Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long for Leo to forget.

He forgot their voices, their names, some days even their faces seemed to swirl and misshape in Leos vision.

But forever Leo had spent looking at that photo, at the smiles and joy forever sealed in a simple piece of paper. Eventually he started to forget why he treasured the image so much but he did anyway out of a pure natural instinct he couldn’t explain. Then he felt a fierce protection over the image.

Now, as he looks up at faces matching almost perfectly to those of which he’d tried to nurture and savour for all of eternity, he was scared.

They loomed above him, staring him down in horror as if what they were seeing in front of them was worse than the floods of tears still streaming down their green faces.

They were green. Leo was green.

Was.

At this moment he was nothing but a massive misshapen bruise. He’d been worse however.

“Leo..?” The biggest one whispered gently, as if the noise itself could shatter Leo’s bones into a million pieces; it didn’t, of course, but it did shatter his heart and Leo couldn’t understand why.

Memories flew around Leo’s head of his own name being screamed at him as he got mercilessly beaten and thrown around like a child’s toy which only has the purpose to be broken, put back together and broken all over again. It was his name. And he hated it.

“Leo, buddy, can you hear me?” The same voice spoke again, louder this time, and with it came a large scarred hand reaching for him. Leo stared at it for a second. Flashbacks of the Kraangs armour launching straight for his face with it’s only goal being to hurt him as much as possible filled his mind.

Instinctively he fought against the hand, crawling backwards. The hard concrete ground made a change from thick air he had no control in. It was quite nice.

“PLEASE NO LEAVE ME ALONE” Leo cried out, his throat throbbed from the effort of it but anything was better than being exposed to more pain. His eyes were scrunched up tightly and he was trying to curl in on himself- ignoring how much his body protested and screamed for him to stop moving and making it all hurt more. He prepared for his futile attempt at defence to be broken and for the shock of whatever injury he’d receive next to encroach whatever internal peace he’d struggled to find for himself.

But it never came. After a short while he hesitantly opened his eyes, his sight was still blurry- made worse by whatever liquid was pooling near his eyes this time. The large turtle with the red mask was now holding his hand away from Leo as if he’d tried to burn it with fire.

“Leo it’s us! Your brothers!” A small orange-masked turtle said from behind the red one. This turtle had orange spots on parts of his body, a rounded face and hopeful yet exhausted eyes. He would’ve been a perfect resemblance to the orange one in the picture if it wasn’t for the yellow cracks going all the way up his arms and fresh cuts covering him from head to toe.

The only one who hadn’t spoken yet bore a purple bandanna. He seemed to be assessing Leo and a million thoughts flashed behind tired eyes.

Eventually they all grabbed him up in their arms, squeezing him tightly as their tears re-soaked his bloody skin and he howled in pain at the sudden movement. At first he fought and struggled, trying to make them let go off him. But after a few moments when nothing else happened he felt himself melt into their embrace.

They sobbed.

Leo sobbed.

For all the thousands of years Leo had been there, he’d never been held. Not once. Sure, he’d been punched and cut and gutted and choked and crushed and flung like a boomerang, but he’d never been held.

At some point they pulled away from him and instinctively he reached out to bring them back to him; seeking out a warmth he’d forgotten existed. It was like he was blind, he couldn’t really see. Leo wasn’t sure if it was because he’d closed his eyes and forgotten to open them or if his injuries we’re causing it. Part of him didn’t want to know. Panic surged through him as his hand closed around empty air and he felt like he was floating back in the Prison dimension. His body weight- which really wasn’t as much as it should be for his age- let him fall through the air and Leo didn’t even try to stop it. A few very short seconds before hitting the floor he was picked back up.

Tears rolled down his ripped cheeks and he relished the warmth of their bodies. He didn’t remember the last time he’d felt any sort of heat. He could hear them talking above him but he didn’t care, he didn’t want to know. He didn’t think he could pay attention to it even if he tried to. Everything hurt and it was clearly one of those times where his body took its sweet sweet time to heal and put itself back together.

When they’d found him it hadn’t been long since the last thrashing he’d constantly receive from the Kraang and he was still recovering; he’d been injured worse before, to the point of which no one could ever live through. No one except Leo. Somehow, the prison dimension never let him die, it would accept his broken figure into it’s non-existent arms and piece him back together no matter how long it took or how much it hurt. Leo hated that, he often wanted to be allowed to die, it would be an escape from his ever-lasting torture that he would gratefully accept. You’d think that the pain would eventually cease and sometimes it did whenever something bad happened to his nerves or his brain but aside from that, every time hurt just as worse as the last time.

But he wasn’t there now, he was here. In the arms of the people from the picture. And they held him close without any more signs of trying to hurt him. Leo liked that.

He felt his eyes begin to shut. He was tired and right now seems like the perfect time to fall asleep- it was something he didn’t get much of in the prison dimension.

He let himself fall limp in their grasp and his breathing slow down. It’s not like he wouldn’t wake up, Leo always woke up. They eventually started shaking him and all he let out was a small grunt. They started begging him to stay awake and not to leave them again but Leo couldn’t hear them through the fogginess surrounding his consciousness.

