Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Blue, you’re the leader now.”

Silence fell among the turtles until Leo broke it. “Nice joke, dad.”

“I’m serious.”

“What?” The snapping turtle asked quietly. He was trying to keep his anger under control, but it was still slipping. After their father announced that Leo would be the leader from now on, Raph had looked shocked for a moment. Then angry. Very angry. Then he simply looked… defeated.

“I could have phrased that differently.” Said Splinter as he cleared his throat.

“But why Leo!?” Donnie yelled. “He’s irresponsible, a dumb-dumb and he does NOT need anything else to inflate his ego, hashtag NOTCOOL.”

“And what’s wrong with Raph?” Mikey asked, trying to ask the more reasonable question.

“What I mean to say is that I want to allow Blue to grow as a leader.” Splinter answered. “This does not mean Red has done a bad job as a leader or reflects his ability to do so. But I noticed Blue’s potential and I want to nurture that potential.”

“Whoa! Whao! Hold up!” Leo interrupted. “I can’t be the leader! That’s Raph’s job! I’m the face man! The jokester! I can’t do it! I won’t do it!”

“You will. I will speak separately with each of you when we get home.”

OOO

It felt great being the leader!

What it didn’t feel great was having your brother turn against you for said position. Not really in the grand scheme of things, but Raph had become distant. Always went against his plans even though they worked most of the time.

Leo groaned as he walked down the busy marketplace in Hidden City, a futile attempt to clear his head. ‘Be the leader, he said! It will be fun, he said!’ Leo thought. ‘I feel lied to…’.

The worst part?

It’s only been a month.

His own home felt like a prison, suffocating in the negative energies directed to him. Donnie was mostly being petty that he wasn’t chosen to be the leader and Mikey didn’t know who to side with. Raph hadn’t taken kindly to their father naming him the new leader. Leo understood to a certain degree. He knew what it felt like not having a place in the family, being the outcast. He understood why Raph had reacted the way he did. It was like someone had stolen his very reason to live. Raph didn’t know that Leo knew, but the red-eared slider had seen him lose his temper when he trained alone. Most likely an attempt to not take it on his brothers. Especially him. At least his older brother instincts were working.

Leo’s leadership was mostly used on renovating their home at first. There had been a lot of work to do, but they got through it and minor details were left. Raph was quite helpful and not as cold as he had been at first. It was like things were slowly going back to normal.

That was until their father decided to send them on a, particularly difficult mission. A rhino and a warthog going by the names of Bebop and Rocksteady were terrorizing Hidden City. Leo directed Donnie to conduct a quick study of their weaknesses and strengths, Mikey was told to create a distraction while he and Raph went for the surprise attack.

It had worked flawlessly, and the mutants were apprehended.

While their father was proud, and Donnie and Mikey had congratulated him on his leadership performance, it certainly didn’t warm him up to Raph. No one wanted to address the elephant in the room, but at this point, everyone knew that Raph was jealous. Sad. Angry.

If Leo knew his brother at all, Raph was hurting on the inside.

He didn’t tell anyone where he was going. All he did was get up, make a portal to Hidden City and since then, he’s been walking around to clear his mind. He had not gotten any messages from anyone, so that meant they had not noticed his absence.

Someone bumped into his shoulder. “My apologies...” A female yokai, by the sound of it. Her cloak disguised her from Leo’s sight. All he could gather was that she barely reached his chest. Her figure disappeared in the crowd, as if by an act of magic.

He felt a sudden shiver run throughout his body. It was cold and uncomfortable.

He rubbed his right temple. The stress must be getting to him. Maybe it was time to get home.

OOO

One portal later and he was back at the entrance of the lair. He suddenly felt tired. He placed a hand over his chest and felt his heart beating fast like he had run a marathon. A cup of water might do him well.

As he ventured into the lair, he found Raph sitting on the skateboard ramp with an angry look on his face. Donnie and Mikey were there as well. Splinter was walking back and forth as if waiting for something. Or someone.

“Hey, guys! What’s going on here?”

“Leo!” Mikey exclaimed, relief pouring out from his words. “We were so worried!”

Leo arched an eyebrow. “I wasn’t gone that long! And you could’ve texted me!” He held up his phone, showing them, it still had a signal and more than held battery charge. “I had my swords, I could have been here in a second.”

“My son, I know you weren’t gone very long, but you could’ve told us where you were going. We simply got worried.” Said Splinter, with a disappointed frown, but he seemed relieved, nonetheless.

“And we did text you.” Raph spat at him while holding up his phone. “But you wouldn’t answer.”

Leo looked down at his phone again. “Strange…” He mumbled. “Donnie! Your tech is misbehaving!”

Donnie rolled his eyes. “I’ll look into it tomorrow. And my tech doesn’t misbehave!”

Raph stood up. “Donnie, your tech is fine.” He glared at Leo. “Someone just didn’t want to answer!”

“I didn’t get anything!” Leo groaned. “Maybe you didn’t have enough signal!”

“Where were you?” Raph demanded.

“I was simply taking a walk around Hidden City.” Leo stated. “I wanted to clear my head.”

Raph growled. “So, the role of the leader is way too stressful for you?”

Donnie groaned and Mikey looked down. Splinter sighed. “Red, that’s enough.” But Raph ignored him.

Leo glared. “Really? Do you want to make this about the leadership thing? I didn’t even want to be the leader!”

“Well, you certainly grew into it!” Raph mocked.

“You wanna do this now!? Fine!” Leo yelled back. “You be the leader; I certainly don’t give a flip about it!”

Mikey finally spoke up. “But Leo has done a good job so far. Raph, it’s not like we are replacing you.”

“Orange is right.” Said Splinter.

“Mikey, no one asked for your opinion.” Raph spat back.

Mikey gave him an incredulous look. “Excuse me!?”

Donnie glared. “Rude!”

Mikey glared. “Oh! It’s about to get Dr. Rude alright!” The youngest was about to step into the fight, but Donnie held him back.

“Hey! Your beef is with me, Raph!” Leo gained Raph’s attention back. “I don’t get why *cough*… I don’t get why you are behaving like this! *cough* *cough*!!!” Said Leo as a small coughing fit took over him.

“Quit the coughing act, Leo!” Raph accused.

Leo panted a little after the coughing fit, but he quickly forgot about it. “What is it that you want from me!? Why don’t you support me like the older brother you’ve always been?”

Raph’s eyes watered. “I feel like I’m cast aside and have no purpose and then you step in and take the role I have been performing since we got mutated! Why do you think I don’t support you no matter how good you are!?”

“I know how you feel, Raph! I never had a role, to begin with, but I never—”

“Never what, Leo!?”

“Raphael, that’s enough!” Splinter yelled but was again ignored.

“I never wanted you to feel this way!” Leo yelled.

Raph stomped his foot on the ground, creating a small crater. “Well, you have, oh fearless leader!” Raph mocked as he wiped away his tears.

“Raph, please stop!” Leo begged.

The snapping turtle let out angry tears. “I was better off with you being the talentless, pathetic, good for nothing brother, Lame-o-Nardo!!!”

Silence filled the lair.

Leo could almost hear his very soul, shattering like crystal.

“RAPHAEL!” Splinter yelled.

The snapping turtle glared at his father and suddenly felt remorse. Raph stared at Leo’s shocked face as tears slowly ran across his cheeks. Donnie and Mikey were equally shocked.

“Leo… I…”

“You’re right,” Leo said in a small voice. He bowed his head. “I am the lame brother, aren’t I?”

Raph felt like he was thrown into an ice-cold pool. “No, Nardo… That’s not what I—”

“—Not what you meant?” Leo finished, his body shaking from the uncontrollable sobs taking over him.

“Leo, I’m so—”

“Save it, Raphael…” Leo sobbed as he furiously dried away his nonstop tears. Leo never cries.

Raph could only stare as Leo ran to his room and closed the curtain shut behind him. Donnie growled at Raph. “Did you have to, Raph!?”

“I… I’m sorry! I wasn’t thinking!”

“That’s the problem!” Donnie yelled. “You weren’t thinking!”

Mikey gave his older brother a glare of disappointment. “You told him…” He took a deep breath. “You said…” He looked away. He could not muster the words. “You know exactly how Leo feels about his self-worth. You just had to use the proverbial knife to the shell, didn’t you?”

Raph sobbed. “I… I’m sorry, I just lost control and—”

Splinter held up a hand. “Raphael…” The three remaining sons gulped as it was a rare occurrence that their father used such a tone with one of them. “To the dojo. You will meditate on this and clear your mind. I will speak with you later and decide your punishment. As for Leonardo, we should let him be for the moment.” The former actor sighed. “Then you will come up with a well-thought apology. Understood?”

Raph looked down. “Yes, sensei…” He spoke in an uncharacteristic small voice. It did not fit him.

Mikey looked away. “I’m going to prepare dinner and I’ll bring something to Leo if that’s alright with you, dad.”

Splinter nodded. “Of course, my son.”

Donnie decided to follow Mikey into the kitchen. He forcefully bumped into Raph’s shoulder without saying a word. The snapping turtle stumbled a bit by the force but did not say anything. Couldn’t say anything. Without another word, he made his way into the dojo to meditate as per his father’s instructions.

Splinter took in the middle of the skate ramp, where the events had taken place. He sighed. He cast his sight upon Leo’s curtain and slowly made his way towards it. He slowly extended his hand towards the curtain and stopped at the sounds of muffled sobbing. He lowered his ears and looked away.

“Leonardo? May I come in, my son?”

Leo sobbed from behind the curtain. “No…” His voice trembled. “I just want to be alone for a while.”

“Of course, Blue.” Splinter gave a resigned sigh. His ears perked up at the sound of coughing. “My son?” He called out again. “Are you feeling well?”

“…That’s a dumb question.” Another cough followed.

Splinter winced. “Right… I meant your health.”

“…I’m fine.”

Splinter gave a sad glance to the curtain. “If you need anything…” The message was implied.

“I just… I’m just cold. I want to sleep.”

The rat gave one last sigh. “Of course. And Blue?” There was silence from the other side of the room. “I know I do not say it often, but I love you… and I’m proud of you.”

Leo sniffed; the sound of his bed covers shifting as he turned followed. “I’ll see you later…”

“Very well…” With one last glance at the curtain, Splinter left.

Inside the security and comfort of his room, Leo made himself a cocoon out of his bedsheets; an attempt to disappear from the rest of the world. He shifted uncomfortably as his joints ached a bit. He decided a bit of sleep would make him feel better.

Chapter Text

Raph was worried. He was really worried. As the big brother, he worried over almost anything, but this? This was serious. He may not be the leader anymore, which had been a blow to his ego, but he was still the big brother.

If he could still call himself like that.

He started to notice the day after his fight with Leo. His younger brother looked tired and pale when he went to get breakfast that morning. Raph brushed it off as a lack of sleep. He tried to meet his brother’s eyes, but the latter refused, opting instead to poke his breakfast with his fork and stare at it. He only ate half of it.

He also started to skip group training with them, deciding to train by himself when no one was looking. And every time Raph tried to talk to Leo and try to apologize, he was met with deafening silence and his younger brother slipped away from him like a bandit in the night. The last time he tried to talk to his brother almost ended in another argument.

“Leo, I want to apologize.”

Only silence greeted him.

“Leo?”

“… I don’t want an emotionless apology, Raph. You said what you had to say and made it very clear.” Leo quietly answered, not looking away from his Jupiter Jim comic, not that he was quite enjoying it anyways.

“It’s not emotionless—” Raph took a deep breath and exhaled. “Leo, I am trying to—I just want to—”

Leo finally put his comic away and stood up. “Look, Raph. Maybe we should give ourselves some time and you shouldn’t apologize just because dad told you to.”

“Leo, that’s not—”

Leo sighed and finally looked at Raph. The snapping turtle finally noticed the bags under his brother’s eyes. He shouldn’t notice them with the mask, right? They looked way too defined for his taste.

“Leo? Are you feeling alright? You look tired. You look sick, even!” Raph extended a hand to touch his brother’s forehead but was rejected.

Leo looked away. “Since when do you care? And I’m feeling fine, anyways.”

“Leo? I’m your big brother, I worry.”

Leo grabbed his comic and slowly walked away. “Donnie needs help tonight taking out a bank robbery from the Purple Dragons. I expect you to be ready.” He left.

Their relationship took a turn from awkwardness to Leo just plain avoiding him everywhere except on the occasional mission. In the week that followed, in the few missions they had, Leo had adopted a more mature take on his leadership role. Almost as if he had a wake-up call… or he was too tired for this shit. Either way, their missions were a success. But when they returned home, Leo simply went to his room and wouldn’t come out.

A week, Raph told himself. It’s been only a week since their fight and Leo seemed to do a complete change in his personality. No jokes, no snarky comments. Nothing.

“How can I get him to talk to me?” He looked up from his teacup. He, Donnie, and Mikey were in the kitchen for some teatime.

Donnie looked up from his tablet with a glare of his own. “Give him time.”

“It’s been a week. I think that’s a lot of time.”

“You excel on many things, but patience is not one of them, unfortunately.” Donnie sighed. “You did say a lot of hurtful things to him. Don’t expect him to simply come to you.”

Mikey took a sip from his cup and looked at Raph. “And Leo hides his feelings from us all the time. But that day? You tore him from the inside, Raph. You went straight for his insecurities. Anyone would try to avoid you after that.”

Raph looked down in shame. “I know. And I’m sorry about that. I tried to apologize, but he wouldn’t take it.”

Mikey shook his head. “You need to give him time, Raph. You may be sorry, but I assure you, Leo is replaying that fight in his head over and over again. It’s not easy for him. For any of us. Words have a lot of power in them, especially when you speak with emotion.”

Donnie placed his tablet on the table. “While I didn’t want Leo as a leader at the beginning, I can see why dad put him to lead. He’s very effective in the role. Not that you weren’t, but you must admit that some plans didn’t work, and you crumbled a lot under pressure.”

Raph looked down. “I guess you’re right.”

Mikey smiled at him. “We’re family, Raph. Leo will come around and when he does, you have to be ready to show him how sorry you are.”

OOO

The last two weeks since their fight, Leo hadn’t been eating properly. At first, he thought his brother was just not hungry, it happened to everybody. But then, he started to notice he was barely eating at all. Then the shivers came. Mikey was the one that pointed that out. All of a sudden, Leo started wearing hoodies and such because he claimed he was cold. By then, they were starting to get suspicious but decided to let it be just a bit more. His puns and jokes became less frequent and he was quieter, more tired. Splinter noticed this and demanded Blue be looked over, but Leo had insisted he was fine. He was just feeling a bit under the weather.

Then one night, Leo’s legs trembled, and he fell to the floor. April, who was in the lair at the time, ran to him. “Leo? What’s wrong?!”

Leo panted. “I’m fine, I just… lost balance, that’s all.”

April glared at him. “You are sick, Leo. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.” She pulled him close for a hug. Leo cuddled closer into her embrace, now realizing how much he had craved a hug in the last few weeks.

“Leo,” April said as she touched his forehead. “You have a fever.” She whispered to him.

“It’ll go away…” He mumbled.

“How long have you been feeling like this?”

Leo looked down. April sighed. “It’s since your fight with Raph, right?”

Leo nodded. “I think I had caught something before it happened, anyways. It’s not… It’s not because of the fight.”

At that moment, Donnie and Raph had walked into the living room. They gasped. “Leo!” They kneeled close to the pair. Donnie looked at his friend. “April, what happened?”

“He lost balance. He has a fever, Donnie. Leo’s not ok.” April answered.

“Alright, that’s it, Leo!” Donnie yelled as he pulled Leo up and dragged him into the med bay. “We are getting you a proper check up! Don’t fight me!”

In truth, Leo couldn’t fight his brother, even if he wanted to. He was too weak.

Raph went inside the med bay as Donnie checked Leo’s temperature and pulse. “How is he, Donnie?”

Donnie pulled up the thermometer and sighed. “His fever is way too high. Leo, you need to take off the hoodie. I need to check your body.”

“No…” The blue turtle groaned.

“Leo, come on!” Donnie yelled frustrated.

Raph placed a gentle hand on Donnie’s shoulder. “Relax, Don. I’ll help him.”

Leo flinched away from his touch. Raph yanked his hand away, a hurt look on his face. April gently pulled him back. “I’ll help him.” She gently tugged Leo’s hoodie. “Leo, raise your arms so I can help you out of it.”

Leo weakly raised his arms and April pulled the hoodie off. Raph and Donnie gasped. “Leo, what the…”

Leo’s body was covered in bruises. The blue turtle gently laughed it off. “Relax, guys. It’s from training!” He exclaimed. “It’s hard being the leader now.” He glared at Raph, who looked away.

“Leo… you haven’t been training with us this past two weeks,” Raph commented, his gaze looking down.

Donnie gently picked one arm to inspect it. “Whatever this is, Leo. You’ve got to stop.”

“I’m not self-inflicting them, Donnie…” He coughed. He attempted to stop, but the coughs just kept getting worse. After a whole minute of coughing, he finally stopped and panted. “Guys… I don’t feel so good…”

“We’ll help you, bro.” Raph gently rubbed Leo’s arm. “Right, Donnie?”

“Right. Leo, I’m going to get a blood sample and see if you have a virus or something. It should tell us what it is.” He gently took Leo’s arm again and inserted a needle to extract some blood.

April gently rubbed Leo’s back as Donnie took the blood sample and placed it in the machine.

“In the meantime, take this.” Donnie gave Leo a spoonful of medicine. “It should help with the fever at least.”

At the moment, Mikey had come inside the med bay and stood in shock at Leo’s body state. “What… what happened!?” He asked as he ran towards Leo and gently placed a hand on his forehead.

“Leo’s sick. But Donnie will find out what he has.” Said Raph. “Right, Donnie?”

Donnie sighed as he looked at the test results. “Raph. I don’t know.”

“What!?” Both Mikey, April, and Raph yelled, Leo simply stared.

Donnie scratched his head. “The results came back inconclusive, which leads me to believe that it's either a rare sickness or a yokai disease. I’m inclining myself to the second option because my machine has data on every disease recorded in human history and none of those showed up.”

“Then we should call Draxum to help us,” Mikey suggested as he started to pick up his phone.

“Good idea.”

As Mikey called Draxum, April pulled Donnie to the side. “Don, you don’t know?”

Donnie sighed. “His symptoms are similar to some human diseases, but it’s not one of those as far as I can tell.”

April nodded. “Then Draxum is the one to call.”

“I’m scared.” Donnie pressed his fist against his forehead. “I’m scared that I don’t know how to take care of him…”

April looked up. “Donnie, Leo will be alright.”

“No, April, you don’t get it!” Donnie sighed. “Whatever Leo has, is not something we have been exposed to. He doesn’t have the proper antibodies to deal with it nor we have the necessary medical equipment and what if—”

“No.” April pushed her index finger against Donnie’s lips. “Don’t talk about what-ifs. He’ll be ok.”

“But—”

April grabbed his hands. “He will be ok.” She assured him. Her thumb caressed Donnie’s right hand in much-wanted comfort. “He will be ok.” She repeated.

Donnie stared into her eyes. He looked at them for a moment before sighing. “I hope you’re right, April.”

April pulled him into a quick hug. “Relax, Donnie. Leo is a strong, stubborn mule. He’ll get through it.”

Donnie rested his cheek on her head. Instantly, the smell of her rose-scented shampoo hit his nostrils. He pulled away before his thoughts got elsewhere and not at the matter at hand. “Right. I just must let Draxum handle this one and trust what he has to say. Even if I still don’t like him that much.”

April laughed, but said nothing else.

“I spoke to Draxum!” Mikey announced. “He will be here as soon as he can get past Carol.” Mikey giggled. “Boy, that neighbor sure is persistent on him meeting his daughter.”

A violent cough made them turn heads towards the sick turtle. Leo coughed into a napkin he had and Raph rubbed hesitant circles on his shell. When the coughing fit finally stopped, Leo pulled the napkin away and stared at it.

“Oh my God, Leo, you’re coughing blood…” Stated Raph as he stared at the napkin with wide eyes.

Donnie was all over him instantly. “Leo, since when were you coughing blood? I want you to tell me the truth.”

Leo looked at his brother with half-open eyes. “Since now.”

Chapter Text

Draxum arrived shortly after Mikey called him. He quickly made his way into the med bay, where the turtles plus April and Splinter were waiting for him. “Where’s the sick one?” He asked.

The turtles parted and made way for the warring warrior scientist to take a look at Leo. He gently touched Leo’s forehead, then inspected the bruises. “How long has he been like this?”

“There were signs from at least two weeks ago, but today it took a turn for the worse.” Splinter answered, having been notified of the situation not long after Leo started coughing blood.

“I think I caught something in Hidden City…” Leo moaned.

Draxum merely nodded. “Raise your arms as high as you can.”

Leo gave him a weird look but did so anyway. He could barely raise his arms above his shoulders, panting as he did so. Draxum said nothing, but there was this weird worried look on his face that scared Raph. He instructed Leo to extend his arms forward, to which he examinate the mysterious bruises. He gently pushed on the most noticeable ones that made Leo wince in discomfort.

“How are your joints?” The yokai asked.

“Like a truck ran me over.” The red-eared slider answered.

“Does your chest hurt?”

Leo nodded.

“Tell me where.”

Leo pointed right to the middle of his plastron. “Right here.”

“I take it you’re having trouble with catching your breath and coughing blood?”

Leo nodded. Finally, the yokai stood up and picked up chalk from his pocket. Where had he gotten it, no one was not willing to ask. The yokai used the chalk to draw a short line on the floor, about six feet. He then turned to Leo and helped him stand. “I need you to try and walk the line as straight as you can. Red one, stand by to help him in case he falls.”

As Raph stood closer to Leo, the blue turtle turned to Draxum. “Why the line?”

“Just do it and then I’ll explain.”

Leo sighed and nodded. Draxum gently let the turtle take his first steps. At first, he had managed to stay on the line, but then he started to walk sideways and fell to his knees. He didn’t reach the end. “Leo!” Raph went and picked him up to place him back on the hospital bed.

Leo panted as he sat up and looked at Draxum. “What’s wrong with me?”

Draxum sighed and stood quiet for a moment before speaking. “What you have is a yokai disease that affects your soul. We call it Demoralization, or the detachment of souls.”

The turtles and Splinter frowned. “A disease that affects the soul? That’s unheard of.”

“It is unheard of, yes. But quite possible. It’s an illness of mystical nature. There have been rare cases of it affecting humans too. Usually, these are humans that are careless regarding the occult.” Draxum frowned at the purple turtle. “It’s not contagious, Donatello. Put the plague doctor mask down.”

