn't hear a word of what Draxum said because he was stuck inside his own mind.

“Where aaare you Blue one? It’s time for our playtime. You should know by now hiding is futile, you wretched, stupid turtle, it never takes me long to FIND YOU!”

“AAAHH!”

“My-name’s-not-Blue-it’s-Leo,” Leonardo said in a brisk, factual tone with a underlying hint of anger as soon as that brief flashback (of many) was over. He sniffled once and raised his eyes to look at his dad, but Splinter looked so heartbroken by that reply that Leo averted his gaze and quietly said: “That’s what . . . someone else used to call me. Sorry Pops.”

He sniffled again as Splinter lovingly reassured him everything was ok, but when he wiped the back of his green turtle hand across his snout, bright red blood came off on it.

“Darn it,” Leo blurted out. He picked up a napkin to cover his bleeding nose and reassured the worried concerns of his family it was nothing more than the dry Hidden City air causing it after living in the damp sewers all his life, before taking his leave to go to the bathroom until it stopped.

Raph couldn’t ignore his overprotective big brother sense that was tingling, telling him something wasn’t right - something more than just a nosebleed - and Mikey, Donnie, and April exchanged a knowing glance with him when they noticed how he tensed up.

“When did Leo start getting nosebleeds?” April inquired, knowing her three turtle brothers wanted to ask, but none of them had the courage to do so after the way Leo snapped at them for talking about him behind his back.

“Shortly after moving in,” Draxum calmly replied, in between bites of his food. But there was a tension in his body only Casey noticed; and that was only because of his frequent interactions with the warrior scientist during his timeline, from the times future 'Commander Draxum' was responsible for the undesirable task of informing them of tragic news - such as when Master Raphael died in combat, bravely and selflessly sacrificing his life to protect the lives of his recon group, so they could all escape to safety.

🔹🔹🔹

A while later, when everyone was either done or almost done eating and Leo still hadn't returned, Draxum looked down at his phone before calmly patting off his mouth with a napkin and standing to leave.

“Excuse me, I have an important call I must take,” the busy alchemist informed them.

“We’ll clean up,” Mikey offered.

Without looking back or slowing down with his brisk pace, Draxum replied: “Do not put away Leonardo’s plate, he has barely touched his meal.”

When Barry got to the bathroom where Leo said he was when he texted him, he opened the door to see the slider sitting on the toilet on the other side of the room, with a large amount of bloody toilet paper in the trash, and more held up to his nose.

“It won’t stop this time,” Leo told him.

“Here, this should help.”

Draxum took a pouch out of his pocket that he opened, sprinkled the contents (that looked like tiny orange beads) in a glass on the counter, and filled it halfway with water from the faucet. “I completed the formula this morning.”

“Will it help with the seizures, too?” Leo asked, while reaching up for the glass with his free right hand.

“No. Unfortunately due to further changes with your brain chemistry I encountered a major setback with that particular medication and have to start anew.”

Leo let out a disappointed: “Oh,” before looking down at the glass in his hand and complaining: “Ew, bathroom water. Couldn’t you have filled it up in the kitchen?”

“Drink it,” Draxum flatly replied. Leo obliged and (thankfully) it worked to stop the nosebleed almost instantaneously.

The ill slider threw the last of the blood-soaked toilet paper in the garbage and tore off a fresh wad to wipe his nose a couple of times, to confirm that the bleeding had really finally stopped, and then he threw that in the garbage with the others.

Next, Leo looked up at Draxum with a pair of tired eyes when he factually, but kindly, inquired:

“When do you plan on informing your family that you are dying?”

“You said I've got five years, right?” Leo calmly asked.

“Based on the latest brain scans, yes.”

“Good. I don’t wanna tell them until after we deal with the other stuff. I don’t want them worrying even more about me, and I don’t want them swooning over me or tryin' to pressure me to move back in. I wanna see them work at fixing stuff between us because that’s what they want to do, not because they feel guilty cuz they know I’m gonna die. That way I know it’s real.”

Draxum let out a sigh, crouched down on one knee to get at eye level with Leonardo, and replied: “You speak so calmly about your own death as though you’ve lived much longer than your short twenty three years.”

Leo huffed out a single laugh in reply and stared down at his hands in his lap, with a small, soft grin on his face.

“I was ready to die seven years ago when I trapped myself in there with . . . him, and more than ready to die one year in,” he replied, referring to when he finally gave up all hope of ever being rescued, shortly after the battery in his wrist com went kaput (the one he resumed wearing after Raph gave it back to him, but more for nostalgia than function, considering he kept it shut off at all times).

“Dying here's a whole lot better than suffering forever in there like what would've happened if they didn't get me out. And at least this way I got the hope of having my family around when it happens.” Then he looked up at Draxum with a bigger smile but sad, watery eyes, and softly added with an air of fondness that indicated he had given thought to this more than once:

“Thinking about that, about not being all alone when it happens, like I thought I would be when I first went into that other place, gives me some peace." Then he looked down at his hands again, and said: "But after we fix our family problems I wanna give them a good year worth remembering before they have to find out. Or even a few months, it's starting to look like I won't be able to hide it from them much longer than that."

Draxum let out another sigh and Leo raised his eyes to look at him when he kindly said: “I will respect your wishes.”

“Thanks,” Leo replied with his genuine crooked grin. “Hey, by the way goat man, I've been meaning to ask, why didn’t any of this stuff happen in there when my brain was going all haywire from being shoved into a different dimension, like it’s doing now, cuz I came back out?”

Draxum softly smiled back, but with sadness in his eyes, and repeated Leo’s own words when he replied: “Because there’s no blood or . . . stuff in there.”

Leo sadly looked down at his hands once again and nodded his head while quietly replying: “Mm, yeah, that makes sense.” Then he softly added: “But now that I think about it, I had these wicked headaches for the first two years or so. I always thought they were cuz of all the times Krang did a number to my face.” He laughed and looked up to give Draxum a mischievous grin, when he said: “He was jelly of my good looks, of course.”

“Of course,” Draxum agreed, still with a gentle smile on his face.

After that pleasant yet sorrowful interchange, Draxum stood up and asked: “Will you be returning?”

“Yeah, just gotta wash up. And get rid of the evidence,” he added, gazing at the heaping mess of bloody toilet paper in the garbage.

“Will you consider giving up your jobs now?” his dad-not-dad asked.

Leo looked up at him with his eyes glossy from tears, and he asked in a partial pleading sort of tone: “Give me a month, ok? Another month to feel useful and not like a…”

“Useless, pathetic WASTE of LIFE!”

“To feel useful.”

“Agreed, one month,” Draxum firmly agreed, making known by his tone of voice that he was clearly expecting Leo to uphold his end of this agreement by not trying to push for more when the month was over.

Then, Barry turned around to leave as Leo got to his feet so he could wash up, and the last thing his surrogate dad told him was: “Make sure to finish your meal before you do anything else. You need your strength.”

“You keep saying you don’t care but I’m not buying it, goat man,” Leo replied with a cheeky grin that turned loving when Draxum looked behind his back to say in an unusually soft tone of voice: “I have never said I do not care.”

They exchanged a final smile before Draxum left, shutting the door behind him, and Leo washed up at the sink, noticing for the first time his stylish red stripes didn't pop like they usually did.

"That's probably from the nosebleed," he tried to reassure himself, but not really sure if he should believe his own words or not.

Chapter 11 (Not) A Glitch in the System

"I’m verifying the results are accurate and there isn’t a glitch or malfunction in the system.”

Chapter Text

Leo sat very still with his hands on his lap, inside a strange device Draxum created, that he had in the lab and used to routinely scan the ill slider's brain for any new changes resulting from his time in the harsh environment of an alternate dimension not compatible with life here on earth.

He was wearing his black shorts, belt, blue mask, and the black ninja wrappings on his legs, but not his arms, because Draxum texted him to meet in the lab when he was in the middle of getting ready to go out.

As regards the scanner, Draxum created it to be a stylish purple on top, fading into magenta on the bottom (like his portals), and it was large enough for one person to sit inside, on a chair built into it, with the front completely open while Leo was enclosed by walls on three sides. There was a flat top over his head, where the bulk of the functioning parts of the scanner were stored, and on outer side of the wall to Leo’s left was a large touchscreen where the results were displayed, and where Draxum was standing right now.

The nervous slider didn’t feel a thing during these routine scans aside for a slight buzzing sensation in his head, and when it was completed he stayed where he was, waiting for Draxum to give him the ‘all clear’ so he could finish getting ready for his volunteer job at the dojo.

And the silence stretched on.

“What’s the matter, Drax? Even my brain’s so gorgeous you can’t look away?”

Leo’s joke fell flat, partly because of the nervous tension in his voice, and partly because Draxum didn’t in any way respond to or acknowledge he had said anything at all - not even to banter with one of his dry, quick-witted comebacks. Something Leo was getting used to and actually enjoyed.

“Tough crowd.”

“I’m verifying the results are accurate and there isn’t a glitch or malfunction in the system,” Draxum flatly replied.

“Eugh boi, that can’t be good.”

Two or three minutes ticked by, during which time Leo sat in silence and Draxum clicked at the touchscreen on the side of his machine. But the nervousness the slider was feeling continued mounting into antsy energy, and he felt like he had to get out of that ‘box’ (as he often called it) and stretch his legs.

“Can I get out?”

“Mmm,” was the only reply Draxum gave, as he continued focusing on the screen in front of him; so Leo took that as a ‘yes’ and stood up to walk over to a table where he put his stuff - his swords, communicator, and cell phone that couldn’t go in the scanner when it was on, as well as his black ninja arm wrappings, that were laid neatly beside his katanas.

The first thing Leo did was pick up his swords to sheathe them, then he put his cell phone in his belt pouch and picked up one of the ninja arm wrappings to put it on; wrapping his left arm but going slowly because he was distracted and kept stopping to look up at Barry. But the goat scientist ignored him to continue clicking at the touchscreen. Then, when he was just about done the first arm, Draxum said: “Get back in, I need to perform another scan.”

Leo finished wrapping his left arm and said: “I gotta leave for the dojo in five minutes and that takes fifteen.” Then he picked up the wrappings for his right arm, and added: “Besides, you already scanned me twice, is another one gonna change anything?”

. . .

. . .

"Draxum?"

“No.”

Leo stopped what he was doing to look straight at the intelligent goat alchemist, and curtly saying: “Spit it out old man.”

Draxum put his head down with his eyes closed and sighed, before regaining his composure, turning his body to face Leo, and standing up straight with his hands clasped behind his back. Then, in his calm, factual tone of voice he always seemed to have, no matter how dire the situation, he told his son, Leonardo:

“There have been changes to your neural connectivity since the last scan. Four mouths have been taken off your life expectancy.”

Leo felt like a heavy weight had been dropped straight on top of him, and his heart sank in his chest, so he averted his eyes from looking at Draxum to stare blankly at the wall behind him, processing what he just heard.

“You only scanned me two days ago. How could I have lost four months in two days?”

“I can show you if you like.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Leo saw Draxum gesture to the screen on the side of the scanner (the scanner he was coming to loathe), but he didn’t take his eyes off the section of the plain wall he was staring at. And in a flat, monotonous voice, he said:

“You know I don’t understand any of that sciency jargon.”

Which Draxum knew was his way of saying ‘no.’

Draxum patiently waited to give Leo the time he needed to process this bad news; and when he was ready to ask a question that was burning in his heart, Leonardo swallowed down a lump in his throat and opened his suddenly dry mouth to ask: “You said I’ll be really sick for the last two years or so, right?”

“Correct.”

“Has that changed?”

‘Does it mean I’ll get less time to be sick, or I’ll get sick sooner?’ was the actual question he thought in his head but couldn’t bring himself to say out loud.

“No.”

“Ok, so I’ll still be sick for two years,” Leo commented, but meaning it as a confirmation question he didn’t actually want to hear the answer to; and knowing Draxum would factually correct any erroneous thinking on his part without being prompted.

When Leo’s comment was met with silence, he swallowed another lump and said: “Uhhh, that means I got…”

His mind was too numb and dull to process the simple math he needed to do so he could figure out how long he had left to enjoy life with his family before he grew too sick to leave home. But when his mind stayed blank, he realized he didn’t want to know the answer just yet, and abruptly began wrapping his right arm with a sense of urgency, saying: “I don’t have time for this, I gotta go.”

Leo wrapped his right arm more than twice as fast as he did his left one and reached up to grasp the hilt of one of his katanas strapped to his back to use it to channel his ninpo.

A portal opened up, leading to the dojo where he was volunteering under the care of Master Nakamura - who was the head Master and owner of the dojo, and who recognized Leo's natural, innate ninja abilities and took him under his wing before the end of day one, telling him he had 'great potential' (if only he knew).

The instant his portal opened in front of him, Draxum watched Leo grabbed his com off the table and put it on as he briskly stepped through, with neither one of them saying another word.

~Two and a Half Hours Later~

Leo came through a blue portal into the lab where Draxum was gently stirring the transparent pink contents of a beaker; and as soon as his portal shut behind his back, his goat guardian asked him: “How did it go?”

The ill slider knew Draxum was looking for information regarding his symptoms, and he replied: “Fine. I got a nosebleed when I was cleaning between two classes, but no one was there and the stuff you gave me stopped it before anyone found out.”

“Did it stop it immediately, or was there a delay?”

“It was immediate, like last time.”

“Good. Drink this.”

Leo walked over to the workstation where Draxum was standing and watched as he poured a small amount of the pink formula he had been working on into a test tube.

“It will help with the seizures.”

Draxum held out the test tube for Leo to take, and when he took it, he sniffed it and said: “Hmm, smells like grapefruit.” “It tastes like grapefruit, as well,” the brilliant scientist told him.

“Alright, bottoms up.”

Leo tip it up to down the contents, laid the empty test tube on the table, and asked: “How often do I need that stuff?” “Once a day should suffice for now. And it won’t eliminate the seizures, but it will dramatically reduce their strength and frequency to no more than once every two or three weeks.”

“That beats one almost every day,” Leo commented. Then he looked up at Draxum when the taller yokai asked: “Given the news you received this morning, have you considered it might be best for everyone if you forgive your family, let go of the past, and start spending quality time with them sooner rather than later?”

Leo unsheathed a katana to get his antsy body moving by practicing his ninjitsu, and replied: “I need to know they don’t hate me first.” He thrust his sword out but froze in place and looked at Draxum when he leaned ahead with his hands clasped behind his back, to say: “Leonardo, your family loves you. They have always loved you and one month of tension and arguments could never change that fact.”

In response, Leo took his eyes off Draxum to continue his training, and said: “It’s not just that one month, it’s the seven years before it, too. Like I’ve said, hear something enough and you’ll start to believe it. And when I came back, they proved everything Krang Prime said was true.”

Draxum straightened up his posture and began slowly pacing in front of Leo, throwing in the occasional training tip as he continued with his ninjitsu.

“And what did Krang Prime say about them? Raise your arm.”

Leo raised his left arm that was stretched straight out in front of him, with the sword pointing out, and said: “He told me they didn’t miss me, and he was right.”

He swung his sword to the side and Draxum said: “Spread your feet further apart. What else did he say?”

Leo did as he was told, and smoothly transitioned to another position while answering: “He said the world might view me as a hero but they’ll always hate me and resent me for sacrificing myself and leaving them behind to grieve.”

Draxum looked Leo up and down, said: “Good,” in reference to his stance, and then asked: “And?”

“He said they wouldn't want me back, that nobody ever wanted me.”

Sweat began beading on Leo’s head because his heart was pounding from the anxious energy he was beginning to feel from this conversation, and he picked up the pace on his slow, purposeful ninjitsu moves, while skillfully not in any way sacrificing accuracy.

“He said they never loved me. No one could ever love a worthless pest like me.” Tears filled the corners of his eyes and his body tensed as he continued picking up the pace with more forceful, aggressive moves. He was also speaking louder and angrier in relation to his increasing training speed as he voluntarily continued with no further prompts from Draxum, who although watching him seemed to fade in the background.

“He said I was vermin and I got what I deserved. That I’m nothing. Nothing but a disgusting creature who got lucky with that trick I pulled and anyone who doesn’t see that is almost as big of a fool as me."

Tears fell down Leo’s cheeks but his whole body was so tingly with numbness he didn’t notice. He also took no note that Draxum was still there in the room (beyond staying clear of him during his intensive training, but more like he was a piece of workout equipment or a training dummy used for punches and not sword slashes)

He continued in quick, smooth movements while talking out loud, as though he had teleported away to one of his secluded areas where he often went, to freely, openly, and loudly vent his angers and his frustrations while training.

“He said those things in between pounding me into the rocks and beating me until I was too numb to feel the pain, over and over again! Do you have any idea how long that takes!? I DO!!!”

Leo’s cheeks were turning red, sweat coated his entire body and was dripping down his face mixing with his tears from the strenuous effort he was putting into his quick, aggressive moves, as he continued his winded rant.

And, like always, Draxum calmly listened without once interrupting.

“He chased me down, stomped me into the ground with his giant mech foot, pummeled my body with his metal fists, and laughed at me because I couldn’t die, because I had to keep suffering. He was happy about my pain, over making me scream out in agony over and over again and I couldn’t get away! There was nowhere I could hide where he didn’t find me, nowhere I could go in that small hellhole because of that BORDER that caged me IN, surrounding us on all SIDES with just me and him and the islands of sharp rocks and jagged metal he threw me against so he could stomp his giant claws over my shell and pin me to the rocks so I couldn’t move, I couldn’t escape, so all I could do was scream out in AGONY, begging for it to be over!”

The intensity and volume in Leo’s voice diminished because of how winded he was, but he continued giving vent to his raw emotions without slowing down with his ninjitsu moves.

“Begging for mercy or trying to escape didn’t do anything except make everything so much worse because he enjoyed it! He loved hunting me down and making me beg for him to stop! And I hear his voice every night in my dreams, yelling at me, telling me to beg him to stop, to beg for mercy, laughing at me when I did and refusing to let up when I wouldn’t. He ordered me to run and hide so he could find me, screaming that this was all my fault and none of it would’ve happened if it wasn’t for me and that little trick I pulled trapping us in there! For seven years he beat me and yelled at me and then I come home to my family and they yelled at me and blamed me for everything! Just! Like! HIM!!!”

Leo thrust his sword out horizontally, perpendicular to his body, holding it up in front of his chest, ready to slash, with the blade in between him and the calm goat yokai he was now standing directly in front of.

The one he forgot was there.

When their eyes met, he suddenly remembered he wasn’t alone and he was venting about Krang - things he never told anyone else but himself - with Draxum in the room, listening to him the entire time.

Leo took deep breaths through his mouth to compensate for his rapidly pounding heart, frozen in place, staring up at the tall, calm yokai looking back at him with his already red cheeks blushing a bright red from embarrassment.

And it was in that moment he realized he wasn’t angry at his family or worried they hated him because of the things Krang Prime told him about them. He was angry with them and believed they hated him because whenever they yelled at him, blamed him for what he did, blamed him for what wasn't his fault, they unknowingly treated him in the same manner as his most hated and feared enemy. The one that taunted him and tortured him for seven of the longest, most miserable, heart-wrenchingly lonely years of his life.

He didn't realize until the whole body numbness began fading away that he was actively crying. But instead of portalling somewhere far, far away to be alone, or storming away in frustration, embarrassment, or anger, he dropped his katana and it clattered to the floor as he covered his face with both hands to weep pitifully right there, in front of Draxum; which was also the very first time since coming home that he openly cried when he wasn’t completely alone, tucked away in some secluded corner of the earth that his portals instinctively took him when he needed to be really, truly alone.

Leo was far too distraught to feel surprised when a soft, warm body enveloped him in a needed comforting, warm embrace - the very first hug Draxum had ever given him - and he continued sobbing into his hands.

Eventually he wrapped his arms around his unofficial dad; and cried harder when Draxum responded by gently squeezing him just a little closer.

His chest hurt and his face hurt and his throat hurt but Leo and his dad stayed like that for a considerable length of time. Until the distraught slider had no tears left and his pitiful sobbing tapered off into the occasional hiccup and whimper.

Even after that was done and he fell silent they stayed that way for as long as he needed; with him standing on his tired, sore feet in the middle of the lab, garnering comfort and consolation from the hug he received, as well as the listening ear Draxum gave to him every day since even before he moved in with him.

For a very,

very.

Long.

Time.

~The Next Day~

Leo rushed out of the lab as soon as his portal brought him there, heading for his room where he kept a new, stylish skateboard he bought out of his delivery money, hastily telling Draxum along the way: “All good today!” as his daily post-dojo health update. But he skidded to a halt when Draxum loudly and sternly ordered: “Leonardo, wait.”

Leo turned around and pointed behind his back toward the hallway with his thumb, saying: “Whatdoyou want? We’re all getting together at the Hidden city skate park and I gotta grab my board.”

Draxum crossed his arms in front of his chest and asked: “We?”

“Yeah, the whole gang. Me, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, April, and even Case is coming,” Leo replied, sounding a little bit winded.

“I take it you decided to accept my advice by making the most of your time with your family?” Draxum calmly inquired.

Leo wiped some sweat off his brow with the back of his ninja-wrapped hand and replied: “Yeah, and they invited me to the skate park last night, but I was longer at the dojo today and I gotta leave now so I’m not late.”

The slider bounced from one foot to the other, eager to leave, but he respectfully stayed where he was, looking up at Draxum and waiting for his reply - but only because he knew his current guardian was strict and wouldn’t accept any less from him.

(But he was ok with it. After all it was better than being ignored, or worse, yelled at)

“You clearly already overexerted yourself with your volunteer job, and now you wish to drain yourself further with skateboarding?”

“Yeah,” Leo replied as though the answer was obvious, and wanting to get this conversation over with muy rápido.

Draxum quietly gazed at him, thinking, before bluntly replying: “No,” and walking over to the scanner.

Leo threw his arms out and complained: “I thought we agreed you’d treat me like an adult since I’m technically already twenty three!”

“That agreement is conditional, providing you behave as a responsible adult, which you are currently not doing,” came the no nonsense reply.

He clicked at the touchscreen on the side of the scanner, turning it on to warm it up in preparation for Leo’s scan, and said: “We agreed on daily scans for the time being and you already missed your first one this morning.”

“That was only because I slept in and hadta leave for the dojo as soon as I jumped out of bed,” Leo argued. But Draxum calmly retorted with: “Which is something that only happens after you had a seizure the night before, and also likely means you haven’t eaten yet today.”

Leo rested a hand on his hip and gave Draxum a casual grin while saying: “Ok, so I had a tiny one last night, but it wasn’t nearly as bad they used to be, and I ate an energy bar on my way outta the room. I keep them in my nightstand for just such an occasion.”

Leo gave Draxum a cocky crooked grin, trying his best to (unsuccessfully) hide the fact he was still a little out of breath from his job at the dojo, but Draxum did not return his smile when he looked at him to seriously say: “Which is another thing you agreed to inform me of immediately after they happen, and all the more reason to scan your brain for changes immediately. You shouldn’t have had a seizure so soon after starting your new medication.”

“Like I said, it was just a small one and it was late at night. I was in the middle of texting you but I fell asleep. I tell you what…”

Leo took his hand off his hip, straightened his stance, and Draxum stopped clicking at the touchscreen of his scanner to give his son his undivided attention when he said in a respectable, serious tone: “I’ll go to the skate park, but I’ll take it easy. No hard tricks, and I’ll spend at least half my time watching the others from the sidelines, just talking, hanging out, catching up, you know, brotherly bonding. And I promise I'll portal straight home when we’re done so you can put me through whatever crazy evil genius mad scientist stuff you want when I get back.”

“Acceptable,” Draxum immediately agreed.

Leo fist pumped the air with an enthusiastic: "Yes!" and a smile, but his smile fell and he looked back up at the tall goat man when he sternly ordered: “You have exactly three hours, shower first when you get home, and eat something before you leave.”

“You got it!” Leo enthusiastically agreed, with a huge smile and a playful two finger salute, before grasping his katana to open a portal leading to his bedroom, to get out of there faster. But before he stepped through, Draxum sternly said: "Not an energy bar!”

“No problemo!” Leo agreed with his mischievous grin, while stepping one foot into his portal, planning on grabbing one of his protein bars that he stashed in his room instead. But he stopped and his smile fell when Draxum sternly ordered: "Nothing with the word ‘bar’ in the name.”

“Fiiine,” Leo grumped. He stepped his foot out of the portal and let it shut, before opening a second one leading to the kitchen, saying: “I’ll grab a banana.”

“You need protein.“

"Aaand a leftover slice of pepperoni.”

He stepped through when Draxum didn’t object this time, and hastily gobbled down his banana before sticking the slice of pizza in his mouth and portalling to his room to get his board and leave.

Leo walked through his portal into the skate park, holding his new skateboard that was the same shade of blue as the markings on his shell, and also had two crescent red stripes in between three yellow ones, similar to the stripes on his face, arms, and legs. He finished eating the last mouthful of his slice before greeting his family with a big wave and an even bigger grin.

“Hey Leo! You made it!” Mikey happily exclaimed.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, lil bro!” came the happy reply.

Mikey was the first to run over and wrap Leo up in a big hug, which thy all got in on. Except for Casey, who hung back, unsure how this Leo - who barely knew him and had been actively avoiding him up untill now - would feel about him joining in on their family hug.

But his fears were cast aside when Leo looked up at him with a genuine smile and extended his arm out, happily saying: “There’s room for one more.”

Casey’s face lit up and he ran ahead to join in on the warm embrace, that both warmed Leo’s heart and at the same time made it ache, because he knew he didn’t have a long time left to enjoy these family group hugs.

After that, they all got into skateboarding and chatting and joking around with lost of laughter, as well as making plans for other things they could do together in the near future. And Leo held true to his word to Draxum by not pushing himself too hard and casually hanging out on the sidelines, occasionally wiping sweat off his forehead and noticing he was tiring out much easier than usual.

Something he noticed halfway through his training exercises under the guidance and direction of Master Nakamura, at the dojo.

At some point during their bonding time, Donnie and Raph collided at the bottom of the skateboard pit, while they were each preoccupied with their individual tricks; and that turned into healthy sibling banter that made Leo smile as he watched the interaction with fondness. Until Mikey got in on it and announced the two words: “Skateboard Competition!”

Raph immediately skateboarded up to where Leo was sitting on the edge of a ramp, and he said: “You heard him, Leo. Me, you, and Case against those three bozos.”

“Heeey!” Mikey complained at the 'bozo' reference. But Raph ignored him to continue: “We’ll show them who’s boss!”

“Which will be us,” Donnie factually commented. He, Mikey, and April shared a high three/five and Raph smiled and held out his hand to Leo for a fist bump. But his smile fell when Leo wiped off his sweaty forehead with the ninja wrappings covering his arm instead, and said: “No can do, bro. Master Nakamura put me through the ringers today. I’ll sit this one out.”

Donnie turned from his playful competitive banter with Casey to look at Leo in confusion (along with Raph) and he asked: “Master Nakamura? Who is he?”

Everyone looked at Leo now, who opened his mouth to inform them of his volunteer job at the dojo, and how the owner/head sensei, Master Nakamura, took him under his wing when he saw his ‘potential’ (not knowing he had already done great things with his life) but he didn’t get a word out before Mikey told him: “Leo, your nose is bleeding!”

Leo wiped the blood off with the back of his hand and then held it under his nose to stop more blood from dripping down his face, while searching around for the backpack he apparently forgot to bring.

“Anyone got a tissue?” he asked.

“Yeah, in my backpack,” April replied. She hurried to run up to it from where she was at the bottom of the pit and took out a couple of tissues to hand to Leo, who took them with a: “Thanks.”

The park was eerily silent as everyone watched Leo cover his bleeding nose with the tissues, and he looked up at them to say with a relaxed grin: “Nothing to worry ‘bout, fam, Draxum gave me just the thing I need.”

Despite his suggestion, everyone stayed where they were, watching Leo with concern as he opened his belt pouch to take out a small packet containing tiny orange beads. But when he looked around for his water bottle, he realized it was in the backpack he forgot.

‘Huh, I never forget my backpack.’

“Uh, anyone got any water?” Leo asked, while the white tissues were quickly soaking through with blood.

Casey ran up to his backpack which was beside to April’s, and said: “I brought extra water,” at the same time April took more tissues out of hers and handed them to Leo, to replace the blood-soaked ones he was holding up to his nose.

“Thanks,” Leo said. He replaced the tissues, threw the dirty ones in a trash nearby, and then looked at Casey when he said: “Heads up!” and tossed a water bottle to him.

He caught the bottle in his free left hand, unscrewed the lid and laid the bottle on the ground to rip open the packet and add the orange beads to the water, before downing the entire contents.

“There, good as new, see?”

Leo wiped away what he thought was the last of the blood, only to feel the tickly sensation of more trickling down from inside his nose, so he abruptly replaced the tissues and hid his nervousness with a grin and a casual, upbeat: “No prob fam, it’ll just take a few minutes. Dry air, remember. Don’t let me dampen your competition, I’ll sit here and watch!”

Leo sat down and then smiled at Casey who sat beside him on the edge of the same ramp, suggesting: “I’ll sit out too, to even the playing field.”

Then Leo thanked April when she put her backpack on the ground beside him and pointing out where the rest of the tissues were. But a tension still hung in the air, so the ill slider got the competition started by waving his fist in the air in big circles and loudly cheering: “Let’s get this party started! C’mon Raphala! You got your record to uphold!”

After that, April ran toward Raph, saying: “I guess that means I’m on team Winners!” and they shared a high five/three.

“Scoff,” Donnie replied, at the same time Mikey put his board on the ground to step on it before pointing at Raph while confidently saying: “You’re going down! That record belongs to us! Team No Mercy against team Loser Babies!” He put his fingers in an ‘L’ shape over his forehead with his tongue stuck out at them, then low-threed Donnie and they shared a fist bump.

“Team Loser Babies!?” April exclaimed in a faux-offended tone of voice. “More like team ‘Butt Kickers’ against team ‘Run Home Crying to Mommy’ which is what you're gonna do when we beat your sorry butts!"

The sciency softshell indignantly stuck his nose in the air and replied with: “Scoff! That is factually incorrect on two accounts…” He counted out on his fingers and said: “Firstly…” “Is that even a real word!?” Leo playfully yelled, still covering his bleeding nose (and knowing the answer was 'yes' but wanting to join in on the fun in whatever way he could).

Donnie looked up at him to sternly reply: “Yes! And no comments from the peanut gallery!” Then he resumed counting out on his fingers while saying: "Firstly, we do not have a 'mommy', and secondly..." He was about to list off the second reason why April was ‘factually incorrect,’ (that they weren't going to lose) when she banged into him on her way boarding past, calling out: “See ya from the winner’s circle, cry baby!”

Donnie very dramatically spun around in circles on the spot when April banged into him, and the second he stopped spinning Raph did the same thing to him from the other side, making him spin around in the opposite direction; and the lively competition was on.

Leo and Casey watched with interest while occasionally cheering, in between chatting with each other. A few minutes in the nosebleed finally stopped so he chucked the last of the bloody tissues away and leaned ahead to rest his arms on his lap.

And Casey looked at him with a smile, to say something, but closed his mouth, giving attention to the side of Leo’s face with a worried frown when he noticed faint evidence of bags in the little bit of skin peeking out over the eye holes in Leo's blue mask. As well as the very slight, almost imperceptibly dull color to his normally vibrant red stripes both he and Casey's future Master Leonardo sported.

The bright red stripes he had seen every day of his life since he was a baby, because his future version of Leo raised him as though he was his own son.

Leo seemed oblivious to 'future boy' examining, and he smiled when Mikey jumped off a ramp to do a three-sixty over Raphael’s head. So he put his hand up to the side of his mouth to call out: “Good one, Mikester!”

“Hey! Whose team are you on!?” Raph yelled at Leo in reply.

“The winning team, duh!” Leo playfully bantered back. “Those guys are kickin’ your butts! What happened to that record breaking champ!?”

“Oh, I’ll show you a record breaking champ!” Raph enthusiastically replied with a big smile for his bro. He got back on his board, kicked off a ramp, and yelled: “Cannonball!” before ploughing into Don and Mikey at the bottom of the pit; knocking them off their boards and on their backsides like they were bowling pins.

“No fair!” Mikey cried out.

“That move is not regulation!” Donnie sourly agreed. They hopped up to get back on their boards and Raph yelled down to them from his spot on top of a ramp: “You want regulation, do you!?” Then he loudly proclaimed: “Skateboard Jenga Tower!”

April quickly shot up the ramp in front of her teammate, getting enough air that Raph caught her by her skateboard, and she stood on it as he held her above his head, with a hand on her hip, looking down at their competitors in the pit, waiting for Donnie and Mikey to do the same.

When Dee and Mike were in position on top of the opposite ramp, (with Donnie holding Mikey up on his board) they all went down their ramps at the same time, trying to win by knocking the other team’s player off the top; creating a lot of chaos and having a great deal of fun along the way, that got Leo and Casey laughing...

...before his nose began bleeding again.

Casey’s smile fell once more when Leo hastily grabbed the last two of April’s tissues and stood to leave, so he could find out from Draxum what was up, and suddenly very concerned over the fact his yokai dad told him he shouldn't have had a seizure the night before.

Down in the skateboard pit, Donnie with Mikey were circling Raph holding April, trying to be the first to knock the top person off, thus winning this part of the competition; and none of them noticed Leo stood to leave until a blue portal glowed brightly behind his back.

Everyone stopped and looked up at Leo, who was waving goodbye with a big smile on his face and bloody tissues held up to his nose.

“Gotta go, fam! Let me know who wins!” was the only (cheerful) thing he said, before abruptly turning around to step through his portal and disappear to the other side.

Everyone stared at the portal that shut before their eyes, with worried looks on their faces and Donnie and Raph still holding Mikey and April above their heads, by the skateboards they were each standing on. That was, until Mikey decided to break the tension by knocking the unsuspecting April off her board, to land on the ground on her back.

Raph shot his head around to glare at his youngest brother and snapped: “Mikey!…” “All is fair in love and skateboard competitions,” Mikey playfully interrupted with a cheeky grin. Then he jumped off his board, accepted it from Donnie’s hands, and the youngest of the family (the one who earned the nicknamed ‘Mr. Sunshine’ two years prior, because of his ability to bring happiness to a ‘stormy’ day) grinned from ear to ear, saying: “Leo wants us to tell him who wins, and we’re tied 10-10. You know what that means!”

April jumped up from her spot on the ground and yelled: “Tie breaker!”

At their request, Casey picked the tie breaker game and refereed as the four of them got right back into the final competition.

But each and every one of them were playing with a little less enthusiasm and energy than before.

Chapter 12: Master Leonardo

“You overexerted yourself.”

“Yeah, I know, but it was so worth it."

Chapter Text

Leo portalled into Draxum’s study, where the goat alchemist was engaging in the unusual (for him) activity of sitting in his deluxe recliner, watching tv (the news specifically) with the commercials playing.

Draxum glanced up at Leo, who was standing beside him, covering another nosebleed, and he held up a box of tissues, which Leo took and used to add to the already blood-soaked ones stuffed over his nose. But before addressing this issue at hand, Draxum dryly told him: “It seems as though you can now add ‘defeated Krang Prime with my rad ninja skills’ to your resume.”

Leo furrowed his brows in confusion and asked: “What?” But Draxum’s only reply was to point to the television built into the wall, when a female yokai antelope newscaster appeared on the screen, standing alongside a young, pale pink skunk yokai with cream colored stripes, who looked to be about seventeen and seemed really excited to be on live tv.

The news antelope announced the video of the defeated alien threat that was taken by a drone the skunk was flying around the technodrome; explaining that this video was confirmed by authorities to be authentic, and continued explaining that even though all power was disabled in the half of New York surrounding the technodrome, she was able to operate her drone with the use of her mystic powers.

Then Leo’s eyes widened when the video switched to one of him and his brothers using their ninpo along with their rad ninja skills to fight Krang Prime high above the tallest buildings in New York.

“How much did she get?” Leo asked in all seriousness.

Draxum stood up, shut off the tv with his remote, and replied: “All of it.” He put his hands behind his back, looked at Leo, and calmly informed him: “Including your final battle with the one called Krang Prime, and when Raphael pulled you out of Michelangelo’s portal; at which point it was hit and destroyed by a piece of technodrome debris.”

“Eugh boi.”

Under normal circumstances Leo would have been super hyped over the fame and publicity, but these were not normal circumstances, and all he really wanted to do was peacefully enjoy his last remaining time with his loved ones.

Besides, he had lived through seven long years being the focus of someone's attention. It was not something his turtle hero heart desired in the least anymore.

“How long has your nose been bleeding?” Draxum inquired.

Leo grabbed some more tissues to stuff under his nose, muttered to himself: “I can’t show my face in public after this,” and then he looked up at Draxum to tell him: “Not long, but this is the second one.”

A magenta portal opened in front of Leo that Draxum gestured to with both hands, and Leo went through first, using it as a shortcut to get to the lab in the wealthy goat alchemist's enormous mansion.

Draxum came out behind him, the portal shut, and Leo threw his bloody tissues into one of the many garbage containers in the large room, to replace them with fresh ones.

“Did you forget to bring your medication with you?”

Leo followed his 'dad' over to a workstation where he kept all of the medical supplies he needed for his 'son', replying: “No, it was in my pouch. I took it, but the nosebleed didn’t stop right away. And then it started up again.”

“How long did it take to stop? Here.”

Draxum held out a reddish-orange pill which Leo popped in his mouth, washing it down with his pink ‘grapefruit’ seizure medication, which was a darker shade of pink than before, because Draxum increased the dosage.

“A few minutes.”

"Define 'few'."

"I dunno, five. Maybe ten."

Leo patted at his nose - noticing the bleeding had finally stopped - laid down the box of tissues and threw the blood-soaked ones in the garbage.

“And how long was it until the next one commenced?”

“Um, around half an hour.”

Leo followed Draxum through another portal leading to the med bay and together they walked over to the brain scanner where he watched as his taller goat 'dad' clicked on the touchscreen to turn it on. Then, when he gestured with a hand for Leo to sit inside, the slider asked: “I thought you wanted me to shower first.”

“I can disinfect it. Sit.”

Leonardo did as he was told and felt the familiar buzz in his head when the scan commenced. During those fifteen minutes, Draxum told him a few things and asked some questions.

“That capsule you took is a higher concentration than the previous dosage. One I expected you wouldn’t require for at least another six months.”

“That’s not good.”

“How is your energy level?”

“I’m getting tired easier, and it’s getting worse as the day goes on.”

“And your mood? Your concentration?”

“Fine.”

“What about your memory?”

“Uhhh, I forget.”

Leo snickered when Draxum’s stuck his head out from the side of the scanner to flatly stare at him. Then he returned his attention to the display screen and Leo answered his question.

“My memory’s normal. ‘cept I forgot to take my backpack to the park. But that’s probably cuz I left in such a hurry.”

“Have you ever forgotten your backpack before today?”

“No.”

“What if you were late and in a hurry?”

“No. Never. I’ve never forgotten it before.”

“Hmm.”

Leo curled in on himself a little, figuring that Draxum wouldn’t be asking these questions if something that seemed so insignificant wasn’t a big deal, but he straightened up again when his ‘dad’ paused the scan and ordered: “Sit up straight and don’t move.”

Draxum resumed the scan, asking: “Is there anything else you’ve noticed that’s different? Anything at all, no matter how minor or insignificant?”

"Uhhh..." Leo racked his brain, hoping he hadn't missed anything minor that may have been important when he responded: “No. I can’t think of anything.”

“Inform me immediately if that changes. Even the most minute detail could be of great importance. And remember, you have permission to approach, call, or text at any time, even if I am asleep. I must know of any changes immediately so I can promptly make adjustments to your current medications, or begin work on new ones.”

“New ones? How many drugs are you gonna pump into me?” Leo asked.

“As many as is necessary to help you maintain the best quality of life possible.”

“Can you make a drug to keep me alive longer?”

“Unfortunately, no.”  

“Oh.”

The anxious slider resisted the urge to curl in on himself again, and he waited for the buzzing in his head to stop, signaling the scan was complete. But when it was over, instead of asking if it was ok to stand, he stayed where he was, hunched over with his head down and his hands between his knees.

Waiting.

Because he felt soo tired.

After a few minutes of silence, he asked: “What’s taking so long this time, still can't look away from that gorgeous brain of mine?” but he joke fell flat with the mood he was in.

“I am confirming the results are accurate and there isn’t a glitch or malfunction in the system.”

“Uuugh, not this again.”

Another full fifteen minutes passed before Draxum was ready to tell him the results.

Leo looked up but stayed hunched over when Draxum stepped in front of him, and his goat ‘dad’ told him in a factual tone that the slider noticed carried a hint of sadness:

“There have been further changes to your...” Barry stopped mid sentence when he looked down on Leonardo, noticing he looked sooo tired, like he had just finished running a marathon. And were his red stripes a little paler than usual?

He stopped, opened a portal, and graciously offered: “We will continue this conversation in your room, where you can lay down.”

Leo looked at the portal with his eyes half closed, and replied: “Not my room, that’s where I go to relax and unwind.”

“Very well.”

The portal shut and another one opened, leading to the living room, directly in front of Draxum’s big, comfy couch.

Leo stood up and went through, but when he came out the other side he didn’t sit right away, instead he stayed where he was, looking up at Draxum when he stepped through.

Draxum wasn’t one for ‘hugs’ and ‘togetherness’, but he knew what Leonardo was waiting for, so he sat down first, with his right arm on the arm of the couch and his left one stretched out across the back of it. Predictably, Leo sat down with his feet on the couch and leaned his back against Draxum’s side, cuddling in to him like he did many a times with his big bro.

“I'm ready.”

Draxum cleared his throat and continued where he left off.

“Your energy level will continue to be lower than normal, but if you pace yourself I see no reason why you cannot engage in some of your favorite activities. And you are also at risk for brain bleeds now. If…”

“Wait, can’t that kill me?”

“If you were a human I would say yes, but I created you and your brothers with the capacity to quickly and efficiently heal from those with minimal effects on your cognition, memory, motor skills, or bodily functions in the probable event either one of you sustained a serious blow to the head during combat.”

“Ah, yeah, when you created us in your ‘mutate and destroy all humanity’ phase,” Leo said with a hint of amusement, trying to glean any amount of humor he could squeeze out of this conversation.

“Precisely,” Draxum replied in all seriousness.

He paused his info dumb and raised his arm to get it out of the way when Leo reached up for the brown fur throw draping over the back of the couch, cuddling under it with his eyes closed, waiting for Barry to continue.

“For you, symptoms of a brain bleed would include, but not be limited to, headaches, a possible nosebleed, or bleeding from other orifices, such as your ears, eyes, or mouth...," "Eeeugh," Leo interrupted with a grimace. He did not like the sounds of that at all.

"...lethargy," Draxum continued, "and depending on the location within your brain, you may feel dizzy and light-headed, have heart palpitations or tremors, struggle with motor or bodily functions, speech, or cognition for a few minutes until your natural healing and regenerative abilities take over.”

“Oookay,” Leo sadly muttered, hoping that none of that would happen to him.

Then he quietly listened, waiting for Draxum to continue. But instead he looked up from the sensation of feeling his dad's chest rise because he took in a deep breath, followed by a long, slow exhale. One that prompted Leo to hold his breath in anxious anticipation of what was to come next.

Just as he suspected, the news was as bad as he dreaded.

“And I regret to inform you, based on the results of this scan, five more months have been taken off your life expectancy."

"Five months!? How long do I have now!?"

"Four years, three months."

. . .

“Oh.”

Leo readjusted the blanket to cover his shoulders, and decided to focus his mind on something other than his upcoming death, so he informed Draxum: “I got plans with my family all week.”

“What are your plans? I will inform you if anything is too strenuous.”

“First, me ‘n Mike are goin' out in New York tomorrow, painting.”

“You mean illegally spray painting graffiti in the alleys?”

“I mean art!” Leo grumpily snapped in reply.

"Haven't you been avoiding venturing above ground after your harrowing ordeal in the prison dimension?" Draxum calmly asked.

"Yeah, I was, but that doesn't seem to matter anymore. But, uh, I know a few spots we can go in the Hidden City if I get there and it doesn't turn out so good."

Draxum hummed in reply and let Leo continue on.

“Then Thursday, Donnie and I are testing some of his new explosives at some random secluded island I'll portal us to in the Bahamas. Friday Raph and I are catching a wrestling match. Ghostbear reclaimed his title after he was mutated,” he added with a smile and a bit more pep.

“Raph’s really stoked cuz he’s fighting a ten v one match. Saturday April said Sunita agreed to let me borrow her broach again that'll make me look like a human, and we’re going to the carnival, the big one that comes to town every summer, like we’ve done for the last four years, to get on the thrill rides no one else wants to ride, and stuff our faces with the carnival junk, and the first one to hurl owes the other one a free pizza meal on the next pizza day."

Leo snickered to himself and added: "I haven't lost yet!" But his smile fell when Draxum dryly told him:

“I suggest you limit yourself to a moderate amount of 'carnival junk', be sure to drink plenty of water, and I strongly recommend you limit your ‘thrill’ rides to no more than two or three, or else you will run the risk of cutting your day short with a brain bleed.”

“Yeah, that’s all we can take anyway after those wonky carnival hot dogs,” Leo replied with a sad little smile, worried over his current diagnosis but fondly remembering their last trip to the carnival, and deciding he would take Draxum’s advice not to indulge too much in their delicious but fatty, deep fried or sugary foods, that were always hard on his stomach after a day of thrill rides and nothing else to eat. Then he continued.

“After that, Pops and I are driving around in the tank, checking out his Lou Jitsu dojos, and Sunday I’m taking Case to my favorite Hidden City comic book and games store, then we’re gonna walk around the Hidden City Market and eat some of my favorite yokai food at the food court, cuz he hasn’t been to the Hidden City yet. But I guess I oughta leave my katanas home and wear my hoodie or something, so no one recognizes me and we get left alone. And we’re ending everything with a bang at Hueso’s for a family meal on Tuesday. One you’re coming to even if I have to drag you there myself,” he added with a bit of firmness.

He waited for Draxum to object, but when he didn’t Leo knew it meant he was willing to come without complaint, and he told him: “Donnie said he’ll make the reservations today.”

“And then you’ll tell them?”

The sadness returned to Leo’s voice when he agreed: “Yeah. Then I’ll tell them. Guess I don’t have much of a choice anymore. But I’ll tell them Wednesday, I want Tuesday to end on a happy note.” Then he looked up at Draxum to gauge his reaction when he said: "And I wanna go back to the lair after Hueso's, to spend the night."

Draxum looked down on him and in all seriousness reminded: "You know it's best for you to stay here, close to me and my lab and advanced med bay in the event something urgent and unexpected happens."

Leo looked away to fiddle with the long fur on the throw covering his turtle body, and quietly said: "I got my com and my portals."

"Do you sleep with your com and your portal swords?"

"No, but they're in reach."

"And what if..." "It's only one night," Leo curtly interrupted, with a sadness to his voice and not wanting to hear the long list of reasons not to spend the night that Draxum no doubt thought up on the spot.

But he perked up a little when Barry replied with: "The decision is yours."

"Thanks. I'm going," Leo immediately informed him, but still sounding a little sad over this whole situation.

Drax nodded his head with a hum of acknowledgement, and then firmly but lovingly told Leo: “I'm certain you'll understand when I tell you, I cannot agree with you continuing your jobs.”

“Yeah,” Leo once again sadly agreed. “I’ll let my boss know I won’t be in tonight, but can I get one more day at the dojo? I wanna tell Master Nakamura to his face.”

“Agreed, but be careful not to overexert yourself while you are there.”

“I will.”

After that weighty conversation, they stayed silently like that for a while, until Leo thought of something and asked: “Will this affect my portals?”

“It will have no effect on the power or ability of your ‘ninpo’ as you call it. However using your mystic powers will become more and more draining for you physically as your body gradually . . . weakens.”

“Dies,” Leonardo said factually. “You can say ‘as your body gradually dies.’ We both know that’s what’s happening. Might as well accept it.”

Draxum slowly nodded his head in agreement but didn’t in any way respond because he was caught up in the troubled workings of his own mind and focusing his attention on not shedding a single tear in front of his son.

The two of them spent the rest of the evening together on the couch, with Leo napping for a while and the impeccably clean goat yokai even opening a portal to the kitchen to take the rest of the slider's leftover pizza out of the fridge; allowing him to eat his meal right there, on the couch, in the living room, where he never before allowed food, drinks (or even gum) of any kind.

Leo’s boss gave him a hard time when he called to inform him that he was quitting without notice. And he kept stressing the already ill slider who just wanted some peace and quiet in his life, by calling him repeatedly and sending demeaning and demanding text messages.

That was, until the ‘great and powerful Draxum’ - who was well-known throughout the Hidden City - discreetly portalled straight into his living room when Leo left to shower, and had a few ‘words’ with him; being careful not to give away any details of his son's condition while also making it perfectly clear he was not to bother Leonardo anymore, under a subtle reminder (threat) that ‘giant razor-fanged terrorworms’ were known to have a taste for yokai who 'accidentally' found themselves inside one of their caverns.

He came home before Leo even knew he was gone, and later that night, the ill mutant red-eared slider suffered from another brief ‘flashback seizure’, one that resulted in him sleeping through his alarm the next morning and waking with only two minutes to spare.

When he saw the time, Leo jumped out of bed, hastily changed out of his blue striped pyjamas into his black shorts, threw on his belt so he could sheathe his katanas, and stuffed his phone into his belt pouch, when Draxum knocked on his door.

“I’m kinda in a rush!” Leo called out. Draxum opened his door regardless as Leo picked up his mask, opting to leave his ninja wrappings home this time, and the goat alchemist said: “You didn’t show up for your morning scan.”

Leo looked at the goat he viewed as a dad, to say: “I’m late. Today’s my last day, can’t we do it after?”

When Draxum didn’t reply because he was thinking about the potential consequences of that request, Leo added a polite: "Please?” and he consented by saying: “Eat breakfast.”

Unsurprisingly, the slider Draxum wouldn't admit he viewed as a son hauled out an energy bar from his nightstand and held it up for him to see, simultaneously grasping his sword hilt with his other hand, to open a portal.

When his yokai ‘dad’ didn’t object, he began tying his mask to the back of his head as he stepped through, coming out the other side in his sensei’s dojo facing his sensei at the front of the room with his back to the rest of the dojo, while tightening the knot in his mask to pull it taut over his face, and saying a panicky: “I’m sorry I’m late sensei, I was…” “And here he is now, our selfless hero, the destroyer of the krang and defender of the earth, Master Leonardo Hamato!”

Leo spun around and stared in shock at the sight of a room full of Master Nakamura’s higher-ranking disciples clapping and cheering for him, having been given a grand introduction by his Master's personal assistant, a short, plump tawny owl yokai.

When he stayed frozen in place, bewildered and surprised out of his wits, staring at the yokai who were still cheering for him, his taller red panda sensei walked up to stand beside him, and leaned down to whisper in his ear: “Have no fear, you are right on time. But I would have called in advance to inform you of this if I was aware you were unable to arrive early today, as is your custom.”

A small, crooked grin came on Leo’s face at the realization he was going to be able to reach the biggest goal he had set for himself since returning from the prison dimension, (before discovering he was dying) by not only having the incredible honor of teaching his very own ninjitsu class, but also being referred to as ‘Master.’

A dream that came crashing down in a fiery inferno after he was informed of his terminal illness.

Leonardo Hamato respectfully faced Master Nakamura, punched his right fist into the flat palm of his left hand and bowed at the hips with his head down, as his respectful subordinate greeting to his yokai sensei and Master, who gently bowed his head as his ninjitsu ‘Master’ greeting in response.

Next, Leo turned to face his class (his class) and when he respectfully bowed his head, a thrilling chill ran up his spine at the sight of an entire room of disciples punching their right fists into their palms and bowing low at the hips in return.

