Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Amazing art by 'Create2Glorify'

Chapter 1: Fall into Darkness

Gritting his teeth in a determined snarl, Leo blocked another razor sharp combat knife swinging straight for his throat with a katana, then side stepped a punch and skipped back to hook a foot behind the mercenary’s knee, sweeping up and sending him flying face down onto the floor. The blue masked turtle twisted around to quickly meet a tanto blade, and held it in a lock for just a moment, then the floor shuddered violently underfoot, and everybody, turtles and mercenary alike, had to lurch to maintain their balance. At the other end of the cargo plane, wind howled through black clouds and wild, pelting rain, the view visible because the cargo door had been blown completely off by a deflected grenade throw.

Leo blew the blue tails of his mask out of his face in annoyance, and quickly lunged forward to re-engage in the fight, hoping to take out yet another mercenary before they could recover as well.

Just why did they keep finding themselves in these type of situations?!

It had all begun a few years ago when, because this was their life and things like this just seemed to always be happening to them, the Foot Clan had splintered into two opposing factions. There was the honorable version of the Foot Clan, lead by Karai, their sister and the long lost daughter of Splinter, and then there was the evil forces loyal to the memory of the deceased Shredder, now calling themselves the NeoFoot. One thing had lead to another, fights were had, evil plans were revealed, assassination plots were uncovered, and now, in the climatic battle after a multi-national chase, Leo and his brothers were currently fighting about a dozen armed mercenaries in the belly of a large cargo plane flying through a turbulent thunderstorm somewhere over the East China Sea. The NeoFoot were after the cargo these mercenaries were guarding, and Karai had made it quite clear that if they got it, it would be bad. Very bad. As in, ‘a city somewhere will probably be destroyed’ bad.

Leo sighed, and dodged another attack. Because, of course, this was their life and things like this just seemed to always be happening to them.

“Donnie!” he called out, twirling and leaping off a surprised mercenary’s armored shoulder to dive kick his buddy behind him. “The ride’s still a little rough back here!”

“I’m working on it!” Donnie yelled back from the cockpit, his voice more then a little annoyed. “Might I remind you that we’re flying through a major storm system, the cargo door’s been ripped off, the control panel is damaged, and-” He cut off for a second, and there was a fleshy crunch, accompanied by a pained grunt, followed by an unconscious mercenary being tossed out of the cockpit. “-and I can’t seem to get anything done because I keep getting interrupted!”

“Okay then. Mikey!” Leo grunted as a particularly burly human thug plowed into his crossed swords and pushed him back so his shell clanged against metal wall of the cargo plan.

“Yes, dearest big bro?” Mikey was clinging to a panicking human’s head like a starfish, and paused in his battering.

“Go help Donnie!” Leo indicated the cockpit door with a slight inclination of his head, his voice strained as he pressed back against the surprisingly strong human.

“Sweet!” Mikey knocked his opponent out with the butt of his nunchucks. “Can I fly the plane?!”

“What?! No!” Donnie poked his head out in alarmed protest.

“I meant more like guarding him!” Leo clarified, exhaling in relief as Raph charged by and full body tackled his opponent away, relieving his aching arms. “Mikey, help Donnie by guarding him so he can fly the plane!”

“Oh thank goodness.” Donnie said, relieved. He flipped his bo around, tripping a guy. “You need to specify that first next time, Leo!”

“Aw.” Mikey sounded disappointed, but still somersaulted and vaulted his way easily towards the cockpit, swinging his chucks to bonk the guy that Donnie just tripped. “I never get to drive!”

“With good reason!” Raph grunted, slamming his fist across the pinned mercenary’s face and knocking him out cold.

There was another turbulent shudder, and a loud crack of thunder outside. Leo swore inwardly as they all fought to keep their balance in the bouncing plane. They had to get out of this storm!

His shell hit a large container, and he grabbed it, hoping to steady himself. Then he caught movement in the corner of his eye, and moved just in time to avoid the machete flung at his head.

A machete?! Who throws a machete?!

But then he didn’t have time to ponder that question any further, as the machete punctured the container he was standing right next to.

“Gah!” Leo yelped in surprise and pain as the seams around the puncture in the pressurized container burst, jetting out a stream of chemicals and mist. He stumbled back, trying to shield his face with his arms, but it was too late. Searing pain jolted through his face, and he cried out, falling to the ground and holding his face in anguish.

“Die turtle freak!” He faintly heard the machete thrower snarl.

“Leo!” he could hear the concern in Raph’s breathless cry, and then there was a crash and a grunt as two creatures collided next to Leo, snarling and fighting. Raph’s voice was much closer and sounded strained as he asked, “How bad is it bro?”

“I... My eyes! It got in my eyes!” Leo gasped, pushing himself up to one hand and knees, desperately clenching at his burning face with the other hand. “I can’t see!”

Raph swore. “Leo’s down!” he yelled. “Mikey! Get over here and help me cover him!”

“Oh crud! On it, bro!”

There was the sound of chains whipping through the air, the surprised grunt of a human male, and general sounds of chaos and fighting around him.

Leo grabbed his bandana and ripped it off, trying to get the burning chemicals away from his face. He desperately wiped at his face with his arm wrappings, trying desperately to see.

“Leo’s hurt?!” Donnie’s voice sounded panicked. “How bad is it?!”

“Stay up there and keep flying the plane!” Leo ordered through pained gasps, clutching his face as he tried to get to his feet. “I’ll... I’ll be okay!”

His... his swords. Where did his swords go? As soon as his eyes cleared and he was able to see again, he had to help his brothers! He needed his swords!

Suddenly there was the sound of an explosion, and Leo was tossed off his feet again as the plane lurched wildly, landing hard on his plastron.

“Donnie!” he heard Mikey wail among the panicked cries of humans as the plane rolled around wildly.

“We’ve been hit! Hang on!” he heard Donnie’s voice squeak out up at the cockpit as he fought for control of the wildly pitching plane. Somehow, he managed to get the plane upright again, but barely, and from the sounds of multi-syllable curses, he was obviously fighting for every inch of control. “We have to land! Now!”

“We’re over the middle of the fucking ocean!” Raph’s voice was now across the room, and he grunted and there was a crash of wood, as if he had just pushed something off of him “There’s no place to land!”

“Guys, stay calm!” Leo grunted, unsteadily pushing himself up again. “We need to-“

Then Donnie cursed and the plane bucked and spun with such violence that he was tossed backwards again, his shell scraping across the metal floor as he slid helpless across it.

“Leo! Look out!”

Leo felt his heart freeze at the raw and uncharacteristic panic and fear in Raph’s voice. Danger! He was apparently in real imminent danger! Look out? He couldn’t see anything! Look out for wha...

A large object slammed into him with enough force to knock the breath completely out of him. The large crate or shipping container or whatever it was continued it’s slide across the tilting plane’s floor, pushing Leo along with it on its path. Leo’s breath hitched as he realized that he was being pushed in the direction of the missing cargo bay ramp.

“LEO! NO!”

And then the floor was gone, and in the darkness that was now his entire world, all Leo knew was there was no longer anything underneath him, only rain and the roaring wind of the storm outside.

He had been pushed out of the cargo bay! He was falling!

Leo only had a momentary snatch of Raph and Mikey’s screams fading quickly away into the distance, before everything was stolen away from him by the roar of wind and rain and thunder.

Never before had he experienced something so terrifying. He wasn’t even sure if he was falling downwards! He couldn’t see, and the wind from the storm was so intense that it felt like it was physically lifting him up and shaking him around like a ragdoll. The rain sliced across his shell and skin, pelting him like hail, and a nearby boom of thunder shook his very core with its intensity.

And then Leo was slammed shell first hard against a surface, and all the breath was painfully forced out of his lungs even as a unbelievably powerful cascade of water rushed over his head and pulled him down into a churning chaos. The impact almost knocked him unconscious, and it was only through sheer willpower that he refused to surrender what little senses he had left.

Leo’s world was only darkness, with water churning all around him, tossing him back and forth and tumbling him all around like he was nothing more then a paper doll in a tornado. He had no idea which way was up or down anymore, and his lungs begged for air. He desperately clawed at the water around him, hoping desperately that he was moving upwards towards the surface.

Just as his limit was reached and his lungs were about to give out, his head managed to barely breached the water’s surface, allowing him only a small, lifesaving gasp of air just before a huge torrent of water washed over him, forcing him under once more. Leo was sent tumbling head over heels through the cold and violent water.

Desperately, he struggled against the torrents of water, and somehow managed to surface once more, and once more was only given again only a few precious seconds to simultaneously cough out water and try to inhale air at the same time before he was forced under again.

Over and over, Leo managed to fight his way to the surface for a gulp of air, only to be sucked back down into the churning depths of the sea. Time seemed to slow down. It seemed like he had been stuck in this endless cycle of darkness, water, and fighting for every scrap of air for an eternity. Nothing else existed, nothing else mattered. Only that fight for the next breath.

And then Leo’s shell slammed into something hard floating in the water, and he instinctively grabbed at it. Another wave almost tore it out of his tentative grasp, but it finally registered in his stunned and foggy brain that this was a piece of debris that was floating. It floated! He quickly lunged forward and clung to it all the tighter.

It was metal, round, and hollow. A barrel? He couldn’t tell through the never ending darkness that was his world, but when the next wave crashed over him, sending water pounding over him head in its attempt to bury him, the buoyancy of the object sent him bobbing straight back up to the air almost immediately.

Leo clung tightly to it, gasping and gagging and coughing and trying to keep breathing and sputter out any water he kept accidentally inhaling.

He couldn’t let go.

No matter what, he couldn’t let go.

To let go was to die.

He... He couldn’t let go.

Leo had no idea how long he clung to that barrel in the darkness, battered by the roaring, pounding waves and the gales of wind and sheets of solid, pelting rain as thunder shook the air around him. Hours. Days? It could have been lifetimes, for all he knew.

The only purpose of his existence at that moment was only to cling to that piece of flotsam, his lifeline, the only thing keeping him from being sucked down into the depths. Conscious thought was eventually driven away, his muscles screamed in agony, and only his sheer stubbornness and will to live kept his grip firm on the barrel. There was no other option, no other purpose. Just hold on, no matter what.

But at some point, what seemed like a whole lifetime later, the storm eventually lost its intensity, though Leo was hardly aware of the fact. It hardly registered in the uninterrupted darkness that he wasn’t constantly being shoved deep underwater by crashing waves anymore, that now he was more just bobbing along rocky waves in darkness and cold and the driving need to Not Let Go!

Then, in his exhausted, barely conscious mind, Leo suddenly realized that his feet were brushing against something. Dragging across...?

Sand...

There was sand under his feet...

There was a moment of panic as the water pulled him back, and he lost that wonderful sensation against his half dead feet, but then another violent surge shoved him forward, and the sound of his shell slamming against a rock was both painful and wonderful.

Rocks meant land. Sand meant shore. He needed to get out of the water!

Leo let go of his lifeline, the barrel that had saved him against all odds, and clung to the rock, sputtering and coughing. Then, exhausted muscles screaming, fighting his every attempt to move, he pushed off. His feet sank into the fine sand, but somehow waded through the shallows until there was no more water to help support his weight, and he collapsed to his hands and knees, too exhausted to support the weight of his own body.

Everything was still dark...

...Away from the water...

He had to get away from the water.

Conjuring every last bit of his strength, forcing his leaden muscles to respond somehow, Leo crawled forward farther up onto the beach, panting, coughing, and choking. Then his hands touched what felt like grass, and a second later he bumped into something solid. He lifted his hand shakily to touch it, and quickly realized it was a rough tree trunk.

Exhausted, Leo collapsed into the sand and plants on the other side of the tree, keeping it between him and the sound of the roaring ocean behind him. Too tired to even curl up, even the distant thunder and crash of waves quickly faded away, enveloped, like everything else, into endless darkness..

Chapter Text

Something was tickling his face.

Everything hurt. His face hurt. His eyes hurt. His shell hurt. His throat and lungs hurt. Every muscle screamed in exhaustion, and Leo wanted nothing more then to stay in this blissful unawareness.

But that annoying tickling moving lightly across his face kept bringing him back to the brink of consciousness.

“Mikey...” Leo groaned, too tired to move.

There was a pause, and then the sensation of the tickling continued moving across his cheek.

Grunting in annoyance, Leo raised his bone weary hand to half-heartedly swat his orange brother away, hoping to sink back into the depths of sleep.

Instead, his hand unexpectedly came in contact with something small, hard, and skittering across his face, and he realized suddenly that it wasn’t Mikey. Panicked, he swatted the small crab off and bolted upright, awareness jolting him awake.

This wasn’t home!

Memories flooded back, of the battle in the cargo plane, of falling, of the violent and angry ocean. He wasn’t safe at home with his brothers! He didn’t know where he was!

There was the sound of the ocean rushing gently onto shore nearby, the song of unfamiliar birds echoing all around him, the rustling of wind through leaves and...

And...

And Leo’s eyes were open, but the world was still dark.

He blinked, confused, but it made no difference.

What...?

He hesitantly reached up and felt his face gingerly. His face felt sore and tender to the touch, and his eyes still burned painfully, though by now it had faded to a dull ache. His mask was gone, he vaguely remembered taking it off in the plane, so it couldn’t be covering his eyes. His vision wasn’t being blocked.

So... why couldn’t he...?

He lowered his hand, and tried looking around, searching for any pinprick of light. Was... was it maybe night out? Was that why it was so dark?

But, no, even in the darkest night, it shouldn’t be so completely pitch black out. Leo couldn’t even make out his hand right in front of his face. And the birds were singing, and he felt warm, like he was outside in the sunshine, so he was pretty sure he wasn’t in a cave or dark building.

But... why couldn’t he...?

His chest tightened as realization began to dawn on him.

The memory of painful chemicals spraying him in his face... In his eyes...

Oh no...

...No...

Leo’s knees pulled up close to his chest, and his breath hitched in fear.

NO!

His hands quickly went up to his face and rubbed at his eyes, ignoring the pain, desperately trying to rub off anything that could possibly be there, blocking his sight.

Still nothing but darkness.

Oh gods no! It couldn't be!

With a panicked whimper, Leo tumbled forward and, on his hands and knees, scrambled down the beach, his hands desperately patting the sand in front of him as he stumbled through the darkness. Once he hit water, the waves much calmer and gentler then the raging tempest last night, he quickly scooped up water and splashed himself on the face.

This had to be a dream!

This was only a bad dream!

But no matter how much he tried to scrub his face, no matter how many times he wiped his face clean, the darkness remained unchanged every time he opened his eyes.

Leo panted for air, on the verge of hyperventilating.

He was blind.

He was BLIND!

He had no idea where he was, or where his brothers were, and he couldn’t SEE anything!

His brothers! Were they...?

“Donnie?” Leo hesitantly called out, then winced at how hoarse his voice was, and how much it hurt to talk. “Raph? Mikey?”

Nothing but the sound of waves and birds.

Oh... oh gods... He was going to be sick.

He turned around, frantically feeling around the sand as he tried to figure out something, anything about his surroundings, his voice growing more desperate. “Guys?! Where are you?!”

For the first time in his life, Leo was on the edge of a full blown panic attack. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he was aware that if he yelled too loudly, then if there were any humans nearby, he might attract their attention, but oh gods! He couldn’t see and he didn’t know where he was!

What was he going to do?! What if there were humans nearby?!

He bumped into another tree trunk, and unsteadily used it to pull himself up to his feet. “Donnie! Raph! Mikey! Please! I’m over here!” His voice was louder now, pleading.

Oh gods, what if there was a human settlement nearby?! Leo could be standing in the middle of a resort, for all he knew, and he wouldn’t even be aware of it! He was completely vulnerable and out in the open, and he couldn’t see anything around him to see if there was even a good place to hide from them!

Leo stumbled forward, his arms outstretched, and quickly felt another tree. He pushed past it and just kept moving forward, not sure what else to do and desperately needing to find something, anything, in this endless darkness!

He kept calling out his brothers' names, growing louder and louder as his desperation grew, hoping beyond hope that they were somewhere out there looking for him, currently too panicked to care that it might draw unwanted attention.

The blackness was all consuming, surrounding him, blanketing him. His whole world was nothing but empty darkness, and the unexpected sensations of whatever his hands bumped against and his feet stumbled over. He couldn’t see anything before him or behind him, and while he strained to hear an answering voice to his calls, the only sounds he could hear were only those of birds and the wind in the trees and the ocean fading behind him.

“DONNIE! RAPH! MIKEY!” Leo begged into the darkness, sweat dripping down his salt and sand crusted skin as he blindly flailed about, trying desperately to find them. He tripped and fell, pushed himself up, lunged forward and promptly ran into a branch that smacked him across the snout. Gasping in pain, he stumbled backwards a few steps, only to suddenly feel a large rock embedded in the ground hit him against his calves. Losing his balance, he fell over backwards, and quickly found himself tumbling down a small ravine, painfully bouncing and scraping against rocks before rolling to a stop in the dirt and leaves.

Shaking and trembling, Leo didn’t even try to get back up. He just curled into a tight ball, wrapping his arms over his head and too terrified to move any further.

He had no idea where he was, he was completely alone and without his brothers, and he couldn’t see anything!

A sob wracked his chest.

Maybe it was better that his brothers weren’t here. The great fearless leader Leonardo... reduced to a blind, helpless wreck huddled in the dirt and trembling in fear...

He just wanted to SEE!

Please! Something! Anything! He didn’t want to be lost in this darkness for the rest of his life!

He wanted to see the stars!

He wanted to see the city lights blinking like a thousand brilliant fireflies!

He wanted to see Donnie’s goofy little proud grin of delight when he finished a new project!

He wanted to see the fire in Raph’s eyes as they smirked competitively at each other in the dojo.

He wanted to see the delighted sparkle in Mikey’s face as he laughed and played.

Purple, Red, and Orange. Leo would never see those colors again! Just... just only black... and darkness...and nothing. There was only nothing now.

Leo grabbed his head in both hands, and a heartbroken scream of frustration ripped its way out of his chest and echoed through the darkness.

The chatter of birds stopped instantly, startled by the unexpected noise. For a few heartbeats, there was only the sound of a lonely breeze rustling leaves above.

Let any humans hear! Leo didn’t care anymore! Let them come and lock him away somewhere! Let them end his miserable life! As long as something, anything happened! As long as he wasn’t lost out here alone in the void of nothingness! He couldn’t handle this!

And then the world once again moved on despite his pain, and the birds and insects resumed filling the air with their songs and chitters.

Leo’s now-worthless eyes burned from the salt as hot tears began spilling out, and he curled up even tighter, just waiting for somebody, anybody to come find him and put him out of his misery.

But... nobody came, and he was left alone in the darkness.

The enormity of his situation slowly began to fully weigh down on him and seep inward.

This was it. His life was over. He would never be able to wield his swords again. He would never be able to protect his family! Even if he did somehow survive this, he would be nothing but a burden on his brothers now, an invalid that they would forever have to care for.

What good was he to anybody without his sight?!

Leo curled up tighter, covering his head, lost in the darkness that surrounded him, and his body gave a shudder of grief. He couldn’t even save himself now.

Oh, my brothers, wherever you are, please be okay! I can’t protect you anymore! I’m so sorry!

Leo wasn’t sure how long he lay there, huddled curled up in the dirt. Hours, at least. He just couldn’t bring himself to get up and try to navigate through the world of darkness once more. He was utterly spent, in both body and spirit. It was just so much easier to lay here and listen to the sounds around him with his eyes closed. It was just so much easier to surrender to the darkness that he couldn’t fight against.

A sound beyond that of the birds chirping up ahead and the breeze swaying through the leaves finally broke through his mental haze.

Water trickling.

He shifted ever so slightly, listening carefully. Not the ocean, which was now off in the distance, but.. a stream maybe?

He suddenly became aware of just how thirsty he was.

He licked his dry, salt crusted lips and lay there for a moment, just listening to the sound of the water, trying to figure out what direction it was coming from with sound alone.

Then, slowly, painfully, he lifted an arm and put one hand on the rocky ground beneath him. He exhaled slowly, pressing his forehead against the dirt. Then, gathering up all his strength, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to move, pushing himself up slowly to a standing position. His legs wobbled a little, and he felt sick and exhausted, but he took a deep breath and forced his muscles to steady themselves.

Then, slowly, carefully, he turned and pushed his way forward, groping through the darkness once more.

He felt the trees more carefully now. Some of them were straight and rough. Palm trees? But... as he wandered further in, some of the trees smoothed out. Older trees, with leaves, though he couldn't even begin to tell which species surrounded him.

Wait. There. The sound of water was coming from over there.

Carefully, Leo removed his hand from the tree trunk and slid his foot over the ground, trying to move carefully enough that he wouldn’t stub his toes hard against anything. Hm. The ground here felt cooler and more spongy then the other parts of the forest he had been in. So far it seemed flat, with lots of grass and leaves underfoot.

Then his toes squished in wet mud and touched cool water.

Exhaling in relief, Leo carefully knelt down, feeling the ground underneath him cautiously. Water. Oh, thank goodness!

He let one of his hands dip into the cold liquid. It at least smelled clean and fresh, no hints of salt or chemicals. It was probably a fresh water spring.

A quick taste confirmed that it at least tasted drinkable. Leo quickly wasted no time plunging his face in the water and drinking his fill. He hadn’t realized just how much he needed this, and the refreshing cold water soothed his sore throat. Finally, with one final gulp, he pulled back, gasping for air. He still felt exhausted and almost strangely numb, but... the water helped a little.

It reminded him that he was still alive. That... that had to count for something. Right?

Exhaling, he felt around until he found a flat rock he could sit on. He sat back and started scooping water up to splash on his skin, trying to rinse off all the sand and salt he could feel encrusting his scales. He spent quite a bit of time pouring the spring water over his face and around his eyes. He wasn’t really surprised when it had no effect on the darkness, as he had barely allowed himself to hope in the first place, but at least it felt good against the hot, burning skin.

...

His jaw tightened.

He... he couldn’t let himself lose control of his emotions again. He had to keep a cool and level head about this. He couldn’t panic anymore. Panicking hadn’t helped the situation at all. If... if he was going to get through this, he... he needed to remain calm.

Somehow.

He slowly reached up, and ran his fingers gingerly over his face.

Well... at least he didn’t seem to be too badly injured, other then the obvious fact that he was apparently blind. His face felt a little warm and painful, but there didn’t seem to be any burns or blisters on his scales.

Maybe... maybe the blindness was temporary.

What if he just needed some time to heal? Then he’d be able to see again.

Then he could still who he always had been again. He would be able to protect and lead his family.

...

But... what if it wasn’t?

What if... What if he never got his sight back? What if...

He swallowed hard, drawing up his knees and hugging them tightly.

What if this darkness all around him was permanent?

A rustle in the leaves close by caught his attention, and he realized suddenly that he could hear a low but soft faint rumble, like the tiniest motorcycle engine.

What was...?

Leo paused for a moment, and concentrated on the noises. Though the rumble was constant, the rustling stopped, and there was a long pause. Then, a sudden crunch, as if a small creature had just pounced on a leaf.

Was there some animal close by?

Leo swallowed hard, and slowly uncurled, shifting to face the direction of the noise. “Is... is somebody there?” he hesitantly asked.

He half expected there to be the startled rustle of a fleeing woodland creature. It was probably just a squirrel or something.

But, no. The rustling stopped, but the rolling rumbling noise merely intensified at the sound of his voice. He had apparently peaked the interest of whatever it was, for the sounds began to draw closer. Whatever this creature was, it had abandoned its leaf chasing, and was now heading right for him!

Before Leo could make up his mind on how he should react, a soft, furry head rubbed against his knee.

Leo paused, then cautiously reached out through the darkness, and carefully touched the fuzzy little warm thing. His touch only made the rumble grow louder.

A... a cat? It was a small cat?

A rather friendly one, from the way it was weaving around his hand and trying to encourage him to pet it.

Leo tilted his head, listening as intently as he could as he sniffed the air. But, as far as he could tell, there was only the cat.

“Er... where did you come from, little one?” he asked nervously.

This cat was obviously tame. Tamed meant humans nearby.

The cat apparently felt surprisingly comfortable around mutant turtles, as it merely jumped up into his lap and mewed loudly, bumping against his plastron in an obvious demand for more attention.

Leo exhaled, then carefully scooped the cat up in his hands.

Well, he was now holding a warm, fluffy, bundle of fur vibrating with some rather intense and loud happy purrs. Now what?

Leo lowered his head slightly to carefully sniff at it, wondering if he could maybe detect some scent of humans on it.

Hm.

Well, there was definitely a perfumed smell of some sort of incense lingering in its fur. Also, a scent of citrus, and... maybe fish? Which made sense, they were close to the ocean. Was there a fishing village nearby?

The cat apparently couldn’t understand why its new friend was so clueless as to the way things were supposed to work, and wiggled forward so it could hit Leo’s chin with the full force of the top of its head. ‘Pets, turtle creature!’ It demanded with a loud, complaining meow. ‘You’re supposed to be giving me all the pets!’

Leo sighed, and shifted the cat to one hand so he could begin scratching it behind the ear. His reward was intense vibrations from the happiest of purrs.

So... humans were obviously extremely dangerous. He was a mutant, and would most likely find an unfriendly welcome at best, and a one way trip to a scientist’s lab at worst. They could have guns, or other weapons, and he was injured and.. and blind. Everything about going near humans right now screamed of a bad idea.

But... humans also had phones.

If... if he could find one... then he could try and call his brothers.

He shifted the cat in his arms, gently stroking its face and feeling the whiskers and ears. The cat reveled in the attention, and gave a pleased little ‘murr’ to let Leo know he was doing well.

He found himself taking some strange comfort in this connection with another living being, even if it was just a cat.

He was still surrounded by darkness, but now... now he could feel with touch that he wasn’t completely alone.

He continued to pet the purring cat quietly for some time, somehow loathed to give up even this small connection to the world outside.

"You can still see the world around us." he finally said to the cat in his arms softly, almost pleadingly. “What should I do now, little one?”

Chapter Text

Leo sat with his shell leaning against a large rock. He had earlier found a long, thin stick on the ground, and was now absently tracing it in random patterns across the dirt floor. It was having the desired effect, he could feel the stick jolting in his hand once in a while as he moved it, constantly being swatted, pounced on, and attacked by a very entertained cat.

Day Two now.

This was his second day since he had washed up here.

Since he had discovered that he was...

He took a deep breath, and once again forced himself to remain calm.

Now that he was no longer in a blind panic (ironically named condition), and was taking the time to sit back and try to carefully examine things, he had come to realize that his world wasn’t completely and totally pitch black. Not all the time, anyways. When it was daylight and he was out in the sun, it was more like... a really murky gray? He discovered that if he paid attention, he could still kind of tell when it was light out, and when it was dark.

So yeah...

He had that going for him, at least?

Still didn’t change the fact that he couldn’t see anything.

So far, he had kept most of his activities centered around the spring he had found yesterday. Water was very important, and he didn’t want to get too far away and get lost in the darkness around him. If one was surviving out in the wilds, one needed to have a good water supply.

And he apparently still had a little companion. He sincerely hoped that some child wasn’t tearfully plastering ‘Missing Pet’ posters all over telephone poles somewhere, but... yeah. He had to admit that he was glad for the company. For reasons unknown, the cat had so far stuck close to him, and he had spent the long, distressing first night with a little warm, furry lump of fur curled up on his shell, sleeping soundly even if Leo could not.

He sighed, and wiggled the stick around a little. There was a pause, and he could almost visualize the butt wiggling going on, and then the jolt of a ferocious pounce.

He already knew he couldn’t keep sitting here and doing nothing. He... he needed to figure out a plan. He always worked best when he had a plan. In the past, as leader, he had always needed to be the one who figured out just what had to be done, and what needed to be done to do it.

So what he needed to do right now was to take a deep breath, step back mentally, and look at the issues on hand right now that he had to deal with.

Alright then.

First off, and most distressingly, there was obviously the most glaring issue of all to deal with. He was BLIND!

This had huge ramifications, not just for his present situation, but for the rest of his life, if he survived that long. He hoped with every fiber of his being that it was temporary, or maybe if he found his brothers, Donnie would be able to help him, but... but he had to be realistic. There was a very real possibility that it wasn’t fixable. That the damage done to his eyes was beyond healing.

That... that this darkness was permanent.

He swallowed hard, and drew up a knee slightly closer.

Yeah...

Okay. So, this was the issue that he had the least control over right now. There was absolutely nothing he could do about it, and he needed to remain cool headed and logical if he wanted to survive. So, for right now, all feelings and emotions about that issue were going to get squished waaaay deep down in the furthest corner of his mind to get dealt with later. That meant there was probably going to be another panic attack or two in his future, but, eh, he’d deal with them then. For now, all the squish. The hardest of squish. Those emotions were now unhealthily repressed so very hard, they might as well be labeled mind diamonds!

So, that done, moving onto other matters that needed to be dealt with.

There was the fact that he was separated from his brothers. The last he saw of them, they were struggling to maintain control of a badly damaged plane in the middle of a storm, heading who knew where. He had no idea where they were, or if they were even still... still...

Without realizing what he was doing, Leo pressed the stick against the ground so hard, it snapped in two, startling him with the sound.

He quietly fingered the broken stick for a moment, then tossed it to the side and reached over. He remembered some particularly long grass being over in this direction, and... ah, there!

His fingers fell upon a patch of long, weedy grass, and he fingered through them, before plucking a particularly long piece. This should be enough to entertain his guest. And when he dragged the piece of long grass across the ground, sure enough, a moment later, there was a vicious pounce and savage kicking and biting. That piece of grass was getting destroyed.

Now, where was he?

Ah, yes. He wasn’t sure where his brothers were, although he had the utmost confidence that, wherever they were, they were absolutely alive, fine, and completely unharmed. After all, he trusted his brothers. They were all smart, resourceful, and clever, and he just knew that they somehow managed to work together to pilot that plane just fine to safety out of that storm. So the only matter he needed to worry about was somehow contacting them. This, unfortunately, was another matter that might be out of his hands. There were a few seeds of possible solutions floating around for future consideration, but, for now, he couldn’t do anything until he had more information about the resources at his disposal.

Which led him to his third issue. He was stranded on... well... a beach? Possibly an island, possibly some quiet, undeveloped part of the mainland. He didn’t have a clue. He had no idea where he was, other then it was somewhere in East Asia.

Besides his new little cat friend, there had been very few signs of civilized life here. Granted, he hadn’t explored very far yet, but he hadn’t heard any sounds of cars or machinery off in the distance, or any other noises that might indicate a human settlement nearby.

A rumble deep down inside brought him to his final issue. Right now his growling stomach was currently reminding him that he hadn’t anything to eat since the day before yesterday. He had no food.

He slowly exhaled through his nose, feeling the tugs through the long piece of grass.

He was fairly certain that the cat was doing just fine. He had heard more then one cricket’s song cut short abruptly, followed by crunching noises, and he was pretty sure a bird or two met the same fate. His little purr monster friend was apparently a killing machine when he/she/it wasn’t pestering him and demanding loudly to be acknowledged with pets and cuddles.

But Leo couldn’t see. He couldn’t hunt.

So he would have to forage.

In a strange place, where he didn’t know anything about the local plants or animals.

While blind.

...

He was going to die from eating some poisonous berries or something, wasn’t he?

Leo sighed, but then the piece of grass could no longer take the abuse from teeth and claws and was ripped in half. And then he had to pacify the excited demands of 'This is fun! More Plays, turtle creature!'

Leo crept forward carefully, feeling his way cautiously as he moved through the dark fog that comprised his world. The cat had climbed up to his shoulder and curled up in the crook of his neck, apparently eager to go forth on whatever adventures its new turtle friend deemed worthy. There seemed to be a small stream flowing from the spring, and Leo decided that he would use that as a reference. He kept the sound of running water to his left, and carefully began his search.

He couldn’t use his sight, so he had to rely on smell and touch.

...

He winced slightly in trepidation as he gingerly reached out and felt some vines growing thickly on a tree.

Oh please oh please oh please let there not be poison oak or anything like that out here! Leo was having enough issues as it was!

Other then that...

A thick bush brushed up against his leg as he walked, and he paused to reach down and carefully sift his fingers through it and sniff it.

Only leaves and the occasional thorn, which he discovered by accidentally pricking himself slightly. He shook his hand in annoyance, then moved on.

He continued slowly, poking and prodding through the dark fog around him, looking for anything edible, like berries on bushes or nuts on the ground. He was fairly certain that some of these trees were palm trees. Did that mean there would be coconuts, or bananas or something? Should... should he try climbing some of the trees?

Leo placed a hand on the trunk of a tree, then swallowed hard, unable to see anything but the darkness around him. If he fell...

No. That... that seemed like a bad idea.

So, for now, he stuck to exploring the floor of the forest.

But, even after a spending a few hours of careful and meticulously slow searching, he didn't have much luck finding anything.

Most likely, because he was freaking BLIND!

He found a few mushrooms, but left them alone, unsure if they were edible or not. He found an earthworm, and did eat that, getting flashbacks to his childhood and happier days, but that was hardly enough to quell his growling stomach.

As he followed the stream, the sound of rushing of water greatly intensified. After a moment, he realized that the little stream he was following joined up with a bigger one. A river? A quick test by wading into it told him it wasn’t terribly deep, only going up to his knees, and maybe about ten feet across.

The cat didn’t seem particularly pleased being this close to the water, and once he approached the other side, it jumped off, complaining loudly.

The water did feel good against his sorely stubbed toes, and Leo decided to stop at the juncture. He leaned down, and dipped his hand in the cool running water and scooped up a few mouthfuls.

Then he paused.

He carefully lowered his hand and immersed it in the water again. He closed his eyes, even though it really didn’t change much, and concentrated.

Donnie had once explained to him how turtles had excellent tremorsense, especially underwater.

Leo exhaled, and tried to relax, focusing on the sensations he felt in the water.

There!

He could definitely sense movement in the water!

Leo breathed out slowly from his nose, finding his focus, and centering himself.

From the time he could first walk, from his very earliest memories, Leo had been trained to become a ninja warrior. Not just a ninja, but the best of the best. Leo had always prided himself for going above and beyond even the strict training that his father had required, and had pushed himself to new heights of perfection.

He may be blind, yes, but that didn’t change who he was.

He was Leonardo.

His body had been honed to perfection over two decades, and intensely trained to handle any situation that life might throw at him.

Even this.

At least, that’s what he kept reminding himself over and over, anyways.

He clenched and unclenched his hand that was dipped in the cold flowing water, tensing up.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, out of nowhere, a cold, scaled body bumped against his hand underwater. It was just the lightest of brushes against his skin, but that was all the signal he needed. With lightning quick reflexes, with all the speed and accuracy of highly trained master warrior, Leo uncoiled his muscles at once and pounced!

And missed!

In a flash, the fish darted away.

No!

Desperate, he lunged forward, trying to save the attempt, but instead half lost his balance. Water crashed and splashed all around as he ended up partially underwater, but then, somehow, against all odds, he realized with a start that he now had a fish trapped underneath him! How... how had that happened?! He was almost as surprised by this as the fish seemed to be, but he recovered quickly and grabbed at it just as it gave a powerful slap of its tail and attempted to wiggle free.

He clutched at it desperately, but oh dear sweet kami above, it was so slippery! He couldn’t get a good grip on it!

Water churned as he fought to keep the wildly thrashing fish from escaping, and at times, he was almost more juggling the thing in the air then wrestling it. Finally, as he was almost to the shore, there was one moment when he feared it was all for nothing, as he fell backward and the fish slipped out of his hands, but no! He was close enough to the land that it plopped on the muddy grass instead of escaping into the water!

He could hear it flopping on the ground, and with a triumphant shout, he quickly scrambled to pin it down.

Yes! Haha! He did it!

He caught a fish!

He actually caught a fish!

...

As the fish slowly stilled, and his burst of adrenaline faded away, Leo’s grin faded slightly as he tried looking around, panting.

Soooo.... um. Now what?

If he was being completely honest at the moment, he... he hadn’t actually expected to catch a fish. He hadn’t planned exactly what his next step should be after actually doing so.

He leaned down and sniffed the fish thoughtfully. It was a fairly decent sized fish, though he had no idea what kind it was.

Well, he should cook it, he supposed. Should.... should he build a fire?

But how? He didn’t have any matches or flint or tinder on him. And it would take him some time wandering the area trying to find dry firewood.

He exhaled, and mulled the idea over some more. Another thought he had to consider was that a fire was pretty visible, not only the flames, but the smoke. It could draw unwanted attention.

Plus, he faintly remembered losing his katanas in the cargo plane, and had washed up on shore without the gear he normally wore, presumably stolen by the thrashing of the powerful ocean in its battles to drown him. He didn't have any blades or sharp objects to properly clean the fish.

Well... he was a turtle, wasn’t he? Turtles ate fish. This was his natural diet! He could... maybe just eat it like it was?

He sat back in the mud, and carefully felt the fish.

He was hungry, yes, but, um, ew. Just picking it up and eating it raw just didn’t... sound appealing. At all.

But he really needed to eat, and he didn’t have luxury right now of being picky.

Slowly, he picked the limp, slimy fish up in both hands.

This was just the way nature was. He had to eat what he could.

He spent a moment or two trying to convince himself that this was basically no different then a sushi bar. He ate algae and worms as a kid, for heaven's sake!

He slowly, hesitantly, brought the fish up, opening his mouth and wincing as he did so.

The fish suddenly wiggled a bit in his hands, and he almost dropped it in shock. It was still alive?!

Having somehow found one last burst of fight, the fish gave a mighty thrash and slapped Leo right across the face.

Surprised by the unexpected attack, he lost his grip on the slippery fish, and it flopped back to the to ground. Leo immediately lunged forward frantically, patting around the bank around him and trying to find it and pin it down again as it flailed and flopped about, surprisingly lively for what he thought had been a dead fish. His heart sank low as he heard a loud ‘plunk’ in the water. No! He dove forward desperately and plunged his hands into the water, but it was too late.

The fish had won. It was going to live another day, and he was going to remain hungry.

He spent a moment panting in disbelief, one hand still trailing in the water. Then he gave a frustrated cry and fell backwards onto his shell on the muddy shore, letting his hands flop to the side.

Argh!

He couldn’t do this!

He couldn’t do anything anymore! That’s it! Game over! This was the end of the great and mighty Leonardo, leader of the Hamato clan! Losing to a fish and starving to death out in the middle of nowhere, because he was blind, and that made him too weak and helpless to do anything right! He was going to die out here!

He lay there panting for a while in the mud. Slowly, tears began to well up in his worthless eyes and began to trail down through the mud on his face.

What was he going to do?

A slight rustle caused him to pause, and he reached up to wipe his snout with a sniff, smearing the mud more, before turning his head to listen.

Oh. It was just the cat, off to the side and playing with something.

He sighed and plopped his head back down miserably once more in the mud. His stomach growled again, but he ignored it.

Maybe he could just lie here for a while longer. The mud was cool and kind of comforting against his shell, and it was so much easier just to lay down and not move. He didn’t really feel like getting up to keep stumbling through unfamiliar forests surrounded an impenetrable dark fog, only to keep finding nothing.

Something small and roundish bumped against his cheek and rolled off a bit, and the cat quickly leapt forward to give it a few more fierce bats with it s paws, dancing around it eagerly like a boxer fighting his most desperate match.

Leo’s nose wrinkled a little as he sniffed the air. Did he smell... Frowning, he pushed himself up to one elbow and reached out to confiscate the mysterious makeshift cat toy.

He held the soft oval ball up to his nose and smelled it carefully.

A... piece of fruit?

It kind of smelled citrus-y, like an orange, but it was far too tiny to be the type he was familiar with.

The cat didn’t seem too upset by the loss of its plaything, and instead moved to wind and bumped its head against his arm, purring.

Leo sat up and turned the small fruit over in his hands, feeling it. He gave an experimental attempt at peeling it, but it didn’t seem to the way it worked. Curious, he nibbled at it.

Oh! The peel was actually pretty sweet! It was edible as well!

Eager, Leo took a bigger bite. He paused, then slowly resumed chewing, before swallowing. Well, the inside pulp of whatever this fruit was turned out to be unexpectedly tart, but it was still palatable. In fact, it was a pretty nice contrast with the sweet rind.

He quickly ate the rest of the fruit, then scooped up the cat and put it on his shoulder again, eager to figure out where his little furry friend had found it. There must be a bush or a tree somewhere with more. It couldn’t be too far. Right?

A short ways from the river, on a small, rocky hill, Leo found a fruit tree absolutely brimming with those small oval fruits.

Leo carefully felt around the low tree branches carefully, and plucked a few more pieces of the fruit, gathering them together into a small pile in his arms. The cat had gracefully accepted the grateful headrubs he had offered, then hopped off his shell to explore some more.

Well, at any rate, now he wasn’t going to have to worry about suffering from scurvy, he mused to himself as he popped another piece of fruit in his mouth, chewing gratefully. At least, he assumed these things were high in vitamin C. That was a citrus fruit thing, right?

He sighed. Donnie would know such things. He could only imagine the educational lecture that would be coming out of his brother while he helped Leo pick fruit. Meanwhile, Raph would be chasing Mikey, uttering dire threats because their orange brother had found a particularly slimy, rotten piece on the ground and squished it into the neck of Raph’s shell. They would end up either throwing fruit at one another, or wrestling on the ground, and Leo would have to stomp over there to break them up, only to get a fruit smashed in his face as well, and... and...

He slowly put another piece of fruit in his mouth and chewed in silence for a while.

He could feel the sunshine, and hear the birds singing around him. But the world was still a dark gray. Nothing but a fog of dark gray that completely blanketed everything, no matter how hard he tried to peer through it.

... Would... would he ever see his brothers again?

...

What would they think of him now? No longer their fearless leader, but... but a blind invalid.

He started to finger another piece of fruit, ready to take a bite, but he froze in place, then stiffened and dropped it as a sound wafted up through the background noises of bird and distant water.

A human?! 

He could hear a human!

And, to his horror, he realized that the creaky, nasally voice he could hear loudly humming an off-key tune was slowly growing closer.

Chapter Text

Don’t panic don’t panic don’t panic!

He was Leonardo and he didn’t panic and oh gods, he was so panicking!

There was a human coming! What should he do?! Leo pressed himself tightly against the trunk of the fruit tree, chest pounding as he heard the offkey humming coming ever closer. Where could he hide?!

Quickly, he started mentally running through what he knew of the terrain around him. Well, there had been that rocky outcropping right next to this tree. That would probably be the best chance. Leo dashed for it, keeping his body low and praying that the approaching human didn’t spot him. He began to quickly feel around the rocks as quietly and swiftly as he could, hoping beyond hope that his hands would find what his eyes couldn’t see. Please oh please oh please oh YES! Underneath the rock, there was a small space, a hole in the dirt under the jutting rocks. A hiding place! He’d take it!

And none too soon, the voice was quickly approaching. Wasting no time, Leo immediately dropped to the ground and started working on jamming himself under the dirt into the small crawlspace.

It was an uncomfortably tight fit, especially with a rather solid turtle shell on his back, but somehow, he managed to wiggle under. He lay there for a moment, pressed flat into the dirt and trying to remain as silent as possible. Blind now he may be, he still had his lifetime of ninja training to fall back on, and could be quiet as a ghost when needed.

Outside, he could hear the human’s humming break out into words. And in English, strangely enough. That surprised Leo greatly, considering their geographical location. At any rate, he sounded like he was an old man. A very old man with a creaky, almost nasally voice who nonetheless sang with an amused, almost juvenile glee about the virtues of different types of belches, pausing in the song to give several loud examples.

Leo narrowed his eyes judgmentally. The singer was terrible.

Okay, maybe it was better that at least Mikey wasn’t here. He could only imagine hearing that song stuck on repeat for the rest of forever if his little brother ever heard it.

Mentally dismissing the song, Leo clenched his jaw quietly and narrowed his eyes, mostly out of habit, and began to mentally will the human to leave quickly.

That’s it... Just keep walking by, old man... You just keep on going your merry way singing your distasteful song, and Leo will continue going on his own path, groping around in the darkness, and each will remain happily oblivious to the existence of the other. Just the way Leo preferred it.

But then, to Leo’s alarm, the human stopped walking at the base of the small hill that the fruit tree and Leo were on.

Leo tensed. Uh.... Why was the human stopping here?!

Had he stopped because he had somehow noticed a mutated giant turtle up on the hill and was about to freak out?! Leo’s fingers pressed tightly against the dirt as he listened intently. No, he hadn’t stop singing (unfortunately), and there was no sounds of alarm or panic. In fact, he sounded a little distracted as he moved around down there, as if he was going about doing something.

Argh! If only Leo could see!

Leo continued laying flat in the dirt in his cramped hiding place, not moving a muscle and silently cursing inside. Just how long was he going to be stuck here?

The human’s badly carried tune had once again devolved into creaky humming as he moved about, and there was a few clunks of wood, the striking of stone against stone, and then, eventually, the smell of smoke.

A fire. He had stopped down there, of all places, to build a fire. In the middle of nowhere.

Leo exhaled in annoyance and realized with some resignation that he was going to be stuck in his cramped hiding spot for a while. Apparently, this ancient and crass sounding human decided that this clearing was the best place to prepare for an unnecessarily elaborate picnic or something. How long was this going to take? Leo was uncomfortable in the dirt, and he really didn’t want to be stuck there all day

After a while, the smell of something cooking came wafting up, and Leo’s mouth salivated unbidden, his stomach rumbling again in a rather un-ninja like manner.

So... He was now alone, lost, blind, and was currently uncomfortably squeezed into a too small crevice under a rock, stuck laying in the dirt while smelling food cooking but unable to eat it. And, to top it all off, he was stuck listening to a tone-deaf old man sing about burping.

This was hell. He was certain of it.

The human hummed, paused to rustle around, doing exactly what, Leo couldn’t see, and then seemed satisfied with something. “Hey, Kumquat!” he hollered up, his accent heavy. “Food’s almost done! You coming down?”

Leo stiffened. There was another human out there? Where?! He couldn’t hear anybody else!

After a moment of silence while obviously waiting for a reply that never came, the old man gave a little huff. “Well, at the very least, come down here and say hello. Don’t you know that it’s very rude to not introduce yourself? Besides,” he sniffed. “It can’t be too comfortable wedged underneath the rocks like that.”

Leo’s face instantly went blank. Wait... Was... was he talking to Leo?!

“Yes, I’m talking to you.” the old man replied with exasperated patience, as if he had just read Leo’s mind. “What, do you think I’m talking to the tree you’re hiding next to? I’m not that crazy yet!”

His raucous and amused laughter at his own words didn’t reassure Leo any.

“Now come on down here.” the old man ordered again, turning back to his fire. “I went through the trouble of hauling food and firewood up here so I could feed you, the very least you could do is come down and say thank you.” He paused for a moment. “Grab a few kumquats on your way down, will you? They’ll be good with the fish.”

Kumquats? What were kumquats? Was that what those citrus fruits were called?

At any rate, Leo still didn’t move a muscle, still unsure if his cover was blown or not.

After a minute or two of no response, the human chuckled. “Or, if you don’t want to come down, I have a couple of more songs I could sing for you. There’s one I’m rather fond of called, ‘It’s Only Air’.”

Oh dear gods!

“No!” Leo called out in a panic without thinking, then, realizing he had just given himself up, paused and swallowed hard, knowing his cover was completely blown. Maybe the human hadn’t seen what he was yet, and thought him just a lost hiker or something. Okay, quick, Leo! Think, think, think! How was he going to get himself out of this mess?! He tried pressing himself further into the rocky crevice. “Oh! I, um, thank you for your kind gesture, but.. Uh... None of that is necessary. At all. I’m good.”

“Nonsense!” the old man said cheerfully. “It’s not everyday I get a visitor on my island, and I’m looking forward to hearing a voice other then my own!” He chuckled, obviously pleased, as he continued. “Plus, I like to think of myself as a considerate host, and it is only proper for me to come meet you and offer food and shelter.”

Okay, so this was apparently an island that he was stuck on. Well, that would make finding his way home a little more difficult. And what did the human mean by ‘his’ island? Did that mean he was the only one living here?

“Uh... thanks, but no thanks.” Leo licked his lips nervously, wondering if he could wedge himself further into his hiding place without getting stuck. “I... I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll... I’ll stay up here.”

“Well, I think it’s an excellent idea.” the old man rebutted cheerfully. “So come down here.”

“Ugh. Well, the thing is, you see...” Leo’s mind raced for plausible excuses. “I was... born with certain... abnormalities. So I don’t really feel comfortable meeting strangers. Most people, when they see me, kinda... uh... panic. So thanks, but no thanks.”

“Oh, is that all? Psh. Well then, Kumquat.” the old man didn’t seem at all perturbed by Leo’s confession. “It’s a good thing I won’t see you then Seeing as I’m completely blind and all.”

Wait, what?!

Leo’s head shot up in surprise, which resulted in him immediately bumping his head hard against the rock above him. He inwardly cursed at the sharp pain, and rubbed the top of his head, wondering if he had just heard the human correctly. “Wait. Did you just say that... you’re... blind?” He called out uncertainly.

“Yup! I would say, ‘As a bat’, but that would be false.” the old man clicked his tongue in disapproval. “Bats are not blind, and I would hate to spread such rumors further.” He paused for a moment. “But yes, I was born blind, and have been so my whole life.”

Leo swallowed hard, then hesitantly moved forward, pushing himself out of his tight quarters and very cautiously creeping out of the shallow cavity under the giant rock to peer unseeingly down towards the human unsurely.

“Don’t forget, bring some kumquats down with you, Kumquat.” the old man ordered, as if the matter was settled now. “Food’s ‘most done!”

Leo hovered for a moment at the entrance to the crevice, torn with uncertainty. Then the smell of cooked fish came wafting up, and his curiosity and stomach won over the fear in the end. He obediently gathered up an armful of the small citrus fruits from the tree, then carefully, cautiously, he felt his way slowly down the hill, ready to bolt blindly at the first hint of betrayal.

“Oof, you’re so tense! Like a skittish rabbit!” the old human tsk’d as Leo approached. “Here, sit down, relax, have some fish!”

Now that he was closer, Leo noted from the location of the human’s voice that this old man had to be incredibly short. And, he guessed from the sounds of waddling movement, also probably fairly chubby.

“Uh... thank you. I think.” Leo cautiously tried to keep as much distance between them as he knelt down and set his armload of fruit onto the ground. “This is really an island?”

“Sure is!” the human confirmed, shifting some things in the fire. “Not a big island, but it’s peaceful and quiet. Makes for a decent home.”

Leo bit his lip. “And... and you live here alone? By yourself?”

But... if... if the human was truly blind... how was that possible?

“Of course I don’t live here alone!” the human snorted derisively, and before Leo could ask, he elaborated. “Pangur Ban lives here too!” He paused. “Come to think of it, I suppose I have to admit it’s actually his island, I’m as much as guest on it as you are.”

“Pangur Ban?” Leo asked, and then all of a sudden, the cat launched itself off a nearby rock and landed gracefully on his shell, immediately starting to purr as it headbutted his cheek fondly.

“Ah, Pangur! There you are!” the old man mock scolded the cat. “I was wondering what you had gotten up to!” He snorted and waddled off, grumbling, “Bah, since you’ve apparently grown so fond of our guest, you can share his fish for supper!”

“Wait, this is your cat?” Leo asked, a little confused, reaching up to pet the furry head on his shoulder demanding attention.

“Well, I wouldn’t say he was mine.” the old man scoffed derisively. “He is a cat, after all. If anything, I think he considers me his pet.” There was an amused snort. “He deigns to let me live on his island, and, in exchange, I clean his litter box. It’s a fair exchange.”

“Pangur Ban.” Leo exhaled, and scooped the purring cat up to cradle him in his hands, mulling over the name and the fact that his cat friend apparently lived with this rather unsavory seeming old man.

“It’s an old name, traditionally given to a white cat.” the old man explained. “I’m an old man. Very, very old. Older then you can possibly imagine! Soooo... I just so happen to like old names.”

“Oh.” Pangur purred contentedly, as if he knew they were talking about him, and reveling in his rightful place as the center of attention. “So... He’s a white cat, then?”

The old man laughed raucously. “Heck if I know! I’m blind, remember?!”

Wait, he named his cat after a white cat, without knowing? What was with this old man?! Completely confused by this whole situation, Leo blinked, and ‘looked’ between Pangur and the old man. “But wait... If you’re really blind, how... how can you live here alone? With only a cat?”

“I’ve been blind since the day I was born, and, like I said, I’m very, very old.” the old man scoffed. “Older then you can possibly imagine!” Leo suddenly both smelled and sensed a hot, cooked fish skewered on a stick suddenly being thrust towards his face and waved about. “I’ve picked up a few tricks over the many, many years.”

Leo transferred Pangur back up onto his shoulder, and reached out to take the offered fish. He held the stick in his hand for a moment, listening to the old man waddle away. Then, before he could change his mind, he took a deep breath and blurted out quickly. “I-I’m blind too.”

The words made him wince, even as he said them. Somehow, admitting the fact... hurt.

Like, physically hurt.

It was as if saying it out loud cemented this reality, that it somehow made it so it wasn’t just some nightmare he’d eventually wake up from.

“Oh?” the old man sounded thoughtful, and Leo got the feeling that he was stroking a long beard as he pondered this.

“It’s... a very recent development.” Leo admitted softly. “I’m... I’m still figuring it out.”

“Ah.” The old man seated himself and began noisily eating his own fish, before speaking with his mouth full. “Well then, Kumquat, I will just have to teach you all my tricks, then.”

Leo swallowed hard. Could... could this old man really hold the answers?

The old man belched loudly, smacking his lips as he went back to eating.

Leo blinked, then sighed, reluctantly feeling out a rock and taking a seat as well. “My name is Leo.” He offered hesitantly, sniffing at the fish and feeling it gingerly.

The old man grunted in affirmation. “Good to meet you then, Kumquat.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” Leo frowned.

“I found you under a kumquat tree, thus you are Kumquat! See? Easy to remember!” the old man explained through chewing noises.

“‘Leo’ isn’t exactly a difficult name to remember.” Leo pointed out, gingerly trying a piece of the fish. It was surprisingly good.

“I told you, I’m an old man! Very, very old! Older then you can possibly imagine!” The human chortled, sounding far too amused with himself. “It’s too much of a bother remembering all the names.”

Leo snorted, and broke off a piece of the fish to offer to Pangur, and saying dryly. “Very well then, oh Ancient One. I thank you for both the fish and your hospitality.”

The Ancient One snorted, sputtering food, then guffawed in amusement, slapping a chubby thigh. “Oh, excellent! Perfect name! I like it!”

Leo felt Pangur take the offered piece of fish eagerly and quickly leap off his shoulder to eat his prize in seclusion. He finally gave into his own growling stomach, and dug into the fish with hungry abandon.

Oh gods, that was so good... He closed his eyes in bliss as he chewed. Funny how hunger made everything taste better.

He had to admit... he still wasn’t sure how to feel about this turn of events. This just seemed all too coincidental to be real. There was no way this should be happening. Newly blinded, he had really somehow managed to land on a fairly remote island, where against all logical reason, the only inhabitant was an eccentric ancient old human who also happened to be blind?!

Leo raised his head as he heard a noise, sniffed, then immediately wrinkled his snout in disgust.

An eccentric old human who apparently had just loudly passed gas.

“What?” the Ancient One apparently caught his small noise of disapproval. “It’s only air!”

If this was indeed the hand of fate intervening on his behalf, then Fate, apparently, had a very strange sense of humor.

"You're really the only person living on this island?" Leo asked, trying to feel out the situation and this strange little man's motivations. "How far away is the mainland?"

"Oh, very far." The Ancient One mused thoughtfully. "This is actually a bird sanctuary or something like that. A boat of scientists to study the birds stop by once or twice a year, if we're lucky, but that's about it."

Leo frowned. That was both good and bad news. There was less chance of discovery, but there was also less chance of getting off the island.

Not to mention, this whole situation was so... weird. The Ancient One was so weird!

"My house is just a ways down the path there." the old human told him around a mouth full of food. "There's room enough for you to stay."

"Wait. You want me to sleep in your house now?" Leo was immediately nervous again.

"You're my student now! It's okay. Plus, you can change Pangur's litterbox from now on."

"Just like that?!" Leo protested. "You don't want to know more about me first? Who I am or where I came from?"

"Kumquat, I meet you, and I immediately think to myself, 'This guy has personal bubble issues." The Ancient One snorted, waving off the question. "So, in the interest of not traumatizing Pangur's guests, no prying questions for now from me." He chuckled. "Besides, at any rate, you get this old, and you find out that all importantly questions in life will be answered eventually."

Leo didn't know what to think of this situation. "And you want me to go home with you? Just like that? Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to impose on you.”

The Ancient One scoffed, quickly waving that off. “Nonsense! It’s no problem at all, plenty of room! And really, it’s Pangur’s house, so you’d be imposing on him, not me!” He snorted and laughed, apparently amused by his own joke. Then he added, almost as an afterthought. “Plus, there’s another heavy storm coming through tonight, if my arthritis knows anything, and I doubt you want to be caught out in the open when it hits.”

Leo paused, and raised his head to sniff the air experimentally a few times. Was it really going to storm? He felt Pangur bump up against him, rubbing against his thigh as he knelt on the ground. He bit his lip as he reached down and gave the cat the requested pat.

If it really was going to rain, well... he was a turtle. It would be miserable and uncomfortable, but he would survive. But he couldn’t ask that of Pangur. Not for his sake. And at any rate, it wasn’t like he even had the option in the first place. He had found the cat’s rightful owner, and Pangur would have to go back home, where he belonged.

So... Leo’s only real choices at the moment were going with the Ancient One and Pangur... or go on alone and keep trying to figure this out on his own. Safely away from any humans, but left spending the night in whatever hiding place he could scrounge up. Probably under that rock outcropping. Uncomfortable and alone in the darkness with only the sound of the rain to keep him company.

Leo sighed, and, with an air of resignation, broke off another piece of fish to feed Pangur, who eagerly took it. “Just... please... don’t try touching me or anything.”

The last thing Leo needed was for his host to figure out that he wasn’t quite human while he was stuck indoors in an unfamiliar building. 

"No piggy back rides for now. Got it." the Ancient One jovially agreed.

It... was the best plan he had, he supposed. So yeah, he was going to follow a crass old human that he had literally just met and knew nothing about to his home, wherever that was, and be stuck in close quarters with him for who knew how long.

Yay.

Perhaps, when the Ancient One wasn’t looking, Leo could borrow his phone or radio or whatever he had, and figure out a way to contact his brothers.

Leo continued to eat in silence for a while. Unfortunately, he couldn’t say the same thing for his new... roommate? Leo’s snout wrinkled just a little as he listened to the human sitting across the fire loudly eat. Well, at least he was noisy enough that Leo wasn’t going to lose track of him.

Leo slowly finished up the fish, deep in thought as he chewed. By his side, Pangur was seated with his tail wrapped around his body, contentedly cleaning his whiskers off with swipes of a paw.

He briefly wondered if this was only the beginning of his new life. Would he would ever get off this island, or was this where he was going to be left living for the rest of his life? He wasn't sure how far he could get now that he was blind.

He... had to face the reality that he very well could be stuck here.

And... and his brothers. He... he may never see...

“Here Kumquat!” Out of the darkness, a large stick flew through the air and smacked Leo in the face, bouncing off his startled snout and falling to the ground.

“The heck?!” Leo rubbed his nose, shocked that the old man had apparently thrown it at him.

“It’s for you!” the Ancient One waved off his ire as he waddled around the campsite. Apparently he had finished eating, and was now packing up. “Use the stick to find the rocks in your path, instead of using your toes!”

Leo leaned down and picked up the sturdy walking stick, feeling it with a frown. “You threw it at me! Why?! I told you, I’m blind!”

“And I told you, so am I!” the Ancient One laughed, amused.

Leo almost realized too late that the human was lobbing another item at him as he spoke, and brought his hands up just in time to block it from hitting his face as well. A balled up cloth bag fell to the ground.

“Put kumquats in there, Kumquat.” the Ancient One ordered, as Leo heard him kicking dirt over where the fire had been. “We’ll take them home, eat them later.”

Leo reached down to pick up the bag hesitantly. Pangur bumped his head against Leo’s knee, and he exhaled.

Just what exactly had he landed himself in this time?

Chapter Text

“And here we are!” Ahead of him, Leo could hear the Ancient One cheerfully announce loudly. “Home sweet home!”

Leo reached up to shift Pangur on his shoulder, and carefully used the stick to probe the path in front of him, exhaling at the proclamation with somewhat mixed feelings.

On one hand, Finally. They had been walking for what seemed like hours, though it might’ve seemed that long just because even with the help of the stick, Leo was picking his way carefully through this grey fog with no idea where he was going, or what was around them. Leo’s arm was starting to ache from keeping it in front of him to avoid getting hit in the face by tree branches, and the ground was rocky.

On the other hand, no. No, this was not home. It wasn't even close.

They stepped forward, Leo once more tuning out the old human’s constant rambling. To be fair, though, the Ancient One had so far been surprisingly patient with Leo, and through all the chatter and rather coarse humor, he never once mentioned how slow they were going. Instead, he just slowed down, moving only at the pace that Leo seemed most comfortable at. A small gesture for which Leo was thankful for. But, still, this must be a fairly good sized island, they had walked at least a couple of miles, and it seemed like the woods around them were growing only thicker. How on earth did the Ancient One find him all the way out there?

As far as Leo could tell, the house itself seemed to be located in a wide clearing in the middle of the forest. He absently noted the distant sound of a waterfall off in the distance. Hm. The ground they had been walking over had eventually grown more rocky and uneven, and he could tell that they were moving up in altitude, though thankfully the path so far was just a gentle incline and not a steep hill. There must be mountains or, at the very least, tall and rocky hills in the center of this island.

“Slight step here.” the old human warned him.

“Oh. Okay. Thanks.” Leo noticed that the ground underfoot changed from dirt and grass to a stone path, probably a pathway up to the house.

“If you fall flat on your face, I’m not catching you.”

“Oh yes. Of course. You're an old man. You might injure yourself.” Leo carefully prodded ahead of him with the stick, which tapped against some wooden steps. He followed the Ancient One onto a small porch, then paused, and experimentally felt the ground beneath him with this feet. The wood under him felt quite strong, but well worn and smooth. This didn't quite feel like the makeshift hovel that he had been expecting.

“Yes! Exactly!" The Ancient One agreed wholeheartedly. "I’m glad you get it, Kumquat!” There was chortle as the Ancient One turned, then a wooden clunk and the creak of a door opening. "Right, so you can leave the bag of kumquats on the floor by the doorway there, Kumquat.” The Ancient One ordered as he waddled inside the building. “Then you can come help me move some mats and blankets over for you to sleep on.”

Leo hesitantly followed him, but paused in the entrance, reaching out to rest a hand on the wooden frame, then ran his fingers across the grain. The wood felt thick, solid, and ancient under his touch.

This house, though he obviously couldn’t see much of it, was apparently fairly simple, but it still somehow held an old, timeworn feel and smell to it, which surprised him. The foundation and floors were made of flat, well worn stone slabs, any bumps or rough edges smoothed down as if worn down by centuries of use. The interior of the building was cool and felt as if it were shaded from the world outside, and from the way the sound the Ancient One made echoed a little, it was taller and more spacious then Leo would've thought as well. He removed his hand from the door frame, and gave a curious sniff of the air. Strangely, there was the faint, lingering smell of incense wafting in the air, lending an almost mystical and spiritual air to the building. If he hadn’t known better, he would’ve thought he was stepping into old temple grounds, and not some hut a crazy old blind man built on an island.

Off in a corner, the Ancient One belched loudly, completely shattering the illusion.

Leo sighed.

He set the bag down where he assumed the old human had wanted him to, and Pangur leapt off his shell to go prowl around the house. Leo carefully moved forward, gently exploring the sparse furnishings and general layout of the large, single roomed building, trying to figure out where things were without knocking anything over. Hmm... The human had been rather direct and straightforward so far, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask.

“Um, if you don’t mind, is... is there any way I could please borrow your phone?” he asked hesitantly.

“Don’t have one.” the Ancient One waved him off absently as he moved about, shuffling who knew what around the house.

Leo blinked, surprised. “Wait. You... you don’t have a phone?”

“Nope.” the Ancient One cheerfully denied. “Or electricity. Or indoor plumbing.” He paused for a moment, then added. “Remind me to show you where the outhouse is. And just to give you fair warning, it’ll be best for you to hurry and get your business done before I get in there in the morning. Trust me on that one.”

“Wait, what?”

“Well, when you get to be this age, sometimes you need to set a routine for your digestive system, and let me tell you...”

“No, not that!” Leo interrupted him before he learned more information then he really wanted to know about this human’s morning routine. “I meant about the phone! How can you not have one?! You’re blind and living here alone! What if you need to contact somebody? Like in an emergency?”

“Oh, psh.” the Ancient One waved him off. “What would they do for an old man like me anyways? Besides, phone bills would be too expensive.”

Leo felt his heart sink as he hesitantly asked, “So you really... you really don’t have any way of contacting the outside world then?”

“Hm. No, sorry Kumquat.” the Ancient One almost sounded a little apologetic. He hummed for a moment as he thought, then shrugged. “Though, like I said, once in a while, some scientists come on boats to study the birds. They might have a radio or something you could try to use when they come. It’ll be at least several months, though.”

A... a radio? Leo was blind. There was no way he’d be able to figure out how to sneak on the boat, much less somehow figure out how to use a radio to contact his brothers in the short time he would’ve been allowed. Not... not without Donnie.

There was a clatter as something small and hard was knocked onto the wooden floor, and the Ancient One gave an annoyed huff. “Panugr! Stop knocking things over!”

There was an innocent sounding ‘mew’, and then Leo suddenly had a small, warm furball thrust into his hands. “Here, Kumquat. Hold this troublemaker while I get the fireplace going for supper. Then, while the food’s cooking, we can get your bedding ready.”

Leo slowly and numbly ran his hand over the soft fur, petting the purring cat in his hands. He lowered his head and quietly nodded. “Okay.”

Off in the distance, there was the distant, faint rumble of thunder.

He suddenly felt very worn out and tired.

Run!

Oh gods, it was going to catch him!

He had to keep running!

He was racing over the rooftops of New York, much as he had hundreds of times before, leaping over alleyways and vaulting over brick walls. But there was a desperation in this run, a deep, underlying fear clutching at his chest and prickling at his scales. His breath hitched in his aching lungs as he struggled for air, but no matter how fast he ran, no matter how hard he pushed his muscles to the limit, he didn’t seem to actually be moving very fast. It was as if he was trying to swim through a sea of molasses.