Donnie sighed and threw away said plague doctor mask he was about to put on.

“What do we do, Draxum?” Mikey asked.

Draxum sighed. “For the moment, nothing.”

“Nothing!? You want us to sit by and watch our brother die because you say so!?” Donnie snapped.

“Calm down, purple!” Splinter commanded. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for his reasoning.”

“There is.” Said Draxum. “It works like this: when malicious mystical energy interacts with your soul directly, it wounds your connection with it, which makes you sick. Which is why we call it Demoralization. Whatever mystical energy interacted with Leonardo caused a rift between him and his soul. The soul is not something to be tempered with. Even I wouldn’t dare to with my past… more questionable… experiments.”

“Can we cure it?” April asked.

“There’s no cure for this illness, unfortunately. It would be too risky to try and find one. I had it when I was younger. I experimented with malicious mystic powers and it backfired on me, so it was mostly my fault.”

“How did you get through it?” Leo asked.

Draxum sighed. “By sheer force of will, you could say.” He tapped his chin. “…Or someone could have placed a curse on you. Who knows? Maybe you touched an artifact that had malicious mystical energy and affected you this way. Remember anything in particular?”

Leo shook his head.

“It worries me that someone might have done this on purpose.” Splinter commented. “We have made a few enemies in the last year.”

Draxum nodded. “I’ll research possible enemies with enough power to do it.”

“If someone caused this, could it be Hypno? He has some mystical powers.” Mikey provided.

Draxum shook his head. “Unlikely. The magician is skilled with what he has, but he lacks the raw power to tamper with a soul. You must be a very skilled yokai to do as such.”

“Like you?” Mikey asked with a hopeful look in his eyes. “You can help him!”

Draxum sighed. “As much as I am flattered, I am not as skilled.”

Mikey stared. “But you are pretty powerful!”

“With alchemy and other mystical powers, yes. Soul tampering? That is usually reserved for yokai with immense power, god-like even. Not to mention the precision it needs to even scratch the surface of a soul.”

“Oh…” Mikey looked down. “At least you know about the illness, that helps.”

Draxum gave him a reassuring smile.

“What should we do?” Raph asked.

“Leonardo’s soul will heal itself, but it will take time. Months even, granted that he does not interact with any more malicious energy. Unfortunately, there’s no medicine for this. I can get you some yokai medicine to ease the pain a bit but that’s as much as I can do.”

“But he won’t die, right?” Mikey asked.

“No, he won’t. IF he’s properly taken care of.”

There was a collective sigh of relief among the group.

“Make sure he gets lots of rest and eats well, even if he doesn’t want to. The rest will be well with time. The first weeks are usually the worst.”

“Wait!” Leo exclaimed. The others looked at him. “Pass me that bucket.” He pointed at an empty bucket on the ground.

Splinter passed his son the bucket before Leo put his head inside of it and vomited.

“Gross…” Donnie mumbled.

OOO

Raph couldn’t sleep that night. Nobody could have in fact; the pain his little brother was feeling was becoming unbearable. Raph stayed with him and tried to soothe his brother to sleep, but he couldn’t. His whimpers and pained cries echoed throughout the lair and it made Raph’s heartbreak at the sight.

“Raph…” Leo sobbed. “It hurts…”

“Ssshhhh….” Raph rubbed his thumb against Leo’s cheek. “It’s gonna be ok, little bro. Draxum will get that medicine by morning and then it will be a bit more tolerable, ok?”

Leo panted. “Why can’t he get it now?”

Raph sighed. “Because it’s a very complex medicine and very expensive too. He’s pulling in a lot of favors to find you a good amount for the next few weeks.”

Tears ran across Leo’s cheeks. “Raphie… make it stop…” He sobbed.

Raph’s eyes water. “I’m sorry, bro. I wish I could. I wish I could… I would take your place and wouldn’t think of it twice.” He placed a cold towel over Leo’s forehead to keep the fever in check.

“It feels like I’m on fire… It hurts…” The blue turtle whined.

Raph sobbed. “I’m sorry, Leo… I’m sorry I cannot help you.”

Leo would not stop whimpering and sobbing in pain until he finally fell asleep due to exhaustion three hours later. Raph never went to sleep. The thought of his little brother in pain perturbated him and the idea of asking for forgiveness was left aside so he could tend to him. Instead, he diligently kept watching over Leo with Splinter checking on them every twenty minutes.

OOO

During the following morning, Mikey had made sure to make a good breakfast for Leo that he could digest. It mostly a miso soup with a piece of warm bread and a boiled egg plus a glass of water. Not his greatest culinary achievement, but it was all that Leo could stomach at the moment without puking his guts out. He gently pulled the curtains of Leo’s bedroom and gently approached Raph, who was sitting on a chair next to Leo’s bed. The snapping turtle was resting his head on his hands. Mikey gently rubbed his shoulder. “Hey, Raph…”

Raph looked at his baby brother with drowsy eyes. “Hey…”

“I’ll take it from here. Your breakfast is on the table. This is for Leo.”

Raph sighed. “Then you’ll have to wait a while. He finally went to sleep about an hour ago.”

Mikey sighed. “Don’t worry, I won’t wake him, I’ll wait for him.”

Raph nodded and stood up. “Call us if you need anything.”

Mikey smiled. “Raph, I got this. You get some shut eye after breakfast, ok? And hey,” The box turtle grabbed Raph’s shoulder. “None of this is your fault. Leo was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. This had nothing to do with the fight.”

Raph simply nodded, not as convinced as Mikey would like to think, and left the room. Mikey took Raph’s place in the chair and placed the tray with Leo’s breakfast on the nightstand. He turned to look at Leo’s resting body. That wasn’t the story last night.

All he could think of was Leo’s pained screams echoing throughout their home. He had checked a few times on Raph last night, even bringing cold towels for Leo’s forehead. He even had offered to trade places with Raph, but he had declined. Probably for the better too. Mikey didn’t think he could have stood watching Leo suffer all night.

He waited a few hours; the miso soup had gone cold by the time Leo finally woke up.

“Hey, bro.” He quietly greeted as he placed a hand on Leo’s forehead, testing his fever. He was relieved to see that it had gone down a bit during the night. “I brought you breakfast.”

Leo stared at him with half-open eyes. “Not hungry…” He whispered.

“You have to eat, bro. Draxum said so.”

“Screw Draxum…” Mumbled Leo.

Mikey chuckled and shook his head. With a little effort, he helped Leo into a sitting position. The red-eared slider went into another coughing fit and quickly slapped a napkin over his mouth. Mikey watched with worry as Leo finally pulled away from the napkin, revealing droplets of blood. Leo panted. “My chest hurts…” He complained.

“I know, Lee.” The box turtle grabbed a trashcan and dropped the bloodied napkin inside. Then, he proceeded to grab the tray with food. He grabbed the miso soup first and took out a spoonful of it, directing it to Leo’s tired face. “Here. I’ll help you. It’s a bit cold by now, but it’s still delicious.”

OOO

Donnie took Mikey’s place around midday when Draxum had finally arrived at the lair with the precious medicine. A gallon of a glowing green liquid.

“One spoonful a day should do it. No more than that.” Instructed the yokai. “This is a concentrated version of the medicine, more than necessary could worsen his condition.”

“Understood.” Said Donnie as he took the medicine. “Every midday should be fine, right?”

“Yes, that should do it.” Agreed Draxum. “I say that you are in charge of administrating the medicine. Between you and me, I trust you more with this.”

“Will do.”

“Oh, and make sure he swallows the medicine. Because I’ll be honest, it’s taste is horrendous.”

Donnie nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he drinks it.” He arched an eyebrow. “But, just to clarify my scientific thirst, what’s in this medicine?”

Draxum winced. “You don’t want to know.”

Donnie sighed. “It goes against all medical protocol, but my brother needs it.”

He took the medicine back to Leo’s room, where Mikey was sitting by with an empty bowl of soup and some bits of chewed bread. Mikey turned his head to look at Donnie. “He drank the soup, but barely touched the bread. At least he ate the egg and drank water.”

Donnie nodded. “Ok. I’ll take it from here. I have the medicine.” He held it up.

“You have!? Great!” Mikey stood up from joy.

Leo groaned from his position, annoyed at the noise. Mikey winced. “Sorry, Leon.” He apologized.

Leo mumbled something incoherent. Donnie walked up to him and felt his forehead. “He still has a fever, but thankfully, not as bad as last night.” He turned to Mikey. “Can you help me sit him up?”

Mikey nodded and between them both, they helped the blue turtle into a sitting position. He panted just from the effort of sitting up and groaned in pain. “Dejame dormir…” He mumbled in Spanish. Donnie and Mikey looked at each other. “It means he wants us to let him sleep.” Donnie answered his baby brother’s unspoken question.

“Don’t worry, Leo. We have the medicine!” Mikey exclaimed. “You can sleep all you want after you take it, ok?”

Donnie nodded. “It’s just a spoonful and that’s it. No more medicine until tomorrow at midday.”

Leo nodded and slightly opened his mouth to accept the medicine. As soon as the glowing liquid made contact with his mouth, he made a disgusted face and tried to spit it out, but Mikey restrained him, and Donnie covered his mouth with his hand. “No, Leo. I know it probably tastes as someone died in it, but you’ve got to swallow it. It will do you good.” He half-expected his brother to make an inadequate joke about it.

Leo’s eyes watered but nodded and with the sheer strength of will, he swallowed the disgusting medicine. He coughed a few times and his brothers let him go. “That tasted terrible!”

“I know. I get you.” Said Donnie. The purple turtle turned to Mikey. “You go get some rest. I’ll stay with him.”

Mikey nodded walked away, taking the food tray with him.

Donnie helped his brother back to a resting position before sitting on the chair and placing a gentle hand on Leo’s forehead. “How are you feeling, Nardo?”

Leo glared at him and groaned. “Screw off…”

“Right, wrong question. Sorry. You look terrible.”

Leo tried to speak up but panted instead. He licked his lips and finally managed a sentence. “My insides hurt… and I’m cold…” He said as he weakly attempted to adjust his blue hoodie.

The inventor adjusted it for him, pulling the hood over his head. Donnie rubbed Leo’s hand. “I know, Leo. Why don’t you go to sleep? That will make it better.”

Leo nodded before closing his eyes and sleep quickly overtook him. Donnie grabbed the bed sheets and gently placed them over his brother for extra warmth. “Rest well, brother.”

OOO

When Donatello went inside Leonardo’s room, Draxum turned to find Lou Jitsu, or Splinter as he preferred to be called these days. He found him brooding over a bowl of ice cream in the quiet kitchen.

“You’re a pathetic excuse for a warrior.” Said Draxum.

Splinter glared at him. “Takes one to know one.”

“Touché.” At this point, their banters were more like greetings.

Draxum pulled a chair and sat in front of Splinter, much to the rat’s eternal irritation. “What do you want?” He asked as he ate another spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

“I want to know what happened between the brothers.”

Splinter stopped mid-bite and stared at Draxum. “How did you know about that?”

“Their body language, especially Leonardo and Raphael’s.” Draxum made a motion with his hand. “What happened? They seemed fine last time I saw them.”

Splinter sighed and put down his ice cream bowl. “I had made Blue the leader.”

Draxum nodded. “Yes, I remember. A good decision, I dare say.”

“You really think so?”

The goat man nodded. “I’ve noticed how cunning and sharp Leonardo can be, not to mention he outsmarted Big Mama and made it out alive.”

Splinter arched an eyebrow. “How did you know about Big Mama?”

“Michelangelo.”

“Oh…” Splinter looked away.

“I thought that was a great, if almost impossible achievement. I thought, if Leonardo could outsmart the smartest yokai in Hidden City, then that made him one of the sharpest out there.”

Splinter felt a great surge of pride for his son inside his chest.

“When Michelangelo told me about the change in leadership, I instantly understood your reasoning. It was the most logical decision.” Draxum mused. “Not that Raphael is a bad leader, but the turtles could benefit from a fresh perspective.”

Splinter sighed. “But it cost my sons their relationship.”

Draxum grabbed a clean spoon and the ice cream bowl and continued to eat Splinter’s ice cream. “How so?”

Splinter gave him a glare for stealing his ice cream bowl, but his appetite had long since gone. “Red became jealous and upset about the sudden change. I should have talked to him first and then announce my decision.” The rat sighed. “I wanted to nurture Blue’s abilities and I neglected my other son instead. It caused a rift between them until Red snapped. He said… things he shouldn’t have said. Went straight for Blue’s insecurities and broke his trust because of that. Now they are not on speaking terms and haven’t been since then.”

“All because of a leadership role?” Draxum asked as he put aside the now empty ice cream bowl.

“It’s more than that. Red believed that Blue was taking his place in the family.” Splinter cleared. “Red is sorry, but Blue won’t take it. I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen to me either.” Splinter placed his head on his hands. “It’s all my fault.”

“You’re right. It is your fault.” The yokai answered bluntly.

Splinter glared at the yokai. “You wouldn’t make it one day through counseling school.”

“Not interested either.” Draxum waved his hand. “But this I will tell you.” The yokai lowered his ears. “Just because you made a mistake doesn’t make you a bad father. I’ve seen how you love those boys and you love them fiercely. This is just a bump in the road. It will pass.”

Splinter stared. “That’s… extremely caring of you.”

Draxum rolled his eyes but continued. “I always knew the red one wasn’t leader material. He is not bad, but he cracks too soon under pressure and rushes into danger without a second thought. I’m sure he has come to realize this.”

Splinter nodded. “Yes, I talked with him. He now understands why I made the decision.”

“Good. I would hate to see this issue turn into something worse.”

Splinter looked down. “But Leonardo… I don’t understand. Why did he get this illness?”

Draxum sighed. “I will be honest with you, which is why I came to talk to you in the first place.”

The rat sat up straighter. “Draxum, what is it?”

The yokai sighed. “I didn’t tell the boys because I didn’t want to worry them. Especially Michelangelo, but…” He lowered his voice. “Based on Blue’s specific symptoms, I dare say, someone did meddle with his soul.”

Splinter gasped.

“All his symptoms are normal for this illness, except one.” Draxum held up a finger. “Coughing blood. If it had been just a malicious object or just a random coincidence, he wouldn’t be doing so. Coughing blood is the difference between that and someone that tried to meddle with his soul.”

Splinter frowned. “Why would someone do this to my son?”

“I don’t know. Many reasons, revenge against you or even the turtles themselves. Maybe against Leonardo in particular. There could be dozens of reasons.” Said Draxum. “But I will investigate and when I find this yokai, I will make them talk.”

Splinter glared at the table. “Then call me when you do. Because I would like to talk with them.” He looked at Draxum in the eye. “No one messes with my sons.”

Chapter Text

Splinter sighed as he entered Leonardo’s room and gently shook Raph’s shoulder. “My son, it is time for your mission.”

“But, dad—”

“No. I will stay here and take care of Leonardo.” Splinter nodded. “It’s been a week, my son. You three need to stretch your legs. Besides, April will be coming here and keep us company.” Splinter said with a smile.

Raph sighed. “If you say so, dad. But don’t hesitate to call us if something happens.”

“Nothing bad will happen, my son. Now go.”

Raph stood up and glanced at Leo’s sleeping form one last time before leaving the room altogether. Splinter took Raph’s place in the chair and stared at Leonardo. He was still wearing the blue hoodie to hide the bruising. His mask had been removed to avoid more discomfort. He slept in a fetal position as if at any moment he would be attacked. Splinter grabbed his son’s hand. He could still feel the tremors on the green skin.

“My son…” He caressed Leo’s cheek with his other hand. “You are a strong young man. You’ll get through this.”

Leo showed a bit of discomfort on his face, but it quickly went away. Splinter lowered his ears. “You’re in so much pain and I wish I could take it away. But I cannot.” He placed both hands over Leo’s trembling one. “It causes me heartache to see you like this.”

Leo just slept, occasionally showing discomfort on his face, sometimes pained expressions.

“I love you so much, my son. More than you will ever know.”

Leo slept, unaware of his father’s kind words.

OOO

When April O’Neil stepped inside the lair, it was all quiet.

If it had been any other day, she would have gone straight to Donnie’s lab, but today her attentions were required elsewhere. They were required with a sick friend and the rat that had become like a second father to her.

“I love you so much, my son. More than you will ever know.”

April quietly sighed, afraid that she was interrupting a private moment. She gave Splinter a few minutes before making herself known. “Hey, Splits.” She quietly greeted.

Splinter his head and smiled. “April! Come, sit with me.” He pulled another chair closer to him and April sat there.

“How is he doing?” April asked as she stared at Leo’s sleeping form.

“He’s been sleeping more since Draxum got him the medicine. He’s still in pain, but not as much it seems. His appetite, however, is nonexistent. His brothers have had to force him to eat at least a sandwich today. Which he threw up.”

“Poor Leo…” April mumbled. “But what I don’t understand is what mystical force meddled with his soul? I mean, as far as we know, we haven’t dealt with any dangerous mystical forces as of lately. The last time we dealt with something like that was with the Shredder. And Leo said he didn’t touch anything weird back in Hidden City.”

Splinter sighed. “I know. I know…” He repeated. “Draxum has his suspicions, but until he has something more concrete at hand, he will keep looking.” He answered, not wanting to tell April about his conversation with the yokai.

April sighed. “Has he eaten today?”

“Just soup and some crackers.” Splinter sighed. “I’m worried about him, April…”

“Me too, Splints.” April reached inside her backpack and pulled out three sandwiches. “I made an extra one for Leo in case he got hungry.” She handed it on to Splinter and the other was placed on the bed near Leo.

“My thanks, April.”

They ate their sandwiches in silence, save for the occasional pained grunt from Leo.

“The guys went on a mission, right?”

“Yes, I sent them on one. They needed to get out of the lair, and I wanted to take care of Leonardo today. They’ve been very diligent and careful with him.”

April sighed. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here sooner. My mom grounded me for staying out all night and I—”

“Hush, April. There is no need to apologize. I understand.”

April smiled at him. “Thanks.”

They both turned to look at Leo, who gave a sudden pained moan. The blue turtle slowly blinked his eyes and saw his father kneeling close to him. “My son, how are you feeling?”

Leo groaned. “Like cat poop…”

“Hey, Leo!” April greeted him.

Leo gave her a weak smile. “What a sight for sore eyes…” He gave her a wink before having a coughing fit. Splinter quickly stood up and grabbed a cup of water while April rubbed small circles on Leo’s back.

“April, please help me get to sit him up.”

As soon as Leo was in a sitting position, Splinter quickly offered him the cup of water. “Here, my son. Drink.”

Leo drank small sips from the cup, eventually drinking the whole contents. Splinter took the cup back and placed it on the nightstand. “Was that better?”

Leo could only nod.

April winced. “Dang, Leo. You look like you just ran a marathon!”

“Feels like it too…” He panted. He gently rubbed his arm. “Dad? Are you sure that medicine is working?”

“You have not awoken in the middle of the night with pain, my son. I’m confident that it is. Remember what Draxum said. This will take time to recover.”

Leo simply nodded. April grabbed the extra sandwich she made and offered it to him. “Here. I made this for you. And don’t go and tell me you’re not hungry, I will whoop your turtle butt if you don’t eat it.”

Rather than risk certain doom, Leo nodded and grabbed the sandwich. “Thanks, April…”

“You’re welcome, Blue.”

Leo ate his sandwich in silence and managed to eat most of it, to which April silently cheered. It wasn’t long before Leo had fallen asleep again. At least he had not puked his guts out. That’s what April called progress. The turtle had gained a bit more color to his face since the last time she saw him, but he still had a lingering fever. The pain was still there, and the coughing made itself known at irregular times.

“The bruising is not healing.” Splinter said.

“What? It isn’t?”

Splinter shook his head and gently lifted Leo’s left arm. He slowly rolled the hoodie sleeve to reveal the bruised arm. “This worries me. Draxum said it is a symptom of Demoralization, but…” He rolled down the sleeve and placed his son’s arm back onto the bed. “It’s like he’s fighting a constant battle and getting beat up every time.”

April placed a gentle hand on Splinter’s shoulder. “It’s ok to be worried. You’re his dad, and he’s lucky to have you. They all are! Leo is strong and has an iron will. He’ll get through this.”

Splinter could only nod, or else, let the tears fall. They sat there quietly, watching Leo’s chest gently rise and fall.

“About you and Purple…” Splinter started.

April gave him a wary glance. “What about us?”

“Are you two… you know… together?”

“What?” April asked, stunned by the question.

“It was an honest question!”

“No! No! No! I mean—" April slapped her forehead. “Splints, we’re just really good friends, that’s all!”

“I don’t mind, you know.” Splinter chuckled.

“I know! I know! I just! I mean! Ugh!” April buried her face in her hands. “Why are we having this conversation?”

“Because I am a worried father and as a father, I like to meddle with my children’s business.” Splinter laughed. “That also extends to their friends’ business.”

“Ugh…” April groaned. “I’m not gonna talk about this whole situation.”

Leo moaned in pain. “Would you two shut up? You’re giving me a headache…” He said as he rubbed his forehead.

“Sorry, Blue.”

“Sorry, Leon.”

Leo managed to smirk at April. “Just tell him how you feel…”

“I don’t--- UGH! How long have you been listening!?” She pointed an accusing finger at the sick turtle.

Splinter and Leo laughed for a short moment before Leo threw another coughing fit. Splinter placed a hand over his forehead. “Your fever is coming back. I’ll go get a cold towel. April, watch over him.”

April nodded as Splinter left the room. The girl glared at Leo. “I care for you and all, but one word of this conversation to your brothers and your disease will be the least of your worries.” She warned.

Leo smirked. “Is that a confession I hear?” He coughed.

“No—I… Look.” She sighed. “Donnie is my best friend and you guys are like my brothers. I don’t want to make it weird because of a silly crush.”

Leo decided to not say anything right away.

The night was mostly uneventful, with Leo sleeping most of the time and April and Splinter having some small talk of mundane things. Around midnight, Splinter said he was going to make some tea for the three of them, to which Leo, awake at the time, refused. Splinter still insisted on making three cups.

As soon as Splinter left, Leo looked at April with a small smirk. “When are you going to do it?”

“Do what?”

“Tell Donnie how much you love him.” He made small kisses to tease her but ended up coughing instead.

April smirked. “That’s what you get for daring to tease me.”

Leo gave her a small glare. “No regrets…” He pulled the covers further up his body and adjusted his hoodie. His teeth chattered from the cold. “But seriously, you have to do something about it.”