Then he assumed his first stance, one that the entire class copied.

And his teaching began.

Master Nakamura stayed to observe Leonardo’s technique and unique but skillful and effective ninjitsu fighting style - which was a combination of what he learned from Splinter (aka Lou Jitsu) throughout the years, how he learned to fight the ‘Hamato’ way when they were training for their fight against the Shredder, as well as a few things he and his brothers picked up from one another along the way, and (of course) a little ‘Leo flair’ thrown in to even it out and bring it all together.

But about halfway through the one hour class, Master Nakamura began noticing his physically fit, ‘champion of the world’ disciple was tiring easily and already sweating and out of breath.

But the ill 'Master Leonardo' was determined to see this through to the end.

By the time the class finished and he was respectfully standing by the open door to exchange a ‘Master’ bow in response to each ‘student’ bow as they left, Master Nakamura saw that he was not only shiny from sweat and out of breath, but his pupil was trembling, looking a little paler than he did at the beginning of the class, and discreetly kept a hand on the doorknob behind the open door, like he was using it as a support to help hold himself upright.

As soon as the last disciple left the dojo and Leo closed the door behind her - leaving only him and his sensei in the otherwise empty room - he slowly let his hand fall off the doorknob and turned around to get his towel off the small table pushed up against the front wall.

But after only taking three shaky steps he collapsed onto the floor.

"Leonardo!”

Master Nakamura ran to kneel by his side and put his hand under Leo’s sweaty head, looking down on him with concern and a little fear in his eyes, before pointing his face at the door and loudly calling out: "Patricia!”

The plump, short tawny owl who announced Master Leonardo’s arrival opened the door and Master Nakamura ordered her: “Get the medic!”

“Hai sensei!” She left in a hurry, and Master Nakamura looked back at Leo when he weakly raised a hand to brush it against his arm, and told him: “There’s nothing a medic can do.”

“Do not fear, Leonardo, our medic will transport you to the local hospital, the doctors there are the best in the city, you will be fine.”

Leo shook his head and informed him of the dire news: “No, sensei, I won't be fine, I’m dying. Send them away when they get here. Please. There’s nothing they can do for me.”

Master Nakamura looked down on Leo in shock, and when Patricia the owl arrived with the zebra medic, Leo waved then away, entreating: “Please, no, sensei. I’ll call Draxum instead, there’s nothing they can do. Really.”

Master Nakamura thankfully nodded his head before looking at the owl and zebra to say: “Everything is under control. Please shut the door on your way out." Then he upheld 'Master Leonardo's' honor when he firmly ordered: "and do not inform anyone of what you saw here today.”

“Hai sensei.”

The two of them left, shutting the door behind them; then when Leo requested Master Nakamura pushed a mat up against the closest wall and helped him move onto it, so he could sit up with the back of his shell leaning against the wall. Following that his sensei took his towel off the table and put it behind Leonardo’s head for something soft to lay it against.

After that, Master Nakamura knelt on the floor in front of Leo - a little to the side because his turtle legs were stretched out on the floor in front of him - and he asked very seriously with an air of concern: “Excuse the intrusion, but do you mind if I inquire what is wrong with you?”

“No, I don’t mind.”

Leo took a deep breath in through his nose and slowly exhaled through his mouth before looking at his sensei and telling him: “Apparently the prison dimension isn’t compatible with lifeforms in our dimension, or something like that. Heh..." he huffed out a somewhat bitter sounding laugh with a weak little smile, adding: "I never understand Draxum when he goes off on that sciency jargon." His smile fell and he continued: "but anyway, that little trick I pulled, trapping myself in there with . . . him is what’s slowly killing me.”

Despite the grave news he had to share, Leo's Master made him smile when he commended: “A truly honorable and noble move," before asking: "Do you mind if I inquire as to how much time you have left?”

Leo huffed out a sad, bitter laugh, took his eyes off his sensei to blankly stare ahead at the dojo where he just taught, and replied: “Last I heard, just over four years, but that number keeps getting smaller.”

“And there’s nothing at all that can be done to extend your life?”

Leo slowly shook his head, rolling it back and forth on the wall he was leaning against, and responded: “No. Draxum knows how to make medicine to help with the symptoms, but there’s no way to extend my life. Not even by a day.”

“Surely one of the competent doctors in the Hidden City could find some way to save your life. If not the Hidden City, then other yokai cities and settlements scattered throughout the globe. If this ‘Draxum’ you are referring to is the great Baron Draxum, he is well-know and respected far and wide for his outstanding achievements and abilities.”

Master Nakamura sadly looked at Leo when he shook his head again and then told him: “I’m not a yokai, I’m a mutant turtle. Draxum created me in his lab sixteen years ago with my brothers, when we were just ordinary baby turtles. There’s nothing any doctor can do, yokai or human, my body's too unique. He’s the only one who knows how to help, and he already told me there’s no way to extend my life."

Leo averted his eyes from gazing around the dojo to look at his sensei with a weak, crooked smile, and the dying turtle sounded like he was trying to comfort him when he said: "But hey, don't worry about me. I was already ready to die when I fought that alien monster and portalled us to that other place. And now, I get to live longer than I thought I would and I'll get to die here on earth, with my family around instead of trapped far away, all alone in another dimension. And I've got peace with that. But do me a favor?”

“I will do anything within my power.”

"Don’t tell anyone right away," Leonardo requested. "Wait at least two weeks, and then feel free to tell whoever you want. I’m giving my family one last week to build happy memories before I let them know. And…” He paused to take a deep breath and looked down to open his pouch so he could get his cell phone to call Draxum, because he forgot his wrist com at home.

“I’d like to give them a week to process it all before the yokai world finds out their new ‘hero’ is dying.”

“Of course, I will tell no one. A ninja’s word is his honor.”

“Thanks, I know I can trust you.”

Leo pulled up Draxum’s number on his phone, but before he tapped the ‘call’ icon, he looked up at his Master with a genuine smile on his tired face and said: “And thanks for today. It meant more to me than you'll ever know. I’ll never forget it as long as I live.”

“You’re welcome,” Master Nakamura replied, with a gentle, respectful nod. Then Leo pressed the call icon on the touchscreen of his phone and raised it up to his ear to ask Draxum to come pick him up.

Before he even finished hanging up, a magenta portal opened in front of them, with the ‘great Baron Draxum’ stepping into the room and calmly looking down on the sweaty, out of breath and slightly pale turtle smiling up at him.

“You overexerted yourself,” came the expected comment.

“Yeah, I know, but it was so worth it,” Leo responded, still smiling from the happy memory he was blessed with that day and informing his dad in an excited (but still tired) tone: “They let me teach a class and called me Master and everything.” He gazed up at his sensei, his eyes sparkling with appreciation, before looking back up at Draxum, to say: “That was something I didn’t think I’d ever get a chance to do.”

Next, Draxum bent down with the intent of picking up Leo and carrying him through the portal he left open in the room, but he stopped when his son objected: “No, I wanna walk out of here on my last day.”

Leonardo extended both arms for Draxum to help him up, but when he got to his feet he was too unsteady for his goat dad to feel comfortable letting him stand on his own. So instead, he stood behind Leo and let his turtle son lean the back of his shell against his body for support, which was all he needed to be able to respectably stand before his Master and sensei.

Next, Leo firmly thrust his right fist into the open palm of his left hand. His dad put his hands out, ready to catch him if he fell when he slowly bowed down low. But despite Draxum's concerns, he didn't fall or need more support, and Leonardo Hamato managed to end his last day at the dojo on his feet with a respectful final bow for his sensei. Then he smiled and his heart swelled with joy when he stood back up and saw his sensei standing tall and proud like the ninja Master he was, to respectfully thrust his right fist into the flat palm of his left hand and bow low at the hips as a sign of respect for the dying ninja Master standing before him.

The one who was now known throughout the entire yokai world for his valiant, selfless, nobel and heroic act in defeating the alien Krang threat, and who would soon die a hero in exchange for saving the lives of everyone the world over.

Chapter 13: Three Words I Never Though I'd Hear Draxum Say

“It is very important that our family meal on Tuesday be a happy, fun, enjoyable occasion.”

Chapter Text

Leo's last 'happy fun' bonding week started off with him and Mikey spray painting graffiti in random New York alleys.

Overall things seemed to be going great for the two of them, although Leo imperceptibly tensed whenever a stiff wind blew past, with him raising his head each time to gaze around, just to be sure all was well and they were safe.

But things changed when the sun began setting.

In the prison dimension change was a bad thing.

Change meant Krang Prime was coming for him.

He did his best to keep his anxiety under control but by this point Mikey was noticing how his jaw was tight and his arm seem stiff when he used the spray cans, although he didn't say anything about it.

Then, the sun set, and that changed everything.

Leo had been putting all his focus on the graffiti tag he was spray painting in a New York back alley as a way to distract his mind from the changing colors of the sunset.

Meaning he didn't notice when the vibrant reds of sunset gave way to the purple hues of twilight, which in turn gave way to the black darkness of night.

Not until Mikey got his attention by asking him to look at his art that he painted on a dumpster behind his back.

Leo turned around with a grin on his face for his little brother, but that was when the darkness caught his attention and he instead shot his eyes up to stare at the all-black sky above their heads.

Everything went fuzzy after that.

He didn't know when he did it or how it happened, but one second he was staring up at what he swore was Krang Prime coming after him, that monstrous red glowing eye on his mech suit contrasted against the blackness of the prison dimension, and the next second he was sitting on his turtle bum in Draxum's lab, with Mikey and his surrogate dad leaning over him, the latter encouraging him to take deep breaths.

Leo gasped in a sharp breath through his mouth (had he been holding his breath?) and blankly stared up at the two worried faces gazing down on him.

It took a moment before his eyes showed signs of recognition, and then Leo cast them down onto his right hand that was on the floor, grasping the hilt of his katana.

He could feel the residual, electrified buzz of energy inside of him, indicating he had just opened a portal. But when and how? He didn't do it on purpose!

The slider gazed around the lab, getting his bearings straight, and inquired:

"Did I . . . did I portal us here?"

"Mm hmm, yeah you did. Are you ok?" came his little brother’s voice.

Leo's senses fully returned to him by now, so that he was able to see the worry creasing Mikey's face and radiating from his eyes as he stared at him.

The 'faceman' of the 'Mad Dogs' family team of heroes did the only natural thing next by sticking a crooked grin on his face and casually reassuring his little brother:

"Yeah, all's good bro, it was just..."

He involuntarily shuddered from a bad memory, dropping his fake casual attitude to blandly say: "A lot."

He shuddered again from the thought of looking up at that black sky, seeing - in his mind's eye - Krang Prime's grasping clawed mech hands reaching out for him.

But all was not lost, the night was still young and they were safe in the Hidden City now.

But the worried look Draxum gave to him told him he probably should stay home after what just happened to him.

Instead of ordering him to rest however, his goat dad must have realized how important this day was to him, so he regained his composure and calmly commented: "I always felt the rocky slabs in the abandoned quarry outside my property were rather drab."

Leo and Mikey’s smiles split their faces in half with how big they were. They whole-heartedly agreed and were gone in a heartbeat.

And later that night, long after Mikey and Leo dispersed and the slider was sound asleep in his bed, Draxum retired for the night and gazed out his bedroom window with a smile on his face at the sight of a mural painted on one of the largest slabs facing his house.

One of all of them (including him) happy and together.

He knew this painting would bring him comfort in the days, weeks, months, and years following his son's inevitable death.

The prison dimension was always cold.

The rocks, the air, the floating islands...

...Krang Prime's mech suit...

...his squishy alien tentacles.

Everything.

That was why the gentle breeze brushing against Leo's turtle shell and skin didn't bother him in the least on his next brotherly bonding day, where he portalled him and Donnie to a secluded tropical getaway, so they could test out Dee's latest round of explosive tech.

Leo had a blast (quite literally) with the shoulder cannon Donnie needed to calibrate before it could come out of beta.

Both of them took turns creating massive holes in the ocean, accompanied by huge waves; one that washed over their heads when Leo accidentally-on-purpose shot one too close to the shore (to get Donnie soaking wet, of course)

And he made sure to portal them there when it was late morning to ensure they would be home long before the sun set and the prison dimension reared its ugly head nighttime came.

Their conversation was likewise a blast, with Donnie being careful to keep everything light-hearted, and even throwing in a few bad puns for his brother's sake (something Leo really appreciated, because he knew Dee hated that 'lowly' form of humor).

And he was even happier that he didn't have a single nose bleed or seizure the entire time.

Leo's happy fun time with Mikey and then Donnie had come and gone.

Now this was the afternoon of day three, and things were about to change, as a result of a significant but necessary increase to Leo’s seizure medication.

Leo was in the gym in Draxum’s place, slowly and gently practicing his kenjutsu, being careful not to overexert himself before he met-up with Raph to go watch the Ghostbear's ‘once in a lifetime’ wrestling match from their usual spot above the scoreboard. But he had a bad stomach all day, which Draxum told him to expect as a side effect of the much stronger seizure meds; and which also progressively worsened as the day went on, accompanied by a few times when he had to stop and cover his mouth when he urged into his hand.

Plus he just felt awful overall, and why was he sweating so much? It wasn't like he was exerting himself.

At the moment, just as he was thrusting ahead, he was hit with another sudden - but this time overwhelming - wave of nausea. One that forced him to his knees, where he vomited right there on the floor before falling onto his side, curled up in a ball, with both arms wrapped around his stomach, moaning and trying his best to hold back from the next unbearable wave of nausea.

Leo lay that way for a moment, groaning and tightening his grip around his stomach. Then, when he felt he could move without upchucking again, he raised his wrist com to his face to call out to Draxum.

“Drax.”

Immediately the reply came: “Where are you?”

“Gym,” Leo answered, before covering his mouth and urging into his hand a couple of times.

The ill slider didn’t move or even open his eyes when Draxum walked out through his portal by his head.

He didn't have to ask what happened - the evidence was right there in front of him. However Draxum did crouch down and informed Leo what he was about to do just before using his custom insta-read thermometer and taking his temperature, because he was sweaty and looked feverish.

The goat alchemist gently swiped the thermometer across Leonardoo's forehead and the sick slider asked: “Are you done the nausea medicine yet?”

Barry stared at the high number on the thermometer display screen, informing him: “No. It should be completed by morning. You also have a fever,” before putting his thermometer into his pocket to disinfect later.

“Is that from the seizure meds?”

“No.”

"Of course not."

Leo groaned but didn’t object when Draxum scooped him up into his arms, and a new magenta portal opened, leading straight to the slider's bedroom. But he did object when Draxum told him: “You must go to bed.”

Leonardo opened his eyes to look up at dad, pleading: “No, I gotta go to the match with Raph. We’re gonna meet up in fifteen minutes.”

“You are in no condition to go anywhere.”

"Please, it’s the last brotherly bonding day I’ll get with my big bro before they all find out.”

Unfortunately (and predictably) The only reply Draxum gave was to step through the portal, saying: “I will inform him you cannot make it.”

Leo groaned some more, but this time it was a combination of his bad stomach and the disappointment of missing out on his special day with Raph.

Barry laid him in his bed, covered him with his blanket, and then picked up the garbage container under his desk to lay it beside his bed, in case he had to throw up again. While he was doing that, Leo opened his eyes to look up at him and say: “Tell him I got food poisoning or sumthing. He can’t find out yet, uuughh.”

He shut his eyes, hugged his bad belly tighter, and continued.

“We gotta have our family meal at Hueso’s, and it has to be happy, fun, and enjoyable. I need it. I need that good memory, so I can look back on it and smile when things get worse.”

Leo moaned some more and was oblivious to Draxum fondly and sadly looking down on him. Then a portal to the lab opened in the room behind the goat scientist’s back, and he gently said: “I’ll tell him you have food poisoning ‘or sumthing’.”

“Uuugh, thanks, dad.”

Leo didn’t notice his slip up, but Draxum did, and he merely smiled down on his son to softly reply: “You’re welcome,” before turning around to disinfect where Leo threw up in the gym so he could get back to his important work on the anti-nausea medication.

As well as commencing with a new fever medicine that he hadn’t started before now, because many of Leo’s new symptoms could not be predicted in advance.

(He secretly wondered if they would discover more time had been taken off his life expectancy with Leo's next scan)

“Yeah. Ok. Bye.”

Raph hung up from his conversation with Draxum, and had such a sad sounding voice it made Mikey sit up and take note.

Both turtle brothers were hanging out, reading comics in the rec room, each on their respective color-coordinated beanbag chair, and Mikey lowered his comic when he saw the sad/worried look on his big brother’s face, to ask: “What’s wrong?”

Raph sadly stared down at his cell phone, replying with: “Draxum said Leo’s sick, he got food poisoning or something, and he can’t make it.”

“Aw man that’s too bad. And just when things started going good. We had a blast out on the town, even if he did have a panic attack! There wasn’t any tension or anything between us, it was just like old times!”

Mikey resumed reading his comic, Raph put his phone away, and said: “I was hoping I’d get to ask him if he’d think about comin’ home again.”

“Oh well, next time,” Mikey casually responded - starting to think that maybe would be a good idea considering how great things were going between them now - before offering: “If you don’t wanna watch Ghostbear by yourself I’ll go with you.”

“Thanks, but how ‘bout you record it for me? Leo and I can watch it later, when he’s feeling better.”

“You got it big guy,” Mikey agreed, with a 'thumbs up', but not tearing his eyes away from his comic.

He didn’t say anything when Raph stood up to leave the room, besides humming: “Mm hmm,” with another ‘thumbs up’ when the big snapper told him: “It starts in half an hour. Text me the link when it’s done.”

Draxum ignored the sound of his doorbell ringing, opting instead to stay focused on completing Leo’s fever and nausea medications, so his sickly son could get out and enjoy the next few days with his family before the figurative hammer dropped.

After ignoring the second and third rings, Raphael let himself in and interrupted Draxum with the very stern demand: “Alright goat man, we both know Leo’s sick and I’m not talking about food poisoning. You’re telling me what’s wrong with him and you’re telling me now!”

Without turning around from his work, Draxum bluntly replied: “I’m busy. See you on Tuesday at the family gathering. You know where the door is.”

Raph’s angry scowl was replaced with a surprised look, and he asked: “Wait, you’re going too?”

“Leonardo insists.”

His scowl instantly returned and the snapper curtly demanded: “That’s it, I’m not leaving until you answer me! What's wrong with Leo!?”

The tired, overworked and under-rested alchemist replied with a very factual: “Leonardo is experiencing side effects as a result of his time in the prison dimension. Nothing more, nothing less,” to hurry up and get this unwanted distraction over with.

But his reply didn’t have the desired effect, because this time Raph’s angry scowl changed to a worried expression, he walked into the lab instead of out of it, and stood at the table beside the taller yokai to look up at him and ask the dreaded question: “Is he gonna be ok?”

Draxum slammed his hands down on the table in frustration and glared at Raph to forcefully reply as a demand and not a statement:

“You know where the door is,”

with the big snapper knowing based on his past interactions with the goat yokai this wasn’t a ‘yes,’ but it also wasn’t a ‘no.'

And that there was nothing he could do to get the answer out of him right this moment.

Raph watched as Draxum resumed his work with test tubes and beakers and dozens of different-colored solutions on his work station, knowing that he wasn’t going to get any more answers out of him. So after a moment of silence, he changed the subject by saying: “Mikey’s recording the fight. I’ll come back later to watch it with him.”

Draxum picked up a beaker and a test tube, slowly and carefully poured the contents of the test tube into the beaker, keeping his eyes on it while replying: “Come here after eight pm. Leonardo should be feeling better by then.”

“Ah, yeah. Ok.”

Raph turned to slowly walk away; but just before leaving the lab he stopped when Draxum got his attention by loudly and firmly insisting: “It is very important that our family meal on Tuesday be a happy, fun, enjoyable occasion.”

Raph turned around to look at Draxum with his brows furrowed in worry, and he said in a soft, sad voice: “Happy, fun, and enjoyable. Three words I never thought I’d hear you say.”

Without turning around to face him or slowing down in his work, Draxum replied:

“They are Leonardo’s words.”

“You’re really not gonna tell me if he’s ok or not?”

This time, Draxum did stop his work to fully turn around, facing Raphael and telling him: “Leonardo will tell you himself on Wednesday.”

. . .

“Oh.”

“Do not inform him of our conversation or that you were here. And it’s best for everyone if you keep this between us for the time being.”

The goat alchemist picked up the beaker he was just adding something to from a test tube, along with a clear, glass stir stick, and he pointed the stick at Raphael when he firmly repeated: “Remember. Happy. Fun. Enjoyable.”

Then he didn’t break eye contact with the mutant snapper, waiting for a reply, as he began stirring the solution; with the only sound that could be heard being the gentle clinking of glass on glass, until Raph replied with a quiet, sad: “Uh, yeah. Got it,” before turning around to take his leave, despite every fiber of his being urging him to stay, to be here for Leo when he finally woke up again.

~Some Time Later~

The bright light from a magenta portal shone on Leo’s face, but that wasn’t what woke him up. Nor the thermometer that gently slid across his forehead, or the voice of his dad calling out his name repeatedly. Rather, it was the firm tapping on the side of his arm.

Leo opened his eyes and looked up to see Draxum standing over him, holding a beaker containing some sort of goopy, greenish-brown something, and a measuring spoon in the other hand.

“Take this, it will help with the fever.”

Leo sat up as Draxum poured the thick medicine into the tablespoon. Without a word, he took it from Draxum’s hand and downed it as quickly as he could, before screwing up his nose and complaining: “Yuck, that stuff tastes worse than the time I ate a moldy sandwich Donnie found in a dumpster on one of his bets.”

“How is your stomach?”

“Better.”

“Good.”

Draxum took the measuring spoon back and told Leo: “Raphael will be here soon, to spend your ‘brotherly bonding’ time together.”

“Did you tell him I’m sick?”

“He is aware you have ‘food poisoning or something’,” Draxum honestly replied.

Leo propped his pillow up against the wall to lean back on it, and then pulled his blankets up over his stomach.

“Good. I was afraid he’d come here when you told him I'm sick and ask a bunch of questions I don’t want him knowing the answers to yet.”

Not wanting to unnecessarily stress his already unwell son by confirming Raphael was, in fact, there earlier, Draxum’s only response was to gesture to a sandwich and a glass of orange juice he laid on Leo’s nightstand before waking him, saying: “Perhaps a sandwich was a poor choice for a meal following that ‘moldy’ medication. Do you think you can stomach it?”

Leo laughed at Draxum’s dry joke and reached for the sandwich with a: “Yeah.” Then he laid the plate on his lap and in a humorous tone, joked: “Pizza in the living room and a sandwich and juice in my bedroom? What’s next? A cigar and a foot massage?”

His dad leaned forward to get his face closer to Leo's, joking with a slight grin: “I draw the line at foot massages.”

“So that’s not a ‘no’ on the cigar?” came the immediate reply, along with a couple of laughs thrown in at the end.

But the only reply Draxum gave was to stand up straight with a portal to his lab opening behind his back, and inform him: “I have to resume work on the nausea medication if it’s to be ready by the morning, so you can enjoy your ‘carnival food’ and ‘thrill rides’ with April tomorrow.”

Leo was about to take a bite of his sandwich, but stopped when he realized something and looked up at Draxum to ask: “Wait, does that mean you’re pulling an all-nighter for me?”

But once again, instead of answering his question, Draxum simply replied with: “I will send Raphael to your room when he arrives.” Then he turned around and disappeared through his portal to tend to his important tasks, having no choice but to leave Leonardo alone to eat his meal, even though he would have much rather stayed to spend time with his terminally ill son.

Just before eight pm, Leo went to the lab where the goat alchemist was. As soon as he heard him come in, without looking away from his work, Draxum commented: “You should still be resting.”

Leo walked up to the worktable where he was, leaned on it with his elbow, and replied: “Yeah, I know. But I don’t wanna be in my room when Raph gets here.”

Unbeknownst to both of them, around that time Raph showed up early and let himself in. And now he was making his way down the hall, to stand out of sight beside the entrance to the lab, trying to learn more about what was going on with Leo by doing something he had repeatedly scolded his younger brothers for doing over the years:

Eavesdropping.

So he heard Leo and Draxum's entire conversation.

“How do you feel?”

“Tired and still a little sick, but not much. I suppose I need to get used to that, it’s not gonna get any better.”

“Here.”

In between scooping some kind of white powder into a clear solution in a beaker, Draxum took the thermometer out of his lab coat pocket and laid it on the table in front of Leo.

“Take your temperature.”

Leo picked it up and looked over the strange item that didn’t look like a thermometer and was too thick to put into his mouth, so he asked: “How does it work?” not realizing Draxum had already used it on him twice.

“Press the button to turn it on and swipe it across your forehead.”

Leo did as he was told, and when he looked at it he said: “Ninety-three point eight.”

“Good, that means the fever broke.”

The ill slider kept gazing at the number, inquiring: “I thought a normal temperature was ninety-eight point six.”

“For humans, yes, but ninety-three point eight is normal for mutant turtles.”

“Oh. I feel like I should've known that.”

"You are the family medic."

"Right, I keep forgetting."

Leo went to lay the thermometer down but stopped when Draxum pointed to a canister on the back of the table and instructed: “Disinfect it first.”

Leo popped open the top to the disinfectant wipes and pulled one out to wipe off the thermometer. As he did that, he asked: “Is that the nausea medicine?”

“It will be when it’s completed.”

Draxum used a glass stir stick to gently combine the ingredients and Leo switched his gaze from the beaker to his dad's face, to ask: “Did you eat anything today?”

“Yes.”

With a crooked grin and resting a hand on his hip, Leo asked: “Alright, wiseguy, did you eat anything after we had breakfast this morning?”

“No.”

“You gotta eat too, you know!”

“I will eat when I'm finished here.”

Leo gestured out vividly with his hands and exclaimed: “But you said that’s gonna take you all night!”

“Correction, I said it will be done by morning.”

That calm reply prompted Leonardo to put a hand back on his hip and let out a sarcastic-sounding: “Alright O wise scientist, enlighten me. What’s the difference between ‘take all night’ and ‘done by morning’?”

Draxum took the stir stick out, laid it on a clean glass dish on the table, and while reaching for a glass container of orange-pinkish powder he replied: “I will not be here all night working on this. It requires two sets of incubation, the first for three hours and the second for two, followed by four to six hours in the medical dehydrator.”

“Heh, incubation? Are you hatching a mutant chicken or sumthing?”

"I will if it would help you," Draxum dryly replied as his form of a joke (but really being serious about the fact that he would do anything in his power to help his son through this difficult time).

Draxum continued scooping the powder and Leo pointed to what he was working on and asked: “Is that stuff gonna help when I start to get sick?”

“No, this is only as an antidote to the nausea side effect of your seizure medication. When that happens, I’ll make a new medication in response to your specific symptoms.”

“So I’ll have to be sick for a while until you finish the meds?”

“Unfortunately yes.”

“Why can’t you just make nausea meds now, to be ready for it?”

Draxum picked up the stir stick to gently combine the ingredients in the beaker again, replying: “Due to your mutant physiology and the unique condition you have been afflicted with, I need to know the exact symptoms before I can begin creating a treatment. For example, nausea may or may not be accompanied with stomach pain or vomiting. Even minor differences can greatly impact the delicate balance between your damaged neural connection, mutagen, and other components of your medication. And, of course, the strength of the dose. We always want to start you out on the lowest dose possible so we have plenty of room to increase it as time goes by.”

“Oh, ok.”

That reply carried a hint of sadness with it, and Leo quietly watched Draxum stir the now orange-pinkish solution. When he put it in something on the back of his worktable that looked like a silvery miniature microwave (that Leo figured was the incubator) he turned around to lean his back against the table with his elbows on it, and his dad gave him his attention when he said: “I guess Raph will be here soon.”

“You appear nervous,” Barry commented.

Leo looked down at his hand to pick at his fingernails as one of the nervous habits he developed from his time in the prison dimension, softly replying: “Yeah. I really want our time to be fun like it was with Mikey and Donnie, but I’m afraid he’s gonna drill me for info cuz I was sick today. Plus the nosebleeds and stuff. And if anyone is gonna try to convince me to move back, it’ll be him. But that’s not a good idea, I need to be close to you and all this stuff.”

He gestured to all the many bottles of something on the workstation he was leaning against, and Draxum looked down on him to say: “That is a very adult choice to make.”

Leo huffed out a laugh and - still looking down at his hands and picking at his fingernails - he said: “Thanks.”

“Are you still planning on spending the night at the lair on Tuesday?”

“Yeah. I mean if I can. If . . . if things don’t change before then.”

Leo kept his head down but pointed his eyes up to look at Draxum, hoping the yokai alchemist would reassure him everything would be fine and nothing would change for the worse before then, but when he didn’t say anything in reply, the slider knew that meant even his intelligent creator didn’t know for sure what to expect from day to day.

Meanwhile, as the silence stretched on Raph decided it was time to stealthily ninja away to the front door, where he planned on ringing the doorbell so they wouldn’t know he was already in the house. Listening.

As Raphael was walking down the hall, out of hearing range, the only words of ‘comfort’ (if that was what it could be called) was when Draxum offer the suggestion: “We could increase your scans to thrice daily until Tuesday. Perhaps that will give us a better idea as to what to expect leading up to your big event.”

“Thanks, I’ll . . . think about it.”

“Remember to text me if you notice any new symptoms or anything of concern while you are in the lair with our family. And let me know immediately after you inform them of your diagnosis on Wednesday, I require Donatello’s assistance as soon as possible to complete a number of important tasks.”

“Yeah, I . . . *sigh* I will.”

At that moment, the doorbell rang and Leo went to answer it, knowing who it was, but Draxum put a hand out to stop him, instructing: “You still require rest for your day out with April tomorrow. I’ll send Raphael to the living room. And I won’t check in on you so it doesn’t arouse suspicion. If you notice any new symptoms discreetly send a text, and I highly recommend avoiding the use of your portals between now and Wednesday, so it doesn’t drain your strength.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Leo replied, but (understandably) sounding a little sad after their discussion, and hanging his head, looking down at his hands instead of up at Barry's face, before parting ways with his dad, going to the living room as Draxum left to answer the door.

Leo’s night with his big brother ended up being just as happy, relaxed, and fun of a time as his bonding days with Mikey and Donnie. Raphael showed up with two bags full of their favorite snacks (some Leo was even able to stomach) and they put the code for the video Mikey recorded into Draxum’s tv to watch Ghostbear’s epic fight together; both of them not knowing what to expect and being on the edge of their seats more than a few times (even though Leo still insisted the fights were rigged).

When it was all over, Leo went to bed with a big smile on his face, happy that his bonding day with Raph went better than expected, and relieved his big brother didn’t ask any questions he didn’t want to answer, or make any comments about him moving back in with them.

But Raph, on the other hand, dragged his feet all along the way home with a frown and a crease between his brows, worrying more than ever about his brother, who was sick, apparently was going to keep getting sicker, and who ‘might or might not’ get better.

Whatever that meant.

When Raph got home late that night and he saw a light shining out from Donnie’s open lab door, he went to say good night; but as soon as he walked into the lab, Dee spun around in his computer chair where he was sitting in front of his way too big and way too bright computer screen, playing a new video game (definitely not made by the Purple Dragons) to address his big bro with the words: “Mikey told me Leo has food poisoning…” he raised his hands to make air quotes (looking very unimpressed), “‘or something’.”

“Uh, yeah, he had food poisoning. Said it was some wonky burrito he ate in the Hidden City Market or something.”

“AH-HA!”

Donnie jumped up from his chair, thrust a finger out at Raph as though he had a ‘eureka’ moment, and in a confident, smug tone he proudly exclaimed: “Leo does not have food poisoning because our mutant bodies are impervious to the effects of e. coli, salmonella, campylobacter, listeria, or any other bacterial infection that causes the symptoms of food pois-o-ning.”

He didn’t notice when Raph shut the door behind him so no one else would hear their conversation, because he was fully absorbed in his own inner workings of his genius mind, going into ‘speech mode’ and briskly pacing back and forth in front of Raph, saying: “With the exception of the rat flu we are also impervious to the effects of viruses, alcohol, illicit drugs, medications, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Which is why pain killers don't work on us.”

Donnie stopped pacing to face Raph with his arms out wide and confidently (and loudly) proclaimed: “Leo can’t catch as much as the common cold let alone food poisoning!” He rubbed his fingers on his chin and said: “So this leave only one other possibility.”

Raph sighed and grumbled: “Alright Donnie, Draxum said this stuff that’s going on with Leo are side effects from when he was in the prison dimension. But…”

“I knew it!” Donnie once again (loudly) proclaimed, Raph was surprised he didn’t seem the least bit concerned, until he ran over to stand in front of his computer and began fervently clicking at his keyboard, while sounding a little panicky when he explained: “He caught some kind of weird alien virus in the other dimension that we’re not immune to and he was in my lab since the invasion! I need to disinfect everything!” He stopped his typing to look up, scanning the room, yelling in a panic: “Where’s my hazmat suit!?” before giving his attention back to his computer.

“Listen, Leo’s not contagious,” Raph tried to reassure, not really knowing for sure if that was true or not, but rather, assuming Draxum and Leo wouldn’t be ok with him hanging around them if he was contagious. But Donnie only replied with a dismissive: “Uh huh, yeah,” not really seeming the least bit convinced, while clicking on the settings in one of his apps that he used to disinfect his entire lab.

“Donnie, look at me,” Raph sternly demanded.

“I’m a little bus-sy,” Donnie replied. "DONNIE!”

That got his attention, and the techy turtle looked behind his back at his big brother, who sternly told him: “Our family get together on Tuesday has to be happy, fun, and enjoyable. The whole gang's going, even Draxum. Leo’s been through enough already, so you’re gonna go, stick a smile on your face, and be happy you’re there! If you bring up anything about him bein’ sick I’ll sic Dr. Feelings on you for a full year of personal therapy sessions!” Then he thrust a finger at Donnie and ordered in a much firmer voice that left absolutely no room for debate: “And no Hazmat suit!”

“Fiiine. Now get out, the lab’s about to be disinfected.”

Dee clicked a button on his computer to open the door behind Raph, and then he turned around all the way to stand up straight and fully face him. As soon as Raph left through the door, Donnie clicked one more button on his computer to activate his automatic disinfecting program.

As the door slowly closed on the snapper he looked at Donnie standing in place in confusion, and asked: “Aren’t you comin’ out, too?”

The genius of the family crossed his arms in front of his chest, put a smug grin on his face, and firmly answered: “No.”

The heavy steel door closed, Raph heard it automatically lock, and then there was a *beep* to his left, so he turned his head to look at a display touchscreen his intelligent younger brother built into the wall, that had the big, bold words displayed on it:

DISINFECTING IN PROGRESS

Chapter 14: His Other Dad

"I wanna go home with dad."

Chapter Text

Leo felt relatively fine when he was out with April at the carnival. And because there were all kinds of people there in costume as a subtle advertising for the circus that just came to town, he didn’t have to bother wearing Sunita’s mystic broach. Instead he walked around in his Jupiter Jim space turtle getup (turning the occassional head or two of people who were really yokai, not humans in costumes, noticing how remarkably similar he looked to the real ninja turtle hero who banished the krang)

The anti-nausea medicine Draxum gave him that morning with his seizures meds worked like a charm, and before he left the goat alchemist also recommended he take a dose of his fever medicine as a precautionary measure. So Leo took it and washed the disgusting taste down with a big glass of the too-sweet Gatorade, at Draxum's recommendation (he didn't bother asking why because he was not interested in having that particular conversation just before his happy fun bonding day with April).

At the moment, Leo and his best friend/sister were walking around, bantering and carrying on about their ‘who hurls first’ bet. Leo picked the first ride after they had some junk food, then they each ate a carnival hot dog and chili fries followed by a candy apple, and now it was April’s turn to choose the next ride.

Leo laughed when April confidently boasted: “You’re not gonna beat me this year, Stripes! I took one of every nausea medicine they had on the shelf at the pharmacy! My stomach’s like a steel trap! Nothin’s gettin’ out, it’s allll only goin’ in. And that’s the next ride we take!”

Leo looked up when April pointed to a brand new ride aptly named ‘The Hurlinator’ and he cheekily replied: “Alright, but I’ve already got you beat!” He walked in front of her, looking at her behind his back, holding up both hands - all his three fingers on one and one on the other - to playfully pester: “Four time champ, baby! Here comes number five! What happened when Donnie bet I couldn’t down a whole cake and jug of milk and go on his antigravity sonic jet simulator without upchucking?”

He turned around to face the direction he was walking, saying: “You know who won.” Raising his arms above his head he next pointed down at himself with both thumbs, enthusiastically finishing with: “This guy!” before casually resting his hands on the back of his head, leading the way to his ‘inevitable victory.’

~About Fifteen Minutes Later~

Leo was bent over a big garbage container, hurling his guts up, with April very happily videoing him with her phone, cheerfully commentating like a sports announcer.

“Oooh, in a dramatic turn of events four time champ, never-gonna-hurl Leonardo is experiencing the bitter taste of defeat. Literally! We’re here live with the loser Leo right now. Tell me, how does it feel to know you’ve lost and had to relinquish your four time undefeated Carnival Hurl Day record, not champeen?”

April zoomed in on the side of Leo’s head and the only reply the slider gave her was to groan loudly before throwing up some more. Then she flipped her phone around to point the camera at her smiling face, and said: “You heard it for yourself folks, and you are now looking at the new champ of Carnival Hurl Day; the bestest, most gorgeous, soon-to-be two time champ, Apriiil O’Neeeil! Do you have any final words for the audience?”

April flipped her phone around to video Leo again, who took his head out of the garbage to look at it with a weak smile and say: “I’m still the most gorgeous.”

April replied by sticking her face in front of the camera, bidding 'farewell' to their 'audience' with a cheerful: “April O’Neil over and out!”

Then she stopped recording and leaned against Leo’s shell, playfully teasing: “Hmm, I think for my victory pizza next week I’m gonna order the Super Extreme Party Pizza Extravaganza Pack at Lou Mikey Tony Tony’s. What do you think, Loser Leo?”

The only response he gave was to hurl into the trash one last time, so she stood up and patted his shell before walking away, offering: “I’ll get you some ginger ale.”

And despite how sick he got, Leo went to bed that night with a smile on his face from the new memory of his fun day with April; even feeling happy for her victory, because of how excited it made her to finally win on what only he knew would very likely be their last Carnival Hurl Day ever.

~The Next Day~

Leo was sitting back, relaxing in Draxum's living room on his big sofa that was soo soft and cozy, reading one of his new comics when his cell phone rang.

He picked it up to see it was his dad, Splinter (who never texted) so he answered it, and a few words were exchanged before they ended the brief call.

Today was his special bonding day with his dad and Splinter had called to let him know he had slept in and was running behind, so Leo suggested they meet at the lair instead of at a New York portal connected to a Hidden City one where they were going to meet.

Since it would take him an extra twenty minutes to reach the lair, Leo decided to get up and leave now instead of portalling there because Draxum had warned him that using his mystic powers might tire him out physically, and he wanted to conserve his energy for the big day when they were all getting together at Run of the Mill.

When he arrived at the lair, all was quiet, with Casey in the kitchen getting a late breakfast, Splinter in his room getting ready to go out, and Leo could hear that Raph was busy working out in the dojo, so that just left Mikey and Donnie.

Leo made his way to the obvious first choice - Donnie's lab. But when he got there and stood in the open doorway, opening his mouth to announce his unplanned arrival, he abruptly stopped himself, surprised at the conversation his two brothers were having.

Out of sight, on the other side of a work table straight in front of the slider, behind some sort of large, purple, techy trunk with an open lid on the table that Donnie was actively welding, Dee and Mikey were conversing about him and Mikey's portal.

"But what if we opened another portal to the prison dimension?" Mikey inquired, his voice whiny as though he had already asked this question at least once and didn't get a satisfactory reply (and using the word 'we' because he needed Donnie and Raph's help to make it work).

Leo closed his mouth and swallowed down a lump in his throat, wanting to say something, to end this particular subject, to let them know he was here, or to walk away, pretending he never heard a thing, but instead standing in stunned silence. Looking and listening.

"One that wasn't a time portal," Michelangelo finished.

Mikey looked away when the sparks flew from Donnie's welding, and the intelligent softshell replied:

"We still have no empirical data to tell us why the first one was a time portal, Miguel. Without that crucial data there's no scientific way to ensure your next portal wouldn't also be a time portal, providing you could even open one a second time."

Leo blinked away the haziness encroaching on the edges of his vision and just stood there, listening.

"Come ooon Donnie, you know what I mean!" Mikey flat-out whined in frustration.

How long had they been having this conversation?

Was it the first time they talked about this?

Why would Mikey even want to make another portal to . . . that place!?

Leo swallowed down another lump in his throat.

Dee let out a deep sigh, the welding stopped, and - unbeknownst to Leo - he raised his welding mask up over his face, before replying in annoyance: "Alright, let's say you could open another interdimensional portal, and it wasn't a time portal and Krang Prime did not get through..." A tingly sensation travelled up the length of Leo's spine into the back of his head at the sound of that name.

"...and everything worked smoothly, according to plan..."

According to plan!? What was he mean by that!? Was this something they were planning for a while!? WHY!?

"...and we rescued Leo before all . . . that happened to him..."

'Rescued me before? What are they talking about!?'

A hand appeared, resting on the very top of the trunk's lid.

"We're looking at a number of possible outcomes. One of which being that we lose the Leo we have now."

'Wha...?'

"And don't get me started on what might happen if we wind up with two versions of Leo in the same timeline."

The lid closed, revealing Donnie and Mikey - who were looking at each other, not noticing the third turtle standing in the doorway because of how very still and quiet he was.

"Oh." Mikey hung his head in sadness. "I was hoping maybe we could do something so he didn't have to suff..." "Oh my banana pancakes."

Mikey turned his head to match Dee's gaze, only to see a very shocked Leonardo gazing back at them.

'He was right, they don't want me anymore,' was the singular thought their red-eared slider brother didn't have the energy to even try to fight against.

The three turtles stared at one another in stunned silence for a moment before Leo broke his gaze away, gesturing nervously with his hands as he fumbled over his words, saying:

"Um, I was just, uhhhh . . . leaving."

Then he was gone like lightning.

He did not want to get dragged into whatever that was and most definitely did not want to deal with what would probably turn into another conflict between him and his family (whether real or perceived was irrelevant to him).

He needed to get away somewhere, where he could think. But since he was avoiding the use of his mystic powers for the time being, portalling to a faraway secluded location was out of the question.

Besides, that wasn't where he wanted to go right now.

Where he wanted to go was to his home, in the lab, where he knew his understanding, compassionate dad, Draxum would be.

"Leo, wait!" he heard both Donnie and Mikey calling out to him from his brother's lab.

The slider picked up the pace.

"No family to love you, you're all alone."

Casey appeared in the hallway, coming out of the kitchen.

"How many years have you been stuck in this place with me?"

Leo was in such a hurry he accidentally bumped into him on his way past, not looking back, not apologizing, just continuing on his way out of there.

"Weren't your family powerful mystic warriors? And yet here you are, trapped far away, never once seeing a glimmer of even a failed attempt to rescue you."

"Leo! It's not what you think!" Mikey yelled out to him, rushing down the hall alongside Dee to catch up with him.

Casey stepped aside, staring at them in confusion on their way past.

Krang Prime leaned his grotesque mouth with those sharp, jagged, yellowish teeth in far too close for comfort to his victim's face, squeezing his slimy, cold tentacle tighter around Leo's body, and whispering in his ear:

"Are you certain they ever wanted you at all?"

Leo reached a hand out to lean against the wall from a dizzy spell that suddenly hit him, followed by rubbing his temple with the other hand from the splitting headache that followed.

"Leo!" three voices called out in a panic.

Donnie, Mikey, and Casey ran up to him, surrounding him in concern.

"'M ok," Leo reassured them, mumbling.

Did he just have one of those micro seizure things Draxum warned him about after his morning scan?

He didn't know, but what he did know was that he felt drained.

There was only one thing he wanted to do right now.

It was around this time Splinter came out of his room, wearing his Lou Jitsu jumpsuit in preparation for going above ground with his son to examine his Lou Jitsu dojos.

"I wanna go home with dad."

Leo didn't know his biological dad who raised him was there when he spoke those words aloud.

Splinter felt like the wind was knocked right out of him - like he had been kicked in the gut - and his heart shattered into a million pieces at the sound of his son referring to the goat yokai he now lived with as 'dad'.

All those years of neglectful parenting, yelling at his sons instead of listening to them or being there for them when they needed him (like after the invasion) came crashing down around him.

Years worth of taking his family for granted, of doing the best he felt he could do but falling short of being the dad they needed flashed before his eyes.

He swallowed down a lump, his mouth feeling pasty and dry, and then he put one foot in front of the other.

Donnie, Mikey, and Casey were assuring Leo was ok as he walked toward his son who had been trapped away with that barbaric alien, suffering injustices too terrible to mention...

...toward his son who moved out because he - as his father - wouldn't listen.

Because he pushed his hurting son aside instead of being the parent he should have been.

But he was here for him now.

This whole situation was the wakeup call he needed so he could finally be the dad his children always needed.

By the time Splinter walked all the way up to the four of them, Mikey had finished explaining that he was only trying to find a way to fix his mistake - to find a way to make it so Leo didn't have to suffer with those terrible flashbacks and traumatic memories - and Leo was weakly smiling at him, reassuring him all was forgiven and they were good.

That was when Splinter cleared his throat and spoke up, kindly offering:

"If you wish to go home with, uh, Draxum, Leonardo, so you can rest I understand. But if you like, perhaps we could watch the Lou Jitsu marathon playing on the All Ninja Channel today, instead of going out.

Leo smiled down appreciatively on his shorter rat dad, looking very tired from whatever it was that happened to him, and replying with full sincerity:

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Are you ok? Did you just have a seizure? Are you sure you should be watching tv right now?" Donnie shot out at Leo, rapid fire, making him laugh because his brother's worry - all of their worry - reassured his heart that the doubts Krang Prime planted in his mind - making him question his family's love for him - was unfounded.

His other dad, Draxum, was right.

His family always loved him, they proved it regularly, and there was nothing that would ever change that.

Not even seven years trapped away with a tyrannical monster or returning home to a family who wouldn't listen to him and yelled at him for a month for things that weren't his fault.

"I'm fine twinsie," Leo reassured, patting Donnie's arm, before leaving with his dad to head to the living room for their 'happy fun' bonding day, with Dee smiling at him behind his back, happy to finally hear the word 'twinsie' leave Leo's mouth for the very first time since that day.

Splinter walked slowly to match his tired son's slow pace, and with a little bit of enthusiasm through the grogginess, Leo commented:

"I hope they play Crouching Shrimp Hidden Tiger Prawn."

And after texting Draxum to let his goat dad know what happened, it didn't matter to him that he only half paid attention to the first movie and fell asleep partway through the second one.

What mattered was that he was here with his dad, who loved him, and who was putting in a sincere effort to make up for past mistakes by being there for his son (for his entire family) now.

With his family not knowing yet that their time together would be cut short all too soon.

Chapter 15: Even Heroes Like Bar Nuts

“What’s a turtle gotta do around here to get some bar nuts?”

Chapter Text

Casey arrived at his and Leo’s meet-up spot in the New York alley where a Hidden City portal was located, and he was surprised to see the slider wearing jeans, sneakers, and his blue hoodie instead of his ninja apparel. Plus he didn't even have on his blue mask or katanas. But he didn’t say anything at first. After a pleasant greeting Leo led the way, and the next thing he knew he was walking out of a portal into a strange new world.

"Woooah.”

“I know, it’s really sumthing, isn’t it?”

Leo made sure to chose a portal that would spit them out on a hill across a deep gorge overlooking the colorful, bright lights of the underground yokai world known as the Hidden City.

After they took in the sight, Leo gestured with his head, saying: “Come on.”

He jumped down to a lower rocky level, leading Casey to a small group of large bird-like yokai.

“What are those?” Casey asked, before leaning over the edge of the cliff to gaze into the deep, dark cavern that seemed to go on and on forever.

“And how are we getting there from here?”

Casey looked up at Leo when he unexpectedly hopped on one of the giant birds called a simurgh, informing him with a smile: “I don’t remember what they’re called, but they’re sure fun to ride!”

His simurgh took flight, and with a huge grin Casey excitedly hopped on the back of another one and it flew in the air under his control, chasing after Leo.

After they landed on the outskirts of town and the two giant birds flew away, Casey’s smile fell when he saw Leo carefully pull his hood over his head so it obscured his face, before shoving his green turtle hands into his pockets and leading the way.

“My favorite comic store’s just down the block and the Hidden City Market isn’t far away,” Leo told him, in reference to what they had planned for today.

“Uhh, Leo, I thought you didn’t have to hide your face among yokai? What’s with the getup? And where’s all your ninja gear and you katanas?" Casey asked in confusion. "Master Leonardo told me he never went anywhere without his swords."

Now it was Leo’s turn to look at Casey with a surprised expression.

“You don’t know,” he commented with a hint of amusement, before a tiny grin broke out on his face.

“Don’t know what?” came the innocent reply.

Leo turned his head to look at a bar on the street they were walking down, then looked at Casey with a mischievous grin, cheerfully saying: “Wait ‘til you get a load of this!”

He ran to the bar, taking his blue mask out of a pocket to tie it to his head, so he would be more recognizable. Then when he hauled his hoodie off over his head and threw it at Case, his human friend exclaimed in surprise: “We can’t go in there! Aren't we underage? What's the legal drinking age down here?"

Instead of answering any of his questions, Leo gave him another cheeky grin, and with a wink playfully said: “Watch and learn, mi amigo,” before pushing the door wide open and boldly walking into the bar with his hands out, a big grin on his face, and the confused Casey following close behind.

“What’s a turtle gotta do around here to get some bar nuts?”

“Hey you!"

A tough-looking, short but broad and muscular koala bartender aggressively pointed a finger at Leo and was about to order them to leave because they were minors, but when he recognized the turtle from the news, his anger shifted to surprise and he blurted out: “I know you! You’re that ninja warrior who defeated the krang!”

Casey watched on in shock when every head in the bar turned and all eyes were on Leo.

The next thing they knew, they were swarmed - or at least Leo was - by his many fans, who were all eager to buy the hero and defender of the entire earth his very first drink.

Leo politely smiled, nodded, and signed a couple of napkins thrust at his face on his way over to the bar with the crowd of yokai surrounding him like a swarm of bees, leaving Casey alone and ignored at the back of the room, watching everything, feeling bewildered and confused.

When the hero turtle sat on a bar stool, the bartender/owner cried out to the noisy crowd: "Shat up!”

Everyone hushed to a quiet, then the koala sternly glared at his excited patrons, firmly ordering: “Ain’t no one buyin’ this minor a single drink!”

He lifted a glass to a tap and pulled the handle down to fill it with draft beer, finishing in a much more pleasant tone: “Until I buy him his first one.”

As it was filling, he looked at Leo to ask: “What’s your name, kid? No one in the Hidden City seems to know.”

“Leonardo Hamato, and I’ll pass on that beer,” he replied, not because he didn’t want to try an alcoholic drink for the first time ever, but because he had no idea how alcohol would affect his rapidly changing body, especially considering Draxum strictly forbade him from consuming something as simple and commonplace as caffeine.

The koala bartender slammed the beer mug down on the counter, pushed it toward the brave defender of the earth, replying: “I insist.”

In response, Leo pushed it back toward him, saying: "Baron Draxum is my dad, and if you’ve ever heard that name, you know why I can’t drink it.”

“No kidding, I didn’t know the Baron even liked kids let alone had some of his own,” the koala replied, correctly assuming the video he saw of Leo and three other turtles fighting the krang were him and his brothers.

Leo shrugged and dismissively replied: "Kids, mutant turtle experiments, same thing.”