He let himself go.

Chapter Text

When Leo had been laying on the floor, Donnie didn’t know what to think or say.

The curled up turtle on the floor was his brother but it most definitely wasn’t Leo. The constant fear mixed in with scars (both old and fresh despite not being there last time he saw him) etched onto his face made it hard to look at. Immediately Donnie was trying to map out Leos physical injuries. It was extremely difficult to tell anything behind all the blood, bruises and swelling but Donnie was sure that nothing was really ok. And he knew that one’s arm shouldn’t be completely bent and shattered like that. He didn’t want to think about how the hell they’d be able to fix all of this but Donnie would find a way. He’d have to.

He hated the way that Leo had begged for them to not come close to him and the way he’d struggled as if his life depended on it when they’d pulled him into a hug. It was like he didn’t even know them. The thought of that alone scared Donnie, what could happen in the space of 10 minutes that was awful enough to make him scared any time someone so much as moved near him? He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out. That, however was something for future Donnie to worry about. Right now he had to focus on his twin brother bleeding out in front of him.

He watched as Leo dropped like a dead weight and all 3 of them rushed to catch him before he hit the floor. They were lucky to be close enough to succeed in that. Part of Donnie told him to cling onto his brother and never let him go ever again whilst another part of Donnie knew that wouldn’t be good for Leo’s wounds. Not long after, Raph had subconsciously taken full responsibility of supporting Leo and tucked him into his arms almost like a child, Leo had passed out and it was extraordinarily difficult to tell if their brother was dead or not.

“Leo? Leo! Leo please wake up!” Mikey pleaded with his unresponsive brother as if his will alone could summon him back into consciousness. 

Raph shook Leo in his arms, no response came aside from a couple groans of pain. His eldest brother looked up at him.

“Donnie is he-“ desperation and panic made Raph alot louder than Donnie thinks he intended to be. Donnie had been staring at Leo’s plastron again, still not wanting to look at his poor brothers’ face. He wanted to join his brothers in trying to wake Leo without thinking about what they were doing and what was going on with Leo, both internally and externally but that wasn’t what Donnie did. He had to be the smart one. He had to know what was going on, and he will. He cleared his head quickly before Raph could even finish his sentence & he pressed his ears to Leo’s plastron, trying not to throw up at the feeling of Leos blood sticking to the side of his head. Donnie was already covered in the stuff from the hug earlier and it took his entire being not to completely freak out and rush to get it off of him. For a while, Donnie couldn’t find anything. No signs of life or having been alive for a long time. It was one of the first things he’d noticed when hugging Leo.

Leo was cold. Not cold like chilly in winter cold. No his brother was cold like a long-dead corpse. He couldn’t shake that from his brain. Something was very wrong but Donnie couldn’t put his finger on it. Besides of course the fact that they’d all just fought off a whole alien apocalypse and somehow survived. No, something was really off with Leo’s injuries. Donnie wasn’t even sure it was possible to get hurt as badly as Leo was in such a short amount of time besides being put through a meat grinder which Leo obviously wasn’t. Even that wouldn’t give him some of the injuries he has right now. The turtle held his breath, listening as hard as he could for some sign that Leo was alive.

With a little while of hearing nothing, he began to believe that Leo really had now passed and that their brother’s rescue would also he his last moments of living, but then after a couple more seconds he began to hear a feint heartbeat pumping through his brothers chest.

Letting out a large sigh of relief he answered Rapheals question

“He’s alive,” somehow, he stopped himself from adding on, “but we need to get him back to the lair ASAP.”

Raph nodded grimly as if he could immediately tell what Donnie had left out and began to carefully stand up and walk with Leo still nestled close to him. He was cautious not to move Leo around too much, worried that it would worsen his injuries.

“Hold on little brother, you’re gonna be ok..” Raph spoke to Leo, not expecting a reply but so desperately hoping for one.

Anything from Leo would be nice and all 3 of them, still in a state of shock and denial, half-expected him to suddenly sit up and crack one of his awful one-liners/jokes any second.

‘You guys need to chillax a bit. There’s a reason I look the youngest with you three constantly worrying all the time!’

‘Just kidding, can’t kill me that easily! You should’ve seen the LOOKS on your faces!’

‘Neon Leon makes a comeback!’

’Eww are we on staten Island?!’

To no one’s surprise but everyone’s despair, whatever they wished to hear never came and Leo continued to look dead in Raphs grip.

They began walking back, awkwardly huddled together, not even bothering to look out for any humans that could see them anymore. The whole world would probably see them now but that would be a bridge to cross another time. 

“What about the others?” Mikey said quietly, breaking the uncomfortable silence which had fallen between them all on their trek back to the sewers. With the Turtle Tank out of commission in the subways under Metro Tower, they had to walk back home and with 3 heavily injured, exhausted teenagers having to also support an unconscious, dying one, it would take them a good while.