April groaned. “Leo, I told you already. I won’t.”

“Why?”

“He doesn’t like me back that way!”

“You don’t know that.” Said Leo.

“But I do,” April stated. “I rather have a friendship than pursue a romance that’s not meant to be.” She wiped away a tear.

Leo gave her a soft look. “Still a confession.” The turtle coughed again. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

April smiled at him. “You silly turtle…”

Leo smiled softly at his friend when his father came back with three cups of tea. He handed one to April and offered the other to Leo to which he finally accepted. His father helped him back into a sitting stance with gentle arms and gave him the cup. The cup brought a warmness that Leo had been craving for since he got sick. He took a sip while glancing at April. The girl was pensive as she stared down at her cup with a sad face. If she only knew, he thought as he remembered a similar conversation with his brother the other day.

Donnie stared in shock at his sick brother. "How long have you known?"

Leo shrugged. "A while, actually. I don't think the others have noticed. Dad will probably catch on soon if you keep dancing in circles around her." He panted a bit.

"Well, I'll keep waltzing around her until this stupid crush goes away."

“You have to confess to her, bro!”

Donnie looked down. “No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s none of your business, Nardo.”

“Donnie—”

“—I mean, why would I tell her!?”

“Don—”

“I’m just a mutant, Leo!” Donnie snapped. “That’s all I’ll ever be!” The softshell’s eyes watered. A rare moment of bare emotions coming from him. “I will rather be her best friend,” He mumbled in a small voice. “Then risk my heart getting broken. I will rather be able to see her every day than scare her away because of a crush. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I can’t see her…”

Leo’s eyes softened. “But it’s not just a crush anymore, isn’t it? It evolved.”

Donnie buried his face on Leo’s bedsheets. “I love her, Leo.” He confessed, his voice muffled by the sheets and his sobs. “You have no idea…” He sobbed.

Leo rubbed his brother’s shoulder. “I think I have a pretty good idea. But Don, trust me when I say that you have a chance with her.”

Donnie sniffled as he looked up. “You… you think so?”

“I know so.” Leo gave him a tired smile. “Take it from your twin!” He coughed a bit.

Donnie sat up straight. “Sorry…” He wiped his tears away. “Look at me, bailing my eyes out for romantic feelings while you are bedridden with a painful illness.”

“Bro, I don’t care. This is the best gossip I had in a while.”

Donnie glared. “I hate you, Nardo.” He gave a frustrated sigh. “Well, I might take up your suggestion…”

“Just do it, bro. I think you’ll be pretty surprised at the results.” He finished with a small cough.

Leo smiled at the memory as he drank his tea. He glanced at his father and caught his eye. Splinter arched an eyebrow in question as he glanced at April and then back at him. Leo shook his head. I’m trying to play cupid here… He mouthed and Splinter nodded in understanding before April finally looked up.

“So, I was thinking that when you get better, we could go to this new pizza place I found!” She smiled.

Leo smiled back. “That sounds *cough* … great.” He took a small sip from his cup.

Splinter smirked. “You mean all of us or just you and Purple? Mmhh?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

April spit her tea. Leo hadn’t laughed so hard since getting sick.

Chapter Text

Raph had decided, since Donnie was on Leo watch duty now, that he would get some fresh air. After telling his father, of course, he would be back before it was his turn to watch Leo. He just needed a friend to talk to. Who better than a friend that understood his issues with his anger and was always up for a fight?

“…And now Leo is currently in bed.” He finished telling his story to one Cassandra Jones, or Casey for short, as they ate some cheap ramen she brought. They ate on top of an apartment building.

“That’s rough.” Said Casey as she took another bite of her ramen. “You screwed up in the big brother department.”

Raph sent her a small glare. “Geez, thanks for the support, Casey.”

Casey laughed. “Hey, brothers do that all the time. They fight and say mean things to each other. Now, I’m not excusing you, because you were a big jerk.” She punched on the arm.

“Thank you for reminding me.” Said the turtle as he rubbed the now sore spot.

“But he needs time and now that he’s sick with this illness, he’ll need you more than ever. He’ll forgive you; you’ll see.” She said as she took another bite. “When can I come to visit? He owns me a new set of Uno cards for setting mine on fire. Sore loser…”

Raph smiled. “Anytime.” Then he frowned. “But Leo is in a bad shape and you’ll have to be ready to see that.”

Casey nodded, a nostalgic look on her face. “Pretty sure I’ve seen worse.”

They fell into a comfortable silence as they finished the rest of the instant ramen. The sounds of the city brought a comforting feeling to Raph.

“How’s the transition from Foot Recruit to normal teenage Casey Jones?”

Casey laughed at that. “Normal is overrated and I became friends with mutant turtles, a girl with more fight in her pinky than anyone I’ve met, a giant rat, and some weird yokai goat man. My life was never normal, to begin with.”

Raph laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. And by the way, thanks for listening to me.”

“Any time, big guy. Any time.”

OOO

Hueso sighed as he finally closed the restaurant. Another night without any of the turtles coming in to bother him. Which was worrisome, especially for Pepino. He hadn’t called, he hadn’t texted, and hadn’t even ordered a pizza!

The skeleton yokai debated with himself whether he should call him. “It has been over a month…”

Finally, he decided to grab his cellphone and called Pepino’s phone number. After a few rings, it wasn’t the red-eared slider that answered.

“This is Donatello.”

Hueso arched a nonexistent eyebrow. “Hello, Purple. Is Pepino around?”

Donnie sighed from the other line. “He’s asleep. I can get him a message when he wakes up.”

Hueso hummed. “I just wanted to know if he was alright. I haven’t seen him in a month and, well, I found it very strange since he is always here bothering me.” He laughed. “Don’t tell him I miss him.”

Donnie gave a dry laugh followed by a tired sigh. “Hueso… He… Leo is sick. Very sick.”

Hueso frowned. “Sick? What does he have?”

“…Have you heard of a yokai illness called Demoralization?”

Hueso gasped. “Demoralization!? No! Not Pepino!” The skeleton covered his mouth. “How is he? Does he need anything?”

“Not much. We were told he needs lots of rest and to eat properly, but Hueso, doesn’t want anything. His appetite is nonexistent and he’s in pain all the time.” The turtle sighed. “He is taking a special medicine that Dra—I mean—a friend got him. It makes the pain more tolerable, but… He’s suffering.”

Hueso looked at his shoes with a sad gaze. “If I bring him a personal pizza, do you think he will eat it?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t tried giving him pizza because he throws up almost anything solid.”

Hueso tapped his chin in thought. “I’ll dig up my old recipe book. If I remember correctly, there should be a pizza there that he can stomach at least.”

“Thanks, Hueso. But I think he will be more thrilled on seeing you than getting a pizza.”

Hueso laughed. “Well. I’ll get to it then and arrive later tonight. Do keep my arrival a secret, si?”

“Will do, Hueso.”

With that, he hung up. Hueso made his way back to the kitchen. With his kitchen staff gone, he had the place to himself to work freely. He placed his hat on a table, grabbed his apron, and pulled an old recipe book from the top shelf. Skipping through the pages, he smiled when he found the recipe he was looking for.

He grabbed the ingredients necessary to make two pizzas: One regular pepperoni for the rest of the turtles and a small, personal-sized veggie pizza. Pepino will love it.

OOO

Raph returned home just half an hour earlier than anticipated. He walked into the main room where April was sitting on the skate ramp with Mikey as they scrolled down their phones.

“Hey, guys…”

“Hey!” April greeted.

Mikey looked up, smiled, and went back to his phone. Raph sighed. He had it coming, he thought. He realized he would have to ask for his other brothers’ forgiveness as well. “How’s Leo?” He asked instead.

Mikey, bless his soul, was the one that answered. “He is awake, but he’s mostly in and out of it. He had a bad coughing fit earlier. Donnie gave him his medicine.”

“And dad?”

“He went out.” Said April. “Something about helping Draxum get some information on Leo’s condition.”

Raph nodded, a little weirded out that his father will willingly go anywhere with Draxum. “Alright. I guess I’ll make myself a sandwich or something.”

“No need.” A new voice said.

April, Raph, and Mikey gasped and turned. Señor Hueso was standing at the entrance of the lair with two pizza boxes in his hand.

“Hueso!” Mikey gasped. “You’re here!”

Hueso chuckled. “Yes, Michelangelo. I came to see Pepino. Purple told me of his condition when I called.” He showed them the pizza. “I brought a pizza for all of you and a personal one for Pepino… if he can keep it down, that is.”

April smiled. “Come with us, Hueso. I’m pretty sure Leo was awake.” Hueso followed April and Mikey into Leo’s room with Raph following shortly after.

Donnie looked up, who was sitting next to Leo, smiled. “Hello, Hueso. Glad you could make it.” He slowly shook his sleeping brother awake. “He went to sleep a few minutes ago.”

Hueso stopped at the entrance when he saw Leo in such a state. It hurt his nonexistent heart. The blue turtle slowly opened his eyes and saw him. “Hueso…? Is that you?” He asked, his voice merely above a whisper.

Hueso smiled. “Hola, Pepino. And here I was wondering where you were all this time.”

Leo gave him a weak smile. “I knew you missed me.” He attempted to sit up, but a coughing fit held him down. He instantly brought a napkin to his mouth, coughing blood in it. When he was done, he threw the napkin into the trashcan by his bed. “Sorry…”

“Don’t be.” Said Hueso as he handed Mikey the big pizza box. “I brought you a veggie pizza. Just for you. I figured I would go with the healthier ingredients.”

“For me?”

“I also brought a larger pizza for the others, for I feared the orange one will attack you for it.”

On cue, the remaining three turtles plus April were digging through the larger pizza box. Leo smiled. “Hueso, you shouldn’t have…”

“But I wanted to. I’ll help you sit up.” Hueso helped him into a sitting position and then sat on the bed by his side. “Here you go, Pepino. Hopefully, you won’t throw it up.” He placed the smaller pizza box on Leo’s lap.

The turtle opened the box with shaky hands and was pleasantly surprised to find a smiley turtle face drawn on the pizza. It was his face, judging by the carrots bits that were supposed to be the red marking of his face. The rest was mostly gluten-free cheese with cucumbers and some bacon bites for flavor plus spinach to give the pizza a green shade. “Hello there, handsome…” He greeted the pizza.

“I know how full of yourself you can be, why not feed that ego?” Hueso said with a smirk.

Leo smirked back. “Hueso, you know me so well.” He took a slice and gave it a hesitant bite. “Mmm…” He moaned in delight. “Hueso, this pizza is so good…” He took another bite. “I hope I don’t throw it up in the bucket.” He spoke with his mouth full.

Hueso chuckled. “I’m glad you liked it, Pepino.”

The skeleton yokai watched as Leo happily munched on his pizza. He took a moment to take in the turtle’s appearance. He looked tired, there bags under his eyes, and the way his hands shook as he held the pizza was not a look that fitted the usually happy-go-lucky turtle. The turtle suddenly winced as soon as he had finished his first slice. Hueso gave him a concerned look. “Pepino?”

Leo rubbed his chest for a bit. “It’s nothing, Hueso. Just the regular chest pains.” Then he whispered. “But between you and I, nothing hurts me more than that whole situation over there.” He pointed.

Hueso followed his gaze to what Leo was pointing at, more like who. He only saw the other brothers plus the human girl enjoying the larger pizza and talking among themselves. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, Pepino.”

Leo rolled his eyes. “Look at Donnie.”

Hueso narrowed his eyes at the brother. He saw the softshell eating his pizza slice quietly as he stared lovingly at April, who was laughing alongside Mikey because of a bad joke. The yokai noticed the way the turtle’s eyes sparkled at her sight. Hueso knew that look very well. It was the look of desire, the look of a young man hopelessly in love.

“Ahh…” Said Hueso.

“I know, right?” Leo said as he grabbed another slice of pizza with shaky hands. “He thinks I don’t know… but I do know.”

“Does she…?” Hueso made a twirling motion with his hand, the message being clear.

Leo, without saying another word, took a bite from his second slice of pizza and nodded. He gave him a weak smirk. “They need serious help…”

“And why are you so intent on going through their business?”

Leo swallowed the last of his second pizza slice. “I’m Donnie’s brother and April is my friend, their business is my business.”

“I don’t think it works like that, Pepino.” The skeleton crossed his arms.

Leo winced as he rubbed his chest again, then his arms. “Ow… I think I’ll save the other two slices for later. Everything is starting to hurt again…”

Hueso gave him a concerned look. “Maybe I should leave so you can rest.”

“No! Don’t leave!” Leo exclaimed, but a coughing fit took over him. Suddenly, Raphael was all over him offering water and napkins. April, Mikey, and Donnie looked on with worry. Leo wiped his mouth with one of the napkins, removing some bloodied drool. “Sorry…”

Hueso waved a hand. “No, Pepino. Do not apologize. But I will be taking my leave.” The yokai stood up. “You need to rest, and I need to prepare the restaurant early tomorrow.”

Upon seeing the disappointment in the red-eared slider’s face, Hueso quickly added, “But I will return in a few days to visit you, how does that sound?”

Leo gave him a small smile. “I would really like that, Hueso…”

Donnie smiled at the skeleton. “Thank you for coming.”

Raph patted Hueso’s shoulder. “I’ll see you out.” The skeleton nodded and waved goodbye to Leo, who weakly waved back.

The yokai followed the snapping turtle to the exit. “Listen, thanks for coming, Hueso.” Said Raph. “I haven’t seen him smile that much since… well…” He rubbed the back of his head. “It’s been hard for him the past month. It did him a lot of good seeing a friend.”

Hueso nodded. “I know. I’ve known other yokai who had Demoralization. There are not many; Pepino is a true fighter.”

“But Dra—I mean—” Raph mentally slapped himself for almost revealing that they were in contact with one of the most wanted yokai in Hidden City. “-a -a friend of ours said he would heal! Sure, it could take months but—”

Hueso frantically waved his hands in from of him. “No, no, no, Tortuga! I meant that it’s a rare illness! I did not mean to imply otherwise. My apologies.” Said the skeleton. “But I do mean what I said about Pepino, he is a true fighter.”

Raph sighed in relief. “Yeah…”

Hueso placed a comforting hand over Raph’s shoulder. “He’ll pull through. You all will.”

The snapping turtle smiled. “Thanks, Hueso.” Raph scratched his arm. “Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Leo told us you have a brother and that guys always end up in nasty fights, but you always end up hugging it out. How… how do you do it?”

Hueso brought his fist up to his lips in thought. “Well… I don’t do much. Brothers will always fight. Usually, for me and my brother, we wait until the heat of the arguments dies down. It could take hours, it could take weeks, but just recently I learned that that’s how siblings are.”

“Yeah, but… if you said something hurtful to your brother and you tried to apologize but he won’t take it, when do you know it’s the right time to ask for forgiveness?” Raph asked. “I’m sorry, it’s just…”

“Do not worry, my friend. I get it. You had a nasty fight with one of your brothers, si?”

Raph nodded.

“Well,” Said Hueso. “You will have to wait, I guess. Every sibling relationship is different, and I honestly cannot tell you when it’s the right time to apologize, but…” He smiled. “Whatever happened, no matter what you said, you’re still brothers. You need to give it time.”

Raph smiled sadly. “Yeah, that’s what everyone has told me.”

Hueso gave the turtle a comforting pat on the arm. “Well, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you something else, but it's just how it is. Your brother will forgive you. You just have to wait.” Hueso glanced at his watch. “Well, I must leave. I have to get up early to prepare the restaurant.”

“Sure, Hueso. And thank you.” Raph shook Hueso’s hand.

“Don’t mention it. Just don’t expect free pizzas in the future.”

Raph chuckled. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Chapter Text

Donnie took a deep breath and exhaled. He was really going to do this? Yep, apparently, he was. He poked his head in the living and saw April sitting on a beanbag, scrolling down her phone. Donnie gave a small sigh as he stared at her with loving eyes. He bit his lip before finally mustering up the courage to go to her. “April?”

April looked up. “Hey, Donnie!”

“What are you doing?” Donnie asked casually.

“Oh, just looking at some new pizza place that opened across town. They have a renaissance setting and the reviews so far are amazing. Not to mention the view of Central Park and candlelight dinner…” April looked down to hide her blush. “Maybe we can… go together sometime…”

“Sure! I mean, I’ll have the perfect disguise!” Donnie said with a small smile and a blush. Did she just ask him out?

“Great! I was thinking that we could go after this whole… Leo-being-sick situation is over.” April commented.

“Yeah, true. My brother needs all the help he can get.” Donnie sighed.

April finally looked up. “Was there something you wanted to say?”

“Oh, right! I was wondering if you would like to practice our waltzing routine?” Donnie played with his wrist tablet just for show, to distract him from the nerves.

“Sure, let’s go.”

Both turtle and human walked back to Donnie’s lab. “Ladies first.” He stepped out of the way to April go first.

He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before walking in. April was already waiting for him with an old-fashioned radio, the one they used exclusively when they waltzed. The radio was found many years ago on a dumpster dive by Splinter, along with cassettes of waltzing music, and gave it to Donnie to fix. This was how Donnie first found his love for dancing, through waltz. He used to practice by himself before meeting April. But he soon found out that April was willing to learn how to waltz as well. It had been their own little thing since then.

Donnie popped in one of the cassettes and the music soon started. He vowed to April with a smirk, to which she replied with a bow of her own and a laugh. He gently pulled her close to him. He held her left hand in the air and her right hand rested on his shoulder. His left hand grabbed her by the wait, no lower than that.

And they started to dance.

“So, what’s worrying you?” April asked.

“What?”

“You never ask me to waltz with you unless there’s something on your mind, Dee. Now spit it.”

Donnie looked away. “Can’t I just have this dance with my best friend?”

April blushed a bit. “Sure thing, Dee…”

The music was slow. Donnie guided April across the lab with slow movements. He was always careful to not to touch her below her waist of too above it. April liked that about Donnie, among many other things. He was always a gentleman.

One, two, three…

Spin across the lab.

One, two, three…

“Truth is, I needed to have an outlet to let my stress go.” Donnie finally admitted.

April sighed. “I know, Donnie. This situation has been very hard on all of us.”

“I just…” Donnie twirled her body and wet back to the original position with April’s hand back on his shoulder. “It’s not just Leo that worries me. I mean, he comes first, but there are others that worry me.”

“Is there something else going on?” April inquired.

Donnie looked away. One, two, three… Left foot change… One, two, three… the dance went. “I have this friend… that has another friend that he likes very much.”

“Oh?”

“He loves her and would do anything for her. But they come from different worlds…” He spun her around slowly until he met her face again. “He wants to confess to her, but he’s afraid that he’ll be rejected.”

“Why would he be rejected? He sounds like a lovely guy!” April stared at Donnie’s eyes for a moment before looking down to hide a small blush. “Do I know him?”

Donnie gave her a soft smile. “Probably. He’s an unusual guy, quite smart too.”

One, two, three… Right foot change…

The lab’s led lights framed her features perfectly when she looked up. Her mocha skin seemed to glow, and Donnie could just kneel at her feet.

“Might have met him in Hidden City, then. Sunita probably knows him.”

“She does…” Donnie forced himself to not look away. “He cherishes this girl and would do anything for her.”

“That’s like saying he’ll do everything for her.”

“Exactly.”

“He should confess to her.” April finally stated.

Donnie was quiet, he merely slow danced with her. “It’s not that simple.”

April arched an eyebrow. “Why is that?”

“Because he’s a mutant living underneath the world she belongs. It’s a world that would never accept him for who he is,” He spun her around and finally, as the music came to an end, held her back underneath his frame, so she would not fall to the floor. “But he will always be there for her no matter what.”

April smiled. “She’s a lucky girl.”

Donnie smiled back and helped her up. “He’s actually the lucky one.” He blushed as April had yet to let go of his hands. “She’s the most amazing, brave, most beautiful girl in the world.” He found himself staring at April’s red lips. “But he doesn’t feel worthy of her.”

April glanced at his own lips. “Why would he feel like that?” She whispered.

“Because he rather prefers to keep her friendship than ruin it over a silly crush…” He leaned closer to her face; he was surprised to find that she was leaning in as well.

“Maybe this girl is the one that doesn’t feel worthy of him.”

“Why is that?” Donnie asked as he stared at her eyes, she was merely inches away from him. His greens cheeks sported a nice touch of red.

“Maybe she thinks she’s not worthy of someone as unique and as kind as him, even when he can be quite eccentric.” Said April as she stared back at his eyes. Her mocha skinned cheeks redden at the closeness. “Maybe she thinks she’s way too common for him. Maybe she prefers his friendship over a broken heart.”

“But why would she,” Said Donnie as he unconsciously pressed his forehead against hers. “When she means the world to him?” He mumbled. “When she alone can destroy the walls built around his heart…?” He whispered.

“Maybe it’s just a silly crush on both parts.” She whispered back, her lips just an inch closer to his.

“Maybe they are meant for each other…”

“…and they just don’t know it yet.”

They closed their eyes, their lips just one inch apart—

Then Donnie pulled back in shock and stared at April’s face with her closed eyes and her lips waiting for a kiss that was not coming. April opened her eyes and stared back. She quickly looked away in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, I—” She tried to apologize.

“No, April—"

“DONNIE! WHERE ARE YOU!?” Mikey yelled from somewhere in the lair. “Leo needs his gross medicine and you’re the only one he listens to!” He screamed in his Dr. Delicate Touch voice. “Get your turtle butt over here at once! DON’T MAKE ME GET YOU!!!”

Donnie and April both snapped back to their senses. After realizing how close they were, they quickly pulled away. “I—ugh—” The turtle tried to speak.

“Maybe we should—” April looked away; a heavy blush graced her cheeks.

“I should probably go.” Donnie said as he hesitantly let go of April’s hands. “April, I—"

“Right. You should go.” April pulled away her hands. “I’ll just be in the kitchen if you need me.” She said as she quickly walked away. She desperately tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall and show her true emotions.

“Wait, April!” Donnie held up a hand towards her direction until she finally left the lab. His hand fell to his sigh with a frustrated sigh.

He was so close…

Shelldon, as he came out of his charging station, flew to his creator’s side and whistled. “You messed up, Don. You hurt her feelings and now she’s gonna hate you for the rest of your miserable life. How do you feel, Don?” The drone few in front of the turtle’s face and glared at him. “Do you feel like trash?”

“Shut it, Shelldon.”

“Don’t hate me for telling the truth!”

“I should have programmed you with a softer personality.”

“Dude, she was going to kiss YOU.” Shelldon tapped Donnie’s chest. “—And you pulled away!”

