Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Leo asked, hysteria creeping into his voice. "You- You have to know, that's the whole reason we did this!"

"I mean I don't know," Donnie snapped. "Your scans look fine up until you moved. Physically you're completely healthy. No brain damage, nothing except what we already know."

"So what does that mean?" Leo insisted. His brothers were all giving him concerned looks.

"Leo....are you feeling okay?" Mikey asked gently. "I mean, you went through a lot...if you need to talk..."

"What? Mikey, I'm fine," He said. "I just want to know what happened."

"Maybe you should rest for awhile," Raph said. "We'll bring you in something to eat."

Donnie was muttering to himself, but Leo caught the words "PTSD" and "stress-induced blackouts". He scowled.

"What?! I'm fine, I'm not having some kind of breakdown guys!"

"Nobody said you were," Raph said quickly. "But you've been through a lot, and we're just...a little worried."

"You don't need to be worried I'm fine!"

But none of them were looking at him anymore. They were all giving each other the look usually saved for when Mikey was trying to talk Raph into letting him go out alone. Now that it was on him...

You're crazy, and they all know it now.

"We just don't want you pushing yourself too hard before you're ready-"

You're too weak.

"I'm not crazy!" Leo snapped. "I'm fine! You all think I'm fucking insane just because of what happened?! Just because I was stuck in the prison dimension for two weeks?! Well jokes on you, I managed just fine! My nightmares aren't even bad, and it's not like he said anything I didn't already know so he barely did anything! I'M! FINE!"

Despite his protests, the next few days saw him stuck in the medbay with all his medical cabinets locked and anything sharp put away. On top of that, he was literally never left alone. Seriously, none of his brothers would let him be alone even for two seconds, and Mikey brought him every meal directly. They wouldn't even talk to him above basic pleasantries. It was infuriating.

"When are you guys gonna realize I'm fine?" he asked, not for the first time. It had been, what, a week now? And his brothers were still convinced he wanted to end things.

"Leo...." Raph said softly. "This is just until you get better."

"I'm not broken!"

"Raph never said that."

"But you think it! You all do!"

Raph sighed, because this is how it always went. They'd give him the same answer and Leo would get pissed because it's not an answer.

"We don't....we just want to help."

"I don't need help I need to get out and do something!"

"Leo, I'm not gonna do this again."

He scowled. They wouldn't even give him his leg brace so he really was just stuck. Not to mention how often everything hurt now that he wasn't moving around anymore. And the nightmares...

Useless

Fuck-up

Annoying

Moronic

Look at everything you've messed up!

We lost the statue because of you!

We would've been better off leaving you in the prison dimension

...Leo tried not to think about the nightmares.

It was another week before they let him out of the medbay, but even then he was barely alone longer than a minute. His brothers insisted on taking turns sleeping in his room with him, and Donnie had completely removed the lock on his door.

They were...meaner, too. More comments, more jabs. They denied it, but Leo knew what they said under their breath. Waste, nutcase, insane, delusional, overdramatic. He heard all of it.

The only one he'd never heard it from was CJ, who'd been glued to his side since he got out of the Medbay. He was just as worried as the others, but it felt different. Genuine.

"Hey...Sensei?" he asked one day.

"Hm? What's up Case?"

"Uh...During the invasion, did...I mean, did the Krang ever...mess with you?"

Leo blinked.

"Y'mean aside from the whole 'taking over the planet' thing?" He asked. "Or aside from the 'using me as a punchingbag' thing?"

CJ winced.

"Uhm...both. I just...sometimes people would...During the apocalypse, I mean...they'd come back kinda....weird."

Leo's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Weird how?"

"It...I'm not totally sure, Sensei always made sure to keep them away from the rest of us when it happened, but...It was like they weren't really...there. Like, it was different for everyone. Some people ended up connected to the Krang's brainwaves or something, and others were completely taken over like Uncle Raph was. It just...I don't know, it changed things for them."

Leo paused, mulling it over. The Krang had tried using him as a puppet for a while in the prison dimension. He'd gained a new sympathy for Raph on top of the rest when that happened.

"But I don't feel any different," Leo said. "Everything feels fine. I mean, I hurt sometimes, but Donnie said that was expected with all the broken bones and stuff."

CJ shrugged.

"I don't know. Uncle Donnie had journals about it, but...I didn't have any on me when they sent me back."

His face darkened a little and Leo reached out for him.

"That's okay kid. We'll figure it out."

He nodded.

"Leo?" Raph asked, coming into the room. "You hungry? Mikey made your favorite."