He rested his arm on the bar, gave the koala yokai a crooked grin and with a twinkle to his eye, added: “But I will have those bar nuts.”

~About Twenty Five Minutes Later~

Leo waved goodbye to his new ‘friends’ on his and Casey’s way out of the bar, before popping the rest of his nuts into his mouth, hauling off his mask, and taking his hoodie back from Case to pull it on over his head.

Once they were outside and Leo had his head covered with his hood again Casey gestured vividly to the bar behind them, exclaiming: “What was all that!?”

Leo stuck his hands in his pockets, and as they walked down the road toward his favorite yokai comic book store he asked: “None of you guys came here since the invasion, hey?”

“No, we’ve all been busy patrolling New York because crime’s gone way up with all the looting and everything.”

“And you don’t get yokai channels?” Leo inquired; but then he answered his own question when he remembered: “No, all the cooking shows Mikey likes and the stuff dad watches have humans.” Then he told Casey what all the hullabaloo was about:

“Some skunk yokai combined her mystic powers with her drone like what Donnie does with his tech and recorded everything. Our fight with, uh, you know who, when I sent him…” a chill went up Leo’s spine, prompting him to shiver at the thought of the prison dimension. Then he went on, not needing to say those two words for Casey to understand what he was referring to.

“...and even when Raph pulled me out of Mikey’s portal down on the ground.” He smiled at Casey, adding: “We’re heroes down here.”

“Ok, so I still have to ask…” Casey gestured to Leo again and exclaimed: “What’s with the getup!? Don’t you like all the attention? I know Master Leonardo loooved being in the spotlight. He even bugged Master Donatello until he finally gave in and made a karaoke box, saying it was to ‘boost morale’ with a weekly karaoke night, but he always hogged the machine all night!”

Leo shrugged and a bell dinged when he pushed the door open to the comic and games store.

“I used to be like that but I had more than enough attention put on me the past seven years. And besides, we haven’t spent any real good quality time together, I wanna get to know you better.”

'Before I die,’ he thought but didn’t say.

But his morbid thought didn’t in any way reflect on his face when he gave Casey a very genuine grin; one that 'future boy' happily returned, although still noticing Leo’s red stripes didn’t pop like he knew they should.

Later that night Leo came home, tired but happy, and dragged his sore feet to the lab to let Draxum know how his day went. But when he got there, the lights were on but Draxum was nowhere to be seen. So he turned around to check for him in the kitchen, but at that instant a bright light flashed before his eyes, followed by dozens of sparklers, and he winced his right eye while tightly gritting his teeth because he was struck by what felt like sharp, painful electrical impulses shooting down from his head throughout the entire length of his body.

Something that was triggered by his very first brain bleed.

He fell to the side, managing to catch himself on a table beside him, but not for long before he came crashing down on the floor, landing on his right side, where he stayed.

The second his tense body unstiffened, he cried out into his com: "Draxum!” but he wasn’t able to answer his goat dad’s: “Where are you!?” because his whole body involuntarily tensed and it felt like he was being hit with another intense electrical shock, once again originating from his head and spreading down through every nerve in his body.

Leo didn’t know it, but blood was trickling out of his right ear onto the floor, and the second that painful attack was over, he managed to weakly drag his arm across the floor up to his mouth to say the one-word reply: “Lab.”

Then he curled up in a ball on his side, shivering and whimpering a little from the residual pain he still felt, as a magenta portal opened in the lab.

Draxum stepped out to rush to his side, crouched low in front of his face, inquiring: “What happened?”

“Mmmff…don’t know,” Leo forced out, without opening his eyes and feeling completely spent from whatever did just happened to him.

“It felt like I was electrocuted or sumthin'.”

“I’ll take you to the med bay to run some tests,” Draxum told Leo; but when he put a hand under his body and the other one under his head to pick him up, he noticed the small amount of blood that came out of his son's ear.

“Leonardo, look at me.”

Leo did as he was told, forcing himself to open his eyes even though the bright lab lights felt like they were piercing through his head, and when Draxum nodded, indicating his pupils looked normal he closed them again.

Then when his dad gently scooped him up and held him close to his chest, he heard him say: “Based on the blood coming out of your ear, I’d say you had a bleed in your brain.”

“There’s blood coming out my ear?” Leo mumbled, not having felt it over everything else that just happened to him.

As Draxum brought him through a portal to the med bay, he told him: “Not anymore, your body’s already repairing the damage.”

“Is there anything you can do so that doesn’t happen again?”

His alchemist dad laid him down on a gurney to begin tests, replying with: “If your brain wasn’t already damaged I’d say yes, but with the way things are now, there’s nothing I can do to stop them from occurring without damaging it further.”

“Uuugh, I don’t want that to happen again,” Leo moaned.

"Neither do I," came the solemn reply.

Draxum hooked up a couple of machines to Leo’s chest, head, and finger, to monitor his brainwaves, heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and oxygen levels. Then, as he covered his cold, shivering son with a blanket, he heard the sad, wobbly words come out of Leo’s mouth:

“Draxum?”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t want to die. Not if it's gonna be like this.”

The grief-stricken alchemist didn't know what to say in reply because they both knew any words of comfort he could offer, like: ‘it’s going to be ok’ or: ‘you’re not going to die’ were untrue. So he did the only thing he could think of by softly and tenderly replying: “I know,” before getting to work on the many tests, scans, x-rays, and bloodwork he had to do to discover if there were any new changes in Leo's body they didn't know about yet.

As exhausted as he was, Leo stayed awake through it all and wasn’t able to fall asleep until very late at night when Draxum was finally done with his tests, carried him through a portal to his room, and laid him in his very own bed, where he conked out almost right away.

As much as Barry wanted to stay there and be with his terminally ill son as a source of comfort, he knew he had important work to begin in relation to Leo’s medical test results. So the room lit up a bright pink for just a few seconds and when the portal closed Draxum was gone, back to his lab to start on four new medications his son now needed.

And he spent the entire night working fervently to make sure they were ready in time for his big family event at Hueso’s the following evening.

~The Next Morning~

Draxum tried to wake Leo for his morning scan and to eat breakfast, but the sound asleep slider was so exhausted from what happened to him the night before he didn’t wake up or even know his goat dad had been there first or last. Or that he returned to check his vitals three times between breakfast and lunch.

Now it was lunch time and he was concerned that Leo hadn’t eaten yet or taken his seizure medication, so he was more persistent with his attempt to wake the slumbering turtle, not giving up this time until his son opened his eyes to look up at him.

“Take this,” came the immediate instruction.

Leo slowly blinked his heavy eyelids twice, then without a word he sat up and accepted a glass of the dark pink seizure medicine and the anti-nausea capsule from Draxum's hands. After he took that, Barry took the glass back and Leo looked at his nightstand in sleepy confusion when his dad gestured to four new medications he didn’t notice until now.

In a groggy, hoarse, ‘morning’ voice, Leo asked: “What’s this?” and tried his best to pay attention through the heavy fog from sleepiness to what his dad told him in reply.

First, Draxum pointed to a brown tablet, and said: “Your body isn’t digesting fats properly, one of these a day will suffice for now to correct that problem. This one,” he pointed to a fizzy liquid that looked a lot like Mountain Dew, “will help increase your hemoglobin. Your red blood cell count is low. That one,” he pointed to what looked like a blue inhaler with a white cap on the end, “is to be taken as needed if you ever struggle with your breathing. I discovered trace amounts of blood in one of your lungs. Not enough for you to notice or to cause any issues yet, but I suspect this problem will continue to worsen with time.”

“Oh.”

Leo didn't know what to think of that, his mind was still too groggy and tired to process much of anything that was happening around him at the moment.

“This one,” Draxum pointed to the final medication in a bottle that looked a lot like Pepto Bismol, but wasn’t, “is to adjust your sodium levels by stabilizing the vasopressin, which is the section of your brain that regulates sodium and water balance. You will require this twice daily, once in the morning and once at night, at exactly the same time each day."

Leo rubbed the sleep out of his eye with a yawn, before saying: “I don’t think I can keep that all straight.” Then he looked up at Barry when his goat dad reassured him: “That won't be necessary, I will do that for you. Remember to keep the inhaler on you at all times and shake it before administering one pump for now. Do you know how an inhaler works?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

Leo looked at all the new medication on his nightstand, but then his eyes settled on the inhaler. Thinking about the disturbing news his goat dad just told him, he asked: “I got blood in my lungs?”

“You had trace amounts in one lung at the time of the scan, yes.”

“Am I gonna bleed out? Is that how I’ll die?” came the instant query, because Leo was thinking about the fact he already had issues with nosebleeds, a brain bleed that came out his ear, and now there was blood in his lung. His frightening event from last night also made him worry about his final moments being a harrowing ordeal full of fear and pain, and maybe lots and lots of the icky red stuff.

“Unlikely,” Draxum reassured him.

The ill slider looked up at his face again and his dad was doing such a good job fighting back tears Leo didn’t have any clue that was what he was doing.

Next, he accepted the first new medicine from his goat dad’s hand and took the pill with the fizzy ‘Mountain Dew’ medication (that didn’t taste anything at all like Mountain Dew) before letting out what was on his mind by asking: “What do you think’s gonna happen?”

“I cannot say for certain, but as of now the most likely course of events will be that you slip into a coma and die peacefully in your sleep.”

Draxum poured out a spoonful of the pink medicine, Leo accepted the spoon from his hand, and asked: “But that might not be what happens?” before putting it in his mouth to take the last of the new medication and laying the spoon on the nightstand.

“Correct.”

“And maybe I will bleed out and that’s how I’ll die?” he asked for reassurance, not taking his eyes off his dad's face until he answered.

. . .

. . .

Draxum let out a slow, long exhale through his mouth and replied: “It isn’t impossible.”

Leo sat back against his pillow staring blankly ahead, letting the full weight of Draxum’s words sink in, until his dad turned around to pick up a bowl of soup from off his desk, to hold out to him…

...and he had to clear his throat so his voice didn’t hitch because of the tension he was holding from fighting back tears, before he could open his mouth to say: “Eat and rest. I will return with plenty of time for you to prepare for our special family meal today.”

Leo sat up a little - propping himself up against his pillow - and accepted the bowl of soup from his hands. But instead of eating right away he watched with sadness as one of Draxum’s magenta portals lit up the dimly lit room.

When his dad turned around to leave, he asked: “You’re not staying?” with the sadness coming through in his tone of voice despite him trying to hide it.

Barry turned his head a little, but not far enough for Leo to see the tear in the corner of his eye, and he calmly replied: “I was only able to make a small, two day batch of the tablets and must begin work immediately on more. And the containers for your inhalant medication cannot be reused, I have to order more right away to ensure they arrive before we run out, as well as take stock of my supplies to ensure I am not low on anything we will need in the near future.”

“Oh.”

Leo watched his dad step a foot through his portal, but before he was gone, the goat scientist stopped when he heard: “Dad?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

"You're welcome, son."

Then he went through the portal without turning around.

On the other side in the lab, when it shut behind the goat warrior's back, he wiped away a tear before straightening up and telling himself: “You’ll have plenty of time for those emotions after. Right now there are important tasks that cannot wait.” Then he forced himself to brush away the sadness and got right back to work.

But everything was happening so fast, too fast. He was supposed to have five years with Leonardo, but now...

Leo fell back asleep after eating only half of his soup. When he woke up on his own a couple of hours later, he was feeling much better and finished the rest of it just before Draxum knocked on his door.

“I’m awake!”

“You have two hours to prepare for our family meal,” Barry informed him from the other side of the door.

Leo promptly got out of bed to shower in the bathroom Draxum exclusively gave to him, which was conveniently located straight across the hall from his bedroom.

When it was almost time to leave, he went to the lab where Draxum was, and the goat yokai noticed he kept rubbing at the red markings on his face.

“Is something wrong?”

“They look paler than usual. I was hoping it was my new moisturizer, but it’s not.”

Leo decided to stop rubbing at the red ‘banana’ marks on his face, knowing all along doing so was futile but not knowing what else to do, and he sniffled - almost on the verge of tears - before saying: “It’s noticeable now. Even Pops is gonna tell if he looks right at me.”

“I noticed this happening a few days ago and prepared a possible contingency,” Draxum informed him. “In your washroom, under the sink, is an aerosol can of reptile yokai refresher spray. Follow the instructions and it should make your color appear more vibrant."

Leo's face abruptly brightened up with a big smile, putting a smile on Draxum's.

“Thanks!” he exclaimed, rushing out of the room to run to his bathroom. But he slowed his pace when Draxum called out: "Pace yourself! You don’t want to overexert yourself before dinner!”

A few minutes later, a happy red-eared slider reappeared holding his mask in his hand and wearing all his usual ninja gear he typically didn't go anywhere without.

With a smile on his face he asked: “How do I look?” and Draxum was pleased to see the color of his red stripes appeared to be just as vibrant as before.

“Adequate.”

“The spray can says it should last eight hours, as long as I don’t wash my face," Leo replied, in the middle of tying his mask to the back of his head and correctly taking Barry's 'adequate' as his way of offering a compliment.

“Are you ready?” his dad questioned.

“Yeah!” Leo enthusiastically replied, with a big grin spreading across his turtle face.

His dad opened a portal that led to Hueso’s yokai Run of the Mill pizza restaurant, but before either one of them stepped through, his son surprised him by wrapping his arms around him in a big hug.

“Thanks, dad.”

Leo imperceivable tensed a little, expecting Draxum to curtly remind him not to call him ‘dad’ like he did once before (and completely forgetting he already said this when Draxum woke him to take his medicine and eat). But instead he relaxed under the taller yokai’s grip when his yokai dad hugged him back.

Then it did his heart a world of good to hear the words he forgot he already heard once today:

“You are welcome, son.”

After that, Leo stepped through first, followed closely behind by Draxum.

In the restaurant, Hueso was waiting for them and as soon as he saw them step through he stopped what he was doing to go up to Leo, surprising him with a big hug, saying: “Pepino! It's good to see you!”

Leo happily hugged him back, and when they were done he said with a smile: “Donnie said he called ahead to book our favorite booth.”

“No no no, you and your family will not be sitting in a booth today, I reserved our private dining room for our local heroes!” Huseo replied with a big smile for the ninja turtle who saved the world.

Leo gazed longingly at the booth he and his brothers often sat in when they came here over the years, but he changed his mind and whole-heartedly agreed with the skeleton yokai when Hueso cleared his throat to get his attention and gestured out to the restaurant full of amazed yokai who were one and all staring straight at him.

“I really think the private dining room will be more to your liking," the skeleton yokai suggested.

“Uh, yeah, lead the way, bone man.”

On the way through the main restaurant to the private dining room, Leo couldn’t help but notice the picture of him and his brothers from the day they did the ‘Maze of Death’ - the one that had been on the ‘cheaters wall’ - was moved to the main dining area and now was prominently displayed in the entire restaurant for all to see.

The one where Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were happily eating ‘the world’s greatest pizza’ while Leo looked half-dead on the floor, with his tongue hanging out and Mikey raising his hand in the air, next to Raph’s ‘thumbs up,' right under the big, sparkly words:

‘Favorite restaurant of earth’s greatest HEROES! Coming here since before they were CHAMPS!'

And above the words:

‘Ask about our new Ninja Turtle Krang Buster hero line of speciality pizzas and desserts!’

Hueso and Draxum stopped to look at the picture with Leo - with Draxum raising one eyebrow before looking down at the restaurant owner, and sweat beading on Hueso’s head while he embarrassingly said: “Uh, perhaps we can get a new photo before you leave today.”

“Yeah,” Leo bluntly replied, not taking his eyes off the photo.

Then there was a snap and a flash of light that left him dazed and a little confused for a second, worrying he was having another brain bleed, from when a yokai excitedly took his picture.

Hueso immediately and very sternly instructed his patrons that no photographs were to be taken and Draxum immediately put a protective hand on Leo’s shoulder to encourage him to continue to the dining room with the skeleton yokai leading the way.

As he walked past the yokai smiling down on the display screen on his camera, from behind Leonardo’s back the warrior alchemist snatched it out of his hands and tossed it into someone’s extra-extra large glass of cola - prompting the yokai to cry out: "Awww, nooo my camera!" and Leo to turn around and look up at his dad in confusion, wondering what he just did, before shrugging it off and continuing on his way.

When they got to the closed door to the private room, Hueso put a hand on the doorknob, saying: “Your family is already here, pepino.”

As he opened the door, Leo chased away the butterflies in his stomach and the anxious thoughts that something was going to go wrong, and instead put a genuine smile on his face, ready to enjoy to the fullest the very last time he would get together with his family for a happy, fun, enjoyable time…

...before everything would come crashing down the next morning when he told them all the truth.

Chapter 15: A Sudden Turn

“Call Draxum...and get my belt...I need my...inhaler!”

Chapter Text

Leo and Draxum went in the private room at Run of the Mill, where their family was waiting for them Leo, and he exchanged hugs with everyone, with Draxum exchanging one begrudging hug with Mikey.

The happy slider cheerfully bantered with his excited family over the ‘earth’s greatest heroes’ extravaganza they learned about from Casey (and confirmed when they arrived to a restaurant full of star-struck yokai, who were staring at them and wanting pictures with them, with the enthusiastic Mikey being more than happy to oblige)

The first thing Leo did before Hueso slipped away was haul him into the private dining room and insist he take a new picture of all of them (including Barry, despite his objection) to replace the one prominently displayed in the restaurant.

When he looked at the photo displaying on Hueso's cell phone Leo was happy to see Draxum even forced a small smile that he knew was for his benefit. Then Leo got the 'bone man' to take a few more pictures of all of them on his phone before he was finally permitted to leave.

In fact, Leo took lots and lots of pictures and videos with his phone that night.

And everything went even better than he had hoped and dreamed it would. Leaving him with lots of new happy memories from the last night they could all just be, for him to cherish in the difficult days, weeks, months, and years to come.

If he had that long.

Late that night after they had their fun, Draxum parted ways with them to head his underground Hidden City home, so nervous about his terminally ill son being separated from him that even Splinter noticed the unusual tense composure of the normally calm yokai, and poked fun at him.

To their exquisite joy, Leo stay behind with them and waved Draxum away, returning home with his grateful family for the night, to their sewer lair, with all of them hopeful this would turn out to be the first night of many they would all be together in their home, where each and every one of them belonged.

All of them except for Leo, who knew better.

When they got home, the ill slider was the very first one to fall asleep in the turtle pile (/human pile because April and Casey were there, too) in the living room, halfway through ‘Jupiter Jim Sails the Seven Galaxies.’

Which was unusual for him, because that was his favorite JJ movie of all time.

As he was sleeping soundly, April commented to her brothers that Leo sometimes complained to her he didn’t like it when he fell asleep in his gear, because it chaffed his skin and shell. So being the helpful family that they were, Mikey helped her take off his mask, belt, and wrist com while Casey unwrapped his black ninja wrappings, with Leo so out of it during the entire thing he didn't even stir, prompting Donnie to take out the sharpie.

But, alas, Raph came to the rescue, demanding they not pull a prank on their sleeping brother his first night back for fear he would be less than happy with what they did and not want to come back.

Then they laid all his things neatly in the corner - where Leo had put his katanas when he first walked in the room - and curled up with him to finish watching the movie, with each one gradually falling asleep until even the softshell who regularly stayed up the latest of all drifted off to sleep in their comfy turtle/human pile.

Early the next morning, somewhere between five and six am, Leo abruptly woke up to a strange sensation, making him tensed and grab his chest from a wave of pain, before coughing into his hand.

Even in the dim hallway light shining into the otherwise dark living room, from his spot in the turtle pile atop his sleeping big brother Leo could see blood droplets spattered on the palm of his right hand.

The ill slider squeezed his eyes shut and put a hand over his chest again from another wave of pain (that was accompanied by a wave of fear - what if this was it!? Draxum told him he still had time, but that number kept getting smaller and smaller!)

After he coughed into his hand again, he motioned to call into his wrist com for Draxum's help; but that was when he realized his com wasn’t there.

And neither was his inhaler.

Leo woke everyone with a panicked: “Where’s my stuff!?” rolling off Raphael with the intent of searching the room for his belt and com, but instead he got everyone in a panic when he fell onto his hands knees, grabbing his chest while groaning in pain, before coughing up blood droplets onto the floor.

Leo squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his hand into his chest as hard as he could from another wave of raw pain. Through the commotion he cried out: “Call Draxum! *cough cough* And get my belt *cough cough cough, wheeze* I need my *cough cough* inhaler!”

Leo stayed that way, hunched over on the floor on his hands and knees, coughing up blood droplets, with Raph kneeling beside him, a hand on the back of his shell, and a worried look on his face; Donnie calling Draxum on his phone; April rushing to the corner to get the inhaler out of Leo’s belt; Casey running to grab the first aid kit in the med bay; and Mikey bursting into Splinter’s adjacent room to wake their sleeping dad in a panic.

At the same time April handed Leo his inhaler Splinter ran into the room with Mikey, and a magenta portal lit up the room, with Draxum walking through.

Leo took the inhaler and shook it before pumping the medication into his mouth; taking in a deep, raspy breath as his goat dad knelt in front of him, immediately noticing the blood on the floor beneath his body and on the corners of his mouth, as well as the wet, ragged sound of his coughs and the wheezing with every breath.

Everyone watched on in shocked horror as Draxum told Leonardo calmly, but with a hint of urgency: “You'll need at least two more pumps, but it shouldn’t have become this bad so fast, I’ll have to run tests immediately.”

The panicking slider nodded his head with his eyes squeezed shut from the pain in his chest, then he coughed twice before inhaling another dose of his medication, just as Draxum gave him the advanced warning: "I'm going to pick you up now." Which he promptly did, to carry him through his portal at the same moment Casey ran into the room, holding the first aid kit.

The last thing Leo’s family heard was the sound of his ragged coughing, before Draxum stepped through the portal with him, and it instantly snapped shut behind his back right in front of Raph’s face as he was about to go through behind them.

Something he very much did on purpose because he had more important things to deal with right now than a panicking family interrupting his work by getting in his way and demanding answers.

“He left without us!” Mikey exclaimed.

“C’mon team, we gotta get to Draxum’s now!” Raph ordered.

April and Casey grabbed Leo's stuff on their way and they all rushed to Draxum's in a hurry, needing to know what was wrong with their brother, who they would soon discover was terminally ill.

After the third dose of his inhaler, Leo’s coughing quieted down because the bleeding in his lungs subsided. At the moment he was doing his very best to sit up straight and still in the brain scanner. But it was hard to do with the pain that remained in his chest on top of the total, whole body exhaustion he felt.

“I don’t feel so good.”

“Can you hold still for ten more minutes?”

“Uhhh. I think so.”

. . .

“I designed this scanner with the ability to lay flat, but it’s a slow transition because the complicated parts inside are delicate and can’t be jostled. I’ll switch it for you after this scan is complete, so you’ll be able to lay on your back in the future.”

“Thank you.”

. . .

“Draxum?”

“Yes?”

“I feel sick. And hot.”

“Sick how?”

“Sick to my stomach.”

“Just now, or from before?”

“Just now. I feel like I might pass out.”

“There are still eight minutes remaining. Can you hold on for that long?”

“I don’t know.”

“Try your best.”

“Ok.”

Leo sat still and quiet for the next five minutes, with his eyes closed and his chest hurting, his stomach upset and his head feeling funny - like he was dizzy, light-headed, and weighed down all at the same time - thinking he was going to upchuck any second.

Then, on top of it all, he developed a throbbing headache.

“My head hurts.”

“I know, there’s another bleed that just started in your brain, I can see it in the scan. But it's a minor one and it will stop soon.”

“Are you almost done?”

“Yes, and then you can lay down.”

“If I don’t pass out first.”

Leo kept his eyes closed and he sniffled and wiped his nose, not realizing it was bleeding from what was happening inside his brain.

He was far too exhausted and in too much pain to notice when the buzzing in his head stopped, signaling the scan was complete. But he did notice when Draxum said: "Here," and he opened his eyes when his goat dad held some tissues up for him to take, asking: “Can you hold that over your nose? The bleeding should stop soon.”

“Oh, it’s bleeding?”

Leo reached his hand out to hold the tissue to his nose, and raised his left arm to put it around Draxum’s neck when the bigger yokai bent down to pick him up.

On the way to the med bay, and all while Draxum was laying him in a gurney and connecting him to machines and running tests, Leo asked him questions.

“Am I dying now?”

“No, but I will have to administer some medications intravenously. You’ll be connected to an IV for the next day or two, and absolutely require your rest during that time.”

“Ok.”

. . .

“Draxum?”

“Yes?”

“How much time do I have left now?”

. . .

“Just under three years.”

. . .

“That’s a lot less than last time.”

. . .

“I know.”

. . .

. . .

“Dad?”

“Yes?”

“Will I still be really sick for two years?”

Draxum sighed, followed by an uncomfortable silence, before he filled it with the dreadful words:

“You’ve already begun to get ‘really sick’ as of this morning.”

. . .

“Oh.”

. . .

. . .

“Didn’t you say I’ll be really sick for two years?”

“That number changed with this new scan. And there were a number of other changes I’ll discuss with you as soon as you’re well enough to hear it.”

“Ok.”

. . .

. . .

And the silence stretched on.

Leo was sleeping soundly in a hospital bed as Draxum was clicking at the touchscreen on a monitor hooked up to his chest; when his family burst through the front door and rushed to his med bay, where they correctly assumed he took Leo, with Raph taking the lead.

As soon as he ran in the room, the panicky/angry snapper opened his mouth to aggressively demand: “Alright goat man, you’re…” Draxum spun around and glared at him with such ferocity that Raph stopped dead in his tracks and mid-sentence, and the normally calm yokai alchemist forcefully gestured with both hands to the sleeping Leo.

Who was hooked up to an IV line.

And about five other machines.

Everyone quietly walked into the room as Draxum walked to the foot of Leo’s bed - between them and his sleeping son - and regained his composure to stand tall, facing them, with his hands behind his back.

Then he quietly and calmly informed them:

“He is stable now but will require intravenous medication and plenty of rest for the next day and a half to two days at least.”

Mikey nervously twiddled his fingers, asking: “What’s wrong with Leo?”

Their warrior alchemist creator got right to the point, right there, when he calmly and factually replied: “Leonardo is suffering aftereffects of being in the prison dimension.”

"I knew it!" Donnie blurted out, a mixture of panic and triumph flashing across his face, before belting out the questions rapid fire:

"Did he catch an alien virus like when Pops caught a flu and it mutated in his body into a virus only mutants can catch? The one we’re susceptible to? Is it contagious? Am I going to catch it? Will…” “Donnie! Not helping!” Raph snapped, to get him to stop ‘stress babbling’ like he sometimes did at highly anxious times.

And Draxum continued.

“It is not a virus nor is it contagious. He is suffering from the effects of the harsh environment in the alternate dimension, nothing more, nothing less. The vastly different conditions in the prison dimension are incompatible with lifeforms from our dimension.

“But he’s gonna be ok, right?” Raph asked - repeating the question he asked once before but Draxum hadn't answered. He looked down when Splinter put his rat hand on his left arm, and he lifted that arm to put it around his worried dad in a half hug.

Draxum slowly replied in a calm voice that carried a hint of sadness, which was unusual for him:

“No. He will not be ok.”

“So you’ll pump him full of whatever mutagen-based medication he’ll need to live a normal life. Correct, O creator of ours?” Donnie asked with one eyebrow raised and a look on his face that showed he had high expectations for the yokai who made them into humanoid mutant turtles with his vast intellect in the first place.

“No,” Draxum replied.

“What other option is there?” April asked, trying her best to keep her voice quiet but feeling the encroaching panic beginning to resurface.

Everyone looked at Leo when Draxum stepped aside to sadly gaze at his ill son.

It was at that moment Casey let out a hushed: “No,” from the dreadful realization that hit the post-apocalyptic ‘future boy’ - who dealt with his fair share of death over the years and knew how to read Draxum’s body language well enough from his timeline to know what the terrible new was he was about to tell them, before he even said a word.

Without taking his eyes off Leo, Draxum slowly and quietly informed them:

“Leonardo is not going to get better, he is not going to live a normal life. He is going to continue growing more and more ill as time passes and eventually this will take his life.”

The room fell silent.

Raph’s mouth felt dry and his mind went numb. Up until now he assumed the ‘not get better’ option meant Leo would be on medication for the rest of his life to manage whatever symptom he had, and perhaps have to deal with some new health limitations they could all rally around and support. The thought of death never once crossed his mind.

(Okay, maybe it did, but he was quick to push it away into the back, far recesses, where it belonged)

As hard as it was to hear the first time, Raph needed to know that what Draxum just told them was real and not part of his imagination, because of the surreal feeling like his consciousness was floating a little to the left of his body and this was some sort of very bad dream.

“Are you saying he’s gonna die?”

Draxum raised his eyes to look at the snapper and merely nodded his head in reply.

Raph hugged his dad a little tighter when Splinter let out a mournful: “My son is dying,” and began crying; with Casey clearing his throat, opening his mouth, and asking the important question everyone else was far too stunned to think about at such a dire time.

“How long does he have left?”

~Very Early thr Next Morning~

Draxum was leaning over one of the work tables in his lab that had been full of unfinished experiments he put to the wayside because the bulk of his time was occupied with medicating his ailing son. He was hanging his head with his arms stretched out and his hands grasping the edge of the table, after having been awake all night along with the rest of Leo's family, because at some point late the previous evening he unexpectedly slipped into a coma.

Every test he ran, every scan he did, every result that came back would not account for what could only be called a strange phenomenon (one that not one of them knew was of mystic origins because it was directly caused by Leonardo's ancestors).

There was nothing more the warrior alchemist could do - no more test to be done - to account for the curve ball this illness threw his way.

There were so many unknown variables with this particular affliction of Leo's - too many unknowns.

All they could do from here was wait.

Leo would either wake up or he would...

Draxum couldn't fall apart.

He couldn't!

Leonardo needed him, the family needed him, everyone needed him to be strong - everyone was looking to him for answers, for remedies, for solutions, for answers and answers and more answers, he HAD to be STRONG!

He had to be strong for them.

He had to be strong for him.

He had to be strong for himself.

There was too much work to be done

He had to be strong.

He had to be...

A figure stood in the entrance to his lab, silently watching the alchemist warrior who once experimented on him.

Splinter silently watched the alchemist his youngest son once pointed out was the reason why they were all together - the reason they were a family.

Leo's biological dad silently watched Leo's other dad, who he knew from personal experience was trying to stop himself from spiraling out of control.

The silence stretched on for some time with neither one moving from their respective places.

Once he felt he had sufficiently gained mastery over the tears that seemed to serve no useful purpose but to hinder him in his work and remind him of how weak he really was, Draxum cleared his throat and spoke in a firm, authoritative voice:

"If you're here for answers I haven't discovered yet why Leonardo slipped into a coma, nor do I know how long this will last."

The sound of light breathing was the only noise to be heard in the room, until the padding of mutant feet approaching caught the warrior's attention.

When Splinter walked up to stand beside Draxum he saw that at some point after arriving in his lab the goat yokai had demolished every vial and beaker - everything - on the work table he was leaning over in a fit of rage that he had been forced to keep pent up until now.

The next one to speak was once again Draxum. His voice came out sounding strained because of the tension he was holding in, and he uncharacteristically shared the woes of his heart because he knew if he did not do so now he would explode at the next person who asked him yet another question about Leonardo's condition.

"I created them with nothing more than four baby turtles, some mutagen, and human dna..."

He paused in his speech when Splinter huffed out through his mouth at that reminder, and then he continued on where he left off as though the interruption hadn't happened.

"I should be able to cure anything that afflicts them, but this ailment is too . . . alien for lack of a better word."

Splinter watched silently as Draxum took his hands off the table to reach up and clench his fists as though he was tightly grasping something in the air, and his voice rose in anger with his next words.

"I would need decades to study the environment in the prison dimension to even begin to understand the changes that are taking place in Leonardo's neural pathways, but even if I could safely access the alternate dimension that is time we do not have."

Draxum lowered his hands again to lean over his table with his head hung low once more, trying but failing to win the fight against his teary eyes that stubbornly refused to stay in line.

(If he couldn't have control of Leonardo's terminal illness, couldn't he at least have control of himself!?)

That problem was compounded when Leonardo's other dad uncharacteristically rested a hand on top of his, prompting him to open up some more, seemingly against his will.

"I've never before felt so..."

Draxum stopped to let out a wobbly breath through his mouth, his bottom lip quivering.

"...helpless."

"You really do care for him, don't you?" Splinter softly asked, never taking his gaze off the tears in the corner of Draxum's eyes.

"He's my son I love him," Draxum freely admitted out loud for the first time ever, not caring who heard him speak those words aloud.

He kept fighting back the tears to the best of his ability, his voice sounding strained because of the intense effort he was putting in to not weeping, but yet still carrying the tender fondness of a parent who was suffering because their child was suffering.

"As much as neither one of us likes to admit it, we're family. I care for all our children, but the bond between Leonardo and myself was strengthened since the invasion. When I first found the anomaly..."

He clenched his fists in anger from the bad memory.

"...and understood what it meant..."

He paused to take in a deep breath, trying to calm his pounding heart and steady his frayed nerves. But despite the effort he put into remaining in control of himself, his voice came out weepy when he said:

"I wished it was me rather than him."

That was the moment the warrior alchemist who - for many years - cared for no one or nothing, couldn't hold back any longer and broke down and cried; sobbing uncontrollably over the tragedy that was cursing their family.

Softly, quietly, almost inaudibly, Splinter wept alongside Leo's other parent, keeping his significantly smaller rat hand on the much larger yokai one, but being careful not to steal the spotlight away from his son's other father.

Splinter had wept openly with his family all while Draxum had worked fervently to aid their dying son - never once shedding a tear, never allowing himself to feel - and he would weep plenty with his family over the coming weeks; but somehow he knew the busy scientist who was working hard to help their morbidly ill son would not be afforded an opportunity like this for quite some time.

So now this was Draxum's moment, and Hamato Yoshi knew it.

Now this was Draxum's turn to break down and cry - to allow himself a brief moment to fall apart before the work had to begin again...

before he was forced to don the role of scientist, doctor, pharmacist...

before he was forced to stuff down and lock away all those squishy feelings he kept inside because he was the only person in the world who knew how to medicate and ease Leonardo's symptoms through this whole terrible process.

So there, in the quiet of the lab, two enemies-turned-parents-turned-friends wept together over the soon-to-be tragic loss of a son they both held dear to their hearts.

It was on this very night that 'the great and powerful Baron Draxum' finally came to understand that perhaps shedding tears was not a sign of weakness, after all.

It was a sign that perhaps there were some people in this world who were worth crying over.

Chapter 17: "I Can Fix This"

"Leo's NOT dying because I can FIX this!"

Chapter Text

Leo was standing in a field of wildflowers, wearing only his black shorts, blue mask, and belt; but without his katanas strapped to his back, his ninja wrappings on his arms and legs, or his wrist com. Long yellowish and green grass grew all the way up to his thighs, with millions of tiny specks of bright green, red, purple, orange, and blue flowers growing all around.

The grass and flowers would have come up past his stomach if not for the steady, stiff but warm wind blowing in from the ocean Leo could see from his spot in the field. But obscured from his vision by the tall grass was a beach, with the sound of the waves crashing on shore no more than a few dozen feet in front of him.

The first thing Leo did was run to the shore, stopping when he reached the edge of the field, which dropped off about twenty feet above the sandy beach littered with smooth pebbles, with large tufts of grass hanging over the edge where he was standing.

Without giving a single thought as to where he was or why he was here, Leo’s eyes sparkled from appreciation at the sight. Sure, he had seen the ocean plenty of times before considering he lived in the coastal city of New York, but he had never seen anything like this. And he hoped he was still around when the sun hanging low in the sky set, so he could see the vast array of twinkling stars that were hidden from his view in the bright city of New York he loved so much.

Leo took in a deep breath of fresh air and smiled. The wild beauty of the untouched terrain and the sparkling, shimmering blue water stretching as far as the eye could see gave him a sense of wonder and serenity he had never before felt.

Or perhaps that was due to the presence he could sense was with him, warm and kind and not at all frightening despite the fact his eyes told him he was all alone.

But his heart told him otherwise.

Intrinsically, Leo felt it was his Gram-Gram Karai who was standing there with him, somewhere, but the thought that brought comfort suddenly frightened him when he began to realize he shouldn't be here, he should be at home with his family, and that perhaps he had already died and was waiting to be led to the mystic realm.

Or maybe he was already there.

But he didn’t have a chance to say good bye to his family, to tell them how much he loved them just one more time!

'This isn’t be right, I can’t be dead!’ Leo thought in a panic.

Then the presence fled.

Leo spun around to look in the direction he sensed it fled to, and he called out: “Come back!” but no one answered, no one returned.

Leonardo was alone.

He wrapped his arms around himself in a hug and gazed around at the scenery that he enjoyed but a moment ago, the same scenery that now filled his heart with fear.

The sky was so big and vast above his small turtle body, he felt exposed, and it seemed to him that if he stayed around long enough, to wait for the sun to finish dipping into the ocean behind him, the darkness that he originally hoped he could see for the sake of the many stars would somehow change into the dark realm of the prison dimension.

And the red sun hanging low in the sky reminded him far too much of the piercing red glow from the singular eye in Krang Prime’s mech suit.

“This is a dream,” Leo told himself, trying to reassure his mind of what he didn't really believe.

He shivered from the chill in the wind that blew past this time - the wind that was warm a minutes ago - and gazed around, saying much louder, yelling to no one: “I'm dreaming!”

Leo looked around, half expecting someone to talk back to him, but the silence stretched on. The only sound he could hear was the rushing stiff breeze and the waves of the ocean crashing on the shore.

As much as he wanted to believe he was in a dream, something didn’t feel right for this to be a dream. The sounds were too loud, the colors too vibrant, the details too sharp, the sky too bright, and when was the last time he felt something like wind on his back or grass beneath his feet when he drempt?

The answer was ‘never.’

Everything felt too real, too alive, so Leo looked down at his bare arm and pinched his skin to find out if he could feel the pain.

He did.

“I’m hallucinating then,” he reasoned, wanting something - anything - to be the answer rather than the alternative.

“I'm in a coma. Ooor maybe Draxum pumped me full of some kind of new drug and it’s making me hallucinate.”

Regardless, whatever this was, Leo decided standing around and doing nothing wasn’t getting him anywhere; and it was around that time his heart began aching for his family, wanting to see them, to hold them, to hug them and tell them he loved them and hear and see and feel them in return.

How much time did he have left?

He was running out of time, he needed to see them now, to wake up and hold them in his arms.

That was the moment he noticed a tug on his heart, a pull like someone was taking his hand and urging him to follow, leading him in the direction the warm, comforting presence went when it left. Telling him this was the only way to get back home.

'Weird,' the slider thought in regards to this whole situation. He raised his eyes to gaze in the distance, seeing what looked like brownish-red hills on the edge of the wildflower field he was still standing in.

Deciding to follow the tug on his heart by going in that direction, Leo ran through the entire length of the large field.

Even when his muscles ached in his tired body and his lungs burned in his chest with each breath - protesting that his sore muscles weren’t getting enough oxygen supplied by his rapidly pounding heart - he kept right on running, all the way to his destination, at the base of the rocky hills. The hills that he saw now were much bigger than they looked in the distance; were towering cliffs that stretched as far as the eye could see to his left and right, like an immovable, impassable wall of jagged brownish-red boulders, with each one dwarfing his body in comparison with their massive size. As though he was a tiny little mouse looking up at impossibly huge chunks of red velvet cake.

As Leo gazed up, he realized that his body felt like lead and his limbs felt soo heavy, all he wanted to do was sit and rest; but he was afraid if he did so he wouldn’t get back up ever again.

'Is this what death is like?'

He was quick to chase that thought away, settling for bending over to rest his hands on his knees, panting through his mouth and giving his body time to recover from the strenuous jog that shouldn’t have tired him out this much.

‘Maybe I’m still connected to my body and it’s what’s worn out,’ Leo reasoned, figuring that explanation would add strength to the belief he was either in a very vivid dream or hallucinating.

(He hoped he didn’t dream of or hallucinate Krang Prime)

As soon as he finished catching his breath, Leo stood up and gazed around, assessing his options. First, he looked up at the top of the massive cliffs of rocks and boulders in front of him, then he gazed to the left, where he heard the sound of crashing waves in the distance.

Leo gave thought to the possibility the mountainous wall of rocks stretched all the way to the ocean, then he looked to his right, noticing for the first time the rocky wall connected to some sort of huge mountain range in that direction.

“Ok, so that’s a no go,” he thought out loud, wanting to hear his voice over the silence that suddenly struck when the wind abruptly died down, taking the sound of crashing waves along with it.

Leo closed his mouth to breathe through his nose now that his heart was settling, and he briefly looked behind his back, realizing the sun was quickly setting, and the sky on the horizon was turning shades of pink and orange.

The sunset he was looking forward to when he first got here - when he wasn’t alone, when he was feeling a surreal sense of peace and serenity, and wanted to see the starry sky - was now a looming threat of the darkness that was soon to envelope him; reminding him of the darkness of the prison dimension and making his journey home that much more difficult with each passing moment the light dimmed more and more.

'But not impossible,’ he thought, drowing out the part of his mind that was panicking over the prospect of suddenly behind hurled back there again.

What were the rules in this place!?

He huffed out a weak laugh and thought out loud (just so he could hear the sound of his own voice again): “If I can go through that other place for seven years and come back to see my family after that, I can get to them through a little darkness.”

He tried to ignore a little voice nagging him in the back of his mind, reminding him this was different because he only got home with the help of his brothers, and now he was all alone.

He turned from looking at the sunset to scanning the sky for any sign of a moon that might light the way. But when he didn’t see one he looked to his left again.

Although he couldn’t hear it because the gentle ocean waves lapping the shore were too far away, Leo knew based on the distant crashing sound he heard earlier that he might be able to reach the shore in that direction before the sunlight failed, providing he left now and ran with all his might. He was an aquatic turtle after all and swimming was second nature to him, as natural as breathing, wielding his katanas, and using them to channel his ninpo.

(His portalling katanas he didn't have on him in here - wherever here was - would come in reeeal handy right about now)

If the rocky barrier met with the sea, perhaps he could plunge into the ocean and swim to get around the cliffs, to the other side.

But what if the hills stretched on along the coast as impassable cliffs? As it was, even the field where he started stood twenty feet above the shore.

What if he couldn't reach the ocean once he ran there?

What if there were sharp, jagged rocks in the water, or whirlpools or strong currents or strange creatures waiting to gobble him up!?

Suddenly the thought of plunging into an unknown, vast, oceany body of water sent a chill up his spine.

(Or perhaps that was from the chill in the air)

Besides all of that, the pull on his heart and mind was much stronger here, urging him to continue on a straight path. He was closer, he could feel it.

Closer to what he didn't know.

Closer to home and his family?

Closer to the mystic realm and his ancestors?

Were his ancestors sending him on some sort of strange journey before they would let him unite with them in the mystic realm?

Why?

He chased that thought away.

He didn't have time to think of such things, the light of day was dimming rapidly - much faster than any sunset he watched perched atop a New York city roof or bridge.

He turned around again to see that the sun was dipping down on the horizon like a giant red cookie being dipped into a vast cup of tea.

Leo turned his head to face the impenetrable obstacle again, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. “Focus, fooo-cus,” he quietly told himself on the long exhale.

His mind cleared of all the troubling thoughts and fears, and that was when the thought came to him to try and use his ninpo to summon his katanas - or even one - so he could quickly and easily portal home to his family.

Although something inside his chest told him that portalling would be cheating. But if this was nothing more than a dream or a hallucination, what did that matter? There was no such thing as ‘cheating’ if he was inside his very own mind. And the stakes were very high. What if there were further changes in his brain chemistry? The possibility remained that he might die before he ever woke up.

"You’re dead already," the little voice that seemed to originate from his mind told him.

He told it to shut up and focused his attention on using his ninpo to summon a katana, even though for some reason he couldn’t explain, the thought of portalling away weighed his thoughts down with a heavy dread that settled in the back of his mind.

That reason became apparent when visions of going through the prison dimension portal - taking Krang Prime there with him - and watching it close behind them (him) filled his thoughts and rattled his brain.

Leo took another deep breath in and once more told himself to focus, which was an ancient Hamato technique Splinter taught them at some point he couldn’t remember - only with English words instead of the Japanese the mutant rat was taught by his mom, but his children did not understand.

Even though he knew time was ticking, that the darkness of the night was encroaching, bringing with it whatever strange new dangers lurking in the shadows in this world that wasn’t his - that every second here was a second he wasn't with his family - he stayed put, taking in another deep breath and once again forcing his mind to calm and focus on the task at hand.

Although this was taking up precious time, Leonardo knew that this ancient yet simple calming technique wasn’t a waste of time because it was far better to move ahead from here with a calm, logical mind than with one filled with anxious fears and troubling thoughts.

His experience with the krang invasion taught him that - a lesson he would never forget. At that time he rushed ahead, choices fueled by anger, hurt, fear, and guilt after Raph was captured by the krang. Choices that almost cost him the lives of the rest of his family because he wasn’t thinking things through.

"It’s your fault Raph was caught by the krang, it's your fault he was mutated," the little voice in his head told him.

It felt as if there was a tiny version of him sitting on his left shoulder, biting at his ear, so-to-speak.

Leonardo had to open his eyes and look at his shoulder to convince himself there really wasn’t a little, pessimistic 'Tiny Leo' sitting there, before looking to the right in the hopes of seeing a tiny Raph who could guide him along way, like his big brother had often been a guide in his life.

There wasn’t.

With a disappointed groan he thought about the second most important decision he made that day, the one done with a clear head despite his fears that kept gnawing at his toes. The one that worked. The plan that led them to saving Raph.

And the third and final big, important decision he made; the most difficult one of all, the one he made while staring the devil in the face was done with a clear mind and focus.

And it worked.

He stopped the invasion, defending and protecting billions of lives, and trapped the krang back where he belonged.

"You left your family behind to grieve. They hate you for that," the little voice told him.

"That's a LIE!!!" the slider yelled in reply, but immediately scrunched his shoulders with his head down when his voice echoed off the rocks and returned to his ears.

Then, just like what he did on the day of the invasion, Leo decided he would do now.

On that day he ran straight ahead at his most feared enemy without hesitation because the love for his family and the earth he was protecting overpowered and triumphed over any obstacle, and that same love would get him through this.

Whatever this was.

The darkness of twilight cast deep, dark shadows across his vision. Leo looked down at his right hand, willing his sword to appear in a flash of blue.

But nothing happened.

Because nothing was there.

No ninpo warmth in his chest, no blue flame in his mind's eye.

Nothing.

The ninja turtle wasn't about to give up so easily. He reached, searching within himself.

But it was gone.

His ninpo wasn’t there. His mystic powers that were fueled by his connection to his Hamato ancestors and connected him to his living family on earth was not inside of him.

He really was alone.

Just like . . .

Just like . . .

“This is a dream,” he very firmly told himself out loud.

"Is it reeeally?" the little voice talked back.

Leo refused to give in to the haunting fears and anxieties swimming around in his mind, kept alive by that little annoying insecure voice that seemed to both be coming from inside his head and all around him, the one he wished he could pull out and squat between his fingers like a bug.

“I’m having aaaa . . . uhhh, whatsitcalled? Lucid dream!” he decided, with a snap of his fingers when he remembered the word, figuring that was the most logical way to explain the vivid realness and the fact he was self-aware - that he knew this was a dream.

He adamantly decided to ignore any facts that proved the contrary.

The haunting screech of some kind of creature that may or may not have been an owl carried on the light breeze, making him jump a little and sending a chill up his spine. Then Leo forced himself to continue with his thought.

“If not a dream, then I’m hallucinating. Either way, it means I’m inside my own mind…”

"No you’re not, you’re already deeead," the little voice told him.

Leo did his best to ignore it and continue with his thought.

“That means I’m in control.”

"Are you in control now like you were in control inside the priiison dimension?" the little voice taunted.

He shivered from another chill that ran up his spine - not from strange noises or the coldness carried by the breeze, but by the nasty reminder of that place.

Both of them knew he had absolutely no control in there.

Thinking about it made him want to curl up in a ball and give in to his fears by giving up.

But Leonardo Hamato refused to do any such thing, and he also refused to give in the the other intrusive thoughts telling him he was separated from his body on some alternate plane of existence and would never return to be with his loved ones again; that all this work and planning was futile and would get him nowhere.

Instead, he turned away from the rocky wall to face where the sun had set out over the sea.

Casting away all fears and with a single, focused thought - determined he was somehow trapped inside his own head inside his own body - he did the seemingly impossible by the power of his own strong, determined Hamato will.

As if by magic the sky brightened as the sun reversed its path to rise far enough overhead to lighten up the day in the bright blue sky, without the pink and orange hues of an encroaching sunset.

Leo smiled at his accomplishment, pushed the panicking thoughts aside that were telling him he wasn’t really in control because he couldn’t summon his ninpo, and turned back around to face the rocky mountain-like obstacle.

Once again, with nothing more than the force of his own determined will, the impassable rocky cliff directly in front of him crumbled and fell, revealing a path leading straight ahead that he could walk through.

Leo let a crooked grin escape his mouth and took a step ahead to begin what would be the next phase of his journey, feeling the comforting presence he sensed earlier brush past on the wind, leading him on along the path he created.

But to where? He would soon find out.

On the other end of the rocky path, where the rock wall ended, Leo stopped and gazed around with a mixture of sadness, anger, and that fear that just wouldn’t leave him alone - as though it was some sort of magical imp that he couldn't rid himself of, clinging to his back, coming along for the ride.

Stretched out before him was what looked like flat, level ground, filled entirely with red-hot rocks surrounding molten pockets of bubbling lava, completely encased all around with insurmountable, tall blackish cliffs like he was in the crater of some sort of giant volcanic bed.

But there was hope - a blue light the same color as his ninpo shone brightly on the other side of the bed of fire and lava, from inside a cave straight across from him.

When there was a rumbling sound behind him Leo turned around to face the rock wall he just walked through, and watched helplessly as his only source of escape closed in, filling with the same sheer, unclimbable rock face that hemmed him in on every side.

It remained just as immovable when he tried once again to tear it down with his mind.

"Now look at what you've done, you've trapped yourself here forever," the little voice told him.

Leo shuddered and hugged himself at the frightening memory and connected thoughts, fears, and intense emotions of being trapped in the inescapable prison dimension, so he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

“Focus, fooocus," he told himself, to help calm his pounding heart. Then he opened his eyes again to stare straight ahead at his next obstacle, feeling the tug on his heart pulling him to walk straight through and reunite with what he hoped was his glowing ninpo on the other side, so he could finally go home, to be with his family, where he longed to be.

“This is a dream,” Leo reassured himself, noticing for the first time that despite being inches away from a bed of fire and lava he didn't feel any heat whatsoever on his skin or shell.

"One you’ll never wake up from," the annoying voice told him.

He resisted the urge to get distracted by arguing back and raised one foot, hovered it inches above a bubbling puddle of lava, wanting to test his theory in the only way he could think of.

He took in a deep breath and tensed from expectation when he lowered his foot to make contact with the lava directly in front of him.

But there was no pain.

In fact, he didn’t even feel the heat. Nor did his foot sink into the hot, viscous liquid, that felt something like a wet sponge under the pad of his foot.

Leo tested his weight by lifting his other foot off the rocks, and when he didn’t sink in and it still didn’t hurt or burn him in the least, he released the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding in, and put one foot in front of the other to walk straight across the molten surface.

Along the way, Leo never once took his eyes off the prize on the other side; somehow sensing within himself that if he looked away from the blue light giving him inner strength that he was certain was his ninpo - even for a second - fear would overtake him and he would be swallowed up whole in the fiery volcano he was walking through.

Confidence and courage.

Those were the two things he needed right now.