Donnie hadn’t thought of Casey, April & Splinter. His mind had been all caught up in trying to suss-out Leo’s injuries before even properly examining him.

“I’d try connecting to their panic buttons but I think they’ve all switched them off. I guess we’ll just have to hope we find them on the way back” he told Mikey. In all honestly he didn’t want to have to explain all of this to anyone- he wasn’t sure he could even if he did try. He didn’t want to talk to anyone.

Mikey seemed to understand that and shakily nodded. The young turtle was still quite clearly in pain from the mystic stunt he’d just pulled and looked ready to collapse at any point now that the adrenaline high was fading out. They all probably looked like that but Mikey’s was definitely more obvious. He was trembling badly and his arms still bore the yellow cracks that’d happened once the portal first started to tear open. They made Donnie wonder what would’ve happened to their youngest brother if him and Raph didn’t support him. He could’ve lost two brothers in the space of 10 minutes. He pushed the thoughts away. He looked again at his little brother and could see Mikey tightly wrapping his own arms around himself, maybe as a form of self-comfort. Donnie’s older-brother-instincts kicked in and without saying a word, he stood closer to Mikey. Not physically touching him but the option was there if Mikey wanted it. Donnie had never been one for physical touch, much preferring someone to just be present at a fair distance but Mikey was the complete opposite- adoring how comfortable and safe physical touch made him feel. He was willing to put his own preferences aside to support Mikey as they still made their way back.

Mikey lent into Donnie’s arms without another word and they kept walking. They were almost there and would be able to make sure that Leo was ok soon.

They all tried their hardest to ignore the trails of blood Leos limp form left behind him and the whimpers of what was undoubtedly a bad nightmare. 

Chapter Text

//Leo was back in the prison dimension again. That must’ve been a dream. Though it had felt realer than anything else had for a long time. As he blinked his eyes open again and slowly came back to his senses, he realised he was being tightly grabbed by something colder than the air around him. The icy coldness of the Kraang’s mech seeped into his bones and chilled him right down to the core. It wasn’t much different from before- Leonardo was always cold. Tears streamed down his face as the Kraang continued to channel all its pent up anger and energy out on Leo- or what was left of him at least.

“This is what you deserve! You have doomed us both in an eternal hell and now you shall pay the price!” The Kraang always seemed to take great pride in it’s ability to tear Leo apart in more ways than just physically. Sometimes that was the worst part. Hundreds of years of floating alone through empty space with no interaction with anyone or anything was enough to drive someone insane; it made Leo partially enjoy whenever the Kraang found him. He hated being alone.

As of now, the Kraang had him pinned against one of the various rocks that’d been there longer than Leo himself. The cold, hard, metal talons sunk into his flesh, piercing through his carapace and plaston and any skin/flesh which had found its way in-between him and his attacker. He tried his hardest not to scream as the only thing preventing him from bleeding out completely got removed and he got thrown up. It hurt like hell and Leo felt blood rise up in his throat. He started to choke on it as he got caught in midair and thrown back down again. And then up again, then down again. It was like a game of tennis, ping-pong, badminton, and Leo was the ball.

“THIS.”

He got thrown into the floor again before getting flung back up, creating a large dent in the ground.

“IS ALL.”

Caught again. He could hear all his bones clicking and cracking as the Kraang’s mech tried to squeeze any and all scrap of life inside of him.

“YOUR.”

He felt his plastron begin to shatter and splinter under the pressure. Leo cried out in pain, only driving the Kraang to toss him back down harder than before before driving his limped form back up.

“FAULT.”

By now, large chunks of his shell was simply breaking apart and blood gushed out from where his skin had been completely ripped off.

He was left to float upwards, the Kraang couldn’t bother itself to chase after him this time and simply left Leo to nothing but himself again.

Everything burned and stung as he drifted aimlessly through another one of the prison dimensions’ empty spaces that Leo could swear went on for what seemed like forever. A river streamed down his face and into his mouth; the taste of salt and a sort of metallic taste bathed his tongue making him just cry harder. His lungs hurt and he gasped for breath, failing miserably as all he was able to cough up was more blood, he kept trying despite how his own body pleaded for him to stop. Leo refused- it hurt to breathe but it hurt more to not even try.

He’d gotten out hadn’t he? He shouldn’t be here he should be with-

The picture.

He reached for where he’d last stored it, ignoring the Kraangs’ distant laughter echoing from somewhere far below him.

It was gone. Where was it? Leo began to truly panic, he’d done anything and everything in his power to keep that image with him, he couldn’t’ve lost it now! He needed that picture, it was the only thing he had to escape his mind from his own body. He managed to let out a low whine of frustration as his attempts at finding it all failed. It was gone, Leo really was alone. With nothing left to hold but himself, he tried to curl into his own body- or at least what was left of it. He scrunched his eyes up tightly and bawled. He didn’t like to cry or show any form of self-expression seeing as he’d learnt very quickly it was only a trigger for more torture from the Kraang. As if the simple sight of it only fuelled it’s desire to destroy whatever it touches. Leo knew the Kraang enjoyed it and often refused to give it the pleasure of knowing that it was able to break him down mentally. Other times he didn’t care. He knew for a fact he didn’t care now. He could hardly hear himself sniffling through the blood pounding in his eardrums.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” A voice bellowed alot closer than Leo would’ve liked. He unravelled from himself slightly. His eyes widened when he saw the Kraang hovering in front of him with his photo clutched tightly in its grasp.