And behind him, quickly gaining ground, a wave of darkness, pitch black and ominous, surged forward, filling the sky. Buildings, cars, street lights, it didn’t matter, everything behind Leo was swallowed up by the ever growing darkness and was lost in the abyss. Black tendrils reached out for him as the darkness continued to chase him down and attempt to claim him, and he panted and gasped as he dodged them.

“Leo!”

A desperate plea echoed loudly through the air, and Leo looked up in horror to see his three brothers standing on the ledge of a building in front of him, reaching for him with fear on their faces.

He tried to call out to them, to tell them to run, but his voice didn’t seem to work, no matter how hard he tried. A new burst of fear shot through his body. The darkness was now on his heels, and it was going to swallow them up as well!

Desperate, he lunged forward, leaping off the building and into the air towards his brothers, reaching out with all his heart and soul, trying to take their hands that were still reaching for him.

But, just before their outstretched fingers could touch his, the darkness caught up to him and swallowed him up, and he was lost in the nothingness.

He could still hear his brothers crying for him, begging him to come save them, but he couldn’t escape the darkness to find them.

Everywhere, there was nothing but darkness.

“Guys! Where are you!” His thoughts seemed to echo out loud through the murky fog, causing ripples in the inky blackness.

“Leo, please!” His brothers sounded frightened and desperate.

He had to find them!

“Guys! I’m here!”

“Help us, Leo!”

“I... I can’t see you!”

“We need you!”

The darkness grew heavier around him, pulling him down, further away from them.

“NO! Raph! Donnie! Mikey!"

"LEO! Please!"

"I... I’m so sorry...”

He couldn’t find them.

He couldn’t save them.

He couldn’t even save himself.

“Yo Kumquat! It’s time to get up!”

The sudden loud exclamation right next to his head had Leo popping up in the air, yelping in surprise as he was startled out of his deep sleep. Pangur, who had been curled up on his plastron, slid off to land in a heap on the floor.

“Much to do, much to do. Come, Kumquat.” the old, squat human chided him as he waddled away.

Calming his beating heart, Leo lay there blinking for a moment, then realizing where he was, groaned and rolled over, draping an arm over his face.

Last night had been a long one. Between the storm outside, and the Ancient One’s loud snoring, Leo had lain awake most of the night, laying on his futon and staring into nothing as he pet the sleeping ball of fur on his chest. It felt like he had only just finally dozed off a few minutes ago.

Next to him, Pangur unfolded from his sleepy heap, gave a long and sleepy stretch and yawn, before finally settling next to Leo with his tail wrapped neatly around his paws, dutifully giving his whiskers a morning bath with a paw.

“You going to go out and use the bathroom first?” The Ancient One asked. “Remember my warning!”

“What?” Leo’s arm lifted slightly as he sluggishly uncovered his face. Then he exhaled and pushed himself up, reaching out and trying to find the stick he had lain next to his sleeping mat and pile of blankets. “Oh, fine. Sure. I guess so.”

He still couldn’t believe that the only bathroom that this old man had was an outhouse. Like, an actual, old fashioned outhouse, the wooden shack on top of a hole in the ground.

“After breakfast, we’ll head out. I’ll take you down the path to the waterfall. It’s a good place to get washed up. Then maybe we can head down to the beach and see if anything interesting washed up from the storm last night.”

“I...” Leo twisted himself around to a sitting position, fingering the wooden staff in his hand. “If it’s all the same, I... I think I’ll stay here for a bit.” Maybe he would sit in the corner and stare at nothing for a few hours. That sounded good right now. Just sit there and lose himself as he tried hard not to think of the fact that this right here was probably going to be the rest of his life. That he was blind and stuck on this island with no way off, and was probably never going to see his brothers again, if they were even still...

A kumquat fruit smacked him hard against the side of his head, causing him to yelp out.

Pangur immediately pounced on the fruit as it rolled away with delight.

"You're going with me to the waterfall." the Ancient One informed him. “You stink. You need a bath, Kumquat.”

“What?!” Leo rubbed the side of his head incredulously, then he reached down, feeling around until he found the kumquat and pried it away from the cat. “You can’t just keep throwing things at me like that!”

“Then duck!” The Ancient One tossed what felt like a towel on him. “Come, Kumquat.”

And before Leo could say or do anything more, the old man had waddled away.

Leo slid the towel off his head and brought it down, running his fingers across it. Pangur bumped his head against Leo’s knee, and Leo exhaled, lowering the cloth. “Is he always like this?” he asked the cat in disbelief.

And thus, Leo found himself following the Ancient One up a steep dirt path through the ever-thickening forest towards the sound of the waterfall. He felt like didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Leo didn’t want more fruit thrown at him, and truth be told, the Ancient One wasn’t exactly wrong. Leo really did need a bath. He could still feel mud and sand in the crevices of his scales, which kind of itched and felt uncomfortable, and his shell right now... Oh gods, he would do anything to just have one of the shell maintenance scrubs that he and his brothers did weekly.

...

He would do anything to just see his brothers again.

But there wasn’t much chance of that happening.

*WHACK!*

A low branch swung back and smacked him across the snout smartly.

“Gah!” he yelped, stumbling back and grabbing his stinging nose.

“Watch out for branches, Kumquat.” the Ancient One called out to him helpfully from the path ahead.

“It’s kind of hard to do when you’re BLIND!” Leo huffed back annoyed, moving carefully forward with a hand outstretched, finding the offending branch, and pushing it carefully out of the way as he moved past it.

“You know, Kumquat, just because your eyes can’t see doesn’t mean that the world around you stops existing.” the Ancient One continued walking along the path with seemingly little difficulty. “You have your other senses. You have your instincts. Use them. Strengthen them. Learn to ‘see’ your surroundings around you.”

“Easy for you to say.” Leo muttered under his breath, carefully feeling his way forward with the stick and outstretched hand. “You’re so short, you just walk right under all these branches.”

The Ancient One seemed rather amused by that comment, breaking out into a cackle. Another branch caught Leo on the arm, and he bit his tongue and gritted his teeth. If he didn’t know better, he would think that the human in front of him was deliberately leading him into them! “How much further is it anyways?”

The Ancient One scoffed. “Use your senses, Kumquat!”

Leo narrowed his eyes ineffectually at the human somewhere in front of him. But then, realizing that maybe he was referring to Leo’s physical senses, and not his mental abilities, he paused, then tilted his head, listening to the forest around him.

The roar of the waterfall sounded much closer now, and the cool morning air around them had a fresh, almost misty quality. The ground underfoot had grown more rocky and solid, and Leo had felt more ferns and leafy fronds brushing against him.

They were close.

And sure enough, it was only a few minutes later when the trees opened up, and they came upon a large pool of water at the base of a thick waterfall. The falling water cascaded down from a cliff high above them, tumbling over rocks and ledges, and crashing into the pool below, sending up a fine spray that filled the glen. In the trees across the water, there was a sudden rush of wings as a large flock of birds poured out of the nearby treetops to fly up into the skies above, apparently startled and not appreciative of their sanctuary being intruded upon. Leo felt Panugr perk up with interest on his shoulder and give a little chattering chirp, watching the birds fly with intense interest.

“Here we are!” The Ancient One announced, setting aside his bundle. “Welcome to my bath house, Kumquat!"

Leo stepped forward and dipped one toe in the cool water experimentally. "Well, I think your water heater is broken. And your shower seems to be a little... on the extreme side."

"Well, Kumquat, please direct all complaints to Pangur." the Ancient One grinned. "It's his island after all. That makes him the landlord."

Pangur made an annoyed sound and jumped off Leo's shell in the opposite direction of the water, obviously not thrilled.

"What?" the Ancient One scoffed. "We can't all be self cleaning like you!"

The swim was nice.

Leo had to at least admit that.

The water in the pool was cold and refreshing, constantly replenished and churned by the waterfall bringing down mountain spring water. Leo flipped around and dove under again, scrubbing at the top of his head with his fingertips and washing away the last traces of mud and sweat from his scales. Now that he thought about it, he probably should wash his bedding when he got back as well. If he got it done right away, it should be dry by the time he went to bed. Also, he would have to see if there was any way he could weave a new floor mat to put underneath it, the current one was kind of small and old, and maybe he could figure out a way to get some more padding under his futon. The spare one the Ancient One had pulled out for him would do for now, but with his shell, Leo needed a bit more support if he was to lay on his back.

...

And it was actually kind of depressing that he was now starting to plan for long term comforts like that. Like he was resigning himself to his fate.

Leo surfaced again with a spray of water, shaking his head to clear it of any excess droplets. He flopped backwards on his shell, falling into a back float on the water’s surface.

He floated for a moment, just trying to figure out how he felt about things as he considered the grey fog that filled his vision. Finally, he bit his lip, narrowed his eyes, and focused as hard as he could, trying to stare up at the sky he knew was above him. He could almost visualize the sunlight filtering down through the green leaves of the treetops above, creating rays of light in the mist rising from the waterfall. It was so tantalizing to know that it was all there. That there was this world around him that he could see, if only his eyes co-operated with him.

But, as always, it was just a murky grey fog.

He swallowed hard, then sighed.

Suddenly, Leo realized that he hadn’t heard anything from his human companion for a while. A little concerned, he turned over and shifted so he was upright and treading water instead, listening intently around him. He could still sense the old man nearby, so he hadn’t drowned somehow in the last fifteen minutes, but he was being suspiciously quiet.

He swam up to the shore, where Pangur Ban greeted him with a rather disdainful and disgruntled meow, obviously not pleased by how wet Leo was, and not at all sure why his two roommates were voluntarily going in the water. “Hey, Ancient One. What are you up to?” he called out.

“Hm? Oh, up here, Kumquat!” the old man’s creaky voice came unexpectedly from up above him, half muffled by the sound of the waterfall.

“What?” Leo instinctively looked up, but of course he didn’t see anything. "What... what are you doing? And how did you get up there?"

“By the cliff face is a small ledge you can climb up.” the Ancient One explained, his voice growing a little more clear as he apparently waddled away from the falling water to better speak with Leo. “It leads to a nice little ledge up here that goes under the waterfall. Very nice place to meditate. You should join me!”

“Meditate?” Leo blinked. This old, crass human meditated?! He found that hard to believe.

“Yes. Clear your mind. Be at peace with the universe. Strengthen your spirit. It’s very good for you.” the old human explained from his perch.

“I know what meditation is!” Leo huffed, crossing his arms and looking away.

“Then come up here and join me!” the Ancient One offered.

Leo hesitated. “Are... are you seriously asking me to climb up a cliff face, and walk along a soaking wet and probably very slippery rock ledge?! I’m blind!”

“So am I!” the Ancient One reminded him cheerfully.

“Well, yeah, but the difference between us is that I’m not crazy.” Leo pointed out huffily.

“Ha!” the Ancient One was obviously quite amused. “Not yet, anyways. But give it time!” He paused for a moment, thinking. “If you don’t feel like making the climb that an old man does every morning, then there are plenty of rocks and logs to sit on down there. Take a seat, some meditation will be good for you!”

Leo frowned, and lifted a hand to rub at his arm. The last thing he wanted right now was to face his inward thoughts. “I... I don’t really feel like meditating right now. I’m clean now, I think I’d like to just go back to the house.”

“Fair enough.” the Ancient One shrugged. “I’m going to finish my meditation session up here, then I’ll see what I can scrounge us up for lunch. I should be back in a few hours.”

“Oh. Okay.” Leo hadn’t really expected that response, and suddenly wasn’t all that sure about making that trek back to the house alone. But he quickly chided himself for his foolishness. Of course he couldn’t expect this old man to drop everything and give up every routine he had just to lead Leo around and be his nanny. Leo had to learn some independence.

“Do you remember the way back?” the Ancient One asked, almost as if an afterthought. “Do you think you can do it by yourself?”

“Y-yeah! Of course!” Leo tried to sound more confident then he really was. He reached down to pick up his walking stick. “It was a pretty obvious trail, I shouldn’t have any problems.”

“Oh, good.” The Ancient One began waddling back to his meditation spot. “See you in a few hours, Kumquat.”

“Yes. Of course.” Leo nodded, already trying to mentally work his way backwards through the way they came. Pangur bumped up against his ankle, apparently ready to hitch a ride home and away from all this water, and he reached down to scoop up the cat, placing him on his shoulder. He fingered his wooden walking stick for a moment, feeling it in his hands, then exhaled, and took a hesitant step forward.

If this short and chubby old human could do it, then Leo could. He was Leonardo, after all! He had once been a great warrior and a great ninja. He could handle a walk through the woods! No problem!

Okay, it was a left at this tree.

Uh... Wasn’t it?

Leo hesitantly moved a few steps in that direction, but then the stick he was using to prod in front of him hit a rather solid bush. Leo frowned and poked around, and quickly realized that, no... there was far too much undergrowth here. This wasn’t the path.

“Gah! Really?!” Leo snarled in frustration to himself.

Alright, it was the next tree where he turned. Definitely the next tree!

He backtracked a few steps, and turned to keep going forward, but it was only a short distance before he encountered a rocky ledge that he definitely didn’t remember.

This was definitely not right. Had he lost the path?! Where?! At what point did he leave it?!

This was so stupid! This was the simplest thing in the world, and he couldn’t even do this right!

He felt a well of frustration growing in his chest as he turned about and began slowly stumbling his way back from where he came. If only he could freaking see, this would be so simple!

He stumbled slightly over a small bump he had missed sensing with his stick, but he quickly caught his balance. He gritted his teeth, cursing inwardly.

He was getting so tired of the grey darkness that constantly filled his vision. He knew the world was out there, all around him, but he Just. Couldn’t. SEE! He was so damned useless now, it was pathetic!

And he would never be able to see again! He had lost everything! His sight! His brothers! His very purpose in life!

Frustration and anger taking over, he moved forward a little too fast, and was rewarded by a branch jabbing him painfully in the face.

That was the last straw, and something seemed to snap in him.

“Oh, FUCK YOU!” Leo snarled, reaching out to grab the stick and break it angrily off. It was a rather stubborn, flexible branch, though, and it took him several tries, which only further degraded his mood and fueled his anger. Finally, though, it gave into his sheer stubbornness, and he managed to wrench the small limb from its tree and throw it off into the woods somewhere. It landed with a rustle of leaves off somewhere nearby, probably in a bush or fern.

The action was far less cathartic then he would’ve liked.

Gritting his teeth, he turned and started to stomp angrily back to where he hoped the path would be.

And promptly ran straight into the trunk of a tree.

The abrupt crash resulted in the sound of scrabbling claws against shell as Pangur lost his balance and tried to keep from falling, before deciding that gravity was inevitable at this point, and just jumping off to land on the ground to the side.

Leo let out a stream of curse words as he held his snout, which now sported a painful scrap. Then he snarled and grabbed his walking stick in both hands, hitting the tree trunk as hard as he could.

That one action, that single hit, it was as if the floodgates burst open. All his frustration welled up, and just seemed to burst forth at that moment, and Leo angrily hit tree in front of him again and again, his strikes growing ever more wild and erratic.

It just wasn’t FAIR!

Leo had always done everything asked of him!

He had tried to be the perfect son!

He had tried to be the perfect brother!

He had tried to be the perfect leader!

Time and time again, he had pushed himself to the edge, risking his own life to do the do the right thing! He had given up everything to be a hero! He had always tried to help people! His whole life, he had always put everybody else’s needs before his own!

And THIS was his reward?!

THIS was his fate?!

Left a blind invalid trapped on an island to live out the rest of his life, most of it alone, never to see his brothers or friends again?!

It wasn't fair!

He had once been a powerful warrior! And now look at him! He was so helpless now that he couldn’t even follow a simple freaking path! He would never be able to protect his brothers like this!

And they could all be DEAD already for all he knew!

Hot tears poured down his face, and a sob tore from his throat.

It. Just. Wasn’t. FAIR!

He going to die here ALONE and CRAZY and there was absolutely nothing he could FUCKING do to change his fate!

The stick in his hand finally snapped in half, leaving him holding only a broken piece in his hand.

He gave a strangled cry and tossed the broken piece away, instead curling up his fist and banging it helplessly against the tree trunk that had silently weathered his wrath, eventually falling forward to press his forehead against the rough surface as he sobbed.

Why?

Why was fate so cruel?

...

He...

He just wanted to see his brothers again.

He didn’t know how much time had passed. How long he had broken down and sobbed his heart and soul out.

But, eventually, the sobs died down into wet sniffles. After a while, he heard the rustle of leaves as somebody walked towards him. .

The footsteps stopped right in front of him, and the Ancient One squatted down to ‘look’ at him. “You okay?”

Leo was sitting on the grass at the base of the tree with his knees pulled up and his arms wrapped around a purring Pangur Ban, as if the cat was his only anchor keeping him sane in this world. He didn’t raise his head, just hugged Pangur closer to his plastron. “No.”

He heard the Ancient One exhaled slowly, and then there was a slight tapping of something wooden on his knee.

Dully, he lifted his hand up and listlessly took the new walking stick that was extended to him.

“You will be, Kumquat. You’ll see.” the Ancient One’s voice was surprisingly gentle. “You’re stronger then you think you are. Now come, dinner is ready.”

Leo sniffled, wiped his unseeing eyes with the back of his hand, then nodded. He carefully placed Pangur up on his shoulder again, and leaned on the stick heavily as he shakily stood up.

The Ancient One waited patiently at the side, and his voice gained back that rather cheeky edge. “I would offer you a reassuring and friendly pat on the shell to convey emotional support, but you stipulated no physical contact for the moment, so I guess that will have to wait.”

Leo started to nod again, but then stiffened up in shock, “Wait, what?!”

The Ancient One paused, then added in an impish tone that convey that he knew exactly what he was doing, “Oh, don’t act so surprised, Kumquat. You were the one who specifically put that rule into place.”

“No, I mean...!” Leo stammered as his mind raced as he tried to figure out just what and how much this human in front of him knew. “What did you mean by ‘my shell’? Do you...?”

“Know that you’re a turtle?” the Ancient One finished for him, then scoffed. “Psh. Was that supposed to be a secret? Because it’s pretty obvious.” He started down the trail, beckoning for Leo to follow him. “Now come, Kumquat. I’m not going to allow you to skip lunch! Most important meal of the day, you know! Besides breakfast. And supper.”

Leo clutched his new walking stick for a moment, stunned.

He... he knew that Leo was a mutant the whole time?!

This... this human didn’t make sense!

Why... why would he... and... and why didn't he...?

"Kumquat, I managed to catch us a really fat squid to eat, my mouth is watering at the thought of it, and it's growing cold." the Ancient One called back to him impatiently. 

"Oh. Um, sorry." Leo reached up and wiped the last of the tears from his face, shifted Pangur on his shoulder, then took up his new stick and hurried forward to follow the short and chubby old man.

Chapter Text

Sitting on the ground in front of the cabin, Leo held a small knife in one hand and a flat piece of driftwood he had found, probably an old plank or something, in the other. He carefully held the piece of wood firmly, and pressed the knife into the weathered grain. After he had made the appropriate mark, he then leaned down and blew on the wood a few times, to dislodge any splinters or sawdust that might be caught in the groove, before he set the knife aside and reached up to run his hands over the wood, feeling all the marks on it, indents he had made that were deep enough to detect easily by touch.

Including the one he had just made, there were seven of them now.

Seven days.

It had been a whole week now.

He sighed and leaned back against the wall of the building, setting the plank down next to the knife, before drawing up his knees and pressing his forehead against them. Only a week, and yet it felt like a lifetime.

A week ago, he had three brothers.

A week ago, he had his sight.

A week later... he had neither.

Never before in his life had Leo felt so miserable. So... lost and without purpose...

...

And then a kumquat soared through the air and struck him in the face. 

He bristled up and gritted his teeth tightly as his hand shot out to catch the fruit before it fell to the grass. He slowly lifted his head and directed his unseeing glare in the direction of the old man, even though it was, obviously, completely ineffectual. "Would you quit DOING that!” he snapped in annoyance.

“You’re not listening, Kumquat!” the Ancient One scolded him, without really sounding annoyed. “You need to start paying attention!”

“See, that’s not exactly a promise to stop.” Leo pointed out with a low huff, turning his head off to the side. Then he frowned and wrinkled his brow. “And listen to what?” He hadn’t heard the Ancient One talking to him.

“Everything!” the old human informed him as if it were obvious.

Leo narrowed his eyes. Was... was he being mocked?

But there hadn't been any mocking tone in the old human's voice. Instead, unperturbed by his companion's displeasure, the Ancient One waddled off back across the yard to continue his morning exercises, or whatever he called was doing.

Leo sighed, then absently turned his senses back towards the tiny citrus that he held between his fingers.

Just why did the human keep throwing things at him? Most of the time, as annoying as he was, he didn't seem like he was acting maliciously. Was he trying to annoy Leo? And... and just how did he always have such unerring accuracy?! The old man was blind, he shouldn't be able to nail Leo with such precision!

Or...

Hm.

Leo paused as he thought of something.

Was... was that what he meant by telling Leo to listen to ‘everything’? Was that the old human's way of passing on some sage ‘blindness’ advice? Just what did that mean even?! How was Leo supposed to ‘see’ by just listening?

...

Why did that sound so... so.... familiar?

And then Leo swallowed hard as memories hit him.

Of training with Master Splinter...

Darkness isn't something to be feared...

Oh, how his brothers detested those particular lessons, when Master Splinter trained them to fight in total darkness, because it often led to thwaps with the walking stick, or humiliating falls off of perches. But they had all learned together, as always, and they had each mastered the lessons in their own ways. Using blindfolds while trying to avoid attacks... or navigating obstacle courses in pitch black rooms... All that to learn one vital core tenant of true ninjitsu...

A true ninja sees more then with his eyes. He sees with not only every sense that he has, but with his whole being. He see with his ears... his nose... his body... his heart. And thus, even in total darkness, he sees...

Leo frowned, and rolled the piece of fruit between his fingers, considering it thoughtfully for a long moment.

Then, with a sigh, he tossed the small citrus fruit to the side, sending it rolling it across the grass. And yup, there was a rustle, and then the pounce of an entertained cat.

He leaned back against the house and let his head fall back against the cool wood.

Okay, so maybe some of his training still was there, but still... what was the point? Learning to catch a piece of fruit before it hit him in the face didn’t mean anything.

It still wouldn’t help him get off this island, or allow him protect his brothers.

For a long time, Leo sat there. His hand slipped downwards to rest on the ground, then absently began to traced circles in the dirt.

Pangur quickly grew bored with the kumquat since Leo wasn't playing with him. For a while, the cat sat there and watched him curiously, but then eventually wandered off to stalk through the grass instead.

Leo swallowed hard and paused, clenching his fist. Then he relaxed it again and lifted it to rest across his plastron. Leaning against the house, not moving, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, not so much to block out the world, his status as blind did that quite well on its own, but a reflexive motion to help him concentrate.

And he began to listen to everything.

The wind was rustling leaves in the forest around them, and there was the ever present songs of birds calling out to one another in amiable conversations. Off to the side, he could faintly hear a cricket chirping. There was the sound of the waterfall, deeper in the woods up the mountain path. And, even further away, the very faint sounds of the ocean surrounding them.

A little closer to Leo, the Ancient One was doing whatever the Ancient One did. Which seemed to mostly be moving around in place out in the front yard, like he did every morning around this time, doing who knew what. Leo had very early on given up on trying to understand this human.

He could hear the old human’s feet glide across the grass.

Step.

Step.

Turn and exhale, his body apparently going through motions that seemed to be carefully planned and executed.

For such a short, fat old man, he seemed to be surprisingly light on his feet. As he moved through twists and turns, his breathing was measured and calm, expertly controlled.

Leo frowned, then finally pushed himself away from the wall into a sitting position. “What are you doing?”

“My morning katas.” was the simple reply.

Leo blinked. First he meditated, now he did katas?

“Why?” he wondered, continuing trying to sense the human’s exact movements as he continued his katas. “And how, exactly? You’re blind.”

“Hm.” The Ancient One didn’t sound the least bit perturbed. “Wasn’t aware that eyesight was a requirement for every single function and movement of the body.” He didn’t seem to slow down at all as he continued to move. “You can still have use of your arms? Your legs? You are aware that you can still move them about without permission from your eyes, right, Kumquat?”

Leo frowned, and leaned forward to pull his knees up to his chin, his arms wrapping around them as he thrummed his fingers against the scales on his shins.

Off in the distance, there was a quick and sudden disturbance in the long grass, and the lone cricket's chirps were abruptly cut short, followed by pleased purrs and somewhat disturbing crunching noises.

Leo chewed on his lip for a long moment, then gave a long exhale. He unwound himself and slowly, hesitantly stood up. Inwardly wondering why he was doing this and what he hoped he’d get out of it, he took careful steps out further away from the house, eventually finding an open spot in the grassy yard where he wouldn’t interfere with the Ancient One’s own routine. He straightened up and spent a few minutes taking a few deep breaths.

Then he slowly lifted his arms, held them out in front of him, and took a step.

He could feel the grass and earth under his feet, the warm sunshine on his scales and shell, even if he couldn’t see it.

He moved his arms around, and let the movement carry him into his next step.

As he moved, the familiar movements flowed more easily, coming to him as natural as breathing. The next step was quickly followed by yet another, and then a twist.

At first, he had only intended to move through a simple warmup kata. But as he came to the end, he instead let it flow into the start of another one, never breaking the fluid motion.

The muscles in his limbs, in his arms and his legs, shifted as he moved, just as they always had. Moving in harmony just as he honed them his entire life to do. They were still there, powerful and strong, just waiting for him to command them once more.

Faster and faster he moved, working his way through one kata, and then letting it flow into the start of another, chaining them together into one fluid routine, each one more complicated then the last. Never stopping, never slowing, lest by letting go, he lost them forever.

Twisting, turning, kicking, and spinning, his whole body moving in perfected harmony. He knew these katas. He had practiced them hundreds of times. And as his body moved through the motions he knew so well, he slowly began to realized that he may have lost his sight, but he was still here. He still existed. He was still Leonardo, whatever that may mean.

Finally, his eyes closed and face calm, he took a final step and brought his arms around in a graceful sweep as he finished through the last step. Then, standing there, his chest heaving only slightly from the exertion, he took a few moments, just breathing through his nose and letting the emotions flow through him. Then he cupped a fist in the palm of his three fingered hand, and respectfully bowed to the clearing in front him.

“Hm. Not bad, Kumquat, but your left foot is off.” came the critique off the to side.

Startled to realize that he had an audience, Leo jumped slightly. “What?!” Then he blinked, and huffed. “Wait, how can you tell?!” The old man was blind!

“Am I wrong?” the old man sounded amused.

Leo paused, then glanced unseeingly downwards, concentrated on the positioning of his left foot as he tried to figure out if it truly was off the mark. He then scowled, and shifted it ever so slightly.

The Ancient One laughed, and then moved next to Leo. “Come, Kumquat. Let’s run through the routine again, but this time, watch your footing.”

Leo blinked, then he exhaled and rolled his eyes, even as a slight smile curved his mouth. He raised his arms and shifted into position, getting ready to continue once more.

Chapter Text

Calm.

Breathing steady.

Senses trained outwards.

Listen to the river. Let the water flowing around him be his sight. If he listened carefully, it would tell him all he needed to know.

Leo exhaled slowly, closing his eyes and centering himself. Not a single muscle twitched as the flow of water enveloped and swirled around his legs as it flowed past him on its ceaseless journey. He was currently standing in a deep stream, the water up to his knees, and had been there for some time. Though his muscles were relaxed, he was as still and as unmovable as a statue, the only movement being the slight flare of his nostrils and the rise and fall of his chest in barely noticeable breathing. The cool water felt good on his scales on this rather warm day, but that wasn’t the reason he was there.

One of his hands was left to dangle down to trail in the flowing water. The water current tugged lightly at him as it flowed, almost as if it were trying to pull him along, but he ignored it. What he was really interested was the slight vibrations in the water. The ripples and disturbances moved through the water like liquid sound waves, and if he ‘listened’ to them, each one promised Leo the location of his target.

There... 

He could sense it.

The fish was within reach now...

But Leo held still. He couldn’t see the fish, of course, but if he concentrated on his other senses, he realized that this wasn’t the moment to strike. Not quite yet... Let it get a little closer. If it got closer, he could get it by the mouth or gill, and not the slippery body or tail.

So he needed to wait just a little longer to strike.

Hold perfectly still... 

Feel the water flow... 

Listen to it with all his senses... 

Until...

Leo snapped into action, lightning reflexes flashing as quick as a steel trap snapping closed.

Water erupted around him as the struggle ensued, throwing up cold rain-like droplets in the air. 

He felt a millisecond of fear as the fish thrashed in his grasp, its throes were strong and it was so slippery, but no, his grip was firm and solid, and the fish could not escape.

A feeling of pure euphoria flooded his chest as he clutched the large fish tightly to his chest and turned towards the shore, grinning widely.

He did it!

He was blind, but in this case, it didn’t matter, because HE STILL DID IT!

“Ancient One!” he called out excitedly, sloshing through the water towards the banks while clutching his wiggling prize. “I caught a fish! I actually managed to catch a fish!”

“Oh! Good job, Kumquat!” the Ancient One congratulated him from where he was sitting on the bank, lounging against a tree. The human sounded genuinely pleased for Leo. “That will make for an excellent lunch!” He chuckled, amused. “Though, I have to admit, I personally prefer using a pole and fishing line to catch fish, instead of wrestling it to shore my bare hands.” There was a swish, followed by a small ‘plop’ in the water as apparently he recast his line. “ It’s a lot more relaxing and a lot less work.”

“Oh, where’s the fun in that?” Leo couldn’t help the grin on his face as he scrambled back onto the muddy grass of the shore, searching for the sharp knife that he knew they had brought with them in their supplies. A quick blow to stun the fish and a flick of the knife quickly stopped its struggle, and he went about the task of starting to clean the fish that he caught. He actually caught! Even though he was blind!

At first, he was hesitant as he fingered the knife, trying to figure out how to clean the fish, but he wasn't discouraged. Not this time. He may be blind, but he was starting to learn that it didn't mean that he had to be completely useless. He had caught the fish, after all! Yes, it was a little different trying to do it without sight... Okay, maybe a lot different... but he was determined to figure this out!

He reached back in his memories and recalled all the lessons Casey had taught them in those many months back at the farmhouse. Yes, that Casey Jones, teaching four turtles how to fish. Heh. 

Back then, all four turtles had been rather impressed, as streetwise and urban-raised Casey seemed like the last person in the world who would be Mr Rugged Outdoorsman, but apparently his grandfather used to take him fishing as a kid, and he was surprisingly good at it.

Leo’s hands slowed slightly at the memory. 

Those days... how long ago they seemed now. Fishing and laughing with his family at the farm. Casey had been simultaneously trying to impress them with his knowledge and, at the same time, desperately doing his best to keep his composure and sanity intact as he tried to teach them. Leo, of course, had followed the instructions to the letter, but Donnie had been off to the side, convinced that he could improve on the fishing reel’s design, while Raph had been trying and failing to manfully convince himself to actually impale the poor worm on the hook. Meanwhile, Mikey had gotten tangled up in the fishing line so thoroughly that it had taken Leo over half an hour to untangle him. By the end of the day, they had all been shoved or dunked in the creek at least once or twice, Donnie had a fishhook caught in his shell, all the bait had been mysteriously released, and none of them had actually caught a fish.

Leo’s excitement from earlier dimmed as his chest ached. Oh gods, how he missed them all. Back then, even with everything that had happened, all they had lost, and the long, painful road to recovery that loomed ahead, they had still had one another. Back in that lifetime, as long as they had each other, no matter what happened, the world hadn’t ever seemed too dark.

Now, all he had left was the darkness.

He hesitated for a moment, then cleared his throat and refocused his attention on the task at hand. By paying careful attention to what his hands were doing, he found he could manage the simple task of cleaning a fish. So... yay.

“With the two fish you caught already, this should be more then enough to make a meal. Should I start a fire?” he called back to the old human.

“Oh, that would be most helpful, Kumquat.” the Ancient One yawned, obviously quite content and comfortable where he was. “Watch out for Pangur, he has a weakness for fish, and might try to snag a bite if you’re not paying attention.” He paused. “Speaking of him... Where is our little furry host anyways?”

Leo blinked, then frowned, turning around.. Come to think of it, it had been some time since he had heard anything from the cat.

“Pangur?” he called out cautiously. “Pangur Ban?”

And, far away and from a direction definitely far above him, came a distant little answering mew.

“Uhhhhh...” Leo tilted his head and ‘looked’ upwards.

There was another faint and forlorn mew. 

Okay. Yup. The cat was definitely up overhead somewhere.

...

How?

He thought for a moment, then, setting aside the fish, he stood up and carefully made his way over towards the largest tree trunk near them. He reached out and placed a hand on it, feeling the bark under his fingers, then peered uncertainly upwards, sniffing the air. “Pangur, are you up there?”

The distant small mew sounded very, very high up above him. Hm. This must be a pretty tall tree.

“How did you get up there?” Leo asked in disbelief.

There was another sad, distant mew in response.

“He’s a cat, Kumquat.” the Ancient One apparently heard the conversation, and had gotten up to his feet to waddle over and investigate. “Cats climb trees. Now... the question is, can he get back down?”

The plaintive, faint mew that answered didn't inspire much confidence.

Leo sighed and lifted a hand to finger the bridge of his snout, thinking for a moment. Then he pushed away from the tree and turned back to the spot he had left the fish. “Well, if he got up there, he should be able to get back down just fine. Let’s get the fish cooking, the smell of that should tempt him down.”

“Hm.” the Ancient One pondered this for a moment, then turned to follow Leo. “That seems like a good plan. If I remember correctly, Pangur hasn’t eaten since this morning, so he’s probably pretty hungry up there.”

Leo listened to the miserable little faraway mews up there and swallowed hard. He exhaled, and shook his head, trying not to think of just how hungry and scared the little cat must be. Pangur Ban was a cat, after all, and cats climbed trees all the time. There was obviously nothing to worry about. In all his years of hiding in trees himself back in New York, he had never actually found a cat skeleton up in any branches, so obviously they must eventually all get down somehow.

... Right?

He slowly began to gather up the firewood they had brought with them.

From far up above came another little distant mew, and Leo felt his chest tighten a little.

It didn’t take Leo and the Ancient One long to get a small cooking fire going, and soon the smell of cooking fish wafted through the air.

Pangur obviously knew that they were aware he was up there, as the far-away complaints continued on, calling down to them in regular intervals.

The evening dragged on. The fish finished cooking, and quietly, they ate their meal underneath the tree.

Pangur didn’t come down. 

Leo even broke off a big piece of fish and, standing on his tiptoes, placed it on a low branch, spending some time calling up to Pangur to try and encourage him to climb down.

But it did no good. No matter how he called or pleaded, Pangur’s distant mews didn’t move from their distant perch.

Hours later, Leo sat at the base of the tree, his shoulder's hunched as he listened to the cat's cries. If he still had his sight, he would've been up that tree and back easily a long time ago, but now that he was blind...

He was useless. There was nothing he could do...

Catching a fish was one thing. But this... Climbing a tree that high while blind... He'd fall for sure.

No... He... He just needed to have faith in Pangur... trust the cat to figure out his own way down.

But finally, with the cooling breeze around them warning that nightfall wasn’t too distant, Leo couldn’t take it anymore. He uncurled from where he was sitting at the base of tree, stood up and grabbed his walking stick, stalking off with an angry growl.

“Kumquat?” the Ancient One had been sitting under the tree as well, carving away at a stick or something, and he sounded rather startled by Leo’s abrupt reaction. Apparently he wasn’t expecting Leo to leave.

Leo ignored him as he stalked off, inwardly berating himself for the stupid thing he was about to do even as he felt his way down the path. He made his way back to the house, shoved open the door, and strode across the ancient smooth stone floor, grabbing a woven grass basket filled with kumquat fruits and emptying it out on the table, then going over to a cupboard where he knew a long length of rope was stored. He found it, ran his hand over it, and judged it to be strong enough and of adequate length. Throwing the rope over one shoulder and grabbing the basket, he took up his stick once more, and exited the house, once more making his way back up the path towards the tall tree and the rather forlorn crying cat.

“Oh, you came back.” the Ancient One sounded curious now. “Just what are you planning, Kumquat.”

Leo was already busy threading one end of the rope through the handles of the basket, trying it off and carefully testing the sturdiness of the setup. “Listen, Pangur’s clearly stuck up there, but I’m blind. Therefore, I’m most definitely going to be falling out of that tree at some point while trying to rescue him, most likely while descending.” He coiled the rope up and tucked it over his shoulder to free both his arms, and strode over to place a hand on the tree trunk, exhaling uncertainly as he glanced upwards. “So here’s the plan. When I reach Pangur, I’ll put him in this basket and lower him down to safety first, so that at least when I fall, he won’t get hurt.”

“Hm. Okay.” The Ancient One strode over to stand next to him, apparently stroking his long thin beard thoughtfully, then turned towards Leo and suggested, “You know, Kumquat, you could always try not falling.”

Leo gave a humorless laugh, then shook his head as he jumped up to grab at the lowest branches. “Yeah, I wish.” he grunted as he pulled himself up.

There had been a point in his life when Leo would throw himself off of the edge of skyscrapers with as little fear as if he had been born with wings, trusting completely in his training and his brothers to keep himself from plummeting to the cement far below.

Now he crept along at a snails pace, groping blindly through the air and searching with his outstretched fingers for another branch to grasp, too afraid to reach out too far, in case he lost his balance, and desperately trying not to think of how far the ground he couldn’t see was below him. 

Trying to keep himself calm and centered, Leo very slowly and carefully inched his way up, climbing through the thick branches of the tree. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he was pretty sure that if he let even the slightest mental control slip, then his arms and legs would start shaking and trembling. He was blind, and couldn't see where he was going! This was so dangerous and idiotic and he very well might kill himself here...  but he could still hear Pangur crying, and that's all that mattered.

It was slow going. Since he couldn’t see the branches, he had to feel and pull at each one, praying silently as he gingerly pulled himself upwards that it was strong enough to support his weight. All the while, he was encouraged and guided by Pangur’s little mews and cries, growing steadily closer and louder.

That was his goal. That was all he needed to focus on. He had to make sure Pangur was safe.

And he was concentrating so hard on that goal, on just climbing upwards, on finding the next branch hidden in the dark fog, that he was almost startled by sound of claws scrabbling against rough bark, and then a small, warm, furry head bumping against his snout in a purr-filled greeting.

“Pangur!” he gasped, feeling intense relief flow through him. He hoisted himself up and swung his legs around so he was firmly sitting on a thick branch, and reached up and plucked the small cat up, running his hands over the purring cat, feeling his ribs and legs and reassuring himself that his small furry friend was uninjured.

He did it... he found Pangur...

Now for the truly tricky part.

He exhaled, held the purring ball of fur up to his face, and nuzzled him. “Don’t worry, Pangur. You’re safe now. I bet you’re starving! Well, don’t worry, we saved some fish for you. Its from the fish I caught myself!” As he spoke, he reached over and pulled off the rope and basket. “Now, let’s get you back down to the Ancient One.”

He carefully set Pangur inside the basket. Pangur meowed at him, and he gave him a small, reassuring pet, before making sure he was secured safely in there. Then he leaned over to call out, “I have him. Are you ready down there?”

“Ready and waiting, Kumquat!” came the faint answer.

Leo swallowed hard and his muscles tensed up as he clutched to his branch just a little tighter. Whoo boy. The Ancient One’s voice sounded alarmingly distant. He must be really high up! But... the rope should be long enough... It was a really long rope, after all. And getting Pangur down safely was all that mattered right now.

“Alright, Pangur. Stay in there.” Leo instructed him, and then, exhaling shakily, held the rope tightly, and began slowly lowering the basket down through the branches. There were a few tense moments when the rope would momentarily snag on something, probably branches, but fortunately it didn’t get stuck, and eventually Leo heard the Ancient One say, “Oh, there you are!” as there was a tug on the rope. Then he called up, “Okay, Kumquat! I have Pangur now! He made it down safe and sound!”

Leo sighed in relief. He had getting pretty close to the end of the rope, and was getting a little nervous. That being said... He gathered up a handful of the rope and ran it through his fingers, frowning. It was a handmade rope, made out of local plant fibers. While more then adequate to hold the weight of a seven pound cat, there was no way that it would hold the bulk of somebody of his weight and size. He wouldn't be able to use it himself to get down.

Nope. He was going to have to climb down they way he had come up, the good old fashioned way.

While blind.

... Just how high up was he again?

Swallowing hard, Leo slowly began to inch back down the branch. Then, gathering up his courage, he began reaching tentatively out with one foot in hopes of finding the branch below he had used to get up there. Oh gods, he could already tell that this was going to be so much harder and terrifying then going up!

He yelped as he overreached and almost lost his balance, teetering on the edge of falling. He had to flail and scramble to regain his footing, crawling quickly back up onto his first branch, and, his heart racing from the close call, instead clung tightly to the branch with all four limbs, too terrified to move.

Maybe... maybe he could just live up here from now on. That could be a thing. He had the rope, so he could just use that to have the Ancient One send him up food and water a couple times a day, and this could be his new home. For the rest of forever. Yup. That sounded good!

He sighed and pressed his face against the bark of the branch with an air of resignation.

“Uh... Ancient One?” he called down, clinging tightly to the branch underneath him.

“Yes Kumquat?” came the inquiring answer.

“Ummm... You... You might want to back away from the tree. Like I said, I’m probably going to fall, and I don’t want to accidentally land on you or Pangur.”

“Oh. Okay.” There was a pause, and then after a moment, the Ancient One spoke again, though this time his voice came from a little further distance away. “So... Kumquat? I just thought that you should know, there’s also a very good chance that you won’t fall. Did you ever think of that?”

“Are you kidding?!” Leo almost laughed in a kind of panicked desperation. “I’m blind, and stuck roughly fifty feet up in a tree. There’s only two ways for me to get down. Slowly climbing down by groping around for branches that I can’t see, or the direct route courtesy of gravity. And, I’ll be honest, I’m kind of betting on gravity winning out.”

Leo could hear the Ancient One’s derisive snort all the way up where he was. “Oh, come on, Kumquat. Give yourself a little more credit then that! Honestly, you’re better equipped to handle situations like this then most humans!”

“How so, exactly?” Leo wondered just what this human was talking about

“You’re a turtle!” the old human called up as if that wasn’t obvious.

Leo blinked, then protested in disbelief, “Just what does that have to do with anything?!” He shifted on the branch, still clinging tightly to it as he delicately sat up. “How many turtles have you ever found in a tree?!” Unless he meant that having a shell would help protect him as he plinko'd his way down from branch to branch as he fell. Because, yeah, that was the only thing Leo could think he had going for him at the moment.

“You have a form of tremorsense, don’t you?” the Ancient One called up questioningly.

Leo paused and blinked.

“Calm down, and listen to what the world can tell you.” the old human’s voice was surprisingly patient. “Feel the wind through the tree’s branches below you, let the movement tell you where you are and what’s around you. Remember, Kumquat, use all your senses! Listen to them. Listen to yourself.”

Leo swallowed hard, then exhaled, and shakily unwound himself from the branch. He gingerly reached down with a foot again and searching for a foothold in the darkness.

“Come on, Kumquat, you can do it!”

Leo wished he felt as confident as the Ancient One sounded. He was so high up, and not being able to see just how high somehow made it worse. He couldn’t even see how far he was going to fall!

His foot brushed against bark, and he prodded at it, eventually concluding that it was a solid branch that could possibly hold him. Keeping his body close to the trunk of the tree, he slowly slipped off his branch, and, with a exhale of relief, settled on the branch.

One branch down, only like a hundred left to go.

And, to give himself credit, he managed to make it almost two thirds of the way down.

Slowly, painfully, Leo had picked his way back through the dark fog down the tree, slipping cautiously from branch to branch as he very carefully felt his way. His muscles were starting to protest from being tense for so long, and his the pads of his finger were sore from rubbing against the rough bark. He was starting to feel hopeful that he might actually make it.

Then he almost slipped, and the panic started to rise up again as he clung to the tree trunk

He was going to fall. Oh gods, he most definitely going to fall! He was so high up, and there was no way he wasn’t going to fall!

He started to move just a little bit faster, desperate to get back down to solid earth before he fell. He lowered himself towards the next branch, easing his weight onto the branch and silently pleading that it would be strong enough.

Hm, this branch seemed fine so far, so he released his hold on the branch above, preparing to start the process over again to reach the next branch below him. He just wanted to be back down on the sturdy ground already, where he couldn’t fall! But just as he relaxed and let his full weight settle on his new perch, it shifted slightly with a creak.

Leo froze in alarm.

Then there was a crack, and he desperately leapt up, trying to scramble back up to the branch above. But he misjudged horribly in his blind panic, and in the next instant, the world became a dizzying, bewildering, and extremely terrifying sequence of flailing and painful crashes and falling and oh dear gods he was going to DIE!

And that was when Leo discovered the hard way that there was a rather large thorn bush situated at the base of the tree.

Which... true... The mass of thorny branches did cushion his fall a little as he crashed into them. 

But ow.

Ow....

Owwwwwww...

With a groan, he rolled out of the leafy brush, small sticks and branches crunching underneath him, to plop out onto the grass. He lay there in the dirt, breathing heavily. Urgh... time to do a mental check. Hm. Toes and fingers still responded, that’s good. Shell seemed to be in one piece. Every part of him was silently screaming in pain, but honestly, nothing seemed broken.

But.... yaaaaay... he wasn't dead.

He thought, anyways. Maybe? Everything hurt too much for him to be dead.

A small, furry head bumped up and rubbed against his snout, intense rumbles rolling through the air.

With a small, resigned sigh, he reached up and gently pet Pangur’s head.

“Hm.” the Ancient One knelt down next to him. “Well, good job, Kumquat. You managed to both rescue Pangur, and fall out of the tree. You accomplished all the goals you set out for yourself.” He patted Leo on the shell, and added, “Though, personally, I think next time I would instead make the goal to be to not fall. Just something you might take into consideration.”

Laying on the ground, Leo only covered his face and groaned.

It was an hour later, and Leo was laying on the warm, smooth stones of the cabin’s floor, wincing as the Ancient One concentrated on working out a particularly large and sharp thorn out of his left shoulder. Thankfully, there weren’t too many serious injuries on his actual limbs and fleshy parts. Another checkmark in the case for loving being a turtle, because most of the thorns and splinters seemed to be embedded in his shell, leaving his arms and legs mostly just scratched up and bruised. Very, very bruised. Oof, he definitely was going to feel this one for a few days.

Pangur had pressed a small paw firmly on Leo’s snout in an attempt to keep his large and stubborn turtle friend from moving, and was in the middle of vehemently bathing Leo’s nose, his tiny rough tongue rasping across the smooth scales.

“Alright, I think that’s all the thorns in this arm.” Leo felt the Ancient One shift, reaching over to grab something nearby. “This might sting a bit, Kumquat.” the old man warned him.

 Leo braced himself, and hissed as the human pour some liquid over his arm.

“It might sting now, but it cleans the scratches out and helps promote healing.” the Ancient One informed him conversationally, now starting to wrap bandages around the arm. “Let me get this wrapped up, and then we’ll work on your other arm.”

“Right. Awesome.” Leo muttered, and winced at a particularly painful pull. He decided maybe some conversation might help take his mind off all his aches and pains. “So...I need a distraction. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"
    
"Go ahead and ask away, Kumquat." the Ancient One said almost cheerfully.

"Alright." Leo exhaled, trying to ignore the pain. "I never really asked you... How did you come to be here, ojisan? An island with a bird sanctuary seems like a strange choice for retirement. And, for that matter, where did this cabin come from? Obviously it’s been here for a long time, and it seems more like a temple then an island hut.”

The Ancient One chuckled, still wrapping up Leo’s arm. “Well, Kumquat, I'm actually a fairly new arrival on the island myself. I arrived just shortly before you did.” He finished up the end and paused, then there was a snip of scissors as he cut the cloth strip. He began to tie off the end securely. “And you’re probably not going to believe me when I tell you why I came here.”

Leo’s snout wrinkled as Pangur’s tiny but rough tongue got a little too aggressive. “I’m a mutated turtle who’s seen a lot of unbelievable things in my life. Try me.”

The old man set Leo’s left arm down, and waddled around him to start examining his right arm. “Well, Kumquat, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He immediately found a large splinter, and began working it out. “I’m actually here at your father’s request, as a personal favor to him.”

“What?” Leo hadn’t been expecting that answer, and started to turn his head towards the Ancient One, but Pangur’s small paw pushed down on his snout stubbornly, and Leo obediently relaxed once more, allowing the cat to continue the bathing of his snout.

“Yup.” the Ancient One didn’t sound in the least bit perturbed as he worked. “Your father used to be a student of mine, you see. Many, many years ago when he was just a child himself. He had realized that you were going to need some serious help for a while, and asked if I’d be willing to come over and look after you for a bit.”

Leo gave a quiet snort. Okay, just what was this eccentric human angling for here? If he didn’t want to talk about his past, he could have just said so. Obviously he now was making up a story to try and help distract Leo from the thorn extractions, but still... going with such an obvious lie? But, eh, Leo decided to play along. The slightly crazy old man didn’t know that Leo’s father had been murdered by the Shredder over seven years ago, and was only trying to help. “Ah. Then you’re here because my father asked you?”

“Indeed.” The Ancient One managed to get the splinter out, and twisted Leo’s arm around, looking for more. He found a small thorn, and had it flicked out almost before Leo could react. “As to the house, like I mentioned earlier, this is Pangur’s island, and he graciously agreed to host in his home for as long as we needed. This is actually his home we’re staying in.”

“Hm.” Leo started to move to respond, but the slightest extension of claws against his nose warned him against movements like that. To cats, bathing was apparently serious business. He continued with his agreeable charade. “Well then, I’m just glad that apparently you all seemed to have the foresight to know exactly what random island in the middle of the ocean fate decided to wash me up on.”

The Ancient One laughed, though it seemed to be more of a warm, friendly laugh then an eccentrically amused one. He shook his head and went back to examining Leo’s arm. “Yes. This exact small, deserted island, where you found shelter, food, water, a place to slowly heal and learn alongside a mentor, who, I should mention, is also blind? Indeed, Kumquat, those are quite the little circumstances for fate to put before you.” He gently put Leo’s arm down. “Why, it’s almost as if somebody’s spirit is watching out for you, silently guiding you from afar." His voice almost grew a little sly. "Isn’t it?”

At that, Leo went still where he lay, his breath catching ever so slightly as his blind eyes widened.

The Ancient One continued on almost casually. “And I have to admit, it’s been quite an amusing adventure so far, Leonardo. Eldest son of my former and beloved student... Hamato Yoshi.”

Chapter Text

Leo couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He... He had to have misunderstood the old man.

Maybe he had hit his head when falling out of the tree? Perhaps this was all just some sort of lucid delusion brought on by a nasty concussion.

Because, of course, auditory hallucination would make far more sense then... then THIS!

His mouth gaped open and closed several times as he tried to process this, and then he finally just hoarsely asked, “What?”

“Hamato Yoshi, of the Hamato Clan. Your father, of course.” The Ancient One said calmly, and then warned Leo, “I’m going to pour some more disinfectant on your arm, Kumquat. This is going to sting.”

“Huh?” Leo only had time to blink, then he stiffened and gave a low hiss as more stinging liquid was poured over the scratches and gouges on his arm.

“There, that should be the last of that for now. Let’s finish wrapping you up, and then you’ll be as good as new in a few days, I think.” There was a click of glass on a wooden surface as the Ancient One turned away to set aside the glass bottle, and then the old human’s warm, aged hands were back on his scaled arm, gently wrapping soft bandages around the scratches. He was acting as if he hadn’t just dropped a verbal bomb on Leo seconds earlier. “Not too bad for falling out of a tree, eh?”

“But... How.... I... You...” Leo felt like his brain broke. He didn’t even know how to respond to this! He started to twist about to ‘look’ in the Ancient One’s direction, but before he could move too far, Pangur Ban’s small paw pushed down on his snout threateningly. Obviously the cat wasn’t done bathing his nose yet, and was willing to fight Leo over this. Leo gave a little huff, but lay obediently on the ground and instead merely tilted his head as much as the cat would allow him.“So wait. Let me get this straight. You... you’re saying that you actually knew my father?! Hamato Yoshi?”

“I used to call him Little Shishi-chan..” the old man confirmed, then Leo heard him chuckle. “Oh, how he hated that nickname!”

Leo blinked rapidly, then hesitantly echoed, “... Shishi-chan?”

“Yes. And I came to learn that as he grew older, that name was most effective when unleashed in front of pretty girls and adoring fellow students.” The Ancient One chuckled. His tone of voice made Leo guess that he was smiling fondly as he shook his head. The human finished bandaging up Leo’s other arm, and examined it carefully with his hand to make sure it was adequate. “Heavens know it was difficult enough to keep that boy humble. Always was such the little prince, so full of himself. Yuuta always did spoil him far too much, I fear.” He set Leo’s arm down, and moved to stand up on his short legs. “Well, I think you’re patched up as much as we’re going to get you. Would you like some tea, Kumquat?”

Leo had been so absorbed in the Ancient One’s words that he had almost completely forgotten about his injuries. “What? Oh. Uh.... sure.” He swallowed hard, settling his chin back on the stone floor as the fluffy warm cat body continued to drape across his snout, resolute in his self appointed task to thoroughly bathe Leo’s nose. “You... you knew Master Yuuta?”

“Oh, yes.” the Ancient One waddled off across the room towards the water kettle that Leo knew he had set on earlier. “Your grandfather, Hamato Yuuta, and I went way back. We grew up alongside one another, and often fought and played together as children.” There came the slight rustle of a kettle being moved off a fire, the clink of porcelain cups being set out, and then sound of water being poured. “We were as close as brothers, him and I.”

Leo blinked, and then paused to inwardly try and do the math for a moment. Master Splinter had told them many stories about his father and the head of their clan, and from what Leo understood, Master Yuuta had waited until later in his life to marry and have children. He had been quite elderly by the time he was tragically murdered by his own adopted son, Oroku Saki.

An event that happened over twenty years ago.

And if Yuuta had been that old back then, and the Ancient One was the same age...

“Wait...” he wondered in disbelief. “Just... just how old are you?!”

“Ha! I told you!” the Ancient One cackled in glee, apparently quite pleased to be validated as he waddled back towards Leo. “I’m old! Older then you can imagine!”

Leo reached up and gently pushed Pangur off his face, putting an end to the sandpaper tongue rasping across his snout much to the cat’s displeasure, and dazedly sat up, flexing and feeling the bandages almost absently, before numbly taking the warm tea cup offered to him in his hands, feeling the heat radiating through it into his sore, bandaged fingers.

He still couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This... this short, fat, rather crass old human who sang songs about burping... He had really been his father’s Sensei?! How?!

“So... Are you Hamato Clan as well then?” That was a weird thought. He had spent his whole life thinking that his family were all that was left of the Hamato Clan. As far as he knew, all traces of the Hamato Clan had all been wiped out the day the Shredder had betrayed the clan, that only his father remained and, through him, Leo and his siblings. It was actually quite strange concept realizing that there might possibly be other Hamatos clan members out there that had survived Oroku Saki’s betrayal.

But the Ancient One merely settled into his own cushion with a sigh. For a moment, his voice almost sounded... sad. “No, I was from another clan. The Kuremachisu Clan.”

Leo blinked. The Kuremachisu Clan? He had never heard of that clan before.

Pangur stretched, then wandered across the floor to leap up onto the Ancient One’s shoulders, rubbing against him with a purr. The Ancient One reached up and gave him a fond pat, then turned back to Leo. Leo hadn’t known before now that his human companion’s voice could sound so wise or solemn.

“The Kuremachisu had always been a small clan, nestled high in the mountains in our temples and libraries. But though we were always much smaller then the clans that neighbored us, we were a much older clan, with ancient traditions and knowledge built up over many centuries. While not physically strong, we were known far and wide for our spiritual strength and wisdom, and were respected as the unrivaled masters of our own spirit, our ki. Our closest neighbors, the Hamato Clan, were always more numerous and physically stronger, but they always held a level of appreciation and deference for our clan. In return, we grew to respect their strong sense of honor and loyalty. Over time, our two clans became close friends and allies for many generations, until we became as brothers to one another. So, to our brothers, we offered knowledge and spiritual training, while, in return, they offered us numbers, physical strength, and protection.” The Ancient One paused, holding his cup of tea in his hands and pondering it for a while. He eventually said with a hint of bittersweet sadness. “Our clans shared more than friendship. Our children played together. Our teachers traveled freely between our clans. We shared our sense of honor, our resources, ...” He paused for a moment, then added sadly. “and... even enemies.”

Leo exhaled with realization. “The Foot Clan.”

“Yes.” the Ancient One slowly stroked the purring cat who had climbed down and settled in his lap. “The Foot Clan was always covetous and fearful of the secrets that my clan held, and at the same time contemptuous of our small size.” He gave a sad chuckle and shake of his head. “I assume your father told you the story of how, when he himself was just a few months old, his father Hamato Yuuta, your grandfather, led a mighty war against the Foot Clan, and nearly wiped them out, save for a single infant child, who he had pity upon and took into raise as his own?”

Leo remembered that story. That infant child had been Oroku Saki. The Shredder.

The Ancient One seemed to sense Leo’s unseen nod, and continued sadly. “Did he ever tell you what prompted such a sudden and violent assault? What led the entire Hamato Clan to rise up and completely annihilate their neighbor so thoroughly, after centuries of uneasy coexistence? ”

Leo swallowed hard, and shook his head. “No... but....” He already realized where this story was going and winced. He spent a moment fingering his cup of tea, before quietly asking, “You’re the last of your clan then?”

“I was the only survivor, yes.” the Ancient One suddenly sounded wistful and...and old. Very old. “For years afterwards, I often wondered why they never finished me off that terrible day. Maybe they thought I was no threat. After all, I was only an elderly blind man. Perhaps they were just careless, and overlooked me.” He gave a sad, humorless chuckle. “Perhaps... perhaps it could’ve even been a sudden impulse of pity. I honestly do not know.” He sighed, and continued. “But for two days, I lay grievously injured among the smoldering ruins of what had once been my home. When the Hamato clan finally arrived, there... there was nothing else left to save. ”

“I’m... I’m so sorry.” Leo leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes.

In this never ending cycle of revenge... just... how much blood had been shed? The Hamato Clan had taken their bloody revenge on the Foot Clan. And so, when he became an adult, Oroku Saki turned against his adopted family and took his revenge on the Hamato Clan. And, because of their slain father, Leo and his brothers in turn took their revenge on the Shredder. Leo himself had been the one to deliver the final blow, taking off the Shredder’s head. Now, with both clans left reduced to mere shadows of their past selves, the war still continued to rage on, with the Neo-Foot determined to take their revenge at any cost.

Would... would it ever end? Or would both sides end up destroying one another in a never ending cycle of revenge?

...

And... and was there anything other then himself left of the Hamato Clan left to destroy?

...

Please...

Please let them be okay.

The Ancient One gave a wry chuckle. “Yuuta-san had always been fiercely loyal to his friends and family.” he mused. “He always had a strong, deep ingrained desire to protect and provide.” He paused for a moment. “I could see his spirit in his son, Yoshi. And... I can sense that same spirit in you.”

Leo’s unseeing eyes opened at that, and he sat back up and swallowed hard, not sure how to react to that.

Pangur’s rumbles intensified, and he gave a sleepy, appreciative murr, apparently getting petted. The Ancient One continued softly.“Yuuta himself took me in, and tended to my wounds. I had lost my home, so he opened his own for me. His family became my family.” There was a pause. “And that is why, Leonardo, when your father’s spirit appeared to me with a similar request, I was very happy to return the favor.”

“I... I... But... H-how...?” Leo stuttered, completely stunned and confused. Multiple layers of questions crowded through his brain, creating a traffic jam and leaving all his thoughts fragmented and jumbled. He didn’t even know where to begin! He knew that Master Splinter’s spirit still watched over him and his brothers, he had seen that for himself, but... but had he really appeared to this human? How had he known which island Leo would wash up on? Did... did his father’s spirit somehow guided him here? Where he knew Leo would find help and comfort in his literally darkest moment?

And, for that matter, how had the Ancient One even gotten here? And when? This was a deserted island in the middle of the ocean! A bird sanctuary, from what he had been told. The Ancient One kept saying that he was just a guest, that it was really Pangur Ban’s home, his island, but... there had to be somebody here taking care of the cat. From the look and feel of the ancient temple-like hut they were using as a house, it had been lived in for a long time, so why was it here? Who lived here? Where were they now?

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that nothing about this made any sense!

And then a purring ball of warm fur was dumped into his lap, interrupting his thoughts and startling him.

The Ancient One turned away, dusting off his hands as he walked across the room. “Okay, I think that that’s enough exposition for the time being!” His voice was once more back to its more familiar, flippant tone, losing any semblance of a wise, sad old man and once again coarse, cheerful, and somewhat irreverent.

“Wh-what?” Leo stammered, taken momentarily by surprise, but then he quickly pulled himself together and set the happy Pangur off to one side on the floor, quickly trying to scramble to his feet, wincing in pain as he did so. “Hold on just one moment! You... you can’t just... How can you even... I... What?!”

The Ancient One laughed, apparently highly amused by Leo’s confusion. “Just calm down. You’re over thinking things again!” He shuffled off to the cupboards on the other side of the room and started putting away the first aid supplies. “Worry not, everything will be revealed soon enough, when the time is right. For now, though?” Leo gave a surprised yelp as a kumquat fruit bounced off his snout, and had to scramble to catch it before it fell to the floor. “Rest up, Kumquat. Tomorrow we start the real training.”

Leo held the round piece of fruit in his hand dumbly, feeling it roll between his fingers, and could only glance in the direction of the old human’s voice and echo hoarsely, “Training?”

“Yup!” the Ancient One sounded pleased as punch and quite smug as he closed the cupboard door. “Training. Son of Hamato Yoshi, you definitely need lots and lots of training.”

Leo stood there for a minute, wondering how to even process all this. Then he felt a furry head bump up against him, and a lithe body wound its way against his bandaged ankles. Numbly, he transferred the kumquat to one hand and reached down to scoop up Pangur with the other.

“Don’t you even...” he muttered to the cat, but it was too late.

Delighted at the attention and perched securely in Leo’s bandaged arm, purring Pangur reached up to start happily bathing Leo’s nose once more.

Chapter Text

A salt-tinged cool sea breeze danced over the island and brushed through the treetops, gently ruffling the leaves to create soft whispers and rustles that provided a soft backdrop to the chirps and calls of unseen flocks of bird all merrily living their bird lives. Off in the distance, the rush of the ocean waves pulsed rhythmically, lapping at the rocks and smooth, sandy beaches of the island.

And over the natural sounds of the small island forest, calling faintly through the idyllic atmosphere, a lone, unhappy mew echoed plaintively through the air. Perched on a branch high up in a tree, a small little cat wailed out a mournful song of sorrow and loneliness.

And then the sad, drawn out complaints were cut abruptly short with a surprised squeak when a three fingered hand unexpectedly scooped Pangur up, snatching him up off the branch.

“Ha! I’m so sorry, little one. Did I startle you?” Leo chuckled, quite pleased that he had caught the cat unawares.

Pangur blinked at him in surprise, but then purred and bumped his whiskered face against Leo’s cheek fondly.

Leo grinned and scratched Pangur behind the ears. “Get caught chasing birds again?” he teased, before twisting about to set the small furry feline on his shell. “You really need to be more careful. This is the third time this week!”

Pangur meowed loudly in response, right in his face, and, purring happily, walked across Leo’s shell and threw his whole, tiny body into rubbing against the back of Leo’s head fondly.

Leo chuckled, amused, and then, after making sure that his feline passenger was secure on his shell, reached out a hand and took a few moments to feel the solid, rough surface of the trunk of the tree they were high up in. Then he leapt lightly down, landing on a large branch firm under his feet, then further down once more to the next branch, confidence in his every movement.

It had been almost a full year now since he had first fallen out of a tree, and what a difference that time had made.

He may have been still shrouded fully in darkness, but, under the Ancient One’s tutelage, he had learned that there were many other ways to ‘see’ the world around him. Now, instead of relying on his sight, Leo let himself be guided by not only his hearing and sense of smell, but his well trained instincts, his finely honed sixth sense, and his natural tremorsense. He could feel the heartbeat of the earth rumbling up through the very roots of the tree he was in, the subtle but distinct vibrations created by the wind through the branches, and the very life forces of the animals and plants. He trusted the tiny cues the world around him gave him, and, most importantly, he trusted in himself, in his own senses to safely guide him as he bounced lightly from branch to branch, before touching back down on the ground.

He landed lightly, took a moment to adjust the satchel he was carrying and the cat on his shell, and began his stroll across the soft grass underfoot towards the temple-like house he had shared with Pangur and the Ancient One for so many months now.

As usual, Pangur seemed quite content to sit back and ride on his shell, and the grass and dirt was cool under his bare feet. It was a beautiful day for a walk like this. The island was warm with sunshine, and it just felt like the sort of day that Leo could imagine filled with fluffy white clouds sailing across a sky as blue as the mask he had once worn.

Leo felt his mood shift just a little. He still felt that twinge deep down whenever he thought too much about it. About his old life. When he used to be able to see the sky. The stars, the city lights, standing there on the rooftops alongside his...

Leo was quiet for a moment, then cleared his throat and shifted the satchel slightly. “So... what do you think the Ancient One has cooking for us today?” he asked Pangur absently.

Apparently quite happy that Leo was talking to him, Pangur gave a little cat chirp in response.

“Yes, I know you’re hoping for fish again.” Leo pretended that he understood Cat and kept up the conversation politely. “You’re always hoping for fish. Personally, I’m hoping for something with those wild yams we found the other day. Perhaps roasted with some herbs?”

Pangur rubbed his face against the side of Leo’s head and murred back conversationally.

“Oh, don’t worry, we still have plenty of dried fish on hand, little one.” Leo chuckled. “Even if we have icky vegetables, you won’t go hungry, I promise.”

They arrived at the familiar, grassy clearing in the trees where the house was situated, and Leo lifted his head and gave an experimental sniff, and immediately perked up.

It wasn’t the scent of yams or fish on the air he could smell. It was the scent of something completely unexpected but not at all unwelcome.

Where had the Ancient One found a squid?! That was one of Leo’s favorites!

Eagerly, mouth salivating with anticipation, Leo set forward, and soon found his short, fat old human friend tending a fire near the giant ancient willow tree that loomed just behind the house.