The hallmark of a truly honorable Hamato warrior and hero, along with loyalty, love, and hope.

Regardless of what was going on around him, he still had hope he would see his loved ones again; and that hope pushed him to continue on.

When Leo made it all the way to the other side, where there was a cave emitting the blue light, he felt the sensation of a cool, stiff breeze so looked behind his back and saw the entire crater was now filled with grass and the same wildflowers that were in the field.

“This place keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Leo mumbled to himself.

"No weirder than you," the little voice in his head retorted.

“Ha! I talk that as a compliment!” Leo spoke aloud, thinking about all the fun, weird activities he and his brothers engaged in over the years, on top of the weirdness factor of them being mutant turtle ninjas, created in a lab in a secret underground hidden city of yokai, being raised in the sewers by a mutant rat/ex tv star/Japanese Hamato descendant sworn to protect the world from the forces of evil.

‘It doesn’t get much weirder than that,’ he thought.

He was just about to step through the cave entrance when it felt like he was hit in the chest with a sledgehammer at the same instant a flashback involuntarily flickered before his eyes of a time in the prison dimension when Krang Prime referred to all lifeforms on this planet as being ‘so weirdly disgusting it was pathetic,’ while he was pinned so tightly against the rocks below the giant mech foot he could barely breathe.

Now he understood why that intrusive voice that wouldn't leave him alone choose that particular word.

Leo’s whole body went tingly and numb from the unwanted flashback, and when his senses slowly returned to him, he raised a hand to his face and touched below his nose at a tickly sensation, only to pull his hand back to see his fingers painted red with blood.

“I'm connected to my body, the flashback triggered a nosebleed,” Leo reasoned out loud as his way of trying to comfort himself in the belief that he hadn't already died.

His nosebleed was minimal so he sniffled, did his best to ignore it, and raised his eyes to gaze into the cave he had to go through that was just tall enough he could traverse if he crouched.

“I'm running out of time, I have to hurry before it’s too late,” Leo told himself, worried his body could unexpectedly die right here and now before he ever had a chance to say good bye to his family, thus taking away his opportunity to be with them instead of all alone (alone and scared) during his final moments.

“Anatawa hitorijanai.

You are never alone, Leonardo.”

The fear in his heart and mind washed away from the calming sound of his Gram-Gram Karai’s voice, confirming that she really was there with him, guiding him along his path. But the comforting sensation that voice brought was immediately snuffed out by the tiny voice whispering in his ear:

"You are alone and it's already too late."

“I’m really coming to hate that pessimistic guy,” Leo mumbled to himself as he continued through the cave toward the blue light he hoped was his ninpo that had somehow been separated from him.

To Leo’s great relief, the tunnel was short and ended at a cave opening tall enough to stand in. And to his even greater relief, both of his katanas were hanging on the rock face no more than five feet in front of him. Each one glowing blue with his mystic light.

Leo walked up to his swords and was quick to grasp them in his hands. The round handles of the lightweight weapons gave him a comforting sense of familiarity in his grip, and he looked down on them, smiling as the ninpo light they emitted traveled up his arms into his body, making his markings glow brightly as he felt his fiery ninpo energy settle in his chest, where it belonged.

Once it had all returned, the blue Hamato symbol glowed brightly in front of his chest, like it did the day they went into the woods and really awoke their inner mystic powers saving Raph from his nosedive off a cliff before going after the Shredder.

Leo let out a contented sigh with a smile on his face, and wanted to keep his weapons out and ready to strike any unseen threat in this strange place, as the little voice in his mind told him there was danger lurking nearby and he had to fight his way out if he had any hope of getting home in time to see his family before he died.

But at the same moment, a lesson he had been taught by his father as a young turtle tot - a memory he had forgotten long ago - resurfaced in his mind.

It was as if he was taken there, in the dojo, and was a young four year old turtle ninja in training, arguing on the floor with Donnie because he was sitting too close, and slapping each other and whining and complaining while Splinter stood before them, holding an ancient scroll in his hands and looking so tired and done with the constant bickering of four rambunctious mutant children.

Mikey peacefully colored on the floor beside Donnie to Leo’s left, as Leo slapped Dee’s taped-on glasses off his face, making his brother cry and fight back harder. Splinter moaned and rolled his eyes, but then Raph got up from his spot, stood between the two of them while picking them up by the lips of their carapaces, and angrily gazed at them one at a time, sternly saying: “Pops is trying to teach us, quit it!”

The biggest of the four turtle tots dropped them on the floor, Donnie to his left and Leo to his right. Donnie picked up his glasses and glared at Leo when he stuck his tongue out at him, and when Raph plopped down to sit cross-legged on the floor between them, Leo took his place on his right and Mikey moved over to give Donnie room to sit beside him on Raph’s left, never stopping with his coloring even as Splinter cleared his throat and translated the complex Japanese writing into simple English a group of young ninjas in training could understand.

“Do not draw your weapons until it is absolutely necessary. If peace is an option, do not provoke another to fight. Remember, even those you perceive to be your enemies may not be a threat and might very well have families of their own they are trying to protect. When combined with self control and a level head, the tongue can be your greatest weapon.”

Leo took Splinter’s advice literally and used his ‘tongue’ as a weapon in the sense of slobbering it all over Donnie when he jumped across Raph to bite his arm with a vice like grip.

Donnie cried out: “WAAAH! Get him off!”

Splinter groaned, rolled his eyes again, and walked away to watch his show that began playing in the living room.

Mikey ignored the commotion to continue with his coloring.

And Raph was busy trying to separate the twins again.

Then Leo was back in the dark cave, holding his katanas in his hands, ready to summon a portal with the hopes it could bring him home, but having to fight through a sickening dread that settled in his chest; one that was telling him he wasn't supposed to portal, that portalling was cheating and something bad would happen if he tried.

But that didn't make any sense (especially if this was a dream and he was still inside his own body). So he forced himself to battle against that feeling and opened a blue portal right in front of him.

But he hesitated instead of going through.

Something was pulling him back, away from the portal. It felt like the same something - someone - who led him here. That someone being Karai.

So instead of stepping in, he swallowed down a lump in his throat and stuck his head through for a peek.

Immediately terror struck the ninja turtle when he saw his portal really led him to the dreaded prison dimension. He pulled his head out, his trembling legs buckled underneath him, and he fell back on his bum, staring up wide-eyed at the blue orifice in front of him, completely stuck in the grips of a panic attack that froze him in place.

Leo was panicking so much it took him a solid two minutes to get his head on straight enough to close the portal so Krang Prime couldn’t surprise him by coming through. Then he sat in the dark, focusing his mental energy on trying to calm his mind and heart once more.

"The only way home now is to fight your way out," the little voice in his head warned him.

“Shut up,” Leo said aloud. He stood up, made a show of defiantly sheathing both katanas, and lit the ninpo on his markings so he had some light to see by as he searched for an exit. But there was none, besides the tunnel he came from.

“Guess the only way out is the way I came in,” he thought out loud.

So he did exactly that by going back out the way he came in, not knowing what to expect once he exited the cave.

When Leo emerged outside he saw the surroundings had changed again, and he was now inside a forest of tall trees, with the scattered light shining through the leaves above his head. And on the other side of a narrow, gently babbling brook was a cabin or cottage of some kind.

Leo looked behind his back to see the rock face was still behind him, only the cave entrance had disappeared. He rapped on the hard surface with his knuckles, confirming it was really gone and not just an illusion, then followed the tug on his heart telling him to continue straight ahead, past the cottage, despite all logical reasoning telling him he was going back the way he came.

But logic didn’t seem to work in here (wherever 'here' was) so Leo pressed forward, stepped over the stream, and gave the log cabin a good look along the way.

It was a simple cabin, with a stone chimney, a roof slanted like an upside V, and the cabin itself looked about big enough to house a close-knitt family.

As he continued walking, he saw on the other side of the cabin was a modest vegetable garden that looked healthy and well tended to.

Overall, everything Leo saw gave him the picture of peace and tranquility, and a sense of belonging - which were the only things he wanted in his life ever since the seven violent years he suffered in the prison dimension with the monstrous Krang Prime.

A part of him wanted to stay here a while, but the tug on his heart and thoughts of his family who he was missing spurred him on. So he tore his eyes away from the quaint sight, only to come face-to-face with a tall, broad masked ninja about the size of Raph, who was wearing all black with a red belt around his waist and red bandana tied around his forehead, and was standing right in front of him.

“Something tells me you went through stealth training. I don’t suppose you had to fetch dog tags like me and my bros?” Leo joked to ease the tension. But instead of replying, the ninja in front of him stepped out into a wide, low fighting stance and drew his weapons, a sai in each hand like what Raphael wielded.

Leo resisted the urge to draw his weapons, and put his hands up to say: “Sorry, didn’t mean to trespass, I’m just passing through.”

The ninja barked something at him in Japanese and maintained his wide stance, ready for a fight.

Leo ignored the little voice in his head telling him fighting was the only way out, to say: “Uhh, English? Do you speak English? Hablas espanol? Eugh boi, forget that one,” he muttered, remembering now that his Spanish was limited to a few words and short phrases, mostly centered around food and family (and the occasional curse he used to indulge in until Raph caught on).

The ninja once again firmly replied in Japanese and stood unmoving, blocking his way. Leo groaned and dragged a hand down his face in frustration, with a little part of him agreeing with the voice in his mind telling him it would be quicker and easier to just fight his way past. But he drowned out that voice by mumbling: “He’s just trying to protect his home and family, like I do all the time. Ok Leon, time to use your ninja skills as the team’s faceman.”

Leo relaxed his composure and looked up at the ninja with a grin plastered across his face, only to see now there were suddenly three ninjas surrounding him. The one to his left was about his size and brandished a bō with a purple belt and bandana across his fully masked head, and the one to his right was slightly shorter with an orange belt and bandana and holding out his nunchucks.

“Seriously, you guys must have put all your experience points into stealth,” Leo joked with a smile, trying to ease the tension once more. But his smile fell and his voice went flat when he said: “Right. No English.”

At that point, the three ninjas began yelling at him in between arguing with one another, and Leo was concerned they were deciding whether to kill him or not. His finger twitched at the thought of pulling out his katanas to preemptively protect himself, but instead he reminded himself of Splinter’s Hamato teaching - figuring there was a reason that memory had been shown to him in vivid detail - so instead he tried to find the way of peace.

Leo took another deep breath, told himself to focus, and pointed his finger at the woods behind the ninja in front of him as a visual cue to what his words meant, when he said: “Really, I’m not here to fight. If you could please let me pass I really only want to get through and continue on my way. I promise, if you let me through I’ll walk away and you’ll never see my face again.”

‘I hope,” the slider thought, nervous that his promise would turn out to be a lie if this strange world (dimension? Realm? No. Hallucination. Lucid dream) doubled around on itself again.

Leo kept his finger pointing ahead, past the ninja in front of him, and hoped his calm body language and kind (almost pleading) tone of voice got the message across.

Then he lowered his hand and waited while the three ninjas carried on a conversation in Japanese, that Leo supposed was them deciding if they would let him pass or attack this strange turtle ninja.

But then he felt a twinge of excitement when the ninja to his left rested the end of his bō on the ground, and moved his hand up off the wrappings on the center of it to grasp it a little higher up to lean against it, very clearly revealing a purple Hamato symbol.

Leo pointed to the purple symbol on the ninja’s weapon and excitedly told him: “Hamato! I’m Hamato!”

He pointed to himself with both hands, and in the center of his chest between his fingers glowed the bright blue Hamato symbol he summoned from within using his ninpo.

Immediately, the other three relaxed. They all straightened their stance, sheathed their weapons, and took off their masks to reveal three young men around his age, who looked very much like how he imagined his brothers would look if they were human.

“Ah, I see you’re Hamato, too,” the biggest ninja said.

“And I see you can speak English,” Leonardo replied with a grin. He looked to his left when the ninja carrying the bō said in a flat tone of voice with air quotes: “Yes ‘face man’ we understand English.”

Then he looked to his right when the shorter ninja looked up at him with eyes that sparkled with amazement, and said in a very Mikey-like way: "Ohhhh, if you’re the faceman I wonder what the rest of your team looks like.”

“I can show you,” Leo proudly replied with a grin. But when he reached for his phone that should have been in his belt pouch, nothing was there. “Oh, or not,” he mumbled to himself.

The Hamato ninja turtle felt a fire in his chest the was pulling him to keep moving, but now there was another pull tugging on him, begging him to stay. That pull amplified when a short, plump, older ninja - who looked very much like a human version of Splinter (complete with a waistband that had a section dragging on the ground behind him like a tail) - walked out of the cabin, carrying a tray of goodies, and greeted him with a smile, beckoning him: “All Hamatos are welcome here. Stay a while, rest your weary feet traveller, and enjoy a tasty treat.”

Leo suddenly realized how very hungry he was when his stomach rumbled at the sight of the food, and also how tired he felt.

Perhaps a short rest wouldn’t be so bad?

But the tug on his heart kept pulling him, urging him to return to his ‘quest’, as he decided to call it, and he graciously replied: “I’d love to, I really would, but I’m trying to get back to my family before it’s too late.”

The bigger ‘Raph’ ninja leaned against Leo with his arm wrapped around his shoulders in a half-hug that made him feel a whole lot like he was being hugged by his big brother, and he cheerfully invited with a smile: “Stay with us, Leo.”

The slider's smile fell.

“Wait, how do you know my name?”

“Yeah Leo,” the shorter ninja told him with none of them answering his question. He tugged on his hand and looked up at him with those big, sparkling eyes full of joy and life - just like Mikey - and said: “Come paint rocks with me! You don’t really want to leave all this to go back to that deathbed you’re on, do you?”

Leo didn’t question how ‘Mikey’ knew about him laying on a med bay bed, quite possibly at the verge of death. Instead something inside of him beckoned him to stay, telling him that this was right, and he got swept up in the moment.

“Yeah Nardo, it doesn’t make any sense to go back there, where you’re sick and suffering for the rest of your days, waiting to die, when you could stay here with us,” the purple-clad ninja commented.

Why did their voices all sound so familiar?

Where was he going again?

Wasn't he supposed to be doing something?

“Yes, I agree,” ‘Splinter’ said next. He walked up to Leo, shoved a delicious tasting treat into his mouth, and said: “You look like a fine, upstanding young ninja. Under my personal training you can continue to grown and hone your excellent ninjitsu skills and ninpo.”

“You’d train me yourself? One on one!?” Leo asked in amazement, thinking back to when his Splinter (dad? What did he look like again? He couldn’t quite seem to remember) refused five time in a row to train him one-on-one.

Next, a gentle feminine voice called to him from by the stream, and Leo looked up to see someone who seemed very familiar - yet different - walking up to him.

“You even have an April here!” he exclaimed in excitement at the sight.

This place kept getting better and better!

Why was he wanting to leave all of this?

Leo grabbed another treat and as he was wondering why he ever wanted to leave in the first place there was a dull ache, a tug in his heart that he couldn’t ignore.

Loyalty.

Love.

He was loyal to the family he loved, like the truly honorable Hamato that he was.

“No.”

Raph.

Donnie.

Mikey.

Splinter (dad)

April.

Their faces flashed in his mind.

"You’re not my family,” Leo told them.

He dropped the treat on the ground and said: “This is a diversion, a test, to see if I'll give up my family for this."

Suddenly the happy smiling faces of his ‘family’ yet not his family melted away like sidewalk chalk on a rainy day, along with the beautiful scenery and the quaint, little log cabin.

Gone with it were the feelings of peace and tranquility and belonging.

Being replaced once again by fear and anxiety and anger.

As well as a giant cave he was now in, with no discernible way in or out, and the only source of illumination coming from a glowing green, bubbly pool in the middle of the cave, below a swinging cage suspended by a single chain.

A cage holding his three brothers.

“Leo! Help us!" Mikey, Raph, and Donnie cried out in unison.

“I’m coming!” Leo yelled.

He ran toward the cage, but was stopped dead in his tracks when thick steel bars shot up from the ground in front of him, all the way to the top of the cave, separating him from them.

And to his right, standing directly on the other side of the bars, was the leader of the Foot clan. The one with fire ignited above his head, a red footprint on his face, and who talked in a raspy voice.

The one who placed the key to open the portal that allowed the krang to invade.

“You!” Leo yelled in anger.

“Uh-uh-uh-uh.” The Foot smugly wagged a finger in the air and said with a wicked smile:

“No saving your brothers yet, you haven’t heard the rules to my game.”

Leo unsheathed a katana with his right hand and gritted his teeth while glaring at the Foot commander who was standing within reach on the other side of the bars.

But he resisted the urge to attack because the Foot had his hand on a lever jutting out of the rock wall.

“You ruined EVERYTHING!” Leo yelled in anger, echoing Krang Prime's words to him over and over again in the prison dimension, and feeling all the raw emotions he felt the day of the invasion, combined with the overwhelming grief of loss, knowing the only reason he was trapped in there in the first place and why he was suffering and dying now was because the Foot commander he was glaring at was the one who let the krang invade.

“Do you want to hear the rules, or would you rather watch your brothers die?” the Foot lieutenant callously replied.

As a demonstration of the very real threat the three mutant turtles were in, he picked up a large rock and tossed it into the bubbling pool, where it fizzled and disintegrated in what was clearly a exceptionally strong acid.

Leo glanced at his brothers, who were calling out to him, and then tightened his grip on his katana hilt, figuring if he made any wrong moves the Foot would lower the lever and drop the cage into the bubbling caustic pool. So more to reassure his own mind, he glared at the Foot, narrowing his eyes in anger and saying in a cold tone of voice: “This is a dream. You can’t hurt them.”

Leo’s confident, angry expression abruptly switched to shock and horror when the Foot pulled the lever. He ran to the bars and stretched his hand through, calling out: “NOOOO!”

But instead of lowering the cage his brothers were in, the lever opened a wall to the right, showing another cage hovering over the lake of bubbling green acid, with both of his dads and April inside.

Leo pulled back from the bars, gritted his teeth again, and tightened his grip on his katana while staring at the wicked Foot who was doing this to them.

“This is a DREAM!” he aggressively yelled.

But the Foot lieutenant looked unbothered. Instead, he simply laughed and asked in a cold, almost amused tone: “Are you willing to bet their lives on it?”

And of course, both of them knew the answer was a resounding ‘NO.’

Leo looked up at his family but gave his attention back to the commander when he said something about the ‘rules’ again, holding up a large, bright green skeleton key now as he spoke:

“This key can open the lock on both cages, but! the second you slip the key into the first lock the other cage will plummet into the lake of acid. You must make a choice, who will you save?"

The evil 'flamehead' tossed the key through the bars at Leo’s feet, and he bent down to pick it up with his free left hand. As he was looking at it, thinking over the matter, the Foot said: “Someone must succumb to the acid pool. If you make the right choice, you will return home. But if you make the wrong choice, both cages will drop and everyone will die here and now, including you.”

“Everyone will die,” Leo whispered to himself. ‘Just like the invasion,’ he thought.

Despite the pleading cries for help filling the air, Leo blankly stared down at the antique-looking oxidized green copper key in his hand (one that had the Hamato symbol etched into it), mumbling: “None of this is real. Right?”

He kept his eyes glued to the key and repeated as a whisper: “Everyone will die.”

A flashback to the day of the invasion appeared in his mind, from when he looked out over the burning city aboard the technodrome.

At that moment, the cave rumbled when the bars separating him from the two cages retreated back into the rocky ground, and as soon as the Foot said: “You have thirty seconds to decide,” there was a cry of panic from both cages when each of them dropped three feet closer to the bubbling acid.

Leo’s heart lurched in his chest as he looked up from the key in his hand to the cages that dropped another three feet, and he repeated in a panicky tone: “Someone has to die or everyone will die. Just like the invasion.”

There was another scream of panic when the cages dropped again and his eyes widened with realization.

“Just like the invasion,” he repeated, but louder, before thinking: ‘This is another test!’ and then blurting out:

“I know what to do!”

Leo sheathed his katana, tightened his grip on the key in his left hand, and ran straight for the cage in front of him - the one holding his brothers.

But instead of jumping up to open the cage, he jumped alright. Cannonball-style right into the bubbling lake of acid.

Everything went quiet.

There was no burn, no searing heat, no pangs of death.

Leo was swimming, no, sinking, no . . . floating. Floating in a glowing green pool.

Then the pool drained away and he was standing in the lair. No, he fell. He was a little turtle tot taking his first steps with Mikey crawling by his side.

And now he was holding swords in his hands for the very first time, looking up at the the back of his dad who was hastily returning to his show because the commercials were over, after showing them the priceless Hamato weapons they weren’t supposed to touch.

And now he was a little older, a kid exploring the sewer tunnels with his brothers for the first time without their dad knowing. But he and Donnie snuck off and Mikey followed behind without them knowing, leaving Raph all alone. Where was Raph! They had to find him!

But now he was going above ground to New York for the very first time, with his three brothers by his side.

His life was flashing before his eyes.

He was dying, he had to be!

Now he was reliving the moment he and his bros dramatically cannon-balled into a pool on the roof of a New York building April had the keys to.

But something wasn't right...

...why was the water glowing green?

Suddenly he was in the acid pool again.

No.

It was a pool of mutagen.

He was a floating baby turtle, recently mutated in Draxum’s lab, looking out through the glass at the goat yokai standing beside a cage that contained ‘the great Lou Jitsu’ still in his human form. A locked away memory Leo had never seen before.

No.

He wasn't floating, he was drowning!

No he wasn't drowning, he was choking!

Choking on something stuck in the back of his throat.

But what!?

Leo abruptly awoke with a gurgly gasp in Draxum’s med bay, and everything was bright and blurry and all the sounds were muted, like his ears were filled with the mutagen he had just been floating in.

And he was choking and panicking and now his head hurt and his blurry vision was obscured by red.

By blood.

His blood.

‘I’m dying! I’m bleeding out, I’m scared, wake up, WAKE UP! No, not now I'm alone! Don't die now! Where is everyone!? I'm all ALONE!!!’

"Anatawa hitorijanai. Do not fear Leonardo, you are never alone," he heard his Gram-Gram Karai calmly reassure him.

Someone - he didn't know who - rolled him onto his right side and he didn’t realize he was tightly grasping something with his left hand, or that that Raph was holding his right hand, and there was a loud commotion, like his ears were drained of the nonexistent mutagen, and the rest of his senses were returning to him, sharp pain and acid and nausea and his eyes were stinging from the blood, and he gagged and sputtered and heaved and coughed up the vomit he had been choking on, all green and yellow and acid and full of bile; and blood was drizzling out from his eyes down the side of his face onto his pillow; and he didn’t know it but he was still gripping Raph’s hand with his so tightly his knuckles were turning white; and the pain in his head spread throughout his body like sharp electrical impulses and was he still throwing up? How could there be so much if there was nothing in his stomach but bile and acid, acid and bile, and even more acid and more bile!?

But then, the pain subsided and he relaxed his body that he didn’t know until now was tight and tense, and he coughed up the last of what was left in the back of his throat burning from the vomit that came up when he was laying on his back, and he was shivering even though he didn’t feel cold but oh! he realized he was cold when some incoherent sounds were followed by the needed warmth of a heat lamp shining down on him. And he lay on his side with his eyes closed, his right hand gently grasping what he didn’t know yet was Raph’s, and his tight fist in his left hand holding on to something he intrinsically knew was important (even though he had no idea what it was, or even if it was real).

Gradually Leo’s shivering settled down, and when it finally stopped he opened his eyes to see Raph’s loving but worried face right in front of him, looking at him with tender love mixed with fear in his glossy eyes that were full of tears that threatened to overflow any second.

“You ok now, lil bro?” Raph asked in a comforting, worried tone.

“M sorry,” Leo mumbled, too low for anyone to hear.

“What? Do you need something?” his big bro tenderly asked.

Leo closed his eyes, curled in on himself a little more, and mustered his strength to say a little louder: “I’m sorry.”

Instead of Raph, Leo heard Mikey’s kind but equally worried, tense voice telling him: “You don’t have to apologize, Leo. There’s nothing to be sorry about, we're just glad you're awake."

Good. Raph was there and now Leo knew Mikey was with him, too. At least two of his three brothers were here. He wasn’t by himself.

He wouldn't have to die alone if that was what was happening to him.

Leo next moaned and opened his mouth to tell his family in an almost inaudible mumble: “I almost died and I didn’t get to say good bye or tell you I love you.”

“You’re not going anywhere yet and we already know you love us," came a wobbly yet firm and kind voice.

April.

“But the next time you decide to choke on your own vomit and thrill us with one of your brain bleeds, can you do it when our backs aren’t turned, dumb-dumb?” Donnie joked sarcastically. But there was no bite to his sarcasm because his voice was soft and tender and overlaid with fear.

“Keepin' you on your toes, Dee,” Leo mumbled in reply; his voice hoarse from the acidic vomit he upchucked, and a little smile forming on his face when he heard a couple of relieved-sounding laughs.

“You’ve been out of it for three days Leo, how do you feel?" his big bro asked him from right by his head.

"Em ok," he mumbled in reply.

"Do you think you can handle hearing Draxum’s voice drone on?” Raph next asked as a partial joke with a hint of amusement he added for the slider's sake, and a whooole lot of sadness.

“Mmm,” Leo hummed with a nod of his head, but he didn’t open his eyes or otherwise reply.

Raph moved over, but stayed close enough so he could continue holding Leo’s hand, with Draxum taking a seat by Leonardo’s face and saying: “You’re stable again but you were in a coma for three days. I’ll update you on the details when you can handle it, but would you like me to explain what just happened to rudely wake you up?”

“Mmm,” Leo hummed as his only reply. He kept his left hand closed over the something in his grip as though letting go of it would mean the end of the world, and readjusted his other hand in Raph’s sweaty palm.

“You likely awoke because you were choking on your own vomit..." “We would’ve caught it sooner but we were all listening to Draxum’s latest reports about your health,” Mikey interrupted in a tone of voice that oozed guilt and sadness.

Leo wanted to tell his obviously guilt-ridden little brother not to worry about it, but he just didn’t have the strength for that right now, so he quietly listened to the sound of Draxum’s calm, soothing voice as he continued.

“The sudden shock to your system when you abruptly awoke provoked another bleed in your brain which came out of your eyes this time. I injected a new formula into your IV that Donatello helped me created. It should have taken care of the residual pain and curbed the nausea, but we still need to clean you up and switch you to the other bed. Casey and Mikey are making it up with fresh sheets now.”

Leo let out a long, weak moan and slowly parted his dry lips to say in a pitiable, whiny sort of way: “Nooo, I don’t wanna move.”

“Would you prefer laying in your own blood and vomit?” came Draxum's calm, factual rebuttal.

‘Oh, that’s what smells so bad,’ Leo thought, before grudgingly agreeing: "No."

“We’re ready,” came Casey’s voice.

"Alright, Baby Blu…uh, Leonardo,” Splinter softly said, correcting himself when he remembered Leo didn’t want to be called ‘Blue’ anymore, and taking Draxum’s place. “Papá will clean you up and then Red will move you to the other bed.”

There was something comforting about being called ‘Baby Blue’ so Leo mustered his strength to say: “You can call me Baby Blue, Papa.”

“Ok my boy, I will still call you Baby Blue,” Splinter softly agreed, as he gently and carefully cleaned up the blood and vomit smeared on the side of Leo’s face.

That was when he noticed something bright green poking out of his son's hand, something that was exactly the same shade of green he had seen before and looked like it might be the tip of an oversized key. So he softly asked: "What do you have there?"

"Hmm? I dunno," Leo mumbled in reply (having no memory of his vision) but protectively tightening his grip on the something in his grasp nonetheless.

A sickening knot welled up inside of Splinter's stomach from the fear of possibly already knowing what was in his son's grasp and that it was something very important, so instead of dropping the issue he gently reached down to rub the back of Leo's hand, tenderly telling him: "Papá will keep it safe for you while we move you to the other bed."

Leo merely hummed in reply before loosening his grip and allowing Splinter to take the item out of his hand...

...the item his rat dad saw was an old, oxidized copper key.

One that looked identical to a key he saw in one of the ancient Hamato scrolls.

A key that he - and he alone - knew was a very, very important item.

One that filled his heart up with untold sadness.

But now wasn't the time to discuss this seemingly insignificant yet vitally important item. Fortunately no one else seemed to pay any mind to that brief interchange, Splinter discreetly stuffed the key into an inner pocket of his robe to bring home later, and resumed cleaning his son's face.

When he was done, Leo felt the comforting, warm embrace of his big brother picking him up to move him to the other bed.

But when it was time for Raph to lay him down again, the ill slider cuddle into him with a sorrowful: "Noo," and he was happy when his loving big brother settled down to sit in something that Leo didn’t know was a soft recliner, because he kept his eyes closed the entire time.

Raph kept him cuddled close in his warm, safe arms, then April came over to wrap a clean blanket around him, and Leo cuddled up with his hands up to his chest.

Then it wasn't long before the warmth of his big brother’s body combined with the gentle movement of his steady breaths lulled him off to slumberland.

Shortly after Leo fell asleep and Draxum confirmed he was stable, Donnie announced he was going back to the lair to get a few necessary things from his lab. He didn't end up going alone though, because Splinter - who seemed extra distracted - joined him, not telling anybody why he was leaving his ill son's side to go home.

Not until after the observant Donatello questioned him once they stepped foot inside the lair.

"What was that in Leo's hand?" he asked with all the gentleness of a rampaging bulldozer.

Splinter tried to sound casual on his way out of the room, replying: "Oh, it was only..." "Don't lie to me."

Donatello's dad abruptly turned around to look up at him in surprise, with his son standing tense, his arms crossed, and staring down on him, challenging him to dare try to lie to his face.

"Leo woke up from a three day coma, one that had no medical explanation, might I add," Donnie started with his factual line of reasoning, but with an angry undertone to his otherwise calm voice.

"There was nothing in his hand when I checked him twenty minutes prior so there was no reason for anything to be in his hand when he awoke, and yet he was holding something. Unless you want me to believe you put whatever that thing is into his hand only to take it away as soon as he woke up, the only other explanation is mystic."

Splinter's shoulders slumped at the same time he let out a deep, heavy sigh, with a part of him releasing some of the tension his body was holding in because now he wouldn't have to bear this burden all alone, but conversely with a sickening dread filling up the pit of his stomach at the thought of having to share this burden of knowledge with one of his sons, who shouldn't have to deal with such sorrowful news.

Donatello watched silently, still with his arms crossed, as Splinter reached into the folds of his robe to produce a large, green copper skeleton key.

One Donnie recognized.

His hands fell down as he stared at that key in shock, before reaching out for it.

Splinter willingly handed it over and once it was in his hand, Donnie looked it over carefully, noting something of interest etched into the key: the Hamato symbol he was familiar with that was cut into five pieces with a circle inside each piece. Four of the five circles were the same color green as the rest of the key, but one circle was an open hole, as if it had rotted out, and the triangular section containing it was a dull shade of blackish-brown - as if that part of the key was corroding.

Five symbols - the Hamato crest was supposed to have five symbols, one representing each of the living descendants of the Hamato clan.

Yoshi and his four sons.

Raphael.

Donatello.

Michelangelo.

And Leonardo.

Five, not four, FIVE!

For safe measure, Donnie carefully examined the key a second time, trying to find any trace of evidence that other spots of the key contained holes, divots, abnormalities, damage, corrosion, anything. But once he verified there was nothing he swallowed down a lump in his throat before saying:

"I . . . don't know what's more disturbing. The fact this key that mystically appeared in Leo's hand has the Hamato crest looking like . . . that, or that I've seen it before."

Donnie raised his gaze off the key to stare into his dad's watery eyes.

Thanks to his photographic memory, the genius of the family remembered seeing a painting of this exact key in one of Splinter's ancient Hamato scrolls, but he was little at the time he couldn't read Japanese, so he didn't know what it meant.

Splinter understood his son needed an explanation so he turned around, heading to his bedroom off the living room, gesturing with his hand for his son to follow him, saying: "Come with me, Purple."

Donnie grasped the key in one hand and silently followed behind his dad all the way to his bedroom, to a shelf holding dozens upon dozens of ancient family scrolls.

Reaching up, Splinter grasped a scroll amongst the plain yellowish parchments, but - like a handful of others - this one was different, because it was made out of a pure shimmering white parchment that hadn't faded or worn with time, that had a thick, bright green border painted all the way around, and that had a crisp, clean Hamato crest on the front of it the same bright shade of green as the key in Donnie's hand.

"This is the scroll of one of our ancestors who had a hand in creating the key that was used to banish the krang in the prison dimension the first time, thus saving the earth from certain disaster."

He laid it aside and pointed to another that looked identical to the first one.

"This is the scroll of our ancestor who saved the earth by helping to banish the Shredder to the Twilight Realm. And this one..."

"I get it, dad. Those are scrolls of great Hamato ancestors who saved the earth, but what does any of this have to do with Leo and this key?" Donnie interrupted, with a sense of urgency to his tone of voice because he wanted answers and he wanted them now!

Splinter hung his head, picked up the first bright white scroll he took out to hold it up for 'Purple' to see, and sadly informed his son:

"All of these scrolls were formed mystically at the moment of death. Inside, the scroll contains a written account of the heroic act that earned our ancestor an honored place among the Hamato elders in the mystic realm. And they were all opened with a key."

Donnie held out the key in his open palm with both him and Splinter gazing down upon it.

He wanted to ask questions about the key, to calm his frayed nerves with data collecting and research, but his mouth went dry and his tongue stuck to the roof, not wanting to move for him.

Splinter seemed to understand, rested a hand on Donatello's, and softly told him:

"Leonardo risked everything to protect the earth from the krang threat, this key guarantees he has earned an honored place among our Hamato ancestors."

He let out a deep sigh and shut his eyes when tears formed in the corners, before going on.

"According to our family scrolls, this key forms sometime within a year of the honorable Hamato's death, in a few cases it appeared within days."

Donnie snapped his eyes up to stare at his dad, aghast.

"But Draxum says he has two years and eight months," he firmly countered, his voice cracking a little from the tension in his throat.

Splinter patted his son's hand before taking the key to lay it prominently in the middle of the bottom shelf, in front of some plain family scrolls.

"Draxum is wrong," he told him with firm conviction, not taking his eyes off the mystic Hamato key that sealed his son's demise.

Not until after 'Purple' surprised him by suddenly blurting out:

"A year's not long enough to fix this! Two years eight months was barely long enough! I have a plan! An ALGORITHM!!! I need TIME!!!"

His dad opened his mouth with the intent of asking what his intelligent son was talking about, but he was cut off before uttering a sound when Donnie threw his arms up in frustration, spinning around at the same time to storm out of the room, insisting:

"I can fix this, I can fix this! And when I do..." "Donatello..." "NO!"

Donnie spun back around at Splinter's bedroom doorway, aggressively pointing a finger at his dad and glaring at him with an angry scowl.

"Leo's NOT dying because I can FIX this!"

Tears filled the corners of his eyes and spit flew out of his mouth when he forcefully demanded:

"Don't you DARE SAY THAT!" before whipping around once more to rush to his lab, leaving the distressed mutant rat behind, listening to his panicking son repeating the same phrase over and over again all the way to his lab.

"I can fix this, I can fix this, I CAN FIX THIS!!!"

Chapter 18: Green, Blue, and a Bright Red Light

"Leo . . . Why didn’t you tell us before?”

Chapter Text

Leo opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times. He was still laying on his side but he wasn’t in Raph’s lap anymore, instead he was on a med bay bed with crisp, clean sheets. But he wasn’t alone, because his little brother was sitting up on the same mattress behind his back, scrolling on his phone.

“Hey Leo, you’re awake!” came a cheerful voice when Mikey noticed his brother stirring.

“Yeah,” Leo replied, his voice a little hoarse from disuse. He blinked the sleepy blurriness away and rubbed at his eyes while rolling onto his back with a smile for his little brother - having no memory of his mystical vision, holding the mystic Hamato key, or of Splinter taking it from him.

“If you're wondering where Raph is, he really didn't want to go but Drax insisted he and Casey pick up some things he said he needs right away, so they're in the Hidden City shopping, but he wouldn't go until he made me promise three times to stay by your side until he comes back,” Mikey volunteered, figuring Leo would be wondering why he woke up in a bed instead of on his big brother's lap.

“Mm. Where’s everybody else?” Leo asked.

“Donnie had to go home to get stuff from his lab, Pop’s went with him but he didn’t say why, and April’s in the lab here helping Barry.”

“Mm, ok,” Leo hummed in reply, before asking the serious question: “I guess Drax told you?”

A part of him wished he hadn’t asked that important question with the way Mikey’s body language shifted from ‘happy my brother’s awake’ to ‘sad my brother’s dying’, but he had to know for sure.

Besides, avoiding the question wouldn’t change anything.

“Yeah, he . . . he told us. H…how are you feeling?”

Leo did a mental check of his body, used to doing this after all the times Draxum asked him the same question in various different ways, and he answered: “Tired.”

“Anything else?” Mikey asked.

Leo figured Draxum drilled them all with a lot more information than 'your brother's dying' while he was out of it, with the way Mikey said that so seriously, like he was a nurse recording a patient's symptoms.

The ill slider sat up because he was sick of laying in bed (even though he couldn't remember the past three coma-induced days, he could just sense in his body that that he was sick of it) and he did a second mental scan to make sure he didn’t miss something - knowing how important it was to communicate right away if anything in the slightest felt new or different.

But the only thing he noticed was that he had a sore throat, felt a little achy from laying in bed for three days, was tired but antsy, wanted to get up and move around, and now that he thought about it he also realized he was hungry.

But none of that was necessary information that needed to be communicated so Leo smiled at Mikey again and replied: “Nope, just that and hungry.” Then he gave his body a good stretched, noticing for the first time that something was stuck to the back of his head, near the base of his skull, so he began gently picking at it.

“What’s that?” Leo asked, rubbing his fingers across what felt like a large, smooth, square sticker and resisted the urge to pick it off with his fingernails, figuring it was put there for a reason. “Oh, Barry asked Donnie to make that for you,” Mikey replied, with his upbeat voice holding tension as he was clearly trying to hide his sorrow behind faked cheerfulness, for Leo’s sake.

Leo didn’t call him on it, and let Mikey continue.

“Dee said he didn’t have time to make much, but that’ll let us know if you’re… uh . . . if there's an emergency and you need help.”

Mikey tucked his head down a little into his shell and put his eyes down, back on his phone, seeming unsure of himself, until Leo gave his little brother a reassuring grin and said in a happy tone of voice: “That’s nice of them, how does it work?”

Mikey returned his smile, but with a sad one of his own, replying: “I don’t know, you know what Donnie gets like when he goes all ‘speech mode’.”

The sad box turtle perked up a little when Leo laughed and joked: “That’s when it’s time to run and hide!”

“Heh, yeah. I just know there’s a tracker in it, it does something with brainwaves? I think. But now you won’t need someone stuck to your side on your good days, like Raph insisted, so you can do stuff like showering on your own.”

Leo didn’t realize his smile fell and he absent-mindedly stared blankly ahead, repeating in a hushed voice: “On my good days.”

“Leo?”

“Hmm?”

The slider blinked his eyes a few times, forcing them to focus as he pulled himself out of his own troubled mind at the sound of Mikey’s soft voice.

By his side, his sad little bro hung his head down and nervously fidgeted with his fingers, looking completely deflated.

“Why didn’t you tell us before?” came a small, sad voice.

Leo let out a single, quiet nervous laugh - not because he thought this situation was in any way funny, but because that was his way of coping and releasing anxiety during tense moments - and he absently looked down at his hands in his lap when he replied:

“I was being selfish. I’m sorry Mikes. This wasn’t supposed to happen so fast, I thought we’d have more time together and I wanted…”

Leo’s bottom lip quivered as tears filled the corners of his eyes, and he raised his head to stare off into the dim space of the med bay they were in, noticing his vision was a little blurry because of how he felt like retreating inside his own mind as an escape from this uncomfortable conversation (just like he had done many, many times before during his time in the prison dimension).

Then Mikey’s voice brought Leo back to reality when he softly said: “You don’t have to say if it’s too hard for you.”

“No, I want to,” Leo replied in an equally soft, sad tone.

He took a deep wobbly breath, fought back the urge to let the tears fall down his face - feeling if he started crying he might never stop - and told Mikey:

“I wanted one last week of happiness. One week of not having to look at you, all of you, and see the sorrow and sadness in your eyes, so I could have some happy memories to look back on, to make me smile in the rough days ahead.”

He cast his eyes up to gaze into Mikey’s, furrowed his brows with worry, and asked: “Is that bad?” Really meaning: 'was I being a selfish jerk and do I deserve forgiveness?'

Once again, Mikey averted his gaze and looked down at his fidgety fingers.

“No, I don’t think that’s bad, but. . . . We have lots of happy memories. Why couldn't you think of those?”

“You mean from before the invasion,” Leo gently replied.

He brought his face closer to Mikey’s with a tiny smile, hoping the sad little box turtle would look up at him, but Mikey curled in on himself instead and said: “But that wasn’t too long ago. Couldn’t you have looked back on those memories and told us sooner, so we knew? So we could help?”

Michelangelo kept his head down but looked up at Leo with his eyes when his red-eared slider brother reminded him: “It wasn’t long ago for you, Mikey. My memories might’ve come back when you got me out of there, but it was still seven years for me.”

“Oh. Right. I keep forgetting about that.”

Mikey snapped his head up to look straight at Leo, a shot of panic flashing across his face, and he hastily added: “Not that I forgot it’s just that...” “I look the same, I didn't age a bit on the outside, and it was only a few minutes for you?” Leo kindly offered, instantly prompting Mikey's tense body to relax, before he agreed: “Yeah. It’s just really hard for me to wrap my mind around it.”

“It’s hard for me too some days, and I lived it,” Leo agreed with a gentle smile for his brother, and trying to sound a little upbeat to lift the mood.

Even though Mikey smiled back, Leo could tell from his body language and the look in his eyes that he was still feeling bad, so he decided to change the subject to try and cheer him up.

“I’m starvin’! Let’s get pizza!”

Leo's little brother gave him a skeptical look and said: “Are you really sure you should be eating pizza right now?”

In a chipper tone and with a big smile on his face, Leo reassured: “Sure I am! I just gotta check with Drax about taking this IV out and away we go!”

“How about soup, my son?”

Leo and Mikey looked up when Splinter came in the room, carrying some ancient Hamato scrolls in his hands, and Leo knew arguing with his dad would get him nowhere, so he grudgingly agreed before asking: “Where’s Donnie? Still in his lab?”

“No, we came back together. He said he'll come see you when he's done helping Draxum with the new, uh, thing he made. He told me all about it on the walk here, but your old rat dad doesn't understand most of what he says when he talks about his, uh, tech.”

Leo laughed out loud and happily replied: “No one understands Don when he goes off into his speech mode!” and he was glad that not only got Mikey laughing, but also put a smile on his dad’s face.

A small victory in his eyes.

Next, Mikey pointed at the scrolls and asked: “Hey, what’s that Pops?”

Splinter joined them both in looking at the plain, ancient scrolls in hand and replied: “Oh those are just some dusty old scrolls I used to read to you when you were little and scared of monsters in your room. I thought maybe Bl…uh, Leonardo would enjoy hearing me read them on some of his…uh . . .”

His voice drifted off and tears filled his eyes, like what had been happening to him frequently since finding out his son was dying.

“Bad days?” Leo offered with a gentle, crooked grin.

Splinter gave his son a little smile in return - one that didn’t reach his sad, sorrowful eyes - and sadly agreed: “Yes, my son.” Then he turned around while saying in a tone he hoped sounded more uplifting: “Now, I will get you that soup.”

Before Splinter finished leaving, Leo told him: “I’ll come eat it in the kitchen,” and although the mutant rat didn’t say anything to object, when he turned around to face his sons the conflicted look on his face told the slider his dad was deciding between encouraging him to stay in bed to get his rest, and letting his dying son do what he wanted during his final days on earth.

Splinter ended up replying with no more than a nod of his head before turning around and mumbling: “I’ll let you know when it’s ready,” on his way out of the room.

Leo and Mikey watched him leave, and when he was gone Mikey gazed at the Hamato scrolls he left behind and Leo sensed a shift in his mood, so he decided to try changing the subject by looking at him with a smile to cheerfully ask:

“Sooo, what color did Dee make that sensor thingy?”

“Green, to match your skin,” Mikey replied. Then he laughed when Leo screwed up his nose and let out a comical, over-exaggerated: “Green!? How dare he! He knows blue's my color!”

“That’s what I said!” Mikey agreed with a big, genuine smile that didn't reach his eyes. “But he said the color shouldn’t matter to you because it’s on the back of your head and you can’t see it!”

Leo could still see the sadness was evident in his brother's eyes, but he would take whatever happiness he could get as a win, so he gave him a mischievous grin while saying: “Do you wanna go give him heck for not making it blue?”

“Do you feel good enough for that?” Mikey asked with concern. But his worried look left when Leo flicked the blankets aside and replied with a smile and an upbeat tone: “Yeah, I need to go to the lab anyway to get Draxum to take out this IV.”

“Alright!” Mikey happily exclaimed.

He jumped out of bed first to be by his ill bro's side in case he needed help steadying himself on his feet, but Leo made sure to take things slowly since he was getting up for the first time in three days, and he didn’t let the mental pain show on his face when he thought: ‘Three days I missed with my family.’

Once he was on his feet and sure he wasn’t going to have a dizzy spell and that he had the strength to walk around, he let go of the bed, grasped his IV pole, and all on the way to Draxum's lab he and Mikey happily discussed ways they were going to bug their intelligent brother for having the audacity of making the high-tech sticker scanner green instead of blue.

~A Few Days Later~

The next few days were mostly uneventful as Leo spent loads and loads of quality time with his family, and now he was sitting in Draxum’s very plush, comfy couch in the living room, cuddled up snugly between the soft arm of the couch and Raph’s side, as he, his brothers, as well as Splinter, April, Casey, and Donnie were watching a Lou Jitsu movie (but not until after the techy softshell confirmed seven times with Draxum that their brother who was at risk of having seizures could watch something so flashy as an action movie)

Well, most of them were watching the movie. April ended up crawling over her honorary rat ‘dad’ at the beginning, ignoring his grumbles and complaints as she got comfortably squeezed in beside him in Draxum’s comfy, oversized chair, and now they were both sound asleep; and Donnie was busy clicking at his tablet, working on the schematics for some new tech Draxum asked him to create to aid Leo that would speed up the dehydrating process for some of his medications that were made into powders - in between continuing his ample research of his terminally ill brother's symptoms to try and find something - anything - the goat alchemist missed that he could use to 'fix' this whole situation.

Mikey and Casey were sitting on the floor in front of Leo, with Mikes paying about as much attention as Raph to the movie they had already watched dozens of times, raising their heads for the action scenes in between scrolling on their phones and listening to the dialogue they knew word-for-word.

Casey was the only one of them paying close attention without tearing his eyes away from the screen for a second, this being his very first time ever seeing the movie he only heard about from his future versions of the turtles. And Leo…

...for the past couple of minutes, Leo was looking down at his bare green arm, tapping on his skin where his wrist com would be if he was wearing it. But he was so quiet and cuddled up under Draxum’s throw with his feet up on the couch and his back against Raph that no one noticed what he was doing; until there was an intense action scene and Raph nudged him with his elbow and looked down to say: “You’re missing the best part, bro.”

But his brother didn’t respond, he just kept tapping on his arm.

Donnie sensed a shift when Raph tensed, and he looked up from his tablet as the worried snapper asked: “Uh, you ok there buddy?”

Mikey and Casey abruptly turned around to join the other two in looking at Leo, and the slider softly replied: “I’m trying to get the time to show,” seeing his com on his wrist that no one else saw, and not really noticing his vision was a little distorted, like his com was under water.

Donnie's first instict was to open the app connected to the tech scanner attached to the back of Leo's head, but nothing showed yet because it was a rush job since he had so many other things he needed to help Draxum with pertaining to Leonardo's health, so it only alerted him if there was a potentially life-threatening emergency. Then he craned his neck around Raph to try and see Leo’s arm, but when he couldn’t, he asked their big brother: “Is he wearing his com?”

“No,” came the immediate, tense reply. "Get…” *thump!*

Donnie dropped his tablet and was already out of the room before Raph could finish his two word ‘get Draxum’ sentence; and Mikey and Casey stood up to stare at Leo with Raph, whose nervous stink filled the air.

“What do you see, Leo?” Casey asked, the tension in his voice evident to everyone but the oblivious, ailing slider, as well the still-sleeping April and Splinter, who weren't going to be asleep for much longer.

Leo continued trying to click at his non-existent com and calmly replied: “My com's not working. I think the battery…” Leo’s head shot up, his eyes widened, and his pupils shrank into tiny dots at the frightening memory turned hallucination from the day the battery in his com died when he was in the prison dimension, with him suddenly realizing that was where he was (only he wasn’t).

Leo turned his head to stare at the tv, only he didn’t see the tv, he saw something else. Something that made Splinter and April jump up from fright when Leo screamed at the top of his lungs: “He’s coming! ISEEHIMHESRIGHTTHERE!!! AAAAAHHHH!”

The petrified turtle squished back against Raph to try and get away from the threat when, in his mind’s eye he saw Krang Prime reaching out for him, the bright red lights from his mech suit contrasting against the deep blackness of the prison dimension.

As he was screaming in terror, being squeezed in Krang’s grip when he was really being hugged tightly by his protective big bro, his panicking family didn't know what to do when Draxum stepped through a portal with Donnie behind him.

Leo's other dad sternly called out loud enough to be heard above the sound of his son's panicked screams: “SYMPTOMS!”

“He’s hallucinating!” Raph cried out, hugging his screaming brother, who was staring ahead with an immense fear in his eyes and on his face that no one one had ever seen the likes of before.

“VISUAL, AUDITORY, TACTILE? I NEED DETAILS!” Draxum firmly yelled.

The post-apocalyptic Casey has a clearer head in emergencies than most, and leaned in close to Draxum’s ear to yell: “Visual!” as Leo continued screaming at the top of his lungs, finishing by informing Draxum: “He heard us, he answered our questions!”

Draxum nodded his head, told Casey: “You’re with me,” looked at Donnie to say: “You too,” and the three of them rushed through his portal, leaving Raph, April, Mikey, and Splinter behind, not knowing what to do with their screaming, hallucinating loved one.

Casey wasn’t gone for long before he returned with an auto-injector needle, and he told Raph to hold Leo still so he could jab his thigh and administer a sedative.

But even after doing that, Leo kept screaming.

“Why isn’t it working!?” April yelled.

“I don’t know!” Casey yelled back.

“What do we do!?” Raph loudly asked, completely at a loss and doing the only thing he could think of to help, by hugging into his little bro.

“Try taking to him!” Casey suggested.

Raph took the lead, but Leo was so panicked he couldn’t hear his big brother yelling right in his ear over the sound of his own hoarse voice.

So Splinter decided to try something that used to calm his sons down when they were scared of monsters or thunder or whatever else it was little turtles were afraid of in the darkness of night.

That was when the sedative slowly began kicking in, so that Leo began calming, could feel a warm caress on his hand, and he heard the tune of a familiar song his dad was singing to him.

A song he heard many time before when he was a little turtle tot, (one Splinter’s mom sang to him when he was little)

His loud screams quieted to mostly whines and whimpers with occasional screams of terror in between that weren't nearly as loud as before.

“Come stop your crying, it’ll be alright.

Take my hand, hold it tight.”

Leo indicated he was listening when he squeezed Splinter’s hand, and his heart was calming a little from the sedative; but he was still staring at the horrible glowing red eye of the monster who had him pinned in place.

“I will protect you from all around you.

I will be here, don’t you cry.”

Tears fell down Leo’s cheeks, but he closed his mouth, trying to focus on the sound of his dad’s voice.

And he calmed down a little more when he heard Mikey and Raph join in on the chorus from somewhere really close.

