Chapter Text
It occurred to Leo for a moment that if there was any appropriate time to press the panic button, it would be now. But with a glance back to the lifeless yokai on the floor, he decided that he’d take this fight alone, mostly because that could have been him . Or worse, if his brothers were down here, it could have them .
Though Leo would be lying if he said he didn't want to have this imposter a piece of his mind.
He slung his swords forward, teleporting to them the moment they were about a foot away from Ferox, closing the gap between them in a fraction of a second. Ferox was quick to whip around their bō. They took Donnie's body, but presumably they didn't have a battle shell weighing them down anymore—their speed reflected that.
Damn softshells.
The swords connected with the mystic enlaced wood, wedging half an inch into it. Ferox’s strength took Leo by the slightest surprise, recalling his fights with Donnie, his twin's strong point was never, well, strength.
Even then, every little thing only reminded him of how this wasn't Donnie,
“You killed them! You're a murderer,” the slider spat out, “I don't care what you are, just leave my twin alone!”
“ Twin ?” Ferox scoffed, an unusual replacement for where they'd just say the word. Not Donnie, “We were never twins, it’s not even possible,”
“What do you know about twins—“ Leo yanked back as he caught vines emerging from the staff and creeping up the blades, pulling it free and stumbling back.
Ferox was having none of it, matching his steps back with ones forward, “I know they dont break their promises, or did you forget about that? Well let me remind you!”
Leo lifted for an upwards facing block from his left as Ferox brought down the staff, “you promised you'd always be there for Donnie when they needed you,”
They let the swords push the top away, switching the force applied to the end, and the blue clad turtle shifted his block accordingly, “but you weren't! You left them behind,”
“He ran away!” Leo struggled through a grunt of effort, preventing the bō from smacking his jaw. He wasn't really sure who he was talking to anymore, it held Donnie’s voice, it talked like they were the same person, but…
“We only ran away so we could find someone to train us to be strong enough for you ! All of you!”
“You were strong enough!”
“Not strong enough to keep you from throwing yourself into the fucking prison dimension!” Ferox’s voice cracked, a rawness of freshly dug up memories. Things that resided in his mind but were not his— but he knew it all the same.
Leo pushed the bō away, creating a portal below his feet. He slid down into it before Ferox could grab him. In a flash of blue he was behind the softshell, falling in an attempted in-air strike.
But Ferox was faster. In an instant their staff changed into a vine that spiraled up their arm, and it shot out to wrap around Leo’s ankle. With a harsh gesture, they flung him against the stage’s back wall.
Leo stumbled up to one knee, placing a sword in the ground for balance. The magician's assistant strolled over, with a casual manner that almost overshadowed the reveal that it was all because of Leo .
“But there's the difference between Donatello and I. I’m aware that you’re not worth our effort, though I am not your enemy,” they stopped several feet away, waiting for him to get back up, “I am Donnie’s ally. I used to think I hated them, but now it's all so clear. It's you who’s been holding them back.”
—
“You’re full of shit,” Leo snapped, phasing through the ground with another portal. Ferox tumbled back as the blinding blue flicked directly in front of them, sending the vine that spiraled around their arm in hopes to fish out the slider.
The style was different, fighting against his memory, but familiar. At first Ferox chalked it up to being similar to the great warrior alchemist Baron Draxum, his plant-like fighting style well known in the hidden city before his power was mostly seeped from the dark armor.
But no matter what Ferox tried, he couldn’t figure out some of his signature moves- most notably enlacing his fists with the mystic. Every time he tried it, he could never get the coating thick enough without it splitting off, like roots.
It was something deeper, primal, the vivid image of a USB flash drive being jammed in his brain where it most certainly did not belong. Ferox didn't know the first thing about technology, but the comparison felt right. Over everything, it was raw, uncontrollable power . Power that was granted to him, undoubtedly.
A flash of blue light from behind brought Ferox back to the present, watching as his own vine shot at him from behind. A clever move, but they were quick enough to stop it before it closed the gap of mere inches between the portal and his face.