“Ah, Kumquat!” the Ancient One greeted him cheerfully. “I see you found our missing little friend!”

“Yeah, he was stuck up in a tree again.” Leo chuckled, reaching up to pick up the small furry cat in question from his shell and setting him on the ground. As the cat scampered eagerly off to go chase beetles or whatever it was that he did, Leo moved towards the fire, sliding the satchel off his shoulders and closer to the fire and cooking food. “I noticed that you managed to scrounge up some squid for lunch. It smells amazing!”

The Ancient One chuckled. “I figured that would lure you two back faster. And you have good timing too, the food is almost ready to eat.”

“Oh, perfect.” Leo grinned, and stepped up. “Here, let me help you get it ready.”

“And that, Kumquat, is why I wanted to lure you back faster.” the Ancient One said dryly as he waddled over to the willow tree. “Stirring spoon is in the pot, bowls and serving utensils are on the blanket near the rock to your left.” Leo could hear the rustle of grass as the old human sat down and settled comfortably against a rock, obviously throwing his feet up and quite content to let Leo take care of the rest of the work.

Amused, Leo shook his head as he started to move about the campfire, figuring out quickly where the utensils were placed and stirring the food.

If there was any work to be done, trust the ancient human to pawn it off at the first opportunity. Though Leo had to wonder inwardly if it were not so much laziness as it was more of taking advantage of the opportunities to encourage Leo to learn how to do things himself. That crafty human would be the type to try and sneak in lessons like that.

Leo stirred the food, then lifted up the spoon and gave a quick sniff, before blowing on it to cool it off and tasting it gingerly. Hm. Still very, very hot, but definitely delicious. It seemed to be perfectly cooked, so he reached over to grab the bowls to start ladling it up. From where he sat, Ancient One hummed in his off-tune way, and from the sounds of it, Leo guessed that he was entertaining Pangur Ban by scraping a stick across the dirt.

Leo had to admit that he was intensely grateful for his two companions on this otherwise lonely island. The blind old man was obviously much more than he appeared to be at first. Leo had learned much under his tutelage, not only with how to deal with his blindness, but how to see the world in a whole new way. As strange as the human was, Leo could very much believe the tale now that he was once a ninja master who had tutored his father.

Which... well... That was a tale that Leo was still a little confused about. The Ancient One hadn’t clarified any further since that first day when he had shared the story, which frustrated Leo to no end. Honestly! Who even said things like that, and then just dropped the subject?! Perhaps the old human was, as he said, just waiting to the right time to tell Leo the full story. Perhaps he believed withholding the details lent him an air of mystery. If Leo had a guess, he personally thought that the old human just enjoyed aggravating him.

“Careful, it’s still very hot.” he carried the bowl over to the Ancient One and reached down to offer it to him.

“Ah, thank you, Kumquat.” the old human took the bowl gratefully.

Leo set another bowl down on the ground to cool for the cat, then moved off to settle down on a log to enjoy his own helping of the delicious squid.

After a little while, though, he noticed that the Ancient One was rather on the quiet side as he ate, which was a little unusual. Chewing thoughtfully, he let his thoughts wander through the events of the day. Now that he thought about it, the human had been acting a little distracted all day, as if something was on his mind.

Hm.

“I found some more shells on the beach.” Leo informed the Ancient One conversationally. “Mostly the small ones I’ve been collecting, but a few interesting big ones as well that we could add to the decorations around the garden. With the small ones I found, I think I should be able to finish up another rope strand as well.” Leo had decorated his sleeping area with several collections of shells strung together, enjoying not only the feel of them, but the sounds they made when he brushed past them. “I also found a flat piece of driftwood that’ll work for my calendar that I use to count the days.” he continued as he finished another bite. “My old one is getting pretty covered with notches, and I’ve been looking for a replacement for a while now. This board seems to have washed up on the south end of the island, near where the cliffs start, and I think it’ll work nicely.”

“Mm.” the Ancient One hummed an acknowledgment as he ate. “Did you come across any of the scientists at all in your explorations?”

Leo frowned. Humans had come to their island a few days ago, arriving in a large boat and setting up camp on the far side of the island. These were the humans that apparently came yearly to study the birds on this island, according to the Ancient One. Since this island was apparently a bird sanctuary, the biologists came periodically to monitor and document the colony. They seemed to be staying by their boat on the northern beach of the island, where the birds nest in the cliff faces, and didn’t seem to indicate that they were even aware that there was an ancient, temple-like house built further in or that there were currently other residents living on the island. Since they arrived, Leo had tried spying on them a little, but they were speaking a language that Leo didn’t understand, and he wasn’t able to pick up much. It wasn’t as easy as it sounded, and Leo had found himself wedge up uncomfortably in a tree for long hours more then once, holding his breath and trying not to move as the humans moved around beneath him. At least he got to practice being sneaky while blind?

“No, thankfully.” Leo took another bite, chewing thoughtfully. “They don’t seem to ever wander very far inland, so it’s not too difficult to avoid them. They should be leaving soon, I think.”

He wondered why his human companion didn’t go down to talk with them. The Ancient One, at least, seemed to understand what they were saying, and he wouldn’t have the same issues that Leo would have, since he was a normal human and not a five foot seven inch giant walking mutated turtle. Leo would think that he would enjoy the human interaction, or, at the very least, barter for some supplies.

He felt Pangur rub against his leg, and absently he snagged a piece of squid with his chopsticks and leaned down to feed it to the appreciative cat, who happily scarfed it down greedily. Leo agreed with his furry friend as he took a bite himself. This was really good squid.

“If my guess is correct,” the Ancient One mused, chewing as he thought, “they’ll probably leave tomorrow morning sometime.” He swallowed his mouthful of food, and turned to Leo. “So if you’re going to sneak aboard their ship, it’ll probably be best to do tonight.”

Leo froze midbite, and almost choked on the piece of squid as he did so. He coughed, cleared his throat, and asked hoarsely. “Y-you... you think I should sneak on their boat?”

“Kumquat.” the Ancient One’s voice was surprisingly serious. “You know as well as I do that if you want to get off this island and find your way home, then this is your best chance. Their ship is large enough that you should be able to hide in the cargo and get back to the mainland.”

Leo felt his chest tighten at as the persistent internal thoughts he had been trying to avoid for the last few days were now finally voiced out loud.

He... he had a chance. He could leave the island. He could try and find his way home.

He knew now that he could do it. He could figure out his way, even while blind. It wouldn’t be easy, but it wasn’t as impossible as he once feared.

But... but...

“B-but wh-what about you?” he tried desperately.

“Oh, psh.” the Ancient One waved him off with a snort. “You don’t need me for training any more. You’ve learned fast, and I’ve now taught you all that you need to know. Anything more at this point would just be just fine tuning your techniques, and I know that you can do that on your own just fine.”

“No.” Leo shook his head, swallowing hard. “I-I mean, I can’t leave you and Pangur alone. Who... who will take care of you?”

The Ancient One broke out in laughter. “Oh, trust me, Kumquat. You don’t need to worry about either Pangur Ban or myself. We were both fine before you came, and we’ll both be fine even after you leave.” His laughter mellowed into a soft, yet somehow wise chuckle, and he reached down and picked up the small cat, who purred happily at the attention. “We’re not the ones you need to take care of, and I think you know that.”

Leo was quiet for a long moment, setting aside the mostly empty bowl and just holding his hands in his lap, letting his fingers rub against each other softly. Finally, he said in a quiet whisper, “What if...?” He paused, and swallowed hard, licking his suddenly dry lips. “The... the last time I saw my brothers, they were on a plane that was about to crash in the middle of a storm over the ocean. What if I go back, only to find...?”

What would he do if he went back only to find out that his brothers were...

He trailed off with a shudder and a sick feeling in his stomach, unable to finish the thought.

“Leonardo...” the Ancient One said softly. “You’ll never find them if you don’t even try.”

Leo closed his eyes and exhaled shakily.

There was a shift as the old, short human moved, walking over to sit next to him, and a moment later, Leo felt a kumquat fruit pressed gently into his hands.

“Have courage, son of Hamato Yoshi. You can do this. Be strong for your brothers. They need you.”

Leo opened his eyes and swallowed hard, feeling the soft small fruit between his fingers.

He... he didn’t feel full of courage.

The journey ahead of him, traveling through an unfriendly and unfamiliar world blind and alone, terrified him.

What he might find waiting for him at the end, even more so.

But... but Leo knew he needed to try.

He had to do this.

If... if there was even the tiniest chance his brothers were out there and they needed him, then no matter what, he needed to try.

Leo sighed and picked up the small cat from the Ancient One, hugging Pangur to his plastron tightly for a moment. Then he set the purring cat down on the ground and moved to stand up. “You’re right. I suppose...”

“That’s the spirit!” The Ancient One clapped his hands on his chubby thighs before standing up resolutely as well, his voice turning back to a more normal tone of coarse boisterousness.. “We’ve much to do if we’re going to get you ready to go by tonight. So much to do! So much to get ready! We’ll need to pack up some supplies for you! Come Kumquat!”

Leo swallowed hard, and slowly stepped forward to follow into the old, sturdy home they had shared for almost a year, while Pangur stayed behind to happily scavenge the bits of mostly eaten squid left over in the abandoned bowls.

Leo could feel the cool evening wafting against his scaly skin as he stood under the large willow tree just outside the house. Night insects could already be heard in the forest around them just starting to wake up, the air filled with the occasional tentative chirrup as if the bugs were orchestra players testing and tuning up their instruments before the symphony of night songs were set to truly begin.

They were standing underneath the old willow tree behind the house once more. He had spent so many hours under this tree. Meditating alongside the Ancient One, playing with Pangur Ban, or simply just sitting out there, trying to feel the world around him through the sound of the blowing wind, the warm sunshine, or the occasional gentle rainstorms.

It felt as much like a home to him as the house did.

But... That was the crux of it. They whole reason that he was getting ready to leave tonight.

It felt like a home.

Not his home.

This wasn’t his home, because they weren’t here.

Kneeling down, he felt through the canvas pack one more time, making sure everything was in its place and secured.

“Are you sure you’re taking enough water with you, Kumquat?” the Ancient One asked beside him, hovering over his shell slightly. “The boat trip might take a full day or two, and we can’t have you getting dehydrated. Make sure you have enough water packed.”

“I have enough for at least three days here.” Leo let his hands trace the shells of the sturdy gourds they used to store water, carefully waterproofed and tied to the pack. “In the unlikely event that I’d need more than this, I should be able to sneak some from a sink on the boat if needed. So yes, I’ll be fine.”

“Good. Good.” The Ancient One said almost absently, as if reassuring himself. He moved forward and pressed a small bag into Leo’s hands. “Remember all you’ve learned here, Kumquat.” he said seriously. “Trust in yourself. Trust in your senses.”

Despite everything, Leo felt the corner of his mouth tug a little as he felt the kumquat fruit inside the bag. He turned and tied it to his belt carefully. “I shall. Don’t worry about me. I know I can do this.” He exhaled, and turned his short human elderly friend. “But... but what will you do now? I’m leaving you all alone.”

“Psh. Always such the worrywort.” the Ancient One scoffed as Leo felt a purring bundle of fur deposited gently into his arms as the old man handed Pangur over to Leo gently. “I’m thinking that it’s about time that I headed home myself.” the old human said fondly, reaching up to pet the content cat in Leo’s arms. “I think that we’ve both been taking advantage of Pangur’s hospitality long enough.”

“Wait.” Leo blinked, not expecting that. “So... You’ll... you’ll be coming with me then? On the boat I mean?” He had only packed enough supplies for one. Why hadn’t the Ancient One packed as well, if that was his plan?

“No. I have my own way home.” the Ancient One said, somewhat mysteriously. “I’m afraid our paths from here are quite different.”

Leo raised an eyeridge, though, obviously, the Ancient One couldn’t see such a gesture. “Oh, really? Care to elaborate?”

“Nope!” the Ancient One said cheerfully. “It’s more fun for you to be surprised!”

Leo blinked, then scowled and exhaled, a little annoyed. He had already long learned that he wasn’t going to get any more information when the old man got like this. Why did the elderly human always have to talk in riddles and hidden meanings?

The old human chuckled gently. “Do not worry about me, Kumquat. You have your path to follow in this life, and I have my own.” Then he added with a tone of voice that hinted at a very obvious cheeky grin. “Remember, I’m way older then you can even imagine. I’ve been around for more years then you and all your brothers combined! I know how to take care of myself. It’s you young ones that I worry about.”

There was a pause, then he reached over and patted Leo on the arm, his voice suddenly serious. “I am genuinely glad that our paths crossed at this point in your life, son of Yoshi. You are a warrior of great heart, courage, and honor. Your grandfather would be most proud to have a grandson such as you.”

Leo swallowed hard and bit his lip at those words. Not trusting his voice, he instead just gave a curt nod, trusting his companion to sense it. He softly pet the cat in his arms, trying to work his mind around everything. Then Leo gave Pangur one last tight squeeze, feeling the warm fur against his face and listening to the loud rumbling purr. “I’ll... I’ll miss you, little one.” he whispered.

Pangur purred even louder, bumped Leo’s snout with his whiskered kitty face, and gave him a tiny lick with a small, barbed tongue.

“It is time, Leonardo.” the Ancient One reminded him softly. “The humans will arrive back at the boat in a few hours, and it’s best that you be on it.”

Leo exhaled, nodded, then handed the small cat back to the Ancient One.

He took one more deep breath, before shouldering his pack and turning around.

It was time to find his way home.

He strode forward across the grass with resolution in his steps. His world may be covered in darkness, but he was determined to find his light once more.

“Good luck, Kumquat!” he heard the Ancient One call out behind him. “We’ll be rooting for you!”

Pangur gave a little meow as if he completely understood everything they were saying and was in total agreement.

Leo felt an amused smirk tug at the corner of his mouth, and he reached down into his pouch to finger the small kumquat fruit inside.

Only a few steps later, he slowed slightly, then stopped, frowning.

He couldn’t see anything, of course, but he could feel the change around him. The very energy in the air was tangibly different. Something... something was very different about the once-familiar clearing he was standing in all of a sudden.

He stood still for a moment, closing his eyes and feeling the grassy ground of the clearing under his feet, listening to the slight tremors in the earth.

What...?

Swallowing hard and feeling his heart beat against the inside of his plastron, he slowly turned around and, one foot in front of the other, made his way back towards the island house that he had just left moments before, his footsteps steadily pressing down against the soft grass as he moved.

And when he reached the spot where the ancient and sturdy house he had lived in for the past year had been, he found that there was nothing there anymore. Only grass and flowers and an open field. It was as if the house had never existed.

“Pangur Ban? Ancient One?” Leo called out hesitantly.

Nothing answered but the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees nearby and the hum of insects. He couldn’t sense anybody nearby.

He stood there for a moment, confused.

But... the house... and the Ancient One.... and Pangur. They had JUST been there!

But now he could sense nothing but the wind and the grassy clearing and that giant old willow tree. Still standing like an ancient guardian, dominating the center of the grassy clearing set in the sea of island forest

Leo slowly made his way forward until he reached the large, ancient willow tree. He reached out and felt the familiar bumps and knobs that marred the rough bark of the ancient trunk. So he hadn’t somehow gotten turned around or anything. This tree had been right behind the house! He was certain of it! Was... was he crazy?

His foot touched something hard and cool set into the ground at the base of the tree, and he froze.

He set his pack down on the ground and, under the long, sheltering curtain of long willow branches, he knelt down and reached out to gently brush aside vines and overgrown brush, only to feel carved stone beneath his fingers.

Tracing the edges, he frowned. Was this... a hokora? A miniature shinto shrine?

A very, very old, forgotten hokora, from the feel of it. The aged, weatherworn miniature structure made of stone was covered in thick moss and half buried under the undergrowth. Leo had heard of these from Master Splinter’s tales of his homeland, back in Japan, though he had never seen one himself. They were quite common in Japan, found alongside roads, in forests, on temple grounds, and on the corners of streets. They were little miniature roadside temples meant to house the spirit of a kami. A spirit.

But what was one doing way out here?

And then... exploring further, Leo realized that set inside the small replica temple, sitting with one paw raised playfully up, was the stone carving of a small cat.

Leo swallowed hard and sat back on his heels.

The night breeze seemed to whisper around him as it danced through the swaying willow branches, and the old tree itself occasionally creaked and groaned, its ancient branches rocking with the wind.

Leo just sat there for a long time, alone under the willow tree, his hand resting on the small stone shrine.

After a few minutes, he finally shook his head, and ran his hand over his face, letting out a long, shaky breath and then a hoarse chuckle of disbelief.

So... His father’s spirit had asked his old, trusted teacher to look after him, huh?

Just... just how old had the Ancient One been?! Apparently he had been far older then Leo had given him credit for!

And in the creaking wood of the old willow tree, he could’ve sworn that he could hear the old man laughing at him, as if quite pleased to be validated in his boasts.

Leo leaned forward and began to methodically work to clear the small shrine, carefully removing the vines and brushing the stone and wood clean as best as he could. Once that was finished, he turned and grabbed his pack, reaching in to pull out a piece of dried fish and a kumquat. He set both of the offerings on the ledge of the shrine, scooted back slightly, and bowed down respectfully to touch his forehead against his hands on the ground.

After a long minute of silent prayer, Leo sat back up, breathed out slowly. “Thank you.” he whispered.

Then he reached over to grab his bag, stood up, dusted off his knees, and turned towards the northern beach and the boat that awaited.

It was time to go home.

Chapter Text

Heavy tires rolled over the cracked and weathered black pavement of the street set between the rows of old city buildings. It was a hot summer day, and the delivery truck sent old scraps of newspaper and plastic bags tumbling in its wake as it made its way down the old street set in some dirty and nearly forgotten part of the city. There was a slight high pitched whine of brakes as the truck slowed down, and then it turned into an alleyway.  Nestled snugly between to tall, red bricked buildings covered in graffiti, the truck finally came to a stop beside a side door marked ‘Deliveries’.

The rumble of the engine cut and stilled as the truck was turned off. The two doors of the cab opened, and two men stepped out of each side. Reaching up to crick his neck, the driver then reached into the cab to pull out a clipboard, tucked it under one arm, and headed towards the door of the building and knocked, waiting a little impatiently. Meanwhile, his partner headed towards the back of the truck to open the doors to the cargo bay. He started reaching in and pulling boxes forward to start unloading them, but had only managed to move a few when his partner called him over. Grumbling under his breath, the man complied, turning away from the truck and towards his partner and the owner of the shop, who was now standing in the doorway with a scowl and arms crossed.

Through the tense argument that ensued, the three humans were so busy pouring over the shipping manifest attached to the clipboard that none of them noticed a shadowy figure slip out of the back of the truck, slink down the shadowy alleyway, and disappear up a nearby fire escape ladder to the rooftops above.

Leo balanced lightly on the roof of the old wooden water tower, breathing in the air deeply. It was a risk, leaving himself so open in the daytime, but he couldn’t help himself.

He had to 'see' it for himself it fully to believe it.

Oh gods, he was here! He was finally here! This... this was New York City! After so much, he was actually back in New York!

He couldn’t actually see the sights around him of course, but he could sense it with every fiber of his being.

It was as if the city itself was a living organism, humming with an aura like he had never experienced before. The vibrations of countless vehicles rumbling through the streets. The hums of air conditioners and exhaust fans and generators and all the other machinery and motors thrumming from atop buildings. The smells, the sounds, even the very tastes that permeated the air around him.

His eyes may only see darkness, but the whole world around him was lit up so brilliantly with energy and life that it was as if it were painted before him in vivid technicolor.

How had he never noticed this all before?! Back when he had his sight, how had he missed the brilliant undercurrent of energy that lay underneath everything, radiating off the living creatures and flowing up through the buildings?!

It was... it was breathtakingly beautiful.

He stood there for a moment, overwhelmed as he let the life flow of the city wash over and through him.

This... this was New York City!

He had made it back.

He had finally made it back!

The journey here had been difficult, both mentally and physically. It had taken him months. Months of searching and wrong turns and dead ends and close calls. Months of sleeping alone with nobody to watch his shell. Months of trying to figure out routes and transportation without even really knowing where he was half the time. Oh gods, how much easier it would’ve been if he could’ve just read a map! It wasn't like he could just walk up and ask for directions from the nearest human. Heck, most of the time, he couldn’t even understand the local language spoken in wherever the heck he had managed to end up at the time! He had huddled for weeks on a ship among shipping cargo, traveled through humid and sweaty jungles, been shot at by drug cartels, and dodged what felt like entire armies of Neo-Foot. 

But... but somehow... through pure luck and sheer stubbornness... he was here. He had finally made it back!

Leo tried to keep his breathing from hitching as he took in the familiar smells of the city he had grown up in. He wasn’t sure if that intense ache in his chest and the churning sensation in his gut was a feeling of elated, overjoyed excitement... or...or fearful dread. Though he looked outwardly calm and still, standing on the tower with a breeze blowing past him, on the inside, so many emotions were building up that he felt like he was going to burst. Or throw up. Maybe both?

He was back.

But was he home?

Because no matter how familiar and welcoming the city felt to him right now, it wouldn’t ever be home without his brothers.

And now the moment of truth was at hand. He tried to keep any fear damped down deep inside, but it was hard. What... what would he find, now that he was back?

He had tried several times on his journey to try and call his brothers. Every time he came across a phone, he would carefully trace the number pad, trying to recall from memory where the numbers sat. He would go through and dial all of the phone numbers of family that he remembered, hoping beyond hope that the line would be picked up from the other end, and a familiar and beloved voice would answer.

But they never did.

No matter how many times he tried, and he had tried many, many times, he had only ever gotten a harsh sound dial tone.

The phone lines were disconnected.

And, worse yet, the Neo-Foot started showing up shortly afterwards with almost unerring accuracy every time he tried, hunting him, and he would be forced to flee to escape them, sometimes only by the skin of his teeth.

He hoped that those two events weren’t connected. He desperately prayed that the phone lines being dead and the NeoFoot showing up was all just a coincidence, and that his family was safe and whole and well.

He exhaled, and slipped down off the water tower to the building roof below.

There was only one way to find out, and he was finally at the place where he could do so.

It was strange moving along the familiar rooftops that he knew as well as the back of one of his brothers’ shells. The streets seemed fairly empty, so he felt safe as he slipped down to street level, trying not to let the emotions welling in his chest get the better of him.

He paused as he passed the fortune teller’s shop and heard the sound of electrical buzzing coming from the neon sign in the shop’s window, and he couldn’t help the small smile that curved the corner of his mouth. The buzz pulsed as the sign shifted back and forth behind the fortune teller’s window, and even though he couldn’t see it anymore, Leo could almost imagine the neon shape of a hand trading places with the neon eye at rhythmic intervals. Mikey’s mind had been blown by that simple sign on their first day venturing out into the world above.

Boy, they had all been so young and innocent back then. They had no way of knowing back then that when they stepped out of the safety of their lair, they were walking right into a world that was so much bigger and more dangerous then they could’ve ever imagine.

Stepping away from the fortune teller’s shop, Leo shifted the pack on his shell and turned into the alleyway that held the manhole cover into the sewers below. He knelt down, and carefully lifted the heavy metal street cover up like he had thousands of times before in what felt like a different lifetime ago. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, he slipped down into the hole, and the heavy manhole cover slipped back into place with hardly a sound.

As Leo walked through the tunnels, he tried to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. He had grown up in these tunnels. He was so close.

What would he find when he reached the lair? Would his brothers be in there? It was daytime out, and usually his family was asleep at this time. Would... would he walk into the lair, and find them all sleeping comfortably in their rooms?

Through the darkness of his world, in his mind’s eyes he could clearly visualize Mikey curled up in his pile of fluffy blankets and stuffed animals, Donnie snoring softly, face planted on the surface of his desk in his lab, and Raph swaying quietly in his hammock, one leg thrown over the edge. What would he do if that was the case? Would he wake them up, and cause what most likely would be a chaotic but sleepy panic? Or would he let them get their well-deserved day’s sleep, and greet them when they woke up? Ha, he could just imagine the look on their faces when they walked out, only to see him sitting at the table, drinking a cup of tea!

He suddenly felt a little pang of sadness as he realized that... well... he supposed he wouldn’t be able to see their faces, would he?

But... but at least he could imagine them. And then there would be the hugs and tears and disbelief and utter chaos that his return would cause. And, of course, many of those tears and emotions would be coming from him himself. Oh gods, did he miss them so much! Would... would they be mad and hurt that he had been gone for so long? How would they react to him being blind? He... he hoped desperately that they wouldn’t be disappointed with him.

As he grew closer, though, his thoughts quickly shifted course as he began to realize that something was wrong.

The tunnels... this area...

As familiar as it was, there was definitely something different.

Dread began to blossom in his chest, and his pace quickened.

Everything was too cold. Too still. Too... empty.

It didn't feel like the familiar tunnels he had known his whole life. It... it felt lifeless and abandoned.

The overwhelming sense of wrongness quickly changed into a near panic, and  he broke out into a dead run, fear licking at his heart.

He had come so far, and he was so close!

They just had to be there!

Please let them be there!

Oh gods, please!

He turned the corner, reached the turnstiles that marked the entrance to his old home, and froze, horrified.

The lair... His childhood home...

No...

NO!

A faint scent of old smoke and burnt soot still hung in the air, even though any fires were obviously long gone. He could sense the collapsed ceiling, the demolished walls, the smashed furniture laying beneath crushed stone piles. From somewhere off near the wreckage of Donnie’s lab, he could hear the rhythmic and forlorn sound of water dripping from a broken pipe, the only sounds echoing through the deathly still and destroyed chamber.

The whole place felt cold, lifeless, and abandoned.

His brothers were not here.

No... Please no...

His home was gone.

Leo stood there for a moment, his jaw slack and quivering as he absorbed it all in shocked disbelief. Then, swallowing hard, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let out a shaky exhale.

Calm. He had to remain calm. 

If his brothers needed him, he had to be able to help them.

He needed to remain in control of himself.

Letting his traveling pack slid off his shell, he set it on the ground. Then he turned and carefully stepped over one of the toppled and crushed turnstiles into the destroyed lair, determined to figure out just what happened here.

With walls buckled and whole sections of the ceiling caved in, the whole place was obviously somewhat dangerous and unsteady, and occasionally a piece of small rubble dislodged and clattered down the mountains of debris. As he moved, he traced his fingers against the walls, and under his touch, the stonework felt brittle, cracked and charred.

Just... just what had happened here?

Everything was destroyed. Had a bomb had gone off in here? It definitely seemed like one had.

But... when had this happened? Who had done this?

...

...

And... and...

Oh gods. Who had... who had been in here... when...

If... if any of his brothers had...

What if they were...

Oh gods...

Fear beating in his chest, the first place he instinctively made his way towards was the dojo. It had always been the heart of their lair. It had always been where he could go to find answers. It was where his father most likely was to be found. He needed to get to the dojo.

It was kind of hard to get in, as several beams had fallen across the doorway, but, pressing his shell firmly against one of the beams, he finally he managed to push it out of the way. It crashed against the floor with a loud thud, raising a small cloud of sooty dust and sending several bits of debris rolling. The gap it left was a bit tight, but he could slip in with a little work.

And then, standing in what had once been the Hamato Family dojo, he instantly sensed everything that was empty and lifeless in this room, and he felt his heart break a little.

Uprooted, smashed across the floor, lay the tree that had once dominated the dojo.

The beautiful tree that had always been there, watching over Leo and his brothers as they grew up, played, trained, and fought under its branches. The tree that Master Splinter had so lovingly tended for so many years.

Now it was dead, leafless, and bare, laying among the ruins of the dojo like a heart that had been ripped out.

Leo felt as if he were mourning an old, dear friend as he stepped up to the broken and charred wood and ran his hand over the dead, peeling bark.

A single tear began to streak down his now-soot smuged face, but then he paused, suddenly sensing something.

He moved around the broken trunk of the tree, searching and feeling carefully, and then, at last, he found it.

He quickly pulled out a knife, and, every so carefully, cut off one of the smallest branches, cradling it closely.

The branch cutting he held in his hands was still flexible and pliant. It was still green.

Even amidst the ruins and ash, there was still a spark of life left. There... there was hope yet.

Leo found a piece of ruined tapestry nearby and ripped it into a strip, and soaked it with water from the waterskin on his belt, before wrapping the small stick up in it.

He knew that if he nurtured the cutting carefully, it could grow roots, and, planted in the right spot, eventually grow into a whole new tree.

He gave a shudder, wiped his face, and then he turned away. He could grieve for his lost childhood home later.

Right now, he needed to keep calm and his mind clear. He needed to keep looking. He had to focus on finding out what happened here.

He made his way back out through the broken kitchen and started feeling around the broken ruins, trying to find any clues.

The living room, the circular indent in the center of the room, was a lost cause. The spot where he had spent hours sitting cross-legged in front of the TV, watching Space Heroes, was now buried under tons of rubble.

And Donnie’s lab... it had once a place full of energy and brilliance, where dozens of machines hummed as his brother brought brilliant inventions to life. Now both of the doors lay hanging crooked on broken tracks, and the room was filled with wet mold and algae, one of the large broken pipes near the ceiling creating a small stream of water that had long since turned the floor into a filthy, stagnant pool.

He physically winced when he reached the bedrooms in the back. His brothers’ rooms felt cold and empty now. Once they had been sanctuaries, infused with the very soul and personality of their owner. Now they were just broken and empty stone rooms, holding none of the warmth Leo had known to be in them his whole life.

But... instead of giving into despair, as he moved, Leo remembered what the Ancient One had taught him. He instead patiently listened and felt and felt and sensed, and in his mind’s eye, he began to see more then what was right in front of him.

And he began to feel hope.

True, the bedrooms were empty. The dojo was empty. The lab was empty.

But the bedrooms were empty of the personal effects he knew his brothers treasured. The wall in the dojo which once held the family’s collection of weapons and other Hamato heirlooms was now bare. The photo albums once hidden in cupboards were gone. Donnie’s lab was bereft of its computers and electronics.

Everywhere, he found small signs that somebody, or somebodies, had come back afterwards to try and salvage some semblance of what had made this home.

And then, finally, he reached his old bedroom. The door was missing, blown off its hinges most likely. Wondering just how bad it was in there, considering the state of the rest of the lair, he stepped in, and immediately froze in the doorway.

He stood there quietly for a long moment, one hand resting gently on the door frame.

Then he swallowed hard, breathed out slowly, and carefully took a step inside.

Compared to the state of the rest of the lair, this room was almost pristine. At some point, somebody had completely cleared out all the debris and carefully scrubbed clean the walls and floor, removing the dust and soot and leaving the room in an almost livable state. A faint, faded smell of fresh paint on the walls still lingered in the air. None of his old possessions were still in there, as far as he could tell. His bed, desk, bookshelves, all that was gone. The only piece of furniture he could sense in the room was some sort of small wooden table set against the back wall.

A... a shrine.

To honor the dead.

Slowly, reverently, he moved across his old room, each quiet footstep carefully placed and deliberately drawing him closer, until finally he stopped in front of the short, sturdy table draped in a thick, soft cloth. He stood there quietly for a moment, and then, finally, he carefully knelt down onto the floor before it.

Hesitantly, he lifted one hand, let it hover uncertainly for a moment, then reached out to continue exploring the shrine, gently touching the items placed lovingly on the surface.

There were a couple of candles set on the surface, now cool to the touch but the crispy burnt wicks and hard drips of wax frozen on the sides showed that they had been lit at multiple points in time.

Leo absently traced the edge of the porcelain tea cup sitting between the candles. He... he quickly recognized this cup by touch, even if he couldn’t see it. Each chip and imperfection... He knew them by heart. This was one of his favorite teacups, one he had used almost every morning.

He picked it up and quickly noticed that there was still a bit of cold liquid pooled in the bottom of the cup, jasmine tea, from the smell of it. Leo guessed that the cup had originally been full, and most of the liquid had evaporated over time.

Next to the tea cup was an old, stale piece of what Leo guessed had once been a slice of pizza, sitting on a small plate. He could smell green peppers and rather rancid black olives, and surmised that it had once been a veggie pizza.

Veggie pizza had always been his favorite...

He exhaled shakily, closing his eyes in relief.

It was rather disgusting at this point, but Leo was never more glad to find a moldy old piece of pizza in his life. He instantly realized just what this meant.

Somebody had been here very recently. Probably, at most, a week or two ago.

He turned his attention to the other item on the shrine. In the center was a fairly large wooden figurine with a narrow strip of silk draped over it.

Curious, he picked up the wooden figurine and carefully ran his fingers lightly over it, trying to figure it out. It was a bit of an artistic style, but Leo could make out what seemed to be a rough shape of a humanoid turtle kneeling while holding twin sword before it. It seemed to be hand carved, with obviously a lot of care and love put into its creation.

With a sad, wistful smile, Leo traced its curves and edges. Who had made it? All three of his brothers were capable of making beautiful things when they wanted. He wished desperately that he could see what it looked like.

He instead memorized it by touch, and burned every detail into his mind’s eye, until it felt like he could truly see it, even if it were just in his imagination. He spent a long moment just holding the figurine in his hands quietly. Then, exhaling shakily, he reached up and rubbed his hand over his misty, sightless eyes, before reaching out and gently setting it back down in its place.

He turned his attention to the strip of silk cloth that had been draped over the figurine, which he now held in his hands. He rubbed the soft fabric carefully between two fingers, noting the two holes cut into it.

A mask.

He couldn’t actually see it, of course, so he couldn’t tell what color it was, but it was probably safe to assume... 

Well, he would just have to trust that it wasn’t a bright pink flower print.

He reached up to tie the mask around his face. 

Sitting back, he closed his eyes and just breathed for a little bit, concentrating on the feeling of the cool cloth on his face. It... it felt good. Like a piece of himself clicked back in place.

He was Leonardo.

He was back.

And he would find his brothers.

Unseeing eyes snapped back open behind the mask, and Leo stood up resolutely, turned away from the shrine and stepped out of the room. He made his way back to the entrance of the destroyed lair, scooping up his traveling back on the way and throwing it back over his shell. There was a new determination in his steps.

True, the lair had been destroyed. But in those ruins, he found hope.

There had only been one shrine.

Somebody had come back to their old home, perhaps multiple times since the collapse, but they had only set up one single shrine.

Because, as far as they knew, they had only lost one brother.

Well, guess what? That brother was no longer lost.

As he left the ruins of their old home behind him, Leo reached up and touched the hilt of the katana he had taken off a dead Neo-Foot on his journey, which now strapped across his shell.

He was going to find his brothers.

And if even a single scale on any of them had been harmed, then whoever did this had better start praying, because there would be hell to pay!

Chapter Text

Raucous laughter echoed off the graffiti-covered brick walls and down the street littered with empty cans, cigarette butts, and old papers.

“Hey! Hey! Let’s see if I can’t bounce this one right off his noggin!”

A haggard looking old man in ragged, ill-fitting clothing sat leaning against the wall in the trash-strewn alleyway, his body bunched up as much as it could. Crude crutches lay on the ground next to him, along with the other few earthly possessions he owned, and, underneath an unkempt, filthy grey beard, his face was weathered and worn with decades of living on the streets.

The old man didn’t protest or say anything, resigned to his lot in life. He just winced and tensed up in anticipation. Seconds later, a penny soared through the air and hit him on the side of his head, bouncing off his matted hair and clattering to the cement, finally coming to a rest beside several other coins.

Another round of loud laughter erupted from the young street gang members, ranging in age from adult to mere teenagers, who were gathered around a group of motorcycles parked on the side of the street nearby.

“Nailed him!” one of the female teenagers with a dozen piercings and a green mohawk whooped, turning to the skinny bald punk who had thrown it and giving him a high five. “Nice shot, man! Ten points!”

“Ha! Here you guys were moping that we only snagged a bag full of change from that donation box.” A heavily tattooed young woman with black lipstick and a ripped leather coat snickered. “Talk about getting your money’s worth of entertainment!”

“And we’re handing out charity to the homeless as well!” The fat, large man with a spiked collar held up the bag of stolen coins and snickered, before flinging another penny at the old homeless man and hitting him on the shoulder. “We’re practically all saints here!”

The young woman in the leather coat reached out to him, beckoning with a hand. “Here, gimme one. I’m going to see if I can’t get one to stick in his beard.”

"Ooh, like a carnival game? Awesome! I like it!" The fat man snickered, digging out a nickel and flicking it to her.

The rest of the gang perked up at the thought, apparently quite amused by this new twist on the game, and watched eagerly.

The old homeless man winced and tried to curl up into himself more, and a second later, the nickel hit him on his stubble and whisker covered cheek.

“Damn! Missed!”

“Ooh, so close! Let me try!”

“Wait a moment. Hey! Who the fuck is that?”

The ragged old man realized that the coins had stopped hitting him, and his eyes blinked open. He slowly turned and looked up to see a new figure standing over him and blocking out the view of the street momentarily.

Well... this was definitely no gangster. In fact, it looked like this stranger had raided a thrift shop's reject clothing bin. From head to toe, this newcomer was dressed in so many loose and mismatched layers of clothing that it was difficult to make out any details whatsoever about who or what he was. Even his face was completely covered, with a hood pulled down low over his head, a long scarf wrapped around his neck and face, and a large pair of ski goggles over his eyes.

Wordlessly, the heavily clothed figure calmly took a seat on the cement, crossing his legs and positioning himself so his form was interposing between the homeless old man and the street, his back to the members of the motorcycle gang. From the depth of the ragged clothing, a mittened hand reached out and set a steaming styrofoam bowl with a packet of saltine crackers and a plastic spoon down on the ground next to the old man. It was obviously a bowl of soup from the homeless kitchen a few blocks down the road. The old man had been there multiple times before, but it was always so hard to make the walk with his lame leg.

Confused, the bearded old man blinked, and looked between the soup and this stranger, trying to figure out what was going on.

The heavily cloaked stranger merely shifted his canvas knapsack onto his lap, put his mittened hands on his knees, and settled down into an almost meditative pose.

Still confused and unsure, but not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, the old, dirty homeless man gratefully picked up the soup that was obviously being offered to him, and hungrily began shoveling it down, closing his eyes and savoring the broth, as thin as it was.

“Hey! What the hell!” the disappointed gang members behind them protested, and one of them took another nickel out of the bag and threw it at hard as he could at the stranger’s back. “Fuck off, dude!”

If the stranger took any notice of the coin that bounced harmlessly off the thick coat covering his surprisingly solid back, he didn’t give any indication in the slightest.

As the motorcycle gang behind him booed and hissed their disapproval, Leo calmly meditated, breathing in and out in a controlled, steady rhythm, his nostrils tickling against the scarf covering his snout. A rain of roughly thrown coins bounced off his shell harmlessly as they tried to get him to move, but he ignored them for now.

Hamato Leonardo, eldest son of Hamato Yoshi, student of the Ancient One, and once leader of the Hamato Clan, was currently NOT in a good mood.

He had spent days searching the city, combing through all of his family’s favorite hangouts and patrol routes that he knew of. He had gone to all of the favorite junkyards that Donnie liked to visit for things to tinker with, the skate parks and sewer pipes that Mikey adored playing in, and even several seedy bar dives he knew or, at very least suspected, that Raph had snuck into with Casey on occasions in the past.

Nothing. Not even the slightest signs of his brothers.

It was... incredibly frustrating, to say the least.

On one hand, if they were indeed fine and this was intentional, then he was so very incredibly proud of them for covering their tracks and presence so thoroughly.

On the other, though, it was making it very difficult for him to find them, and he was feeling more and more desperate as the days passed.

And all of his other leads had not led to encouraging ends either.

April’s old apartment had a new family living in it, a family that he was pretty sure wasn’t related or connected to the O’Neils in any way. In fact, he was pretty sure they were speaking Finnish. As far as he knew, April and her father didn’t have any Finnish connections. The old antique shop downstairs had apparently been converted into a bakery, so the whole building probably had been sold.

He had no better luck when it came to tracking down Casey. Just like April, the old apartment he had shared with his deadbeat, abusive, alcoholic father was occupied by a new tenant. Leo had thought he had caught a break when he had managed to catch an unlucky, terrified Purple Dragon member in that neighborhood, stopped him from mugging a couple. The thug apparently knew the Jones, if by reputation if anything, and Leo learned that Casey’s father was now in jail for some reason or another, which honestly didn’t surprise Leo, but the Purple Dragon punk didn’t know what happened to Casey or his sister. All he knew was that the hockey masked vigilante hadn’t been in that neighborhood for months.

So, unfortunately, another dead end.

And when Leo traveled to the old Foot Headquarters, from where Karai had based her all her operations in her effort to rebuild a new, honorable Foot Clan, all he found was a ruined, burned out shell of a building, half-collapsed and surrounded by a barrier of old police tape, portions of which had pulled free of the thin posts and were now blowing like ribbons forlornly in the wind.

Whoever, or whatever, had attacked his brothers in their home had apparently gone after Karai as well. Leo could only pray that she and Shinigami had made it out okay.

Leo had spent a long time standing quietly by the rubble, feeling in the very air the destruction that had happened while he was gone.

It seemed impossible. Even that seemingly indestructible landmark had been reduced to rubble.

Where the Shredder once ruled.

Where Karai had hoped to raise honor out of the ashes.

Now it sat there, a husk of a once mighty fortress, little more than a public nuisance surrounded by tattered and aging plastic caution tape. The once formidable old cathedral was now reduced to some bureaucratic mess in an office meeting room somewhere, waiting in limbo as different city officials argued over who’s responsibility it was to pay to clean up.

Leo had even tried stopping at Murakami-san’s noodle shop, figuring that hey, even if he didn’t know where Leo’s brothers were, they could at least commiserate about being blind together over a plate of pizza gyōza. But while, fortunately, that building still stood, it was no longer his family’s favorite noodle shop, but instead an unfamiliar nightclub, with loud bass music thumping out while people lined up at red velvet ropes, waiting to be let in. There was no sign of the kind old blind chef anywhere.

Running out of options, Leo had decided to turn an ear to the streets. There was always much one could learn from the gossip and rumors that passed casually from small talk in parks, coffee shops, and passing in the street. But to do so effectively, Leo had to get close to humans.

So thus his current disguise. After a little digging and cleverness, Leo was now just another nameless unfortunate left to rot on the streets of the city. Ignored and unseen, except for the occasional look of pity or judgmental sneer of disgust, he sat among the humans and listened, hoping to hear any rumors of unusual activity, crimes unexpectedly stopped by unseen vigilantes, or, better yet, three shadowy turtle men lurking about in certain specific neighborhoods.

That had yielded a half-baked rumor of green aliens that seemed to appear sometimes at crime scenes way over in Jersey. The hysterical old woman screeching at anybody who walked passed her wasn’t, admittably, the most reliable of sources, but Leo was desperate enough to clutch at even crazy-based straws, and so to Jersey he went.

So far he hadn’t found anything in his search, but he wasn’t discouraged. If his brothers and friends had gone into hiding, it made sense that they would relocate someplace new. He would keep looking. He wouldn’t give up.

He... he just hoped they hadn’t moved too far.

Hm. Maybe he should check out the farmhouse. Without a vehicle to drive there, it would be a rather arduous journey, so he'd wait until he was sure he exhausted his options in the city first, but maybe...

“Hey, fucker! Don’t you dare ignore us!” This time, an empty soda can clanged against his shell, and, underneath his scarf, he frowned in annoyance.

“Hey. What do you think he’s got in that bag that he’s holding?” another one of the motorcycle gang wondered to her friends.

“Hm. Probably a dead seagull or something.” One of them snickered. “A snack for later.”

“Let’s just see, should we?” There was the sound of one of the humans sliding off the seat of his motorcycle, and begin walking over towards him. “Hey. Freak. Let’s see your bag there.”

The homeless man that he was guarding paused in his meal, and his aura seemed to grow a little more tense and nervous as the gang member swaggered closer, confidence in his every step.

Leo didn’t move, not in any way acknowledging that he had even heard the gang member at all.

“Hey, are you deaf, stupid?! I’m talking to you!” the gang member, getting a little angry now, stomped the rest of the way towards Leo, and reached down for the canvas travel bag he held in his lap, demanding, “Give me... that...”

His words trailed off in surprised shock and fear, freezing in place as a sharp katana blade was suddenly pressed at his collar bone.

Leo’s head was still down, and he had hardly twitched a muscle, but that incredibly sharp sword had come out so fast that it seemed to have materialized from nowhere underneath all that clothing.

“The fuck...?” The rest of the motorcycle gang seemed to be as caught by surprise as their companion was, and they stood there, dumbfounded and not entirely sure what to do.

“I would rethink some of your life choices, if I were you.” Leo said in a low voice from under his hood. “Keep tormenting the helpless, and some day you just might learn the hard way that not everybody is as they appear.”

“I-I-I...” the gang member stammered, the sharp edge of the katana brushing his throat.

Leo lowered the sword a few inches away from his neck, and gave a slight gesture with it, indicating that the gang member should probably run.

He took the hint, and scrambled back towards his comrades as fast as he could stumble. "Let's go! Now!"

“Really?” one of the guys asked him in disbelief. “Running scared over one dude?”

“He's got a fucking SWORD! Not worth it, man.” the guy was already scrambling on his bike, and Leo heard the rumble of the motorcycle engine as it roared to life. “Ain’t worth getting one of us killed over. Let’s just get out of here!’

The others hesitated, but then got on their bikes, started them up with a rev, and tires squealed as they all followed him. The loud, chugging sound of motorcycle engines faded away in the distance, until it disappeared into all the background noises of the city around them.

The old hobo sat perfectly still for a long moment, the spoon of soup frozen halfway up to his mouth. Then, after a long moment, he brought the spoon up to his mouth, very slowly and carefully slurping another spoonful of soup and obviously eyeing the heavily clothed stranger with the katana warily.

Leo sighed and sheathed his weapon back into the scabbard under his thick, oversized, ragged coat.

On one hand, it might not have been a wise idea to possibly start rumors that an unknown and heavily disguised figure wielding a katana was wandering the streets. The Neo-Foot were still a threat, after all, and were probably looking for him still. On the other hand, perhaps encouraging the rumors that an unknown and heavily disguised figure wielding a katana was wandering the streets might be enough to intrigue other factions into investigating as well. Factions like Karai, or even his brothers.

Gods, he was getting desperate.

As the old, unwanted homeless hobo continued carefully eating his bowl of soup, a spoonful at a time with careful chewing and wary looks thrown towards his silent guardian, Leo occupied himself by twisting about to begin picking up all the scattered coins on the sidewalk by his shell, gathering each one of them up and stacking them neatly by size to set down next to the homeless man.

Rain was pouring down heavily from the skies above, creating a constant curtain of sound as millions upon millions of wet, heavy raindrops crashed down in thick sheets and exploded in tiny bursts upon the concrete of the city.

The heavily covered moving mass of mismatched clothing sat huddled in the abandoned, half collapsed ruins of a church, listening to the constant thrum of rain pelting against the old, wooden rooftop above him and the constant drip-drop of leaks streaming down all around him.

Leo had miraculously found the one dry spot in the entire half-rotted structure, in the old chancel at the back of the church, and was sitting there next to the dilapidated altar table with one heavily clothed knee pulled up and an arm draped across it. Though the ski goggles were still set on his face, concealing his mask and worthless eyes, he had pulled down his scarf a little, exposing the lower half of his face as he slowly took a bite out of the sandwich he had pilfered for lunch. He chewed carefully and thoughtfully.

Hm. Rye bread, ham, swiss cheese, lettuce, pickles, a bit of mustard and mayo...

Honestly, it wasn’t bad for a something he snagged from a gas station, but... Heh. For some reason, Mikey’s sandwiches that he made for his brothers always tasted so much better than this. Even if he did sometimes add potato chips and marshmallows to them.

He swallowed, then sat there for a moment, just holding the food in his hand and listening to the rain.

He hoped he found them soon. He was getting so tired.

Tired of having to always sleep on the edge of consciousness, afraid that somebody would walk in on his hiding place as he slumbered. Tired of always being on high alert, with nobody to watch his shell. Tired of having nobody to talk to.

Just... he was just tired of being so alone.

But... wait...

No.

Leo chuckled and shook his head. How could he say that, after all that he'd been through? He should know better by now. He was never truely alone, was he? He never had been.

No... There had always been somebody who was always watching out for him, even when he didn't know it.

And gods, did he need him now.

Leo took his sandwich in both hands, carefully peeling off the top layer of bread and extracting the slice of swiss cheese. He paused for a moment, pondering his surroundings, then put the sandwich back together, sans cheese, and held it in his mouth, momentarily freeing up both of his hands as he twisted about to kneel in front of the altar that he sat next to. He set the piece of cheese next to an ancient and dusty mostly melted candle left there years ago, and then poured a bit of his tea into the lid of the thermos he kept it in and set it down next to it. Not the best tea in the world by any measure of the imagination, just cheap tea bags he had managed to snag and hot water from the gas station, but it was all he had.

Satisfied that the offering was set up as best as he could, he settle back down next to the altar, taking his sandwich out of his mouth and exhaling slowly.

“Watch over me, Master Splinter.” he breathed out a quiet prayer, leaning back against the broken altar with eyes closed. “And watch over them. Keep them safe. And... Please... Please help me find them soon.”

He sighed, and turned back to his sandwich, preparing to start eating once more.

A small squeak had him freezing with the food halfway to his mouth.

A small, slightly damp rat scurried up, sniffed the slice of cheese, and then happily pounced on it, nibbling quickly and finishing off the small cheese piece in a matter of seconds. It curiously sniffed at the bit of tea set out as well.

Leo’s unseeing eyes widened under his goggles as he lowered his now-forgotten lunch, and his mind began to race hopefully.

Was... was this...?

Swallowing hard, he turned towards the rat, and hesitantly asked, “Uh... H-hello?”

The rat sat back on his haunches and squeaked at him.

Oh. Oh wow. He... he hadn’t actually expected an answer!

Heart pounding wildly inside his chest, Leo twisted so he was now on one knee, hand on the altar. He licked his suddenly dry lips, and hoped desperately that his voice didn’t quaver too much as he asked the rat, “Can... can you lead me to my brothers?”

The rat squeaked again, and turned to dart away, jumping off the altar and scurrying through the puddles on the floor towards the sagging, open door.

Startled, Leo scrambled to his feet and hurriedly turned to snatch his canvas traveling bag off of the ground, shoving the remainder of the sandwich in his mouth as he bolted out of the church after the small, fleeing rat.

It was still pouring out, and Leo was getting absolutely soaked, but he didn’t care at that moment. He somehow forced the sandwich down with a desperate swallow, coughed, and gasped out, “Mmph! Wait! Not so fast!”

The rat kept going. It’s aura didn’t give off any hint of fear or panic, so it wasn’t running away from him in terror, but it was still scurrying away down the alleyways as fast as it could go.

Leo strained his senses to their limits, trying desperately to keep track of the rat in his world of darkness and keep up with it. Was it really leading him to his brothers?! For the first time in ages, hope flittered in his chest. Oh kami, was he actually going to find his brothers?! Had Master Splinter really sent this rat to help him? Leo still wasn’t quite sure what had exactly gone on back on the island with Pangur and the Ancient One, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was some sort of spiritual intervention on his behalf. Was that what was going on right now?

The rat scurried across the street and turned to bolt down some subway stairs to the tunnels below, but Leo didn’t slow down at all, quickly reaching up to slid his scarf back up over his face, hiding it as he dashed past the stunned humans waiting down below at the station’s platform. There were a few startled glances and shouts after him, but the scattering of humans all seemed more surprised and annoyed than alarmed. Hidden underneath so many layers of clothing, for all they could tell, Leo was nothing more than another crazy homeless person.

He didn’t really care what they thought at the moment, though. All of his focus and attention was on that single, small rat. The small rodent didn’t slow down at all, dashing down a maintenance tunnel. Leo followed close behind.

They dashed though a complicated maze of twists and turns through old and half forgotten tunnels deep underground, some of them uncomfortably narrow, and at one point Leo was forced to squeeze through a broken hole in the wall that he had to fight and twist to fit his shell through.

“Wait! Please!” he panted, pushing himself loose and dislodging several small pieces of stone from the hole and sending them clattering across the cement floor in the process. He stumbled forward a few steps once freed, but quickly regaining his balance and hurried to catch back up to the fleeing rat. “Hold on, you’re going too fast!”

The rat didn’t slow down at all, continuing its twists and turns. They burst out of a side tunnel, and the area around them suddenly opened up into a wide open space, which Leo quickly realized was another subway platform. Once more there were several human yelps of surprise and alarm as a heavily clothed and ragtag figure dashed past them at top speed, chasing a rat, then they were up the stairs and back out in the soaking rain, topside and on the streets above once more.

Leo didn’t recognize this neighborhood at all, but he had little time to ponder this as he concentrated all his attention on not losing the rat he was so desperate to follow. His breath came rapid and quick, and his legs burned from the effort, but the excitement pounding in his chest gave him the adrenaline he needed to press on.

This was his chance, and he couldn’t let himself fail. Master Splinter had sent this rat to guide him, he was sure of it! He was so close to finally finding his brothers! He would be home again! Oh, please! It had been so long, and he had been through so much! He just wanted to finally go home!

The rat slowed down in an alley behind what smelled like a Chinese restaurant, and Leo held his breath, slowing down as well.

Was... was this it? He didn’t sense anything unusual.

Where? Where were they?

The rat scrambled up into the dumpster, and, through the sound of rain, Leo could hear him begin rummaging around.

Still breathing heavy, confused, uncomfortable, and soaked to the scales, Leo glanced around, straining to listen and feel for anything that would lead him home. It... it had to be here, right? This is where the rat led him, after all.

He carefully stepped up to the metal dumpster, where there came sounds of rustling plastic bags and clattering metal cans, and leaned over. “Excuse me? Uh... Is... is this the right spot?”

From the sounds and smells of it, the rat had found and was thoroughly enjoying some old, stale egg rolls drenched in leftover orange chicken.

Leo stood there in the rain for a long moment, listening, his chest still heaving from the intense run.

Wait...

Had he...

Had he really just chased a random rat for over a mile for no good reason?!

Really?!

He had really, honestly thought that he was going to find his brothers tonight. That Master Splinter had unexpectedly answered his plea for help. But... if this was just a normal, everyday rat just going about living his life... then... then Leo had... And his brothers weren't really...

He wasn't going to...

A hoarse, humorless laugh of pure disbelief rumbled softly in his chest, before rising up into a helpless sob as he held his face in his hands.

Oh gods, he really was going crazy!

He had really just been stupid and naive enough to chase a random rat for over a mile! 

Leaving the rat to its meal, Leo wrapped his arms around his chest and numbly wandered out of the alley. There was a tall building nearby, some sort of old storage garage or something, with a small canopy over the side door. It was just big enough to block out the rain that was falling down in heavy sheets, so Leo stepped under it and slumped against the door, sliding down until he was sitting on the ground next to a few dented and half full metal trash cans.

He honestly didn’t know if he was laughing or crying.

Both, honestly.

He continued to wrap his arms tightly around his chest and leaned his head back against the wall, letting out short, raspy sobbing laughs as he fought back the waves of disappointment and despair that washed over him.

He was losing his mind.

He was obviously going completely and full out nutsville.

No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t find his brothers. He was alone, and he didn’t know how much longer he could take this!

He... he just missed his brothers so much.

And... he was so very tired.

His nostrils flared a little as he took a deep breath in, and a faint but familiar scent registered in his brain.

He instantly froze frigidly in place.

No...

No, it couldn't be. It had to be his imagination...

He bolted upright, clamoring to his feet and looking around desperately with flared nostrils. Where was it coming from?! He quickly grabbed the trash can next to him, reaching down into it and digging around desperately.

And there he found the source of the scent.

An old, dirty cloth rag, smelling strongly of motorcycle oil and grease...

And... and RAPHAEL.

Oh gods...

This rag smelled like his red-banded brother! It-it couldn't be!

Leo gave a little, involuntary whimper as, for the first time in nearly two years, he smelled, unmistakably, one of his brother’s scents.

Tears welled up underneath the ski goggles he wore over his mask.

There was no mistaking it!

Raph...

RAPH!

Oh gods! Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods!

Clutching the dirty mechanic’s rag like it was the most precious item in the world, Leo turned to the building he had been leaning against. Was... was this...?

He carefully reached out and felt around, trying find some clue as to why this scent was here. There was an electronic number pad installed next to the locked door.

Just... just like the ones Donnie used to...

He swallowed hard, feeling the number pad. He paused for a moment, then took a deep, shaky breath. Trying to keep his hand from quaking too much from pure emotion, he hesitantly typed in the security code that Donnie had made them all memorize.

The door’s lock gave a loud click.

Heart racing, Leo reached down and grabbed the doorknob. He pushed open the now-unlocked door, and shouldering his travel bag, stepped inside the building.

“Hello?” he called out cautiously, hopefully, closing the door behind him. “Is... is anybody here?”

It was quiet. It felt dark in the building. There was nobody in there.

But instantly, he could tell that, unlike the old lair, this place was not abandoned.

No, there was still life here. This whole place felt as if it were merely sleeping, waiting patiently for the residents to come back and resume whatever projects lay within these walls.

Leo braved a few more steps in, trying to get a feel of his surroundings. He seemed to be in some sort of garage. There were several vehicles parked in here, along with tool chests against the wall, and workbenches and... and...

And... everywhere, he could smell his brothers’ scents. Raph. Donnie. Even Mikey.

Oh gods! This was their garage! This was his brothers’ garage! He... he had found them!

Leo felt like sobbing out for joy. He eagerly set down his bag and quickly moved through the quiet, empty room, eager to soak in and touch everything that smelled and felt like his brothers.

He needed to convince himself that this was real!

He needed to convince himself that he had really found them!

He had found his brothers! This was their garage! They were obviously not here right now, but this was where they worked on and stored their vehicles! And... and that meant that, at that very moment, they probably weren’t far away. They were close to him! He was close to them!

Oh kami! Where were they?!

He tried to figure out if there was a door that led further in, perhaps to the new lair or something. Hm, there weren't any doors that he could sense, besides the side exit that he had come in and the main garage door. Though... it was strange. Behind one of the walls, he thought for sure that he could sense a hallway, but there was no door, only a solid wall.

Nearby, there was a work desk with a computer on it, with half a dozen dirty coffee cups littered around it. And next to that a shelf filled with junk food, electronic toys, action figures, and stacks of magazines. Probably comic books.

Leo missed reading comic books.

Oh! There! In the middle of the room was a motorcycle! That was Raph’s motorcycle!

Everything around him was saturated with his brothers’ presence and scents, and even though he was blind, he could see on full display, in every little detail, each of his brothers' lives and hobbies and personalities and quirks. He could almost see them right in front of him!

Lost in the moment, completely absorbed in his long lost brothers’ achingly familiar smells, Leo couldn’t drink it in fast enough. He just wanted to touch and feel and smell everything!

He had found them.

He was finally home!

Below the garage...

Deep underground...

A red light suddenly flared to life and began blinking rapidly on a panel, obviously part of some elaborate and complicated computer system.

After a few minutes, there was the approaching rumbling sound, the sound of small plastic wheels rolling over a hard, cement floor. There was a very brief flash of orange and green as a wheeled desk chair went sliding past, only to crash into a wall a second later. A glass beaker went rolling slowly across the desk surface.

Then, a three fingered hand slowly rose up from the floor, grabbing the edge of the desk. And an orange mask framing baby blue eyes lifted up to peer over the edge of the small ledge of the console to stare suspiciously at the blinking red warning light labeled 'Intruder'.

Chapter Text

“I still don’t see how you managed to get a parking meter stuck under the Sewer Sled.” Donnie’s voice was muffled as he lay underneath a vehicle set on lifts that looked like a cross between a jet ski and a large snowmobile, tools scattered around him neatly for easy access. “This vehicle is for use in the sewer tunnels only, there aren’t even any parking meters down here!”

Raph bent down to peer underneath. “Yeah... it’s wedged good in there, isn’t it? Pretty impressive, huh?”

“That’s... not the descriptive word I would’ve chosen personally.” Donnie said dryly. He gave a strained grunt, obviously exerting pressure on something, then there was a clank of metal and several creative cuss words came streaming out from under the vehicle.

“Uh... you okay?” Raph raised an eyeridge. 

“Fine! Fine!” Donnie hissed, obviously not feeling okay at the moment. “I’m just peachy!” He rolled out from under the sled, a scowl on his face. “Hand me the blow torch, will you? I’m cutting this thing out.”

Raph obediently retrieved the requested object from the shelf as Donnie sat up, and handed his purple brother the blowtorch.

“Uhhh... yo, Donnie?” Mikey leaned his head in, peeking through the open doorway into the workshop. 

“A little busy here, Mikey.” Donnie’s tongue stuck out slightly as he lowered his goggles and held the blow torch in one hand, preparing to light it. “Is this important?”

“Kiiiiinda?” Mikey drawled out with a shrug. “Just wanted to let you know that the alarm for the Shell-Garage is going off.”

“Wait, what?!” Donnie immediately extinguished the lighter in his hand and looked up in shock.

Raph bolted upright in alarm. “My bike is in there!”

“Yup.” Mikey nodded. “And the security screens show some hobo walking around the workshop.” He shrugged and turned to go. “Anyways, just thought you’d want to know, dudes.”

“Oh, for the love of Gottfried Leibniz! Really?!” Donnie spat, grabbing a rag and wiping off his hands as he followed Raph and Mikey back towards the lab to see.

“Somebody broke into our garage!” Raph huffed indignantly at the security monitor screen. “Donnie! How did somebody break into our garage?! You said it was secured!”

They were all in Donnie’s lab now, crowded around the security monitors. Donnie had quickly taken his place in his chair and had pulled up the security footage, showing a heavily cloaked figure wandering around the dark garage above them.

“It is secure.” Donnie frowned, typing in a few things on a nearby console and glancing at the coding that came up. “The security system I installed is state of the art, and so far, none of our defenses have been exposed. It seems that whoever this is entered in one of the old security codes that were compromised back when the NeoFoot hacked us.” 

“And it still let whoever that is into the garage?!” Far from reassured, Raph continued to looked distressed by the situation as he turned back and forth from the screen to Donnie in disbelief. “Donnie! The heck?!”

“Relax, Raph. We’re not in any danger. We’re basically in an underground bunker now, and I have several contingency plans in place now. Please, have a little faith in me.” Donnie scoffed, looking almost a little offended. “I’ve planned for this, and by entering in an old code, several key security features have activated without that user’s knowledge.” Donnie leaned forward in his office chair to peer closely at the security monitor.  “I’m not sure if our new lair’s location has been compromised yet, and I didn’t want to confirm any suspicions by tipping our hands too early. We’re safe, as the hidden entrance to the lair is now completely sealed shut from the inside. Even if they somehow got past that, until I manually override the lockdown procedure, the elevator to get down here now needs both a hand and retinal scan from an authorized user to operate.”

“I’m an authorized user!” Mikey chirped in proudly, still leaning in to watch the stranger on the screen.

“Yes. Yes you are, Mikey.” Donnie said patronizingly, not missing a beat. “And all the lair’s defensive and offensive are now on standby and waiting. If there’s even the slightest sign of hostility, I can set them off and neutralize any threat within seconds. We’re not going to have a repeat of last time.”

“He’s going to touch my bike!” Raph’s knuckles were gripping the back of Donnie’s chair so tightly that his knuckles turned a little white. “I swear, if he touches my bike...”

“Your bike will be fine, Raph.” Donnie rolled his eyes. “Trust me, guys.” Donnie tried to reassure them. “As far as that guy knows right now,” he gestured towards the figure on the screen, “he just walked into an empty garage. The entrance to the lair is completely concealed from his side, with no way for him to open it.”

Donnie pressed a few more buttons, and several more screens lit up, each of them showing the garage from different angles.

“Well, he seems to be alone.” He squinted and leaned forward, studying the figure moving around the dark garage closely. “I don’t see any other heat signatures on the infrared screens. I do have to say, whoever it is, they have a unique fashion sense. It almost looks like they raided the trash bin behind a Goodwill store.” 

“Ooh! Maybe a pile of old laundry got doused in mutagen and came to life as a mutant!” Mikey theorized excitedly. 

“Mikey... be serious.” Donnie gave him a look.

“Oh man, it’s been forever since I’ve been able to name a new mutant!” Mikey held up his hands, waving them in the air excitedly. “I shall call him, ‘Laundro-man!’. Get it? Kind of like Laundromat? Or, OOH! How about ‘Laundro Calrissian? Ow!” 

Leaving Mikey rubbing his head ruefully, Raph unfurled his fist and flexed his fingers as he turned back to the screen and frowned, watching the figure slowly walking around the garage with narrowly slitted eyes.  “Do you think it’s a NeoFoot?”

“Unlikely.” Donnie tapped his finger against the desktop absently as he also considered the figure carefully. “The NeoFoot have a very distinct style of uniform, and they don’t usually deviate from that. They’re usually quite... zealous... about showing that they are ninja, and so far haven’t actually stooped to the level of actually using a practical disguise. Such as dressing as an actual hobo.” He snorted and gestured towards the screen.

“Dudes, you keep putting down his fashion sense, but you’re missing the key piece here!” Mikey enthused. “Those are some pretty awesome ski goggles he’s wearing!  Dibs on them, by the way, if this is a bad guy.”

“Wait, is he really...? He is wearing tinted ski googles!” Donnie blinked, just noticing them. “The lights are off in the building. How is he getting around in the dark?!”

“So... who is it?” Raph growled, obviously not quite as concerned about the intruder's fashion choices as his brothers were. “Don’t tell me that some random hobo off the street got lucky and guessed the code. He’s obviously looking for us. Why? Is he alone, or is he working for somebody?”

The figure moved slowly forward, and gently, almost relevantly, ran his hand over the motorcycle, feeling the leather of the seat and moving up towards the handlebars. The heavily clothed figure paused when he felt the helmet dangling there, and then carefully moved to pick it up in both hand, bringing it up towards his unseen face.

Raph’s hands slapped the counter as he lurched forward to watch, obviously scandalized. “He fuckin’ touched my bike! He’s dead!” 

“Is he... smelling Raph’s helmet?!” Mikey wondered in disbelief. “Why? Why would anybody do that voluntarily?”

Donnie, who had been tapping one finger against the console, sighed and reached up to push a button. 

Instantly, there was a hiss as a misty white cloud poured out of hidden vents in the wall, quickly filling the garage. The figure on screen immediately jumped, quickly dropping the helmet and reaching towards his back with lightning speed just before the cloudy mist completely obscured their vision. 

“Uhhhh...”

Both Raph and Mikey had not been expecting that. They blinked at the screen, then hesitantly glanced at Donnie.

“Oh, relax. It’s just sleeping gas.” Donnie waved off their concerned looks.