“Cuz you’ll be in my heart. You’ll be in my heart. From this day on, now and forever. Always.”

Although Leo could still see Krang Prime reaching out and grabbing him, a combination of the singing and the slow acting sedative calmed his panicking mind enough to be able to force his tight, clenched jaw open to say: “Dad?”

Leo felt a gentle caress on the back of his hand again, but he couldn’t take his wide, terrified eyes off Krang Prime, as he heard his dad softly tell him: “Yes, my son, I am here, you are safe. You are hallucinating, Baby Blue.” “H...hallucinating?” Leo asked, unsure of what he was being told.

He swallowed to try and relieve some tension in his tight, sore throat, and listened to Raph’s strong yet tender voice telling him: “Yeah, Leo, you’re hallucinating. We’re all here with you, and Pop’s is right, you’re safe.”

Leo didn’t reply, he just kept staring at Krang Prime’s horrible red glowing eye, and Casey took over with his calm, clear head, to softly ask: “Leo, what do you see?”

Leo swallowed again and nervously replied: “Krang Prime.”

“What else?” Casey asked, trying to use the visuals as a stepping stone to help his turtle brother use his other senses as a grounding technique he learned from future Master Michelangelo.

“The prison dimension. I...I'm in...” "No you're not, now tell me what you feel," Casey kindly but firmly interrupted.

A scared whine escaped Leo’s throat, and Casey once again firmly but kindly told him: “Listen to my voice, Leo. Are you listening?”

Leo nervously swallowed again and briskly nodded his head, saying: “I’m listening,” all without taking his eyes off the Krang Prime hallucination.

“You’re not there, you’re home with us. You’re in the living room with me, April, Splinter, Mikey, and Raph. Now repeat what I told you. You’re in the living room.”

Leo swallowed once more but the tension remained, and his jaw clamped shut from fear, like it was wired closed or in a vice.

“I’m in the living room,” Casey repeated.

“I . . . I’m in the living room,” Leo finally said.

“And what do you feel, Leo?”

“I feel . . .”

Leo searched his body, he was used to doing that after all the times Draxum had asked him the very similar question: ‘how do you feel?’

“I feel a hand rubbing mine.”

“Good, good, that’s Splinter. Your dad has your hand in his and he’s rubbing the back of it. What else do you feel?”

“I feel . . . warmth,” Leo replied, the feeling of warmth being in stark contrast the the cold everything in the prison dimension.

“Where?” Casey softly asked.

“Mmmy arms and my back. It . . . it feels like one of Raph’s hugs.”

“Yeah, it is buddy, I’m hugging you tight, keeping you safe,” Raph’s reassuring voice told him.

“Safe,” Leo repeated, never taking his eyes off the hideous red eye of Krang's mech suit.

“Ok Leo,” came Casey’s calm, steady voice, keeping him grounded in reality, like a life-saving foghorn for a ship on a dark, stormy night.

“Close your eyes and focus on what you feel and hear. Do you think you can do that?”

“Uh-uh,” Leo hummed in reply, briskly shaking his head ‘no.’ Then he heard Splinter’s soft, tender voice say: “Close your eyes, Baby Blue, do it for Papá.”

There was a brief pause and then Leo abruptly slammed his eyes shut. The lack of visual stimulation telling him he was in there with him, combined with his other senses telling him he was home instantly calmed him down enough for Raph to feel his tense body relax a little in his arms.

“Good,” came Casey’s voice. Steady and strong and dependable, something for Leo to hold onto, to keep grounding him in reality.

“Now, tell me what you hear Leo.”

Casey put a finger over his mouth to tell everyone to stay quiet to help Leo stay grounded in the living room by focusing his mind on listening to the ambient noises definitely not present in the prison dimension.

Leo listened to the sound of the Lou Jitsu movie playing in the background, and the corners of his mouth curled up in a small grin when he heard the movie star say his favorite catchphrase.

“I hear hot soup,” Leo told his family.

The sound of relief in his voice coupled with the way he relaxed significantly in Raph’s arms prompted his big brother to relax a little and switch his strained, shallow breathing to slow, deep breaths.

“Good, good,” Casey calmly said. “Do you know where you are?”

“I’m home, in the living room.”

“And who’s here with you?”

Leo’s muscles tightened a little and another whine escaped his mouth, before he let out a tense: “Krang Prime.”

“No, no, he’s not here, but we are. Say our names, Leo. Who is really here? Say our names.”

Leo’s heart began pounding again from the fear of Krang getting him, but he obliged and said:

“Casey.”

“Mm hmm.”

“Dad.”

“That’s right.”

“And, and . . . uh, Raph.”

“You got it. Who else?”

“Uhh, uhh . . .”

Leo tensed more.

“I forget.”

“That’s ok, Leo, focus on your dad. Feel your hand in his and keep your eyes closed. Don’t open them no matter what, ok?”

“Ok.”

“Good. Now feel your dad stroking your hand and listen to his voice. He’s going to sing to you again, ok?”

“Ok.”

Leo listened to the soothing sound of his dad’s voice, but when he jumped at the sound of a loud *BANG* that only he heard, his dad paused his singing and Leo began panicking again, afraid his dad’s voice stopped because he wasn’t here anymore, he was there. But he fought against his fear and forced his eyes to remain shut, like Casey had told him.

Casey gestured for Splinter to continue his song, and he asked Leo:

“Why did you jump, Leo? Did you hear something, feel something?”

“I heard something.”

*BANG!*

Leo flinched again but kept his eyes slammed shut.

“What did you hear?”

Splinter resumed his singing.

“I heard Krang Prime, he’s coming for me!”

*BANG!*

“Where are you little pest?”

“Aahhhh-mft.”

Leo bit his bottom lip to stop himself from making any noise the monstrous Krang could hear, but he still kept his eyes squeezed closed and listened to the sound of his dad’s voice.

“...Take my hand, hold it tight...”

Leo squeezed Splinter’s hand.

Draxum walked through his portal with Donnie, and he was holding a syringe.

*BANG!*

“He’s hearing stuff now, too,” someone said, but the voice sounded far away to Leo.

“...I will protect you from all around you…”

*BANG!*

“...I’ll be here, don’t you…”

”You know you can’t hide for long, VERMIN!”

“...cuz you’ll be in…”

“This will help but it won’t completely remove the hallucination, I need more time for that, and I have to conduct more tests.”

*BANG!*

“Leo?”

“Nononono NOOO!”

“We’re losing him!”

“Keep singing.”

“FOUND YOU!”

Leo's eyes shot open from fear…

“AAAHHHH! AAAAAHHH!!!”

and he screamed at the sight of Krang Prime coming at him again, panicking so much he didn’t even feel the prick of the needle Draxum put in his arm.

But now the hallucination was overlaid with the living room, so it appeared to him like he was on the cusp between two different dimensions.

He screamed so loudly it hurt his already sore throat, and he tensed his entire body and stared at Krang Prime, who was wavering around in front of him, like looking at a reflection in a pond, while he heard other voices that seemed panicky as well, voices he couldn’t make out until someone practically screamed at him to be heard over his own terrified screeches:

“LEO! CLOSE YOUR EYES!”

Leo slammed his eyes shut.

He could still hear Krang but he could also hear his family’s voices, and even though they sounded tense and scared and a little panicked, hearing them meant he wasn’t really there and that was grounding for him. Something else to focus on other than his terror and the horrid voice of Krang Prime as well as the sounds of his moving mech parts.

To help stay grounded in reality, Leo said the names of his family in his mind after he heard their voices.

“Why didn’t the sedative work!?”

‘April.’

“His brain is too damaged to handle more than a slow-release, mild sedative, but he’s still panicking, we need to get him to the med bay.”

‘Draxum.’

“His nose is bleeding!”

‘Mikey.’

“Get some tissues!”

‘Raph.’

“There's no time, get him to the med bay, now!”

‘Donnie.’

A flash of bright, white light made Leo opened his eyes again from fright, and it was followed by sparkles of light across his now blurry vision.

And his body felt . . . weird. Different.

He needed to tell somebody, but it felt like his throat was closed off and his mouth didn't want to open from the panic of still seeing Krang Prime, searching around for him again in the prison dimension.

“The stress triggered another bleed in his brain.”

“Draxum!” Leo managed to cry out, at the sound of his dad’s voice.

“I’m here son, what is it?”

“Everything tingles. Nnnn….nnnn . . . numb,” Leo struggled to say, as though his lips and tongue didn’t want to form the words and his vocal cords were sluggish and didn’t want to work for him.

“What’s numb?”

“Ee…eeee…eeveryttting.”

He let out muffled screeches when the giant mech body of Krang Prime flooded his entire vision, not blurry like everything else, but more like he was under the surface of water that was settling after a rock was dropped into it.

“Focus, Leonardo, focus, what do you feel?” came Draxum's calm, steady voice.

Instead of replying, Leo’s head slumped to the side and his whole body unexpectedly fell limp in Raph’s arms.

And he didn’t respond to any of the questions asked of him because he couldn’t, with no one but him knowing if he was even conscious or not because his entire body was completely unresponsive, despite the fact he could still hear and see and feel what was happening around him.

But not for long...

Ch 19 Sophisticated Five-in-One Microwave

"Oh great, my own personal med bay microwave. Stick a few pizza burritos in that bad boy”

Chapter Text

Leo’s eyelids stayed half open, but everything looked and felt and sounded dull - like he wasn’t all the way present in the room and as though his head was dunked under water - and his body felt numb, like he was floating and not laying on the gurney Raph put him on in the med bay.

Worst of all, his body didn't reactively flinch from the prick of a needle he couldn't feel, and he didn't know what was happening around him.

Krang Prime and the prison dimension were still superimposed across his vision, looking distorted, but everything else was completely blurry beyond recognition. Leo tried to focus his vision, so he could see the world he was really in, but his fully dilated pupils wouldn’t focus for him, he had no control over them whatsoever. In fact, he had no control over anything.

All he could do was see a blurry haze and listen.

See Krang standing in front of him with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, unable to look away or close his eyes to block out the scary sight.

And although he could hear muffled voices, he couldn't make out what they were saying, especially not over the sounds of the monstrous Krang, who was standing right in front of him, looking down on him, tauntingly laughing at his misery.

It was around that moment Leo could fell a pull on his consciousness, like a heaviness was dragging him down and clouding his vision with darkness.

Even though he was still hallucinating he tried to fight it, because he didn't want to leave his family a second time by losing consciousness, maybe never to awake.

But the fog and the blackness were taking over, and even though he pleaded with himself inside his mind to stay, not to be taken away from his family again for who knows how long this time, (perhaps never to return) he didn't have the strength he needed to stop it from happening, so he felt his mind drift away into the black nothingness of unconsciousness.

Just under two hours later Leo began coming to.

As his consciousness gradually drifted in like the rising tide, ebbing and flowing with the ever encroaching waves, and even though his eyes were already half open he still appeared to be unconscious to everyone else.

Leo's hearing and vision gradually came back first, and he was grateful to see the scary prison dimension hallucination was finally over, but he didn't feel fully present, like he might dip under into unconsciousness again, so he tried to stay grounded in the room by latching on to the sound of voices so he didn't drift away.

Or maybe it would be better if he did drift away. Drift away and slip into a coma he would never wake up from. That seemed like the better option for dying than the other ones that haunted his mind.

But if he wasn't dying yet Leo wanted to hang on to every moment he had left with his family. So he pushed through his fears and kept clinging to the voices that were coming in clearly now, thinking the name of the one who spoke to help keep him here in the present.

"He looks so pale."

'April.'

"Did you understand everything I told you?"

'Draxum.'

"Yeah, but . . ."

'Mikey'

"It's just a lot to process."

'Casey.'

Leo tried to move his eyes, to look around the still blurry room, hoping someone would see the movement and realize he was awake now.

But nothing happened.

Nothing happened when he tried to move his finger, too. Or, at least, he assumed nothing happened, but he wasn't really quite sure because he still didn't feel like he was in his body. It felt more like he was floating above it, and he couldn't feel any of the machines or the IV needle hooked up to him, or the blanket covering him or the mattress and pillow beneath him.

"It's all happening too fast."

'Donnie.'

"How much time does he have left now?"

'Raph.' Big, strong, dependable Raph, who sounded like he was fighting back tears.

It broke Leo's heart.

There was a pause before Draxum replied in a sad, soft tone.

"One year. Maybe less."

'ONE YE...'

Leo’s mind immediately fled, sucked back into the void of unconsciousness like he was caught up in the powerful pull of a swirling whirlpool from the shock of hearing how much time he lost since Draxum last told him, and how little time he now had left with his family who he loved.

Leo didn't have any strange dreams this time, instead it was like he was teetering around the edge of the nothingness of unconsciousness. Not aware of his surroundings, his mind devoid of thoughts and feelings, but somehow it seemed like he was able to judge the passage of time, as though he was an asleep passenger on a train who fully roused to the sound of their destination being announced through the speakers. When he awoke again, he sensed he had only been out of it for no more an hour.

Once again he latched on to the sound of voices in the room.

"Hey Dee, how are things going in the lab?"

'Mikey.'

"Good, the mutaten's ready and in the medical fridge, now it's just a waiting game. Did he wake up at all?"

'Donnie.'

"No, I don't think so, although it's hard to tell with his eyes half open like that. But he didn't move."

'April'

Leo saw what looked like a shadow come across his blurry, hazy vision - which he didn't know was Donnie leaning over him to look into his eyes - and he tried so hard to force them to focus when he heard Donnie's voice from right above his face say:

"He doesn't look any different, his pupils are still fully dilated. Did you give him his eye drops?"

"Yeah, I did that ten minutes ago."

'Mikey! I hear you, why can't you hear me!?" Leo cried out in his mind; knowing the answer but feeling so frustrated about this whole situation that he wanted to cry. But couldn't.

Next, Donnie put his hand on Leo's shoulder and gently shook it, but the slider didn't know because he couldn't feel a thing as his concerned twin brother tenderly called out: "Leo. Hey Leo, can you hear me?"

There was a pause and then the shadow left and Leo heard Donnie say: "Still nothing."

'No it's not nothing, I'm here! I'm right here Donnie, listen to me!"

Nothing but silence.

~Some Time Later~

Leo didn’t know if he drifted off into unconsciousness or sleep, but this time he awoke to a bright light being shone in his eyes, which was Donnie using a pen flashlight, hoping to get a reaction from his unresponsive pupils.

But his brother's eyes remained exactly the way they had been ever since this whole situation happened, half closed and fully dilated, blurring the world around him.

“Do you have to keep doing that to him?” Leo heard April's cross voice.

“Yes Prill, I’m looking for a reaction,” Donnie replied factually.

“Can’t you tell how he’s doing with that brain scan thingy stuck to the back of his head?”

‘Mikey,’ Leo thought to himself, trying to keep his wobbly head grounded in reality.

“No, it’s a crude design and it was a rush job. It only informs us if there’s an emergency we need to tend to post haste and I just don't have time to work on a better design, there's too many changes happening too fast, Draxum and I together can barely keep on top of his constantly changing medical needs and don't get me started on how hard it's been to make time for my necessary research!”

‘Donnie.’

Leo tried to wiggle the fingers on his right hand but couldn’t do anything. Well, at least he thought he couldn’t do anything, because he still couldn't feel his body, like he was floating above it. But the numbed senses in his head were beginning to clear, and that was when he noticed there was a thin tube stretching across his face, blowing oxygen into his nostrils.

The dry air he continually breathed in with every breath annoyed him and he wanted to take it off, but he still couldn’t budge an inch; or even make his eyes focus, no matter how much he yelled at himself inside his mind to do that now while Donnie was right beside his head, looking down on him.

“Why doesn’t Draxum use that brain scan thing in his lab to find out if Leo’s conscious or not?”

‘April.’

“We only did that once because it was necessary at the time, but we can’t keep moving him around. It’s better for Leo if he stays here, in bed.”

‘Donnie!’ Leo tried to yell. But nothing happened.

He didn’t feel it when Donnie lifted the blankets off his feet and poked the sole of his foot with the sharp tip of a needle, trying to get an automatic reflex response. He also didn’t feel it when Donnie systematically poked the needle into his skin starting at his feet and working his way up his body. And while he did that, Leo started to sense that he was able to focus his eyes, so he put all his attention into that.

The room blurred and focused, over and over as his eyes were adjusting, and by the time Donnie was done his prick test, Leo could clearly see the white, tiled ceiling above his head (thankfully someone shut off the lights directly over him)

And now he was working on trying to move his eyes.

“How is he?” came a sad little voice from Mikey.

“Same as before. It’s time to give him his next dose of medication,” Donnie replied in a sad voice as well (one he was clearly trying to make sound factual) before flicking the blanket back over his unresponsive brother's body, to keep him warm.

Leo heard him doing something at a tray by his head, and he hoped Donnie would look at the now-focused pupils of his eyes before walking away.

Donnie injected three separate syringes of liquid medication into Leo’s IV line, and when he was done he turned his head around to ask April: "Clean this up for me Pril? I'm going back to Draxum’s lab, I have important work that can't wait.”

"Yeah, of course, Dee."

‘No, no don’t go! Look at me! Look at me, Donnie look at me!’

Thankfully, Donatello gave Leo’s face a passing glass before leaving, but froze in his tracks when he saw his brother looking back at him.

All the tension in Donnie’s body softened, as did his facial expression as he gave his twin a loving, wobbly smile and said in a voice that was far too soft and kind and tender to be coming out of his mouth of all people:

“Hi Leo, it’s good to see you awake.”

“Leo’s awake!”

Mikey and April were the only other two in the med bay at the moment, and they rushed over to be by Leo’s side, with Mikey standing on his left by his head, and April standing alongside Donnie, on his right.

Only able to move his eyes, he looked at their sad yet smiling faces one at a time, before giving his attention back to Donnie.

“Get the others,” Dee told someone.

April rushed out of the room and he called out: “Inform Draxum first!”

After that, Donnie gave Leo his attention again and spoke to him in such an uncharacteristically kind, soft tone of voice that was so full of pity it was nauseating to the slider; making Leo wish he could shake some sense into him to make him stop talking that way and go back to being his annoying 'facts and logic' twin brother, even if that meant listening to his voice drone on and on for hours about whatever latest hyper-focus he was fixated on.

“Hey Leo, I’m going to get you to follow my pen with your eyes, ok? It’s in my hand, see?”

Leo looked at the pen in Donnie’s hand and traced it with his eyes as Dee moved it back and forth and up and down, and all around in circles three times that kind of made him dizzy and want to blink a few times. But his eyelids still weren’t working for him.

“That’s good Nardo, you did good, now I'm going to shine a light in your eyes to make sure your pupils are responding.” Donnie next shone the light in Leo's eyes, one at a time, before putting the pen flashlight away and clicking at his wrist tech, inputting this new information into a medical chart app he designed, that he shared wirelessly with the same app on Draxum’s wrist com.

Incidentally, at first his family wanted the app installed on their cell phones too, but when Donnie gave them access they realized everything was written in medical jargon they couldn’t understand. So all of them gave up on it, except for Mikey, who kept it around to occasionally open and peruse, for nothing more than comfort, because it somehow made him feel connected to Leo.

April came back with Raph, who were entering the room as Mikey got in the slider's line of vision.

“Hi Leo!” his little brother said with so much cheerfulness and love it made Leo want to smile and reach out to give him a hug.

But he still couldn’t do anything beyond moving his eyes around.

“How are you doing, buddy?” Raph asked next.

All Leo could do was look up at him, and he kept his eyes on his big brother who looked at Donnie when he said: “We’re about to find out,” while attaching a goose neck tablet holder to the side of Leo’s bed.

While he was securing the stand, Dee looked at April and asked: “Did you inform Draxum? Where’s Pops?”

“Yeah, I let Draxum know, he said he’ll be in as soon as he finishes with the next batch of medication, and that you can take over until then. And Splints just finished cake and milk so…” “Say no more,” Donnie replied, making Leo smile internally at the memories of their predictable dad snacking on cake with a big glass of milk, and promptly falling into such a deep slumber no one could rouse him for the next two hours (and all the shenanigans he and his brothers got into over the years because they knew they could get away with murder when Splinter was sound asleep after cake and milk; with none of the four little turtle tots giving thought to the consequences of leaving a trail of evidence behind for Splinter to find when he awoke. Not until they got older and a little bit wiser, of course).

Next, Donnie attached his tablet to the claw grip on top of the stand, and Leo looked up at it to see three big words, each in a white, rectangle box:

Yes

Maybe

No

He then looked at Donnie when his twin brother told him: “Alright Leo, I’m working on an app that uses an eye sensor so you can communicate with us until Draxum and I fix this whole situation. It’s still in beta and the only options that work are yes, no, and maybe, but they can be used for other things, like good, bad, and so-so, or high, low, and in between, so on and so forth. The function is simple, look at the word you want to communicate and give a hard blink to select it. The voice right now is a one I hauled off the internet. Go ahead, give it a try by playing around with the controls, and when you feel comfortable look at me and I’ll begin my questions."

Leo took his eyes off Donnie’s face to look at the ‘yes’ on the screen, but when he tried to blink, he was only able to slightly wince his right eyelids.

“Have no fear my mutant brethren, I came prepared with a plan B.”

Donnie took the tablet out of the stand to click at it some more, and when he put it back over Leo’s face, he explained: “Now when you hold a gaze on a word for two point five seconds, it will select for you. Try it out.”

Leo felt a wave of relief wash over him when he stared at the ‘yes’ on the screen and a voice said: “Yes,” through the tablet speakers; and he noticed everyone else in the room also breathed a sigh of relief.

Leo played around with the controls for a bit and when he was ready he looked at Donnie, waiting for him to proceed with the questions and glad his factual twin brother finally lost the super kind, tender, 'I pity my poor, pathetic brother’ tone of voice and went back to the usual ‘factual and logical’ Donnie Leo was used to.

“The first thing we’re going to try are some control questions to make sure you understand what we’re saying. Select the yes.”

Leo looked at the yes and the voice said: “Yes.”

“Look at the ‘no’."

Leo did what he was told and the female voice in the tablet said: “No.”

Donnie did this with Leo for a few rounds, and when he was satisfied, he moved on to simple questions Leo should know the answers to, to check his brain function and memory.

“If your name is Raph look at yes, Mikey, maybe, or Leo, no.”

Leo chose no.

“If you're fifteen click yes, sixteen click maybe, seventeen click no.”

Leo considered looking away since he was really twenty three after his seven years in the prison dimension; but he was technically in the body of a sixteen year old, the whole thing was only a few minutes for them, and he didn’t want to worry his family, so he clicked ‘maybe.’

Donnie ran over a number of questions with Leo, testing his memory, function, and cognition, finishing with:

”Are you the most annoying brother ever?”

Raph shot Dee a dirty look but the corner of Leo’s mouth twitched when he tried to smile, and he looked at the tablet to click: “Yes.”

“See, even he agrees!” Donnie defensively told Raph.

“Yeah, but still, you shouldn’t have asked something like that,” the overprotective big brother of the family complained.

The corner of Leo's mouth twitched again from this familiar banter, before they both gave him their attention. Now that Donnie was satisfied Leo’s memory, awareness, and cognition appeared to be normal, he tensed a little and asked:

“Are you in any pain?”

Leo noticed Raph and the others tensed too, and he considered answering ‘maybe’ since the dry air of the oxygen tube was really, really annoying, but he didn’t want to unnecessarily worry his family; so he answered: “No.”

Raph breathed a sigh of relief and the tension he and the others were holding in eased. It was around this time Splinter came in the room to check on his Baby Blue, dragging his tired feet and yawning while rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

“How is Blue? Are there any…” Splinter stopped mid-sentence when he noticed everyone standing around Leo’s bed, and Mikey looked at him with a beaming smile and told him: “Leo’s awake!”

"Why didn't anyone come get me!?" the angry mutant rat demanded.

April dryly replied with: "I did come get you, but you had milk and cake."

"Oh, right."

Splinter's tense composure immediately softened and now he felt bad for calling Leo ‘Blue,’ when he assumed Leonardo was unconscious; like he was used to doing all of his son's life but Leo didn't want to hear anymore because apparently that was something Krang Prime used to call him. But he brushed that aside and likewise brushed Raphael aside when he walked up to Leo’s bedside, by his head, to gaze down on his ailing son with a set of soft, loving eyes.

Leo looked up at his dad’s face, and if he could, tears would have filled his eyes at how sad, broken-hearted, and utterly defeated his dad looked. And he would have cried for sure at the tender way Splinter greeted him, reaffirming his love for him.

Leo didn’t take his eyes off his dad’s face when Donnie factually told him: “Leo’s mind seems to be working fine, his memories are intact and he’s fully aware of where he is, who he is, and who we are. I’m in the middle of asking him some important questions, you can stay if you want.”

“Yes, yes I do want to stay,” Splinter replied. He gently grasped Leo’s hand before sitting down in the chair by his head, but Leo didn’t know it because his body still felt numb - almost nonexistent. Then he tore his eyes away from his grief-stricken dad to look back at Donnie when he was ready to continue.

“I’ll ask you a few more questions and then I’ll explain what’s going on and what we’re doing about it. Do you think you can follow along with all of that?”

“Yes,” Leo replied through the app. The fogginess threatening to drag him back under into a state of unconsciousness was gone, and his mind felt clear.

If only he could say the same thing about his body.

“Are you in any discomfort?”

Leo felt relief wash over him when Donnie asked that question, and he quickly replied: “Yes.”

“Alright, we’ll start with you head and work our way down. Is it on your head?”

“Yes.”

“The top of your head?”

“No.”

“The back?”

“No.”

“The front?”

“Yes.”

“Is it on your face?”

“Yes.”

“Your forehead?”

“No.”

“Your eyes?”

“No.”

“Your nose?”

“Yes.”

“Is it the oxygen tube?”

“Yes.”

“Is the tube uncomfortable on your face?”

“No.”

“Is the air drying out your nose?”

“Yes.”

Donnie looked down to click at his wrist tech and said: “Ok Leo, Casey’s out at the store now, I’ll text him to pick up some saline nasal spray and a humidifier, that should help. But we can’t take the oxygen away just yet, so it’ll be another hour or two before we can get you any relief. Are you ok with that?”

Leo only answered: “Yes,” because he felt there really wasn’t any other choice; he didn’t want to bother Casey by making him stop whatever else he was doing (that he figured was probably important and somehow already connected to him) to grab him the stuff he wanted, drop it off here, and then go out again to finish his shopping.

When Donnie was done clicking at his wrist tech he looked at Leo to ask: “Are you in any discomfort anywhere else?”

“No.”

“Ok Leo, I’m going to prick your skin with a needle. I did that earlier, before you woke up, but now that you’re awake I want to find out if I’ll get a reaction, or if you feel anything."

Everyone held their breath, hopeful, as Donnie pushed aside the blanket to begin the needle prick test. But their hope turned to disappointment when Leo's body didn't reactively flinch or in any way respond to his poke, and even more so when Leo systematically answered 'maybe' to Donnie's question after each poke: "Did you feel anything?" feeling a somewhat disconnected dull sense of pressure and nothing more.

When he was done, Donnie put the needle away and said to Leo: "Ok, we established you didn't feel much of anything and your body also didn't react, but I'm going to ask you this question for clarification purposes. Can you feel all of your head?”

Leo stared at the tablet.

“Yes.”

“Can you feel the rest of your body? Anything at all?”

“Maybe,” Leo replied, hoping Donnie would get the point he could feel a little, like his consciousness settled into his head and mind but was still hovering a few inches above his body.

“Does that mean you can feel some parts but not others?”

“No.”

“Does that mean you can feel a little but not a lot?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, how does your body feel? Numb?”

“No.”

“Tingly?”

“No.”

”Dull, like you’re not all the way in it?”

Hammer meet nail.

“Yes.”

“Alright, I got it. And don’t worry Nardo, you won’t be like this for long, Draxum and I are working on something we know will help. We don't know exactly how long it will take, except that it'll be ready in no more than two days.”

This time a tear did run down Leo’s cheek at the total relief he felt that he wouldn’t have to spend the rest of his days like this, never able to hold or hug his loved ones, or even feel their warm embrace in return, like how he currently couldn't feel Splinter holding his hand and stroking the back of it, beyond the vague sensation there was some sort of pressure somewhere on his body, but he couldn't pin it down.

“Are you still with us?” Donnie asked.

Leo didn’t realize his mind was drifting - or that someone (April) wiped away the tear on his face. He refocused his blurry eyes, looked at Donnie, and then used the table to reply: “Maybe.” Feeling the tug of unconsciousness pulling at the back of his mind once more.

"Do you need a break?"

"No."

“Can you follow along while I tell you what’s going on?”

“Yes,” Leo answered - even though the right answer was really a firm ‘maybe’, but he didn’t want Donnie to put off telling him something he wanted to know now.

Donnie started by telling Leo: “Draxum couldn't join us, he's busy in the lab, making a new batch of your medication, so that means the job of explaining has been given to yours truly.”

Donnie stopped and looked away momentarily when his bottom lip quivered, and Leo wanted so badly to pull him in for a hug when he saw that, but he still couldn’t feel anything and wasn’t able to do as much as twitch the tip of his little finger.

April came to the ‘rescue’ when Leo saw she put her hand on Donnie’s arm, and the softshell who wasn’t normally one to tear up got control of himself, cleared his throat, and said:

“The gist of it is that there’s a disruption between your brain and your body. But the good news is Draxum absolutely insists it can be fixed with the right amount of mutagen combined with my ingenious tech, because those neurons weren’t irrevocably damaged by the changes happening to your brain from the prison dimens…woah, woah Leo, are you still with us?”

Everything went blurry when Leo’s eyes began to unfocus, and the sounds became muffled as his mind began withdrawing from the present at the phrase ‘prison dimension.’ But he came back again when Donnie helped by snapping his fingers right above his face.

As soon as Donnie saw Leo’s eye refocus on his hand, he asked: “Are you ok?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, do you want me to keep going?”

“Yes.”

Donnie raised one eyebrow and asked in a skeptical tone: “Are you sure?”

Leo shot him a glance that he hoped expressed his annoyance (it didn’t), and firmly (at least in his mind) replied: “Yes.”

“Ok, if you’re positive, Nardo.”

Donnie took a deep breath and gave careful consideration to his next words, not wanting to trigger Leo to go black again by bringing up his hallucination and subsequent panic attack. When he got his words together, he said:

“The stress you had caused a massive bleed in your brain that, in turn, caused a stroke, damaging some of the neurons in your…uh, brain,” he repeated, about to go off into a detailed explanation of exactly what neurons were damaged in exactly what part of the brain, as his personal form of stress relief, but he stopped himself and kept it simple for Leo.

“The pathways between the nerves that control your motor functions were damaged, and the damage was too extensive for the natural regenerative powers in your fabulously engineered mutant turtle body to heal, but as I said, Draxum and I are currently working on a cure. And…”

Leo’s vision began blurring again, not because he was losing consciousness, but because this time his tired mind was drifting off into much-needed sleep.

He didn’t know it, but his eyes closed all on their own, sending him into a deep, satisfying slumber that lasted a few hours before he awoke again.

Leo woke up to the sound of voices again, not knowing if everything had been momentarily black because his eyes were closed or because his vision were still coming into focus.

As soon as his blurry vision cleared, he looked around to try and find out where the voices were coming from, who was here, and to try and figure out if there was any way for him to communicate that he had an annoyingly distracting itch on the tip of his nose he really wanted someone to scratch for him. But at least the dry oxygen air wasn’t bothering him anymore, either because someone squirt saline spray up his nose when he was asleep, or because of the humidifier he noticed was pumping out a refreshing cool mist over his head; or a combination of them both.

Near the door, Leo saw the noise that woke him up was coming from Donnie gingerly pulling a large techy looking contraption on wheels into the med bay, with Draxum pushing from the other side.

Raph was there, too, watching them, ready to lend a hand if necessary, and when he heard a sound to his right, Leo turned his eyes that way to see Mikey curled up on a recliner beside his bed, asleep under Draxum’s living room throw.

No one was in a position to see that Leo was awake yet and he really wanted that persistent itch scratched, so he looked back at the tablet but was disappointed to be met by a screen saver.

Leo wasn't sure what to do next, beyond waiting for someone to notice he was awake, so he occupied his time by following the bouncing color changing screen saver ball around with his eyes for a few seconds. But when it went to the bottom right corner, he noticed a small box that read ‘Leo click here’, making his heart fill with fondness for the twin brother who had been very busy working with Draxum (for him) but yet took the time and put enough thought into his communication app to give him access to turn it on himself when he woke up (no doubt lacking ample sleep on his account).

The first thing Leo saw when the app appeared on the screen was that in addition to the 'yes', 'no', 'maybe' options, he was met with a qwerty keyboard that had a list of common words and phrases below it.

Donnie would have done much more for Leo if he wasn’t busy trying to fix... well everything, but he had made a mental note to work on improvements to the app here and there whenever he had a chance, in case something like this happened to Leo again (Hopefully not, but it was always good to be prepared).

The very first thing Leo did was jolt Mikey awake when he used the app to say: “What’s a turtle got to do around here to get a nose scratch?” which was still in the original voice because Donnie didn’t have time to do what he wanted and download sound data from audio files he had of Leo talking.

Everyone abruptly stopped what they were doing and looked at the slider in surprise, with the thoughtful Mikey immediately sitting up and reaching over to scratch Leo’s nose, offering a pleasant: “Good morning! How does that feel?”

Mikey stopped scratching and Leo looked up at the table to reply: “Good. How long was I asleep?” He glanced at Raph when his big bro walked over to him with a sad-looking smile (one he wanted to slap off his face and tell him to 'smarten up' and stop looking at him like he was dying or something - which, of course, he was, but he didn't want to be treated that way). But then he gave Donnie his attention when his twin walked up to him and told him: “Nine and a half hours, just long enough for me to complete this masterpiece!”

Donnie proudly gestured with both hands to the new piece of tech he created, and after looking it over, Leo used the tablet to joke: “Oh great, my own personal med bay microwave. Stick a few pizza burritos in that bad boy,” because he knew Donnie hated it when his family undermined his hard ‘genius’ work by comparing his technology to common household appliances.

Leo snickered internally when Donnie’s smile dropped and he sternly replied with an air of annoyance (exactly the reaction Leo was fishing for): “Scoff! Does this look like a microwave to you!?”

When Leo’s gazed switched to the tablet, Donnie flatly said: “Don’t answer that,” so he looked at him again as he continued.

“This my brethren is a sophisticated five in one piece of intelligent engineering made by your genius in residence!” He scowled and angrily added: “And it is definitely not a microwave, dummy!”

Leo internally laughed some more when he heard Mikey stifling a laugh, but only because he didn’t want Raph to hear him because their big brother shot Donnie a dirty look and sternly told him: “Don’t talk to Leo that way! Can’t you see he’s suffering!”

“He’s also the one who started it!” Donnie argued back.

“So help me Don…”

“Can your five in one marvel of engineering heat up a burrito, resident genius?” Leo's tablet interrupted.

He was already preparing his next response when Raph rolled his eyes and walked away to help Draxum push Donnie’s tech into the med bay, and Donnie replied: “No it can not heat up a burrito, but it can…”

“Boooring #eyeroll #yawnie face,” Leo interrupted, having that answer already prepared and ready to go.

Despite his current circumstances, this playful banter with his family made him laugh internally some more, even moreso when Mikey’s shoulders bounced from his hearty laughter.

Although no one could hear Leo but himself, they both laughed even harder because the protective big brother of the family tensed and glared at the back of Donnie’s head when the softshell flatly replied to Leo: “You can’t even eat a burrito in your condition, dumb-dumb.”

Then Dee stuck his smug grin back on his face and continued in a more positive tone, but with his 'evil genius' look in his eyes:

“But you will be able to eat one momentarily once we hook you up to this bad boy!”

Leo grimaced internally at the sight of a very big, intimidating-looking machine full of switches and knobs, lights and wires - one that was even taller than him (if he could stand up). He looked up at his tablet, but Donnie seemed to know what he was thinking before he even wrote out two words, reassuring him: “No, it will not hurt, Nardo.”

“But the mutagen will sting your arm going in, if you can feel it,” Draxum calmly informed Leonardo next.

He walked up to Leo’s bed holding up a syringe containing bright green mutagen, while Donnie helped Raph put his tech in place, and then Drax looked at Leo’s head like he was inspecting something, although the slider wasn’t sure what.

Barry laid the syringe down on a nearby medical tray and felt around in his lab coat pocket for his thermometer, while asking his son: “How do you feel?”

Leo did a mental check, feeling the same dull-not-fully-in-his-body sensation he always felt since this happened to him, and then did a check of his head, before using the tablet to reply: “Fine. A little warm, small headache,” assuming Draxum was already informed he couldn’t feel his body.

“You look mildly feverish,” his goat dad commented. He swiped his thermometer across Leo’s head and showed the number to Donnie (and by extension Raph and Mikey) after looking at it himself. Then he pocketed it again and, as Donnie wiped the sweat off Leo’s head with a wet cloth in preparation of attaching some electrodes, Draxum informed him: “You have a much higher fever than I suspected, considering your current symptoms. Donatello informed me you cannot feel your body, is that still correct?”

“Yes,” Leo replied through the app.

Barry nodded and glanced at what Donnie was doing now, mentally confirming he was placing the electrodes in just the right spots on Leo’s unmasked head, before saying to Leonardo: “You may be feeling quite unwell but are unaware of it because of your current condition.”

After that, his opened a small portal, reached through into the lab where it led, and pulled back holding a solution of fever medication. The portal disappeared and he drew some up in a syringe to add it to Leo’s IV line. Then he put it on the medical tray and said: “Inform me of any other symptoms you may have once this procedure is over, understood?”

Leo moaned in his mind, not wanting to stay like this but also not liking the thought of getting his senses back, only to find out he was feeling gravely ill, but instead of communicating any of that he simply used the app to reply: “Yes.”

“Good,” Draxum responded, before instructing: “Everyone but Donatello, leave. This procedure requires focus and concentration.”

“Aw man,” Mikey whined, as he got out of his chair and waved good bye, saying: “See you in a bit, Leo.” Then Raph told him: “We’ll be waiting outside the door.”

Leo watched as his big bro walked over to a recliner further back in the med bay where the slider didn’t know until now his dad was sleeping, and Raph nudged him awake and said: “C’mon Pops, Draxum says we gotta leave the med bay for a bit.”

After Splinter came over to squeeze his son's hand and say: “I’m looking forward to hearing your voice again, Leonardo,” everyone left and closed the door behind them. Then Leo heard a ‘click’ and the humming of Donnie’s tech warming up, and looked up at Draxum when he told him: “You will require a clear head for this to work, and for optimal, quicker results, access to your mystic powers, otherwise this procedure will take a minimum of two hours. Do you have a clear head?”

Leo looked up at the tablet without hesitation and replied with a: “Yes," not feeling the pull of unconsciousness trying to drag him under anymore.

“Do you also have access to your mystic powers?” came the next question.

Leo searched within himself but he really wasn’t sure if that gentle warmth he could sense but not locate was his mystic ninpo or something else; so he kept searching himself out, trying to figure if that was what he felt or not.

Draxum seemed to understand why he was hesitating to respond, so suggested: “Try activating your ninpo now.”

Donnie helped a little with Leo's focus when he walked away to flick off the main, overhead lights. And almost as soon as the room went dark, a soft glow emitted from his body, one that was bright enough under the med bay blankets for the glow from the markings on his arms and legs to show through. But not the blue markings on his shell because he was laying on his back, propped up a little on a slight incline so there wasn’t a repeat of what happened the day he woke up choking on his own vomit.

“Good,” came the calm, stalwart voice of Leo's dad who had been an anchor for him through all of this.

The glow faded away, leaving the dim room illuminated by only a few secondary lights Draxum installed in the med bay when he first constructed his home.

Next, Draxum looked up at Donnie and the softshell double checked everything was ready on his end, before giving him a nod. Then he took off Leo’s blanket so they could immediately see any movements from his body - no matter how slight - and Draxum removed the tablet, stand and all, to get it out of the way.

“I will be injecting pure, concentrated mutagen into your bloodstream,” Leo's dad next told him. “As I said before, it will sting your arm going in, if you can feel it of course. After two minutes, once the mutagen has sufficiently coursed through your body, Donatello will activate his mystic tech in conjunction with the physical tech he has created. At that time, your job will be to activate your ninpo in tandem with Donatello’s, thereby speeding up the process from a few hours to merely a few minutes. You may feel a tingling sensation as the neurons repair themselves and your senses returning. Do you understand everything I’ve told you?”

Draxum held up the tablet long enough for Leo to answer: “Yes,” and he also answered ‘yes’ to Draxum’s question: “Are you ready?”

Then he put it down and injected the mutagen that Leo couldn’t feel in the slightest, except for a mild flush of warmness in his already warm head when it spread throughout the blood vessels in his entire body.

Two minutes later, Draxum nodded to Donnie, who placed his fingers on Leo’s head, with each fingertip directly on top of one of six electrodes he carefully attached to his paralytic brother.

When his purple ninpo glowed over his hands, he watched as it spread to the electrodes, up the wires to his new piece of tech; and as soon as the entire machine glowed purple, he firmly instructed: “Now, Leo!”

Leo’s ninpo immediately lit up on the markings on his face and body. Almost right away he began feeling a tingly sensation sweeping down his body, through his arms to his fingers, and down his legs until it reached his toes. He managed to gasp in a deep breath through his mouth, focusing his mind on the sensation of his lungs filling up with air, and he blinked his eyes a few times before closing them to help him concentrate.

Leo’s entire body felt numb and prickly, like when he laid on his foot or hand the wrong way and it fell asleep. But he was able to take deep, purposeful, meditative breaths in through his nose and out his mouth. Then when he tried to move the index finger on his dominate right hand, it twitched.

What came next was all too much for the ill slider. In a single wave, from his head down to his feet, his senses returned to him all at once, bombarding him with too much too fast.

In addition to the regular sense of touch - the mattress under his body, the oxygen monitor pinching his left pinkie finger, the heart monitor attached to his chest, and all the other medical devices hooked up to him, he felt a wave of raw pain in his achy, feverish body. But what was worst of all was the digestive acid that felt like it was burning a hole through his stomach on top of the overbearing nausea.

As soon as he was able to move, the first thing he did was roll up into a ball on his side, sweating and shivering and feeling the hot, acrid burn in the back of his throat when he urged into his hand three or four times.

Draxum quickly took Leo’s temperature once more, frowning down at the still-high number the fever medicine should have reduced at least a little by now; but Leo ignored him and opened his eyes when he heard Donnie’s patronizing voice. Only to see his 'twinsie' eye-to-eye with him a few inches away from his face, with a smug grin, as he cheekily inquired:

“Still want that burrito, dumb-dumb?”

Leo lowered his hand off his mouth, wrapping his arms around his stomach because of how gross he felt. But of course, being Leo he couldn't pass up the opportunity for a good joke, so he playfully replied:

“Only if I can cook it in that fancy new microwave of yours, egghead."

Grave News for a Busy Skeleton

"My name is Akimitsu Nakamura. I was sent here by Baron Draxum with an important message from his son, Leonardo Hamato."

Chapter Text

~Two Days Later~

Leo was cuddled up under a pile of thick, warm blankets, sound asleep on the living room couch that he asked Draxum to drag into the lab because he wanted to be near all his family; and practically every waking moment Donnie and Draxum were busy in the lab, working on new tech and new medications for the rapidly deteriorating slider (with his twin secretly researching ways to keep his brother alive every spare moment he got, and not having informed the rest of their family about the key - but mostly because he adamantly refused to admit it existed as opposed to intentionally trying to hide it from his fam).

The only thing giving away that there was anyone under the mess of blankets was the IV line that stretched out from there.

It was early in the morning, but Leo was still sick to his stomach, so much so Draxum insisted he keep the IV in because he couldn’t seem to keep any food down - even with the nausea medication dosage increased three times, in combination with a new acid reflux medicine. And now Draxum and Donnie were working together on an entirely new nausea medication, with April fetching whatever they needed and Casey out running errands in the Hidden City Market, picking up mystically imbued food items that were supposed to be soothing on an upset stomach, while Mikey was in the kitchen, prepping ingredients and doing what he could to prepare Leo’s next meal while waiting for Casey to return with the required supplies.

The chef of the family was working off a ‘Mystic Remedies’ cookbook Draxum owned, with Splinter assisting in the kitchen because he wanted to make himself useful while Leo was asleep - not only for Leo’s benefit but also to distract his troubled mind (and also not having informed the rest of their family about the mystic Hamato key, for his own reasons). While all of that was going on Raph was sitting on the couch beside his hid-away sleeping brother.

In the lab, Draxum, Donnie, and April worked quietly so they didn’t wake Leo, with the occasional low mumble ‘pass that’ or ‘I need more of this’ and the clinking of glass on glass.

Raph was leaning against where his ill brother was, staying close enough to ensure he would feel the slightest stir but being careful not to put any weight on Leo’s rapidly deteriorating body. That was why, while he was mindlessly scrolling through online videos on his phone, half asleep with droopy eyelids, he felt the instant Leo tensed from under the pile of blankets.

April stopped what she was doing and watched when Raph got up to kneel on the floor in front of where he knew Leo’s head was; but the exceptionally busy Draxum and Donnie didn’t do more than offer a passing glance, before getting back to work - which broke Donnie’s heart because he wanted to be right by Raph’s side when he heard his big brother say in a soft, tender voice: “You ok there, buddy?”

April continued watching as Raph pulled away enough blankets so he could see Leo’s face buried beneath, but before he dug all the way through, Draxum looked at April, requested: “Waxworm algae?” and she replied with: “Oh, right,” and brought the sealed container labelled ‘waxwork algae’ over to Draxum.

Raph finally pushed all the blankets away and his worried expression softened when he saw his ill little brother gazing up at him from inside his little dark fort, with blood coming out of his nose. So his big bro picked up a box of tissues on the floor beside him and pulled some out to hand them over.

A pale green hand came out of the darkness to reach for the tissues, and when Leo held them up to his nose, his big brother tenderly asked: “Did you have another brain bleed? Is that why you tensed?”

“Yeah,” Leo quietly replied in a hoarse, tired voice. Then he motioned with his free hand for Raph to come closer, and when he did so his ill little brother whispered something in his ear.

Raph nodded his head, understanding what Leo meant and what he needed when he told him that the bleed in his brain relaxed his bladder, so he pushed himself up on his feet and told his family: “Leo wants a bath.”

Donnie stopped his work to ask: “Is he ok?” and after Raph informed them Leo had another brain bleed but he was ok, Draxum turned his head long enough to firmly instruct: “Don’t leave him alone in there for a second.”

Raph quietly agreed with the busy alchemist and bent down to pick up his younger brother, blankets and all, with no one questioning it because everyone knew he didn’t have the strength to walk very far at the moment.

After fumbling a little to get Leo’s IV pole in his grip, he quietly carried his brother to his bathroom, the one straight across from his bedroom, where he could wash up from his little accident.

When they got to the bathroom, Raph laid Leo down on the floor in a heap of blankets, and the slider pushed them aside and returned Raph’s sad smile with a weak one of his own.

Leo’s voice sounded hoarse and dry when he talked because of a persistent sore throat he had that Draxum didn’t have time to medicate, because he was so busy on the more important task of making an effective nausea medicine so he could eat without it coming back up again - along with making new batches of many other necessary medications. And in a rough, tired voice, with his heavy eyelids half closed, Leo told Raph: “I can get my shorts off, but can you put me in the tub?”

“Sure thing, bud,” his big brother agreed in a way that didn’t do a good job of hiding the heartbreak he felt inside for his terminally ill little brother.

Raph patted Leo’s knee and got up to run the warm water while Leo began the slow task of pulling off his soaked black shorts.

After the tub was filled and Raph gently put Leo in the warm water, he pulled the curtain partway to give him privacy before sitting on the floor by Leo’s head with his back against the tub, but angled in a way he could see his bro’s face.

Leo slowly reached up for his body wash and his blue shower puff. As he added the soap to the puff and squished it around with his fingers to get it bubbly, he said in his hoarse voice: “Hey Raph?”

“Yeah, buddy?” Raph softly replied.

“Can you wash my stuff so no one knows what happened?”

Leo's loving big bro considered assuring him it wasn’t his fault and there was nothing to be embarrassed about, but he decided against it, instead replying with a simple: “Sure.”

While he bathed, Raph and Leo chatted about a little bit of nothing and a little bit of everything, and in the middle of the conversation the guilt-stricken slider unexpectedly commented:

“I’m sorry for putting you through this.”

“Oh, that’s nothing,” Raph replied in a fake upbeat tone he put on for Leo’s benefit, but unintentionally giving away how stressed he really was about this whole situation by referring to himself in the third person (something he mostly only did when very stressed and he was doing a whole lot more than usual since finding out about Leo’s terminal illness):

“Raph wet the bed until Raph was twelve.”

“No, not that,” Leo immediately replied. He rinsed off his shower puff by swishing it around in the water, and then hung it back up where it belonged.

“What are you sorry 'bout, bro?” Raph asked, when the silence stretched on.

Leo sadly gazed down at the bubbles in his bath water, not wanting to make eye contact with his big brother right now when he quietly replied in a hushed, almost whisper of a voice:

“I’m sorry I’m dying.”

Leo looked up when his protective big brother looked right at him and firmly but lovingly replied:

“Now you get that thought right out of your head! That’s not your fault, it’s those alien scum's fault. Raph's just sorry he spent a whole month putting the blame on the wrong person. And if I could, Raph would punch that bully right in his nose, mystic ninja style.”

Raphael raised his oversized fist, and Leo laughed asking: “Do krang even have a nose?”

Raph next got Leo laughing more when he emphatically replied: “If they don’t I’ll stick one to his ugly pink brain face so I can smash it right through his gross, slimy head!”

The brothers shared a smile, and then Leo put his arms up, saying: “I’m ready to get out now.”

Raph got up, grabbed a big, oversized, soft, dark blue plushy towel and picked up his brother to wrap him up snug and warm in his arms, making him smile up at him and happily comment:

“Hey this is like when I was little and you wrapped me up in my blanket like a burrito when I couldn’t sleep!"

“Yeah,” Raph fondly agreed. He grabbed the IV pole, and on their way out of the bathroom, Leo told him his other shorts were in his room, and suggested they hang out in there a bit, one-on-one, before going back to the lab.

But before they even got halfway across the hallway to Leo’s bedroom, the slider was already falling asleep in his arms.

The last thing he did before he drifted off into a deep sleep, was open his mouth to say:

“I love you, big bro.”

Raph had to choke back the tears before he could open his mouth to say in reply: “I love you too, lil bro.”

~A Short Time Later~

When he was done getting all the supplies Mikey needed for Leo’s meals, Casey came home to quite the surprise.

There, standing outside Draxum’s humongous house, was a crowd of yokai, including news casters, journalists, camera-yokai, and more. Some were reporting live on their respective news channels, with one of them interviewing the smug-looking, gruff bat yokai who had been Leo’s boss during his short stint making mystic deliveries.

Everyone there was facing the house, wanting to catch a glimpse of the turtle heroes who saved the world - especially their greatest hero of all, the ‘banisher of krang’ ‘destroyer of alien life’, the ‘mystic portal powerhouse hero of all heroes’, Leonardo Hamato.

Casey paused to stare at the crowd, carrying a heavy bag in each hand, with his jaw dropped open in shock and trying to figure out how to stealthily ninja past unnoticed, when a yokai in the crowd took note of and recognized him in one of the photos of Leo shown on the news, taken inside the bar they went to. Then, as soon as he was pointed out, he was completely swarmed.

The honorary human member of the Hamato clan was quick to put his head down and make his way through the crowd to Draxum’s front door, ignoring the microphones shoved in his face and the flashes of cameras and large, professional news media video cameras pointed at him. But when he got to the front door, it was understandably locked.

Casey kept his head down and raised his arm to say into his wrist com: “Can someone let me in?”

A few seconds later a magenta portal opened up beside him and snapped shut the second he went through.