"Again?" He asked. "Geez, it's starting to feel a little stockholm-y here."

Raph frowned, and Leo sighed.

"That's not funny Leo. C'mon."

He left again and Leo rolled his eyes.

"Why are you so mad at them?" CJ asked as they both stood. "They're just worried about you."

"Because they think I'm gonna jam the first sharp object I find into my eye," He answered. "And I'm completely fine aside from not remembering whatever the hell has them so freaked out."

CJ looked down, fidgeting with his hands.

"I mean...it didn't sound great..." He mumbled.

"I wish I could tell you if it was that bad, but I don't remember it. From what I know the guy we were fighting shoved me off the roof."

CJ looked uncomfortable for the rest of the night, which had Leo worried, but it was his turn to watch Leo sleep so at least he'd be there if something was going on.

Hopefully he wouldn't have to share for much longer.

Chapter Text

Fire was everywhere.

He was running - where was he running? He couldn't see anything, there was so much smoke-

"Casey? Casey come in, where are you?!" Sensei's voice was panicked over his comms, and Casey opened his mouth to answer only to cough and stumble instead.

"Casey?! Casey answer me!"

"I- I don't know!" He shouted, diving to avoid a tentacle and falling down a hill of rubble.

"Is- Hold on, I see you! I'm coming!"

"Leo, we need to get out of here!"

Uncle Tello's voice was panicked too, which wasn't good. Uncle Tello always had things under control.

"Mikey's hurt guys, we gotta go back!"

"Donnie, get to April and Mikey. I'll get Casey, we'll meet you at the base!"

Casey tried to get up but something cracked in his knee and sent him crashing to the ground again.

A hand touched his back and he swung around, hockey-saw swinging-

A familiar arm caught the weapon by the base.

"Easy buddy, It's me."

"Sensei!"

And then Casey was clinging to him, trembling and coughing.

"I'm glad you're okay kiddo, but we don't have time. Let's get you home and we can relax, okay?"

Casey nodded, following Sensei dispite the pain in his knee as they started back. For a moment, it felt like everything would be okay.

Then he heard Sensei scream.

He was swinging instantly, his saw slicing through the fleshy pink creature before it had time to change tactics.

"LEO?! What happened, are you okay?!"

"Leo, report immediately?"

"Sensei?!" Casey dropped to his knees next to his Sensei, staring in horror at the pink crawling its way up the slider's arm.

"Case- Casey," Leo gasped. "Casey you have to go-"

"What?! No!"

"I don't- I'm run-running out of- of time-"

He could see the takeover already; The way his mentor's pupils were starting to dilate, the way his neck was tensing-

"Sensei- Papa,  I can't- You can fight it! You're stronger than them!"

And Leo's face softened.

"Casey, you've always been such a brave boy. I'm so, so proud of you."

"No, Papa please-"

"Leo?! Leo what's going on?!"

"Donnie check his vitals-"

"Fuck- Leo I'm on my way-"

"You'll be an incredible warrior Casey," Leo continued. "You already are."

"Stop it! You can't go, you can't-"

"-I'm so proud to get to call you my-"

"CJ!"

Casey jerked upright, a scream on the tip of his tongue as he swung for whatever was touching him.

His punch was caught by a familiar red-striped face.

"Easy CJ, it's me."

CJ gasped, throat closing painfully as he stared into the face so familiar yet so different.

"Hey, it's okay," Leo said softly. "It's okay. You're okay now."

Under an impulse CJ didn't fully process, he grabbed the slider and hugged him as hard as he could. The tears - which had already been falling - fell harder as he inhaled the familiar scent of home.

"Papa..." He mumbled, hiding his face in the slider's shoulder. "You can't go...you can't, you promised..."

There was a moment of silence, before a gentle arm wrapped around him.

"I'm not going anywhere Casey," Sensei said softly. "I'm right here. You're okay."

"But I- y-you-"

"I...I'm okay. I'm right here, and I'm not gonna leave. It's okay."

He tightened his hold as Sensei sat down on the bed, holding CJ in a firm, grounding hug.

"'S my fault..." Casey gasped. "All my fault...shouldn't of come for me..."

"Oh, Case..." Sensei's voice was quiet, but firm. "Nothing could ever make me regret coming for you buddy. It was never your fault."

He sniffled and looked up.

"You...you don't know what happened. What happened to...to him..."

"Maybe not, but I know how I feel right now. And I know nothing, nothing, could make me regret coming to find you, or rescue you, or whatever happened that you were dreaming about. I'm already so proud of you Casey Jr. I can't imagine how much more proud my future self must have been."