“I freaked out, ok!?” Donnie glared at the drone. “I was fully expecting her to reject me, not to actually intent to kiss me!”

“Not an excuse.” The drone shook his head. “Now leave before Mikey decides to hunt you down for sport.”

“DONATELLO!!!” Mikey yelled again on cue. “I LEFT THE ROOM AND I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!”

“I’m coming! Geez!” Donnie yelled back.

OOO

April sniffed as she entered the kitchen without checking in if someone was there first. A big mistake on her part.

“April?”

April looked up with teary eyes and saw Mikey was already there about to prepare some lunch for himself and anyone who would want some. He must have arrived minutes ago, and Donnie must be with Leo now.

“Oh, hi Mikey.” April quickly wiped away her tears.

Mikey looked at her with concern. “You want some mac and cheese? I had a premade pot. I just got it heated up. Hopefully, Raph will eat half of it.” He chuckled. He didn’t wait for an answer from April before quickly serving two bowls of the delicious dish and handed one to her. “Sit with me.”

April smiled as she gratefully took the bowl and sat next to the youngest turtle. The mac and cheese looked quite delicious. “Thank you, Mike.”

“No problem. Now, Apes? You know you can talk to me, right?”

April simply nodded, not really trusting her voice. Mikey placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll be Dr. Positive for you. Now tell me, what’s wrong?”

April sighed. “You know when you really, really like someone and you want to show them how you feel… but by doing so you feel rejected and you messed it up?”

Mikey simply nodded.

“Well, that’s me. Typical April O’Neil.” She gave a dry laugh. “I just…” Her voice cracked. “I blew it up! Like every other job I get, I blew it!” Her sobs made her whole-body tremble.

“No, April!” Mikey embraced her immidiently. “Who is the idiot?”

April looked away.

“It’s Donnie, isn’t he?”

April looked up with shocked eyes. “How did you---?”

Mikey shrugged, but he still held her close. “It’s the way you look at him. I’m pretty sure even Warren Stone has noticed at this point.”

April groaned, but did not pull away from the embrace. “He sure hates me now.”

“Start from the beginning. I’ll listen.”

April sighed and finally pulled away from the embrace. “I tried to be subtle at first. I mentioned a nice pizza place close to central park. Really fancy too. I said we could both go after Leo’s better. He actually said yes, though, I am now starting to think he didn’t think it was a date.”

Mikey nodded and kept listening.

“He then asked me to waltz with him and he told me a story about this friend of his that wanted to confess to a girl he liked, and then things escalated and we almost kissed, but he pulled away at the last second and I—”

“Hold up!” Mikey held up his hand. “You two almost kissed!?”

April nodded. “It doesn’t matter now. He was probably freaked out about me.” She sniffed. “I’ve ruined everything.”

“April,” Mikey started. “You didn’t ruin anything. And if you ask me, I think the only reason Donnie asked you to dance with him and tell you that story was so he could confess to YOU.”

April stared back. “What?”

“You know Donnie is a mess when it comes to emotions. This was probably his attempt at telling you how he felt.”

April glared. Now she was upset AND angry. “Then why did he chicken out!?”

“I don’t know.” Mikey shrugged. “But that’s something you will have to talk with him about, like the big kids you are.”

April sighed. “Yeah, but not now. Now I’m mostly pissed at him.”

There was a sudden movement behind them and both Mikey and April turned around. Raph stood there as he quietly sipped his apple juice box. He looked back and forth from Mikey to April. He stared at them for a moment longer than necessary. “Is this about the Apritello thing?”

“You too, Raph!?” April groaned. “Wait… Apritello?” She glanced at Mikey, who gave her a nervous smile.

“It was dad’s idea.” He grinned nervously.

Then, as if summoned, Splinter entered the kitchen with an open can of soda. He stared at his sons and then at April. He smirked. “Sooooo… did you do it?”

April groaned.

OOO

“Come on, Nardo. You have to take this dose.” Donnie said as he held the spoon of medicine.

Leo groaned. “Fine…” He mumbled.

Donnie quickly slipped the spoon inside Leo’s mouth, to which the red-eared slider swallowed with remorse. “Puaj!” He made a face. “I rather eat dirt!”

Donnie chuckled. “Well, a teaspoon of productive soil generally contains between one hundred million and one billion bacteria. That is as much mass as two cows per acre. A ton of microscopic bacteria may be active in each acre of soil and not to mention—”

“—Yeah, no. I’m gonna stop you there, brother.” Said the sick turtle, followed by a cough. He slowly slid back inside the comfort of his bedsheets and carefully adjusted his hoodie. “Do you have anything for these bruises?”

Donnie arched an eyebrow. “The ones in your arms? Let me look at them.”

Leo extended an arm to him and Donnie rolled back the sleeve carefully. He inspected the bruises for a moment before sighing. “Truly these are not going away…” He mumbled. “I’ll be right back.”

The turtle took one minute before returning to his brother’s side with a tube of cream. “This is an arnica cream; it should help with the bruises. If not, I’m blackmailing Draxum into getting you some magical ointment of sorts.” He applied the cream on his brother’s arms and spread it gently, massaging the bruises along the way.

Leo gave a huge sigh of relief and closed his eyes. This was the most relaxed he had been in a while. “You should consider a career in massage therapy, Donnie, because you are good at it.” He mumbled.

Donnie smirked as he finished applying the cream and rolled down the sleeves. “I’ll see. At least it will be better than a career as a waltz dancer.” He frowned.

Leo arched an eyebrow. “What happened?”

“Nothing. Forget about it.” Donnie dismissed him, but Leo was nothing if not a persistent idiot.

“Donnie…” He warned him.

Donnie sighed. “I was close to say it, Nardo. I was so close to tell April how I feel about her.”

Leo smiled. “Did it work?”

“Nope.” He rested his elbow on his knee and his cheek on his hand. “We… we almost kissed.” Said Donnie. When he finally looked up at his twin, he found the biggest, shit-eating grin on his face. “Stop it, Nardo.” He warned.

Leo, however, did not stop. “I told you, you will be surprised at the results!” He gave a small cough at the end.

Donnie looked away. “I didn’t actually confess to her. I just… invited her to dance with me and I kind of just… went with it? I think I scared her away…” He buried his face on his hands. “I pulled away at the last second and now I am the biggest dumbass in the world.”

“No! Don’t say that!” Said Leo. “It might not have gone the way you wanted it to, but bro. You. Have. To. Talk. To. Her!” Leo clapped his hands at each pause.

“She walked away, Nardo. She doesn’t want to talk to me!”

“But was she leaning in for the kiss?”

Donnie nodded. “I was too surprised to see her… I’m a coward. And now she hates me.”

Leo sighed. “I know I may be a little weak for this, but… can you come closer? I have to tell you something. It’s a little secret.”

Donnie leaned closer to his brother.

Suddenly, Leo slapped him on the left cheek. The slap wasn’t as strong as it could have been, given his circumstances, but it got the message through. And it stung. “YOU are an imbecile, you know that!?” He coughed a bit after raising his voice.

Donnie rubbed his cheek. “For once, Nardo? I agree with you.”

Chapter Text

“Little turtle?”

Leo opened his eyes. He was not in his room but a dark grey place. He looked down at his hands, not that he could see much in the dark, but he still felt his hoodie comfortably over his body.

“I’m tired of waiting…” The feminine voice sounded angry. It sent shivers down his spine. “You’re a strong one, I must say…”

“Who are you?” He dared to ask.

Suddenly, a pair of floating eyes appeared in front of him. The sclera of the eyes was pitch black instead of white and the corneas were two glowing specks of orange. There were flames to each side of the eyes dancing in yellows, oranges, and reds. The eyes had little red markings over and under them, like his own.

Leo stepped back in fright. “…What are you?” His knees trembled.

The eyes did not hesitate to attack him, but the attack never came. Leo looked down at his chest and saw his Hamato symbol on his chest glowing a bright blue. The brightness seemed to repel the dark eyes away.

Then, he woke up.

Leo woke up shivering from the cold. He had glanced at his side. It must have been around two or three in the morning since Raph was passed out on the chair, lightly snoring. Leo sighed and laid his body back against the pillow. Thankfully, that was just a fever dream.

OOO

“You will act as guardians to the turtle.” Said Draxum as he stared down at the goyles.

“Yep!” Said Huginn.

“You got it, boss!” Said Muninn.

“Though, I don’t do vomit.” Huginn wondered out loud. “I’ll probably vomit myself.”

“Ugh, same, bro!” Exclaimed Muninn.

“Though I AM going to ask him about his moisturizing routine because Blue has some shiny skin!”

“I know, right!? Beauty goals, I’m telling you!”

“Silence,” Draxum commanded. He groaned before sighing.

He hadn’t seen Huginn and Muninn in a while, to be honest. It’s been a couple of months since he last saw them and just about a few days ago he stumbled upon them handing out resumes to a couple of mutant food vendors in the city. How had they not been trapped by humans yet, was beyond him. The goyles upon seeing Draxum, teared up and threw themselves into his arms, and hugged him. Draxum would be lying if he said that he didn’t hug them back. Now they were back to living with him at his apartment. He even got them a dog bed, it wasn’t as fancy as the one they had back in his lab, but the goyles were not complaining. He was even planning on getting them one of those cat towers when he had enough money to spare.

The goyles were eager to get to work on… whatever he said. Mostly, they helped him in the school kitchen, or they ran the errands he didn’t have time for like grocery shopping or getting something from Hidden City, since he was still a wanted yokai down there. So, for a reunion of just a few days ago, the goyles had settled back into his life as nothing had happened and for once, Draxum was grateful. But now he had a task for the goyles, which was to take care of the sick turtle, Leonardo.

“So, how long will you be gone?” Huginn asked.

“I will be working the afternoon shift today at the school and will stay for an employee meeting. The rat and the turtles have gotten a hint that the Foot Clan is on the loose again. They will be investigating and might take all day, probably well into the night. O’Neil has classes and has to work after school.” Explained the yokai as they approached the entrance to the sewer lair. “You must feed him simple foods that he can digest and make sure he eats a decent amount. Judging by the time, the medicine has been administrated already, so you do not have to worry about that.”

“Okey dokey!”

“No problem, boss!”

Draxum nodded and entered the lair. Donnie and Raph were sitting by the skateboard ramp getting ready to leave and Splinter noticed his entrance. “Draxum.” He greeted with a nod.

Draxum nodded back. “Rat.”

Splinter groaned. “You need to work on your greetings.” He mumbled.

Draxum rolled his eyes. “My goyles will serve as Leonardo’s caretakers for today.”

Huginn and Muninn flew up to the rat. “Hi! How are ya?”

“Sorry if we tried to kill you in the past. And kidnapped you. And mutated you. And tried to kill you again. But water under the bridge, am I right?”

Draxum rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Huginn, Muninn, not now.”

Splinter shrugged. “Yes, it is all in the past. Mostly.”

Huginn looked around. “So, where is the sick turtle?”

“Come with me.” The rat motioned them to follow him.

The goyles flew after the rat and behind a blue curtain. “Orange,” Splinter called the youngest turtle. Mikey looked up. “We will be leaving soon. The gargoyles will be taking care of Leonardo… against my better judgment.”

Mikey smiled at the goyles. “Great! I left all his food in the fridge, plus a little something for you guys! They are labeled. You only thing you have to do is reheat the foods in the microwave.” He stood up and gently shook Leo’s shoulder. “Hey, bro.” He greeted in a gentle voice. “Time to wake up.”

Leo groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. “Wha…”

Huginn and Muninn flew towards him and smiled. “Hey, Blue!” They greeted.

Leo stared at them for a moment before looking back at Splinter with a questioning look. Splinter shrugged. “Couldn’t get someone else at such a short notice.”

Leo slowly nodded and looked up at the goyles. “Hi.” He greeted back.

Huginn smiled. “We are gonna have a fun time, Blue! You’ll see!”

Leo smiled weakly. “I like fun…”

“Remember,” Draxum spoke to the goyles. “Any activities should remain passive. No sports or anything that could worsen his condition. Let him sleep if he must.”

Muninn made a dismissive sign. “Geez, Draxum. It’s like you’re forgetting who took care of you when you had the yokai flu a couple of years back.”

Huginn nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you were so feverish you had self-insert fanfiction hallucinations with the Moon Goddess—” Draxum pushed a finger against the goyle’s mouth to shut him up.

“I thought we agreed to never speak of that again.” The yokai said with a small blush.

Splinter and Mikey giggled until Draxum shut them up with a glare. Splinter cleared his throat before speaking up. “Right,” He turned to Mikey. “Let’s go, your brothers are waiting.”

“Wait up, dudes!”

The group looked up to see Shelldon fly into the room just in time before they left. “Donnie sent me to be an extra pair of eyes for Neon Leon!”

Huginn and Muninn had never seen a drone before. At least not one as self-aware as Shelldon was. They instantly flew up to him with stars in their eyes. “You’re magnificent!” Huginn complimented.

“Look at the paint job, man!” Muninn exclaimed. “Professional artwork!”

Shelldon beamed. “Made by the greatest turtle, Donatello!”

Mikey groaned and Splinter sighed. Leo smirked. Draxum rolled his eyes. “Yes, well, I must keep going or else I’ll be late.”

“Same.” Splinter nodded. He turned to Leo and cooped his cheek in his hand. “Blue, my son. We are leaving now. Be good for your caretakers today.”

Leo nodded as he slowly drifted back to sleep. Splinter adjusted his bedsheets and his hood. He gave the goyles and the drone a sad smile. “Today has not been a good day for him.”

Huginn smiled. “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of him.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Muninn asked.

Shelldon nodded. “I have all of you, including April, on speed dial.”

Splinter nodded. “Good. We’ll see you then.” He exited the room, followed by Draxum and later Mikey.

OOO

Splinter and Mikey got on the Turtle Tank and soon they were on their way. The group was silent among each other. Many things were lingering in their minds, mostly Leo’s condition. But Donatello had more worries clouding his mind.

A pair of red lips…

Beautiful eyes…

Her dark skin…

And Leo slapping him.

Donnie rubbed his cheek without thought. ‘For being bedridden, he knows how to slap the living shell out of someone…’ He thought. His brother was right, he was an imbecile. He stared out of the window and watched the people of New York walk by.

“Hey! Earth to Donnie!” Raph yelled at him.

Donnie stared back. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked how the Foot Clan activity is?”

“Oh.” Donnie simply said. He checked on his wrist touch screen. “They are taking over one of the paper stores across town and the electronics store right beside it. I’ll load the coordinates to the Battle Shell system, that way you can drive there without any troubles.” As soon as he had finished talking, he had sent the directions to the screen in front of Raph. Then, he resumed his window gazing.

Raph, Mikey, and Splinter glanced at each other. The rat cleared his throat. “My son, are you well?”

“I’m ok.” He simply answered.

They all sighed and continued with their search. They knew that when Donnie got into one of his moods, it was almost near impossible to talk to him about what bothered him. Splinter glanced at his son’s reflection in the window.

His eyes reflected a few tears falling.

OOO

The next two hours weren’t that eventful. They simply watched Leo sleep with the occasional pained groan. Huginn and Muninn sat at the edge of the bed while reading Leo’s Jupiter Jim comics. Shelldon flew in and out of the room, checking the perimeter and scanning Leo’s temperature every twenty minutes.

It was an awkward silence between the goyles and the drone.

“So…” Huginn stared, careful not to raise his voice. “Hey, drone. What was your name?”

“Shelldon.” He answered. “You?”

“I’m Huginn.”

“And I’m Muninn.”

Shelldon’s eyes widened. “Oh! Like Odin’s ravens?”

The goyles stared at each other. “The what?”

“You know, the human Norse myth?”

Huginn nodded. “We know a little about some human legends.”

“But mostly the Greek ones.” Muninn put down the comic book.

“Huginn and Muninn are said to be Odin’s raven spies and messengers across the worlds. They speak the human tongue and are among Odin’s most trusted.”

“Uhhh!!!” The gargoyles were amazed. Huginn shook Muninn’s shoulder. “We are named after super cool ravens!”

“But wait,” Muninn said. “Does that make Draxum our Odin?”

The goyles and the drone stared at each other before bursting out in laughter. A weak, fourth laugh joined them. They stared back at Leo, surprised to see him awake. The turtle gave them a weak smile. “Draxum wouldn’t want to be Odin. He was a shitty father…” Leo coughed. “And he was not the greatest guy around.” He grabbed a napkin from under his pillow and coughed blood into it before throwing it into the trash can beside his bed.

“Blue! You’re awake!” Muninn celebrated.

“How are you doing?” Huginn asked.

Leo sighed. “Everything hurts… can’t move much.”

“Oh, well. I think it’s time for you to eat something. Right, Shelldon?” Muninn asked.

“Right you are, dude!”

“I’ll get him something to eat!” Huginn declared as he flew out of the room.

Leo coughed. “Ow…” He moaned.

Muninn walked closer to him and adjusted his bedsheets on him. “Hey, you want to watch a movie?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, bro,” Shelldon stated. “He has to rest a lot.”

Leo sat up slowly and Muninn quickly placed a pillow behind him so the turtle could rest his body against the bed frame. “It’s fine, Shelldon. I want to see a movie.”

“But—” The drone started.

“I’ve been cooped here for two weeks and a half and all I’ve been doing is sleeping and eating and coughing and vomiting.” Leo sighed. “I want to see a movie. Even if I fall asleep during the first thirty minutes.”

Shelldon sighed. “Well, ok. But at the first sign that you are feeling unwell, I’m shutting it down, bruh!”

“It’s a deal,” Leo mumbled. “I just don’t want to go back to sleep…”

Shelldon tilted his head to the side. “Are you alright, bro?”

“Just tired…” The turtle answered. Leo was evading the question, Shelldon thought.

Huginn came back to the room with a bowl of chicken soup and two turkey sandwiches for him and Muninn. The goyles ate their sandwiches in record time, much to Shelldon’s surprise. Then, they proceeded to watch Leo eat his soup and make sure he ate it all.

“You know, I had an aunt who got demoralization a while back.” Muninn suddenly spoke.

Leo looked up from his bowl. “Really?”

“Yep. Some creepy statue collector wanted to keep her as one of those gargoyles you see on gothic churches. Some weird rabbit dude.” The goyle emitted a dry chuckle. “She is a total knockout for a goyle, a total babe. And since this guy had some sorcerer training, he cursed her with the illness.”

“But… you can’t die from demoralization, can you? Draxum said you can’t.”

“Nah, you don’t. It just makes you weak. But he wanted her weak enough to kill her. When gargoyles die, we turn to stone.”

Leo stared. “You mean to tell me that all those gargoyles in gothic churches are DEAD!?”

Shelldon gasped. “Shut up…”

Huginn laughed. “Nah, man! Very few are. The dead ones are mostly in French cathedrals, but the number doesn’t surpass a hundred. In France, at least.”

Muninn nodded and continued with his story. “Don’t worry. Almost all the gargoyles you’ll see are cheap imitation.”

Leo sighed in relief and placed his empty bowl on the nightstand. “That’s a relief. Hey, Muninn? About your aunt, how did she get through it?”

“Well, she was as sick as you, honestly. The collector found her once and attempted to kill her, but my auntie is nothing if not stubborn… ugh… I don’t want to say the word.” He scratched his head.

“Mule?” Huginn offered.

“Goat?” Leo offered.

“Bitch!”

The goyles and the turtle glared at the flying drone. Shelldon blushed. “Hehe… Sorry.”

Muninn sighed. “Yes, it was the last one. Anyways, she might have been sick, but she was still strong. So, she took all her strength and punched him right where the sun doesn’t shine!” He declared proudly.

Leo laughed quietly. “OK, that’s funny.”

“And later?” Huginn asked.

“She hit him so hard, he had to abandon his little mission and left for the nearest hospital in Hidden City. We never saw him again. What we did hear, though, was that he lost the family jewels for good.”

The group winced. “Some right hook she has…” Leo mumbled.

“She got better. It took two months of recovery time, but she was fine afterward. She claims she now has some immunity towards curses since someone else tried to curse her and failed, but I think that’s just exaggerating.”

They all laughed for a moment before it finally died down. Huginn noticed a small sigh escape the turtle before deciding to try and cheer him up.

“So, Blue. What movie do you want to watch?”

Leo hummed before speaking. “What kind of movies do you like?”

“We watch just about anything,” Huginn answered. “But my personal favorites are the early 2000s classics. Though we are still going through our list, we haven’t seen all of them yet.”

“Uh! Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone! I love that movie!” Muninn squealed. “Though, Draxum almost blew an artery when he saw the number of incorrect uses of magic in the film. He counted at least 745 incorrect uses in one movie alone.”

“Don’t tell him about the books yet.” Leo chuckled, as he glanced at his own HP collection. He made a mental note to hide those from Draxum.

“Oh, he knows about them. He bought all of them and used them for firewood replacement. We had to stop him before he placed a curse on the author for all the blasphemy to magic committed. Almost blew another artery. At least he enjoyed Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix. More or less…” Muninn shrugged. “Half-Blood Prince is next on the list.”

“I have a feeling he’ll like that one,” Shelldon commented as he brought Donnie’s laptop and placed it on Leo’s lap.

“How about Legally Blonde?” Huginn grinned. “Elle Woods is a queen.”

“How about a James Bond movie? I like Casino Royale.” Shelldon suggested.

“Didn’t Donnie forbid you from watching those kinds of movies?” Leo asked with a small smirk.

“What Donnie doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” Shelldon stated. “He isn’t’ my dad!”

“Yes, he is.” Leo grinned back. “Have you guys seen Mean Girls yet?”

The goyles and the drone looked at each other. “We haven’t.” They answered.

Leo gasped. He coughed a bit from the amount of air intake. “We’re watching that. No buts.”

“Can we watch The Notebook? It’s next on the list!”

“Put. The. MOVIE.” Huginn glared at Muninn.

“Alright, geez!” Muninn said as he searched on the laptop and upon finding the movie, he hit play. “But after this one, we’re watching The Notebook,” Muninn mumbled.

“The Devil Wears Prada is really good too!” Shelldon stated.

The goyles and Leo looked at the drone. Leo spoke. “Donnie forbade you of watching that movie after you started criticizing everyone’s fashion choices.”

“That’s—”

“You made Splinter cry. Like… ugly cry.”

Shelldon looked away. “I like that movie! And like I said, what Donnie doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.”

“Shelldon, Shelldon, Shelldon…” Leo grinned. “I invented that phrase.”

Shelldon rolled his eyes. “Just as long as you don’t snitch on me, we’re good.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Said Leo. “Hey, is it ok if you bring us some popcorn?”