The exit portal brought Casey to the lab where Draxum was, as soon as he came out he exclaimed: “What’s going on out there!?” and April told him: “Apparently word got out,” as she took his bags to bring the food supplies to Mikey in the kitchen, just before Draxum pointed up to a tv screen built into the wall, without turning around from his work.

Casey picked up the tv remote to unmute the video that was playing, and he watched a news announcer in the middle of interviewing a yokai he recognized as the koala bartender at the bar Leo took him to on their day out together in the Hidden City.

“Yeah, he was in my bar, I got a photo of me ‘n him hung up on the wall, behind the counter. If anybody wants to see it come on down to Koala Joe’s Crazy Drink Shack, all wine and whisky two for one every Thursday night. And Baron Draxum, if you’re listening don’t pay no mind to any of those buffoons out there who says they were the first ones to give your kid his first real drink. He only came in to the bar in the first place cuz he wanted to try some of dem dere bar nuts. Best ones in the Hidden City. And when he was offered a beer - not by me of course cuz I knowed he was a minor, and hero or not we never serve minors at Koala Joe’s Crazy Drink Shack, but when one of dem odder guys in my bar offered to buy Leonardo his first drink, he looked him in the eye and I swear this is what he told him. He says ‘Thanks but no, my dad is Baron Draxum and if you know dat name you know why I can’t have even one drink.’

The news video played on in the background as Donnie and Draxum worked side-by-side, but Casey shut off the tv when Draxum bluntly said: “No one comes or goes except through my portals.”

“Uh, yeah,” Casey agreed, not taking his eyes off the black screen. Not until he heard wet, ragged coughing from the hallway, accompanied by rapidly approaching footsteps.

Donnie and Draxum stopped what they were doing and joined Casey in watching when Raph ran into the room, the IV pole in one hand and carrying the haggardly coughing Leo in his arms.

“We left his inhaler in here!" Raph explained, trying to hide his panic but not doing a very good job.

Casey quickly grabbed Leo’s inhaler off a table beside the couch where a bunch of his medication was as Raph laid him down on the couch.

Leo accepted his inhaler from Casey’s hand, and with the first breath he could suck in between his coughs he stuck it in his mouth to inhale the much-needed medication.

Draxum knelt down on one knee in front of his son and put a hand on his shoulder. Leo looked up at him with his teary eyes but kept his head down, coughing blood into his hand, until Casey put a cloth in it for him, and then he started coughing into that, instead.

“You’re going to need at least three more pumps but you’ll be fine, you’re not dying right now, you’re doing good, keep coughing and using your medication when you can catch your breath, this will subside,” Draxum promised him, noticing he looked a little panicky and knowing from his private conversations with Leo that dying in pain while bleeding out was his greatest fear (just below dying alone).

Leo took another inhale of his medicine as soon as he could, and continued coughing, but not as forcefully as before. Everyone stayed by his side, with Raph sitting alongside him on his right, Donnie on his left, and Draxum kneeling in front of him with Casey beside him.

Their presence helped to calm Leo's panic, along with their soft words of reassurance, and the comforting, warm hug Raph and Donnie held him in.

After his forth and fifth pumps, the coughing settled down and the blood dissipated; but he was left totally drained and shivering from cold even though the room was comfortably warm.

“How are you now?” Draxum asked in a firm yet caring voice that carried a hint of worry.

“Better,” Leo replied in his tired, hoarse voice.

“Your new nausea medication is ready, do you think you can take it?” Barry next informed him.

“Yeah, I want it now,” Leo replied, hoping it would help get rid of his constant bad stomach.

His yokai dad got up to get his medicine while Raph told Casey where to go to get a warm blanket for his cold, shivering brother, with Leo speaking up to say: “I want one of your hoodies too, big bro. The soft one.”

Then Raph told Casey where to find his hoodie in his room (because of course Leo's family temporarily moved in with Draxum so they could better help - and be close to - their ailing brother); and after taking the liquid medicine Draxum gave to him Leo curled up on his big brother's warm lap and closed his eyes when Raph wrapped his arms around him in a hug.

~A Short While Later~

After putting on Raph’s plush oversized hoodie and snuggling up warm and cozy under a big blanket on his big brother’s lap, Leo napped for a short while.

Now he was awake, laying back with his back against the arm of the couch and his legs on the big snapper’s lap, under the blanket that was making Raph too hot (but he didn’t complain, of course).

Leo took out his phone to check his yokai social media page on a site called 'Yappie Yokai' that he hadn’t been on for a while because of everything that recently happened to him - the one that blew up with followers after the video of his and his brothers hero move became known to the general yokai public.

But before going on there he clicked to read a confusing text message that came in from Master Nakamura, around the same time Mikey brought in some mystically enhanced yokai food for him to eat that was supposed to settle his stomach.

“Hey, Master Nakamura texted me: ‘I learned of the commotion outside your home and want to offer my assistance in any way I can be of use.’ What’s he talking about?” Leo asked the room in general.

Without a word, his alchemist dad picked up the remote for the lab tv to turn it on, and Leo sat up to eat what Mikey brought in without taking his eyes off the screen, which was a news channel reporting live from outside Draxum’s very crowded front door.

Without turning around, Draxum dryly said: “Somebody told a group of yokai Baron Draxum is their dad when they went into a bar for some peanuts.” “Eugh boi,” Leo replied, but he continued watching the screen with interest, only tearing his eyes away for a quick second to shove some food in his mouth when Mikey urged him to eat. Then a crooked smile came on his face when they showed a photo taken of all of them at Hueso’s, that their skeleton yokai friend promised to hang on the wall in his restaurant to replace the photo the slider didn’t like.

Leo slowly ate his food as he watched the news, captivated by the crowds who hailed them as heroes. But as they continued, he noticed nobody mentioned anything about his terminal illness, so he asked: “Does anyone know I’m sick?”

Leo took another bite of food and the room fell silent when Draxum muted the video, just before Donnie told him: “No, nobody else knows yet.”

“Hmm,” Leo hummed, deep in thought. Then he picked up his phone to look at the text his previous sensei sent him, and said: “I want them to know. But first, there’s somebody else I need to tell.”

~About an Hour Later~

A magenta portal opened up in Run of the Mill yokai pizza restaurant, at the back of the room beside the bar where the kitchen door was located, and a tall red and white panda yokai stepped through, with the portal shutting behind him.

A very busy skeleton yokai behind the counter rudely told the red panda: “Portalling inside my restaurant is not allowed. If you have a reservation sir, kindly inform the front reception desk and they will take care of you. If not, we are booked solid for the next six months, but if you are a journalist, good bye, I am not conducting interviews.”

Hueso turned his back to the panda to deal with a server who came out of the kitchen with a question for him, but he abruptly spun around again when the panda yokai told him in a clear, stern, professional-sounding voice that commanded attention:

“My name is Akimitsu Nakamura. I was sent here by Baron Draxum with an important message from his son, Leonardo Hamato.”

Those names spoken loudly got the attention of everyone nearby in the busy, crowded restaurant, so that everyone who heard him turned their heads in his direction and quieted down to hear what he had to say next.

The sudden quiet was apparently contagious, because it wasn't more than a few seconds later before the entire bustling restaurant was eerily silent.

Completely ignoring the dozens of eyes on them, the panda next professionally asked: “Are you Seňor Hueso?”

Hueso’s lip twitched as though he wanted to smile, but his face fell at the stern, solemn face of the yokai who addressed him.

“Yes, I am Seňor Hueso, but why didn’t pepino call me himself?”

Instead of answering his question, Master Nakamura inquired: “Do you have somewhere private where we can talk?”

“Uh, yes, my office, come with me,” Hueso replied, immediately leading the way to his office where he could hear the very important message from Draxum and Leonardo, that was sent to him through a representative for some reason he didn't yet know, but was soon to find out.

~A Short Time Later~

Leo was sitting back on the couch, wearing one of Raph’s oversized red hoodies, squished in between April and Mikey, watching the latest updates to his Yappie Yokai social media page, and reading some of the heartfelt messages random strangers left on his wall.

Draxum was still working with Donnie, this time Splinter was assisting them, and Raph was gone to take a shower after putting Leo’s soiled things in the washer.

When the goat alchemist got a text message via his wrist com he opened a portal behind him and everyone but him and Donnie looked up when Master Nakamura walked into the room.

Leo smiled at his previous sensei and asked: “How’d it go?” but his smile fell when Seňor Hueso unexpectedly walked through the portal behind him.

He immediately dropped his phone onto his lap to self-consciously rub at his now pale red - almost pinkish - markings beneath his eyes, muttering under his breath: “If I knew Hueso was coming I would’ve moisturized and used my refresher spray.”

Hueso looked at Leo, but he was so taken aback by how pale and sickly he looked in such a short time since he saw him last at his restaurant, it took him a couple of seconds to realize he wasn’t smiling.

Leo sheepishly grinned and waved at the shocked skeleton yokai with a quiet: “Hi Hueso, I thought you were busy at your restaurant with all those new customers you keep getting from that whole ‘favorite restaurant of earth’s greatest heroes’ thing.” Then he smiled a little bigger and asked: “Did you put the good picture up?”

Hueso smiled back at Leo, walked over to him, and told him: “Yes, I put the new picture up and placed the old one in my office. And of course I came, I had to see my favorite customer after receiving such grave news. How are you, pepino?”

Leo ignored Hueso’s ‘how are you’ question and joked: “Favorite customer, are you buttering me up for a big tip next time?”

His smile widened and his tired eyes sparkled when Hueso joked back: “Of course not, you’ve always been a terrible tipper. But not as bad as that brother of yours over there.”

The bone man pointed back to Donnie with his thumb and said in a light-hearted tone: “He has never once left a tip, he simply pays for his food and leaves.”

“It’s not my problem if you do not pay your employees enough of an income to live off without tips,” Donnie quipped back without turning around.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Leo looked at his twinsie and exclaimed: “What about all those times it was your turn to pick up our pizzas? You didn’t pocket our tip money, did you?”

“I neither confirm nor deny those baseless allegations,” Donnie replied, still without turning around. That was, until Leo laughed and blurted out:

“Ha! Wait ‘till Raph hears about this!”

“You wouldn’t!” Donnie exclaimed, glaring at his twin brother. Hueso got in on the fun by leaning in closer to Leo to tell him: “Where I come from, we tied stingy egoisti like him to a wild simurgh and set it lose in a glowberry thornthistle cave.”

Donnie turned his back to them and poured an orange solution into a blue one while replying in an offended tone of voice: “Scoff, I am not stingy I am frugal.”

Then Leo leaned ahead to whisper to Hueso (making sure to be loud enough for Donnie to hear): “Leave your number, we’ll talk later.”

“I am on that Yappi Yokai social group if you wish to follow me.”

“You’re on Yappie Yokai!?” Mikey exclaimed in surprise, and Hueso dryly replied: “Si. My son set me up with an account after he finished university before he moved away, so we can keep in touch.”

Leo immediately took out his phone, enthusiastically saying: “I’ll do it now! What’s your username?”

. . .

In the end, Hueso stayed longer than Leo was expecting, agreeing to one game of poker at Splinter's suggestion; and even Donnie took a rare short break to get in on the action when a table was dragged into the med bay through one of Draxum’s portals, so Leo could stay where he was on the warm, comfy couch and enjoy the fun.

~Later That Evening~

The front door to Draxum’s house opened up and cameras flashed when a red panda yokai wearing a deep red and black kimoto stepped out and stood straight and tall to professionally announce to the eager crowd:

“My name is Akimitsu Nakamura. I have been selected by Baron Draxum to act as a representative for the Hamato family, and I have been asked to read this important announcement, followed by a letter written especially for you by Master Leonardo Hamato."

Akimitsu cleared his throat and held up Draxum’s letter with both hands to read: “It is with a heavy heart that I, Baron Draxum, regret to inform you the honorable Leonardo Hamato is dying.”

There were quite a few gasps and the few low mumbles in the crowd quieted to a hush, so that now the only sounds that could be heard were the clicking of cameras taking flash photos.

And Master Nakamura continued.

“The self-sacrificing spirit that moved Leonardo to use his mystic portalling powers to trap himself in the prison dimension with the krang threat came with serious repercussions. Despite the fact his powerful, mystically gifted brothers were able to rescue him from the confines of that dimension, the harsh conditions therein are not compatible with life in our dimension, thus resulting in Leonardo's incurable terminal illness. We thank you for respecting our privacy during this dire time, and updates will be given at the appropriate times, at Leonardo’s request. Respectfully, Baron Draxum.”

Master Nakamura put that letter behind the other one in his hands, and said: “And now the letter from Master Leonardo Hamato.”

He cleared his throat again before continuing.

“I want you all to know I couldn’t be happier to spend my last days with my family, and if anyone wants to follow me, I’m on Yappie Yokai, username @Leo_thefaceman. I get so many posts I can’t reply to them all, but I read every one I can and post updates often.”

Master Nakamura rolled up the letters in his hand, gave a gracious bow of his head, and turned around to walk back in Draxum’s house without answering a single one of the dozens of questions thrown his way...

...and leaving the yokai congregated together outside the Baron's mansion in quite the tizzy.

Chapter 21: Disaster Twins at it Again

"What’s on your face? Are you wearing lipstick now?"

“Lipsti…”

“Awww ratted out by the big bro!”

Chapter Text

The next four days were good overall for Leo. The new nausea medication combined with the mystic yokai food and seasonings kept his stomach settled so that he didn't need the IV anymore; and he gained strength and even a little weight and was able to walk around on his own again, with the help of a custom, light-weight tech-cane Donnie designed and created in one single all-nighter.

He did still have a few nosebleeds and a couple of brain bleeds that weren’t too serious and healed themselves, but he and his family took everything in stride, making the most of the time they had on Leo’s good days, and spending as much quality time together as they could get; but affording Leo the privacy he wanted when he went to the bathroom.

They also gave him the alone time he sometimes craved, when he went to his room for a bit so he could cry in solitude before sticking his 'faceman' grin on his face and smiling and joking - doing this not only for his family but also for himself, because he wanted to enjoy these last few days and give them as many happy memories as possible for the years ahead when he wouldn’t be around anymore.

And because he sensed within himself his time was near.

Not that he felt like he was dying in the traditional sense of his body giving out on him, but more like in the sense that he was getting antsy and fidgety, sensing like he needed to go somewhere, somewhere different; sensing that he didn’t belong here on earth, he didn’t belong here with his family anymore. His family who he knew loved him and who he loved more than life itself.

Feeling like he belonged in the mystic realm, with his ancestors. Feeling like he already had one foot in the mystic realm, like he was living partway between two realities. Feeling like someone on the other side was calling his name. That someone was reaching out to him, ready to catch him when he finally slipped over the figurative edge from this world to the next one.

And all these feelings were compounded by the fact his gram-gram Karai visited him every night in his dreams. When he woke, he never remembered the exact details of their conversations, only remembering her smiling, warm face and the sense of comfort and peace he felt in her presence.

Even though the regularly scheduled brain scans revealed no major changes and firmly put his date of death as being eight months in the future, Leo knew that wasn’t true; that he had days at best. Or maybe just one day. But he didn’t have the mental capacity to articulate this to his family. Whenever he tried to tell them about this feeling - or to let them know Karai had been visiting him at night in his dreams, leaving him with the sense that she was there for no other reason than to offer him words of comfort and peace in his last days in preparation for his transition, reassuring him not to fear and that everything would be ok - the words never made it past the tip of his tongue, like something or someone was holding him back; and no one knew he had tried to say anything at all.

Things were going well over those days, but there was a new thing that was beginning to concern Leo’s family, which was that he took to the unusual-for-him behavior of wandering around in Draxum’s house.

At first, it wasn’t something they noticed. Leo would tell them he was tired and wanted to go to his room by himself for a short nap. Of course, no one left him alone for long because of the unpredictable nature of his affliction, as well as the fact they didn’t have much time left with him, and didn’t know how many good days he had remaining. But it was ok for him to be alone for short spurts thanks to the brain scanner/tracker stuck to the back of his head (that Donnie never did get around to changing to blue, so Leo let Mikey spice it up a bit with a few of his personalized, waterproof stickers), and everyone suspected he preferred to be alone when he cried, since he never seemed to cry in front of them.

So Leo would say he was going to his room with every intent of doing exactly that, but then when someone went there half an hour or so later to check on him, his bedroom would be empty and they would track him down with the help of Donnie's tracker app that was installed in all of their phones, to find out he actually went to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat, or he went to hang out in the sauna, or to Draxum’s botanical garden that housed various rare yokai plants and some of the warrior scientist's favorite exotic fruit trees, to enjoy the change in scenery.

But what got them really worried was when, once, on day three, they found him wandering the upstairs hallway, confused and disoriented and not knowing who he was, where he was, or how he got there. But he seemed to get his senses back almost right away when Raph found him.

Strong, dependable, big brother Raph.

After that, Leo readily agreed with the snapper to let Draxum do another brain scan on him and put him through a barrage of tests, only for everything to come up practically unchanged from the previous scans and tests, except for the new easy-to-correct fact his body wasn’t digesting sugars properly.

But those tests all came up practically unchanged due to the fact this particular problem was happening because his time was near and his mystic form was trying to separate from his dying body and join with his ancestors. But unable to separate until after he took his final breath, it sent Leo wandering the halls instead of sending him to the mystic realm.

One day five, Leo felt better than he had in a long time, with the only real indication he was ill being that he needed a cane to get around, his very pale skin and sickly looking, underweight face and body, and the fact he was tired - not only sleepy but also like weights were tied to his arms and legs, dragging him down.

But that wasn’t enough to keep him down, and when Donnie left the lab for a quick bathroom break he found out from Draxum what he could put in his twinsie's coffee to prank him, settling on adding a significant amount of the tasteless blue food coloring that was conveniently sitting right there on the worktable, begging to be used for some devious purpose.

When Donnie came back he was so busy he didn't notice that coffee seemed to be fuller than when he left, not even when he tipped it up to his mouth to take a swig, having no idea something had been put in it or that he was now adorning what looked like dark blue lipstick.

“Hey Dee, I want a picture for my Yappi page,” Leo cheerfully said to the blue-lipped Donnie.

As much as the photogenic softshell loved taking pictures of himself for his archives, he did not enjoy having his face published online for all to see, and his Yappi Yokai page was filled with nothing but pictures of his tech and such (only the tech that was already patented, of course). So he groaned in protest but didn’t otherwise object when his dying brother pulled him close and leaned his weight on him with his arm wrapped around Donnie’s shoulders, holding up a ‘peace’ sigh with his fingers and playfully winking at the camera on his phone with his tongue stuck out.

“Say cheese, Dontron.”

Donnie let out a flat, unamused: “Cheese,” on his unsmiling face, and predictably didn’t even bother taking the time to raise his eyes from his important work to look at his blue-lipped face on Leo’s phone screen.

As soon as he clicked the photo, Donnie shoved a beaker with a blue liquid into Leo’s hand. “Here, drink that,” he ordered.

“What is it?” Leo asked. He gave the drink a sniff (it smelled like blueberries) and his twin informed him:

“It’s for your electrolyte imbalance. I know you don’t like Gatorade because it’s too sweet, so if you like this I’ll make a supply to keep in the lab fridge.”

“Aw thanks, Dee,” Leo said appreciatively. He hadn’t complained once about the taste of Gatorade after he had to start drinking the stuff three times a day (after all, that wasn’t the worst thing he had to choke down since becoming terminally ill) but he used to complained a whole lot about the sweet stuff when Raph used to make him drink it whenever he was ill with the rat flu.

After he downed the contents and informed Donnie he liked it, Leo sat on the couch with Mikey and clicked at his phone to post the photo he just took to his Yappi Yokai page.

Before clicking ‘submit’, Leo gave his face a good, hard look, and briefly considered not posting it for the public to see. Even though he felt well enough to moisturize over the past five days and had sprayed on a generous amount of the reptile refresher spray Draxum bought for him (before Mikey went back to the store to buy out their entire stock for Leo) his green skin looked more like a pale shade of pastel and his stylish red stripes he loved so much…

...well, they weren’t red anymore, they were more pinkish than anything. A pale shade of pink that, combined with his pale face, made the black marks under his eyes pop all the more. And he wasn’t wearing his mask anymore because it felt like the fabric was rubbing his now sore, easily irritated, sensitive skin. The same went for his ninja wrappings, so that now, the only thing he kept on were his black shorts, except for when he was cold, he wore Raph’s plushy oversized hoodie.

He also didn’t wear his belt and kept his katanas in their wall mounts over his bedroom desk, which was fine by him, because he hadn't felt up to training with them for a while now.

After just a moment’s hesitation, Leo decided to go ahead and post the picture, mostly because of all the love he got from his many followers after they saw his obviously ill face. But he also decided he would wear his blue mask for any future photos he planned on taking, if for no other reason but to hide the bags under his eyes and cover the bulk of his no-longer-stylish red marks that he used to be so proud of, but were now nothing more than a symbol of how far downhill he had gone.

Just before Leo posted the photo, he showed it to his little brother, and Mikey looked up from his Yappi Yokai page on his phone to see a picture of Leo with Donnie, who had blue lips, and the caption below it read:

‘How long do you think it'll take Dontron to realize his lips are blue? Put in your best guess for the time, I’m taking the first one hundred bets! Winner gets my favorite pizza at Run of the Mill courtesy of Hueso - xl super creepy supreme. #coffee #blue dye #prank’

Mikey snorted out a laugh at Leo’s pic, and Leo tagged Hueso before posting it.

“Hey Dee, some guy online just posted video proof the fifteenth digit of pi is twenty seven,” Mikey cried out to Donnie because he wanted to see the ‘lipstick’ for himself.

"Scoff!”

Mikey stifled a laugh when Donnie's scowling face turned around, showing off his dark blue lips as he ranted: "Twenty seven!? That isn’t even a single digit! And…” How is that solution coming?” Draxum dryly asked, completely ignoring the results of Leo’s innocent prank and cutting off Donatello before he got lost ranting about one of his hyper-fixations.

Donnie stopped mid-sentence, closed his blue-lined mouth, and spun back around to get back to his work, but visibly still irritated and muttering under his breath about the whole ‘15th digit of pi is 27’ insanity.

Leo looked down at his phone to see his page had blown up, and right at the top, where his pinned friends posts went so they didn’t get lost in the shuffle, was Hueso’s reply post:

‘I did not agree to this, pepino.’

Leo happily replied (for all the world to see):

‘But you’ll do it anyway, right bone man?’

He hauled out his blue mask, deciding he wanted to wear it for as long as his sore skin allowed, in case one of his other brothers snapped a picture of him for their YY wall; and by the time he finished tying it to his head and picked up his phone again, he showed Mikey Hueso had replied:

‘Sigh. For you I will do this.’

They both laughed again, then Leo said: “I think I’m feeling good enough for Hueso’s today,” and he clicked at his phone to reply to Hueso’s ‘sigh, yes’ post:

‘Better make that 2 Hueso, Someone will be by at 5 to pick mine up. And throw in a few extra zas for the whole family. You know all our favs.’

Almost immediately, Hueso replied: ‘I will deliver them myself, pepino, it will be good to see you again.’

Mikey watched with trepidation when Leo typed out: ‘No need ol’ skelly man, I’ll be by with my bro to get it myself. #stir crazy #gotta get out #stretch my legs’

Mikey looked up at Leo with a concerned face and asked: “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Do you really feel up to it?”

Instead of directly replying, Leo gave thought to Mikey’s words and then changed his post to add: ‘if I still feel good enough, don't wanna jinx my five day streak’ to the end of his sentence, knowing that problems almost always popped up suddenly and unexpectedly. Then he hit ‘submit’ before Mikey had a chance to object further.

Leo’s reply post was immediately hit with dozens of hearts and likes, and replies saying things like: ‘#Still going strong’, ‘#5 day streak’ ‘#stretch those turtle legs’, as well as a copy and past disclaimer from Hueso that he got from his restaurant website (and also had posted in more than one location within his pizza place):

‘For the health and well-being of our resident hero, Leonardo Hamato, flash photography is strictly prohibited during his visits to Run of the Mill. Any yokai breaking this rule will have their camera confiscated and will immediately be escorted out with a lifetime ban.’

Which was something he put up for Leo at Baron Draxum’s request, because even with the mutagen-based medication his son was now at risk of flashes of light causing nasty headaches or possibly triggering a micro seizure.

Leo replied to Hueso’s disclaimer post with a green ‘thumbs up’ and a: ‘Thanks for the reminder mi amigo. #headaches suck #don’t break my streak' (referring to his five good days in a row streak he had going that was highly publicized both on Yappi Yokai and in the general yokai media)

There were a number of kind, caring, sympathetic replies to Leo’s ‘no flash photography disclaimer’ reply, as well as many encouraging ones like: 'Keep up that streak' 'fingers crossed for day six' and even a few yokai threatening to harm anyone who harmed their hero (not something Leo encouraged, and he usually blocked those posts right away).

The ill turtle also saw there were already many reposts of the original picture he posted with Donnie and his blue lips, containing fun things like hearts, silly faced emojis, and quite a few showing a regular turtle with big, blue lips stamped on it. But his favorite one of all was when an amateur artist in the Hidden City - who he pinned as a friend because of his amazing ‘Turtle Hero’ artwork - reposted his photo with touch-ups to make Leo look like he did before he got sick, with bright green skin, amazing red stripes that popped, and no black marks under his eyes; along with the caption:

‘You still look good to your fans but I know you like it when I do this green guy. #always gorgeous #disaster twins at it again #my heroes’

Leo pinged the photo with a heart and pinned it to the top of his page, just below the original, for everyone to see, with the caption: ‘Keep em comin. #love your art #still the faceman’.

April came in the room not too long after Leo posted his photo, so he looked up from his phone to see if she would rat him out when she gave Donnie a sisterly hug and blurted out a laugh at the sight of his face.

But when Dee looked at her in surprise and asked why she laughed she told him she imagined how he’d look with a big, black unibrow, and as she walked to the couch Leo raised his phone to take a picture and she gave him a playful, silly pose.

“Hey Dee?” Leo called out. “What?”

Donnie turned around and Leo snapped a picture of April with him looking at the phone in the background, making Dee roll his eyes and moan at his picture-happy twin, that he knew would end up online, before getting back to his work.

When April sat down beside Leo, on the opposite side Mikey was on, he gave her a fist bump and showed her the photo of her, posing for the camera, with Donnie’s blue-lipped face looking at the camera from behind her, along with the caption: ‘45 minutes in and still no clue. #favorite sis #not a snitch’

The three of them laughed then Leo posted the photo, and they were chatting for a bit before Casey came for the same reason April did, to spend some quality time with their dying brother.

As soon as he came in the room, Leo raised his phone to record 'future boy's' reaction to Donnie’s face. But the future post-apocalyptic boy had seen some crazy shenanigans from the future versions of his turtle family, so when he went up to Donnie to see how the tired, overworked turtle was doing, he didn’t even hint at noticing anything was wrong with his face, before walking over to give Leo a grin and a fist bump.

After Casey cuddled up on the couch beside April, Leo showed him his phone displaying a short twelve second video with the caption: ‘One hour in. Case gave no reaction at all #poker face’

About half an hour later, Raph came in the lab, holding his phone with a sour look on his face. He had been taking his frustrations and anger over Leo’s condition and upcoming death out in Draxum’s gym-turned-training room so he could clear his head and calm his intense emotions before spending time with Leo.

After his shower he checked out his YY page, completely ignoring the photos his terminally ill brother posted on his wall to hone in on his post about going to Hueso’s himself.

As soon as Raph came in the room, Leo raised his phone to record a video and Donnie said: “Just the turtle I wanted to see. Hand me that case of inhaler canisters, we’re ready to make Leo a new batch.”

Donnie pointed to a box high up on a shelf on the other side of the large lab, but instead of getting it right away Raph looked at him, surprised, and asked: “What’s on your face? Are you wearing lipstick now?"

“Lipsti…”

“Awww ratted out by the big bro!” Leo loudly exclaimed, still recording. “Congrats to the winner, I’ll post their name with this vid!”

Leo stopped recording and laughed, while Donnie glared at him, threatening: “So help me Leo, if I can’t get this off you’re waking up tomorrow morning with purple face stripes!”

He stormed out of the room to wash his face and Leo didn’t say what he was thinking, namely: 'That’ll be an improvement.'

He was about to go back on his Yappi Yokai page but put his phone down when Raph got his attention, by sternly (but kindly, like he always talked to Leo now) saying: “Leo, do you really think it's a good idea to go to Hueso’s?”

"Sure it is big guy!” Leo casually replied with a big smile. “Gotta stretch these legs of mine, I’m going stir crazy sitting around Draxum’s all day.”

“But you can barely walk, and what if someone takes a flash photo?”

"Relaaax Raph, you worry too much. Hueso put up those flash photo signs, the disclaimer's pinned to the top of my YY page, and he promised to remind everyone twice before I get there. Besiides, what's the worst that can happen? A headache, maybe a micro seizure? I get over those lickety split, and Mikey’s coming with me. We’ll go through Draxum’s portal, smile for a few fans, grab our zas, and get home, five minutes, tops.”

Leo’s smile gradually fell as he watched Raph looking down at his phone uncomfortably, clearly wanting Leo to stay home, where he was safest, but also not wanting to deny his dying brother the simple pleasure of getting out to stretch his legs.

The conflicted look on his face and the silence prompted Leo to suggest: “Why don’t you come with us, big protector of mine?”

In the end, Leo’s cheeky grin and sparkle in his normally dull, tired eyes won out (yet again) and Raph agreed to go; which was fine by Mikey, who decided to stay home since he was all ‘fanned out’ because of getting swarmed when he went out earlier that day to pick up a few mystic seasonings for Leo’s food at a mystic mall in the Hidden City.

Once that was settled, Raph joined the group by sitting on the couch, along with Splinter who came in and promptly fell asleep against the arm of the couch after giving his ill son a hug, then Leo got back to his Yappi Yokai page.

After Mikey helped Leo go through the many posts on his wall to figure out who the winner was, he posted the new video with the caption:

‘Two twenty three pm. We have two bets for that time, one by @Unicornwithrainbowstripes love the name btw, your rainbow stripes are gorgeous, and one by @Tigerinsheepsclothing, do you perm your wool or is it naturally that fluffy? The official winner is @Unicornwithrainbowstripes for posting her bet first, but I think 2nd place deserves a runner up prize, how about a medium super creepy supreme, Hueso? #Congrats #world's greatest pizza #gotta prank my twin #we still love you big guy’.

Leo made sure to tag the two winners and Hueso in his post and once again it was hit with dozens of replies right away; but the one that popped up pinned to the top was Hueso’s:

‘Only for you, pepino. Glad to hear you’re having another good day. Congratulations to the winners, call at least 1h in advance to order your pizza’

And he even added ‘#5 day streak’ to the end, which was unusual for the skeleton yokai - who only joined Yappi Yokai in the first place to keep in touch with his son, who moved away to be a doctor in another underground yokai city.

The 'bone man' restaurant owner likewise tagged both winners, and included a link to his yokai restaurant website that had the store’s phone number and address.

~A Few Hours Later~

Leo was still feeling good by five o’clock, so he was eager to leave for Hueso’s with his big brother. He put a quick post on his Yappi Yokai page, promising to post a few pictures after he ate, thanking them for their support and well wishes, and included another reminder about flash photography.

When he was done and put his phone down on the little table beside the couch where his plethora of meds were, grabbed his lightweight tech cane, and pushed off Mikey’s knee to slowly stand up on his two turtle feet.

Raph was standing in front of him, and when he saw Leo struggling to get all the way up he put his hands out to help, but stopped himself when Leo smiled at him and said: “It’s ok, I got it.”

Raph kept his hands out, saying: “It’s not too late to back out.”

“No way! I’m not disappointing my fans and besides Tilly’s gonna be there, she’s picking up her winner’s pizza and I’m not missing an opportunity to get my picture with a rainbow unicorn!”

“You know unicorns aren't real and she’s just a zebra yokai who dyes her black stripes and wears a unicorn headband, right?” Donnie flatly asked from his spot at a worktable, tightening a bolt on a new tech something he was making, no doubt to help his ailing brother.

Leo scowled at his twinsie and barked in reply: "Don't break my immersion, bro!”

Donnie put his tool down so he could make air quotes when he amused Leo by flatly replying: “Enjoy your photo with a ‘real unicorn',” and Leo smugly stuck his chin out with a grin and replied: “Thank you, I will," before walking beside Raph to the portal Draxum opened for them.

Before they stepped through, Draxum looked down at Leo and said: “Donatello and I will be joining you for your family pizza meal.”

Leo’s whole face lit up with a beaming smile and a sparkle in his eyes at that unexpected remark, and he exclaimed: “Aw really!?” Then he looked at Donnie with his big smile when his twin told him: “Yeah, you’ve been so well the past five days we caught up on everything.”

“Can we eat it in the living room too and watch Jupiter Jim!?” Leo enthusiastically asked, still with that twinkle in his eyes.

“You can’t watch JJ dummy, because of the flashy parts,” Donnie reminded him.

“Oh right,” Leo replied; but he was still smiling and asked: “What about eating in the rec room at the lair all together, like old times?” very hopeful his family would agree.

Raph opened his mouth to object: “I don’t know, Leo, what if something happens?” but his loving yokai dad came to the rescue when he said: “I can leave a portal open for that long, leading to the med bay. It will be no different than if we were here.”

Leo gave him an appreciative hug with: “Thanks, dad,” before looking at Splinter (who always seemed jealous whenever Leo referred to Draxum as ‘dad’) and shooting him his winning smile to say: “Love you, Pops.”

“I love you too Leonardo, stay safe.”

“Don’t worry Pops, Raph’ll make sure he stays save!” Mikey proudly replied with full confidence in their big brother.

Leo eagerly agreed: “Yeah, I’m always safe with my big bro around!” Then he patted Raph’s arm and said: “Let’s go, big guy,” but Raph put a hand out between Leo and the portal to stop him just before he stepped through, saying a firm but worried-sounding:

“Raph’ll go first, Raph gotta remind everyone to turn their flashes off.”

But Leo tugged on his hand and said in an eager, somewhat whiny voice: “Hueso texted me, he already did that, come oon, I don’t wanna miss my chance to get a picture with a unicorn!”

“Fine, but Raph’s going first,” his overprotective big brother grumbled in agreement, before stepping through Draxum’s portal.

Raph stepped out through into Run of the Mill, where Hueso was waiting for them at the back behind the tall bar counter in an ‘employees only’ section, which was the designated pick up location for any of the Hamato’s, because the counter separated them from any fans who were tempted to run up to them for an unsolicited hug or selfie with their hero.

When he stepped out, Raph kindly waved with a small (worried-looking) smile on his face for his adoring fans on the other side of the bar, who were stepping on one another to get as close as possible for a good photo or video.

Then he got out a kind-sounding: “Please remember, no camera flashes,” before Leo came through.

Next, the hero ninja red-eared slider stepped into the restaurant and there was a big cheer from the yokai who were eager to see their self-sacrificing, dying hero who trapped the krang back where he belonged.

Raph protectively put a hand on his little brother’s shoulder, nervous that the many yokai taking pictures would set off flashes of light and harm his younger brother.

But no such thing happened.

Leo entered the restaurant with a big wave and an equally big smile for his many fans who were dining there at the time (with even more at the front of the restaurant, behind a red velvet rope Hueso set up to stop anyone who didn’t have a reservation but came to see their heroes, so they wouldn’t disturb the paying yokai dining at the tables).

Next Leonardo did a few poses for the cameras with his (worried) big bro, some silly ones by himself, and of course some with Hueso thrown in the mix. When he was done that, Leo put his arm around his skeleton friend, and Hueso couldn’t help but notice that even with the cane he still leaned his weight on him like he needed extra support to keep him vertical.

But Hueso politely didn’t point this out and allowed Leo to lean as much weight on him as he needed, while wondering how much time his rapidly deteriorating turtle customer/friend had left (something Leo didn’t share with anyone outside his family) and telling him: “It’s good to see you, pepino.”

Leo gave Hueso his winning smile that filled the bone yokai’s heart with both fondness and a deep sadness at the same time.

“It’s good to see you too, bag of bones! How are you so skinny when you own a pizza joint? Afraid to eat your own food?" Leo joked. That got a laugh from Hueso and then he continued: "You gotta come back for another game of poker! Donnie totally cheated last time, we gotta teach him a lesson!”

"Ha!” Raph blurted out. "You’re one to talk, I caught you switching cards with Mikey under the table!”

His younger brother grinned at him and kept his arm around Hueso’s shoulders, resting a little more of his weight on the skeleton yokai so he didn’t have to sit down yet, and he said: “And we both still lost to Dee! Proof positive he’s the biggest cheater of us all!” He looked at Hueso and added in a cheerful tone that almost made the bone man want to break down and cry: “Whaddaya say, ol’ bonsie?”

“Name the day and I’ll be there, pepino,” Hueso fondly agreed.

“Sooner’s always better for me, what about tomorrow night?” Leo told him with a big grin on his pale face.

“I’ll make it work,” the busy, wildly successful business owner replied.

Raph worried even more when he saw that Leo was relying a little too much on leaning against Hueso to stay upright and that sweat was beading on his head - like he was overexerting himself just standing there - so he kindly but tensely asked: “Uh, Hueso, are those pizzas ready?”

At that moment, a server came out of the kitchen with a pile of pizza boxes that she laid on the counter, and Hueso said: “Ah, here they are now, hot and fresh,” with a smile.

Raph didn’t return Hueso’s smile, instead he addressed Leo by anxiously saying: “It’s time for us to go, bud.”

“And miss the opportunity to get my picture with a unicorn!? No way!” Leo blurted out.

“Alright Leo, but would you at lest sit?” his worried big brother requested.

Instead of sitting, Leo took his arm off Hueso and handed him his cane while leaning over the counter (putting his weight on that instead of the skeleton yokai) scanning the front of the restaurant for Tilly.

Leo ignored Raph’s: “Woah, careful there buddy,” Hueso’s: “I can have my staff look for her, if you like,” and the cameras and cell phones shoved in his face from excited yokai right on the other side of the bar, to settle his eyes on what looked like a striped, thick, curled rainbow mane sticking out among the many yokai heads at the front of the restaurant.

Leo leaned more of his weight over the counter so he could raise his hand up high in a big, wide wave, as he called out: “Tilly! Is that you!?”

But then he got Raph really worried, along with Hueso and his star-struck fans, when his loud exclamation was followed by a fit of coughing.

Because of his coughing, Leo didn’t hear or see when Tilly pushed ahead through the crowded front to the red velvet rope and waved at him while calling back, “Yeah, Leo it’s me!”

The ill slider accepted his big brother’s help when he put both hands on the sides of his shell underneath his arms, to hold up his weight, and he looked closely at Leo’s face for any signs of blood while tenderly saying in a worried tone: “Alright buddy, you pushed yourself a little too hard. Is there any blood this time?”

“No, but I outta sit,” Leo replied.

“I’ll get you a chair, pepino,” Hueso offered, but before he took two steps away Leonardo told him: “No need skully man, Don got me covered, hand over my cane.”

Hueso gave Leo his cane, he clicked a button on the side to activate the tech inside, and the simple blue cane transformed into a chair with a back, arms, and even a cushioned seat for Leo to sit on - looking like it was way too big and heavy to fit inside a simple, lightweight walking cane, like Donnie’s impossibly futuristic high tech was prone to do.

Some of the yokai crowded around the bar leaned over the counter with their arms stretched out, phones in hand, wanting to get good pictures and videos of Leonardo sitting in the cool tech Donatello made for him. Until Hueso sternly shooed them away, ordering them to stay behind the bar or get escorted back to their table.

After catching his breath, Leo asked: “Is that Tilly?”

Hueso checked and when he saw the rainbow zebra he recognized with bright, rainbow stripes in place of her black ones, and a thick, sparkly purple headband adorned with a likewise sparkly white unicorn horn, he replied: “Yes, pepino, she’s the zebra who won your bet,” making Leo replied with an incensed: “She’s no zebra, she’s a unicorn!”

Hueso ordered his staff to let Tilly in, and she was led to the back of the restaurant, where Leo was. He smiled up at her while Hueso opened the bar door to let her in, and she smiled back at Leo, telling him in an apologetic tone: “I tried to be here but they wouldn’t let me in the restaurant because I’m here for takeaway. Do you mind if I take a video?”

She held up her phone and Raph looked down on it nervously, but Leo happily replied: “Only if you don’t mind if I take pictures!”

Tilly smiled and began recording, but she kept her distance, afraid she would be pushing the boundaries if she got too close to earth’s greatest hero, who was looking very fragile and sickly for someone who battled the supremely powerful krang only a few short months ago. But Leo was having none of that, and he gave her a great big smile and stretched his arms out while telling her: “Get over here! I always wanted to hug a real life unicorn!”

Tilly approached but hesitated on that hug, noticing how much sicker Leo looked in person compared to his photos, but Leo emphatically reassured her: “You’re not gonna break me, I got a hard shell, see?"

He knocked a couple of times on his stiff plastron with a big smile and put his arm out again while happily exclaiming: "Get in here!” And Raph instructed: “Be gentle,” to Tilly, who showed beyond any doubt who her favoritest hero was when she handed her phone out to Raph and asked: “Do you mind getting a video of us?”

Raph graciously took the camera while mumbling (with a smile): “I guess we know who’s someone’s favorite.”

As Tilly gave her dying ‘superhero’ a hug, Leo joked to Raph: “I’m everyone’s favorite,” and playfully stuck his tongue out at his big brother before making a couple of silly faces as a fun little surprise for Tilly to find when she watched her video.

After that, Leo squeezed Tilly's face close to his so they were cheek-to-cheek, and held out his cell phone while giggling and saying to himself: “I can’t believe I’m getting a selfie with a unicorn!”

Leo made sure to get lots of pictures of him and the ‘magical rainbow unicorn’ for his Yappi Yokai wall (and for himself) and when it was time to go, he asked Tilly to share her video with him so she promised to tag him when she posted the whole thing on her Yappi Yokai page.

After saying their goodbyes, Leo slowly pushed himself up off his chair, but this time when his legs began trembling he accepted help from Raph to get all the way up on his feet, before pressing the button to transform his chair back into a cane.

But despite their fears and objections, Leo wouldn’t let Raph or Hueso help him walk to the portal. So Hueso settled for staying close to the sick slider in case he needed assistance, while Raph grabbed the stack of pizzas and waited for Leo to safely go through in front of him.

Just before stepping through the glowing magenta portal in front of his face, Leo looked at his fans to give them one final smile and wave, and Hueso put his arms around him when he noticed Leo’s knees were trembling under the weight of his own body.

Raph didn’t see the trembling because of the tall stack of pizzas obscuring his view, but he did see that Hueso stepped through the portal with Leo, and the overprotective big brother was quick to go through behind them.

As soon as Leo got to the other side, despite Hueso's help his legs gave out on him, but Draxum was right there and caught him in his arm.

Leo smiled up at his dad, saying: “Nice catch, goat man.”

"Leo!” Mikey, April, Casey, and Splinter all cried out unanimously while running to his side; and the worried Hueso stepped away to give them room as Raph came through.

“Are you ok, pepino?” Hueso asked in concern. Draxum sat Leo on the couch, and he smiled up at Hueso to say: “Yeah I’m fine, it happens sometimes.”

After that, Hueso said his goodbyes to Leo and his family to give them time together, and left through the portal that Draxum shut behind him. Once he was gone, Raph scolded: “I told you that would be too much!” but sounding far more worried than angry.

Then Leo wiggled to sit back against the big arm of the couch with his feet up on the cushion and grabbed his blanket to throw over his lap while telling Raph: “Aw c’mon big guy, I didn’t do anything but sit and smile for the cameras. This happens sometimes, you know that. Crack open that pizza and I’ll be as right as rain!”

“Aren’t we going to the rec room?” Mikey asked in a disappointed tone of voice.

Draxum shot him a stern look and told him: “Leonardo is in no shape to get up from the couch, we will eat in here.” But his composure relaxed and he rolled his eyes when Leo’s smile got bigger as he ‘poked the goat’ by exclaiming: "Wooow! Pizza in the living room, supper in my bedroom, and now takeout with the whole family in your immaculate lab!? A turtle could get used to this treatment! How’s about that cigar you promised?”

“You promised Leonardo he could smoke a cigar!?” Splinter angrily snapped. But instead of replying, Draxum merely groaned while Leo snickered, deciding to keep that little joke between the two of them from the day Leo playfully asked for a foot massage and cigar but Draxum dryly joked in reply that he drew the line at foot massages.

Next the ill slider gave his goat dad a mischievous grin, saying: “You already brought the couch into the med bay, what’s so bad about moving it once more?”

Once again Draxum groaned, but a few minutes later a big, magenta portal opened in the rec room of their lair home, with Draxum and Raph carrying the large, cumbersome couch in through and Leo happily riding on top, playfully barking out orders like he was a king in his chariot.

And they spent the next two hours hanging out all together, happy and laughing and carrying on just like old times.

Chapter 22: Flash Photography

"They act like a flash of light is gonna kill me or something, but it just gives me a headache for a couple of hours.”

'And puts you at risk for a seizure!"

"Just a little one, that's why they're called micro seizures!"

Chapter Text

Leo was right, he felt much better after a good feed of pizza (even though he only ate two slices) and now he was sitting back on the couch that had been returned to Draxum’s lab, looking over the replies to his many posts of shots taken at Hueso’s, and of his meal with his entire family.

As was customary for him, @PaintingKeepsMeCrazy already touched-up three of Leo's favorite pictures, to make him look as healthy as he was before. Right now he was in the process of hand painting a copy of the touched-up photo of Leo smiling with a rainbow ‘unicorn’ - at the slider’s request - promising to have it done in two or three days.

At that moment, Draxum opened his portal and Master Nakamura walked through. Leo looked up from his phone and asked: “Hi sensei, what brings you here?”

“I thought this would be something you want to see,” Akimitsu replied.

Leo sat up when his sensei showed him his tablet and pressed ‘play’ on a video of the red panda teaching ninjitsu.

“No way!” He sat ahead and Master Nakamura handed over his tablet when the slider reached out for it as his family crowded around their sick brother so they could see too, and Leo smiled up at them while pointing to the screen and enthusiastically saying: “Those are my moves!”

Leo’s smile grew bigger the longer he watched, and Master Nakamura politely asked: “I take it you approve?”

Looking up at him with a glowing grin and a sparkle to his otherwise tired eyes, Leonardo enthusiastically agreed: “You bet I approve!” feeling like now this part of him would live on long after his death.

When the video was done Leo asked his sensei to share it with him, and Akimitsu emailed both that video and one he had from the day Master Leonardo taught his very first (and last) advanced ninjitsu class.

After watching the video of his very first class (and the other one again) Leo happily gave his sensei permission to post them on his dojo website and advertise a new advanced ninjitsu class endorsed by Master Leonardo Hamato and inspired by his fighting style.

Leo was eager to post both videos on his Yappi Yokai page, along with a link to Master Nakamura’s dojo website. While he was there he checked out what his followers posted to his wall, with a photo near the top from @PaintingKeepsMeCrazy (aka Beebs the bunny) taken outside Draxum’s house less than two minutes prior.

‘Are you still here?’ Leo posted.

Almost immediately, Beebs posted back: ‘Yeah, getting some pics of your house for a new painting, but it’s hard to get a good shot with the crowd.’

‘Wanna get a better shot, and a few pics with yours truly?’ Leo immediately posted in reply.

‘Wow really!?’

‘Stick around 😉’

After posting that, Leo looked up at his big brother with a mischievous grin and said in a very playful tone:

“Oh Rap-hie! You’re not gonna liiike this!”

Raph’s face face.

“Oh no Leo, what’d you do now?”

~A Short Time Later~

The front door to Draxum’s house opened up and the tall red panda spokesman came out and walked up to a podium that was sitting inside a locked steel gate to the Baron's house - that he had installed shortly after the whole yokai world found out about his relation to Leonardo Hamato and his three hero brothers.

The podium held dozens of microphones from various different news channels, and Akimitsu cleared his throat before asking: “Is there a rabbit yokai here by the names of Beebs?”

“That’s me!"

A furry paw-like hand popped up and the crowd parted to reveal a short, petite white rabbit yokai about eighteen or twenty years old, who was holding a professional-looking camera in both hands.

He happily ran up to the gate with a few excited hops along the way to get there faster and Akimitsu unlocked it before opening it just a crack to let him in through, and then he firmly shut and locked it behind him.

Beebs followed Akimitsu to the podium and stood alongside it when the red panda instructed: “Wait here.”

Master Nakamura then walked up to the podium again, and announced to the eager crowd, “Master Leonardo Hamato would like to come out to greet his fans, answer a few questions, and take photos with his online friend, Beebs. His honorable, heroic family will also be joining him.”

The petite rabbit fairly glowed he was so excited, with a big smile on his face that showed off his two long front teeth as Master Nakamura continued.

“Please note, due to the nature of Master Leonardo’s ailment, the use of flash photography will be strictly prohibited the entire time he is outside. I repeat, the use of flash photography is strictly prohibited for the entire duration of Master Leonardo’s visit.” He gestured to a couple of police officers who were on duty, supplied from the Hidden City police station for the purpose of crowd control and to prevent any yokai from attempting to climb over the fence, while adding:

“Anyone violating this rule will be escorted off the premises as bright flashes of light can and will aggravate the symptoms of Master Leonardo’s delicate condition. Please take a moment now to ensure your flashes are off.”

Akimitsu paused a moment to watch the yokai confirm their flashes were turned off, and when he allowed sufficient time to pass, he said: “Thank you for your compliance. And now, the honorable Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo, and Michelangelo Hamato, as well as their family.”

Meanwhile, while Leo was waiting to hear their names called, he looked up at his big brother and asked: “How do I look? Can you notice I used that refresher spray?”

Raph smiled down fondly on his ill brother who went all out trying to look his best for his many fans and the professional pictures his online buddy was going to take - and no doubt later paint and sell in his online store that Leo publicly endorsed.

For the first time in a while he was wearing all his ninja gear - his blue mask, black arm and leg ninja wrappings, his belt, and he even had his katanas in their sheaths strapped to his back. The only thing he wished was that he could ditch the cane he was leaning on for support to really look the part of the skilled ninja he once was.

“You look good,” Raph told him. But the truth was that even with the refresher spray the ill slider looked paler than ever before, and was clearly underweight and relying more heavily on his cane right now than usual.

But Leo knew he meant well and smiled up lovingly at his big brother, until Mikey nervously asked: “Are you sure you’ll be ok with your swords, Leo?”

Leo smiled fondly at his younger brother next, and replied: “If they throw me off I’ll give them to you, ok lil bro?”

Mikey smiled and nodded his head, then they heard their names called and Draxum opened the door to lead the way out.

All of Leo’s protective family went out ahead of him with Raph walking by his side to provide assistance, if necessary. They did this to block the crowd’s view of their ill brother for the time being, as Draxum walked up to the podium and Master Nakamura graciously moved over for him. Then, he stood tall in front of the podium full of microphones, with his hands clasped behind his back, and he calmly looked over the crowd while Leo walked up to Beebs to give him a handshake turned embrace by the huggy slider just before Draxum announced:

“I am aware you were informed the use of flash photography is strictly prohibited. As an extra precaution, double check all of your devices to ensure the flash had been disabled.”

Raph looked down on Beebs and asked: “You got the flash turned off on that thing, right?”

As Beebs showed him the display screen so he could see the symbol indicating the flash was off Leo laughed and told his online buddy: “They act like a flash of light is gonna kill me or something, but it just gives me a headache for a couple of hours.”

"And puts you at risk for a seizure!" Mikey objected, with Leo giving him his crooked grin and replying: "Just a little one, that's why they're called micro seizures!"

Donnie piped up when he dryly joked: "What makes you think we do any of this for your benefit? You get far too clingy when your head hurts.”