“Wait. You have the ability to gas the workshop?!” Raph glanced between his purple brother and the screen. Obviously this troubling piece of information was news to him.

“Yes.” Donnie apparently completely missed the horrified tone in Raph’s voice as he nodded, studying the screen and tapping a finger against his arm absently. “It’s one of the protective measures I put into place.” Then he noticed the looks both of his brothers were giving him and rolled his eyes. “Oh, relax. It's perfectly safe. Whoever it is will be fine. It’ll wear off in less then half an hour with little to no side effects.”

And when the white cloud dissipated a moment later, the three brothers could see the motorcycle helmet rolling across the floor, and the heavily clothed hobo laying sprawled face down and motionless on the floor, a drawn steel blade laying on the ground in front of him, clutched in a now-slack gloved hand.

“Harmless hobo, my ass!” Raph snarled when he noticed the blade, pointing at the screen accusingly. “Fucker had a katana on him!” 
 
“Come on.” Donnie stood up from his chair and started towards the exit, waving for the others to follow. “Let’s get to him before he wakes up, or any friends he might have show up. I want to know who he is, and why he was in our garage.”

“Just remember, I called dibs on the shades!” Mikey followed after him eagerly.

“...And this is how you unlock the garage after a lockdown alert.” Donnie finished up as the seemingly seamless wall in the garage slid up, revealing a hallway behind it that they stepped in from. “I swear, guys, I covered this already with you! You need to pay attention, this sort of information is important.” He clicked a button on the cuff on his wrist, and the lights in the garage blinked to life, illuminating the whole building in the bright glow of electrical lighting. 

And there, laying unconscious in the middle of the garage next to Raph’s bike, was a formless and unmoving heap of mismatched heavy clothing.

Donnie quickly moved over and nudged the fallen katana out of the stranger’s mittened grasp with his foot, and reached down to pick it up, examining it closely and frowning. “High carbon steel, precision balance, finely tempered... This blade was meant for combat. And, judging by the quality of the work and the elaborate decorations, this isn’t just the run of the mill grunt Foot’s sword, this would have been made for somebody very high in the ranks somewhere.”

Raph had his sais out, on edge and ready to attack if needed. He leaned over and hissed as he saw the signs of Foot Clan insignia and symbols etched into the elaborately decorated blade. He looked between the sword and the fallen figure on the floor, tense and agitated. “Fuck. They found us again.”

Donnie didn’t look so sure as he glanced down at the motionless figure laying on the floor. “Whoever that is, they’re not exactly dressed like a Foot Elite. And a high ranking officer in the NeoFoot probably wouldn’t have been sent out on a mere scouting mission.”

“Well, whoever it is, they’re poking their nose where it doesn’t belong.” Raph roughly nudged the stranger’s heavily clothed leg with a toe suspiciously. “What do we do with him?”

“Tie him up and question him when he wakes up, I suppose. I don’t like the idea of taking him down to the lair, so we’ll have to find someplace secure offsite. ” Donnie set the sword on his desk and went about to reset some of the security alarms. “Fortunately, he should still be out cold for at least another fifteen to twenty minutes, so we have time to... Mikey! Get away from him!” Donnie just noticed what their youngest brother was up to.

Mikey was kneeling down by the intruder’s heavily scarfed face, tapping on the tinted ski goggles that covered up much of his face.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Donnie scolded him. “What if he wakes up?!”

“Chill, bro.” Mikey reached down to pull off the coveted ski goggles, examining them with admiration. “You said yourself that he...” He froze midsentence as the goggles slid off, revealing a strip of blue cloth underneath and a portion of the stranger’s face, and his jaw dropped and his expression immediately turned to one of shock, then absolute and uncharacteristic panic. He quickly threw the goggles off to the side and instead lunged forward to cradle the intruder’s face in both of his hands. “Leo! Guys! It’s LEO!” 

Donnie and Raph froze. 

“WHAT?!”

Mikey was already hurriedly unwrapping and peeling away the scarf and hat to show heartbreakingly familiar green scales and a blue mask, mouth slack and eyes closed.

“LEO!” Donnie choked, and he immediately dove forward to kneel by their unconscious brother. 

Mikey was patting his unconscious brother’s cheeks frantically. “Leo, come on, bro, wake up! Please wake up! Leo!”

Leo remained limp in his grasp, obviously out cold, and didn’t respond to his touch. Donnie swore under his breath, and quickly moved to start to peel off the layers of mismatching clothing.

“L-Leo?!” Raph whispered hoarsely, standing off to the side and staring blankly. “It... it can’t be. He’s... he’s...”

“He’s not waking up, Donnie!” Mikey sounded on the verge of panic, cradling his unresponsive brother’s head.

“It’s the sleeping gas.” Donnie said through gritted teeth. “He’ll be okay, he’s just unconscious.” Breathing hard with eyes wide, Donnie’s hands were nonetheless steady as he peeled off one of the mittens on Leo’s hand and grabbed his wrist, feeling the pulse and quickly assessing his brother’s condition. “His pulse is strong and his breathing is regular." He frowned, grabbing the sleeve of the coat. "He’s completely soaked to the bone! Guys, help me get these clothes off him. We need to get him dried off and warmed up. I need to check his vitals!” he quickly ordered. 

 Raph still seemed to be in some form of shock, standing there, wide eyes never leaving Leo’s unconscious face. “He-he fell... Back in the plane. I saw him fall out of the plane. There... there’s no way... he... ”

“Raphael!” Donnie snapped at him, and Raph gave a startled jolt. “Focus! Help me get the rest of his clothing off.” Donnie was in full medical crisis management mode, and any emotions he might’ve felt were currently completely buried under the logical facts of the moment. 

Raph swallowed hard, then quickly nodded. He moved to kneel down on the other side of Leo, and his hands hovered shakily for just a moment, as if he was afraid to touch Leo, lest this turn out to be just a cruel illusion or dream. But no... the scaled arm he touched was definitely solid, real, and warm. 

“He’s... he’s really alive.” Raph whispered in disbelief, choking back tears. “Leo’s.... alive!”

Leo’s face was relaxed with his eyes closed, the only movement was the slow and steady breathing. It was so surreal, looking down on that face he thought he’d never see again. He... he didn’t look too bad, at a quick glance. He looked like he had been eating well, and Raph could see all the old, familiar scars etched on his older brother’s scales and plastron, including the deep gouges left by the Shredder so long ago, but he didn’t notice any major new ones. 

“I knew he was still alive! I just knew it!” Mikey’s panic was quickly transforming into overwhelming joy and elation. “I told you guys that he was still alive! I could feel it!”

“H-he’s not waking up Donnie.” Raph still sounded extremely shaken, trembling slightly as he helped lift Leo’s limp form up so they could get the coat off, his eyes rarely leaving Leo’s face. “Why isn’t he waking up? He’s... he’s going to be okay, right?”

“He’s fine. It’s just the gas.” Donnie exhaled a little shakily, a little guilt creeping up into his expression, but then he steeled up again and went back to carefully removing the coat sleeve from Leo’s limp arm. “The sleeping gas should wear off with little to no side effects. Oh gods. If... if I had known it was Leo, I-I would’ve never...”

“We know, Dee.” Mikey had grabbed a few towels, and as soon as the coat was off, he began chafing and rubbing down Leo’s damp arms and shell. “None of us realized that it was Leo. How could’ve you known?!” He paused leaned over and ran a hand over Leo’s head, now bare except for the blue mask. “Leo! Bro! What were you even wearing dude?!” 

Donnie swallowed hard, and nodded. “Raph, help me get Leo up on the cot.” he ordered, shifting around to get into a better position. “He’ll be more comfortable, and I’ll be able to get a better look at him. Mikey, grab the medical kit for me, will you?”

“Of course!” Mikey bolted off to do as bidden.

Carefully, Raph and Donnie carefully lifted the unconscious Leo off the cement floor, and carried him over to the cot set against the wall, which Mikey had just hurriedly cleared of blankets and boxes. They set him down gently on his shell, and Donnie quickly grabbed a chair and pulled up close.  

Mikey came up with the requested well-stocked medical bag, setting it on a side table within Donnie’s reach. “Oh man, this is real, isn’t it?! It’s not a dream! Leo’s actually here!” he stared at their long lost eldest brother with stunned blue eyes. 

Donnie continued his examination, running his hand lightly over Leo’s plastron, feeling for cracks or wounds. “Well, the good news is, he seems healthy enough. He’s not malnourished, so he’s been getting enough to eat. I don’t see any obvious injuries either.”

“Two years!” Raph snarled, his shock and fear quickly devolving into anger and worry. “It’s been nearly two whole fuckin’ years, and he couldn’t be bothered to let us know he was still alive?!”

“Maybe... maybe he couldn’t?” Mikey chewed his lip worriedly, never taking his eyes off of Leo’s face. “Maybe he was being held prisoner or something...”

Raph’s eyes widened at the thought.

Donnie paused, then lifted one of Leo’s arms and examined his wrists carefully and with a touch of trepidation, before exhaling with some degree of relief, “I don’t see any signs or scars from ropes or restraints.” 

Raph gave a shaky exhale at the thought, and wrapped his arms around himself, hugging tightly. “I’m just saying... he’d better have a good excuse.” he muttered stubbornly, looking slightly away. “Two fuckin’ years of thinkin’ he was dead.”
 
Donnie reached over and  grabbed a penlight, and leaned over to gently lift one of Leo’s eyelids with his thumb, intent on looking at his pupils. Almost immediately, he made a weird noise in the back of his throat as he stiffened, the pen slipping from frozen fingers as he gaped at his brother with an expression of pure horror.

“Donnie?!” Mikey didn’t like that look on his face, and felt a surge of fear wash over him. He grabbed Leo’s hand in panic, leaning forward to try and see what Donnie saw.“Donnie, what is it?”

“Oh no.” Donnie whispered in horror, then he half leapt out of the chair, grabbing Leo’s head in both hands and lifting both eyelids, closely examining both eyes in a frenzied panic. “Oh no no no NO!” Tears began to well in his eyes, and he leaned down to press his forehead against Leo’s with almost a sob of grief. “Oh, Leo! My brother! No!” 

“Donnie?!” both Raph and Mikey now wore equal expressions of panic at this outburst, obviously realizing that something must be seriously wrong.

“What’s wrong with him?!” Raph asked, his voice shaking. “What’s wrong with Leo?!”

Donnie took a deep, shaky breath, tears streaming down his cheek as he kept his face pressed against Leo’s unconscious one. “I... He....” He swallowed hard, then whispered hoarsely, “Guys. I’m pretty sure that Leo’s... blind.”

There was a moment of silence, as if the air had been knocked out of all three of them. 

Raph’s mouth opened and closed like a fish for a few seconds, before he finally croaked out, “B-Blind?”

“You mean... he... he can’t see anything anymore?!” Mikey asked in disbelief.

Donnie shook his head quickly, turning back to Leo and brushing a thumb over his face gently. “There is a heavy layer of scar tissue that looks old and healed over.” He shrugged helplessly. “My guess is it’s from the chemical burns he suffered back in the cargo plane.”

There was a long moment as they could only stare at their older brother, laying there on the cot, now brought back to them two years after they were sure he was dead.

Finally, Mikey hugged himself tightly, swallowing hard. Then he exhaled shakily, and glanced at Raph. “Well... I’d say that’s a pretty good excuse, huh?”

Raph could only stare at Leo helplessly.

The same thought was running through all their minds at that moment.

For nearly two years, Leo had been trying to find his way back to them, while... blind? Leo had been dumped in an ocean half a world away in the middle of a storm. He was a mutant in a world that feared and despised them.

Two years? 

It was a miracle that their brother made it back to them at all.

Mikey wiped his tears away stubbornly, then clasped Leo’s hand tightly, hugging it close to him. “Thank you...” he finally whispered quietly. “Thank you for surviving. Thank you for coming back, big brother.”

Raph gave a shaky, gasping exhale, then stepped forward and reached down to touch his currently unconscious brother's cheek gently. “You did it, Leo. You found us. Everything is going to be okay now.” His voice was thick with emotion and broke slightly. “Now it’s our turn to take care of you for once. Now... now you’ll be safe. I promise.”

Chapter Text

Slowly, Leo found himself slowly drifting in and out of a thick fog. Semi-conscious emotions and flittering scraps of information finally began linking together to once more form coherent thoughts. Ugh. What woke him up? Where was he?

Faintly, he could hear voices around him. Familiar voices. They sounded... worried and panicked? Why? What was going on? In the back of Leo’s mind, there was that slight nagging sensation, telling him that he should probably wake up and figure that out. But at the same time, he was surrounded by scents and sounds that he trusted, so he didn’t feel the need to struggle too hard. He felt safe. Those voices sure were loud, though. He wished they’d just let him sleep. He was so tired.

“... both know how he is. He won’t take that particular bit of news well. I really don’t think we should tell him.”

“I get what you’re saying, dude, but is that a really good idea? I don’t think we can keep that kind of thing a secret from him for long.”

“What will I do if it turns out he needs surgery?! Oh gods, I know next to nothing about  how to treat blindness! I’m going to need research material! So much research material!”

Was he dreaming? Awake? He felt warm and dry and safe, and it was just so hard to wake up right now.

“I’m going to need....an... an ophthalmoscope! Where would I even find an ophthalmoscope?! Is... is there a medical junkyard around somewhere? Should... should we raid a optometry office?”

“If we tell him, it’s only going to make him worry! He’s been through enough already. Plus, he can’t do anything about it now, and realizing that is really going to mess him up in the head.”

“I... I suppose. It’s just... I dunno. It just doesn’t feel right, keeping that, of all things, from him.”

“I-I should probably look into obtaining a retinal camera as well, though that would probably be way too large and heavy to sneak out easily. Maybe we could just borrow it somehow?”

What... what had even happened anyways? The last thing he remembered was... hm... Well, he had been looking for his brothers. That was easy to remember. He had been doing that for such a long time.

Oh. Oh wait!. That’s right! He... he had just found signs of them! He had actually found Raph’s bike, had breathed in his red brother’s scent! He was so close! And... and then...? Ugh. It was so hard to think with everything spinning around him.

His brow furrowed, and he wrinkled his snout as he gave a groan and a huff, slightly frustrated by the slow process of waking up.

“Leo?!” a familiar voice gasped next to him. “Guys! I think Leo’s finally waking up!”

Wait... It couldn’t be!

“D-Donnie?!” Leo croaked out thickly in disbelief. He could hardly believe what he was hearing, and instantly shoved his way forcibly to consciousness, desperate to find that voice and verify that he really had heard it. Oh, please! He wasn’t just dreaming it, was he?!

And there! As he came out of the fog of sleep, he suddenly realized that beyond the darkness, which was still sort of weirdly spinning and reeling around him, he could sense three auras in the room with him. Brilliant, familiar, wonderful auras of Red, Purple, and Orange! But... but he couldn’t see them! Oh gods, he could sense them, they seemed to be right there next to him, but he couldn’t SEE them! Were they real, or was this just a dream?!

For the first time in a long time, the ever constant darkness around him seemed to smother and suffocate him, closing him off from the outside world like it had in his first days of blindness. He desperately wanted to SEE his brothers’ faces! He could definitely smell them! He could sense their colorful, brilliant, wonderful auras! But he was groping through darkness, reaching out for intangible concepts. They lingered so close yet still so far away! He needed to find them!

“G-guys!” he gasped, and pushed himself up and tried to lunge towards them desperately. He couldn’t see! What new scars did his brothers now bear?! How deep did they run?! “Are you okay? Are all three of you okay?!” The sudden movement sent the dark world spinning even more around him. Disorientated, he lost his balance and almost fell off the cot he was apparently laying on. Wait. When had he gotten on a bed?

The red-tinged aura nearby spiked in panic, lunging towards him, and then, suddenly, there were strong hands there, catching him under the arms and holding him up off the floor.

Wonderful, strong, solid, and very real three fingered hands!

“Leo!”

“Raph!” Leo reached across his chest and clutched at the strong hands looped under his arms, holding him up. Raph! Of course! Raph was always there to catch him! He reached upwards toward’s Raph’s head, feeling the mask tails dangling down and familiar smooth, battle scarred scales. They were real! He couldn’t see Raph, but he was definitely real! “Oh, thank the gods, I’ve-!”

“LEO!” And then he was interrupted by a warm body slamming into him from a different direction, and suddenly, instead of just an intangible orange aura, there instead was a solid, oh-so-familiar and real shell pushed into his arms. Strong and loving scaled arms wrapped around him and hugged him tightly, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the aura was real and solid and MIKEY!

“Mikey!” Leo desperately clutched at the solid shell of his little brother as if it were a lifeline, not even trying to right his position and quite willing to be half held up by Raph. “I’ve been-“

“What are you-?! Get off of him, Mikey!” Raph’s voice above him sounded slightly panicked, now holding up both brothers as Leo dangled awkwardly in his arms with his feet still halfway on the bed. “He’s still waking up, for god’s sake! Give him room!”

“Leo!” Donnie’s purple aura pushed its way forward, and both Raph and Mikey struggled to keep their grips on him as a third set attempted to shove them aside and grabbed at his face. “How long have you been blind?! What exactly happened to you?! Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Tell me what hurts!”

Oh, they had figured it out already? Leo blinked his unseeing eyes, his face squished between his purple brother’s probing hands. “Donnie! Don’t worry, I’m-.”

“Mikey, Donnie, I’m serious! Stop jumpin’ on him, you’re going to freak him out!” Raph’s voice snapped out and his strong arms clutched him closer. He seemed to be struggling to push Leo back up onto the cot he had just tumbled out of, which was quite the awkward task with the two other brothers clinging and worrying over him frantically. It probably would’ve been a lot simpler and easier for him to just let Leo slid off the bed the rest of the way, which would allow him to either stand or sit on the floor, but Red Brother seemed determined to get him back on the bed. “Seriously guys, give him some fucking space to breath!”

“I’m not going to ‘back off’, Raph! This is a medical emergency! Leo’s blind!” Donnie’s equally determined voice snapped back as his own hands continued clinging to Leo’s face as best as he could.

“And if you think I’m ever letting my big bro go ever again, you’re crazy! I just got him back!” Mikey’s arms clung tighter to Leo’s chest, refusing to budge even as Donnie was trying to pushing him aside at the same time that Raph was stubbornly attempted to peel him off. “Leo! I knew you were still alive! I always knew it!”

Leo felt like he was quickly losing control of the situation. He was being squished tightly between three clingy bodies currently radiating highly charged emotional auras, he couldn’t get more then a few words out, and, to make things even more complicated, he just couldn’t seem to center his sense of balance

“Mikey, move! I need to examine him! Leo, what can you tell me about your eyes?!” From the way his voice was cracking, Donnie was obviously in full panic doctor mode. Leo wished he could see his face. “Do you have any sight whatsoever? Is it painful in any way? What are your symptoms?”

Oof. Why was the world spinning around so much? “Uh, well, I-”

“You can look him over once he’s back on the cot, Donnie!” Raph’s voice snarled out harshly even as he shifted Leo carefully in his arms and his voice grew softer and reassuring. “Don’t you worry, Leo, I gotcha. It’s going to be okay now.”

Ugh. The jostling definitely wasn’t helping his dizziness, and he was starting to feel sort of queasy. “Raph, I think that-”

Mikey’s arms tightened, clinging to him even tighter.“We missed you so much, Leo, you have no idea! Where have you been?! How did you even get back?!”

Uh-oh. The world was spinning wildly, his stomach gave a lurch, and his mouth started salivating ominously. “Guys, seriously, I- I... Uh...”

“I ain’t going to say it again! Get off of him!” Above him, Raph continued to snap at the other two, trying to shove them off while struggling to hold up Leo. “Give him some fucking room, you’re crowding him!”

Leo’s unseeing eyes widened, and he inhaled sharply through his teeth, a strong wave of nausea overtaking him. “GUYS!”

The urgency in his voice made all three of them pause, their auras shifting to confusion. “Uh... what?”

“BUCKET!”

“Wha-?”

“BUCKET NOW!”

“Oh, shit!”

Leo was hurriedly set on the floor and what felt like a plastic waste basket was quickly shoved into his hands. Just in time too, as Leo grabbed the edges of wastebin and immediately barfed into it, emptying his stomach of what remained of his lunch.

Oh gods, he was really regretting that gas station sandwich right now.

As he retched again, three fingered hands gently rubbed his shell soothingly, while another brother held the tails of his mask to the side and the third kept a strong, steady arm around him, holding him up.

“It’s okay Leo. You’re okay. Nausea is to be expected, and it should pass quickly. You’re okay.” he heard Donnie’s voice tell him as the hand continued to rub his shell. Although his words were obviously meant to be soothing, there was definitely a quivering, tense undercurrent to his voice, and Leo wondered just who his purple brother was really trying to calm down.

Leo heaved and gagged into the wastebin one final time, though nothing was left to come up. Then, that particular fit over with, he knelt hovering over the waste basket, breathing heavily as he waited a moment to make sure that the waves of nausea were finally done. Three sets of warm, caring hands remained on his shell as he panted for air.

Urgh. Well... as gross as that had been, it seems to have helped a little. It was definitely an unpleasant experience and disgusting, but at least the purge had left the world feeling more stable around him, and he no longer felt nearly as dizzy anymore.

He wrinkled his snout in disgust and reached up to wipe his mouth off with the back of his hand. Then he slumped down to rest his forehead against the edge of the waste basket, before letting out a hoarse, helpless chuckle and shaking his head.

“So... I will admit,” he panted, lifting a hand. “this... this isn’t quite how I envisioned things going when I finally found you guys.”

“I’m so sorry, Leo. The disorientation caused by the sleeping gas can cause nausea.” Donnie’s voice sounded just a little bit guilty as he kept a hand on his shell. “Don’t worry, the dizziness should pass over fairly quickly. You’re going to be okay.”

“Sleeping gas?” Leo asked, raising his head and blinking.

“Donnie gassed you!” Mikey’s voice was filled with far too much enthusiasm, apparently eager to tell the story. He was moving as he spoke, and Leo could almost imagine the wild arm gestations. “Apparently we now have the ability to gas people!”

“Uh...” Leo wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that.

“I-If I had known... I would never... I... I...!” Donnie’s whole body stiffened as he sputtered, obviously panicking a bit.

“Oh.” Huh. So that’s what had happened. That answered a few of his questions. “Um. Well, it’s okay, Donnie.” Leo said, reaching up to find Donnie’s face with a hand. He felt the wet trails of tears on his brother’s cheek, and quickly made the discovery that with his hand on his brother’s face, Leo could almost visualize the regretful facial expression. Instead of just an emotional purple aura in the endless darkness, he could now almost see the way Donnie’s face scrunched up and then relax a little under his touch.

Oh gods, this was really his brother! He-he was really home!

Leo almost melted with relief. He immediately reached out and his three brothers gave surprised, somewhat startled grunts as his strong arms grabbed them and pulled them all in close, clutching the three of them tightly to his plastron in a tight hug.

His three brothers sat there squished together uncomfortably and half crushed in his arms, each of them absolutely still and apparently stunned by the sudden turn.

“I’ve been looking for you guys for so long!” Leo whispered fiercely, his arms wrapped around all three of them as tightly as he could. “I finally found you! I really finally found you!”

“L-Leo...” Mikey finally gave a sniff, and Leo felt hot, wet tears as he his youngest brother’s face press firmly into the crook of his neck.

From his stiff body and turbulent aura, Raph seemed too backed up with emotions to do more then lean into him. And from the way that Donnie was already twisting in his arms and apparently trying to get a look at his face, it seemed like his genius brother was still obviously itching to examine him more thoroughly.

These were really his brothers here! Oh gods, he had missed them so much!

He squeezed them tightly one more time, as if trying to convince himself they were really there, then he released them with a long exhale, though he still kept his hands on his brother’s shoulders and shells, loathed to lose physical contact with those three wonderful auras in front of him even as he sat back on his heels, clearing his throat. “Alright, let’s try this again, but calmly and one question at a time. I know you have questions for me, and I have a ton for you three.

“First off,” he started even as he sensed Donnie lifting a hand, knowing that he probably wasn’t going to get any answers until this elephant in the room was addressed. “Yes, I am blind, and yes, it was from that accident back on the plane. No, it doesn’t hurt, and I’ve learned to live with it. I’m fine, I promise. That being said...” He grabbed his brothers firmly, his voice growing a little panicked as he shook them. “... WHAT HAPPENED WHILE I WAS GONE?!”

“Leo, we’re all fine. We can go over all that later, right now you’re more important!” Donnie struggled loose from his grip and grabbed Leo’s face, apparently trying to examine his eyes once more. “First, we need to-”

“I found the Lair!” Leo shook his hands off and grabbed them pleadingly. “It was completely destroyed! And Karai’s place! And... and everything was gone! I was searching everywhere for you guys, and I couldn’t find anybody! What happened?!”

There was a momentary pause as his brothers apparently glanced at one another, apparently hesitating over something.

“Uh... well...” Mikey started hesitantly. “You see, Leo...”

“It was the NeoFoot.” Raph broke in firmly, interrupting Mikey. “Unfortunately, a few months after we... we lost you, they managed to find and launch a surprise attack on the old Lair. We escaped and headed out to find Karai, but then they attacked that as well. But everybody escaped unharmed. Yeah, it got bad for a little bit, but everything is fine now. You don’t have to worry, Leo."

“The NeoFoot?” Leo blinked sightlessly. It... it made sense, though from what he remembered, while definitely dangerous, the NeoFoot didn’t have the strength to not only attack the Lair on such a scale, but completely obliterate Karai’s fortress. Obviously something had happened while he was away. They must’ve found allies, or some sort of new weapon or something. He decided that he would have to get the full story later. “And everybody else? April? Casey?”

“Oh, they’re fine. April and Casey each have their own apartments nearby, but they still visit regularly.” Donnie explained, his hands on Leo’s face once again, feeling around. “They both have been doing quite well for themselves. April has started a job as a reporter for the Channel 9 news. And, believe it or not, Casey actually has a job as well, working as a mechanic.” Leo felt his mask being pushed up slightly on his forehead as Donnie spoke. “Now Leo, if I press here, does it hurt at all?”

“No.” Leo answered truthfully as the pads of Donnie’s thumbs pressed lightly at the skin around his eyes.

“Hm.” Donnie’s voice got closer as he leaned forward, apparently peering closely at Leo’s face. “The scales around your eyes don’t seem to have any excessive scarring and they look healthy enough.”

“Let’s see here...” Mikey apparently was trying to think of more people they knew. “April’s aunt sold the old antique shop and moved to California. It was decided, for the sake of his by-now-very-shot nerves that Kirby would move with her. Casey’s dad is finally in prison. Car theft, DUI, resisting arrest, assault of a police officer, among other charges. That was an interesting night.” he mused helpfully. “As for Murakami-san, he sold his noodle shop some time ago and moved closer to his daughter in Florida, living out his retirement by the beach. He still writes regularly. He even sent us his pizza gyoza recipe.”

From where he was sitting nearby, Raph’s red aura continued to roil with some strange emotion. Then Leo heard him exhale shakily, and a scarred three fingered hand grasped Leo’s hand tightly as Raph’s forehead bumped against his own gently. His brother’s low and gravely voice turned surprisingly soft as he whispered. “I swear to you Leo. We’re all fine. Everybody’s alive. Nobody got hurt. I promise. You don’t need to worry.”

“Oh thank the gods.” Leo exhaled shakily. He closed his eyes, ignoring Donatello’s little annoyed huffing at the interruption, and let the words sink in. Everybody was okay. He hadn’t lost anybody. Thank the gods, he hadn’t lost anybody!

“I... I can’t believe I finally found you guys.” Leo reached out and gathered his brothers up into a hug again, needing the touch. This time, they were more prepared and readily let him. Donnie even took advantage of the closer proximity to get a better view for his inspection.

“I can’t believe you’re really here!” Mikey’s arms wrapped around him and enthusiastically hugged him back, whispering to himself fiercely. “We got our big brother again.” His warm face shifted slightly against Leo’s plastron, and Leo guessed that his little brother was looking up towards him. He wished he could see his facial expression. His vivid orange aura seemed to be radiating mostly intense excitement and pure happiness, which Leo expected, but, masked deep underneath, Leo though he could detect an undercurrent of... something else. Deep sadness and... fear? Was that because he was blind? What was Mikey thinking and feeling right now? Did he need comfort? Leo hugged him tighter just in case.

“Leo, are you still experiencing dizziness? Do you think you can stand up now?” Donnie questioned him, shifting to kneel beside him instead, a hand slipping from his face down to rest on his shoulder. “I’d like to get you down to the lab where I can get a better look at you.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah. I should be fine now.” He released Mikey and sat back again. That’s right. His brothers had a new home now. One... one they had built without him. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “So.... uh.... Is this your garage? Where do you guys live now? Is it close by?”

“Leo, bro, you’re already here!” Mikey said gleefully, wrapping both arms around Leo’s and wiggling up against him again. “Our new home is underground, right underneath us! It's huge! Much bigger then our old lair! With pillars and multiple floors and an elevator going up to this garage and an outlet to the ocean and everything! You have got to see it, it's so cool!”

"Mikey!" Raph's aura flared up as he bristled and snarled at him angrily. "Don't say that!"

"What?!" Mikey jumped back in surprise at the hostile tone, and then suddenly seemed to realize his faux pas, and immediately wilted. "Ohmahgosh! Leo, I'm sorry! I forgot! You're... I mean, I-I didn't mean to say..."

"It's okay, Mikey." Leo chuckled, reaching out to rub his little brother's head to comfort him. "Really. And I can't wait to 'see' it. It sounds amazing."

“As far as we can tell, this is an old Kraang outpost that was abandoned and forgotten when we defeated Kraang Prime all those years ago.” Donnie explained as he stood up. "We adapted it to fit our own needs quite nicely, actually. The elevator Mikey was talking about is behind a hidden panel in the wall in the garage here. We'll eventually give you the grand tour, but first I want to get you examined and situated." Leo sensed him making some gestures towards the others, but couldn’t quite make out what his purple brother was telegraphing. But, at his signal, Mikey quickly moved to stand up behind him, hands hovering over his shell while, at the same time, he felt Raph move up to his other side. Two sets of hands slipped under his arms, and Leo suddenly realized that all three of his brothers were moving to help him stand up.

“Oh, it’s okay, guys. You don’t have to- I can stand up just fine on my own.” he tried protesting, but it was too late, as Red and Purple auras on each side were already lifting him up and helping him stand on his feet while an Orange aura behind him guided him with hands on his shell, steadying him.

Okay. On one hand, he honestly didn’t need the help. He was feeling much better, and he was blind, not completely invalid, after all. On the other hand, though, after being lost and alone for so very long, it was admittedly wonderful to be surrounded and loved by his brothers.

“It’s okay, Leo.” Raph murmured as they all hovered around him as he stood there. “We’re here, and you’re not alone now.”

“How are you feeling?” Donnie questioned him worriedly, shifting around and presumably giving Leo a full visual scan.

“I’m fine.” Leo grunted, shaking his head and getting his bearings. He lifted a hand and ran it over his face, exhaling. “I will admit, I’m still actually feeling really tired, but that might be less the sleeping gas and more because I haven’t slept very well for, well, literally months.” He let a smile crack his face, and he reached out to his brothers around him warmly. “I’m looking forward to finally sleeping someplace where I don’t have to keep one eye open for danger.” He paused, and grinned at his brothers sheepishly. “Uh. Not literally, of course. Because, well, y’know...”

“Er, yes Leo. We... we know.” Donnie’s voice held a solemn tone, apparently not picking up on the joking tone that Leo had tried for.

“Well, you do realize that you’re going to be sleeping buried in a turtle cuddle puddle tonight, right bro?” Mikey’s warm voice was filled with a gentle amusement as he wrapped his arms around Leo’s shell.

Leo reached around to grab Mikey’s hand, grinning. “I’m counting on it.”

“C’mon, Leo.” Raph grunted, and Leo was startled as his red brother knelt down and moved to heft him up on his strong, sturdy shell. “Let’s go.”

“Raph!” Leo protested, trying to wiggle free. “You’re not going to carry me as well! I can walk just fine, thank you very much!”

“Don’t be stubborn, Leo. You just admitted that you’re exhausted, you were just gassed, the way to our new lair is unfamiliar to you, and you're... you're... well, you know!” Raph apparently couldn't bring himself to vocalize Leo's current condition, even as he fought to maintain his hold and not let Leo escape quite that easily.

“Yes, I know I'm blind! You can say it, Raph!” Leo huffed him. “And might I remind you, I just traveled around the world while blind just fine! I told you, I have this figured out! I can handle walking a few yards to an elevator.”

“Just...” Raph growled back fiercely, but then, suddenly, he stopped fighting Leo and almost seemed to shrink into himself a little, his voice growing softer and gentler, almost pleading. “Just let me help you this once... Please?”

Leo blinked. Then he shakily exhaled and slowly leaned forward to wrap his arms around Raph’s neck. “Fine.” he muttered. “But just this once.”

"It's probably for the best, Leo." Donnie's hand was on his shell. "I don't want you exerting yourself until I get you properly examined."

Mikey’s orange aura moved around and Leo felt his younger brother’s three fingered hand reach up to pat him on his snout. “Come on, Leo. Let’s get you home.”

Leo blinked, and then a grin slowly grew across his face, and he could barely contain the joy that blossomed deep within his chest as he settled on Raph's shell and let his red brother carry him towards an opening in the back wall that led to a once-hidden hallway beyond, with his orange brother faithfully on one side and his purple brother attentively following closely on the other.

Home.

Finally!

After so long and going through so much!

Leonardo was finally going HOME!

Chapter Text

Huh. As they rode the elevator down to their new home (HOME!), Leo found himself rather impressed by the size of it. From what little he could make out, the elevator definitely felt more like Kraang architecture, with smoother and rounded features. He could only guess that it was probably covered in blinking control panels too that he couldn't see, and inwardly mused that it was going to be rather interesting for him to learn to operate it. He sincerely hoped that he wouldn't need to ask for help every time he wanted to leave their new lair from now on, just because he couldn't see where to press on an electronic screen. Maybe Donnie could add voice commands?

Speaking of his brothers, Raph had let him finally slip off his shell, allowing him to stand on the floor and allowing him to feel the vibrations rumbling up through the soles of his feet, though his brother did still insist on Leo draping an arm over not only his shell, but Mikey's as well so he could help support his weight. Normally, Leo would’ve objected more about this excessive levels of coddling, except any physical contact with his brothers right now was like a breath of air to a drowning man, so he didn’t complain too much, and happily leaned on Raph and Mikey as Donnie fussed over him.

Finally, the surprisingly smooth elevator ride reached the bottom floor, and Leo felt the excitement build up in his chest as the doors swished open.

"Here we are, Leo!" Mikey eagerly nudged him forward.

Leo took his first step into the new lair, supported and closely guided by his three brothers. He paused, trying to get a feel for what was going to be his new home.

Letting his senses linger over every little clue, he paid attention to everything by listening, feeling, and sensing the subtle vibrations running through the walls and floors. There were the soft, barely noticeable hums of kitchen appliances, the clacks and whirs of Donnie’s various machines and electronics, and even the faraway thum of the city above and around them. He was seeing, with all his senses, the heartbeat and energy of a living world around them, just like the Ancient One had taught him.

He desperately wanted to learn all he could about his family’s new home!

And Leo could immediately tell that this main room was not only spacious, but tall! Far bigger then he had expected! The domed ceiling loomed high above a round, circular room with arches and pillars ringing it that almost reminded him of an ancient, underground Roman coliseum. Running around the wall above them behind more arches was a wide walkway, and if Leo concentrated, he realized that it must lead to more rooms up there. Their new lair had a second level! With doors and rooms up on that story as well, though he could only make out general locations.

Down here on the ground floor, he could make out more fine details. His brothers had obviously made this place quite comfortable as they made it their own. He could sense furniture and objects all around, and Leo could even recognize a few of the items from the old Lair. He could hear and sense a large and deep pool of water that dominated the very center of the lair, with a wooden bridge spanning it, and a quick sniff of the air confirmed the scent of salt water. Mikey had mentioned an outlet that led to the ocean? Was that it? There was some sort of large structure against the back wall, and in other places around the edges of this round chamber were things like couches surrounding a lot of tv screens set up against one wall, a skateboard ramp, training dummies and, of course, Raph’s punching bag, among other various things he couldn't identify at a quick scan.

Heh. Well, it wasn’t exactly messy by any stretch of imagination, but it definitely felt lived in by personalities such as Donnie, Raph, and Mikey. Between the piles of electronics and wires, the weight set against the wall, and various exercise equipment scattered around it, and the toys, stuffed animals, and whatever-that-was-that-was-most-definitely-Mikey’s, it was very obviously a bachelor’s pad.

Leo had the conflicting emotions of simultaneously instantly loving and adoring everything about his family’s new home, and yet at the same time inwardly wondering if, even though he was blind, his brothers would let him feng shui the place up. Just a little bit anyways.

Mikey couldn’t hide his excited squeal, and his whole body wiggled under Leo’s arm, positively electrified with thrilled anticipation for what lay ahead. His arm was clutched tighter and tugged forward as his youngest brother pulled him forward through the doors into the wide open room beyond, the orange aura radiating pure happiness and excitement.

“Welcome home, Leo!” Mikey joyously and dramatically declared, and then he squealed happily and Leo found arms thrown around him once more as he was hugged tightly again. “Oh big bro, I’ve been waiting for AGES to say those words! Man it felt so good!”

Leo leaned down to nuzzle his brother’s face happily. “Mikey, I’ve been waiting ages to hear those words!”

“Hee!” Mikey returned the nuzzle happily, then stepped back and Leo felt him tug gently but eagerly on his arm again. “Come on! I’ll give you the grand tour!”

“Careful Mikey, not too fast.” Donnie warned him, still hovering worriedly over Leo as they moved. “And the ‘Grand Tour’ can wait until later. We need to head over to the Needle Room first.”

Leo froze at that. “Uhhhhh... The Needle Room?” he dared to ask.

“Don’t worry, Leo. He’s just talking about our makeshift hospital.” Raph grunted. “It’s in the back of the lair, by Donnie’s lab.”

“I named it the Needle Room!” Mikey said, pride in his voice.

Leo turned to him in disbelief. “Why?!”

“Because the very first thing I had to do in that room was give Mikey a tetanus shot. Apparently diving into a pile of trash as if one were Scrooge McDuck diving into his money pile in the cartoon turned out to be a very bad idea.” Donnie grumbled.

While they were talking, apparently Raph spotted something that troubled him. “Uh... here. Take Leo for a moment.” Raph shifted out from under Leo’s arm, set Leo’s travel bag and katana off to the side, and a moment later, a somewhat startled Donnie was pushed in his spot to replace him.

Then Leo watched, bemused, as the red aura sprinted in front of them and hurriedly began gathering up armfuls of things set in piles on the floor and moving them out of the way.

“Uh, getting a little housekeeping done quickly before I notice, Raph?” Leo questioned, a little amused.

“Oh, haha, Leo.” Raph grumbled without any bite in his words as he leaned against a small sofa and pushed it scraping across the stone floor to sit against the far edge of the circular room. “I just don’t want ya to trip over our crap.”

Leo blinked, then almost rolled his eyes. “Okay, there’s two reasons why you don’t have to worry about me tripping. First off, I told you, I’ve learned to deal with my blindness. Remember how Master Splinter used to teach us how to fight blindfolded? It’s like that, only amped up to eleven. And second...” He lifted both of his feet up off the floor slightly for a few seconds to prove that the sturdy and strong Mikey and Donnie were more then ready to support his full weight at a moment’s notice. “You guys are barely letting me walk under my own power right now. I think that it’s physically impossible for me to even wobble slightly off balance at the moment.”

“Of course, Leo. You’re the ultimate ninja, yada yada. None of us are doubting your skills.” Raph’s tone didn’t carry its usual gruff sarcasm, but was more of a patient patronization as he grunted. It sounded like he was lifting up a heavy weight off the floor and then there was the shudder of a metal rack as he set it back on its hooks. He dusted off his hands, and scurried over to pick up what sounded like papers, and Leo assumed were several magazines and/or comic books. “It’s just until you get more used to the place.”

Leo sighed.

Under his arm, he heard Mikey laugh, and his joyful younger brother stood up on his tiptoes to plant a happy, brotherly smooch on his cheek. “Get used to being lovingly coddled, bro, ‘cause it’s going to happen. Anything you need us to do, Leo, it’s going to be done!”

“The thing is, it doesn’t need to be done. I’m fine, you guys.” Leo grumbled, but without any real anger or malice. He was just too happy to be here, among his brothers, to complain too much.

“The lab is over here, Leo.” Donnie apparently had not lost sight of his objective, steering his big brother down the now completely cleared path through the lair that Raph was hurriedly creating for them. They were heading towards a metal structure placed at the back of the lair, and as they approached it, Leo realized that it was apparently an old subway car that Donnie had somehow wrangled down here and turned into his new lab.

Leo paused, and lifted an arm off Donnie’s shoulder to reach out and rest his hand on the frame, allowing himself to ‘see’ some of the finer details. The roof and one wall of the rail car had been torn or cut away, leaving an open working space, but still giving the person inside some privacy.

“How on earth did you even get this thing down here?!” Leo wondered in amazement, running his hands over the cool, slightly dented metal. There’s no way that fit in the elevator!

“Donnie’s very, very stubborn.” Mikey said wryly.

“Yes, yes I am.” Donnie huffed, taking Leo’s arm again and leading him away from the converted subway railcar, back towards a room set in the wall beside it. “And right now expect me to be very stubborn over the fact that my big brother just reappeared after two years of us thinking he was dead, with what is most likely severe chemical damage to his eyes, along with who knows what else having happened to him in those years lost and alone, and I need to examine him and reassure myself that he’s not about to collapse from some complications or hidden malady that I may or may not know how to treat!”

“Donnie. I’m okay. Honestly.” Leo was led into the rather ominously named Needle Room, and was immediately overwhelmed with the smell of antiseptics and plastic all around them. Yup. This was definitely the medical room, with a cot ready against the wall, and shelves upon shelves of supplies. Eh. At least this was just a basic checkup. He didn’t have to worry about actual needles, despite the room’s name.

Donnie ducked out from under Leo’s arm and a second later, Leo heard a chair being dragged closer over to them. “Okay, Leo.” Leo felt his brother take his arm and guide him over to sit in the chair. “Have a seat here. Don’t worry, everything is going to be okay now.”

Leo sat back in the chair experimentally, feeling the comfortable padding of the backrest against his shell. He leaned back and grinned in his purple brother’s direction. “Alright, Doctor Donnie. I place myself in your capable hands. Examine away.”

“Right! Right.” Donnie exhaled, and hovered for a moment as if trying to figure out where to even start. Then he turned and there were the sounds of cupboard doors being flung open, glass containers clanking together, and metal tools rubbing against each other as Donnie hurriedly began shuffling through them and grabbing several items off shelves. “Mikey, can you heat up some broth? I would like to get something into Leo’s stomach and keep him hydrated.”

“Can do, Dee!” Mikey sounded thrilled, and Leo’s arm was released as the aura turned and literally bounced out of the lab, calling back over his shoulder. “Hang on, Leo, I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail!”

“Oh. Okay.” Leo smiled as the orange aura bounded in the direction that the kitchen must be in. He leaned back and sat there in the chair, waiting for his Purple brother. He absently began drumming his fingers against his thighs as he waited.

Hm. He rubbed his arm, which suddenly felt... weirdly cold and bare. He was suddenly strangely aware of the fact that he didn’t have any brothers touching him at the moment. Not that that was a problem or anything, of course. After all, even if his world was dark and he couldn't actually visually spot them, he could still sense them and smell them close by, all three of them. He knew they were all there, even if he couldn’t see them. Physical contact wasn’t necessary to make them real. That... that would be just silly! 

He suddenly found himself resisting the strong urge to leap out of the chair and desperately grab up his brothers and cling to them all tightly forever.

Several medical instruments were plopped into a metal tray on a table next to him with a clatter, followed by the sound of a metal stool being pulled up next to him. Leo felt his purple brother settle on the seat, then turn to him, pausing. For some reason, Donnie was hesitating and seemed almost... uncharacteristically uncertain.

“Donnie?” Leo asked him curiously. “Are you okay?” 

“Hm? Oh! I’m fine. Fine! Just fine.” Donnie’s voice sounded artificially upbeat and slightly strained. He exhaled shakily, and then almost hesitantly reached up to gently touch Leo’s face. Leo leaned into his touch and internally welcomed the reestablished contact in his dark world with every fiber of his being.

“Now Leo, this examination will be mostly a general checkup. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to get a good diagnosis of your... your blindness right now.” Donnie’s voice grew quieter. “I don’t have the information, knowledge, or equipment to do more then a cursory examination of your... condition. But Leo...” Donnie sniffled, and reached out to gently take Leo’s face in both of his calloused, scarred hands. “Leo, I swear to you, I’ll fix this. I promise. I’m not sure how, but... Somehow... somehow I’ll fix this!”

As he spoke, Donnie’s voice sounded almost like it was pleading for forgiveness for a failure. As if he were somehow letting Leo down by not instantly having all the answers.

Leo exhaled slowly. Okay. He knew this was coming. He had imagined how his brother who put his whole soul into fixing everything broken would react to his blindness, and had thus carefully planned to try and head off any issues before they began.

“Donnie, listen to me.” Leo said firmly, taking Donnie’s hands.“I’d be lying if I said that I don’t want to get my sight back. I hope beyond hope that one day I’ll to be able to see again. But... Hey. Listen. Listen to me Donnie.” He reached out and put his hand back on Donnie’s cheek, feeling his facial expression and making sure that his purple brother’s gaze was on him. He continued gently. “If it can’t be done, if my eyes are damaged beyond repair, then I will be okay. I promise. I’ll be okay. I’ve learned to deal with it, and I can live like this if I have to. I don’t want you to start obsessing over cures that don’t exist if there’s nothing that can be done.”

Leo could audibly hear Donnie swallow, and from his facial expression under Leo’s hands, it felt like he was searching for words. “But-but Leo...” he finally said hoarsely. “This is so much bigger and more complicated then anything I’ve had to deal with before. You’re BLIND, and... and I don’t know how to fix that. What if... what if I mess it up... or miss something... or... or...”

“You’ll do just fine, Donnie.” Leo ran a thumb over his cheek, still holding his face. “I’m here, I’m healthy, and I’m alive. Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay, little brother. Everything is going to be okay. Just calm down, and breathe for me.” 

Donnie clutched at his hands and sniffed again, but obediently took a few deep, calming breaths, slowly relaxing under Leo’s touch. He was quiet for a long second more, and then, finally he muttered, “I’m sorry that I accidentally gassed you earlier, Leo.”

Leo chuckled gently and leaned forward to give him a soft, fond headbutt on the forehead, cherishing the feeling of his brother’s warm breath against his own snout. “I know.”

Donnie leaned into him for a long moment, then Leo felt a hand slid around his head to squeeze him gently in a hug. Then, exhaling shakily, Donnie nodded and sat back up, obviously getting his center back. Leo sensed him turning in his chair to grab a plastic carry tote off the nearby counter. “We should probably start with a quick blood draw, and get some tests going. Let me go get the needles.”

Oh. Well. Darn.

Leo closed his eyes and breathed steadily through his nose. It wasn’t that he actually minded the physical needles themselves. After having personal experiences in being stabbed, shot, electrocuted, crushed, and other various injuries, a little prick of a needle was hardly noticeable. But even though it didn't really physically hurt, for as long as he could remember, he and his brothers couldn’t help but feel a little twinge of psychological discomfort when it came to needles and other things that reminded them what fate in a human laboratory could entail. It was just part of being a mutant turtle, he supposed.

Huh. It was actually true that when he couldn’t see it, it made it so much easier. Point for blindness, then?
       
Outside the lab, there was still the sound of items being shuffled around, but at a far less hurried pace then before. His red brother seemed to be keeping closer to the lab door now, frequently stopping to peer in, albeit quietly, like he was trying to be stealthy about it. There was an uncharacteristic level of raw, unfiltered emotions in the almost vulnerable way he kept checking in and staring at him. It was as if he wanted nothing more than to grab Leo and cling to him, but for some reason, he was currently too spooked to approach him. It was... strange, actually, to see Raph acting so openly in such a way, wearing his emotions so openly on his metaphorical sleeve, and, if Leo had a guess, his brother was probably assuming that Leo couldn’t tell he was constantly checking on him due to his blindness, otherwise he’d be putting on a slightly tougher and more macho air.

There was click and slight pinch on the inside of his arm, and after removing the needle, Donnie pressed a small cotton ball against the small puncture site, holding it firmly for a few seconds, before taping it down and wrapping a bit of gauze around it. The purple aura slipped off the chair and turned away, grabbing the vials he had just filled as he moved back towards the back of the lab. “Give me a moment to get these samples running through the machines, Leo. Sit tight, I’ll be right back.”

"Oh. Okay." Leo sat back and began thrumming his fingers on his knees again. Aaaand he was left sitting in the dark again. 

He wasn’t left to ponder his sudden physical neediness too long, as a brilliantly flashing orange aura bounded back into the room almost immediately, skillfully balancing a tray that held clinking mugs. Leo could smell steaming rich beef broth, and marveled that his brother somehow avoiding spilling a drop even with the bouncing steps.

“I'm back!" Mikey's voice sang out. "And here you go, Leo! Made specially with all the love!”

“Hm?” Leo tilted his head towards the happy, chirpy voice, and then he felt the mug placed in his hands. “Oh! Thank you, Mikey.” It smelled delicious, and he took a moment to enjoy the smell, before taking a long sip.

He almost hummed in contentment. Oh, that was good. Simple broth, but somehow still the best thing he had tasted in a long time.

The purple aura returned, settling back on his stool, and Donnie’s hands gently took the mug of broth from his hands and set it down on a side table. “You can have that back in a second, Leo. First, I’m going to do a quick cursory inspection while we wait for the tests to process. I’ll have to remove your mask for a moment, if that’s okay.”

“Oh. Sure.” Leo felt the strip of cloth slip off his face as Donnie carefully pulled it off. “Which actually reminds me. My mask is blue, right? I almost forgot to ask.”

“Hm? Oh! Uh, yes, Leo. It’s definitely blue. I'd say cobalt or sapphire blue, to be specific, which, of course, are indeed your preferred shades for your mask.” Leo sensed holding holding up the strip of cloth, musing. “That's right, I suppose that in your condition, you can’t really tell, can you? How did you even...?” He paused, apparently recognizing the mask, and was startled. “Wait. Leo. Is... Is this from...?”

“Yeah. I... um... kind of took it from the shrine you guys made in the Lair.” Leo exhaled.

Raph’s aura froze in the other room, suddenly completely stock still and unmoving for several seconds as if he had been turned into a statue.

"Oh." Donnie cleared his throat, obviously feeling a little embarrassed. "You... you found that, huh?"

“Yeah. I... uh...” Leo shyly rubbed the back of his head. “I, um, really liked it, guys. The... the shrine I mean. There was that little statue and everything? It was... it was really, really nice.”

"Well, I guess it turns out all those offerings we made on it were for nothing, huh?" Mikey mused. "All those slices of pizza we wasted..."

"Well, I can tell you, if I were dead, I would've really appreciated them, Mikey." Leo was touched that his brothers put in so much work. He shook his head. “Anyways, I lost my mask back on the plane, and, being blind, I wasn't really able to easily replace it. I really missed it, though, so when I noticed the one on the shrine, I took it.  I just had to hope that that it was blue and that Mikey hadn't instead something that made me look like I had owl eyes when I wore it or anything like that.”

“Leo! Dude, if I wasn’t afraid of Raph murdering me for pulling off something like that, that would totally be a future life goal!” Mikey plopped down almost on top of him. He gleefully grabbed Leo's arm and shifted to snuggle underneath it against Leo's side excitedly.

“Mikey! Careful! Stop jumping all over Leo like that!” Raph stiffened and growled from the outside of the doorway, and from the way his aura spiked, he was obviously on the verge of marching in to intervene. He set aside his armful of whatever it was that he was currently moving and took a step inside the lab. “You have to be careful! He doesn’t need you yankin’ on his arm and smothering him like that!”

“Oh, don’t worry, Raph. It’s not bothering me at all” Leo shook his head. He pulled Mikey in a little closer and reveled in the feeling of the warm shell and scales and wonderfully familiar scent. He hesitated, then let his hand move up and felt the short tails of the cloth mask around the freckled face he knew so very well but could no longer see. "If I’m allowed to be totally honest, it’s actually kind of... comforting. I can’t see you guys, so it’s nice to have the feeling of touch to reassure myself that you’re actually really here."

“Hee!” Mikey’s aura oozed with such joy and overwhelming love at his attention that, even though his world was still dark and he couldn’t physically see it, Leo could almost mentally see the sunshine in his smile. He felt his little brother wiggle under his arms even more. “Big bro, you’re going to soooo many snuggles, you won’t feel lonely for a minute!”

"Thank you, Mikey." Leo reached over and fondly rubbed Mikey’s head.

In the doorway, Raph had once again fallen silent, his still turbulent aura roiling even as he stood there quietly. Then Leo heard him grab a rather large object that was against the wall, then carry it into the room with him. He realized it was a chair when Raph set it down directly behind him and sat in it.

What was he...? Confused, Leo blinked, twisting slightly in his chair to try and figure out what his brother was trying to do.

Then two warm, solid, muscular arms crept around him from behind, wrapped around his shoulders, and hugged him tightly. 

"We're here, Leo."

Raph’s face was pressed against the back of Leo’s neck, and his quiet voice was low and thick. Leo stiffened in the unexpected embrace, and suddenly it felt like his throat tightened up. He swallowed hard, suddenly not trusting himself to speak.

“We’re here, and we’re all safe, so you don’t need to worry about anything anymore.” Raph whispered fiercely into the back of his neck. “You’re home now, Leo, and everything is going to be okay.”

Leo inhaled shakily and his breath hitched slightly in his throat. Oh geez, Leo... Come on, keep it together. Be strong for your brothers. You've done so well keeping yourself together so far. 

And then he felt Donnie’s trembling hand slide into his own, his brother’s fingers shakily intertwining with his own. Donnie’s hand squeezed his own tightly, and he buried his tear-streaked face into Leo’s arm, trembling and clinging tightly to him. On his other side, Mikey burrowed into his side, his hug growing even tighter.

All three brothers pressed against him, warm and alive and SAFE.

Oh gods.

This was real. His brothers were here. They were alive, and they were safe.

They were really here, and they were alive and SAFE!

And then it was like something just broke inside of him.  It was as if all those emotions he had built up over the past two years finally broke free and rushed up all at once to spill over in an intense flood, overwhelming him. Two years of missing his family with every fiber of his being. Two years of wondering if they were even still alive. Two years of searching and fighting and heartbreak and loneliness. And he had finally found them AT LAST! He grabbed all three of his brothers tightly and broke out into a sob.

“Oh! Oh, Leo...” Donnie sniffed shakily, and all three of his brothers squeezed him even tighter.

“Guys! I m-missed you! I missed you so v-very, very much!” Leo gasped through sobs, clinging tightly to them. "I-I can't believe you're actually all HERE!"

“We-we missed you too, Leo.” Donnie trembled as he pressed his face hard into Leo’s arm. "Oh gods, Leo, we-we thought you were dead!"

Leo's heart broke at the pain in his brother's voice. "I-I'm so sorry. I was looking for you guys for such a long time, but I was so lost!"

Mikey curled up and burrowed into Leo’s side further, and it sounded like he was fighting back happy sobs himself. “I always knew you were alive! I knew that you’d come back to us, Leo!”

“I was just... just so afraid that if- WHEN I m-made it back, I-I'd only find th-that you w-were... th-that you were a-all... Oh gods, th-the plane was crashing an I didn’t kn-know if-if you were e-even st-still... still...”

Raph’s strong arms crushed Leo’s shell against his plastron with the intensity of his fierce embrace, and his voice was crackling with emotion. “We’re FINE, Leo! I promise you! We’re all fine!”

“I-I know. And I’m so proud of you all!” Leo gasped through tears as he squeezed back as hard as he could. “I’m here now. Everything is going to be okay now, guys.”

"Yeah, Leo." One of Raph's hands shakily moved up to grab Leo's cheek, turning his head slightly so he could mash his own tear stained face into Leo's with almost bruising force. "Everything's okay. You're okay. And... and you're going to BE okay. I... I promise."

"And... and... Leo?" Leo felt Mikey's hand reach up to gently wipe a tear off his cheek. "We're... We're proud of you too." 

Leo suddenly found he couldn't speak. After a long moment, he could only nod tearfully, and then he just let himself be crushed between all three of his brothers, desperately needing their touch, their scents, their voices, and all three of their emotional auras that roiled and flared protectively, merging with his own blue aura.

His brothers were everything to him, and they were HERE! He couldn’t see them, but he was in their arms, and they were all alive and okay! They were ALIVE and they were OKAY! He was HOME!

And for a long time, too relieved and happy to care, Leo let himself just sob in their arms, holding them as just as tightly as they were holding him.

Chapter Text

Warm.

Comfortable.

Safe.

HOME.

It had been so long since he had had the luxury of feeling reluctant to wake up. Leo couldn’t remember the last time he had allowed himself to sleep this hard or deeply, and he briefly wondered to himself just how much time had passed. What time was it now? Leo let his tongue run against the roof of his mouth distastefully, and his face scrunched up slightly. Bleh. His body felt sluggish and groggy from oversleeping, his face felt grimy and puffy, and he noticed he also had that stuffed up headache one got when they just had a solid, over-emotional cry.

And yet, despite all that, he felt so completely, totally, unbelievably happy right now.

Slowly pulled from the cozy and serene fog of happy dreams, Leo finally allowed himself to wake up a little, and gave a long, drowsy yawn, his sightless eyes fluttering sleepily open. He blinked languidly, and then the corner of his mouth twisted into a small, contented smile.

He couldn’t see anything, of course. His world was still blanketed in a dark fog. But he could feel the three still-slumbering bodies draped over him, pressing him down into the soft pile of pillows and blankets that made up a makeshift comfortable nest on the main floor of their new home. He spent a moment just basking in their auras, picking out each individual color and assigning it to the physical presence of a brother.

Miky had, at some point, burrowed under Leo’s arm once more, and was now sleeping curled up tightly against his plastron. Leo couldn’t help but notice that his youngest brother was perfectly positioned so his head was resting on Leo’s chest, right above his heart. Leo absently brushed his hand against the knot of the mask wrapped around Mikey’s head, feeling the smooth scales and thick fabric, just enjoying his brother's presence for the moment. Then he squeezed his little brother just a little tighter, and, in response, Mikey gave a sleepy little murmur and snuggled in closer.

On the other side, Leo could feel Raph’s heavy body draped over his shell, his red brother taking a protective position and securely pinning him down with an arm and a leg thrown over him. Listening and feeling the deep, even, and calm breathing, Leo knew that his red brother was currently sound asleep, his chin still resting possessively on top of Leo’s head. 

Donnie was the least entangled brother in the pile, but that was because, as far as Leo could guess from the various tools and books scattered around him, he had been staying up to monitor Leo’s health, even while he was sleeping. A few faint memories flittered up of being drowsily awakened while his purple brother was checking his heart rate or blood pressure. But at some point during the day, even his genius brother had finally given out and was now sound asleep, leaning back against them all in a somewhat awkward position and snoring slightly. Even in sleep, though, he still held Leo’s wrist lightly in his lap, his fingers curled reflexively around Leo’s pulse point.

Judging by how relaxed and still the warm, heavy bodies pinning him down were, Leo was fairly certain that he was the first one awake. A sleepy grin pulled at the corner of his mouth, and he sighed and snuggled down further into the warm pile of brothers and blankets, content for the time being to just lay there and listen to the slow, steady breathing of his brothers as they slept. He was fairly certain that untangling himself from this cuddle puddle would be impossible without waking at least one of them, and he wasn’t in any hurry. This was nice.

Eventually Leo found himself lulled by the rhythm of his brothers breathing back into a state of somewhere between half asleep and half awake. And it was in that dream-like hazy state when, in the back of his mind, he absently registered the sound of a humming engine as some machine kicked into action. 

Hm... It sounded a little familiar. Sleepily, he let his mind wander, trying to place the sound. Was... was that the elevator? It must be. 

There was the sounds of the doors whooshing open, and two auras stepped into the lair. He wasn’t alarmed by the newcomers, though. They were both familiar and safe and...

The lazy peacefulness of the lair was instantly shattered by a very familiar female voice screaming in surprise and a loud clatter as a load of small boxes, glass bottles, and canned items smashed to the floor.

Startled by the scream, Leo started to bolt upwards, but he had only managed to push himself a fraction of the way up before he was immediately crushed back down into the blankets as three very alarmed and only half awake brothers instinctively lunged forward and threw themselves on top of him protectively.

A startled and somewhat confused male voice yelped out, “The hell, April?!”

“LEO?!”

Suddenly the familiar scent and aura of April was rushing up and then kneeling there in front of him, completely ignoring the somewhat dangerous bristling of the other three still-not-quite-awake turtle siblings on top of him. He felt her push Donnie’s hand off of his face and then her smooth, warm human hands were cradling his cheeks. “Oh my gosh! LEO! It is you! Oh my god! You’re alive! You’re ALIVE!!”

“Holy cats! It is Leo!” Casey’s voice came up from behind her, sounding just as dumbfound and flabbergasted. “ I-! But! What?! How?! When... When the hell did this happen?!”

“April! Casey!” Leo said happily from the bottom of the pile, relieved to see that his two oldest human friends were here safe and unharmed. “Hello! Oh man, I am so glad that you’re both okay!

“Oh.” Mikey relaxed and let out a loud yawn, stretching out languidly on top of Leo, before smacking his lips sleepily. “Huh. Yeah... I guess we probably should’ve called you guys and let you know? Our bad.”

“The heck! We thought you were dead, dude!” Casey’s aura moved over to set his armload of what Leo assumed was groceries on a counter and hurried over to stand near the turtle pile as well. “When did you get back?!”

“Last night. He broke into our garage last night trying to find us, and Donnie gassed him.” Mikey offered, curling back up on Leo’s shell and getting comfortable again. “Completely knocked him out cold for like, half an hour.”

“WHAT?!” April sounded shocked.

“I...! He..! It-it was a complete accident!” Donnie sputtered indignantly, while clutching Leo just a little tighter.

“It totally and completely was.” Leo agreed, testing his ability to push himself up, only to quickly find that yes indeed he was quite firmly buried under the brother pile. “It wasn’t really his fault. I was in disguise, and should have probably taken off the scarf at least when I snuck into the garage. Donnie was just protecting our family, and actually, I’m very proud of him.”

Donnie paused, then shakily buried his face into Leo’s arm and sniffed quietly. “Leo... I...”

Leo smiled softly and reached up around Mikey’s leg to ruffle his purple brother’s mask fondly. “I’m really, really glad to be back. I missed you guys so much!”

“What happened to you?!” April’s voice was frantic and quivering with overjoyed tears as her soft human hands ran over his arm and hand. “Where were you all this time, Leo?! Are you okay?!”

“Careful, careful!” Raph pushed himself up and seemed to be motioning for them to back off a little, though thankfully not quite as aggressively as he had been last night. Right now, his red brother’s low growl had more of a concerned undertone then a panicked one. “Leo’s been through a lot, and we don’t want to rush him.”

“I’m FINE, Raph.” Leo huffed indignantly, and wiggled to try and free himself out from under the pile. “A little squished right now, but I’m otherwise perfectly okay!”

“And once again, our eldest brother has a tendency to understate his condition.” Donnie sniffled, then huffed as he slide off of Leo and assisting him with the process of untangling himself from the brotherly heap. “Unfortunately, it seems as if his eyes were damaged from that attack back on the plane incident, and he was blinded.” His voice grew just a little more strained as he quietly added, “That was why it took him so long to find his way back to us.”

“WHAT?!”

Leo winced as both April and Casey’s aura’s flared wildly with panic.

“Blind?! Oh... Oh no! Leo!” April breathed out in horror, and reached down to take Leo’s face in her hands, temporarily halting his extraction. “You’re...? You mean...?”

“I’m fine, April. I promise.” Leo took her hands and gently held them, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile in her direction. “Yes, I am blind, and I know it may seem bad, but I have this figured out. I’m going to be okay. Even if this isn’t fixable, I will be okay.”

“So... so you’re really blind?” Casey asked in disbelief. “Oh. Oh man. Leo. How are you even going to...? Like... like you can’t see anything at all?!”

“I may not be able to see with my eyes, but I do have other senses.” Leo sat back in the blanket nest, finally out from underneath Raph, but still working on peeling off the pretending-to-sleep Mikey who was still stubbornly clinging to his shell. “I’ve learned to adapt fairly well, actually.”

“But Leo... you... you’re BLIND! And... two years... How did you even...?” April asked worriedly, standing up and stepping back a little. “Donnie, you-you can help him? Right?”

Donnie exhaled. “I’ll... I’ll try. Of course I’ll try. Our options are pretty limited, though, and I have to do a lot of research first.” He rubbed his eyes with the fingers of one hand. “Like, a LOT of research. Most likely something like this would require surgery, and that’s something I don’t want to take lightly. ”

“Until then,” Raph said firmly, standing up to help pull Mikey off. “We’ll take care of him. Leo’s going to be okay.”

“But... guys... what about the whole thing with-” Casey started to say, and Leo was startled by how intensely Raph’s aura spiked in panic as his red brother immediately lunged forward to grab at something that Leo couldn’t sense on a side table nearby, and began scribbling on it. A piece of paper, maybe?

“Casey, Leo’s going to be okay!” Raph emphasized hurriedly, quickly cutting Casey off. “He’s been through a lot, but he’s home now, and he doesn’t need to worry about anything anymore. Okay?”

“Huh?” Casey sounded surprised and confused, but then seemed to catch on as Raph finished whatever he was writing (Probably writing? Leo couldn’t see exactly what he was doing.) and held it up for him to see. He then cleared his throat, still sounding a little confused, but apparently now following some sort of script. “Oh! Uh... Yeah! Nothing to worry about at all! Everything... Everything is fine! Completely fine”

Raph gave the kind of sigh that indicated he was probably facepalming.

Leo narrowed his blind eyes suspiciously. Hm. Casey was a terrible liar. Were... were they hiding something from him?

Either Casey realized just how awkward he had sounded, or Raph had shot him a warning look that Leo couldn’t see, because he cleared his throat and tried again, this time more composed and smooth. “Leo, don’t you worry none. Everything is completely cool and under control. Completely. And you know that Casey Jones will watch over your bros’ shells while Dee works on fixin’ your eyes. Practically nothin’ to worry about at all, dude!”