Another movement, from the first portal again. Two swords sliced through the tendril shortly after where they went out from their arm. In the other hand Ferox summoned their staff, whacking just above Leo's wrists as the cut was complete. His opponent let out a sharp gasp, swords went spinning across the stage floor, one stuck in and the other almost sliding into the audience.
It was at that moment that their earpiece crackled once again to life, the words cut and clean, with no room to bend the command,
“Ferox. Kill the blue one, wrap up the show,” Hypno’s voice felt oddly conflicted on the other side, and despite his confident wording his wobbly tone did not match it at all. But an order is an order.
It's not like they could fight it if they tried.
In a swift, jerky movement Ferox snatched Leo’s neck, slamming him down.
“Don, Ferox, wait! We can talk,” Leo’s words ran dry as Ferox whipped the pointed end of the staff to his neck.
“You had your chance to talk,” Through the noise of the audience, what could only be made out to be cheering, Ferox’s voice dulled.
But their hands were shaking, and they hesitated for a moment too many. They couldn’t figure out why , but they couldn’t find joy in this, they couldn’t fight it, but they couldn’t do it. Body locked in the world of inbetween, and his “twin” appeared to catch onto this.
“I know you’re there, Dee. You don’t have to do this,” His words held familiarity, like Ferox had listened to this speech before, “let’s go home.”
A moment too late, Ferox knew it to be, “Please,”
But the words after, Leo wouldn’t get to hear, because at that moment a giant, red mystic fist smacked into Ferox’s side. Leo wasn't even able to see what became of him before being scooped up like a rag doll.
Raph carried Leo in one arm, and slung Mikey over his shoulder with the other. The buzz of the crowd droned on around them as Raph ran, “We need to get out here, now,” He growled when Leo began to squirm.
“No, Raph! I swear I was so ,” Leo started letting out a frustrated series of chirps, followed by a pained whine as his batting fists connected with a sharp, cracked edge of his older brother’s plastron. His head felt fuzzy, his words breaking through before he really realized what was happening.
“No you were not, Leo, and we both know it,” Raph groaned with effort as his enlarged form struggled its way through an exit, morphing oddly to fit, “Now be quiet, I need to focus.”
Soon, the thumping of Leo’s fists weakened, an invading sting filling his eyes as he mumbled out unheard protests, quiet enough that it wouldn't really catch Raph’s attention over the Hidden City police’s shouting. His mind flooded with Donnie, on that stage. Donnie, his sibling- right there, yet so far. His vision blurred with withheld tears, something that came involuntarily.
Frustration leaking from his eyes, anger, resentment for whatever that thing was. The taunting glossy eyes, the way their lips curled into a smile, it wore his face but it wasn't, it couldn't be,
“Leo, portal! Now!” Snapped Raph, a tone reminiscent of the days before the invasion. Leo stumbled to his feet as he was dropped, materializing a sword and portal in a panicked daze. He didn't even get a chance to see where they ended up before they were back in an alleyway in a familiar street.
Not their lair, to which Mikey immediately began to call out, but his voice broke through to another thought. Leo didn't have to ask, part of him knew.
“We have to go get him,” The youngest declared, raising his head, bringing the tears welling in his eyes to light, “We need to get Donnie back, Raph- you could’ve just grabbed them. Why didn't you grab them?”
Raph winced, his silhouette seeming to shrink ever so slightly.
“Mikey, stop,” Leo warned, but was cut off,
“No! You just portaled us to some random alley in New York, we should be in our lair, so I don't want to hear from you,” But the soft splat of a tear on cool concrete cushioned harsh words. Mikey’s teeth clattered, a mix of the cold and frustration.
“Mikey, I know you're feeling a lot right now, but,” Raph rested a gentle hand on his shoulder, knowing the comfort it’d usually provide. But it was smacked away,
“No! No, no! I will not calm down, we need to go back and get Donnie, now! I’ll get them myself if I have to!”