Beebs laughed when Leo draped an arm around his twin’s shoulders and playfully replied: “You know you love it, Dontron,” with a big smile on his face for the brother who he loved to tease more than anyone.

His 'twinsie' smiled back at him, then Draxum stepped down to give Leo the podium while Beebs began clicking photos of him and the house, the whole family, the crowd from his point of view, and just about everything else he could see.

As soon as Leo took the podium, he smiled and waved for the cameras, with Draxum standing very close behind him on his right and Raph doing the exact same thing on his left, like two big bodyguards. Then Leo cleared his throat to talk into the mics.

“Hi everyone, thanks for coming. I recognize some of your faces from my YY page, it's good to see you in person. I came out cuz my online buddy Beebs let me know he was outside my front door.”

Leo gestured to the bunny with an outstretched hand, and Beebs lowered his camera and shyly smiled at the crowds who were taking pictures of him for a change. Then his turtle friend continued:

“He goes by @PaintingKeepsMeCrazy on Yappi Yokai and he’s an great artist! He makes my favorite awesome art of me and my fam, show him some love by visiting his online store, all our favorites are on the main page.”

Leo looked down at Beebs - who was blushing - with a smile, and then he returned his attention to the fans full of reporters, and said a little more nervously this time: “So, uh, I guess it’s time for questions?”

A number of reporters raised their hands and the first one Leo picked asked the very personal question that everyone wondered but the Hamato's never answered before or discussed on their Yappi Yokai pages:

“How much time do you have left before this illness takes your life?”

Leo’s smile fell and a sickening knot formed in his stomach. The last official prognosis was eight months, but he knew deep down in his soul it was much, much less.

Draxum leaned ahead to whisper something in Leo’s right ear, but Raph beat him to the punch when he had the same thought and whispered in his left ear: “You don’t have to answer that.”

“No, it’s ok,” the slider replied, deciding he might as well rip off the bandaid right now instead of leaving his fans wondering right up until the fatal announcement.

Raph protectively stepped ahead to get so close to Leo he could feel the snapper’s plastron touching the back of his shell, and he put a supportive hand on his little brother’s shoulder, being careful as always not to rest any weight on it.

Leo smiled at his big brother before returning his attention to the expectant crowd, and he swallowed a nervous lump in his throat before answering: “The last I heard, eight months, but that number keeps changing, so I don’t know.”

Dozens of hands went up, and Leo picked one; but while that was happening a professional photographer for the Hidden City Paper decided to turn on the flash of his camera, strongly feeling the poor lighting didn’t lend well to a front page worthy photo of the very first (and possibly only) time the terminally ill hero - Leonardo Hamato - was willing to conduct a live interview - along with all his family who came out for no other reason than to support their brother/son/friend; figuring one teeny tiny flash couldn’t possibly do that much harm and the worst that could happen would be a front page-worthy picture with a few charges laid against him that his boss would no doubt take care of.

The next yokai Leo picked asked the difficult-to-answer question: “What measures have been taken to prolong your life?”

Draxum groaned, Raph wanted to scoop Leo up to get him away from these blood-thirsty sharks, and Leo grimaced and mumbled to himself: “Woah, tough crowd.”

*Flash*

Everything happened so fast after that, it was all over in a matter of seconds.

Leo’s pupils shrank into tiny dots and he stared blankly at the podium.

“Um…”

From his position behind his back, Raph instinctively caught his cane when Leo abruptly dropped it to grab the podium, and he held on like his life depended on it, with his jaw clenched and his entire body tense. Blood came out of his right nostril and stained the side of his blue mask when it simultaneously came out his right ear, as a result of the unexpected brain hemorrhage that one, simple flash elicited.

Leo had no idea what was going on around him from the massive seizure the brain bleed caused. His entire vision was flooded by a bright, white light and his body was so tight and tense Draxum and Raph had to each pry a hand off the podium before their goat dad could scoop Leo’s tight body up into his arms and rush him through a portal leading straight to the med bay; with the rest of their family hurrying through behind them.

At the same time this was happening, there was an uproar in the crowd as furious fans turned ugly, with the police escort off the premises turning into a rescue for the photographer who took the flash photo.

But he didn’t get out unscathed, and was led away in handcuffs with a busted lip, a black eye, and a sprained wrist from when his camera had been forcibly ripped out of his hands, before it was thrown to the ground and aggressively demolished by the loud, angry masses.

On the other side of the fence, Casey was the last to go through Draxum’s portal and he turned around to tell Beebs with an anxious, worried expression and a strained, tense voice: “Just stay here for now, ok? Leo really wants a pic with you and he, uh . . . he might be ok in a bit.”

After he disappeared and the portal snapped shut, Akimitsu looked down on the sad/worried little bunny and said: “Come with me, I’ll take you somewhere you can wait. But please refrain from taking any videos or photos inside the Draxum residence.”

As Master Nakamura led Beebs to Draxum’s large house, the rabbit replied: “Uh, yeah, of course,” and looked down at the display screen to shut off his camera.

Inside the med bay, Leo’s body relaxed and fell limp in Draxum’s arms. He took shallow, pained breaths through his mouth as he flitted his eyes around the room, trying to figure out where he was and what was going on.

“Augh,” he groaned, when he felt another wave of electrical pain beginning. There was a sensation like sharp bursts of electricity originating from his head that traveled down his spine, firing up every nerve along the way and everything went white again when his entire body once more involuntarily tensed from the powerful seizure.

While this was happening, Draxum firmly ordered their family to get an IV while Donnie hastily grabbed a new medication he and the goat alchemist only finished the day before.

Draxum held Leo on his right side to allow the red stuff to drain from his ear as the heavy blood continued pouring out, indicating his brain was still actively bleeding. When Draxum was laying him down in one of his hospital beds, the seizure stopped and Leo grasped his arm with both hands before Draxum had a chance to pull them out from under his body, with a weak, pitiful: “Noo,” before moaning and gritting his teeth with his body tensing all over again.

Draxum picked Leo up again and held him close, with Mikey standing by his head, taking off his mask, Raph standing beside Draxum, by Leo’s feet, with one hand on the slider’s leg and the other resting on his lower back, as the only means of comfort and support he could offer. April came over to inject the IV needle the second Leo’s body relaxed again, the way Draxum taught her; Splinter grabbed the IV pole and an IV bag; and Donnie was ready to administer the new drug as soon as the IV needle was in; while Casey grabbed a towel, that he gave to Mikey to put between Leo’s head and Draxum’s arm, to absorb the draining blood.

The instant Leo’s body relaxed April inserted the IV needle and Donnie injected the drugs while Leo reached his left hand down to grasp Raph’s in his. As soon as the drug was administered, Donnie got to work attaching the electrodes from his new scanner to Leo’s head, while the slider panted through his mouth with his eyes closed and sweat beading all over his head.

Leo felt another wave coming and squeezed Raph’s hand tightly - with the snapper reciprocating.

The poor, ill slider worried this was it, he really was going to die by bleeding out in pain; but at least his family was here. He wasn’t going to have to face his biggest fear by dying all alone.

Even though his eyes were squeezed shut, he saw flashes of light flickering across his vision when the next seizure struck. Like before, it felt like every nerve in his body was firing all at once with a burning electrical pain, before everything went white and numb again.

When it passed, Leo’s body fell limp once more, and he couldn’t be sure considering the tingling numbness and burning pain, but he suspected based on the new shot of pain inside his mouth that he cracked a tooth from as hard as his jaw had been clenching.

“Am I . . . gonna die now?” Leo mumbled out, almost incoherent.

It wasn’t Draxum who replied, but Donnie, who was looking at the display screen on his five-in-one marvel of engineering (that was definitely not a microwave), and without directly answering his question, told him: “The bleeding stopped, but it’s not over Leo, brace yourself.”

Leo moaned: “Mmmft aaaugh,” when he felt the sensation of another painful seizure was about to begin, and then his whole body involuntarily tensed again. When it subsided, Donnie informed him: “Hang in there twinsie, there’s one left and then you’re through the worst of it.”

Mikey encouragingly said: “You got this, Le…” but that was as far as the slider heard before he was hit with another surge of electrical pain, followed by the final blinding seizure.

After that, the bleeding from his nose and ear slowed to a stop because the medication Donnie and Draxum made together worked to end the hemorrhage in his brain sooner than it would have on its own.

Or perhaps it would have taken Leo’s life, first.

Thanks to the marvelous way Draxum created his turtle mutant creations, the natural healing process inside Leo’s brain began swiftly.

Even though the worst of it was over, everyone wondered if this would be the tipping point for their morbidly ill family member, who was already incredibly weak and sick before this happened; with all of them breathing through bated breath, afraid Leo would suddenly die right there in Draxum’s arms, robbing them of the eight precious months they all were hoping for, all because of what one idiot did to him with the flash of a camera.

When the last one was over, Leo panted through his mouth, with his entire body shiny from sweat, and he almost sounded half drunk with the way he mumbled and slurred his words when asked: “Is . . . it . . . ooo-ver?”

“Yes, that part’s over, now you're in recovery,” Donnie loving reassured him in a soft tone of voice.

"Am I gonna . . . die now?" Leo asked again, since no one answered him the first time.

The uncomfortable silence was answer enough before the factually-minded Draxum honestly told him: "I don't know."

Leo whimpered a little and kept his eyes closed as he cuddled in Draxum’s arms, and someone - he didn’t know who - very gently cleaned up the blood on his face.

Then he didn’t know if he fell asleep or lost consciousness for a moment, but one second he was laying in Draxum’s arms, having someone gently wipe a warm, wet cloth over his bloody face, and the next he was laying on his back on a slight incline in one of Draxum’s hospital beds, with the electrodes for Donnie’s scanner still attached to his head, an oxygen tube hooked up to his nose, an IV bag on a pole attached to the needle in his arm, and an oxygen monitor clipped to his right index finger. And someone was in the process of attaching a heart monitor to his chest when he finally had the mental capacity to look up at Draxum and ask in a quiet mumble: "Why didn’t you tell me? I thought I’d get a headache, I never woulda gone out if I knew."

Barry took Leo’s hand, looked him in the eyes with his glossy from tears, and softly replied: "I didn’t know, Leonardo. How do you feel?” while mentally kicking himself for not taking more unknown variables into consideration before this happened.

“Mmmn, paaain,” Leo groaned in reply, and judging by the way he was wincing his eyes and tensing his face and body, he was in a considerable amount of pain.

Draxum injected a dose of mutagenic pain meds in Leo’s IV and he breathed a sigh of relief when the ill slider relaxed his face and body. Once they confirmed he was stable and informed him he wasn’t going to die on them right this minute, Casey sadly said: “I’ll go let Beebs know Leo’s not up to any pictures right now.”

Leo heard what Casey said, so as his human friend walked away he raised his hand up for Raph to take it and opened his eyes to look his big brother in the eyes, mumbling in a soft, pleading sort of voice:

“No, Raphie, please. I owe him a picture, he's done a lot for me, his pictures make me smile on my bad days.”

Raph’s worried gaze softened with love for his self-sacrificing brother, and he softly replied: “You’re in no shape for that right now, buddy. We’ll have him come back another time.”

Everyone worried when Leo’s heart monitor began beeping a little quicker, and the slider moaned out: “Mmmnnn, noooo Raph, I don’t know how much longer I got, please, I wanna do this for him before it’s too late.”

Raph gave a worried gaze to his brother Donnie, not sure what was the right thing to do, and really wishing the intelligent softshell looking back at him with an equally worried gaze - or the genius scientist yokai in the room - would speak up and remind Leo he still had a good, solid eight months left.

But after what just happened to him, nobody knew what was going to come next.

Raph looked back down at his weak, unwell brother; his brother who knew he didn’t have much time left and who gazed up at him with watery eyes and begged once more: "Please?”

Beebs and Akimitsu were sitting quietly in the large lobby of Draxum’s home when Casey came into the room, looking very tired.

The rabbit and panda respectfully stood when he arrived, and he said: “Hi, uh, Beebs is it?”

The anxious bunny just gave the one-word reply: “Yeah,” and Casey told him: “Leo’s not feeling well enough for visitors, you’ll have to come back another time.”

“Ok, tell him I said thank you for the opportunity and I’ll post my artwork on his page. And, uh, I hope he recovers from this.”

Casey gave Beebs a soft smile and said: “So do we.” Then, just as Akimitsu opened the door for Beebs to leave, Donnie rushed to the room, calling out: "Wait!”

Beebs turned around in surprise and Donnie huffed in apparent frustration and waved him to follow behind, saying: “Leo says he owes you a photo together. Some sentimental thing about your pictures making him smile on his bad days. He’s too stubborn to listen to logic so come on, and don’t take any pictures along the way.”

Casey hung back to update Akimitsu of Leo's condition when Donnie turned around and briskly walked down the hall to the med bay with Beebs following behind, gazing at the many happy family pictures adorning the walls that Mikey hung up, having to bunny hop ahead a few times to keep up with the taller turtle’s brisk pace.

When they got to the med bay door, Donnie turned around and sternly told him (in a somewhat annoyed tone): “Keep your voice down he’s got a headache, and only take pictures with Leo, none of the rest of us want to be in photos right now, and make it quick. You got the flash turned off on that thing?”

Beebs held up his camera for Donnie to see the display, but Dee snatched it out of his hands to tap at the touchscreen and confirm in the settings there was no possible chance a flash could go off.

“Alright, you’re good, follow me.”

Donnie handed the camera back and led Beebs into the med bay. There, in a bed straight across from the door was Leo, sitting up with the adjustable mattress frame on an incline, and numerous medical machines hooked up to him, smiling and waving and looking much paler than ever before, with bigger, darker black marks under his half closed eyes.

“Hey Beebs, I promised a photo with you, get over here, buddy.”

Leo was so utterly exhausted Beebs noticed that he talked slowly and slurred his words slightly. So the rabbit photographer/artist fidgeted with his camera and softly replied: “That’s really not necessary, I got plenty of photos of the house and…” “Aw c’mon, you gotta take a photo so I can see the touch-ups,” Leo happily replied in a voice that sounded as tired as he looked.

Leo’s smile and convincing argument won out in the end, so Beebs gave him a gentle smile in return and went over to get some pictures of both of them with his camera. When he was done, he showed them to the terminally ill slider, and when Leo picked his favorite one Beebs shared it with him via a private message on his Yappi Yokai page before being escorted out by Donnie.

As soon as he was gone, the worn-out, tired slider instantly fell asleep.

~A Short While Later~

A picture of a very unwell turtle smiling in a hospital bed and hooked up to various machines sitting alongside a white rabbit yokai was posted to Leo's YY page, with the sleepy slider adding the caption:

“Finally got a pic with my favorite artist @PaintingKeepsMeCrazy thanks for keeping your flash off. Broke my five day streak, critical but stable, gonna sleep now. Raph promised to post an update on his page, @SmashyBigGuy before he goes to bed.’

Leo tagged Beebs and Raph in his post before laying his phone in his lap, planning on scanning through the posts his fans put on his wall, but as soon as his head sank into the soft pillow he was out like a light once again.

Once he was asleep his loving rat dad gently took his phone out from under his hand to lay it nearby on one of the side tables, before pulling up Leo's blanket to tuck him in and kissing him on the forehead, like he used to do when he was a young turtle tot.

~Later That Evening~

Leo woke up in the dim light of the quiet med bay, but he swore he was still asleep and dreaming, because he saw Karai’s glowing green form smiling at him from the foot of his bed.

In a half daze, like a stupor, Leo smiled back at her, feeling too weak and tired to give much thought to what was happening beyond this being another dream. But when she disappeared, and Leo felt Mikey repositioning himself, sitting up on the mattress beside him to his left, watching videos on his phone with his headphones on so he didn't wake his sleeping brother, Leo's mind cleared enough for him to realize he was very much awake and had not been dreaming.

“Eugh boi, that can’t be good,” the ill slider muttered.

“What?” Mikey asked. He paused the video he was watching on his phone and pushed his headphones off his right ear to hear what Leo had to say.

Leo wanted to tell him who he just saw, but for some reason the words wouldn’t come out for him, as though they were firmly stuck inside his head - like what happened every other time he tried telling them about Karai visiting him in his dreams. So instead of trying to repeat himself he gave up the battle with his own mind, smiled at Mikey, and asked: “Did you sleep?”

Mikey took his headphones all the way off, laid them on the side table on his side of the bed, and replied: “Noo, and I don’t know how you can sleep with the bed half sitting up like that.”

“I’m so tired I could sleep on a rock,” Leo replied, still with a gentle smile.

Mikey didn’t reply to that, and although he kept his smile on his face it faltered slightly and there was a renewed surge of sadness that Leo saw in his eyes.

“How do you feel?” his little bro asked.

“About the same, minus the pain,” Leo replied, speaking slowly because of how totally exhausted he still felt.

Like the life was draining right out of him.

Then his droopy eyes scanned around the room and he asked: “Where’s everybody else?”

Mikey pointed to the recliner on his side of the bed, while saying: “Dad’s asleep right there.”

Leo craned his neck to see his sleeping mutant rat dad over Mikey’s frame, and wondered how he could have missed the sound of his snoring before now. But his tired brain pushed that thought to the back of his mind, along with the rest of the ambient noise in the med bay - like the gentle beeping of his heart monitor and the humming of some kind of medical contraption.

“Everyone else is in the lab with Draxum. Donnie found something they think is gonna put an end to your brain bleeds,” Mikey replied; but judging by the way he was looking down instead of making eye contact, there was more to this story that he wasn’t sharing.

Leo wanted to ask Mikey why he seemed sad about such good news, but he was so tired, it just seemed to him to be too much effort to formulate the words. And he honestly didn’t believe his slow mind could do a very good job of following along with the box turtle’s explanation, anyway.

But Leo didn’t have to ask, because at that moment Draxum came in the room with Raph, Donnie, April, and Casey, and they all went up to Leo’s bed with smiles and kind greetings for the morbidly ill slider. But their smiles didn’t reach their eyes, which radiated more sadness than usual, and Leo found out why when they all gave Draxum their attention when he addressed his dying son.

“How do you feel?” was the very first thing Draxum asked.

“Pretty much same as before, but no pain,” Leo slowly and drowsily replied.

Gosh, how he wanted to go back to sleep. But everyone was here, he didn’t know how long he had left to be with them, and on top of that they clearly came with some important (bad) news for him. And judging by the bowl of soup Raph laid on the side table to Leo’s right, he knew there was no chance any of them would let him catch a few z’s without first eating.

Even though the very thought of putting food into his mouth right now almost made the ill mutant turtle want to gag.

“Pretty much?” Draxum asked with one eyebrow raised. Then Donnie inquired in a concerned tone of voice: “You slept a long time Nardo, don’t you feel any better at all?”

Leo wished so very much he could ease his family’s worries by telling them he was a little better, but the truth of the matter was that even after getting sufficient rest, he felt a little more drained and tired than before.

But maybe that was because he needed nourishment even though he wasn’t hungry in the least at that moment.

Leo was spared having to answer with his words because a yawn broke out, so he covered his mouth, closed his tired eyes, and replied to Donnie’s question by shaking his head ‘no’; not bothering to worry them even more than they clearly already were by elaborating any further.

“Leonardo.”

Leo looked back up at Draxum when his yokai dad addressed him in such a firm, commanding (yet kind and somewhat sad) voice it demanded attention. But before continuing, the goat alchemist let out a sad sigh.

“Donatello and I have conclusively determined that in your current condition...” he paused and swallowed a lump, and the tension in the air was palatable.

And Draxum continued.

“The very next time you suffer from a brain bleed, no matter how minor, you will not survive.”

“Oh.”

'Maybe that’s why gram-gram visited me.’

“But there is hope. Let me know when you’re ready for me to continue.”

Leo stared blankly at the blue blanket covering his lap (that someone must have taken off his bed for him); and everyone gave him a moment to allow the gravity of the situation to sink into his tired mind.

A frighteningly morbid realization came to the slider’s mind when he thought: ‘I guess I will bleed out and die in pain. But at least I won't be alone, like I was in there.'

Mikey noticed when Leo grasped the blanket by closing his fists over it, and Leo was drawn out of his own tormented mind by a soft touch on his arm.

The ill slider looked at his little brother’s weak smile, and Mikey told him: “But Donnie found a mystic flower that’ll help! Barry checked me first, but my ninpo wasn’t compatible, that’s why I was the first one to come back.”

'Checked Mikey first? Compatible? What?'

Leo slowly blinked while staring blankly at Mikey, wondering at what point he must have drifted off because not everything his little bro said made sense to him; but he felt far too tired to bother asking for a repeat, and looked up at Draxum when he cleared his throat and filled in the missing pieces by opening a heavy, antique book with a thick, brown leather cover, and a transparent, 3D image of a big, red, tropical-looking flower (only glowing) hovered above the pages.

“This mystic flower grows on an otherwise plain looking tropical plant native to the Philippines, but it is very rare, can only be activated late at night by a compatible yokai’s mystic powers, once it blooms it will not flower again for a full year, and…”

Draxum realized he was giving too much information for Leo’s exhausted mind to follow when the sleepy slider’s eyes closed and he was having difficulty keeping his head up. But Leo opened his eyes and looked up at his twin brother when Donnie firmly said: "Leo," a little louder than Draxum had been talking, to get his attention, followed by a factual-sounding:

“Draxum confirmed Raph’s ninpo is compatible with the plant’s mystic energy, and I found one in New York, in the botanical conservatory.”

Between what Draxum, Mikey, and Donnie told him, Leo’s tired mind couldn’t quite put the pieces together, so he stared blankly at his blanket again, until Mikey excitedly told him: “Raph’s going there tonight!”

That got Leo’s attention and he gazed at Raphael, so tired he didn’t even realize yet tears were streaming down his face.

Leo’s big brother took his hand and the worry crease between his brows grew - as did his frown - at his sick brother’s pitiful face and pleas.

“You can’t go tonight,” Leo requested in a pleading sort of way, with his tired voice cracking a little from the tension he was holding in.

Raph’s eyes glossed over with his own tears but his face stayed dry (with considerable effort on his part) as Leo continued.

A sob escaped Leo’s mouth and his breath hitched when he forced back another one so he could talk.

“Stay here with me. Please Raphie, I don’t want you to go, not tonight.”

Raph felt like his heart was breaking into tiny pieces with the way Leo was sobbing and begging him to stay.

Leo let go of Raph’s hand to try - in vain - to wipe the away the tears with the palms of his hands; but the never-ending flow just wouldn’t stop; prompting his family to do their best to wrap him in a warm family embrace considering his position on the bed, and not wanting to disturb his IV line or any of the other medical devices attached to his body.

Leo wanted to hug them back, but he was so distraught that no matter how hard he tried to stop crying and wipe away his ‘pathetic tears’ (as Krang Prime used to call them) they kept flowing freely.

And the only thought in his mind was that he knew this would be his final night on earth even without having to suffer through another brain bleed; and how much he wanted to die wrapped up in his strong, protective, big brother’s arms, where he always felt the safest; knowing that this feeling of warmth and safety and security would dampen the sting of the fear that death brought with it.

But no matter how hard he tried to tell them that he knew - he just knew - he was going to die this very night (though not knowing exactly when) and that their gram-gram Karai had visited him not more than fifteen minutes ago, the words stayed stuck in his head and refused to enter his mouth or leave his tongue.

Despite the warm embrace and the reassuring words of his family (which included Splinter, who woke up at some point and joined in on the hug) Leo sobbed uncontrollably until he could cry no more, and gave up the battle with his tears to wrap his arms around his loving family, returning their group hug as he drifted off into a sleep so deep no one could rouse him to have even a few bites of food.

So Raph gently rested Leo's head on his pillow and Donnie pulled the blue blanket up over his body and Mikey hugged his arm from his position still on the mattress on Leo's left side, snuggling into him with tears running down his face now, while Splinter walked around the bed to stand on Leo’s right side to put his son’s pale green hand in his instead of sitting back in the recliner to continue his nap...

...because there was no way he was going to sleep after something like that.

Chapter 23: Not Falling Asleep

"Donnie, it’s Leo, get here now!"

Chapter Text

~Late That Night~

Raph sadly looked up from his spot sitting beside his sound asleep brother when he saw Draxum walk in the doorway, so he let go of his sleeping brother's hand and patted it while rising.

“C’mon Case, it’s time.”

Casey looked up from the idle game he was playing on his phone at Raph's bidding and got out of the recliner he was sharing with April to silently join the snapper by Draxum’s side.

Sitting crossed-legged on a purple beanbag chair on the floor beside Leo’s bed was Donnie, who was typing away at his wrist tech when Draxum looked at him and asked: “Are you prepared to disable the botanical conservatory’s security system?”

Without looking up from his work, Donnie factually replied: “For a building full of nothing but bug-infested plants, this place has better security than that bank I tapped into…” “Why’d you tap into a bank?” his overprotective big brother sternly interrupted, being careful not to raise his voice so he didn't wake his sleeping, ill brother.

Still without looking up, Donnie flatly replied: “I didn't steal anything, I was just bored.” Then he continued with what he told Draxum: “I’ll let you know when I’m in.”

Draxum didn’t reply, instead he turned around to leave, with Raph and Casey following behind. But before Raph left the med bay he gazed back at his terminally ill brother who was currently in stable but critical condition, with his heart tugging at him from guilt because Leo had pitifully begged him to stay tonight.

But he knew Leo only had days left to live at most if they didn’t put an end to the now deadly brain bleeds, so despite how hard it was for him to leave Raph turned around and followed behind Draxum, because he firmly understood beyond any shadow of a doubt this positively needed to be done, despite Leo's pitifully heartwrenching objections.

Raph hoped his sleeping brother - who was but a shadow of his former self - would stay asleep until he returned so he wouldn’t realized his big brother wasn’t there by his side, like he desperately wanted.

And he also hoped beyond hope that he would return before it was too late; before Leo had another one of his random but regular brain bleeds, or that his stable but critical condition wouldn’t change for the worse while he was out, so that he wasn’t away from his terminally ill sibling, unable to hold him in his arms, comforting him, while he took his final breath.

Raph couldn’t bear the thought of not being here for his little brother at the time in his life he would need him the most.

The walk down the hallway was completely quiet, save for the sound of footsteps - the padding of Raph’s ninja-wrapped bare feet, the gentle tapping of Casey’s sneakers, and the louder clipping of Draxum’s goat-like hooves. When they got to the lab, Draxum led them to a work table that contained nothing but a map of the botanical conservatory that Donnie found online and printed, alongside a much larger one of New York.

The three of them stood at the table so Draxum could go over the plan with them one final time before sending them through his portal to retrieve the delicate mystic flower he needed to add to a medicinal mutagenic base. One that he had to finish making while they were away, to get the timing just right.

Once everything was completed it would eliminate the painful bleeds in Leo’s brain, thus potentially prolonging his short life by up to eight months.

Eight more months they all knew he wanted to spend with his family, cherishing every moment he had with them, despite how severely unwell he was.

They were doing the right thing by getting this flower.

It was only one night and then Leo would have eight more months with them, and they would have eight more months with him.

Raph and Casey gave Draxum their undivided attention when he pointed down to the map and instructed: “My portal will bring you here, this is as close as I can get you to guarantee the mystic energy signals will not interfere with the mystical properties of the Mamula Bulakal Pula tree. The two of you will proceed to this entrance, it is the closest to the tropical room, but Raphael, you will stop here and wait for Casey’s signal.”

Draxum paused a moment to make eye contact with the snapper, and when Raph gave him a firm nod, he looked down at the map and addressed Casey next.

“Your job is to locate the tree within the premises and alert Raphael when you have done so. Once he comes within ten feet of it a glowing pink bud will appear somewhere on the trunk. Locate it quickly, the moment it buds, time is of the essence. Raphael will have exactly three minutes to cup his hands around it and allow his mystic powers to flow.”

Draxum switched back to addressing Raphael when he said: “The bud will absorb your mystic energy in the air around it, prompting it to grow and bloom. Once that process is complete, the flower will change from pink to deep red. At that point you or Casey, it doesn’t matter who, will pluck it off at the base and exit the conservatory over here.”

Draxum pointed to the wall on the back of the tropical room, furthest away from the portal he was soon to send them through, and told them: “You’ll have to make your own exit, but it won’t be difficult because the tropical room is basically a giant greenhouse. The walls are mostly made of glass windows.” He paused a moment when Raph punched a fist into his hand and firmly replied: “Smashing's never hard for Raph,” and then Draxum continued.

“Once you're out of the building, leave by this way, and make certain you do not come withing a twenty five foot radius of the portal you came out of,” he traced a circle on the map with his finger, “to avoid the residual mystic signals which will destroy the delicate flower.”

Draxum looked Raphael in the eyes to seriously remind him: “With the exception of yours, if the flower comes within the proximity of any yokai’s mystic signals - that includes your mutant brothers - it will immediately wither and decay into nothing, taking away our only opportunity, as Donatello confirmed this is the only Mamula Bulakal Pula tree in the entire country. Fortunately for us, the artificial mystic energy present in the air around the Hidden City used to power the entrance and exit portals have no effect on it. Do you understand everything so far?”

“Yes,” Raph and Casey both responded, each with a firm nod of their heads and with a determined look on their faces.

“Good,” Draxum replied, and he pointed down to the map again to continue. “Take the flower through a portal located here in this alley about five blocks away, it will lead you to my basement dungeon…”

“Why do you have a New York portal leading to your dungeon?” Raph interrupted with a scowl

“Why do you have a dungeon!?” ‘future-boy,’ Casey exclaimed, not knowing anything about Draxum’s background besides the fact Commander Draxum in his future timeline was a skilled warrior and a brilliant alchemist.

Draxum merely stared at them with one eyebrow raised, and the look on his face said it all:

‘You’re wasting time.’

So they got back on task (but Raph made a mental note to drill the scientist yokai later about the New York portal leading straight to his dungeon to make sure it was not something he was still actively using).

“April will be waiting for you outside the basement door to deactivate the automatic defense protocol when you're both portalled into a dungeon cell, and then you'll bring the flower to the med bay where I will be waiting, with the completed medical mutagen. Be certain to keep me updated as to your progress from beginning to end, the timing of the ingredients I will be adding to the mutagen must coincide with the mystic bud’s growth into a flower. As soon as you arrive, Donatello will be ready to inject a mutagenic formula of my creation that will wake up Leonardo if other methods to rouse him are unsuccessful. Once the flower dissolves in the mutagenic solution, Leonardo will have exactly one minute to drink the entire contents before the mystic properties of the flower are nullified. After you leave here, I will activate my home sprinklers to spray my mystic chemical rinse in every room that will remove all traces of mystic energy. Everyone is already well aware to refrain from use of mystic powers until after the medicine has been fully consumed by Leonardo.”

“Sounds tricky,” Casey commented with a frown, thinking that even one hint of a yokai’s mystic powers coming within range of the flower would destroy everything. But when Raph put a hand on his shoulder, he looked up at the determined-looking face smiling down on him, and in a firm, confident tone of voice that got Casey smiling again, Raphael said: “We can do this, cuz we still have hope right Case?”

Casey's eyes sparkled and he enthusiastically replied: "Yeah, a ninja's greatest weapon, you got that right!”

That was when they gave their attention to Donnie, because he ran in the room, telling them in a slightly panicky tone:

“I took out the cameras but I can’t access the alarm system from my wrist tech. I need the programs in my lab computer if you don’t want to draw the attention of the two guards patrolling the grounds.”

"We have less than twenty five minutes left to retrieve the flower and bring it back before the window in which it buds tonight passes," Draxum remarked.

“An alarm’ll draw them right to us,” Casey said, “Any delay getting the flower could cost us our mission!”

“Fighting off guards'll definitely count as a delay,” Raph commented.

Without another word, Draxum looked at Donnie while opening a portal to his sewer lab, and when he gestured to it the intelligent softshell sighed at the thought of being so far away from the critically ill Leo, up in New York.

The only Hidden City portals leading anywhere near Draxum’s home were far enough away it would take him longer to get back that way than waiting at home until after Leo drank the medicine. So his shoulders sadly slumped when he stepped toward the portal, with the last thing he said before walking through being: “Go ahead, It'll take me less than two minutes. I’ll call you on the coms when the alarms are disabled.”

As soon as he was gone, Draxum shut that portal to open another one, and Raph said: “I guess it’s our turn."

Staring straight ahead with determination as he stepped through the portal, Leo's older brother came out the other side with Casey close behind, there to await Donnie’s signal.

~A Few Minutes Later~

Leo woke up and opened his eyes partway but didn’t in any other way move, so no one knew he was awake yet. He was laying on his back in the hospital bed in the dimly lit room, but his malfunction, dying brain had him in a state of confusion, so that he didn’t know where he was. He also didn’t know who the turtle was by his side when he looked down at Mikey laying on the mattress to his left, who cried himself to sleep not more than two minute prior, so he scanned his eyes around the room, searching for his family, and not in any way comprehending that his little brother was laying right by his side.

Meanwhile, Splinter was sitting in the recliner to the left of Leo’s bed, beside where Mikey was laying, quietly reading a Hamato scroll about the mystic realm that he planned on sharing with his terminally ill son.

Leo blinked a few times while trying to clear his dazed and confused mind - with no luck. The only things he did know with any certainty were that he wanted his big brother more than anything right now...

because he also knew he awoke for the one and only reason that he was dying.

He could clearly sense it within himself that his mystic lifeforce was draining from his body at this very moment.

Splinter’s ear flicked when he heard the mattress creak, and he looked up to see Leonardo pushing himself up on his elbows so he could look around the room, having absolutely no idea the slider was in a very poor state of mind at the moment…

...or what else was currently happening to his son.

“It’s good to see you awake, my son, how do you feel?” came a soft voice to Leo’s left.

But instead of looking at the person he didn’t know was his dad, he looked down at the slumbering turtle beside him when Mikey rolled over in his sleep.

After that, instead of looking at Splinter or answering his question, Leo raised his eyes to resume gazing around the room, asking in a soft, quiet voice: “Where’s Raph?”

Although Leo’s fear was mounting over the prospect of dying here and now, he didn’t have anywhere near the mental or physical energy to panic from his current circumstances, which - to his malfunctioning mind - amounted to three things:

1. He didn’t know the two people in the room, which basically meant he was all alone, separated from his family.

2. He was dying this very moment and didn’t have more than a few minutes (maybe twenty, tops) left, and;

3. He desperately needed to find Raph so his fear of dying all alone would be curbed and he could take his last breath in the comforting, warm embrace of his big brother's strong arms.

“Raphael will be here shortly,” the soft voice replied.

‘Shortly?’

Shortly was no good, he needed Raph and he needed him now!

He needed his strong, dependable, always-there-for-him big brother right this second, and the fear he felt inside was quickly mounting.

'No, no, I can't die here, not alone! Raph where are you!? Please, anybody, I don't wanna die all alone!'

Leo's words never reached his lips because of the state of mental confusion he was in, and he just didn't know what to do.

But that was when his eyes settled on two very familiar objects.

His katanas.

When the camera flash triggered the brain hemorrhage, Leo’s katanas were strapped to the sheaths on his back, and at some point someone put them on a table just out of arm’s reach.

If only he could get on his feet, he would be close enough to reach ahead and grab them without needing to take more than a single step away from his bed.

From there he knew he could rely on his powerful ninpo to instinctively take him to wherever his big brother was, with nothing more than a thought and a feeling.

But first he had to get to them before he was stopped, because he knew if the person talking to him didn’t want him to get out of bed he was in absolutely no condition to fight them off; and if he exerted himself trying, that would most likely exponentially drain the last remaining scraps of energy he had left, killing him before he could even reach his katanas, let alone use them.

Leo turned his head to look straight at the unrecognizable (to him) rat ‘yokai’ with very tired eyes, and said: “I’m thirsty,” figuring if the stranger didn’t want him getting out of bed he would walk away to retrieve something for him to drink; and if he didn’t care about Leo getting out of bed he would be told to get it himself, so he could safely use that as an opportunity to grab one of his swords and portal away as soon possible.

After all, time was ticking.

. . .

tic tock, tic tock.

Leo’s arms and head were feeling heavier, weighed down as his energy and his mystic powers slowly drained with his lifeforce.

His plan had to work.

It did work.

“What would you like, my son?”

Leo stared at the water bottles on a counter all the way on the other side of the med bay, to his left.

"Uhhh. Wa..." (what was it called again? Oh, right) "Water?” came the mumbled, tired reply.

As soon as the mystery person stood up and turned his back to him to walk away, Leo stealthily pushed the blue blanket off his body - being super careful not to disturb the sleeping someone laying on the mattress next to him - and very slowly and gingerly lowered one foot to the floor.

Tic, tic, tic.

As soon as his second foot touched the floor, Leo realized he didn’t have the strength to stand under his own power.

tic

tock

tic

tock

So, with both hands, he grasped the side table that was full of medicine for somebody.

(Probably him, he was dying, after all)

tic, tic, tic, tic.

And he leaned his weight over it to hold himself up as he stood on his two feet…

tic…

"Leonardo!"

A commanding, urgent, worried voice from the doorway prompted Splinter to spin around, holding the water bottle he just picked up, and Mikey to jolt awake.

Draxum was standing in the open doorway, medical mutagen in hand that he just finished preparing, staring in shock at his terminally ill mutant turtle son; not because Leo was standing, but because the mystically gifted goat scientist had access to an extra sensory yokai power. One he was actively using to confirm his mystic chemical rinse did its job to remove all residual mystic energy in his home before the all-important flower was brought there.

One that allowed him to see something no one else could see with the naked eye.

Invisible mystic energy signals.

And right now Draxum clearly saw blue energy wafting off Leo’s body like pollen in the air; which could only mean one thing.

Leonardo was actively dying this very moment.

His mystical lifeforce was draining from his physical body. There was nothing that could be done for him now.

It was already too late.

Everything that happened next from start to finish only took two seconds.

There was the crashing sound of glass hitting the floor when Draxum dropped the beaker full of his medicinal mutagen and it smashed into tiny shards, splattering the now useless liquid contents.

Draxum and Splinter ran at Leonardo, the same time Mikey reached out for him. But despite his grave condition, Leo was closer to his swords than they were to him, so he did something completely and utterly unexpected.

Stretching his arm out, he took one step away from the bed, grabbed the hilt of his katana before he could fall…

...and all Mikey could do was call out his name and graze his fingers on the back of his brother's shell, before he had stepped out of reach and was gone in a flash of blue ninpo light.

Raph and Casey had just informed Draxum they reached the Hidden City portal that would take them to the goat warrior's dungeon, but just before they jumped off a rooftop into the alley below Casey spun around because Raph abruptly stopped dead in his tracks.

They both looked down in shocked horror at the rapidly wilting red glowing mystic flower in the snapper’s big hands.

Raph was so shocked at the sight of their only hope dying in his hands he didn’t noticed the familiar tingle in the air like static electric that he always felt before one of Leo’s portals opened nearby. He also couldn’t form a single coherent thought in his stunned mind as he helplessly watched the flower shrivel into nothingness in his hand from the mystic energy signals of Leonardo’s ninpo portal.

Before Raph could move or even think, there was a flash of blue lighting up the darkness behind his back, and he spun around to see Leo all the way on the other side of the roof of the large building, looking at him while loosely gripping a katana in his hand, standing hunched over with his shoulders slumped and his arms hanging down limply, as though the weight of his own arms and shell was too much for him to bear; looking about ready to collapse.

“Raph,” the dying turtle let out as an exhale, with his warm breath condensing in the cold night air in front of his face.

“Leo!” Raph cried out.

He and Casey wasted no time rushing to the ailing slider’s aid, but the snapper quickly took the lead with the use of his giant mystic form, as Leo’s sword slipped from his fingers and clattered to the roof at his feet, before his knees buckled, his legs gave out on him, and he fell.

Only his body didn’t make contact with the roof like his sword had because he landed in the surprisingly soft palm of Raph’s giant mystic hand, laying face-down, limp and motionless with his eyes closed, almost appearing to be dead already.

By the time Casey got to their side, Raph had already dematerialized his forcefield ninpo form and was sitting on the roof, cradling Leo’s limp, dying body in his arms like a baby.

“Draxum! Leo’s here, open a portal now!” came the urgent, desperately pleading voice of Raphael as he cried out into his com.

He held Leo close to his chest and buried his face in his little brother's body, crying and quietly whimpering:

“It’s ok, Raph’s here Leo, I gotcha, you’re gonna be ok, just hang in there,” while Draxum yelled:

“Where exactly are you!?” because he wasn’t able to open his portals based on a feeling, like Leo could, instead the scientifically-minded yokai needed an exact location.

“We’re on the art gallery roof!” Casey instantly yelled in a panic into his communicator.

Immediately a magenta portal opened up in the middle of the roof and Casey stepped aside so Raph could jump up and rush through with his dying brother in his arms.

Meanwhile, Leo was the only one of all of them who felt a tremendous sense of peace and a degree of relief over his vital accomplishment.

He did it.

He reached his big bro Raphael and now he wasn’t going to die all alone. Instead he would die in his big brother’s arms, like he wanted from the beginning when he first found out about his terminal illness.

There was no more reason for him to be afraid.

Leo didn’t know what happened next, beyond one second feeling a cold breeze on his skin and the next being in a warm room full of loud, panicking voices, with Raph’s thrown in the mix, crying out into his com:

“Donnie, it’s Leo get here now!"

The rapidly deteriorating slider didn’t understand how everyone could be in such a panic when he felt such an astounding degree of peace and tranquility.

~A Few Minutes Earlier~

Just below the streets of New York, after successfully deactivating the botanical gardens security system Donnie had been taking advantage of the brief, quiet moment he was in his lab to continue his fervent research on neural connectivity in an attempt at trying to keep his twin brother alive, but at the moment he was taking a break from that.

Absent-mindedly his feet took him on a journey through the dark lair, heading for the scroll shelf in Splinter's bedroom, to gaze at the key.

Leo wasn't really going to die, he wasn't going to be stolen from them, he needed verification that all of this was a bad dream.

He was going to go in his Pop's bedroom and see that the key wasn't there - there was no key, it was all a fabrication of his genius imagination, a product of the unquantifiable stress that had been weighing him down day in and day out ever since hearing his twinsie's diagnosis.

Draxum was wrong, they were all wrong.

Donnie was going to fix this!

Not bothering to turn on any lights along his way, Donatello shuffled slowly down the familiar hallway toward the living room, where Splinter's bedroom was located; walking in an almost zombified state from a combination of too much stress for too long and too little sleep.

But when he stepped in through the living room entrance, he noticed a light shining from somewhere inside Splinter's bedroom through the crack in the partway open door.

It was coming from the scroll shelf.

In the same location as where the key was located.

A combination of adrenalin and his suddenly fast-pumping heart blasted Leo's twin wide awake and he practically flew into his dad's bedroom with the speed his feet were taking him.

There, on the shelf directly behind where the green oxidized Hamato key was laying, was a scroll.

Not just any scroll, this scroll was a pure white glowing scroll that wasn't fully formed yet. It was mystically being created in front of Donatello's eyes, like wax melting off a candle only in reverse.

He stared at it in disbelief, his eyes widening more every second.

It was at that very moment the stunned turtle nearly jumped out of his shell because his way-too-loud warning alarm sounded on his wrist tech, alerting him to dangerously abnormal readings of the tech scanner sticker attached to the back of Leo’s head, warning him in no uncertain terms that Leo was having some sort of emergency and required medical assistance this very second.

Leo, the terminally ill mutant turtle who could die any day and was laying in a hospital bed in critical condition, was definitely having a life-threatening emergency; and Donnie was stuck here, in their New York sewer lair, with no way to quickly reach his gravely ill brother at his current position deep underground in the Hidden City because there weren't any portals leading anywhere near Draxum’s house nearby!

Dee quickly shut off his blaring alarm, and without once taking his unblinking eyes off the mystical scroll slowly but surely forming in front of his face, he opened his mouth to yell into his com, demanding answers from anyone who heard him...

...but instead he abruptly shut his mouth and listened when he heard the unmistakable sound of fear and desperation coming from his big brother's voice through his com's speaker:

“Draxum, Leo’s here, open a portal now!”

Time in this moment seemed to slow down, everything taking on a surreal atmosphere all around him.

'Wait, Leo's where!?

Why does Draxum need to open a portal to get him!?

Draxum can’t open a portal now, the mystic flower will die! This is our only chance to save him before it's too late!

It's not to late, I can fix this, I can fix...'

Were all thoughts Donnie couldn’t get out of his mouth because of his state of absolute panic.

Instead he stood frozen in his dad's room, listening to his communicator and staring blankly at the mystic scroll forming before his eyes.

That was when the shock subsided enough to allow in a torrential flood of emotions surrounding the sudden, painfully sharp realization that hit him like an arrow piercing through his heart.

There was only one possible emergency more dire than needing the flower they had no other way to obtain; the flower that was the only way to keep Leo alive for more than a few days before he inevitably suffered and died from his next brain bleed.

There was only one reason why his eyes were telling his brain that a glowing mystical Hamato scroll was forming on the shelf directly behind the copper key, Leo's key.

“Leo’s dying.”

Donnie heard his own voice but his mind was so disconnected from his body it sounded foreign and he didn’t know where it came from.

Then his absolute worst fear was validated when Raph’s panicking, urgent, heart-wrenching voice yelled at him from his wrist.

“Donnie, it’s Leo, get here now!”

Without a second’s hesitation, Donnie yelled to Draxum through his com:

”I’m in Splinter's room!”

Immediately a magenta portal opened up in the room and he ran through, hoping beyond measure that he wasn’t already too late.

There had to still be a way to fix this! He could fix this he could fix this hecouldfixthisfixitfixitfixit

Fix. It.

FIX IT!!!

Leo took slow, relaxed breaths through his nose as he lay warm and cozy in his big brother’s comforting arms, with his eyes closed and feeling more like he was falling asleep in a turtle pile on the floor than dying right now.

If only the rest of his family was here with him.

The perishing slider could hear the loud voices of people panicking all around, and although they seemed familiar he didn’t have a full grasp on reality yet and assumed some kind of movie was playing in the background.

Perhaps Raph was sitting cross-legged on the living room floor of their sewer home, watching a medical drama Donnie roped them into putting on, waiting for Donnie and Mikey and, um . . . Casey? Yeah. And Casey to return with snacks.

Oh no, right, he wasn’t falling asleep from a boring late night show, he was dying. Leo could feel it, sensing it just as surely as he felt his ninpo.

His ninpo that was slowly draining with his mystic lifeforce.

“Draxum, why are you just standing there!? Do something!” came a panicking feminine voice Leo vaguely remembered, yelling loudly to be heard above the jumble of other panic-stricken voices, one of which Leo’s fading mind almost recognized as his twin brother, Donnie, who was yelling: “Hang in there, Leo! I can fix this! I promise I'm going to fix this for you!” while he flicked on machines and got the IV line ready.

Meanwhile Raph kept rocking his body, coddling his dying brother in his arms, mumbling to himself something incomprehensible, along the lines of:

‘This is Raph’s fault. Leo begged Raph not to leave, he used his portals cuz Raph wouldn’t stay. That’s why this happened, Raph should’ve stayed.’

But he stopped his quiet muttering and the room fell quiet at the loud, authoritative sound of Draxum’s voice when he told them:

“There’s nothing that can be done to save him. Leonardo’s mystic lifeforce is draining from his body, I can see it with my yokai powers.”

Everyone froze, Donnie bent over Leo, with the IV needle in his hand, ready to inject it into his twin’s arm, but instead stared at Draxum along with everyone else.

Raph stopped rocking his body, joining his family in staring blankly at the goat alchemist.

His whole body went numb.

The first one to find his voice was the post-apocalyptic future boy and, like Donnie's voice, Leo was beginning to recognize who was speaking when he exclaimed:

“You can see it!?”

“Why didn’t you tell us this before, yokai!?”

"Dad?" Leo mumbled so quietly no one heard the sound he made, after clearly recognizing his mutant rat dad’s voice.

It sounded angry but also heartbroken at the same time.

‘Why’s Pops so sad?’ he wondered, because his gradually fading mind disconnected the information ‘Pops is sad’ and ‘I’m dying’ from each other as though the two phrases had no connection - no common ground that could link the one to the other.

Leo wanted to reach out and comfort his dad with a hug the way Raph was comforting him by hugging him close in his arms, but he was too weak and didn’t know if he have the energy to try.

And he was so tired.

Falling asleep was nice.

No, wrong again. Not falling asleep; dying.

Why were the two so similar?

Leo didn’t give any thought to that as numerous panicked questions were thrown at Draxum in quick succession. But the warrior alchemist who had seen his fair share of tragedies over the years skipped over the nonessential-in-the-moment ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions when he once again caught everyone’s attention by sitting down beside Leonardo, holding his son's hand, and looking into Raphael’s teary eyes when he firmly but sadly informed them:

“Yes, I can see it, and no, Raphael, this is in no way your fault. I saw Leonardo’s lifeforce draining from his body before he abruptly portalled away. I suspect he used his ninpo to search you out for comfort in his final moments, because he can sense within himself his lifeforce is draining.”

Draxum gazed around to look at all the faces staring at him, continuing in his sad tone of voice but speaking slightly firmer and authoritative this time.

“Leonardo is dying now. He only has minutes remaining and no amount of medicine, technology, mystic powers, or combination thereof is able to slow down, stop, or reverse this process. You can spend the remaining minutes of Leonardo's life panicking and arguing if you choose, but I will have no part in it.”

Draxum closed his mouth and turned his head to gaze down at his dying son, and the room fell silent once more.

. . .

Leo sensed there were more people surrounding him and Raph. People who were sitting on the floor as close to him as they could get, to be there for him, offering comfort in his final moments.

All except for Donnie, who always felt compelled to fix everything, most of all this, and was in a state of shocked disbelief.

While holding the IV needle in his right hand and staring at Leo’s sickly, pale face, he muttered: “I don’t believe you.”

But the fact that he was simply looking at his dying twin who he loved so much, instead of inserting the IV needle to try and preserve Leo’s life a little longer showed that deep down he knew Draxum’s words were true - that what he saw on the family scroll shelf wasn't an illusion or a figment of his anxious, sleep-deprived mind. But he didn’t want to believe it.

“If you require proof, lower your goggles and you will see for yourself,” Draxum dryly told Leo's twin.

Donnie felt so numb he didn’t even realize he was raising his free left hand up to his head, until the goggles slipped down over his eyes.

The goggles that let him see mystic energy signatures.

. . .

Donatello’s heart sank at the sight.

Wafting off Leo’s entire body, spreading out and wrapping around his family like some sort of invisible mystic hug, was what looked looked a bright blue mist of light.

Leo’s mystic lifeforce.

And Donnie knew without being told that he was observing his twin brother, Leo’s life draining out as though he had some sort of leak in his body.

For a split second, Donnie seriously considered trying to find some sort of mystical leak he could plug up.

Only it couldn’t be stopped, not by anyone or anything.

"Draxum’s right, I can see it,” came a flat, monotonous voice that was Leo’s one and only twinsie.

The sight made Donnie so sick to his stomach he wanted to gag, so he raised his goggles; even taking them off his head and absently laying them on a nearby medical device as he walked over to Raph to take a seat, squeezed in between Mikey and April, who each looked up at him before they all returned their attention to the slider laying in Raph’s arms, who looked more like he was peacefully falling asleep than dying right now.

Leo felt the warmth of a family group hug holding him close and quietly listened to the soft, reassuring voices of the people he knew now were his loving family members, sitting around him, holding him in a warm embrace.

Just like how he wanted his final moments to pass.

“It’s going to be ok, Leonardo, do not fear,” Splinter softly told his son in a heart-broken voice.

“Yeah, you’ll be alright. gram-gram will take care of you,” Mikey said reassuringly to his twin, between sobs.

“You’ll be the first one to give her a hug, I’m so jelly right now,” Donnie quipped. The humor overshadowed by the deep sorrow, but he managed to curve the corners of his mouth upward slightly when he saw Leo gently smiled at his joke.