Shelldon arched an eyebrow. “You want popcorn? That’s great news! You haven’t asked for anything specific in a while!”

Leo shrugged. “I just want a bit. Huginn and Muninn can eat the rest.”

OOO

“Leo…”

He was back in that horrid place. He stared fearfully at the black and orange eyes as they took a rather messy form of a larger shadow.

“Come to me…”

He ran away.

“Hey, turtle bro! Wake up!”

Leo gasped as he woke up and stared at Huginn and Muninn curled up next to him. The laptop had been abandoned a long time ago, he assumed. Maybe the movie was over and the goyles fell asleep next to him, judging by the darkness of the room. The only source of light was the one coming from outside his curtain.

“Where’s Shelldon?” He asked.

“Drone buddy is doing some perimeter check around the lair,” Muninn asked.

“You looked like you were having a nightmare,” Huginn commented.

Leo looked away.

Muninn smiled. “Hey, it’s ok if you don’t want to tell us. But it’s just a nightmare, it’s not real.” He snuggled close to Leo to give him somebody heat.

“Yeah, what Muninn said.” Said Huginn as he copied his friend and snuggled near Leo’s head. “Don’t worry, Blue. We’ll keep bad dreams away.”

“Yeah…” Muninn yawned. “We are guardians. It just works like that. Some mystic mumbo jumbo thing. Ask Draxum, we kept a lot of nightmares at bay. Now go to sleep. Nothing bad will happen.”

Leo smiled as he rested his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes, basking in a new wave of safety surrounding him. He dreamt pleasant dreams that night.

Chapter Text

Almost three weeks stuck in this stupid room. Great.

Leo glanced at his discarded comic book and sighed. He very much wanted to reach out and read it, but he didn’t have the energy to do so. He just felt so tired.

“Good morning, Leon!”

Leo looked up. “Hey, baby bro.” He managed to say. “Is it your turn to watch over poor little me?” He gave him a weak grin.

Mikey smiled. “Yep, Raph had to go to the bathroom before you woke up and since it was ten minutes before my turn, I told him I’ll take over.” Said the box turtle as he sat in the empty chair next to the bed and placed a food tray on the bedside table. “You know, I’m surprised you’re awake.”

“Me too…” Leo mumbled.

“Well, at least you get to eat a warm breakfast!” Mikey exclaimed. Leo smiled at his excitement. “Look! I got you waffles and bacon, plus some healthy orange juice.”

Leo made a face and groaned. “Mikey, I love it, but I—”

“—You have to eat, bro.” Mikey interrupted. “You don’t have to eat all of it, just what you can manage.” The youngest turtle laughed before giving his bedridden brother a glare. “Unless you want Dr. Delicate Touch to force feed you…”

Leo would be lying if he ever said his baby brother couldn’t be intimidating. “Alright, I’m up.” He coughed a bit before attempting to sit up.

“Here, let me—”

“No, Mikey! I… I want to do this myself.” Said Leo as he slowly forced his tired body to sit up. When he was finally up, he panted. “That was tiresome…”

Mikey gave him a sad smile. “You know, it’s not a sign of weakness if you let people help you, Leo.”

“I know, I just…” Leo sighed and absently rubbed his aching chest. “One day I’m doing stuff normally and the next day I’m bedridden because I got sick with some magical illness.” He glanced at the medicine gallon with the glowing green liquid sitting on the table. “And now I have to drink some gross medicine that I’m pretty sure something died in it.”

“But, hey, it’s doing its job and keeping most of the pain away, right?”

“Yeah, but it’s disgusting!” Leo exclaimed, raising his voice, but that only paid him with a small coughing fit.

“And it’s ok, you know? You’re our brother and we want to help you.”

Leo stared at Mikey’s eyes for a moment before looking down. “Sure…” He said in a small voice.

Mikey sat on the best beside Leo and hugged him carefully, not too tight for fear of hurting him. “We’re here for you, bro. We love you. And Remember what Gram-Gram said, Anatawa Hitorijanai.”

“You are not alone.” Leo whispered. He chuckled and hugged back his brother. “Thanks, Mikey.”

OOO

Due to Donnie being emotionally unavailable (Leo called bull crap on that one, he was sulking in his room over April, he knew his twin like the back of his shell), Splinter took over the afternoon shift.

“Blue, how are your shivers?”

Leo shrugged. “I still have them, but not as much.”

Splinter nodded. “And the bruises?”

Leo slowly raised his arm up and rolled back the sleeve. “Still there. Donnie tried to use a cream on me, and it worked for the first two days, but after that they started to appear again.”

The rat sighed. “Draxum told me they were normal; I must be honest with you. They freak me out.”

Leo sighed and leaned back against his pillow. “Sorry…”

“Don’t.” Splinter stated. “This was not your fault, my son.”

“I know, I just…” Leo looked away. He sighed. “I don’t want to be stuck here anymore and you guys have been looking after me nonstop.” He gently rubbed his arms. “Everything hurts and I feel pathetic and lame and—”

“Is this about Raphael?” Splinter interrupted.

Leo didn’t look up. “Maybe…” He whispered. “Just half of it. The other is that everything hurts all the time and I just…” He sobbed. “I just want it to stop!” He buried his face on his knees. “I just feel so weak!”

“My son…” Splinter sat next to him and gently rubbed Leo’s shell. “You are strong and resistant. This illness you have… I doubt many have the inner strength to hold on like you have.” He let his son rest his head on his lap and curl against him. “It may seem dark now, but you’ll get through this. As for Raphael,” The rat lowered his ears. “No one is forcing you to forgive him, but you’ll have to do it eventually. He’s your brother and you are his. True that he said mean things, but its better a wounded pride than a heart full of regret.”

Leo sobbed as he remembered what Raph had say that terrible day. “I was better off with you being the talentless, pathetic, good for nothing brother, Lame-o-Nardo!!!”

He closed his eyes. “It’s just… it’s hard to forgive something like that.”

“I know, my son. But that’s where people find real strength, in forgiving those that wronged us. Especially the ones we love.” Said Splinter. “Which reminds me, I must ask your forgiveness.”

Leo looked up. “For what? Eating my stash of Nutella?” He coughed a bit.

Splinter blushed. “Um… yes, that too. I meant for giving you the role of leadership so suddenly. I’m afraid I did not think that through and in turn hurt you and Raphael both. I put you two against each other. For that, I’m sorry.”

Leo looked down. “It’s ok. I understand why you did it.”

“My son…”

“You wanted me to see me grow.” Leo played with the hem of his father’s robe. “You wanted to give me chance.”

Splinter gave him a tiny smile. “I will tell you a little secret, alright? But you can’t tell your brothers.”

Leo looked up with a weak smile of his own. “I think people are telling me all their dirty secrets because I can’t move away to ignore them. And with that, I mean Donnie and April.”

The both laughed a bit before Splinter sighed. “Out of all your brothers, it is you who reminds me of my younger self the most.”

Leo looked up in surprise. “What?”

“Yes, I used to be just like you. I could be cocky with my abilities, always had something to say against my rivals and quite the charmer with the ladies!”

Leo smirked. “I’m flattered.”

Splinter shook his head with fondness, but it soon turned into a frown. “That attitude turned me away from my family and my destiny. Now, I’m not saying that what happened to me would happen to you.” He cleared out. “I saw that what you needed was for someone to believe in you. You showed me that in the Battle Nexus. I wanted to steer you into the right path, one where I knew that you would flourish and shine like I know you can do. I wanted to give you responsibility, a purpose.” He glanced at his son in his lap, who looked at him with wide eyes. “In the short amount of time you’ve been leader, you’ve proven to be more than capable of handling the job. You have abilities that I overlooked. I’m proud of you… champion.” The rat grinned.

Leo sobbed and buried his face in his father’s chest. “Thank you…” He sobbed.

OOO

To say that Raph felt nervous was an understatement. Every time he was taking over the night shift to watch over Leo, his brother was asleep and thus, could not strike a conversation with him. But tonight, he was fully awake, which made the atmosphere between them a bit awkward. Raph really wanted to talk to his brother, but Leo seemed to be quite invested in a Jupiter Jim comic book he probably read like a thousand times already.

“So… Donnie and April, eh?” Raph dared to glance at his brother.

Leo in turn didn’t look at him, but at least answered. “Yep. Donnie blew that up.”

“He’s really sad about it.” Raph commented.

Leo turned the page of his comic. “He was an imbecile. I get that he got freaked out, but April should talk to him.”

“She hasn’t answered his calls?”

Leo shook his head, but still did not look at him. “Nope. They’re both idiots. This is starting to feel like one of Hueso’s telenovelas.”

There was a pregnant pause between them before Raph continued. “Well, I think they are both in the wrong and in the right at the same time.”

Leo finally glanced at him. “Why?”

“Well, Donnie was stupid for brushing her aside that day. But in his defense, we’re turtles. If a human girl wanted to kiss me, I’d be freaking out too. As for April, she’s in the wrong because she’s shutting Donnie out, but in the right because she got hurt by his actions.”

Leo turned his attention back to his comic. “That’s a confusing way to put it, but I get your point.”

“Really?”

“No.”

“Oh…” Raph looked down.

“Just kidding, I get it.”

Raph smiled. He decided to just carefully watch Leo. He could see the small trembles his hands made and the shivers his body from the cold. He sighed. “Hey, um… Maybe you should rest.”

Leo looked up. “I’m not really tired.”

“Leo, I can see your eyes closing themselves.” Raph pointed out. “Go to sleep.”

“No.” Leo argued and continued reading his comic.

Raph frowned. He was glad his brother was awake, and he could talk to him, but he wouldn’t do that at the expense of his health. “Leo…” He said in a warning tone. “Go to sleep.”

“No!” Leo put down his comic. “Raph, I don’t want to go to sleep!”

Raph frowned. “Leo, you have to rest—”

“I rested enough, Raph! I just want to read a comic book, for shell’s sake!” The red-eared slider exclaimed. “I don’t want to sit in bed all day just sleeping and wasting away!”

Raph frowned. “Leo, this is for your own good. I understand how you feel, but—”

“No, you don’t.” Leo glared at him. “You get to do whatever you want all day long, you guys can go to any place you want without repercussions, but the one day I decide to take a day for myself and take a walk around Hidden City, is the day that apparently, something or someone cursed me to be become really ill. No, Raph. I believe you don’t understand.”

Raph glared back. “You think this isn’t hard for us!? We have to watch you twenty-four seven because you’re too sick to even go to the bathroom alone!”

“Well, I’m sorry!” Leo mocked. “I didn’t ask to be a burden!” He had a sudden coughing fit. His hands flew towards his mouth, discarding the comic book to the side.

“Leo?” Raph stood up and patted his brother’s shell, but he wouldn’t stop coughing. Then, there was blood. Lots of it. “Leo, look at me! Breathe, ok?” He carefully took his brother’s face in his hands. Leo looked at him with half closed eyes, but his breathing came in huffs and light coughs. But the blood… there was way too much for his comfort. Too much of it dripped from his mouth and stained Raph’s hands.

“Donnie, Dad, Mikey! Anyone in the lair! Come quick!!!” He yelled at the top of his lungs.

The snapping turtle held his brother gently. “Gosh, Leo. I’m sorry!”

“It wasn’t…” Leo huffed. “It wasn’t you…”

Donnie was the first to answer to Raph’s call as he came stumbling inside the room. “What happened!?” He demanded as he quickly inspected his sick brother.

“I told Leo to go to sleep and he refused and we kind of got into an argument and then suddenly he started coughing blood and—”

“Let me stop you there, Raph.” Donnie demanded. “Don’t feel sorry because an argument is not going to make Leo cough blood this much. He probably has a bronchitis. It’s usually caused by a virus,” He took some napkins and gently wiped Leo’s mouth. “But since he’s been straining his lungs with so much coughing, it doesn’t surprise me this is the result.”

Raph looked down at his bloodied hands. “You mind staying with him for a bit? I’m gonna wash my hands.”

“Sure.”

As soon as Raph turned to leave, Splinter and Mikey burst into the room. “What happened?” Splinter demanded as he quickly sat next to his sick son. “Purple?”

“I suspect bronchitis because of the constant strain to his lungs.” Donnie said as he finished wiping Leo’s mouth. Leo sighed and rested his head on his father’s shoulder. Donnie turned to Mikey. “Call Draxum. I think he’s the one that should treat him.”

Raph didn’t stay long enough to see Mikey pull out his phone.

OOO

Draxum arrived around the same time as April. She had received a text from Donnie. Now, April had been ignoring him for the last two days and she knew she had to confront Donnie about what happened very soon, but this was a text she could not ignore.

---Leo is coughing way too much blood. I fear he has some sort of bronchitis consequently from demoralization. Can you come here?---

April sighed and texted him back.

---Sure, I’ll be there in twenty---

She didn’t write back anything else and neither did Donnie. Now she had found herself entering the lair and rushing towards Leo’s room. She drew the curtains back and stepped in. Draxum was already there inspecting Leo.

“What happened?” April quietly asked Mikey.

Mikey glanced at her, but not fully taking his eyes off his brother. “Leo started coughing an unhealthy amount of blood after a small argument with Raph. Big guy feels guilty now, but both Leo and Donnie said it’s not his fault.” He watched as Draxum instructed Leo to cough so he could hear the severity of it. “Donnie thinks that the bronchitis was long overdue.”

April nodded. She caught Donnie’s silhouette from the corner of her eyes. He glanced back at her. A shy smile formed on his lips and April found herself smiling back. Suddenly, she felt like she couldn’t really stay mad at him.

“I don’t understand.” Draxum declared as everyone’s attention fell on him.

“What do you mean, Draxum?” Splinter asked. He never left Leo’s side.

Draxum sighed. “His cough is supposed to get better, not worse.” He glanced at the medicine on the nightstand. “The medicine is losing effect.”

“What!?” Raph exclaimed. “How is that possible!? You said this was supposed to keep the illness in check!”

Draxum gave an exasperated sigh. “Yes, I did say that, and I was not lying. But what happened today, it means this is worse than I thought.” He gently patted Leo’s head. “I fear your father and I have been keeping some information from you.”

Leo looked up with half closed eyes. “What?”

Splinter sighed. “Draxum told me of this… theory that he had. This was when you first got sick.” He glanced at the yokai.

Draxum nodded. “All your symptoms are normal for demoralization, but one. Coughing blood. It is the difference to know when an object interfered with your soul or if someone did it. The blood indicates another yokai must have done it.”

“What!?”

“You kept this info to yourselves!?”

“Betrayed!”

“Silence!” Splinter commanded. “Let him speak.”

“I only told the rat because I did not want any of you to know until I had more information, though I had already given you an idea for this possibility when I diagnosed Leonardo. I just wasn’t expecting your brother’s illness to get much worse.”

Raph glared at Draxum. “That’s a load of bullshit!”

“Raphael!” Splinter glared at his eldest.

Raph gave a small glare to his dad before resuming his rant at Draxum. “You could have told us! That’s our brother!”

“For what? So, you could go around Hidden City beating the life out of any yokai you saw until you found the one that did this to your brother?” Draxum demanded.

“Uh…? Yes?”

“Well, that was not going to work.” Draxum sighed. “Besides, not any yokai can perform this kind of curse. You must have almost godlike mind kills and raw power to perform such act. I’ve checked with my old contacts in Hidden City, plus Huginn and Muninn’s own search since I cannot go there. There’s not one yokai in there with that amount of power. The Council of Heads, probably. But they can’t move from where they are and even then, they wouldn’t have a reason to go after Leonardo.”

Raph looked away, not satisfied with Draxum’s answer, but more for the sake of maintaining some self-control. He remembered the last time he lost his temper against someone.

“He fell asleep.” Splinter commented suddenly.

Everyone’s attention fell on Leo’s sleeping form as Splinter gently laid his body back on the bed. “We should let him rest.”

Mikey stepped forward with a frown. “Ugh… guys? I think he’s having a nightmare.”

Draxum stepped forward and inspected Leo’s restless face. “It might be a fever dream…”

OOO

Leo was back in that grey place again.

Almost as soon as he opened his eyes, the shadowy figure was there. This time with a much more defined form.

Leo stared as the figure in front of him took the shadowy form of a kitsune yokai, judging by the nine tails behind her. Her eyes were black with two orange orbs floating in the center with two flames sprouting out of the sides of her eyes. Her body moved like a shadow mist and the outlines looked like messed up white chalk lines, as if it were the ghost of her past self. Her claws looked like the sharpest of swiss knives. Truly a terrifying sight.

“I think I’ve waited long enough, little kappa.” Her voice came out like blood curling whispers.

Leo stepped back in fright.

“Do not be scared.” Kitsune said as she extended a hand in a caring gesture. “I won’t hurt you.”

Leo shook his head and took another step back.

“Come to me.”

“W-wwho are you!?” He stuttered.

The kitsune smiled. “I go by many names across the centuries, but you may know me as the kitsune that seduced an emperor and made a kingdom fall to their knees. Just for kicks.” She chuckled. “You can call me Mikuzume, or as I prefer, Tamamo no Mae.”

“You’re from dad’s old Japanese legends…” Leo whispered in shock. “One of the most dangerous yokai…”

The kitsune nodded.

Leo kept stepping back. “You… you cursed me, didn’t you? You made me sick! Why!?”

Tamamo gave him a patient smile.

“Why me?”

“Your Hamato essence.” Tamamo simply nodded. “It emits such a powerful glow I can almost taste it.” She licked her lips. “I’m a creature with a lust for power, Leonardo. Power like the one you have.” She stepped closer, towering over him. “It’s so… unique.”

Leo stepped back. “If it’s Hamato essence you want, then why me and not any of my brothers?”

The fox spirit tilted her head to the side. “Do you wish me to take one of your brothers instead?”

“No, never my brothers.” He quickly corrected. “I just wish to know why me out of all of us.”

The kitsune nodded. “Well, I’ve waited long enough. I believe I do own you an explanation.” She smiled at him; her creepy eyes made his soul tremble. “You see, I already have strength. I do not need Raphael. I already have flexibility and talent. I do not need Michelangelo. I am smarter than the best scholars out there. I do not need Donatello, nor his lover, April. I already have wit. I do not need Splinter, for I already have experience.” She grinned as she stepped closer, towering over his shaking, frail body. Her nine tails twitched behind her back. “What I need, however, is the ability to be omnipresent. Be everywhere and nowhere at all.”

“My portals…” He whispered.

“See? You are not a dummy. Though, I was not expecting you to resist to my curse for so long. Usually, my victims fall within two days. You surprised me with a soul made from iron.” She grinned. “But sometimes souls made of iron can bend under enough fire.”

“…Why are you doing this?”

“Now, now… I wouldn’t want to spoil it, do I?” Tamamo’s chuckled sent cold shivers down the turtle’s spine. “Now, here’s what we will do.” She said. “I will possess your body and take your power for myself until the day you die. Then, I will permanently keep said power. Your soul will linger there, watching over all the atrocities I will commit.” She gave him a toothy grin.

Leo gulped.

“Now, let’s begin.”

“NO!”

His Hamato Nimpo activated.

OOO

Splinter attempted to hold down his son as his body suddenly started to convulse. The rat glared at Draxum. “What is going on with him!?” He demanded.

“I would have told you already if I knew, rat!”

Leo started screaming as his Hamato Nimpo symbol appeared on his chest and a wave of blue energy pushed everyone away. The blue turtle opened his eyes and screamed.

Raph looked up and saw Leo floating in midair as he fought with some kind of black mist surrounding him. “Get off!” Leo yelled at the mist.

“Leo!” Raph stepped forward with a hand extended to him.

“RAPH!!! HELP!!!” Leo reached for his brother, but Tamamo’s shadowy hand grabbed him. She appeared behind him, all nine tails sprouting out like parasites.

Draxum gasped. “Tamamo…”

Tamamo grinned as she placed both hands on Leo’s head. His body arched in weird positions. Leo cried as he was engulfed in an orange and black mist. Splinter covered Mikey, Draxum turned his head away and Donnie threw himself over April to protect her. Raph could only stare back as his brother’s body slowly descended and fell to the ground on his knees.

“Leo?” He tempted the waters.

Leo opened his eyes to reveal two orange orbs floating in pools of darkness and fire sprout out from his eyes.

Chapter Text

Leo—no--- Tamamo, stood on shaky legs.

Draxum trembled. No… this couldn’t be happening. Of all the yokai… why hadn’t he thought that Tamamo could have been a possibility? He had been so stupid.

“Leo?” Raphael called again.

‘Leo’ smirked at the red brother. “Whoopsie, I believe you have the wrong person.” It spoke. Its voice was a mix between Tamamo’s voice and Leo’s.

Draxum punched the ground as he stood. “Tamamo! Leave that boy in peace!”

“Draxum! It’s been years since I last saw you!” ‘Leo’ exclaimed. “I believe it was back when the Council decided to banish me, was it? You agreed with them.”

“And I stand by my decision,” Draxum stated. “Leave the boy, Tamamo. Now!”

‘Leo’ smiled. “No. You see, I rather like this new body.” ‘Leo’ inspected his three-fingered hand for a moment before using his magic and shoot everybody out of the room, their bodies slamming against the skateboard ramp in a black and orange explosion. Before they knew it, Leo started to attack Draxum. The yokai used his vines to defend himself against the powerful attacks from the kitsune.

“Of course! You decided the boy would be the perfect vessel for you!”

Leo grinned as he kept shooting black magic against Draxum. “Not just a vessel, darling!” The dual voice came from Leo’s body. “Power.”

Draxum sent a vine Leo’s way, but the kitsune dodged it with ease. “You made him sick so you could take over him instead of fighting him yourself! You coward!”

Leo growled and sent dark mystic energy towards the other turtles, but Draxum was quick on his hooves and summonsed a vine to pull them all away.

Draxum smirked at the kitsune. “You’re not so mighty and powerful if you think you can’t go against a fifteen-year-old boy. Shame, really.” He stood his ground. “The great Tamamo No Mae, reduced from making emperors fall to their knees,” He dodged another attack from the kitsune. “To a degraded yokai possessing others just to keep ahold of her power.”

“You dare call me DEGRADED!?” This time, the voice coming from Leo’s body was more feminine. “I’ll show you power!” He punched the ground and a large wave of black mist engulfed the lair.

Raph and the other were lifted into the air by the dark magic surrounding them. Donnie grabbed April and held her close as he protected her from the mist.

“What is happening!?” Splinter yelled. He used his tail to hold on to the nearest pipe. He grabbed Mikey as well. Raph grabbed April and Donnie and held on to the same pipe.