Leo gasped. Nothing could happen to that photo. He reached out for it, ignoring the way his skin, his muscles, his internal organ’s & every nerve still alive inside of him begged and screeched for him not to move, to let himself disintegrate into nothingness for the next forever to come. He tried to get closer to the image but with nothing but a broken, bleeding body it proved quite difficult.

The Kraang held it in front of him, just out of arms reach. He chuckled slightly at Leo’s feeble attempts before grabbing Leo again with one of its other metal limbs. Leo still fought against it. It was useless, there was no escaping the Kraang’s hold unless the Kraang himself willed it.

He let Leo struggle for a good while. Leo’s limbs thrashed around as wildly as they could manage. He tried everything: biting, pulling, hitting, scratching, but nothing could shift the metal arm away from him.

Leo knew there was no point in trying anymore but he still did, “Please..” he choked out in between sobs, “please don’t hurt them I need them they’re all I have.” he sounded like a begging child. That’s all he was really.

“I need them!” He repeated again as he felt a mixture of blood and saliva foaming around his mouth and dripping down his chin. There was a time when Leo would’ve been disgusted and embarrassed at even the thought of him drooling like that. Now it was just the norm and Leo didn’t even try to wipe it away or stop it. All his thoughts and remaining scraps of energy left inside him were geared at getting the image back. The Kraang swooshed the page around in front of him, pushing it into Leo’s reach before cruelly ripping it away again before Leo’s fingers could even brush the surface of the paper. Leo’s cries mixed with the Kraang’s mocking laughter tore through the silence of the prison dimension like a knife cutting through butter. It wasn’t often Leo let himself beg and grovel like this and The Kraang was clearly enjoying every second of it- drinking the scene in like a thirsty dog.

“What if I was to do this?” He asked Leo as he ever so slightly tore the page with its claws. It could quite easily rip it to shreads within seconds if it wanted.

“NO! PLEASE STOP” Leo continued to beg, panic was the only thing pushing him to keep fighting right now and he didn’t see how much the Kraang was enjoying his suffering. Surely even The Kraang would have some scap of mercy on him? Who was he kidding, this was The Kraang, Leo knew it had no feelings of pity towards anyone and most certainly not on Leo. He coughed out more blood despite the grip on him not being as tight as usual. If Leo had even some strength left inside him, he would’ve been able to break out of this. Both of them knew this. He knew this was on purpose. Everything the Kraang did was on purpose. It was another way of trying to mentally fuck with him.

It worked.

The Kraang laughed loudly and smirked before going back to tearing the paper more and more and more until it was in thousands of different pieces. Leo screamed for him to stop every second of it but nothing he tried succeeded. His eyes burned from how hard he was crying. His throat burned from his mixture of coughing, whimpering and screaming. His heart was beating so hard it could beat its way out of his chest if it really tried to.

“You really are nothing but a pathetic child.” The Kraang hissed through its teeth at Leos still struggling form before letting him go once again and whisking itself away. Leo fell limp in the air for a few seconds. Blood gushed out of his wounds again and his lungs relished the opportunity to get some oxygen once more; this wasn’t to be confused with breathing, there’s no way Leo could breathe properly from the state he was in. He looked up and reached out for the unrecognisable photo but the pieces seemed to drag themselves further away from him before disappearing into the never ending darkness of the Prison Dimension.//

Leo practically threw himself upwards, panting heavily. Tears were still forming around his eyes and his entire body still screamed out in pain but he was somewhere else. He wasn’t in the prison dimension. Was he dreaming again? Or had he just woken up from one? His head began to hurt from trying to figure out so instead he decided to look at his surroundings. He looked around him, it was dimly lit and full of different types of machinery which were letting out loads of different noises. He was sitting on something soft and squishy, he kinda liked it. He went to move his right arm to press down on it but it wouldn’t move. Leo couldn’t really feel it apart from where the base of his shoulder should be sitting & didn’t want to see why; it usually meant the Kraang had done something bad to it. Instead he used his other arm to prod at the material. He liked how soft it was. It was ever so slightly damp but not soaking wet. The mattress was also different shades of red but something about the way the crimson colours were stronger the closer it got to him made Leo think it was originally a different colour and that it was probably caused by him bleeding heavily. He was bleeding out of his shell and various other wounds it seemed, again. He could feel it trickle down his skin and squirmed uncomfortably at the feeling, the sensation of bleeding never got easier to Leo. He didn’t even make an effort to wipe it away however, he was too dazed and hurt to try.