CJ stared at him, before bursting into a fresh round of sobs and clinging even tighter.

"I-I miss you...I m-miss him...I w-want my Papa back..."

Leo eased them both to lay down, running his hand through CJ's dark hair.

"I know kiddo. I'm sorry I'm not him. But I'm still here for everything, no matter what."

CJ's breath hitched, but Leo just kept holding him no matter how much CJ cried or how tight he held on. Leo stayed.

Eventually, the familiar hand in his hair started to help him relax and the crying finally slowed.

"I can't be the Papa you had," Leo said softly into CJ's hair. "But I can be here. And I will be, for anything you need. I love you, Casey."

He sniffled, already half-asleep again.

"L've y' too Papa..." He mumbled. The hand in his hair stopped for a moment, before Sensei placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head.

"Sweet dreams, buddy."

Chapter Text

When Leo woke up the next morning, his every muscle ached. But that was okay, because the young boy next to him was sleeping peacefully.

Leo smiled, brushing CJ's hair back to see his calm expression. Leo didn't fully understand what CJ had seen last night, or what memories had been jumbled up in his brain, but he was just grateful he'd been able to help. The poor kid had seen enough horror for a lifetime. The least Leo could do was make sure he got some decent sleep.

Eventually though, he lifted himself up and dragged himself over to his crutches. Donnie still hadn't given him back his brace, and Leo was fed up with it.

He tied his mask around his eyes and, ignoring the way his good leg burned, started limping his way towards Donnie's lab.

"Donnie!" He shouted once the doors opened. "Enough is enough! Give me back my brace!"

Donnie turned slowly in his chair, and the look in his eyes made Leo tense. It was cold; piercing.

"Leonardo," He said calmly. "What makes you think you can barge into my lab?"

"Cut the shit Don," Leo snapped back. "You guys have me locked in my room like a feral animal. I deserve the right to walk."

"To be quite frank, I don't think you deserve much of anything," Donnie said, still in that toneless voice. "Not after everything you did. I think the least you can do is accept your punishment gracefully, don't you?"

"Punishment?! Seriously!?" Leo stepped forward. "You said-"

"Of course we did. Raphael didn't want to deal with your inevitable freak out."

The doors hissed shut behind him and Leo suddenly processed how very cold it was.

"...Donnie? What kind of mad-scientist kick are you on?" he asked.

Donnie stood up, stepping up to stare Leo in the face with those cold, dead eyes.

"I assure you this is far from any 'mad scientist kick' you think I may be on. But while hiding my thoughts from our brothers may be neccessary, in the privacy of my lab I see no need."

In one quick motion Donnie was pulling out his Bo and knocking Leo's legs (leg) out from under him. He crashed to the floor and had to blink several times to clear his head.

"D-Don...?" He mumbled, looking around.

"You won't be needing these," the softshell said calmly, taking Leo's crutches from where he'd been reaching for them.

"Donnie, what are you doing-"

"What I should have done as soon as we were settled from the invasion."

Donnie stepped back, typing something into his computer that made vents open along the walls.

"I'm sure someone will come check on you eventually. In the meantime, do try to think about what you've done."

Leo watched with wide eyes as Donnie walked away from him, stopping in the doorway.

"Donnie...stop..." Leo pleaded. "I...Whatever it is, I'm sorry..."

"If only you'd offered that a few months ago, maybe I would believe you."

The doors hissed shut, leaving Leo helpless as cold air blasted from the vents.

What was going on? What had happened? Why was Donnie...why was Donnie freezing him?

He had to get out. He couldn't stay here, not with how fast the tempurature was dropping-

Leo could already feel his body shutting down. His limbs were trembling and it was nearly impossible to drag himself the several feet it took to reach the doors. He pressed the button, but nothing happened.

What?

He pressed it again. Nothing.

"Lockdown protocol initiated."

"No!" Leo hit the door with his fist. "No! No..."

But there was nothing he could do. He didn't understand Donnie's tech; there was no way he'd be able to figure out how to override it and Donnie knew it.

...Donnie knew.

Donnie really was trying to kill him. Somehow that realization hurt more than the cold biting its way up his limbs.

He pulled himself over to the wall, forcing himself into a sitting position. Why would Donnie want this? Sure things had been rough lately...and Donnie had said those...those things, but...Leo never imagined his twin could want him dead.

When CJ came into the kitchen, Raph was immediately on his case.