“I have no idea!” Donnie yelled back.

All the black mist returned to Leo and the kitsune used it to make a bigger blast of dark mystic energy and sent it Draxum’s way. He held up a makeshift vine shield to protect him from the blast. After a moment, he lowered it and found the turtle’s body on one knee.

“I’ve seen you do better than that,” Draxum smirked as he took in the kitsune’s panting form. “It means the boy is fighting for control.”

“Shut up!” The kitsune shoot another blast at Draxum, but he dodged it.

“You’re weaker than a mere boy. You give kitsunes a bad name.” He taunted.

“Shut! Up!” The kitsune shoot another blast.

“He’s stronger than you and he knows it!” Draxum yelled. “Leonardo! I know you can hear me! FIGHT HER!!!”

Leo’s smirked. “What makes you think he can fight me?”

“You made him sick, but you waited weeks to even try to possess him. Why now? Why not before!? You have grown weak over the years.” He taunted her. “You knew you couldn’t fight him at his strongest.”

The kitsune growled. Suddenly, she was holding Leo’s head. “AAAHHH!!!”

While a terrifying sight, Draxum, and the turtles could not help but watch. Leo’s body arched itself into weird positions. Suddenly, it looked like another body, one of a nine-tailed shadow kitsune was separating itself from his.

The turtle opened his eyes, revealing them to be back to their normal selves before extending a hand to Draxum. “Barry!”

“Leonardo! Take my hand!” Draxum ran towards him to pull the body out of the tangle of tails, but he was pushed back by another explosion of mystic energy.

Leo looked up fearfully at the unnerving gaze of Tamamo. Her body towering over him. “Please, let go.” He whimpered. His pleads barely above a whisper. His tears stained his cheeks.

Tamamo smirked and rubbed one thumb over his right cheek, wiping away a tear as she relished under the young turtle’s shivers. “No.”

With much more force this time, Tamamo's shadowy body merged with Leo’s and repossessed him. The small storm of dark mystic energy stopped. The kitsune pulled the hood over Leo’s head and smirked back at Draxum. His eyes were back to black and orange flames.

The yokai scoffed. “A shadow form. Figures. You’re just a shadow of your former self. The boy managed to separate himself from you and he will do it again.”

“With how weak his soul is, I don’t think so. He won’t stand a chance against me.” The kitsune replied.

“And with a shell of your former self, you won’t stand a chance against him either.” Draxum pulled himself up into a fighting position, this time, his hands glowed with blue mystic energy. “I will repeat myself; you are a coward. You cheated where other spirits would simply possess a body and be done with it.”

“That takes too much work.” Leo stood up with an easy-going smile. His face shadowed by the hood.

“Even I wouldn’t have gone as low as you.”

“Well, what can I say, Draxy Boo.” With the hood of his jacket pulled over his head, Leo’s eyes seemed to burn in dark magic and orange flames. “I like the easy way in.”

The kitsune conjured a portal from beneath his feet and fell through it. Another portal opened above Draxum and Leo fell through to deliver a surprise attack. The kitsune extended Leo’s hand and orange flames sprout out like wildfire, aiming them at the yokai. Draxum dodged the flames and rolled over to his side but a shadow whip struck him on the side by surprise, effectively slashing his torso.

“Draxum!” Mikey jumped in to help his second father. Using his mystic nunchucks, he managed to sneak behind his possessed brother and chain him up. Leo fell to the ground with an inhumanly screech as he attempted to free himself from the mystic chains. Draxum, seeing an opportunity, used his vines to further tie the possessed turtle down and quickly drew a circle around him. The circle glowed a bright blue and successfully managed to keep the possessed turtle inside it.

Splinter attempted to get near Leonardo, but the turtle snapped at him and screeched at him. “What is wrong with my son!?”

Mikey gasped. “Draxum!”

The box turtle ran to Draxum as the yokai stood on shaky legs and clenched his right side. “Agh! You wrecked witch!” He spat in Leo’s direction.

Leo smiled evilly. His black eyes emitting orange flames. “I may seem weak now, but I am still stronger than you or any other yokai and you know it!”

Draxum gulped; she was right. Even at her weakest, she was stronger than most. But he had to believe in Leonardo, if only for his own sake.

“Just wait until I grow even stronger, Draxum. Then I’ll finish all of you!”

Draxum was about to ask something, but Splinter beat him to it. The rat stood in front of Leo with a terrifying glare that only a father could muster. “Why have you possessed my son!?”

Leo smiled sweetly. “Your boy has unique abilities I will very much like to have.” Then rubbed salt on the proverbial wound. “Don’t worry, you’ll get him back. When he’s dead!” The possessed turtle’s laughter echoed across the lair. Splinter took a hesitant step backward and Raphael placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Leo turned his head to Draxum with a glare that made the sheep yokai tremble. “Don’t think your words affect me, Draxy Boo. You know very well I will always get what I want.”

Draxum made a wave with his free hand and conjured a muzzle against the turtle’s mouth. “Shut up. You’re annoying.” He panted as Mikey helped him sit down.

Donnie was quickly at the yokai’s side inspecting the wound. “It’s not that deep. I can quickly bandage it.”

Raph helped April stand up and he glared at Draxum. “What is happening to my brother!?”

Leo simply grinned behind the muzzle.

Draxum sighed. “You saw what happened. Your brother has been possessed by a kitsune to steal his portal abilities. She is the one that caused your brother to be sick.” He winced as Donnie started to bandage his side. “She made him sick, so he was weak enough to take over him and his abilities.”

“Why would she do that!?” Mikey exclaimed.

“Most kitsunes you see in Hidden City are one-tailed, regular foxes. Very few of them have mystic abilities. They’re common yokai. This one, however, is the legendary nine-tailed kitsune, Tamamo No Mae.”

The kitsune in Leo’s body nodded in agreement.

“Many years ago, the Council of Heads had enough of her nonsense chaos. She put everyone in Hidden City at great risk. In summary, she was permanently stripped from her god-like powers and banished, left as a mere shadow of her former self. Quite literary.” Draxum explained. “I’m assuming she’s been possessing unsuspecting yokai of unique abilities so she can keep those abilities to herself after the host body died, to slowly build up her power back up. Leonardo’s portal abilities are unique themselves, which is why I know that Tamamo decided that he should be her next target.”

The kitsune nodded again. Mikey trembled and hid behind April.

“And she’s also an idiot.” Draxum insulted her.

The kitsune glared.

Donnie finished bandaging Draxum and glared at the kitsune. “Sounds about right. But I prefer the term dimwit.”

Leo hissed at the softshell behind the muzzle.

“This was during his walk-in Hidden City! That must be it!” Raph exclaimed.

“Correct,” Draxum affirmed.

“My son…” Splinter whispered as he glanced at Leo’s body. The kitsune caught his glance and winked at him mockingly. Splinter glared and turned back to Draxum. “What can we do to get rid of this monster?”

“Exorcism would be the appropriate method, but it won’t be easy.”

Leo simply glared at Draxum. The yokai scoffed.

“Michelangelo, call Huginn and Muninn. Tell them to bring me my spellbook.”

OOO

April gently shook Donnie’s arm as Mikey phoned the goyles. “Donnie?”

Donnie looked at her. “Yes, April?”

“I know this might not be the best time, but… can we talk? I don’t think we can let this… whole situation we have going on distract us from the real problem.” She glanced at the chained red-eared slider.

Donnie looked away with a sad gaze. After a moment, he sighed and nodded. “Sure, let’s go to the kitchen.” They quietly slipped away from the group, only Splinter noticed their absence. Donnie caught the rat’s eye. Splinter nodded with a soft smile. Donnie nodded back and went inside the kitchen.

April sat over the counter as Donnie leaned against it. There was a moment of silence between them before they spoke at once. “I’m sorry.”

They looked at each other and chuckled. “You first.” Said Donnie.

“No, you first.”

Donnie sighed. “Fine. I’m sorry, April. I didn’t mean to make you feel embarrassed that day.” He looked down at his crossed arms. “I guess I panicked that you were reciprocating, and I became too shocked to react appropriately. I was fully prepared for the scenario that you would reject me.”

“Why would you think that, Donnie?” She quietly asked.

“Because I’m a mutant.” He looked away. “Friendship with a mutant is one thing, but pursuing a romantic relationship with one is another, more complicated matter. I… wasn’t sure if you would like me that way. I’ve always been your best friend. I just want you to be happy and if that’s with a human partner, then I would have been happy too—”

“Donnie, stop.”

Donnie glanced at her but did not look at her in the eye.

“You once said I was a magnet for the strange, the occult, and the not-so-normal things in life.” She started. “Loving you is probably the most normal thing to ever happen to me.”

Donnie finally looked up. “You… love me?”

April nodded with a shy smile. “I do.” She placed a hand on his cheek. “And I don’t care what you are and how you look like, Don. With you, I can be the best version of myself.” She smiled. “Even if you can be a dumdum sometimes. And I’m sorry for shutting you out.”

Donnie chuckled. “Scoff. I live surrounded by dumdums, that’s a whole other thing. But the truth is,” He stood in front of her, taking her hand into his bigger ones. “I love you too, April O’Neil. And I know I can’t give you anything a regular relationship can offer. I can’t meet your friends and we haven’t even met your parents yet. I don’t think I could give you a family… if you so desire in the future.” He blushed at what that implied. April blushed and looked down at their hands. “But I want to make you happy if you let me.”

“Donnie,” April said with a loving smile. “We were never normal, to begin with. And you always make me happy. We can make work anything else.”

They pressed their foreheads together with their eyes closed. “Do you think I can get that kiss now?” Donnie shyly asked. He was never shy.

April nodded. “Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing…” Her heart pounded in her chest.

Donnie leaned closer and closed his eyes, determined that this time, he wouldn’t back away. He wanted this. His knees felt weak and he was sure his blood pressure was on the rise, but he did not care. He didn’t care when he felt a pair of red lips touch his own in a tender kiss. He could only focus on how soft her lips felt against his own.

April parted his lips, deepening the kiss even further. She let go of his hands and slipped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. She felt his arms slip behind her back and pull her closer than she had ever been with him. Their kiss wasn’t breathless or steamy. It was slow, tender, and felt amateur on both parts. But it was a kiss, nonetheless.

Their first kiss.

OOO

The goyles had arrived in record time upon receiving the perturbating news. Both flew into the lair holding a large leatherbound book. They placed the book in Draxum’s awaiting hands.

“So…” Huginn said as he wearily glanced at Leo’s chained body. The possessed turtle glared at the goyle. Huginn gulped and turned back to Draxum. “How are you planning to do this?”

Draxum didn’t look up from his book as he scanned the pages. “I am not sure how to deal with this without causing Leonardo a great amount of pain.”

Muninn glanced at the book. “Pain?”

Raph shook Draxum’s shoulder. “We are not causing my little brother any more pain!”

Draxum glared at the snapping turtle. “A small price to pay to get Tamamo out of his body and soul.”

“There’s got to be another way!” Raph yelled, but he was held back by Mikey.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Draxum glared at the snapping turtle. “But do you happen to possess knowledge on exorcisms? I’m open to suggestions!”

Raph growled. “Why you—"

“I don’t like it any more than you, bro. But you have to let Draxum deal with this.” Mikey reasoned. “You have to calm down.”

Raph scoffed and turned away. Splinter stepped forward. “What can we do?”

“You? Nothing. For now, anyway.” Said Draxum as he stopped on one page of the spellbook. It was the image of a body being suspended in midair and a spirit being purged out from it. “I will need candles; can you get those?”

“I have some spare in the storage room.” Splinter nodded as he went to get them.

“I have some chalk.” Mikey held up a new box to Draxum.

“Yes, this will do. Thank you.” He turned to Huginn and Muninn, handing them the box. “You know what to do.”

The goyles nodded and flew towards the possessed turtle. Each goyle took a piece of chalk and started to draw different ancient patterns around the chained turtle. “Hey, Blue,” Huginn said. “You know, I always thought it would be Purple that one getting possessed, not you.”

“Yeah,” Muninn agreed. “Though, the eyes look… kind of…” Muninn trembled as he stared into the flames sprouting from Leo’s black eyes. “…Terrifying…”

Leo suddenly jerked his body towards Muninn, effectible scaring the crap out of the goyle. The goyle let go of the chalk and he flew away, screaming like a little girl; Leo gave a dark chuckle.

Muninn hid behind Raph. “That’s gonna hunt my nightmares!” He exclaimed. There was a silent moment before they all heard the goyle quietly sobbing behind the snapping turtle. Mikey took the goyle and held him in a warm hug. “Don’t worry, Leo’s gonna be alright!”

Muninn sniffed. “I know he’s gonna be alright! But that thing—” He pointed at Leo. “—Is terrifying!” He whimpered like a child.

Huginn finished the patterns on the floor and flew towards Muninn. “Don’t worry, bro. We’re goyles. We repel nightmares, remember? We helped Blue sleep when he had those nasty nightmares he wouldn’t talk about.”

Draxum looked up from his book with a bewildered expression. “What nightmares?” He carefully asked.

“Oh! Blue had been having nightmares recently and we made sure to repel them when we took care of him.” Huginn chuckled nervously. “…Was that important?”

Draxum glared. “Important? Ha!” He closed his book with a loud bang. The goyles gulped. If there was one thing that was more terrifying to them than a possessed turtle, it was Draxum when he was angry. “THAT IS A VITAL PIECE OF INFORMATION!!!”

The goyles looked at each other with weariness. “How vital?” They quietly asked.

“VERY!!!” Draxum yelled. He glared. “It means that this is no conventional possession. Tamamo used dream walking abilities to possess his mind, not his body!” He groaned. “She probably got them from another victim.”

Leo chuckled darkly as the vines started to glow a dark orange. Splinter, having arrived at that time, gasped. “Draxum!” He warned as he dropped the candles to the side and ran to the group.

Draxum gasped as he saw the possessed turtle’s attempt at an escape. He grabbed his spellbook, turned a few pages, and quickly stopped at one enchantment. He muttered something beneath his breath in a language that no one else seemed to understand. The vines turned their color into a glowing blue and held tightly onto the turtle, successfully holding him in place. Large flames sprouted out of black eyes out of anger.

“Try all you want, Tamamo, but you are not going anywhere.”

Leo hissed behind the muzzle and attempted to struggle his way out of the vines but could not. At that precise moment, Donnie and April ran from the kitchen.

“What happened!?” April asked.

Raph scoffed. “While you two were playing lovebirds, Tamale—”

“Tamamo.” Mikey corrected.

“Tomato here attempted to escape.” Raph crossed his arms. He glanced at the couple's faces and gasped. “Are you guys a thing now?”

April looked down to hide her heavy blush. Donnie glared at Raph, not even bothering to hide his blush. “Not the time, Raph.”

“It’s official, then.” He waved them off as if they were old news.

Splinter tapped April’s shoulder, effectible getting her attention. “While I am happy for the both of you, there are some pressing issues we must attend to first.” He turned to face his possessed son’s chained body.

Huginn and Muninn positioned themselves on Draxum’s shoulders. “What do we do now, boss?” Huginn asked.

Draxum sighed. “There’s only one thing I can do…”

Leo’s dark eyes glared into Draxum’s own. The yokai sighed. He had to remember this wasn’t Leo and those weren’t his eyes. Those were Tamamo’s eyes, full of hatred and power.

The eyes he had once admired but hoped he would never have to look at again.

“I must enter Leonardo’s mind and get him myself.”

Chapter Text

Many, many years ago, somewhere in Hidden City…

“What are you doing, Tamamo!?” Baron Draxum yelled as he entered the Japanese styled garden.

A nine tailed white fox turned around to face him. Her eyes were a deep brown that only stood out more because of the red markings on her face. She wore a red kimono that hid what was surely an eye-catching body. Truly, a beautiful creature. “Ah, Draxum. I didn’t think I would see you here.”

Draxum glared at her. “Don’t try to stir my attention away from the matter at hand. This game you’re playing at is dangerous!”

“What game?” She asked innocently.

“Tamamo!”

“Fine!” She groaned. “I admit it. It was me.”

Draxum sighed. “Why are you doing this? You know humans are dangerous.”

“But they are so fun to mess around with. They’re so superstitious. One whisper in the right ear,” She stepped closer to the baron and tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear. She gently laid her hand over his armor. “And they panic like tiny ants.” She licked her lips.

Draxum took his wrists and gently pushed her away. “Which is exactly why you should stop causing so much trouble in the surface. One wrong move and you’ll lead those humans straight to Hidden City! Everything I’ve done to keep the Yokai safe will be scattered like ashes thanks to you.” He glared at her.

Tamamo sighed and turned away. “It’s in my nature to be chaotic, Draxum.” She returned to tend to her flowers. “You can’t change that.”

“No, I can’t.” Draxum replied. He stepped closer to her and gently scooped her cheek on his hand. His thumb caressed the snow-white fur. “I wouldn’t wish for you to change. But you must stop. You’re not only risking the yokai’s safety, but your own as well,” He took her hands into his; they were tiny compared to his massive claws. “Our own.”

The kitsune looked away. “And how am I supposed to fight my nature, Draxum? I cannot simply stay here and pretend I don’t have a dire need for chaos in the world.”

“I know and I’m not saying those humans don’t deserve it, but you’re taking bigger risks every day and each time you venture out into the human world.” Draxum explained. “If you don’t control yourself, one day those humans will follow you in numbers and bring their battle here. I cannot allow that.”

“And let’s pretend for a moment that I decided to ignore you and keep causing chaos in the human world, what would you do?”

“Whatever I must do to stop you. I just wish I don’t have to get to that.” He whispered.

Tamamo smiled down. “Fine. I’ll try… but I won’t promise anything.”

“That’s all I ask.” He stole a tender kiss from her lips.

OOO

Present Day…

Draxum sat cross legged in front of Leonardo, or more precisely, Tamamo using the turtle’s young body.

“What are you going to do? Stare at him all day!?” Raph snapped. Draxum sighed. He understood the oldest turtle’s fear, but he had to be patient.

“I’m trying to break any mental attachments Tamamo may have with Leonardo, but I cannot do that if you keep interrupting me.” He calmly stated.

Raph looked down in shame. “Sorry.”

Draxum sighed. “I must get inside Leonardo’s mind and attempt to fight Tamamo from there.”

“And if you can’t?”

Draxum stayed quiet for a moment, before answering. “Then it will all be up to your brother and his will to fight back.” He closed his eyes.

Raph nodded. “You seem to know Tamamo. Care to explain?”

Draxum opened his eyes wide in shock and stared at the group, all of them awaiting his answer. He scoffed and looked away. “Unimportant. Now let me do my job.”

Muninn scratched his chin. “I don’t know, wasn’t she your ex or something?” He cowered under Draxum’s intense glare.

Mikey gasped. “Your ex!?”

Draxum groaned and Leo (Tamamo) chuckled. Draxum looked away. “It was a long time ago. Like I said,” He glared at the possessed turtle. “Unimportant.”

Leo hissed at him through the muzzle.

“So not only we are fighting a kitsune with the powers to possess my twin, but also a crazed ex that can go toe to toe with you and hand you your butt on a silver platter?” Donnie cleared. “Perfect. Just perfect.”

“Hush, everyone! I must focus!” Draxum snapped at them. When all he could hear was silence, he nodded and closed his eyes.

He let the mystic energies flow through him and suddenly found himself standing in a grey place. Draxum wouldn’t have given much thought to the lack of colors; he knew what this place was. It was a blank dream, the blank canvas of an external source to paint inside someone else’s mind. ‘Tamamo must have used this to try and possess Leonardo’ Draxum thought.

He walked forward, stumbling upon large pieces of scattered concrete. There was nothing here, just a cold, never-ending emptiness. “Leonardo?” He called, but no answer was received. He felt a shiver down his spine. His lips trembled. Why was it so cold?

“Tamamo liked the cold…” He reasoned.

Suddenly he heard footsteps, weak ones. “Barry…?”

Draxum turned and gasped. “Leonardo!” He exclaimed as he ran towards the turtle.

Leo’s beaten form stumbled and fell into Draxum’s arms with a loud sob. “Help me, Barry! She’s in my head!” He sobbed. “Get her out!”

“I will try my best, Leonardo.” He glanced down at the turtle and noticed the large bruised right eye plus tiny cuts and smaller bruises across his face. “Leonardo? Did… did she do this to you?” He raised his hand to touch the bruise, but Leonardo flinched away from him. Draxum lowered his ears. “I will not hurt you, Leonardo.”

Leo sobbed. “She’s hurting me, Barry…” He trembled; fear oozing from him like a never-ending river. He pulled at his hood to cover his face, as if that will make all the horrors go away. “If I fight back and lose, she hurts me. If I even look at her wrong, she… she…” He buried his face on his hands. “How long have I been here?” He quietly asked.

“Just a little of an hour.” Draxum pulled him into a gentle hug. Leo looked up with teary eyes and allowed the yokai to touch the bruise.

He sighed. “Your eye is not like this in the real world. She is hurting your soul. Not your body. To keep you weak so you won’t have the strength to fight her. This… whole situation,” He motioned Leo’s beaten body. “Is a projection of your soul. She’s trying to hurt your spirit; you can’t let her.”

“I don’t want to hurt anymore, Barry. Please, help me…” Leo buried his face on the yokai’s broad chest, searching for comfort and safety.

Draxum sighed. He and the red-eared slider were never that close, but he will be damned if he didn’t rescue the poor boy. “Listen to me, Leonardo. Tamamo is strong, but I meant it when I said you were even stronger.” He gently lifted Leo’s chin so he could look at him in the eye. “If I cannot fight her here, it will be up to you to stop her.”

Leo sobbed. “I can’t…” He shook his head.

“Yes, you can.” Draxum stated firmly. “You already escaped her once. You can do it again.”

“She’s a monster…” He whispered.

“I know.” Draxum sadly looked at him. “I know what kind of monster she can be. But I also know what kind of warrior you are. You are strong and brave. You see paths and strategies when no one else can. You have one of the strongest minds I know. You can fight.”

Tears ran down Leo’s cheeks as he gave Draxum a tiny smile. “I’ll try.”

“I will get you out of here, don’t worry.” Draxum assured.

“How cute.”

Draxum instantly turned around and put himself between Leonardo and Tamamo. The kitsune’s shadowy body moved towards them with slow steps. “Had to go to your other daddy to keep away the monsters under your bed, little kappa?” Tamamo mocked.

Leo trembled and Draxum growled. “Leave him, Tamamo. Please! Can’t you see he has suffered enough!?”