Hm. Better. But still not very believable.

“Uh, thanks, Casey.” Leo said somewhat diplomatically. He finally gave up on trying to peel Mikey off, and finally stood up from the nest of blankets with the orange brother still on his shell, joining the others. Donnie immediately took his elbow to guide him, which was completely unnecessary, except at the moment he wasn’t going to complain about any contact with any of his brothers offered to him in his world of darkness. “I... appreciate that. Although I think you guys are seriously underestimating my ability to ninja, even while blind. Now, tell me. What exactly is going on?”

All five auras in the room with him seemed to buzz with slight nervousness as they shifted in place. But then Mikey jumped in, leaning over Leo’s head and booping his nose, his aura and voice sincerely eager and gleeful. He apparently didn’t need to pretend in the slightest in that regard.

“Bro, we’re just so excited to have you back! That’s what’s going on!” 

And, before Leo could question them further, Mikey reached down to pull something off his belt. He balanced easily on Leo’s shell, resting his elbows on his big brother’s head as he brought up the item and used both hands to type away at it, which clued Leo in that it was probably his Tphone. “This whole thing with Casey and April reminded me, though...” Mikey hummed happily. “There’s something very important that we’ve been neglecting to do.”

“Hm?” Leo tilted his head up towards his youngest brother, not quite sure what he was up to. Was he calling somebody?

“Shhshhshhh!” Mikey hushed him gleefully. “Its going to be a surprise!” He tapped the phone, and leaned forward on top of Leo with the phone pressed against the side of his face. Leo could faintly hear the dial tone rhythmically sound through the speaker above him, and then a click as a female voice answered somewhat resignedly.

“Karai! Hello!” Mikey said in delight.

Leo sat up just a little straighter and quickly felt a little excited flutter in his stomach as he realized just who was on the other end of the line.

“Hey big sis, man, do we ever have some good news for you!” Mikey beamed impishly, obviously scheming to play out this scenario to its fullest. “Hm? Yes. Yes, I know what time it is over there.” Mikey scoffed in obvious answer to a question. “It’s like what, 10am? Psh. Most humans are awake at that time!”

Leo did a quick calculation. Yup, that would be probably be in Tokyo. So Karai was over in Japan now? How long had she been there? Man, if she was as close as Japan back when he was stuck somewhere in China for what felt like ages, Leo could’ve saved himself a LOT of trouble.

“Well... yeah... you’re a ninja, and ninjas usually stalk the night, so... I’ll give that to you. You have a point. I guess it makes sense that you’d be a little crabby at getting a call at this time.” Mikey continued the phone conversation. “But! This is really, really, really good news! You’d be, like, super crabby at us if we waited any longer to tell you!” Another pause. “Yes, of course I’m quite sure that you don’t want to wait until later! Trust me, Kar-Bear, try and think of the best news you possibly can right now. Are you imagining it? Kittens and ice cream and rainbows and all that good stuff? Well this? This is that times a bajillion!” As he spoke, he hugged Leo happily.

Leo listened to the joy in his brother’s voice as he spoke and reveled in it. Oh, to think that not even a full day ago, he was still wondering if he’d ever hear Mikey’s laughter again! He hesitated for a moment, then tentatively reached up to touch Mikey’s cheek. To his delight, his orange brother leaned into his palm, and he suddenly was able to feel the wide grin and impish crinkle by his eyes. Through this simple touch, it was as if he could see the expression on Mikey’s face as he talked.

Completely content to cuddle into Leo’s hand, Mikey hummed happily as he listened to the phone. Leo had expected him to tell her the news, and then be passed the phone so he could confirm it himself, but Mikey put a hand on Leo’s snout and gestured for him to wait.

“Hold your horses, hold your horses!” Leo could feel the way his brother’s snout wrinkled as his tongue stuck out playfully. “I’ll tell you in a second, but this news is soooo amazing, sooooo mind blowingly awesome, that we have to prepare you for the sheer shock of how incredible it is.” 

Leo could almost imagine Karai on the other end facepalming, trying to decide just how much to humor their younger brother.

“Just to make sure, you’re sitting down, right?” Mikey asked into the phone playfully. “Okay, good. Good. That will work out well. And you’re alone, right? You’re probably going to get pretty emotional, and I know that you have that whole ‘I’m the REAL Leader of the Foot Clan’ vibe going on, so you probably don’t want anybody else to see you break down into a full out blubbering cry mode. Not good for the whole rep thing you’re going for.” He paused, listening to the faint voice on the other side of the phone, then Leo felt his face perk up under his hand. “Oh, Shini’s there? Perfect! Put her on quick! .... Don’t worry about why! Just... just put her on! Trust me! ... Yes, this is important!” There was a pause, and then, “Shini! Shini, listen to me. This is very, very important! There’s a couch in Karai’s office, right? ... There’s two of them?! Exxxcceeellenttttt. Take ALL the couch cushions, and put them on the floor around Karai’s chair.”

Leo was pretty sure he heard amused laughter coming out from the phone above him.

“Mikey, is all this really necessary?” Donnie asked, entering the main area once more with an armload of books.

Mikey sat up a little on Leo’s shell, moving to shelter the phone speaker with one hand as he protested, “It’s totally necessary! Like you always said, Dee, safety first! I don’t want our big sister to injure herself when she faints from the sheer shock of the awesomeness of this news!”

Donnie just gave a sigh, though it sounded more amused then anything, and Leo sensed his purple aura move over to take a seat close by, setting the pile of books next to him and taking one to read.

... Leo missed books.

“Okay, ready Shini?” Mikey turned back to the phone. “Karai is surround by a zone of pillowed safety? Yeah, yeah, I’m sure she’s got plenty to say about it. But she’s going to thank us for it later. Now, can I talk to her again?” There was another short pause. “Karai? Okay, now we- No, no, Donnie already just asked me that. I assure you, it’s completely necessary. Now then. Are you ready for this? Are you prepared for the happiest moment of your life? Okay. Here we go...”

Leo felt his gleeful orange brother lean down, and suddenly there was a phone pressed into his hands. “Okay, bro. It’s all you now.”

At this, all the auras of his brothers and friends in the room slowed down and paused, apparently wanting to watch this moment. 

Leo swallowed hard, his heart fluttering hin his chest, and pressed the phone up to the side of his head.

“-swear, Mikey, I have an important meeting later this evening with some very important people, and I have a lot to do before then!” he heard Karai’s trying to retain her patience on the phone. “If this is about Ice Cream Kitty getting married again or something like that, then I swear that I’m not going to bring you back any Mizu Manju next time I come to visit.”

Karai...

His sister!

Leo felt his heart pound, his chest tightening and a lump forming in his throat suddenly. Oh... how he had missed that voice!

He swallowed hard, then said almost shyly, “Hello, Karai.”

The voice on the other side stopped instantly mid rant, and there was a long moment of silence.

“Karai?” Leo blinked, uncertain about the sudden dead silence coming from the phone. Did he accidentally hang up on her? “Are you still there? It’s... it’s me. Leo. I’m... I’m still alive, and I’m back.”

Then, through the phone speaker, he could hear a breathy wheeze and then a cushioned thud.

“Uh... Karai?!” he pulled the phone away from his head, a little alarmed. “Karai? Hello?!”

“Wait. She didn’t really faint, did she?!” Mikey sounded startled. “I was kidding about that!”

Chapter Text

Leo found himself seated on the surprisingly comfortable couch in front of the mass of tv monitors that now apparently made up his family’s living room. Well, this was nice. His brothers obviously put a lot of effort into this area. He still wasn’t terribly sure why there had to be so many screens, but eh, it wasn’t like that mattered to him anymore.

He hummed quietly to himself as he waited patiently for the plastic cuff around his upper arm to finish inflating with air, squeezing the scale covered muscles of his biceps tightly as Donnie checked his blood pressure. Again. For the third time since he’d arrived back home. But Donnie had apparently decided to do one more check to reassure himself that Leo hadn’t somehow developed a case of typhoid fever or something overnight, and Leo didn’t have the heart to deny him.

As for his other brothers, Mikey was currently snuggled under his other arm, glued closely to his side, and Leo could hear Raph helping April clean up the broken glass, spilled liquids, and smashed eggs off the floor.

Suddenly, everyone paused, their attention caught by the sound of the elevator whirring to life once more. After a moment, the doors slid open, and a boisterous aura stepped through for the second time that day.

“Never fear, Casey Jones is here!” the human called out as he stepped out of the elevator. “And I come bearing eggs and milk once more! Y’know, to replace the stuff that April broke earlier.”

“Casey!” April hissed, obviously a little embarrassed. “It’s not like I was trying to-! I mean, I wasn’t-! Argh! I didn’t mean to! I was startled!”

“Yeah, Leo coming back from the dead sorta startled me too, Apes.” Casey shot back as his voice headed towards what Leo assumed was the kitchen. “And yet somehow I managed to avoid smashing my share of the groceries all across the floor. There was a perfectly good bottle of hot sauce in that bag too! It’s tragic!”

“Oh come on. Now you’re just being a jerk!” April threw something small across the room at him, Leo guessed it was a pencil or pen or something.

“Oh, how I have missed the sound of pointless bickering.” Leo couldn’t help but sigh happily as there was sound of small clicks and rhythmic hisses of air as the tight blood pressure cuff around his upper arm began to decompress.

“Please sit still while I’m doing this, Leo.” Donnie reminded him patiently as he pressed a finger to Leo’s wrist, apparently measuring his heart rate.

Mikey slipped out from under his arm, his warm solid body disappearing as his orange aura bounded over to grab at whatever Casey was holding. “You remembered to get the blueberries too, right? I can’t make Leo his favorite blueberry pancakes without any blueberries!”

“Of course I did! Grabbed some more of that fancy tea for him like you asked too.” Casey’s aura set some bags down on a countertop, the sounds of jars and can clinking softly against one another. “How’s the Foot Princess doing? She up and about yet?”

“I’m going to rip out the eyes of every damned NeoFoot that I get my hands on!” Karai’s voice continued to rant angrily from the speakers of the elaborate sound system that Donnie had somehow wired up in the living room, her voice bearing so much emotion that a bit of a reptilian lisp worked its way into her accent. “Let’s see how they fare when blinded, every single one of them! I swear, they’ll regret the day they ever laid a hand on you, Leo!”

“Shini managed to wake her up a few minutes after you left, and it’s basically been an emotional roller coaster ever since.” Raph grunted, moving over to grab a few of the things Casey had set down, moving to help put them away.

“Ah. I see.” Casey snickered.

“Karai... calm down.” Leo tried to sooth her, turning his head towards the sound of her voice and trying to give her a reassuring smile. “I’m okay. I promise you that I’m okay.”

“Of course you’re okay!” Karai hissed fiercely. “You’re amazing, Leo, and don’t let anybody ever tell you otherwise!” Then her voice hitched slightly and broke, softening considerably with fresh tears. “Oh Leo, you... you know that, right? Back when I thought you were... When we were so sure that you were... I regretted never telling you that. Regretted never telling you just how amazing and wonderful you are! You’re-you’re always putting other people first, always willing to help those that need it, even if they don’t deserve it. I... I... I thought I lost my chance forever to tell you just how much you meant to me! Leo, I can’t believe that you’re really still alive!”

By this time, her voice had crack as she sobbed over the phone once more.

“Hey! Hey. Karai, calm down. Breathe. Just focus on taking deep breaths.” Leo gently coached her. “And I love you too, big sister. Trust me when I say that I missed you too! So very, very much!”

“Um, Leo...” There was the ripping sound of velcro as Donnie removed the cuff from his upper arm, apparently satisfied with the readings, and then his hands gently took Leo’s chin and moved his face a few inches to face in a different direction. “The camera is up here. You’re looking towards the left too far, Karai’s only seeing the side of your face.”

“Ah. Sorry. Thank you, Donnie.” Leo pinpointed a small plastic box on top of the monitors, assumed that was the camera, and shifted to face it more squarely, trying to ignore his newly learned habits of facing the sound of the speaker’s voice. He tried that smile again, hoping that he was indeed now facing the camera correctly and that Karai could see it.

He was somewhat surprised to realize that he felt a slight bitterness well up in deep down, and he hurriedly tried to tamp it down. There was absolutely no call for that! Karai desperately needed to see him, and it was no trouble at all to set up a video chat for her. Sure, there was the small fact that video chat was now worthless to him. He could sense the screens in front of him just fine. In fact, his senses were now so finely tuned that he could almost taste the electrical static moving through them, powering them. But, in the end, no matter how well he could detect it, they were still just a flat, lifeless inanimate objects of plastic, metal, and glass to him. He couldn’t sense Karai’s aura. He couldn’t touch her arm or face to reassure himself that she was really there. If she hadn’t been speaking, he would’ve never known that Karai was there, visible on that screen. He couldn’t see her. He couldn’t see anything!

But... but that didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that HE couldn’t see. Karai wasn’t blind like he was, and she needed to see him. Just because he was feeling a little jealous didn’t mean he should prevent his sister from getting at least this small comfort.

“I... I’m coming over as soon as possible.” Karai said quickly. “I should be there for you, Leo. I’m going to catch the first flight available to America.”

“Uh.... Correction.” Shinigami’s voice chimed in as she cleared her throat, and her lilting accent spoke up firmly. “You will be catching a flight to America in one week. Karai, I know you want to see Leo, but the negotiations with Hayashi Toru-sama can’t be delayed without repercussions.”

“What? Oh, to hell with the Yukuza and all their schemings!” Karai’s voice argued with her best friend and second in command. “Leo is far more important!”

“I agree, but Leo is once again home with his brothers and in safe hands, no? He will still be there when we conclude our business as well.” Shini reminded her. “It would only create questions if the head of the Foot Clan were to suddenly disappear on an unknown expedition in the middle of delicate negotiations. You would only draw unwanted attention to the turtles if you leave now.”

Leo heard Karai give an annoyed exhale, and in his mind’s eye, he could almost imagine the way she blew strands of hair from her face as she shot a dirty look Shini’s way. He chuckled. “Ah, the joys of being a responsible leader of a clan, eh Karai?”

“Ugh...” Karai’s voice muffled, as if she were covering her face. “Nobody told me about the meetings, Leo! Shredder never let me go to them, and now I see why! They’re so boring and stuffy! I have to wear high heels! And a dress! I can’t even tell you how difficult the logistics of trying to design a dress that’s comfortable to fight in are!”

“It’s true. Mikey tried it himself out of curiosity.” Casey added from the kitchen, standing by a cupboard. There was a clunk of cans being put away on shelves as his aura shifted around. “He went with flowing sleeves and lots of ruffles. It... didn’t go well.”

“Disney princesses lied to us all these years!” Mikey sounded heartbroken from where he was apparently heating up a griddle by the large square appliance Leo assumed was the oven.

“The ideal dress design is one with sleeves that won’t hinder your arm and shoulder movements, and a layer of fabric around the legs that won’t impede leg movement.” Donnie mentioned absently as he put away the blood pressure monitor, followed by the sounds of pencil scratching on paper. “Of course, different designs are required for different styles of fighting. A corset, for example, is surprisingly effective in both offence and defense when fencing and sword fighting, but not for the styles that depend on kicks and flips, like our styles of ninjitsu often depend on. For that, you want a more flowing skirt to allow for movement, but not flexible to the point that it tangles around the legs. The trick is to find the fabric fluidity somewhere in middle ground.” He took Leo’s hand and gently began running his fingers over Leo’s scales, examining them closely.

“Donnie’s been helping both Karai and I figure out designs we can use.” April informed him as her aura walked over and leaned against the back of the couch. “He’s a surprisingly fashionable clothing designer.”

“Well... You at least are allowed to keep a tanto strapped to your leg underneath all that, aren’t you Karai?” Leo asked the screen, amused beyond words how this conversation was shaping up. Oh, how he missed everybody!

“It’s a meeting between shady underground organizations.” Shini’s voice sniffed in mock seriousness. “Hidden weapons are practically a mandatory part of the uniform.”

“Karai also has these little thin knives that she pretends are decorative hairpins when she puts up her hair all fancy!” Mikey added enthusiastically, dumping some stuff into a mixing bowl. Leo hoped he was paying attention to the labels as he poured. He may enjoy the results of accidentally using sugar instead of salt, but the rest of them usually weren’t so enthused. “And she can somehow pull them out without somehow chopping all her hair off as well! It’s so cool!”

“Oh.” Leo blinked unseeingly, trying to imagine that. It did sound pretty cool. “So I guess you must’ve grown your hair out a little, huh Karai?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah... I suppose that you can’t...” Karai cleared her throat, and her voice softened a little. “It’s a little past my shoulders now. I still like the dual colors, so it’s still black and tan as before. I, uh, remembered that you... you had always liked to play with it before, so... so I had decided to grow it out some.”

“I think that it makes her look a lot like that picture Sensei had of Tang Shen.” Mikey apparently agreed with her choice of style happily over in the kitchen. There was a sizzle as something was added to a hot pan. “She’s very pretty with longer hair.”

“I bet she is.” Leo tried to keep the wistfulness out of his smile. Oh, how he wished he could see her! “Maybe I can braid it when you come over to visit.”

There was a long, unexpected moment of silence, which caused Leo to momentarily wonder if the call somehow got dropped. “Karai?”

“I’d... I’d like that, Leo.” Karai finally admitted quietly, her voice caught with more emotion then he had been expecting. “I’d... like that a lot.”

Leo rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, feeling his face blush a little. Then he cleared his throat. “So... the Yukuza, huh? You’re meeting with some of Japan’s most dangerous and notorious mob bosses? Should I be concerned?”

“Nah, Karai can eat guys like that for breakfast.” Apparently Raph was done putting away groceries, as his red aura moved towards them. He moved around the couch and plopped down on the cushion next to Leo, although with a bit more caution and care then he would’ve in the old days. He reached across Leo’s shell and pushed Donnie’s hands off. “Yo, Donnie, turn off the neurotic doctor mode for a bit, will ya? Give him a moment to relax and reconnect with everybody. You can examine him later.”

Donnie huffed, but stood up to move his tray of supplies. “Okay, okay. Fine, I’ll just...” Suddenly his attention seemed to be caught by something, and he immediately stiffened. “Hamato Michelangelo, I hope that you’re not putting that whole stick of butter into that pan!”

“I’m making hashbrowns, bro!” came Mikey’s objecting reply. “You need lots of butter to make good hashbrowns!”

“No, that just makes them greasy and gross! And just why is all that sugar out?!” Donnie set aside the medical stuff and his aura stormed turbulently towards the kitchen, where delicious smells were just starting to waft out. “This is all extremely unhealthy, and Leo’s digestive system doesn’t need that shock right now!”

Leo decided not to get in the middle of that argument, and turned back to Karai, taking a moment to try and make sure he was facing the right way again. “How about the NeoFoot?” he wondered. “I found the remains of their handiwork on our old home and your old headquarters. What have they been up to lately?”

Raph gave a snort, letting his arm remain draped over Leo’s shell as he settled back on the couch, pulling out his phone with his other hand and apparently playing with the screen casually. “Like I told ya, Leo, they’ve been pretty quiet lately. They got tired of getting their butts kicked, or they had internal fighting, or something. At any rate, they’ve basically dissolved themselves, and none of us have seen any trouble from them for months. Trust me, Donnie and Karai have been keeping their ears to all the rumor mills, and there’s been not even the slightest hint of activity.” He shifted to put his phone back on his belt, and leaned back again. “Eh, to tell the truth, things have actually been kind of boring for us lately. Really peaceful and all that. Casey and I ‘ve been having to go out hunting for decent scraps, and the most we ever seem to find seems to be Purple Dragon punks, and they’re hardly ever a challenge. And Princess over there in Japan seems to be having more trouble with social and business crap then fighting anything. Right Karai?”

“Hm?” Karai seemed distracted for a moment (Leo could almost swear he had heard both her and Shini’s phone ding with text messages while Raph had been feeling so chatty all of a sudden), and then she cleared her throat, realizing they were waiting for a response. “Oh. Uh, yeah. Raph’s telling the truth, Leo. I’m not sure what happened to the NeoFoot. After the attacks on our homes, there was a brief war, but then all of a sudden they just... retreated. The Footbots, all the soldiers, and... well... all of them. They just all up and left without an explanation. We were of course suspicious, thinking that they must be plotting something big, but nothing ever happened, and we haven’t heard anything from them since.”

“Hm.” Leo frowned, and leaned against Raph as he pondered this. “When exactly did this happen?”

“About eight or nine months ago?” Shini hazarded a guess. “Their numbers started thinning about a year ago, but then they just seemed to all disappear en mass a few months later.”

Leo thought about that, comparing it mentally to the timeline he was aware of, and nodded. “I thought as much. That actually makes a lot of sense.”

“How so?” April sounded curious, still leaning over the back of the couch.

“Well, I’m guessing that somehow the NeoFoot managed to hack into our old phone system and such?” Leo hazarded a theory.

“Indeed.” Donnie apparently had been listening to the conversation and, figuring that this was his field of expertise, made his way back, joining the conversation once more. “They managed to plant a bug in our system, and both our phonelines and security systems were compromised. That’s how they were able to surprise us and do so much damage to the old lair. But how does that...” Donnie froze, and his aura suddenly spiked in sheer panic. “Oh dear Girolamo Cardano! Leo! You-you didn’t try calling us when you were looking for us, did you?! Because those phonelines were compromised, and if you tried calling them, then the NeoFoot...”

“... Could pinpoint my location and figure out where I was.” Leo finished for him dryly. “Yeah. I noticed.”

“Wait, the NeoFoot was chasing you?!” Suddenly, Raph’s arm around his shell wasn’t nearly as relaxed. His aura immediately turned panicked as well as he turned and grabbed Leo. “They found you?! Oh gods! Leo! Why didn’t you say anything?! What happened?! Did they hurt you?! I swear to god, if they touched a scale on ya...”

“Raph!” Leo grabbed his hands and held them. “Calm down! Look at me! I’m fine!”

“That’s why they all disappeared so suddenly...” Karai’s voice sounded horrified as she put the pieces together. “Leo, you tried calling us for help all those months ago, and the NeoFoot realized you were still alive and pulled back from attacking us to hunt you down!”

“Yeah... um... that was an interesting time.” Leo released Raph to reach back and rub the back of his head awkwardly.

“Leo, I think you’re understating the seriousness of the situation here!” Donnie grabbed at him. “You’re BLIND! And not only were you lost out there in the world, but you had the whole NeoFoot army chasing you down?!”

“Yeah, but I...” Leo started, but gave a grunt of surprise as Raph grabbed him and hugged him so tightly that for a moment he felt winded. “Raph?” he finally wheezed out questioningly.

Raph’s grip was still iron tight, and he was trembling slightly, face pressed into Leo’s arm. “We... we could have lost you again.” he whispered hoarsely. “Fuck, Leo. We... we wouldn’t have even ever known!”

Leo wriggled one hand free and leaned down to press his forehead against the top of his head reassuringly. “I’m not going anywhere, Raph. You know me. I’m too stubborn for that. Besides,” he chuckled softly. “You’re vastly overestimating their chances against me. I’m a highly trained ninja, after all, even blind. They couldn’t even touch me.”

“Leo. Bro.” Mikey had apparently abandoned the breakfast and was now leaning over the couch. He took Leo’s face between both of his hands, gently squished his cheeks, and leaned in to press his nose against Leo’s. “Okay. That’s it. I’ve been patient, but this is the final straw. WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!”

“Hm. Yes, I suppose I owe you guys a slightly more detailed explanation as to where I’ve been for the past few years.” Leo nodded, and, after a moment’s thought, turned towards where he thought he remembered the camera was. “Do you have the time, Karai? I remember you saying something about a meeting?”

“What! Yes! Of course! For you? Always, Leo.” Karai said quickly. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world!”

“I thought so.” Leo nodded thoughtfully. “But before we begin...” he turned up towards the orange aura leaning above him. “Mikey, your hashbrowns are starting to burn.”

“What?!” Mikey shot up, and then launched to flee into the kitchen. “Oh crap! The hashbrowns! I totally forgot!”

“Ack! Quick!” April panicked, joining him. “Before the smoke detectors trigger the fire system that Donnie put in place again!”

“Hey, the fire suppressant system is perfectly functional!” Donnie protested, sounding somewhat offended. “I’ll have you know that foam I invented is a wonder of science, and is more not only safer, but more efficient at extinguishing flames then ninety four percent of other commercial varieties used by the public!”

“It turned both April’s and my hair green!” Casey protested as he hurried over to the kitchen. “For a week!” From the sounds of it, Leo guessed that he had grabbed some magazine or something and was flapping at the smoke with it, trying to redirect the smoke.

“That was an unintended side effect, and I told you, I adjusted the formula!” Donnie shot back. “Besides, if you hadn’t set the popcorn on fire, then it wouldn’t have activated in the first place!”

Leo continued to sit back on the couch, happily listening to the chaos around him. It definitely sounded like once he was done telling his tale, there might yet be a story or two left to tell.

One crisis averted later, they decided to congregate around the kitchen table so that Mikey could continue cooking, with April’s assistance this time, and still pay attention to Leo’s story. Donnie brought over a laptop, setting it down in front of Leo so that Karai and Shini could continue listening as well. Leo was actually sort of relieved that they had switched from the complicated set up in the living room. The laptop was still cold, lifeless machine that gave no indication of life, but at least it was easier for him to remember where the camera was and at least pretend to face Karai when talking to her. Donnie and Raph were sitting on either side of him, each making physical contact with him and silently reassuring him that they were there, with Casey was also seated nearby. Leo could almost taste how attentively every aura in the room was focused on him, waiting for him to start.

“Alright, so where do I even begin...” Leo sighed, sitting back in the kitchen chair that had obviously been salvaged, refinished, and refitted to the unusual specific shape of a turtle shell by some clever brother. Huh. Comfy!

“Well, start off with what happened after you fell out of the plane.” Mikey suggested as his orange aura bustled around near the sizzling stove. “We were flying over the middle of the ocean! In a storm! How in the world did you survive that bro?!”

“Only because Master Splinter’s spirit was watching over me.” Leo admitted. “That, and sheer stubbornness and luck, I suppose. I somehow managed to find and cling to a piece of floating debris, and that kept me above the water long enough to stay alive. It... it was still pretty close. If I wasn’t a turtle, with the shell that protected me from the impact and ability to hold my breath for longer then humans can, I most certainly would’ve drowned that night.”

Raph growled, and leaned back just a little more firmly against Leo.

“Take your time, Leo.” Donnie placed one three fingered hand on top of Leo’s. “And remember, we’re always available to listen later if you need some time. If anything’s too difficult or uncomfortable for you to talk about, you don’t have to bring it up right now.”

“Thanks Donnie.” Leo squeezed his hand gratefully and smiled in his brother’s direction. “I’m fine, though. Honestly, the worst part was worrying about you guys. I knew that the plane was on the verge of crashing when I fell out, and I didn’t know what happened to you.”

“Managed to bail out before the plane crashed, was stuck waiting on a damned inflatable raft for three days before Karai, April, and Casey tracked Donnie’s emergency signal and rescued us.” Raph explained brusquely, his arms crossed tightly across his plastron even as he leaned against Leo. “Spent the next two weeks looking for you before finally giving you up for dead.”

“I had three helicopters and a dozen boats out there searching for you, Leo.” Karai sounded miserable. “But we didn’t know exactly where you fell out to begin with, and three days had already passed...”

“Yeah, trying to find one turtle in the middle of the ocean without any idea where I might be would’ve been like looking for a needle in a haystack.” Leo winced, imagining just how his brothers stranded on that life raft for days, and how desperately they searched for him, and, most gut wrenching of all, how they must’ve all reacted when the search was called off. “Actually, it sounds like you guys had a worse time of it then I did back then. I just ended on a year long vacation on a deserted tropical island.”

“You washed up on an island?” April sounded intrigued as Leo heard her pour water into some sort of kitchen appliance. A coffee maker, judging by the scent. “Really?”

Leo nodded. “A fairly good sized deserted island. It turned out to be a bird sanctuary or something. I found myself waking up on a beach, and it really didn't take me all that long to figure out that I was now blind.” He cleared his throat. “At which point, I then proceeded to spend a few days going through the initial panic attacks, flailing around helplessly, mental breakdowns, and general raging against fate that comes upon making a discovery.”

“Oof. Leo...” Donnie said with an exhale. “I wish we could’ve been there with you...You should’ve never have gone through something like that alone.”

“Yeah... I missed and worried about you guys so much.” Leo gave a wry smile. “But, as much as I needed you guys, it... was probably best that I worked through that on my own terms. I’ll be the first to admit that those first few days on the island weren’t exactly my finest moments. Losing wrestling matches with fish. Falling out of trees. It wasn’t always my most graceful hour.”

Leo came to the decision that would hold off about anything regarding Pangur Ban and the Ancient One. At least for now, anyways. That... was still something he was trying to figure out how he felt about himself. He wasn’t really sure what had happened back there on that island. Some sort of divine or spiritual intervention? It wasn't that he didn't think they'd believe him, but right now his family was worried enough about his state of mental health, and they didn’t need to wonder if he had been hallucinating ghosts or gone crazy or something. Nope. That was totally something that hadn't happened.

“You fell out of a tree?!” Donnie’s voice squeaked in horror. “Why were you even climbing a tree in your condition?! How tall was it?! Were you hurt?!” Leo could almost imagine his overclocked mind suddenly conjuring up a dozen new ailments he might have to deal with.

“It was pretty tall.” Leo admitted ruefully. “Thankfully, a thorn bush broke my fall, so the most I got was a bruised ego and a lot of minor scratches. My shell took the brunt of the fall.”

Almost immediately, there was a purple aura bolting out of his chair and shoving the red aura aside as Donnie’s hands pushed Leo forward so he could apparently examine his shell for any damage.

Leo rolled his eyes, but continued with his story, only now stuck leaning forward while doing so.

“Like I said, at first, I just sort of flailed around helplessly." he admitted. "But even though I was bound and determined to wallow in self pity and misery, it wasn’t long until I discovered that the island had plenty to teach me. It took some time, but I slowly learned how to become self sufficient, even with my eyesight gone." He lifted one hand, flexing his fingers a little, before brushing the table in front of him. "I learned how to ‘see’ with more then my eyes, and instead uses all my senses. I learned to 'see' the world around me not just through touch and sound, but through our natural turtle tremorsenses and the finely tuned sixth sense that Master Splinter had helped us hone. On that island, I slowly learned to ‘ninja while blind’, so to speak.”

“Well, you are Leonardo, after all.” Karai’s voice sounded... proud of him? “If there’s anything that I’ve learned about you over the years, it’s that there’s no obstacle that you can’t overcome once you put your mind to it.”

“If it was a deserted island, how did you get off of it?” Casey wondered. “Even if you’re a turtle, you can’t swim a whole ocean.”

Well, like I said, the island was some sort of a bird sanctuary, so once in a while, some scientists came to check on it. Camp out for a few days, take notes, things like that.” Leo explained. “The first time they came by, I was still newly blinded and lost, and so I just hid from them. At the time, I didn’t want to deal with humans while I could do barely more by myself then scrounge up some fruit to eat and find water. But about a year later, they came back, and it was a different story then. I had learned so much, and was feeling much more confident in my skills. I knew what I could do, and what I was capable of, and I knew that I had to try and find my way back to you guys. And so I managed to sneak onto their boat while they were out, hitching a ride back to the mainland.”

“Wait. Wait wait wait. You, being a blind mutant turtle, snuck onto a boat with SCIENTISTS?!” Casey asked in disbelief. “Talk about ballsy!”

“Talk about stupid!” Raph stiffened next to Leo, his aura roiling with worry and upset. Ironically, it was almost the same tone of voice that Leo was pretty sure he had used himself on Raph in the past when his red brother snuck out and did something stupid. “What if you got caught?! Leo, what were you thinking?!”

“That I needed to get off the island and get back to you guys?” Leo huffed at him and rolled his eyes. “It was fine, I know how to remain hidden. I am a ninja, after all!”

“You put yourself in a position where you would be trapped for hours, if not days, with no means of escape in close quarters. With scientists!” Raph argued.

“And I made it back to the mainland completely and totally fine, unharmed, and undetected, because I am a NINJA.” Leo retorted. “And, spoilers, that’s not going to be my first time sneaking on a boat in this tale, so be prepared for that.”

He had to hide a smile at Raph’s indignant huff, even as his red brother surly scooted just a little closer. He continued his story. “Anyways, I ended up in a decent sized port city of some sort, though I never did catch the name of it. It was somewhere in China, I’m assuming, because it sounded like everybody that I found was speaking some form of Chinese. At least, I’m just assuming that it was some form of Chinese, because I don’t actually speak the language myself. It sounded like Chinese? Anyways, this inability to eavesdrop on the locals complicated things greatly in a way I didn’t anticipate.”

“So let me get this straight.” Karai’s voice through the speaker sounded a little concerned. “You were stranded in a foreign city that you didn’t know, surrounded by people you couldn’t understand that would probably attack you if they saw you, and you had no idea where you were or where to go next. Oh, and you’re blind, so you can’t visually look up directions.”

“Yup. It was... rather discouraging, to say the least.” Leo sighed, nodding towards the laptop. “At first, all I could do was keep hidden, and scrounge for food where I could. My first plan was to look for a phone I could figure out how to work by touch, and eventually I managed to find an office room that was rarely used with a working phone in it. I was elated at first, and immediately tried calling you guys, but I only got disconnected signals, no matter how many times I tried. I tried calling every phone number that I could remember, but I couldn’t get through to anybody. And now I know why.”

“Dammit, I should’ve been keeping an eye on those old lines. I didn’t think anybody we knew would try to use them, since they were compromised.” Donnie growled to himself reproachfully, his hands slowing down slightly as they ran over Leo’s shell scutes. He sighed and resumed his inspection. “I’m assuming that’s when the NeoFoot were alerted?”

“Probably? Although, if they were, they didn’t show up right away.” Leo shrugged. “Maybe they also weren’t paying that close of attention to what they assumed were abandoned lines at first? I don’t know. Anyways, I stayed in that city for a couple of weeks, trying to decide what to do. With hindsight now, if I had known that Karai was back in Japan, I would’ve maybe headed north, in hopes of finding a way there, but at the time, I thought she was still in New York. But then I came across what I thought was a lucky break. While scrounging for supplies at one of the docks, I overheard a couple of dockworkers talking in English! It was pretty broken and heavily accented, so it was little hard to understand at first, but, as they loaded up a cargo ship, I was certain that I overheard them mention that the ship was bound for America!”

“Of course!” Raph huffed sarcastically, and Leo felt his shoulders bunch up tensely beside him. “Perfect! As if hiding on a research boat with scientists for a few days wasn’t enough, now we have a crowded cargo ship filled with a ton of crew members on a long, weeks long voyage. Nothing dangerous about that at all, Leo!”

Leo paused, considering his brother for a moment, then gently reached over and wrapped an arm around Raph’s rigid, hunched shoulders. “I know, Raph.” he murmured quietly to his unhappy brother, nudging him gently with his forehead. “I really wish you were there with me too.”

Raph gave a strangle little grunt in the back of his throat and remained sitting stiffly in Leo’s arm for a moment. Then finally he huffed and tensely leaned back into Leo. “You’re an idiot.” he sniffed quietly.

“I know.” Leo answered fondly, feeling his brother’s solid warmth melt slightly under his touch.

“I’m not done examining your shell, Leo.” Donnie warned him. “Please stop moving around.”

“Donnie, if Leo’s shell hasn’t fallen off already since the year or so he fell out of that tree, then it’s going to stay put for the time it’ll take him to finish his story.” April observed wryly, walking over with a steaming hot mug. She set it down on the table, and moved to extract Donnie from his obsessive examination of his older brother’s health. “So you found a cargo ship heading towards America, then. Is that how you got back, Leo?”

“Kind of.” Leo sighed heavily. “You see, unfortunately, in my excitement at maybe finally finding a way home, I made the very common mistake that most people who grow up in the United States make.”

“You forgot there was also a South America, didn’t you?” Donnie asked with a sigh as his purple aura was guided by April’s over to sit in the chair next to Leo.

“I forgot about South America!” Leo threw up his hands in exasperation.

“Wait, where did you end up?!” Karai sounded way too amused by this.

“Well, first off, that was a horribly uncomfortable way to travel.” Leo complained. “I ended up hiding in a steel cargo container next to pallets of pumpkin spice scented candles for weeks. I never want to smell pumpkin again in my life. Oh! And, guess what? When you’re blind, you can’t read the labels on canned goods. I had been so pleased at the fact that I had managed to snag a couple of sacks filled with canned food for the journey, and then the first night I realized to my horror that I was going to have to play the ‘Let’s guess what I’m eating’ game with each meal. Sometimes it was fruit. Sometimes it was vegetables. Sometimes it was soup, and sometimes, it was filled with some sort of mystery, ‘I still don’t have a clue as to what I ended up eating!’ substance.”

“Ooh, yeah.” April said with some sympathy. “I can see how that can be a problem.”

“But, finally, we made it.” Leo continued. “After weeks of travel, we had finally made it back to shore! And so imagine my bewilderment when, after enduring hiding on a cramped cargo ship for weeks, I found myself in Peru.”

“Peru?!” Several voiced echoed in surprise.

“Ooh! Did you get us any souvenirs?” Mikey asked hopefully from the kitchen.

“Mikey!” Raph snapped him disapprovingly.

“Actually...” Leo turned in his chair, trying to locate his bag. “Somebody brought down my travel pack, right? Where is it?”

“Wait. Really?!” Mikey sounded delighted as his aura dashed off. “Oh man, Leo! Gimme a second, I’ll get it for you!”

He could almost see the expression on Raph’s face as he felt his brother turn his head to face him, the emotions in his aura were so pronounced. “Seriously, Leo?”

“I didn’t put myself in any danger to get these or anything! They’re just little things I found on my journey that I thought you guys might enjoy.” Leo defended himself as Mikey gleefully retrieved the requested pack from across the room and bounded back, handing it to Leo while almost crackling with anticipation. “Thanks Mikey.” He took the bag and set it on his lap, opening the top and starting to dig through the meager possessions so carefully packed in there.

Huh. Digging through this bag again, he realized that it was rather strange. He had lived out of this bag for so long. It had been everything he had owned for months, containing everything he owned and his means of survival. It had become the one constant, familiar thing in his long travels through strange and dangerous lands.

Now he was home with his brothers, provided with everything he needed. He didn’t have to turn to his travel bag everyday anymore for his worldly possessions. It was no longer needed anymore.

Leo slowed down for a moment, pondering that for a moment, and then continued searching for the particular bundles he was after.

When he moved into his bedroom, whatever room that might end up being, he might just keep it hung up on the wall for a little bit. Just to help him get used to the place.

He found the carefully wrapped packets at the bottom, and in only a few moments, his family around him were each admiring their woolen caps with ear flaps that he informed them were called ‘chullos’, made of alpaca wool that was supposedly brightly dyed (he couldn’t tell, of course. He hoped they weren’t tacky). He also pulled out a finely carved wooden flute, which he showed to the laptop and promised to give to Karai when she came to visit. Finally, he pulled out some small bags of coffee beans, a carefully wrapped pile of sharp obsidian shards, some packets of candy that he had no idea personally what they were, and a small glass bottle of what Leo hoped was really Pisco, a type of brandy that was used to make a drink called Pisco Sour. He thought that Raph and Casey might enjoy that. Raph just sat there without saying a word, holding his chullo in his lap. Casey asked if Leo would maybe try it with them. Leo said he just might. Raph quietly reached out and accepted the bottle.

That done, and pleased with the fact that everybody seemed to be happy with their gifts (some showing it more then others), Leo set his bag off to the side and settled back in his chair again, tapping his chin.

“Now, let’s see here, where was I...? Oh yes. So, anyways, despite the disappointment of still being thousands of miles away from home, I figured that at least now I was on the right side of the world. And I understand a lot more Spanish then I do Mandarin or Cantonese or whatever they were speaking back where I had originally been, so that was already going better for me. Heck, if anything is a plus out of this, I’m almost fairly fluent now. It was going to be difficult and take a lot longer then I had hoped, but I was determined to find my way home. Yes, it probably would’ve helped a lot... like, a LOT a lot... if I could read a map or road signs or something, but even blind, I could at least recognize general directions, and could at least follow roads and trains generally northeast. And, at first, things went as smoothly as they could, I suppose. I rode a train for a while, did a lot of walking, and even managed to sneak in the back of a truck once. Along the way, every time I found a suitable phone, I’d try calling home again, in the vain hope that one day I’d get through to you guys.” He exhaled. “And... that’s when the NeoFoot started showing up.”

He held up his hand to quiet the worried tenseness that suddenly filled the room around him again. “First off, let me just say that, as I’ve said, I’m fine. Most of the time, they didn’t even see me. At first, there were only a couple of Neofoot, but it quickly grew until it seemed at times like the whole NeoFoot faction was there after me. I quickly recognized that I was heavily outnumbered, and I wasn’t about to give them a chance to parade my shell around like a trophy! I focused almost all my attention on just hiding and getting away. At first, I couldn’t figure out how they kept finding me, but after a while I realized that they usually appeared a short while after I tried calling you guys, and that they must be tracking your numbers somehow.” He sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “Let me tell you, that didn’t do any favors for my anxiety, wondering if you were all okay.”

“Oh, Leo...” Mikey wrapped his arms around him from behind and hugged him tightly. “We thought about you every day too.”

“We took some hits, but we got up swinging.” Karai added from the laptop speaker. She sighed. “I really, really wished that we knew that you were still alive and in trouble earlier. We would’ve come to help you in a heartbeat.”

“Yeah, I know.” Leo said with a small smile. “It’s not your guys’ fault.” He patted Mikey’s arm fondly to let him know that he was alright, and his orange brother gave him one more squeeze, before heading back to the pans on the stove again.

“Leo...” Raph said, almost hesitantly, which was unusual for him. Leo heard him swallow hard, then carefully set the bottle of Pisco on the table, tapping the side of it almost nervously. “Was... was there anything strange that you noticed about the NeoFoot? Anybody... unusual with them?”

Leo blinked unseeing eyes, surprised by the question, then thought back, cycling through his encounters during his journey. “No... not really. Though, like I said, most of the time I only had fleeting encounters with them. Why?” Was something going on?

“Oh, no reason.” Raph sounded strangely relieved. “We’ve... been discussing how they managed to get organized enough to attack us like they did and... and was just wondering if there were any new clues. It must’ve just been a lucky break on their end. Obviously there’s nothing to worry about.”

“How did you get away from them in the end?” Karai wondered. “And why didn’t they follow you to New York? Do you know where they are now?”

“I think I actually lost them in southern Mexico somewhere.” Leo shrugged, unsure of what to tell her. He wasn’t really certain himself. “That was the last place I saw them, anyways. The particular incident was also my closest call with them. We were in some thick jungle, and the NeoFoot almost had me surrounded. But I managed to find a weak point and break through their lines, where I escaped into a cave that contained a deep pit that lead to an underwater lake or river or something.”

“Oh!” Donnie sounded intrigued. “You were probably on the Yucatán Peninsula then. It’s known for its vast underwater cave systems. The land is dotted with cenotes, which are basically giant sinkholes leading down into the underground river system. The ancient Mayans held them sacred, and not only used them as water sources, but worshiped them as gateways to the spirit realm.”

“Oh. Uh... yeah.” Leo shrugged. “Anyways, being a turtle, I managed to make my escape through one of those. I dove in, found my way to another exit, and resurfaced. That was the last time I dealt with the NeoFoot. I don’t know if they still think I’m in there and are still looking, hoping I’m penned in, or if they just finally gave up, since I’ve stopped giving my position away.” He frowned. “It’s been almost two months since then, so you’d think they would’ve shown up by now somewhere. You guys really haven’t heard anything?”

“Trust me, Leo, when I say that we have our top sources and Donnie’s best tech listening for them.” Karai told him. “If any of them even sneeze wrong, we should be able to find them. There’s been nothing, though. They’ve been quiet as a mouse.”

“Bah. They probably started infighting or something and broke up. They weren’t all that organized to begin with. I don’t think we need to worry about them anymore.” Raph scoffed. “And they know that if they show their faces around either Hamato or the real Foot Clan’s territories, they’re just asking to get their asses kicked.”

“Yeah... I suppose that’s a possibility...” Leo said slowly, not really convinced. “I still wish we knew what they were up to.”

“Wait, is that where you got your new sword?” Mikey asked curiously, obviously scraping something out of a pan onto what sounded like a plate. “I was wondering why it had the Foot symbol etched on it.”

“Wait, it does?” Leo was somewhat surprised. He had noticed some etching on the blade, but hadn’t been able to figure out a pattern. Eck. He might have to have one of his brothers rework that. It was a nice blade, after all. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen it since he had been knocked out by Donnie’s gas. “I snagged it off a dead NeoFoot. It was so well made, I thought it would be a shame not to keep it. Where is it anyways?”

“Oh, I put it in the dojo with the rest of our spare weapons.” Raph said absently. “I’ll clean it for you later if you want.”

“Oh, thanks. I can do it though.” Leo smiled at him. “And I have to admit, getting in the dojo again is something that I’m really looking forward to. I can’t wait to show you guys just what I’ve learned.”

There was a moment of hesitance on his brothers’ part, but then Donnie patted Leo’s hand patiently. “Of course Leo. We’re looking forward to it as well someday.”

“Until then, who’s hungry?!” Mikey asked enthusiastically, moving over to set some silverware in front of Leo. “Breakfast is ready everybody!”

“Oh, wonderful!” Leo couldn’t help but smile. Homemade breakfast, and he didn’t have to steal it or worry about somebody seeing him or anything! He was so looking forward to this!

“I bet you’re hungry, Leo!” Mikey came up cheerfully, carrying a plate that smelled absolutely delicious. “Here you go! Your favorite blueberry pancakes, with a side of scrambled eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns! All made with love!”

“Thank you, Mikey!” Leo grinned at him, and picked up his fork eagerly as the plate was set in front of him.

He couldn’t help the giant smile that beamed across his face as Mikey stepped back. He was so happy, he thought he would burst! He was home. He was with his brothers! And even though he was blind, he was still Leonardo, and he could still protect them.

Everything was going back to normal now, and life couldn’t be more perfect!

He started to dig in, but paused, and then poked at the food on his plate a little uncertainly. “Um... wait... Mikey... Did you cut everything up into... really tiny pieces?”

“Oh! Uh.. Yeah bro.” Mikey cleared his throat, sounding a little awkward now. “I thought it might make things easier for you.”

“It’s... scrambled eggs.” Leo blinked his unseeing eyes. He poked the food with his fork again. “And hashbrowns. And... and why?”

“Well... you’re blind now y’know... so...”

“Blind. As in my eyes don’t work anymore.” Leo sighed. “I haven’t somehow regressed to a toddler-like stage, Mikey. I can still chew just fine.”

“Oh. Uh... yeah. Sorry Leo.” Mikey said sheepishly. “I might’ve gone a teeny little bit overboard.”

Okay.... um... So maybe there were going to be a couple of kinks to work out before things became completely normal again. But that was to be expected. After all, Leo had almost two years to get used to his blindness. His brothers only had a day. Little hiccups were to be expected! But Leo just needed to reassure them that everything was fine, and then they could get back to life together as a family of ninjas, protecting the world.

Leo took a bite of tiny blueberry pancake squares, and closed his eyes as he chewed happily, listening to his family talk all around him.

This was delicious.

Chapter Text

It was shortly after breakfast was cleaned up and put away, when the household witnessed the first real conflict pop up between the brothers since Leo’s return.

Leo fingered the bridge of his snout, trying to remain diplomatic and not entirely lose his patience. “Brothers, I’ve missed you all dearly, and believe me when I say that I can’t wait to spend as much time with each of you in the coming days as I can, but that doesn’t change the fact that none of you guys are following me into the freaking bathroom!”

Leo had spent over a week living on the streets, dressed in clothing he had dug out of a reject bin of a thrift store. He, to put it lightly, needed a bath. Quite badly, to be frank. And currently he was standing firmly in the doorframe to the room where he could accomplish such a task. With heated, indoor plumbing even! And while Raph, Donnie, and Mikey seemed to agree that, very much yes! A bath something that he desperately needed, they apparently differed as to how it should be done. Currently, all three of them were hovering close by, obviously growing frustrated by his stubbornness.

“Dude! We’re not saying that we all need to be in there with you, bro.” Mikey tried explaining soothingly. “You’re right, it’d get waaay too crowded in there! We’re just saying that one of us probably should be in there with you to help you out. Y’know. Just in case.” As he spoke, he tried to push his way forward to wiggle past Leo into the bathroom, but was soundly denied.

“No, I don’t know.” Leo huffed indignantly, arms out stubbornly and not letting him past. “Just in case of what exactly?”

“It’s not that we doubt your skills, Leo, but you’re not familiar with the layout of the room, nor with how anything functions in there.” Donnie tried to sooth him, obviously trying not to sound incredibly frustrated with his brother’s apparent stubbornness. “You’ve just arrived back home after an incredibly harrowing experience, and you’re still not completely physically recovered from the... the ‘incident’... back in the garage! There’s absolutely no shame or dishonor or whatever hangup you’re currently caught up in letting us help you!”

Even though he couldn’t see his brothers right now, Leo narrowed his unseeing eyes in the general direction of their three agitated auras. “Guys, I managed to travel around the world, across the entire Pacific ocean, and three continents. I’m just going to take a bath, I’ll be fine.”

“Leonardo...” It was obvious that Donnie was now trying to pull the ‘Authoritative Doctor’ card on his blind brother. “As your primary medical provider, it’s my orders that, to avoid any accidents, you have assistance around the lair for at least a few days. And that includes navigating the unfamiliar mechanisms in the bathroom. ”

“No.” Leo crossed his arms. “It’s not necessary.”

“Oh fer crying out loud!” Raph growled, and turned to the amused auras of the humans still seated in the kitchen around the laptop. “Guys! Quit laughing and help us talk some sense into this stubborn idiot!”

“Oh, nuh-uh!” Casey sounded way too amused over there. “Ain’t touching this fight!”

“Personally, I’m betting on Leo here.” Karai’s voice added cheerfully from the laptop speaker.

“Probably the safe bet.” April agreed amiably.

Leo felt some sympathy for his brothers, and tried to reason with them. “Guys, Mikey’s already showed me where the soap and towels are located, and I can sense the layout of the room. You guys are seriously underestimated just what I’m capable of! Just because I’m now blind doesn’t mean that things have changed that much! I’m still a ninja!”

“Leo, things in there are Donnie-Made, and are probably going to be so much more complicated then you realize! Especially when you can’t, y'know, see!” Mikey pointed out. “Plus, what if you trip and fall and need our help or something?”

“What?! I’m not going to trip while taking a bath!” Leo said in exasperation. "I’ve lived with 'Donnie-made' inventions my whole life, and I’m quite familiar with how he works. Unless Donnie's hooked the plumbing up to a nuclear reactor while I was gone, then I can figure out how to flush a toilet or turn on the faucet!"

“Gah! Why do you have to be so stubborn about everything!” Raph sounded frustrated. “Leo! Just let us freaking help you! You're acting like this is something all new or some crap, when it's something we've all done before! It ain't a big deal! We’ve all helped each other in the bathroom when one of us was hurt before! Even me! It’s what family does!”

“I agree wholeheartedly. And trust me, if I need help, I will ask for it.” Leo said curtly. “But I am not currently hurt, thank you very much, and thus do not require the assistance.”

“What are you talking about?!” Raph asked with an undercurrent of disbelief in his voice. “Leo, you’re... you’re...”

“Blind.” Leo finished for him firmly. “Yes. Yes I am. But I’m not hurt. Any injuries healed a long time ago, and I’ve adjusted. I will not be coddled over this!” He stepped back into the bathroom behind him and pushed the door closed, stating, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a much needed soak.”

He managed to click the door closed behind him, and, after spending a moment to make sure that they weren't going to try and push their way in after him, Leo leaned back against it, exhaling. He suddenly felt a little pang of guilt when he sensed the three auras lingering uncertainly on the other side of the door. Had he been too harsh? Maybe he was too harsh. His brothers were only worried about him and trying to help, after all. But, at some point, he had to draw the line. He had to show them that he wasn’t helpless! That he was still Leo, their big brother, and he could still protect them. At the very least, he needed to show them that he could use the freaking bathroom without somebody holding his hand!

He sighed. Okay. He would give them extra cuddles after he was clean, to try and make it up to them.

But first things first...

This was the first real bathroom that Leo had been in in nearly two years, and it was time to savor the experience!

Leo turned his attention to the bathroom around him, and tears almost welled up in his eyes. Oh gods. Indoor plumbing!

He straightened up as he thought of something else. Wait! Waitwaitwait. That would also mean that.. There would also be....

He pushed away from the door, and stepped forward, feeling around eagerly. Where was it? Where was... Oh! There!

His fingers gently felt the roll of soft toilet paper hanging on the side of the vanity.

“I swear, I’ll never, ever take you for granted again!” he breathed reverently.

“Well, it seems like Leo has had no problem filling up the tub, and it sounds like he’s enjoying a deep soaking at the moment.” Donnie updated the waiting kitchen of Hamatos as he stepped in, fiddling with the digital screen attached to his wrist.

“Poor guy probably deserves it.” Karai commented from the laptop screen, and then she exhaled and shook her head, wiping her face. “Oh man, I still can’t believe that Leo’s really alive! Leo, you wonderful, amazing turtle you! Always full of surprises!”

“He’s going to be okay in there?” Raph frowned, leaning back  and looking in the direction of the bathroom with a frown on his face. He was standing at the sink, helping Mikey wash the dishes from the large breakfast they had just had.

“I think so.” Donnie nodded, looking up from his wrist communicator as he moved over towards them. ““From what I could make out, while exploring the bathroom, he also apparently found Mikey’s radio in there, and after a bit of experimentation, he’s now listening to soothing classical japanese music. From the smell of it, he also somehow found and lit a stick of chamomile incense for maximum relaxation.”

“We could make that spa day so much better if he’d just let us in there to spoil him a little.” Mikey pouted, leaning against the sink. “I’d give him the best shell scrubs ever!”

Donnie set a small plastic white speaker on the table next to them, from which they could faintly hear stringed and wind instruments playing softly. “I estimate that’ll give us at least a solid twenty minutes to half an hour before he rejoins us. Just in case, I have an auditory monitoring device set up just outside of the door while we wait for him.”

“You mean you set up a baby monitor?” Mikey asked dryly, dropping a rather heavy pot into the sink with a kerplunk and splashing Raph with soapy water.

“Do NOT let Leo hear you call it that.” Donnie warned him, taking a seat at the table next to April.

“Well, actually, this gives me a chance to show you guys something that came up. Karai, you’ll want to hear this too.” April reached down for her purse, setting it on the table and digging through it. “It’s one of the reasons I stopped by this morning, other then the groceries. I was going to bring it up earlier, but that whole shock of finding Leo still alive sort of took me by surprise. And then, when I remembered it, Raph was freaking out on us about telling Leo anything for some reason and so I held off.”

“Yeah. What’s up with that?” Shini asked bemused, standing next to Karai.

“Leo’s been through enough, and I didn’t want to overwhelm him.” Raph defended himself, throwing Mikey a dark look as he dried off his plastron with a towel. “We don’t need to swamp him with trouble the moment he finally gets home.”

“Well, trouble might find us anyways.” April said seriously as she pulled a handful of photos out of her purse. “One of my co-workers at the news station took this while covering another story, and when I found out, I managed to sneak into their computer and make copies without them noticing to show you.”

She spread them out on the table for them to see.

Raph and Mikey glanced at one another, then, drying off their hands with dish towels, they walked over to see.

Raph’s face darkened as he picked up one of the pictures. It was grainy and hard to make out too many details, but the black clad uniform of the figures crouched on a rooftop was unmistakable. “The NeoFoot.”

“They’re back in New York City.” Karai’s voice went flat, her golden eyes narrowing as April held up one of the photos for the webcam to pick up.

“Two of them, at least.” Mikey leaned over April’s shoulder with a frown.

“Fuck.” Raph ran a hand over his face.

“Don’t swear, Raph.” Donnie frowned, examining one of the photos closely himself.

“Nah, this is exactly the kind of situation that calls for a good curse word or two.” Casey looked seriously around the table.

“Apparently they were skulking around the neighborhood of the old lair a few days ago.” April explained. “My coworker was covering some fluff piece about a neighborhood park that’s been cleaned up when they caught these two in the background. They were only there for a brief moment, but it was enough to get few seconds of film in.”

Karai sat back in her chair, arms crossed. “Rather suspicious timing, I’d say, considering what we know now, don’t you think?” She had obviously come to the same conclusion that they were all arriving at.

“They’re after Leo.” Donnie commented coldly as he looked up from the picture, jaw tightened.

“He’s after Leo.” Raph corrected him, his electric green eyes narrowed into deadly slits as he threw the pictures down onto the table.

“Of course he is!” Karai’s face was twisting into a snarl, and her fists tightened. “It all makes so much sense! That’s why he was willing ignore all of us to pull the entire NeoFoot force out just to hunt down one turtle in the jungles halfway across the world!"

"Leo’s the one who killed the Shredder all those years ago." Shini finished her thoughts for her. "And thus, he needs to prove himself against Leo, blind or not! That's the only way he legitimizes himself!”

“But he ain’t going to touch him.” Raph’s hand wandered down to touch his sai attached to his belt, his whole body tense. “Ever.”

Mikey’s face darkened uncharacteristically for a moment, then immediately relaxed into a more typical Mikey expression, only his smile had turned slightly shark-like, and he was studying the black clad ninjas in the photos like somebody figuring out how to take care of a troublesome fly.  He chuckled darkly. “Man. Took them long enough to figure out they were left chasing imaginary shadows back in the jungle.”

“Well... that delay gave Leo enough time to find you guys, thank goodness.” April shuddered, staring at the photos. “But who knows how long they've been up here. They could've been already here and searching for him when Leo was still out there on the streets looking for you. And if they had stumbled on him first! With how dangerous they are now... And Leo being blind and alone...” She hugged herself tightly at the unsettling thought.

“Leo’s... Leo’s so much luckier then he could possibly know. He doesn’t know the danger he was actually in.” Donnie ran both of his hands over his face, leaning back in his chair. “He has no idea what exactly happened with the NeoFoot while he was gone, or who... who their new leader is now. If... if they had caught him out there, and handed him over to that... that monster...”

“Leo wouldn’t have just been killed.” Raph growled, his lip curled in a snarl. “He would’ve been tortured to death. And his body dragged up here to taunt us with.”

Everybody paled at the thought, looking a little bit ill.

“Goddammit!” Karai snarled, grabbing her hair in frustration. “I want to be over there. I NEED to be over there!” She grabbed a pen and flung it across the room angrily. “But Shini’s right! If I bail on those meetings now, I might as well broadcast Leo’s return to the entire underworld in bright neon letters!”

“Guys, not everything is lost yet.” April reminded them, looking around with steely resolution in her eyes. “We’ve only seen these two so far, and they’re obviously looking in the wrong place. It could be that they’re still not sure Leo’s here, and this is just a scouting party, feeling things out to see if he’s made it this far." She sat back in her chair and waved a hand. "So, the way I see it, we still have several things working in our favor. We know that they’re here. And they still don’t know where we are. Most importantly of all, we have Leo now. We can protect him.”

There was a moment of silence as they all thought about that.

“So... should we tell Leo everything now?” Mikey wondered, looking around. “I mean, this is pretty serious business, and he should probably know.”

“No.” Raph crossed his arms stubbornly. “He’s got enough on his plate to worry about right now.”

“Raph...” Donnie frowned uncertainly. “I’m not sure...”

“Guys, as much as it sucks, we have to face the facts!” Raph hissed fiercely, obviously not wanting to raise his voice too loud lest their blue brother hear them in the other room. “Leo’s fucking blind now! If... If the NeoFoot’s little science fair freak get his claws on him, Leo’s not going to be able to fight him off. He can’t protect himself anymore. And, more importantly to Leo, he can’t protect us anymore. And you know Leo! You know just how badly that’ll mess him up in the head!”

Karai gave a deep exhale. “Raph...” she finally said, leaning forward to look into the camera seriously. “As bad as it seems, being blind isn’t exactly a death sentence. Leo’s already proven himself through extraordinary trials on his journey home. He might be more capable then you think, even blind.”

“Do you really want to risk it?” Raph said quietly. “Put Leo up against him? Karai, you’ve seen what that bastard is capable of.”

Karai grew silent once more, looking away and rubbing her arm.

“Listen. Our whole lives, Leo’s always been there for us. He’s always taken care of us.” Raph continued, more gently now. “But then we fucked up. I fucked up. And Leo should’ve died back then, after falling off that plane.” Raph’s fists clenched at his side, and he looked up at the others, his electric green eyes burning with determination. “But he didn’t. Leo went through hell and back to give us a second chance, and I for one ain’t about to take that second chance for granted. Leo needs our help. Now... now it’s our turn to take care of him.”

“Right.” Donnie exhaled, and ran a hand over his face. “This isn’t going to be easy.”

“No kidding, man.” Mikey frowned, looking around. “We’re going to have somehow try to keep tabs on the NeoFoot, and try to keep Leo from finding out?! That’s a pretty tall order!”

“We’re going to need a plan.” Donnie nodded in agreement, thinking this over. “We’ll have to assign duties to care for Leo, find a way to keep him comfortable and entertained and his thoughts off of his current ailment, and somehow still schedule reconnaissance patrols.” He turned in his chair and got up. “We’ll start with a flow chart. I’ll go get the tagboard and markers.”

“Well, I trust you guys, but I hope you know what you’re doing.” Karai said with a sigh, then looked up dangerously. “You are to keep me updated, do you understand me? Even just a hint that they’ve found you guys, and I’ll have the whole Foot army over there within the day, the Yukuza be damned!”

“Thanks, Karai.” April smiled at her and Shini gratefully. “I know we can always count on you two.”

“And that’s good, because, man, I think we’re going to need all the help we can get.” Casey agreed.

"Well, if the interaction we just had with Leo is any indication..." Mikey rubbed his head and glanced  at the closed bathroom door across the Lair, and turned the others to shrug helplessly, observing dryly, "then taking care of our big brother is going to be quite the full time job!"

Leo’s eyes were closed in contentment as he stepped out of the bathroom, a soft fluffy towel of some unknown color draped over the shoulders of his shell and feeling wonderful against his now-clean shell and skin. After almost two years of nothing but cold streams and lakes, unattended garden hoses, and buckets of lukewarm water, that hot bath had been amazing. And it was more than just the clean, hot water. He didn’t realize how much he missed the scent of his family’s usual brand of soap until that moment, and the whole experience of not having to worry about anything as he just sank into that warm, spacious bathtub surrounded by the music and the smell of the incense he had added on a whim had been, simply put, absolutely divine.

But, as pleasurable and long overdue as that bubble bath had been, he was already feeling eager to surround himself once more with the brothers he had missed for so long.

He paused as he noticed a small electronic device sitting inconspicuously against the wall on the floor right next to the bathroom door. Rolling his blind eyes, he gave an internal sigh, and reached down to very carefully and quietly pick up the device, turning back around into the bathroom once more. He carried it over to the counter and held it up to the currently silent radio speaker, then reached over to run his fingers lightly over the radio knobs, taking a moment to recall which one had turned out to be the volume button in his earlier experimentation. Finding it, he twisted it way up, spent a moment making sure the small electronic device was right in front of one of the speakers and positioned perfectly, and then he turned the radio on.

The blast of almost deafening flutes and string instruments blaring out filled the still steam-heavy bathroom, and echoed faintly out in the kitchen, accompanied by a couple of startled yelps. Leo flicked off the radio after a second, and the loud music disappeared, followed by silence.

He heard Mikey call out from the kitchen. “Leo found the baby monitor, Donnie!”

“I noticed!” came the curt reply.

Leo couldn’t help the grin that crossed his face. Gods, he had missed them.

Chapter Text

Leo easily stepped through the darkness of his still-unfamiliar new home, rubbing the fluffy towel over his head to wipe off the last bits of moisture off of his scales.

His senses reached outwards and quickly picked up the three wonderful, colorful auras that he had missed for so long in the area he recalled where the kitchen table was, still mingled with those of April and Casey. As he padded across the smooth stone floor (which he noted was now impeccably cleared of every and any object that Leo could possibly trip over), he noted absently that everybody seemed to be gathered by the table, talking low about something that Leo couldn’t quite overhear. He could also make out the slight sound of marker squeaking against the surface of fresh tag board.

Hm. If he knew his brothers, then he knew that sound meant that a flow chart was currently in the works. One of Donnie’s favorite past times. And, from the sounds of the intense whispering conversation going on as they all leaned over the table, all of his clan were highly involved in whatever was being created.

He sensed Raph’s aura perk up as his brother apparently noticed him approaching, and instantly there was the scrape of chair legs against the wooden floor as his red aura quickly got up and hurried over. Leo couldn’t help but give a small, happy smile as he felt a strong, sturdy three fingered hand take him gently by the elbow. He momentarily pondered flipping Raph over in response to the excessive coddling, but, truth be told, it still hadn’t been even twenty four hours ago he was alone and still wondering if he would ever find his brothers, and the feelings were still very raw and fresh. Now that he had finally found them after all this time, he had to admit he was still feeling a little clingy himself. The physical touch of his brother in this world of darkness was very much welcome and reassuring, even if it was a bit patronizing.

He’d just have to set his brothers straight later if they kept it up.

“Hey guys.” he greeted them all as Raph guide him the rest of the way towards the rest of the group, where he could sense Mikey already had a chair pulled out and ready for him.

“So, it seemed like you enjoyed yourself, Leo.” April voice observed, a hint of amusement in her lovely voice.

“Hmn. Very much so.” he nodded with a grin as he settled into the chair. “I can’t tell you how good a warm, clean bath felt after months of cold streams and showers in the rain.”

He tactfully didn’t mention the baby monitor he had found outside the bathroom door, and in return, his family pretended that such an offending device never existed in the first place.

“I bet.” Mikey’s aura moved close, and then a warm, smooth ceramic mug was pushed into his hands, smelling wonderfully of jasmine tea. “Here you go, bro. Best to take care of both the inside and out!”

Leo blinked, pleasantly surprised, and brought the cup of tea up to his beak to sniff at it appreciatively, before taking a sip. He exhaled and sat back in his seat with a contented sigh and feeling unbelievably spoiled. “Oh, this is good. Thank you Mikey.”

He noted that Donnie seemed to have picked something large, flat, and flexible off the table, most likely the tagboard he had been writing on before, and had turned to quietly try and tape it up to the wall. Unfortunately, although he could sense the tagboard as it was being quietly moved about, he was unable to see what his brothers had written on its surface.