"Where's Leo?!" The snapper asked urgently.

"He's not with you?" CJ frowned. "He was gone when I woke up."

The three turtles looked at each other and Donnie stood up.

"Let me track him."

He typed something on his gauntlet, then paused.

"Odd...I don't remember locking down the lab today..."

"Could Leo have done it?" Mikey asked. Donnie shook his head.

"No, he doesn't know the passcode. Let me-"

He was cut off by a warning alarm from the gauntlet, a red screen popping up. Donnie read it and froze.

"We need to find Leon now. This is a level four emergency!"

"What? What happened?" Raph asked as him and Mikey both stood up.

"Leo's tempurature is dropping at an impossible rate- we need to find him!"

They all bolted as Donnie kept pulling up the trackers.

"It- What? Why is-"

"What Donnie?!"

"It says he's in my lab- That's impossible!"

They made it to the doors and Donnie started typing on the wall-mounted screen.

"Michael we need blankets, warm water, anything. Immediately."

"I got it!"

Him and CJ both ran off as Donnie scowled.

"Why isn't this working?!"

He kept typing, and an error screen popped up.

"Shit, my system's frozen. Raph-"

He didn't have to say another word before Raph was punching in the doors. Thank god Donnie hadn't replaced them with titanium yet.

The blast of air that followed made Donnie gasp. He'd never felt so much cold all at once.

Raph stormed in, looking around for the missing slider. Donnie glanced at the vitals again.

"Leo?! Leo!" Raph shouted, turning and going completely still. Leo was on the floor, body wracked with violent shivers. He looked up, blinking slowly, and whined when he saw Raph.

Raph was on the floor immediately, pulling Leo into his arms while Donnie ran to fix the temperature.

"Easy Leo, Raph's gotcha," the snapper muttered, trying to warm Leo by sheer hug force alone.

When Leo was able to focus again, he was in his bedroom. He looked around, processing the fact that he wasn't dead.

"Leo?" Raph asked softly.

Leo whined, a dull ache settling into his entire body.

"Easy Leo, Raph's gotcha."

He did, in fact. Leo was curled up in several blankets and his older brother's arms.

"W'happen?" He mumbled.

"We don't know."

Leo jerked at the voice, pulling into his shell. Not him, not again...

"Woah, easy Leo, it's just Donnie."

He whined again, this one having nothing to do with the aching.

It took nearly ten minutes for Raph to get him back out, and when he did it was only enough to hide his face in Raph's shoulder.

"Make him go away..." He whimpered. "Raphie, make him go away..."

"...Nardo?" Donnie's voice was shocked and hurt, but Leo just flinched.

"'S his fault...'s all his fault..."

Above Leo's head, Raph looked at Donnie.

"What is he talkin' about Don?" he asked.

"How should I know? I was with you all morning."

Chapter Text

Donnie pulled up the footage as soon as his lab warmed back up. He had to know what happened, to see what had made Leo freak out like that. Seeing his brother so...scared, of him, it was painful. So he typed in his password and rewound the camera footage to right after he left for breakfast.

"Donnie!" Leo shouted, coming into the empty lab. "Enough is enough! Give me back my brace!"

Donnie frowned, watching Leo limp his way to the computer and start typing.

"Cut the shit Don. You guys have me locked in my room like a feral animal. I deserve the right to walk."

Leo was talking, but there wasn't anyone else in the room unless Donnie counted the half-finished rebuild of SHELLDON, but nobody knew about that except for Donnie.

"Punishment?! Seriously!?" Leo stepped forward. "You said-"

He cut himself off, limping over and shutting the lab doors with a click that signalled the lock latching.

"...Donnie? What kind of mad-scientist kick are you on?"

Donnie jumped as Leo flung himself across the room, hitting the floor with a loud crash.

"D-Don...?"

He sounded so scared, but when he reached for his crutches the feed glitched and then they were across the room from him.

"Donnie, what are you doing-"

Another glitch, and the vents slowly opened and cold air visibly started pouring from them. Leo whimpered, staring at the empty desk.

"Donnie...stop...I...Whatever it is, I'm sorry..."

Donnie covered his mouth with a hand. The tone was so hurt, and Donnie wished he'd come barging in to save Leo from everything that was happening.

Leo took nearly ten minutes to drag himself over to the door, and Donnie watched him type in the password for a complete lockdown.

"Lockdown protocol initiated."

"No!" Leo hit the door with his fist. "No! No..."