Leo was getting fed up with the pointless banter, something in Mikey’s words rubbing him the wrong way. They needed to get back Donnie, but,
“Stop referring to that thing as Donnie!” Leo snapped, his words bouncing off brick walls. A pigeon coos, startled from a shout in the night. The tears falling from Mikey’s eyes seemed to freeze, nothing moved.
It was so cold. Like the entire city of New York was trapped under a thick, dirty sheet of ice. The kind you get when the grit from the rooftops carry on melting water, and become everyone’s problem.
“Leo, just get us home,” Raph sighed, wrapping an arm around Mikey. The slider wordlessly lifted his sword, creating the portal. His arms glided sluggishly, lacking the snap he usually held. A sorry from someone who’s pride bounded their mouth.
Leo failed, and not only his brothers, who he gave the confidence that this would be an easy save,
He failed Donnie .
Hypno leaned against the counter, staring down the yet to whistle kettle. Two cups sat prepared for the hot water, tea bags already resting in them. The crackling of the fireplace echoed off the walls, only accented by the chirping of a cricket.
Warren had already gone to bed, and Ferox sat on the rug in the living room. Hypno had been staying out, and as he put it to Ferox; he needed to take care of “something” with “someone.” The glare the assistant gave crushed him only that much more—but it wasnt like he could tell the teen the truth.
“Hypno?” Ferox called, there was a moment's pause before his answer,
“Yes?”
“Why…” Ferox trailed off, considering where he wanted to start, “Why didn’t you tell me I… Donnie had brothers?”
He could hear the way Hypno sucked in a breath through locked teeth, “Let me finish this really quick, I’ll be with you in a moment.”
“Okay.”
After a minute or so of sitting in silence, Hypno joined Ferox on the floor. He handed them a cup of tea, to which they quickly set on the coffee table, and went back to picking at their nail polish. The magician beside them shuffled nervously, eyes looking anywhere else.
“In all honesty,” Hypno began, “I thought you knew. From the way you acted, I thought you remembered everything Don did.”
“Well, I didn’t. I don’t, not everything, but,” The assistant blinked, head turning away, “I don’t care. I don’t care about anything Don did, I don’t care about his family, his petty half-joking rivalries, or anything. It’s all stupid.”
“You know I won’t be upset with you if you’re hurt,” He treads carefully. But Ferox is quick to correct him,
“I’m not! I promise, I’m not hurt, and I’m okay with… this,” Ferox started with his hand at his chest, then gesturing around them, “This is so, so good. I love performing. You and Warren are absolutely the best.. parents slash managers I could ask for. I just,” they curled their knees to their chest, resting a beak upon knees, “I wish I was living it in my own body.”
Well, if it isn’t the consequences of Hypno’s own actions. They watched as the softshell’s eyes softened, melted in the way the dark clouds bleed from their rain, “But Don has got a real family to go back to, huh? This can’t last.”
The magician went to say something, anything, hoping to offer the slightest bit of comfort to the rarely somber Ferox. But instead, the two were interrupted by the ringing of a phone in Hypno’s pocket. Instinctively he pulled it out, the dreaded contact name lighting up the screen.
“It’s okay, you can take it. I was going to bed anyways,” Ferox claimed, but in their eyes held a sad, sad look—one he didn’t know a blank eye could produce. And like that, they were gone, and he was left alone with the ringing phone,
Click.
“Hello?”
“Clock is ticking, dear,” Venus’ voice hums like a siren of misfortune on the other side.
Shit. Shit , how much more-?
“You have 24 hours left. Do not keep me waiting. Don't try anything funny, I will get the softshell whether you give him up or not.”
Click.
The room filled with a silence. Something suffocating, a ringing, a wish of an empty bed he could sprawl his emotions onto. Let them rot and erode, only to curl under warm sheets and wake to find everything had resolved itself. He couldn’t outrun this one, a guilt like the heist.
The heist. The key, the way he was so excited to be part of something bigger he didn’t think far ahead… so caught up in the moment. A lesson left unlearned, it seems.