“So what’s that for?” Leo asked curiously.

“Hm?” Donnie’s aura froze in place, still holding the tagboard up against the wall. “What’s what for?”

“That tagboard you’re taping up.” Leo clarified. “Is it one of your flowcharts?”

“Wait, what?” Donnie sounded surprised and, oddly enough, a little guilty, like his hand had been caught in the cookie jar or something. His aura quickly shifted to stand in front of it, blocking it from Leo as if trying to hide it from him in a slight panic. “Leo, you’re blind! How can you see this?!”

“Ninja senses.” Leo said simply, sipping on his tea, his blind eyes narrowing with increasing suspiciousness. “So what’s going on? Is this about the Neofoot, or some other new danger I’m unaware of?” Were they planning something? A lot of new information had been brought up in their previous conversations, and he knew that there was still a lot that he himself needed to be brought up to date about. This was obviously as good a time as any for a good old strategy meeting.

“Uhhhh…” Donnie was obviously fishing for an answer.

But before he could come up with anything, Casey jumped into the conversation. “They were just coming up with a list of rules for Mikey.” There was a pause as apparently everybody stopped to stare at him, and he finished a little more weakly, “Y’know, to keep him from pranking you and such. You.. you all know how Mikey is.”

“Really?” Leo turned his attention to Casey, still not completely convinced. “This is about… Mikey’s pranks.”

“Oh Leo!” And he was caught by surprise as Mikey suddenly threw his arms around him dramatically, and he had to hurriedly steady his teacup to avoid spilling anything with the unexpected jolt. “They’re stifling my creativity!”

“What?” Leo was startled and now a little alarmed that this might actually be a thing. “Why? What were you planning?”

“Oh mah gosh! I just only realized! There’s just so much to consider now!” Mikey almost bounced with excitement. “Why, just think of the Halloween costume possibilities alone! You could dress up like Stevie Wonder! Or, ooh! How about the three blind mice?!”

“Mikey…!” Raph’s aura bristled up immediately, and he growled warningly at him through gritted teeth, his hands reached over to try pushing him off of Leo. “That’s not funny.”

“I… don’t get it.” Leo blinked in confusion, still balancing his teacup in both hands and relying on years of experience to not spill a drop even with the two brothers scuffling over him. “How could I dress like three blind mice when there’s only one of me?”

“Psh, bro.” Mikey sounded slightly distracted against the backdrop of slapping noises as he resisted Raph’s attempts to reign him in. “You just lack imagination! I can think of at least three different costume designs to achieve that character concept.”

Leo was suddenly left to resume drinking his tea in peace when the orange and red auras rolled off of him and split apart as Mikey broke loose from Raph’s grip and dashed behind April for safety. Leo could hear Raph huff and give an offended snarl, and, if he knew his brothers at all, he figured that Mikey was probably currently sticking out his tongue tauntingly. Raph couldn’t risk getting to Mikey while April was there, so apparently he just settled for hovering beside Leo protectively. Probably shooting their youngest brother death glares, if Leo had a guess.

Apparently Mikey was now fully on a roll now, intrigued by all the possibilities of the existence of ‘rules’ for him to dance around. If he hadn’t been thinking about the possibilities of pranks before, he certainly was now. His aura hopped up to perch on the hard surface of the countertop, still safely behind the shield known as April. “And Leo! I was also thinking! Since you now sense things through touch, we shouldn’t deprive you of the beauty of art. Thus” his voice here grew noble and theatric, “I volunteered my services as Master of Macoroni Art to produce wondrous illustrations of different artistic visions for you to ponder over with your fingertips.”

“Um. Yeah… no.” Leo said flatly, putting his teacup down. “Mikey, don’t think that I’ve forgotten the time when we had that argument about putting your drawing of the Shredder’s butt in a place of honor on the refrigerator. I don’t know if I want to try and interpret a piece of your ‘art’ through touch.”

Donnie had meanwhile quietly taped a new, second tagboard up on the wall next to the first one. “‘No... inappropriate macaroni art... that Leo has to touch to figure... out what it is.’” From the sounds of the marker squeaks, Donnie was writing the words down as he spoke them. Then there was the satisfied click of a marker lid being snapped back on, and the purple aura stepped back. “Okay. That’s now added to ‘Mikey’s List’, which is a list that most definitely, absolutely exists now.”

“There shouldn’t have to be a list!” Raph hissed. His strong, warm fingers were resting gently on Leo’s shoulders, apparently he was being considerate enough to provide Leo with constant physical contact even as his red aura bristled protectively over him. “I can’t believe I even have to say this, but this isn’t the time to play practical jokes on Leo, Mikey!”

“At the very least, I was expecting a bit of a honeymoon period.” Leo sipped at his tea again bemusedly. “I was predicting at least a week or two before I needed to be on my guard once more.”

Ah well. He was surprised to find that the threat of pranks was strangely comforting. That just meant that, even in this new place, things were starting to already feel a little more like home, and his brothers were really, truly okay. He was starting to feel hopeful that soon life would shift a little more back to some semblance of normal.

“I’m serious Mikey. It’s not like how it used to be in the old days!” Raph growled warningly, immediately dashing those hopes as his fingers tightened slightly on Leo’s shell. “Leo needs our help right now. If you’re not careful, you could seriously hurt him!”

“‘Leo’ is also sitting right next to you, well within earshot, Raph.” Leo huffed, getting a little annoyed. “You can talk to me directly, you know, instead of talking over me like I’m not even here.”

“Oh. I, Um…” Raph froze, suddenly a bit flustered. “I… I wasn’t trying to… to… Y’know…” He cleared his throat. “Uh, sorry ‘bout that, Leo.”

“It’s okay.” Leo finished off the last of his tea and set the cup aside. “And don’t worry about Mikey’s pranks. I’ve had a whole lifetime of dealing with them, remember?” He held up a hand in Mikey’s direction. “And just to give you a warning, Mikey, that lectures do not require eyesight in the slightest, and I have about two years worth stored up that I'm more than willing to unleash if needed.”

“Eep!” Mikey’s voice was filled with mock horror. “Leo Lectures! I almost forgot about them!”

“Ha! Oh Leo! Have we ever missed you!” April laughed, and her aura walked over and in a moment her warm, human arms wrapped around his shoulders, giving him a quick squeeze. “Unfortunately, while this has been amazing and I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re alive and back, Casey and I have really got to get going now. We're really late for work as it is.”

“Yeah, using the good ol’ ‘getting caught in traffic’ excuses has its limitations.” Casey agreed. “I guess we can try to embellish it a bit with tales of a gang of bank robbers trying to hijack the bus in a desperate attempt at a getaway, leading to a high speed chase with the cops that ended in a fiery crash, but I know from experience that even that will only get you so far.”

“That’s fair.” Leo agreed good naturedly, then tilted his head curiously up in the direction he sensed her face was. “Would you guys like an escort? We could go out with you. I think it’d be good to stretch our legs out and reconnect for a bit, all four of us.”

“Wait.” Casey’s voice had a bit of a squeak to it. “You mean as in you, Leo… Personally going outside? Out of the safety of the lair and above ground where it could be dangerous?!”

“Oh, relax, Casey. I can handle myself just fine, and my brothers will be with me.” Leo scoffed.

And the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. The thought of going out into the city with his brothers at his side was actually rather exciting after all this time, plus this was an excellent opportunity to show them his new skills at navigating the city, even while blind. He immediately perked up as he thought of something else. “Oh, say, would either of your workplaces be near a good farmer’s market by any chance? I’m hoping to find these little citrus fruits called kumquats.” He held up his hands to demonstrate their general shape and how small they were. “They’re kind of both sweet and sour, and you can eat the peel as well as the pulp. There were a bunch of them on the island that I lived on for a bit, and I kind of grew kind of fond of them while there.” He lowered his hands and tried not to look too hopeful as he added, “Plus, I’ve learned to make a really good sauce for fish with them that I’d like to make for you guys sometime. Maybe we could pick some up on our way home.”

He could still sense some hesitancy among everybody around him and, hoping to appease any apprehension and to give the excursion the air of a more legitimate purpose, put on his best 'strategic leader’ tone, and added, “At the very least, I would like to learn the lay of this area around our new home a little better. Y’know, where April and Casey live and work, where we get our supplies, things like that. ” He already found himself slipping back comfortably into his old role, and decided that he had had enough of the coddling. It was time to show them that he could still be their leader! “Plus, it’ll give us a chance to talk tactics on what defense we have, and what we can do to bolster them further. After all, the NeoFoot may be absent right now, but they‘re not gone. They might come back at any time, and we should be ready for them.”

Immediately there was a change in the atmosphere as a spike of emotions rippled through everybody’s aura at once, startling him with its intensity.

And before Leo even knew what had happened, he found himself suddenly herded over to the couch, propped up with pillows and wrapped securely up in a warm blanket.

“What…” Leo started, a little taken aback as another hot cup of tea was pushed into his hands.

“We’ll go out together some other time, Leo. I promise.” Donnie said soothingly as a strong, three fingered hand rubbed his shell. “But… but the route between April and Casey’s workplace is a little tricky, and you still need to catch up on your rest. Plus, I think it’s still raining outside. So tell you what, Leo. Raph and I can go out with them and make sure April and Casey arrive at work safely...”

“Which we totally will!” Casey’s voice added with a little too much forced sincerity. “Absolutely nothing to worry about out there! Nope! Everything’s cool!”

There was a muffled thud and a small pained grunt as if the red aura standing next to him had just slugged him.

“...And while we’re out doing that,” Donnie continued patronizingly. “Mikey will stay here in the lair with you, where it’s nice and warm and dry. I’m sure you’re tired of being out in the rain all the time.”

“Yes, but…” Leo blinked.

“We can all go out together when the weather’s a bit nicer.” Donnie said soothingly. “Raph and I will be back before you know it.”

And then there had been a rush of hugs and goodbyes and people moving around, and then nothing. The lair was now empty except for an orange aura moving around in the kitchen.

Nestled in the cocoon of blankets and pillows, Leo held the warm ceramic mug of tea in both hands and blinked, wondering just when he had lost control of the situation.

“No worries, bro. Doctor Donnie and Mister Grumpenstien will be back at your side and bugging you again in no time.” Mikey’s voice carried over as it drew closer, and the couch cushion next to him sunk down under his youngest brother’s weight as the warm, solid body radiating orange snuggled up next to him. “Your favorite littlest brother is here to take care of you! Did you need anything? More pillows? Foot rubs? Is your tea warm enough? I can read you a book or comic books if you want. Just say the word! Anything you want, Leo!”

Leo sighed and set aside the cup of tea, turning to the orange aura. “Mikey. Tell me the truth. What’s really going on?”

Mikey’s arms wrapped around him, and he found himself caught up in a tight hug. “Psh. You worry too much. What’s going on is that we’re just so happy that you’re alive and back!”

“Really.” Leo was hardly convinced.

“Yes, really.” Mikey snuggled innocently up under his chin. “Leo, just relax, bro! Trust us to take care of you. We missed you so much, and now it’s our turn to spoil you rotten.”

Leo’s eyes narrowed. He could tell when Mikey was trying to butter him up and distract him from whatever plot was brewing behind his back.

He felt Mikey give just the smallest of trembles against him and squeeze him just a little tighter, but he couldn’t see what expression was on his little brother’s face right now.

Leo exhaled slowly. At least… he was fairly certain he could tell.

...Right?

Cloaked in darkness and unable to see Mikey’s face, Leo felt a twinge of uncertainty. He hesitated for a moment, then tentatively lifted a hand and touched his orange brother’s face. Mikey nuzzled his hand happily, and, encouraged, Leo grew bolder and spent a moment tracing the corner of the eyes that were crinkled up with happiness and gazing up at him, and the warm cheeks that he knew were freckled upturned and sculpted by that familiar happy, dopey grin that he could envision so well.

Obviously thrilled at the attention, Leo could feel Mikey beam happily under his touch, and his expression felt open and loving.

Snuggled up to him, Mikey seemed to be genuinely thrilled to be with Leo once more, and he murmured with total and complete sincerity, “We really, really, REALLY missed you, Leo.”

Leo melted almost immediately, and hugged Mikey back tightly. “I missed you too, little brother.”

He suddenly felt a twinge of guilt for doubting his brothers like that. It was beyond obvious that they had missed him and had been grieving deeply for him all this time. After almost two years of believing him to be dead, it was only natural that emotions would be running wild and unpredictably. Of course things would be chaotic for a while! He just needed to be patient, trust his brothers, and be there for them when they needed him. Soon enough things would go back to normal.

And right now, he figured that the best thing he could do to help Mikey and his brothers was to let them adjust, and to just trust them.

Leo sat back and cleared his throat, his hand still lightly resting on Mikey’s cheek. “So... Can I have an official tour of our new lair?” he asked in Mikey’s direction with a smile.

“Dude! Of course!” Mikey was obviously thrilled at the prospect, and he scrambled off the couch, his warm hands grabbing at Leo’s and helping him stand up. Sliding under his arm, he excitedly stated, “Come on, you’re going to love it here, Leo! We’ve worked hard to make it feel like a real home!”

Leo happily let his little orange brother tuck under his arm and steer him along, chuckling. “Lead the way, little brother.”

Raph brushed aside broken cables dangling from the ceiling as he and Donnie stepped carefully through the charred and broken tunnel. Cracked cement and broken tiles littered the floor leading through the dark up to the half destroyed entrance yawning ominously in the old subway tunnels. He frowned, skirting a twisted metal bar sticking out of the wall. “It's strange being back here like this.”

“Indeed.” Donnie absently agreed, using his bo to help him hop over a large, broken piece of cement ceiling that now lay in the path.

Raph wouldn’t ever admit it out loud, but never liked coming here.To their old lair. Not anymore, anyways. Walking through the ruins of what had once been their old home, the broken walls still haunted by so many old memories, always left him feeling backed up and almost overwhelmed with a mess of overpowering emotions.  It just didn’t seem right, looking around the place where he had grown up beside his father and brothers, where they had felt so happy and protected and safe, and seeing everything burned and broken all around him.

It reminded him of when they had lost everything.

It reminded him of when they had lost Leo.

His lips tightened as he stepped past the shattered turnstiles and stood at the top of the steps, pausing to carefully scanned the room around him.

“Let’s split up.” Donnie looked around the old lair unsurely. From the way he was clutching his bo, worrying at the cloth handgrip wrappings, Raph was fairly certain that his genius brother was feeling the same way and thinking similar thoughts about this place. “We know for certain that the NeoFoot know about this place, and there’s a good chance they’ve dropped by looking for clues.”

“Yeah.” Raph nodded, watching Donnie head towards his old lab. He rubbed his arm uncomfortably for a moment, then turned to the other side of the lair to start searching, pointedly avoiding looking at Leo’s old room. At least, for now anyways. He knew that logically, if the NeoFoot were looking for signs of his recently returned older brother, that would be one of the places they searched. But… Leo’s altar that they set up when they thought he was dead was still in there... and Raph had only just convinced himself that his brother was really still alive, and… and…

He’d look in there later. Right now, he’d search the kitchen first.

Immediately, he noted that the particularly bad collapse that had blocked the hallway leading up to the dojo had been partially cleared out, leaving a small gap where one could squeeze through if they were careful, and he moved over to investigate this change. He crouched up on top of a particularly large chunk of rock near the cave in and studied the ground before him with a frown. Without glancing up, he called his purple brother. “Yo. Donnie.”

“Hm?” Donnie’s head poked out of his old lab. “Find something?”

Raph merely tilted his towards the rubble strewn ground in front of him. Carefully picking his way across the destroyed lair, Donnie stood next to his red brother to take a look. His face darkened considerably.

There, outlined in the dust and small rubble strewn across the floor, were the clear outlines of the three toed footprints unique to himself and his brothers.

A single set of footprints of a lone mutant turtle who had at some point in the recent past obviously been working on moving aside rubble to dig out that small path in the rubble to try and make his way through to the dojo, desperate to find his brothers. The brothers who had never bothered clearing out that passageway, because the paper wall overlooking the tire swing and the rest of the former lair had been blown out, leaving only splintered wook and tatters of burned paper. That left a gaping hole up at the top of the lair's wall that left access to the destroyed dojo located on the upper floor. Raph, Donnie, and Mikey had just jumped or climbed up there to survey the damage and gather what they could. While normally a difficult jump, they were trained ninjas, and made the leap easily. And, after clearing out and tossing down what possessions they could salvage, they had never really had the need or desire to go back in up there.

But, of course, Leo was now blind and couldn’t see that alternate path that they had taken. Heck, he probably couldn't have even made that jump up there anymore even if he had known about it. (And Raph knew exactly who’s fault that was, and it wasn’t Leo’s.)

But Leo’s footprints in the rubble weren't what caught their attentions. No… what had Donnie’s brow creased in concern and Raph fairly bristling with silent rage, were the tabi-wearing, human shaped footprints alongside and surrounding those of their brother’s.

Raph’s jaw was clenched tight, and he let out a long, drawn out breath through his nose. Then he reached down and carefully traced one of the intruder’s footprints. “Think there were two of them.” he noted, being careful not to disturb the dust too much. “Definitely Foot training here, judging by the way they move about.” He sat back on his haunches, resting his muscled arms on his thighs. “And I’m fairly certain that they ain’t Karai’s.”

“The NeoFoot.” Donnie breathed, looking around them as if the intruders still might be hiding in the shadows of the ruins.

“Bastards.” Raph snarled.

Donnie snorted, and didn’t seem to disagree with that particular sentiment.

Raph’s electric green eyes continued to study the tracks. “They came in two, maybe three days after...” He paused and withdrew his hand, looking around the area suspiciously, before continuing a little more loudly, “After one of us was here, making these earlier prints.” he emphasized to nobody in particular.

Donnie quickly caught on to what Raph was implying. Behind his purple mask, his reddish-brown eyes flashed with a dangerous and determined glint, and he immediately turned to silently start prowling through the old lair, lightly creeping over every mountain of broken cement and hopping up to investigate little hidden nooks and crannies on both the floor and the ceiling.

Finally, just in a little alcove just above the kitchen counters, he clicked his tongue and shook his head in disapproval. “Found it.”

“Figured.” Raph wondered with a frown as he stood up and walked over. “Does it have audio?”

Donnie peered at the small electronic device sitting on top of the broken cupboards. “Hm. Yeah, looks like it. I see a camera lens and a small microphone, and this right here…” He pointed to something that Raph couldn’t see, “... Pretty sure that’s a motion detector. My guess is that they set it to record when it senses movement.”

“So they’ve been watching us since we came in.” Raph growled. “They know we’re here?”

Donnie shrugged as he continued to study the device. “Possibly?” Apparently convinced that it wasn’t trapped, he picked it up and turned it over in his hands. “Though they're probably not getting live feed from this thing. I don’t see much of a transmitter, and it’s difficult to penetrate the sewer walls this deep. Looking at the technology here, at most, they might’ve gotten a ping on a cellphone or something. My guess is that it sent a text or alert that there's activity going on in the lair here, and is now recording us right now for them to download and watch later, when they arrive.”

“Pity.” Raph snorted. “I was kind of hoping they could hear us. I have more than a few choice words I’d like to share with them.”

“Grab a scrap of paper and jot it down.” Donnie suggested, pulling a screwdriver from his belt. “Since they’re probably already going to guess that we’re onto them, it wouldn’t hurt to send them a message. I’m going to see if I can’t find any clues from this, delete all the data,and then we can leave the dismantled remains of their little toy for them to find next to a few words of your choosing, telling them just what you think of them.”

“I like the way you're thinking, Dee.” Raph gave a wolfish grin, approving of this plan. He immediately began scouting around for a blank, intact piece of scrap paper laying around. “Probably shouldn’t take too long, though, just in case they really were alerted. As much as I’d enjoy putting my sai through a Footbot’s face or three, we can’t really get into a fight right now.”

“Agreed.” Donnie grunted, already starting to skillfully peel the case off the small electronic device and pulling out various pieces. “Which is disappointing. I know both your many, many opinions of the NeoFoot, and your particular creativeness when it comes to vulgar language. I would’ve loved to see what masterpiece you would come up with given the time.”

Raph found a suitable page torn out of an old book, and pulled out a marker. He swept rocks and dust from the most intact part of the counter he could find, and spread the paper down, running the tip of the marker over the paper in swift, confident strokes. “Well, tell ya what. I’ll get a whole proper manifesto all typed up and ready to go for the next time we find ourselves in this situation. I’ll let ya proofread it and everything.”

“Then I look forward to being properly scandalized by the foul language.” Donnie said agreeably, pulling out what looked like a memory card and glancing it over. "And having my vocabulary expanded, I'm sure."

A few minutes of quick work later, Donnie had all the pieces he needed safely stowed to look over for clues later, and while he worked on leaving behind a couple of very well concealed surveillance devices of his own to keep an eye on the place, Raph began tastefully arranging the remaining pieces of the NeoFoot’s disassembled surveillance device in the shape of a hand flipping the bird on the countertop, which, once finished, he left acting a paperweight for a very brief yet very, VERY threatening note written in bold marker.

And then the two brothers left their old, broken home behind, quickly disappearing back into the maze of sewer tunnels like wisps of smoke, determined to avoid the NeoFoot soldiers (or maybe worse) that they knew would probably be arriving soon.

Once they were deep in the old, abandoned parts of the sewers, well clear of the old lair and any NeoFoot listening devices they may have missed, Raph spoked tensely, currently holding his phone as they walked and tapping at the screen as he searched for something. “Do you think this means that they know that Leo’s back in New York now?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Donnie exhaled, looking back over his shoulder with concern. “After all, we are mutant turtles, and most humans can’t seem to tell the difference between us when we’re not wearing color coded masks, even when we’re standing right in front of them. So I’m hoping that, along the same vein, the NeoFoot can’t tell the difference between our footprints either. After all, we’ve visited the lair many times in the past, alone or as a group. It’s not at all unreasonable those footprints were one of us three visiting our old lair."

"Yeah.." Raph exhaled slowly.

Donnie shrugged and tried to sound upbeat. "Hopefully the NeoFoot were just there grasping at straws, and looking anywhere they can for clues. I know it looks bad but’s still very possible that they are still unaware that Leo’s back in the city.”

“Well, we’re going to make damn well sure that they don't ever find him." Raph growled, still glued to his tPhone’s screen. Without looking up, he gestured for them to take a turn at an intersection, and then turned to start walking down it, shoulders still bunched up tensely. "They ain’t going to get anywhere near him again. Ever.”

“Agreed.” Donnie agreed wholeheartedly as he followed him down the dark, dusty stone sewer corridor. “But there is a positive side to what we saw today, I suppose. Even if the NeoFoot do realize those are Leo’s footprints and not one of ours, we can at least be reasonably sure of the fact that they’re looking in the wrong spot. Which means that they still don’t have any idea of where our new lair is.”

“Yeah… Well, I still don’t like any of it.” Raph’s face darkened. He frowned, studying his phone screen, slowing down as they approached an old, rusted metal ladder heading upwards to the levels above. “The fruit things that Leo wanted, they were called kumquats, right?’

“Huh? Oh Yes, I believe so.” Donnie glanced up at the ladder and the hatch above it. “Is that our next stop?’

“Yeah.” Raph tucked his phone into his belt and turned to grab the ladder, grunting a little as he pulled himself up. “Looked it up, and saw that there should be a market near here that stocks them. Let’s see if we can’t find him any.”

Back at the new lair, Mikey and Leo had arrived at the phase of the ‘Grand Tour’ that left them both sprawled next to one another on the cool stone floor around the pool of sea water in the center of the lair. Leo lay comfortably on the his plastron at the edge of the pool, chin resting on one arm while letting the other dangle curiously in the cool water, letting the salty sea water lap gently against the scales of his forearm. Mikey was laying close next to him and poking at the water with little experimental twirls and splashes that sent ripples and vibrations against Leo’s arm. 

Leo absently swished his arm slowly through the water, feeling the vibration created by himself and Mikey bounce around the underwater wall and getting a feel for the size and scope of the tunnel below. Through the underwater tremors, he was able to scope out that the water went straight down a smooth tunnel wide enough to drive a car through, but he couldn’t sense any bottom. “So how deep does this go?”

“Like, super deep. The tunnel here goes all the way down and out to the harbor.” Mikey’s aura and tone were a little distracted as he talked, as if he were just now realizing how fascinating it was now that he was examining it with his big brother. “There’s a big cavern way down there too, just below us. Donnie thinks the Kraang used it for parking some of their smaller underwater vehicles. He says he’s thinking about making another turtle submarine or something that we can use someday, but I don’t think that’s made it past the ‘notes on napkins scribbled madly in the middle of the night during a fit of insomnia’ phase.”

“Huh.” Leo thoughtfully, lifting his hand up out of the water and flicking the water from his fingers, listening to the drops hit the surface. “Well, I like the idea of an alternative exit, but how have we secured it to make sure we don’t have any unexpected visitors?”

After finding their old lair in the state it was, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that his brothers wouldn’t taking any chances of a repeat of that happening ever again, and he was curious as to the defenses they had set up in his absence. Sleeping gas aside, of course.

“Oh, well, there’s a fancy solid metal gateway down there with some pretty heavy blast doors left over from the lair’s old Kraang days.” Mikey’s voice mused thoughtfully as he sat up and shifted around. Leo sensed him move to dangle his feet in the pool next to him, kicking his feet and occasionally wiggling his toes in the water as he talked. “Which, of course, Donnie hijacked and took over almost immediately. We also brainstormed together and added a few extra security measures, just to be safe. Raphie came up with the idea of a bunch of motion detectors installed all over the place. I, personally, wanted piranha’s with lasers, buuuuut after being reminded that they’re freshwater fish and this is saltwater, and that sharks are too big to keep down there long term, I settled for underwater cannons that shoots taser nets.” He paused, and kicked up a small wave. “Donnie, of course, is awesome, and built them for me, even though Raph thought the whole idea was dumb. So, just to warn you, there are underwater cannons that shoot taser nets installed down there." He paused, then added, "But they're mostly on the other side of the gate, and have all sorts of safety features installed, so you'd have to try super hard to get tased by one.”

"If we go swimming down there later, I'll be sure to follow your lead." Leo chuckled, and continued to rest his chin on his forearm, still feeling out the pool with swirls of his fingers. “Y’know, the fish idea wasn’t that bad, though. I’m not talking about piranhas or sharks or anything dangerous, mind you, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to stock this pool with some types of smaller, edible fish. Maybe some crabs or oysters as well. It’d be nice to have a supply of fresh food available if we get stuck down her for a while.”

“Oh, like a fish farm?” Mikey’s aura perked up next to him. “Oh man, I’m totally in for that! It’d be like we had our own giant fishbowl, right in the middle of the lair!”

“If we do this, you’re not naming any of them.” Leo warned him with a playful splash. “Last thing we need is you draping the lair in black mourning cloth and playing funeral music as ‘George’ or ‘Fred’ baked in the oven or something.”

Mikey laughed, ducking under the spray of water and obviously amused by the thought. “Oh please! I’d come up with far more superior names than that! Like ‘Finnie Borscalo’ or ‘Gillbert’.” He chuckled, then, after a moment shifted a bit where he was sitting. “So... I suppose you ended up eating a lot of fish while stranded on an island, huh?”

It was obvious from his tone and posture that Mikey was dying of curiosity about Leo’s adventures while he was gone, but also unsure if that was a sensitive topic.

“Yup." Leo indulged his little brother. "As well as squid, crabs, and whatever else I could fish up out of the streams and oceans. Later in my stay there, I learned how to make nets and traps, but at first, the only way I could figure out was to basically tackle the fish and wrestle it to shore.” Leo shook his head, an amused smile on his face. “I have to admit that the first few times I attempted that were... less than graceful.”

Mikey’s chuckle was more wistful and less amused than Leo had thought it would be, and he tipped over a bit to flop across Leo’s shell, and he whispered, “Wish I could’ve been there with you.”

“Yeah." Leo exhaled. "Me too, Mikey.” He went back to running his hand through the water, enjoying the feeling of a brother sprawled on his shell. He added, “I’ll teach you how to tackle a fish later, if you’d like. I’ve gotten pretty good at it”

Mikey’s hand reached up to pet Leo on top of the head. “I’d like that, bro.”

After that, they spent several minutes just laying on the pool’s edge, lazily listening to the water lap gently against the stone edges and the soft, muffled sounds of the radio that Mikey had left on in his room upstairs.

Then the sound of the elevator across the room in front of them rumbled softly to life, and they perked up. A second later, the doors slid quietly open, and two familiar auras stepped out, walking back into the lair.

“Raphie! Donnie!” Mikey chirped, pushing up off of Leo’s shell. “You’re back, bros!”

“Hey Mikey.” Donnie’s voice greeted back warmly as quiet footsteps padded across the floor towards them, and then their purple brother was there, crouching down nearby and reaching out to help as Leo sat up as well. “And hey Leo. I hope Mikey behaved himself while we were gone?”

“Donnie!” Mikey spoke excitedly before Leo could say anything, leaping up to grasp at their startled brother. “Leo was talking about getting some fish to put into the pool! I wanna get one of those fancy goldfish with spots and I’m going to name her Piebald and love her and teach her tricks!”

“Mikey...” Donnie’s aura struggled to peel the orange aura off his arm. “Goldfish are freshwater fish as well.”

“What? Oh. Darnit.” Mikey sounded disappointed. “Maybe I’ll get a pufferfish then.”

“I was talking about fish as a food source, Mikey. Not pets.” Leo stood up, moving quickly to do so before the two brothers next to him noticed and tried to help when he definitely didn’t need it, and brushed the floor dust off his plastron and legs. “I’m glad you guys made it back just fine. Everything go okay out there? You didn't get too wet out in the rain, did you?”

“Oh. Uh... yeah.” Donnie cleared his throat. “Yeah, it’s still fairly cloudy, but we were fortunate in that the rain held off while we were traveling. And now that April and Casey are off to work safe and sound, there’s no further reason to go outside, and we can spend the rest of the afternoon here, warm and cozy in our lair together, doing whatever you want, Leo.”

Leo could sense Raph moving into the kitchen and could tell from his movements and the way his aura shifted that he was carrying something heavy hoisted up on his strong shoulders. Then there was a slight thump as he set what Leo guessed was a good sized wooden crate down on the counter. “Hey. Yo Leo.” he said, stepping back. “Got you some of those kumquat fruits that you wanted while we were out.”

“What? Oh, really?” Leo perked up, and moved over towards Raph’s aura and the crate, intrigued now that he could smell the faint scent of citrus. “I didn’t mean for you guys to go out of your way to find them right away. Where did you even find them? I hope it wasn’t too difficult.”

“Nah.” Raph’s voice said gruffly, digging around in the crate for a second before turning towards Leo. “Noticed there was marketplace that had them close by, and stopped by on our way home.” He reached out and carefully took Leo’s hand, placing a smooth, oval familiar fruit in his palm. “This what you wanted?”

Leo happily brought up the fruit to sniff at it, and immediately powerful images were conjured up of the nights he spent on the island, sitting around a fire and petting a purring cat on his lap while listening to the Ancient One talk in that old, creaky, nasally voice. He was surprised how nostalgic he felt for those two. “Yeah.” he breathed out. “That’s the fruit that grew on the island I lived on. It was the first real foods I ate there. I’m glad you were able to find some.” he turned and smiled in Raph’s direction. “Thank you.”

He couldn’t see Raph’s face, but his brother cleared his throat awkwardly, his feet shuffling slightly from side to side. “Yeah. No problem, Leo.”

“What else did you guys bring home?” Leo asked curiously, turning back to the crate.

“Nothing else. Just the kumquats here.” Donnie stood next to Leo, apparently peering in the crate himself. “There wasn’t really anything else we needed. April and Casey already got us most the groceries we needed, and we wanted to get home to you and Mikey.”

“Wait.” Leo blinked, feeling the heavy wooden crate in disbelief. Kumquats were only about the size of a large olive, and this large crate was loaded. “This... this is all kumquats? This whole crate?!”

Donnie paused, and then sheepishly admitted, "Okay, we might've gone a little overboard. We didn't know how many you wanted, though, and thought we'd play it safe."

“I’ll admit, I was thinking... like a small grocery bag full.” Leo ran his hand over the pile of small fruits. There had to be nearly a hundred pieces of fruit in there, if not more. How many fruit stalls and markets had they plundered for this?! Kumquats weren’t exactly an abundant or cheap product in New York. 

Next to Leo, Mikey rummaged around in the box for a second. "You should know by now, Leo, that neither Raphie or Donnie do things small."

"Don't call me Raphie, Mikey!" Raph growled a little defensively. “And you said you wanted some fruits, we got you some fruits!”

"I'm not mad or anything!" Leo quickly clarified, peering over the edge of the crate with sightless eyes and sniffing at the contraband held within. “I’m... Well. Frankly, I’m actually kind of impressed.”

Raph’s aura unfurled from it's defensive posture at Leo's words, and then even fluffed a little in pride. “Really?”

"I'll... start looking up recipes." Mikey mused thoughtfully, popping a piece of fruit in his mouth. "I have a feeling we're going to be eating kumquats for quite a while."

Chapter Text

Mikey hopped over a brick wall, bounced off a chimney, and finally came to a stop perched on top of a steel air vent. He spent a moment crouched there, easily balancing the heavy pack on his shell as he sniffed the exhaust and smog filled air of New York City, looking around the daytime city around them curiously. Coming out in the middle of the day was a rare treat for them, and he was completely soaking in the full experience of it. There was, of course, a much higher risk of being seen when coming out in the middle of the day. But with the risks came certain protections. A large fight in the broad daylight drew a LOT of attention from the authorities. And the desire to avoid that spotlight was one of the few things the NeoFoot and the Hamato clan agreed upon wholeheartedly. 

Right now, the last thing the turtles wanted was a fight. Not right now. Not with what they once again had to lose. And so they had to risk the day hours.

Normally their orange brother always seemed to enjoy going out during the day the most out of any of them, thriving in the sunshine and life around them. But, as much as he seemed to be enjoying it right now, there was a nervous current running deep down. Mikey’s fingers were busy thrumming quietly at the edge of the metal vent he was perched on absently, and his baby blue eyes were uncommonly serious as he scanned the rooftops around them. It was obvious that as much as he enjoyed the rare treat of the sunshine, he also, at the same time, was anxious to be back in their lair.

Which made sense. Donnie knew just how his little brother felt.

He wanted to be back with Leo as well.

Making sure he was really okay. Reassuring himself that he was really, truly back and not just a wonderful dream.  Just, in general, basking in the wonderful, nostalgic feeling of getting a glimpse back to a time when life was so much simpler and happier.

But life, of course, couldn't be that simple for them. Leo was blind now, and that meant that his brothers needed to step up and take responsibility. They had to protect Leo when he was most vulnerable.

Donnie peered over the edge of the building they stood on, noting the sparsely populated sidewalks below, and gave a slight nod to himself. He moved closer to where his younger brother was scanning the area around them.

“I think this area is clear.” he mentioned, setting down his pack and leaning back, stretching his shell muscles. “We have enough surveillance devices set up to satisfy me, and I haven’t seen any signs of anything to be worried about here.”

“Yeah, no signs of the NeoNerds anywhere.” Mikey agreed, turning to glance down at the pack that Donnie had just set down on the rooftop, then craning his head back to look at the one strapped to his own shell. “And we managed to grab a ton of good stuff from the junkyard. So, all in all, I’d rate this one a successful day, bro!” He glanced at Donnie, eyes growing hopeful under his orange mask. “These things we got are going to help Leo, right?”

Donnie chewed on his lip. “Maybe? I’m going to try, of course, and I can use these parts to create devices that will help me diagnose the issues that need to be fixed, but…” Donnie exhaled shakily, and rubbed the back of his mask. “This… this may take some time.”

Mikey winced and he looked troubled at the thought, but only for an instant. Almost as if realizing that he had slipped, he immediately perked back up, his happy mask back on once more for his brother as he grinned reassuringly at Donnie instead. “Well, don’t worry, Dee. We’re behind you one hundred fifty percent, no matter what happens! Leo’s going to be fine.” He paused for a moment, then chuckled fondly, rubbing his head ruefully. “Though I’m afraid Leo’s going to drive us crazy for a while. Our big brother does NOT like to be babysat.”

“Oh dear heaven. Do NOT ever use the term ‘babysat’ in Leo’s presence, I beg of you.” Donnie rolled his eyes, leaning against the support of a water tower and rubbing his face. “We’d never hear the end of it!”

“We’re going to have to think of a few more items to add to my list.” Mikey stuck out his tongue cheekily. “We have to distract him somehow, and, trust me, I’m a pro at that.”

“You? A pro at being distracting?” Donnie gasped sarcastically. “No! That would be so out of character for you!” He shook his head, amused, and leaned down to pick up his pack. “Though, you’re going to have to be careful, otherwise Raph is going… to…” Donnie trailed off as his T-Phone started buzzing on his belt, and quickly plucked it up, glancing at the screen. “Oh, it’s April.”

"Wait, really? Isn't she at work still?" Mikey wondered.

Donnie quickly pressed the button to answer, holding the phone up to the side of his head. “Hey April. What’s up?”

“Donnie, there’s trouble.” April’s voice over the phone was low and urgent.

Donnie straightened up, all amusement draining instantly from his features, his eyes turning flintly. Mikey paused, face also turning serious as his hand shifted down to hover just over his nunchucks in readiness as he read his brother’s expression.

“Is it the NeoFoot?’ Donnie asked, quickly scooping up his pack and shouldering it, getting ready to move in a flash. “Are you in danger?! Where are you?”

“I’m fine! I’m fine.” April hurriedly reassured him. “But…” She paused and took a deep breath. “But there were NeoFoot waiting for me when I was taking my break at work today.”

Donnie cursed slightly under his breath, feeling panic well up in his chest. The NeoFoot was obviously getting desperate. “Did they attack you? What happened?! Where are you, we’ll be right over!” He felt his heart start to hammer in his chest. Oh gods, they couldn’t abandon April, but there was no way that they could fight the NeoFoot right now and win! Not with just him and Mikey! What should they do?! Should he call Raph? But what would happen to Leo if they lost?!

“Donnie, calm down.” April tried to soothe him “Like I said, I’m fine. They didn’t attack me, and they’re gone now They just…” She took a deep breath, and continued. “ I had just stepped outside the Channel Six building, and was heading down the block towards the coffee shop, when a group of five NeoFoot stepped out of the alleyway. They weren’t wearing any armor and held no visible weapons, and were very obviously trying to show they weren’t being hostile.”

“What did they want?” Donnie paced across the roof, his voice low and frosty.

April sighed. “They asked me to set up a meeting with you turtles."

“What?” Donnie could hardly believe it.

"They said they just wanted to talk. Peacefully, they said”

 Donnie stopped in place. “And they think that we won’t realize that it’s a trap?!”

“I... I don’t know what they’re up to!” April groaned, and it sounded like she was as confused as Donnie was. “They… they seemed sincere. But… Well, you know as well as I do that their new master would NEVER allow a peaceful end to this war. His pride would never allow for it.”

“And they’re too cultishly loyal to betray him.” Donnie agreed. He gnawed his lip, worried. “Do they… Do they know about…?” He trailed off, not wanting to say his brother's name out loud, but he knew April would get what he was asking. Was this a trap to get more information about Leo? Did they know he was back home with them?

“I don’t know.” April answered honestly. “Of course I denied knowing what they were talking about and tried to leave as quickly and quietly as possible, but I’m pretty sure they were expecting that response. They didn’t follow me or push things any further. They just left the message and let me go on my way.”

Donnie groaned, fingering the bridge of his snout. “I don’t like it. What are they up to?”

“Yeah… I don’t like it either.” April agreed worriedly. “Listen, I’m going to call Casey. He gets off of work in an hour, and I want to get over there and give him a heads up in case they show up there as well.”

“That’s definitely a good idea. We don’t want Casey caught unawares.” Donnie nodded, pacing slightly across the rooftop as he talked. He absently ran his tongue over the gap in his front teeth worriedly. “April… Stay… Stay safe. Okay? I mean it. Keep us updated, and call us anytime.”

“I will.” April’s voice was soft and serious. “And you guys stay safe as well.”

And then the call ended, and Donnie and Mikey were left alone once again on the rooftop, the daytime air around them suddenly feeling slightly more oppressive.

Donnie groaned, rubbing his face under his mask. “What a mess.” He exhaled and looked down at his phone. “This doesn’t make sense, and I don’t like any of it.”

“At least April seemed okay.” Mikey glanced at his brother. “Maybe... We should just skip town? Take Leo, leave the city, and go hang out at the farm for a while? It would give time for things to blow over.”

“That… That might be a good idea.” Donnie gnawed his lip as he moved over and took a seat on the solid metal vent next to Mikey. His mahogany eyes were darting around as if he could find the answers somewhere in the gravely surface of the rooftop as his hands worried away absently at the case of his tphone. “But, on the other hand, it’s risky. Moving Leo that far leaves us open, and with so many unknown variables in play, there’s nothing to say that the NeoFoot wouldn’t sneak up on us again. They’ve done it before! What if we’re attacked while traveling, or even while at the farm? The lair is the most securely fortified defensive position we currently have. Not to mention that most of my research and medical equipment is here. But, staying in the middle of a hornet’s nest is probably not the most strategic choice either. We are dealing with an extremely powerful enemy, and any wrong move will… will…” His voice hitched a little as a thousand scenarios of all the terrible things that could happen raced through his mind all at once. Just what were the NeoFoot really up to? Should they go to the farm, or stay in the security of the lair? Leo’s life literally depended on them making the right decisions!

“Dee.” Mikey’s hand plopped gently on Donnie’s head, and he was pulled out of his dark spiral of thoughts, blinking up at his little brother. Mikey’s lopsided smile down at him was full of warmth. “It’s going to be okay, bro.”

“Mikey…” Donnie blinked, then gave him a small, grateful smile.

Then he sighed, and that small smile quickly fell away as his shoulders slumped. “But… there’s so many mistakes I can make here. What if we make the wrong choice on how to deal with the NeoFoot? What if I can’t fix Leo’s eyes?”

Mikey twisted about to lean down and bump foreheads. “Oh, nah Dee!I know things are super scary right now, but don’t forget that you’re amazing, and Raph’s amazing and Leo’s amazing. Everybody, including you, just do what they can, and we’ll take care of each other like we always have. No matter what happens, remember that we’re four again. That’s all we need. We just gotta trust each other.”

Donnie paused, then gave a chuckle, giving Mikey a quick, thankful nuzzle, then pulled away and exhaled, rubbing his head. “You sound too much like Leo sometimes.” He reached over and tapped Mikey fondly on the snout. “And don’t forget that you’re pretty amazing yourself, Mikey.”

“Psh. Well, obviously!” Mikey scoffed.

Donnie stood up, dusting off his legs. “Well, come on. I’m going to call Raph and give him an update, and then we have to get the last of surveillance devices set up around Central Park. We should probably wait to go home until we know that both April and Casey are safe.”

“Sounds like a plan, captain!” Mikey saluted. “We’re going to have to be careful if we’re going to keep patrolling like this, though.” he commented as he slipped off the vent, standing next to Donnie on the roof.  “If we keep leaving him behind like this, it’s not going to be long until Leo starts feeling like he’s being ditched.”

Leo leaned against the kitchen counter, waiting for the water in the electric kettle close by to heat up and tapping a finger against the scales of his arm. He, at this moment, was feeling more than a little annoyed.

He had just been ditched. AGAIN.

Earlier that morning, Leo had been eating a most glorious and wonderful breakfast at the kitchen table in his family's new home, happily planning all the wonderful activities ahead of him with all his brothers at his side once more. Then Donnie had suddenly popped in to claim that he needed parts from the junkyard while hurrying into the elevator with Mikey in tow even as he was talking, leaving Leo with a mouthful of blueberry pancakes and no chance to protest.

It was daytime out there! They almost never went out in the daytime! And it had been so fast and unexpected that Leo couldn’t even begin to ask to come along. It was as if his brothers had planned it, with the intentions of ditching him before he could complain.

And then Raph had just waltzed over as if that were completely normal, patted him on the shoulder, and told him that it was just as well, as it was probably still raining out. And that he and Leo could just hang out while waiting for them to come back. Not actually sparring in the dojo or anything that Leo wanted to do of course, but just quiet, safe activities.

He breathed out slowly through his nose as he reached over and absently fingered the empty tea cup he had set on the counter to wait.

Yup. Leo was starting to have the sneaking suspicion that not only was he ditched, he was also being babysat. In fact, he was growing fairly certain that the so-called ‘Mikey’s List’ that his brothers kept checking over and updating on the wall when they thought he wasn’t paying attention was just a ruse (or, at the very least, only came into existence unexpectedly), and Donnie and his brothers had really set up a chore chart outlining duties to be done and scheduling care taking shifts.

And it just so happened to be that today seemed to be Raph’s turn to stay behind with Leo to play the role of ninja nanny.

Leo at first thought this meant that the situation was still salvagable. He might be blind, but he could still read his little brother like a book, and it was very obvious very quickly that Raph was no happier at being left behind than Leo was. His aura was tense and agitated and Leo knew his brother enough to know that Raph didn’t like the idea of their two little brothers being out there without him as back up.

And, knowing Raph’s tendency to Screw the Rules and do whatever he wanted anyways, he casually tried some not so subtle hints that maybe they could both simply go out and catch up to their brothers and finally have a good old time out in the city, just like in the old days, all four of them.

But, to his surprise and chagrin, Raph shot that idea down completely. He seemed to think that staying behind with Leo was necessary, and thus he just tried to casually pretend that everything was just peachy, changing the subject every time Leo brought it up and clearly trying to subtly hide from Leo the fact that he was agitated and worried.

And, as disappointing as that was, Leo could have dealt with being babysat. After all, he missed all of his brothers dearly, and even if he was a little annoyed at being babied, he still would greatly enjoy hanging out with Raph.

But, unfortunately for Leo’s sanity, Raph didn’t do subtle.

It was well known fact among the brothers that their hot headed brother never really got along with his own emotions very well. For as far back as they could all remember, Raph always seemed to… to feel... everything just a little more intensely. His emotions, whether good or negative, always seemed on the verge of overwhelming him, and thus, as he grew up, emotions became the enemy he had to fight and suppress, usually in unhealthy ways. What usually ended up happening was that Raph just bottled up everything deep down to conveniently violently explode later. ‘Emotional Constipation’, Mikey would call it. Usually right to Raph’s face and just before getting punched.

And right now, Raph was veritably teeming with emotional energy. He was obviously frustrated at being stuck inside, as well slightly overwhelmed with his intense ‘Need to Protect Brothers!’ instincts going into overdrive for some reason. And, unfortunately, Raph was unable to access his usual 'safety emotional pressure release valve' method of punching whatever was bothering him.  Which meant, of course, that right now, ALL that volatile energy was being bottlenecked and redirected completely into his task of babysitting Leo.

Leo loved his brother dearly, but right now he was on the verge of throttling him.

All morning Raph had been smothering Leo with over-vigilant attention. He had been hovering around Leo, trying to anticipate his every whim and need, rushing forward clearing things out of his path, and jumping in and pushing Leo aside to do tasks that he thought would be too difficult for his blind brother. Which was almost everything.

Leo remembered how, back on the island, when Pangur Ban wanted attention, he would often resort to winding around his feet and between his ankles, constantly getting underfoot, almost tripping him, and just, in general, becoming a clingy, demanding, loud pest.

Raph was like a bigger, talking, shelled version of that right now.

Leo couldn’t help the small, fond grin that tugged at the corner of his mouth despite how annoyed he was at the moment. Ha! And Raph was always accusing Leo of acting like a mother hen, the big ol’ hypocrite.

If he was acting like this now, Leo hated to think of how he’ll be when the NeoFoot actually showed back up in the area. Leo was definitely going to have to come up with a plan to deal with that. But, for now, Raph had stepped out to the garage for a few minutes to make a quick call, giving Leo a much needed moment to breath.

And, even though Raph had definitely told Leo to just chill on the couch and listen to the radio his brother had set up for him while he stepped out, Leo was feeling a little ornery and contrary, and decided to instead use the moment to make himself a cup of tea. Because he knew that with the current mood that Raph was in, he’d panic over Leo doing anything other than freaking breathing, much less, heaven forbid, heat up water!

Leo sighed and turned towards the cupboard nearby, remembering that it had been the area his brothers had gone to when making tea for him earlier. Swinging the door open, he spent a second sniffing at the shelves, trying to get an idea of what he was ‘looking’ at. He could smell a variety of cooking spices and dried foods.

And, very faintly among the smells, his favorite jasmine tea. Bingo.

He lifted a hand and rested his fingertips lightly against the lip of the shelf, tapping it gently and feeling the tremors of the vibrations move through all the various items scattered around in there, giving him vague and faint outlines in the darkness. He frowned, realizing that this wasn’t exactly going to be easy. Reaching in and shifting aside a few bottles, he absently made a note to work with his brothers to rearrange the pantry later. Right now, it seemed like everything was tossed in there pretty haphazardly in a pile. Which made total sense as the kitchen was usually Mikey’s domain, and Leo could only guess at what thought process went into his orange brother’s organization process. He COULD wait and ask Raph when he came back, of course, but at the moment, with the way his brothers were acting, he felt like he needed to prove every ounce of independence that he could.

WIth a sigh, he climbed up to kneel on the counter, sniffing carefully and gingerly feeling out the shelves in the pantry in search of the tea tin. Finally, using a combination of scents and vibrations, Leo was able to pinpoint a familiarly shaped tin behind another box, and pulled out his canister of tea with a sense of satisfaction just as he heard the water starting to roil in the kettle. Perfect.

He busied himself preparing the tea, and was just finishing up when he heard the door open and Raph’s soft footsteps walking back into the lair.

“Everything okay?” he called over as he moved the teacup over on the counter and lifted up the kettle, preparing to pour himself some tea.

“Hm? Oh. Yeah.” Raph cleared his throat, footsteps padding across the floor as he walked over. “Donnie found the items he was looking for, and they said they’ll be back in only a FUCK! LEO! Watch out!”

Raph’s voice was filled with such panic and alarm that Leo instinctively jumped back, trying desperately to sense whatever danger around him his brother obviously saw. What was threatening him?! He couldn’t see or sense anything!

But he realized his mistake a second too late. He had been in the middle of pouring his tea when startled by Raph’s cry, and he yelped as steaming hot water missed the cup and instead splashed over his hand. Cursing under his breath, he hurriedly set the kettle onto the counter and rushed over to the sink, quickly flipping the cold water on and shoving his burned hand underneath.

“Fuck!” Raph was at his side immediately, grabbing his hand, holding his hand underneath the stream of cold water, trying to soothe the burn. “Leo! Fuck! Are you okay?!”

“Fine! Fine! I’m fine!” Leo hissed, wincing in pain, and concentrated on the cold water that was slowly numbing the burning pain. “It’s not serious, thankfully.” He turned to his brother in frustration. “Why did you yell at me like that? You startled me!”

“Why did I…? Leo! I walk into the room to see you ready to pour boiling water all over your hand!” Raph’s voice snapped at him, his strong hand still holding Leo’s hand firmly under the running water. “What were you thinking, ya damned idiot?!”

“Wha…?! I was just…! What were YOU thinking?!” Leo sputtered back angrily. “Raph! You don’t shout at somebody like that when they’re handling something hot! You startled me, that’s the only reason I spilled! Blind or not, anybody would jump when yelled at like that!”

Raph’s aura spiked with guilt, but he just huffed and continued to concentrate on Leo’s hand. “Well, I wouldn’t have shouted at you if you weren’t doing something stupid! Dammit, Leo, I was only stepping out for like five fuckin’ minutes! I could have made you some damned tea when I came back!”

“I am perfectly capable of making my own tea!” Leo yanked his hand from Raph’s panicked grasp. “Raph! I’m not helpless by any means! You guys need to stop treating me like I am! It’s insulting!“ As he turned from his brother, he gingerly felt the burned area with his other hand. Like he thought, thankfully it was minor, and should heal quickly.

“Goddammit! You’re… You’re blind, Leo!” Raph snarled at him, his aura bristling with concern and worry. “We just don’t want to see you get hurt! You have to face the facts! You just can’t do things like you used to anymore!”

Leo stiffened, and before Raph knew what happened, he was flipped around and slammed onto the stone floor, hard.

Leo loomed over his prone red brother, his tone icy cold. “Dojo! Now!”

“What?!” Raph sounded startled from his position on the floor.

“Since it’s abundantly clear that you’re not listening to me, I guess I’m going to have to go the route of thoroughly kicking your shell to prove to you just what I can and can’t do!” Leo growled between clenched teeth. “So like I said, get your shell in the dojo, now, and I'll show you!”

He heard Raph push himself up, spluttering indignantly. “What?! No! Leo, I ain’t going to fight you!”

“Don’t think I don’t realize what’s going on here!” Leo pointed accusingly at his brother’s aura. “You’re babysitting me!”

Raph sputtered and made several incohesive sounds, as if he were simultaneously offended by the very notion and at the same time desperately trying to think up an excuse, buying himself a few seconds by standing up. Finally, he huffed loudly as his strong hand grabbed Leo’s arm once more, trying to direct his hand back under the still running cold water. “Leo, you idiot! We’re your brothers! Of course we’re going to want to fuckin’ help you!”

Leo yanked his wrist back out of Raph’s grip and took a defiant step back, glowering sightlessly at his brother’s general direction with muscles tense, quite ready to dish out a well deserved beat down if necessary. “Yes, and I appreciate the help when I need it, but like I said, you’re not listening to me! You’re all just deciding for me what I can and can’t do! Just because I need some help with certain things now doesn’t mean I need help with EVERYTHING! I’m not helpless!”

“Dammit Leo!” Raph exploded angrily, fighting back as Leo kept rebuffing his attempts to grab his hand again. “Stop being so stubborn! We’re just trying to protect you! We already lost you once, and I’ll be damned if I fuck up like that again!”

Leo was about to snarl something back angrily, but then Raph’s words sunk in, and at once all his anger dissipated away as he realized what was really going on. Suddenly everything made sense. Suddenly it was quite clear why Raph was acting the way he was.

“You... blame yourself.” Leo’s voice was tinged with wonder as he released his fighting pose and straightened up.

Raph froze.

Leo wondered why he hadn’t realized this before. It was so obvious! Even if it wasn’t in any way, shape, or form remotely his fault, of course Raph would blame himself for Leo’s blindness. Leo knew this, because he was self aware enough to know that if their positions were reversed, if it had been one of his brothers lost and thought dead for years only to come back now blind, he’d himself would probably be doing the exact same thing.

Raph, for his part, had gone completely silent in front of Leo at those words.

There it was, the secret heart of the matter, out in the open and plain for all to see. His normally brilliant, fiery red aura was for once deathly still, almost frozen and cringing in on itself, waiting expectantly with held breath. It was as if Leo had just stumbled upon a horrible truth, and Raph could do nothing but stand there before him, awaiting the judgement from his big brother for his unforgivable sin that he so obviously committed.

Leo wished desperately that he could see his brother’s face. He hesitantly reached out to touch his brother’s cheek, noting with concern the way Raph flinched under his touch “Raph... “ He said softly..“You have to know that what happened was not your fault.”

And that was the lynchpin that burst the bottled up emotional bubble.

“Bullshit!’ Raph exploded angrily, his voice raw with pure emotion as he swept Leo’s hand away from him. He pointed a trembling finger straight at Leo’s face (as far as Leo could tell) as he spat out, “How can you say that?! I was right there with you! I could’ve done something!”

“Raph, there was nothing…” Leo started to say, but Raph just continued right over him, his voice almost cracking with the intensity with which he spoke.

“Don’t even say it, Leo! You went through two years of hell, and are now fucking BLIND, because I fucked up! I was supposed to protect you! And if I had just done my one damned job and had your back, like you were trusting me to, then your eyes wouldn’t have gotten fucked up! If I had moved faster, if I had just been better, then you wouldn’t have… wouldn’t have…” His voice trailed off as it hitched slightly.

Leo exhaled slowly, and reached up to gently wrap his hand against Raph’s cheek, pressing their foreheads tightly together just like they had always done since they were toddlers.

Raph swallowed hard, before whispering harshly. “You fell. You fell, Leo, right in front of me and… and I... I couldn’t catch you.”

Leo shook his head, not breaking contact with Raph as he did so. “I’m here, Raph.” he told his brother, trembling with so many different emotions under his touch, firmly. “I promise you, I’m really here. You didn’t lose me.”

Raph’s hand shakily grabbed at Leo’s, pressing his face harder into the embrace, apparently just breathing in his brother’s scent for a moment while he tried to keep himself from completely falling apart. Leo noticed the salty smell of tears starting to flow.

“Leo…” he finally admitted thickly. “It was fucking hell.”

Leo didn’t know what to say. He didn’t even want to imagine losing one of his brothers. If he had made it home, only to discover... He shuddered. Slowly, he and Raph slumped down, until they were sitting together on the kitchen floor, leaning their shells against the wooden cabinets behind them.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it back sooner.” Leo brushed his fingers against the frayed cloth of Raph’s mask, imagining the exact shade red that had to be there right under his fingertips. “With the lair... and everything that happened with the NeoFoot while I was gone. I should’ve been there for you.”

Raph shook his head as it leaned against Leo’s. “Wasn’t your fault.”

“Just like it isn’t yours.” Leo reminded him with a wry twist of his mouth, reaching up to gently boop his brother on the tip of his snout. “And yet... Despite both of us knowing that at some level, we all know that we’ll keep on blaming ourselves, like the idiots we both are.”

At that, Raph gave a dry, horse chuckle and shook his head helplessly. “Yeah. I guess we are. ” He trailed off, and his voice grew fainter and more serious once more. “I just keep thinking… What if… ” He paused, and Leo felt his face crinkling into a wince as he licked his dry lips and whispered hoarsely, “I can’t lose you again, Leo. I… I just can’t. I can’t do that all again.”

Leo exhaled and closed his eyes, rubbing his brother’s cheek for a minute, noting the tear streaks now starting to make their way down, no matter how hard Raph tried to fight them. Finally, he spoke. “Raph. I can’t promise I won’t ever die. I wish I could, but I can't. And I won’t lie to you and say that nothing bad will happen, to any of us, in the future. You know as well as I do how dangerous our lives are.”

Raph shuddered as he reached up to angrily wipe his cheek, and nodded mutely, trying to pull away.

Leo held him close, though, reaching up with both hands now to cradle Raph’s face and focusing all his attention on his next words. “But listen to me, Raph. I can promise you this. I will swear to you upon my very honor and soul.”

Raph stilled, and Leo could almost feel the intensity of his gaze on him as he waited, frozen in place, to hear what his older brother was going to say. Leo didn’t make such vows lightly, and his brothers knew this.

“Raph,” he said seriously, still cradling his brother’s face. “This I swear to you. If I die, I will come back to haunt you.”

He felt Raph blink in surprise, and then burst out laughing, obviously caught completely off guard. He pushed Leo away and punched him in the arm lightly. “You asshole! I’m serious!”

Leo laughed, half heartedly dodging the punch. “So am I!” He rubbed his arm ruefully, shrugging as he glanced in Raph’s direction. “Spirits and ghosts do exist, and visit the mortal realm. We’ve met them before. And I know that I’m stubborn enough that I won’t ever leave you guys, even if something happens to me.” He gave his brother’s aura a small, lopsided smile. “So I promise, Raph. You won’t ever lose me forever.”

Raph grew really quiet for a moment, then sniffed, and murmured. “Yeah.” Then he gave a wry chuckle, which grew into a hoarse laugh, followed by a slight thunk as his head leaned back against the cupboards behind him. “Okay, not going to lie, that’s really, really dumb, Leo. But, for some stupid reason, it makes me feel a whole lot better.”

Leo gave a smile in his direction, leaning back against the cupboard as well. He was surprised when he felt Raph’s hand reached over, and his strong, scarred fingers wrapped around Leo’s own, squeezing them warmly.

“And.. Leo?” Raph cleared his throat, obviously feeling a little embarrassed and trying to act nonchalant. “Same. Same for me, bro. I promise that too. Even if... If I end up kicking it someday… I ain’t going to leave you by yourself either.”

Those words meant more to Leo than he could ever express. So, instead, he just squeezed Raph’s hand back, and said, “Thanks, Raph.”

They just sat there for a while on the kitchen floor, leaning against the counter side by side, holding hands like they were little kids again and listening to the water in the sink still running above them.

Finally, Leo spoke up again. “I’m still going to lecture you about the whole babysitting thing, y’know.”

Next to him, Raph exhaled and shifted. “Dammit, Leo.”

Leo couldn't help but smile.

Chapter Text

Donnie exhaled, looked down at his phone and running his thumb absently along the edge of the shell-shaped case, pondering over the conversation he had just had with their sister, updating her on the latest development.

“So Karai isn’t happy.” he finally observed, tucking the phone back into his belt as he walked.

“Yeah, well, neither are we.” Raph’s lip twisted up in a sneer as he walked alongside his brothers through the garage. “So it seems like we’re all on the same page about this.”

“Yeah. It sucks.” Mikey agreed, hopping into the elevator ahead of them and holding the door open. Raph and Donnie stepped in after him, and the door slid shut and the elevator started moving down. “Actually, 'sucks' doesn't even begin to cover it." He lifted up a hand, counting off his fingers as he recapped everything so far. "The NeoFoot are now stalking April and Casey, obviously fishing for a way to get to Leo. And if they find him, they’ll kill him. Horribly. We’re talking about a public execution type of deal. And we’re the only thing standing between our exhausted, clueless, and completely blind big brother and a horrible tortured-to-death fate, but there’s no way we can beat them on our own. We got our shells handed to us badly last time we tried.”

Raph’s face darkened even more as the elevator made its way down back towards the lair, his hand drifting down to finger the leatherbound handle of his sai.

“Right.” Donnie frowned, crossing his arms and leaning back against the elevator's wall. “So Karai is cutting her meetings short. It’s unfortunate, but she agrees that Leo’s protection comes first. She’s gathering up her forces and preparing them to move, and they should be here within twenty four hours.”

“So it’s war.” Raph observed coldly, his green eyes narrowing to slits under his red mask.

“Maybe.” Donnie frowned. “Although I really, really hope it doesn’t come to that. It just all depends on what the NeoFoot and their master do.”

The elevator slowed down as it reached the bottom of the shaft, and Donnie waved a hand as he straightened up, preparing to exit. “For now, though, Casey and April are going to the safehouses that Karai set up, and with the defenses and staff already there, they should both be safe there for the moment. The best course of action we can take right now is to just bunker down and take advantage of our own highly defensive position. We’ve prepared for this. The lair is the safest place right now. Until Karai gets here, nobody goes out. No patrols, no scouting, no supply runs. It’s too dangerous right now. All four of us are going to stay inside the lair until we get some back up.”

"So right now, we just need to keep Leo happy, and keep Leo inside. Got it." Raph nodded with determination.

"Oh, you’re back!” Leo perked up from where he had been sitting patiently on the couch, tapping the back cushion to the beat of the music on the radio he was listening to as he waited for his brothers to come back down. He turned around on the cushions, giving a lopsided grin in the direction of the three colorful auras stepping off the elevator. “Guess what? The weather report was just on, and it sounds like there isn’t going to be rain for a while. The weather’s going to be beautiful! What say we go topside, all four of us, and stretch our legs out of the lair for a change?”

All three of his brothers froze midstep.

“Uhhh… What?” he heard Raph stammer, obviously taken completely by surprise. “Topside? Like… Out of the lair? Outside? In the city?”

Leo rolled his non-seeing eyes. His brothers were acting like Leo had just asked them to storm the whole NeoFoot stronghold or something. “Yes, Raph. Topside. Out of the lair. Outside. In the city.” He twisted around to kneel on the couch, draping his arms across the back and throwing a hopeful smile in the direction of his brothers’ auras. “As great as it’s been exploring and getting to know our new home, it’s been a few days and I’m starting to get tired of being stuck inside all the time. I need to get out and stretch a little. And, at the same time, I’d also love to get a tour of our new neighborhood from you guys.” He tried to sweeten the deal, hoping to convince his brothers. “We could even have a picnic or something. We could get pizza! I’ve been dying for some good New York pizza!”

“Oh. Uh…. That sounds great, Leo, but… um….” His red brother searched for words, obviously taken by surprise by the offer. “If you really want pizza, we could… I dunno, make some together? Down here? Without going out? Mikey makes some pretty rad pizza now, and that could be fun, right? All four of us. Inside and down here in the lair.”

Leo sat back and narrowed his eyes.

Ah. So this was how this was going to play out.

After his talk with Raph yesterday, Leo now got it. He understood. Their reactions were completely fair. Leo had years now to get used to the fact that he had lost his sight. His brothers had had the shock of their lives and were still adjusting. They were terrified of losing him again. So, for now, he knew he needed to soothe and reassure them with a calm and patient hand, while also proving to them that he was still a capable warrior. He needed to show them that even though he was blind, he was still Leonardo, and that everything was going to be okay.

He just needed to somehow find a balance that was sensitive to his brothers’ trauma, but, at the same time, also allowed him to keep his sanity somewhat intact. And, right now, his sanity was demanding that he go outside. Oh gods, did he need some fresh air! Or, at least, as fresh as it got in New York City anyways.

He had been stuck underground in the stone fortress of his family’s lair for a couple of days now, and after months upon months of the open road, he wasn’t used to being trapped indoors anymore. He felt restless and just a little claustrophobic, surrounded by thick solid walls with no way out. While he was certain that eventually he’d adjust back into this lifestyle again, right now, he needed to get out! And get some good pizza. A good slice of pizza sounded heavenly right now.

He pondered how to respond to this diplomatically.

“It doesn’t have to be a training run or anything like that.” Leo offered his brothers a middle ground. “We could just go up to hang out together. Nothing dangerous or difficult. Just hanging out topside, where we can take things as low-key and slow as you guys want.”

His brothers’ auras shifted about, each of them obviously not on board with the idea, but not sure how to turn the offer down and hoping the others had an idea on how to dissuade their blind older brother.

Finally, Donnie cleared his throat and Leo heard him step forward, a “Well… We’ll definitely do that soon, Leo, but I have a lot of work to do and some more tests I’d like to run. I think we were all thinking of staying inside tonight.”

Leo frowned. ‘More tests to run’, his foot. This was just more excuses. He decided to pull out his ‘Leader’ card, and took on a more authoritative tone. “Donnie, at this point, I’m fairly certain that more tests would just be redundant. We can’t hide down here forever, time is slipping away. If the NeoFoot didn’t dissolve themselves out of pure frustration where I left them back in Mexico, they’re eventually going to figure out their way out of the jungle and start causing us problems again. We need to get our act together and learn to fight as a team once more before they come back. You guys told me that the streets are fairly low key right now, and we need to take advantage of that while we can.”