It didn’t take long for the numerous beeping sounds, bandages wrapped tightly around him & the sound of his own breathing to start overstimulating him. He shook his head and pressed it into the crook of his left arm and groaned slightly trying to block out the noise. He wasn’t used to much noise other than himself, the Kraang and sometimes the noise of debris crashing into eachother. He struggled to ignore how his body ached and hurt at any little movement he made- moving, blinking, breathing. His entire back, neck and right arm throbbed and Leo had to try his hardest not to let curiosity get the better of him and look and his injuries. He felt like if he was to even dare move much, then he’d be split into half and shatter into a billion pieces. His brain was beginning to become nothing but a mess of noise, pain and the aftermath of a bad dream.

“Leo! You’re up!” Someone called out followed by a couple crashing noises.

He blinked open his eyes again to see where the sound was coming from and saw a turtle with a purple bandanna on his face rushing towards him- hardly even acknowledging where he knocked over some of the various inventions lined up ontop of different tables. He looked tired and had a couple bruises and cuts over him as well as some weird pinkish blotches covering the back of his arms and legs but apart from that he didn’t look too bad. He was as roughly as tall as Leo and had a black box over the back of his shell. He came close to where Leo was leaning against the wall and instinctively Leo tried to back away from him only to realise that he couldn’t and with no where to go he just huddled himself as close to the wall as he could go. It was one of those familiar mutants from the picture but Leo still didn’t trust him.

“Leo calm down it’s me! Are you ok? Can you talk? I left to go and get something but I heard screaming and came back. When did you wake up?” The guy bombarded him with questions that Leo had no intentions of answering. He wasn’t even sure if I could talk in the first places which Leo supposes answers one of his questions. He continued to come closer to Leo until he was able to reach out and touch him if need be. “Should I call the others? Mikey made me swear to him that I’d come and get him straight away if you wake up but if you don’t want to-“ he stopped talking when Leo just blankly stared back up at him. With the other turtle being this close to him, Leo didn’t take his eyes off of him. Not even to blink. He was violently shaking and trying his hardest not to shove him away.

“Leo?” Concern rimmed the purple-masked turtles’ voice.

Leo shook his head, he didn’t want to hear his own name. It rung in his ears along with the noises which were still coming from the computers and he hated it.

“I’ll get the others.” The guy blinked something away from his eyes and quickly ran out of the room leaving Leo alone again.

Part of him wanted to grab the guy by the wrist and beg him not to leave him alone again because Leo hated being alone more than anything in the world. But he didn’t, Leo let him go. Still refusing to take his eyes off of him until he left outside a door Leo couldn’t quite see. Once he was sure the guy left, he began to look for the photo again, praying that it was just a dream and Leo did still have it with him all in one piece.

When he found the piece of paper tucked close to his shell he squeezed it tightly, not caring about how it scrunched up under his grip on it. The image was already creased up with bloody imprints which had soaked through both sides of it so it’s not like there would be too much difference. He breathed a sigh of relief, barely feeling the tears still trickling out of his eyes as he held onto the photo like a lifeline. It wasn’t much longer until even more loud noises came crashing towards him. He blinked a bit and looked up again to see 6 unique figures running at him. He put the picture away- not wanting it to get ruined anymore than it already was. They all ranged in terms of size. He recognised all of them except for one boy who was heavily armoured from head to toe. Leo was already crouched as far back as he could go from where they were all standing and he wished he had the ability to fully tuck himself into his shell. He couldn’t do that however so he just continued pressing himself back against the wall, almost as if he could simply wish a massive hole to open up behind him and swallow his fear. They we’re all smiling slightly when they saw him awake though something about the state Leo was in made them visibly uncomfortable. He was greeted with most of them calling something out to him.

“Sensei! You’re ok!”

“Leo it’s great to see you up!”

“How’re you feeling?”

“Leo!”

The smallest one didn’t stop running and took Leo in a massive hug. Leo flinched but he didn’t resist it. After a couple heartbeats he heard some sobbing noises next to him. Was the boy crying? Leo just stared straight ahead and felt a massive lump form in his throat. He tried to ignore the way his entire body stung at the touch of the small turtle. The biggest one had his eyes fixed somewhere to Leo’s right-side though he was obviously trying not to stare too hard. The girl was looking at his face with a small smile and the small furry one- obviously older than all the others by a stretch- had a look of pure worry on his face. The unfamiliar boy seemed to be staring into space as if he was mentally somewhere else. Leo could swear he could see some kind of liquid forming in their eyes but he didn’t feel like making sure.

“Leo please never do that to us again please I was- we- we were so scared!” The orange-masked turtle choked out through sobs. It only made Leo confused, what was he talking about? How did he know Leo? How did any of them know him?

“Do what? How do you know my name?” Leo managed to ask- his throat still burned from the effort though. His voice was low and scratchy compared to what he used to sound like- Leo didn’t know what he sounded llke before however, any and all memories from before The Kraang were gone or extremely foggy to put it lightly.