“Suffer…” The kitsune gave a dry chuckle. “This boy knows nothing of true suffering. Do you recall the time The Council of Heads found me guilty of treason and sentenced me to this,” She angrily motioned to her body. “…Pathetic existence? Do you? You were there.” She glared. “And you did nothing to help me.”

Draxum glared back but said nothing.

“The man I loved,” Tamamo stepped closer, her nine tails twitching behind her. “Betrayed me and left me to root.”

“You led human invaders into Hidden City. All because you were bored and wanted chaos.” Draxum spat back. “I warned you about it. I gave you guidance and advice and yet you let your lust for chaos take hold of you! You almost doomed us all! You had it coming!”

“Don’t talk to me about crimes, Draxy. You killed those humans, remember?”

Draxum stayed silent, Leo glanced at the sheep yokai. “…And I regret it every day. It was a long time ago.”

The kitsune smirked. “Chaotic, isn’t it? I am a creature born from chaos, Draxum. It is my nature,” She glared at Leo, who cowered behind Draxum. “And I don’t intend to change that.”

“Then you realize you signed your fate yourself.”

Tamamo glanced sadly at the yokai. “It could have been a chaotic existence, just you and me. Just give me the boy and all of that can still happen. Don’t deny your violent nature any longer.” She extended her hand. “What do you say… my love?”

Draxum glared at her hand and then at her face. “What makes you think I will just hand him over and let you torture him for the rest of his life?”

“You’re putting your mutated freak of nature,” The kitsune said slowly. “Over me!?”

“Any day.”

(  https://sammyheroes.tumblr.com/post/645569474473459712/a-long-way-to-go-chapter-10-the-kitsune-read-it    )

Tamamo let her arm fall to her side in frustration. “I tried. I really tried. But why must you always be so DIFFICULT???!!!” She yelled as she shot a large ball of dark mystic energy at them.

Draxum grabbed Leo and jumped out of the way, but not without harming himself.

OOO

April gasped as she saw Draxum’s body sweat. “Guys!” She grabbed a tissue and started to wipe his forehead. The yokai’s eyes were shut tight as he grunted and whined. “I think he’s in pain!”

Huginn gasped. “Oh no! This is not good!”

“Why?” Splinter said as he glanced at Leo’s chained body. The turtle eyes were shut tight as well. “What’s going on!?”

“It means Draxum is fighting Tamamo!” Muninn answered. He yelped when Leo’s body let an involuntary screech. “And it seems that she is pissed, ya’ll!”

Raph found himself without knowing what to do. “Goyles, what should we do!?”

Huginn bit his nails. “We can’t do anything! If we attempt to shake them both awake, all will die! The three of them! Blue, Barry and Tamamo!”

“Personally, I don’t care for Tammy, but I rather have Blue and Draxum alive, so…” Muninn mentioned.

Donnie gasped. “Oh no, he’s wound is bleeding!” He grabbed a nearby towel and held it tight against Draxum’s torso. “He better gets done with this soon, otherwise his wound will open even further!”

OOO

Draxum gasped as he held his torso. How was he bleeding in a dream?

“I wanted to be free to do as I pleased! If I had you by my side, it was a bonus!” Tamamo yelled as she shot a blast of dark energy at the pair, which Draxum and Leo dodged. “I just wanted to live freely with my nature, is it too much to ask!?”

Draxum glared. “Not when your nature puts everyone at great risk! Stop making silly excuses and admit that you have lost your mind!” He summoned a vine that slapped Tamamo right in the face. Quite satisfactory if you asked the sheep yokai.

Tamamo growled. “You have proven to be quite difficult, little one!” She glared daggers at Leo, who cowered behind Draxum. “But you will fall! Just like the rest!” She extended her hand and shot another blast of dark energy towards the pair.

Draxum summoned another vine and attacked the kitsune, effectively defending the turtle. “There’s no reasoning with you!” A vine hit the kitsune hard enough to make her stumbled backwards. “You’re crazy!”

Tamamo grinned. “Crazy for you, you mean…” She flirted. She raised her hands and summoned large black portals surrounding the pair.

Leo gasped. “She’s using my nimpo…”

Suddenly, a blue portal opened under him and he fell through along with Draxum before dark energy attacked them from the black portals. They fell into a darker part of Leo’s dream, a place filled with dark stone walls and scrapped metal. They quickly took refuge behind one of the larger stone walls.

“This is where I hide sometimes.” Leo whispered. “Sometimes she finds me, but she can’t get to this place easily, it’s always changing.”

Draxum nodded. “It’s your mind fighting back. It creates random hiding places in your dream-like state to distract her. The longer she hurts you, the stronger the hold she’ll have on you.” He smiled at him sadly. “I told you, you can fight her.”

Leo slowly nodded. “Ok…” He whispered. They took a moment to catch their breath before Leo turned to look at Draxum. “So… that monster… she’s your ex?”

Draxum nodded.

“Didn’t think you liked them mean and crazy.” The turtle gave a weak grin. “Does that mean you had a monster-in-law? That must have been awful…”

Draxum stared for a moment before laughing. “You’re impossible.”

Leo gave a dry chuckle, but there was no energy behind it. Draxum could tell the boy was tired, far beyond his short years. He gasped suddenly, as he held on to his torso. Leo gently shook the sheep yokai’s shoulder. “Barry? What happened!?”

Draxum winced. “Listen, Leonardo. I don’t have much time. My energy levels are low, and my body was weakened in my previous fight with Tamamo.” He gently grasped the boy’s hand.

“Previous fight!?”

“She’s using your body, Leonardo. It doesn’t surprise me you don’t know what’s happening outside when you are a prisoner in her dream trap.” He winced. “No matter what happens, you must be the one to put a stop to her.”

“Draxum—”

“Listen to me, damn it!” He winced from the pain. “She’s using your body to attack us and fight us and who knows what she plans to do next, we have her chained for the moment. Your body, I mean. But that won’t last long.”

“I’m too weak to fight her.” Leo shook his head. “I will lose…”

“No.” Draxum gently held the boy’s cheek and carefully caressed his bruised eye. “If I learned something from you Hamatos, is that you are way too stubborn to fall and if you fall, you fall in battle.”

“Gram-gram…” Leo whispered.

Draxum nodded. “Tamamo is dangerous, and I know she scares you. She scares me too. But you can’t let her manipulate your fear. Do that and she will control you. You must trust that you can escape her grasp. Show her there’s only space for one soul in your body, and that space belong to you. We, on the other hand, are doing everything we can to help you from the outside.”

Leo stared with wide eyes.

“You have to trust your family. You have to trust yourself.”

Leo looked down with tears in his eyes. “I know.” He looked up with a newfound determination in his eyes. “I will.”

There was a crash nearby. “Oh, turtle! I know you’re hiding here!” Tamamo called in a mocking tone. “Draxy, dear! Do you mind if I borrow your kappa?” She gave a maniac laughter.

Leo took a deep breath. “Get out of here, Barry. I’ll hold her off.”

Draxum sighed and nodded. “Be careful. And Leonardo,” He placed a hand on his shoulder. “Anatawa Hitorijanai.” He whispered.

Leo smiled and gave him a firm nod. Draxum nodded and closed his eyes.

OOO

Draxum gasped as he awoke back to find himself in the lair. His first reaction was to hold on to his wound and gasp in terrible pain.

“Draxum!” April helped him keep steady as Donnie pressed on the wound with the towel.

Draxum took the towel from his hands and pressed the wound himself. “Forget about me, look!”

They turned their head towards Leo’s body as the turtle arched his head in different directions, like trying to get rid of something. His eyes constantly switching back and forth from dark to a glowing blue.

“What is going with him!?” Splinter asked.

Draxum smirked, if not a little pained. “He’s fighting back.”

Chapter Text

Leo would be lying if he said he wasn’t scared.

He was practically shitting himself right now.

He stood in a dark place. There was nothing here. It was like a void. Lonely, empty. But it was cold, very cold, which he was suddenly grateful that he was wearing a hoodie. Just a few meters away stood the one being that will hunt his nightmares for a long time. IF he made it out of this one alive, of course.

“Well?” Tamamo snapped. “Aren’t you going to fight me, little one? Or do you need daddy Draxy to fight your battles for you?”

Leo glared. He was angry and tired. He was tired of her taunts. He was tired of feeling scared, of feeling helpless, of feeling that his mind had been violated.

Especially tired of her abuse.

“Just give up, little turtle. You can’t fight me!”

Leo barred his teeth. His family… he had to think of his family. If Tamamo had wounded Draxum using his body, what else could she do? What could she do to his father? To April? To his brothers? What about Mikey!? Heavens, he was so tiny. He wouldn’t be able to survive if Tamamo attacked him.

“I want you out of my head.” He calmly stated.

Tamamo took a step back from the sudden bravery the boy showed. “What?”

“I said get out! Have you gone deaf!?” He yelled at her. His voice echoed. His body trembled in fear, but he wouldn’t give her the pleasure of seeing it.

Tamamo growled. “No, but you seem to have lost a few marbles. How dare you defy me?”

Leo smirked. “I don’t know. Just felt like it.”

Tamamo glared at him. “And what makes you think I want to get out? I rather like your body.”

“I know you want my power, but you can’t have it and you can’t have me!” Leo stood his ground.

“I already have your power!”

Leo glared. “Only a weak version of it! That’s why you need me, to make it stronger! Well, newsflash! I don’t need you and I don’t want you! GET OUT!” He commanded.

Tamamo suddenly stood in front of him and grabbed his arm, sinking her claws into his flesh underneath his hoodie. He gasped in pain as the kitsune smirked. “Those are strong words for someone in your position. You’re too weak to fight me, little one.”

Leo grinned despite the pain. “You’re just trying to hurt my soul, but you can’t because this is my body and my mind! I want you out!” He kicked her away. The kick emitted blue sparks of chaotic energy. Leo looked down at his arm. There was no wound and suddenly he felt stronger. He smirked. Seemed that Draxum was right after all.

Tamamo stared in shock at the turtle. “You kicked me!”

“You possessed me!” He accused her. His irises emitted a faint blue glow. “Draxum was right about you! You are pathetic!”

“That’s not true!” The kitsune’s tails twitched like parasites behind her.

“I bet he never loved you!” He mocked her.

“Lies!”

“It makes me wonder about his taste for romantic partners. Yeesh! He definitely likes the weird ones. He’s better off single.” Leo laughed, mocking her with his smile. The dark atmosphere started to turn lighter around him as the light slowly pushed the shadows away.

“I am the most powerful being you’ll ever encounter!”

“If you’re so powerful then why do you need me!?”

Silence.

Leo frowned. His irises started to glow a brighter blue until it fully consumed his eyes. “You hurt me.” He whispered as he took a brave step forward. “You sickened me.” Another step, the shadows backed away further, leaving space for the blue glow coming from the turtle. “You ABUSED ME!”

Tamamo growled as she stood up. “Pathetic turtle. You’re simply contributing to a greater cause. My cause.”

“Your cause can kiss my green butt!” His hands rolled into fists. Black dots of magic appeared around them, mixing with the light they emitted as blue lighting, started to surround the turtle.

Tamamo took a step back. “This can’t be happening…” She whispered. “That power…” She whispered to herself, but the turtle didn’t seem to hear her. “Where did he…?”

Leo wasn’t smiling. Not anymore. He didn’t feel afraid anymore.

He only felt pissed.

He felt like something new, something stronger than him had awakened inside of him.

“I encountered the Shredder and now he’s dead.” Leo spats as two katanas appeared on each hand. Then he smirked at the shock written on her face. “You just want my power because you can’t live with what you have. If one of us is weak, is you.”

“Enough!” She screeched. Dark mist spiraling out of control from her hands. The kitsune wouldn’t admit that the glowing blue eyes underneath the darkness of the hood scared her.

“And one more thing, Tammy!” He growled. “I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU!!!”

Tamamo screamed and attacked. Leo smirked as the kitsune advanced towards him, intending to hurt him. Well, not anymore. He raised a glowing katana and blocked her attack.

OOO

Mikey had to admit, he was practically shitting himself. What he saw before him was a version of his brother that he’d rather forget after this was all over. Leo’s body arched in different directions, struggling to break free from Draxum’s vines and his mystic nunchucks. His eyes constantly shifting from the darkness with orange flames to bright glowing blue. He screamed against the muzzle as dark shadows surrounded him. Mikey would be lying if he said he wouldn’t have nightmares after this.

Raph attempted to get closer to Leo, but one of Draxum vines held him back.

“No!” The yokai exclaimed as he held to his wounded side. “You must let him do this himself! This is his battle!”

Raph stared at Draxum, a feeling of helplessness consumed him as he stepped back and for once today, listened. Mikey glanced at his big brother, knowing the guilt and self-hatred he must be feeling right now. He placed a gentle, reassuring hand on his arm. The snapping turtle looked down on him as Mikey smiled. “None of this is your fault, Raph.”

Raph nodded. “I know, I just…” He glanced at Leo’s arching body. The turtle screeched and growled against the muzzle. “I don’t want my last conversation with Leo be a fight if something…” His eyes watered.

Mikey hugged his arm. “It’s gonna be ok, bro.”

OOO

It was NOT ok.

Donnie’s legs trembled below him, threatening to buckle and make him fall from fright. That was his twin fighting one of the most powerful yokai in the world right inside his head. He watched as Leo’s body arched backwards and let out a demonic screech. Donnie winced, that position could surely have pulled a few muscles and in a worst-case scenario, break a few bones.

He felt April’s hand slipping into his own, gripping at it with comforting strength.

OOO

Splinter felt helpless.

Any loving father will tell you they would rather trade their child’s pain for themselves. It hurt him to see his son’s body arched in such painful looking ways in a battle of mind and soul. Draxum placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Your boy is strong, rat. He will get through this.” He winced at his own pain. Huginn and Muninn stood by, ready to help their boss.

“Boss?” Huginn whispered to Draxum, out of Splinter’s hearing range. “You’re bleeding too much.”

Draxum winced. He took a new towel offered by Muninn and pressed it against his wound. “Not yet. I’m not important right now.”

OOO

Tamamo grabbed his face and stared directly into his eyes. “You are mine, little one! You and your power are mine! You cannot escape me!” At this point, she was becoming desperate.

Leo screamed in rage as he attacked Tamamo with his katanas, leaving a trail of blue light behind him. Tamamo blocked his attack and charged at him. Her shadows were slowly drifting away as she panicked. Her body seemed to glitch for a moment, as if it was trying to get out of there.

“IMPOSSIBLE!” She yelled at the turtle. “You are supposed to be weak! You are supposed to be under MY command!”

Leo grinned. “Well, well,” He mocked as he narrowed his glowing eyes. “I guess Mrs. All Wise and Powerful lost a bit of her touch!”

Tamamo yelled as she charged at him with a ball of dark energy. But the energy never reached him. In her state of shock and panic, she glanced at her clawed hand. “Oh no…” Her hand glitched.

“Oh yes…” Leo grinned.

Tamamo stared at him, for the first time, in fear. Here was a boy she had made sure to weaken to his lowest point and yet, he was standing before her in his glowing blue light. His energy almost blinded her. She only wanted his nimpo but for the first time in her long life, Tamamo realized, she had bitten off more than she could chew.

She should have done further research on the turtle’s mystic signature before possessing him.

“That’s not Hamato nimpo…” She whispered fearfully as Leo approached her. The energies around him growing brighter and more chaotic than before. “All that raw power…” She stepped back, recognizing the mystic signature Leo’s blue energy now emitted. It was everywhere, taking form of various elements of lightning, black dots, and wisps of blue. In addition to his family’s ability, Tamamo had to admit, made him dangerous to her. She knew she couldn’t fight this. She couldn’t fight him. “Is not natural! How did you get it?

“I don’t care whatever this is at this point.” Leo shrugged off her implications. “What I want is for you to GET OUT!” He slammed his katanas onto the dark floor, effectible cracking the ground.

“NO!” Tamamo fell to her knees as her body glitched. “AGH!”

“GET.” He threw away his katanas, rage and pure instinct overtook him. “OUT.” His eyes glowed an impossibly blinding blue. “OF MY.” His hands instantly flew above him as he created a ball of blue energy. The energy surrounded itself with lightning, darkness, and wisps of magic. “HEAD!!!” He yelled and a large explosion of mystic energy overtook the dark place he had come to call his mind.

OOO

Leo’s body stopping moving. His eyes closed and he fell to the floor with a loud ‘thud!’. The Hamatos, April, Draxum and the goyles stared in shock. There was a stunned silence before Leo’s eyes opened, revealing a blinding blue light. He yelled as his body rose into the air and jerked his head back. A large dark mist escaped his mouth as Draxum’s vines disintegrated and Mikey’s nunchucks fell to the ground. An invincible force sent the group back.

April fell on her hands and knees from the impact. “What’s going on!? What’s happening to him!?”

Raph, not too far away, watched in horror as his brother’s body rose into the air and the shadow mist escaped him through his mouth. “I think Leo is getting rid of her!” He yelled as he grabbed Mikey to shield him just in case.

Raph never liked horror movies and would never pick a book from Stephen King to read. But he was pretty sure that an exorcism wasn’t supposed to look like an explosion of blue energy. He watched the shadows finally left his brother’s body as they materialized into Tamamo. She ungracefully fell onto the floor, obviously weakened by the exorcism. Leo fell on his knees just a few feet away from her. He coughed and gasped for breath. “Leo!” Raph called as he left Mikey and ran towards his weakened brother.

A mistake on his part, for Tamamo wasn’t as weak as she had appeared. As soon as Raph approached Leo, she shoots at him with a large beam of dark energy. Before it hit the snapping turtle though, Leonardo stood up and intercepted the beam with his hands. He yelled as the energy turned blue and he redirected it at her ten times stronger, knocking the kitsune off her feet.

They could also wave their skating ramp goodbye.

Draxum, despite his pain, stare with a look of shock, amazement, and recognition at the scene before him.

Chapter Text

Tamamo attacked with all her might and magic, but somehow, someway, the boy she had weakened had grown to overcome her in power. The lair was a mess of broken skateboard ramps, small blue fires, and some bits of fallen concrete.

The kitsune looked up, panting. This boy had been hiding a power that she always craved to have but could never take.

But that could change today.

He had to have a limit, she reasoned as she dodged another attack of chaotic energy. Truly, this power had just awakened, and the turtle was acting on instinct and raw power alone. He had absolutely no training and at one point, the adrenaline will wear off and he will be too tired to fight back.

Tamamo gasped as a great beam of energy hit her square on the chest. She groaned. Then again, the boy managed to defeat her inside his mind. She gulped.

…Who’s to say he wouldn’t defeat her now?

OOO

Leo didn’t understand what was going on. One moment he was fighting to stay on his feet and the next, he felt a surge of power flow through him… like magic, you could say. It wasn’t unwelcome, he was kicking Tamamo’s nine-tailed butt. Somehow, he felt like this energy was endless, flowing through him like tsunami waves and crushing every bad influence in its path. Tamamo’s face was worth it. She feared him and she was desperate. Her body glitched in random places.

Then the turtle realized, without a host body, she was growing weaker.

Leo smirked. All he had to do was keep her away from him and his family until she looked like death knocking on her door.

Raph, however, was held in his position by shock. His brother just saved him from what probably was a deadly attack by redirecting the dark energy with his hands. He didn’t understand what was going on… but he will be cheering for Leo.

Leo jumped into the air with blue energy surrounding him and attacked Tamamo, punching her straight in the face. “How do you like that, Tamale!?”

“It’s Tamamo!” The kitsune yelled, furious at the amount of disrespect this boy showed to her. Her moment of fury was rewarded by a blast of blue energy to the face.

“And he scores!” Mikey yelled from the sidelines.

Leo grinned and shoot more energy at Tamamo. The kitsune, ashamed and infuriated, was not having it.

“Enough!” Tamamo threw herself at Leo and grabbed the turtle by the neck of his hoodie, rising into the air. “You foolish boy! You think you can escape me!?”

Leo narrowed his eyes at the demonic fox. “You want my Hamato essence? Fine! You can have it!”

He released a great amount of energy right into Tamamo’s chest. The kitsune howled in pain, but not without Leo feeling drained and tired. It felt like deja vu. He had witnessed his dear Gram-Gram do this before her death. He saw Tamamo’s face turn into one of horror and desperation.

The kitsune attempted to absorb the power but found that she could not. “What is this!?”

Leo smirked despite his pain. “Have you ever had a tummy ache? You wouldn’t want to eat more than what you can manage!”

Tamamo’s shadow body started to show cracks of blue across her chest area and arms, then her legs and face. “No, no, NO!!!”

Leo forced more energy into his attack as his limbs felt sore and tired. Tamamo pushed him away, causing an explosion of energy that slowly started to consume her body. Her arms started to fade away as her body turned to ashes. She glanced at Draxum, expecting him to help her, but she only found hatred and pity in his eyes. Finally, her body deteriorated, and the ashes left from her body vanished. A fitting ending for a being like her.

Leo fell to the ground, unmoving.

“LEO!” Raph ran to his brother’s side. He gently cradled his younger brother in his arms; one thumb rubbed his cheek. “Leo, it’s me, Raph…Your big brother.” His voice cracked. “Please, hang on… You’re going to be ok.”

Leo looked up with half-closed eyes. He coughed. His eyes weren’t focusing on anyone, but he was vaguely aware of who was around him. His dad was by his side, holding on tightly to his hand. He felt numb, he felt nothing.

“Blue, my son…” Splinter cooped his cheek gently in his hand. Upon seeing his son’s vague gaze, the rat started to sob uncontrollably. “My fearless, brave son…”

Leo glanced at his surroundings. Mikey helped Draxum get close to them as the yokai held on to his injured torso, Donnie and April kneeled at his left, just behind Splinter. Donnie held on tight to April’s hand while touching his leg with the other, letting him know he was there. Leo felt like smiling, but he could not. He was too numb. Donnie and April… Leo felt happy for them.

On his other side, next to Raph, Mikey and Draxum kneeled. Mikey took his other hand while Raph held him close. He felt two tears fall and touch his pale hand. He glanced at Mikey, his sobs making his young body tremble. Huginn and Muninn flew above and landed next to Draxum.

“His body is too weak,” Draxum murmured. “The battle drained his last strength.”

Leo took a shaky breath.

…his eyelids were getting heavy…

…exhale…

Raph stared at his brother’s resting face. His body trembled and held his brother tightly, never wanting to let go. Realization hit him like a wave of nausea and coldness.

Splinter stared with wide, teary eyes. “Blue?” He called with a quivering voice.

His son was sleeping. He was just sleeping peacefully. He had to be.