His brother stayed like that for almost forty minutes, curled up and trying to call out for them, any of them. He watched when Raph found him, the way they all rushed to warm him up and get him out of the room. The whole thing just left Donnie with more questions than answers. Why was Leo so scared of him? Why had he been talking like Donnie was there?

"Donnie?"

He jumped, turning as Raph came into the lab.

"What are you doing?" He asked, putting a hand on Donnie's shoulder.

"I checked the camera feed to see what happened. Look."

He rewound and played it again, watching Raph's chasm grow as it continued. When it finished, Donnie paused it again.

"What?"

"I know," Donnie said. "I don't understand it."

"Do you think this has to do with the whole roof thing?"

"Maybe? I don't know, we knew he was unstable but this...

Leo woke up alone this time, and immediately grabbed for his crutches.

He couldn't stay here. He needed to breathe-

He didn't have his swords, which meant limping his way down the thankfully empty entrance of the lair and out into the sewers. The ladders gave him trouble, but he somehow managed to drag himself up into the alley above. He just needed some air. The lair was starting to feel more like a prison.

Hueso would let him in, right? He always did, and they could talk things out and Leo could get his head on straight. Hueso would help him figure out how to handle Donnie. How to apologize.

He was halfway to the pizza place when he heard it.

Leo~

He froze, glancing into the alley he'd heard it from. There was a feint glow coming from a corner, and Leo limped towards it.

He was nearly there when something shot out, clamping down around his ankle and dragging him back so fast he couldn't even scream. It yanked him up the building, dropping him down on the roof hard enough Leo felt something crack in his arm.

"Ugh, Jase! I told you to get Von Ryan, not this one!"

Oh. Were these those 'purple dragons' that Donnie kept talking about? They had the same jackets, and definitely matched Donnie's descriptions.

The claw dragged Leo closer, and Leo couldn't do anything as the girl - Kara? Kenna? - looked him over like a rotten piece of meat.

"Well, I suppose I'll have to settle for bait," she said.

"Ohhhh no- nonononono, I am terrible bait," Leo said quickly. "My brother- you're talking about Donnie right? Yeah, I'm probably the worst brother you could've chosen- he just tried to kill me!"

She smirked, and he was suddenly lifted into the air by his ankle.

"Well then, we'll see what happens if he doesn't show."

Leo didn't know how long he hung there, trying and failing to get loose. His arm was definitely broken somewhere, and his good leg was the one being held up, so he really couldn't do anything. He didn't even have his crutch, it had fallen somewhere down the building.

He must've passed out, because when he came to it was to landing hard on his shoulder. There was the sound of clashing metal and for a moment, Leo started to relax- but then he was being dragged in the air again and suddenly the ground was way further down than it was before.

"Everybody freeze!" Kendra shouted. "Drop your weapons or the blue one takes a dive!"

Everything stopped, and Leo saw all three of his brothers staring. Raph dropped his weapon, with Mikey and (surprisingly) Donnie doing the same.

"Let him go Kendra," Donnie said. "He's not part of this!"

"You made him part of this Von Ryan. In fact, he told me some very interesting things when I found him."

Leo's eyes widened and Donnie tensed.

"He told me that he'd be terrible bait, because you already wanted him dead," she continued, grinning wider with each word. "He said you'd already tried to kill him."

"I would never!"

"Donnie would never!" Raph growled. "Now let Leo go before I start smashing!"

She shrugged, and they all realized in the same moment.

Then she let go.

Leo closed his eyes, but the pain never came. Not the way he expected anyways.

"Leo!"

He hit the wall of the building with a yelp, opening his eyes to see the ground still far below him. He looked up, and Raph was holding his numb leg with...

With a ninpo arm over his stump.

Leo stared for a moment, then let out a relieved laugh.

"You are learning all kinds of tricks big bro!" He shouted.

Raph pulled him up and immediately crushed him into a hug.

"You gotta stop doin' this to me Leo," He muttered. Leo just shuddered and leaned into it.

"Didn't mean to scare y'. I just needed to get out of there."

"Watch out!"

The both turned to see I giant something flying towards them. Mikey dove between it, and there was a bright flash.

The air was tinted, forming a wall that the giant thing had hit. It looked like Donnie's constructs, except it was orange.

"Woah," Leo breathed. "Is that you Angelo?"

"Uh...I think?" the box turtle said, standing up from where he'd tried to block the incoming projectile. He poked it, and the wall shimmered.

"I have...so many questions.

Chapter Text

"MY LAB, NOW!"