“Uh… Right, right.” He heard Raph clear his throat nervously, shuffling his feet on the floor slightly. “Of course there’s nothing for you to worry about out there, Leo. But, uh, Donnie really had a point about some of the really important stuff he needs to do. And after that, maybe… maybe we could, I dunno, meditate together or something for a while. Start with all that reconnecting stuff spiritually and all that before we take the big step of going topside.”

“Uh huh…” Leo raised an eyeridge at brother suspiciously. There was something more his brother wasn’t saying. Why were they so determined to keep him inside?

But before he could question them further, an orange aura pounced on him eagerly.

“C’mon, Leo, forget going topside. I got something a billion times better to do tonight!” Mikey’s hand grabbed Leo’s, tugging at him to follow. “I've been scheming up the ultimate perfect fun thing to do, and this is the perfect time to try it out! I think you’re going to really, really like it! Like, you're going to say, 'Geez, Mikey! This is a brilliant idea! Thank you for thinking it up!' And then you'll give me a hug, because I'm just that awesome and deserve it for thinking up such an ultimate perfect fun thing!”

Reluctantly, Leo let Mikey pull him up and followed him across the lair hesitantly, fully aware of the fact that there was, on the wall at this very moment, a list in existence regarding Mikey’s potential for pranking him. “Oh? What… what is it?”

Mikey didn’t seem to notice Leo’s hesitance or, if he did, he tactically ignored it, dragging Leo across the Lair towards the recreational area. “So, this genius idea popped into my brilliant mind last night while I was laying there, watching you sleep and trying to wrack my brain for some fun things we could do together…”

“Wait. You were watching me sleep?” Leo asked as he was dragged along, a little unsettled by this revelation.

“Hush, Leo. That’s not important now.” Mikey reached back and patted Leo’s snout patronizingly as they moved, not slowing down in the slightest. “What is important is that I realized the amazing potential of THIS!”

They stopped next to a large, boxy piece of furniture set against the wall, seemingly fairly hollow and made of what seemed to be metal, wood panels, and plexiglass. A faint hum of electricity humming through it, and the flicker of lights buzzing on and off confused Leo for a moment, until he ran his fingers questioningly along the edge, and his face lit up as he suddenly realized what it was.

“Wait, is this… the old Space Heroes pinball machine?” he breathed out in disbelief, feeling the familiar nicks and dings in the body of the old machine that had been such a big part of his life for so long.

It had survived the destruction of their old Lair? His father had discovered it in an old, abandoned building, and Master Splinter and Leo’s brothers had worked so hard to bring it back and restore it in secret. They all knew that he was obsessed with Space Heroes, and he still remembered the shock and overwhelming disbelief he felt when they surprised him on Christmas when they were eight years old. They had been so proud and excited, and he had almost cried, he was so happy.

The plexiglass on top was obviously new, smooth, flawless, and missing many of the chips and scratches from those years of teenaged abuse. And his fingertips running along the sides found the slightest traces of careful and methodically made repairs. Obviously it hadn’t come from the attack on their old lair unscathed. But from what he could sense, his brothers had put just as much care and love into putting it back together as when they had first restored it.

… And now he couldn’t see it. He couldn’t see the Space Hero decor printed on the panels, or the flashing lights and colorful props of the tracks. He could only feel the smooth surface and outside, and imagine what it must look like under his fingers.

“Now I know what you’re thinking, Leo.” Mikey must have anticipated the conflicting disappointment Leo would feel, and was already moving to intercept, snuggling up to him. “But I can guarantee that you’re going to love this idea! It’s kind of like the teamwork training you always made us do. Only it’ll be fun!”

“My teamwork training exercises were always fun, Mikey.” Leo protested indignantly. He had always put a lot of time and effort trying to make those exercises creative and interesting, darnit!

“Yeah, yeah, of course they were, Leo.” Mikey waved it off, and continued.‘’So here’s my thoughts on the matter. I know you’re blind, Leo, but you’re amazing and awesome and I know you can do anything you put your mind to, because you’ve always been, like, super ultra bang-your-head-against-the-wall-frustratingly stubborn about those kind of things.”

“Ah… thanks?” Leo was both touched and a little insulted.

“And, as your bros, it’s our job to help support you!” Mikey explained “We need to learn to be your eyes for you. And, to do that, we’re going to have to be at the pinnacle of our ‘Oneness’. We need to be so in tune with each other’s brainwaves that it’s like we’re reading each other’s thoughts, bro.” Mikey’s hands were on Leo’s shell, maneuvering him about until he was standing in front of the pinball machine. “Which is where the training comes in!” As he spoke, he took Leo’s hands and guided them down to the triggers of the pinball machine.

Well… so far he was on board with this plan. Leo absently pressed the buttons under his fingertips. He couldn’t see the flipper bats inside the pinball machine respond to his touch, but he could hear them and feel the vibrations as they moved in time to his touch. He was trying to figure out where Mikey was going with this. “So… We’re... going to get a telepathic bond by playing pinball?”

Mikey laughed and Leo felt him lean against the pinball machine. “Oh man! That’d be so awesome, dude! Hopefully? Buuuuuut, until then, we do this.”

Before Leo could respond, Mikey pulled back the ball shooter, letting it snap forward and sending a heavy metal ball flying upwards through the track. The pinball machine fairly hummed to life with energy, playing sound effects as the ball bounced around against various barriers. Leo kept his hands on the sides of the machine, fascinated by the rumble and vibrations of the pinball he could feel under his touch as it bounced around.

Mikey, who’s mass had been leaning against the machine and apparently watching intently, suddenly cried out, “Leo! Left bumper! Now!”

Taken by surprise, Leo automatically started mashing the left button, and was a little startled when apparently the flailing left flipper managed to hit the ball and send it back up to bounce and roll around in the playfield once more.

Electronic voices cheered out cheesy Space Hero sound bites when a particular lane was crossed or prop bumped into. Although he couldn’t see them anymore, the familiar sounds conjured forth old memories, and it was if he could see the playing field in front of him. Catching onto Mikey’s game, Leo readied himself.

“Right!” Mikey exclaimed and, ready this time, Leo instantly flipped the right bumper, noting the way the parts and ball sent vibrations as they moved. Mikey had good timing, and, if Leo concentrated, he could track the movement of the ball upwards towards the cluster of round bumpers that would potentially rake in a bunch of points. Although the timing was slightly off and it didn’t hit them in the most ideal spot, the ball did bounce around quite a bit, racking up quite a few points before flying back towards the flippers once more.

And so the game went. Mikey continued to lean over Leo’s shoulder, calling out instructions excitedly, and cheering when Leo got it. They managed to keep the ball bouncing around the pinball machine for a couple more minutes, before a rather tricky shot had the ball slipping past the flipper down the center, falling away before Leo could respond to Mikey’s panicked command.

Leo laughed, releasing the controls of the pinball and reaching over to poke at Mikey’s arm playfully. “Training, huh?”

Mikey seemed enthusiastic under his touch. “Yeah! Isn’t it genius?! This way, we practice being your eyes and figure out how to best time the cues you need during a fast and chaotic situation, and at the same time, you train your brain so you instinctively respond to those cues quickly. It’s perfect!”

Leo was impressed. “I have to admit, it’s a good idea, Mikey.” He reached up to pat his little brother on the head approvingly. "'Geez, Mikey! This is a brilliant idea! Thank you for thinking it up!'"

“Hee!” He could almost see Mikey beam with pride under his touch. "And now the hug? The hug part is important!"

Leo laughed and gave Mikey a warm hug.

Mikey hugged him tightly back, squeezing tightly for a long moment, and then let go and eagerly grabbed the side of the pinball machine, leaning over. “Again! Let’s do another round!”

“It does seem to be a good exercise that promotes muscle memory and encourages quick responses to verbal cues.” Donnie's aura had moved nearby to watch their game with interest. “I think we should all take turns, if Leo’s up for it. After all, we all need to learn together.”

Pft. Leo remembered how Donnie used to spend hours trying to plot the best combos for racking in points with the maximum efficiency. He just wanted to take a few turns himself and show up their brothers! Their genius brother could be just as competitive as Raph and Leo themselves. Sometimes even moreso!

“Of course!” Leo was very much down for any activity with his brothers right now.

“Yeah, okay. I’m game.” Raph’s aura was leaning against a support pillar, and Leo heard him straighten up and move over towards them. “Sounds like fun.” He seemed almost relieved, as if thankful for the distraction.

And so, for the next few hours, Leo found himself playing game after game of pinball together with his brothers. It quickly devolved into wonderful, familiar chaos, just like all their childhood games always did. They would each bark out button-pressing orders, telling him to push the left or right buttons, timing it just right to try and keep the ball bouncing around, and Leo did his best to obey them. Of course, since it was his brothers, arguments and debates over timing and maximum pinball co-op strategies broke out, both verbal and physical. Smack talk was had, competitive jabs were exchanged, victories were cheered, and popcorn was made.

And Leo was loving every moment of it.

This! This is what he had missed so much! Lost in the moment, right now, it seemed like all the stress and worries that they were all feeling melted away. Once again, it was just the four of them, Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey, four brothers laughing and joking and playing pinball together. Just like the old days, back when they were kids and didn’t have the weight of the world on their shells. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t see the flashing lights in front of him anymore. He had his other senses and, more importantly, he had his brothers. There was nothing that he couldn’t do with them by his side!

Now, if only he could convince his brothers of that fact.

“Left! Leo! Left!” Raph panicked.

Leo had already sensed the vibrations of the metal ball hurtling down the center of the playing field at top speed, and was already anticipating the command, smashing the left button.

Unfortunately, there was no rescuing this run. The angle was wrong, the flipper bats couldn’t reach it, and the ball clunked against the gutter and disappeared down the hole.

“Ha!” Donnie sounded vindicated as his aura turned towards Raph, the game flashing its ‘Game Over’ music, signalling the end of another run. “I TOLD you that going for the Delta Blue Five cluster in the corner was going to sink us! It made the ball run too far towards the left and out of reach, of course it was going to slip away!”

“Eh, that wasn’t a bad run, though.” Raph commented, already over the loss and unbothered by the accusation. “We broke over 8k. That’s the best score we’ve done yet tonight.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t bad. Definitely not what we used to do, though. We can do better.” Leo tapped the machine curiously. He, of course, was unable to see the red digital numbers he knew were lit up on the backboard. “What’s the current high score?”

“40,856.” Mikey informed him with a full mouth, walking back into the area with a newly refilled bowl that smelled like popcorn.

Leo blinked. That sounded familiar. “Wait. Isn’t that…?”

Mikey hopped up to sit on a nearby side table. “Your old high score? Yup! It’s still up on there, bro. You’re still the undefeated King of the Space Heroes Game!”

Leo was surprised. True, he had been proud when he finally broke 40k for the first time, but that was almost three years ago! It shouldn’t have been an unbeatable score by any means, especially for a clan of ninjas.

“Nobody ever beat it?”

“Casey almost did once when he was staying over for a few days.” Mikey mused as he munched on another handful of popcorn. “But Raph realized it in time and full body tackled him across the room before he could.”

“I didn’t…! It wasn’t because of…! There was a spider!” Raph sputtered. “I was saving Casey from a giant spider! It could’ve been poisonous!”

Leo blinked, and then rolled his eyes, giving a shake of his head, both amused and touched.

He heard Raph snort and then there were strong hands grabbing his own, putting them back on the controls of the pinball machine.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Let’s go, Leo, let’s show Donnie why the Delta Blue Five cluster is the best strategy.” Raph groused.

Leo laughed, but held up his hand to stop Raph. The seeds of a plan that had begun to formulate in his mind. He turned to his brothers. “Before we start, I’d like to propose a deal.”

“Oh? A deal, huh?” Donnie asked, next to Mikey and apparently stealing a handful of popcorn, if Mikey’s defensive growl, hiss, and protective grip on the bowl indicated anything. His next words were spoken through a mouthful of food. “Okay, let’s hear it.”

Leo turned to face their auras, leaning against the pinball machine and folding his arms. “So… I may be blind, but that doesn’t mean I can’t see what’s going on around me. I know what’s going on here, you know.”

All three of his brothers’ auras froze at once, their energies quickly turning tense and nervous.

Donnie swallowed and asked carefully, his tone now guarded, “What… what do you mean, Leo?”

Leo frowned, a little surprised at just how strongly his brothers were reacting to his words. “It’s about you guys and your reluctance to let me out of the lair. You’re all being overprotective because I’m blind now.” He started to feel a little suspicious as they all seemed to relax just a little. “Why? Is there something else going on that I should know about?”

“Nope! No!” Raph hurriedly yelped out, not at all suspiciously. “You don’t have to worry about anything!”

“We’re just… You know we’re just worried about you, right?” Mikey tagged in to save Raph’s fumble, setting aside the popcorn and moving over to hug Leo. “You’re our big brother, and we missed you. A lot. Like, a LOT a lot.”

Pft. Yeah. Something was definitely going on, and Leo was bound and determined to get to the bottom of this.

“I know.” Leo reached up to pat his little brother’s head. “And I get it. I really do. I missed you guys a lot too.” He nodded, hoping he looked understanding. “And, listen. I don’t blame you guys. I’ll be the first to admit that this whole situation has been rather... traumatic, to say the least. First you guys watched me fall out of a plane, and then, after all this time, I show back up out of nowhere, alive and blind. I’ve had years to get used to it, while you guys have had just a few days to process all this. It’s completely understandable that you’re all feeling overprotective and stressed out.”

He had to show them that he understood their fears. He had to remind them that they were all on the same side.

“Oh. Well, um, thank you, Leo.” Donnie shuffled a bit awkwardly beside him. “And… and I’m sorry if we’re being overbearing. It’s just that.. That we…” He trailed off, obviously searching for the right words.

“We just need to know that you’re safe.” Raph muttered, finishing the thought for his brother. He sighed, and Leo thought he sensed him rubbing the back of his head. “And I know we’re being stupid and overdoing it sometimes. You’re right. We… we definitely need to get better about that.”

Leo nodded. “I know. And I understand completely. I want to prove to you guys that I’m okay. To reassure you that I can still handle myself, just as well as before I lost my sight, and, in some cases, even better. So here’s my offer.”

He raised a finger. “How about this? I’m willing to stay down here in the lair, safe and sound with you guys, until the time when I finally beat my old high score at pinball.” He reached down to pat the glass top of the arcade machine. “I put that high score up there when I could see, and you guys trusted me to lead you back then. Therefore, it stands to reason that if I surpass and beat my old record, then you’ll know that I’m strong enough to do so once again. And the day that I do, we’ll go celebrate that victory by finally going topside together that day, and having a pizza party on a rooftop somewhere.“

He waited as his brothers paused, considering his words and glancing at one another uncertainly. He tried to reach out and gauge the way their auras were responding, trying to figure out what emotions they were feeling.

Well, there seemed to be a guilty undertone rippling in all three auras, though whether that was because they realized just how much they were babying him and felt bad about it, or because they were hiding something from him, he couldn't tell. There was also a strong desire to protect, which was understandable, and more than a little eagerness and relief at his plan.

“It’s not that we don’t trust you, Leo. We completely do!” Donnie started hesitantly, obviously trying not to sound too eager to take up the offer. “But we appreciate your patience with us. You’re... sure you’re okay with staying down here until then?”

Leo nodded. “I wouldn’t have proposed the deal if I wasn’t.”

“Then it’s a deal.” Raph sounded audibly relieved. “We’ll work with ya, Leo, helping you every step of the way. We’ll get you trained up again, and I promise, the day you finally beat your old high score, I’ll get you your favorite pizza personally.”

“Perfect.” Leo grinned. Then he turned around and, before his brothers could question what he was doing, he pulled the launcher on the pinball machine, setting the metal ball flying up the curved track to start a new play.

His brothers watched in silence as he began pressing the buttons, the flipper bats no longer flailing, but striking the ball with unerring precision and sending it up towards strategic locations. Leo absently made sure to include the Delta Blue Five cluster of bumpers up in the corner. He kept his posture relaxed and easy, relying on the rumble of the vibrations the ball made, and his finely tuned sixth sense, to keep the ball in play.

He remembered every square inch of this map, knew all the secrets and tricks leaned over an entire childhood of playing, and now worked on manipulating the rolling ball to run over the right runners and eventually hit the right combination of bonus spinners in sequence. His secret weapon. He felt the ball pass through the final spinner, sending the small, decorated rectangular piece of metal spinning on it’s hinges, triggering a surge of electricity as unseen lights flared up, and the electronic voice cried out a dramatic warning of an alien zortheon rush! He had managed to trigger the multiball event. The pinball machine fairly thrummed with vibrations as several more metal balls tumbled across the playfield, flying off bumpers, rolling down tracks, and generally bouncing around one another in a scene of mass chaos.

Through it all, Leo remained calm, his breathing even, his unseeing eyes staring sightlessly ahead, relying completely on his extremely highly refined and trained senses while pressing the buttons quickly but strategically, the flippers snapping about to send the balls constantly bouncing around the playing field.

He wasn’t sure this was exactly what the Ancient One envisioned all those months of training would be used for, but, knowing his old, mysterious friend, Leo was fairly certain that he would most definitely and wholeheartedly approve.

And finally, he heard the victory sounds he was hoping for.

“Congratulations Recruit! New High Score Achieved!” Followed, of course, by the iconic, cheesy but, yet still (in Leo’s opinion) epic Space Heroes victory song.

He let a smile tug at the corner of his mouth as he let the last few metal balls slip away down the chute, their purpose done, and turned around to innocently face his now very quiet brothers. “So, is there a Papa Antonio’s in this neighborhood, or did you want to show me one of your new favorite ‘za places when we head out tonight? Veggie pizza is preferred, of course, but I’m not picky.”

His brothers were still standing in place, stunned and obviously not sure what they had just witnessed or how, exactly, to respond.

Leo chuckled and turned away from the pinball machine that was still playing victory music. While his brothers were watching, he easily leapt up off a nearby pillar to the second floor, like he had sensed them do many times, and went into the bedroom they were in the process of setting up for him. A moment later, he came out carrying his swords that he had found put away on a high shelf in a closet and reclaimed for himself a few days ago, strapping them on his shell once more. He leapt back down and gestured towards the elevator in high spirits. “Come on, you guys. We did make a deal, after all, and the night is well underway! Let’s go!”

Behind him, his brothers were still obviously trying to process what had just happened.

“Fuck!” Raph finally exploded quietly to himself.

Leo grinned.

Chapter Text

“Come on, guys.” Leo teased, arms up with hands behind his head, feeling full of good spirits as they walked down the sewer tunnels. The stones underfoot were still slightly damp from all the recent rains, water dripping from algae that hung in sheets on the ceiling and walls. “We’re not going to spend the whole night down here walking sewer lines, as enlightening as this grand tour is. We have to pick an exit eventually.”

“Leo, it’s very important that you learn the layout of the underground tunnels around our home.” Donnie said curtly, walking tensely in front of Leo. “We have settled in an area that is quite a distance from our old lair, so it's unfamiliar territory and thus it’s critical that you know the paths to take to get to safety if needed.”

It was quite obvious from his terse and precise footsteps that he was not at all happy with Leo right now. Raph’s silent but fuming aura gave off the same vibe, though his footsteps were more like agitated, un-ninja-like stomps in the wet leaves and debris underfoot.

Even completely blind and navigating in a world of grey fog and sensations, it was still very clear to Leo that his brothers were just ever so slightly upset over this outing.

The fact that Mikey was now velcro wrapped around Leo’s shell, clinging tightly to him and making the walk just that little bit more awkward might have also clued him into that fact.

Leo felt a little uncomfortable twinge of his conscience deep down for tricking his brothers like that. He had been a little underhanded before. He knew that they never would’ve accepted the deal so readily if they had realized he’d be able to beat his old score right away, and it was quite clear that they weren’t comfortable with this.

But, at the same time, he also quite easily shoved that guilty sensation to the back of his mind by rationalizing that, really, his brothers had nobody to blame except themselves. He had tried telling them over and over again that he was capable, and they just weren’t listening to him! So if they underestimated him and his abilities, it was their own darned fault. He had been going stir crazy with all the coddling, and it had to end at some point.

And honestly, if they were that surprised and shocked by a mere pinball game, then just wait until he showed them what he could really do!

An eager smile tugged on the corner of his mouth and he got an extra spring in his Mikey-laden steps as he imagined their reactions. That was one of the things he was looking forward to most of all tonight. When he could hear their shock and read their surprised auras when he really started to show off for them! Oh, he really wished he could see their faces in that moment! After the surprise wore off, his brothers were going to be so relieved and happy! He was going to put all their fears to rest, and, as a bonus, also get to show off just a little.

And even better, knowing his brothers and their personalities, once they were reassured and more comfortable with his abilities, they’d probably be curious about just what else he could do. Most likey, the rest of the night would be mostly competitive games and races and hide and seek and sitting together on rooftops eating pizza! It wouldn’t matter that he was blind anymore. It would be like nothing had changed! Everything would be… be normal again.

Yup. Tonight was going to be a good night!

“Alright Leo.” Donnie spoke up, slowing down slightly as they passed by a tunnel leading off to the north. “We’re getting near the dock areas now. There’s several storm drainage areas off there to the left, which are currently fairly flooded due to the recent rains. We’ll avoid them for now, and follow this to loop around, which will eventually lead us back up to the market district.”

Leo frowned. That is, it was going to be a good night if they ever got out of the sewers.

“This exit seems particularly clear.” Leo absently mentioned, stopping by one of the ladders and tilting his head slightly as he listened. “I don’t hear any traffic above, and it seems pretty quiet. We could go above ground and look around a bit here.”

“Leo, no.” Donnie said flatly as he started walking again, not even turning around as he spoke and sounding like he was patiently chastising an excitable pet. “We have not shown you the tunnels around the docks here, as well as full extensions of the drainage stations and subway maintenance shafts west of our lair. Those are all important.”

Ah. So this was going to take a little prodding as well.

“Guys, you’re completely missing the point of ‘going topside’. We’re here to hang out together, not explore the sewers!” Leo scoffed as he twisted about and tried to peel a rather stubborn Mikey off.

“Well, yeah, bro.” Mikey grunted as he stubbornly fought to maintain his grip. “But! As you’re always fond of reminding us, patience is the hallmark of a true ninja, or something like that, and we shouldn’t rush into things without getting all the information first. You’ve lectured us about that like a billion times! Hey!” He protested as Leo wiggled him down off his shell and shimmied out of his four-limbed grasp like he had been peeling off a tight fitting outfit.

“Glad to hear you’ve been listening.” Leo teased, hopping back as he freed his leg from Mikey’s grasp. Feeling unusually playful and upbeat, he quickly turned to grab at the metal ladder set against the wall, nimbly dodging Mikey’s attempt to grab him again. “But, like I’ve also always said, there’s a time and place for everything, and sometimes the situation calls for bold action! Come on, enough fooling around. Let’s go!”

“Leo! Wait!” Raph’s aura spiked with panic behind him, but it was too late. Leo was already up the ladder. Hearing no traffic and unable to sense any auras above them, he reasoned that it was clear. He lifted the manhole cover, sliding it to the side and crawled up onto the asphalt above.

He found himself standing up in a very abandoned alleyway between what felt like old warehouses. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and enjoying the sensations around him. He noted the salt-tinged breeze on the night air, and deduced from the smells and sounds of seabirds that they really were fairly close to the docks. He felt the hum of the city underfoot, pulsing through the streets and trees and buildings all around them, through the asphalt of poorly maintained side street, framed by mostly old brick workshops and warehouses. It was quiet and felt dark, the only hum of streetlamps being some distance away, with no traffic and no signs of life except the seagulls, pigeons, and stray cats.

He grinned widely, reveling in it. Oh, the spacious sky above and sounds of the city off in the distance was glorious! There was a whole world out there, just waiting for him and his brothers to explore!

Speaking of his brothers, they had wasted no time quickly scrambling out of the manhole, and were now all standing in the alleyway clustered around him. They were tense, moving around to surround him protectively as if they were expecting to get attacked at any moment.

“Okay Leo, we’re topside.” Donnie sounded uncharacteristically hushed, his voice tight as he gripped his bo staff tightly. “Now can we please just- Leo! Leo, where do you think you’re going?!” His whispers grew several octaves in panic as Leo bounded over to a nearby fire escape.

“I’ve got this, guys!” With one hand on the slightly rusty metal ladder, Leo glanced back in the direction of their auras and flashed what he hoped was a reassuring grin. “Everything’s going to be fine! Just trust me!”

“Leo!” Raph hissed, lunging for him, missing him by mere inches, and then sheathing his sais and chasing him up the ladder. “Leo, no! Get back down here this instant!”

It only took Leo a minute or so to scale up to the top of the four story tall brick building. At the top, he flipped up over the rail and turned about to lean against it, grinning impishly down through the darkness at the very perturbed auras he could sense scrambling up after him. “You three seemed stressed.” He observed innocently.

“Fuck you, Leo!” Raph snarled from the fire escape. “We’re NOT going on any rooftops while you’re blind! Anybody could see us!”

“Nobody’s going to see us, Raph.” Leo tried soothing his brother, offering a hand towards the panicking red aura to help him up. “And I know what I’m doing. Like I said, just trust me! I’ve got this whole ‘ninja-while-blind’ thing completely figured out.”

Raph ignored the hand, scrambling up onto the rooftop on his own, with Donnie and Mikey close behind.

“I have to say, I kind of agree with Raphie here, bro.” Mikey shuffled closer to Leo, looking around and seeming nervous. “What if somebody sees us up here?”

“Like who?” Leo scoffed. “It’s the middle of the night, we aren’t in Purple Dragon territory, and nobody’s going to be looking up at the rooftops. We’re fine, guys! Relax!” He glanced around, trying to get a feel for the buildings surrounding them. There were several promising routes open to them, it was just a matter of how dramatic he wanted to be in showing his brothers just how much they were underestimating him. Should he really freak them out and take a complicated route, or keep things slow, simple, and safe at first?

“Leo, I’m serious.” Raph’s hand grabbed Leo’s wrist, his voice unusually tense and nervous. “We need to get back underground.”

Leo paused, his playful mood and sense of adventure at being topside with his brothers dampening a little when he took a moment to really take stock of his brothers’ auras.

They were subdued, tense, and jumpy. Leo had never, in their entire lives together, seen them like this. This wasn’t just them being worried about him and being overprotective. His brothers were... they were actually scared right now.

Leo instantly deflated, all sense of excitement gone. Uncertain and now feeling a little off balance, he blinked and tried to figure out how to handle this situation. Was this still because he was blind and they were worried about losing him again? Or was there something else, something big that they weren’t telling him? But why would they hide anything like that from him?

No, Leo knew that his brothers trusted him. If this… this fear that was so overwhelming them was because of his blindness, because they were still afraid of losing him, then he could prove their fears unfounded, and ease their minds by showing them that he was still a competent ninja. He was still their big brother and still their leader. He could prove it to them if they’d just let him.

“Listen.” His voice grew more gentle as he reached up and touched Raph’s face. “No theatrics, nothing risky, we’ll just take it slow and easy, and keep tonight completely safe and low key, okay? Let’s just go get some pizza like we agreed on, and if you guys still want to go home after that, then we’ll go home. No fuss.”

There was a pause, and then Mikey spoke up hesitantly, “Well, there is a decent pizza joint just a few blocks northwest from here, on the corner of Shinns and Williams. It’s kind of dumpy looking, but the pizza is great.”

“Well, there we go!” Leo gave a lopsided, reassuring grin in their directions. “We don’t even have to go that far.”

“Okay, so here’s what’s going to happen.” Raph’s voice was firm, and held a tone of no-nonsense. “Mikey and I will get the stupid pizza, while Donnie helps Leo off this roof and back to the lair. We’ll meet at home, and eat this fucking pizza that’s so goddamned important for some reason there.”

Leo snorted derisively at that plan, rolling his eyes. “Raph, that’s not going to happen. We’re sticking together.”

“Leo, we ain’t arguing over this.” Raph growled.

Leo sighed. Yup, looked like he was going to have to take some extreme measures here. He tilted his head, studied Raph’s aura for a second, and then reached up to lightly poke Raph’s snout playfully. “Tag, you’re it!”

Raph recoiled from the boop, startled and sputtering, “W-what?!”

But Leo had already turned and bolted away, running across the rooftop and laughing. “Just wait and see, slowpoke. See if you can keep up!”

“Leo! Wait! Stop!” He sensed all three of his brothers lunge after him in full panicked pursuit.

He purposefully chose a simple, easy path for his escape, keeping in mind how nervous his brothers were. There was a simple short jump across the alleyway on one side with no fancy flips, wall climbing, or long jumps required. Just a short jump and grab a railing. They’ve been able to do those since they were five. His brothers couldn’t complain about that, right? Baby steps until they were more comfortable. He ran up to the edge of the roof and sprung into action, reaching for the railing he had sensed on the other side.

“LEO!”

A red tank slammed into him mid-leap, taking Leo completely by surprise as Raph wrapped both arms around his shell and desperately hugged him close, his red aura flaring around in panic.

And Leo suddenly found that he had lost all control.

They were falling. He could tell that they were falling. But without any connection to solid ground, unable to feel any tremors underfoot, he couldn’t SEE anything anymore! He was blinded all over again. Completely disorientated, the world was all darkness and rushing wind and spinning. He had no idea of what was around him or what was happening. Normally, he could rely on his sixth sense in cases like this, grabbing for railings or beams instinctively, but with Raph pinning his arms to his side with his strong bear hug, he couldn’t move. He couldn’t react. He couldn’t protect Raph. He could only feel the helpless panic coursing through his chest as he and his little brother tumbled through the darkness.

There was a hiss of familiar chains whipping through the air somewhere in the chaos of the spinning darkness, and suddenly their fall was cut short with a sharp, sudden jolt. Not by splatting on the hard cement ground four stories down, thankfully, but Leo and Raph were left dangling upside down midair, swaying back and forth slightly like a pendulum on a rope.

“Are you two okay?” Leo heard Donnie’s strained and slightly panicked voice just slightly above Raph. From his positioning, and the exertion in his voice, Leo assumed he had caught Raph by one or both of his legs. “Is Leo okay?”

“Leo’s okay.” Raph grunted, both of his arms still wrapped tightly around Leo’s middle and crushing him close to his own plastron, stubbornly refusing to let up his grip as they dangled upside down. “I got him.”

“Oh thank goodness.” Mikey breathed in relief somewhere in the turtle chain above Donnie.

Leo could only pant, his unseeing eyes wide with disbelief, still disorientated and wondering what the heck was going on right now, and just when he had lost control of the situation. He had never thought that his brother would tackle him mid-jump! What was their problem?!

And then the four dangling turtles froze as there was a jolt when the chain they were all apparently dangling from slipped down an inch with the sound of metal scraping against metal.

“Uh, Mikey?” Donnie’s voice above them questioned hesitantly. “Are you certain that you embedded your Kusarigama blade in a structurally sound load bearing anchor point capable of supporting the weight of all four of us?”

There was a pause.

“… Yes?” Mikey’s hesitant reply finally came above them, his tone more of a question than a confident answer.

And then there was a crunch and a snap as something above them that Leo couldn’t see was ripped away from another something that it had formerly been a part of, and, for the second time that day, Leo found himself crushed tightly against his protectively panicking brother as they plummeted in a freefall through the air.

Thankfully, the drop this time wasn’t as far, and, well, would you look at that, there was even a very convenient dumpster for them to crash into to break their fall.

WHUMP!

Garbage went flying everywhere, both bagged and otherwise. Leo had no idea what those old plastic bags cushioning their fall were filled with, and was fairly certain that he didn’t want to know. He was also fairly certain that they had just traumatized a racoon family looking for their nightly meal.

Now connected to the world again, albeit through garbage, and grounded once more, Leo felt much more orientated. And sore. He groaned and elbowed his way out of Raph’s bear hug to reach up and rub his neck. Yeah, he was going to feel that one tomorrow. Now, though, he had to deal with the situation at hand. He reached out for a head count. “Is everybody okay? Is anybody hurt?”

“Oof. Urgh, this is gross.” Donnie sounded dazed but unharmed, the solid weight draped across Leo’s legs shifting as he spoke and hinting that it was his purple brother down there. “Oh, what is that?! Oh gross, it’s all over my shell!”

“I think everybody’s fine.” Raph breathed, sitting up under Leo.

There was a crinkle of plastic bags as something moved on the other side of Donnie. “Dudes.” Mikey spat out something, Leo didn’t really want to know what. “Let’s not do that again.”

“Agreed.” Leo narrowed his eyes, and bristled up as he turned on Raph, who was apparently trying to gingerly scoot through the garbage without disturbing the agitated nearby raccoons too much. “Speaking of which… What the HELL was that?!”

Raph immediately clenched up and got defensive, turning away from the raccoons to Leo, his tone accusing and tense. “That was me fuckin’ catching you before you fell and killed yourself, Leo! A thank you would be nice!”

“Catching...” Leo echoed in disbelief, and then thwacked his palm against his forehead in frustration. “I wasn’t falling! At least, not until you knocked me out of the air! Of all the stupid, idiotic, foolhardy…! You don’t just TACKLE somebody mid-jump over an alleyway! You could’ve killed us!”

His red brother’s aura exploded with anger as Raph’s hand shoved him in the shoulder, snarling right back at him with equally furious passion. “You were fuckin’ heading right for the edge of the fuckin’ roof while blind, like a moron! What was I supposed to do, just let you fall?! What the hell yourself, Leo! We kept telling you that it wasn’t safe, that we shouldn’t be up there, but you wouldn’t listen to us!”

“I wouldn’t listen to you?!” Leo asked in disbelief. “You aren’t listening to me! I've been trying to tell you over and over again what I'm capable of! Come on, Raph! I’m not stupid enough to just run off the top of a building, and you know it! I was going to jump and land on the fire escape landing across the alleyway!” he snarled, pointing upwards to gesture towards the metal structure he had sensed up there. “You know, like we’ve done a bajillion times in our life before!”

His brothers paused at that, and Leo guessed they were taking a moment to glance upwards to see what he was talking about.

“Huh. There is a fire escape landing up there.” Mikey observed with a touch of amazement. “Whaddya know.”

“Leo, you’re blind! You can’t see! How on earth did you know that was there?!” Donnie sounded dumbstruck.

“I’ve been trying to tell you guys! But you’re not listening!” Feeling more than a little hurt and annoyed, Leo shifted about and started to climb out of the metal dumpster. Well, their outing tonight was officially ruined. Leo didn't think even pizza could salvage this mess. “I figured out how to navigate even while blind! Did you honestly think I spent all that time traveling here by holding my hands out in front of me and shuffling forward?! You guys seem to think I’m helpless, but if you would just trust me, you'd see that...”

He trailed off, suddenly tensing up and going alert, his hand flying back to the elaborately decorated sword handle strapped to his shell.

His brothers paused in the middle of their own climb out, confused. “Leo?”

But then they stiffened as well, their own highly trained sixth senses kicking in.

Warning them of approaching danger.

Leo narrowed his eyes, lifted a hand, and gave a signal, trusting that his brothers would see the familiar visual command, even though it had been years since he last used one. And then, as if a strong breeze had rushed by and swept away wisps of ghosts, they all melted away into the darkness.

The alleyway they had once been in was now quiet and still. A plastic bag floated across the pavement, before settling down among a pile of old leaves.

Moments ticked by slowly. Halfway up the building, Leo sat crouched with his brothers, nestled deep in the shadows of an alcove. It really would’ve been just like old days, when they had all their adventures together, working as a well oiled unit. Four brothers working as one.

Except it wasn't the old days. He was blind now, of course. And, that instead of sitting side by side as a team, his brothers, even Mikey, were positively crushing him to the back against the wall, where he couldn't do much except glare ineffectually at what he assumed was the back of their heads. It would be rather annoying if Leo wasn’t currently taken aback by just how wholly and uncharacteristically terrified each of his brothers currently were.

And then, hidden in the darkness above and shielded by his brothers’ protective shells, he could suddenly sense them. The shadows. Slipping in down below in the alleyway, one after another.

Those auras down there moved with well trained and almost supernatural silence. These were not dock workers, or drug dealers, or even Purple Dragons. Those were ninjas slipping noiselessly into the alleyway down there. Ninjas who were exceptionally well-trained, to the point that they obviously dedicated every aspect of their life, their very identity and being, to their craft.

Ninjas who moved in a way that was all too familiar to Leo.

Those were NeoFoot.

The NeoFoot had arrived in New York City.

And Leo couldn't help but notice that his brothers didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see them.

Chapter Text

The NeoFoot! Oh gods! The NeoFoot were here! Why were they NeoFoot here?! When did they get here?!

And when did his brothers know? What was going on? Why didn’t they tell him?!

Leo’s thoughts were racing wildly in all directions, crashing and churning into and around one another, and it took every ounce of his will to silently and slowly exhale out of his nose, pushing those thoughts aside and clearing his mind. He had to focus. He could deal with those questions later. Assessing the situation in front of them and making sure his brothers were safe needed to be his first priority.

Squished against the wall as he was, he could still ignore the bristling and very stressed out shells pressing into him and instead closed his eyes, concentrating on all his senses. Carefully picking through the auras, he could sense nine NeoFoot down there, two of which he guessed were elites, due to the special armor they wore dictating different, slightly more deliberate movement in order to stay as quiet as the much more lightly armored regular grunts.

And that normally wouldn’t be an issue. He knew that he and his brothers could handle even this group if they worked as a team.

But... Were they really still a team? Tonight for the first time in many, many years had him wondering.

This was bad. Very bad. Leo couldn’t understate how bad a situation this was. If a fight broke out down there, and Leo was forced to fight, how would they react? They wouldn’t even let him do a simple rooftop jump earlier! And if his brothers were focused more on Leo than their own roles in the fight, then one or more of them could definitely be hurt or… or even...

Leo clenched his teeth, his lip curling slightly in a snarled frown as his hand lifted to feel out the handle of his sword.

Well, he had to admit that his brothers had been right about one thing. They were in no shape to be topside. If he had known that the freaking NeoFoot were skulking around, he wouldn’t have pushed them into going topside! What was going on?! Did his brothers hide this information from him?! No. Of course they wouldn’t do something like that. Right? After all, how could he lead them effectively if he was going in…. blind.

(Oh gods, they still wanted him to be their leader, right?! Even though he was blind? Of course they knew that he was still able to lead them! They had to know that! … Oof. Suddenly his stomach wasn’t feeling so good.)

Thankfully, as far as Leo could tell, he didn’t think that the ninjas skulking in down there were aware of them. Their movements were cautious, but not aggressive. This seemed to be more of an investigation than an ambush attempt.

Which, yeah. Fair. They had made quite a bit of noise earlier when RAPH HAD TACKLED LEO OFF THE ROOF, which had probably attracted their attention in the first place.

One of the NeoFoot slipped up to press against the wall, and must have given a signal (which Leo couldn’t interpret due to his blindness and his brothers being frustratingly obstinate at the moment so he wasn’t going to ask for their help to translate), because the three around him/her immediately moved as a unit, spreading around to form a silent, stealthy perimeter around the alleyway.

Donnie and Mikey pressed back against Leo with just a little more force, their shells pushing him against the wall to the point it was starting to get a little uncomfortable. Donnie’s hand fumbled back to touch Leo’s arm as if reassuring himself that his big brother was indeed back there and safe. Raph was bristled up in front, his chaotic aura flaring wildly and aggressively. Leo realized with a sinking feeling that his brother was on a hair trigger right now, and if a single NeoFoot down below made even the slightest motion towards them, he would explode into violence.

Oh dear gods, Raph, stand down! Don’t attack! A fight would be the worst thing that could happen right now! Just stay calm and don’t attack! Leo tried to mentally will his volatile brother to stay back.

The shadowy figures below moved with precision and perfect teamwork, like finely tuned clockwork. They crept up, covering all possible escape routes, and once the alleyway was completely secured, the two elite slowly approached the obviously disturbed dumpster.

Up above, in their hiding spot, Leo and his brothers all tensed up and waited, holding their breath.

For a moment, the world seemed to slow down. Even the city noise in the distance seemed to pause and dim down to a faint, fearful whisper, as if the whole city around them could feel the tension and was now just realizing just what was about to happen. Two highly volatile currents were on the verge of making contact, and if they did, if the NeoFoot down there discovered the turtles and their hiding place, then the sparks would instantly ignite, and there would be a catastrophic and unavoidable explosion of violence and flashing steel and blood.

This was so very, very, very bad!

The NeoFoot stealthily moved up to the dumpster, and carefully peered in. They jerked back, startled, as a family of furry rotund creatures exploded outwards towards them.

The family of racoons, who obviously had just about had enough of this nonsense of a day, dashed away for cover, chittering wildly and angrily, and the NeoFoot watched them run off, obviously perplexed. And then, to Leo’s indescribable relief, they seemed to relax, letting down their guard. They slipped out of the shadows to convene in the middle of the alleyway.

“It was not the turtles.” One of the lesser grunts came up to one of the elites, his quiet voice heavy with a Japanese accent. “My apologies, I thought for certain that I had seen them earlier.”

“I did not think it would be them.” the elite scoffed, her tone dismissive as she turned away from the dumpster. “The Hamato Clan are among the most highly skilled and well trained ninjas in the world. They are veterans of countless battles, and have faced unimaginable enemies and foes, always defeating them with cleverness and cunning. They are the masters of the city’s shadows, and highly dangerous.” She scoffed. “They are not going to do something as simple and clumsy as falling off the roof.”

“Still, we need to follow any clues, no matter how thin they seem.” The other elite, this one a male, walked up as well. “It is our top priority that we find the turtle brothers as soon as possible. They are our best chance at finding Leonardo.”

Leo felt his brothers all bristle around him at those words and squish him just a little harder. His shell was going to start cracking the brick wall behind them if they kept that up. And he couldn’t help but notice with a sinking feeling that, once again, they didn’t seem very surprised.

The female elite down below seemed to take charge once more, stepping forward and apparently giving out signals. “We’ll have the best chance if we split up again. We need to send groups to change shifts with our brothers waiting at the meeting spots in case April O’Neil or Casey Jones accept our attempt at an outreach, and we need to check our surveillance equipment for possible footage. We also need to cover several potential hotspots including pizza places and skate parks that the turtles might frequent.”

“I cannot stress this point strongly enough. The turtles are NOT to be harmed.” The male elite soldier added. “If you find them, alert the chain of command, but stay back. Not a scale on their body is to be touched under any circumstances. Even if it costs you your life.” The male elite was deadly serious as he stalked in front of his line of soldiers. “Those turtles belong to the Master and the Master alone, and he will never forgive us if they were damaged or, heavens forbid, anybody took them away from him.”

“May the gods have mercy on your souls if that should happen.” the female moved to stand next to him. “Because our master would have none.”

Wait. ‘Master’? Who were they talking about? Leo was confused. As far as he knew, the NeoFoot didn’t have anyone they called master. Not since Oroku Saki had been killed (by Leo’s own hand, in fact), and later when they had quite emphatically rejected Karai as his heir. Who led them now?

Leo narrowed his blind eyes, his nostrils flaring just a little as he turned towards his brothers. He sensed them wince ever so slightly under his unseeing gaze.

Leo’s jaw tightened.

“Everyone keep your eyes open, and communications open.” the elite NeoFoot continued their instructions. “We need to find the turtles, and we need to find our Master. Nobody rests until then. Understood?”

The other NeoFoot grunts moved sharply in what Leo assumed was a salute or something, and then they all melted away as quickly as they arrived, splitting off in several small groups to do whatever tasks were required of them.

There was one very tense moment when a pair of them scaled the walls close to the turtles’ hiding spot, obviously intent on reaching the roof. A metal rain spout was bolted to the wall right next to the alcove, a mere foot or so away, and they were using that to climb part of the way. All the turtles tensed up, holding their breath with hands on weapons, muscles coiled like snakes ready to spring. But, thankfully, the black clad human ninjas leapt to use a window sill just under their hiding spot, and didn’t seem to sense them in the darkness.

The turtles all let their breath silently out in relief as the NeoFoot disappeared, but none of them dared to move. Minutes ticked by, and the only sounds were the slight breeze rustling paper, plastic, and old leaves down in the empty alleyway below, and the distant sounds of the city and seabirds. Still, the turtles didn’t move, staying silent and still as statues in their alcove.

Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen.

Finally, after nearly twenty minutes with no sign of the NeoFoot returning, Leo decided that it was safe enough to move. He finally pushed his way out of the protective crush of shells, a little more roughly than was probably called for, shouldering his way through to crouch near the edge of the alcove alongside his brothers.

It seemed like the NeoFoot were gone from this area, but they were still out there in the city, hunting him and his brothers, with this unknown factor known as ‘Master’. Leo didn’t like it. Any of it. Especially the part where his brothers already apparently knew what was going on, and didn’t tell him for some reason.

Never in his life did he have such a strong urge to strangle all three of his brothers. But first, he needed to make sure they got out of this safely.

He tapped Donnie’s arm to get his attention. Over their many, many battles and years of working together as a team, they had developed quite a complex hand signal system, and Leo used it now. Even though he himself couldn’t see it, he knew his brothers could read his subtle hand movements.

He silently inquired with deft finger movements if the underwater entrance was accessible from here. Then he took Donnie’s hand and put his hand lightly on top of it.

Donnie paused, obviously confused.

Leo gritted his teeth in frustration and switched their hands so that Donnie’s was instead resting on top of his. Then he deliberately and emphatically gave the signs for ‘yes’ and ‘no’, so Donnie could feel it against his palm.

Donnie straightened, obviously catching on quickly, and when Leo put his hand back on top of his brothers, he could feel Donnie’s fingers immediately twist into the simple ‘yes’ signal.

Leo nodded, satisfied, and with his other hand started silently signaling once more, using short, quick statements and questions to try and figure out the best tactical choice to make. Going back to their garage was out. That was way too obvious if they were observed. The sewers were a safer route, but the NeoFoot knew that they used them, and might be patrolling them. The underwater exit would be ideal, as the NeoFoot couldn’t easily follow the turtles underwater for long, but, without knowing all the information about what was going on (which was DEFINITELY going to be a topic they were going to address VERY shortly), he couldn’t tell if that was the best plan of action.

Donnie’s hand under Leo’s quickly responded, and Leo concentrated on feeling out the hand signals moving under his palm, piecing together the information as it was given.

The underwater exit was a bit distant, but there was apparently a path through the sewers that led to a storm drain they could use. It would be about a ten minute underwater swim from there, but that wasn’t a problem for them.

Donnie’s hand paused for a second, hesitating. Leo guessed that this upcoming comment probably wasn’t going to be quite what Leo would want to hear at the moment, and his brother was trying to gauge just how mad Leo was right now. Then his fingers under Leo’s palm started moving again, though this time more questioning and unsure.

Leo understood immediately. Donnie was pointing out that Leo was unfamiliar with the underwater route, and that maybe he should have some physical guidance to assist him in navigating it.

Leo ran his tongue over his teeth as he considered how to respond to this suggestion of more babysitting for a moment, pondering on just how to get the right feelings across in his reply.

Then he carefully reached over to Raph on his other side, and gently took one of the still unsheathed sai he was holding. Raph, understandably surprised by this unexpected gesture, let his blind brother borrow his weapon without protest.

Leo turned back to Donnie, calmly flipped the sai in one hand and, holding the middle prong between his fingers, used it to give the rather rude gesture that Raph was always rather famous for giving..

His three brothers shrank down just a little, wincing.

Oh yeah. Leo was maaaaaaad.

Thankfully, there was no sign of NeoFoot activity through the tunnels and pathways they chose, but that didn’t stop all four turtles from being on edge. And when they finally reached the underwater part of their path, Leo would’ve been so impressed and proud of his brothers for the ingenious set up, if circumstances had been different. His tremorsense was at its natural height underwater, and he could navigate and swim through the obstacles as easily as his brothers. In fact, they were probably instinctively relying on the same senses he was instead of their sight in this murky water, as visibility was almost nothing down in these muddy waters anyways, whether they realized that or not.

That didn’t stop the hesitantly helpful hand touching his shell when they reached a complicated, branching tunnel underwater, but he coldly shoved it off.

The rest of the trip was tense and awkward, until the final gate closed behind them, sending tremors through the water as the heavy lock clicked into place. They swam up the final tunnel to emerge out into open air, and as they all breached the surface, soaked masks and padding clinging to their scales as they tread water, Leo recognized the room around them instantly. They were in the center of their lair. They were home.

“Well… That was certainly an exciting trip, wasn’t it?” Mikey tried joking nervously, bobbing in the water. “Bummer we missed out on the pizza, though.”

Leo didn’t respond as he climbed over the railing and reached up to wring the water out of his mask, jaw tight.

“Oh, fuck off, Leo!” Raph snarled angrily as he clambered out of the pool, splashing water everywhere as he stomped over to Leo, not even bothering to try and dry off. “Stop acting like a frigid asshole! Everything we did, we did to protect you, and you know it! We were just trying to keep you safe!”

Ah yes. Predictable. Raph knew that they were in trouble. The entire trip back, Leo could feel his red brother getting himself more and more worked up, and by now he was now fairly frothing with defensive anger. And Raph always played defense by immediately going on the offense. The opponent couldn’t worry about hitting you when you were attacking them first, after all! (Plus, if he was the loudest and most aggressive, then all the negative attention was focused solely on him and not his brothers. He had shared that little fact with Leo once when they were sitting on a rooftop together, watching the city before them.)

Normally, when this happened, Leo would fall for it almost every time, bristling up himself to rise up and meet Raph snarl for snarl. As much as he hated to admit it, his own temper always seemed to run shamefully thin when his brothers were doing stupid things. Especially when it was something exceptionally bone headed. Like LYING TO HIM ABOUT EVERYTHING!

However, this time, Leo didn’t engage him like he normally did. Instead, he ignored his red brother’s tantrum and remained deathly silent as he turned and stalked across the lair towards the kitchen.

Raph didn’t like being ignored. So he stomped right after Leo, his temper flaring up even more. “Oh no you don’t! Don’t you dare walk away from me while I’m talking to you, Leo! You’re acting like this is completely all our fault! But we TOLD you that we needed to stay in the lair! Just give us a few freakin’ days to catch our breath! We had everything completely under control, and we were doing our best to make sure you were comfortable and able to adjust and all that crap!”

Leo didn’t acknowledge him as he followed him closely, ranting. Instead, Leo calmly and quietly took the wooden back of one of the dining room chairs, picking it up and moving it to the center of the room. Donnie and Mikey’s auras stood somewhat unsurely off to the side, watching as Raph continued to bristle with ever increasing guilty rage.

“But nooooo! You couldn’t just trust us! You’re the one who forced us to charge straight out into the open city, where any sort of trouble could find us! And no, not just the NeoFoot! Don’t you pretend that’s the only problem here! There’s so many dangerous factions out there, any one of them could’ve stumbled on us! Your actions out there put us all in danger, and now you’re getting mad at us?! That’s bullshit, and you know it!”

Leo quietly continued to move back and forth, transferring chairs from the kitchen to the open living area until he had formed a circle of four facing one another.

“If you just would’ve listened to us for once, none of us would have been in any danger to begin with! Everything was fine! Everything was under control! We were- GHKK!”

Raph’s rant came to a sudden and abrupt halt as Leo’s finger touched under his chin, finding the pressure point and forcing the red brother to freeze and go rigid. Leo then led his partially paralyzed but still sputtering and wheezing brother over to the ring of chairs, and with a twist of his fingers sent him sprawling down into one of the seats.

Then he turned to face his other two brothers.

Donnie and Mikey quickly took the hint and hurried over to take their seats as well.

Leo turned and sat down in the remaining chair, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands as he glowered sightlessly at his brothers. His voice was icy and frigid, a tone that he rarely used on his family. “Tell me the truth. Now.”

Raph snorted defiantly and his aura slumped down in his chair insolently, arms crossed as Leo knew he was most definitely scowling at everything around them except Leo.

Mikey’s aura shrank back in his chair a little as he realized just how much trouble they were in, already putting up his ‘Little Brother’ armor. Leo was fairly certain that he was now giving big, blue epic puppy dog eyes. Not that he’d be able to see them anymore.

(Leo’s frosty demeanor slipped ever so slightly. Oh gods. He just realized that he wouldn’t be able to see Mikey’s puppy dog eyes anymore.)

Donnie, as Leo expected, was the one to crack. He groaned, and exhaled slowly, before leaning forward. “Okay. Okay okay. But first, Leo, know that we weren’t hiding anything to hurt you. You know that, right? We… we honestly were just trying to keep you safe.”

“By lying to me.” Leo observed through gritted teeth, not at all pacified. “You three KNEW that the NeoFoot were back in the city already! You weren't surprised at all to see them there. I could tell from your reactions!”

“Bullshit! How?!” Raph protested incredulously, his chair scraping on the floor as he leapt to his feet and flung it back a few inches, still super charged and ready to explode with ALL the emotions. “You’re blind, Leo! You can’t even see us! How could you know what our reactions were?!”

“Super Ninja Senses.” Leo said coldly, reaching over to press under Raph’s chin again, getting angry sputtering noises as his volatile red brother was forced back into his seat. “And, from the sounds of it, there’s even more that you’ve been keeping from me. How long have you guys known? Why are they looking for me specifically? And who is this ‘Master’ they were talking about?”

All three of his brothers seemed to wilt just a little around him.

Donnie swallowed hard and sat back. Leo could faintly hear him rubbing the scales on his arms nervously. “O-okay. Where do we even start?” He gave a shaky exhale, and the chair creaked as he shifted. “Leo. Do… do you remember those chemical shipments that we were trying to stop? Back when… back when…?” He trailed off.

Ah yes. Back when he had been blinded and fell out the plane in the middle of the ocean and they thought he was dead for two years. How could he forget? Leo nodded. “Yes. They were trying to build some sort of chemical weapon, a bomb.”

“Well, no. That’s what we thought.” Donnie’s voice was still low and quiet. “That’s what Karai’s sources told her they were for. But… We found out the hard way that that’s not what was going on. The NeoFoot… They found some Utroms who were trying to reestablish the Kraang establishment, and they made a deal with them.”

“The… Kraang?” Leo was surprised. He remembered that the Utrom had a few pockets of rebels after the defeat of Kraang Prime, but he thought that Bishop and his crew had it taken care of.

Donnie made the smallest of movements, and then seemed to remember that Leo wouldn’t be able to see him nod. “Oh. Uh, yeah. And the chemicals the NeoFoot were bringing them were needed for the… the monstrosities they were trying to create. The Kraang were using their alien technology to try and once again make the perfect biological soldiers and slaves to serve them, only instead of spending millions of years evolving specimen naturally like before, they were trying to create them in a lab. They were able to create human-like clones that were ready made for battle, faster, stronger, and tougher than anything else on this world."

"So the NeoFoot were hoping to rebuild their numbers by working with the Kraang to get some of these soldiers?" Leo frowned, trying to piece this together. "Some sort of living FootBot upgrades?"

"No, not quite." Donnie still seemed to be searching for the right words to use. "The clones are too complicated and require a lot of time, energy, and resources. It's a project that's thankfully not something easily massed produced. Only, the Kraang were were having trouble with the project. Something was missing in their creations, they couldn't get them to work. The creatures they were making were basically soulless husks. Biological robots made of flesh, nerves, and muscles, without any programming to make it run. They had no souls.”

“That’s when the NeoFoot stepped in, and why they were able to team up with them.” Mikey said quietly, sounding emphatically serious as he spoke, like when he was trying to explain just why they should fear one of the monsters in his favorite horror movies. Only, there was actual fear in his voice. “They managed to find some super secret ancient techniques for summoning powerful yokai spirits. And… and Leo. Bro. They’re combining that with the Kraang’s technique. The body of an alien super soldier that looks human, but powered with the soul of an ancient and powerful evil spirit.”

And his brothers were trying to hide this from him?! The hell!

Leo sat up in his chair, more than a little alarmed and sobered by this news. “How many of these things are out there?! Do we know?!”

“Just one, as far as we know.” Donnie tried calming him down. “Like I said, it’s a very difficult and resource draining operation, both for the creation of the cloned body and the summoning of a strong enough yokai spirit. They created one prototype, but haven’t been able to replicate the process again.”

“And... and that protoype is the ‘Master’ that the NeoFoot were talking about back in the alleyway. Isn’t it?” Leo guessed as he leaned back and crossed his arms, trying to process all this.

He sensed his brothers wince, and raised his head, realizing that there must be more.

“Leo…” Donnie started hesitantly. “The NeoFoot worked with the Kraang for a purpose. They wanted something… specific. Someone specific.”

Leo's stomach plummeted, and a cold sweat broke out on his scales.

Oh fuck. Oh fuck oh fuck oh FUCK!

It couldn’t be! No! Not again! They were finally free of him! Leo had killed him! His undead resurrected body had been banished to the Netherworld when they defeated the Demodragon! He was GONE! He had to be!

“Oroku Saki.” he whispered in realization, the name more breathed out in horror than spoken consciously.

“Well… technically, only sort of?” Donnie sounded slightly apologetic as he corrected Leo. “He’s no longer the Shredder that we’re familiar with, anyways. Actually, he’s now a biological clone of Oroku Saki that’s been created in a lab and artificially enhanced to super-human levels of strength and prowess by outlawed alien technology and then infused and animated by an ancient malignant Japanese spirit capable of destroying entire cities by forbidden dark arts.”

He sighed and shrugged hopelessly. “New form, new Shredder.” 

"The Demon Shredder." Mikey whispered. "Tengu Shredder.”

Well... Fuck.

Amazing Piece of art by the very talented Luescris

Chapter Text

Leo sat back in his chair, swallowing hard as he digested this bit of news.

The Shredder was back. Stronger than ever.

“He’s the one that destroyed the old lair, wasn’t he?” he realized, putting the pieces together. “And Karai’s old headquarters. This new Shredder is the one that attacked you.”

“Yeah…” Mikey exhaled. “That’s the first time we met him. He really kicked our shells, bro. Bad.”

“But we’re okay! Everybody’s okay! We were just taken by surprise back then.” Raph hurriedly tried to reassure him desperately. “We have everything under control now, Leo. Karai is on her way right this moment with back up, April and Casey are currently bunkered down and protected in one of Karai’s safe houses…”

“Wait, what?!” Leo’s head shot up, truly alarmed now. “April and Casey were forced to retreat to a BUNKER?! When?! Why?! What happened?! Were they attacked?!”

Raph’s wince was almost tangible as he immediately backpedaled, trying to keep Leo from worrying. “What? Oh! No! They’re okay! I didn’t mean that they were…! They aren’t in any….!”

“They’re completely fine! April and Casey are okay, Leo! It’s just a precaution.” Donnie hurried to jump in and help reassure him. “Some of the NeoFoot approached them trying to find us, but they weren’t attacked or anything.”

Leo narrowed his eyes skeptically. Okay, things just weren’t adding up. Why would the NeoFoot do that? They weren’t usually so straightforward and direct. What were they trying to accomplish? He really, really wished he could see his brothers’ faces right now! Were they still hiding things from him?

“So… You’re telling me that the NeoFoot, a group that so far has always been a hostile and aggressive faction, now led by this new Shredder, just walked right up to Casey and April... to just talk?” Leo raised an eyeridge skeptically.

“Ah. Yeah? Sounds like it?” He could almost visualize Mikey’s shrug. “They waited for them outside their jobs, and then just peaced out after talking for a few minutes.”

Leo blinked, incredulous. “When did this happen?”

Donnie hesitated, which probably wasn’t a good sign.

“Donnie....” Leo’s tone warned him that he didn’t have the patience for vague answers. Not now.

Donnie shrank down under that tone submissively. “This morning.” he meekly informed him.

This morning?! Leo blinked, trying to process this. This whole fiasco was going on right under his nose?! And his brothers didn’t say anything to him! They lied! Right to his face!

“Why didn’t you guys tell me?!” It was getting more and more difficult to keep his tone even and calm.

“We didn’t want you to worry, Leo!” Donnie protested.

“Our family is in danger, and you guys weren’t even going to warn me of the danger out there?!” Leo couldn’t hold it back anymore, snarling. “You guys were seriously just going to let me sit down here, twiddling my thumbs and playing PINBALL while my family and clan is being hunted down by… by this new Shredder and the NeoFoot?!”

“You just went through HELL, Leo!” Raph reacted to Leo’s outburst by bristling up aggressively again. “We didn’t want you to come back and immediately get buried under all of our problems while you were still recovering!”

"Recovering?!" Leo said in disbelief. "From what, exactly?! I'm not hurt. I'm not injured. I don't have my sight, true, but I still have all my other senses! I made my way across the world dodging NeoFoot just fine!"

“We just… wanted to let you finally feel safe for a little bit, bro.” Mikey squirmed in his chair guiltily. “We weren’t trying to… to… y’know. Hurt you or anything…” He trailed off, muttering, “We just wanted to keep you safe.”

“We’re dealing with a crazy cult being led by a freaking demonic version of Shredder!” Leo threw up his hands in disbelief. “That’s not the kind of information you hide from me! I’m not some fragile, broken flower that’s going to fall to pieces at the first sign of danger! I’m a ninja, a warrior, and YOUR BROTHER! I’m a part of this too!”

“Of course you’re our brother! And we’re here to take care of you, like you’ve always taken care of us!" Raph snarled, as if by saying it loud enough, he’d finally drill the concept into Leo’s thick skull. "Like I said, Leo! We have things under control! You don’t have to worry!”

“It doesn't sound like things are under control!" Leo was well past the stage of losing his patience, and stood up as he confronted his brothers. "And of course I’m going to worry! It’s my JOB to worry! I know you guys are just trying to protect me, but I still need to know things like this! You can’t keep hiding things from me!” He starting to pace angrily. “I’m not helpless! You can’t possibly think that I’m going to just stay back on the sidelines! I can still fight!”

“And that’s exactly what we’re afraid of, Leo!” Raph’s chair clattered against the floor again as he shoved it back to stand up and intercept Leo’s pacing, grabbing him by the shoulders. “That you’ll go out and do something stupid!”

“Stupid?! You mean like LYING to me and leaving me completely unaware of the danger we’re all in?!” Leo pushed back hotly.

“You can’t fight the Shredder anymore, Leo!” Raph sputtered. “Not while you’re… you’re…”

“Blind!” Leo exploded angrily. “Yes! I’m blind! But I'm still a ninja! I'm still a warrior! I’m not helpless, and if you’ll just let me show you, I’ve learned how to still do all the things I used to be able to. Sometimes even better than before! I can still fight by your side!”

“No, you can't!” Raph snarled, shaking Leo by the shoulders in raw frustration. "Not while you're fuckin' BLIND! Stop being an idiot!"

Leo stiffened up, and his voice went ice cold again. “Get your shell in the dojo. NOW! I’ll show you what I can and can’t do!”

“Dammit! I’m not going to fight you, Leo!” Raph shoved him away.

“Obviously, the only way I’m going to get you to listen to me is by pounding in your thick hotheaded skull!” Leo hissed dangerously. “So either we fight in the dojo, or we fight out here! Your choice, Raph!”

“No! Nobody is going to fight, especially right now!” Donnie stepped in, his voice cracking slightly as he pleaded with Leo. “Leo, bro! Please! I know you think that you can still go out there and fight to protect us, because you’re fearless and brave and you never ever give up, even when everybody else would have! You’re amazing for that and we love you and admire you for it, but trust me when I say that we know what’s out there! It’s far more dangerous than anything we’ve ever fought before! You may think you can do this, Leo, but you CAN’T!”

“Yes! I! CAN!” Leo tried to will his brothers to just LISTEN TO HIM for once! “I can handle this, and I’m not going to leave you guys to fight this battle alone! I can be there, at your side, and we can do this together! You just need to trust me!”

Raph grew quiet for just a second, inhaling through his nose and obviously fighting some inner turmoil. Then he quietly said, “Are you willing to gamble our lives on that?”

Whatever Leo had been planning to say died instantly on his lips. He had been preparing to counter anything his brothers threw at him, expecting an argument. But not those words. Not that implication.

It was so unexpected, and packed such a gut wrenching punch, that he couldn't do anything but freeze in his tracks.

“I hope you’re one hundred percent sure that you can do this, Leo.” Raph continued slowly, all anger now completely gone and his voice cracking as if each word was painful. “Because if you go out to fight the Shredder, and you’re wrong…” He paused and took a deep breath, before continuing, his voice low and pained. “You know as well as I do that all three of us, without hesitation, would throw ourselves in front of his blade to save you, Leo. I know I speak for all of us when I say that we won’t let him kill you, even if we have to sacrifice our life to save you. So… If you go out there and act like a brave idiot, you have to know that you're not putting your life at risk. You're risking our lives. Me, Donnie, and Mikey.”

Leo slowly straightened up. His face had gone from scrunched up and furious to completely blank and expressionless. All of his indignant anger had evaporated in an instant, leaving him feeling only cold, empty, and numb.

Raph swore softly under his breath, and suddenly Leo found himself wrapped in a strong hug. “Fucking dammit. Leo, I'm sorry! THIS is why we didn’t tell you! We didn’t want fucking THIS to happen!" Raph crushed him close, his voice cracking with desperation. "I swear to you, big brother, it’s going to be okay! We have this under control, and nobody is going to get hurt.”

Donnie and Mikey’s warm bodies quickly lunged out of their chairs and joined the crush, their auras roiling with distress and an urgent need to comfort their broken brother.

“This is just temporary, Leo!” Donnie hurriedly tried to reassure him, squeezing him tightly. “We’re going to fix your eyes! You’re going to regain your sight again! I promise, I’m not going to give up until I find a way to fix your eyes! Somehow I’ll figure out a way! This… this darkness isn’t going to last forever!”

“And then things will go back to how they used to be! Everything will go back to normal!” Mikey hurried to snuggle up under Leo’s chin. “And then you’ll be able to see again, and we’ll all take turns kicking Tengu Shredder’s butt and being awesome heroes who save the day, together, like we always do! So just let us take care of things for a bit until we get your eyes fixed, ‘k? We got this, big bro!”

His hand reached up to pat Leo’s snout hopefully.

Leo didn’t respond to his touch. He didn’t move or speak. He just stood there, arms down by his side and staring straight ahead as if in a daze.

“Dammit!” Raph growled, squeezing Leo tighter. He pressed his forehead into Leo’s, as if wishing desperately to absorb all his brother’s hurt and burdens himself. “Dammit, Leo, everything’s going to be OKAY!”