All the smiles were gone in a heartbeat and the room fell silent. Had he done something? Usually the only time the Kraang stopped laughing and smiling at the sight of Leo’s pain was when he managed to really piss The Kraang off and that never ended well. He braced himself for something- anything from them that could hurt him. Once again, it never came. Were they really not going to hurt him at all or were they just trying to create a false sense of security?

The one hugging him loosened his grip on Leo and stood back from him, leaving a hand on Leos shoulder- both gestures something Leo greatly appreciated. He turned around to look at the others standing behind him.

“He doesn’t remember?” Someone whispered.

The purple-masked one sighed, “I told you guys that it looked like he’d taken a lot of bad hits to his head which will usually mean memory loss. Let me test something real quick.” Everyone moved out of the way to let him move towards Leo slowly. He bent down to Leo’s height while still keeping a respective distance. “Leo it’s me Donnie. Do you know who I am?”

Everyone in the room held their breath while the waited for a response. Leo scanned his face, searching his entire brain for something to connect that name to the exhausted face in front of him. He closed his fist around the paper tightly.

Donnie.

Donnie.

Donnie.

He felt like he should know the name but he just didn’t.

He shook his head.

Donnie looked down and turned his head away from Leo’s still shaking form.

“So- so he doesn’t remember any of us?” The strange boy asked after a short moment.

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Donnie replied sadly. His gaze dropped to the mattress Leo was sitting on, his eyes widened at how bloodied it was. “Holy shit I totally forgot to- look, everyone out. We can ask him more stuff later.” He began to try getting them out of the room- much to everyone’s protest.

After some back and forth bickering, they finally agreed to leave Donnie and Leo in the room alone. Donnie collected some wet cloth and clean bandages before going back over to him. He went to go and push the wet cloth towards the part of his back which was burning and undoubtedly dripping blood. The second Leo felt the liquid touch the skin just behind his neck he flinched away, not liking the way it made the injury hurt more than it already was.

“Ok Leo I can understand you’re most definitely very confused right now about everything going on but I need some co-operation,” the masked terrapin began as he sat back on the blood-soaked bed, “I need to clean out some of the wounds you have; your arm and the ones on your carapace are- well.. dangerous if you haven’t already looked which I’m gonna guess you haven’t or you’d probably be really freaking the fuck out right now.”

Leo didn’t need to look, he knew it was bad. It was always bad, he always hurt. He’d quickly learnt that looking at his bodies wounds just made him feel sick so he stopped trying to look at where it all hurt and just accepting that it did hurt rather than understanding what it looked like.

Leo had already come to a conclusion that Donnie was smart. Smarter than he was at least, though the bar for that was pretty low.

He could see Donnie taking in the sight of him and stared back, drinking in everything in his vision as if it were another memory he’d want to hold tight to himself and never let go of. What was Donnie thinking? Did he see how weak he was at the current state he was in and mourn the strong, independent teenager he’d been only nights before or did he somehow know that whatever went on in the prison dimension was alot deeper than anything that could ever possibly happen within 10 minutes? Leo could see the other turtles eyes begin to glisten with tears not yet fallen and felt his own eyes begin to water with tears he’d cried many times. He’d cried in the Prison dimension millions of times over different things: pain, feelings he didn’t understand, memories he couldn’t quite grasp, the Kraangs relentless sadistic teasing. The photo with faces he shouldn’t care about yet did nonetheless.

But this was different. This wasn’t a moment of pure joy forever frozen in time nor was it was one of those times where he was so pained and tired that he didn’t care what happened anymore.

This was something Leo didn’t know the name of. It was happening right here, right now. He doesn’t know what made him do it- nor of how he was even able to reach across without his whole body splitting into 2 pieces- but he leaned forwards so he was leaning against Donnie’s plastron. He wrapped his left arm around the softshell turtles shoulder and neck whilst his head rested on the other side from his arm. Then he couldn’t stop himself. Hot tears streamed down his face, ever so slightly burning the gashes engraved on his skin as he sobbed loudly. He held Donnie tightly. He doesn’t know why he did this, he just did. And god, it felt so right.

This must’ve set Donnie off because he also wrapped his arms around Leo and started to cry. Not as loud as Leo was but still undoubtedly crying.

“Donnie.” Leo said the name through tears. There wasn’t an actual reason, he just wanted to.

“Yes?” He could tell that Donnie was trying to sound like he wasn’t crying but his attempts weren’t very good.

“Donnie.” Leo said it again as if he was trying to convince himself that the name was real and everything that had just happened wasn’t just a figment of his imagination.

“Leo,” Donnie said his name back to him. They both seemed to find a source of comfort in simply saying eachothers names to eachother for no apparent reason. “I’m here Leo.”