For Leo, everything but that shout was a blur up until he was sitting in Donnie's lab, in the good desk chair, wrapped in a blanket with Raph looking over his injuries.

Donnie was over with Mikey, next to what almost looked like a walk-in shower but had a panel on the outside of it. The younger two were talking in low voices, making it impossible for Leo to hear what they were saying.

"What were you thinking sneaking out again?!" Raph hissed, bandaging a gash on his bad leg and staring so hard it actually made Leo a bit hesitant to talk.

Only a bit.

"I needed some air! You guys have kept me locked up in here for- For- For I don't even know how long! I'm going crazy down here Raph, I need to move."

"So you had to get yourself killed?!"

"No! I was just going to see Hueso! I would've just teleported but oh, wait, my swords are locked up somewhere and I can't call them. What else was I supposed to do?!"

"NOT run off somewhere when you can barely walk!"

"I can walk just fine with my brace, but Oh, look at that, someone took those too!"

"WAIT!"

Mikey's shout made them pause. The youngest was standing half inside the weird shower-thing, and both him and Donnie were staring at them.

"Like I was saying," Donnie apparently continued, "Clearly all of us need to re-check our Ninpo. Given everything we've all been doing, between Raph's portals and Mikey's blatent copying of my skills-"

"Hey!"

"We clearly have no idea what we're capable of," Donnie finished, planting his hands on his hips. "So Raph, you go in first."

"What? Why me?"

"Because you were the first one to do anything new. Whatever happened to expand our abilities started with you and that weird red portal you made."

Raph frowned, glancing back at Leo like he wanted to continue their conversation. But, ultimately he just traded places with Mikey and walked into the weird tank-shower thing.

"So uh, what should Raph do?" Raph asked. He raised an arm to adjust his mask slightly, scratching the back of his neck.

"Just hold still, and watch a genius at work."

A light came on over the door, followed by a strange whooshing noise. Donnie hummed and made some sort of note on his gauntlet before nodding to himself.

"Okay, Mikey, come back."

The two swapped out again, with Leo just watching quietly. It was nice to have a break from the constant whispers for once. He didn't really feel like messing that up.

When Donnie started his thing up again, the sound it made this time was a high-pitched whirrrrr that made Leo cover his ears as much as he could with one hand. It send a sharp pain through his head and down his spine, bad enough he could feel it in his bad leg.

Pathetic. You can't handle a little noise?

Leo scowled. And here he'd been enjoying the lack of shitty thoughts for a moment.

"Sweet Aristotle," Donnie muttered, making his notes.

"What? Is that good?" Mikey asked, still inside the machine.

"It's incredible Angelo - you've nearly quadrupled your ninpo's power!"

Mikey's eyes lit up and he whooped.

"Awesome! CJ did say I'm a mystic warrior in the future!"

"He did?" Raph asked. Leo nodded.

"Yeah, back when we were trying to find you during the invasion. He told us a little bit about our futures. Apparently Mikey's a bigshot magic man."

"I didn't even think this was possible...I'll need to discuss this with our dear creator."

The lab doors opened again and CJ walked in, lighting up when he saw Leo.

"Sensei! Er- Leo, you're okay!"

"Heyyyy Case," Leo said, giving a small wave. "I took a little detour, but yeah I'm alright."

CJ ran over and quickly caught him in a hug, smiling when he pulled away.

"I'm glad you're okay. Do you need anything?"

"Actually, Casey Junior, would you mind helping my dear brother into the testing machine?" Donnie chimed in.

"Case, you don't have to-"

"Sure! I don't mind."

He wrapped Leo's arm over his shoulders and helped the slider limp over to the machine, not letting go until Leo was leaning in one of the corners. Even then, he stuck close and stood right next to Donnie.

"Alright, aaaand..."

The sound started again, getting louder and louder by the second.

"Uhm, Donnie...?" Leo asked. Donnie looked panicked, his eyes wide as he started pressing buttons.

And then the glass shattered.

All at once, the walls of the machine cracked and shattered, falling to the floor in a wave of tiny shards. Leo yelped, jerking away so fast he ended up tucking into his shell to avoid the raining glass.

When he popped back out, he was in Raph's arms on the other side of the room.

"What happened?" He asked, carefully letting himself fully pop back out. He didn't try to get away from Raph's warm embrace yet though. Raph opened his mouth to answer, but Donnie beat him to it.

"This is unprecedented...You're magic levels broke the machine!" Donnie shouted. For a moment Leo thought Donnie was going to be mad (he was still actively processing that Donnie tried to kill him) but his twin turned towards Leo with a scared expression.