“Please, wake up.” He whispered. The rat pressed a hand on his son’s neck to find a pulse, but he found none. “Blue!?”

He heard Michelangelo let out a blood-curling wail. Donatello lost his balance and fell into April’s arms with cries that were only rivaled by her own. Raphael held on tight to his brother’s limp body, pleading for him to wake up, to forgive him. Draxum hung his head low in defeat as he grabbed Mikey into a tight hug, not caring for his injuries. Huginn and Muninn held to each other tightly, crying over the loss of their turtle friend.

And Splinter?

His grip tightened on his sleeping son’s hand, trying to find a pulse, a tremor, anything, and at the same time, nothing. Then, the severity of the situation finally hit him.

He threw himself to Leonardo’s still body. “No! My son! Please don’t leave! PLEASE!!!”

But no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he pleaded, he had to face the awful fact that his dear, fearless son was...

A father should never watch his children die.

OOO

Leo opened his eyes and found himself in a dark place. He checked his body over. He felt very much alive, or so he thought. His body wasn’t see-through, but he was wearing his regular attire instead of the blue hoodie, mask, and everything.

“Oh, shell…” He mumbled. “I must be in hell…” He walked a bit further, but it seemed like he wasn’t moving anywhere. Suddenly, he fell through a hole on the ground which he did NOT see. “AAAAHHHHH!!!”

He fell into a place of soft blues and greens and pretty stars. He was floating. Maybe this wasn’t hell at all, but—

He gasped. “Gram-Gram?”

He found himself staring at Karai’s transparent body in all her astral glory. “Hello, my boy.”

Leo ran to her and she received him with open arms. He sobbed in her shoulders and she let him. “My boy, you did a brave thing today.” She gently pulled away to look into his teary eyes.

Leo grabbed her hand but did not pull it away, instead he nuzzled his cheek against it, craving her motherly touch. “It’s peaceful here.” He mumbled. “What is this place?”

“Is called the Void Between Worlds, or in some religions called the purgatory,” Karai answered. “This is the place where you will be taken to where your soul is meant to be.”

Leo’s eyes widened. “Like… to where the rest of the clan is?”

Karai nodded.

“I… what happens now, Gram-Gram? I’m scared.”

She smiled. “Don’t be scared, my child. You’re not going anywhere.”

“What?”

Karai smiled. “Contrary to what my other descendants think, you are not a martyr. Your family needs you, there is so much more left to be done.” She looked away. “They still need to get their priorities straight. We need to have a serious conversation…” She mumbled.

“You mean I… I can go back?” Leo asked, suddenly being filled with hope.

“Yes, my boy.” Karai caressed his cheek. “You are not dead just yet.”

That just confused the turtle even more. “If I’m not dead, then why am I here?”

Karai smiled. “There is so much for you to do and your journey is far from over. You will get your answers very soon.”

Leo’s eyes watered and hugged her. “Oh, Gram-Gram, thank you!”

Karai hugged him back. “Do not thank me, my boy. It is simply a matter of destiny and you are meant for great things. Trust me.”

“I do trust you.”

“Good.” Karai pulled away. “I better not see you here in a long time, understood?”

Leo chuckled nervously. “Crystal.”

OOO

Leo slowly opened his eyes. He felt tired, and his muscles hurt, but not as bad as before. Maybe by getting rid of Tamamo, he got rid of his sickness too.

“Leo!” Mikey fell into his arms, sobbing loudly. “You rotten brother!”

Leo, in a state of shock, hugged his little brother back. “What? Why? What did I do!?”

Donnie sniffed and hugged him and Mikey. “You DIED! That’s what you did! And now you’re alive again! What the shell, brother!?”

Raph hugged the three of them, Splinter and April joining the hug. “You scared us!” Raph exclaimed, tears falling from his eyes.

“I’m sorry!” Leo exclaimed. “How was I supposed to know that!?” He hugged his family back with a strength he hadn’t felt in weeks. “I just felt like sleeping.” He slowly pulled away. “And I didn’t feel like I died, I felt like I was visiting some other place, but I wasn’t dead?” He scratched his head. “It’s hard to explain. I’m sorry for scaring you…” He quietly added. “I…” He trembled and started sniffing. “Did I die?” He cried.

“Leo, you didn’t have a pulse!” Donnie snapped. “You weren’t even breathing, you were dead!”

Raph helped Leo stand up. To Raph’s surprise, Leo didn’t stumble or coughed or bleed. It was like he was perfectly fine… for a person that was dead a few minutes ago, anyways. “You look way better than before.”

Leo stared at him, then at Splinter and April. He looked down. “I swear, I didn’t die. I’m sorry for scaring you, but to me, it was like I had gone to some other place and then came back.”

To the turtle’s surprise, Splinter sobbed and hugged him. “My son, you were not breathing or had a pulse. In the definition of the word, you were dead.”

Leo gently hugged his sobbing father back in surprise as he glanced at April. Her face was stained with tears of her own. “He’s right, Leo. You were…” She looked away. “We thought that was it.”

Leo finally glanced at Raph. The snapping turtle nodded solemnly. “You were in my arms, Lee. I can testify, you were a goner.”

Leo felt like a bucket of ice-cold water was been dumped over his body. “But… I…”

“Leo, I know you don’t want to believe it, but it’s true.” Raph placed a hand over his shoulder. “You died.”

“No.” He let go of his father and stepped away from Raph. “I didn’t die, Raph!”

“Leonardo,” Splinter started.

“I saw Gram-Gram,” Leo stated suddenly. Silence filled the room. “She told me I wasn’t dead. She told me I had to go back.”

“But…” Donnie stared. “You never responded, your pulse was nonexistent, and you were cold.”

“You saw Gram-Gram…” Mikey breathed out. Silence fell among the group at the sudden information.

“I may have an answer to that.” Said Draxum as he attempted to stand up but quickly fell to his knees holding his wound. “But first, I might need some medical attention.”

Mikey gasped. “Barry! That doesn’t look good!”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Donnie deadpanned. The softshell and the box turtle quickly aided the yokai to his feet and guided him to the med bay. One by one, the others followed suit. First April, then Splinter, later Raph.

The snapping turtle smiled at Leo. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

Raph chuckled. “You saved my life back there, you dummy. Thank you.”

Raph was about to go inside the med bay when Leo took his hand. “Hey… I … um… about me being dead and seeing Gram-Gram…”

Raph turned to look at him before going inside the med bay. “Leo, it’s ok. We believe you. We know you wouldn’t lie when it involves Gram-Gram.”

Leo shook his head. “No, it’s not that.” His eyes teared up. “Bro, I love you. And if I was a goner like you all saw, then I shouldn’t be holding this in.” He took a deep breath. “You said nasty things to me a while back and it hurt. It still hurts.”

Raph looked down. “I know, I shouldn’t have said those things. I’m sorry.”

“I know. Which is why I forgive you, big bro.”

Raph looked up in surprise. “Really?”

Leo nodded. “I don’t want to go to an early grave and take those things with me. I don’t want you to feel guilty for the rest of your life either. I want to put this behind me and while it still hurts,” He squeezed Raph’s hand. “You’re my big brother and I love you. I’m sorry if my being the leader now put you in an uncomfortable place. But if I’m going to be the leader now, I want you to be by my side, not against me. And if one of us is going sooner than the other, I don’t want the last thing we said to each other to be something we regret.”

Raph teared up and hugged Leo. He sobbed into his shoulder. Leo hugged him back. “I love you too, bro!” Said the snapping turtle.

Leo sobbed into his shoulder with a smile on his face. “I know. You and everyone else took care of me all these weeks. It takes someone that loves you to have that kind of patience.”

Raph chuckled before finally pulling away. “And speaking of that, you don’t have a fever anymore!” He touched Leo’s forehead.

Leo smiled. “And my body doesn’t hurt either! It’s kind of weird.”

“Though, we have to take care of Draxum now.” Said Raph. “After that, he might explain something to us.”

“What?”

“About the light show you just pulled up!” The older turtle exclaimed. “Leo, you just defeated Tamamo no Mae and survived. You were using some kind of magic!”

Leo blinked as he finally digested what had happened in the last two hours: the possession, the exorcism, Tamamo fighting him inside his mind, everything in general.

“Oh…” Leo simply said. “I think I just killed Draxum’s crazy ex-girlfriend.” He was still a bit shocked.

Raph sighed. “Yeah, that too."

Chapter Text

It took Donnie twenty stitches to fix Draxum’s wound. Now, being the medic wasn’t his area of expertise, usually, it was Leo. But the red-eared slider was in no position to fix medical wounds other than his own, so it befell on the softshell to fix the yokai even if he didn’t like him so much.  After quickly bandaging and declaring that the yokai should stay a couple of days in the med bay just to be sure he wouldn’t go around and rip off his stitches, Donnie finally addressed the elephant in the room.

“What was that?”

Without needing to go into further explanation, everyone turned to look at Leo. Leo felt a bit nervous with everyone’s gaze upon him. He played with the hem of his hoodie. “I don’t know…”

“You used some sort of power, then there was your Hamato Ninpo, then you died, and then you came back to life!” April exclaimed.

“Maybe we should go with one thing at a time,” Raph suggested. “Let’s start with whatever Leo used to defeat Tamamo.”

Mikey scratched his head. “It might be farfetched, but is it possible that Leo absorbed Tamamo’s power?”

Donnie stared at Mikey. “Mikey… that’s a brilliant explanation!”

“It is?”

Donnie was about to respond, but Draxum beat him to it. “It’s a possibility, but I’m almost certain it is not the case.” He winced as he sat upon the bed. He was silently thankful to the softshell for letting him keep his shirt on, it was a little cold. “But I have a couple of questions for Leonardo first.”

Leo nodded slowly. “Ok, shoot.”

“First, how are you feeling? Any fever? Bruises? Lightheaded?”

Leo shook his head. “I’m completely fine. It’s like I suddenly got better after I kicked Tamamo out of me. Like, all my demoralization symptoms were just gone!”

Draxum nodded. “That answers one thing, at least. You’re no longer sick.”

Huginn and Muninn flew towards Leo and hugged. “Blue Boy is better!” They exclaimed in unison.

Leo laughed and gently pulled them away. “I think so, but I’m just tired and I want to sleep.”

Splinter sat beside Leo and gently hugged him. The rat turned his head towards Draxum. “But it does not explain the strange abilities he performed.”

Donnie inspected Leo with an analytic eye. “I still think what Mikey said might hold some truth to it. It might have been Tamamo’s residual energy, and you somehow managed to utilize it to your will.”

Draxum shook his head. “Let me try something. Leonardo,” He turned to the red-eared slider. “Come here.”

Leo stood up and walked towards Draxum. “Yeah?”

“I want you to extend your hand. Yes, like that.” Draxum nodded when Leo opened his palm in front of him. “Now, I want you to think of what you were feeling when you first saw you could control this energy. Concentrate.”

Leo stared at his palm with a frown. He remembered he had felt renewed like what mattered was to keep his family safe. He remembered he felt calm and collected, but also more alive than he had ever felt.

His palm suddenly emitted a small glowing orb of bright blue with black specs and small lightning surrounding it. He and the others gasped.

“Barry!? What is happening!?”

Draxum smirked. “I was right.” He mumbled to himself. “How do you feel when the energy flows through you?” He asked Leo.

Leo looked down at the strange energy in his hand. “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like when…” He gulped. “She was controlling me. This feels… natural, somehow. Like it’s a part of me.”

Draxum nodded. “That proves my theory.”

Donnie turned to Draxum. “What theory? Care to share with the class?”

“I don’t think this is residual energy from Tamamo like Michelangelo suggested, but it was still a high probability. This,” He motioned at Leo’s hand. “Is entirely your brother’s. I believe Tamamo’s mystic influence on Leonardo might have awakened an aptitude for the mystic arts in him.” Explained the yokai. “Like a dormant gene of sorts.”

Leo gasped, stars in his eyes and a wide smile on his face. “YOU MEAN TO TELL ME I CAN DO MAGIC!?”

Draxum winced at the enthusiastic yell. “Yes, but we don’t know what type of magic you are capable of using. Could be elemental or it could be dark. Though, my suspicions are on chaos magic.”

“I don’t care!” Leo jumped from his seat. “I can do magic!” He jumped up and down like an excited little kid. “WEEEEEE!!!”

Draxum facepalmed. “Please, calm down. First, you’ll give me a headache, and second—”

A bunch of glass vials containing medical herbs exploded. The turtles covered their eyes from the glass shard flying. Draxum glared at Leo. “Recently awoken magic is unpredictable and tied to your emotions, so calm down. Or next, you will break Donatello’s tablet.”

Donnie took his precious tablet and held it close to his chest for safekeeping.

Leo let his arms fall to his sides as the magic faded away. “I can do magic…” He breathed out.

“Yes, I believe Barry said it already, Nardo.” Donnie shook his head.

Leo slowly nodded. “Can I have a magic broom?”

“No,” Splinter said firmly. “You barely pick one to do your chores, you will NOT get a magic broom.”

“Meh, worth a try.” Leo shrugged.

“That leaves another question unanswered.” Said April. “Leo’s apparent death.”

Silence befell upon the group. They turned to Draxum to get a possible answer. The yokai sighed. “That might be a bit complicated.”

“How complicated?” Mikey asked.

“If I’m correct, I believe Leonardo performed something called necromancy. The user’s body doesn’t die, it just enters a state of a temporary coma of sorts and makes you look like you died. Or something like that. It’s out of my area of expertise, there’s not much I can tell you about it. But it does consist of interacting with the dead.” The yokai answered. “It’s a rare ability to have.”

The group tried to digest the new information.

“It’s frowned upon by many, so I suggest you keep it to yourself.” Draxum pointed out. “Don’t tell anyone else that’s not in this room, you understand?”

“Why?” Leo asked. “What’s so dangerous about it?”

Draxum sighed. “All magic is neutral at its core. The concepts of light and dark magic are used to divide certain abilities and rituals from the morally good ones to the more… unacceptable ones such as sacrificing someone for the sake of magic, which would fall under the dark magic category. But you demonstrated the ability to talk to the dead and interact with them. That’s not to be taken lightly.” The yokai frowned. “Necromancy is considered unholy and unnatural, even by dark magic standards.”

Leo stared. “Why? I just talked to Gram-Gram? What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing, Necromancy is a harmless ability and has no defense or attack use in a fight. But others will not see it like that. There are superstitions and rumors around necromancy, none of them are pretty. What I mean is, speaking to the dead is unnatural, even by magical standards. One word out of this room about this ability and the people of Hidden City will discriminate against you.” Draxum winced by the pain as he rested his head against the pillow. “Some purists might even try to attack you.”

“I still don’t understand.” Leo had to admit he was a bit terrified at being discriminated against by other mutants and yokai.

Draxum sighed. “Humans, yokai… they are the same in one aspect: they fear what they don’t understand. And you? I can barely understand this myself.”

Leo looked down at his hands. Raph placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I still think it’s pretty cool you can talk to Gram-Gram.”

Leo smiled at him, but it did not reach his eyes.

Draxum gave him a sad look. “Look… I have a friend. I can speak with her and convince her to take you as an apprentice.”

Leo looked up. “Me? An apprentice?”

“Yeah, Leo doesn’t have the necessary intelligence to be a wizard’s apprentice,” Donnie stated and gained a few glares.

“Sorceress." The yokai corrected. "But I will leave that for later. I rather rest now, and so do all of you.” Draxum said.

“You heard him, everyone, off to bed.” Splinter stated as he started to push everyone away.

“Can we all do a turtle pile in my room?” Mikey pleaded. “I rather have all of us together! April, you can have one of the sleeping bags too!”

“Sounds great, Mikey!”

The younger ones left and Huginn and Muninn mentioned something about raiding the kitchen. Draxum kept his eyes fixed on Leo’s back until he was out of sight. He finally sighed and turned his head towards Splinter before he left. “Rat?”

“Yes?” Splinter looked back.

“I must speak with you.”

Splinter walked over to Draxum’s bedside with a worried look. “Is this about Leonardo?”

“I’m afraid so. Listen to me and listen to me carefully,” Said Draxum. “Your son is a special being.”

Splinter narrowed his eyes. “He has always been special.”

“You don’t get it, rat. Your son already had power that’s unheard of outside of this family. Hamato Ninpo is as rare as abilities come by. But now, he has demonstrated he can perform necromancy, another rare ability and this one is related to dark magic.”

“I can see your worry there.” Splinter lowered his ears.

“But what ticks me off is the magic he possesses.”

Splinter looked up with an arched eyebrow. “You said it was a certain type of magic.”

“There are different types of magic. Light, dark, alchemy, elemental… it varies. Mine is an elemental form of earth magic plus my extended knowledge of alchemy. But your son… I believe his magic is chaos magic.”

Splinter searched Draxum face for any sign of fear or disgust, but only found amazement. “What is that?”

“Chaos magic… a type of magic so rare, it is considered a myth. Only under ten people have been known to have it, and many more desire it. It the strongest, purest, and most dangerous of all mystic energies.”

“And you can tell all that from a simple ball of magic?” Splinter asked. “You said yourself it is too rare; how could you know?”

“Because my friend possesses this type of magic. She’s an extraordinary being. Putting Leonardo in her capable hands not only ensures a proper education but his safety as well.”

“Why his safety? Draxum, what are you not telling me?”

Draxum sighed. “Hamato Ninpo, Necromancy and Chaos Magic. Think about it. With all of that power combined, you get yourself one powerful being. Or a weapon.” He glared. “And he will attract a lot of unwanted attention looking for that power. The awakening of his power will sure attract unwanted guests. Your son is running a danger, whether you like it or not.”

Splinter had to sit down. This was too much information. His son was running a grave danger by the mere fact that he had great hidden power all this time and to think that people like Tamamo would want to harm him to take it… he could not stand it. Not again. “Can you train him?”

“He will have higher chances of defending himself if he is trained by someone far more skilled than me, which is why I implore you, let me take him to my friend.” Draxum pleaded. “She can teach him so much more and Leonardo will benefit from having a teacher with the same chaotic power as him. And she is well taught in the dark arts, she can understand necromancy better than anyone.”

Splinter sighed. “Take him to your friend. Anything to ensure his safety.”

“Of course.”

“But you must rest and until Purple declares you fit to get out of here, you will stay in bed. Are we clear?”

Draxum groaned. “Crystal.”

OOO

Leo stared at the ball of magic in his hands. He couldn’t stop staring at it. Nor the others, for that matter.

“It looks like a pretty nightlight,” Mikey commented as he stared in awe at the magic.

Donnie frowned at the energy with an analytical eye. “It looks chaotic.” He slipped his goggles over his eyes and he whistled. “Holy mama, that is a lot of mystic energy.” He quickly pulled up the googles and blinked. “I don’t even want to look at you with these babies. I suspect you are a beacon of mystic energy right now.”

April leaned against Donnie’s chest, much to the softshell’s eternal blush. “Well, I’m just glad Leo’s ok and he’s no longer sick and he’s with us. The magic part is cool and all, but it won’t compare to the relief we have right now.”

“April is right.” Said Raph. “The best part to come out from this whole situation is having you safe, brother. Besides, Draxum might say necromancy is frowned upon, but you get to talk to Gram-Gram, so I’m kind of jealous.”

“Yeah!” Mikey exclaimed. “Next time you talk to her, tell her we said hi and that we love her!”

“I will.” Leo smiled. “But I will deal with this in the morning.” He yawned as the magic faded away. “We should go to sleep.”

Before anyone could agree, Mikey’s bedroom curtain opened suddenly, and Casey Jones stepped through. “I came here to visit Leonardo, the sore Uno Card loser, and see how’s he’s doing but the rat tells me to ask you!” She pointed at the group.

Raph winced. “Well… Leo got better, yeah, but he was possessed by a kitsune. But everything’s fine! Leo defeated her and he got sweet magic powers, and all is good, just to give a summary.”

Casey stared at Raph.

“YOU MEAN I MISSED A REAL DEMON POSSESSION!!!???” She demanded.

Raph stared back. “Casey, this is serious!”

“I MISSED A DEMON POSSESSION!”

“Casey—”

“I DEMAND A DO-OVER!”

“You can’t demand a do-over on a possession!”

Casey took a deep breath and her eyes landed on April and Donnie. “Sooooo….” She smirked. “You guys together now?”

April blushed and Donnie sighed. “Yeah, we are.” They answered.

“About damn time!” Casey yelled as she stomped her foot on the ground. “You, orange one!” She pointed at Mikey. “Move over, I’m inviting myself to this party of slumber.”

“It’s called slumber party, but ok!” Mikey made some space for Casey.

Raph yawned. “Well, everyone. Good night.” He curled himself inside the pillow fort they had built, with Mikey and Casey leaning on his right side and Donnie and April on his left, Leo stayed in the center. They all pulled blankets over them individually, but Donnie and April shared a large one.

Casey smirked at them. “No funny business, you two.”

Donnie grabbed a pillow and hit Casey right on the face. He went back to his side with a heavy blush. April looked at him with an even heavier blush. They giggled and cuddled into each other’s arms before falling asleep. Mikey was soon fast asleep, and Casey was snoring away. That left Raph and Leo the only ones awake.

“Good night, Leo.”

“Good night, Raph.”

Leo waited until the snapping turtle was fast asleep before sighing. He closed his eyes to try and get some sleep, but the haunting image of Tamamo and his body twisting and turning came back to haunt him. He opened his eyes and sighed. Draxum had asked him if he was alright and physically, he was, but… his mind wasn’t. He didn’t feel right in his head. He felt like someone could come in any minute and take over his mind as the stupid kitsune had. Maybe he wasn’t getting any sleep tonight. He extended his hand out and summoned the small ball of blue energy with the black specs and blue lightning. It was oddly comforting to stare at it. It felt natural. Warm. Safe.

After another long hour of twisting and turning the energy in his hand, sleep finally overtook the red-eared slider. He gently rested his head against Raph’s sleeping form and closed his eyes.

It was the best sleep he had in weeks, but that might have been the lack of proper rest because if it had been any regular night, he would have been still awake. His mind was running a hundred thoughts in a minute. Somewhere in the back of his head, he was on the lookout. Somewhere in his subconscious, he was standing guard, making sure no one would enter his mind and hurt him again. He didn’t want to feel abused or mistreated or have his mind violated without consent ever again. But even with his subconscious active and on the lookout, he still felt like something was missing, like a part of him was taken away when the kitsune accessed his most private thoughts and desires and twisted them to make room for her own. He knew that he lacked protection inside his mind.

He had never felt so paranoid in his life.