Leo wanted to scream as he tucked his head closer to Donnie and held him tighter. If it wasn’t for his extreme lack of strength and muscle, Donnie would’ve probably broken a bone or two from the hold Leo has him in. Donnie just awkwardly patted Leo’s head, not being one for physical contact nor wanting to worsen any of his injuries. They sat like that for a short while. It wasn’t the most comfortable for either of them but they still basked in eachothers mere presence. It was like how Leo had clung to the image in the Prison dimension except the thing he was so desperately clinging onto right now was not an image forever concealed in a flimsy piece of paper but a real, living, feeling thing. Once again, Leon embraced how warm the purple-clad turtle was and enjoyed the way he felt it seep into his chilled bones. After a short while of them hugging (if you could even call it that) Leo began to feel sleepy again. At first he tried to fight it but after enduring the pain he just felt for as long as he had, his pathetic attempt at staying awake wasn’t able to hold up for long and he drifted off to sleep again in Donnie’s arms.

Chapter Text

Donnie could feel his brother go limp as his breathing begin to slow- clear signs of sleep. He had to check Leo’s wounds without waking him to prevent any infections to just worsen his state. He’d received some nasty ones in The Prison Dimension to put it as lightly as possible.

Donnie knew that Leo had been there for a longer time than it seemed- the scans he’d done once they all got back to the lair told a horrifying story Donnie didn’t want to let himself believe. Some wounds and poorly- healed scars he’d been able to trace back months . His body showed signs of somehow holding and surviving injuries that would kill anyone it had been inflicted upon. Donnie had decided not to tell the rest of his family, not quite sure how to break it to them without them completely freaking out. Donnie had decided that once Leo was more emotionally and physically stable, he’d try to ask him about it and then try and tell everyone else. They would find out eventually.

‘Ok Donnie, don’t get caught up in that for now, your brother is currently still bleeding out in your arms.’

One of the good things about Leo falling asleep leaning against him was that it gave Donnie clear access to his cracked carapace & cut shoulder. It also have him awkward yet manageable access to his arm.

Or, well, where his arm should be.

He grimaced at the thought but tried pushing it to the back of his mind. When they’d opened the portal to Leo, his arm was definitely the most visibly beaten up part of him. It was drenched in blood and the bone had been protruding from the skin, it had been twisted at an awkward angle and looked as if anything could just rip it clean off. He lightly shook his head, telling himself to not think about it. He began to take the wet cloth he had in hand and lightly tapped it against the nasty gash by his collarbone. Leo lightly stirred but didn’t wake, Donnie was glad. Leo deserved as much rest as possible.

Leo was usually the one who took care of most medical things, Donnie always finding that he didn’t have the stomach for it. Even now, he was trying not to squirm and grimace over the sight of blood oozing out of Leos wounds and slowly drying onto a pair of gloves he was wearing. But he was the only other one with alot of knowledge on the whole ‘medical’ and ‘anatomy’ thing.

Once he was satisfied that Leo’s shoulder was clean and safe from any possible infections once more, he began trying to reach over to Leo’s right arm. Despite seeing it every time he saw Leon, it was still an unpleasant and nasty sight for him and made his heart thud harder than before in his chest.

Leo’s right arm was completely gone.

Donnie had tried as hard as possible to try and save his arm once they’d all gotten back to the lair a few days ago but it was practically a lost cause.

\The blood was everywhere now, Leo was drenched in it, as well as anyone who dared get within arms reach from him. Donnie’s mind began to spin. He had to push his hands up to his mouth to prevent him from throwing up everywhere; Donnie being sick wouldn’t help anyone right now. Raph & Splints were pushing down on Leo’s cuts, trying to stop the bleeding, but there were too many and it was hard to see where the worst ones are. It was obvious that his left leg was completely shattered and bent the wrong way and that his right arm was practically falling off and as if anything dared try to touch it, then that ‘practically’ would likely become very true.

“-onnie!”

What?

“DONNIE!”

Donnie shook his head clear of any thoughts and stared down at Raph who was still trying to stop the bleeding mercilessly pouring out of their poor brothers’ body.

“Can’t you like do a scan on him or something? Anything?!” Raph asked desperately

“Right- yeah yeah a scan.” Donnie’s voice shook as he began to pull his goggles down over his eyes.

Several medical issues started to come up.

Swollen eye, twisted right ankle, broken ribs, smashed left leg, several deep cuts and gashes, infections, concussion, his right arm definitely needed some kind of amputation and- his shell.. Leos’s carapace was very very much cracked.

The list goes on and on and on. Donnie’s eyes widened and his head started spinning again the more he read. No no nononononono… this can’t be real. How could his brother go from carrying pizza boxes on his head above the rest of the world to lying on the floor of the lair bleeding out within the space of 48 hours? He began to look into the information on the wounds’ more only to see how long some of them had apparently been there. Some days, weeks, other’s months, some of them could be dated back to over a year ago. Donnie’s breath caught in his throat. How? How was this possible? Leo had only been there for, what, 10 minutes? Maybe 20 max. Then it hit him. Time must’ve worked differently in the prison dimension! Before all this, he would’ve marvelled at the fact and delved into all the information he could get his hands on, but right now, there wasn’t any time. Leo needed him.