"Raph, call Draxum. We need him for this."

Chapter Text

"NO! No way, not happening, absolutely not, No!"

To say Leo was furious would be an understatement. A massive understatement.

"Leo, he knows more about this mystic stuff more than we do-" Mikey started.

"I don't care! I don't want him anywhere near me! He didn't help us with the Krang, he wasn't even there and he hasn't checked in on us once since! I refuse to be his experiment anymore!"

"Don't be dramatic Nardo," Donnie said bitterly. "We need him here. Whatever's going on with you is beyond even my incredible genius, and Draxum happens to be a literal scientist of the mystic arts. He's the only one who's going to know what's going on."

Leo scowled. He hated that Donnie was making valid points, like he usually did. 

"He's on his way," Raph chimed in, slipping his phone back into his belt. "Said he'd be here in like two minutes, had to stablize a potion or something."

Leo's head whipped around to Raph, a creeping feeling climbing up his spine.

"Why would you call him?!" He snapped, pushing himself away from Raph and catching the bed to stay balanced.

"Don's right Leo," Raph said gently. "We need to know what's goin' on with you, and Barry's the one who's gonna know."

"So I just don't get a say in this?!" The fury was burning through his veins, burning through his bad leg and burning where his arm used to be. "I just don't get to choose whether or not I get dissected?!"

"We aren't going to let him dissect you," Raph quickly reassured. "Just...he might be able to see more than Donnie's goggles can."

"But I still don't get a say in this."

The sound of a portal opening behind him caught his attention, and something in the back of Leo's head changed.

The next thing he knew, he was completely entangled in Draxum's signature pink vines and a bunch of Donnie's constructs on top of that. Said owners of his restraints were pinning him against the wall while Mikey stood over a bleeding Raph, who was staring at the blood in his hand with a strange sort of hurt.

Leo blinked. The entire room was trashed, and everyone was looking at him like...

...Like he'd done this.

"Guys?" He asked, his voice small and nothing like it usually was. "What...what happened? Raph?"

"Leo?" Raph asked, looking up from his hand. Leo could see now that the blood was coming from a gash across Raph's face, barely missing his other eye and likely not deep enough to scar, at least from what Leo could tell.

Donnie was staring at him intensely, eyes narrowed and wary.

"What happened? Guys, c'mon, I'm starting to get nervous."

He tried to pass it off as a joke, but it landed flatter than Donnie's shell.

Speaking of Donnie, his twin eventually pulled away and nodded to the others, who all let out matching sighs of relief. Draxum let him down, and Donnie caught him under the arms.

"Seriously....what happened?" Leo asked again.

"You don't remember?" Mikey spoke up, coming up on Leo's other side.

"Remember what?"

"Sit down, please. I need to check something important," Draxum said, following as the others helped Leo get settled back on the bed.

Draxum reached out, hesitating for a moment and making eye contact with Leo before gently placing his hands on both of Leo's shoulders.

"This will only take a moment; you shouldn't feel anything," He said calmly. Then he closed his eyes.

There was nothing but quiet for several seconds, before Leo's leg erupted into a feirce, hot pain that had him screaming before he could even process the pain. Draxum jerked away like he'd been burned, falling back against the wall while the rest of Leo's family surrounded him.

"Woahwoahwoah what's going on?!" Mikey shouted, putting a hand on Leo's arm. He immediately jerked back, his own leg collapsing under him. He landed against Raph, who turned to Donnie with wide, panicked eyes. Donnie didn't have an answer, too busy trying to find whatever Draxum had done to hurt Leo so badly.

Leo couldn't think; he couldn't breathe. The pain was gone but left in its' wake was an ache that made Leo wish he could move his messed up leg. It felt like if he could just move it, stretch it, use it then it would stop.

"Sensei? Are you okay?" CJ asked softly. He was right by Leo's side, just like always.

"I...yeah, sorry about that. I don't know what happened, it just...hurt."

Draxum stood back off, coughing as he gave Leo a grave stare.

"That...is a magic I have only seen once," He said darkly. His eyes drifted to Raph, locking on to his left eye. Raph paled immediately, and Donnie shuddered.

"The Krang," Leo said, his voice hollow. "But how? They're gone, aren't they?"

"Not entirely. The one you locked in the Prison Dimension cannot reach you here, but that doesn't mean the others can't."

"What others?" Mikey chimed in. "We killed the brother one."

Donnie straightened.

"The sister."