April sniffled and wiped some tears off her face while saying: “I’m going to miss you, Leo.”

“We will all miss you, Leonardo. My son,” Draxum quietly agreed, before uttering three words that almost never came out of his mouth.

"I love you, Leonardo."

Leo squeezed his goat dad’s hand in reply, but when he heard the sound of his strong, dependable, big brother sniffling and weeping, his weak little smile fell and he forced his heavy eyelids open halfway to gaze up at Raphael’s face.

Then he slowly raised his heavy arm up, to wipe a tear off his big brother's cheek.

“Raph, you’re crying,” came a very softy, tender voice full of empathy from the dying turtle in his big brother's arms.

Raphael looked down on Leo’s face and sniffled before replying with an equally soft, sad voice: “Yeah. Raph’s crying.”

Leo lowered his hand (feeling that he didn’t have the strength to hold it up any longer), gave his big brother his signature ‘faceman’ crooked grin and told him in a whisper of a voice: “I’ll be ok Raphie, gram-gram was here today. I saw her.”

Leo maintained his smile when he felt his rat dad’s rough paw-like hand join Draxum’s in his. But he didn’t take his eyes off his big brother as Splinter’s heart-wrenchingly sad voice softly sounded in his ear.

“Karai was here?”

Followed by Mikey’s sad, pleading inquiry: “Why didn’t you tell us, Leo?”

Leo glanced at Mikey’s sad face before turning his head slightly in the crook of Raph’s arm, to look at everyone one at a time, with an appreciative smile for each and every one of them. And his heart filled with warmth and love for the family who were all here with him, comforting and loving him in his last moments before he took his final breath.

Then his eyes glossed over from a mixture of sadness at the thought of being separated from them, thinking over how they touched his life throughout the years in various different ways; seeing his life playing in his mind’s eye, because he had almost reached the end.

Leo felt too weak to continue gazing at the loving faces of his family, so he let his eyelids close on him and exerted his last remaining wisps of energy to quietly tell Mikey (and by extension, all of them): “I tried but I couuu...ldn’t. She vvvisited me . . . in  . . . my dreams.”

His voice was such a hushed whisper by the end they could barely make out the words. Then Leonardo took three more relaxed, slow breaths through his nose before spending the last reserves of his energy to tell everyone:

“I love you.”

The perishing turtle felt the warmth and love of his family when they pulled him in again for his very last family group hug; one that even included his goat yokai dad, Draxum. The action making his heart overflowed with love and appreciation in combination with the peace he was already feeling at the sound of his family members each reaffirming their love for him.

It was at that moment Draxum blinded his eyes to the sight of Leo’s glowing blue mystic lifeforce because he couldn’t bear to witness the moment the last of it drained out of his son’s pale, limp body.

And that was the moment the honorable Leonardo Hamato died at peace, surrounded by his loving family, in the middle of their warm, comforting embrace, presumably to join with his ancestors in the mystic realm.

And his grieving loved one cried over his dead body for a very long time.

~Just Over Two and a Half Hours Post Mortem~

The door to Draxum’s house slowly swung open and the tall, dignified, red panda yokai spokesman for the Hamato family walked out to take his place at the podium.

Even though it was very early in the morning, a large crowd of yokai that mostly included loyal, devoted fans, with reporters, camera-yokai, journalist, and photographers, were gathered outside the locked fence gate; some of whom rearranged their busy schedules to camp out in front of Draxum's house until they got news of their ailing hero's condition - for better or worse - after his brief Yappi Yokai post informing them his five day streak was broken and he was ‘critical but stable’, shortly followed by Raph’s longer update giving more detailed information regarding Leo’s condition (at the slider’s request). His post also brought attention to the fact that the whole thing was triggered by the flash from a photographer, doing so in his best ‘one of the yokai world’s most respected and well known heroes’ way he could. But it was very difficult, considering how incredibly furious he was and how much he wanted to find this guy and smash his face in mystic ninja style.

The scariest thing of all for Leonardo’s devoted fans were the hours of radio silence on the part of the entire Hamato household after those two tragic updates.

The clatter of voices quieted as soon as the door opened. News cameras were rolling, yokai were taking pictures and videos with their professional cameras and cell phones, and many of Leo’s online Yappi Yokai friends were there - including Tilly and Beebs, who hadn’t met in person until this day and stuck together, feeling the special moments they each shared with their fearless hero somehow connected them.

Silently and slowly, Akimitsu unrolled a parchment he was holding and held it up with both hands, being sure to strategically use it to block the sorrow and anguish on his face that he knew he would no longer be able to hide from the snoopy reporters and professional camera-yokai once he began talking.

Then, when he was good and ready to honor Leonardo's memory by speaking without tearing up, he clearly, calmly, and authoritatively read the words he helped the normally articulate but grief-stricken Draxum to write.

In Draxum's typical bluntly honest fashion, the letter started with the hard-hitting words:

“It is with deep sorrow the Draxum-Hamato family wishes to announce the passing of the honorable Leonardo Hamato.”

He paused to give the large crowd a moment to gasp in shock and discuss the tragic news among themselves. Then when the clatter died down again he continued.

“At 1:46 this morning, Leonardo peacefully fell asleep in death in the arms of his eldest brother, Raphael, surrounded by the family he loved. Please take a two minute moment of silence in honor of the two minutes our noble hero spent within the prison dimension to rid the earth of the alien threat. A sacrifice he willingly made for all of us, knowing from the beginning his choice could result in his untimely death. A sacrifice that ultimately cost him his life in exchange for all of ours.”

Akimitsu lowered the paper and bowed his head, along with the rest of the yokai in attendance.

The area was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

Exactly at the two minute mark, Akimitsu broke the silence by telling the yokai gathered: “A public memorial will be planned at a date and time to be announced, followed by a private service for family and invited guests, only. Please respect the family’s request for privacy at this time of deep sorrow. In addition to the upcoming memorial announcement, a letter outlining the address where you may mail sympathy cards will be posted on the communication board on the gate outside the Draxum residence shortly. Thank you.”

Akimitsu walked up to the gate and passed out a copy of the letter he just read for the police guarding this area to post on a communication board attached to the outside of the fence.

The reporters respectfully allowed him time to hand over the letter, but the instant he turned around to walk away, dozens of questions were fired at him all at once - all of which he ignored - accompanied by a noisy ruckus of weeping and wailing from some grief-stricken fans, as well as the much louder shouts of other fans who turned their grief into anger directed at the cruel, heartless actions of one particular photographer, who was outed in numerous replies to Raphael’s update post.

But despite the loud roar of the crowd gathered outside Draxum’s gated fence, the inside of his house was eerily quiet as the mourning family did their best to comfort one another in the living room, with lots and lots of hugs, and even more shed tears.

Ch 24: Coconut Lime Body Mist

'Did you read Leo's letter?'

'No, he insisted I wait.'

'Don't make me sic Dr. Feelings on you!'

. . .

'You are the most troublesome human I ever had the displeasure of meeting.'

Chapter Text

~Just Under a Year After Leonardo's Death~

April was sitting on her couch in her above ground New York apartment, wanting to be alone on this particularly difficult day for her, as she looked through the pictures and videos on her phone she took with Leo exactly one year ago to the day - on their annual (and very last) ‘Carnival Hurl’ day.

Right at that moment she was watching the video she took of Leo vomiting into a trash container at the amusement park while past her proudly bragged of her triumph.

She smiled and let out a sad little laugh when she watched Leo take his head out of the garbage container long enough to smile at the camera and playfully rebuke her comment about being 'the most gorgeous', with the playful words:

“I’m still the most gorgeous.”

But April’s smile fell when she noticed something in the video now that she hadn't at the time - Leo's stylish red face stripes didn't pop like they usually did.

So she stopped the video and clicked off her phone screen, not wanting to watch anymore because of the depressing thought filling her mind that Leo only lost their annual hurl day competition last year because he was already gravely sick but hadn’t told her yet so they could enjoy one last special, fun, happy day together.

A day Leo used to the fullest before the proverbial hammer dropped.

Tears began falling down April’s face, but she was quick to wipe them away and then stood up when someone unexpectedly buzzed her apartment.

On the way over to the buzzer she grumbled under her breath: “I told those guys I wanna be alone today, and why did those dummies go to the front door in broad daylight? They know they oughta come through the balcony.”

April pressed the button on her buzzer and said in as cheerful of a voice as she could muster, but with that stern 'don't mess with me' April O'Neil tone that told them to back off:

“I meant it when I told you guys I’m fine today and I wanna be alone, alright?”

But she was only trying to sound cheerful so her mutant brothers wouldn’t discover she was spending all day moping around, depressed, and doing nothing at all but looking over old pictures and video of Leo while crying on and off; because she knew if they found out there would be no way to get rid of them.

But when she released the button to hear her mutant turtle brothers reply, she was surprised to hear a stranger’s voice tell her: “Pizza delivery.”

April screwed up her nose and exclaimed in a high-pitched tone: “Pizza!?”

“You got the wrong apartment, I didn’t order delivery,” she told the pizza guy through the com. Then she turned around to resume her depressing day hiding away in her apartment, but abruptly looked at the speaker on her buzzer again when the delivery boy asked: “Are you April O’Neil?”

Confusion framed her face as April pressed the button to reply: “Yeah, but I didn’t order pizza.”

“It’s already paid for, do you want it or not?” came the annoyed-sounding reply.

‘Paid for?’ April thought to herself in surprise. She knew her family was well aware of the significance of this particular day for her, but if they wanted to treat her with a surprise pizza she didn’t doubt they would have bought Hueso’s and left it on her balcony with a text. They wouldn't have ordered delivery at a New York human restaurant.

“Yeah, come up,” April replied, before buzzing the pizza guy in.

When there was a knock on her door she opened it to see the young teenage delivery driver was holding a rather large stack of big pizza boxes that completely covered his face.

“Uh, that’s an awful lot for one person,” she commented (mostly to herself), taking the stack from his hands and standing sideways so she could see the delivery boy when she asked: “Who paid for it?”

“I don’t know,” the apathetic, busy delivery boy rudely replied. “Some big rude guy, barely fit through the door, in real need of a shave.”

‘Draxum,’ April immediately thought. “And he tipped me extra to give you this.”

The guy put a sealed envelope on top of the stack of pizzas that went up over her head so that she couldn't get a glimpse of it just yet, and she said: “Uh, thank…aaand he’s gone.”

April closed the door with her foot and brought the pizzas over to the kitchen section of her one roomed kitchen/living room combo, to lay them on the table, before reaching up to take the sealed envelope.

One she recognized.

One that made her immediately freeze in place when she got a good look at what was in her hand, because after the literal thousands of sympathy cards she and her family received from Leo's many devoted fans, she would recognize that envelope anywhere.

The letter she held in her hands wasn’t sealed inside one of the ordinary, white, rectangular envelopes commonly used in the US postal service. Instead the writer put it in a yellowish-brown, square envelope, the exact same size and color of the ones used in the secret underground yokai Hidden City postal service.

A mixture of conflicting emotions battled for dominance in April’s head, and a heavy weight pulled at her heart at the thought that - based on the description the pizza guy gave her - it was the yokai Draxum who came above ground to the human city he despised to order pizza for her from a human restaurant.

The same order at the same restaurant April told Leo and only Leo she was going to make him purchase for her victory pizza after winning the title of Hurl Day Champ.

The Extreme Party Pizza Extravaganza Pack at Lou Mike Tony Tony’s.

Exactly on the one year anniversary of their very last Carnival Hurl day ever.

“Oh. Oh no.”

April was left breathless because of how overwhelmed she was, so that she had to take a seat in the middle of her couch, with fresh tears falling down her cheeks as she stared at the envelope in her hand, until she felt she was ready to open it and read what was inside without completely losing it.

The sister of the late Leonardo Hamato took a deep breath and steadied her shaky hands while fighting back the tears she knew would come regardless; trying to be strong (for who? She didn’t know) as she slowly ripped open the top of the envelope.

But the second she took out the pages inside, the scent of Leo’s favorite coconut lime body mist invaded her nose, forcing her to cast aside any and all pretense of being strong, to weep pitifully for a few minutes before she was ready to actually read the letter.

“You jerk,” She muttered between the sobs, knowing that her deceased prank-loving brother had almost definitely been laughing to himself over the reaction he knew April would give, all while he was spritzing his coconut-lime scented body mist on the letter he wrote just for her.

April used a tissue to wipe her nose and read aloud the letter between her uncontrollable sobs, that didn’t show any sign of tapering off anytime soon, despite the many tears she already shed today.

“Congrats Hurl Day winner! You didn’t bother celebrating your victory did you Champ?”

She could practically hear the faux offended tone Leo probably would've used if he was here right now, talking to her.

“I knew you’d never buy your victory prize if I gave you the cash. Besides that’s so boring this is a lot more fun. For me of course lol. Did you like the smell btw? I bet that got a few extra tears out of you. Score! Would you expect any less from yours truly?”

. . .

“No,” April softly answered out loud, before switching to reading in her mind because she was blubbering too much to make any sense of the words she spoke.

‘I had to do it, you know how much of a sore loser I am, but I never welch on a bet and I’m not about to start now because of some lame reason like dying, so you better enjoy this champ. Wish I could be there, pouting and refusing to eat like the sore loser I am. How many creative burns did you think up to hurl at me before you went to bed that night? Get it? Hurl.

'Stop rolling your eyes I’m dead, the least you can do Ms. Hurl Day Champ is laugh at my last lame pun.’

April did huff out a laugh through the tears. Not because Leo told her to in his letter, but because of all the fun memories attached to that particular comment.

Then she continued reading.

‘You might be the champ of our last official hurl day but I very dramatically bowed out of the game with all my usual flair so you’ll never beat my 4X record. 4-1 baby read it and weep. But not too much or you’ll get bags under your eyes. I can’t be faceman anymore so that makes you the most gorgeous in our Mad Dogs family team. Don’t forget to moisturize that pretty face of yours, you got to uphold my good reputation as the team's face.

'Enjoy your pizza, and leave a slice out for me. Pretend I’m too grumpy over getting my butt kicked to eat any if it helps.

'Extreme Party Pizza Extravaganza Pack hey? That put me back a pretty penny, plus the extra tip to bribe the pizza guy so he didn't throw my letter out on me. I knew Draxum wouldn't tip him.

'Seems like a lot for one person to eat all by their lonesome, on their couch in their NY apartment, crying all by herself because she thinks she wants to be alone today. Did you turn on a light or are you sitting there in the dark?’

April raised her eyes and gazed around her combined living room/kitchen, noticing Leo even put enough forethought into his message to have her victory pizza delivered around sunset; so that now her room was growing dim as the only source of light was coming from the steadily setting sun outside her glass balcony door.

She didn’t even realize until now that her eyes were straining to read in the dim light, so she scooched over to flick on a side lamp and leaned against the arm of the couch, cuddled up cross-legged on the cushion with the letter laid on her lap. 

Although April was still patting fresh tears off her face with tissues, she was crying much more softly than before and read the last of Leo’s letter out loud.

“Don’t dare let my hard earned mystic delivery money go down the drain on spoiled takeout! Besides, what kind of Hamato lets something as sacred as pizza go to waste!? Not April O’Neil-Hamato, the glue that holds the Mad Dogs team together, that’s for sure! It’s too much pizza for one person don’t you think? Unless you’re going for the title of Big Bodacious Babe to replace my role as faceman, then go ahead and eat it all yourself. You be you, baby!

“But seriously, I don’t want my best friend to be all alone on a day like today, so do me a big favor and get up off your sorry butt, wipe away those tears, and go give our fam a hug from me before you dig in. Make sure to remind them I still love them lots from my lofty spot in the mystic realm and I can’t wait to rub my eternal youth in their noses when they get here with their old, wrinkly faces to be greeted by my forever young good looks.

"I really hope they have pizza there.

"Love you, sis. Have Raph say it for me so you can hear it out loud, and tell Donnie to hug you from me and he has to make it a big, over-dramatic, mushy ‘Leo’ hug because I know how much he loves hug time. Don’t forget to make him stick a smile on his face and be happy about it or I'll give you permission to go all APRIIIL O’NEEEIL on his butt.

"When you eat the pizza no crying allowed, be happy, this is your VICTORY PRIZE! You need to celebrate Hurl Day Champ! Make sure Draxum joins the party if you eat it with our fam (you will, right?) He’ll hate every second, ha ha ha. Give him a hug from yours truly and make it a big family group hug if he objects (he will. Wish I could be there to see the look on his face).”

With that final thought Leo’s lengthy letter abruptly ended, and he signed it with the same words April used to conclude her victory video of their last happy fun Carnival Hurl Day competition - that she read in her mind because she couldn’t bear to read it out loud.

‘Leonardo Hamato over and out!’

A part of April wondered if Leo used that sign off as a way to sneak in one last pun, considering his life was ‘over’ and he was ‘out’ of this this world in the mystic realm (as far as they all knew).

Then she mumbled the very last part under her breath:

“PS You better appreciate this long letter, you know how much I hate writing. I’m not a nerdy bookworm like Dee, it took me three days to finish.”

After smiling fondly at Leo’s messy handwriting, April carefully slipped his personal letter to her back in the envelope and put it on her coffee table. Then she wiped away the last of her tears, blew her runny nose, and picked up her phone. Not so she could look at more picture of Leo, but to text Raph:

‘I got way too much pizza delivered omw.’

Instead of getting up right away to leave, she waited expectantly for the big snapper’s reply. Predictably, a few minutes later she received a new message from her turtle brother that read:

‘I checked with the guys no ones in the mood for za but we all wanna see you.’

April wasn’t surprised by his response considering the mood everyone was in with this being the one year anniversary of the week Leo spent a special day with each and every one of them - ending with a big bang at Hueso’s for a happy, fun, enjoyable (his words) family pizza day…

...before their world as they knew it exploded in their faces and ended forever, like the krang technodrome when Leo (with Casey's help) very dramatically portal chopped the guts out of it.

So she already knew what the snapper was going to reply before she typed the words, and prepared her response in advance; namely:

‘You’ll all change your minds when you find out who it’s from come help bring the zas over.’

Immediately after sending that text to Raph, April clicked on 'Goat Man' in her messages app to text Draxum the curt demand: ‘You better be at the lair before I get there!'

By the time she sent that text another message from Raph came in, expressing his confusion over her ‘you’ll change your mind when you find out who it's from’ statement with nothing more than: ‘???’ But that was followed by a second text telling her: ‘omy donnie sAYS HE DOESN’T CARE WHO IT’S FROM, HE’S NOT EATING PIZZA.’

April smiled to herself when she saw Raphael replied to her using all caps, knowing he wasn’t yelling at her but his thumb slipped again and he accidentally put on caps lock without realizing it (because he always stared intently at the keyboard when he typed on his phone).

Then, a reply text came in from Draxum:

'Busy getting the stink of New York out of my fur enjoy your victory prize.'

'Did you read Leo's letter?'

'No, he insisted I wait.'

'Don't make me sic Dr. Feelings on you!'

. . .

'You are the most troublesome human I ever had the displeasure of meeting.'

April smugly grinned at Draxum’s reply, knowing that was his way of telling her he would be there, and then she clicked at her phone to read two more texts that came in. The first one being Raph’s: ‘Sorry thumb slipped.’

And (unsurprisingly) one from Donatello reiterating specifically (word for word) the message he told to Raph to convey, namely:

‘I WOULDN'T EAT PIZZA THIS WEEK IF THE SUN WENT SUPERNOVA AND THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE ALL LIFE ON EARTH WAS FOR ME TO GRAB A SLICE!’

But, of course, he was ‘yelling’ at her through the text.

April laugh at Donnie’s forceful reply, and she texted back: ‘Make sure Case is there when I come with our zas,’ snorting out another laugh because she knew her dismissive reply would earn her a quick, angry response, followed by a string of texts from the mutant softshell who loathed it when she purposefully ignored said response (and that some of them would not be 'Raph-approved PG'. But she and Donnie kept their more offensive, stronger language texts secret between the two of them).

Then she put on her jacket, stuffed her phone in her pocket, and carefully tucked Leo’s letter into an inside pouch of her jacket; before zipping it up and grabbing the stack of pizzas to get a head start meeting up with Raph, so they would be still be hot and fresh when they got to the lair.

And right on cue, her specialized ‘Donnie’ notification that she had Dee install on her phone (from a snippet of one of their calls) sounded from her pocket.

“You are conversing with Donatello.”

Shortly after followed by more:

“You are conversing with…You are…You are…You are conversing with Donatello.”

But she completely ignored them and left to go to her second (sewer) home, bringing with her a big stack of pizzas and an even bigger surprise in the form of a simple, ordinary-looking letter that was pressed close to her chest, by her heart, inside her inner jacket pocket.

And all along the way to meet up with Raph, she couldn’t help but smile and giggle as her phone in another pocket kept talking to her.

“You are conversing with…You are conversing wi..You are conver…You are…You a….

You are conversing with Donatello.”

When April and Raph got to their sewer home (with the big snapper carrying all the pizzas) she was pleased to see Draxum was already there, along with everyone else with the exception of Splinter, who was finishing some final details on an important project in his bedroom, and (unsurprisingly) Donatello, who was one to hold a grudge.

“Where’s Dee?” April asked, as Raph put the pizzas down on the kitchen table.

“He locked himself in his lab, said he’s not coming out until you apologize for ignoring his texts,” Casey told her.

“Oh, he’ll come out,” April replied with a smirk. She looked up at Donnie’s kitchen security camera to give it a wink and blow a kiss at the intelligent turtle she knew was watching on the other side.

Then she stuck her hands in her jacket pockets and smugly counted down:

“Four, three, two…” *Slam!*

Donnie stormed down the hall after emerging from his lab and slamming the door behind him. As soon as he got to the kitchen he aggressively thrust a finger at his sister with a scowl on his face, and yelled:

“How dare you come here and continue ignoring me! I sent you fifteen texts, left four messages, and three emails!”

Then he relaxed his tense body, straightened his stance, stuck his chin up in the air, crossed his arms with a smug grin, and said much more calmly (and arrogantly): “I’m ready for your heartfelt apology.”

Donnie’s jaw dropped when all April did was pat his arm with a smile and addressed Raph by saying: “Grab the pizzas, we’re eating in the rec room.”

“Uh, the rec room?” Mikey asked in confusion, at the same time Donnie let out an overly-offended: “Gasp! You know we don’t eat pizza in the rec room anymore!”

Instead of picking up the pizza boxes, Raph nervously scratched the back of his head and said: “I gotta go with Don on this…” “Naturally,” Donnie interrupted, with the smug grin back on his face. “Yeah, eating pizza in the rec room was a thing we did with Leo,” Mikey objected, finishing Raph's sentence for him. Then Donnie firmly added: “I will never again consume the cheesy confection in our recreation room for as long as I live and breathe.”

Everyone was surprised when April continued playfully smiling at them, and then she reached into her inside jacket pocket while telling Dee in a teasing tone:

“I guess you’ll never find out who the pizzaaa’s from.”

She hauled out the envelope containing Leo’s letter to proudly hold it up between her index and middle finger, and Donnie’s eyes widened at the sight.

“That’s a Hidden City envelope!” he gasped.

“Mm hmm, that’s right,” April replied with a smirk, before turning around to walk out of the room and calling behind her back: “Don’t forget those pizzas Raph. And grab an extra plate Mikes, we’re gonna need it.”

Draxum groaned and rolled his eyes when Donnie firmly pointed at him and blurted out: “You know something about this, don’t you, goat traitor!?”

Instead of waiting for a reply that wasn’t coming he ran ahead to catch up with his sister, ordering: “Let me look at that!" But when he tried to snatch the letter out of her hands April was too quick for him and stuffed it back in her hidden breast pocket, with a:

“Uh uh uh, it’s mine. You can wait to hear it in the rec room with everybody else.”

Donnie stopped walking beside her to cross his arms with a frowny face and pout, before angrily yelling: “Fine! But I want it on record I’m going there under duress.”

While continuing her way down the hall, April looked at him with a cocky grin and cheekily replied:

“Complaint noted and ignored.”

Donnie once again ran to catch up with her, yelling: “Don’t ignore me! You still owe me that apology!”

After everyone was settled in the rec room Splinter joined them, holding Leo's Hamato scroll in his hands, keeping it partway open to let the ink dry on the final section.

“I finally completed it,” the tired grieving mutant rat announced, referring to the scroll he made (in addition to the mystic scroll that formed at Leoardo’s death, which only contained information about his heroic battle with the krang alien that was supposed to have earned him an honored spot among his ancestor's elders).

Everyone, including Donnie, put the pizza and the mystery Hidden City letter on hold to gather around Splinter when he knelt on the floor and unrolled the scroll in front of him - the scroll he had been working on for almost a year, carefully and meticulously getting it just right according to ancient Hamato customs.

The scroll that contained a record of the life of his dear, deceased son, Leonardo.

Mikey’s eyes sparkled and his face lit up at the sight as he looked down upon it and exclaimed: “Is it ready now? Can we talk to Leo today!?”

“No, Miguel,” Donnie replied in a factual tone, “We have to wait for his anniversary in a few weeks, at exactly one forty six am.”

Mikey’s smile fell and he flatly replied: “Oh, right.”

“Did you make sure you got it just right, Pops?” Raphael asked.

“Yes, my son, I followed the scroll containing the instructions precisely,” Splinter answered.

Then everyone looked at the goat man when he said: “Speaking of Leonardo…” and leaning against him with her elbow was the smiling April O’Neil, holding up the letter in between two fingers that she was about to read for the second time.

Splinter rolled up the scroll partway and picked it up off the floor to put it in a safe place where the last of the ink could finish drying, and everyone but Draxum (who remained standing) walked over to sit on the floor in front of April - ready to hear the contents of the letter they all knew must be from Leo. But none of them dared speak that thought out loud for fear it would somehow mysteriously vanish right before their eyes.

When they were all ready April took the letter out of the envelope, carefully opened it, and cleared her throat before beginning with the first line.

April thought she could get through Leo’s letter without crying because she already read it once, but it took her a considerable amount of time to finish it because she kept getting choked up and having to stop.

When she got to the part about Donnie not only hugging her on behalf of their deceased brother but also liking it, he huffed and rolled his eyes while muttering under his breath: “You would do that to me wouldn’t you, Nardo?” preparing his heart now so he wouldn’t ruin the whole thing by crying in the middle of their (Leo’s) hug.

Then when April read the part about giving Draxum a hug from him, it was the goat yokai’s turn to grumble, interrupting her in the middle of the sentence by dryly saying: “Sentiment received, a hug is not necessary.”

A mischievous gleam sparkled in April’s eyes when she looked up at him and finished Leo’s sentence:

“And make it a big family group hug if he objects.”

Draxum groaned and rolled his eyes but accepted his fate that would be dished out after the reading of the late Leonardo’s letter, with all the other hugs.

As soon as April was done, before hugs and pizza, Donnie looked at Draxum with one eyebrow raised and asked: “Did Leo write any other letters?”

“Yeah, to the rest of us!?” Mikey added hopefully.

Draxum dryly replied: “No, he had planned on writing one for each of you, but died before he could finish writing the start of a letter to Michelangelo.

Mikey smiled and squealed with excitement while Donnie crossed his arms, pouting with a grumpy tone:

“Why’d he write April’s and Mikey’s first? I’m his twin.”

“Can I read it now?” Mikey asked sweetly.

But instead of Draxum replying, April shoved a slice in his mouth and demanded: “Pizza first, it’s getting cold.” Then she firmly addressed the rest of her family when she ordered: “And no more crying, or pouting, I’m looking at you Dee.”

Donnie rolled his eyes but uncrossed his arms and stuck a smile on his face. April decided to overlook the fact it was a fake, sarcastic smile, and continued where she left off. “Leo’s orders, we’re celebrating my awesome victory!”

Leo’s hugs were distributed (along with extras) as was the pizza, with a few slices of the deceased slider's favorite laying on a plate on the floor in front of an unoccupied blue beanbag chair...

And if Donnie had looked through his goggles with the gem that let him see mystic energy (the ones he took the gem out of the day they lost Leo), or Draxum used his similar yokai powers to do the same, they would have seen the glowing blue mystic form of the otherwise invisible Leonardo, sitting on his blue beanbag chair, doing his very best to enjoy the victory celebration with the rest of his family.

Which was hard for him to do, considering this whole situation he found himself in.

Chapter 24: "Leonardo?"

At first Draxum ignored the glowing blue lump in the back right corner of his lab; until he remembered he didn’t have any mystic paraphernalia that bright shade of blue, nor did he put anything mystical in that corner.

Chapter Text

~A Few Weeks Later~

Draxum was working in his lab late at night, keeping his mind occupied as he waited for the up-and-coming anniversary of Leonardo’s death. At exactly 1:46am his entire family would be gathered in Leo's bedroom, eagerly awaiting the arrival of their brother from the mystic realm, via his very own Hamato scroll Splinter meticulously completed (in addition to the glittering white and green mystic one that outlined his heroic deed that should have earned him an honored place among their ancestors), going through great pains to make sure it was done just right according to ancient customs.

At this particular moment, Draxum was making a mystic concoction, and when he poured a mystical pink solution from a test tube into a beaker of something clear, he made use of his yokai ability to see the necessary mystic reaction that was invisible to the naked eye.

Immediately, Draxum’s vision flooded with a chaotic jumble of bright lights from all the various mystically-imbued items and solutions in his lab, which was precisely why he chose not to use this power the vast majority of the time. There was absolutely no need to ever use it in his turtle family's New York lair on the rare occasion they somehow managed to convince him to visit them for a change, and the entirety of the Hidden City was chock so full of mystic yokai, portals, objects, food, energy etcetera his vision was practically blinded by the conglomeration of bright lights.

That was exactly why he had never before seen someone of great importance in his mystic form.

Until now.

At first Draxum ignored the glowing blue lump in the back right corner of his lab; until he remembered he didn’t have any mystic paraphernalia that bright shade of blue, nor did he put anything mystical in that corner. So he lowered the test tube and beaker in his hands and raised his eyes to see a glowing blue mutant turtle, who wasn't wearing anything beyond a mask and a pair of glowing blue shorts underneath his shell - no ninja gear, belt, or katanas. And he was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, his legs splayed out in front of his body and looking down at the floor where he was absently moving his finger around in circles. Seeming to be so done with everything.

“Leonardo?”

Leo looked just as shocked as Draxum felt when he heard his name and shot his head up to stare into the eyes of the stunned yokai staring straight at him.

Immediately he jumped up with a big smile on his face and walked toward his yokai dad, gesturing vividly with his hands and apparently talking rapid-fire; but he stopped and stared at Draxum with disappointment clearly written all over his glowing blue face when he heard the words: “I can’t hear you.”

Leo spun around so Draxum wouldn’t see his bright blue tears, and the warrior alchemist noticed an unsightly glowing purple growth on his shell in the small of his back, that branched out to cover a large section of his carapace with what looked like thick purple veins.

“Leonardo, what happened to you? Why are you here?”

Leo turned around again to face his dad and gave him a wobbly grin while shrugging his shoulders, before pointing over one shoulder to the back of his shell with his thumb, all while moving his lips like he was talking to him.

“I take it that growth on your carapace has something to do with this.”

Once again Leo shrugged because he really didn’t know for sure. But that seemed like the safest bet - especially since he vividly remembered the foreign, intrusive sensation of Krang Prime doing something to his shell with the use of his invisible krang powers on the very first day they were both trapped in the prison dimension. Right before the vengeful, barbaric monster tried pummeling him to death for the first (but by far not the last) time.

But how was he supposed to communicate that to Draxum when he couldn’t talk or in any way interact with the world around him?

The goat alchemist asked: “Did Krang Prime have something to do with the growth on your shell?” and Leo indicated he was 'right on the nose' by nodding his head and tapping his nose with his index finger.

“Come closer and turn around,” his dad requested, not wasting any time trying to help his son by finding a solution to this surprisingly unexpected problem. Leo obliged, letting him get a good look at the mystic infection left behind by the krang.

Upon closer inspection, Draxum saw that the growth on Leo’s shell was actually a translucent pink, like the pink assimilation tendrils of the krang, with the blue glow of his body giving it a purple appearance.

“Is it growing or spreading?” Draxum inquired.

Leo adamantly shook his head. Although it was difficult for him to see without access to his reflection in a mirror, he knew practically his entire carapace had been infected like this from the beginning; and there was no doubt in his mind it hadn’t moved or grown an inch since then.

A disturbing thought entered Draxum’s reeling mind at the sight. He wondered if his turtle son had not only been trapped here on earth for a full year, invisible, inaudible, and likely intangible, separated from both his family here and presumably his ancestors, but if he was also in pain the entire time from something the wickedly diabolical Krang Prime did to him.

Due to that distressing thought, his voice was slightly strained when he asked the next question:

“Does it cause you any pain?”

Leo turned around to face him, raised his hands in front of his face, looked at his fingers, and shook his head while tapping his fingertips together a few times. He continued shaking his head as he rubbed his arms up and down, one at a time, before moving on to bend over and rub both of his legs, still shaking his head back and forth.

Next, Leo straightened up and put his right hand over his left shoulder to rub the top of his carapace and looked Draxum in the face while shaking his head some more.

“You cannot feel anything at all,” Draxum correctly concluded. Leo once again nodded to indicate his answer was right.

"I take it this means you're unable to comfort yourself over this undoubtedly discouraging predicament with one of your self-hugs."

Instead of answering, Leo rolled his eyes and moved his lips, saying something inaudibly that Draxum figured was along the lines of 'Yeah, sure, rub it in' and he figured he poked a sore spot so moved past that by continuing on with his necessary questions.

"Can you touch or in any way interact with anything in your surroundings?"

Leo responded by reaching out for a beaker on a nearby work table; only for his hand to go down through the beaker, table and all. Then he looked up at Draxum expectantly, hoping he got the point.

The goat alchemist mentally checked off a checklist as he asked: “What about other sensations? Wet and dry, heat and cold, taste and smell, pain, numbness, discomfort, itches, tickles, pricks, pins and needles, nausea, the ability to feel a breeze or stiff wind, do you possess any of those senses, no matter how minute?”

Leo sadly shook his head and considered wrapping his arms around himself in a hug, but he learned a long time ago there wasn’t any point in doing that. It only served as a painful reminder that he couldn’t feel anything at all, just as Draxum commented, robbing him of any measure of self-comfort hugging himself would normally provide.

"Do you ever feel sleepy, hungry, thirsty, fatigued, dehydrated, the urge to use the washroom, or other normal bodily urges?"

For the purpose of his scientific data collection, Draxum noted that when he asked about 'other bodily urges' Leo cheeks turned bright blue - as though he was blushing from embarrassment - and he broke eye contact by shyly looking to the side, before briskly shaking his head 'no.'

Ever the scientist, Draxum continued on without hiccup, and asked: "Can you feel your pulse or feel or hear your heartbeat?"

His factually tone seemed to get Leo back on track. The bright blue glow on his cheeks faded away and he checked for a pulse by putting two fingers on his wrist. Then he rested a hand on his chest - over where his heart was when he was alive in a physical body - before looking up at him again to answer 'no' with a shake of his head.

Meanwhile Draxum noted that Leo looked remarkably healthy in this form, like he did before his body grew sick and eventually died. He didn't appear to be dehydrated or malnourished, and he asked: "Do you need to eat or drink in some way, take in any sort of sustenance, or sleep or breathe?"

'No,' Leo shook his head.

“I see," Draxum said. He gave some thought to this predicament before musing out loud: "You can hear and see us and the physical world around you, but we cannot hear or see you, except for now with the use of my yokai powers.”

Leo briskly nodded his head once in answer, but with a frown on his face, and then he tapped on the back of his wrist as though he was wearing a watch.

“Yes I am aware it took me an incredibly long time to see you with my powers. I’m not in the habit of using this particular ability unless absolutely necessary, to avoid…”

Draxum stopped mid sentence and huffed at Leo when the glowing blue slider put a hand over his open mouth, faking a yawn.

“If I am boring you we can always go back to the way things were before I discovered your existence here on earth,” his goat dad dryly joked.

A small, smug grin formed on Draxum’s face when Leo predictably and emphatically waved his hands back and forth in front of his body while briskly shaking his head 'nooo!' over and over again - sparking a sense of nostalgia in his dad's heart. Then Barry gestured out with both hands to the room in general and asked: “This room is full of mystic energy, can you see any of it?”

Leo gazed around the ordinary-looking lab before looking at his goat dad to shake his head ‘no,’ and Draxum rubbed his chin, deep in thought while commenting: “Interesting.”

He next lowered his hand and asked: “How is it Donatello hasn’t seen you yet with those goggles he uses sometimes?" Then he added in a slightly bitter, annoyed tone: "The ones he mystically enhanced with the gem he stole from my storage."

Draxum watched Leo as he mimed taking goggles off his head, pulling something out of it, and throwing it away.

“He threw away my rare, imported, highly valuable and expensive mystic gem?” Draxum asked with a hint of anger.

‘No,’ Leo shook his head, and tried to animate putting the gem away, but he wasn’t sure how to do that.

Barry decided this piece of information wasn’t essential in the moment so he interrupted Leo’s pantomime by commenting: “He took the gem out of his goggles. No doubt shortly after your death.”

Leo scrunched his shoulder up and put his hands out, palm side up, with his brows furrowed, using that gesture for ‘why?’ He also inaudibly said 'why,' and Draxum caught on and told him: “When your body was dying, Donatello looked through his goggles to witness your mystic lifeforce draining out.”

Leo was clearly agitated when he vividly gestured ‘why?’ again while angrily asking the words Draxum couldn’t hear: ‘Why would he do that to himself!?’

“He didn’t believe me when I told him you were dying.”

Leo's mystic body relaxed, and Draxum saw him say something like: ‘Ah, yeah,’ while nodding his head in wide movements, knowing his scientifically-minded brother’s world revolved around needing proof, evidence, and lots and lots of facts and data before accepting something as real.

He also felt sadness for Donnie over the fact that literally witnessing the life drain out of his dying twin brother would definitely have left a lasting traumatic impression in his heart and mind.

“We have much work to do,” Draxum told Leo. “First I must learn as much as possible about your current unfortunate situation, but it’s almost time to meet with our family. Are you aware they're planning to attempt communicating with you tonight via your Hamato scroll?”

Leo nodded his head and he looked really sad.

“I will inform them of your current circumstances. Are you tethered to this house?”

Draxum didn’t know anything at all about mystic bodies, and at first he assumed Leo was there with him instead of being with his family in New York because he was somehow mystically tied to the general area where his body died. But Leo shook his head ‘no,’ and Draxum asked: “Are you free to go where you wish?”

Leo shrug his shoulders because he didn’t know for sure; for reasons he didn't know how to share with nothing more than miming his words. After all, how could he convey the message 'I feel pressure and a tug on my body if I get too far away from my family' without words?

“What are your limitations for travel?”

The mute turtle shrugged again to answer and Draxum continued on, asking: “Can you interact in any way with mystical objects, portals, anything at all mystic related?”

Leo nodded his head so his dad repeated: “Objects?”

‘No,’ the slider shook his head.

“Portals?”

Leo nodded this time and the scientist yokai asked: “Can you interact with all portals?”

‘No,’ Leo replied again with a shake of his head.

"Can you interact with my portals?"

'No' again.

"Can you generate your own portals in this form?"

Leo glared at Draxum with an angry scowl and waved a hand around in the air where the hilts of his katanas would be if they were strapped to his back.

"I know nothing about your current condition so expect me to ask questions that make no sense to you," the factually-minded yokai dryly told him.

Leo huffed and rolled his eyes with his arms crossed, but Draxum ignored that because he was considering how traveling around with his mystic son would be so much easier with access to either one of their portals. He wondered if Leo had ever tried interacting with his mystically imbued katanas, but decided to save that question for another time when they weren't rushed.

“Have you discovered any other mystic properties you can interact with other than portals?” he asked, to get that question out of the way. ‘No,’ Leo shook his head again and then his dad went back to the ‘portals’ question.

“There are three main types of portals. Yokai generated portals, such as mine and yours prior to this." He calmly gestured to Leo with one hand and continued. "Very rarely occurring natural portals, which are organic and almost always lead to an inescapable mystic sinkhole, such as the ones found in the location humans dub the ‘Bermuda Triangle'; and artificially engineered portals powered by a mystic energy source, such as the one that led to the prison dimension and the ones leading in and out of the Hidden City. Each are unique in their own ways. Can you interact with yokai portals?”

‘No.’

“Natural portals?”

Not having heart tell of 'natural portals' before Leo shrugged his shoulders, which was what Draxum expected (but he had to know for sure) and then he sternly ordered: "Stay away from those, you'll recognize them by their blackish hues. It's very rare, but you should be aware a select few of the darker yokai know how to manipulate them to their advantage. I don't know what will happen to you if you go through one, so avoid portals that are any shade of gray or black." Leo gave a playful salute as his reply, and Draxum asked:

“Can you interact with artificial portals?”

Leo nodded ‘yes’ this time and Draxum figured he already knew the answer to his next question, but he asked anyway:

“I assume this means you’ve been using the Hidden City portals to visit your family above ground?"

Once again Leo nodded ‘yes.’

Despite already knowing the answer, Draxum still felt a sense of relief at the conclusive knowledge that his son wasn’t trapped all alone in the Hidden City whenever he portalled away from home, or that he wasn't completely separated from his loved ones when they went about their lives above ground.

“Are you able to interact with any physical objects?"

'No.'

For confirmation purposes, Barry asked: "The floors, the walls, the rocks and ground, liquids, plants or animals, organic, inorganic, mystical, nothing at all?”

Leo shook his head again and Draxum asked: “How is it then you’re able to walk on this floor?”

Leonardo put his hands out wide in a ‘watch me’ sort of gesture and drew Draxum’s attention to his feet by looking down at them. His dad watched as he sank down through the floor up past his ankles. Then he floated straight up until he was hovering about a foot and a half above the floor. When he was done his little demonstration, he lowered himself so that it appeared as though his feet were firmly planted on the floor, although he showed he was actually still effortlessly floating in place when he wiggled his feet and toes and they went partway through again.

Draxum stared intently at his blue feet while rubbing his chin, making Leo feel a little nervous when the silence stretched on, as his alchemist dad gave contemplative thought to his demonstration for some reason.

Then, the goat scientist abruptly lowered his hand and requested: "Walk around the room."

Leo did as he was told, nervously gazing at his dad's face the entire time, because Draxum was staring so intently at his feet it looked like he was studying them closely; as though something was wrong.

When Barry told him to stop, Leo looked down at his feet and raised one up at a time, to look at the bottom of them, trying to figure out what his dad saw that he didn't.

Then the glowing slider put his foot down and looked at Draxum, who was looking at his face now when he asked in a far too serious tone:

"You walk so impeccably I would never have guessed you're really floating, despite the fact you apparently cannot feel the sensation of the floor underneath your feet. Your heels always land in precisely the right spot when you step down, not as much as the tip your toe breaches the surface when you push off, and your stride matches perfectly with your pace. How did you manage such a feat?"

Draxum didn't realize he inadvertently made a pun until Leo pointed at him with an outstretched arm while buckling over in an obvious fit of laughter. Then he pointed down at both feet while gleefully nodding his head; and Draxum didn't need to hear him when his lips moved to know he asked 'did you get it?'

In the past, before the death of Leo's physical body, Draxum would have groaned and rolled his eyes in mock annoyance (while secretly enjoying their regular, playful banter). But now, Leo's poor sense of humor was sorely missed, so instead he smiled fondly and told him:

“It’s good to see you haven’t changed, my son.”

Leo straightened up and rested a hand on his hip while smiling appreciatively back at the one person who could finally see him.

"You clearly possess proprioception, spacial awareness, and balance, despite..." Draxum stopped when Leo scrunched up his nose and asked what he figured was 'what?'

"Proprioception, knowing where your body parts are in space without seeing them, such as your ability to flawlessly appear to walk on the floor. Can you show me how you managed that?"

Leo obliged and walked to the left, taking tiny steps, with his feet too far under the floor and his speed clearly outpacing his stride. He stopped to look down at them, and shook his head. Then he floated up and went in the other direction, but his feet were a few feet above the floor this time. He also looked like he was running on the air, but floated ahead much too slowly for his stride. Once again he stopped to look at his feet, shook his head, and lowered himself to exactly the right height.

Next, the intangible turtle walked around in a circle, but this time he did everything just right. After he was done that he looked down at his feet again and nodded his head.

"You practiced," Draxum correctly concluded.

Leo gave him a genuine smile, seeming to be quite proud of himself over his accomplishment, and Draxum asked:

"For how long?"

His son held up two, three-fingered hands to hold five fingers in the air.

"Five weeks?" Draxum asked, knowing 'five days?' was too absurd to even consider.

Leo shook his head and Draxum raised an eyebrow and asked in a more serious tone: "five months?"

Leo nodded his head with an even bigger smile on his face, but his 'logical to a fault' dad burst his bubble when he flatly asked:

“If you have the ability to float at will, why would you put so much time and effort into such a pointless endeavor?"

Leo's smile abruptly fell and he shot Draxum a dirty look. Then he raised a hand above his head to do a gesture like he was hanging himself with a noose, before firmly shaking his head; which Draxum took to mean he had trouble accepting the fact his body died - leaving him like this - and was doing his best to deceive his own mind by behaving as though he was an eating, breathing, (walking) flesh and blood mutant turtle.

“As distasteful as the thought may be, you must learn to accept your current…"

Draxum groaned when Leo covered his ears, turned his back to him, and walked in circles gazing around the lab, looking everywhere and anywhere except at his dad, with his lips moving as though he was yelling something like 'la la la la la!' over and over again to drown out Draxum’s voice.

“Can you hear yourself?” Draxum loudly asked.

Leo abruptly stopped what he was doing, lowered his hands, and looked at him to nod ‘yes.’

“How unfortunate.”

Leo shot Draxum another dirty look at his bland joke, but then he smiled from the nostalgic interchange and the goat yokai let the corners of his lips curl up into a tiny grin from this playful banter he sorrowfully missed, before getting on with the serious task at hand.

“My point stands,” he continued. “You must learn more about your new abilities and limitations so you can make full use of your powers if the need arises. They may prove useful."

Leo shot Draxum a half confused, half annoyed look and walked into the middle of a table, where he vividly flailed his arms through anything and everything within reach, trying to make the point that his suggestion didn’t make any sense because he couldn’t interact with the world around him.

Draxum calmly looked at him and factually and dryly replied: “You can interact with manufactured portals and are visible to my yokai powers, which suggests there may be other things in this world you can interact with or may be susceptible to. And it may be useful for us to have eyes in places we cannot reach, especially in our search for a cure from your current affliction.”

Then he added in a tone that sounded more like a command than a suggestion: “Learn your abilities and your limitations without delay. I suggest you start by determining if there are any restrictions regarding where you can go."

Fear flashed across Leo's face for a split second but then Draxum was greatly surprised when his eyes narrowed and he glared at him with an anger that surprisingly threatened to turn into sadness any second as he was clearly and actively fighting back tears.

Leo stared at his dad like that for a while, with his fists clenched and his entire body tense, like he was ready for a fist fight. Draxum wasn't sure if he was going to inaudibly scream and hurl obscenities at him or suddenly burst into tears. He suspected more was going on than meets the eye, especially when Leo's bottom lip began quivering.

Eventually Leonardo's whole body language and facial expression changed when he settled for stretching his left arm straight out to give Draxum a firm 'thumbs down.' And with his outstretched thumb still pointing down, he stuck his tongue out of his mouth on his angry face to blow raspberries at the intelligent, factually-minded scientist.

Draxum was left more confused than anything, having no idea why Leo would feel so strongly about his suggestion, so he instead suggested: "Perhaps testing out your floating abilities would be a better first step."

Leo nodded his head and gave his 'faceman' smile for his dad, as though he hadn't just been about to scream obscenities or burst into tears. Draxum decided now wasn't an appropriate time to press the issue and filed it away in the back of his mind to revisit later.

It was almost time to leave and although Barry wasn't sure what sort of reaction to expect, there was one more valuable piece of information he needed. So he went ahead and asked the hard-hitting question:

"Have you had any contact with your ancestors?"

Leo's glowing face reflected the emotional pain that question elicited, and he lowered his eyes to blankly stare straight ahead at his goat dad's chest, trying to figure out how to reply, because it wasn't a straightforward 'yes or no' answer.

When the time continued ticking by, Draxum decided to try breaking down the question further.

"Do you currently have contact with any of your ancestors?"

Leo immediately gave him a head shake in reply.

"Have you ever, at any time, no matter how minor, had contact with your ancestors since this happened to you?"

Leo gave thought to his question and then raised his hand to stick his thumb out sideways in the air and wobble it up and down a little.

Draxum thought for a moment, wondering what Leo could mean by what he figured was 'sort of', and then said: "We'll return to that one after we figure out a better means of communication. Do your ancestors at least know you are here?"

Leo looked straight into his eyes and firmly and slowly shook his head 'no.'

"Do they know anything whatsoever about your current condition?"

Leo rolled his eyes from frustration at that thought and exhaled through his mouth before sadly gazing at the floor instead of Draxum’s face. Then he slowly shook his head back and forth again.

Draxum hummed in acknowledgement while nodding his head, before saying: "I have many more questions but it’s time for us to join our family above ground. Come with me, we’ll take the portal outside my home and…"

He stopped in the middle of his sentence when Leo very firmly shook his head ‘no’, and then looked like he was pouting with the way he crossed his arms, furrowed his brows, and pursed his turtley lips.

"Why not?” Draxum firmly asked in a tone that conveyed the concern he was feeling for his son.

He waited for some sort of response, but when Leo seemed to be struggling to find a way to answer without a voice, he flatly said: “I strongly recommend you join me.”

Leo immediately replied with his ‘why’ animation before crossing his arms, and Draxum told him: “If he’s still in possession of my gem, Donatello will no doubt want to see you right away once I inform them of…” he gestured to Leo’s blue glowing mystic body with both hands, “this whole situation.”

Leo kept his arms crossed but relaxed them significantly and silently laughed while Draxum groaned and rolled his eyes. Then he walked away, saying in an annoyed tone: “Yes, I picked up that phrase from our annoying family who absolutely insist on disturbing my work by visiting me every chance they get. Are you coming?”

When no glowing blue form joined Draxum’s side he stopped walking and turned around, to see his turtle son standing in place, clearly pondering over whether he was going to go or not.

“Don’t you think they’ll be comforted by your presence when they attempt communication with the brother they think is in the mystic realm, and discover you're not there?”

Leo sighed with a frown and dropped his hands down by his sides before dragging his feet to walk (but really float) behind Draxum. Then the goat scientist stepped aside so his son could 'walk' in front of him, to keep him in his line of vision.

As they left the house together, Draxum couldn't help but notice Leo chose to 'walk' through the doorways instead of simply floating straight through the walls, and also went as far as waiting for his dad to open the front door before he went through; as though he wasn't really intangible.

He decided it would be best for now to suppress the urge to correct Leo's behavior by reminding him he agreed to test out his floating skills, and made a mental note to routinely check in on his progress with learning his new abilities that might prove to be helpful in some way or another as they tried to find a solution to this new unexpected problem thrown at their family.

Chapter Text

~One Year Prior On the Night of Leo's Death~

One second, Leonardo’s weak, ill, tired body was dying in his brother’s arms with the warmth and comfort his very last family group hug offered; and the next, he didn’t feel anything at all.

Leo opened his eyes and blinked a few times. He felt different. Strange. But that wasn’t the main focus of his mind right now because he was also standing on his feet, glowing blue, and looking down at the pale, sickly face of his mutant red-eared slider body being cradled and loudly wept over by his heartbroken family.

“Leonardo?”

The feminine voice coming from behind him sounded soft but confused, and Leo turned around to see Karai’s glowing green form standing a few feet in front of him.

His brows furrowed at the sight of her gazing around the room as though she was searching for someone, and he called out: {“Gram-gram I’m here, can’t you see me?”}