“We have to move him to the medical bay. Now.” He said to Raph who nodded back to him before sweeping their brother up as soft as he possibly could. He was murmuring reassurances to Leo but they were falling on unhearing ears./

Donnie shook his head clear of the memory. That was 4 days ago. Leo is here, in his arms, his brother is safe.  He could hear feint whimpering coming from the bruised turtle and his body was lightly twitching as he slept- clear signs of a nightmare. He didn’t want to wake Leo up though, it would just spook him again once he woke up and Dee really needed to get the rest of Leonardo’s injures cleared up again. He tried to ignore how dangerously light his brother was in his arms-  before, Leon’s weight was healthy enough to almost knock Donnie over when he didn’t suspect it, now he couldn’t weigh much more than a large melon.

Lost deep in thought, Donnie hardly noticed Mikey coming into the Med Bay.

“Hey Dee..” his brother said quietly, making Donnie jump slightly, “I knocked but you didn’t reply so I just came in.”

The small turtle looked tired and worn out, he was carrying a plate and a small bowl despite how difficult his 2 shaking and heavily bandaged hands made it. Mikey’s hand’s had been shaking non-stop since he’d opened the mystic portal into the prison dimension and according to him he couldn’t feeling anything in them aside from a painful ache that wouldn’t go away. Despite this, it didn’t stop him from making them all food; he tried as best as he could regardless of how hard his injuries made the task. At first they told him not to do much with his hands until they could get Draxum to come over and take a look at them but the 15 year old needed a coping mechanism after everything and honestly, none of them could blame him.

His brother set down the plate and the bowl on a little cupboard not far from the blood-soaked bedding Donnie & Leon were still sitting on. On the plate was a warm pile of pasta & in the bowl was some soup with steam drifting off the top of it. The smell made Donnies stomach growl slightly, a not so friendly reminder of how long it’d been since he took time away from watching over Leo to eat something.

“The soup is for Leo once he wakes up again, I would’ve made him something else but you said he probably wouldn’t be able to eat solids for a while yesterday.” Mikey said before Donnie nodded and thanked him.

“I’ll eat the pasta after I treat Leo.” Donnie told him, not really sure he was telling the truth.

“Mhm..” Mikey hummed, clearly not convinced a single bit, “can I sit with you while you do it? Or is there anything I can help with?”

For a second, he contemplated sending Mikey back out again but the thought of being left alone with nothing but his own mind and his brothers’ uneven breathing convinced him otherwise.

“Sure, for now there’s not much you could help me with but I need to change the bed covers in a minute without waking Nardo and some help would be nice for that.” he said whilst shrugging his shoulders lightly, careful to not wake or jostle a sleeping Leo.

At first, Mikey went to sit on the bed but the look of pure disgust/horror on his facd when he saw the blood on the bed said plenty especially when we proceeded to sit on the floor instead. Donnie couldn’t blame him for that quite honestly. If it wasn’t for Leon wrapped tightly around him, he would’ve joined his brother on the harsh coldness of the concrete floor. They sat in an awkward silence for a while as Donnie continued to patch up his brother. He wasn’t sure what he should talk about. Everyone’s injuries? The fact New-York was completely torn apart right above them? The state of the entry to their home? The exhaustion he’d been fighting since they’d gotten back to the lair? Leo? The fact that the red-eared slider in his arms had lived longer than any of them could ever bear to?

He settled on the first one.

“How’s your hands?” He queried

“They’re still.. achy and I still can’t feel much else in them other than that” the orange-masked turtle held his hands up looked down at them. They were heavily shaking and Donnie wondered how Mikey was even able to hold the tray without spilling it- let alone how difficult making the actual food would’ve been. If it wasn’t for the heavy bandaging running all up his arms, orange cracks would be visible to them.

“Draxum said he’d come along in a couple days and see what he can do for them.” Donnie replied, hoping it would give his little brother some comfort.

Mikey let out a small ‘mhm’ and the two sat in silence once again- only the light snores from Leo and distant beeping of the machines stopped it from being completely silent. Donnie began to finish patching Leo up and thought about how long-term his injuries would be. His arm would definitely be permanent no doubt; Donnie would make him a prosthetic eventually. His shattered knee would probably give him a limp for the rest of his life, his shell would always have some cracks in it and- his face.. Leo’s face was definitely changed from how it was before- pretty much unrecognisable. It was like all the bones forming the structure of his face had been completely rearranged and changed around.

It wasn’t just Mikey & Leo that had scars that would change how they looked forever; it would become an unpleasant reminder of the days they’d all never forget. Raph’s eye had been completely ripped out when he was fighting the Kraang’s control over him and he was still struggling to cope with it. His shell was also cracked at the top too as well as a nasty gash in the exact same spot just on his skin instead of his shell.

Donnie’s softshell had pink’ish marks on it, an unwelcome reminder of how he had to let himself merge with the technodrome. He had to bite his lip to not think about how horrible it had felt. Sure it was super fucking cool, I mean how many opportunities would he get to become a literal spaceship? But it felt so so wrong and made Donnie see some things he never wanted to see ever again. He could see every conquered planet that had been destroyed by the Kraang, every millisecond it had been stuck in the Prison Dimension as it waited to be freed.

To say they’d never forget that day was definitely an understatement.