Leo was about to ask what happened, since by the time they got off Staten Island he hadn't seen the other two, but his vision started to blur as soon as he sat up.

"Whaaaa....guys?"

His voice sounded far away, foggy. The last thing Leo saw was a strange figure behind his family, before everything went black.

Chapter Text

Leo nearly hit the ground if not for Raph's reflexes. The snapper was able to catch him with an unplanned ninpo arm just before the slider slammed into the floor, pausing before switching to his real arm.

"You did it again," Mikey said. "The arm."

"Yeah, Raph did," Raph said, carrying Leo back to the desk chair and bundling him cozily into the blanket from before. "It doesn't feel different though. With Big Raph it's kinda like...drivin' the turtle tank. But this just feels like my normal arm."

He turned back to Mikey, wiping the drying blood off his face. Mikey beckoned him over, helping him clean the injury while they both tuned in to Donnie and Draxum's conversation.

"-unlike anything we've been able to do before," Donnie was saying, pulling up the scan results from the original power level scan. Someone should probably clean up that broken glass at some point.

"Fascinating...and you took these today?" Draxum asked, reading through the data with a growing frown.

"Yes. He blew up my lab, which was uncalled for, but these readings are beyond our capabilities."

Draxum hummed.

"And you said he's been acting different? Different how?"

"He's been...really confusing," Mikey said softly. His hands were shaking again, they have been since fighting Leo. "It's weird, but he says things that don't make any sense. Like, I'll just be talking to him and then he'll just get upset like I said something bad."

Raph nodded.

"He's been doin' it with me too. He won't even look at me most of the time. And there was that day in the dojo where he started talkin' about how everything was his fault and actin' like I'd said that. I'd never say that!"

"And you? Human boy, have you seen this behavior too?"

Draxum turned to CJ, who hesitated and kinda shrunk into himself a little.

"Well, kinda? I mean, he's kinda just been...confused. That night when we were all worried, he said he'd only been gone for an hour. And he keeps blacking out or something - forgetting maybe? I don't know, it's like he's not always there. And he dropped himself off a roof, at least that's what the others said-"

"Exactly!" Donnie chimed back in. "And then he was acting like nothing had happened!"

"That's right, he didn't remember it. And he freaked out when you tried to clean his hand."

"Strange. This is all unlike anything I've seen before," Draxum said. He was writing out a list of incidents, and CJ was staring at it in growing horror.

"Donatello, what do those other scans look like?"

"The ones we just took? Let me check."

He typed for a moment before his screens changed to show something akin to an X-Ray. On the first screen was Leo's skeleton. On the next was what looked like a heat signature scan, and on the third was what effectively looked like Leo without skin; all organs, muscles, and blood vessels were visible on different layers.

"Strange," Draxum muttered, stepping closer. "What do these mean? Are you seeing anything unusual? I'm afraid I'm not well versed in this technology."

Donnie cleared his throat, looking over the scans again while his brothers and CJ stepped closer.

"Well, his temperature seems relatively normal, aside from this," He said, pointing at Leo's working leg. "His leg appears to be severely overheating, which doesn't make sense. After all we're cold-blooded, so unless his leg was being cooked it shouldn't look like this without the rest of his body doing the same."

"Hey, wait a sec," Mikey chimed in, pointing at the same place on the X-Ray scan. "What's that thing? It's not in his other foot."

They leaned in and sure enough, there was a small quadrilateral shape just under the bones of Leo's foot.

"Weird. It must've been something that he cut himself on that got healed over. Like that splinter you got when you were nine Mikey."

Leo groaned from behind them and Raph was immediately at his side.

"Leo? You feelin' alright?" Raph asked softly.

Leo blinked a few times, giving Raph a soft smile as he nuzzled into the hand his older brother had placed on his forehead.

"Mmmn...Raph," Leo chirped. For some reason it just made Raph's heart sink a little.

"Yeah Leo, it's me. How are you feelin'?"

"Wait! I know what that is!" Mikey exclaimed. "Remember? He stepped on the dark armor piece when we were kids! To hide it from dad!"

Donnie actually gasped, looking back and zooming in on the scan.

"Angelo I think you're right," He said. "But why would that be making his leg so hot? We defeated the Shredder and the armor."

"Armor?" Leo asked. "What are you guys talking about?"

The other three brothers looked at each other, before Raph gave Leo a gentle smile.

"Nothin' Leo. Don't worry about it."

Leo, who was almost concerningly docile at the moment, just shrugged and nuzzled harder into Raph's hand.

Whatever was going on, they needed to figure it out and fast.