Leo closed his eyes and exhaled slowly out through his nose, standing completely still and allowing his brothers to cling to him for a long minute. Then he quietly stepped back, peeling his brothers off of him one by one.

“If you three will excuse me, I require a few minutes to myself in the dojo.” he told them, his tone distant and strangely calm.

He sensed his brothers hesitating around him, their auras wavering indecisively with worry.

“I can sit with you for a bit if you’d like, Leo.” Mikey offered, and Leo heard him take a step forward. “Keep you company while you get this all sorted out in the ol’ mind brainy-roo.”

“No thank you.” Leo said simply, stalking away. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added tersely, “I'll be back soon.”

As he put distance between them, he heard Donnie uncertainly shift his weight from foot to foot behind him, before whispering to the other two with concern, “Should… should we follow him?”

Raph’s low, shaky exhale spoke volumes, and Leo overheard him mutter softly to the other two, ““Just… give him a moment.”

Leo ignored them for the moment, his steps even and methodical as he made his way across the lair, leaving their whispered voices to fade away as he strode towards the dojo. As he walked past the kitchen, he deviated from his path slightly to pass a certain wooden crate left sitting on the counter, pausing only slightly to feel out and grab a few of the kumquats piled up in it before moving on once more.

He reached the dojo and, without pausing, headed directly back to the shrine he knew was located in the back.

There were spots for three altars set up here, one to Master Splinter, one to Tang Shen, and one now conspicuously bare, as it had been discreetly cleared off when they thought Leo wasn’t paying attention. Because, of course, the brother it had been to was discovered alive and it wasn't needed.

But Leo had a purpose for it in mind.

Quietly, without a word, he knelt down. His movements felt mechanical and automatic as he went to work.  Setting aside the small pieces of fruit in his hand, he reached over to slide open the wooden doors of the small cabinet off to the side containing all the supplies, pulled out candles and an incense stick, and closed the doors. He then turned towards the shrine, and carefully set it up, placing a candle on each altar, with the incense stick in it’s holder in the center.

He exhaled, and carefully struck a match. There was a small blob of lighter grey in his vision now. He could faintly see the light if he concentrated, but he couldn't see the flame that made it.  Everything was too murky and opaque. Far more clearly, he could hear the small flame crackle to life and feel the small heat against his fingertips as he touched the small sliver of wood against each wick in turn, lighting them even though his world remained murky grey.

He shook out the match, and then bowed low, first silently murmuring a prayer to Master Splinter’s, then Tang Shen's, and then, finally, gently placing the kumquats in front of the third one as an offering.

That done, he slid back away from the altars a few feet and slumped back, his shell scraping the wall as he leaned against it for support. Miserably, he drew up his knees and buried his face in his arms.

He sat there, worthless eyes closed, forehead pressed firmly against the scales of his arms as he concentrated on keeping his breathing even and steady. He felt at the same time both numb and icy cold, and ready to burst with a storm of emotions raging deep down.

He could hear the soft snap and crackle as the small flames he couldn’t see danced and flickered on the candles set upon the altar.

And then there was another sound. The sound of somebody biting into a juicy piece of citrus fruit and chewing appreciatively.

“Quite a mess, huh Kumquat?” a familiar voice said thoughtfully.

Leo didn’t raise his head. “They don’t trust me.” He whispered, his voice muffled against the crook of his arm.

His stomach churned uncomfortably.

His brothers didn’t trust him anymore.

They didn’t trust him to lead them. They didn’t trust him to protect them.

That knowledge cut deep, down to his very core, and Leo didn’t know how to fix this.

“Oh... Oh, Leonardo.” The Ancient One's old, crackly voice was sympathetic as a familiar short, chubby presence settled down next to him against the wall. “That's not true, and you know it. Your brothers love you very much."

"I know they love me." Leo whispered harshly. "But they don't trust me. Not anymore. They've made that quite clear."

The Ancient One sighed sadly. "Kumquat... Right now, they are very afraid. And that fear has overwhelmed them and blinded them to what’s right in front of their eyes. They are lost in the darkness right now, just as much as you were when you first landed on the island.”

Leo reached up to angrily wipe away at the tears building up  in the corners of his unseeing eyes. “But... What if… what if they’re right? What if I… I can’t… And because I can’t, they…?” He gave an involuntary shudder, immediately cutting off the train of thought before it could conjure up images he couldn’t bear to see in his mind’s eye.

“Kumquat, if you’ve already decided that you’re going to fall out of the tree when you start climbing it, then you’ll achieve your goal.” the Ancient One reminded him softly.

Leo gave a snort as he remembered that particular lesson. It had taken weeks to heal up from that. Now… It felt like a lifetime ago.

The Ancient One leaned back with a sigh. “It appears as if your brothers fell out of their own tree while you were gone. Now, they are too afraid to try again. They have already decided that they can’t win this fight." He shook his head. "That is why they’re so afraid. In their minds, they’ve already lost. And they’re terrified of what that means. Of what they have to lose.”

Leo slowly lifted his head up as he absorbed those words. His fingers tapped against his arm absently, before he asked, “Can we win?”

There was a moment as the Ancient One took another bite of the fruit and chewed thoughtfully. Then he shrugged. “You know what you’re capable of, and you know what your brothers are capable of. You also know what you can do when you work together as a team, and you have a lifetime of experience leading them into impossible fights. What does your gut tell you?”

Leo uncurled his legs and leaned back against the wall as he considered this.

“And your brothers do have faith in you, despite what you may think.” The Ancient One continued. “They show it in the way they turn to you for reassurance and comfort. They want to see you as their leader and big brother. They want to follow you.”

Leo frowned, considering everything in a new light. He mulled it over, and then slowly realized the real issue. “The problem isn’t that they don’t trust me. The problem is that they don’t trust themselves right now.”

“Seems that way.” The Ancient One agreed amiably. He sensed the spirit beside him shrug as he finished off the kumquat. “My guess is that they need somebody to remind them not only of who you are, but who they are.” The tone of his voice took on the hints of a small, fond smile. “You've found your way out of the darkness once before. You can be their eyes for them, and help guide them as they learn to see again themselves. Convince them to climb that tree once more, Kumquat.”

Leo exhaled, tapping his knee thoughtfully. “But how? They’re not listening to me.”

The Ancient One chuckled somewhat deviously, and then Leo felt a small kumquat press into his hands.

“Oh my dear student! Have you forgotten?” the Ancient One said with a mischievous tone in his voice. “I’ve taught you everything you need to know already.”

Leo pondered this as he rolled the small fruit between his fingers. Then he nodded, and pushed himself up off the floor, intending to stop in the kitchen first.

He had the feeling that he was going to need the entire crate for the task ahead of him.

“Man….” Mikey was sitting backwards on one of the chairs, arms crossed and resting on the metal backrest and looking up at his brothers with big, mournful eyes. “Leo’s really upset.” He sighed. “We messed up, didn’t we?”

“The whole situation is messed up!” Raph snapped back defensively. “We’re just trying to protect Leo from as much shit as possible!”

“As Raph hypothesized, Leo’s self esteem took a major blow when he realized that he’s not going to be able to fight like before.” Donnie sighed, leaning against a pillar. “This could be bad. Leo does have the tendency to overthink things when it comes to his own shortcomings, and if we let him obsess over the Shredder, he could fall into a destructive spiral of negative thoughts and behavior. We’re going to have to constantly reassure him that he’s an important part of this family, and think of tasks and activities he can do to help so he feels productive and helpful.”

“He’s going to find that patronizing.” Mikey warned as he rested his chin on his arms. “It’s just going to make him more mad.”

“Well, just what do you suggest we do, Mikey?!” Raph huffed in frustration. “Just let Leo wallow in misery without doing anything?!”

Mikey scrunched his nose thoughtfully, then shrugged. “I dunno. We could always ask Leo what he wants to do?”

“And when he says that he wants to rush out there and fight Shredder again, because he’s a thick headed idiot with a martyr complex, what do we do then?” Raph crossed his arms with a scowl.

“Oh, give him some credit, dude.” Mikey scoffed as he wiggled his fingers dangling off the back of the chair, his baby blue eyes focused on the moving digits and half distracted by his own movements. “Leo’s been leading us for years, and he’s done a good job so far. He’s not stupid.”

“You’re talking about the same brother who once stole a spaceship and tried to solo the entire Triceraton fleet by himself because he was pissed off.” Raph pointed out.

“Hm.” Mikey frowned, pausing in the finger wiggles. “Point made. Okay. In the case of Leo Ultimate Self Sacrifice Last Stands, some babysitting may, in fact, be required.” He suddenly perked up and turned in his chair. “Oh! Speaking of which, I think I hear Leo coming from the kitchen.”

"That didn't take long." Raph uncrossed his arms. "Hope he's okay."

Donnie immediately straightened up, immediately plastering on a more upbeat smile. “Okay! Remember guys, maintain a positive and reassuring attitude. It’s important that Leo feels like he’s still a part of the team.”

And, as he pushed away from the pillar to face his returning older brother, he was promptly hit in the face by an airborne kumquat fruit.

Chapter Text

“Stand guard here.” Karai barked out orders to her personal Foot guard, who were currently dressed in plain street clothes. She stood with April and Casey deep in the sewers, close to the entrance leading to their new lair. “Keep in constant contact with the rest of the team, and alert me immediately if the Tengu Shredder or any NeoFoot anywhere are spotted by our scouts. ”

“Of course, Mistress Karai.” the disguised but still very dangerous ninjas all bows, and moved out to take positions at the entrance of the sewer tunnel.

Karai exhaled, watching them go. Would they be enough? Would all of her forces be able to protect her brothers?

“Thanks for coming over on such short notice, Karai.” April said absently, typing in the numerous passphrases and accessed the biometric security measures now in place in order to enter the turtle’s lair. Due to the current situation, just activating the secret door to the sewer entrance was basically a fifty step process. Donnie, of course, never did things in half measures.

A hidden panel opened up on the wall, revealing a black glossy scanpad. She put her hand on it, allowing the light to run over her hand. “I know that it’s a bad time, with your negotiations going on and everything…”

“Psh. As if there was a choice. My brothers are far more important than any meetings.” Karai waved it off absently. Her sharp, concerned golden eyes glanced down once more to the screen of her phone, her thumb absently rubbing the edge of the black phone case which was decorated by a little dangling turtle charm.

The last text that the turtles had sent her loomed ominously in bubbled print.

Leo had apparently learned about the Tengu Shredder. The last thing that Donnie had texted her was that he hadn’t taken the news well, and had retreated to the dojo to deal with some rather intense emotions.

That text had been sent nearly half an hour ago, and there hadn’t been any word since.

Not even a response to the news that she had landed and was on her way.

“Hey.” April seemed to notice the look on Karai’s face, and gave her a sympathetic smile as she stepped aside and let Casey pull off his hockey glove and place his own hand against the touch pad. “Leo’s going to be okay.”

Karai scoffed and put her phone away, crossing her arms. “Of course he is. He’s Leo.” She stepped forward for her own turn at security scans.

A few more passwords, pressing secret buttons, and playing a short song on a keyboard that popped out (Karai always thought that it sounded like it could be the theme song of a Saturday morning cartoon), and the bricks in the wall slid up to reveal the secret door which finally whooshed open to let them through. All three of them moved forward, stepping through and letting it close behind them securely. The stone brick tunnel they walked through was dotted by both seen and unseen defense mechanisms, thankfully all of them currently idle, bypassed by their security clearance. Ahead of them, they could see the heavy, metal door leading to the lair.

“So…” Casey was wearing his hockey mask, completely kitted out for battle just in case, and his voice was thus slightly muffled. “What’s the game plan?”

“Get to Leo, make sure he’s fine, and, if not, strangle my other three brothers for making this more complicated than it needed to be.” Karai’s tense footsteps quickening ever so slightly.

“It’s… it’s not going to be that bad, Karai.” April winced, hurrying along as well to keep up. “The guys know Leo better than anybody, and they know what they’re doing.”

“No offense Red, but I don’t think any of us know what we’re doing right now.” Casey adjusted his golf bag of weapons on his back worriedly. “We’re fighting a demonic ninja biosoldier who's a clone of the Shredder. If you know what you’re doing in that sort of situation, then man, I don’t want to know what kind of life experiences you’ve had!” He sighed. "I dunno. If I were Leo, I'd be freaking out a ton too."

Karai's jaw tightened. Reaching the end of the tunnel, she grabbed the handle of the heavily reinforced door, shifting it with a heavy clunk of internal bolts and pushing it open.

Right behind her, April followed her into the lair, still trying to inspire optimism and confidence. “Casey, don't worry. Leo has a good head on his shoulders, and he has his brothers to talk him through any issues he's having. I’m sure that the guys have everything completely… under… control.”

April’s statement trailed off as they stepped inside, her steps faltered and then stopped, her mouth dropping open agape.

The three humans could do nothing but stare at the chaotic scene unfolding before them.

There was some sort of small citrus fruit littered all over the lair, some scattered about slightly battered, bruised, but still whole, and others left nothing more than pulpy smears, smashed against the walls and counters. A wooden grocery crate lay discarded near a ring of four tipped over chairs in the middle of the lair, a small pile of the fruit around it proving that it was probably the original source of ammunition.

Furniture was overturned, shelves were knocked over, and, most of all, everything was covered in pulp with the scent of smashed citrus overpowering every other smell. It was like somebody blasted the whole lair with orange juice.

A ball of flailing limbs and shells rolled across the floor of the lair in a tumble of curses, snarls, and angry turtle hisses. Mikey had apparently just decided to embrace whatever this chaos was, and instead of joining his brothers in their citrus-fueled battle, he was sitting cross legged on the kitchen counter, munching on an armful of the small fruits while gleefully calling out commentary and encouragement to the current combatants.

The collection of living turtle brothers bounced to a halt and unraveled enough to make out individual turtles, with Leo left sitting on Raph’s shell and Donnie trying to restrain him from behind. The blue banded turtle managed to yank his wrist from Donnie’s desperate grip and, thus freed, squished the kumquat fruit he was holding firmly into the back of Raph’s neck, right under the lip of his shell.

Raph gave an indignant yelp and twisted about, cursing loudly, but Leo was already rolling away, tumbling back and scooping up a nearby kumquat off the floor as he went. Donnie dove down to catch him midroll, but Leo quickly changed course, twisting his somersault to instead spring lightly up and away off one hand, dodging Donnie’s dive and flinging the kumquat at his purple brother as he moved.

Donnie sputtered as the fruit smacked him on the side of the head with pinpoint accuracy.

“Ooh, and yet another solid hit on the Dee-meister by our boy in blue!” Mikey commented gleefully from his countertop perch. “But wait! Raph is getting up, and it looks like he’s ready to jump back into the fray! Will the tag team be too much for our kumquat throwing hero?”

“Mikey! Shut! Up! You’re! Not! Helping!” Raph pointed at him accusingly as he hissed angrily, and sputtered as another kumquat bounced off the back of his head. He whipped back around, his green eyes flashing with rage. “And Leo, I swear, if you don’t stop doing that, I’m going to… to…!” He sputtered as a kumquat bounced off the end of his nose, interrupting his threat. “Damn it Leo!”

“Don’t like it?” Leo snarled back, running up a tipped over cabinet to leap up and grab the railing of the second floor, avoiding Donnie’s tackle dive and retaliating with another flung kumquat. “Then DODGE!”

“Mikey, quit sitting on your shell and laughing at this, and get over here to help us!” Donnie sputtered, shuffling indecisively underneath Leo, obviously debating whether to climb up after Leo or get ready to catch him if he fell. “This is serious!”

“Are you kidding?” Mikey tossed another kumquat to Leo helpfully, who easily caught it in one hand while hanging off the edge of the second floor walkway and promptly chucked it at Donnie below. “This is amazing! I should be recording this for future reference! Oh. Hey!” He seemed to notice the slack jawed humans for the first time, and waved at them enthusiastically. “Karai’s here! And April and Casey! Hey guys!”

“What?” Donnie and Raph looked up with alarm, and Leo took advantage of that to leap off his perch and escape to the main floor once more, rolling to land close to the tipped over crate and reloading his arsenal of throwable fruit.

“Aw man.” Casey sounded genuinely disappointed, pushing back his hockey mask as he looked around. “I always seem to miss out on the best parties.”

“What’s… going on here?” April asked, stepping cautiously in and in awe of the sheer citrus-y state of the lair.

“Uh... Leo’s mad.” Mikey explained helpfully. “Y’know, about the whole ‘lying about the Shredder to his face’ and all that.”

“I… see that.” Karai glanced around, bemused as she stepped over some squished kumquats.

“Dammit! We weren’t lying to Leo!” Raph corrected him, frustrated and disgusted as he angrily reached around to try and wiped away the crushed kumquat at the back of his neck. “We were PROTECTING him!”

“APPARENTLY my brothers think ‘protecting me’ means treating me like I’ve regressed to a helpless toddler stage of intelligence and independence! They were babysitting me!” Leo hissed, spitting out the words as if the very act of speaking them was distasteful. He gathered up a handful of intact kumquats and sprung away, just as Raph tried to sneak up and tackle him, pelting him with one of the fruits as he did so. “And I’m just reminding my brothers that I’m still a very competent ninja, and I can still fight beside them!”

“Oh fer fuck’s sake!” Raph smacked his head with his palm in frustration, and then turned to their human companions, gesturing at Leo angrily. “Guys! Tell him he’s being an idiot! He’s not listening to us! Ow!”

He was struck in the face by another kumquat, and whirled back on Leo, eyes aflame.

“You’re not listening to me!” Leo sounded just as offended, his milky eyes narrowed in a disapproving but unseeing glare as he balanced on a coffee table, obviously somehow warily tracking Donnie and Raph’s movements.

“Guys, this is stupid.” April sighed, fingering her forehead. “We can sit down and talk this out without trashing the lair with… with...” She picked one up and looked at it with some degree of bewilderment. “What are these? Tiny clementines or tangerines or something?”

“They’re kumquats.” Donnie informed her, moving over to flank Leo’s left, while Raph moved silently to the right. “Part of a group of small fruit-bearing trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae. Originating in China, it spread over Asia, was introduced to Europe in 1846, and then later to North America, mostly in the southeastern part of the country.”

“Ah.” April blinked.

“And I’ve tried talking to them!” Leo said with some degree of frustration in his voice. He leapt away just as Donnie and Raph launched themselves forward, flinging a fruit at both of them as he did so and getting cursed by both of them, Raph a little more vulgar, but Donnie no less creative in his choice of words. “But they’re still treating me like.. like I can’t do anything! Like I’m helpless without one of them holding my hand!”

“And so... to remedy this, you’re throwing tiny fruits at them.” April didn’t sound at all convinced by this plan.

“Yes.” Leo said simply, rolling out of the way of another grapple attempt and leaping up to flip over the couch, ducking behind it to use as a makeshift fort as he launched all the kumquats he currently held at his brothers.

“Well, I think it’s a perfectly reasonable form of debate.” Mikey shrugged, rather casually letting the kumquat bounce off the side of his head and not attempting in the slightest to dodge it.

“Yes. Of course you do.” April sighed.

“Actually,” Casey offered. “I kinda agree with Mikey on this. Can all future arguments be settled with food fights?”

“What?! No! This is serious! It’s no time for jokes!” Donnie was obviously flustered and exasperated, trying to circle around the couch to get to Leo.

“This is so fuckin’ stupid!” Raph snarled fiercely as he turned to the humans, pointing accusingly at Leo as if tattling on his older brother. “Leo is convinced that he can just charge out there and go fight the fuckin SHREDDER! We’re trying to keep the idiot from getting himself killed!”

“I never said that!” Leo retorted sharply as he darted first one way, and then another around the couch, avoiding Donnie. “I never ONCE said that I wanted to go out there to take on Shredder by myself! That’s just what you heard, because you’re not actually listening to anything I’m saying!”

Donnie, tired of this ring around the rosie game, lunged over the back of the couch, and gave a grunt as Leo unexpected switched directions and instead leapt off his shell, knocking him to the ground as he leapt upwards, landing halfway up the seldom used metal ladder leading up to the second floor.

“What I actually said,” Leo continued fiercely from his perch on the ladder, “was that I’m not helpless, and I can still fight alongside you guys! I’ve been telling you that I can still fight! We can still fight! Together!”

“No, we can’t, Leo!” Raph snarled in frustration, stomping over to the ladder to continue trying to retrieve his agitated and wayward blue brother. “You have no idea how dangerous this new Shredder is, and you’re not getting anywhere near him! You HAVE to stay here, where it’s safe!”

“Why?” Karai asked unexpectedly. “We always work best as a team, and Leo’s leadership has always been invaluable in battle. Why can’t Leo lead us against the Shredder now that he’s back?”

Raph froze at the bottom of the ladder, on hand already resting on the side, and turned to sputter at her in disbelief. “Wait, what?! Why?! Karai! He’s-he’s BLIND!”

“And?” Karai shrugged as if that were an inconsequential fact. “I was trained personally most of my childhood by a blind ninja, remember? Hattori Tatsu. Even though he was blind, it took all of us teaming up to beat him." She snorted. "Do you really think Leo’s any less capable? What exactly can’t he do anymore? Sneak like a ninja? He traveled all across the world and he did okay. Fight? He already dealt with the NeoFoot for months.” She paused and bent down to pick up a kumquat off the floor, examining it and giving a wry smirk. “And right now, his being blind doesn't seem to be helping you guys in your fight against him. He seems to be holding his own against you guys well enough.”

The other three turtles paused at that, then turned to blink at Leo as if they were suddenly seeing the current ongoing situation in front of them clearly for the first time.

“Thank you, Karai.” Leo huffed as he hung on the ladder, waiting patiently for his brothers to process this. "It's good to hear your voice in person, by the way. I hope your flight went well?"

"There was a little bit of turbulance, but other than that, it was uneventful." Karai shrugged as she leaned against one of the lair's pillars, her golden eyes sparkling with amusement as she casually popped the kumquat in her mouth.

Donnie, ever the scientist, was the first to finally react. He had new data that he had overlooked before, and he needed to test this theory. He picked up one of the many kumquats lying discarded on the floor, hesitated for a moment, and then turned and threw it at Leo.

Leo’s hand shot out and caught it easily, tossed it expertly over his shell, and used his other hand to grab it mid toss, all to fling it down at Raph below. Doing all this, somehow, while keeping a steady perch on the ladder.

“Ow!” Raph protested, rubbing the top of his head.

“Huh.” Mikey blinked.

“How?!” Donnie was dumbfounded. “Leo, you can’t see!”

“I’ve been telling you how since I got back!” Leo exploded angrily.

“Your super ninja senses!” Mikey realized with a burst of delight, seemingly quite willing to believe that his big brother had some form of super powers now. “Tremorsense and all that ‘‘Sixth Sense’ fighting in the dark stuff’ that Master Splinter taught us!”

“Wow. And apparently this is the world that we live in.” Leo mused incredulously as he draped his arms over the rungs of the ladder he hung on. “Where Mikey is the one who paid attention to what I was saying.”

“I…” Donnie seemed at a loss for words. “But you... you…”

“Just kicked your shells.” Casey observed wryly.

“Well. I wouldn’t go that far.” Raph grumbled under his breath, sounding a little distant and thrown off balance.

“Do I need to get more kumquats, Raph?” Leo warned him dangerously, pointing in his brother’s direction through the ladder rungs. “I can get more kumquats.”

Raph huffed even as he quickly backed away from the ladder, bristled up and still trying to act tough. “Yeah, well, fuck you, Leo. This whole tantrum was stupid and dramatic and unnecessary and did I mention stupid?”

Rolling his eyes, Leo slid down and hopped off the ladder and walked over to the kitchen. He pulled a couple of dishcloths out of a drawer, flipped on the sink to soak them all, and turned to toss one of the wet washcloths to each of his citrus covered brothers.

They caught them, looking at him a little uncertainly.

Leaning back against the counter, he began to wipe down his own sticky scales, washing off the kumquat mess as he continued firmly but calmly. “Alright, now that all this nonsense is taken care of, there’s a lot to get done. Karai, April, Casey? My apologies for the messy state of the lair. We’ll get the table cleaned off and some coffee going for you, and then we can have a proper war meeting while my brothers and I clean up the mess we made.”

“The mess we made?” Donnie raised an eyeridge skeptically. “Leo, you were throwing the kumquats at us!”

“You guys did kind of deserve it.” Leo huffed as if it were obvious.

“We kinda did.” Mikey agreed, happily eating a half crushed kumquat, his washcloth draped over his head like a hat.

Karai sighed happily. “Oh gods did we miss you Leo.” 

Raph gave a long, long-suffering sigh out of his nose, uncrossed his arms, and went to fetch the mops and a bucket out of the closet.

“And that’s all we’ve heard from them.” April finished summarizing the details of their encounters with the NeoFoot to Leo, sitting at the newly cleaned off table with the other two humans and sipping on a mug of coffee. “They just showed up outside our workplaces, delivered the message, and left. They haven’t shown any sign of aggression so far, but, still, we’re fairly certain that it’s a trap.”

Leo frowned, thinking as he sat on the floor and wiped down the sides of the counter with a wet rag. “I’m... not so sure about that. About it being a trap, I mean.”

“Leo, you can’t actually think that they’re serious.” Karai sounded doubtful. "There's no way they're actually planning an actual 'peace talk'."

“The NeoFoot are ruthless, true, but they’ve always shown themselves to strictly hold themselves to a form of honor code, as twisted as it may be.” Leo shrugged. “To promise a peaceful meeting, only to turn around and break their word seems… dishonorable and cowardly, to put it bluntly. Such a disgraceful misuse of their word of honor would go against their personal moral codes, and doesn't seem something that they would normally resort to.” Leo slowed down his scrubbing as he thought, then turned, dipped the rag in the bucket of water, and resumed scrubbing. “Plus, back when we overheard them in the alleyway, they made it very clear that their 'Master' wanted us not only alive, but completely unharmed. Um…. Is this area clean, or did I miss a spot?” He gave an unsure sniff. He didn’t smell any citrus anymore on this particular counter area, but he wanted to make sure.

“There’s still a little spot up under the counter ledge, near the corner to your left.” Karai offered helpfully.

“Ah. Thanks.” He reached up to scrub at what he hoped was the spot she was talking about.

“Leo, you haven’t met this new Tengu Shredder.” Donnie’s voice was serious, the sounds of swishing water letting Leo know that he was over helping Raph mop the floors, walls, and, in some cases, the ceiling. “He’s a depraved monster who only cares about winning at any cost. There’s no honor there anymore. He would most definitely stoop so low as to dishonor the rules of parlay.”

“So you guys keep telling me.” Leo gave the area another scrub and then ran his hand over the damp surface, satisfied when he didn’t feel or smell any more stickiness. He picked up the bucket to move over to a new spot. “But something about this doesn’t make sense, and it’s bugging me.”

As he settled back down to continue cleaning, his left hand, the one not holding the wash rag, shot up and caught the kumquat sailing through the air at him before it could hit him on the head.

“That’s so cool!” Mikey’s voice whispered with awe and delight from the second floor balcony.

“Mikey, like I said, you have one hour to get that out of your system.” Leo huffed, turning to toss the kumquat into the nearby pail, which was filled with an already impressive pile of battered fruit pieces. “Then the whole ‘Throwing things at Leo’ is going on the List.”

“Dude, you have magic ninja senses!” Mikey said giddily. “How can I not throw things at you?! It’s awesome!”

“I’m just saying, one hour.” Leo warned him darkly. “Then there will be consequences.” He shook his head, dunking his cloth in the warm, soapy water and going back to scrubbing as he continued his train of thought from earlier. “The NeoFoot are acting strangely. Something happened between my last encounter with them back in the jungle, and here. They’re not as confident, not as sure. I think something happened with the Shredder. Back when we overheard them in the alleyway, they made it sound as if they don’t know where he is? I don’t know. It’s weird.”

“They did?” There was a soft clink of porcelain as April set her cup down on the table, her aura shifting slightly, intrigued by this unexpected twist of events. 

“We haven’t had any word or sightings of the Shredder.” Karai realized, her chair creaking slightly as she sat back. “Only the NeoFoot.”

"He was an experimental construction, with only sparse and rather shady scientific protocols followed in his creation." Donnie mused. "Perhaps they lost control of him?"

"Well that's comforting." Casey said sarcastically. "Like every bad science fiction movie."

“Or maybe he’s off somewhere, having a tantrum or something.” Raph grunted, still sounding a little sulky as he mopped. “He’s probably pissed he lost his chance at Leo, and is blaming his minions for his failure.”

“Possibly?” Leo shrugged. “Whether they lost control of him, or they now have to ‘redeem’ themselves to get back in his good graces, we don’t know.” Leo paused, and turned his sightless gaze towards his family, tilting his head slightly as he wondered out loud, “Heck, this Shredder isn’t actually Oroku Saki, but an entirely new person, with his own free will to choose his own path. Are we… are we certain that he’s one hundred percent evil? Maybe he realized that he didn’t have to be evil after all. Maybe he decided to, I don't know, join a hippie drum circle somewhere or something?”

Maybe, for once, the universe would give them a break, and decide to go down the peaceful tree hugging hippie route, instead of always defaulting to the insane evil ninja overlord option.

“Leo, he once burned down a pet store just because they were advertising pet turtles for sale.” Raph told him flatly.

“Oh.” Leo paused, slightly horrified. “Uh…?”

“Most of the animals were saved, thankfully.” April reassured him. “The firefighters did most of the saving, but your brothers did some rather impressive heroics behind the scenes.”

“Ah. Good. Okay.” Leo winced. “Ouch. Well then, I guess we can probably rule out the ‘He left the NeoFoot to advocate for World Peace’ theory. Definitely evil.”

Raph scoffed, and the sounds of his mopping gained a slightly more aggressive sloshing sound on the stone floor. “That’s what we’ve been trying to tell ya!”

"Well, one can always hope." Leo frowned as he continued his own scrubbing with his washcloth, dipping it again to rinse it off. “But that still leaves the fact that we still don't know what's going on. There’s too many unknowns here, and I don’t like it. We need more information, and there’s one way I know we can get it.”

“That meeting with the NeoFoot.” Karai apparently could see his reasoning.

Leo nodded. “Yeah. We can find out what they want, and what their plans are.”

“And if it’s a trap? If the Shredder ends up being there, I promise you, it’s not going to end in anything but a fight.” Raph growled, obviously not liking this plan at all. “And don’t start that whole ‘I’m a super blind ninja warrior’ crap again, Leo. I get it. But even… even if you can still fight… After everything we told you, you can’t honestly think that we can beat the freaking Tengu Shredder, Leo!”

“No. Not in a fair fight, we probably can’t.” Leo acknowledged calmly, much to his brothers’ surprise, if their auras pausing to stare at him was any indication. Then he gave them a sly, dangerous half grin. “But then again… Who ever said we were going to fight fair?”

There was a moment of silence as everybody stared at him, obviously not expecting that reply.

“You have a plan.” Karai mused, the chair she was sitting on creaking slightly as she sat back, obviously intrigued.

“I have a plan.” Leo nodded confidently.

He tossed the rag into the bucket and stood up, his face hardening in determination. His brothers needed to be reminded who they were. Who they all were. And, not going to lie, Leo was still in a fighting mood. This Tengu Shredder had hurt his brothers. He had destroyed their home. And there was going to be hell to pay.

“Guys, this is OUR home. Our city." Leo turned to them, letting the tone of his voice show just how pissed of he was. "We are the Hamato Clan, the sons and daughters of Hamato Yoshi, and the heroes of more adventures and victors of more battles than any other living creatures in the multiverse. We are the top of the food chain here. Not the NeoFoot. Not even the Shredder. They are the interlopers, the trespassers, the ones walking so boldly into the wolves’ den. And we are going to remind them quite plainly and in no unmistakable terms that these wolves know how to hunt. The NeoFoot are going to play by our rules now, and we’re playing to win.”

He felt everybody’s eyes on him as he spoke, sitting still as if absorbing his words.

“So here’s what’s going to happen.” He casually picked up a fairly whole kumquat lying on the counter, rolling it in his hand thoughtfully. “The NeoFoot will get their meeting that they're demanding. But it’s going to be on our terms. It's going to be where we say it’s going to be. They're not the ones in charge any more. We are. They’re going to go where we say they’re going to go, and jump when we say jump. And if this new Shredder tries anything, anything at all..." Leo popped the kumquat in his mouth and chewed the fruit thoughtfully for a moment. "Well, he might just find out that the sewers can be a very, VERY dangerous place.”

There was another long and this time somewhat hopeful moment as they all mulled this over.

Finally, Mikey spoke up, quiet but hopefully. “Can we incorporate the net taser cannons into this plan?”

“Sure. Why not?” Leo agreed amiably. “Maybe some sleeping gas too. That seems particularly effective.”

“That… was… an accident!” Donnie protested indignantly, obviously perturbed by the realization that this was probably going to be brought up for the rest of forever. But then he mulled over Leo's idea, and seemed intrigued by the possibilities. “But yes, I think I could set up a transportable gas dispenser system if needed. That’s actually rather ingenious. Especially if I create some sort of barriers to automatically deploy and seal off sections of the sewers and contain the gas field!”

Donnie absently started mopping again as he mentally started drawing mental blueprints and plotting several different devices that he could make to fit the scenarios running through his mind.

As their purple brother began calculating maniacally once more, meanwhile Raph was shifting from foot to foot, clinging to the mop handle as if using it to keep himself grounded. Finally, he spoke, his voice low. “You… you really think we can do this, Leo?”

Leo gave him a confident, cocky grin. “Raph, are you kidding? It’s us. I know we can do this.”

Raph’s aura twisted about with some sort of emotion that Leo couldn’t quite read.

“Oh for the sake of chocolate drizzled pizza.” he heard Mikey sigh, and then there was a light thump as his orange brother leapt off the second floor balcony and landed on cat-like feet. “Here Raphie, let me help you.”

“Wait! What?! Mikey!” Raph yelped as he was shoved towards Leo, and before he could figure out what was going on, Leo found himself wrapped up in orange arms and squished against his red brother.

Neither Leo nor Raph really knew how to respond to this, and both stood there stiffly, squished together by Mikey.

After an awkward second, Leo reached up and hesitantly patted Raph on the shoulder. “Hey. Raph.” he offered kindly. “Would you feel better if you got a chance to stab the Shredder?”

Raph was standing rigid, his arms stiff at his side with his fists tightly clenched. But then he sighed, and his head tipped forward to rest against Leo’s shoulder. “Yeah. Yeah, that actually sounds good.”

“We’ll try to work you stabbing the Shredder into our plan then.” Leo promised him.

Raph’s forehead didn’t leave Leo’s shoulder, but Leo could almost see the relieved and almost somewhat eager grin growing across his face. He cleared his throat. “Right. Looking forward to it.”

"Now hug!" Mikey encouraged them in a whisper as he squeezed them together.

Raph shook his head, gave a helpless chuckle, and then his arms crept up from his side to wrap around Leo and pull him tightly into a hug. A feeling of intense relief radiated off his aura, and his old fighting flames seemed to rekindle anew as he crushed Leo tighter.

“Holy Chalupa, I think we actually might be able to pull this off!” Donnie realized with a sense of wonderment, and he stepped over to join the hug, excitement starting to buzz through his aura. “Leo! I think we’re actually going to do this!”

“Hee!” Mikey beamed, and happily joined the hug.

Leo closed his eyes and grinned happily, squeezing his brothers back.

“Aw.” April gushed happily, sipping on her coffee. “This is so cute!”

And then, amidst the hug, Leo’s hand shot up and caught Mikey’s arm by the wrist, preventing the kumquat held therein from being squished down into the rim of his shell.

“So… cool…!” Mikey whispered in gleeful awe.

Chapter Text

Drip-Plop

Drip-Plop

Drip- Plop

The distant sound of water dripping off some long forgotten pipe somewhere off in the distance echoed through the ancient and abandoned labyrinth of tunnels. The distant wind above occasionally could be heard in low hums and moans, thrumming over unseen entrances. The cold cement floor underfoot, worn by age, was littered with decades of tiny pebbles and dust.

Cool, undisturbed air settled over the shadows and ghosts of tunnels long abandoned. By all accounts, the sewers all around them seemed to be old, empty, and lost to time under the lively city somewhere unseen above.

But Leo knew that quiet emptiness was just an illusion.

In those quiet shadows of the underground, there were dangerous wolves gathering and preparing at this very moment. This was their turf. Their natural habitat. Leo and his clan were in their element down here. And, down here in the manmade stone corridors half filled with sewage and ancient refuse, they were ready for the hunt that was soon to begin.

Standing near the entrance to the main control room, Leo exhaled slowly through his nose, centering himself. He had to show his brothers and clan that they were in charge. He couldn’t show any doubts or fears, not now, at this critical and tense moment. He closed his eyes and reached out with his senses, drawing on the reassurance of the strong and steadfast auras of his brothers around him, and trying to steel himself for whatever may happen.

If the NeoFoot wanted to cause trouble, then they were in for quite the surprise. Leo’s entire family could be very, very creative when they put their minds to it.

Leo tapped the com device on his head, and spoke quietly into the small plastic mic. “All right, everybody. We’re getting down to the final countdown until the scheduled ‘Peace Talk’ meeting is to take place.” As he spoke, he patiently held out his arm and allowed Donnie to fuss over fitting his latest gadget to his left wrist. “We’ve finished up with the pump station, and the traps have been set in the central cistern area. Are tunnels three and seven prepped and ready?”

“Affirmative.” Karai’s voice crackled through his headset piece. “The snares and nets were the last pieces that needed to be added, and my men finished that just a few minutes ago. Everything is set up and ready to deploy as needed, and my clan are waiting in their assigned places and are ready to take orders.”

“Good.” Leo nodded, confident in her assessment. Karai was a brilliant and ruthless leader, and her men were well trained ninjas. If needed, they could divide, isolate, and corner any NeoFoot if the meeting went sour and they were betrayed. “The NeoFoot should be arriving any minute, and we need to be ready to give them a proper welcome. Keep alert, but no hostile moves just yet. Remember, this is supposed to be a peace talk.”

“But, if they break that peace, then we get to break them. Right?” Casey’s voice sounded a little too eager.

“Of course.” Leo nodded in agreement. “But we will give them a chance to talk first.”

“It’s the Tengu Shredder, Leo.” Raph’s snort was dismissive. “It ain’t going to be a peaceful talk.”

“Well, in that case, all of our hard work here won’t go to waste, and they’re going to go through a hell of a lot of traps and ambushes. At the very least, they get to meet whatever elaborate contraption Casey and Mikey set up in the main hallway.” Karai pointed out. “And that, at least, should be interesting.”

“MwaheeHehehee!” Just the mention of the elaborate trap was enough to set Mikey, who was perched up on the cement lip of the sewer tunnel entrance slightly above his brothers, off into evil cackles once more.

“Hm. As much as I hope this won’t devolve into a fight, a tiny part of me hopes that they do try something, just so I’ll learn what the thing actually does.” Leo commented.

To be honest, Leo wasn’t entirely sure how that particular trap worked, but it apparently included several crates of spray cans, a lawnmower engine, some probably very illegal fireworks, and Leo was fairly certain he overheard ‘whoopi cushions’ being a vital ingredient to success. At any rate, Donnie said the science was good, and Casey and Mikey had been laughing evilly about it for hours while plotting it out, so Leo had hesitantly given it the green light. His only regret was that he wouldn’t be able to visually see the aftermath, because he was fairly certain it was going to be quite colorful and spectacular.

And hey, if all else failed, they still had the sleeping gas contingency plan.

“Leo, hold still and let me finish getting this fitted properly! It needs to be snug if it’s going to relay the signals properly.” Donnie’s hands were fussing over him, physically moving his arm this way and that as he checked the fit of the new communication device on his wrist carefully. “Now, is it comfortable? Nothing is too tight or pinching any scales?”

Leo carefully felt out the new device now strapped around his left wrist, noting the slight bumps and buttons he could feel in the broad bracelet-like cuff. “Yeah, the bracelet feels secure, and I don’t feel any sharp points or wires or poking my skin.”

Donnie seemed satisfied as his hand released Leo’s wrist, and Leo heard him turn to the other two brothers. “Raph, Mikey?”

“Yeah, ours are good.” Raph’s voice grunted as he was obviously the next to be inspected. .

“Hey! You don’t speak for me, Raph!” Mikey protested from his perch, but then seemed to shrug it off. It sounded to Leo like he was examining the new bangle on his wrist. “But yeah, Dee. Everything’s cool.”

“Right.” Donnie exhaled, and Leo guessed he turned to start strapping on his own cuff. “Now like I told you, these are just prototypes, but they should allow us to communicate silently with one another by giving slight and varied vibrations against our skin, instead of our old method of visual hand signals. We’ll be using a crude form of morse code today, but, in the future, we can adapt them to come up with a more complex code.” He apparently finished his final adjustments. “Alright. Everybody, let’s do a quick test. Leo, you go first.”

Leo nodded, felt out, and tapped the slightly textured button built into his Tactical Wrist Communication Device. He heard mumbled acknowledgements from his brothers letting him know they received each different signal. Then, when it was his turn a few seconds later, he felt slight pulses against his skin from different points underneath the bracelet in answer, giving him a way to differentiate who was ‘texting’ him. First came Donnie’s short, precise taps on one area of his wrist, then Raph’s deeper, long pulses in the center, and, finally, there was Mikey’s, off to the side. Leo rolled his eyes as his youngest brother finished off his signal with a few extra bursts of taps in a ‘Shave and a Haircut’ pattern but, of course, leaving off the last two notes just to be infuriating. After an impatiently waiting second, Donnie gave an annoyed huff and tapped twice to finish it properly. Mikey’s muffled cackles told them all that he knew EXACTLY what he was doing.

“Well done, Donnie.” Leo praised his brother, admiring the communication device lightly with his fingers. “These are amazing!”

“They weren’t that difficult to throw together at a moment’s notice.” Leo could almost see Donnie’s aura puff up a little, pleased. “Just wait until you see what I’ll come up with when I have the proper time.”

Mikey sounded thoughtful as he played with his newest piece of Donnie-Tech. “If you ask me, they need a bit more bling. I’m thinking of breaking out the ol’ Bedazzler when we get back to the lair.”

“Mikey, you’re not going to Bedazzle Donnie’s new communication bracelets.” Leo firmly informed his brother.

“Do we have to keep calling them ‘bracelets’?” Raph complained, obviously not enthused about the term. “It makes me feel like I’m dressing up for the prom or something.”

“Tactical Wrist Communication Devices then.” Donnie huffed.

“That’s too long and makes for a lousy acronym.” Mikey immediately disagreed. Leo felt a few thoughtful buzzes under the cuff as Mikey apparently played with the buttons absently. “Hm. So far all the names I can think up of have to do with buzzes and vibrations, and that sounds too dirty. This is a tough one.”

“Okay, emergency vote.” Raph said, immediately shifting next to Leo. “Mikey isn’t allowed to rename the Tactical Wrist Comm-whatevers.”

“Aw, Raph! That’s not fair!” Mikey whined. “I specifically said that I wasn’t going to name them anything dirty!”

“They’re here.” Karai’s voice came in low and deadly on the headset.

And woosh. Just like that, his brothers each went deadly still beside him, all light heartedness melting away instantly.

The smile immediately evaporated off of Leo’s face, and he straightened up, physically switching completely over to ‘Leader Mode’, trying to keep his heart rate calm and still. He was NOT going to lose his family this day, no matter what happened.

“How many?” Leo quietly murmured into his headset.

“The scouts report five elites and a large group of grunts, over twenty.” Karai informed him grimly, and then answered the unspoken question. “There’s no sign of the Shredder.”

Leo heard his brothers all give shaky little exhales of relief, though Raph quietly muttered tensely, “Doesn’t mean he isn’t waiting somewhere to ambush us.”

Leo felt a moment’s flicker of hesitation in their auras as they stood uncertainly behind him. He reached out to gently brush the nearest shell, and turned his head in their direction, flashing a confident, wolfish grin. That little bit of reassurance seemed to do it, and once more their auras flamed with dangerous determination as they turned towards the entrance to the room where the meeting was to take place. He could almost imagine his brothers’ eyes turning deadly white and serious.

The plans were set. The traps were laid. They were ready.

Even if the Tengu Shredder wasn’t out there, they were still facing a large force of highly trained and deadly ninjas. But even if they outnumbered, they were not outmatched. Not by a long shot.

If it was a meeting the NeoFoot wanted, then by all the kami, they’d better not try anything foolish, or it would be a meeting they’d never forget.

The room that they had chosen as the site of the ‘Peace Talks’ was a large, abandoned pump room. Leo crept onto one of the catwalks near the ceiling, crouching low in a corner. A red, purple, and orange aura settled down on the grate and railings around him protectively, each quiet as death.

Down below, among the looming and half rusted machinery and giant broken pipelines, he could sense Karai and Shini standing in the middle of the room, out in the open and ready to receive their ‘guests’. They were to be the front, the bait to test the waters and see if this really was an attempt at a peaceful talk, or just a ruse to draw out the turtles. It helped that there were also hidden Foot soldiers protectively waiting in the shadows of the machinery around them. Which was still a weird concept to find comforting.

And then the NeoFoot started filing in one by one, their auras cautiously walking in openly in a single file as their silent footfalls padded over the concrete floor. Leo could barely hear even a whisper of noise as they arrived, dangerous ninjas expertly trained, each one of them. But, nonetheless, he was able to keep track of them by their auras. The energy they were giving off seemed hesitant and on edge, but they didn’t seem overly aggressive, which was a good sign.

They lined up to stop in a neatly lined group together in front of Karai, and Leo narrowed his eyes as he mentally sorted through the mass of new auras. There were a lot more than he had expected to show up. A moment later, a quick signal from Donnie under his Tactical Communication Device on his wrist confirmed twenty seven grunts and five elites.

Hm. He carefully picked through the auras, but didn’t notice any that seemed out of place or particularly yokai-like among the group gathering down there. The way that his brothers all seemed to melt a little with relief also confirmed that suspicion.

So, the Tengu Shredder really wasn’t here then. The question was, why not? And where was he?

“Hamato Karai.” one of the NeoFoot Elite called out, his voice tinged with cool politeness. It sounded like he was trying to hide his disdain for the sake of diplomacy. Which made sense. The NeoFoot had rejected Karai as leader, and it must have galled them greatly to be forced to treat with her peacefully.

“Ginji Hakari-san.” Karai’s tone was just as coldly diplomatic.She obviously knew this particular rebel NeoFoot from before his defection, and Leo guessed from the slight frostiness of her tone that she wouldn’t have been particularly saddened to hear if he had been eaten by jungle cat or something in his time down in South America.

“It is no surprise to see the leader of our… splinter faction… here.” Hakari apparently had to pause and search for a polite term for the Foot members he considered traitors to the REAL Shredder’s memory. “But I assure you, we are not here to fight, and there will be no aggression on our behalf. Our only desire is to speak with the turtles. As we have sworn to April O’Neil earlier in our request, we have come in peace.”

“My brothers” Karai emphasized the word icily, “are also interested in peace, if that’s really what you’re after. But after all that your fanatical faction has put them through, you’ll understand if I’m just a little protective of them.”

“Of course.” the NeoFoot spokesperson said diplomatically, his aura and rustle of armor moving in a way that suggested a slight bow. “Such loyalty is completely understandable and admirable. But I give you my word of honor, we are oathbound not to harm the turtles, even at the cost of our own lives.”

“Hm. Good for you.” Karai didn’t sound impressed. “I can assure you, it would not go well for you otherwise.” Then she asked bluntly. “Where’s the Shredder?”

At that, the whole tone seemed to shift slightly, and an immediate uneasiness rippled through the NeoFoot soldiers.

“That is a matter of which we will speak to the turtles, and the turtles alone.” the spokesperson stated crisply, his voice terse and flat, as if that were a touchy subject. “We have come to negotiate with the Hamato Clan, and cannot speak of our business to any others, designated emissary or not. You’ll forgive my vagueness, but what we wish to discuss is for them alone.”

“You mean when they’re drawn out into the open and your ‘Master’ ambushes them?” Karai’s voice was clipped and tense.

“No.” There was no hesitation in the somewhat annoyed answer. “I swear upon my life and honor that there is no deceit here. We have met all demands so far, and wish to show the turtles that our desires for a peaceful meeting are sincere. There is much of great import that we must speak with them about. If they ask us to lay down our weapons, we shall do as they ask. Or, if there is some other test of good faith we must pass, then inform us of it so we can stop wasting everyone’s time and prove our sincerity. But time is of the essence, and we must speak with them. Privately.” The last remark was obviously directed at her. Whatever the NeoFoot wanted, Karai clearly wasn’t invited.

Well, that was just too bad.

“Karai stays.” Leo’s voice was steely and cold as it echoed from the shadows, and he stepped forward into view on a catwalk above, flanked by three bristling brothers. “She has our full trust, and anything you have to say, you can say in front of her.”

Leo had been hoping that their entrance would cause a bit of surprise. After all, that meant that their presence had been undetected and therefore unplanned for. He was, however, a little taken aback by just how intensely the auras of the NeoFoot spiked when they saw him and his brothers, each one of them freezing with shock on the spot.

“It’s Leonardo!” the lead NeoFoot whispered in surprise. “He made it all the way back here!”

“Yeah? And what of it?!” Raph’s form pushed past him roughly, his aura bristling protectively.

“We’re here now.” Donnie stepped forward on Leo’s otherside, also bristling tensely with Bo Staff out. “You said you wanted to talk. So talk. What do you want?”

It was clear that every single one of Leo’s family and allies in the room were tensed up and ready to fight. Mikey was perched on the pipes just above Leo’s head, his aura still with an uncharacteristic focus and obviously ready to pounce. Raph and Donnie were on either side of him like barely contained guard dogs. Karai had stepped back towards her troops, and from her aura, was dangerously waiting for the enemy to make even the slightest wrong move. Leo’s hand lowered slightly to hover near his belt, where he kept his smoke bomb, ready to react.

The NeoFoots’ response, however, surprised them all.

Leo was blind, of course, and couldn’t actually see what they were doing. But the way that their auras seemed to move as one , lurching forward, it almost seemed like they were…were…

Confused and needing confirmation, he leaned over to Donnie hesitantly, “Are… Are they… all bowing down?”

“Uh… Yes? Yes they are?” Donnie seemed to be as baffled as he was.

“Master Leonardo.” the head NeoFoot stated respectfully, apparently kneeling down in a submissive gesture before them. “We would pledge our loyalties to you.”

For a long moment, the only sounds that could be heard were the hums of nearby pump machines and the distant sound of water. Everybody seemed to just freeze and stare in dumbfounded silence.

Finally, Leo managed to stutter out somewhat lamely. “Ah… Um… What?”

To be frank, he had not been expecting this.

“Hamato Leonardo,”The NeoFoot remained kneeling respectfully. “We gave Oroku Saki, our former master, every chance to succeed. We followed him through every defeat, and even gave him a new body and a new soul to regain his honor with. But three times now we have followed Oroku Saki, and three times now you have struck him down. You have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are the worthier ninja master, and thus you have proven yourself. As our honor demands, our lives are now yours to command.”

There was another moment of confused silence.

“Wait. What?” Leo could only ask again, really really confused now.

“Thrice you have defeated our former master.” the NeoFoot repeated, thankfully either not noticing or too polite to comment on his befuddlement, and were instead still kneeling patiently. “You personally beheaded him at the end of his first feud, and you and your brothers banished him when we brought back from the pits of hell itself. Now, even in his greatest form, you still struck him down with your own hand and slew him in single combat. You have proven yourself the greater master, and we would serve you.”.

“Wait. Waitwaitwaitaminute. You killed the Tengu Shredder?!” Mikey’s voice was incredulous as he looked down from the pipes at his big brother below him. “Dude! When?! How?! And why didn’t you tell us, bro?!”

“But… I… I didn’t… ” Leo was absolutely baffled as he felt all three of his brothers turn to him in disbelief.

He ran his hand over his face as he racked his memories for answers. He had no idea what they were talking about! He hadn’t even met this new Tengu Shredder, much less killed him! In fact, as far as he knew, he had only fought one single NeoFoot on his entire journey back home! The one he had taken the swords off of while escaping back in his last encounter with them when he was surrounded in the jungle, just before his final escape into the cenote.

And that hadn’t been the Shredder! That had just been some NeoFoot elite in surprisingly elaborate heavy metal armor who spent way too much time talking once they thought they had Leo cornered, going on and on about how he was going to restore the Foot Clan’s honor and turn Leo and his brothers into turtle soup and… and…

“Oh!” Leo’s head snapped up, eyes widening with sudden realization. “Ooooh…” He then tapped his fingers together and swallowed hard guiltily. “Uh… Oops?”

“Oops? ‘Oops?!’” Raph echoed in disbelief, and Leo sensed his arms fly up in an outraged gesture. “Leo! How in the hell do you ‘oops’ the goddamn Shredder?!”

“Hey, I’m blind!” Leo snapped, pointing at his own face somewhat defensively. “I didn’t know he was the freaking Shredder! All I knew was that I was surrounded, and my best route of escape was through this one NeoFoot in armor who wouldn’t stop monologuing!”

“You took his own sword and beheaded him with it, a sword that you wield even now.” the Head NeoFoot confirmed. “It is obvious to all here that you have more than proved your worthiness, Master Leonardo.”

“But… I-I didn’t mean to…” Leo sputtered awkwardly.

He felt MIkey’s hand reach down and draw the sword strapped to his back hesitantly, examining it. “I mean, we figured that this sword probably once belonged to a NeoFoot Elite, but it’s actually the Shredder’s sword?! And you killed him with it?!”

“Apparently?!” Leo threw up his hands in disbelief.

Donnie sounded more and more panicked as he realized just what had happened. “Leo! You fought the Tengu Shredder ALONE! Why would you take a risk like that?!”

“I wouldn’t have attacked him like that if I knew that it was the freakin’ Shredder standing in front of me!” Leo tried to defend his stupidly dangerous actions. He felt pretty freaked out himself. “At the time, I thought he was dead!”

“But you’re always going on about ‘aura’ crap!” Raph protested, his voice cracking slightly from the stress. “Didn’t you notice that there was something strange about him?!”

“He was a NeoFoot who was talking about turning us into turtle soup!” Leo shot back tensely. “I didn’t think there needed to be any further explanation for the extra evil aura I was sensing at the time! My first thought definitely wouldn’t go to ‘Oh, hey! I bet this is a clone of Shredder inhabited by a demon spirit!”

“I knew you were good, Leo, but wow.” Even Karai seemed a little taken aback. “I’ve fought Tengu Shredder before, and he was… intense, to say the least. To take him down in seconds… That… that almost seems a little too easy.”

Leo rubbed the back of his head somewhat sheepishly. “Well, uh, in his defense, I think I caught him completely off guard. I don’t think he was expecting anybody to just attack him like that mid-speech, which is probably the only reason I was able to take him down so easily.”

“Yeah… People usually treat the Shredder like a boss level threat.” Mikey agreed, handing the sword back to Leo. “You completely ignored his hype, swiped the swords out of his hands before he realized what you were doing, and went straight for the kill like he was a nobody. In the millisecond before his head went flying, that had to be a major blow to his pride, dude.”

“I’m! Blind!” Leo reiterated once more defensively, taking the sword from him. “I wasn’t ignoring his ‘hype’, I literally couldn’t see that he was the Shredder!”

He fingered the sword, completely unsettled and wondering if he should just sheathe it, or gingerly set it down on the ground and back away. Now that he knew what it was and who it belonged to, he wasn’t sure if it was something he should keep or not.

The NeoFoot spokesperson cleared his throat, reminding Leo that oh yeah. That situation was still ongoing.

“Master?” the NeoFoot soldiers still hadn’t moved, all kneeling and waiting for his response.

“Yeah… About that.” Karai sounded both impressed with Leo, and, at the same time, suspicious of the NeoFoot’s motives. “So now you just decided to make Leo your new leader, after he unexpectedly took out your new and improved science project.Just like that. Even though each time before when Saki died, you remained stubbornly loyal to his memory and were willing to fracture the Foot Clan rather than serve a new master?”

“Might we remind you, Lady Karai, you disowned Master Oroku Saki and denied him as your father.” Another one of the NeoFoot elites to the side retorted just a little too crisply. “You therefore forfeited any rights to succeed him.”

The Head NeoFoot hissed at him, silencing him sharply, then hesitantly, still kneeling respectfully, began explaining. “After Mas- the Tengu Shredder’s… unexpected… death, yet again… There were some… internal debate about how to move forward. There was a division for some time, as there were some who thought that we should continue to try and bring Oroku Saki back once more. But I and my comrades here felt that he had been given enough chances.”

“He keeps getting his head chopped off!” another Neofoot added with a mutter under his breath.

“There was some… disagreement.” the Head NeoFoot said rather diplomatically, choosing his words carefully. “For some time, the true and honorable course to follow… was debated. But in the end, the loyal and true Foot members remain here before you, and it was agreed that our duty was to now follow the obvious proven and rightful leader of the Foot Clan. You, Master Leonardo.”

Leo thought this over for a moment. He remembered there being over twice this number of NeoFoot chasing him back in South America. And if this was now currently their entire force… And the NeoFoot’s tendency to equate debate with violence and death… Then there had probably been some pretty intense fighting. Huh. So that’s why it took them so long to follow him up here.

“So… Leo’s now your boss?” Mikey questioned, sounding intrigued now that the shock had worn off.

“Our very lives are his to command, and, in consequence, yours as well, beloved brothers of our Master.” The NeoFoot, if anything, seemed to bow lower to the ground respectfully. “We know that there will still be understandable and well deserved doubt and distrust, but I assure you, we will prove ourselves true and loyal to you at any cost. We are yours to command, and we await your judgment.”

There was a moment as all of them, Leo included, tried to process and come to terms with this unexpected twist of events and just what they meant.

“Well, I guess we’re not going to see Mikey and Casey’s invention in action after all.” Karai finally commented, sounding almost disappointed.

“And that’s how Leo accidentally became the leader of a cult!” Mikey threw up his hands as he finished his enthusiastic retelling.

There was a moment of stunned silence. “I… see...” Kirby O’Neil’s voice carefully observed over the speaker of Donnie’s computer where they were video chatting back in the Lair.

Leo sighed, fingering the bridge of his snout. “It’s… complicated.”

“Yes. It sounds… complicated.” April’s father sounded just as baffled as Leo felt. Then he seemed to think of something. “Wait. You didn’t bring the NeoFoot back to the lair with you, did you?!”

“What? No! There is no snowball in hell’s chance we’re letting them even get a whiff of the Lair’s location.” Raph huffed from off to the side. “Just because they say they’re loyal to Leo doesn’t mean we trust them. We ain’t stupid.”

“Right now, they’re all staying in a hotel that Karai has very generously offered to pay for.” Donnie explained from his seat next to Mikey. “They were apparently staying in some abandoned warehouse for the last few weeks, but since, through some bizarre twist of fate, Leo’s now feeling responsible for them, he wanted to make sure they were in comfortable beds with food and clean water.”

“Which is more than they deserve.” Raph muttered, sounding grumpy and a little off balance.

“Oh thank goodness.” Kirby’s voice exhaled with fatherly relief. “And they’re willing to do this peacefully? I know the NeoFoot weren’t exactly on good terms with our Foot Clan.”

“Well, they’re not entirely pleased to be working with Karai and her Foot soldiers, but they’re desperate enough to prove themselves to Leo that they’re willing to play nice for his sake.” Donnie commented dryly.

“Which is one of the reasons I’m calling you.” Leo said towards the direction of the camera with a sigh. “Mikey called them cult members, and it’s really not that far off the mark. It’s crazy! They only live to serve their ‘master’, aka me right now, and by proxy, my brothers, and have no thoughts for their own personal well being. The Shredder has them so brainwashed, they would actually stab themselves with their own blade without a moment’s hesitation if I asked them to. They’re obsessed with proving their honor and loyalty at any price! I’m afraid that one of these days, one of them might fling themselves from Queensboro because Raph told them to go jump off a bridge and they assumed he meant it literally.”

“Wait. That’s an option?” Raph perked up audibly.

“No, Raph. No it’s not.” Leo turned to warn him flatly, then turned back to his conversation with Kirby. “Anyways, I know you’re in California right now, but you’re a psychologist. Literally the only one we know. And I was hoping that you might know something about de-culting cult members? Or at least know somebody who could give some seriously needed therapy to thirty two fanatically obsessed ninjas?”

“Uhh…” By the tone of Kirby’s voice, he sounded a little hesitant and overwhelmed. “Maybe? I know of a few resources we could utilize, though explaining the situation is going to be tricky at the very least. Are you sure they’ll actually go along with it, though?”

Leo nodded, trusting that Kirby would see him. “Yes, I made it abundantly clear that attending therapy was a condition to moving forward. They all agreed. In fact, I’ll warn you, they might try to prove a little too eager just to show just how willing they are to do anything I ask.”

“Indeed.” Kirby still seemed to be mulling this over. “And what, might I ask, are your end goals here? Are you really going to lead the NeoFoot now, Leo? Or are you hoping to completely disway them from the ninja life completely? Because the latter might be a little more complicated to pull off.”

“Well, for now, I’d settle for them getting some sense of self-identity back, and able to make independent decisions for themselves.” Leo frowned. “Hopefully eventually they’ll all become more than faceless masked minions and tools for violent crimes, and instead become healthy and productive members of society once more. After that, if they want to stay at our sides and help us protect humanity and fight off future alien and/or multidimensional invaders, then we’ll welcome the assistance.”

“I personally voted for booting them all to live on a farm somewhere upstate for the rest of their lives, where we never have to deal with them again. But Leo is a buzzkill, and I was overruled.” Raph shared grumpily.

“Hey! I was all for it!” Mikey protested. “If only for the visual of the NeoFoot in straw hats and overalls driving tractors and tending to cornfields, all for the glory of Master Leo!”

“Guys, remember that a lot of the NeoFoot were once Hamato soldiers, before Oroku Saki turned on the clan, and they’ve been lied to, beaten, and brainwashed for years.” Leo reminded them disapprovingly. “We’ll treat them humanely. What they decide to do in the end is their own choice, perhaps for the first time in their lives.”

“Right.” Donnie agreed next to Leo. “We’ll trust in Mr. O’Neil for now. And this gives us the perfect opportunity to monitor them and keep tabs on their activities. And, if they decide to remain violent murderhobos even after Leo’s generous attempts to help them, then we’ll be in a good position to get proper authorities involved to deal with it.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that.” Leo leaned back in his chair.

“Alright.” Kirby heaved a sigh. “I’ll make a few calls, and get back to you. I am very glad to hear that you’re all okay, and that the Tengu Shredder is no longer a threat.” There was a moment’s pause. “And Leonardo? It’s… good to have you back.”

“Thanks.” Leo gave the screen a warm smile. “It’s good to be back.”

And as the phone call ended, Leo heard Donnie’s phone buzz and his purple brother shift in his chair to check it.

“Oh. Karai just texted me, and the NeoFoot are completely moved into the hotel rooms now.” Donnie’s voice said as Leo noted the sound of his tapping on a screen to reply. “The desk clerk is a little unsettled by them, and there was a minor misunderstanding on whether the exercise room could be used for sparring or not, but otherwise, they seem eager to prove themselves to be good guests.”

“Of course they’re eager and on what they think is their best behavior!” Mikey seemed to think this whole thing was kind of funny. “If they’re bad, it’ll dishonor their new master, and that would be unacceptable!”

“I’m not their ‘Master’, Mikey.” Leo huffed. “I’m just afraid that if I reject them outright, they’ll all fall on their swords or something due to the dishonor. This is just temporary until we can de-cultify them.”

“This is just so… messed up.” Raph pushed away from the wall he was leaning against and walked across the room towards them. “The NeoFoot are basically kissing Leo’s feet now. I feel like we’re stuck in some bizarre alternate timeline or something!”

“Well, there’s going to be some big changes coming up with the Shredder really gone this time, so everybody’s going to have to adapt a little.” Donnie mused.

“That’s something that’s just really weird to think about.” There was the sound of Mikey plopping across a chair’s back. “Shredhead is really gone. For good this time. He’s really dead.”

“Yeah, well, good riddance.” Raph huffed. “He was like a cockroach. Didn’t think we’d ever get rid of him.”

Leo shifted back in his chair and listened to his brothers moving and discussing the situation around him, and he couldn’t help but smile slightly.

He thought back to his time on the island, and the lessons that the Ancient One had taught him. Once upon a time, there had been three powerful clans of ninjutsu masters. For centuries, the fates of those three clans and all their people had wound together, sometimes in friendship, many times in tragic war. It was strange how they all came together in the end. Leo was the son of the Hamato Clan, a student of the Kuremachisu Clan, and, by some bizarre twist of fate, the new designated leader of the Foot Clan.

After all those centuries of jealousy and heartache and the land soaked in so much spilled blood and tears, where the clans had basically fought until they were all fractured and broken and near the edge of total collapse, could Leo do it? Could he finally heal the deep wounds and close the rift between them?

If this worked out, and the NeoFoot could be brought back from the brink that Shredder’s insanity had led them to, then Karai had indicated a willingness to join forces. To put aside the long history of war and hatred and conflict between the clans, and finally bring them together in a new era of peace.

He liked to think that the Ancient One would’ve approved.

“Hey Leo.” he felt Raph’s hand rest on his shoulder.

Leo tilted his head, giving his brother his attention. “Yes, Raphael?”

Raph tapped his shell lightly. Leo couldn’t see his face, but his aura seemed to be both tentative and eager. “Get your shell into the dojo?”

Leo raised an eyeridge.

Raph cleared his throat. “We have a few hours to kill before we have to meet up with the humans again. Just thought you’d might want to spar or something.”

“Heh. Raphie’s all curious now and wants to test your skills, but he doesn’t want to admit it out loud.” Mikey happily translated, already hopping off the chair and ready to follow them.

“Hey! Leo’s fighting style is probably different now, and we’re going to have to learn to work with it if we’re going to be fighting as a team and all that.” Raph pretended to protest.

“I have to admit, I’m wondering about that now myself.” Donnie stood up and stretched. “Are you up for it, Leo?”

“Of course!” Leo said happily, taking Raph’s offered hand and getting up out of the chair with a lopsided grin. “Just to warn you, I’m not going to go easy on any of you.”

“That’s alright with me.” Leo could almost hear the grin in Raph’s voice as his brother slapped him on the shell and walked with him towards the dojo. “Show us exactly what you can do, big brother.”

Leo couldn’t help the wide grin growing across his face.

Leo might be blind, yes, and his sightless world filled with darkness. But he had to admit, as he walked besides his brothers towards a future filled with more possibilities then ever before, the path ahead of them had never been filled with such light.

Absolute adorable doodles by Bhellion on Tumblr